#ler!paimon

“He said he would be here,” Aether replied, his gaze searching the tree branches above for any signs of the bard. He carried on the crook of his arm a basket of freshly picked apples as a treat for Venti for when they were to reunite, which was supposed to be around this time. However, Venti was nowhere to be seen. “Maybe he took a detour at the tavern on his way here?”

“Ugh, if that’s the case, we will be here waiting all day!” Paimon complained, hovering down and reaching for an apple inside the basket. Aether quickly pulled the basket from the small fairy’s reach.

“Paimon, these are for Venti!” he chided.

“He’s not even here! And is Paimon supposed to believe that he’s going to eat that entire basket of apples himself?”

“Did you just meet Venti?” Aether raised a brow, leading to Paimon scoffing in defeat. Both knew fully well that when it came to apples, Venti was almost as big of a bottomless pit as Paimon.

“Paimon wishes he would hurry up already!”

“Relax, Paimon. Let’s just take a seat and wait, I’m sure he won’t be long.” Aether had already begun to lay out the small blanket for them to sit upon, a nice purchase from their trip to Sumeru, and gently placed the basket down next to it. “Besides, it’s such a nice day today.”

“Yeah, guess you’re right,” Paimon took a seat down beside Aether. “Paimon missed the nice breezes in Mondstadt. Not too hot and sticky, not too rainy, and the wind doesn’t blow you around too much.”

Maybe it was the wording, but Aether couldn’t help but chuckle at her words. He laid his head back onto his hands and looked up to the blue sky peeking through the branches of the tree and sighed happily.

He enjoyed moments like this, no commissions, no monsters attacking, no evil Gods threatening the livelihood of the land. Just him, Paimon, and the blissful relaxation of the pleasant breeze.

Which, speaking of, noticeably changed.  

“Hm?” Aether sat up and looked out ahead to see if Venti had suddenly showed up. But when he saw no sign of the bard ahead, he simply shrugged and laid back down in his comfortable position. As he did so, he was greeted with a pair of familiar aqua green eyes staring down into his golden ones. “WAH!”

Aether startled so badly that he jolted upwards, almost headbutting the culprit in the process but it was swiftly dodged with bright laughter. Paimon also shrieked by the sudden outburst from Aether, and her small arms flailed in panic.

“Hello there!” Venti greeted cheerfully, acting almost as if he didn’t just give his friends a heart attack.

“You Tone-deaf bard!” Paimon scolded, her foot stomping the air. “You nearly scared us to death!”

“My bad,” Venti smiled, his tone showing no sincerity of his apology. He took a seat beside Aether and got himself comfortable. “It’s good to see you again!”

Aether, who had his hand resting on his chest still, gave a smile to his old friend. “It’s good to see you too, Venti.”

“And what took you so long to get here?” Paimon asked, her arms crossed. Aether nudged her with his elbow to try and reflect on her tone which Venti took note of and giggled.

“My apologies. I was caught up with our dear Sister Rosaria who offered me some wine from the tavern. Fortunately, Master Diluc wasn’t around, so I had to take the opportunity,” Venti explained, noting Paimon’s eye roll.

“Paimon knew it.”

“Ehe~”

“Here, Venti,” Aether thought it best to change the subject before Paimon got angry and held out his hand to the basket of apples that sat neatly beside them. “We picked these for you.”

Venti’s eyes lit up at the sight of the delicious looking fruit and wasted no precious seconds in taking one from the basket. He bit down on the apple with a content hum, pleased noises emitting from him as he chowed down.

“Delicious!” Venti said through his chewing, his head lowering to rest onto Aether’s thighs. The traveller was caught off guard by the sudden action, but he allowed it. Venti looked up towards Aether as he continued to eat. “I can only imagine the amount of stories you have to share since our last encounter.”

“Oh, yeah,” Aether chuckled. “Where do I even begin?”

Venti laughed along with his chuckle. “My brave warrior, always there to help those in need. I trust the winds have blessed your journey?”

“Mhm. Just like you said.”

“I’m glad. I do wish I could do more to help with your journey,” Venti’s tone was softer than usual. “But alas, this Tone-deaf bard can only offer you the finest music instead.”

“Hmph! How is that supposed to help us?” Paimon scoffed and received a playful boop from Venti’s foot from his position on Aether’s lap.

“Music can help plenty, actually.”

“If we’re going against an enemy, are we supposed to play it a lullaby!?” Paimon started to grow irritated at the amount of boops Venti’s foot was giving her. “Stop that!”

When Venti only laughed and kept up his mischievous antics, Paimon resorted to other methods. With a small growl, she yanked off Venti’s shoe and began to scribble her small fingers over his tights covered sole.

