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Aether had the deepest pout on his face as he’s dragged by Venti in order to hide behind a couple of trees near the windrise statue. He huffs when he’s pulled down into a sitting position and forced to stay still.
He really has no idea how he was wrangled into this one.
“Stop pouting,” Venti whines to him, “I swear it was a good plan when I came up with it! Things just.. Didn’t really work out, haha..”
Aether’s face deadpans.
“..Okay, so we broke a few wine bottles. It’s nothing that can’t be replaced!”
Aether brings his hand up and pinches Venti’s cheek, making the bard yelp and shove the hand away.
“Hey! Not warranted at all!” Venti huffs, now pouting as well and rubbing his cheek. “Wait- Shh-”
Aether presses his forehead against the tree in defeat, he wasn’t even speaking.
Venti peaks from behind the tree, but immediately cries out when he’s grabbed by the back of his shirt and lifted up.
“Hehe.. Hi Diluc!” He greets with an awkward wave,
“Mhm. Hi Venti.” Diluc deadpans, taking a step forward and sparing a glance to Aether who’s staring up at him with an embarrassed frown. “...Aether.” He mumbles, “Is it safe to assume you were dragged into knocking a whole display case of wine down, hm?”
Aether shrugs.
Diluc sighs, a non verbal day then. He assumes, how did Venti even manage to pull Aether into this? “...Alright. Both of you come with me. Venti, you’re cleaning it up. Aether, you’re staying in the spare bedroom for the rest of the day where no one else can drag you into doing stupid shit.” He says in a ‘no room for protest’ tone and begins the walk back without even waiting to see if Aether would catch up.
He does, and if Aether ends up grabbing his jacket like how a child would with their parent in order to stay caught up he doesn’t comment on it.
“...Wait. Did you just ground Aether?” Venti questions in bafflement, “And Aether is just fine with it??? Wait, I’m not grounded, am I? I just have to clean up the wine? Please do not ground me I have a tree to sleep in-”
“Venti.” Diluc interrupts, shutting Venti up promptly and making the bard look up reluctantly. “Stop talking.”
Venti does not make another sound the entire way back.