"Paimon, are you sure this is a good idea? I feel silly just trying something like this," Aether said as he walked leisurely through the fields of his own teapot. His mansion not far off in the background.
"Oh definitely, we're gonna make crazy money today!" Paimon said confidently. "Paimon came up with this herself. Used all my brain juice, and now it's going to pay off more than we could ever imagine."
"That doesn't inspire a lot of confidence," Aether deadpanned. "Who is going to want to pay money for this? I mean, seriously, when I agreed to help you with your own business, I wasn't expecting you to try something so…weird. I feel more used now than ever. "Aether said as he and Paimon walked up to a small stall that Aether had set up the previous day. The stall had a curtain that was pulled back on the front, and he could see that the only thing left was to attach the sign indicating the business that would be had here.
Aether sighed as he reached behind the stall and picked up the sign. His face was slightly red as he fought the bubbling feelings of embarrassment and a bit of anger. Begrudgingly he walked to the front of the booth and installed the sign in its rightful place.
Aether gave the sign one last look.
Traveler's Kissing booth: 1000 mora per kiss.
"Having all this space is a good thing! There's going to be no trouble at all when the line starts to form," said the floating pixie.
"Paimon, how is a line supposed to form when we're the only ones that live here. We don't get THAT often," Aether said, getting behind the stall and taking a seat.
"Oh, that's easy; it's because Paimon put up fliers all over the place way back to spread the word," She said proudly.
"WHAT!?" Aether shouted as he stood upright. "You told people about this!?"
"Well, duh! Paimon's business won't get off the ground if no one knows about it. That's business 101, Aether," She said in a matter-of-fact way.
Aether sunk back down into his chair, hiding his face behind his hands. "How many fliers did you put up?" He asked.
"Well, Paimon mostly gave fliers to some of our friends when they visited."
"Nooooooo," Aether wailed pitifully at the thought of having to face his friends again and being asked about the entire kissing booth situation that his so-called best friend trapped him in.
"Hey, hey, there's no time for loafing around! We're already a minute late to open, c'mon," Paimon said, patting his back.
Aether took a deep breath and grabbed the rope holding the curtains in place before pulling them back, finally opening Paimons little venture for business. With a grunt and an eye roll, he leaned back in his chair and made peace with his doom. He'd simply have to endure this for a day at most; after Paimon sees how fruitless this is, she'll likely lose the drive to continue this charade, and he'll be able to put this behind him. He closed his eyes, hoping a light nap would distract him for at least a while.
"Ahem."
Aether's eyes slowly opened, expecting Paimon to reprimand him for trying to sleep on the job but was instead met with the familiar face of a close friend of his.
"Mona?" Aether said, sitting upright in shock.
"Hello, Aether," She greeted back. Aether couldn't be certain, but he thought he could see a faint pink hue adorning her cheeks. She was also struggling to maintain eye contact. Suddenly he realized how this all looked.
"Mona! Good to see you again! Are you here for business or pleasure?" Paimon asked, playfully winking in the astrologist's direction.
Aether's face flushed with embarrassment and anger as he was about to give Paimon an earful she would never forget. However, just before he could utter a word, Mona interjected.
"I'm here for business, although I suppose this qualifies as pleasure as well," she said, dropping a bag of more on the table. It scarcely had time to settle before Paimon swooped in, greedily counting the amount inside.
"3000 Mora! Pucker up, Aether!" the pixie exclaimed with a toothy grin.
Aether blinked rapidly, trying to process what was going on. To say he was shocked would be an understatement. He hadn't expected to see anyone passing by, let alone coming for this... business transaction. Meanwhile, Mona took advantage of the moment to discreetly apply some lip balm, trying not to draw attention to herself.
"I-I simply wanted to support your business. It would be remiss of me not to support the Traveler's ventures given all that he's done for us," Mona said in a shaky tone.
Aether was still in a state of stun lock, but determined to stop him from slacking off, Paimon nudged him further and patted his back before giving him a wink and flying just out of sight to count the mora once again. Aether leaned forward a bit and did his best to fight off a blush as Mona closed the distance between them. They shut their eyes and let the newfound warmth of each other's lips melt through every last bit of hesitation they held. Aether started to relish in the feeling of Mona's lips, the scent of her perfume, and then the girlish sounds she made in response to his sudden enthusiasm. Their lips separated as the first kiss came to a close; the second followed shortly after and was just as breathtaking as the first. When the second came to a close, they reopened their eyes for only a moment before going in for the third and final kiss.
Mona leaned in further and further, doing her best to almost lunge at Aether. However
just before she could, she was yanked back, and a suddenly very grating voice called her attention.
"Times up!" Paimon said, having finished counting her money. "That's three kisses!"
Mona and Aether both stared blankly for a moment. Having forgotten where they were from the moment their lips locked, then came back to reality.
"O-oh, I see…very well then..ahem. I'm satisfied with my service. In fact, I think I'd like to request another-"
"Pardon, Madam, but I think you've received what you paid for. It's my turn now," a familiar voice called out.