“Ehehehe! Hehehey!” Venti giggled and pulled his foot away from her, but she only chased after and continued to tickle his foot. “Stohohop thahat!”

“Oh, no! First you make Paimon wait, not even offering to share your apples, and then you kick Paimon!? You’re getting what you deserve!”

“You never ahahasked about the apples!” Venti giggled and squirmed in Aether’s lap, who was in fact the one guilty for denying Paimon an apple, but he kept quiet. There was something endearing about seeing these two play like this, so much so that Aether decided to join in. “AHAHACK! Nohohot you too!”

Aether’s fingers dug into Venti’s ribs; the higher ones not covered by his corset. The bard immediately fell back against Aether and squirmed as the two tickled him.

“Yeah, get him, Aether!” Paimon cheered, both laughing along with the bard, whose laughter was a bright as the sun above them.

“Mehehercy!” Venti begged, his efforts to squirm away foiled by Aether wrapping an arm around his frame to keep him steady.

“I had no idea Archons could be so ticklish,” Aether teased, wiggling his fingers up into the bard’s underarms.

“NAHAHAHA,” Venti howled, his braids whipping side to side as he shook his head.

“Maybe it’s just Venti,” Paimon also teased. “Now we know his weakness, we can defeat the Anemo Archon!”

“Shh, Paimon not so loud,” Aether hissed, reminding her of their surroundings. They may be tickling him to death right now, but he doesn’t want to go as far as revealing Venti’s identity to anyone.

“Oh right,” Paimon then paused her tickling to question the very giggly bard. “Do you surrender?”      

“I give up!” his giggles whined, and with one last tickle to his ribs, Aether stopped tickling him, but kept hold of him. “Soho mehean.”

“Are you okay?” Aether chuckled, brushing some of Venti’s messed up hair to the side.

“I’m hurt that you could be so mean to me!” Venti pouted. “But I suppose I can forgive you this one time. You did bring me apples, after all. Next time, however.”

That mischievous and toothy grin worried Aether to the point he gulped. He doesn’t want to imagine what a vengeful Venti was like, and his nervous chuckle was enough to give that away.

The bard took another apple and passed it to Paimon, who squealed happily and began to eat. Venti then passed another to Aether and took another for himself.

"Alast, travellers, for I have- AYE!?"

The ginger quickly folded inwards, cheeks brightening a pinkish tint, whilst Aether had poked the open slit that exposed his now defended tummy. "Oh? What's wrong? Did that tickle?" Lumine chorused, having come behind him out of nowhere, the ginger gaffawing as the male twin pounced, trying his best to pin down the Harbinger, "L-Luhumine! Aetheher! Please, dohon't!" Pleaded the taller, his facial features glimmering red, with a twitching smile taking over.

"Hm, I don't know, seems to me that you want this." Aether smiled, having the help of his sister to pin the Harbingers hands under his knee's. Noticing how screwed he was, Childe began to wriggle more, whilst helpless kicks and squeals came out. "Plehease!"

"We haven't even touched you yet!" The two chorused, chirping giggles at the now helpless Harbinger, a gentle fingertip tracing the rim of his exposed tummy from his shirt.

If thing's weren't worse then, now it truly was. He was trying to suck in his stomach, wriggle away, even tried squeezing at Aether's knee's to get him to budge, but no, he was screwed, and he knew that.

"Paimon says we try here!" The floating child said, a grin taking over as a single finger slid up ever so slowly up his tummy, making him sputter out more giggles as she came back up and down in a repetitive motion. "P-Pahahaimo-AGH! Wahait! Plehease! Thahat-! Thahats!" He struggled, torso quivering as Paimon continued, Lumine helping her brother and her's companion out by pulling the shirt up whenever Childe arched, making him shiver as the wind came rushing in and making him feel a slightly bit more sensitive.

"Plehease! Nohohot thehere!" Childe turned his head away, the teasing aw's from the three coming out as they heard him snort and squeal, kicking his arches against the ground slightly to relieve himself from such a ticklish stimulation.

His bubbly giggles soon cut to panicked yet excited squeals of choked laughter when Lumine tapped her finger's against his ribs, as if she was bored, yet the smirk told the difference, making him arch into it. Noticing this, Lumine tested out which set got the best reaction, before settling into drilling her thumbs between his lower ribs, causing the Harbinger to throw his head back in hysterics.

He tried to put on a brave face, and it was convincing enough for Lumine's new friends - and he did like them. He did! Inazuma had its own charm, and Venti would've been delighted to spend a few months visiting now that he was without a Gnosis, meeting the people and exploring the culture.

