#i struggled between naming this fic 'peacock' or 'calathea' before the latter won

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

Calathea.

tags: f!reader (she/her pronouns), medium angst with a happy ending, established relationship, knight of favonius!reader, childhood friends

tw: reader is recovering from an injury sustained on a patrol, blood mention

a/n: after kaeya popped up briefly in the newest archon quest, it got me thinking about the persona he puts on and his loneliness and it somehow got me thinking about peacock calatheas and thus this fic was born. my fellow plant people know how much work and love it takes to maintain a calathea and it kinda just fit kaeya in my mind. this is lowkey highkey very self indulgent + part of my yay me celebration thing

“Kaeya, can you settle down? You’re driving me crazy,” when your boyfriend ignored your annoyed hiss in favor of accompanying you in your shared home, you sighed in defeat. “Can’t you go and bother Lulu for an hour? I don’t need you to babysit me.”

“Lulu?” Kaeya chuckled, amusement dancing in his eye. Of course that’s what gets him to grace you with a response. “That’s not something I hear every day.”

“I know a grumpy bartender who’d love to be in your place,” you can’t hold back a snicker of your own. 

Diluc hated the nickname you continuously referred to him as since you were 3. He didn’t mind it at first. That went out the window when the old nickname slipped when the both of you were on duty with a handful of new knights present though. Even now that he was gone from the Knights of Favonius’ ranks, Diluc would shoot you dirty looks when ‘Lulu’ fell from your lips.

“Now get off your leg,” Kaeya motioned his hands for you to back away. “You shouldn’t be on it for too long, remember? I can take care of the rest.”

He’s more like a mother hen than a peacock. Your lips can’t help curling into a smile despite the roll of your eyes.

“Barbara said a little light movement would be good for me,” you protest, shooing the blue-haired man away from you once more. “Walking around our house to take care of my plants isn’t going to land me back in Barbara’s healing arms.” The young deaconess healed what she could. Now the rest was up to your body’s own natural healing. "With how restless you’re acting, you’d think you’re the one Barbara put on lockdown.”

“Me? Restless?” Kaeya’s looked at you with an eyebrow raised in mock surprise. “Perish the thought.”

“Little Kaeya is the last plant I have to tend to and I promise I’ll rest on the couch and let you serve me to your heart’s content, alright?” Exasperating as his behavior was, however, you appreciated the amount of attention and care Kaeya displayed since you were injured. He even asked Jean to move his schedule around to allow him to be home in order to help you.

“Just don’t overwork yourself,” you warned him when he announced he’d be working odd hours until your recovery.

“Do what you love and you never work a day in your life, they say,” was all Kaeya replied with a teasing smile. “Taking care of you is something that I love. So I can’t overwork myself in the slightest.”

He’s lucky I love him so much, you huff silently but your chest is warm. You move to wipe your damp cloth against the leaves of Little Kaeya, your peacock calathea, when the next words come from Kaeya’s mouth: “Has Barbara told you when you’ll be able to return to duty?”

You took your time responding to his question, wiping the next leaf of your plant tenderly. “Maybe this suits me better,” there’s no surprised look or sound that escapes from the man and you know he’s suspected your thoughts for a while. You’d been worrying how to bring it up and you find yourself thankful he allowed an opening. “I’ve never been the best Knight of Favonius. I only joined because I was chasing after you and Lulu.” It was a miracle you passed the selection test in the first place. But with no real idea in mind of what you wanted for yourself and the fear of being left behind by your friends, you decided to become a knight.

Then Diluc left your ranks, never looking back, and only yourself and Kaeya remained. Crepus’ death had shaken all three of you. The days playing among the vineyards of Dawn Winery were a far off memory, lost in grief-tinted nostalgia.

"I think you were quite the fine knight,” Kaeya replied so smoothly you almost believed him. 

"At least if I got in, Noelle should know she’ll make it at some point too.” With a final few wipes, Little Kaeya was pristine and as vibrant as ever. “Looking handsome as always, Little Kaeya,” you beamed with pride.

Kaeya held his chest as if he were in pain, “I’m hurt, I thought I was the only Kaeya in your life.”

