#kaeya alberich x f!reader | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

moraxsthrone · 1 year ago

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⊹✧˚｡⋆ title — sir kaeya

⊹✧˚｡⋆ pairing — k. alberich x f!reader

⊹✧˚｡⋆ wc — 5.7k

⊹✧˚｡⋆ cw/an — nsfw. mdni. alcohol consumption (duh it's kaeya). kaeya being a bit of a tease (duh it's kaeya). oral (m & f rcv'ing). snowballing (how fitting). clit slapping. this fic sprang forth from the very first genshin thing i ever wrote (the scene at angel's share) so it's really special to me. kaeya was my first genshin love and will always be my favorite. 💜

surprising as it would be to most, you’d never been to mondstadt before this week’s multi-regional summit. as a diplomatic representative of your region, many would guess that you’d been all over teyvat. but you’ve only held your current office for a little less than a year, and although you did your best to absorb as much information and knowledge as possible from your predecessor, it’ll take a lot more time and experience than what you have so far to be as efficient as they had been. so, for now at least, the job keeps you busy - too busy to travel for pleasure.

so when the final meeting of the last day gets canceled, rather than go home early you take the opportunity to do some much-anticipated exploring of the city of wind and its culture.

“i’m famished! pray tell, sir kaeya, where would you recommend we go to enjoy the most authentic dishes of mondstadt?”

kaeya alberich, cavalry captain of the knights of favonius, has been charged with keeping you safe. as your security detail, he accompanies you almost everywhere you go - keeping a low profile during policy meetings - blending in with the background while also being close enough to stand between you and any potential threat or danger.

“we?” he asks, looking slightly confused. “will someone else be joining you?”

“if you’ll be so inclined…” you say before biting your lip and looking away shyly.

“me?”

you’d have to be blind not to have noticed his striking good looks the moment you were introduced to him on the first day, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt your feelings one bit to allow the captain to keep you company. likewise but unbeknownst to you, the gorgeous knight has stolen a few glances of you when you’ve been too busy to notice. he has especially enjoyed your pretty smile and the sway of your hips when you walk. more than once he’s allowed his gaze to linger on your curves perhaps a little too long.

“but of course! i don’t want to eat at a restaurant alone while you just stand there and watch. can you think of anything more depressing?” you joke.

“you make a valid point,” he says with a quiet laugh. “very well. allow me to treat you to good hunter. you’d be hard pressed to find a more impressive menu! miss sara makes a mean sticky honey roast - i can’t recommend it enough!”

as the two of you dine together, you enjoy easy conversation, becoming better acquainted with one another. when kaeya introduces you to miss sara, she goes out of her way to prepare for you a sampler of sorts, citing it as the perfect solution to your conundrum of deciding what to order because everything looks so tasty. she also insists that your bill is on the house, refusing to take any mora you offer, but you leave behind a handsome tip anyway. if nothing else, you want miss sara to have it as thanks for her warm and welcoming hospitality.

“what would you like to do next, m’lady?” kaeya asks, walking alongside you towards the city’s center.

you should be used to this title by now, but something about the way the cavalry captain looks at you when he says it sends a small rush of heat to your cheeks.

“oh, i don’t know. why don’t you surprise me?” you say, flashing him a coy smile, which he finds irresistibly adorable.

he takes you to marjorie’s souvenir shop before leading the way to the anemo archon statue in front of the cathedral. from there, the two of you take a stroll outside the city walls, engaging in playful banter along the way. your personalities blend well - he’s pleasantly surprised at your ability to keep up with his wit, and his charm wins you over with ease. by the time the sun is setting over the edge of the western horizon, your conversation is flowing effortlessly. the two of you haven’t been able to shut up for hours when you ask him,

“so where’s the best place to get a drink in this town?”

the knight’s smirk spreads into a full smile as he hums. “i know just the place.”

⊹✧˚｡⋆

the tavern is packed, and you’re inclined to believe kaeya’s got that pirate blood he claims to have since he’s standing on one of the big wooden tables, surrounded by other rambunctious patrons of angel’s share, singing along with the bard’s songs about legends of sea and treasure. their energy is contagious (obnoxious if you ask diluc who just rolls his eyes and shakes his head from behind the bar).

you’re right there with them, clapping and laughing when kaeya reaches out, takes your hand, and pulls you up onto the table with him. neither of you are sure if the visible heat on the apples of your cheeks is because of the alcohol or because of the sudden proximity of your bodies. with an arm around your waist he pulls you right up against his side and wow! he’s more powerful than he looks. the song is about finding love on the run and kaeya is acting out the lyrics with you, embarrassing you to no end but you’re having too much fun to ask him to stop, so you just go with it.

the song’s story ends with a kiss and you think you might just die when kaeya’s arm flexes against the small of your back, fastening your hip to his thigh. he brings his lips right up to yours, but they don’t quite touch. your eyes go wide as you stare into his periwinkle orb that sparkles with mischief. he practically whispers the last line of the song, his dandelion wine breath wisping over your lips.

the cheering of the men around you grows distant, drowned out by the blood rushing through your ears.

kaeya’s heart pounds against the palm of your hand resting on his chest.

you watch with bated breath as his ice-blue eye darkens with his diamond pupil. he shifts his weight and your knees feel like jelly when his lips but graze yours before he smiles and pulls away with a laugh.

raising his cup, he cheers along with the surrounding audience before hopping off the table. setting his drink down, he reaches for you again, this time to help you off the table. you accept, and he pulls you closer before his deft hands clasp your waist, lowering your feet to the floor.

a tease that kaeya alberich, you think, but a chivalrous one.

while you find yourself mingling with other patrons it seems kaeya never lets you out of his sight. he’s never too far away, engaged in his own conversations with some of the other locals when you look over to find him looking at you over the rim of his wine glass.

when one of the gentlemen offers to buy you a drink, kaeya seems to appear out of nowhere and places a hand on your lower back.

“oh, that won’t be necessary,” the knight interjects, voice filled with cool honey. “all her drinks are on the knights of favonius this evening, but a kind gesture, i’m sure.”

“why, sir kaeya, if i didn’t know any better i would think you’re trying to keep me all to yourself tonight,” you say with a teasing lilt.

his lips part as a slight blush appears on his cheeks, but he quickly recovers. “just performing my knightly duties to keep you safe, m’lady.”

when you’re ready to go, kaeya’s having such a good time that you don’t want to end his night. so you make your way to the bar to pay your tab, only to be told that your drinks have been bought and paid for already (oh, he wasn’t lying).

you wander out into the cool night, the sound of the crowd and the smell of booze muffled behind the thick wooden door. no longer had it shut behind you than you feel your back being pressed against the tavern’s exterior wall. you gasp, only to breathe easy when you find yourself pressed between the wall and your now-tipsy chaperone.

“thought you could get away so easily, hm?”

your eyes are glued to his smirk. those lips that promised to kiss you earlier won’t soon leave your mind.

you laugh breathily while giving his chest a gentle push. “i didn’t want to put a damper on your fun.”

“who said my fun is over for the night?” no sooner than the words leave his lips, his eye widens as he quickly realizes how inappropriate it was to say that. “oh dear, it seems i’ve forgotten my manners. please accept my apology, m’lady…”

his panicked attempt at clarification is interrupted by your laughter. “relax, sir kaeya. i won’t hold it against you.”

he really wishes you’d stop calling him that. it makes his dick twitch every time and you both know his pants will leave little to the imagination if he gets a hard-on.

he stumbles walks you back to the goth grand hotel, removing his cloak along the way and draping it over your shoulders when he notices you shivering in the cool night breeze. when you reach your door, he lingers as you unlock it with the intention of ensuring you make it inside safely. the bolt unlatches and you turn to face your chaperone again.

he’s looking down at you and opens his mouth to bid you good night when you pull him in by his shirt and kiss him. it’s a huge risk, one you never would’ve taken were it not for the liquid courage coursing through your veins. maybe he isn’t really interested in you and that’s the reason he didn’t kiss you earlier.

much to your relief, he kisses you back. passionately.

his warm tongue swipes across your bottom lip and you eagerly chase it with your own. you slide your fingers inside the opening of his shirt, balling it in your fist to lure him inside. his chuckle is low and breathy when he smiles against your lips which never leave his as you slam the door with your foot and push his back against the nearest wall.

“hahh…who knew you could be so forceful, m’lady?” he pants.

“sorry, but…” you say between kisses, carding your fingers through his soft hair, “...you teased me earlier and…” another kiss, “...i really wanted that kiss,” you finish with a whine.

“well, why didn’t you just say so, hm?” kaeya says, sucking on your lower lip with a hum.

his thumbs slide under your top, massaging little circles into your skin. there’s not a hint of humor in his voice when he rolls his forehead against yours and rasps, “i’ve been wanting to kiss you until you can’t breathe anymore…”

in one swift motion, kaeya spins you around effortlessly until your back hits the wall, his cloak falling off your shoulders as he catches your gasp in his open mouth, making it clear to you that he’s the one in control now. his fingertips dig into your lower back and pull your hips from the wall, forcing them to collide with his so you can feel what you’re doing to him. you let out a quiet moan at the feeling of his semi pressing against your thigh. his lips leave yours to venture along your jaw before trailing down the column of your neck, his blue hair fluttering in your breath and filling your senses with the cool, clean scent of his cologne.

you reach down and fumble with kaeya’s belt, swearing at it under your breath when it doesn’t cooperate. with one hand and a couple flicks of his fingers, it hits the floor with a clamor of leather and metal. you have much better luck with the fastenings of his pants, his lips returning to yours with a shuddering breath just as you free his cock and start stroking his wide shaft, so hot and hard.

he quickly pulls his gloves off and hikes your skirt up to your hips, exposing your creamy thighs.

“so warm…” kaeya whispers, raking his long, slender fingers along your skin until he reaches your apex. “n' so wet…”

“hhhgods fuck…” the words leave you in a huff, making him groan when you rub your thumb over his slit to collect his slick bead of pre. “f-hnn-fuck me, kaeya~”

with your blessing, he wastes no time pulling his now fully hard cock out of your hand in favor of grabbing the backs of your thighs and picking you up. you lock your ankles behind him with a whimper, the back of your head rolling against the wall when the underside of his dick glides over your dripping pussy lips through your damp panties. kaeya’s got two handfuls of your ass, his deft fingers curling and pulling your underwear to the side to let his leaking cockhead seek your naked opening. he begins to push himself inside, dropping his forehead to your shoulder with a long groan as his tip pops through your tight ring.

you cry out, one of your hands flying to the wall behind you as you loop an arm around his neck for stability. kaeya spreads his legs a little further apart for leverage as he sinks a little deeper inside you, his arms wrapped tightly around your waist. before he’s even fully sheathed inside you, he retreats just to push in again and starts fucking you, slow and shallow. he’s barely halfway in and you already feel so full, the thick vein on top of his shaft rolling under his skin as he pushes and pulls at your slick, gummy walls.

“so tight~” he breathes, open lips ghosting across your face as he goes for your lips again. “are you okay?”

all you can do is dumbly nod as your eyes roll back behind fluttering eyelids and a huff of a laugh bubbles from his smile. “feels so good…so good to me, kaeya~”

you’re practically singing for him already and he hasn’t even bottomed out yet. it would probably go to his head were it not for the fact that he’s too far gone from the wet heat of your pussy sucking him so hard, the lip of your ring catching on the head of his cock with every draw of his hips, driving him too crazy for his ego to remain intact anymore.

your elegant neck is exposed to him, letting his open lips drag along your moistening skin as your back moves up and down the wall with his thrusts. kaeya’s long, slender fingers grab your jaw and pull your lips to his. you’re so nice and wet for him that your need is spreading to his hips and balls. the sound of his thighs hitting yours when you finally take him all the way goes straight to your head. it’s one thing to feel kaeya fucking you, but hearing him fuck you - moist slaps of skin, his quickened breaths and quiet groans so close to your ear - it’s driving you out of your mind.

the cryo wielder pulls you away from the wall, your hot tongues swirling as he carries you to bed. his fingers squeeze the plush of your ass, guiding you along his throbbing shaft as he goes. kaeya lays you down before reaching behind his back to unlock your ankles and spread you open for him.

he pulls out and stands up, looking down at you and letting out a breathy chuckle when you whine a little at the loss of his girth. but the view is delicious so you don’t complain. his rigid cock is thick with a large vein running his length and an angry, almost purple cockhead that’s dripping with fresh precum. his tan shaft glistens, wet with your slick. it bounces under its own weight as he kicks his boots off and pushes his pants down.

you both watch the other undress with urgency; he makes quick work of his shirt as you shimmy out of your skirt. save for the battle scars, his lithe body is flawless - tall with long, lean muscles. seeing him like this makes you bite your lip and rub your thighs together.

kaeya’s lips curve into a small smile as he crawls towards you on the bed, his hands gently caressing the tops of your thighs as he kneels between them. he leans down to kiss your cheek, his long rat tail licking your breasts. “you are so fucking beautiful,” he says, barely above a whisper. “i've been dying to taste you…”

a sigh leaves your lips as he makes his way down your body, kissing and licking, sucking and nipping in all the right places. his breath feels so warm against your skin, save for the few times he purses his lips to blow cool air on the spots he just licked. he swirls his tongue around one of your nipples, only to replace it with his cool fingers while he gives the other the same treatment. the juxtaposition of warm and cool makes you arch off the bed, moaning when your clit brushes against his naked belly.

gradually, kaeya makes his way further down, ghosting kisses along your bikini lines as his hands spread your thighs open just a little more for him. he watches your dewy petals unfold for him, exposing the hard little bud they’ve been hiding. “fuck…” he mutters, “...such a pretty pussy…”

“kaey-” you start, but your voice is cut off by a gasp when his warm tongue swipes swiftly along your slit. a single periwinkle eye stares up at you as he flicks the tip of his wet muscle over your clit, soft and light as a feather. he’s teasing you. you can see the mischievous glint in his eye as he dips his tongue into your hole. finally, his lips latch onto your needy clit, making your hips leave the bed when you thrust into his mouth.

his taste buds rub your tiny erection, your flavor making him moan as he sucks you harder. one of his hands finds yours, your fingers interlocking while his other hand grabs and kneads at your heaving breasts, your soft tummy, and the plush of your thigh.

he pops off you, drool and slick coating his chin. “your flavor…fucking delectable~” he breathes before diving back in.

he nearly sends you over the edge when he pushes two of his long fingers inside your clenching cunt, curling them to find that unmistakable rough spot within. your walls squelch helplessly around him as he finger-fucks you. your free hand grabs and pulls mindlessly at his hair, hips rocking to fuck his pretty face as he gives you the head of your life.

“ohh~ kaeya~”

the searing coil that’s been spooling deep in your belly is getting impossibly tighter and when the cavalry captain hums on your clit, the vibrations send you. you cry out for him, back arching, walls clenching around his curled fingers. he pins you to the bed with his free arm and moans, a wet spot forming where more of his pre leaks out of his throbbing cock when your fists tighten around his cerulean locks. you cum for him, thighs clamping around his head while his tongue pulses over your clit until you’re fully spent.

kaeya situates his hips between your legs, wiping your spilled essence from his flushed face with a breathy chuckle before pressing the underside of his cock between your slippery folds. you taste yourself on his tongue when he kisses you, and he relishes your gasp when his swollen cockhead catches on your overstimmed clit.

grinning against your lips, he says, “oh? feeling a little sensitive, hm? perhaps you’re not quite ready to take my cock again so soon…” he teases, pulling away but you squeeze your thighs around his hips, impeding his escape and making him laugh.

“i can take a lot more than you think, sir kaeya…” you purr, twirling a strand of his blue hair around your finger.

there’s that glint in his eye again when he licks his smirking lips. “is that so, m’lady?” he croons, reaching between your bodies to grab the base of his cock. biting his lower lip and holding your gaze steady the cryo user slaps the head of his cock hard against your clit, swallowing your cry at the sharp pressure. “fuck,” he groans. “you make the prettiest sounds for me…”

“so mean,” you whine, digging your nails into his biceps when he pushes his blunt tip inside you.

he drops his mouth to your ear as he slowly spreads you open around his girth, whispering, “...and you love it.”

his sultry voice shoots down your spine straight to your core, making him moan deliciously when your weeping walls clamp down on him. kaeya starts slow and even, pulling almost all the way out before easing himself balls deep a few times, making you feel every inch as his cock drags and pulls along your slippery insides.

the lingering effects of your orgasm have left you even tighter than the first time he fucked you. he can already feel the heat pooling at the base of his spine, his balls drawing closer to his body when his hips begin to snap. there’s no way he’s going to get enough of you before he cums. you feel too fucking good - the way your little cunt is squeezing and sucking him so hard, drooling and soaking his entire length as he fucks you. the pretty little sounds your mouth and your pussy make for him…your whines and cries of his name, the slurps and squelches of your juices all over his cock.

he’s got to get more of you, plunge his cock deeper inside your hot, wet cunt.

kaeya pushes up onto his knees and props your ankles on his shoulders, still fucking you through it all without missing a beat.

“oh gods, kae- kaeya~...feels so good, don’t stop!”

“wasn’t planning on it…” he pants as he leans forward, putting you in a deep press so he can hit the spot that makes your hips leave the bed. “...gonna fuck you until this sweet pussy of yours creams all over my dick…”

you’re twisting the sheets in your fists above your head, the firm ridge of kaeya’s cockhead bumping against your sweet spot with every snap of his hips. strands of blue hair are sticking to his tan skin, a bead of sweat trickles down his chest before dripping onto yours. his palms are planted firmly on either side of you, veins popping out along his sinewy arms as muffled grunts form in his throat.

your walls are closing in tighter around him, both of you can feel it. his name is leaving your lips in broken syllables, coming out in huffs with the force of his thrusts: “kae-ya…y-you…fuck…g-gon-na…” is all you can manage before he fucks your next orgasm right out of you. you’re pawing at his chest, crying his name, clenching so hard around him you’d push him out were it not for him pounding into you harder, fighting to stay inside, determined to fuck you all the way through it with his brow furrowed and jaw clenched.

his balls ache, but he’s able to hold out for a few more seconds before the coil snaps inside him. he swears and pulls out quickly, his narrow hips still jerking and his arm flexing as he spills his hot, sticky seed out onto your belly and tits. you watch the pleasure wash over his beautiful face as his cock twitches in his own hand, a groan giving way to a satisfied sigh as the last of his cum oozes from his slit.

one at a time, he lowers your feet to the bed on either side of him. both of you are out of breath, chests heaving as kaeya dips down and licks a glob of his still-warm semen from your skin before bringing his mouth to yours. you moan in his mouth at his flavor, eagerly swirling your tongue around his to let him feed you his fresh, salty cum.

when he rolls off of you, both of you just lie on your backs in comfortable silence for a few moments, catching your breaths and basking in the afterglow.

