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The first thing Aether noticed about Keqing was that she was an incredibly hard worker. That was a given, based on the way she commanded others with her mere presence. She wasn’t someone you just messed with, especially not after she gave you her signature withering glare. Keqing was someone that demanded respect from everyone she met, and intimidated many people who even came near her. She came off as cold and aloof; a locked door when it came to accessing her emotions. And yet Aether found himself undeniably drifting towards her. Maybe it was because of the way she seemed like she needed a friend, or maybe it was his own want to be close to someone like her.
You see, Aether was a pushover. He cared more for others than he cared for himself, and he was always willing to lend a helping hand to those who needed it. This began to become a problem when he kept getting walked all over by people who constantly needed things from him. It was stressful to fulfill all these requests, and yet he never told them no. Maybe that’s the reason why he sat by Keqing at lunch.
The second he sat down next to her, she gave him an appraising look that made him sweat under her glare. She truly radiated confidence and ferocity just by her presence alone. Nevertheless, she sat all by herself. He wondered why she sat alone sometimes, and yet he never approached her until now. She sat alone in class as well, so that led him to the brilliant conclusion: Keqing was lonely. And it was his goal to fix that.
“Hey there,” Aether greeted her, giving her a tentative smile as he poked at his food with the plastic fork he was given in his lunchbox. In all honesty, he was nervous to be around her. As much as he wanted to be her friend, she didn’t seem to be the very friendly type. “I just noticed you were sitting alone.” He took a pause. “Can I stay here and sit by you?”
After staring for a solid while, Keqing inclined her head sharply, turning her gaze away from him and back to her food. “You may.” She said lightly, almost as if it was an honor to sit by her. It sure felt like it sometimes. Needless to say, even the most friendly of people were intimidated by her demeanor.
“What are you doing sitting by yourself?” Aether couldn’t help but ask, staring at Keqing curiously. He meant no ill will by it, he was simply wondering why. Although, deep down, he knew why she was sitting alone. Not a lot of people wanted to be around her. In fact, there were a lot of rumors spread about her. Mostly innocent ones like that she was snooty, or rumors that she had rich parents, but those weren’t the worst of them. The meaner ones told tales of her bullying the people in her class, and even blackmailing someone for a spot in Liyue university.
“You ask too many questions,” Keqing said shortly, picking at her food with her fork. “I don’t like people who ask too many questions. Either be quiet or leave.”
Aether pretended to zip his lips, going back to eating in their shared awkward silence.
Needless to say, he didn’t get very far that time.
The next few days, however, when Aether sat by her again, she looked slightly surprised. “What are you doing?” She asked suspiciously once he had sat down for the fifth consecutive day. “Are you trying to get something from me?”
He held his hands up with a small laugh. “Woah! No need to be so hostile.” He tried to joke around, but it fell flat upon the unamused look on Keqing’s face. “Er--What I meant to say was, no, I’m not looking for anything from you. I just want to sit by you!” He flashed her a small, but genuine smile that seemed to satisfy her for the most part, given how she went back to eating a second later.
Silence lapsed between them, and it was borderline unbearable. Aether was a naturally chatty person, just like his sister, so being in silence for this long was a little...uncomfortable. However, he knew that she didn’t like questions. So he’d resort to simply talking until she told him to shut up.
“You know...I saw a bird the other day that reminded me of you!” He offered, folding his hands in his lap and starting to play with his thumbs. “Not that it was purple, but that it was small…” He cupped his hands, pretending there was a baby bird inside of them. “Small, but mighty!” He let out a soft laugh.
Keqing gave him a strange look, one that was indecipherable. “And this bird reminded you of me?” She asked, a tone of bewilderment to her words. “But we hardly know each other? We’re not even close.”
Aether shrugged mysteriously, a small smile playing on his lips. “You’re someone that’s memorable.”
The other girl looked stunned for a moment before she shut down again. “Yeah, right.” She rolled her eyes. “Go try that spiel on someone more gullible.”
“It’s not a spiel!” He was quick to defend, putting his hand on top of Keqing’s before he pulled away quickly. “I genuinely mean it! We may not talk much, but you are memorable. Trust me on that!” At this point he was practically pleading with her, using his best puppy dog eyes in an attempt to sway her over to his side.
Keqing looked slightly disgruntled at his admission, but she didn’t get up and leave like he expected her to. “Yeah, fine, whatever.” She said dismissively. “But if you bother me like this every day I’m not going to let you sit with me anymore, got it?” It was a lighthearted threat at least.
