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The wind hit you from behind and took the some of the meticulously sorted papers with it, throwing them around and slipping them through your grabbing fingers, as if mocking you. A quiet curse escaped your lips as you desperately ran after the sheets. Apparently, you had committed some sort of sin to make the wind your nemesis (this was by far not the first time this had happened today), and it was particularly nasty at the moment. Some of the flower decorations that were placed all over Mondstadt were torn apart by it, dandelion seeds and other petals were drafting through the air. Just like your papers. Silently you cursed the continuous hassle of the Windblume Festival.
With a frustrated sigh you decided to finally get serious in this fight with the wind, and you picked up speed to catch up to the documents. One you snatched from the air, one you managed to step on and one got caught in the bushes. Only a few more to go!
When you turned around the corner, the wind finally reduced in force and let your papers slide to the ground. Groaning slightly, you bent down and started picking them up.
A hand you knew all too well appeared in your field of vision, reaching for some of the documents as well.
"Thank you, Kaeya," you said as he proceeded to hand you the sheets. As he did, he took a quick look at them.
"You should not throw such important documents around, you know?" he told you in a teasing voice.
"I wasn't throwing them around, this weather just hates me," you told him, slightly annoyed at the situation. You had picked things up four times already today, after all.
"Oh my, is that a love poem?" Kaeya had kept one of the papers - a letter, actually - and had already correctly assessed the contents with just a glance. With a smirk he looked at you, and you tried your best to not blush. Not because of the letter, though.
"It is, now give it back." You snatched it from him hand before he could actually read the poem. "Poor Ralph would die of embarrassment if he knew you read it."
"Ah, he still hasn't given up?"
You shook your head with a small laugh. "No, and he probably won't give up until I'm finally dating someone else." Sheepishly you glanced at Kaeya, but quickly looked away again. "Well, someone actually took the time to write a poem for me this year. I feel honoured despite the circumstances."
"I guess people are not used to it as much as I am," Kaeya chuckled.
You exhaled sharply and turned to continued walking to headquarter of the knights. "Shut up, arrogant prick."
He just laughed at the insult - he knew as well as you it was just a joke - and started walking next to you.
"So, how many did you get?" you asked him after a few steps of silence.
"Honestly, I didn't count. Around the same as every year, I guess. Most of them are from mums trying to introduce me to their daughters. Also, Natalie and Anni gave me some flowers. As always. No wine, sadly. " He waved it off in a tone that made you feel a little bad for the girls, but only a tiny bit. Then there was a small pause as you waited for him to continue. Your heart started beating faster as you realized he hadn't yet mentioned a certain something. Had it not been anything special?
"Oh, but there was another one," he finally continued and you relaxed again. "Someone apparently put a lot of thought into their gift."
"What do you mean?" you asked. By now, you had reached the entrance, but you didn't want to stop this conversation, so you stopped walking and turned to him. Kaeya copied your motion.
"A very elaborate puzzle. It actually took me a bit of time to solve it. It was a lot of fun."
"Oh really? Sounds like something you'd enjoy."
Don't grin, you told yourself. Keep it together!
You did not want to ruin the game.
"Sadly..." he continued, "... I do not know who sent it. It is unsigned."
"Hm... Another mystery. You'll just have to find out, it seems." You took a few steps to rest your arms on the railing. "I'm sure you can figure out who it is, right? I mean, who can, if not you?"
"It's not that easy when you're as popular as I am. There's a huge number of suspects." He laughed at your loud groan. You couldn't refrain from shaking your head at his antics, but you also couldn't deny that you really liked the sound of his laugh.
"I have a plan, though." Kaeya joined you at the railing, bracing his elbows on the stone as he leaned back.
"What is it?" you asked, with your fingers slightly, unnoticed, tightening around the edges of your paperwork.
"Whoever sent this really put a lot of thought into this present. So they must be really, really infatuated with me."
You nodded as if agreeing with him. He didn't notice, though, and just continued.
"That means if I were to just come up to them and ask them directly, they would obviously blush, stutter or give themselves away in some other way."
"That sounds like a plan that could actually work!" You grinned at him, mentally preparing to be asked and to answer his question. "Good luck!"
"Well, I gotta get going," Kaeya straightened up, readying himself to continue on his way. One of his hands brushed through his hair, and you caught yourself staring maybe a tad too intensely. By the archons, he was hot. Your thought process didn't reach him, thankfully, as he just continued, "There's still a lot of work to, and if I have to talk to everyone that could potentially be the secret admirer... that's gonna take some time."
