Chapter Text
Most people hated their jobs. It was a given and even to be expected considering that most people had to work a 9-5 working a service job they would never choose in their wildest dreams when compared to whatever jobs they had thought they were going to do when they were growing up. Most people would avoid overtime like the plague if they could afford it.
Aether wasn’t most people.
“Xiao, were you waiting for me?” he asked as he pulled off his white coat and hung it over the back of one of the chairs in his office.
A splash from the pool opening in the corner of his large office made it clear that he had been heard and he looked over in time to see a familiar creature settle in with their head on their arms along the artificial stones that lined the large pool. The creature had long dark blue-green hair that was nearly black with streaks of teal in them and golden yellow eyes that seemed to glow in the dim lighting of the office, dark aqua, almost black hands and forearms with glowing teal veins, sharp black nails, and a bioluminescent pattern in a beautiful jade along their right arm, back, and chest. Aether could see the way the creature was pouting and bit back a chuckle as he kicked off his shoes, stuffing his socks inside of them before rolling his pant legs up and sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the soothingly cool water. He let out a relieved sigh as the creature moved over to rest their head in his lap and he started to card his fingers through their hair as he looked into the water to see their tail. The creature’s tail was long with one main fin that had been shredded when they were young, causing the fin to grow longer in a way that was ethereally beautiful but that he knew had made it harder for them to swim until they had adjusted, a small dorsal fin that was also shredded, and an adipose fin that had almost completely been ripped off by the fisherman who had turned them into a sideshow attraction. Their scales and fins were mostly black, spotted with glowing teal and jade along with the occasional white scale. As he lightly rubbed along one of the faintly glowing nubs where the creature’s horns had once been before their abuser had cut them off, he listened to the pleased chitter they let out and couldn’t help the way his smile widened.
After all, how many people could say that their job was to be paired with a mythical creature as their companion?
“I’m sorry, did you miss me while I was gone?” he asked while he coaxed a small crab out of his companion’s hair before setting the small crustacean on one of the rocks.
The creature - Xiao - nodded as they let out a churring sound. Human speech was still something they were learning to figure out and with how they reacted whenever someone other than Aether was around them, he wasn’t surprised that they didn’t speak much even after all the months that they had been working together. He knew they could understand him and that they felt safe around him but the fact they couldn’t communicate very well still left him feeling like he was failing Xiao. There was so much he still needed to learn about them - their gender for one - but with all his trust building, he was sure it was only time before he was trusted enough to find out the answer in one of his physical examinations.
“Aether.” they mumbled as they pressed their face against his stomach.
“Yes Xiao?” Aether asked, grateful that he’d had the foresight to move everything from his pants pockets into his lab coat so that his belongings wouldn’t end up soaked.
Xiao let out a sound that made it clear they were upset as they pulled at his shirt, the fabric seeming to offend them in some way. He couldn’t help but giggle as the creature poked their head underneath his shirt and nuzzled against his bare stomach. This was worth the overtime.
“Aether, how’s your mer doing?” one of his colleagues - a man with blue hair and mismatched eyes by the name of Kaeya who had been paired with a grumpy younger phoenix - asked as they all settled in at their morning ‘meeting’.
“Xiao is doing great! They really love pressing their face against my stomach now though so I was hoping that maybe someone had done research in the past about mers that I could read?” Aether explained, ducking his head slightly while he hid behind his paperwork.
Kaeya let out a quiet hum as he tapped his pen against the table, resting his head in his palm while he watched his coworker. “If Dottore doesn’t have any research, you could ask Lisa if there’s something in the library. I’ve heard that Jean convinced her to stop making jokes about eating people recently. Otherwise, you might be able to ask Zhongli if he knows something with Ajax’s help.”
Aether let out a quiet hum, nodding as he set the folder with his paperwork back on the table. Opening the folder, he couldn’t help but feel his stomach sink with disappointment as he realized he hadn’t learned all that much about Xiao quite yet. He knew their name, that they were some species of warm water tropical mer that was hearty enough to handle being in cooler water and even at times would seek it out as a sort of comfort, that they could handle being in both freshwater and saltwater but seemed to prefer spending more of their time in freshwater, that they had some bioluminescent features on their skin and scales, and that they were a bit of a picky eater when it came to anything that was fed to them by anyone other than Aether. Verr Goldet and her crew were able to get them to eat when he was away but there wasn’t much anyone could do to coax Xiao into doing much at all - let alone eat a healthy meal - when he was away. Aether let out a quiet sigh as he realized that he needed to figure out something that would help keep Xiao comfortable whenever he was away. It wasn’t as though he wanted to be away from them but he didn’t have much of a choice, he did have a life after work after all. It would be easier for him if he could take Xiao home with him so that he wouldn’t have to worry about them not allowing themself to be taken care of while he was away but unlike some of the others who were at the facility, they didn’t seem to have a more human-like appearance that they used. If only he could legally get away with not taking any days off….
“What are you contemplating?” a deep male voice asked from behind his shoulder.