Everyone but Paimon was startled by the sudden appearance of a pink-haired girl wearing a Liyue-style outfit and antlers poking out from her hair. A thick pink line on her face complimented the small smile she wore.
"Yanfei! Good to see you," Paimon greeted.
"The feeling is mutual, Paimon. As it is to you, Aether," Yanfei's expression was half-lidded; something about it stirred an uncertain feeling in Aether.
"H-hey Yanfei, uh…what brings you here?" He asked.
"Duh, she's here for the booth. Didn't you hear what she said," Paimon answered.
"Indeed I am," The Adeptus said, walking up to the stall and subtly nudging Mona out of the way. "Here's my fee," she said before dropping a bag of more that was noticeably larger than the one Mona brought. Paimon wasn't slow to retrieve the bag and count up the tenure inside.
"Five thousand more! You're good to go!" Paimon said before floating off.
With noticeably less hesitation than Mona, Yanfei puckered up and presented her waiting lips to Aether. Having now accepted, he would indeed be following through with his promise to help Aether lean in his part of the way and connect his lips to Yanfei. He could instantly feel the difference. She was decidedly warmer than Mona and even a bit more enthusiastic. On the sidelines, said hydro user was staring daggers at the uncaring Lawyer, doing her best to calm down and simply take another place in line when she looked at the spot behind Yanfei and grew stunned.
Meanwhile, Yanfei and Aether continued their passionate make-out session; at one point, Aether even felt her hand start to caress his cheek. They were so engrossed in it that they hadn't even realized that they had reached their final kiss. Just before the ever-diligent Paimon could remind Yanfei of her limit, the Lawyer pulled away on her own and gazed goofily at Aether.
"I-I have determined there's no false advertising to be found here," she giggled. "That kiss was indeed as good as advertised, just like the flier said."
"Wait…Paimon, the fliers you handed out said I was a good kisser!?" Aether asked, yet again flabbergasted by the fairy.
"Yup, a little something to entice!" Paimon said.
Aether was about to again scold his companion before the sound of Yanfei being almost aggressively pulled aside drew their attention to the line again. This time they were being greeted by the sight of beauty they hadn't seen in a while.
"Shenhe?" Aether said as the white hair woman greeted him with a rare smile.
"Greetings Aether, I heard about your booth and attempted to get here early. It seems I was too slow, however," She said, giving an almost cold glance in the direction of the two who had arrived before her. Shenhe's tone sent a shiver down their spines.
Aether, on the other hand, couldn't help but smile bashfully at her appearance. Shenhe had, on a number of occasions, expressed feelings of joy when he was around, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of warmth when she did.
"So Shenhe, how many of your dear friend's kisses were you looking to purchase," Paimon asked, cutting to the chase.
"Here, I'll take 10," The woman said, dropping an even bigger bag on the table. Paimons eyed the bag with even more greed than before.
Once against, Aether found himself face to face with a beauty waiting for a peck, only this time she didn't wait. Aether felt both of Shenhes hands find a place on his cheeks and bring him in yet another passionate lip lock. Shenhe was significantly more enthusiastic than the others as if she'd been waiting for this moment to come. Aether didn't bother counting the kisses this time, instead letting the bliss of kissing yet another beautiful woman be intimate with him.
Much faster than either of them wanted, the flurry of kisses ended. Paimon as always not allowing any unpaid lip action to occur.
"NEXT!" Paimon called. Aether was about to ask why she felt the need to yell when he realized he must have been kissing Shenhe for much longer than he'd expected. He was once again at a loss for words. Standing behind Shenhe was a line faaar longer than he'd expected; he could spot female friends from all nations he'd visited so far.
Lisa, Amber, Eula, and Jean all gave him a friendly wave. Yoimiya, Shinobu, Kirara, and Miko were all making pleasant conversation; the last of them blew him a kiss upon noticing his gaze. Further down the line, he spotted Sucrose, Fischl and Noelle were talking to each other, and behind them, Beidou and Ninguang seemed to be in the middle of some banter. Even further still, Candance, Dehya, Layla, and Faruzan were seemingly pep-talking a very timid and nervous Collei, all of whom were in line.
Aether felt that he may have started to see things as a result of the shock because he was almost certain he saw a group of female eremites and Fatui mage women at the very back of the line. There were several more familiar and unfamiliar faces as well. Then his attention was drawn towards a small scuffle that was making its way towards him.
"Ayaka, Keqing?" He asked.
"Hello, Aether!" Keqing said.
"It's good to see you again!" Ayaka cut in.
"We're having a bit of a dispute deciding who is next in line. Could we get some assistance?" Keqing said, visibly frustrated. Aether momentarily glanced and the HUGE bags of mora jingling at their sides.
"Uh-"
"This could be troublesome!" Paimon said. "How about this, you go one at a time, but you get to sit in his lap as a bonus for the trouble!"
The girls both went wide-eyed and nodded in agreement, and in the blink of an eye, were each straddling his lap, each sat on one leg. The girls who had already had their turn all went to the back of the line, which looked like it had grown even more. Aether yet again felt the sensation of a woman's lips on his face; closing his eyes, he resigned himself to his fate.
His awesome, amazing fate.