Aether nodded in understanding. He didn’t think he was being too bothersome, but maybe this was the first time someone had talked to her this much in a while.
Things started reminding him more of Keqing after that day.
The second thing Aether noticed about Keqing was that she enjoyed romance novels. Although it took weeks before he got any progress with her, he sat with her every day at lunch. Slowly but surely she began to open up. Slowly but surely, he didn’t view her as intimidating anymore. Instead he found that she was rather lonely; nobody wanted to talk to the hostile girl. She managed to drive off anyone who even bothered to try and get close to her, much to her own sadness. Of course, she didn’t disclose all of this to him, he merely made the conclusion after talking to her daily.
Today when Aether sat down next to the girl he could safely call his friend, she was holding a book. Not just any book, though, a romance book. The only reason he knew that it was a romance book was because he had read the same book before (which was slightly embarrassing). What was surprising though, was that she was reading the book. He didn’t want to assume, but she didn’t seem much of the romance type.
“Are you reading a romance novel?” Aether asked once he had sat down fully with his lunch, causing her to startle and snap the book shut. “I didn’t know you liked romance novels.” He noted, shoving a big forkful of food into his mouth. While at first he had been tentative to eat around her, he had gotten comfortable enough around her now.
“What book?” Keqing was clearly playing dumb, shoving the book into her backpack with a ferocity he had never seen before. “I don’t see any book.”
Aether gave her a confused look. Was she...embarrassed about reading a romance novel? “I just saw the book in your hand though.” He pointed out, watching her face light up in a soft blush. It was honestly a little...cute.
It wasn’t like Aether didn’t see Keqing as attractive before this revelation, but it was the first time he had an actual thought about her being cute. It was confusing to say the least, but he moved on quickly with a small shake of his head.
“I don’t see any book though, therefore, did it even exist at all?”
Was she joking? Keqing? Joking?
Aether couldn’t help but let out a little snort. A little snort that quickly devolved into peals of soft laughter at her joke. He wiped his eyes after laughing so hard that his stomach hurt, looking at Keqing with a smile despite her reddened face. Was she mad or embarrassed? He couldn’t tell at this point.
“You--” She cut herself off with a frustrated sigh. “Why are you laughing? I didn’t do anything that was laugh worthy!” The girl huffed, folding her arms over her chest. Her face was still significantly red, but it seemed to be dying down now for the most part.
“Nothing! Nothing! I just thought you made a joke, and it made me laugh.” Aether snorted, trying to hold back another round of laughs. Keqing’s face brightened once more, but she quickly turned her head away with the swish of her pigtails. It seemed as if she was miffed over him laughing. “You know I’m not making fun of you, right?”
Keqing turned her head back around slowly to face him. Even the tips of her ears were red from embarrassment. “How would I know? You’re the one that saw me reading a...a romance novel.” She finally admitted.
“I love that book! Why would I make fun of you over it?” He asked genuinely, leaning forward so he was resting his cheek against the back of his hand, looking at the girl with a genuine smile on his features. “I’m not a judgy person, Ke.” The nickname slipped out unintentionally, and he hoped she didn’t notice.
Unfortunately for him, she did notice. “Ke?” She questioned with a raised eyebrow. He expected her to turn her nose up at the thought of a nickname, but she didn’t seem all too bothered about it outside of the initial confusion.
“Yeah! Ke! Can I call you that?”
Keqing didn’t respond for a moment, mulling it over before she let out an exasperated sigh. “If you must.”
Aether physically brightened. “Cool, Ke!” He gave her somewhat of a goofy smile, watching her face redden once more. She wasn’t all that bad once he had gotten to get to know her. A little rough around the edges, sure, but she wasn’t as mean as everyone had made her out to be. She truly was just a person in need of a friend. “Why don’t you pull that book back out? It seemed like you were at a good part! You were so engrossed in it when I sat down.”
She seemed to hesitate for a second before shaking her head. “I can read it at home.” The girl said finally, zipping up her backpack decisively. “Besides, I wouldn’t get to talk to you if I was reading…”
This time, Aether’s face was red. “You want to talk to me?” He asked, sounding slightly bewildered. After all this time, had she actually come to like him like he had hoped? Or was he just getting his hopes up for no reason?
Keqing gave him a wobbly, awkward smile. “Yeah.” A pause. “We’re friends after all.”
The third thing Aether noticed about Keqing was that she was acting strange. As the weeks bled into months, and the weather got hotter, they were allowed to eat outside in the gardens. This was, of course, ideal for the two of them, since Keqing preferred to be isolated from the rest of the lunchroom, but lately she hadn’t been showing up at their usual spot. It was strange for her not to eat lunch with him, and he had begun to get lonely without her.