“i guess this means you’ll be leaving soon, hm?” you finally ask.

with one knee bent, kaeya turns his head to look at you as you gaze up at the ceiling. “is that your way of kicking me out of your bed?” he asks with a forced smirk.

“no,” you chuckle. “i just didn’t take you for the type to stick around after a one-night stand…” you turn onto your side to face him. “but if i’m being honest, i really don’t want you to leave.”

“just how big of a whore do you think i am?” kaeya asks, contriving to sound offended and making you chuckle. he mirrors you and rolls onto his side, tenderly tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “i’m glad you want me to stay. i’ve had more fun with you tonight than i’ve had in a really long time.”

“is that right?” you say, biting your lip and dragging a fingertip down his enticing cleavage. “then why should our fun end?” you lean in and kiss him, his lips meeting yours softly.

“i didn’t say it should...” kaeya says before pressing his lips to yours again.

you press your hand against his chest, prompting him to lay on his back. goosebumps rise to meet your lips when you kiss his tan neck. he leans his head back and gasps quietly when you gently palm his softened cock. your touch is exquisite. he wants more of you but first he’s content to enjoy the wet kisses you leave along his skin as you work your way down to one of his dark and tightly budded nipples.

you smile and look up at him when he moans your name at the feeling of your tongue flicking over what’s proving to be one of his most sensitive spots. continuing on down, you take your time ghosting sweet kisses along the valley of his taut abs, all the way down to his cute navel and blue happy trail. you’re appreciating the time and care he obviously puts into his manscaping when you wrap your fingers around his still-sticky cock, surprised to find it so hard again already.

with a couple of fingers holding his base, you swirl your tongue around his salty cockhead and fuck he tastes good. you close your lips around his tip and give it a little suckle before popping off again to kiss the underside of his rigid shaft. you can still taste yourself on him too, somehow making you want to suck him even more.

sliding his slender fingers into your hair, kaeya mutters, “y/n…please…”

you finally take him in your mouth, your saliva coating him as you slowly sink down until his tip touches the back of your throat before hollowing your cheeks and pulling back towards his tip. with a slight tremble of his open legs, kaeya’s fingers tighten in your hair - not to control your pace or depth, but because the sheer pleasure coursing through him has all of his muscles tightening.

“ahh~ feels so…nnh~” he sighs as you take him in again, “...good.”

the sounds and words leaving his mouth are going straight to your pussy. you want to know just how good you can make him feel so after a little more cocksucking, you pull off him and move to straddle his hips.

you and kaeya hold eye contact as you line him up with your slit, dragging his tip between your pussy lips a few times. you’ll never forget the pleading look in his eye or the way his lips part when his blunt, leaking tip catches on your opening and you begin to lower yourself on his length. kaeya takes your hands in his, intertwining your fingers as your eyes flutter shut at the sensation of being filled once again with his girth.

you lean down to kiss him as you begin to ride him, slowly at first but gradually working yourself into a frenzy. kaeya’s hands grip your hips as you pop your ass on him, gliding along his filling cock. your moans turn to whimpers as you feel yourself approaching another orgasm and you start bucking your hips.

“ka-hahh~ kaeya…” you sit up, your hands anchoring themselves to his chest, using his body as leverage to drag your clit along his happy trail.

kaeya’s fingertips are digging into the plush of your butt, aiding your thrusts as he whispers words of encouragement. “that’s it, y/n. you’re doing so well…fucking me right…you’re almost there, keep going~”

and just like that, your fingertips dig into the muscle of his chest as your orgasm rips through you. you’re crying his name out over and over as you spasm all around him and the very fibers of your being feel like they’re being torn asunder until your body begins to go limp. kaeya welcomes you into his embrace as you lower your chest to his, your hot breath bathing his neck as you try to catch it, still whining here and there as he kisses the side of your head and tells you how fucking amazing you are.

with some of your strength and mind returning, you rise just enough to kiss him again, finding a fleeting look of sheer adoration in his eye before he lifts your hips and pulls out of you, his rock hard, creamy cock slapping against his happy trail. he moves you onto your belly while he positions himself behind you, pulling your weak hips up until you’re presenting for him.

“is this okay?” he mutters, dragging his tip along your quivering slit.

eyes still closed, you nod weakly against the bed. “ye-yes…please, kaeya~”

with one hand on your lower back, he guides his cock inside you before hooking both his hands around your hips. he fucks you slowly, pulling almost all the way out before sinking himself fully inside your heat again. but it isn’t long before kaeya’s wet hips are slapping against your ass and he’s watching the creamy ring you’re leaving on his cock, mesmerized by how beautifully it contrasts with his darker skin. the thick vein on top of his cock is rolling under the pressure of your tight, sucking cunt - every time kaeya thrusts inside you.

you’re whimpering again. “s-sir kaeyaaa~” you whine at him over your shoulder.

“love it when you call me that…” he pants.

“i- hahh~ i know~” you say with a sly, exhausted smile.

his balls are tightening again - rolling around in his sac as the muscles around them seek to force his seed out again, making him moan and exhale a long “ah, fuuuuuck~” behind you. “gonna cum…”

after a few more stuttered thrusts, kaeya buries himself deep inside you, his tightened balls pressed hard against your clit as he unloads himself. “i’m...nggh...i'm cumming~” he can’t help but moan loudly as he coats your walls with his hot, milky seed. a couple of thick globs leak from the rim of your hole, and drip down his tight, dark-skinned balls.

kaeya nearly collapses on top of you, but manages to land on the bed beside you, pulling you close to him. you’re facing each other but your eyes are still closed as you both kiss whatever part of the other’s body or face is closest, too exhausted to mutter a single word.

⊹✧˚｡⋆

dawn comes, bringing with it her harsh light. your eyes flutter open with a squint, turning away from it only to find an arm lying limply around you.

oh. oh right. that happened.

you smile weakly at the fresh memories of your drunken fuckfest with the cavalry captain of the knights of favonius.

the fact that your duties in mondstadt have been fulfilled and you’ll be leaving to return to your homeland give you a low, sinking feeling in your heart. after a few minutes of replaying the events of the previous night and considering your options, you gingerly move the cavalry captain’s arm off your body - slowly and carefully so as not to wake him.

⊹✧˚｡⋆

kaeya wakes with a groan, his eye blinking open to find himself alone in the hotel bed. he sits up and looks around, calling your name once but to no avail. he thinks ‘how predictable’ when he realizes you left without even saying goodbye. he tries to ignore the ache in his chest, reminding himself that he should be used to it by now. he throws the covers back to start getting dressed when from the corner of his eye he catches something flutter: a folded piece of parchment that had been resting on your pillow. a thread of hope dares to weave its way through his heart as he picks it up and begins to read:

“you looked so handsome and peaceful in the morning light, i didn’t want to wake you. thank you…for everything, but especially for the night before. i don’t want to call it “last” night because i truly hope it wasn’t our last. please reach out if you feel the same. i’d love for you to visit my homeland so i can be your tour guide and return the favor…i’d love to see you again, sir kaeya alberich…”

you’d signed it with your name and a simple, small heart before writing your address below your signature.

a couple of days later, you receive a letter inside an envelope with the seal of the knights of favonius.

“of course i feel the same. our time together was far too delightful to have been so brief. i would love to visit you and experience all that your homeland has to offer. the acting grand master has been urging me to take some time off to relax anyway. so just tell me when and i’ll be there with bells on. we’ll paint the town red and enjoy as many more nights together as you please, my lady.”

— sir kaeya

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⊹✧˚｡⋆ 18+ reblogs, likes, comments, and follows always appreciated !! i give you all kithkith !!

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aimfor-theheart · 1 year ago

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Act II

|| kaeya alberich x afab!reader || E/18+ || hurt/comfort/fluff || wc: 37k || ao3 || masterlist || Act III -> coming soon! ||

When you, a beloved artist and performer of Mondstadt, attract the attention of the Fatui, there is only one person you seek out for help; the infamous Cavalry Captain of the Ordo Favonius, Mondstadt's beloved bastard.

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a/n: hello! i am two days late, but here is the second act!! instead of splitting into multiple parts/posts, i just linked the ao3 at the bottom to continue reading! 37k is actually insane of me. i struggled a great deal with this act and it was the source of a lot of frustration but...i am ultimately happy with how it turned out <33 big shout out to my buddies @lorelune who helped me a lot and beta-ed parts, as well as @suguwu who beta-ed and gave me some great feedback on this act, and finally, @acerathia for beta-ing and giving me feedback as well! i am very appreciative of all your help! also please go check out lore's lovely diluc fic linked above as part of this collab!! without further ado, here is act ii! i would love to hear your feedback!! your thoughts!! your predictions! anything! thank you all for reading and i hope you enjoy <3

tags: afab reader (she/her pronouns but is rather gender fluid/binds her chest sometimes and presents both femme and masc), alcohol use, mentions of kidnapping, mentions of stalking/full on stalking from the fatui to the reader, smut, oral (f!receiving), use of "good girl", friends with benefits, somewhat unclear and messy dynamics, mentions of heartbreak/abandonment issues, bodyguard au technically, fake dating au technically, angst, hurt/comfort

SCENE I

Somewhere dark and stone, dripping, and cave-like. Shadows press and shudder and shift. This is an unknown place and sharply different to Mondstadt’s gold and sky. Confined and cold. Each sound should echo softly or loudly, should repeat itself over and over again.

Kaeya moves with his back to us, slipping among the darkness as if he might belong there.

Kaeya has spent nearly an entire day attempting to tail one of the Fatui members he knows is keeping tabs on you. There’s three, he believes, and they rotate in shifts, much like he, Diluc, Jean, and Venti rotate being near you.

For the first time in a long time, he hasn’t spent his entire day with you. Nor the previous. Venti stayed with you in your own home and now you’re with Jean.

He hates to admit it, but he’s become rather accustomed to watching over you.

But he needs answers for you, so he’s been running all over the city, searching for their reasoning.

This is the closest he’s gotten to a new discovery; this ruin beneath the earth, ducking and weaving through an old, stone crypt of some sort.

He realizes rather quickly it must be some secret meeting place for the Fatui in the city, especially those dealing with the Abyss Order.

The narrow hall opens up into a larger space where an old desk, piled with papers and maps sits under lantern light. Shadows grow large and spindly on the floor. On the stone walls are photos and torn notebook paper, pinned and plastered together, a collage of secrets.

Kaeya peers carefully from his hiding spot to get a better look.

He wants to look at that desk, all the information atop it. He’s certain there must be something there of use, even a greater hint. But he needs this member to leave.

Kaeya picks up a stone, smooth and cool to the touch. He has to play this carefully.

There’s an adjacent hallway across this room. It leads to further darkness. And with the Fatui member’s back turned to him, facing the desk, if he can aim well enough, he’ll be able to–

Kaeya throws the stone and watches it sail through the air, finding it’s mark as it clatters into the bend of the wall down the hallway. He flattens himself to his own wall, waiting and listening.

“Who's there?” The Fatui member calls and Kaeya holds his breath.

“Hello?” Again, before he hears their footsteps stride towards the hallway Kaeya had thrown the stone in and away from him.

He waits as they retreat, deeper and deeper, echoing softly.

He knows he won’t have much time now.

As silently and quickly as possible, he rushes to the desk. His eye flies over all of the papers and maps and scribbling notes.

Your name jumps out to him. He skims.

Vision: Pyro

Strength: Low

Intelligence: High

-Not a fighter

-Use discretion; known and beloved by Mondstadt and other nations.

Kaeya searches harder, shuffling through the papers a little.

There’s a ledger with all the places you’d gone, every single day. There are notes about where best to kidnap you and Kaeya’s stomach sours as he reads words like use force. And torture if necessary.

But what is it they think you know? What would they need to torture out of you?

He moves another piece of paper, only to catch sight of something that makes his heart stop.

Your diary.

There’s no mistaking it. He’d know it anywhere now.

How do they have this? It should’ve been in his home or safe with you.

Horror sweeps through him–they don’t–they couldn’t have taken you, could they?

You’re with Jean, he tries to rationalize. Had you hidden your diary again? Had they found it?

If you hid it, had you snuck away from Venti or Jean in the last day or so? His mind spins sharply.

Footsteps echo.

He’s out of time.

He disappears down his own hallway, heart ricketing in his chest wildly. If they had you, would you be here? Should he search? Is he being unreasonable?

He’ll go to Jean first.

Use force.

You’ll be with Jean. And if you’re not, Jean will organize a rescue party. He’s found their hideout.

Torture if necessary.

Kaeya breaks the surface of the world with a new urgency. The day is melting into evening and the light nearly blinds him a moment as he stumbles out. He doesn’t have time, he breaks into a sprint. His mind flashes hotly, imagines he wish he could never conjure. Images of you tied up, bloody, beaten–

He runs towards the city gates fast and hard.

Strength: Low

He shouldn’t have pawned you off on others–he should’ve stayed beside you. This whole time. He should’ve had Diluc look for the Fatui, he shouldn’t have bid you goodbye yesterday. He should’ve checked in with you.

His ribs ache, his legs burn. He doesn’t stop.

What was he thinking? You’re practically a sitting duck. He knows this.

Not a fighter.

You wouldn’t stand a chance against them. What if Jean is already searching for him because you’ve been taken? He imagines bursting into the city to find her or Venti or Diluc, with some pale look on their face.

The knights on watch must know something is wrong as he runs beneath the gates–they call after him, but don’t stop him.

“Where’s Jean?” He barks to the one trying to catch up to him.

“Headquarters, I think!”

Kaeya veers sharply for Headquarters.

He prays he’ll burst through the door and find you there, with Jean. You’ll be pestering her as the sun sets, chirping and flitting around her office while she tries to get paperwork done. You’ll be there, he tries to tell himself, you will be. They must’ve just nicked your diary.

He throws open the door to Headquarters, rounds the corner and bursts into Jean’s office. Jean is standing on the opposite side of her desk, back facing Kaeya and–

You’re nowhere to be found.

His stomach drops.

“Jean,” he says her name sharply, a note of desperation. “Where is she?”

Jean turns, startled by his appearance, by his urgency, but–

“I left her with Venti. They said they were going to Angel’s Share to perform some songs.” Jean steps towards him, “why? What’s wrong?”

“They have her diary.” Kaeya gets out, rushing out the door of her office.

“Kaeya!” She barks after him, but he’s already pushing his way out of Headquarters. He won’t rest, not until he sees you, until you’re right in front of him. “What are you–where was her diary?”

“I don’t know,” Kaeya snaps, taking stairs two at a time, “I thought it was at my apartment but she’s always hiding it and–” He breaks into another run, heading towards the tavern, “when did you leave her with Venti?”

“I don’t know,” Jean gets out, keeping pace with him, “a few hours ago, maybe? I had a lot to do–”

Kaeya curses under his breath.

“I still don’t know what they want with her but–their notes were about using force. Or–” he can’t get the word out. “They think she knows something.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know.” Kaeya bites out.

He rounds the corner to Angel’s Share sharply and Jean takes it with him.

“I’m sure she’ll be here with Venti.” Jean gets out, attempting to be calm with him. She’s attempting to be a leader.

Kaeya throws open the door, gaze flying across the room and–

He doesn’t see you.

His blood runs cold.

For once, he wishes it was Diluc at the bar, but it’s Charles.

“Has Venti been here?” And then he asks for you, too, says your name with a shot voice.

Charles shakes his head, “haven’t seen either of them at all today. They were supposed to play music tonight, I think–”

Kaeya doesn’t let him finish. He rushes out.

He has half a mind to start shouting like a lunatic for you, all over the city, wandering like a mad man with your name a cry on his lips.

“Maybe they went to her house before–” Jean tries to rationalize, but he can tell she is beginning to fret, too.

Kaeya is already ahead of her, rushing towards your home on the hill in the city. He can’t help his pace, the run he breaks into again. He tries to think of you throwing open the door, laughing at his worry. Where else would you be? He wants to hear you say.

But when he pounds on the door, there is no answer. Not a peep. Your little space is quiet.

“Do you have a key?” Jean asks, but Kaeya doesn’t have the time.

He takes a step back only to kick in the door easily, letting it fly open on its hinges.

(He promises he’ll get you a new door, a better one, one that isn’t so flimsy–that could be so easily broken into. He thinks of you asleep here, with a door like that, and his worry grows insurmountably.)

He shouts your name as he enters.

No answer.

He storms the place. Your bedroom, your bathroom, all familiar and all so empty.

“Venti!” Jean calls, and then your own name, too, as she searches.

Nothing.

“You know how they are,” Jean tries to rationalize, “they’re always getting up to trouble. They could be anywhere.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Kaeya growls, rushing past her and back out the door. He’s beginning to panic. He can feel the tendrils of it creep up his chest, wrapping like vines around his poor throat. His head is growing foggy, warped with his fear. All he can see is you being dragged away.

Use force.

His mind feels hot, too sharp.

Torture if necessary.

“Kaeya,” Jean barks his name, rushing to catch up to him.

Her voice is a balm, he wants–she should–

“I’ll try to get ahold of Diluc and send word out to search the city for her.” Jean says and her voice is filled with authority now, level-headed and steady, “where else would she be?”

“I’m going to my apartment.” Kaeya says, mind narrowing, “in case she’s–I don’t know–”

“Go,” Jean agrees, a command, “and if she’s not there, keep searching–you know her hiding spots now.”

Kaeya nods dazedly.

Jean grabs him roughly, on the arm, jerking him to face her. One hand coming down on his shoulder.

“We’ll find her.” She promises and she dips her head a little to force him to meet her eyes. They’re all stone and determination. The eyes of a leader. “Do you hear me, Captain?”

Kaeya nods, more assuredly now, “yes,” he agrees, finding his voice, her eyes.

She shoves him a little, a push to go, “I’ll reconvene with you shortly. Stay sharp.”

Kaeya doesn’t need another moment; he picks his eyes up to catch the city skyline of Mondstadt, of his apartment in the distance. He breaks into a sprint. He tries to focus only on his breath, on the way his feet carry him swiftly, weaving in and around the city.

He tries to force away what he’d seen.

He bounds for his home, feels his heart and fear ratchet up inside of himself. He’s imagining his home empty.

He’s imagining you gone.

He’s imagining the door shut tight and locked, how he’d left it, and you’re nowhere to be found. A cold space. An empty space.