Kaeya waved at you and you just nodded. A bit dumfounded, that he was leaving. Why had he not asked you right away? You didn't show your slight disappointment though and pushed yourself from the railing as well.
"See you later, then!" you finally said and waved back at him. Your hand sank slowly when he was out of your sight.
Both of you went your separate ways; Kaeya on his tour through the city to trudge around all his potential admirers, and you went inside the headquarters, the door being blown shut behind you by the wind.
❊
"Lumine! Paimon!" You had not expected to meet them in front of Angel's Share, they both were too young to drink alcohol (at least that's what you assumed - you could not really tell if Paimon was a toddler or some old, mystical being). Eagerly you motioned them to sit with you. They agreed and sat down at the round table. Seemingly exhausted from all the festival activities, they told you about their day and meanwhile ordered some non-alcoholic beverages.
"Sounds like you really are enjoying the Windblume Festival!" Happily you touched glasses before taking a sip of your drink. Then Lumine got a certain look of nosiness on her face and she inched closed to you.
"How did things go with Kaeya? Did he like the present?" she asked in a hushed tone.
"He did," you answered her question. "But he hasn't figured out it's from me yet."
"Yeah..." Paimon floated closer to take part in the secret conversation. "We kind of realized that..."
"What happened?" you asked, groaning, the worst case scenarios already filling your head.
"Kaeya was walking around all day, asking girls, and I think some boys too, if they love him," Lumine informed you.
"I've never seen as many people blush and stutter in my whole life, as I've seen today!" Paimon chimed in (you couldn't really tell how significant that statement was as you had no idea how long Paimon was alive already).
You snorted at the thought of the poor people of Mondstadt being forced to deal with Kaeya's antics. You did know why he did it, though. "He's judging their reactions."
Lumine nodded. "Yeah, we thought as much."
"Did you see anything else?" you continued your questioning. "How is his plan going?"
"He's not very successful." Paimon snickered.
"He's not satisfied even when the girls are really embarrassed by his implications," Lumine agreed and Paimon chimed in again, "Good for you!"
The traveller shook her head and continued, "See, I told you it's not a good idea to send it anonymously. Now everyone could steal your efforts by pretending to have sent the present!"
"I... I know..." You bit your lip - a nervous gesture you never seemed to realize you were doing. "But I think this is the way he likes it the most. Because it's his kind of fun. I thought he would realize it's from me... I hoped..."
Lumine saw how you deflated in defeat, and like the good friend she was, she immediately scooted closer to you and put one of her hands on your shoulder.
"What's wrong?" she asked you.
You sighed heavily. "I just don't get why he didn't ask me."
"He's a dumb boy!" Paimon chipped in.
"Paimon!" Lumine tried to intervene, but to no avail.
"Paimon even saw him asking Bennett! The poor guy fell backwards into some bushes!"
The mental image finally made you chuckle a little. "... he really does enjoy making people feel uncomfortable."
"Speaking of the devil!" Lumine shushed you as suddenly Kaeya was approaching the table.
"Might I join you and enjoy your lovely company?"
"Sure you can," she answered him, but stood up at the same time. "You might have to make do without the two of us, though. Paimon and me still have a lot to do!"
You knew exactly why she left you alone with him, and that she was doing it for your sake, and you prayed to Barbatos that Kaeya didn't see how obvious she winked at you. He didn't - at least he ignored it, even if he did.
"My, my, she was in an awful hurry, " he mused as they left. He took a seat at your table, opposite of you.
"True. .." you answered. "But everybody is, right? It's the Windblume Festival, after all. There are still so many things to do."
"Correct," he said, then suddenly stared at you intensely. "Hey, there's something I have to ask you."
"Y-yeah?" Your heart rate was apparently getting ready to take part in the Annual Mondstadt Drum Competition, as you frantically tried to ready yourself for the approaching question.
"Do you..." he thought for a second while you were already slightly panicking inside. "... prefer the drinks at Angel's Share or the Cat's Tail?"
"I..." Dumbfounded again - apparently your permanent state when dealing with Kaeya - you scrambled to answer. "I guess I like Angel's-"
"Oh wait, there's Noelle!" he suddenly interrupted you as he spotted a certain maid in the crowd. "Sorry, see you later."
He just left you hanging like this and dashed after her. You looked after him, unbelieving that he really had just excused himself in the middle of your sentence. What a nerve! With a frustrated growl, you threw a few coins on the table and stormed off to continue your work.
In the distance, you could hear Noelle's embarrassed squeal.
