Dinner was a lot more enjoyable than usual.
Perhaps it's because I've been eating basically the same meat dish for the past week that having something as simple as a stir fry made it all the more delicious than how I thought it would. Then again, perhaps Liyue's dish suits my palate more than the more western style cooking of Mondstadt.
The most important thing, though, would be the fact that they served spicy food here, something that I can't seem to find back in Mondstadt, and they're not messing around with how spicy they are.
Even someone like me whose spice tolerance is quite high find it spicy.
'I can only imagine how the people of Mondstadt would react to something like this.'
Apparently, I didn't have to wait long for an answer.
In true Paimon fashion, the moment everything was ready, she wasted no time to dig in, consuming everything in front of her with her usual gusto. And with how fast she's eating, it didn't take long for her to reach one of the spicier ones.
At first, it didn't seem to have an effect, but the more she ate, the more she started to visibly sweat. When she started to breathe loudly from her mouth and reaching for her drink more than she does her food, well, the chaos that unfolds next was peak entertainment to say the least
Who would've thought that consuming a lot of spicy foods at such a rapid pace would be a bad idea?
'The only thing that'll make this better would be if I have some carbonated water. That'll really spice things up.'
The cherry on top is that since Lumine can't blatantly pull out her store of drinks with people around, Paimon had to sit and wait for more drinks to come, which is undoubtedly torturous for her, with how much she's fidgeting.
I ended up offering both of my water flasks to her though. And the only reason I did that is because Lumine asked me to.
By the end of it, Paimon was knocked out from the experience. She did manage to finish everything she ordered though, which is honestly something I shouldn't be surprised of at this point.
After paying for the food and apologizing for the ruckus the little fairy caused, the two of us headed upstairs towards our room while Lumine was carrying the unconscious Paimon.
Compared to the game, Wangshu Inn actually is an inn, with an extra floor below the rooftops and another one below the kitchen reserved for the guest's rooms.
As we followed the direction of the sign on the wall, Lumine suddenly posed me a question.
"You could've said something to her, you know?"
"Why would I? It's not my fault she didn't pay attention to what she was ordering." Stopping in front of room 203, I pulled out the key with the same number from my bag and unlocked the door. "Better yet, why didn't you do anything about it?"
"Something entertaining was about to happen, why would I stop it?" She said, as she shrugged her shoulders in response.
"See, this is why I like you, Lumine."
"Uh huh. You wouldn't be saying that if you're in her position though."
"And that's why I also dislike you just as much."
As we entered our room, we were immediately hit with the fragrance of fresh wood.
Unlike the previous inn we stayed in, the interior of the one in Wangshu seems to be designed to complement the nature-like feel of the giant tree the inn was built on top of. With wooden floorboards and furniture, and even the vine-like curtain hanging off the window, with a clear view of the night sky and the mountains in the horizon.
Next to the window is a king-size canopy bed attached to the wall in its center. The bed's green sheets and the clear curtain decorated with motifs of the forest alongside a vine-like design running all the way to the top seems to be in line with the overall design choice of the interior.
Of course, with this being Liyue, there are wall scrolls of ink paintings and calligraphies attached to several corners of the wall, lanterns hanging off of the ceiling at different heights, and even a little bonsai tree placed atop one of the tables near the window.
As soon as I saw the bed, I immediately took off both my mask and hat, placing them somewhere close by alongside my bag before burying my face into the pillow.
"Ahh… I can finally rest after all that walking."
"Stop being so dramatic." With the sound of approaching footsteps, I feel a slight weight coming from the left side of the bed along with the light snore of the white fairy. "It's not even that far of a walk."
"It is to me."
"What about tomorrow then?"
"Don't worry, the thought of filling my coffers by stealing illegally obtained treasure from bandits will no doubt fill me with energy."
"It's not stealing." She said, rather harshly. "Think of it as… temporarily relieving them of their loot."
"Uh huh. And what comes after, then?"
"Well, since we weren't able to find their rightful owner, it'll naturally belong to us, no?"
"Ah, the old 'finders keepers.' In that case, it can't be helped, right? Rather than letting it rot somewhere underground, wouldn't it be a lot better for us to make use of it?"
"Right? As expected, great minds think alike."
If we want to find some treasure hoarders, then we'll probably have to go someplace with a high concentration of ruins, or at the very least, somewhere where the presence of Millelith is relatively low. Though her idea of purposely getting ambushed held some merit, it'll be useless if we can't even find them.
'In that case, we should probably head west or something. I really should've bought a map beforehand. Oh well, hopefully the treasure hoarders have some that I can permanently borrow.'
Rolling myself over, I stretched both arms and legs until a there's a cracking sound coming from my back. Feeling my slightly tense body relax, I once more buried my face into the pillow, the fatigue of today's travel finally setting in.
