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Makoto had other matters to attend to, it was so very rare that she couldn’t attend, so Ei took her place this one time. It was a sacred meeting between the gods after all, so Ei often felt like she was intruding.
Besides, ‘ you’ve always attended with me before, maybe you can bond more without me!’ Makoto insisted. Ei sighed at the memory as she made her way to the gathering of the gods. Familiar gazes of all the gods look back at her so cheerfully and kindly, so she steps into the garden.
They were sad Makoto couldn’t make it, but insisted on Ei's stay, so she did.
One by one, each one had to go back to their duties. As it took place in Liyue, Morax did not have to leave as he was the host, Barbatos never really had any duties to attend to so of course he stuck around, and lastly Ei had two people running the nation, so she wasn’t in a rush either. So it was the three of them. And probably with the mild lack of responsibilities, it was probably why she indulged in the stupid drinking contest. And she was probably too drunk to get back home anyway.
“Hehehe, sooooo…” Barbatos slurred, “Ho… How many was that…?”
“46.” Morax answered plainly, idly pouring them another cup. Perhaps the only reason he indulged in this was because it was a competition, in of itself a contract to watch over. Ei felt her vision blur as she quickly downed another drink, errghh…
“Is this what… Makoto does all the time… With you guys?” Ei complained.
“Awwhhh…” Barbatos hiccuped in the middle of his sentence, “getting... Tired already?” As he was so sluggish and sloppily downed the cup.
Ei scowled immediately and gestured for Morax to pour another cup and quickly downed it down.
“As if. I’m… I’m not even tipsy yet.” She gritted her teeth, blatantly lying and all three of them knew it.
“Well, no, she doesn’t.” Morax answered her, as he mindlessly poured another drink for her and that cursed bard across the table for their 48th cup. What goes unsaid is that Ei is much easier to goad into such a silly contest than her much sharper sister is.
Ei shutted her eyes as she downed the cup quickly, her face wrinkling as the bitter taste went past her tongue once again.
“Re… Remind me what we agreed on again…?” Ei asked breathily, why was she doing this again? She knew for a fact her cursed pride wouldn’t allow her to back down from this. Regardless of what the prize was. Perhaps the reminder would help her rub it in that stupid, stupid bard’s face when she won. Just hearing the sound of liquid pouring down the cup made her queasy already.
“You are offering each other a delicacy from each of your respective nations.” Morax answered succinctly. In Ei’s haze she vaguely recalled the mention of pancakes , yes. She will try this ‘pancake’ proudly on his face. (She has no doubt of what Venti will request from her nation.)
“Haha… You hear that? I-I…” Ei downed the cup, “I will try a pancake! And I’ll bring… Some back for Makoto!” She proclaimed suddenly, “and... And something for.. Miko! You hear that Barbatos!”
“Zzz…”
“S-So I can…” She paused.
Ei stared at him.
Barbatos laid, slumped over the table sleeping soundly with a cup in his hand. Peaceful as he had always rested.
Morax glanced down at him then at her, “well, congratula-”
“WOOOOOOOO! I WON! TAKE THAT!” Ei in her drunken stupor laughed, threw a cup into the air and jumped on the table, (the sound of Morax scrambling to catch his cup escaped her notice) and immediately started dancing to a song that wasn’t playing. “D-Did you see that Morax?!”
“I was here the whole time.”
“MIIIKKOOOO!” She shouted at the top of her lungs towards her country, “DID YOU SEE THAT?! I WOOON! I-I wooon…. hnn...”
She can’t seem to recall what happened after that. Though she supposed that was the start of her fall. (At least Miko did like the pancakes.)
And from every meeting after that, on whatever occasion she was invited...
“Hey Beeezzeeboooo!”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Come on!”
“No.”
“Want to do another game? I got you caramel apples!” He sing-songed towards her, waving it towards her like she was some sort of animal. (She despised that it worked. )
Meeting after meeting, he’d cow her into some game along with the other gods. And how her poor pride was stained whenever she lost, coming back sulking and running to the shrine to seek comfort for her ‘sore loser infliction’ as Saiguu would call it in Miko’s arms.
Although she had promised she swore off drinking…
“You know, whenever I drop by you’re always busy with Miko, huh?” Barbatos commented, swirling around his cup thoughtfully.
“... Yes… What of it?” Ei asked, thankfully it wasn’t a competition this time and was mere casual indulgent drinking this time. She sighed, deciding that the bitter taste was no longer worth suffering for. She pushed the drink away, deciding to stop for the time as she was in no mood to be utterly drunk and… Her face heated up at the memory of their competition.
Yeah, she was never drinking again.
“I hear from Makoto you can’t keep you hands off of her, how ccuuutte~! How’s it going with you two?”
She felt her face heat up, that traitorous sister…!
