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Keqing has a lot to be proud of.
She is the heir of one of Liyue's most influential families. She's the youngest to ascend the title of Yuheng in her family. She's also been recognised as one of the strongest fighters in all of Liyue.
But what she's most proud about is that she has a girlfriend .
Ganyu and her have been dating for just over a month, now. At first glance, it's surprising that two people with such opposing ideals would get together. But Rex Lapis' passing had left Ganyu hurt and Keqing looking for guidance, and they had grown close over the days.
And that had led to Keqing looking at Ganyu's lips for way too long one day and here they are now, holding hands and walking through the streets of Liyue, as girlfriends .
Keqing is really happy. She really likes Ganyu.
"Shall we go down to the docks?" asks Ganyu, smiling.
"Ah. Yes, sw- uh, Ganyu. Yes, let's."
She's also really confused about romance.
There are texts for architecture and design. There are studies on excavation and labour use. There is practical knowledge on construction methodology.
But romance? She's seen her mother and her father call to each other so sweetly, years of togetherness weaving their lives seamlessly together. She's seen lovers melt around each other, at their softest around their dearest. There aren't any guides on these things, and Keqing can't just go and learn more about romance without breaking Ganyu's heart, so she's lost.
Keqing watches the lights from hundreds of stalls dance along Ganyu's soft hair as the girl walks ahead, admiring the sights and sounds and smells of Liyue Harbor.
All she wants is to give Ganyu a pet name, and have one in turn. Why is it so damn hard?
"Oh, sweetie!" calls Ganyu.
A blush razes across Keqing's cheeks, and she bounds upto Ganyu with a gleeful, "Yes?"
At the same time, a dog sprints across the docks and sits before Ganyu, wagging its tail excitedly.
"K-Keqing?" Ganyu turns to her. "What is it?"
Keqing blinks at her girlfriend, and then at the dog. Back to her girlfriend, and then she realises her mistake.
"N-Nothing!" she barks. "I just lost you in the crowd!"
"But I was walking just ahead of you?"
"Nevermind!"
It was for the dog. Keqing is losing to a damn mutt.
Ganyu cocks her head adorably, confused.
To change the subject and protect her from further mortification, Keqing gestures to the dog and asks, "What's his name?"
"This is ZhenZhen," smiles Ganyu, bending down to scratch the dog's ears. "He's a sweet boy. He lives around here."
ZhenZhen basks in Keqing's girlfriend's adoration, leaving Keqing distinctly un-adored. She glares at the dog, who ignores her.
"Do you want to pet him?"
"No," grunts Keqing.
Ganyu catches the shift in her mood, and looks up. "Are you afraid of dogs?"
"No," she says again, defiant. No, she's not scared of dogs, she's just jealous of them. Lovely. "I just...don't want to get my dress dirty."
Ganyu smiles and nods, petting ZhenZhen before shooing him away. “Shall we continue?”
“Yes, let’s.” Keqing watches as Ganyu stands, dusting down the front of her dress, and walks by her side further down the harbour. Ganyu’s hand is right next to hers, and she wants to hold it, but there’s a lump in her throat.
The air smells of chilli-infused oil and sounds of hissing woks in the evening chill. There’s colour and activity everywhere, but all Keqing can focus on is the small, pleased smile on Ganyu’s lips.
Ganyu waits beside a stall that sells Golden Shrimp Balls, smiling at her expectantly, and Keqing blushes and orders two plates for them. As she dives into the crunchy, sweet meat, Ganyu is surrounded by two other dogs.
Her girlfriend giggles at her half-displeased, half-content look.
“They’re always so hungry.”
And to Keqing’s horror, she feeds them a bit of her skewer. Ganyu could be feeding her instead.
“This is Ying,” she says, petting the dog who is sitting obediently for her treat. “And this little one is Bai.” The dog, who has on a collar, wags his tail so vigorously that his whole body shakes.
Keqing squints at the nametag on his collar. “Ganyu, it says his name is Xiang.”
“Does it?” hums Ganyu, unbothered.
Keqing blinks.
“Do you want to pet Bai? He’s a good boy, he won’t jump.”
“Uh. No, thanks.” Keqing is so confused. “Do...Did you name all the dogs here?”
