Wait Until 20:00

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/29867466.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen
Fandom: 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)
Character: Kong | Aether (Genshin Impact), Diluc (Genshin Impact), Paimon
(Genshin Impact), Jean (Genshin Impact), Barbara (Genshin Impact),
Knights of Favonius Members (Genshin Impact)
Additional Tags: Video Game Mechanics, Crack Treated Seriously, Paimon Being
Paimon (Genshin Impact), not me making up aether's backstory, ohno
ohboy
Language: English
Collections: Trying to keep track of what I read: A collection
Stats: Published: 2021-03-05 Words: 1,831 Chapters: 1/1

Wait Until 20:00

by orphan_account

Summary

"oh little paimon clock, how i love you so" -aether, probably

Notes

i am-

See the end of the work for more notes

Days in Teyvat seemed to go by faster than Aether was used to. Compared to other worlds, the
days practically merged into one. He would spend multiple of these days awake, doing
commissions and exploring and such. Then, he would proceed to sleep through multiple days,
which heavily concerned Paimon and anyone else who happened to stumble upon him.

Diluc, who had generously gifted the Traveler a room in the Dawn Winery one particularly cold
and rainy night, woke the shorter boy up the mere next day. Aether had been, of course, very
pissed about the fact that he got what was in his body only a few hours of rest. The redhead had
just stared in a sort of confusion, with Paimon knocking his shoulder in an attempt to get him to
stop.

“Diluc, you can’t just go waking Aether up like that! That’s so rude, do you even know what you’re
doing!?” Paimon’s shrill voice woke Aether up even further from his short slumber. He groaned in
response, rotating so he faced the direction of the noise.

“...You’ve woken him up more than I have.” Diluc’s baritone voice was a stark contrast to
Paimon’s own. Aether found himself sighing heavily into the feather pillow. He shifted just a tad
bit further to try to look more professional for his very rich acquaintance.

“...’m still tired. Lemme sleep.” And thus Aether’s dramatic and motivating speech came to a
close, and he flipped dramatically to his other side. There was no sound of movement behind him
yet, nor was there the sound of a voice. He let his breathing deepen and regulate to shift back into
the realm of dreams.

“Come on, Diluc. Let’s just leave him alone for now, so he doesn’t get cranky.” At least Paimon
had a bit of logic, even if it was mostly for the fear of losing Aether’s precious hand-cooked meals.
It took not a long time for Aether to dissipate into unconsciousness once more.

He woke up almost a week later, met by an awkward Diluc and a bored-looking Paimon. Not many
words were exchanged; Aether simply ate breakfast (despite it being just past noon) and embarked
on his way to Liyue, where his next set of commissions lay waiting. Paimon made no arguments
against leaving so soon. She was probably very tired of being left alone with Diluc and his
servants.

The memory still made Aether face-palm a little bit at himself, for he was the one to forget to tell
Diluc about his irregular circadian clock. He let his eyes scan his surroundings one more time,
verifying his location. It was, somehow, another place Diluc frequented, even if he really didn’t
want to.

Aether sat outside the Angel’s Share, the biggest tavern in Mondstadt. The wind was blowing,
carrying blessed energy to those who stood in it. The skies were a victorious blue without a single
storm in sight, the sun drifting up towards the throne of noon. People chattered about, striking
conversations Aether preferred not to listen in on.

So where was the client he was supposed to be meeting?

It was a rather boring commission, to be honest. Just talk to some random guy about something he
wants, get it for him, and leave. Aether would then be paid generously, the same amount he got for
taking down Ruin Guards and entire camps of hilichurls. Truly a marvel.

There was one issue, and that was the time of day. See, his client was only in the tavern in the
night, and since he had returned from commissions in Liyue recently, he awarded himself with a 3-
day nap. And then proceeded to wake up at 4:00 in the morning, do a few of the exertion-heavy
commissions, and prepare something for Paimon.

So now he had to wait until 20:00 for his client to arrive, when it was only 9:00.

Dang it.

“Paimon,” Aether began slowly, “can you bring out the pocket watch for me?”

This was met with a whine from the small floating girl who just appeared out of thin air (startling
more than a few passer-bys). “Aether! You just slept for, like 8 months, and now you wanna be
inactive for a whole day more? Paimon can’t believe you!” She turned away with a huff,
annoyance coloring her face slightly redder than normal.

Aether laughed softly in response. “It was only three days, Paimon. Stop being so dramatic.” He
nudged his companion with his shoulder, receiving another whine. He smiled, too, because he truly
enjoyed the small bickering the two managed to get into.

“Ugh! You have to make the best Sticky Honey Roast ever for Paimon once you’re done with this
stupid commission, you hear Paimon!?” The defeat in Paimon’s voice was evident as she pulled out
the odd-looking pocket watch. It wasn’t very exciting on the outside, but the internal mechanism
was filled with gears and patterns Aether wasn’t sure had any use.

He grabbed the device gently out of Paimon’s small hands before turning to her. “Here’s this, only
use it when you need to.” Aether handed over a small pouch of Mora: just enough to let someone
get by for a day. “And don’t go far. I know you like exploring, but I don’t want you getting hurt.”
He ruffled her hair a bit.