“I-I…! Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not her dog.” She hissed irritably, for some reason that struck a nerve with her, “besides. We’re fine.” She huffed.
“Eh? Is that so? We’re not going to talk about how you practically ignore everyone, even your guests with her around?”
“No I don’t!”
“Uh huh, I bet you can’t keep your hands off of her for even a day.” He grinned cheekily, “awh… You’re practically smitten~!”
“Wh-” She swatted at his hand as he pulled on her cheek as if she was some- some baby! They were almost the same age! “Yes I can!”
“Eeeehhh?”
She stood up determinedly, “I’m not smitten with her, I can easily survive without her for a day.”
“Haaaahh? Is that so?” She frowned at him, he gave her a goofy smile, they both stared at each other for a time before he broke out into a grin, “okay! I want your finest sake!”
“Huh?”
“Well, it’s a bet, isn’t it?” He said, blinking innocently up at her, “and hmm… I’ll dunno, sing you a song?”
“I don’t want that stupid reward.”
“Fine, fine… Oh, I know! You don’t have any sunsettia’s, don’t you? I’ll get you a good sttooocccckk. Maybe you can add it to your dango or something flavor.”
Ei tilted her head, that did… Sound tempting, maybe Makoto can make a cake with it…? She pondered the thought before nodding, “fine. A deal then. What are your propositions?”
Barbatos pondered the thought, “no kissing allowed.”
“... Okay, and?”
“Kissing, cuddling, and everything further is off the table.”
Ei faltered, no... cuddling?
“Awh, what’s wrong? Too hard?”
Her face flushed and she waved her hand, “no. Fine. I won’t kiss, nor cuddle, or anything further with her for a day. Though… Er, do I… Stop her?”
“Hm… Good point, okay, you can’t reciprocate in any of those cases if she gets one in on you.”
No reciprocating…? She was already withering at the thought. Though her face hardened at the mere sight of his stupid dumb gremlin looking face.
“Fine. How will you know?”
“No worries.” He winked, “you’re too honorable for that, no how much of a sore loser you are!”
She despised him oh-so-much.
Today was the day.
When she got back to Inazuma, normally the first thing she would do would go to the shrine but… Maybe if I pretend to be busy for the whole day? She pondered, her feet were already itching to dash over just to greet her beloved. She shook her head, okay, I’ll… Just busy myself with work today! She slowly started walking.
If she wasn’t around the whole day, Miko would surely understand she was busy… And she would technically beat the game. Simple. She pouted a little at the idea of not telling her immediately… Maybe she should send a letter? Should she just hide the whole day?
She mindlessly walked and before she knew it, she was at the shrine anyway.
Wait! Oh no!
HOW did she end up here?! She… She wasn’t that attached to Miko was she…?
“Ei!” She heard the familiar, loving voice in the distance, “you’re back a bit late.” The steps got closer and closer- Ei froze, no initiating- It didn’t take long to feel the arms around her and she stiffened like a rock.
“... Uh.” Miko felt her tenseness, and gave her a peculiar look, “... Are you okay?”
She pulled back a little, her hands on Ei’s shoulders to look at her face, then her hand coming up to caress Ei’s cheek oh so gently-
“I-I!” Ei immediately took a step back, “justwantedtotellyouIwasbackandIwillbebusybye.”
She ran away leaving Miko staring blankly at the dust trail she left behind.
“... Oh, okay…” Her tail drooped, “I’ll… Eat your dango… Alone.” She huffed and crossed her arms, though… She did glance up at a bird flying towards her direction in peculiarity.
Ei sat at her desk slumped over and head in her arms.
It hadn’t even been an hour and she was already missing Miko. If there wasn’t something going on she would be sitting and going on a date right about now, maybe eating dango or reading idly and cuddling up with her…
She sighed and sat up, she might as well actually do some work to take her mind off of it, Makoto was off doing political talks or something. She didn’t always know, but she might as well read through some of the papers to see if there was any requirement for her hand in dealing with monsters or rogues as that was what she was best at.
She heard the sound of the door opening, and without looking up, “I thought I said no one would interrupt me.” She commented coldly.
“But I brought you dango.”
Ei’s head immediately jerked up, seeing Miko holding a bag and books in hand, an innocent smile as she did so. She held it up and winked at her, Ei’s face immediately struggling to maintain composure.
“Oh— Miko…” She said, did homoerotic gazing count towards the bet?
“Come now, I know you love your dango. I know you're busy. Besides, nothing wrong with me being in the room, right?”
Ei’s mouth went dry, was… Miko dressed a bit differently, did she open her shrine maiden’s outfit? Were those her legs? Her t-thighs and—
“Of course, thank you.” She closed her eyes and stiffly nodded. Miko smiled sweetly leaning over to lay down the gifts, revealing how loose her clothes were and showing—
“MIKO!” Ei shrieked, standing up immediately.