"Can you help me out with this?"
"What is it?"
Carefully sitting myself upright so as to not wake Paimon, I turned around to face Lumine, now wearing her oversized nightgown while offering me a white brush.
"Can't you do it yourself?" Though I said that, I still grabbed the brush from her and moved myself back towards the headboard before sitting down cross-legged.
With a smile on her face, Lumine gently lowered herself to the bed, slowly moving towards me. "I would, but unfortunately, there's no mirror for me to use."
"Yes there is."
"There was." Once she was close, she climbed onto my lap and turned herself around, humming happily as she made herself comfortable. "Don't worry, I just put them away for the time being. I'll make sure to return them tomorrow morning."
"Uh huh. And why would you do that?"
"Because you hate mirrors."
"I don't 'hate' mirrors."
Grabbing a handful of her golden hair from the middle, I slowly brushed them down, careful of any tangles. Once that was done, I slowly made my way up.
"Okay, maybe hate is the wrong term." She paused, letting herself enjoy the feeling of the brush against her hair. With a contented sigh, she continued her previous words. "But seriously, on top of what happened last time, the moment we entered this room, you've been trying your absolute hardest not to stare at the giant mirror in front of the bed. You can try covering it up, but I'm not blind, Yuu."
"So the princess has her eyes on me this entire time? My, how flattering."
"Kamiyama Yuu."
"Alright, alright, geez." Moving my hands towards one of her locks, I repeated the same motion as before. "Fine, maybe I do have a problem staring at my reflection ever since that day, but it's nothing to worry about, is it? With a bit of practice, I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually."
Instead of some kind of admonishment, she instead didn't say anything, which honestly feels a lot more unsettling.
Thankfully, it didn't take long for her to break the silence.
"Sigh… you already know what I'm going to say, right?"
"...yes."
"It's good that you understand. Now, with that out of the way, " Turning her head towards me, she proceeded to pat my head with a cheeky grin on her face, "get to brushing, mister boyfriend, you're doing great."
"A real slave driver, aren't you?"
"I asked nicely, I'll have you know."
"Mmmhm. You sure did."
As the brush made its way down, it suddenly stopped, eliciting a small yelp from the blonde traveler. After muttering an apology, I carefully tugged at the tangled mess until it became smooth once more.
"Have you done this before?"
"To someone else? No. But I brushed mine pretty much everyday with how thick it was back then."
"Must be troublesome, huh?"
"You have no idea."
After making sure everything on the back was done, I set aside the brush and grabbed Lumine by the waist, carrying the somewhat heavy traveler and turned her around before putting her down in front of me.
Grabbing the brush, I started from the right, away from the flowers adorning her hair.
"I don't really know what I did wrong, but I kept losing a lot of hair often. Not to mention how frizzy my hair gets when it's a particularly humid day."
"Ah, you grew out your hair?"
"No. Well, I tried once, and it was a fucking nightmare."
"How so?"
As I was talking, I noticed that she kept her eyes on mine at all times, which I tried my best to avoid. Making eye contact with others is something I instinctively avoid doing if I could help it. Wearing a mask, though, helps erase the feeling of ants crawling my entire body whenever I do so.
"Having my hair touch the back of my neck constantly is aggravating, for one. Also, it makes going outside a lot more uncomfortable because of how much hotter it became, especially since my hair was black. And don't even get me started on how hard it was to sleep."
So I focused on other things as I talked, just like I always did. People tend to not question it as often when that happens. The eyes are the window to the soul, or so they say. And with how much of an open book I can be now, it's unsettling to have someone else stare at them. It makes me feel exposed.
'Quite the irony, isn't it? For the person that wanted someone to notice the real him behind the mask to be so afraid of people realizing what he really is.'
"So you kept it short ever since?"
"Yep. I couldn't stand how high maintenance it was, so I never grew it out again. Well, except towards the end, I guess. But at that point, I didn't really care much about anything."
Though she's a special case, it's hard to not do something you've been doing for the majority of your life. I'd like to think I've gotten better, but with how I still instinctively avoid her eyes even now, perhaps I still have a long way to go.
Before I could get started on the left side of her hair, she suddenly grabbed my hand, nearly making me drop the brush. Feeling the unusually tight grip on my hand, I turned my attention towards Lumine.
"What's wrong?"
"...be careful, okay?"
As I forced myself to not flinch away from her eyes, I could see the apprehension behind her usual happy-go-lucky behavior. And perhaps it's not unwarranted, given how much importance the flower had on her.
Even if Inteyvat hardens when it's away from its homeland, I'm not exactly sure how durable it really is.
"Don't worry, I'll be careful."
Under her watchful eyes, I carefully take off the two flowers from her hair before carefully setting them down on top of the nightstand next to the bed.
"There. See? Nothing to worry about."
