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“Welcome to the Ordo Favonius! Now here’s your Knights of Favonius handbook, and then there’s your Gliding Rules Handbook— oh is that the right book? Right, I let Lumine keep my fairytale…”
The stack of books continues to grow before your eyes as Amber- the only other outrider, clearly elated that another has joined the ranks- hands you enough to supply a small library. Following your induction into the Ordo Favonius, the next step of the procedure was familiarizing yourself with the rest of your division and settling into more specialized tasks and quests. Though the process of applying and being admitted was simple under some guidance, the chaos - as described by Kaeya- apparently lied in the days afterward.
“Then there’s the Outrider Rules my grandfather wrote years ago and... oh! Also—”
Next to you, Kaeya takes the next book from Amber’s hand before she could add it onto the teetering stack in your arms. “Chill out, Amber. You finally get a new outrider after four years and you’re already scaring the poor newbie.” As Kaeya turns towards you to relieve you from the weight, he makes a point out of winking at you— knowing that from Amber’s perspective, he was being a chivalrous knight as he should be. “You should be glad I’m here to supervise your training, Amber. Otherwise I’m afraid our new outrider would run away out of fear and intimidation.”
You frown. Maybe that was too much of an assumption, but Kaeya's interruption and presence is comforting nonetheless.
Amber huffs before handing the rest of the books for Kaeya to hold instead. “I don’t even get exactly why you’re here, Kaeya. Don’t you have something better to do? Someone else you could bother?”
“The Knights of Favonius Handbook states that one of the ten captains must oversee a newly inducted knight’s training,” Kaeya replies, casually pointing to the handbook in your grasp, “as the Cavalry Captain, I’m taking the liberty of overseeing this spot of training.”
“Cavalry Captain… you don’t even have any cavalry to captain, Kaeya! Grandmaster Varka took them all away when he set off on his expedition.”
“Mhm, good point.” Kaeya gently taps his chin with his index finger, “Though before today you were the only outrider, and our new outrider was inducted under my recommendation…” With his free hand Kaeya patted your shoulder, a bit too close to your collarbone than one would with a stranger— “so I think I should be making sure that the training is conducted properly.”
As the courier service you worked for started to lose business in the winter and the job offerings placed in the newspaper began to dwindle, Kaeya came to you one day with a suggestion didn’t dare consider: applying for the Knights of Favonius. They had a reasonable salary, were needed all year round, and Kaeya argued that there’s plenty of people other than him who needed healing. (Though the way he sometimes hobbled back to your shared home with more burns than usual kept you wondering.)
Under his recommendation getting into the Ordo was easy— the harder part, however, was the unspoken rule regarding dating between two Knights.
“Of course, I’ve seen two coworkers… being distracted while on duty more times than I’d like, but—” He gestured to the captain badge on his shoulder then to you the week before your induction, “A captain and a newcomer together would raise eyebrows.”
Going against his own suggestion, here Kaeya was; winking and touching and distracting.
Back in the present, Amber lowers at him. If it wasn’t for her outfit being a bright vibrant red, you would’ve compared her face to the same color. Instead, it was a shade of embarrassment and contempt all in one. “Are you questioning my ability to teach, Captain Kaeya?”
Kaeya hums. “No comment.”
By the time the three of you arrive at Windrise, under the shadow of the large tree of heroes, there’s already a number of targets set up for you by Amber possibly hours before. Next to the five targets were two baskets full of arrows; one for you, the other for Amber.
“For the first part of your training, we’ll have to make sure you’re comfortable with the official Favonius bow!” Amber’s bow appears behind her as if she summoned it out of thin air, holding it before you for you to examine. “So if you have yours, then we could…” The outrider looks at the stack of books still in your arms, then your back- where everyone seems to summon their weapons from- and finally Kaeya’s back for good measure. “...I didn’t give you your official Favonius bow.”
You try to smile. In her excitement over someone to mentor after years of learning from veterans and soon being left alone in her division, it only makes sense that Amber could forget something so easily. “You did. It’s no problem.”
Kaeya raises his hand, hoping to appear as innocent as ever. “I could run back to the barracks and get it, Amber. Don't want you getting distracted again while you search for a bow."
“No, no no!” Amber shook her head to and fro, “No way I’m letting you get it, Kaeya. You might go and get Klee to enchant it so every arrow it shoots explodes! I’ll head back to headquarters myself and grab one. Stay right here!” In a blink of an eye, you and Kaeya watched her hop and skip away into the distance, into the city of Mondstadt once again.
Besides you, Kaeya lets out a sigh of relief. “That certainly worked out well.”
“You knew she would react that way,” you nod towards Amber, who looked more like a red dot with how fast she moves. Kaeya’s plan worked out— but what was he planning anyway? Your subtle smile from a moment of peace without Amber’s bouncing energy fades until it’s replaced with a more suspicious expression, your eyebrows scrunching closer together as you squint at your partner. “You’re scheming again.”
He laughs. Only once though, because he believes the more he laughs the more he reveals. “You know me so well.”
“We live together.” The keys to your home attached to his hip jingle as he walks ever closer; in response, you make sure to keep your head down and your eyes on the keys as they jingle on their chain. “You’re rather close to me, captain.”
“Do you think the targets serve as good cover? They’re not very tall if you ask me, but if we crouch just a bit...” He poses the question so innocently, his eye twinkling much like the star-shaped pupil inside it for extra measure.
The books in your arms drop to the ground almost immediately. With your free hands, you slap Kaeya playfully on both his shoulders, your cheeks the same color of Amber’s little ribbon she wears. Archons forbid he even thinks about such things when Amber- or anyone else for that matter- could find the two of you at any time! In public! “You’re the one saying you don’t like seeing knights distracted!”
"Distracted with what?” His lips curve upwards to form the most innocent smile with a twinge of mischief at the corners, like a scheming cat before it pounces. “I’m just asking a simple question, aren’t I? If a hoard of hilichurls were to ambush us, would the targets be an acceptable cover? Hm...”
As he takes a step closer, you take a step back, your head looking anywhere other than straight ahead as to make sure you’re not exactly eye-to-eye with his… assets.
Now those were definitely a distraction. And he was definitely enjoying this. It was all a part of his master plan; tagging along to your first ever practice, tricking Amber to taking her eye off of you, and each syllable that left his mouth meticulously organized for some greater purpose.
You should’ve caught him sooner.
Curse that damned window in the middle of his outfit, constantly unbuttoned under the excuse of “it’s a fashion statement”.
Your fingers move upwards to his chest, hastily attempting to button him up with your eyes closed. Clumsily, they tug on the buttons of his shirt as you connect them. “You should button up. It’s getting colder nowadays, captain. Might want to consider wearing two shirts for good measure next time.”
“I’m fine, thank you—” He wiggles his way out of your grasp, out of the buttons you blindly buttoned up, “I think it’s hot out here, actually… perhaps less garments would do me good, don’t you think?”
Please, no. Any more distractions and you fear you’ll end up hitting a poor innocent Dendro slime instead of the bullseye once Amber comes running back. “No.”
“Ouch.” Kaeya covers his heart with his free hand, his smirk now upside down in a frown. “And I thought I was the Cryo user.”
Minutes later Amber finally comes hopping back with a brand new bow and a few questions; inquiries including “Why did you take off your coat in the winter, Kaeya?” and “Hey newbie, are you too warm? You’re heating up!” and “Why’d you shoot the Dendro slime?!”