“Well he is a peacock,” you pointed at Little Kaeya’s leaves, exact replicas of a male peacock’s feathers. Calling it ‘Kaeya’, the icy peacock of Mondstadt himself, seemed very fitting to you at the time. “And I have enough room in my heart for the both of you. Maybe I’ll work at Flora’s, she and Donna mentioned needing a new helper.” You nod at your Dendro Vision, resting on the bookshelf nearby. “They want me to help keep the flowers preserved longer since I have the capability to do so. And it helps I can speed up the growth process of any blooms they want to start growing themselves.”

He’s smiling but you could tell it was bittersweet. “Flora and Donna, huh?” Kaeya sighed audibly. “That’s who’ll be taking my [First] away from me?”

"Don’t be a big baby, you’re in your 20s now,” you poke Kaeya’s cheek softly.

A gloved hand held your own before kissing it tenderly. “Sorry, sorry. I’ll just miss my favorite partner.”

It occurred to you, not for the first time, there were more similarities to the Kaeyas that stood before you than he’d ever care to admit.

Calatheas are beautiful, that was attracted you to them in the first place. The patterned foliage pulled you in the first moment you saw them. Beautiful as they were, however, calatheas were one of the divas of the plant world.

The water needed to be just so. 

The humidity in your home needed to be just so. 

The sunlight filtering through your windows needed to be just so.

Anything that upset that balance even a little and the plant would react with a fragility that surprised you the first time you saw your plant’s leaves curling. You maintained a stable system for it since, despite your busy schedule.

Kaeya is beautiful, he had been since the first day you met him. I’m gonna be his wife some day, the younger you thought with a surprising amount of confidence for a 6 year old.

He was beautiful when he shyly hid behind Diluc who introduced you both after Crepus took the boy in.

He was beautiful when he laughed. 

He was beautiful when he developed the cocky yet observant attitude the whole of the city knew him for today. The flare he held was so vibrant it was sometimes easy to forget that Kaeya was a lonelier person underneath it.

I’ll never forget that day. It rained hard after Crepus’ death; it felt like the heavens themselves were mourning.

“Kaeya?!” You rushed out your door the moment you spotted him from your window, not caring about the icy rain pelting your skin. “What are you doing here, you’re getting soaked!” You dropped the towel in your hand when you noticed the cut down his right eye and the blood pouring down the side of his face.

You weren’t able to get out another word before he pulled you into his chest.

Kaeya held you so tightly you thought you would bruise, fingers digging into your back to ground himself. Yet in that moment, all you could do was hug him back just as fiercely. The warm water rolling down the side of your neck was the rain and the sobs racking Kaeya’s body was the thunder.

To this day you weren’t sure how long you’d stood out there before you pulled Kaeya into your home to tend to his wound. When he placed a wet Cryo Vision on your table, you pursed your lips before continuing your movements. It was a miracle that he hadn’t been blinded.

Neither Kaeya or Diluc ever divulged the full extent of what happened that day and you had long since stopped asking. If Kaeya ever planned to tell you the truth, he never hinted at it. That was fine. He could tell you whenever he was ready. You could only hope that one day the two brothers would rekindle their old relationship, you knew that would make Crepus smile warmly from the other side.

You’d been hesitant to tell Kaeya your thoughts of leaving the Knights. It had been on your mind even before the attack happened. Four years ago it terrified you to think what would happen to Kaeya if you left his side in the Knights along with his brother.

Four years later in the present, the hilichurl attack you survived taught you that that alone wasn’t enough reason to stay in a profession you were unsuited for. You could support Kaeya in other ways while you stayed true to yourself.

You cupped Kaeya’s face in your hands, thumbs caressing his cheeks. “I’m always gonna be your partner, whether I’m a knight or not,” you promised firmly, staring into the diamond shaped pupils you’ve known since you were a child. The two of you like this was never a matter of ‘if’ but always a matter of ‘when’. “Even if it isn’t on the field, I’ll be here for you to come home to. You can’t get rid of me even if you try.”

“I’m holding you to your word,” Kaeya’s breath tickled your forehead before you lightly tugged him down to kiss his lips firmly.