"...yeah." Shakily nodding her head, Lumine let out a sigh of relief. "Sorry about that. Seems a bit excessive doesn't it?"
"No, no, I get it. It's something precious to you, after all. You don't seem to mind wearing them in combat though. What's up with that?"
"I feel better having it on me at all times, knowing that it's still there and not tucked away someplace where I can't see them. Besides, I'm confident that I can protect it and myself at the same time."
"Even if it risks splitting your focus?"
"I just think of it as extra training." She said, shrugging her shoulders. "I know how stupid it sounds, but it just makes me feel… safe, you know? Like I still have my brother by my side, even when he's not."
"Hmm. A messy and complicated thing, emotion is."
"It is, isn't it?"
With the flowers out of the way, I grabbed the brush once more and continued my work in silence.
And with one final sweep of the brush, I finally finished my work.
"That should do it. Here."
"Thanks." Grabbing the white brush from me, she gently runs her fingers along her hair before nodding in satisfaction. "That feels so much better."
"Good. Now go to sleep, we have a long day tomorrow."
Before I could lay down and clock out, Lumine grabbed both of my shoulders and stopped me from doing so.
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
"What is it this time?"
Instead of answering, she released her hands and spread them wide, all while wiggling her eyebrows with that annoyingly smug smile on her face.
God, this never stops being embarrassing no matter how many times I do it.
Trying my best to suppress the burning heat creeping onto my cheeks, I wrapped my arms around Lumine's waist, to which she responded by wrapping hers around my neck, and laid the two of us gently onto the bed before rolling over to the side, careful not to wake Paimon up.
Before I could die of embarrassment, I decided to strike while the iron was hot.
Closing the gap between us, I pressed my lips against hers, which she immediately reciprocated, as I felt her hands begin to wander, touching my face all over before making its way to make a mess of my hair.
In retaliation, I pressed my fingers along her spine, which caused her to jolt in surprise, before suddenly feeling her sliding its way inside my mouth, with one of her hands on the back of my head pressing us together, deepening the kiss.
Now with tongues involved, the two of us take turns exploring each other, with my hands going lower and lower while she keeps pushing herself against me, trying to deepen the kiss even further, as her other hand makes its way towards my chest.
While I was busy trying to keep up with the more excitable blonde, I felt her hand snaking its way past my clothes and began running it across my bare chest, before settling itself on a small nub and began pinching it.
Letting out a muffled moan into her mouth, I feel my cheeks practically burning from embarrassment. And judging by the low chuckle coming from her, she's not about to stop anytime soon.
Not wanting to be outdone, I slipped my hand lower until it reached her plump ass and started massaging them through the soft fabric of her nightgown.
This time, I could feel the shiver of Lumine's body as she let out a similarly muffled moan into my mouth, while pressing our bodies closer to the point that I could feel something hard pressing against my chest.
Before I could celebrate the small victory I had over her, she suddenly went even more aggressive, pushing herself against me as far as she could, plunging her tongue deeper into my mouth while the hand that was on my head moved lower towards the edge of my spine before grabbing my ass hard, all while still pinching my nipple.
Everything felt so good that my head started to feel light.
Trying my best to not pass out from all the pleasure, I stopped holding back and grabbed both of her breasts and started massaging them while occasionally pinching her erect nipples.
With my head clouded from the extreme bliss, the two of us continued touching each other while never once stopped making out, only gasping for breath every once in a while before closing the gap once again. The fact that Paimon was right next to us made it a lot more exciting.
Eventually, after god knows how long, the two of us stopped and separated ourselves from each other. Feeling her hot breath hitting my face as she panted for dear life, the realization of what I just did suddenly hits me like a truck.
"Oh my god, I did not just do all that."
"Fufu, I… really did not expect you… to go that far."
"I… might have gotten a bit too into it."
"A bit? Really?"
"Okay, maybe that's understating things," I said, as I rolled my eyes in annoyance, "besides, you asked for it."
"Did I? I remember merely spreading my arms wide expecting a hug, yet you went above and beyond my expectations."
"Fuck, this is what I get for jumping to conclusions"
"If that's the case, maybe you should jump to conclusions a lot more. Especially if that was the result."
"Ugh, just kill me already."
"Nope." Laughing at my apparent misery, she sat both of us up and began fixing my messy clothes, taking off the disheveled robe and wrapping it around my waist before laying the both of us down. "You're stuck with me for as long as I want you to."
Not bothering to answer her quip, I nestled my head into her neck and closed my eyes.
"Just sleep already for god's sake."
"Okay, okay."
Feeling the weight of her head on top of mine, I relaxed myself, feeling the fatigue from our previous session setting in.
"I love you, Yuu."
At her words, I could feel the fading embarrassment coming back in full force.
Despite that, I answered her as sincerely as I possibly could.
"I love you too, Lumine."