Special thanks to "The Traveler- Viator" for the inspiration with their recent Fischl/Aether fic.


"Do you want to try this one, or should I?"

"I-It's fine! We don't need to…"

"I see…so how many are we up to that are…hmmm…"

"Burnt? 72. Compared to 31 undercooked ones and 48 that are, somehow, both…"

Her partner was a bit taken aback, but didn't let it show. "Suppose I should expect that from the person who made eight hundred and twenty-nine Baron Bunnies. At least."

"Eight hundred ninety-three actually." That correction was made with a genuine smile, as Outrider was completely unaware of the implications.

"…Let us hope we don't need to reach that high then."

"We won't Eula, I promise! I'm getting closer, just a bit more~"

The Spindrift Knight blinked as Amber restarted her work….again. Every time there was even a tiny bit of doubt that her friend would lose their will to and give up, it was immediately and completely crushed. Amber was not going to stop until she made the perfect piece of chocolate, amount of attempts (and supplies) be damned. It was impressive, if not just a little bit concerning how hot her passion at getting this right burned, and it was the main reason Eula had chose to put her reconnoissance duties on hold just for today and try to help out.

Well, by "help", it was more like "clean up after the failed attempts and reset the kitchen". That was the thing. As grateful as Amber was for her presence here, she absolutely forbade Eula from actually assisting with the baking process…and as much as the Lawrence descendent knew that she might be able to sneak something in to help, respecting her friend's wishes was priority one.

We would've been done a long time ago otherwise… But at the end of the day, she recognized how important it was to Amber to do this alone.

Sometimes, passion that leads to stubbornness can lead to disastrous results. Making chocolate was not one of those times.

At least, Eula hoped so.

Honestly though, there was something just a little strange going on here. Amber was…ok, not the best cook in Mondstadt if her Outrider's Champion Steak was any indication, but still…why was everything coming out of the oven burnt? Was it her Pyro Vision? Her spirit somehow? The secret ingredient she insisted on using? Or was Amber unloading a few Pyro arrows when she wasn't looking? They'd even gone to the library and picked up a (suspiciously easy to obtain) cookbook from Lisa after the first few dozen failures, but the improvement had been marginal.

"If this keeps up, we're going to run out of time for today. The kitchen isn't ours to own after all." Eula reminded her, interrupting the sacred art of pouring chocolate mix into a bowl.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Jean said she'll talk to Master Diluc if we take too long, he'll definitely feed all of the Knights."

The image of Diluc cooking something downright vile specifically for their Calvary Captain prompted a quick chortle from the Cryo-user. Seeing this, Amber couldn't help but smile along…before remembering what she was in the middle of doing and went back to stirring.

"Hmm…if this recipe makes 12 pieces, I need to double up…so that would make…"

"Hold on." Eula sauntered over at hearing something unpleasant. "Why are you doubling the recipe anyway?'

"B-Because…" Amber stammered out. "Who is always with Aether?"

Hm? That was… But luckily for the archer the realization of just who she was talking about successfully diverted the conversation. "Ah, right…though, I feel like Paimon won't be satisfied with just that much. Should we make another batch for her as well?"

"It'll be fine~, you don't have to worry!…and hey, no peeking!" Amber quickly set the bowl back down and tilted the recipe back to her, playfully sticking out her tongue upon picking the container back up.

"Fine." Eula smirked back. "But as I've said numerous times before, there's no need to drive yourself so hard over a gift. I'm sure Aether will appreciate anything you give him, regardless of how well it actually turns out."

"And as I've said every time when you bring that up…" Amber doubled-checked the recipe for the umpteenth time while talking. "I don't want this to just be something he'll "appreciate". I want this to be amazing. You've had his cooking too, it never fails to impress…so I would like to be able to do the same for him. just once anyway.

This would normally be the part where Eula, sensing that there would be nothing to say to convince her otherwise, would change topics to something else. But they were getting so close..it was time to push.

"You want to impress him with your food? Then allow me to assist."

"But I-"

"Don't "but" me Amber. I'm positive that while Aether has a natural talent for cooking acquired no doubt on his many prior journeys, he too has relied on someone for feedback. Be it from Paimon or…his sister."

Amber paused. Yeah…that was an easy scenario to picture. Aether cooking up a meal for his sibling, wanting to get it just right, working himself to the bone for that last little bit of improvement. It made sense with how fondly he could remember their time together…

"What you're imagining…if I'm right, it sounds an awful lot like what I'm seeing right now…do friends not lend each other a hand?"

"Eula, did you just-"

"…So shall we begin? The Honorary Knight is going to get your invitation soon."

A bit of pink crossed her face, contesting with how pale her neck appeared in this moment. This reaction made Eule smile, clearly proud of herself before grabbing some more ingredients.