“Yes,” smiles Ganyu, and Keqing burns at the sudden brightness. “I come by and see them as often as I can. But, you know, it’s been hard, these days.”
Her smile hangs hollow on her lips, and she keeps petting Bai. Or Xiang. Keqing doesn’t know.
What she does know is that she doesn’t want to see that sad, empty smile anymore.
So Keqing squats down beside her girlfriend, and begrudgingly holds out a bit of her Golden Shrimp Balls. A really small bit.
Ganyu watches her with wide eyes. “Oh, Keqing, you don’t have to-”
“It’s fine.” Her goodwill is wobbling on dangerously weak strings. “We can get more later.”
Ganyu smiles again, and it reminds her of the dazzling sunrise over Liyue harbour, so bright and warm. Keqing has to look away to hide her blush.
-
So they start going down to the harbour more often, to pet and feed the dogs. Ganyu is so open and warm around the animals. It fills Keqing’s heart with a shining warmth that stays with her until she closes her eyes to sleep.
On the nickname front, Keqing is not as successful.
Having run into a dead end, Keqing had decided to get consultations from multiple experts. Ningguang - curse that woman - had hidden her snicker behind her long fingers. Beidou had roared out a laugh before whispering the most inappropriate nicknames in her ear. Xiangling had suggested a long list of produce-related endearments that Keqing had tapped out of when she had heard “my little Dendro Slime Concentrate”. She had even gone down to Bubu Pharmacy to ask Baizhu.
The green-haired pharmacist had been absent, and Keqing was desperate, so she had asked his tiny assistant Qiqi.
“Cocogoat…” Qiqi had murmured. “It’s sweet.”
Cocogoat. Keqing has to agree with the possible zombie. It’s cute.
Keqing is not sure if she should take advice from a child. But Qiqi’s suggestion had been better than any of her other friends’ ideas, so can she really be picky? She just needs to say it.
Cut to the present. She’s struggling to say it.
It’s embarrassing, okay? Keqing isn’t sure if Ganyu would appreciate her using a nickname so suddenly. Their current dynamic is a lot of shared silence and solemn conversations mixed with the briefest of touches and faintest of kisses. Bringing in a nickname might change this delicate balance they share, and Keqing finds that this is an avenue where she doesn’t want to rock the boat.
“Oh, Keqing, look!”
She snaps out of her thoughts to follow Ganyu’s pointed finger to a stray cat sitting close to them. The cat is dirty but has bright, beady eyes that regard them with equal parts suspicion and hunger.
“Are you hungry?” coos Ganyu. Keqing holds back an annoyed huff. “Come here, baby. Come on!”
The cat hisses.
“No, no, I want to feed you! Pspspspsps…”
People start staring at them, two high-ranking members of the Liyue Qixing, crouched on the floor and cooing at a visibly threatened cat.
“Ganyu, what are you doing?”
“Beidou told me that cats come to you when you make that noise.”
“The cat looks like you insulted his entire family.”
“Keqing, don’t say that.” Ganyu pouts.
The cat slinks away several feet, and Ganyu sighs sadly. They continue feeding the dogs until they run out of food. They excitedly follow Ganyu when she goes to throw away the wrappers, leaving Keqing crouched alone on the wooden docks.
The cat slinks back, eyeing Keqing warily. There’s a long exchange of glares, and the cat eventually breaks the stalemate by approaching her. Cats, Keqing can get by. They respect boundaries and don’t steal away her girlfriend, so she scratches behind his ears. The cat starts purring happily.
“Oh!”
They both whip around to see Ganyu, beaming excitedly and approaching too quickly before Keqing can stop her. The cat hisses again and sprints off.
“Oh, no…”
Keqing grimaces out a soothing smile, but Ganyu still looks crestfallen. She pats Ganyu’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, maybe next time.”
“The cats always run away from me,” sighs Ganyu. “Do I scare them?”
“Um!” How does she say this delicately... “They’re just horrible animals.”
“No, they’re not,” pouts Ganyu. “You’re so good with them. Maybe it’s because…” Her eyes drift to the buns on her head.
“Excuse me.”
“A-Ah, my apologies.”
Ganyu shuffles with the edge of her dress awkwardly.
Then, softly, “Maybe you could help me get closer to them.”
While Keqing would love to spend more time with Ganyu, she isn’t so sure about their probabilities of success. “Okay.”