He takes the stairs two at a time, he tries the door and it–it’s locked still.

He doesn’t pray. He’s not a religious man. And that stupid Archon–

Is sitting perched on his kitchen counter, overlooking the living room.

“Ssh,” Venti hisses, finger to his lips, as he points to his couch. The one Kaeya has slept on nearly every night since this whole ordeal started. The one you are currently occupying, curled up beneath the blanket he usually uses, sleeping soundly.

Or, you were.

You blink awake, slow, confused.

Kaeya rushes to your side.

He kneels.

The door is left ajar.

“You’re here,” he gets out, winded, rough.

“Kaeya?” Your voice is so small and confused.

Without thinking, he brushes a strand of hair from your face as gently as he can, hands shaking. He’s still panting, chest still heaving. But–

“I’m here.” He says then, astonished, relieved.

He wants to pull you off the couch and into his arms. He wants to hold you. He wants to collapse on top of you.

He falls back onto his bottom, breathing hard, all his fear leaking out of him swiftly. “Oh, you’re here.” He says again, voice breaking, as if to assure himself.

You sit up, eyes pricking with concern, “what’s wrong?” you murmur, “where else would I be?”

Kaeya can’t even speak yet, but he laughs, delirious, out of breath.

“No where.” He says, “I thought–you were–”

“She was trying to nap,” Venti finally speaks up and his eyes are far too keen. “Before our performance tonight.”

Kaeya looks at him. Venti looks back.

The door is open.

He heaves out a rough breath. He hangs his head between his shoulders. He tries to calm himself.

“I need to tell Jean to call off–” he laughs, “oh, Diluc is going to lose his mind.”

“Call off what?” You ask.

“Your search party.” Kaeya finally can get out. Your face brightens to shock.

“My search party? Kaeya–”

“Venti, why don’t you find Jean and tell her where you’ve been? Before the whole city turns upside down looking for her.” Kaeya then says. He won’t look at him but he can feel Venti’s eyes on him.

But then Venti laughs, and chirps, “aye, Captain!”

And he flits out of Kaeya’s home.

Venti shuts the door behind him and seals you away with him. Kaeya exhales roughly again, elbows resting on his knees.

“Are you okay?” You ask for a second time, so sweetly. So sincerely. You lean towards him like you want to touch him.

And he wants to say, I was scared. He wants to say, I was terrified of losing you. I could’ve torn the whole city apart looking for you. He wants to say, I’m so relieved to see you. Hold me. Let me hold you.

Instead, all he says is, “they had your diary. And I thought–”

The door is shut tightly.

“Oh,” you breathe, “I left it at home, the last time we–”

“They must’ve broken in.” He agrees softly. And then he looks rather sheepish.

“What?” You ask, as if you know.

“I broke in. I owe you a new door.”

“Kaeya!” You scold, “why did you–why were you so–?!”

“Jean and I thought you were kidnapped!” Kaeya defends himself.

“Kaeya–”

“We were searching for you. Since you weren’t in any of the places you were supposed to be.” He begins to scold.

“Kaeya,”

“Didn’t I leave you with Jean? You should’ve stayed with her.”

You suddenly launch forward, arms wrapping around his neck, falling from the couch and onto his body. His breath is almost knocked out of his lungs for the millionth time today because of you and surprise colors his face. Raises his brows.

You hug him tight, face pressing to the crook of his neck, a bundle in his lap.

“I’m okay,” you murmur, “I’m right here.”

His arms, which had come up in surprise, finally settle over you. They wrap all the way around your shoulders, your middle, pull you closer, and he’s sure his heart is such a mess in his chest. He’s sure it sounds like a disaster.

But you press harder into him, fingers digging into his muscles.

“I’m sorry I scared you,” you say, and then your voice tilts upwards playfully, “didn’t think you’d really send the cavalry just because–”

He pinches your side.

“I had reason to believe–!”

You start to laugh, into his throat. You shift to pull away and he wants to keep you there, he wants to hold fast to you and not let go. He wants to cling to you. But he lets you move away to look at his face once more.

You look at him in a way that just makes him feel naked. He wants to hide. He wants to say something clever.

“Thank you,” you suddenly say.

“For what?” Kaeya laughs, “causing a ruckus? Waking you from your nap?”

“For coming for me.” You cut him off. “I feel safe with you and this just proves that–”

Kaeya slackens a little, perhaps surprised or unsure or–you always leave him wobbly and uncertain. You always disarm him so swiftly, so viciously.

“Of course I’d come for you.” Kaeya says and he does mean it. He softens it’s truth with, “it’s my duty.”

But that night, you don’t ask him to sit beside you as you fall asleep–he does so anyway. You don’t say a word, except to ask him for another bedtime story playfully, except to hear him speak, as you always do when he stays with you.

You didn’t ask but he needed to.

It’s not his duty, but he wanted to.

He can’t imagine not watching you drift off to sleep tonight, of all nights, when he thought he’d lost you.

He watches you sleep soundly in his bed, back rising and falling as you curl around one of his pillows, cheek endearingly squished against it. He doesn’t sleep.

The door is locked tight.

And even though it's not his duty, he watches over you, anyway.

***

SCENE II

On the docks of Cider Lake in the early afternoon sun. Venti is perched beside you, plucking lazily at a lyre. Your feet dangle off the dock, swinging like a child. The sky is endlessly blue. Clouds are like sleeping rabbits in the sky. The wind kisses you.

“I feel their eyes most when I’m with you.” You say suddenly, glancing at your companion out of the corner of your eyes.

A note strums from Venti’s fingers. He hums lightly.

“Not sure what the Fatui would want with a measly bard.” Venti shrugs, “maybe they think I’m the weakest of your guards.”

“Maybe,” you say, but you don’t believe that. You don’t believe it because–well, because you noticed them following him first. At first, you weren’t quite sure and you had mentioned it to Venti, but he’d shrugged you off.

Breezy as ever. He’d pretend there was nothing to worry about.

You turn towards him and look at him before you murmur, low enough that any ears listening would only catch the sound of the gently lapping water, “why were the Fatui following you?”

“I believe I’m supposed to ask that of you,” Venti replies with a smile but you can tell, there’s a chipping like a porcelain teacup losing a piece of its lip.

“I wasn’t sure at first,” you tell him softly, eyes glancing out over the calm lake, “but then I caught them intercepting letters and messages of yours. I caught them in the belltower and I knew.”

The belltower in the cathedral was a place Venti had shown you early in your return to Mondstadt. He’d told you it’d been a place that he came to play music, to look out at the world below. A secret place for him, now for you; a gift, he’d said. Places are a gift to give the people you love and secrets are, too.

Then you’d caught a Fatui member snooping through the hidden items Venti had left there; music sheets, maps the two of you had crudely drawn, and old clues to scavenger hunts long past.

The two of you had always liked sending the other all over Mondstadt; it’s why you hide your diary. He hides new songs he wants you to learn. You’d leave clues, games to play, puzzles to solve for each other.

Venti plucks out a few, odd notes on his lyre. Goosebumps erupt over your skin.

“You don’t think I have dealings with them, do you?” Venti asks queerly. There’s a funny sound to his voice.

You shake your head quickly, “Archons, no.” And then you tilt your head, “but I did what I do best.”

A wrong note. It rings discordant in the air.

Venti looks at you.

“You didn’t.” He almost begs, but he knows.

“Of course I did.” You respond and Venti looks genuinely distraught. So you add, “nothing terrible–but I wrote you false letters. I led them on a goose chase a little, like I always do when the Fatui gets too close or comfortable in Mondstadt.”

Venti shakes his head, “you shouldn’t have meddled here.”

“They’re looking for something of yours, aren’t they?” You ask slowly.

Venti, for once, is quiet. The wind catches on your clothes in a burst. It’s confirmation enough.

“So I sent them all over Mondstadt with puzzles and clues and fake letters.” You said, “and really, I thought it was harmless but–”

“Did you tell this to Kaeya?” Venti asks.

“Not specifically this. I always toy with the Fatui when I can, though, he knows that.”

Venti shakes his head slightly, fingers digging into the wood of his instrument, “and with all the hiding places and riddles between us, I’m sure they–” Venti stands abruptly, “I need to speak to Kaeya.”

You stand with him suddenly, “why? What for?”

Venti frowns at you and it’s an expression you hardly ever see him wear.

So you press tenderly, “what are they looking for, Venti?”

“You’re such trouble,” Venti replies and his voice catches with emotion; he doesn’t mean it meanly, in fact it’s–well, it’s fond. Mournful, almost. The wind rushes past the two of you, stronger now. Water laps at the docks.

“Give me a clue.” You try to charm him but it sounds more like a plea. “Like always. I’ll figure it out and you won’t ever have to say it outloud, if you’re that scared.”

Your heart feels like a brewing storm in your chest. Venti has never hidden things so openly from you. It frightens you.

But Venti shakes his head for once, small and soft. “Not this time, my friend.”

“Venti–”

He suddenly looks away, down towards the other side of the dock, where the cobblestone of the street meets the wood. Kaeya is standing there, waiting to relieve Venti and walk with you to Springvale for rehearsal. The gold of his coat glints in the afternoon sun. He looks like a knight.

He waits for you.

“You have rehearsal,” Venti says, and his smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes, “go.”

“Please, will you tell me?” You ask again. You swallow hard around sudden tears; stupid and silly but–aching. You can’t name why you feel like crying, only that you can tell something far larger is on the horizon.

It hangs like a storm.

You can feel its pressure, now more than ever.

Tell me, you want to beg him, you want to sing, you want to scream. Let me help you, let me in.

Venti looks at you with love and affection and sadness. He looks at you with a heaviness you can’t name, but can taste. It’s ancient. It’s otherworldly. You want to hold him. You want to hide him from the world.

“Not yet,” he replies.

“Why not?” Your voice breaks as easily and fragile as a bird’s wing.

Venti smiles sadly, “because if you knew, you’d put yourself in even more danger than you already have for me.”

You open your mouth, but he continues;

“And this isn’t your battle.” He turns away, eyes glassy, but waves at Kaeya, as if nothing is wrong. He smiles at you, watery and fond.

“Besides, you’ve never been much of a fighter in the first place.”

***

SCENE III

In the living room of Kaeya’s apartment. Soft, evening blue light through the windows. Hazy, dark shadows. You’re curled up on the couch, legs tucked up underneath you, with a cup of tea held in your palms. You’re ready for bed. Kaeya enters from his office with a stack of letters and papers; what the audience can see of his face is that he’s somber for once. He casts the greater shadow.

“Will you tell me again why you thought it was a good idea to toy with the Fatui?” Kaeya asks and in his hand, he has only some of the letters and maps and sheet music that you’d been leaving for Venti.

Or, the Fatui. Since you knew they were rifling through Venti’s things.

“I always toy with them.” You reply simply, taking a slow, burning sip of tea. It’s chamomile and rose. A hint of cinnamon. Kaeya prepared it for you before disappearing to do some work in his office. You swallow. “And I never said it was a good idea.”

“Then why do it?”

“Why are they following Venti? What are they looking for?”

Kaeya lets out a sharp breath, perhaps growing impatient. “I don’t know. Right now, I need to know why they think they need you to find it, though.”

“Well, I made it seem like I had whatever they’re looking for.”

You watch Kaeya freeze for a moment and if you weren’t so intuitive and just a little wittier, you’d make some sort of joke about cryo and freezing in place.

“Why?” He demands suddenly.

“I wanted to get them off Venti’s back.” You say, “this is what I do when the Fatui get too close to the people I know. This is what I do when the Fatui think they can stick their hands in Mondstadt. Someone has to teach them a lesson.” You take another little sip of your tea, and then add, “and I don’t have a sword–my weapon is my pen. My voice. My wit.”

Kaeya shakes his head, “you don’t even know what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

You gesture smoothly, “then enlighten me.”

“This is bigger than you, do you understand that?” Kaeya then says and you don’t think you’ve ever heard him quite so stern.

His face is shadowed. It’s growing darker.

“Sure,” you say easily, “that’s why I had to intervene.”

“I don’t think you actually understand.” Kaeya says and his voice has grown more serious, imperative, a little lower.

“I’m not an idiot,” you snip, “clearly! Since I’ve managed to fool the Fatui and send them running all over Mondstadt.” You can feel your hackles rise a little, heat swimming in your chest, up your neck. “And most importantly, away from Venti–since he’s got some huge secret that no one will tell me!”

Kaeya moves suddenly to sit on the coffee table in front of the sofa you’re on. Your knees nearly brush. He splays out your letters and music sheets and maps. “Why didn’t you come to me before doing all of this? Before involving yourself?”

“Because I always mess with the Fatui!” Your voice raises and you finally move to set the tea cup beside him on the coffee table. “I didn’t think it was any different than any of the other times!”

“The Fatui aren’t just–” Kaeya gestures, papers crinkling beneath his grip that has grown tighter with his own frustration. “–some band of half-wit politicians or merchants for you to toy with! They’re dangerous.”

This quiets you for a moment. And then, “so? A lot of things are dangerou–”

“So?” Kaeya repeats, “so?! You’re not even–” he laughs, but the sound is scraping and hollow, off-kilter. It’s disbelief, almost a scoff, “you’re not even a fighter. You’re not a Knight or a warrior. You’re not even an adventurer of some kind.”

Silence stretches between the two of you.

“Can you ever trust my own judgment and intuition? I have made it this far–”

“But you’re reckless.” Kaeya says, “specifically, you’re reckless with yourself. You know the Fatui are dangerous–it’s why you’re worried about Venti, right? It’s why you intervened.” Kaeya says and then his voice gentles, “so why don’t you have the same concern for yourself?”

You feel your jaw lock. It ticks.

You look away from him defiantly, out towards one of the windows, blue with the evergrowing night sky.

It strikes a strange note inside of you. You have concern for yourself, you want to say, you came to him, didn’t you? Eventually.

But it doesn’t negate what you did, which was reckless. He’s right; you could’ve turned to him immediately, you could’ve gone to Diluc or Jean or him. But instead, you tried to distract the Fatui; you tried to dance and sing and entice them onto the path you’re on, instead of the one Venti is on.

You gave them a performance. And now, with all their eyes set on you, like the hungry, vying eyes of an audience, a predator, you are in danger.

“This isn’t a game anymore. This isn’t funny or—or breezy. You’ve gotten yourself into real danger, do you understand?” Kaeya then says and you can tell he’s trying to get you to look at him again.

“I have you and Jean and Diluc to—“

“But your recklessness got us all here. You rush head first into—into everything, without regard for yourself.” Kaeya continues. “You’re an open book. You wear your heart on your sleeve—it’s like you have no self preservation whatsoever.”

You sit in silence. You cross your arms over your chest and you feel a hard, little ache in the pit of your throat.

He’s chipping away at something inside of you, something already too tender to take the beating.

“It’s not a bad thing to be open.” You say and your voice is tight, thicker than it should be.

“No,” he agrees, “but you have no regard for yourself and all of it for everyone else.”

Tears prick your eyes, much to your dismay.

You know the reason. You can feel it, somewhere in the back of your mouth, down where your throat is tight.

You can’t lose Venti.

Venti could lose you, you’ve decided. The world could lose you. But you are so terrified of loss and really–you must’ve been easy to leave if–

If it could be done so effortlessly.

(You think of yourself as a child and your father setting you down for the last time. You think of yourself at an altar, forever waiting, the way you waited for your father your whole life.)

Venti can lose you.

But you can’t lose Venti.

You hope that maybe if you give enough of yourself to the world, it will need you bad enough to never lose. You think one day, it’ll fill the empty, aching wound inside of you that has been just left to dry out. Crack and splinter.

Sometimes, you think if you scare someone bad enough, they’ll look at you and say they can’t lose you. You think maybe if you scare yourself bad enough, you’ll finally look at yourself and say I can’t lose you.

“Don’t cry,” Kaeya hushes softly and you wipe quickly at the tear that has freed itself to slip down the slope of your cheek.

It makes you want to cry harder, for some reason, for him to be so tender now.

He sets the papers down beside you on the couch finally. He reaches out and touches your knee, broad palm surprisingly warm, as he rubs a gentle pass with his thumb.

“Why are you crying?” Kaeya then asks, coaxing, gentle.

You sniff hard.

You dig a little, you search for the answer. Is it because you’re careless with yourself? Is it because you’re scared now? Is it because he pointed it out at all—that he noticed enough, saw through you enough, to finally say it?

Is it because—

“I worry about you.” He says when you don’t answer him.

—you’re worth fretting over?

You shake your head a little, perhaps in an attempt to disagree with him, perhaps in an attempt to reassure him. But nothing comes out except another few tears.

You try to keep the sob back, the noise trapped with the reason in the back of your throat. You fear what will come out.

“I’m sorry,” you manage to whisper and when you finally turn to face him, he’s right there, and for a moment, you think he might move further to hold you. You think you might just slide into his arms.

You hold your breath.

You think he holds his, too.

“I don’t need an apology.” Kaeya finally murmurs and he doesn’t fold you into his arms, but he turns up his hand on your knee carefully. His palm, an offering. “I just need you to be more careful.”

Slowly, you slide your hand into his.

You’ve held his hand plenty now, know the rough scrape of his calluses against your own, but it has never quite felt like this.

Real. Weighted.

He folds his fingers between yours gently. Your hands lock together, woven, knuckle over knuckle. Palm to palm.

You’re both watching your hands, enamored, maybe terrified.

You cling to him in a way you haven’t clung to someone in a long, long time.

You think you’ve tried to hold onto everything like this; with too much force, gripped in your rebellious fist. You think everything you’ve ever held must’ve been crumpled and ruined from your grasp, you think everything must have the indents of your fingers permanently etched there.

You want to squeeze, you want to bear down on his hands like a dog who finally caught a bird.

“Can you promise me that?” Kaeya prompts gently when he doesn’t receive a response from you.

You glance up at his searching face, the way he’s watching you carefully, scouring to see any flicker of emotion.

You nod a little, jerky, unsure.

“Will you say it for me?” He murmurs and dips his head a little to keep your straying gaze.

You swallow hard around the lump in your throat, tight and hard.

You feel your eyes fill with tears again.

But still, you manage to croak, “I’ll try to be more careful.”

You can tell the response displeases him somewhat; you can tell he wants more. But anything more right now, may feel like a lie.

And you’re no good at that.

“Okay,” Kaeya agrees, “thank you.” And then he adds with a gentle lilt, “I’m sorry for making you cry.”

