Chapter Text
TW: mentions of anxiety, suggestive language
The next morning, they make their way to Inazuma City and Tenshukaku. Surely enough, Ei, Miko, and Kokomi prove to be wonderful hosts, and the rest of the day is spent settling in to city, as well as visiting a few of the sights and the night market along Tenryou and it's surrounding streets.
The next few days pass quickly with a succession of sights on Narukami Island and the outer edge of the island formerly known as Kannazuka. All recommended by Miko, of course, to avoid the small remnants of Tatarigami in the deepest parts of the island.
They also manage to find time to meet with a few of Miko's acquaintances, and on the night of the fourth day, a small party is arranged by Yoimiya and Ayaka within the Kamisato Estate involving a wide variety of Miko's friends from all over Inazuma. Ayato is there, of course, along with Sayu, Thoma, Heizou, Shinobu, Rikka, and even Sara.
Perhaps the most surprising participant there is Kazuha, who has since decided to take a sabbatical from his travels, and has made a temporary home in Chinju Forest, attuning himself with the spirits of nature in an almost guru-like state of being. Keqing and Ganyu's own visit to the area the day before made for an entertaining few hours for Ganyu, mostly due to Keqing's own jumpiness at every sound and movement within the enchanted forest.
The party comes and goes, and soon enough, they make their way back to Tenshukaku with Kokomi and Ei, as they chat and gossip about Miko, still at the party catching up with Rikka.
On the fifth day, Ganyu wakes first, with a small skip in her chest as she recounts her plans for the day, and realises how anxious she is. Her thoughts wade through every possible negative outcome as she succumbs to the urge to think through contingencies for each scenario. Everything has to go perfectly.
She looks out across their room in the guest wing of the palace in an effort to try and distract herself, and the sight in front of her quickly assuages every doubt she has.
Her eyes wander over to Keqing, still sleeping. The quiet rise and fall of Keqing's breath in the bed next to her, the way the sheets cling softly to both of their forms, Keqing's hair in dishevelled but beautiful strands across her side of the bed, the small curl her body makes as she sleeps, and all of it framed by the gorgeous ocean view.
The waves of Ganyu's doubt calms as she arrives to a single conclusion that outshines anything that could happen today. She sears this moment into her memory, and never wants to let it go.
She pulls herself closer, slipping her arm under the sheets to embrace her lover. The touch is warm, and pleasant in the cool early morning air. She knows that Keqing is a light sleeper. The action wakes her, but Ganyu doesn't care, and melts herself into the embrace.
"Good morning." She whispers quietly into Keqing's ear when a hand caresses her arm.
"Good morning, birthday girl." Keqing turns around to steal a peck. "Happy birthday."
Ganyu chuckles, and leans in for more. "I love you." She says as they pull away.
Keqing nestles into the nook of Ganyu's neck and pillow as she whispers the same words in return. "I was thinking, we didn't really plan for anything else today did we?" She asks into the pillow.
"Other than than the trip to the shrine, no." Ganyu replies, keeping any hints about her plans fully hidden. "Why?"
"We could have a quiet night." Keqing kisses Ganyu on the back of her hand. "We haven't had much time to ourselves these last few days."
Ganyu hums in response. "What are you thinking?" She asks as she intertwines her hand into Keqing's.
"That kitsune udon stall in the market looked pretty good." Keqing answers. "Miko probably has numerous thoughts about it."
"She probably does." Ganyu laughs softly. "Sounds like a plan then. We'll settle in after dinner, and get an early night."
But an early night is not what either of them are thinking about.
The climb up Mount Yougou is arduous and tedious. Keqing's appreciation of Miko's youkai magic the other night grows stronger as she and Ganyu spend a good part of the day treading up the steps to the Grand Narukami Shrine.
At the beginning of the climb, Keqing quickly pulls out and reads Miko's paper charm to inform her that the two of them are beginning their ascent, while Ganyu is distracted with a nearby onikabuto climbing up an otogi tree along the path. The charm dissipates quickly and Keqing joins Ganyu in examining the curious little creature.
The rest of the way, however, is profoundly uninteresting, save for a few glimpses of the floating rocks that orbit the top of the mountain near the shrine, and the views of Inazuma that Keqing continues to be mesmerised by.
When they arrive at the shrine, true to Miko's word, the shrine is empty, without even a single shrine maiden in sight.
"Wow, it's pretty empty today." Ganyu remarks as the two of them slowly make their way towards the central courtyard in front of the Sacred Sakura. "Usually the shrine maidens should be busy this time of day."
Keqing tries to play it cool and shrugs her shoulders, trying her hardest not to let the anxiety catch up to her as the moment approaches.
Ganyu's heart is racing. Every step that she took up the mountain causes her breath to grow ever more shallow, and when they reached the shrine, the tightness in her chest grew unbearable.
Her comment was more to distract herself and to try and relieve her own pressure, than to make small talk with Keqing. She barely noticed her reply as she led the two of them up in front of the Sacred Sakura.