“Fine, fine! Have fun sitting here, you, you-” Paimon searched her head for a piece of vocabulary
that would fit her statement, and came up with, “you dummy!” And then she proceeded to float
away, heading straight for the Good Hunter.

Aether chuckled to himself before opening the pocket watch in his glove, and turning the hands
ever so gently, he allowed his gaze to be taken up to the sky.

---

“Is he even alive?”

The question was as obvious as they come. Here was the Honorary Knight, the highly respected
Outlander and Hero of Mondstadt. He was just sitting there. Just sitting. Nothing else. Breathing?
Not that anyone else could tell. Moving? Only his hair and the drapey bits of his clothes, which
flowed stunningly in the wind. Aware of the crowd that had formed around him? Not in the
slightest.

Someone, in a frantic cry, had asked for one of the Knights of Favonius to examine the still boy,
only to have no answer to his condition. Thus, the news of the frozen Traveler spread like wildfire
through the City of Wind, and in no less than 20 minutes was Acting Grandmaster Jean herself,
along with Deaconess Barbara, standing in front of Aether.

“Well,” Barbara began nervously, “he has a pulse. I’m not sure how, but it’s there.” The sigh of
relief that swept through the rather large crowd was audible probably from Springvale. “But he
doesn’t seem to be breathing-” Never before was air inhaled so fast by so many people.

Jean had to turn around and speak many, many words of assurance to the citizens before getting
closer to Aether. She knelt down next to her sister, placing a hand gingerly on the Traveler’s
unarmored shoulder.

“Aether?” She tried, but to no avail. The boy did not move, though his skin was still warm
underneath her hand. In confusion, Jean pulled away before snapping her fingers in front of his
face. The crowd was dead silent, waiting in heavy anticipation for the Traveler’s eyes to open. But,
again, they did not.

“Is he injured?” Jean asked Barbara.

“No, not that I can tell. And I’ve already tried healing him. Nothing.” was her response.

“Sick at all?”

“Not that, either.”

“Asleep?”

“A strange time and place to sleep, but maybe.”

This made Jean pause, calculating her next words. “In a coma?”

Barbara only shook her head. “Those are usually injury- or illness-induced. This isn’t the case
whatsoever. I doubt it.”

“Elemental reaction, maybe?” someone from the crowd called.

“No elemental signs present.”

“Poison?”

“Meditation?”

“Playing a trick on us?”

“Dead?”

“Dead!” a muffled, high-pitched voice rang clear across the crowd. “Who’s dead!? It better not
be-” Paimon came to a stop in front of the Acting Grandmaster, the Deaconess, and the large
crowd of people, most of which were crying.

“What…” Paimon stared at the collection of people, “are you guys doing?” The Sticky Honey
Roast in her hand sat, for the most part, eaten, besides a few scraps here or there. Paimon set her
plate down and swallowed her last bit of food before turning back to Jean and Barbara
inquisitively.

“D’you really think Aether is dead?” she laughed, twirling a bit in the air. “He’s not dead, silly!” A
playful smile bloomed on her face.

Again, the sigh of relief that filtered through the crowd was loud enough to be heard by Andreas
over in Wolvendom.

“Then…” Jean began, unsure of where to start. “What is he doing?”

“Waiting.” A simple enough response.

“For… for what?” A remark from the audience.

Paimon made her way over to where he sat, looking down at the pocket watch in his gloved hands.
“He’s waiting for it to be…” She peered closer at the small device. “20:07.”

The disbelief was like a lead anvil that was smashed over the heads of everyone involved in this
interaction. “Why then?” Jean prodded. She, too, was confused at why he would just sit here for
hours.

“He has a commission to finish.” Paimon’s effete voice brought upon a plague of further confusion,
but before more questions could be asked, she disappeared into a puff of galactic light. Completely
leaving the citizens of Mondstadt to writhe in their unanswered thoughts. How very rude of her.

---

The day went by quickly for Aether, who watched the sky for a few seconds, observing the sun as
 it flew over the horizon and the moon took its place in the courthouse of the heavens. So of course
he was confused when a Knight of Favonius jumped, very much startled, at Aether’s movement.

“What are you doing?” Aether asked the question with no ill intent, but perhaps a shred of malice
seeped in from the years of practice he had at such ways of talking. No matter, because the poor
Knight would have jumped anyway, even if Aether didn’t speak.

“U- uh, Mr. Honorary Knight, sir! You’re awake!” The genuine surprise in the man’s voice was
enough to make him chuckle.

“I was never asleep.” He held off from saying “kiddo” at the end (it was a bad habit of his that he
needed desperately to get rid of). Instead, Aether stood up and flicked the man lightly on the
forehead. Despite the Knight being much taller than him, Aether saw no problem reaching that
height to do something so trivial.

Then, the Honorary Knight was back on his commission. To his target he went, since it was now
20:15. Perfect time to finish his work.

Aether really wasn’t sure to think with all the staring he got the next 48 hours.

End Notes

-am not reading this a second time over, so idk if there are any mistakes and i don't
caaaaaaaaaaaaree

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