You laugh a little through your tears, “it’s okay–” you mumble, letting your eyes fall back to your intertwined hands. “I probably needed to hear it.”

His thumb makes a slow, comforting pass over the back of your hand.

For a moment, the space fills with silence.

You watch the careful sweep of his thumb, you watch the flex of his hand, the veins against his wrist. You can feel the room fill with something more, a growing of a feeling, stretching amongst your ribs. Perhaps amongst his. You think there is something blooming inside of him, something he’s terrified of, something you’ll always long for.

(If you could feel his pulse in his wrist, it would be jumping, picking up in a fierce little tempo.)

He’s tenser now, you realize. His breath is caught somewhere in his chest, like he might speak again.

You wait for him.

He opens his mouth.

But then after a moment, he closes it.

You pick your head up to examine his face, to try and discern what it is he wants to say now.

And mostly, it’s a mask of causality.

(His trembling heart is the only thing that gives him away now.)

Maybe, the depth of his eye, or maybe it’s only a trick of the light.

You want to say, what is it? Or prompt him for more. You want him to speak what is so clearly on the very tip of his tongue.

Tell me, you want to say, tell me what seems to scare you so badly.

“I–” he starts. He stops.

And then neither of you speak and the tension stretches and something inside you grows. You cling to him harder without realizing it, as if anticipating the way he’ll pull away. You don’t want him to go. You can feel it, your heart unfurling for him, you can feel the way he holds you, too.

In the same way that you hold him.

You hope he leaves indents in your skin. You hope he never lets go.

“Yes?” You prompt gently.

But then he clears his throat and glances away.

The spell is broken and he forces his hands to loosen from his own hold on you. He forces himself to recede and to calm his heart. You watch as he mentally pulls away from you. You force yourself not to cling harder to him, to catch his hand and hold it close to yourself, to pull him closer to you.

He says, “Mondstadt cares very deeply for you–and you for Mondstadt. I only wish–” he draws in a small breath, “that you’d afford yourself the same care.”

You wonder what he was going to say instead. You know this is not his original thought, but the secondary, more distant one. You almost want to ask him, you want to needle and beg, but you know Kaeya well now.

You know he doesn’t say anything he hasn’t carefully thought about or that he doesn’t want you to hear.

Still, it manages to make you soften, to make tears press again behind your eyes.

You turn to tuck your face into your shoulder, like it may stop him from seeing you cry. You squeeze his hand like a lifeline.

“Oh, look what I’ve done now.” He says and his voice is light–he’s teasing you gently, holding you tighter again as you laugh now and sniffle, fingers still digging deep into his hand.

“I’m sorry–” you mumble, “Am I hurting you?”

You loosen your grip on his hand.

“I’ve been through far worse,” he soothes, running his thumb back over the dips and plains of your hand.

You try to keep yourself from bursting into heavier, harder tears. You can’t even quite name why; your care for him, or his for you. The fact that he won’t name it, or because you’re scared he’ll leave if you do.

You’re nearly trembling with it; you’re afraid he’ll say one more word, one more phrase and you’ll simply fall to pieces.

You don’t know what it is about care; but when someone is gentle with you, it makes you feel as if they’ve torn you to shreds. It turns you inside out. It turns you into a child again, desperately seeking it out. It feels foolish now sometimes, over dramatic.

But Kaeya holds your hand and you take deep, shuddering breaths until you don’t feel as if you’re going to bawl your eyes out anymore.

You don’t want to stop clinging to his hand, though.

“I should get to bed,” you finally say, if only for him, if only to give him an out because it’s easier than if he finds it himself. You’re too fragile for him to pull away first tonight.

So you slip from his grasp and stand. Your legs feel a little wobbly, unsure of yourself. He looks up at you, from beneath the fan of his dark lashes. You swallow hard, around the tears, around whatever it is he makes you feel.

You can still feel the pressure in your hand, the way his fingers feel against yours.

Again, he looks as if he wants to say something.

You wait, expectant.

And again, he lets it fall.

Instead, he says, “yes–it's another early morning. I’ll let you sleep.”

He stands now, too, collecting the papers, gathering them into his hands carefully. All of your wit and love and craft. All of your recklessness in the palm of his hand.

“I’m going to stay up a little longer,” he says then, “if you need anything.”

Now it's your turn to look up at him.

And there must be something too raw, too sincere in your eyes, because he can’t look for long.

“Kaeya,” you want to draw his gaze back to yours, but he doesn't quite reach your eyes. Still, you need to say, “thank you.”

“For scolding you?” He asks, light, too light. He tries to create distance. Coldness.

“For caring about me.”

He swallows. He doesn’t confirm or deny it. But he looks guilty, a man held back, everything carefully in place. Not a word misspoken, not a look out of place. Sometimes, you have the urge to destroy that veneer. Sometimes, you want to know what he looks like without all his thoughtfully placed appearances.

You wonder if you will ever see him like that. You wonder if he will ever tell you more; if he will ever let you in.

You think maybe you will stay like this forever, close to him, but not too close.

With care, but without it spoken. Always in the blue dark and never in the dawn.

He clears his throat, “it’s my job to look out for you.”

Your heart falls a little, sharp, like a plummeting note, a tight draw of the strings of a discordant chord. You swallow around the lump in your throat.

“Yes,” you agree distantly, nodding your head, “I suppose it is.”

“I’ll be in the office.” He says because he must slip away from you now. You think when he gets too close, he grows scared of being burned.

He closes the door behind him.

You watch it for a moment, steady.

You wonder if it’ll stay like this forever; always on the other side of the door.

When you go to sleep that night, you leave the bedroom door ajar, as if to prove something.

But in the morning, you find it shut tight.

At rehearsal, you’re somewhere else, off in your mind. Though you say your lines, you feel as if you miss them, like they’re coming out automatically, half-hearted.

And the only ones that rings true, that resonates throughout the stage is one you’d previously thrown away;

“Hold on tight–don’t let go.”

This time, your voice cracks with it, breaks over the don’t.

That night, Kaeya presents you with a bouquet of flowers; a show in front of the world.

And when he brushes his knuckles against yours, you eagerly slip your hand into his as you walk home.

You don’t even care that it’s for the world and no longer for you.

You are, if nothing else, a good actor (or of foolish heart);

So you pretend it’s real, with the flowers he gave you nestled into the crook of your elbow, and his hand curled around yours. You pretend that you are walking home with your love, and the sun is setting, and you are filled to the brim.

You laugh as if that’s the case. You lean into him as if that’s the case.

You knock into him as you walk, desperate to be close, to feel his side against yours. You are desperate to have more of him; all his attention, all his affection.

To not feel like a world away–or like there’s a door between you, one that you don’t know if he’ll ever open or not.

***

PRELUDE TO SCENE IV

Springvale in the afternoon, the sun warm and bright; it makes everything sparkle, almost radiant. The grass seems lush and full, the lake is shimmering.

Klee eats cut fruit happily beside you at a picnic table. You steal a piece or two from time to time. Kaeya sits across from you and Klee, his back to the audience.

“Are you and Kaeya boyfriend and girlfriend?” Klee suddenly asks around a burst of valberries.

Despite everything, you feel your heart tick up in a strange, sharp tempo.

Your eyes fly to Kaeya, who's already looking at you.

You share a silent conversation with each other and a series of increasingly dramatic expressions;

What should we tell her?

The truth?

What? No!

Then you tell her–

“Yes,” Kaeya finally says, “we are boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Klee picks her head up, perhaps surprised at his answer. “You’re dating?!” She asks, louder now and you can’t help but laugh.

“Yes,” Kaeya lies, perhaps for any eavesdroppers, “we’re dating, Klee.”

She looks between the two of you.

“Miss Jean said you’re in love with each other.” Klee says casually and that makes both of you freeze momentarily.

You feel heat rush into the high points of your face. Your mind whirls, spins into overthinking. Why would Jean say this? To keep your covers? A kinder way to say it to a child?

For a moment, you fear Jean knows a part of your heart that you fully haven’t gotten to know yet yourself.

You fear there is some truth to it.

(Perhaps love is too strong of a word but—)

You adore Kaeya.

You have your whole life, you think, from when you were young and chasing after them with childlike, outstretched hands, to adulthood, where you have always held respect for him and now—

Something more, perhaps, after all your time with him.

How could you not? What chance did you have against him, anyways?

(You hope he doesn’t dare read your diary again.

You suddenly worry that Jean has instead.)

You’re almost fearful to catch Kaeya’s gaze, you swallow hard, but force yourself to. And when you do, you realize he’s–

Amused. Near laughing.

That absolute bas—

You kick him underneath the table and he yelps a little. You hide your snicker behind a hand against your mouth.

“We care about each other very much.” You tell Klee, sobering.

“Are you gonna get married?” She asks then, just as casually, around another piece of fruit.

Kaeya makes a noise of surprise, “married?” He asks Klee, “where are these questions coming from?”

“I thought if you’re boyfriend and girlfriend, then you get married.” Klee responds.

“Sometimes,” you agree, nudging the bowl of fruit closer to her little hands so that she can reach the last few pieces better. “But right now we’re just boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Klee hums around her berry.

And then she looks up at you, “do you guys kiss?”

The word kiss is punctuated with disgust, almost sick curiosity; as if she might not be able to believe it.

It makes you choke, then stutter into a laugh. Kaeya laughs as well, full and surprised.

“People who are dating do tend to kiss, Klee, so yes.” He says, amused with her. He catches your eye across the table. You swallow hard with the way he gazes at you, infinitely pleased and laid back, deeply amused. By you or Klee, you’re not sure. Still, you can’t help the smile that touches your lips, perhaps just as entertained, perhaps a little rueful.

“Gross,” she declares. And then she looks at Kaeya, “do you think she’s pretty?”

You look at Kaeya expectantly, propping your chin in your hands, and sing, “yes, Kaeya, do you think I’m pretty?”

He smirks, leaning back in his seat a little, and a fissure of heat rips through you. You bat your lashes for him.

“I think you’re beautiful, darling.” Kaeya croons, sweet as ever, and enough to make you damn near melt.

You can feel heat in your face, despite it all. You feel like a teenager. You feel like a girl with a crush, a boy with his love in front of him, and not a clue what to do. Bumbling and suddenly young, graceless.

A pang hits you squarely in the chest; you wish this was real. You wish he was being honest.

Klee squeals in embarrassment or surprise. “You’re going to get cooties!” She tells you.

You use her as a distraction, leaning down a little to conspire with her, “Kaeya does have cooties.” You agree in a faux-whisper. “But I have the antidote.”

“You do?” Klee asks, “what is it?”

“Its a secret recipe,” you begin, putting on a good show of trying to come up with the ingredients, “but it certainly starts with the essence of butterflies.” You glance over at the field behind you, which you know is teeming with butterflies.

You used to chase them here in your youth until the sun set and the fireflies sparked to life in the evening dark. And then you chased their soft, blinking lights until the other kids were called home. And it was just you and the rolling fields and endless night skies and bumbling bugs. You’d try to carry one home with you so you wouldn’t feel so lonely.

Klee follows your gaze and watches as one of the butterflies flits and flutters.

“Can I ask for your help, little Spark Knight? Will you carefully catch me a butterfly? Don’t hurt it, though, we need it alive for the antidote.”

Immediately, she is perking up, jumping up from her seat.

“You can count on me!”

She bounds off into the field of swaying wildflowers.

You turn back to Kaeya.

His eye is soft, perhaps fond.

Before you can loose your bravery, loose your courageous little heart, you stand and move to his side of the bench so that you can watch Klee.

Your shoulder brushes with his. Your thigh touches his. You’re aware of it all, sharply, keenly.

He looks at you and you gaze back up at him. For a moment, you get swept away in his star-blue eye. The bend of dark lashes. Like the butterflies in the field, your heart flutters, feeling as delicate as their wings.

“Careful,” Kaeya says softly, so smoothly that his voice could be a melody, “or people really will think we’re in love.”

Heat smarts your face again. But you tip your chin up because you’ve never shied away from a challenge before; “why do you say that?”

Kaeya suddenly reaches out and carefully, as if you might fall to pieces at his touch (and really—you think you might), takes hold of your chin. His thumb barely brushes your bottom lip. Then he says, “the way you look at me.”

“You were looking at me first,” you accuse but your voice is hushed.

“And you shouldn’t melt when I touch you.”

Your stomach swoops like a bird in the sky and then soars. Your lashes flutter. You’re close to him—almost nose to nose. And now you really do think of kissing him like he’s actually yours. As if he could be.

His eye drops to your lips, thumb inching upwards.

“Then you shouldn’t touch me so.” You murmur, earnest, and if your voice is soft with pleading—a pleading for what, you can’t tell—then whose to say? “Like—like you want to kiss me.”

Your nose brushes against his.

“Don’t—” his voice sticks, “don’t kiss me. No one’s even watching.”

“Do you not want me to?”

“Yes, I want—” he stops.

Your heart sings. I want, I want, I want—

He swallows, “we shouldn’t, though.”

“Why not?” You dare to ask, hands drifting to his chest, his collar bones.

You can almost, almost feel his smile, slow and fond, “well, firstly, you’ll get cooties…”

“Kaeya,” your own smile is a warm curve that you want to feel against his.

“Secondly,” He begins, drawing in a soft breath that you feel beneath the palm of your hand.

“I have a butterfly!” Klee shouts, head suddenly poking up from the wildflowers in a burst of petals.

You and Kaeya jolt away from each other, hands drawing back into your laps, facing away from each other as if teenagers caught by your parents. Heat zips through you in a rush.

He almost—you almost—

Something in your chest bats its wings, excited, elated. It takes to flight. A smile overtakes your face, winning, determined.

Oh, you think, glancing at him as you head to Klee, oh, you want me, too.

She opens her little hands for you and the moment she does, the butterfly escapes into the sky—taking to flight.

You laugh as she squeals.

She races after it.

And then you do, too.

In an instant, Kaeya has joined you, too.

And it dissolves, the sun slowly moving throughout the sky, into running and chasing and laughing. The joyful sound of your laugh, of Klee’s excitement, of Kaeya’s fondness.

It melts like the sky, like your heart, like the way you do when Kaeya touches you.

There’s a moment, quick, when you’re in the wildflowers with him. He’s on his back and you lean over him.

He peers up at you.

Beautiful man that he is with sparkling eyes.

You think, people really will think we’re in love, if you look at me like that.

And then you say, boldened by the day and the sun and the warmth and the tempo of his heart beneath your open palm;

“You’ll be mine yet, Captain.”

He blinks, perhaps surprised, before a full, warm laugh falls from his lips.

“Is that a challenge, princess?” He purrs, looking up at you with a halo of flowers beneath his head.

You grin, beautiful and wicked and radiant.

“It’s a promise.”

And then you stand to run after Klee, down the sloping hill, and into the arms of the sky hanging above your heads.

He watches you and you can feel his gaze on your back, your silhouette against the sky, your laugh caught on the wind, and tuck the vow into your heart.

Hope it tucks into his, too, finds it’s home there where no one has before and claim it as yours, yours, yours.

You open your palms and a butterfly, blue as the sea, as a bird’s wing, leaps from your hands and takes to flight. Takes to the sky all open just for you.

***

SCENE IV

The belltower in the Cathedral, high above Mondstadt. Storm clouds cling to the horizon. The sky is mostly dark, but the sun escapes through a sliver of clouds and still shines for now, casting the world in a strange contradiction. More ominous. More stunning. Burnished buildings set against wicked, deep blue storm clouds.

Your skirts swirl against gold and silver bells, as blue as the clouds. Kaeya turns and twists, so we only catch flashes of his face.

Kaeya takes the steps near two at a time to keep up with your pace. You lift your skirts with one hand, racing up the curving, stone steps, and your other hand holds fast to his. You drag him up and up and up.

The whole day, you’d dragged him all over Mondstadt, to all your favorite places; bakeries and music stores and the library. Eagerly, he’d followed, been at your side, at your heel like a loyal dog.

(A lovesick pup—)

Kaeya thinks he could spend countless days with you like this.

The world is always more brilliant with you—he can’t deny it.

And now, you’ve promised him another secret place of yours.

“How much further?” He breathes hard, surprised to find himself winded. His legs almost burn; there have been far more stairs than he originally thought. Or was promised. but he was also promised the best view in all of Mondstadt, with one of your sweetest smiles.

And really, how could he have denied you then? How could he deny you at all today?

“Not much!” You chirp back and then all it takes is a little more, until you come to a wooden door.

It gives easily under your weight, your excited push, throwing it wide open.

Light gleams, the world bursts before his eyes in a shimmer of gold, a rain of color and life.

You sweep into the space, the arch beneath the stones and over the other side of one of the great bells. If he peers down, he can see the wooden scaffolding where someone stands to pull on the huge rope below. No doubt, it would take up this whole space, swing wildly so that the two of you would have to nimbly dodge and move, duck just to keep your heads.

He hopes you’ve accounted for this, too.

He follows you carefully around the bell, only to come to the other side of it and have the whole world open up before you.

And it’s just you, in the breeze, and the storm clouds, above all of Mondstadt.

You hang, perhaps a little too precariously, off one of the large stone pillars.

Kaeya has half a mind to grab you, to pull you back towards him. But the wind favors you.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” You breathe and you’re so taken with it all, that he can hear your voice catch.

“It is,” he agrees, but he’s not looking at the world the way you are.

He’s looking at you.

He watches you watch the streets below and the clouds above. He watches love and adoration paint across your face; joy and a strange sort of melancholy.

Oh, you’ve always been so open.

Finally, you inhale.

Whilst still looking at the world below, the heavens above, you say, “I can’t explain what it does to me–the sky and the city and the wind when it touches me.” You look as if you could almost cry, and immediately his heart gives a lurch in his chest, “I don’t know how anyone can stand it.”

Something in him twists and constricts. He wants to wipe your tears. He wants to coo, don’t cry, don’t cry.

You laugh, “I’m sorry,” and shake your head like you’re silly, “I can’t help it–I’m just so happy. I adore the world so much.”

You turn to face him, open and raw, “I know these haven’t been ideal circumstances,” you start and you shift, and like he’s drawn to the movement, like you’ve pulled him in, he moves, too.

And then he’s standing in front of you. In front of an ancient bell from a nation that isn’t is, but could be. Above the whole world. Beneath the storm of it.

“But I’ve been–” a tear escapes and again, as if he possessed, before he can even think, his hand has darted out to catch it. You laugh again, joyful and aching, “you make me so happy. And I—“

“Doesn’t seem so,” he murmurs, “seems I’ve made you cry.”