“And we could give them all nicknames, too.” Ganyu’s lips quirk upwards.
“Uh…” Is this Ganyu’s idea of a couples’ bonding activity? “Sure.”
Ganyu beams at her in that chest-exploding kind of way again, and Keqing decides that it doesn’t matter, as long as she keeps smiling like that.
-
As Keqing predicted, their plan doesn’t go very well.
Cats hate Ganyu. Even though the half-Qilin knows to pull back and be more reserved with the feline species, cats just do not like her girlfriend. They’re wrong, because her girlfriend has many excellent qualities, but that doesn’t change the fact that every cat they’ve met thus far has hissed at Ganyu before sprinting away.
So they had settled for just walking down the harbour, stopping only to pet and feed the dogs and point and coo at the cats.
“Who is that?” smiles Ganyu, pointing to a grey cat perched on a board.
Keqing knows that one. She loves to rub her face against Keqing’s shin, purring happily all the while. “That’s Nuo.”
Ganyu smiles happily at the cat, taking a step towards her. The cat immediately sprints away. Her girlfriend’s shoulders slump and she returns to Keqing’s side.
This would be a perfect opportunity for her to reach for Ganyu’s hand and hold it comfortingly. But following the theme of Keqing struggling with simple gestures, she only manages to thump Ganyu’s back, once, hard.
“We’ll try again with another cat,” she says, as Ganyu coughs.
And just like that, another cat mewls loudly to their left. Turning, the sight of the orange tabby prowling towards them fills Keqing with rage.
“Oh, who is this baby?”
This is the cat that stole her Shrimp Balls last week. “That’s Shitmonster 5000.”
“A-Ah.”
“He’s terrible. Leave him.”
Ganyu follows her as she stomps away from the thief. Today, they’re at Yujing Terrace, whiffing in the scent of glaze lilies and wandering through the low murmur of people. Coming here in the evenings reminds Keqing why she locks herself away in a stuffy room and struggles over mountains of paperwork.
She and Ganyu are similar in that way. Their current relationship might be stiff and fumbling, but there’s a deep respect they both have for each other. Maybe being over 3,000 years old means she might be able to finish the growing piles of work in her office, but it must come with a particular brand of loneliness. Keqing is honoured that Ganyu chose her, of all people, to share a fraction of her life with.
“Keqing? Hello?”
She blinks, and focuses on her girlfriend, who smiles faintly at her.
“Are you alright? You seemed lost in thought.”
“A-Ah.” Tell her, Keqing! “What I wanted to say was…” Now!
“Yes?” smiles Ganyu, shy.
“Is...is it okay if I, um, call you-” Cocogoat.
Ganyu waits, patient and curious.
“Co-ah- Cat!”
Mortification colouring the tips of her ears, Keqing blindly points to a cat nearby. Ganyu blinks and turns to the cat.
“What? Oh, she looks so sweet!”
“Y-Yeah!” Keqing keeps going in an effort to hide her embarrassment. “Her name is- Uh- Her name is Mao.”
“Mao?”
“Y-Yes.”
“This cat’s name is Cat?” giggles Ganyu, turning back to her.
The teasing is not helping her embarrassment. “I- I ran out of ideas, okay?”
Ganyu laughs. As though the cat had heard Keqing’s fumblings, she approaches them slowly. Ganyu’s eyes sparkle, and she crouches down, extending a hand.
“Hello, Mao. I’m Ganyu.” The cat is just a few inches away from her extended fingers, sniffing cautiously. “Can I pet you?”
And then Ganyu makes the mistake of reaching out to pet her ears.
Before Keqing can say anything, the cat hisses and brings down a sharp claw against Ganyu’s wrist. Her girlfriend cries out, and the cat runs off, and Keqing rushes to crouch beside Ganyu and grip her wrist.
“I-It’s fine. I’m-”
Keqing pulls Ganyu up, holding her wrist loosely. “C’mon. Let’s go to Bubu Pharmacy.”
“Keqing, it’s just a scratch-”
“No.”
The nicknames and the holding hands and the romance is unimportant. Keqing wants those things, but she also has a responsibility to Ganyu. She has entrusted Keqing with a bit of herself, and so has Keqing. She has to take care of Ganyu properly.
“Come on.”