“Hmmmm?” She asked with a tilt of her head, watching as Ei walked around the table and to her, “what’s wrong dear?”
“Don’t dear me, were you walking around like this?” She demanded, “it’s chilly out, you’ll catch a cold.”
She immediately fussed over Miko’s outfit and straightened it, making sure the clothes were fastened properly- or well, as least as properly and cleanly as she could. She absolutely missed Miko’s unimpressed look as her attempt on Ei absolutely flew over her head.
“Awh, were you worried about me?”
“Of course, try to dress comfortably. It can get cold outside sometimes. You can stay here for the time… I suppose, since it’s warm here…” Ei trailed off…
“Do you not want me here?” Miko pouted, “I can take my leave…”
“N-No uh.” Ei sputtered, lord she was going to lose that bet horribly, “I mean, you can stay as long as you desire.”
Miko gave a foxy smile, “how sweet of you, perhaps we can go somewhere after you finish?”
“Uh…” Ei faltered, “perhaps…”
They both sat in relative quietness, with Ei on the desk looking and sifting through documents while Miko idly read the newest novels apparently. With occasional banter, but before long Miko stood up and Ei hadn’t taken notice until she was closer,
“Hey Ei…?”
“Hm.”
“You were right, I am feeling a bit chilly…”
Ei looked up, blinking curiously, “oh, I can fetch you a blanke—”
Miko had placed her hand on her shoulders easily sidling up on her and curling up on Ei’s lap. She then nuzzled her face into the crook of Ei’s stiff neck, “that’s fine, I can be warm here.”
She peered up with a puppy expression, “you don’t mind, do you?”
Ei was positive her heart flat lined for a good moment as she stared, don’treciprocatedon’treciprocatedo—
“No.” She meekly said in a high pitched voice and sat there stiffly. Like an absolute tree.
“Good.” Miko went back to nuzzling her neck, with the (shaking, faltering even) will of an archon did she resist to kiss Miko’s head or hug her or carry her or literally anything and sat there. Okay what now. Miko pulled up her book, continuing to read on Ei’s lap as Ei’s hand shookily went around to try to grab a piece of paper to read.
Miko’s skin was soft and warm, her eyes drifted down and-
It took about a solid 10 seconds before Ei wordlessly put it back down, carried Miko making her squeak at the sudden movement, carefully placed her down at the nearby couch, and quickly shuffled out.
Ei walked out of the room, letting out a huge breath. Guilt grappled all over her heart… She’s not usually this… Forward. She pondered, wondering what had gotten into her, it was as if Miko was trying to seduce her, which she did sometimes but... Regardless. It was making everything infinitely more difficult to not pick up Miko and run to the nearest bedroom— She shook her head at the utterly sinful thoughts and jogged to the nearest room to grab a blanket.
(What she didn’t see was Miko kicking her poor table in a huff.)
Ei soon came back to wrap Miko in a bundle, who immediately yelped,
“Ei!? What th-!” She huffed, grabbing the blanket off of her, and revealing her messy hair. She immediately tried to smooth it down and Ei giggled at the sight.
“Sorry, sorry, is it thick enough?”
Miko pouted and held the blanket close to her, “It’s warm enough, thanks.” She mumbled through the fabric. Ei nodded once confirmed and went back to her desk, Miko seemed to be sulking but Ei gulped warily, deciding to continue her work. Once again interrupting her train of thought so easily, Miko stretched comfortably across the couch catching Ei's attention, her fluffy tail stretching along with her as she did so. Ei’s eyes couldn’t help but trail down a little and-
Ei shut her eyes.
But seeing Miko lounge on the couch dressed like that was so…
The difficulty in controlling herself to not keep glancing at her was almost impossible. Even Miko seemed to revel in it, noticing her after so many glances, winking at her, “like what you see?” She purred.
“Always.” She instinctively replied.
Miko laughed, setting the book down and went to saunter over to her. Her hand went up and started caressing Ei’s cheek, then slowly trailed down to the collar of her shirt, making Ei’s mouth water like some-some dog -
“I-I-Uh-Mi-Miko.”
“You can touch you know…” Miko whispered into her ear, Ei feeling her hot breath on her, Miko so easily pries open her shirt and Ei sits there like a sweaty gaping lesbian. She also sidled up against Ei, her hips rocking on the kagemusha’s lap. Instinctively, Ei’s hands went behind the chair, holding themselves together as if to protect whatever last shred of dignity she had left to not touch Miko.
“What’s wrong?” The fox murmured smoothly, “won’t touch me…?”
Ei gulped.
Ei slammed the large bottle of sake right in front of Barbatos with a displeased glower.
“Not a word.” She hissed.