"Let's get to making perfection."

-0-

"How is it…?"

"…Honestly, your best batch yet. I could go for another."

"Seriously?! Alright!" The "chef" pumps her fist as a smile breaks through her worried expression. "And just in time too!"

Curiously right then, Amber only grabs about a little more than half of the baked goods and puts them into a special container (that Lisa also provided, of course), naturally leading to Eula wondering why.

"What about these? Are they not for Paimon as well?"

The Spindrift Knight was not expecting Amber's grin to gain a little bit of can edge to it just then at that question, like she's holding in laughter, but that is exactly what ends up happening.

"Those are for you Eula!"

"….What?"

Putting her hands on her hips, the Outrider elaborates. "I said, those are for you. As thanks for helping me! I know it was probably quite a hassle, so I really wanted to leave you some as well. Buuuut…if you don't want them," she says mockingly, reaching back for the chocolate in question. "I'm sure Paimon will be more than happy for an additional helping."

Of course though, her hand is moving slowly enough to allow for Eula to easily snatch it before she can grab the sweets. "So, when I asked why you were making so much…?"

Now Amber winks. "I can't believe I that slipped past you."

"…I will have my revenge for this Amber. Count on that."

"Haha!" Laughing all the while, the excited Outrider finishes putting everything away, either in the box or the shelves above and then charges to the doorframe. Before she leaves though, she spins around to deliver one final blow.

"It may take me over 150 tries to bake some chocolate correctly, but Outrider Amber only needs one shot to pull one over on Mondstadt's one and only Reconissance Captain!" And with a quick wave, she's off, box of sweets carefully tucked under her arm.

Meanwhile, said captain is currently experiencing a unique mix of emotions. Sure, there's some mild embarrassment and disbelief over what just happened, but that's overwhelmed quickly by just…pure happiness. She's glad Amber finally got the recipe down, there was a real worry in the beginning about how long they were taking. In a way, she's also thankful that Aether is in her friend's life, they just have a knack for bringing out the best in each other.

Maybe I should keep an eye on Paimon though…she laughs and grabs a piece of chocolate, thinking more about it. I'm fairly confident I know who gave Amber the idea for that "joke".

Wait a minute…there's a sudden realization as she finishes swallowing the desert. She didn't notice it before, but there's something…extra in the food. It's not necessarily a bad taste either, instead making Eula's body feel a bit warm, and not even because it just came out from the oven. The taste also lingers a little on her tongue…

"No peeking!"

Right, Amber was using a secret ingredient…and she didn't want Eula to see the exact recipe even after she began really helping…

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to ignore this feeling, she set about to find whatever it was that was put into the chocolate…while cleaning up the mess of course. There must be something left of it…

"Let's see, if I was Amber and I wanted to hide something…where would I do it?"

A secret ingredient, huh? It needed to be small enough to hide, but if she was adding them for every piece of chocolate they made, she would also need to have a plentiful amount of the stuff. And if Amber had personally chosen it, that would probably mean the ingredient was potent enough in small quantities… after all, the Outrider had difficulty being subtle.

Tiny, plentiful, and strong huh? Handling something like that while remaining inconspicuous…I would want it as close to my person as possible.

And with that thought, it clicked.

Hm, of course. Her pouch. And if she was adding this to the chocolate, then doing it right before putting them in the oven would be the best time.

Which meant any remnants…

Satisfied now, Eula quickly paced over to said oven and bent down, carefully examining the floor…there it was. With her keen eyes (fitting for someone who did recon work) she spotted her target and picked it up. Red coloring…almost powder-like, as if it been turned into that by a machine….and…Eula brought it up to her nose and took a whiff. Even at this size, it radiated a heat that could surely make eyes water if carelessly exposed…like a spice.

So it could only really be one thing, right.

"Oh, so this is why everything came out burnt at first. I do hope Aether is prepared."

-0-

"Thank you for completing today's commissions. Here is your reward."

For most of the Adventure Guild's members, those words, religiously repeated day after day, always brought about a feeling of great relief, knowing that they had no more assignments to do. But as far as a certain blonde was concerned, Katheryne's words of gratitude were by no means that. The second half of his Mondstadt day was just beginning.

Especially when the receptionist gives him a letter to go with the Mora.

"Huh? What's this?" Paimon scratches her chin.

"A certain member of the Knights told me to deliver that when you arrived back here from your commissions. I have already checked it for any hazardous materials and found nothing of the sort, so it is perfectly safe to open."

"You mean you opened our mail?!" The fairy lets out an exaggerated gasp. "The betrayal!"

With a smirk at her…acting, Aether undoes the seal. Due to a certain item picked up earlier, he was already pretty sure of who the sender was, and just reading the simple handwriting of the letter confirmed it long before he got to the end.