But there was the fact that the Raiden Shogun was really freaking scary. About three times he'd conjured fake visions for himself, only for them to be snatched up by her little samurai clique or whatever they were called now. Yeah, have fun with those, Rai. Wasn't like they had any power, anyway; eventually, he'd given up entirely on conjuring more, deeming it a waste of energy and focusing instead on avoiding his use of wind as much as possible in public spaces.

Which, in and of itself, was already difficult, given that with one laugh the breeze would change directions, or with a sneeze a few of Raiden's clouds from the tempest would blow in towards shore and slam Ritou with some harsh rainstorms. Whoops.

All in all, Venti really wanted to avoid drawing her attention to himself, because without his Gnosis, he couldn't trust her intentions. He barely knew her, at least not in the same way he knew the other Gods, and while the Tsaritsa and her cronies had wanted his power, they didn't want his life. That much he was grateful for.

With Raiden, and her want with eternal power, peace, life, and stability for Inazuma, he couldn't trust that she wouldn't take what little he had left. He didn't want to leave Zhongli as the last of the original Seven, and - more importantly - he wasn't ready to die just yet.

So to say that he was stressed would be a massive understatement.

Lumine, observant as ever, had picked up on this, and cornered him in the teahouse after a lunch with Ayaka and Thoma.

"If you want to go home -"

"No! I mean - kind of, but - ugghhh."

Lumine shook her head as Paimon glanced between the two of them cluelessly.

"If it was too much to ask of you to come here -"

"Of course it wasn't! I like travelling, I like you, I like travelling with you -"

"Uh, this is all flying over Paimon's head a little… Where is this coming from?"

At the fairy's high-pitched voice, both of them paused to glance at her, then looked back at each other.

Lumine gathered another breath.

"... Venti's been tense and nervous since we brought him here."

"Really? Paimon hadn't noticed…"

That much brought a smug little grin to the bard's face, despite his current deliberation.

"But why is the Tone-Deaf Bard so stressed?"

"Because, if you'll remember, Raiden doesn't like the idea of anything unforeseen and unpredictable interrupting her plans for Eternity."

"Oh… Oh! Paimon gets it now! The Tone-Deaf Bard is scared Raiden might send the Tenryou Commission to arrest him! Is that right?"

Both of them stared at him expectantly, and once again, Venti felt a twinge of discomfort at having been read like a book. Still…

"If that's your final guess, my answer will be… Yes."

… He could get some contentment out of Paimon's irritated expression with his rhyme.

"And like I said," Lumine tried again, "I can take you back home if you want!"

"But I don't want to! I like seeing all this stuff - I'd never get to see it all on the mainland! I just…"

… Wow. He hated being speechless.

Lumine, for her part, crossed her arms and huffed, and Paimon mirrored her pose, bouncing in the air.

"It's not worth it if you're going to stress out this whole trip. So here's the deal; either you relax a little bit, and trust in our friends to keep you safe, or you get in the Serenitea Pot and I take you back to Monstadt."

Frustrated at her rationality, Venti whined.

"But Lumiiiiiineeeeee…"

"Alright, that's it."

Whoops. One button too many this time, huh?

For once, the bard didn't entirely anticipate her attack, shouting in surprise as she tackled him to the tatami floor of the teahouse and roughly dug into his sides with a vengeance, earning a quite unholy shriek and peal of laughter for her efforts.

"Wait - waHAHAIT - LumEHEEHeene -!!"

He barked out an extra laugh as Paimon latched onto his calf like a toddler, putting her tiny, evil little raccoon-like hands to work on the softer skin under his knee without remorse. Figures. One could never trust a shortie.

"Y'know," The Traveller remarked, "I seem to recall this having a relaxing effect on you back in Monstadt, with Lisa and the Ragnvindr brothers - you remember, right, Paimon?"

"Mhm! This time, Paimon does remember," The little fairy nodded; "Then again, it's hard to forget something like that when Master Diluc and Kaeya actually work together to do the tickling…"

At the reminder, almost comically, all three of them shuddered; Venti, a step ahead, tried a little harder to curl up, a new fear springing to mind.

"Plehease - plehehea -- the wihind, Lulu, I cahahan't…!"

"Oh yeaaaaah," Lumine reacted tauntingly, "Wind activity would be real bad for you, huh? Well, all the more reason to hop in the pot and go home…"

Venti tossed his head, scrunching up his face and struggling to rein it in - only for it all to go to shit when the Traveller latched her cruel hands on his hips and started kneading at the slight pudge there. He practically screamlaughed, partially in panic, as he felt his control slip, and tapped the floor rapidly.

