Work Text:
Keqing was dying.
Or at least she felt like she was dying
Her body, gradually becoming more cold, was laying in a big patch of grass, bathed in the sunset. Everything hurted, from head to toe, from all the injuries she received. A gash on her right arm almost made her drop her sword at some point, and the bruises on her fair skin were quickly turning from yellow to black. If you add the mud in her clothes and the leaves and branches tangled in her hair you'd think she came out of a brawl in a swamp.
She's had better days, to be honest.
Keqing looked at her left hand. Gripping with force beyond imaginable, there's a bunch of qingxin flowers. Some of them are a bit messy and lacking petals, but for a bouquet they look pretty decent. The electro user would always strive for perfection, but for once she felt like this was enough. Her aching bones told her that much.
To think that the reason for her current state was because of a single flower. Because she thought the ones she picked before were not enough, so she went looking for one or two more. And then she saw it from a distance, just at the top of a cliff. A single qingxin, resting on the ledge. While she possessed an impressive amount of strength, it wasn't enough for her to reach the top with her hairpin. So she decided to climb.
What a stupid idea, she thought, cursing her past self.
Why didn't she look further? Why didn't she continue her search somewhere else? The thing is, when she was about to reach the top her foot slipped off at the base of a small ledge and she couldn’t grab onto anything in time. She fell, and when she hit a slope she rolled off like a purple boulder, hitting everything in her path until she miraculously stopped.
She looked around. The bodies of the hilichurls she'd killed layed around her, their masks decorating the plains. She had alerted a nearby camp when she rolled off the cliff, and the beasts immediately ran to her with their weapons ready to fight. But the Yuheng, even when injured, dizzy and with one of her hands occupied, was an opponent hard to kill. So she fought. She killed. And she almost fainted after the last one of them fell. In fact, it was very hard to keep herself awake right now. Her consciousness seemed to want to leave her everytime she blinked, slowly drifting her in a state she might not be able to wake up from.
She had to move.
Using all of her remaining strength, she tried to get up. All of her muscles screamed in agony as she got on her knees, trying not to put too much weight on her injured arm. She almost cried, but she bit her lower lip to keep the tears from flowing. The faint taste of iron flowed into her mouth. Another injury, this time of her own doing. She cursed under her breath to all the Archons for her stupidity.
She finally stood, a bit wobbly but at least she didn't fall to the ground again. She wasn't feeling so cold anymore, although she still shivered from time to time, but she could handle it. Since her right arm started to feel numb, the Yuheng sheathed her sword, not without getting it wrong three times. Her eyes roamed in the direction of Yuehai Pavilion. And her mind to one person in particular.
"I have to go back to work…"
Ganyu walked by Keqing's office for the fifth time today. The Yuheng wasn’t back yet, and there hasn’t been any change to the amount of papers on her desk. No sign of the purple-haired woman at all.
A worried sigh escaped from the secretary’s lips. The Yuheng had been missing since lunch time, and nobody knew where she went. Now, the sun was almost hidden in the horizon, dying the sky with a deep, dark purple. If Ganyu were outside of Liyue Harbor, she would be able to spot the stars already.
It wasn’t in Keqing’s character to suddenly disappear for long periods of time without telling anyone. The secretary was almost always the one being notified about her outings, and also the one that answered everyone who asked about the Yuheng’s whereabouts. But now not even Ningguang knew where she went, and that made her very nervous.
She remembered talking with her before she left. Before their relationship changed into something more… intimate, their interactions were short and limited to work-related matters. Their relationship was awkward and strained by their contrary beliefs, but that changed after the death of Rex Lapis. Keqing wanted to make amends, and that's why she started asking Ganyu about her opinions on certain matters. While it was just an excuse to get to know her better, Ganyu also took the chance to do the same thing. It eventually turned into them taking tea breaks together, lunch and dinner, and even going out together on their days off. The time they spent together became very precious moments for Ganyu, and it wasn't long until the Yuheng confessed her feelings for her. Becoming lovers with someone like Keqing was not something Ganyu had expected in the past years, but like Rex Lapis once said: "people change, often for the better, but not without making mistakes along the way".
She tried to recollect her memories, but nothing strange about Keqing's behavior came to mind. They talked about the new trade routes, and she remembered, embarrassed, how loud her stomach grumbled since she hadn't eaten anything since early morning. Then Keqing mumbled to herself before excusing herself out of the room, and she hasn't been back yet. And that was it.
Ganyu went back to her office to continue her work for the evening. The room was getting very dark, so she lit her lamps, creating a nice light
If Ganyu was in the mood, she would take a quick nap, but she needed to finish her reports. And the small of anxiety in her stomach hadn't calm down yet, so she needed to distract herself.
Some minutes laters, something caught the half-qilin's attention. A familiar sound of heels hitting the concrete alerted her senses. They were coming in her direction, and her heart pounded with excitement. Keqing was back!
But even though she was very happy, they were at the workplace, so Ganyu remained in her seat and waited patiently for the Yuheng to open the door to her office. Even before the knob turned, the corners of her lips turned upwards in an expecting grin.
Her smile instantly fell when she saw the state in which Keqing was.
She was dirty, covered in blood, sweat and dust, and there were leaves tangled in her hair. The big, red stain in her right sleeve made her stomach churn, and it fell even worse when her eyes fell on all the other wounds. A cold sweat ran through her spine as she quickly got up.
"Keqing?!", Ganyu shouted, concern staining her voice as she ran to her. "What happened?!"
