Work Text:
It's after midday when Keqing has her first break from work. She did a lot of paperwork concerning complaints in Liyue and now she can confidently say, that she's finished all of it.
Still, that doesn't mean she's done for this day. Sadly. It wasn't common for her to feel like this, but today, she really wishes she had a day off.
Not for her, but she hasn't heard from Mona for quite a while and that surely worries her. Normally they exchange letters almost every day and they meet at least once a week.
The problem is, Mona hasn't answered a single one of her letters. The last one she got is from a week ago.
The Yuheng doesn't want to admit it, yet she feels deep worry for her girlfriend. It's a miracle, that she, Keqing, got attached to someone in this way.
Of course, she doesn't regret it. Mona is a great girlfriend in every way, listening to her, whenever she feels concerned and being supportive in general. They don't have a lot of arguments and the ones they have will be forgotten almost immediately. This means the astrologist is most likely not mad at her.
Keqing can't even remember their last fight, so she is pretty sure, that Mona being upset is not the case.
What else could it be then?
"Keqing. Are you alright?", someone suddenly asked into the silence.
Keqing snaps out of her thoughts just to look at the Qixings secretary, Ganyu.
The Yuheng quickly clears her throat, before answering.
"Yes, sure. Is there anything you need?"
The half adepti softly shakes her head and places some pacers onto the table next to her.
Then she looks at Keqing with concern in her eyes."You don't seem alright to me. You haven't even noticed me when I came in."
"Oh. Well, it's just like...", the electro user starts and at this point, she just tells Ganyu everything that's going on on her mind. They're friends after all and Keqing is really not in the state to worry about opening up right now.
After finishing how worried she is and how she thinks there COULD be a possibility that she did something wrong, Ganyu pats her on the shoulder.
The secretary takes her completely seriously. Of course she does. She knows, how much Mona means to her friend, and seeing Keqing in this state confirms this.
"You know", she suggests, "that you could visit her."
"I would, but I still have work to do and..."
"I can do that for you", Ganyu interrupts her.
Keqing immediately shakes her head. She is aware of how much the cryo user does for the people here and she doesn't want to be an extra burden.
"It's fine, really. I've finished my work anyway, so it's completely okay. I know, you'd do the same for me so just visit your girlfriend and you'll be okay", the secretary explains softly. Ganyu is an angel and Keqing is so glad that she has a friend this amazing. Now that she gets this offering, she doesn't even want to decline.
"Thank you so much. The next time, you need something, I'll do it for you. Promise."
And then she rushes out of the door, leaving Ganyu with her work behind.
The half adepti smiles lightly. She knows, that she won't ask Keqing for help, yet this offering is incredibly nice and reminds her, why she'd do something like that for her friend in thr first place.
It's the end of the afternoon when Keqing finally arrives. The sun is already going down a bit, which fills her surroundings with coldness. She's glad she doesn't have to be outside during the night since it's pretty warm in the daytime, yet after sunset, it's still too cold to spend time in nature.
The Yuheng sighs, as she enters the gate of the city of freedom. The people here know her due to her visiting Mona. Seeing them together on a date isn't uncommon.
Some knights greet her and she exchanges a few quick words before continuing, what she actually wants to do.
Of course, she knows, where the astrologists' house is. Whenever Mona could afford it, they'd have dinner there. It hurts her pride to admit it, yet she isn't the best cook and often lets Keqing do it. She always says, how she could cook something for her as well, but the Yuheng knows that she's actually thankful.
Keqing misses her a lot, so she hurries up and finally sees the familiar house. It's simple, yet pretty. And the environment around it makes it look peaceful and comfortable.
The electro user knocks on the old, wooden door. No one's answering.
She knocks another time. Again-nothing. Panic slowly growing. Where could she be? Has Keqing done something bad and just doesn't know about it?
As she wants to turn around and ask people, if they've seen Mona, she hears the sound of a door being opened.
"Mona!", Keqing couldn't resist to sigh in relief. The first thing she notices, when she looks at her girlfriend is, how pale she is. There're eyebags beneath her pretty eyes and her purple hair, which is normally styled in two pigtails, is put in a lazy bun .
"Oh god, you look..."
The Yuheng doesn't even get to finish her sentence, due to Mona interrupting her.
"Awful, I know." Her voice is quiet and sounds deeper than usual.
As the astrologist finally looks into her eyes, Keqing noticed the haziness in them.
"Can I please come in?"
Her girlfriend nods and steps a few steps back, so she could enter her house. Everything seems pretty ordinary. Some dust is noticeable on a few parts of the furniture, but that's nothing too bad.
"What happened?" Keqing finally asks what is going on in her mind the whole time. She's eager to find out, yet she doesn't want to stress the already exhausted-looking astrologist.
Mona sighs. "At first I'm sorry. I know you're probably here because I worried you and I have to apologize for that", she explains and let out a cough afterward. "I would've written you a letter, but I had this important mission in Dragonspine and I was covered with too much work. I tried to find time and when I noticed I couldn't, I just waited to get home. And I guess I got a cold."
Her voice sounds raspy, so Keqing quickly said something, before her girlfriend would overdo herself.
"That seems like more than a cold to me. And it's alright, you didn't do anything wrong. Now let me help you."
You don't need-"
Keqing interrupts her by putting a finger on her mouth. "Don't talk too much. Lay down and let me do this."
There's doubt in Monas' eyes, but she doesn't want to refuse. She can trust Keqing, whatever she does will turn out to be alright. So she nods and leaves the room.