"OHOKAHAHAY, PLEHE - RED, REHEHED, RED..!"

With those words, Lumine immediately stopped, and reached a hand back to get Paimon to lay off too. In the meantime, she gently rubbed the focal points of her attack, earning a few giggly twitches from Venti as he panted a little bit.

"So, what'll it be?"

"Ihi - hhah… I want to stay."

"So you'll chill out?"

"On one condition…"

Lumine cocked a brow, and Venti grinned up at her, already almost recovered.

"Take me into the pot with you and finish what you started. I can't possibly relax like this, now, can I?"

"... Oh, my God. You're adorable. Deal. Paimon, will you stay here and keep watch? Let Ayaka and Thoma know the whole deal with the Serenitea Pot, and tell them we'll be out soon."

"Aww," Paimon pouted, "but Paimon wants to get the Tone-Deaf Bard good, too!"

"And Paimon will have her day," Lumine assured, smiling at the gigglefit her friend's words sent Venti into; "but Ayaka might worry if we disappear without a trace. Someone needs to explain things to her."

"Hmph… Fine, but Paimon better be included next time!"

"Of course she will be."

Lumine shot the fairy an assuring smile as she fished out the Serenitea Pot from her bag, and set it gently on the table before looking down at the bard once more.

"Ready?"

Grinning back at her, Venti set a hand on the tea pot, briefly comforted when she covered his with her own.

"Do your worst, Traveller."

“mr. honorary knight! thank goodness klee found you! i’ve got some terrible, terrible news...” she shuffled in place, tears welling at the corners of her eyes as she held a piece of paper that was slightly crumpled now. “klee has to go somewhere very far, far away and.. she needs help!”

but reluctantly, aether continued playing along. of course, he would love to help her out - there was nothing he wanted more to see a smile on her face. but with how many commissions had just came in.. he wondered if he had enough time to get them all done. time was a valuable thing. especially to someone on a very important journey.

he couldn’t go running around for everyone.

“what do you need help with?” aether asked softly, bending down to level with her. the worry in her eyes could be seen clearly. what could’ve happened that got her this shaken up? “klee received a letter at her windowsill... it says that the dodo-king will take dodoco away if she doesn’t go to the ... the.. what does that say again?”

paimon floated to the little girl’s side, reading the paper from over her shoulder. “it says.. ‘the golden apple archipelago.’ huh, that’s strange. i’ve never heard of that before. have you?” they asked, their high pitched voice echoing through the elegant halls. aether only shook his head, a surprised look on his face.

“... klee, i hate to break it to you, but i don’t think that’s a real place. besides, even if it was, i don’t think i have enough time to help you. not with how many commissions just got posted. i’m sorry. maybe master jean or.. lisa will help you with this quest?”

klee’s eyes filled with terror. she shook her head rapidly as she quickly grabbed on to dodoco, her ‘bestest’ friend (as she calls it), her voice cracking with every word. “no! please, you have to help klee! if you don’t help her, she.. she will lose dodoco! she doesn’t want to lose dodoco!!”

aether felt really bad for turning her down, but it’s what he had to do. “i’m sorry.” was all he said, but paimon’s voice interjected.

“hey now! you can’t go and turn down klee like that! she really needs your help!” they floated over to his shoulder, crossing their arms as their face contorted into a mixture of both disappointment and hurt. “master jean is always busy, and lisa.. never leaves the library! please, you’re the only one who can help klee!” her voice was wrecked with sobs. jeez this was like bringing a sword to a gun fight. he just couldn’t win, could he?

“no. please understand klee that i’m very busy, and i would love to help you. i just don’t have the time.. now, if you’ll excuse me,” aether turned around, finding himself toward the entrance, thoughts running through his mind. “i have to ... continue looking for my sister.”

little did he know that they were planning something. they whispered back and forth, as if they were about to go on the field of a long and hard fought war. and he didn’t realize it, but it was a war. just one he didn’t expect in a long shot.

“paimon, c’mon, let’s go find.. w-wai.. huh?”

“charge!” they both yelled at the same time as they ran straight into aether, knocking him down with how little he weighed. the little girl sat on top of him, acting as if she was riding a horse or whatever came to her imagination, and grinned. “mr. honorary knight! i will make you come to the islands with me!”

“i already said i’m not going! now w-where’s paimon? w-“ before he could finish his sentence, a gust of paimon’s breath hitting the traveler’s neck made him shudder, letting out a strangled noise in between. the realization of what they were about to do to him was enough to.. think about what was more important. “p-paihihimon..” aether warned, trying his best to keep a steady voice.

