Chapter Text
Lumine couldn't say it hasn't been long since she's arrived in Teyvat. It's been a little over 3 months and already, she's saved a dragon, witnessed the 'death' of an archon, felt the betrayal of someone she wanted to call a friend and was gifted a cursed sword. However, one thing that stood out to her the most was that the people of this planet had this peculiar ability.
They could turn into animals.
Although many were four-legged mammals, some sorts of lizards and even birds, she could never get used to her friends shifting into animals right before her eyes. The first time she saw it happen upfront was Kaeya.
Once, Lumine had crossed him as she had a commission to complete in the headquarters of the Knights of Favonius.
"Oh? Is that the Honorary Knight I see?~" He was speaking with Lisa, a package of papers in her hands as Lumine walked in through the front doors. He threw her a smile before disappearing which had Lumine gasping, her friend had exploded into a cloud of smoke and suddenly, a full-grown snow leopard had quickly sauntered its way over to Lumine, rubbing against her, circling around her small body and his tail wrapping around her legs teasingly.
Although she already knew that her friends could turn into animals, witnessing human Kaeya who, not one minute ago stood on two legs and was speaking to Lisa at regular Kaeya height, suddenly turn into a prowling predator who stalked on four legs, was quite the experience. Out of all the men she's met so far, Kaeya was up there in height but even lowered down to all four limbs, snow leopard Kaeya still rose up quite formidably, the tips of his fluffy ears reaching just below her upper arms.
"A-ahh Kaeya??" She flushed immediately, her hands unsure whether to push him away or bring him closer because his fur was so soft. She circled around her slowly, his face nosing everywhere he could, her dress, her back, her hands, her legs, as his tail trailed along, wrapping around her somewhat sensually, flicking and seeing what her reactions were to the long limb. She would gasp and twitch every time his tail curled around open skin or her opened legs. Even with them all around her, he was extremely close and she was debating on whether to reach out and pet him as the moment her fingers grazed his fur, all she could think was 'very very fluffy, want to touch'.
Lisa watched what was unfolding before her in the Knights of Favonius' main hall and decided to let Kaeya indulge in the moment. She let out a small chuckle before taking her leave up the stairs, leaving poor Lumine to Kaeya's devices.
"K-kaeya, what are you-??" He pretended to ignore her confusion as he continued to rub his scent all over her, his strong leopard muscles effectively trapping her in on the spot where she stood. She decided against petting him at the moment as the two guards who usually stood by were on duty, awkwardly glancing away from their captain-turned-leopard.
Lumine’s ears tipped pink as she felt the warm atmosphere around them, the headquarters of the knights was certainly no place to be doing this. What had come onto Kaeya?? He wouldn’t act like this in his human form, unless...turning into their animal counterpart made them feel more...primal things.
“Don’t you have work to do?” She managed to grit out, squirming in his hold to get out, Kaeya’s strength showed through his snow leopard form easily as he barely budged at her attempts to get him off. Something akin to the sound of a low engine was heard from the large cat, the noise reverberating throughout Lumine’s body. She shivered as Kaeya continued his ruthless onslaught of rubbing his furry face against Lumine. Frustration finally overtook her however, as Lumine tried to walk and Kaeya momentarily let her out of his grasp to her relief.
“If you have nothing else to do, then I’m going to leave now.” She spoke, no room for arguing in her tone. She walked as calmly as she could out the front door after his ‘ministrations’ with the snow leopard’s black pupils gazing quietly after her. A spark crossed his eyes and an idea formed. Finally, slinking out the door after her.
-
Kaeya found her again later that day in a small corner of the library where she was reading a book, probably something about Teyvat’s history as far as he knew what she liked to read. He had shifted back into his human form after leaving the HQ and went about his day, his eyes lingering on the traveller wherever he spotted her though.
The sun had already fallen and the moon was beginning to peek out from beyond the horizon. He had been wandering around Mondstat in hopes of finding her again and was in luck when he asked Klee if she had seen Lumine. She happily pointed out that she had went into the library.
Perfect. She was somewhere quiet.
Keeping Lumine under his watchful eye, Kaeya slipped into the library, careful not to announce his presence to her. She hadn’t noticed him as she was too engrossed in her book, focusing on it’s words.
“Hmm, so this is where you slipped off to, little minx~” Kaeya mused, one arm resting on the shelf above where she sat in one of the library couches. A minx suited the nickname. She was small, always donned a white dress and was as slippery and quick as one. His eye glowed at the idea of having minx for dinner.
She gasped, turning her head to see that Kaeya had found her once again.
“Look Kaeya, as much as I’d like to talk to you, I’m reading right now, so if you’re going to bother me then-”
“Whoa whoa there sweetheart, I’m not here to do anything unsavoury things to you or anyone for that matter! Am I not allowed to just enjoy the presence of a dear friend?~” His silky voice flowed right into Lumine’s head, his small pout on his face captivating her even further. Curse his handsome face.
“Mn, fine. But no!-” Before she could finish listing her conditions for staying with her, another burst of smoke clouded Lumine. She sneezed and a furry ear pricked at the cute noise. Opening her eyes, she saw that Kaeya had shifted again, the large white-furred, tinted blue, snow leopard had sat before her with peering eyes and albeit he was in his animal form, his signature eyepatch still held true. He looked a little silly but the predatory gaze in his eyes felt otherwise. She sighed in defeat, she couldn’t scold a face like that, sure it was Kaeya in there, but still, she could only wince at his cheap use of tricks to get her to let him stay.
