Barbara-sama! Barbara-sama! You sounded amazing!

Encore! Encore!

We love you Barbara-sama!

The crowd clapped and gave out cheers as Barbara finished her song.

"Awwww, Thanks everyone! Glad that I'm able to make you all smile!"

Aether watched from the side of the stage as Barbara waved and gave out thanks to the crowd. It was one of the first times that Monstandt's only Idol was performing in Liyue, and there was a much larger crowd because of it. Xinyan's performances were nothing compared to this. Honestly, if the two were to do a collab sometime, they would definitely take all of Teyvat by storm.

"Well, that's everything! Onto the next! Or, "All's well that ends well", is what Piamon would say at a time like this, right?"

Aether looked to his side and smiled. Keqing had walked up next to him without him noticing. The two leaned against the railing, silently watching Barbara shake the hands of her fans over the edge of the stage. After watching on for a few minutes, Aether finally spoke up.

"I suppose I should probably go and get her, otherwise knowing her she might end up shaking hands with everyone in Liyue proper….."

Keqing glanced over at Aether, before turning back towards the crowd. "I suppose that is a good idea, it would mean I could start getting this all cleaned up sooner…"

"Keqing, all you think about is work, don't you ever take a break?"

"I do. For example, getting to hear Barbara sing was a very nice 55-minute break from my work."

Sighing and shaking his head in disbelief, Aether got up, hopped over the railing, and began to make his way over to Barbara.

"Ahh, Aether before you go. In order to get Barbara to agree to perform, she wanted me to do her another favor."

Catching Aether's attention, he turned around and faced Keqing. "Ohh?" That caught Aether by surprise. Usually, Barbara would be more than happy to do something in exchange for nothing. She was simply too nice to say no or ask for something in return.

I suppose that might be changing. She has been more sure of herself lately. Perhaps I have myself to thank because of that.

Since the night that Aether and Barbara had gotten together, Aether had noticed that Barbara had become more confident in herself. Usually, she would shy away from conversations with others and keep to herself. But as the two of them had been in Liyue for the past week, Aether noticed that she had begun to speak out a bit more, and say what was on her mind. Overall, she had become much less timid with others.

Keqing interrupted Aether from his thinking. "Anyway, she asked if I could prepare something for the two of you later today, and I agreed. Just let her know that I've set everything up and that it's good to go."

"Ohh…...Ummm thanks, Keqing, I guess? Do I get to know what this surprise is?"

Keqing smiled a knowing smile, before crossing her arms. "Why don't you go and ask your girlfriend? I've got a stage to disassemble and clean up."

Knowing he wasn't going to get any more information out of Keqing, Aether gave her his thanks and a quick wave, continuing over to Barbara, who was still shaking people's hands.

"Thank you for the compliments! I'm glad that I'm able to make you and your sister smile so much!"

My Sister

Pausing just behind Barbara, Aether couldn't help but overhear her words to one of her fans.

Grimacing, Lumine came to mind. If anything, he felt a bit guilty that he was spending his time here with Barbara instead of looking for his sister.

Still, it's not like I can spend all my time looking for her. I'm just doing as she said, to follow my own journey. And that journey deserves happiness…..

"Hello! Aether! Aether! Are you there! When did you get here?"

Waving her hand in front of his face was Barbara, who was trying to get his attention. Shaken from his thoughts, Aether looked around to see that the crowd in front of the stage had dispersed and that the two of them were all alone.

"Hey! Welcome back! Is everything okay? You had a frown on your face." Barbara looked up at Aether, who now had a concerned look on her face. "Oh! Don't worry about me. I was just thinking of some stuff, that's all. Uhh, what happened to the crowd? There were so many people here a minute ago."

Barbara looked on at Aether, and wanted to question him more, but decided against it. "Oh! Keqing and some Millelith came and dispersed them. Said I had pressing matters to attend to. Ahahah...ah.."

Aether couldn't help but blush at that comment, and Barbara did the same. When doing so, Aether remembered what Keqing had told him. "Well, Keqing told me that she had completed the favor you asked of her, so that's probably what she means….?"

At Aether's comment, Barbara's face lit up and she smiled. "Ohh perfect! Well, that is nice of her. I was worried that it was too much to ask from her, but if it's already done so quickly, then…" "Well, she is the Yuheng for a reason. Anyway, shall we go and have a look. Is it something we need to collect from her or…..?"