You laugh again, sweet to his ears, like their own song. Your hands come up to his chest, palms open and flat against his racing heart. He’s sure you can feel it. Can you hear it? He hopes not.

And no one is watching. He doesn’t need to stand this close to you or wipe your tears.

You don’t need to put your hands on his chest and look up at him like that, in a way he doesn’t deserve.

(You’ll be mine yet, Captain.)

You look at him like he could’ve hung the moon. Or carved your beloved Mondstadt itself with his own hands from hill and valley.

An ache spreads its wings like a bird in his chest. It isn’t fair, he thinks, to be looked at by you, with this expression on your face, when he knows he can’t have you. He knows you can’t be his, not truly.

He wishes you wouldn’t look at him so.

“They’re happy tears,” you tell him, pawing at his chest, creeping up towards his neck. You sway towards him. You finish what he tried to stop you from admitting, “—and I adore you.”

Kaeya’s heart gives this twist, like it’s trying to rebel against him. He wants to run. He wants your arms around him. He wants—

“Careful,” Kaeya murmurs reflexively. Careful of what, though, he can’t say.

Careful with yourself around him? Careful with him?

You don’t heed his warning at all, and like you always have, you barrel towards all that you want. You press up to him.

“You do make me happy,” you say again, sweeter now like honey on your lips, tip your chin up like you might offer him a taste.

“Everything makes you happy,” Kaeya counters, shaking his head fractionally, looking down at you with lidded eyes.

“Not true,” you almost pout up at him, shaking your head, fingers tightening in the collars of his shirt like you know he’s thinking about fleeing.

He has half a mind to kiss you. You’re leaning up on your toes a little. He can smell your perfume; red berries and honeysuckle. Warm vanilla. He feels something tighten inside of him, hot and aching. He needs to put a stop to this—

He says your name, in warning. Perhaps fear.

And you look up at him through the fan of your lashes and say his name like it’s a melody, “Kaeya.”

He shakes his head now, fractionally, “don’t.” He murmurs, voice a low rumble.

“Don’t what?” You ask innocently and then you do it again, as if you know perfectly well, “Kaeya–”

His hand comes down to clutch your wrist, to keep it from moving around to the nape of his neck. He stills you.

You look up at him, questioning, almost desperate. Perhaps unsure–you go to pull away, but he seizes your wrist, holds it tight to his chest and keeps you close.

Thunder rumbles.

“Don’t say my name like that.” He croons, voice a little rough, “don’t torture me.”

He watches your face transform into understanding. Into—

Your fingers sink back into the fabric of his clothes, emboldened, “Kaeya,” you say like it bursts on your tongue, and then again, “Kaeya,” you hum, sing his name on a note that could be its own siren song. “Kaeya,” you purr as one of your arms winds around his neck.

His poor heart—

He makes a noise; a soft groan of frustration, a little growl, back in his throat.

“You’re such trouble,” but his other hand is squeezing at your hip now. “I swore to everyone I had nothing but pure intentions with you.”

Your nose brushes his, a smile licking at the corner of your mouth, “I surely hope not.”

“I’m supposed to protect you.” He gets out.

“You do—you are.” Soft, sweet little assurance.

He shakes his head again, barely, nose brushing yours. Fractionally closer. “You’re my responsibility.”

“Are my desires, too?” You murmur and when you lean towards him to close the short distance between your lips, he suddenly seizes your jaw in his hand.

You gasp.

“And what of mine?” He asks, eye glinting like the too-hot part of a flame. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

His voice is a low rasp.

You look up at him with wide eyes, soft in the center, your eyebrows drawing in a little and you look—you look like you adore him. Like you’re desperate for him.

“Sleeping in my bed every night, my clothes—“ Kaeya allows his thumb to drift over your bottom lip, slow, parting it from your top. He exhales roughly. “What am I supposed to do with you?”

“Kiss me,” you plead.

Lightning cracks across the sky in a fissure of heat.

“I shouldn’t.” He counters, even as you kiss at the pad of his thumb. Lips soft and warm, wet as your tongue darts out in a flash of heat. He inhales tightly, letting his thumb be drawn into the crux of your mouth.

You look up at him through your lashes. He has to fight back another groan. There’s a flush on the nape of his neck, heat that swims beneath his skin. He’s certain you’ll melt him with your gaze alone.

What’s he supposed to do?

How’s he supposed to survive you?

He scrambles for his wits.

And firstly, he pulls his thumb from your lips.

“Kaeya—“ you coax again, “Kaeya.”

“Stop it,” he hushes, “I can’t.”

“I want you,” you murmur, almost whine.

“You’re a brat.” Kaeya groans finally, “stop tempting me.”

“I’ll beg,” you sing sweetly. “Is that what you want to hear?”

“No,” he says quickly because the thought of that makes his mind screech to a halt. “Never. I’d never—“

Make you beg.

He swallows around the words sharply.

He lays his hands, long and broad, on your shoulders.

He forces distance between the two of you.

Thunder grumbles unhappily across the sky.

“I’m not going to kiss you.”

“But you want to?”

And the way you look at him, so earnestly and so desperately—

“That’s besides the point—“ You open your mouth to speak, only for him to continue, “my job is to protect you. This would be highly unprofessional of me.”

“Since when have you—“

“You deserve better.” He finally says, words flying from his mouth before he can stop them, “I am, frankly, a rake and a cheat and—“

“That’s not—“

“The point is,” Kaeya continues over you, lest you do something even worse and try to fight or deny him, “it would be unwise of us.”

“I, for one, have never claimed to be wise.”

Kaeya laughs now, full and warm and fond. He shakes his head. You’re near glowing with just the sound of his joy. So he continues;

“It would be foolish. Perhaps, even, one of the worst things we could do.”

His voice lilts, turns melodic.

Your hands are back on his chest somehow. Flat over his heart, nearing his collar again. He’s losing. You’re sidling close and he wants to bring you closer still. He can feel all the curves of your body to his, fitting up against him like a missing puzzle piece.

“Utterly disastrous, really.” He continues, voice growing fainter. He’s losing.

“Wildly reckless?” You murmur, tipping your chin up, offering your lips to him like a sweet lamb to sacrifice.

“Terribly…” he drifts, feeling the brush of your lips against his, “stupid, I’m afraid.”

You hum lightly, barely, in acknowledgement before he’s suddenly closing the distance and kissing you soundly.

Oh, he’s lost.

(It’s a promise.)

The wind picks up sharply for a proper storm. Lightning flashes behind his eyelids.

And that’s all it takes, Kaeya realizes, heart swinging wildly in his chest like a bell tolling. Knocking against his rib cage.

You throw your arms around his neck and deepen it.

He groans in defeat, damning it all, and grabs at the skirts of your waist, squeezing at your hips desperately.

Damn it all, he thinks again, knowing it’ll be something of a shipwreck; brutal and splendid and massive. Beautiful and heartbreaking enough that he just won’t be able to look away.

More thunder, sky swirling and teeming and ready to just burst. He can feel it under his skin.

You sink your hands into his hair. He nips sharply enough at your bottom lip that a gasp is wrenched from you. He swallows it.

He wants so much more.

The sky opens up and rain falls from the heavens in a golden and brutal downpour.

***

SCENE V

Dawn Winery in the evening, plum dark and warm from fire in the hearth. You and Diluc are at the grand piano, seated side by side, in an intimate and cozy parlor room.

Kaeya has just entered and we see the side profile of his face as he watches the two of you.

“Oh, do you remember this one?” You ask and immediately, music fills the space as your hands dance over the keys in a sweet, jaunty little tune.

“Like this?” Diluc asks, setting his hands to the lower side to immediately complete the melody you play. “It’s this one, right?”

“Yes!” You exclaim, the two of you playing with ease, a smile on your face. “We used to play this one all the time for our parents.”

It’s such an innocent remark. Kaeya is almost caught off guard by it, by the memory that floods back to him.

Crepus in the lounge chair, your parents across from him on the settee. The glow of the fire warm and gentle. Faces of people that swim in his mind, that he hasn’t seen or has avoided for a long time now, their smiles and laughs. People who left. Who died. Ghosts that once listened to your music, just as he is now, on the outskirts.

Diluc, surprisingly, is not put off by the memory. Instead, he smiles, “I used to always mess this part up.”

And then with ease, his large hands cascade over the keys. Not a note out of place.

“And look at you now!” You encourage him.

He laughs softly, low, like the fire in the hearth.

With ease, the two of you close the song together, watching each other with crinkled, happy eyes for the timing. For the last notes.

He can hardly stand how lovely you look. Or how you look at Diluc.

Have you ever looked at him like that?

He clears his throat.

When you see him, your face lights up and the way you say his name, with such warmth and adoration makes him feel worse somehow, “Kaeya!”

Immediately, Diluc’s face hardens.

“Apologies,” Kaeya says with perhaps more chill than he anticipates, “I didn’t mean to interrupt the concert.”

“Not at all,” you respond, “how did we sound?”

“Your music is lovely as usual.” Kaeya responds flippantly and you eye him for a moment, scrutinizing.

And then, slowly, you say, “then you wouldn’t mind if we play a few more? This piano does bring back fond memories for me.”

There’s a glint in your eyes; it could be the fire that favors you or a trick of the light.

And because Kaeya pretends he doesn’t care, he says, “please; don’t allow me to stop you.”

He takes a seat on the settee as far from you and Diluc as he can manage.

Diluc sets his hands back to the keys and opens with a few, small notes, “do you remember this one?” He asks you.

“How could I forget?” You laugh, “I sang this one at every party and soiree we ever had.”

And Kaeya also instantly recognizes the first chord that Diluc eases out, the tune of it like his childhood. He remembers you standing so small and young, by the piano which seemed so much larger when he was a boy. Your glowing face and sweet, little voice.

And when you open your mouth to sing this time, it’s mature and warm, lower but more distinguished.

The lyrics must come to you like from a dream, he’s sure of it.

As if it was yesterday, you sing the song of a different time, a different lifetime ago it feels like. Of late nights in this very parlor, with laughter and the clinking of glasses. A house full. A heart full.

You sing of angels and the moon in the sky, the stars, and a love from forever ago.

And really, it’s so horribly fitting for you; the song is as in love with the world as you are. How could anyone sleep, you sing, how could anyone close their eyes to the night sky? To love?

Kaeya realizes sharply that he feels as if he’s been sleeping for a very long time.

He’s turned his eyes away from the stars and love and the whole world.

And you, wonder that you are, have been desperately trying to wake him. To show him again.

The last concluding notes ring softly, hang in the air, before you are smiling and leaning onto Diluc’s shoulder, hugging his broad arm to you happily.

Kaeya looks at the two of you, the light and dark of Mondstadt. The joy and pride of the city, so beautiful in the fire.

How could he ever compare to the two of you?

“Kaeya, did you remember that one?” You ask suddenly, turning to face him.

He somehow manages to unstick his voice, and lies, “not really.”

After a moment, a heartbeat where you seem to see right through him, you ask, “shall we go home?”

Yes, he wants to say. Let me take you home. Let me take you away.

Instead, he says, “I’m hardly in a rush.”

You stand from the piano bench and saunter over to him. Diluc turns to watch as you come to stand between his legs, peering down at him.

“I missed you today.” You say honestly, “were you busy?”

Kaeya won’t return the sentiment in front of Diluc. In fact, he’s surprised that you’ve come this close in front of him at all. He thought this was supposed to be between the two of you and no one else.

Selfishly, he wants to keep it that way. He wants you all to himself.

Kaeya glances at his brother, then back to you. Diluc’s eyes narrow fractionally in suspicion as Kaeya says, “very, unfortunately.”

You tuck a strand of his hair behind his ear. Your fingers drift then, hovering around his jaw like you might touch him more. You don’t. You say, “let’s go home, then.”

You offer him your hand and when he takes it to stand, you don’t drop it. You tuck up against his side. Kaeya feels something wobbly and fragile take a few, tentative steps inside of him, like a newborn fawn.

How strange, he thinks, to imagine you as openly his. How strange, to have your genuine affection, your genuine adoration.

“Thank you for playing with me, Diluc,” you say with a smile, “I hope I wasn’t too much of a bother today.”

“You’re never a bother,” Diluc promises like the gentleman he is, “and I am always charmed to play the piano beside you.”

Diluc glances down at your interlocked hands. You let him look. Kaeya fights the urge to pull away and create distance. You squeeze his hand. You say to Diluc, “perhaps we should throw a soiree, the way our parents used to. I miss being in the manor. And then we can play for everyone again.”

Everyone except the ghosts, Kaeya thinks, their faces pale in his eyes.

Diluc seems as wary as Kaeya is, for once, but it is so hard to deny you. Kaeya knows that well.

As if to sweeten it, you let your head tip onto Kaeya’s shoulder, cuddling up to him even closer, “I think it’d be great fun. A reason to come together again.”

Diluc meets Kaeya’s eyes briefly and he can already feel the scolding he will receive. He can already feel Diluc’s doubt and judgment. But instead of starting a quarrel, he says to you, “Perhaps we can arrange something.”

And really, Kaeya thinks it's a testament to how charming and lovely you are.

You bid Diluc goodnight, sweet as ever, and lead Kaeya out by the hand.

He can feel Diluc’s gaze burning into the center of his back.

And the moment you pull him around the corner and out of Diluc’s eyesight, you turn and suddenly pull him down into a deep, slow kiss.

Kaeya’s eyes flutter in surprise and immediately, he attempts to pull away from you. It’s one thing for Diluc to see the way you held his hand, it’s another thing entirely for him to catch the two of you like this.

You hardly let him get a word out, before you’re pulling him back down into a dirtier, heavier, more desperate sort of kiss.

He yields with a soft, surprised noise of wanting. He kisses you back, just as dirty, just as desperate—tongue licking into your mouth, heat stoking to life along the nape of his neck, the curve of his spine.

When you pull away, he manages to get out, “well. Hello to you, too.”

You smile, wide and lovely. “I did miss you.” You say again, as if you know you have to convince him, and that he never believes you the first time. And still, he thinks you must be lying. You’d never miss him.

But you lean up onto your toes to get him to kiss you again; which he does. Easily, happily. It’s gentler than the previous, a little more content, though no less heated. He draws you closer, as close as you can get. His tongue dips gently into your mouth, deep and hungry and exploring. He feels the fabric of your dress bunch up beneath greedy hands, pulling at them, pawing at you.

A cleared throat.

The two of you jump apart, whirling around to face Diluc in the entryway.

He does not look pleased.

Kaeya, for once, feels like a younger brother again, caught red handed. He opens his mouth for some strange excuse, but you beat him to it;

“We’re taking our role as a couple very seriously. Archon forbid the Fatui question our legitimacy.”

Kaeya can’t help the laugh that barks out of him, before Diluc’s glare forces him to clear his throat and compose himself.

“I can see that.” He says dryly.

“It was my fault,” you then add, “Kaeya is, for once, blameless. I’m a bad influence.”

“I highly doubt that.” Diluc drawls, “he’s never blameless.”

Kaeya opens his mouth to speak, but you beat him to it again.

“We will truly be taking our leave now.” You then say, tugging at Kaeya’s hand, “goodnight, Diluc!”

The door slams hard behind you.

Kaeya looks at you, your back to the door, chest heaving a little. You look back at him.

And then you burst into laughter. He shakes his head, but he can’t stop the smile that comes onto his face. The laugh of disbelief.

“Diluc is going to kill me,” he finally says, “I can’t believe you.”

“Oh,” you coo, striding past him, “should I protect you? Diluc is harmless.”

Kaeya laughs again, though this time it’s dryer, not as funny, but more ironic.

Well, he has an eyepatch to certainly prove otherwise. You must catch onto his shift in mood, because you take his hand again and assure him, “I’ll deal with Diluc, if you’d like.”

“No,” Kaeya says, “no need to fight my battles.”

“I did get you in trouble.”

“Well, that I can’t deny.” Kaeya agrees with a smile, slipping his hand around your waist and this time, he knows it is real. Realer than ever before.

The stars are bright above your heads. The moon is full and shining like a coin and casting you in its soft light. Your eyes are crinkled in delight.

“You’re also a liar,” you add and Kaeya pauses, looking at you.

It strikes a strange note in him.

You continue, “I thought you said you weren’t the jealous type?”

Kaeya’s brows prick upwards, “did you think I was jealous?”

“Kaeya,” you say his name warmly, with love, “I could feel you glaring a hole into the back of our heads while we were at the piano.”

Kaeya laughs, but it’s rather hollow, “I’m not the jealous type, my dear. I’m sorry to disappoint. Did you have fantasies of being ravished by me in a jealous rage?”

It’s a little barbed.

If you notice (which you do), you don’t take his bait.

“Well, now that you say it…” you tease, walking backwards and in front of him, a sly little smile on your lips.

Kaeya shakes his head, “there’ll be no ravishing.” He promises, “I’m being a gentleman.”

“Hm,” you hum lightly, “and how long do you plan to keep that facade up?”

“It’s not a facade–” he starts to protest, but your hand is winding in the front of his shirt to pull him back into your orbit.

You pull him into a hard kiss.

This one is more desperate. Heavier. Hotter.

He sees what game you’re playing.

The walk home, in Mondstadt’s streets, for everyone and the moon to see, is a game of cat and mouse. Kissing hard and soft, slow and fast, against brick walls and wooden fences. Leaning into shadows and sharp, little gasps. Teasing kisses along the jaw, before slipping away, and back into the night.

You manage to lead him right up to the threshold of his bedroom.

He takes a stance here, roots himself down. He swallows hard—he has to steel himself, he knows.

So he goes no further than the arch of the doorway, no matter how much you pull at him, or kiss him or tease him. And as hard as it is, he doesn’t even sway when you gaze up at him with that look in your eyes; dreamy and enamored.

You look at him like he could be a great man.

It’s absolutely horrifying. His heart jumps in his chest. He can feel as if he can hardly breathe.

“You really won’t sleep with me?” You ask, lips hovering just beneath his. His hands are latched tight to the doorframe of his bedroom as to stay them. To keep his resolve.

Kaeya shakes his head, “I’m a gentleman.”

You let go of a tired sigh, “I don’t need you to be one.”

He swallows hard.

“I’m afraid I need to be one.” He answers.

“I didn’t take you as chaste.” You murmur, kissing at the corner of his mouth, his cheek. All that warmth comes rushing back to him.

“Hardly,” he scoffs reflexively, allowing you room at his throat, down the length of his neck. “But I am trying to preserve–”

He stalls, when he feels your tongue at his pulse.

You blink up at him innocently and supply, “you’re trying to preserve–?”