Ganyu falls silent as she pulls them towards Bubu Pharmacy, just nearby. When they walk in, predictably, Baizhu is absent. But there’s the tell-tale peek of Qiqi’s sigil over the counter.
“Qiqi, we would like some cotton and disinfectant, please. And gauze, if you have it.”
“Hello, welcome to Bubu Pharmacy,” sighs Qiqi. “I am Qiqi.”
A silence.
“Yes, Qiqi, we’ve met,” says Keqing irritably. “We need cotton, disinfectant and gauze.”
“Yes, we have those things. Do you have your prescription?”
Keqing blanches. “You need a prescription for cotton?”
“Yes,” hums Qiqi. “Those are the rules, according to Qiqi.”
“Qiqi,” sighs Keqing irritably. “We don’t need a prescription for a ball of fu-”
“Qiqi?” Ganyu interjects gently, pressing a calming hand inside Keqing’s wrist.
“Yes?”
“Can you check the rules again and see if cotton and disinfectant needs a prescription?”
Qiqi blinks at Ganyu.
“Okay,” sighs the child, reaching for the notebook hooked to her belt.
In the silence, where Qiqi flips through pages agonisingly slowly, Ganyu runs a smooth thumb along Keqing’s palm. Her eyes are soft and gentle, and Keqing has to look away, ears burning.
“Excuse me,” hums Qiqi. “Cotton and disinfectant do not need prescriptions, according to Dr Baizhu.”
“Are you serio-”
But Qiqi has disappeared to the back, calling out behind her shoulder, “How many would you like of these items?”
Gritting her teeth, Keqing tells her, and pays the amount (inflated to ridiculously high amounts, she’ll have to speak to Ningguang about accessible healthcare again). She tears off a bit of cotton, dabs on a touch of disinfectant, and wraps it around Ganyu’s soft wrist.
“Thank you,” whispers Ganyu, once she’s completed.
“No problem.”
“Um…”
Keqing watches Ganyu blush and look away.
“What were you talking about, before-” Ganyu waves her bandaged hand.
Now Keqing is the one blushing and looking away. “I, um…”
It’s not like this is going to make this day any worse, thinks Keqing with a resigned sigh.
“I wanted to call you by a nickname,” admits Keqing.
“Oh!” Ganyu looks at her then, face rosy and eyes wide. “Um, yes, that...that sounds very acceptable. I’d like that.”
“O-Oh, really?”
“Indeed,” mumbles Ganyu.
Her throat is suddenly so dry. “Noted,” she rasps.
“Do…Do you have any ideas?”
“S-Sweetie,” blurts Keqing.
They both turn scarlet.
“I-” Ganyu mouths wordless shapes. She clears her throat, and says, “Yes, I find that acceptable.”
“O-Okay.” Keqing nods, trying to get her singing muscles to listen to her. “Good.”
A thick silence, but her head is light and buzzing with happiness. Ganyu is smiling softly.
“May I call you something in return?”
“Of course,” says Keqing, heart rushing to her throat. “It’s only fair.”
“Thank you,” says Ganyu. “May I call you ‘darling’?”
Something yanks in her chest, and Keqing feels like she’s thrown into the soft clouds over Liyue Harbour. Bright sunlight rushes through her limbs, and she’s floating in soft, tender skies.
Ganyu blinks at her expectantly, so Keqing hurriedly says, “Yes, that’s fine.”
“Oh, good,” breathes Ganyu.
In the silence that follows, Keqing’s smile threatens to tear away from her lips and fly excitedly around the room. What doesn’t help the bursting excitement in her chest is that Ganyu is smiling too, so soft and sweet.
“Well then,” smiles Ganyu, “shall we go back, darling?”
The happiness starts to sparkle against her fingertips, and Keqing grins, “Let’s go, sweetie.”
Emboldened by the great success of her plan, Keqing reaches for Ganyu’s hand, wrapping their fingers together. Ganyu giggles, and an uncontrollable laugh explodes out of Keqing’s chest, too.
“Come on,” smiles Ganyu, pulling her out of the pharmacy. Keqing is only too happy to follow, back into the sweet sunshine and sparkling skies and towards Yujing Terrace.
Qiqi watches the two giggle and tumble across stone pathways, and then sighs sadly.
“No Cocogoat…”