A small blush adorned her face as she grumbled in self-disappointment, shifting over slightly in her chair to allow some form of room on the couch for him to sit down. She thought it was a silly idea though, how she could possibly expect a cat that large was going to fit in this space-
“Floomph”
She was proven wrong as Kaeya slinked easily into the space Lumine provided, squeezing in between the armrest and Lumine. A squeak came out of Lumine as she didn’t just expect him to hop in. His large body had overlapped her own slightly as he was still quite big in his leopard form and KAeya had decided himself that the only place he could move into, to ensure his comfort was to place his head on Lumine’s lap.
Lumine felt her face grow warmer and warmer as the giant cat, who she had to keep reminding herself was indeed the one and only Calvary Captain Kaeya, out of all people was the one who squeezed next to her, his fluffy head in her lap. He gave her an unrelenting gaze at Lumine who could only stare back. She cursed him inwardly, thinking Kaeya was probably sitting there feeling all cocky and smug and enjoying the time of his life settling so close to her and knowing he wouldn’t suffer any repercussions as who could resist a face like that?
While Kaeya finally settled himself nicely in the seat, Lumine’s hands were raised in the air, one holding her book and the other hovering above the leopard’s back. She stared again into his dark eye, seeming to await whatever Lumine decided to do next with eagerness. Slowly, she allowed her hand to land on his neck, her fingertips feeling his fur gently as if she thought she rubbed too hard, the scratch from the wild cat on her lap would leave more than just a scar.
But down inside, she had a feeling that Kaeya wouldn’t hurt her. Not in his wild animal form or his human form. He wasn’t that kind of man. And for that, she was grateful. As Lumine had to ease herself into the feeling of the weight of snow leopard Kaeya in her lap, she began to read again.
His presence was actually reassuring somehow, less stressful than human Kaeya, she got comfortable quite quickly and spent the next hour reading peacefully. His head laid on her lap, eyes closed as she read.
Sometime in her reading, she decided to try petting him, hoping he wouldn’t mind. She had been controlling the urge to pet him for a while now since her first encounter with his super fluffy fur in the HQ, but now that she could finally do it without the unwanted stares of others, she decided to take the chance. At first, her thumb moved slowly across her fur, feeling the smoothness of each tuft. Then her fingers took the lead, scratching lightly over his neck fur. She turned her attention to him, Kaeya’s eye was closed and he made no move to push her away so she continued to pet him. She got bolder soon and moved her hand up to his head, wondering what was the best place to pet a cat. She thought the ears, right?
Gingerly, she grabbed a hold of an ear gently, softly, extremely careful to not wake the assumed-sleeping Kaeya, stroking his ear slowly, her thumb moving up and down the shell of it at first and then moving to stroke the fur near the entrance of his ear.
Suddenly, she noticed a large vibration coming from her thighs, sneaking a glance, she moved her book out of the way to see that Kaeya was…
Purring??? It was a low rumbling noise and she couldn’t help but think how cute and warming he was, heat slowly rising to her face at how shamelessly she was petting the captain of the guard. He wasn’t flirting, not being uncomfortably close without her permission and...she simply relished in the peace and quiet of it all.
-
The moon was high in the sky at this time and Lumine was nearly done reading her book, when all of a sudden, she felt a rough object across her thigh. It was rough but soft at the same time, wet too? And before she knew it, she closed her book to see what was up. Warmth rushed to her face as Kaeya seemed to enjoy her scratches on his ear and decided to ‘reward’ her by licking her thighs.
-
Kaeya had been quietly enjoying the downtime, being so close to his favourite traveller, the quietness of the library bringing calmness and serenity to him that he hadn’t felt in a while. When she had decided to start stroking his ears, it awoke something inside him. His body was quite attuned to the feeling, her delicate fingers rubbing across his ear fluff. It felt so...good. And before he could stop himself, a loud purr emitted from his throat, surprising not only Lumine but also himself. He didn’t know he could...purr. But he allowed himself to keep going, he couldn’t control himself, his tail began to swish back and forth, his purring getting louder as he continued to enjoy the feeling of Lumine’s fingers working their magic, stroking his ears gently.
Simply put, he was enjoying himself. And that’s when he took notice of his surroundings. His face was so close to her thighs, silky smooth skin underneath him, he could only stare heavily at her legs. Then, his primal desires took over him. Kind of.
He stuck his tongue out, lapping over her smooth skin softly, she tasted sweet on his tongue, her skin was so soft and unblemished, she was so beautiful. But obviously, he wasn’t as stealthy as he thought because as if his regular human tongue wouldn’t surprise her, his large, much rougher leopard tongue certainly would.
“???” He heard the squeak come from above and he glanced up upwards, taking in the delicious sight of a red colour washing over Lumine’s face.
Oh. She didn’t just feel sweet, she looked sweet too. He smirked, although it didn’t show through on his leopard face, he realized something.
She didn’t make any move to push him away.
Oh. Oh. He could get used to this.