“oh, so you are ticklish mr. honorary knight! klee knew that paimon’s info was reliable!” she giggled softly as her soft and tiny hands scratched at the traveler’s stomach with ease. paimon shook their head, floating over the side of them both. “this wouldn’t have happened if you had just listened to paimon and went with the little girl.. but because you refused, paimon had to resort to such measures. klee, his hips are really ticklish if you dig your thumbs in,” they added that last part to tease him, they both knew that.

so this is how they were gonna play. it was either go willingly or end up dying of laughter on the floor. either way it turned out not in his favor. “k-KLEHEHEHE-! p-PAIHIHIHIMON YOHOHOU TRAHAHAITOR!” aether slammed his head back to the floor, shuddering at just how cold it was as he tried to relieve himself of these ticklish sensations while doing his best not to hurt klee. and it was very challenging.

but even if it was challenge, what was it most of all? embarrassing. even the knights that stood guard outside jean’s office were softly chuckling at this childish tactic. but it worked, pretty well indeed. “you’re doing it wrong, klee! here, let me show you,” paimon floated over the girl who was still lightly tracing patterns over his soft tummy, and quickly squeezed his hip, digging all of her fingers in with a load of pressure. his laughter somehow got even louder with that, which klee happily giggled at.

“.. what is the meaning of all this noise out he-“ lisa, who was just trying to reorganize some books that were loose, came out to see this wonderful scenario played out in front of her eyes. aether’s bright smile was stuck on his face, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes as he squirmed side to side, still trapped underneath klee’s astonishing amount of weight. seriously, what was in those bags? more bombs?! (probably, knowing her.)

she chuckled at the sight of them, shaking her head. “.. my, my, cutie. you never told me you were ticklish. i suppose that explains all the things i noticed when we went out that one time. anyways, what’s all this about anyways? surely you’re not just torturing him for fun?” klee shook her head, now squeezing his sides with ease as paimon worked on his knees, scribbling everywhere they could find.

“no! klee needs his help, but.. b-but he refused. so paimon came to me and told me a way to get him to come with us. and it looks like it’s working!”

“hm. mind if i help? if you need his help, i’ll help you get him to be.. open minded about your request.” paimon’s head titled slightly, pursing their lips together as they floated upwards to the electro librarian. “why don’t you just help her?”

“because, i’m awfully busy. and i don’t like to leave the library for long periods of time. .. anyways, i’m here to help!” lisa sat at the top of him, grabbing his arms and holding them above his head with ease. no, no- no! this couldn’t be happening, he thought. and the only way to make it stop was to admit that he could go with her.. but he couldn’t!

not until paimon struck a nerve.

“WAIHIHIHIT- NAHAHAH- PAIHIHIHIMON-!” aether screamed out, arching his back as one of his worst spots was exploited right there in front of everyone. paimon had made their way down to his feet, where they were gently treading their fingers up and down. “oh! paimon thought your hips were your worst spot, but it seems like paimon was wrong! you definitely seem a lot more sensitive here than anywhere else!”

“STAHAHAP! OKAYOKAY! FIHIHIHINE! H-HAHAHAVE MEHEHERCY!” klee shook her head, a stern look on her face. “you have to admit that you’re coming with klee on the trip! do it! admit it! or klee will continue to tickle you! ehehehe!” the evil laughter that poured out of her mouth was much more sinister than he thought it’d ever sound. aether squeezed his eyes shut, unable to bear any more of this.

“OHOHKAHAHAY! FIHIHIHINE! I-I’HIHIHL GOHOHO WIHIHIHITH YOHOHOHU! N-NOHOHOW PLEHEHEASE .. S-STOHOHOP!”

lisa let go of his hands, and paimon stopped the attack on his feet but klee stayed right where she was, sitting on his waist with ease. aether’s heavy breaths were the only sound ringing through the walls. man, his whole body felt like jelly after that. “promise me!” klee smiled, holding out her pinky to his face. “promise me so that you can’t break it!”

“.. w-what?” with a huff, the little girl poked his side rapidly for a few seconds, watching him squeal out with a bright red face. “promise klee that you’ll help find the dodo-king! and that you’ll help save dodoco from any harm!”

aether sighed. this was a war he couldn’t, and didn’t, win. wrapping his pinky with hers, he nodded. “i.. promise, o-okay..?” light laughter could still be heard under his breath as klee grabbed his hand and pulled him up off the ground as soon as she got off. “c’mon, let’s go! let’s go, let’s go!”

paimon could only smile when he gave them a dirty look.