"Uhh, yeah something like that. If it's like we talked about, then we should go and get it in the evening." Barbara made a face. "Until then, want to take a stroll around Liyue with me?"

"My, how forward of you Ms. Deaconess. If you want a date with me, you should just say so."

Blushing at Aether's comment, Barbara gladly hooked herself around Aether's arm, and the two of them began their date around Liyue's city center.

-{}-

"Are you sure this is the right way, Barbara?"

"If Keqing did everything correctly, then yes it should be up here."

The two had spent the rest of the day milling about in Liyue. After doing some window shopping in the commercial district, Aether found the time to introduce Barbara to more of his Liyue friends. Barbara found Yenfai the Legal Advisor to be a nice, energetic person who probably reads too many law books, while the owner of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was an interesting girl who seemed to just want to scare her. All in all, it seemed that Liyue had an interesting mix of people, just like in Mondstadt.

Now, the two of them, hand in hand, found themselves going up a small footpath into the mountains that surrounded Liyue. Barbara insisted that Keqing's "favor" was up at the end of this small path. It was clear that the path was not used too often, but as they made their way up it, they had an excellent view of Liyue's skyline at night.

The view got even better when they arrived at a small clearing and overlook, where some lanterns and nicely decorated wooden billboards were set up. It wasn't until Aether took a closer look at the billboards did he notice what Keqing's "favor" to Barbara was.

"These…...these are the pictures that we took for the contest. And all the other ones we took as well…."

"Hehe, do you like it? I know that Keqing and Piamon put a lot of work into these displays. I hand-picked the photos and kept you distracted while those two did all of this."

Aether found himself smiling at Barbara's words and at the photos in front of him. With a happy tear now flowing down his face, he turned back to Barbara and embraced her.

WOMP

After a few minutes, the two broke from their hug. Looking at each other, Barbara glanced over at the board and grabbed one of the photos. "You know, this one is my favorite out of all of them." "Really now? Let's take a look." Aether grabbed the photo out of her hands and turned the two of them to look at it at the same time.

The photo was one of the many that Piamon had taken when they were at the beach in Mondstadt. This one that Piamon had taken at the end of their beach adventure, where Aether had put his arms around Barbara. In return, Barbara rested her head on Aether's chest. The two of them were looking out into the sea to where the sun was now setting making for a romantic backdrop.

"You know, looking back at our adventure, I think it's safe to say that we were tip-toeing around each other a lot about our feelings right?"

Aether answered Barbara's question with a nod.

"Well, I'm glad that it worked out in the end. Even if it took us an entire week running around Teyvat taking photos." Barbara reached up on her tip-toes placing her lips on Aether's.

Breaking the kiss, Barbara spoke again. "Also, I know you were thinking about your sister earlier today, back at the stage." Not expecting Barbara to say that right after their kiss, Aether stumbled on his words until Barbara placed a finger on his lips, like how he had done when they confessed to each other a few days ago.

"I don't want to say anything I can't promise. But I do want to promise this. Myself and all of your friends are with you! No matter what! We can do it! Whatever happened to your sister, or what she is up to, we will find out together!"

A moment of silence came over the two of them as Barbara held her breath, waiting for Aether's reaction. It took a few seconds for her to realize that Aether was openly crying in front of her. As Aether fell to the ground, Barbara caught him and let him cry into her shoulder.

After a few minutes of back-patting from Barbara, Aether had calmed down. Holding her in his hands he spoke to her. "You have no idea how much your words mean to me. I love you Barbara, and I'm sure my sister would love you just as much as I do."

-{}-

The two sat down on the nearby bench and began to make their way through all the photos that were pinned on the billboard. In each other's arms, the duo laughed and smiled as they recalled their photo-taking adventure and everything in between. Out of all of the adventures Aether had been on, this one was definitely one he would not forget. He was sure it was the same for Barbara. As they looked at the last photo, the two of them in each other's arms in bed at the Dawn Winery, Barbara made a light comment.

"How are we going to explain this one to Big Sister?"

AN / Closing Comments

And that's the end! Again, thank you for reading! I'm quite happy how this story turned out. Bittersweet to see it end. There are a few minor cut parts from this story that I will probably end up reworking into one shots or something similar. No promises though.

I've also posted my next story, this time between Ayaka and Aether, called: Eyes on me: Dango Milk Decree.

I plan for it to be more serious but still with lots of fluff. Please check it out if it interests you.

Thanks again everyone, and good luck on your pulls!