Aether’s feelings for the girl were complicated. He had a complex sort of relationship with her that teetered on the brink between platonic and romantic. He himself wasn’t sure where they stood, which is why he took it a lot harder than he had anticipated when she didn’t show up.
After he had finished his meal, he stood up from the bench where they sat most of the time. Lately they had begun to share lunches, and as a result his stomach was rumbling from the lack of excess food. It was weird enough without Keqing around, but now it was even worse that he had begun to miss her so much.
Packing his lunch back into his lunchbox, Aether carefully placed his lunchbox back into his backpack, zipping it up with a soft, sad sort of sigh. He wasn’t feeling all that great, so he decided he was going to take a walk around the gardens.
The flowers were beautiful this time of year. They had begun to bloom, and blossom into all sorts of different lovely shades. A particular purple flower that was in his line of sight reminded him of Keqing. But then again, what didn’t remind him of her nowadays? Right next to the purple flower was a yellow flower, their stems twisting together and locked tight in an embrace. It made his heart squeeze. Was he really about to get upset over some flowers?
The answer was yes. Yes because he truly did care for Keqing, and he missed her. He missed her red face when she got embarrassed, and the way she would crinkle her nose when he told a bad joke or annoyed her too much. He also missed the way the wind would muss up her hair, and how she would fuss to put it back in place, the flower petals drifting down into her hair and making her look like some flower princess.
Aether was totally and utterly in love with Keqing.
Honestly, he had expected it from the way her loss so greatly affected him, but the revelation still absolutely blew him away. He was in love with her. He was so in love with her and he wanted to tell her so bad. He wanted to see her cheeks light up, and he wanted to see her eyes widen and her eyelashes flutter. And most of all, he wanted to kiss her.
Aether wanted to kiss her and tell her how much he loved her, which is exactly why he had to find her. For some reason, he had a feeling she was still in the garden. Call it intuition, but he knew that she was here.
The boy set his backpack down on the bench. He would come back for it later.
Aether’s gut led him through the twists and turns of the gardens, and eventually to the large tree in the middle of the garden. Sure enough, there was Keqing. Her back was turned to him, and her head was down, but she was there. In her hands was a singular yellow flower, a yellow flower that stood out from her pale, clenched hands.
Carefully, he approached, stopping when he heard a soft laugh. It was a foreign, but not unwelcome sound from the girl. Slowly, she turned around, tears in her big eyes. She blinked them away a moment later, but he still saw. “So, you figured it out huh?” She asked with a small sigh. “You’re intelligent, I’ll give you that.” Despite her praising words, she sounded miserable.
“Figured what out?” Aether asked, confused. All he had done was realize that he loved her, and followed his intuition to where she was.
Keqing’s face fell, and then quickly turned to a flustered annoyance. She crinkled up her nose cutely, just the way that he loved. “The notes that I hid around the garden? The notes that led you here, to me?” At his confused expression, she let out a soft whine. “Aether! Did you just blindly follow me here without reading the notes?”
“Not...Not quite?” The boy in question laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I was wondering where you had gone for a while, and I was starting to miss you...so I followed my gut and ended up here.”
“So...You don’t know?” Her voice sounded small, timid.
Aether took a second to wrack his brain. “No. I don’t know, I’m sorry.” He said honestly.
Keqing let out a loud huff. “You...You stupid boy!” She stomped her foot like a child would. “I’m in love with you!”
The words processed in his head before his face absolutely lit up. “You love me too?” He asked, taking a few steps closer to her so he could take her hands in his.
“Too..?” She echoed, looking starstruck for the second that she was able to say something.
Before she could get another response in, Aether kissed her. He was sloppy, an inexperienced kisser, but so was she. It was a bit awkward, and a bit rushed, but to him it was perfect. In the midst of their kiss, Keqing dropped the flower, but they both didn’t seem to take notice, simply leaning more into the kiss before finally pulling away for air.
Both of their faces were flushed, and they were both breathing heavily and looking away from each other, but Aether couldn’t ask for a better first kiss. “Yes.” He finally answered her question from before they had kissed. “I love you too.” And it was the full, honest truth.
Keqing let out a small giggle, a giggle that quickly developed into full blown laughter. All Aether could do was stare at her, before he started laughing too. The petals around them floated in the wind and fell into their hair as they laughed together under the sun.
Her smile was radiant, and the last thing he noticed about her was that she was completely in love with him too.