He jumped in surprise as he was suddenly pulled from his thoughts and turned to look over at the familiar humanoid figure of the geo dragon leaning over him. The dragon had long brown hair that faded to amber with horns branching out along the side of his head, deep brown nearly black arms that were lined with golden veins and hands, and scales that matched the rest of his coloration that dotted his skin like freckles. Aether nodded in greeting as he watched the dragon settle in beside him, smiling as he noticed the redhead who was running to catch up with a stack of manila folders and books in his hands.
“Hi Zhongli!” he greeted, grateful to see that the dragon appeared to be in a good mood that day. It would be easier to try and get his help if he was in a good mood than if he was having one of those days where anyone even looking at Ajax set him off. That was one of the downsides to the pairings that the head researchers had come up with, some of the creatures that they had been paired with had seen them not as companions, but rather as mates. “How are you and Ajax doing?”
“We have been well, thank you for asking. However, my question does still stand. Is there something bothering you, Aether?” Zhongli asked with an almost parental type of concern on his face.
“It’s nothing. I just….I’ve been here six months now and I still don’t know much about Xiao.” Aether explained, letting out a sigh as he crossed his arms on the table and laid his head on them. “I feel so useless….”
“You’re not useless, Aether.” Ajax replied reassuringly as he settled down on the other side of the blond. “When I met Zhongli, it took me almost a year to even get him to let me within five feet of him and even then it was only after I got into a massive fight. I’ve still got the security footage of the other guy running away with a bloody nose.”
“My beautiful warrior.” Zhongli whispered affectionately.
“No flirting right now, we’re trying to help Aether.” the ginger scolded without any heat in his voice.
Aether could feel a clawed hand rubbing his back and peeked up to see the dragon watching him with worry on his face, offering him a reassuring smile to make it clear that while he was a little anxious, he was okay. It was odd having a dragon and a researcher who always seemed like he was ready to fight anyone as work parents but he was definitely grateful to have them.
“Have you considered putting in an overnight request?” Kaeya offered from where he was still sitting across the table.
“He can’t blend in like Diluc and Zhongli can so I can’t take him home with me.” Aether mumbled against his arms as he watched everyone else file in for the meeting.
“There may be a way for you to be able to remain here for the night instead. Perhaps you should consider speaking to your supervisor to see if there is any way for you to spend more time with the young mer.” the dragon offered in an attempt to help, the excited flick of his tail showing he had ulterior motives.
Aether had to bite back a laugh at how obvious Zhongli’s motives were when it came to the chance to meet Xiao and find out more about Aether but before he could say anything about it, Dottore called for the meeting to start and he had to shift his focus. Oh well, he could always tease him another time.
Returning back to the large room that was considered his office, Aether immediately sat down on the edge of the pool and let out a sigh as he finally allowed himself to relax. Meetings weren’t something he was very good with but he understood the frustratingly necessary bureaucracy of the situation considering just how much about his job he needed to keep secret. It hurt him sometimes to not be able to tell some of the people he was closest to about his job but he understood that if he did, he could be putting some of the people he’d grown to care for over the past half year in danger. If not for the fact that Xiao had chosen his picture out of dozens of other candidates, he never would have even known that the Celestia facility even existed. A splash on the other side of the glass that separated his office from the lagoon pulled him from his thoughts, causing him to look up in time to watch as Xiao surfaced with a medium sized fish in their mouth, still thrashing as they had just caught it. He offered them a wave, smiling as they proudly showed him the fish they had caught.
“It looks great Xiao!” Aether called out in praise so they knew they’d done a good job.
After years of being forcefully dragged around as a sideshow act, he knew that Xiao was still re-learning how to do simple things like hunt and take care of themself but over the years of notes he’d looked through, Aether knew they were doing much better than when they had been brought to the facility. He pulled his shirt off, tossing it aside so that it would stay dry before standing up. His pants, socks, lanyard, and hair tie quickly joined the pile before he made his way down the stairs that led into the pool in his office connected to Xiao’s lagoon. The temperature of the water was warm, just slightly on the edge of cool in a way that was soothing as it surrounded him. Xiao swam over to him, biting off a fatty piece of the fish they had caught and giving it to him before pressing their face against his stomach. He still wasn’t used to being fed raw fish considering it was a newer development - the mer only having started trying to feed him over the past few weeks after he had fallen asleep next to the lagoon one afternoon - but he understood that Xiao was just trying to take care of him, even if he still wasn’t exactly sure why he was being taken care of, and after settling down on one of the stairs, he took a bite of the still bloody fish. Trying to convince himself in his mind that it was like sushi in the past had made him more aware of the blood, bones, and scales so he had learned to just ignore the fact he was eating altogether.
He shifted on the stair to settle in more comfortably, allowing Xiao to half lay in his lap as the two of them focused on eating. The mer gnawed on the fish’s skull while they waited for Aether to finish eating his own chunk of fish and the moment he swallowed the last bite, he found himself being pulled deeper into the lagoon. He had to remind himself to hold his breath as he was pulled under the water and pulled into a small cave-like structure where they surfaced again. It wasn’t his first time in what he’d come to realize was Xiao’s den but even with having been pulled into it at least once a week for the past few weeks, he still found himself in awe as he allowed himself to be guided into a soft sandy patch by the water to curl up together. The mer let out a quiet sound that was similar to purring as they rested his head on their chest, their whole body wrapping around him as they held him close.
He really needed to learn more about them, at least so he could understand their affection.