Hi Aether!

I'll just come right out and say it: I'd like to invite you to meet me at the Archon Statue!

Why? Well, If all has gone according to today's plan, I'll have something really sweet for you to try out! (What's is it? You'll just have to wait and see!)

I do have one request though: Can you come alone? I know Paimon is with you pretty much all the time, but it would really mean a lot to me if you could do this.

Actually, Paimon is probably reading this too, huh? Heh heh… Paimon, what do you say then? I'll buy you all the Sticky Honey Roasts you want later, I promise!

Anyway, that's that! I look forward to seeing you there!

From,

Amber

Aether noticed a bunch of faded letters throughout the paragraphs, likely meaning that there were a lot of edits made when Amber was writing. Suppressing a giggle at the mental image he just gave himself, the sound of Paimon's voice quickly overtook his attention.

"Hmmm, this is weird…what could be so important? What does she mean by 'if all has gone to plan'? …But wait, nevermind that! Can't believe she briefly forgot about Paimon!" She looks at her friend with a shrug of the shoulders. "Well, Paimon will just have to take up Amber on her generous offer then as payment."

"So…?"

"Yes, yes, Paimon will give you two your "alone time", sheesh! Just make sure she knows that the rate of borrowing you is quite high. It's like, one Sticky Honey Roast every ten minutes!"

Prompting a roll of his eyes at this rate of interest, Aether says a quick farewell to Paimon and Katheryne before walking off alone. It's such a rare sight seeing him without his companion, the receptionist can't help but say something.

"That was very mature of you, Paimon~"

Spinning around to face the voice, "…You just complimented Paimon, but somehow it feels….not right."

A simple smile was the fairy's only response. "Well, now that you'll be free for a little, I do have some commissions I could use your help with." That wasn't really a request either.

An audible groan escaped from Paimon's mouth…that quickly morphed into a whimper as she saw Katheryne not back down. "…F-Fine, Paimon will help! But the reward better be worth it!"

-0-

There was something special about today, Amber could feel it. Maybe it was the gentle breeze blowing throughout Mondstadt, perfect for gliding. But literally everything has gone perfect so far…or at least, pretty good. Her chocolates had come out better than she'd expected (even if it did take most of the day to get to this point), she got to hang out with Eula despite her busy schedule, and now the weather was cooperating too! Even writing her invitation to Aether was pretty painless.

…Ok, so the weather was pretty much always this perfect, and she was still nervous. Every second provided another opportunity to check on the chocolates, as if there was something that could cause them to change into a deformed mess while she wasn't looking. Remembering to mentally thank Lisa again for the elementally-imbued container that prevented it from melting afternoon sun, the Outrider let out a stretch…and nearly slipped off the Statue.

She tried to rebalance herself, but there was little point thanks to the steady hand that grabbed her other arm.

"You know…" A certain Honorary Knight winked as he sat down on the opposite hand. "When your letter said 'meet me at the Archon Statue', I kind of thought you meant down there." He pointed below them. "I mean, that is a special place for us…

Amber knew what he meant, but marched on. "Gotta mix things up sometimes! We can't have all our good memories be in that one spot, it wouldn't be fair to the rest of Mondstadt. I'm just glad you got it though."

"Really? There's no better person to entrust messages to than Katheryne. But speaking of that…" He opened up one of his hands and passed over the aforementioned 'item', which, in this case, was Amber's very own pair of googles she often wore.

"You know giving Paimon this on top of the letter was just a bit redundant right?"

"Heh…." A humble grin flashed for a moment across her face as she took the goggles back. "I thought leaving them behind would tell you that I wanted to meet later, but then I feared that without a deadline, you wouldn't show up quick enough."

"Ah, alright. So…does that mean whatever you have behind your back can go bad?"

Aether smirked at the same time as Amber lightly fiddled with her fingers. Figuring it was about time to just show the present now with him knowing this, she shoved it into his body in one fluid motion.

With a stunned look, the container was wordlessly opened.

"Chocolates?"

Amber's breathing paused…then skyrocketed. Calm down! T-They came out fine, Eula said so! He'll definitely like them! She could tell that Aether wasn't expecting this specific gift, just based on his facial reaction, but her own nerves were getting in the way of determining anything more. Time to reassure him (and herself.)

"I-I did all of the baking myself….but don't worry, Eula help me with portions and tried them out first! She told me that these were the b-best batch I made!"

"How many did you make…?"

"One hundred and fifty-six." She said that without thinking, a matter of fact answer. With a delayed reaction in realizing how that sounded, Amber said nothing more as the adventurer grabbed a piece of chocolate out of the box and examined it.

"Baron Bunny?"