He clears his throat, “some level of professionality. Dignity, maybe.”

Protection, too, though he isn’t sure anymore if it’s for you or him. Perhaps both.

The only way he sees this ending is poorly–he cannot foresee a current future where you don’t end up disappointed and hurt by him. He cannot see a future where you don’t leave for your own good.

And besides, all things must end, he knows, all people must leave or be left behind.

He was left once and he’s vowed to never be left again, standing in the rain, shivering and young.

(He tries not to think of you—left at an altar.)

You pull away to look up at him, sweet-eyed and gentle, almost amused with him. “If you say so.”

Reluctantly and with a great deal of his strength, he leans away to put distance between you. Coldness sweeps in. He tries to appreciate it. “You should sleep. You have rehearsal early tomorrow morning.”

You step away as well. You offer him a little curtsy in jest, “as you wish, my most proper and chaste lord.”

“I’m a lord?” He asks, astonished.

“A prince?” you ask, “or do you prefer a knight? We can roleplay, if you’d like–”

“Goodnight!” Kaeya announces then, reaching for the doorknob to begin swinging the door closed, to put distance between whatever it is growing between the two of you.

You laugh, though, so warm and wonderful at his antics that he just can’t help it; he kisses you once more, soundly, goodnight.

And this time, he says it gentler, lower and sweeter in a way he knows makes you shiver, “goodnight, princess.”

He watches you fluster, the way you blink up at him. And now it’s his turn to laugh, low and soft and hot, before he quickly swings the door the rest of the way shut. Locking you on the other side of it. Far from his reach.

Lest he do something horrible.

Lest he want you too greatly.

But when he lays down on the couch to sleep that night, he realizes he can hardly sleep at all–and, really, he thinks, who could sleep at all? With the night sky like diamonds, and the way you kiss him like you have everything to lose, and everything to gain.

Like he could be desired to keep.

How could he sleep at all? When there is a door between the two of you? And the world hums and glows and shifts, right from underneath his feet.

How could he sleep? He hears you sing, around and around in his mind, at the piano of his childhood, and the one tonight, a lifetime later.

***

Finish the rest on Ao3 ->

a/n: this act was too long to post on tumblr in full and i would've had to split it into three separate posts. i figured linking ao3 would be easiest to finish reading :)) thank you for reading!! let me know your thoughts!! <33

#kaeya alberich x reader #kaeya alberich x you #kaeya alberich x y/n #kaeya x reader #kaeya x y/n #kaeya x you #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact x y/n #genshin impact x you #cielo writes!#cielo's writing!#cielo collabs!#my heart your song

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wannabepoeticischiya · 4 months ago

Text

If you remember me, then... I don't care if everyone else forgets.

ao3: until the end pairing: khaenri'ahn prince! kaeya alberich x f! reader genre: romance, angst wc: 5.1k status: one shot

Kaeya wasn't quite sure how much time had passed since he last saw her. It felt surreal—how time flies. It seemed to him as if it was only yesterday when she'd hunt him to the ends of the kingdom and drag him back to his duties; only yesterday, he'd find himself looking over towers of papers to get a glimpse of her. Only yesterday... when he had made his promise to her.

And only yesterday... when he failed to fulfill it.

Before, Kaeya used to fear a moment in time where he would come to forget the way her voice sounded like, forget the things she adored and treasured, or the moment when the image of her would begin to fade from his mind. It frightened him so, but now... he found himself desperately trying to hang onto whatever remnants of her that resided within his mind. He found himself being dragged away from the rift in space and time that held her in it. Kaeya found himself once again... alone amidst the infinite vastness of the cosmos.

And it felt like that fated day all over again.

But during times when there were no visible clouds blocking the blues of the sky, when the heat of summer would be gentle and the caresses of the breeze were cool; during nights when the sky was littered with hundreds and thousands of stars, plenty enough that he could trace and spell her name on them. Those were times he hoped he could have done better. Moments he hoped that he didn't leave her. Moments he wished he could go back to. Change what he did; choose a different path... those were memories he desperately wished he could change. Maybe then, it wouldn't be so hard. Maybe, he wouldn't wake up every morning feeling as though he was being suffocated; walk the streets plagued by guilt whenever he saw anyone resembling even the smallest parts of her. Perhaps, under the covers of the midnight sun, he wouldn't be left staring at the stars, wondering if she was angry at him, if she pitied him... if she even thought of him at all... even until the end. Every passing second, he wished to change her fate... so he wouldn't have to live a life that didn't have her in it.

... That didn't have [Name] in it.

---

"KAEYA YOU SICK MANIAC!! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!"

A shrill feminine yell echoed within the pristine hallways, connecting one part of the castle to the others. The nearly deafening sound bouncing from one golden-framed windowpane onto the next, until it reached the ears of the Prince hiding behind the corner.

Towering Corinthian pillars painted shadows on his sun-kissed skin, the glimmer of mischief reflecting in the pools of his irises nearly looked like stars shining in the darkest of nights. A small chuckle left his lips, his eyelids covering his eyes for a small moment before opening once more, only for them to meet the blazing hues of (e/c) glaring so fiercely at him.

"Prince Kaeya!"

"Oh," Kaeya playfully interjected, "you found me~" The Prince's lips edged upwards to form some sort of lopsided smirk as his frame leaned away from the wall he rested upon in order to tower over the fuming woman.

"Library. Now."

Her glare could send millions of soldiers running with their tails in between their legs, a single command from her would send kingdoms falling, and the sheer mention of her name wove fear into those that had heard it.

Such was the reputation of Prince Kaeya's General, [Name].

Artificial luminescence flowed through the glass panes that lined the hallways, little particles reflecting as the light wove itself in their midst, making it seem as if stars descended from the heavens to waltz and float in the corners of the Khaenri'ahn Castle.

Deafening echoes of clattering footsteps were all that could be made out in the premises of the empty corridor. It was quite a walk to go to back the study where the prince should have been spending his afternoon instead of clowning around like he always does.

"C'mon, [Name], you're seriously not going to make me memorize all those rules are you?"

Every step he took that brought him closer to the study made the prince feel as if he was approaching closer to what would be his end, which it could very much be.

"If you had began working on it when I had told you so a week before, and the week before that instead of messing around, you would have been finished by now." Was the General's only reply as she pushed open the door and flashed him a menacing smile. "Now get to it."

Kaeya's face was littered with a plethora of emotions ranging from regret, sadness, annoyance, among many others. With a defeated sigh, he crossed the golden threshold with a gloomy aura, his mood completely in contrast with the ambiance of the brightly lit room. The sight of the sulking Prince nearly made the General burst into laughter, but of course, for the sake of his Highness' dignity, she tried her best to restrain it.

"You're so mean, [Name]..." He sulked, taking a seat on one of the few chairs in the study, grabbing a book from one of the towering stacks laid out on the table. Kaeya's eyes, although brimmed with crocodile tears, read through the pages nonetheless.

[Name] observed him for a moment longer, her eyes glinting with a certain color that lasted no longer than a second quicker than light to even make out what had sparked within those swirling pools of (e/c) she possessed. With one last look at the Blue-haired Prince, she, herself, took a seat and began with her own work.

And this would come to be for hours on end. Silence blanketed the two figures in the room: one sitting behind a fortress of manuscripts and the other, strategizing at another table facing the Royal's direction. Motes floated amidst them, shining like tiny faeries dancing in the air as the artificial Khaenri'ahn light flooded into the room, keeping the both of them somewhat interwoven with one another.

"Hey, [Name]..." Kaeya's call broke the stillness of the room, scattering the remains of quietness and replacing it with an intense wonderous gaze directed at the woman right across from him. "Do you ever wonder what's on the surface?"

Kaeya's question had [Name] stopping in her duties, he had asked something that the General had not really given any time to think about. What kind of question is that? Who even asks those kind of questions...? Of course, Kaeya. But why did he ask as if he was longing to see what the surface had to offer?

Was he...

For a while, [Name] didn't move to meet his stare which led Kaeya to ponder if his question was even heard, entirely oblivious to the dread his General was feeling.

... not happy here?

As he was about to repeat himself, [Name]'s voice led him to an abrupt stop. "Why should I?"

"You are here, aren't you? Then, there is nothing for me up there."

Her response left the curious Prince astounded. The sheer magnitude of her stare left no room for argument, and this was exactly the reflection of genuineness and loyalty that General [Name] possessed. That among many other things.

---

The prince's questions regarding the surface only seemed to frequent for every turn of the kingdom's artificial lights. Whenever he got the chance, he would blurt out the most ridiculous thoughts he had going on in his head: lands blanketed in ice and powders of white that he referred to as snow, fields that stretched on as far as the eye can see, mountains shrouded by miles and miles on high of clouds, islands where lightning never ceased and the skies were tainted violet, places where the earth erupts with flaming water, sceneries where the ground was made entirely out of something called sand. To [Name], who hears him babbling about it every second of the day, his ideas were really beginning to sound increasingly foolish as the clock ticks by.

They had no need for those things Kaeya spoke so ardently about, the people of Khaenri'ah were fine on their own. The Prince's perceptions of what could be on the other side were no more than just useless accessories that served no other purpose than to please the eye. After all, true beauty lies with value. The more something can be of use, the greater purpose it would serve. It was how General (L/n) had lived all these years... because she had use, she had purpose.

And yet... why do his ideas intrigue her so?

Why does she find herself wanting to climb out of her own home to see what the land above had to give? It was wrong. Who knew what kind of creatures roamed that place, what kind of people were living there, the technology they had, the knowledge they possessed... their intentions when they find out who they really are.

"Listen to this, [Name]..."

It was dangerous. So why?

"When you look up at the sky on a summer night, you can see hundreds and thousands of shining lights! So many of them that you could spend all night trying to count them all and it wouldn't be enough. You can even make out images with them, I bet I can even spell out our names in every language."

Why does she find herself wanting to see more and more of what is on the other side?

"You only know one language, Prince Kaeya."

Was it Kaeya's stories? The nonsense he spoke about on a daily basis? No. No way. They were completely ridiculous!

"You get a sick thrill out of antagonizing me, don't you General?" Kaeya sighed, snapping the book close, saving the rest for another time. Kaeya's gaze shifted from the woman beside him walking so rigidly, weapon ready to use at any given moment should danger test its luck; towards the tower of light nestled far into the heart of the kingdom.

Fake. An imitation. That was what it was. As much as he cherished all the things they had here, it still wouldn't change the reality that everything about his kingdom was a mimic of the real things far above them. Unlike the ball of flames hugging the surface, their source of light held no warmth. It blanketed their lands with brightness, that much is true... yet everything remained cold, nonetheless. He could endure. Kaeya could live with the thought of having to stay here until his last breath, dying in a land surrounded by imitations. He was fine with it. After all, his duty was to his people and never to himself. He was okay with it.

But when his gaze landed on her figure as the last rays of sunlight dispersed into their false skies, she deserved far more than having to die never seeing the surface.

"One day," He spoke, his voice barely above a whisper yet it was sufficient for [Name] to hear.

She wouldn't believe the kind of person he could become if she only wanted it.

"I'll take you to see them... [Name]."

Kaeya's words made her stop in her tracks, causing the Prince to follow in suit. The words he uttered melted the hurricane of thoughts that ravaged her mind.

"I'll bring you to see the lights." His eyes shone with the same resolve [Name] had shown him on that day in the study. Unwavering, and certainly leaving no room for counterargument.

You deserve more than imitations.

This made [Name] happy, although no indication of it had broken to her exterior, her heart felt it all. Afraid to tarnish her pride, she inquired smugly, "What makes you so sure I'm going with you?"

He flashed her a brazen smile, one that even put the entirety of the lights which he so dearly spoke of to complete shame, "I'm not."

"I'll drag you out of here if I have to."

And for the first time that day, [Name] gave him a warm smile back, "I'm looking forward to it."

---

Luminescence cascaded from the heavens and onto the pathway which the woman trekked upon, towering Corinthian pillars projected shadows upon the marble flooring painted with a plethora of colors specifically chosen for royalty.

"Twilight Sword?"

Although the General did not let her astonishment carve its way onto the surface, she still, however, failed to conceal her confusion upon seeing the esteemed Twilight Sword himself be the one standing in the midst of the barren loggia. After all, for whatever could be the Knight's reason to call upon a conversation between two high-ranking military officials at such a place...

"For what reason have you summoned me here?"

Stopping by his side, the General faced forward to gaze at the scenery the Knight was so adamant on admiring.

Dainsleif's demeanor greatly contrasted the stillness that blanketed the land. Distant murmurs running amok the atmosphere gifted by the townspeople before them had conflicted with the turbulence that rampaged within the four corners of his mind. With his hands hidden behind his back, accompanied by a detached look in his eyes, one could not help but question the reason for his strange behavior.

"General (L/n)," he began, uncertainty lacing his tone as he spoke, "I fear that a great danger may be upon us."

It did not seem to register at first, those words he said. Silence permeated the space between them, unsure of what to make with the thoughts of the Khaenri'ahn Soldier. To [Name], conjuring up a viable response felt as if it stretched on for eons... spiraling into nothingness at the magnitude of her quietness yet in reality, it only consumed a few unmissed seconds in the grand scheme of things.

A cloud of mist hovered over her parted lips as she finally spoke the sentiments kept within her heart. "Our civilization has improved over the past hundred years. We have fought countless battles and won. Soldiers of all ages are ready to lay down their lives for their home, us included."

Gazing away from the scenery before them, the General turned to face the man whose hair shimmered like an endless field of gold, "So I must ask... what incurred you to have such thoughts?"

Dainsleif's silence seeped into the tiny crevices marred within [Name]'s soul, trickling its way into her very being like rain in the dead of night: cold, eerie... ominous. A single drop of it rattled the seemingly infinite calmness the woman had spent years preserving, it unnerved her so.

"Forgive my impudence, Twilight Sword," [Name] had no qualms about the man, no second thought, no nothing... after all, both Dainsleif and her served the same family, fought for the same kingdom, and they both lived for the same purpose, "but are you perhaps suggesting that you have betrayed your country?" Yet despite those circumstances and similarities, if Dainsleif were to so much as show a sign of his treachery, the General will not hesitate to subdue him and bring him to justice.

A soft chuckle escaped from his lips, his eyes which refracted every shade of blue shone with sentiment not even the greatest shifts in space and time could ever waver. "I wouldn't dream of it."

The Knight's response froze the brewing wrath nestled in the depths of the General's dutiful nature. Heaven forbid, if she were to raise her weapon against one of Khaenri'ah's most trusted Soldier, it would not bode well for the dawn of the nation.

However, the stillness that had begun to settle had shattered at the remainder of his words.

"But the direction of the wind has changed..." This time, it was Dainsleif who had turned and faced her, "and as much as I do not wish to burden you with these assumptions, they still remain a phantom in the back of my mind." The threads of golden starlight embroidered on his head glimmered as the artificial luminescence of their nation shone down on them, swaying them ever so softly at the faintest of stray zephyrs that fluttered by. How could such a beautiful being—whose eyes put even the bluest of skies to complete and utter shame—ever possess such cataclysmic apprehension?

An insight like that would have left anyone with no words left to say. The General struggled to form a coherent thought... to what would she have replied to such an ominous suspicion?

Noticing the expanse of her unresponsiveness the Knight spoke once more, "Fret not," he assured, "this is nothing more than a presumption—"

"A presumption that could most certainly prove to be true."

Dainsleif was left startled at her sudden disturbance. [Name]'s eyes that previously held nothing but controlled impassiveness had now begun reflecting the horrors she kept buried in the darkest depths of her soul.

[Name] felt it once more—the fear. That sickening feeling slithering its way down her throat... a foreboding sentiment she swore she had buried deep inside her all those moons ago. It forced her to gobble up something unwanted... something that scared her beyond comprehension... something she knew she could never defeat.

"General (L/n)." He called, momentarily distracting her from the hurricane of thoughts spiraling into being inside her head.

Once Dainsleif was sure he had her full undivided attention, he gave her a small yet reassuring smile. "I say this not to frighten you but only because I require you to promise me one thing."

Promise? Nothing I possess will be of any value to you... at least, that was what the General believed. Nevertheless, she entertained whatever it was that Dainsleif had to ask for.

"And what would that be?" She questioned, her stare lifting from the landscape before her, only to be left astounded by the sheer intensity of the Knight's gaze.

It was no wonder why he is what he came to be, why the people of Khaenri'ah cherished and respected him so, why the Prince was entrusted to him should all else fail. From the way his eyes shone like diamonds: clear, profound, breaking apart every single light that passed through them, scattering it to give way to a multitude of colors.

It made them all the more alluring and breathtaking. His eyes captivated her so, compelled her to listen to every word that flowed from his parted lips. He had the aura of a leader, the face of someone capable, and kind beyond all rhyme and reason.

"If a cataclysm were to ensue... you will take the prince and run as far away as you can go."

---

"[Name]..."

"[Name]."

"[Name]!"

"Huh? What? Do you need anything?"

"What's wrong? Are you sick?"

Dainsleif's words kept resonating in the caves of her ears, echoing back and forth from the seemingly infinite darkness stretching between her and the unforeseen future. How many moons had passed since she had that conversation with him? Long enough, that much was certain. Still, it never ceased to haunt her every waking day. [Name] had tried, desperately so, to blanket her unease with the usual nonchalance she had spent majority of her life trying to display yet, with the prince on her radar every moment of the hour... it became difficult to hide from his piercing gaze.

Kaeya will only ever show true concern to her. He had no need to fake it. [Name] was someone he needed nothing from, she was someone sworn to protect his kingdom, and Prince Kaeya knew she would do it without fail... even at the expense of sacrificing herself.

"You've been out of it for the past weeks." His voice sounded so far away, yet the distance between them could be crossed within a few breaths. Was he always this shrewd? It felt like a waste. Why was it now that she was seeing all these aspects of him? Why now? Of all the times they spent together... why... why now? Her head must not have been screwed on tight enough... if it was then, why was she seeing Kaeya—the very same Kaeya that used to scale the walls to catch mechanical bugs—the one who snuck off into the kitchen to steal pastries meant for another member of the Royal family—Kaeya who dragged her all over the castle trying to escape from studying—the same Kaeya... surrounded by a kaleidoscope of colors? Why did he feel so close when he was at least a few inches away? And why—why... why are you looking at me like that?

A deafening sound rattled the room followed by the tremors of the earth.

Dainsleif was right.

Snapping out of her reverie, [Name] held Kaeya's hand as tight as she could, never wanting to break free from her hold on him. Hoisting him up on his feet, she quickly led the both of them outside the study and towards the grand hall where she knew he awaited.