Her girlfriend's eyes looked devoid of any light, and fear overcame Ganyu when she looked straight into hers.
"Flowers..."
"Huh?"
Keqing brought the bouquet up for Ganyu to see.
"I… I brought you some flowers"
The adeptus' mouth was open, but no words came out. Probably because her brain was still processing the whole situation, and Keqing holding the flowers for dear life and acting like she didn't come out of a slaughter party completely broke her. An irrational part of her wanted to laugh at the situation, but thankfully she composed herself. Keqing was hurt, and she needed to get treatment immediately, or else...
"L-let's get you patched up before anything else, okay? I can grab a first-aid kit from the medical office…"
"It's nothing… just a few scratches…"
"You're bleeding!"
"It's not that bad."
"You… you're full of bruises!"
"It's okay… I feel fine."
"No you are not! You look like you're about to fall over! Wait here, I'll bring the first-aid kit!"
Keqing tried to grab Ganyu's sleeve as she left, but her grip was so weak that it just slipped through her fingers.
"Ganyu… it's okay, I don't have time for this-"
Suddenly, the secretary turned around to face her. The pained expression on her face, the way she was biting her lips and the tears that threatened to come out of those beautiful, sunset coloured eyes… They froze Keqing to her core. She's never seen Ganyu like this before, so hurt and worried.
All because of her.
"... fine", she let out a sharp breath, and took a seat on Ganyu's chair while she left to fetch the healing kit.
Awkward silence befell them as Ganyu took care of her wounds. While Keqing kept glaring at her from time to time, the adeptus’s eyes never met hers, focusing only on the task at hand. Even with her tense jaw, reddened eyes and disheveled hair, Ganyu was beautiful.
But that's not the kind of Ganyu she wanted to see today.
The qingxin flowers rested on the table, now even messier than before. Almost all of the petals were scattered on the wooden surface, and the stems were crooked. Keqing's frustrations only grew bigger at the mere gaze of them.
The half-qilin had finished bandaging the last of her wounds when Keqing finally spoke up.
"... are you mad?"
Ganyu bit her lower lip with enough force to cause a drop of blood to come out.
"Yes", she admitted. Her voice was shivering, and Keqing couldn't tell if it was from sadness, frustration or anger. Probably a mix of the three.
"I was worried because you suddenly left without telling a soul, and then I found out that you almost d-died because you went looking for some qingxins! Why did you put yourself in danger like that…?! I didn't think you'd be so careless, going so far just to get me some f-flowers… You could've…". A sharp exhale mixed itself with the sob that shook her body. "Y-you could've…"
Teardrops finally ran down her cheeks, unable to contain them.
Keqing's instincts told her to embrace her lover, but she refrained herself. She didn't feel like she should, guilty as she was of being the cause of her pain. Even though she was mostly cold and merciless with her peers, her heart had a soft spot for Ganyu. And making her sad, for whatever reason, hurt more than being hit by some hilichurls, or even those annoying Abyss mages. Even if her proud self wanted to scoff and tell her that it was fine, as she was alive and recovering, she wasn't going to let that part of her win today.
Her hand rested on top of Ganyu's, rubbing her thumb across it.
"I'm sorry. I wanted to give you a nice surprise, but I didn't take into consideration my… well-being at all. I was so focused on the flowers that I hadn't thought about how you'd feel if you knew how reckless I was."
Their fingers intertwined, and Ganyu's beautiful eyes finally looked at hers.
"I'm sorry. Really."
Ganyu bit her lip again, but a faint smile slowly appeared on her face.
"It's okay, at least you're safe now… and I'm grateful that you did this for me", the corners of Ganyu's lips went downward again. "But please, take better care of yourself next time. I don't want to see you get hurt like this again."
"I promise. No more being stupid for my girlfriend next time."
Ganyu chuckled, her melodious laugh making the stern Yuheng smile. That's why she risked her life in the first place: she wanted to make her smile. For Ganyu, Keqing would fight all the Archons alone just to make her happy.
"And, one last thing, Keqing..."
Keqing turned towards her when Ganyu gently embraced her by the neck and pulled her into a kiss. It was so soft and gentle that Keqing felt herself melting from it. Even though Ganyu had a cryo vision, it always lit Keqing's body on fire. The smell of sweet flowers overcame her senses, a fragrance she's come to love as much as the qilin. Her own arms embraced her by the waist, bringing them closer than before. Even when their lips parted a few seconds later, she still held onto her.
"I loved them. Thank you so much for the gift!"
The Yuheng almost lost her composure again, a grin threatening to appear on her face.
"I-it was nothing, they are just snacks for you…"
"Even so, the fact that you got them for me makes me very happy!", Ganyu gave her a peck on the corner of her mouth, finally stealing a soft smile from the stern Yuheng.
"I-I'm glad." Suddenly, Keqing's eyes lit up, just like when she came up with a new idea or proposal. "Hey, since we're at it… how about a proper dinner next time, then? At my place."
Ganyu blinked twice with surprise, before her lips turned upward.
"That sounds lovely", Ganyu's smile was warm and soft, causing Keqing's heart to beat faster. "But once you recover."
"I'm fine now, really."
"Keqing."
The tone used by the secretary let her know that there was no room for discussions. The Yuheng let out a sharp sigh, but obediently complied.
She spent two days taking a break from work, and a whole week reluctantly being spoiled by her dear secretary, who took care of her until she completely recovered.