Huh…? …Oh! How she cut them, of course! "Yes! It took a while, but I like how it turned out." Nervous laughter aside, the planned form was always going to be of her favorite weapon, so hearing that she had successfully conveyed it in the chocolate made her extremely relieved, as messy as some pieces no doubt were.

But then, much to her relief…Aether smiled at her. With the sun slowly going down in the sky, it was just a simple, bright smile that just made Amber feel like she could fly. But unfortunately for her, there was still one last "test" the gift had to pass.

"…Amber? May I?"

Unsure of what he said, but not wanting to create an awkward moment, she nodded not knowing any better "Sure!"

Aether tossed a piece of chocolate into his mouth while she blinked,

As much as Amber tried to tell herself that this wasn't a big deal, they had her Champion's Steak countless times after all, herself wasn't listening. Aether was an expert in the kitchen, he was sure to notice if anything was wrong! With bated breath, it was all she could to not pull out a Baron Bunny and hug it tight.

Oh, would that melt the chocolate…?

"Wow, this is great!" Aether exclaimed. "Thank you!"

"…G-Great?"

"Yeah, the coolness of the container really compliments the chocolate's warmth. But more than that, it's just good chocolate…" He had another piece. "…And really warm…how did you keep it from being burnt?"

"Over one hundred tries, remember?"

"Fair. …But still…I've never had chocolate that tastes like this before….what did you use? I'm sure Paimon will like these too.."

Amber finally exhaled before returning to her usual self, bursting with confidence. "Oh you know, just the usual. Sugar, flour, mix, water…"

"Mmmhmm, mmm, mmm" He was nodding along.

"Jeuyun Pepper."

"Mmm- ?!" He stopped nodding

"Aether…?"

"Did you say Jeuyun Pepper? A-As in, a Jeuyun Chili Pepper?!" He felt his stomach to be safe…

Amber felt the heat rise to her ears. "I-It's ok! Of course I know all about how hot one of them can be! Each piece only has a sliver of it, I promise! Just…don't eat them all at once."

Sighing in relief, Aether removed his hand from the more-dangerous-than-expected sweets and put the lid back on. To think that a pepper was the reason behind the warm feeling he was getting. And now that she mentioned it, the tingle is his mouth was definitely reminding him of Xiangling's cooking…

Standing up, he reached out a hand to Amber. "Just to be safe, let's go to Good Hunter and order some drinks. Plus, a certain 'traveling companion' of mine is probably going to start charging you soon."

"Think she'll accept spicy chocolate instead?" Amber joked.

"I doubt it."

Hand-in-hand, the two jumped off the Archon Statue and soared through the sky.

-0-

"Honestly though, what made you think putting one of those in chocolate was a good idea?" As he asked this, Aether retrieved the drinks they ordered- two cups of milk as it were- from Sara, offering the required amount of Mora for payment.

"Well I looked around the kitchen for anything I could use, saw a bundle of them, and decided to give it a go~" She chuckles at the simplicity of that version of her story. "Really I thought it would be boring to just make normal chocolate, and this way I could make something unique. Probably shouldn't have done that on my first try though."

"Mission accomplished in that case…" Aether passed the drink over and sat down. "I'll certainly never forget that flavor. Maybe I can leave them out for Paimon one day…"

"Aether!"

"Only kidding, heh. But I do seriously appreciate the thought Amber."

"Really?"

"Absolutely…but I think I prefer my chocolate sweet from now on. Spicy chocolate just doesn't do it for me."

But right when Amber could've become a bit disheartened from what he was saying, Aether. Interrupted himself. "Oh hey Paimon! Katheryne finally released you huh?"

Turning around to where the fairy was surely coming from, Amber was surprised….that she didn't see her anywhere. There was no small child floating up the stairs and demanding compensation in the form of honey-soaked meat.

"Huh? What are you-"

She felt something soft touch her cheek for half a second.

She heard a whistle coming from Good Hunter.

And, upon spinning back, she saw Aether's face get very red very quickly.

"See?"

Gingerly touching her cheek, Amber felt her own temperature rise. After today's activities, she was definitely due for a nice cold bath later. But for now…

"You missed."

"….Excuse me?"

Taking one fierce step towards Aether, she straightened up her back just a bit and pressed her lips directly into his own. Both of the Outrider's hands flew up to the Honorary Knight's shoulders, locking him in place…not like there was any attempt to escape anyway. But this 'moment' outlasted the time poor Sara's brain could go without oxygen, so she promptly fainted for a little.

And as for Aether?

When Amber finally released him, he was no longer capable of forming coherent thoughts.

"Y-You…..did…..h-how…?"

She smiled. "Another victory for Outrider Amber!"


3 days from now will mark the one-year anniversary of Chapter 1 for "Atypical Mondstadt Evening"...where does the time go anyway?