❊
Nightfall had no mercy on you, it was already dark when you had finally finished all your duties for the day. It was time to go home. Seeing as your day had not been the most positive experience, you just wanted to catch up on some well-needed rest - knowing yourself it would probably end up being just lying in bed and contemplating why Kaeya did not even think of you as a romantic interest in any way, why the weather seemed to hate you and why you always burdened yourself with more work than you could handle. With a sigh the rest of your motivation to do anything remotely productive today left your body.
On your way home, you passed Angel's Share again. The thought of a drink to help forget about the day crossed your mind. The mental exhaustion was quite strong and with it your urge for a little alcohol, it simply overruled the voice in your mind that kept telling you that you had to be fit again tomorrow.
The loud and drunken guests of the tavern pulled you in as they spotted you on the streets - a lot of your friends were already celebrating - and soon you had downed a few drinks with them. While you were laughing and dancing, your problems finally faded into the background.
In the end you were quite tipsy, but eventually your conscience recovered. To save your future self from (literally) any headache, you made up your mind to skip any further alcohol for the night. Just as you had excused yourself and left the tavern, you saw Kaeya standing outside alone, probably for a moment of fresh air. Inside it was pretty packed, after all. He saw you passing by him and gave you a small nod and his signature smirk that made your knees weak.
And suddenly, something in you snapped. After all, why shouldn't you?
"Kaeya!" you shouted over to him loudly, surprising the both of you. He made his way over to you.
"Do you feel unsafe going home alone? If you want me to escort you, I'm all yours," he said in his usual half flirting, half joking way.
You completely ignored him, and just continued, afraid to lose the sudden confidence again, "The one who sent the gift was me!"
"I know." To your utter surprise, he didn't hesitate to answer.
Wide-eyed and filled with confusion, you looked at him. "Ah... What?"
"I knew all along," he said while smiling like an innocent child.
"What do you mean, you knew all along? How? "
"Your handwriting. It's very unique."
You were completely dumbfounded, the information he had just provided you with did not make any sense in your head. "So you mean... You are... You knew?"
"Like I said, I knew from the beginning."
At this point, your anger set in and blew away the rest of the clouds in your mind, sobering you up. All of this trouble and worrying had been for nothing? "Then... What the hell was the point of everything today?" you asked him sharply.
He laughed, and the sound almost made you forget your anger and frustration - just almost, though. Kaeya came closer to you and again you were left to stare in disbelief as he reached out to pet your head.
"You were unbelievably cute, squirming around nervously the whole day," he said while lightly ruffling through your hair. You reached up and pushed his hand away. Blood shot into your cheeks and you glared at him.
"So you did that on purpose."
"Of course I did. You should know me by now." Kaeya shrugged. He was right, you should have known.
"You... bastard," you grumbled in your frustration. Then you turned and stomped away. You were way too done with the whole situation to keep dealing with his teasing. You did not get far though, as suddenly an arm blocked your escape route. Kaeya was pressing his palm to the wall and effectively cornering you between his body and the wooden house. Your mind shut off - you had daydreamed about this so often that your anger just blew away like it was one of your documents.
"My, my, your face looks like a tomato," he teased you about your visible reaction to his action.
"Shut up!" You hid your face in your hands and tried to gain some control over your blood flow back. Kaeya was not making it easier for you at all.
"Do you still want me to ask you?" he inquired with a teasing note to his voice
"No, I don't!" you squealed, still trying your hardest to contain your embarrassment.
"I think you're lying." Kaeya moved even closer to you, the proximity making everything worse for you. "So tell me." He spoke your name softly. "Do you love me?"
You did not like lying - and with Kaeya, there was no point in it anyway - so you decided to just come forward with your feelings. Bravely you uncovered you face to look him straight into the eye.
"I do."
Another chuckle. "I know."
And there it was, that stupid smirk that you wanted just to smack off his face.
But softly.
And with your lips.
Kaeya was faster than you, though. With a swift motion, he lifted your chin with his hand and caught your lips with his. At first you didn't even realize what was happening, but after a moment of shock, you melted into the kiss. Timidly you reached up and put you arms around him, and again he beat you to it. He pulled you close - flush against him - and buried his finger in the hair at the back of your head, to have more control over the kiss. You did not complain one bit.
When he finally pulled away again, you were in a haze. Quickly you took a breath to calm yourself again.
"I might want to tease you some more," Kaeya said while looking into your eyes, with a light smile on his lips. Irresistible. You were done for.
A sudden gust of wind hit you, and one of the petals it carried got caught in your hair, right next to your forehead. Keaya reached up to remove it and his touch gave you goosebumps and butterflies.
Maybe the wind was not your enemy after all.