Meanwhile, the Yuheng searches for something to eat. Luckily she's been here many times and knows exactly, where what is. Mona likes to keep her things in the same place, which makes it even easier for her to find all the supplies she needs. A cutting board and a knife will do.
As she lays her hand on the fridge to take some ingredients, she realizes something. Keqing knows her girlfriend pretty well. She normally doesn't buy a lot of stuff and now that she's sick there will most likely not be anything in there.
No wonder she's right. There's nothing that could be for good use now.
"Archon, please say, the shops are still opened", she prays to the gods above and leaves the house, careful to be quiet and not disturb Mona.
As Keqing comes back with food, that will last for at least a week, she decides to check up on the hydro user before she starts cooking.
She leaves all the stuff she just bought in the kitchen and goes to Monas' bedroom.
The door is closed, so she opens it with such carefulness, hoping that no noise will be heard.
Thank the Archons, everything is still quiet. She looks at the simple bed, where Mona lays.
She's sleeping. The Yuheng hears her uneven breaths that make it sound like she's not sleeping well. Other than that she looks peaceful. Her eyes are closed and as Keqing looks at her from above, she notices her beautiful eyelashes.
The electro user knows too well, why she fell in love with the girl in front of her. She's too perfect, no matter in which circumstances.
Keqing just wants to leave, when suddenly someone grabs her hand.
She turns around to see Mona, who opens her eyes lazily to look at her.
"Keqing", she mumbles so quietly, that the purple-haired girl nearly doesn't hear her.
"It's okay, love", she whispers. "Sleep a bit longer. I'll be back soon".
And with that, she gets closer to her beautiful girlfriend to kiss her on the cheek. She can't resist to still blush after all this time they've been together.
Mona smiles and slowly lets go of her hand.
The time Keqing is back in the kitchen, she already fell asleep again.
Cooking didn't take long, since the Yuheng made something easy. It's a simple soup with some vegetables in it. Her mom always cooked it for her, when she was sick, so she thought it'd be a good idea to do the same for her girlfriend.
She opens the bedroom door again to find out Mona is awake. That's good since she would feel bad if she had to wake her up.
"Do you feel better?" Keqing asks at first and puts the soup down beneath the bed on a small table.
"How...late is it?"
"Around 9 pm."
"I've slept that long?!" Mona wants to know being completely shocked.
"It's fine. You haven't missed anything and you probably had a fever as well", she answers and puts her hand on the other one's forehead. It's still warm, but it's not too bad. Tomorrow it should be gone.
The astrologist slightly blushes by the soft touch.
"You've made food for me?", she tries to switch to another theme.
"Yes. I figured out it could help you to get better soon." Keqing smiles. She's usually not that fond of taking care of other people, but seeing Mona get better with only her help makes her feel warm and fuzzy.
"I don't deserve you", Mona whispers.
"You can repay me, whenever I get sick. Now, do you want to eat on your own or should I feed you?", the electro user asks, mostly in a joking way.
It makes her flustered, when Mona actually mumbles, how she'd prefer the second option.
"Alright then." She tries to stay confident.
Her hands are shaking a bit when she takes the filled
bowl from the table. The hydro user slowly sits up, while Keqing puts the spoon in the soup.
"You're ready?"
Mona nods and opens her mouth, so Keqing could start feeding her the hot food. The Yuheng is super careful to not spill anything and it's actually easier than expected.
They've finished pretty fast and the purple-haired girl put the now empty bowl back onto the table.
"Your cooking skills never fail to surprise me", Mona suddenly says. Her voice sounds at least a bit better than when they first talked today.
"Thank you", Keqing simply answers.
"I should thank YOU. I don't even know, how it was possible for you to come here. You have work, haven't you?"
"Ganyu did it for me so that I could visit you." She's still thankful for that and she'll probably cook the secretary something good to show her gratefulness.
Mona lays down again and stares at the ceiling.
"I'll thank her the next time I'm in Liyue Harbor", the hydro user decides. She turns around to see Keqing."Can you sleep here today? It's okay if no-"
"Sure. I'll just take a shower and then I'll come back."
"I'm still sick, so you should better sleep on the couch", Mona suggests, but Keqing is already on the way to the bathroom and doesn't even hear those words.
She sighs. Alright then.
When Keqing is back, Mona can't deny that she got tired again. It annoys her. She slept the whole day and still feels like she just pulled an all-nighter.
It doesn't take long for her girlfriend to lay down next to her.
Mona has missed her so much. Overwhelmed by her feelings, she put both arms around the Yuheng and pulls her in a tight embrace. Their legs entangled and their heads next to each other-she missed it. It's such a peaceful moment.
"Mona", she hears her beautiful, soft voice.
"Yes?"
"May I kiss you?"
"Of course, you idiot", she says sheepishly.
Keqing looks into her eyes again. The two girls are only a few centimeters apart from each other.
Mona can feel her hot breath on her skin. It makes her shiver a bit.
She sighs in relief when the other girl finally gives in and crasher her lips on Monas'. It's a soft kiss, yet it shows, how much Keqing wants her. She tastes sweet. She always does.
Her girlfriend asks for entrance and of course, she doesn't say no. The astrologist missed her so much. It feels so good to be close to her again. To feel her heart beating faster due to the excitement of sharing an intimate kiss.
She doesn't want to pull away. If she wasn't sick, she'd kiss her way longer, but unfortunately, she has to back away way too soon.
Keqing looks at her again. No words can describe how much love she feels for this woman. It's overwhelming, yet so beautiful.
"I love you, Mona." She emphasizes every syllable, as she says those words. And she fully means it.
Mona smiles softly.
"I love you too."