"[Name]?" He called only to be met with silence as the trembling of the ground continued, causing windows to shatter and for the walls to crack. "Move faster, your Highness." It was then that Kaeya knew...

"General [Name]!" That all too familiar voice echoed throughout the crumbling hallway, turns out they need not proceed further seeing as the person of their interest had met them halfway. His hair, which shone like golden starlight could be seen even from across the corridor, armor that signified his position adorning his tall frame. Even now, he possessed every quality needed to be a leader.

"Twilight Sword." For the first time in the past few weeks, [Name] had turned to look at him. Kaeya should have felt elated, ecstatic knowing that she was not angry at him, nor was she getting tired of him and wanted to quit. He desperately wanted to smile at her, show that he was relieved yet the look he got from her was something that he did not want to remember.

"Go with the Serpent Knight, hurry." She ushered, setting his hand free from her tight hold, taking along with it the warmth she provided.

"Wait... hold on just a second, [Name]—"

"We don't have time." She interjects, face steeling with resolve that only ever came when she engaged in battle.

"I know, but—" Kaeya began once more, wanting nothing more than to speak with her for even just a moment longer. By then, he could...

"So please listen!" [Name]'s back was now turned to them, hiding away the sorrow that colored her soul. Her hand that once held his own had closed into fists, nails digging into the flesh of her palms. "Please... just listen."

Chaos continued to rampage outside. The horrifying sound of people screaming, barrage of footsteps echoing from the farthest corners of the city, cries from children. It felt cruel to do this to him—to Kaeya. Kaeya, whose kingdom is being threatened to ruin. Kaeya, whose people are about to be massacred. Kaeya... whose soul is one word away from shattering completely.

Kaeya who only ever wanted to make her smile. Kaeya who tried so hard to get her to laugh. Kaeya... who only ever wanted to...

"But what about you?" He surrenders, voice threatening to break. Kaeya could do nothing but stare at the back of his fearless general. Her figure seemingly getting farther and farther away. He wanted to reach out to her, grab her hand and never let go but... reality crept in. Even if he wanted to shackle himself to her, [Name] would still do everything in her power to get him to safety and defend his people.

Even now, he does nothing but worry about my well-being.

"You don't need to worry about me." [Name]'s voice never wavered, even now as the herald of destruction was knocking on their doorstep.

You will take the Prince and run as far away as you can go...

"I got your back..." the General faced the threshold that separated her from the battlefield. "You got it from here, Twilight Sword."

And from there, she rushed headfirst into destruction.

---

"If a cataclysm were to ensue... you will take the prince and run as far away as you can go."

"You know I can't do that."

"The heavens bear witness to how much I cherish His Highness but..." tearing her gaze from the Knight before her, [Name] looked down at the people of Khaenri'ah, "my duty is to the people."

---

"Order all the Black Serpent Knights to protect the citizens!"

"Your Highness!" The Blonde Knight's voice trembled as he attempted to tug the frozen blue-haired Prince towards the portal.

The bridge that connected the Kingdom of Khaenri'ah to their escape route had already begun to crumble. Pillars that upheld the great roads built by humans and withstood everything that nature had thrown at them were drowning in the depths of the waters below.

His Highness, the Prince of this once great Kingdom watched as the scenery he grew to love, and treasure be ignited with inextinguishable flames and struck by meteors and lightning.

"MY PRINCE! HEAD TO THE PORTAL!"

And running to where he stood was the woman he promised to protect covered with cuts and nearly bathing in her own blood.

The Prince's eyes glistened with unshed tears, his lips quivering as he desperately tried to suppress his anguish. His hand unknowingly stretching out as if reaching for the person who was very much too far for him to hold.

"PRINCE KAEYA!"

His ears struggled to process what his Knight was saying. Everything sounded as if he was submerged in water and yet his eyes could see the woman cry and stagger as she fought her own consciousness for her survival.

Kaeya's attempt to run towards the chaos that nearly took both their lives away was foiled by the same person who looked as if it took everything in her to just keep breathing.

"RUN!" She yelled, and that alone was enough for him to break out of his trance and begin to head to where his escape was.

Flashes of lightning reflected within the irises that housed fear and worry. The voice that the Prince loved to hear was kind and gentle... yet what reached his ears was the sound of a War General's battle cry for her soldiers to leave her.

The Prince and the Knight halted at the front of the archway which would take them to a place far away from all this destruction.

"Dainsleif... what about [Name]—"

At that moment, Kaeya should have known better than to look back and the harsh hold that landed on his forearm which came a second too late had proved it.

Standing at least a hundred meters away was [Name]: her back facing the people she had spent her whole life with, hands shaking as the substance that gave her life raced down and fell from the tips of her fingers.

Kaeya knew what she was about to do and even still, he voiced out the question he already knew the answer to.

"What... what is she... doing?"

Adorning her body were objects he knew far too well; from magic amplifiers to equipment that could very much release concentrated energy powerful enough to blast an entire mountain to smithereens.

'My Prince... can you hear me?'

At the sound of her breaking voice, everything faded away as the tears he had tried to keep at bay overflowed and raced down his cheeks.

"I don't understand what you're trying to do... but I command you to stop and come here this instant!"

Her laughter echoed within the caves of his soul. The melodious tune he had so truly and deeply loved was intertwined with the sorrow both he and [Name] felt.

'Forgive me just this once, will you?'

Hundreds of meteors descended from the heavens above. The gods were indeed punishing the nation that only ever wanted to flourish without the need to depend on another.

'... hey, I—I need you to promise me something—'

Even though his silver-brimmed gaze, the magnificently terrifying sight of a giant boulder being blasted into a thousand pieces had slowly become the tilting point for the Prince to come to a realization.

"Yeah... anything..." His voice wavered and weakened as the last bits of his hope for his country and her safety had withered away, much like the flowers that only grew in the place which was once reigned by humans.

'Promise me, that... you'll be happy—'

The deafening sound of thunder accompanied by the crashing emitted by the Geo Archon's power had hidden the Young Prince's anguish.

She was making him promise something he was not sure he could keep.

'Kaeya... please'

Through the tears, he stared at her unmoving figure. This time, she was facing him: her right arm had long suffered the impact of the blast she had unleashed.

"I love you."

Perhaps uttering those words at this moment might not have been the grandest of ideas, but Kaeya would have rather descended and be buried with the rest of his falling kingdom than let the only person he had ever loved and treasured more than his own life not know of the feelings he had harbored for so, so long. He'd be damned to let her die feeling as though she was unloved.

A thousand stars glistened above the Kingdom of Khaenri'ah. Was this the Wind Archon's kindness? To disguise his method of wiping out nations as the treasures that are held by the vastness above them?

'Ah...' she laughed, 'I knew... you... weren't really the greatest at hiding it.'

Kaeya had never felt so helpless, so angry... so sad. The lights which would have been beautiful in the eyes of some had served as the painful reminder to that Prince that he... was about to lose everything once and for all.

The same lights he had promised her to see... were the same ones that were trying to take her away.

"Then... please..."

'... I- I can't...'

If I say it... it will be harder for you.

"MY PRINCE, WE HAVE TO LEAVE!" Dainsleif had to yell over the sound of buildings plummeting down to the earth and to overpower the cries of the people he swore to protect.

'Go, my Prince...'

This was the fall of the Great Dynasty ruled and made strong by only the power of humans.

'Serving you... has been the greatest honor of my life.'

Slowly, the curse bestowed by Celestia took effect.

With one last salute, her body was rained upon by arrows disguised as stars.

And the two lone survivors could only witness the person whom they shared laughs with, cried and mourned with... turn into something beyond recognition.

If you remember me, then...

I don't care if everyone else forgets

My Prince... for the longest of times, I too, have loved you. Perhaps, when the time is right you... will find me again.

This was first drafted pre-Caribert, 2021 to be exact. It was made with the belief that Kaeya was a Khanri'ahn Prince. Yes, I was half-convinced don'tattackme ><

#ao3 #genshin impact #kaeya alberich #kaeya x reader #i love kaeya #kaeya mains unite #chiya's head rent 🎐

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scaranation · 2 years ago

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hi!! could I please request for kaeya & fem reader- reader is confident and outspoken with those around her, and so as they meet he thinks it’ll be hard to fluster her with his flirting, only he’s quickly proven wrong once they actually have a conversation and he makes an attempt to do so? I hope that makes sense lol. thank u sm! <3

yesss i love this idea sm! i hope i interpreted it right, enjoyy <3

༊*·˚ 𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐄

Pairing: Kaeya x F!reader

Content: fluff, mildly suggestive

Kaeya approaches you, the confident newcomer at the tavern, only to fall for the unexpected way in which you so easily get flustered by him.

You possessed a certain gravitational quality, seeming to be the confident centre of attention wherever you went. Coaxing laughs out of others was almost second nature to you. Out of all the other patrons Kaeya had seen at the bar, you certainly. caught his eye, being the glamorous Inazuman immigrant that’d remained outspoken in the tavern. Perhaps he was no different from all the others - enamoured by the persona you projected from afar.

Kaeya approached you on the rare occasion you were alone, expecting the confident shrewdness he’d seen from you before. However, you quickly fumbled with your bag to make room for him next to you, muttering hurried apologies. He raised his eyebrows. How unexpected.

“What are you apologising for? Stealing my heart?” Kaeya smirked, slightly surprised at the way your eyes widened and your cheeks became tinged with the faintest hue of red.

“Sorry, my brother always tells me I’m too forward around strangers. Nice to meet you, I’m Kaeya Alberich.”

You stared at the outstretched hand for a moment before taking it. With a wink - or a blink, you couldn’t tell because of the eyepatch - Kaeya lifted your hand and kissed the back of it. You snatched your hand back. Mondstadt truly was the city of freedom, but were all its customs this… flustering?

You stuttered out your name, quickly recovering. You lifted a glass of dandelion wine to your lips, the cold feel of the cup against your fingers grounding you back in reality.

“I take it you’re not from here?” Kaeya made idle conversation, although he already knew where you were from based on the rumours circulating around the tavern. He leaned in slightly, indulging in the way you broke eye contact to awkwardly shuffle back. This was certainly a pleasant surprise. The cavalry captain had begun the conversation expecting you to be equally as confident as before, almost anticipating for you to fluster him.

“Ah, I’m from Inazuma. I came here for work.” You replied, finally returning Kaeya’s gaze. It was there that he decided your unexpected shyness was adorable - a faint smile flitting across his lips.

“What kind of work?”

“Due to the Vision Hunt Decree, there were impediments to wine exports from Mondstadt to Inazuma. I’m here to sort it out, hence me being at the Dawn Winery often.”

“It seems you’ve taken a liking to the wine here, if you’re now at the Angel’s Share.”

“… Yes.” You flushed again upon noticing that Kaeya had advanced closer. He smiled at your candid reactions before interlacing his fingers with yours.

“Rough hands. Have you been in this line of work for long?” Kaeya noticed, rubbing a thumb over your knuckles.

“No, I used to be an adventurer.” You admitted. You hadn’t had that much to drink, and yet you found yourself intoxicated by this strange man.

“Mm. I know a few of those.” Kaeya mused, before noticing your glass was empty and ordering another - winking (or blinking) as he paid for it.

“So… what are you? What do you do?” The alcohol slid down your throat pleasantly as you felt your face heat.

“I work in the Knights of Favonius, as Cavalry Captain.”

“Funny, I haven’t seen many horses around Mondstadt.”

“Well, usually I prefer to play the role of being ridden.”

You stopped for a moment to process what Kaeya had just said, almost spitting out your drink in the process. The man laughed at your bewildered reaction, placing a hand on your shoulder as he continued to chuckle.

“Calm down, I’m joking. Perhaps you do take me seriously after all?” Kaeya held back another grin at your flustered demeanour. How fun it was to tease you - like playing with a hamster.

Your alcohol-addled mind couldn’t formulate a proper response, and so you only opted to take another sip of your drink.

At least another hour flew by with you and Kaeya making conversation - laughs and chatter melting into the heated slosh of dandelion wine down your throat, a heat that was mirrored in your face as you continued to be subjected to the man’s relentless teasing.

“You know, I can’t keep paying for you to drink yourself into a nasty hangover.” Kaeya remarked. His hand was laid lazily over yours, a touch you’d somehow gotten used to.

“Then I’ll pay for it myself.”

“That’s not what I meant. Where are you staying? I can take you there.”

“Goth’s Hotel…” You pouted a little, but didn’t struggle when Kaeya took you by the arm to bring you out of the tavern.

The cold night air sizzled on your burning cheeks, the feeling of your body too heavy on your swaying legs as the cobbled pavement drew dangerously close to your face.

“Can’t have you falling over something that isn’t me now, can we?” Kaeya quickly caught you before you could feel the ground against your cheek. You mumbled something in response, limited to being barely coherent as the charming man escorted you back to your hotel.

“If you want someone to drink with again, you’ll know where to find me.” Kaeya smiled, tilting your chin up. His fingers were smooth and cold, gently nudging your jaw as he drew your faces closer to each other. You could feel his breath fan across your face, and you closed your eyes - only to feel the warmth disappear as Kaeya leaned away, chuckling.

“You’re so cute, you know? It just makes me want to tease you.” Kaeya kissed your forehead instead.

“… I’m sorry… you had to see me like this…” You trailed off.

“Hm? No, I like this side of you. As long as I’m the only one seeing it, of course.” With one last fleeting peck on the lips, Kaeya left you in front of the building - smiling to himself.

You had certainly grabbed his attention - but not with the confidence you’d used to grab that of others. And he only liked you more for it.

#genshin x reader #genshin imagines #genshin oneshots #genshin fluff #kaeya x reader #kaeya x y/n #kaeya x you #kaeya imagines #kaeya oneshot #kaeya fluff

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wiltedivinity · 11 months ago

Text

ıllıㅤ#𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐒 ; these are generally my rules when sending in an appeal. i will not be doing requests since those are tiring to do but thirsts / drabbles are very much welcomed for you to appeal. appeals are the same thing as requests but for short or quick drabbles of my writing.

ㅤ⨯ my works are mostly targeted for females or afab readers so you will not be seeing any writings regarding male / amab readers. i'm too used to F&M smut to be able to write M&M smut and i find discomfort in writing it.

ㅤ⨯ you may only send DRABBLES / THIRSTS. they are appeals where the point is responding with my similar ideas or concepts regarding yours. they'll mostly be oneshots.

ㅤ⨯ i take my time when writing or responding to your appeals. do not force me please since i have responsibilities as an adult and i can't keep uploading 24/7.

ㅤ⨯ when requesting for age-differences between characters, they should be of legal age (18+). with that, i really don't care how big the age gap is, as long as they're both adults with a working mind.

ㅤ⨯ please send in an appeal if you have any questions regarding my rules like if i am able to write for something specific or not.

ㅤ⨯ i am most motivated for characters i favor a lot.

ıllıㅤ#𝐈𝐍𝐁𝐎𝐗 ; general rules in sending me asks that are outside of appealing.

ㅤ⨯ PLEASE BE AT LEAST 17+ BEFORE INTERACTING WITH ME. I highly discourage people under the age of 17 to be talking to me.

ㅤ⨯ i don't do great in comforting so please avoid sending me vents

ㅤ⨯ avoid sending hate messages / death threats about my works or self-shipping in general. i will delete them, so don't even try to send one.

ㅤ⨯ i don't mind you rambling about your selfships! In fact, I highly encourage you to talk about it :] it helps me be more confident in talking about mine and I love seeing your ideas for your selfships.

ㅤ⨯ i encourage people interacting with me first since sometimes I don't know how to approach fellow users.

ㅤ⨯ i have never played persona 5, i just like the style of their assets.

ㅤ⨯ childe;tartaglia

ㅤ⨯ cyno

ㅤ⨯ wriothesley

ㅤ⨯ kaeya alberich

ㅤ⨯ neuvilette

ㅤ⨯ thoma

ㅤ⨯ dainsleif

ㅤ⨯ zhongli

ㅤ⨯ capitano

ㅤ⨯ al haitham

ㅤ⨯ diluc ragnvindr

ㅤ⨯ male rover

ㅤ⨯ jiyan

ㅤ⨯ scar

ㅤ⨯ calcharo

ㅤ⨯ yuanwu

ㅤ⨯ femdom / sub!reader :: yandere :: domestic :: baby-trapping :: non-con :: dub-con :: incest :: stepcest :: pseudo-incest :: breeding :: milf!reader :: dilf!character :: hybrid!reader / character :: anal / vaginal / oral sex :: pregnancy :: misogyny :: drugging :: blood :: corruption :: threesomes :: monsterfucking :: age-differences/age-gap :: manipulation :: gaslighting :: service top / bottom / sub / dom :: professor x student :: teacher x student :: polymarous relationships :: fourth-wall breaking :: suffering :: death / killing :: cheating :: unprotected sex :: AUs :: kidnapping / abduction :: forbidden romance

ㅤ⨯ MENTIONS OF / IMPLIED necrophilia :: somnophilia :: dacryphilia :: dirty talk :: bondage :: roleplay :: exhibitionism :: fear play :: impact play :: choking

ㅤ⨯ self harm :: male / amab readers :: pegging :: scaramouche / wanderer :: watersports :: EXPLICIT necrophilia :: female characters

#wiltedivinity ; navigation

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bubblefina · 2 years ago

Text

Je T’aime 2

Summary: Ever since y/n, princess of Khaenriah, was a child, there have been oddities surrounding her rule. She is sent letters every year on her birthday, laced with encrypted messages from her deceased mother. These letters lead her down a dark path, but with the help of her loyal guard, Dainsleif, she will uncover the truth and bring justice to Khaenriah once more.

Pairings: Dainsleif x f!reader

✧.·:*¨༺♚ ༻¨*:·.✧✧.·:*¨༺♚ ༻¨*:·.✧

The sounds of swords clashing against each other echoed throughout the training grounds. This time of day was around when the trainee knights would practice with one another. Without the supervision of their superiors, the juvenile chevaliers would fight until their swords would break.

Amongst them was a not so fresh recruit, Kaeya Alberich. A very suave young man who’s swordsmanship seemed to trouble the others. He was just that good.

After knocking down another knight, a wooden sword to his neck, he stood tall, offering his hand to the defeated opponent.

“Good work, Luon.” Kaeya smiles, pulling him up.

“Easy for you to say, you’ve beaten over half of us.” Luon brushes off his training sweats which have remnants of dust.

“In time friend, you’ll beat me one day.” Kaeya along with some others begin to laugh.