The both of them have rehearsed this a million times in their head, and each of them accounting for every possible scenario that could have happened in this instance, prepared for any possibility of disturbance, and how each other would have reacted.
But in all their planning, they never considered this exact one.
Keqing joins Ganyu in front of the fox-carved tree, and takes in a deep breath as she holds Ganyu's hand in hers. "Ganyu." She says quietly. "There's a reason why the shrine is empty today." The uncertainty in her voice makes the statement sound more like a question, and in Ganyu's own concerns, she misinterprets it as such.
"You're right." Ganyu holds Keqing's other hand, her own mind racing as she sorts through her own plans and routes. "There is a reason why it's empty today." She pulls Keqing closer, and speaks quietly. "I asked Miko to empty it out."
Keqing's rapid-fire thoughts snap frozen, as if Ganyu had turned her ice powers onto Keqing's mind. "Wait- what?"
Ganyu's smile is wide, and full. "I have a very good reason for it." She begins reaching into her travel purse.
Keqing stops her. "But I asked her to empty it out too, because I-" In that moment, with the two of them staring into each other's eyes, the understanding hits.
And the two of them fall into each other's embrace as they let slip tears of joy and relief.
They stand like this for a good moment, as they slowly begin to understand what this truly means. Their connection is wordless, and their patterns match with each other in ways that they still have yet to find the limits of.
Ganyu pulls away slightly as she whispers. "I still want to do this properly." Keqing's eyes are on the verge of bursting into tears again.
Ganyu steps back, and retrieves the ring box from within her travel bag. She opens it and the bluish-white gem in the middle gleams in the warm afternoon sun of Inazuma.
Ganyu bends down slowly, and kneels. "Keqing." She begins, slowly. "You are nothing short of amazing, nothing short of beautiful and wonderful." She pauses between each word, uncertain, and unsteady. She had planned a speech before this, and with all of her plans out the window, she has no intention of following through with it. Every word that she says now is unrehearsed, and straight from her heart.
Keqing's eyes begin to water yet again as Ganyu continues. "Every single moment that I'm with you, I am constantly amazed at how much you seem to have known me my whole life." Ganyu's voice is unsteady as she continues. "Every action, every reaction, every instinct, emotion, movement, and act." Ganyu's eyes are locked onto Keqing's, her hands trembling as they grasp the box. "In all the years of my life, I have never met anyone who has come close to this, to you."
Ganyu's voice quivers as she feels a lump building at the back of her throat. "You are the love of my life, and I want to spend every moment of it with you." Tears are falling from her eyes. "Will you marry me?"
A moment passes as the emotion, and anticipation builds up.
"Of course I will." Keqing lets out between breaths. "I will marry you, Ganyu."
The two of them embrace as Ganyu slips the ring onto Keqing's finger, a perfect fit, and they kiss, with quiet sounds between the two of them.
Moments pass, and Keqing breaks away. "My turn, please." She says, and Ganyu nods, eagerly.
Keqing steps back as well, and pulls out her own ring box. She opens it to reveal a similar ring, with a similar bluish-white gem at the center of it. Ganyu laughs as she realises how similar their plans were, even down to the gem in the ring.
Keqing kneels. "Ganyu." She begins. "Before we met, I could never have imagined falling in love with someone like you." Keqing's speech has similarly been thrown out. "Every part of myself I built, and guarded jealously, never letting anyone in, let alone someone like you." She had thought that the small amount of emotional relief she felt would calm her, but she finds herself trembling as well, as her voice grows quieter.
"But everything about you changed that completely." She keeps going in the hopes that the words will carry her through, and she stares into Ganyu's eyes to help ground herself in the moment. "Everything in my life up until the point I had met you had been complicated, difficult, and ridiculous. But meeting you, seeing you in the face of everything that has happened makes me understand the one thing missing from my life." She pauses, catching a breath as Ganyu does the same. "Simplicity."
"Being with you is simple. Spending my time with you is simple. Choosing you is simple. Loving you is simple." Keqing realises that she too is crying yet again, along with Ganyu. "You are my foundation, my grounding, and you are the simplest choice I have ever made, and will ever make." In that moment, almost serendipitously, she loses her balance, and Ganyu reaches out to catch her.
Keqing doesn't let her pull back before she continues, with Ganyu's hands on her shoulder. "Will you marry me?"
Ganyu cups her hands onto Keqing's face and brings her up to standing. "Yes, Keqing. I will marry you." And the two of them share another long and drawn out kiss.
After many, many moments, the two of them break away.
"I love you." They say to each other in unison, and giggle in unison as well.
"I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you." Keqing says.
Where normally Ganyu would feel a twinge of despair as she is reminded of their separate mortalities, somehow, she feels differently when Keqing says the words. Almost as if there is a belief buried deep in the back of her subconscious, that Keqing might not be as mortal as her past lovers.
"I can't wait either." Ganyu responds, not knowing, and not caring.
The two of them slowly make their way down the steps of Mount Yougou as Keqing suddenly groans out.
"We have such a massive wedding to plan." Keqing realises after the emotions have calmed down.
"Oh yes we do." Ganyu laughs.