Work Text:
6:31PM, Knights of Favonius headquarters, Mondstadt.
Stressed out, the busy acting grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius flicked through two books at the same time, hoping to find what she was looking for.
On page two, three, no. Finally on page four her eyes widened. Jean thought she had finally found it, but unfortunately she was wrong four times.
"If I only had two more hands.." she mumbled to herself with a sigh and nervously looked at the clock. The ticking sound made her go crazy after a while.
"Knock knock!" someone said behind Jean's closed office door instead of knocking. When she looked up at the door, she let the person come in by responding "Come in!"
Jean was already absorbed in her work again and paid no attention to the person who had just entered her office.
"What can I do for you Kaeya?" she asked after spotting her loyal consultant in the corner of her eye.
"What you can do for me?!" he replied with a sarcastic tone.
"If it's not related to work, please leave."
Kaeya sat down on the couch, which was placed on the right wall of the office and continued: "I can tell you what you can do for me, my dearest."
"That would be?"
"Commission me to help you."
Jean closed both books in front of her, picked them up and got up from her chair for the first time in several hours to put the books back in their place on the bookshelf.
She paused right there looking for new books that might come to mind for her work.
With her back turned to Kaeya, she then replied: "I don't need any help."
Kaeya wondered if she had ever noticed his effort. He worried about her all the time and came to see her regularly, yet she never accepted help from him.
Jean had several nights where she couldn't sleep at all, her mind being still at work. The level of stress she had was almost unhealthy. Yet Kaeya was always there offering help but as always, Jean refused. All he could do was bring some snacks so she wouldn't starve because eating was also not her priority when she sat in front of her desk.
When Jean had found the two books, she returned to her desk and ignored Kaeya's sighs which she had heard several times in similar situations before.
"If you have nothing else to say, please go. You are distracting me from my work."
"So cold." he muttered to himself so that she didn't even hear it, "And I thought I had the cryo-power out of us two."
Jean wasn't surprised when Kaeya once again ignored her instruction and instead strolled around her office.
The dark-haired man first looked out of the window, then he touched the plants on the windowsill for no reason and walked around until he finally stood directly behind Jean at the desk.
The young grandmaster took out a piece of paper and a quill to write, before she dipped it in ink.
Kaeya watched her write the first sentence and leaned over her shoulder to take a closer look.
Immediately Jean's hand motion stopped and the quill found place on the table.
When she turned her head to Kaeya, she tried to make a stern impression, but she didn't succeed at all. Him being that close had made her a little embarrassed, which is why her cheeks turned a little red.
"Take a rest, Jean.", Kaeya spoke at eye level with her, "I can see how stressed you are."
"Kaeya please, I-"
"Take a rest.", he interrupted her, "I'm speaking to you as your friend, not as the consultant of the acting grandmaster."
The blonde-haired woman got up from her chair with a sigh and grabbed her slightly booming head as she went to the window.
Kaeya followed her movements with his eyes and opened one of the windows to let in fresh air.
When Jean supported herself on the windowsill with her eyes closed, Kaeya put his hand on her shoulder, which made her twitch slightly.
"I know what you're thinking.", he said in a calm tone, "And here is my answer to that: No, you are not a bad grandmaster just because you take a short break because you need it."
Then Jean had to smile slightly. She was sure that only Kaeya was able to comprehend her thoughts so precisely.
Kaeya smiled too. He moved his left hand from her shoulder to her head, which Jean hadn't expected. But from that second on, it felt like her headache had suddenly disappeared.
"I'll tell you one thing, Jean.", Kaeya added while he was looking out of the window and didn't even notice how Jean was staring at him from the side, "I'll make sure to check that you don't work overtime and go to bed early."
"You will what?"
"In other words, I'll put you to bed." he grinned, "Like a baby."
Jean immediately grabbed Kaeya's hand, which was still resting on her head, and pushed it against his own chest.
"No, definitely not." she answered and went back to her desk, where she sat down.
Kaeya turned to her laughing. "Why not? We have known each other for so long and you are embarrassed?"
"I'm not embarrassed!" she shouted loudly and one hit on her desk made sure that a drop of ink had dripped from the quill onto her letter. "I'm only concerned about privacy. There is a limit, even if we have known each other for a long time."
"Then maybe it's finally time to cross that line."
Jean was surprised to hear the seriousness in his tone. As she was looking at Kaeya in silence, she tried to interpret this sentence differently in her head, but it had sounded exactly as he intended to.
Kaeya also noticed that his mouth had acted faster than his brain so he put his hand in front of his mouth, embarrassed.
Silence filled the room.
Now both of them were embarrassed. Both of them were aware of the situation that was going on.
"Forget it.", Kaeya broke the silence and hoped that this moment would be forgotten. He just wanted Jean to take it as a joke.
Then Jean had something to say: "I'll think about it."
Kaeya lowered his hand in confusion. "What?" he asked.
"I will think about it. If you can cross the line."
When Jean's cheeks suddenly started to glow red and Kaeya saw this expression on her face he had never seen before, he understood her response. The corners of his mouth went up right away.
Perhaps it was the beginning of the line they had finally crossed and which both of them had wanted to cross for a long time. Only that last final push was missing, which steered the two in the right direction.