“Laughing already? What part of training do you find amusing?” Dainsleif appears from behind the group of trainees.

“Always such a stick in the mud, showing up at the worst of times too. We had just finished sparring.”

Dainsleif observes Kaeya, his eyes narrowing, “You may have beaten him, but your form is no better than that of a child. You’re all about the offensive, and never think about what the opponent could do next.”

“The opponent can’t do anything if he’s on the floor and at the mercy of my hand.”

“Your ego will not prove useful in a battle, remember that.”

“I assure you, my ego will be the least of your problems if we are in battle.”

Before Dainsleif could retort, the sound of heels clicking on the stone pathways echoed through the training grounds.

“My my if it isn’t her highness.” Kaeya brushes past Dainsleif and walks over to greet the princess.

“Sir Kaeya,” y/n responds, holding out her hand which he takes and places a delicate kiss, “It’s good to see you.”

“Basking myself in your radiant presence gives me all the confidence I need to win any battle. Isn’t that right, Dainsleif?” Kaeya cranes his head back to glance at Dainsleif, who has his arms crossed in a huff stance.

“Oh, Dain. I didn’t know you were here.” y/n giggles, retracting her hand.

“I advise you to refrain from being so friendly with the princess.” Dain says, almost like a threat.

“Enough with that. I’m glad I found you anyways Dain, I want to remind you that you have to escort me to Lady Rhinedottir’s tea party tomorrow.”

“How could I forget about that? I’ll see to it that you’re escorted, your highness.” Dainsleif bows quickly, before sending a look towards the other trainees, telling them to get back to work.

Many winters have passed since the both of them were tied together, a bond between a princess and her knight. Dainsleif was 17, while y/n 16 going on 17 in a few months. Getting used to each other took a while, but now the both of them were practically inseparable. Albeit a few quarrels happened here and there, but that was nothing new.

✧.·:*¨༺♚ ༻¨*:·.✧✧.·:*¨༺♚ ༻¨*:·.✧

Rhinedottir’s events always had something to look forward to. During the last picnic, one of her creations, she called it a rifthound, got loose and caused a ruckus among the hoard of young ladies that now regret coming to visit. It wouldn’t be surprising if the crowd was smaller this time around, the fear of being attacked was pretty high.

Y/n knew this when she was sent an invitation the week prior. It might have been easy for others to say no, but Rhinedottir was one of her closest friends, and it would be hard to not attend.

The fear mongering might have gotten to the other ladies, for when y/n arrived at the gathering, only a handful of ladies were seated at a small table under the shade of a tree.

“Your highness.” all of them greeted, doing a small curtsey.

“It's wonderful to see you ladies again.” y/n took her seat and began to indulge in the untamed gossip of the upper class.

One of the ladies, Myra, looked rather tense as the gossip began to sped up. y/n took notice of this, her look of uncomfort.

“Is everything alright, Myra?” she asks.

The lady lets out a heavy breath, setting down her cup of tea.

“The maids at my manor were gossiping about something rather…untasteful.”

“Well do share, all of us have been spilling our guts about the things we’ve been hearing.” Rhinedottir giggles.

“Late last night, I was doing some sketches after my curfew hours in the garden. Two maids were walking outside and I heard them talking about the king.”

Y/n didn’t think much of it, gossip surrounding her father was normal. It's not easy being a monarch, even one mistake will be criticized by thousands.

“They started talking about how the royal council wants the king to remarry to duke Carwyn’s eldest daughter.”

This was new, and unexpected. The table fell silent as everyone waited for Myra to continue.

“Apparently they think that your highness is unfit for the throne, and by marrying again, a chance for a son may be possible.”

Now everyone's eyes were on her. What was an afternoon of laughter and nonsense turned serious very quickly.

“F-forgive me your highness. I’m only repeating what I heard.” Myra became flush with embarrassment.

“No, no. I’m glad you told me, I had no idea that the council was planning this. Thank you, Myra.”

The party went on, but y/n was left with a nasty taste in her mouth. She didn’t partake much in conversations after that, nor did she excuse herself to leave, she didn’t want to do anything.

When the sun began to set, the ladies were all escorted back to their carriages. Y/n was saying her farewell to Rhinedottir, who too looked pained.

“Don’t let the words get to you too much, people love you as their princess y’know?”

“Thank you, Rhine. I just need to clear my head.”

“I’m always here if you need to talk. Have a safe trip back.”

Y/n walked out of the gates until she saw Dainsleif standing by the carriages. He visibly sighed when he saw her, and her complex expression.

“I heard what they said.”

She didn’t look into his eyes, all she did was stare at the floor.

“They’re planning on getting rid of me…their own princess.”

“We still don’t know if it's gossip or actually true. You mustn't take it to heart.”

“C’mon Dain, they never approved of my parents marriage, who’s to say that they didn’t approve of me either, since the beginning.”

“Y/n-”

“They probably think I'm some filthy half-blood who was lucky to be born into this position, and now they’re trying to take it away from me. What the hell!”

Dainsleif grips onto her shoulders, standing her up straight and looking directly into her eyes.

“If it is the slightest bit true, acting like this will not help your position. They will think you immature and unfit for the throne, and at worst they will have you exiled as you pose a threat.”

Her hands wind into fists, her nails digging into the skins of her palms. It was so infuriating that the people who she thought she could trust the most were possibly backstabbers. Suddenly her eyes grew wide as she gasped, covering her mouth.

“What’s wrong?” Dainsleif asks in panic.

“My mother…what if they were the reason she died?” her eyes stung slightly, tears could threaten to fall any second.

“That's…that's a reach of speculation.”

“I know it's hard to believe, but hearing that they’re planning on taking the throne away from me…it's not entirely impossible.”

“We cannot keep discussing this here, let’s get you home.” Dainsleif guides her to the carriage, sitting down before closing the door.

The ride home was filled with silence, perhaps y/n had exhausted herself with her small breakdown outside, even she couldn’t tell.

✧.·:*¨༺♚ ༻¨*:·.✧✧.·:*¨༺♚ ༻¨*:·.✧

A few days have passed since the tea party. Y/n was on edge for most of the time, her head spinning with theories that may or may not be true. Her mothers death was never investigated, they just accepted it as it was…a tragedy.

Her mothers personal letters were not of much help either. The past few were just details of how she and Nasir met. She was a commoner, while he was engaged to a princess of another nation. Of course that arrangement didn’t work out, or else y/n wouldn’t be alive.

The nation grieved for the loss of their queen, but how many of those that grieved actually meant it? How many nobles that comforted the king who held his lone baby girl in his arms, actually had ulterior motives?

“I wish to see my father.” y/n says, looking in the mirror as the maids finish with her dress.

“He is in a council meeting, your highness.” One of the maids says.

“That is perfect.”

She steps off the small pedestal and immediately exits the dressing room. The clack of her heels echo across the hall, if her anger were actually physical, she was sure she could melt the floor with every step she took. Was what she was about to do impulsive? Yes, very much so.

“W-we greet her royal highness-” one of the guards of the council room took notice of her, bowing.

“Is my father in there with the other council members?” she asks in haste.

They nod, stepping away, opening the door so she may enter.

With the sound of the door opening, the council stops whatever they were doing and watches as y/n enters.

“Dearest? What’s wrong?” Nasir asks, concerned with the anger radiating off of his daughter.

“There are many things wrong father, number one is your council.”

The council members stare at each other in confusion. Y/n also looks at them, locking eyes with duke Celwyn.

“Duke Celwyn, how is your daughter these days?” she asks.

“She is well, your highness. Why do you-”

“Is she looking to marry, perhaps to someone of a high status, higher than others?”

Before the duke could answer, another person barged into the room.

“Your highness!” Dainsleif, who was told about the princess's abrupt entrance to the council, rushed as fast as he could. He knew what she was going to do.

“What is this, these children are interrupting our meeting. Guards, escort them out.” Viscount Norbin ushers the guards who are standing outside closer with his hand.

“With all due respect Viscount, you have no right to kick me out. I have a bone to pick with you, all of you actually.”

“Your highness, reconsider what you are about to do.” Dainsleif whispers through gritted teeth.

“Father, are you aware that the council is planning on having you remarry to Duke Celwyns eldest daughter, in hopes of having a son to ascend the throne instead of me.”

The room grows quiet, no one says a thing, not even Duke Celwyn.

“Your silence is rather ghastly actually, no one here is going to deny this?”

“Your highness, “ Duke Celwyn says, “I assure you, I have no intention of marrying off my daughter to the king.”

“Why has it taken you this long to speak up, Duke?”

“Because, “ he swallows what seems to be his integrity before speaking again, “you are usually so soft spoken, I was taken aback by this sudden shift of tone.”

“News that threatens my succession to the throne, I think I have a right to have a shift of tone. If this is true, it will not look good for you, all of you.”

“Your highness, gossip like this will truly ruin my character. I suggest you keep whatever you hear to yourself, watch your tongue.” Celwyn slams his hands on the table, standing up with a slight bit of force.

Dainsleif stands in front of y/n, hand on his sword.

“I suggest you sit back down, Duke. Any threat towards her highness, I take seriously.”

“Father, I have a request. I wish to combine my birthday ball with my crowning ceremony.”

“Outrageous! You are far too young to become the crown princess!” one of the council members exclaims.

“And why is that? Since my father has no intention of remarrying, that means there will be no other heir to the throne other than me. Might as well officialize my right to the throne as soon as possible, no?”

“Your father and his father before him had their crowning ceremony when they were 18, it's only fitting that you would do the same.” a council member says.

“Father?” She stares at Nasir from across the room, waiting for his answer.

“I don’t see the harm in having her be crowned at 17, it is only a 1 year difference afterall.”

Y/n gave her father a smile, it felt like the pressure had been lifted off of her shoulders. After bidding her father a good day, she exited the room with Dainsleif.

After walking into another corridor, both of them were finally alone. Dainsleif grabs her wrist to stop her from walking.

“What were you thinking?” He asks.

“I’m making sure my position is official, after I’m crowned they will not be able to take it from me, no matter how hard they plan and scheme.”

“Do you realize what you just did, you just put a target on your back. If they can scheme a remarriage behind his majesty's back, they can surely plan an assassination behind yours.”

“Nonsense Dainsleif, they wouldn’t have the guts to kill a princess.”

Dainsleif stops and looks into her eyes, “You say that yet you hypothesize that they killed your mother.”

“It was just a silly thought at the moment, it’s not possible.”

Dainsleif sighs, knowing that she is too stubborn to realize the can of worms she just potentially opened.

“Very well, but do me a favor. Do not go out alone, call for me and I will escort you. Until the day you are crowned, you might be in potential danger.”

“Ahaha, you already follow me around everywhere. Look how fast you came rushing into the council room, I know you’ll be there.”

She winds her hand out of Dainsleifs grip, going on her way down the corridor. He could not understand how naive she could be.

✧.·:*¨༺♚ ༻¨*:·.✧✧.·:*¨༺♚ ༻¨*:·.✧

Combining a birthday ball with a crowning ceremony proved difficult when it came time for preparations. Both were major events that needed their own time to shine, so being pushed together into just one day meant that preparations had to be accelerated.

“The first half will be your birthday celebration, you will wear a gown designed by madam Darnley. The birthday dinner will be set during the afternoon.”

Y/n and the royal event planner were taking a walk in the royal gardens. Dainsleif of course followed 5 steps behind.

“There will be a brief pause where you will go get changed for your crowning ceremony. It is a dress that your great great grandmother wore when she was crowned.”

“I’m going to wear a dress that old?” she questions, the fashion styles back then aren’t exactly most suitably to wear.

“The dress will be altered to fit your measurements along with some more alterations that will suit it to the current taste of modern fashion.”

“Very well then, who will be attending the ceremony?”

“The royal families of all 8 kingdoms will be attending, as well as nobles.”

“So many eyes…”

“No worries, your highness, you will have plenty of time to practice what you need to do.”

The planner left, leaving the two behind.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to handle your responsibilities?” Dainsleif asks.

“What responsibilities, I just need to be graceful and look pretty.”

“You’re joking right?”

“Of course I am, I know that there will be more expected of me once I become crowned. I’m sure I’ll be able to manage, after all this will be my kingdom one day.”

✧.·:*¨༺♚ ༻¨*:·.✧✧.·:*¨༺♚ ༻¨*:·.✧

It was the day before the ceremony, the royal guests arrived in their carriages, all fraternizing with each other. Both Nasir and y/n extended their welcome as they came. Not all of the royal families had children, but for the small handful that did, y/n took full advantage.

“Your grace, it's wonderful to see you again!” y/n extender her hand to the man standing in front of her, which he took and laid a gentle kiss.

“I did miss seeing your face dear princess, how have you been?”

Ayato, one of the most influential Dukes of Inazuma . Both of them met a few years back when both him and his sister came for a visit for the king's birthday.

“I’ve been well, it’s wonderful to see you again. Did Ayaka come with you?”

“Not this time unfortunately, she’s ill in bed, but she sends her congratulations. Hopefully the both of you will have some time together when she is well.”

Ayato extends his arm slightly, to which y/n wraps her own around. They begin to walk into the palace, followed by the other nobles.

Dinner that night went as well as it could. Y/n excused herself not too long into the dinner. She was halfway down the corridor before she heard Ayato calling out to her.

“Are you alright, your highness?”

“Your grace,” she looked surprised, ‘I’m fine, I just needed some air. I was planning on taking a walk in the royal rose gardens.”

Y/n contemplated for a second before asking, “would you like to join me?”

“Well I suppose my dinner could wait, a lady should not be walking this late alone.”

He walked up to her, arms entangled once more. When they began to walk, y/n thought back to what Dainsleif said to her. She wasn’t venturing off alone, she was with Ayato, it would be safe.

After walking for a bit, both sat down on a bench that was surrounded by bushes.

“We’re not too far from the palace.” she says, turning her neck to glance at the tall building across the garden.

“Well we’re far away for no one to see us.” Ayato chuckles

“I suppose so…”

The air was silent around them.

“May I ask you something, your highness?”

“Of course, what would you like to know?”

“Why is it that you chose to get crowned so early? Usually the crowning ceremony is when the person is of age.”

Her lip quivered slightly. It’s not like she can flat out say that the royal council was threatening to take away her right to the throne. What excuse could she come up with now?

“Well, I just wanted to change the rules slightly. The quicker the better I say.”

“Surely you know there will be backlash, correct? When the nobles of Inazuma heard about it, many of them thought you weren’t right in the head.”

“Is that so…” she looked down at her lap, nails digging into the wooden bench.

Perhaps she really did rush things when she didn’t need to. Her impulsive behavior, what could it have caused? If the nobles of Inazuma frowned upon her behavior, what could her own people of Khaenriah think?

Ayato's hand gently laid upon hers.

“No matter your highness, I think what you’re doing is brave. Going against the rules and having it your own way, not everyone has the ability to do that. Fear of backlash and whatnot.”

“Do you support my decision, your grace?”

Ayato smiled, but he remained silent.

“Your grace?” she asks once more.

Ayato’s bright blue eyes turned disky, almost gray. His smile fainted, his face looked like it was lifeless.

The warmth that was radiating from his hand turned cold, it made her heart skip a beat.

“Ayato, are you alright?” she asks, grasping his face within her hands. His skin was cold.

“Wha-” she looked around her, there was a gray smoke enveloping the floor. Immediately she stood up, Ayato's body collapsing on the ground right after.

From the smoke that came from a dark area of the garden emerged a tall figure, shrouded in black and blue. A mask that covered their entire face, with blades wrapped around their arms.

“What are you?” she asks, her voice ever so quiet.

“Threats against the abyss must be terminated.”

The voice coming from the figure sounded deep and frightening. The blades around the tall figure began to glow a bright blue. The figure swung his arm, shooting projectiles towards her.

She let out a scream, ducking for cover. As soon as she made contact with the ground, she began to cough. Soon enough, she covered her mouth. This gray smoke could very well be the reason why Ayato fell to the floor.

Still covering her mouth, she began to sprint as fast as she could, but it was dark. It's as if that thing took all the light from the area when it came. No matter, if she kept running she’d run somewhere, more preferably the palace, more preferably to someone who could help.

“You cannot resist, your efforts to run are in vain.” the figure could be heard from so far away.

She kept running and running, but she could not see what was in front of her. Her foot snagged on the root of a tree, causing her to plummet to the ground once more. Her breathing became heavier, she could not calm down. She got on her knees and crawled until she felt something solid, the tree.

She sat down with her back to it, hand still clamped over her mouth. Her breathing was so loud, that creature could surely hear it if it wanted to. She wanted to cry, her foot was in pain, and no matter how many times she rubbed over it, the pain would not go away.

The area grew quiet, too quiet. Did the figure go away? Could it not find her? Even with all of these thoughts trying to reassure her, she would still not move, not if there was still darkness surrounding her.

After a few moments of solace, a cold wind brushed against her skin. When she turned her neck to look she was face to face with the figure.

Its blade began to glow once again. She had nowhere to run now that her foot was injured.

“Please don’t hurt me, I didn’t do anything!” she pleaded, now a crying mess.

“Your lineage is stained by bloodshed, neither you nor your kin is innocent of any crimes.”

As the figure was about to strike her, she closed her eyes, letting out a bloodcurdling scream. However nothing seemed to pain her.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that the figure itself was struggling. A bright blue aura around its neck, suffocating it. Suddenly it was hoisted into the air and slammed onto the ground.

Blinking away her tears, she saw the figure of her savior. It was Dainsleif.

The unknown figure began to cough, cursing at Dain for interrupting his plans.

“The abyss will prevail, you shall not get in my way again.”

A portal opened in front of the figure, swallowing him. Leaving both Dain and her alone.

She was still in shock, looking at the same spot that the figure disappeared.

“Y/n, are you alright, did he hurt you?” Dain rushed over, she could see him, she could see everything now.

He kneeled down to her, caressing her face. She wrapped her arms around him and sobbed silently onto his shoulder. He noticed that her ankle was red, understanding that she was in more pain than he realized. He put his arm underneath her legs, carrying her while she still had her arms around him.

“A-Ayato, he collapsed near the bench.” she said, her words sounding broken.

“I will attend to him after you, we need to get you back to your room.”

“I’m sorry for not listening to you, Dain… there really are people trying to get me, right?”

Her nails slightly dug into his shoulder, but he didn’t wince.

“It's okay, you’re safe.”

#genshin impact #genshin #fanfiction #genshin fanfiction #dainsleif #dainsleif x reader #dainsleif fanfiction #dainsleif imagine #khaenriah #royalty au #the abyss

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