Chapter Text
“You’re sure you’re ready to go?”
“Yes!”
Although seemingly hesitant, Guizhong crouched carefully to pull her into a hug and Ganyu fell forward eagerly into her embrace. Comfort. Her mother always smelt of comfort, like lilies and home with its warm lights and clouds that waved through the open windows and flowers buried in fresh soil. Tucking her cheeks into her pale hair and soft shoulders was reassuring.
When Ganyu finally unwrapped her hands from around her mother’s neck, she straightened and backed away to lift Xiao from her father’s hold.
Once Zhongli had finished fiddling with her backpacks, almost seeming as hesitant to let her leave as Guizhong was, he allowed her to curl into him the way she’d done just moments before.
That day, the four of them had waved at one another as she’d tottered into school confidently. How her mother had teased her father later at dinner for crying in the car on the way home after dropping her off.
+
When it came time for Xiao’s first day at school with her, Guizhong had pressed kisses all over his cheeks to make him break a smile and bat at her arms, his way of asking for a hug.
“Watch over your brother,” her father had instructed, tugging at Xiao’s backpack straps the way he’d once done for her. “And make sure to retrieve him from his teacher afterwards. You remember the way, yes?”
“Yes, Baba.”
He’d looked at her so fondly in that moment, eyes never straying from hers even as Guizhong spun Xiao around behind him, something she knew he’d be sure to scold her for later. After all, her mother had seemingly been growing weaker over time, preventing her from lifting heavier objects and causing her to take more time to catch her breath than before.
But Zhongli was quiet. And he smiled gently, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he patted her head. “Good girl. I’m counting on you, Ganyu.”
Then, after scrubbing at the corner of Xiao’s mouth and settling kisses on their heads, finally, Ganyu took Xiao’s hand to tug him behind the school gate and made sure to wave to her parents on the other side.
She would teach him to love school just the way she loved it, and she would make both her mother and father proud. After all, they were counting on her.
(If her father’s eyes were slightly pink when he came to pick them up later, she pretended not to notice.)
+
“Baba, stop that or we’re really going to be late,” Xiao scolded from where he was waiting at the front door.
Ganyu shifted her gaze upwards from where she’d been lacing her shoes to where Zhongli was crouched and frowning at the beginning of the hallway, straightening their sister’s hat and backpack over and over again.
“Yes, yes, I know,” he said. Then he glanced at the two of them, something soft and pleading in his expression. “Are you sure we can’t wait another year?”
“Ba,” Xiao sighed exasperatedly. “You can’t keep her in the house forever.”
Zhongli’s frown creased deeper into the normally non-existent lines of his face. He stood, cradling Qiqi in his arms as if she was the most precious thing and pressed his forehead to hers, brown and pale lavender colliding between them. When he leaned back, he murmured, “I know.”
Then he had set Qiqi on her feet, reluctantly turning away from her when she patted her arms against the corners of his suitjacket, asking to be held again. He handed her notebook to Xiao.
“Are you both still okay with walking back to the elementary school?”
“Yes,” she replied, hefting her backpack onto her shoulders and unlocking the garage door. “Don’t worry about us, Ba. We can do it.”
Xiao nodded, moving to pry Qiqi’s hand off their father’s pants. “We’ll be fine.”
“Is that so?” He smiled that sad smile again. When he told them to go to the car without him, claiming he’d forgotten the keys in his room, she shut the door behind her softly, knowing he was going to stare at Guizhong’s photo for a little while before they’d leave.
+
Xiao and Ganyu swung Qiqi between them, and though she wasn’t as exuberant in expression as some of her other friends, she was sure that both her siblings were smiling.
Xiao cleared his throat as the school’s iron gate came into view and bent down, pausing Qiqi mid-skip to hand her her notebook. “Take this. Remember to look for us at the end of the day, alright? I wrote a note for you in here just in case.”
“Ah,” Qiqi blinked, taking the notebook from her brother. “Okay. Qiqi will do her best to remember.”
Xiao hummed. How wide his eyes grew as Qiqi threw her arms around his neck. Ganyu stifled a laugh before she, too, crouched to straighten her younger sister’s braid and hat and hug her as well.
“Please try to stay in the shade. Be careful, alright?”
“Yes.” Qiqi had scampered off towards the gate then, following the stream of kids chattering their way into school, charms jingling from where they hung on the zippers of her bag. Then she’d turned to wave at the two of them before another little girl with similar keychains and soft blonde hair came racing up to tug at Qiqi’s hand.
Was this how Guizhong and Zhongli felt, watching them leave every morning for school? Did they, too, feel their hands grow cold and their hearts sink a little as they disappeared into the crowd of kids? She could almost see herself and Xiao, melding with the young students as they waved to their parents on the sidewalk. Perhaps today, she was just nostalgic.
“Hey!” Albedo called, his and Sucrose’s shock of pale hair greeting them from across the sea of parents and older siblings dropping children off.
Xiao sighed beside her as the rest of their walking group made their way towards them. From the way he nudged her arm, she knew that he was ready to leave, uncomfortable with the amount of people growing. Even so, his eyes still trailed and searched for their younger sister on the other side of the gate. She straightened the straps of his backpack, ignoring his scowl.
“Ready to go?” He huffed, swatting her hands away gently as if to say that he was quite capable of fixing the looseness of the straps on his own, but inched closer to her as Albedo’s calls grew closer. Ganyu smiled at the way he huddled behind her and at the way the memories of her pulling him along as children returned unbidden, yet welcomed. The morning smelt of lilies, warm and soothing.
“Yes,” she breathed.