My Warmth Is Yours

Chapter 12: A Homely Morning

"Oh, hi Paimon."

"Hi Traveler…" clearly attracted by the smell of bacon on the pan, the little girl had wandered into the kitchen. The Traveler ruffled her hair.

"You want some food? I'm making Breakfast Sandwiches." She rubbed her eyes.

"Adventurer's ones?"

"Yeah."

"Mk… Paimon might nap for a little while more though…" her caretaker smiled.

"All right. I'll wake you up when it's ready." To Aether's surprise, instead of going back to bed, Paimon just curled up right there on the kitchen table. He smirked, then grabbed a tablecloth from one of the cupboards (not like he ever used them) and draped it over her. She's cuter than she wants to admit. Turning back to the bacon, he carefully flips each piece over.

A little while later, Aether nudges her awake, putting a warm plate of open breakfast sandwiches beside her.

"Here you go." The smell of food quickly got her up, and she was soon digging into the food in no time. Aether himself sat down and began working on his food. It was still relatively early morning, so he wasn't surprised that his roommate wasn't up. Even if he's awake, he probably doesn't want to get out of bed. The sunlight filtering in through the window was making everything sparkle with a golden hue- just like…

He shook his head. Why does it keep coming back to my mind? I went so many centuries all right… why am I thinking of it now? He tried to focus on his food. Thankfully, Paimon spoke up at that moment- she'd already finished eating.

"Traveler… Paimon's a bit worried about your new roommate."

He looked at her.

"Why?"

She lowered her voice a little.

"Well… he's really weird in general. How do we know he's telling the truth? And how come he's so… blank?"

"Well we have proof, don't we? No ordinary guy is just frozen like that. And what do you mean by blank?"

"He doesn't really look like he feels anything. Paimon was talking to him last night, there's nothing on his face. He's totally unreadable…"

"Well, some people aren't very expressive. Remember Xiao- he's like that, isn't he?" Paimon thinks about it, then nods.

"True… Diluc is like that too! Oh, but there's one other thing. He kept turning down his food last night. Paimon doesn't know if you've noticed, but he keeps doing that… he even gave Paimon some of his toast two days ago. Just watch, Paimon bets he'll say no to breakfast later! Paimon really wanted to ask if he was ok, but… it didn't seem right to ask…"

Aether closed his eyes, pondering.

"So he's not eating…? I'll try and talk to him. there should be a reason why, especially if he's actively turning it down. Thanks, Paimon. And I see where you're coming from, we really don't know much about him. I'll keep it in mind. You want some more breakfast?"

"Yes! Thank you!" Paimon flew at him as he got up to get some more food, the smile on her face returning. He squeezed her shoulder.

"You got it."

About an hour or two later, around 8 or 9 in the morning, Aether's housemate appeared, wandering out of their bedroom a little tentatively. The Traveler, who happened to be doing some basic housekeeping at the time, turned around to say hello.

"Morning. Did you sleep all right?"

"Yes, thank you. Perhaps a little too well, my apologies for not getting up earlier." Laughing a little, Aether shook his head.

"Nah, nah, you're all right. I was only up early 'cause I woke up early. Do you want some breakfast?"

"No, thank you. I'll be all right."

Paimon was right- there he goes, declining food. I shouldn't force him to if he doesn't want to, but…

"No, you should. You haven't eaten anything in the last few days. You need to have something to keep you going, you'll tire yourself out." Perhaps it was a little forward, but Aether was concerned. After his experiences with Jean, Kokomi and Ganyu, he knew what happened when people denied food, and he wasn't planning on another repeat. The prince seemed taken aback.

"I didn't… ah, nevermind. My apologies, I wasn't aware it was worrying you." Aether sighed.

"Of course it's worrying me. Minus the thousand-odd years, how long has it been since you last ate?"

"Ah… I'm not sure… a day, maybe two or three…?" Aether rolled his eyes, grabbing his friend's arm and dragging him towards the kitchen.

"I'm surprised you're alive. You do realise that even sealed you need energy to keep your body going." He turned around sharply. "You need sustenance. Don't tell me you're not hungry, I know you're forcing yourself into this." He was definitely being too harsh, but it was necessary. What could he do, when he knew what would happen if he didn't? I don't need any more friends passing out on me. No thanks.

The Kriedeprinz sighed.

"All right. I'll try to eat something." The Traveler's gaze softened.

"Thank you. I'll make you something, just sit there." He ran a hand down his friend's side, gently reaching under the coat. "I can feel your ribs. I'll try to be quick, I promise." He quickly ran to the kitchen. "Any allergies I should know about?"

"Allergies? No, I don't think so. Besides a mildly irritating reaction to pollen, but I trust you won't be putting flowers in my food."

"you'll be in hell during the festival seasons… but no, flowers in food is not a thing and I will not be putting Windwheel Asters in your food." He laughed, mixing the eggs into the pancake batter. From behind him, he could hear soft laughter. There we go. He's a little happier. That's good.

A little while later, Aether flipped some pancakes onto a plate, put a few berries on them and gave them to his patiently waiting friend.

"Tea Break Pancakes. I can't make them as good as Noelle does, but to be honest, no one comes close to her when it comes to pancakes. Enjoy."

He smiled watching the prince tentatively make a start on the food.

"It's wonderful. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Getting up to wash the dishes, (luckily he'd put off the earlier breakfast ones) he smiled to himself. There we are.

As he worked his way through the dishes, the Kriedeprinz placed his now empty plate next to him.

"Thank you. …I think I needed that."

"Of course you did. And it's no problem. Just try and pay attention to yourself, if you please."

"It's all right. I believe… I may have been a bit stressed, that's all. Truthfully, I have a rather small appetite, so it's not rare for me to turn something down." He sighed. "Perhaps I needed the extra persuasion."

Aether laughed. "It's all right. Honestly, I'm not surprised you were stressed. But sometimes relaxing with some food and some friends is a good way to get it outta your system." He flicked a few soap bubbles at the prince. "You can rely on me, if nothing else."

They both smiled.

"Well. Once you're done, shall we continue our day?"