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It wasn’t supposed to go like this.
“Kaeya! Behind you!” She yelled as the second geovishap emerged from the ground behind the Cavalry Captain. Her feet moved on their own, quickly but not fast enough to reach his side before the sharp claws of the enemy attacked. She could see it in slow motion: how his face changed upon hearing her alert and turning slightly away from the first geovishap they had found, and then the smirk he usually donned when trying to mask his worry.
He was pushed and sent flying up the air and fell limp against the ground, hitting his head —she was sure she’d heard a nasty crack. She sent a gust surge and tried to hit the geovishap with her sword before realizing she would be of little to no use fighting alone when both dragons faced her ready to attack. Even if she unleashed her own Geo powers, she could tell she was about to get a pretty painful beating and she would be lucky to come out alive out of this.
Further away, she noticed some movement between the two dragons and saw her companion’s arm moving faintly towards his sword. A glistening periwinkle eye shone mischievously between his bangs when she made eye contact in that mysterious fashion they somehow had between them; not verbal communication, a gist of mutual understanding that they exploited whenever the chance arose.
So when Kaeya placed his thumb and middle finger together she had just seconds to act suit before he snapped his fingers and two walls of ice came up from the ground, booming between her and the monsters. She darted forward and slide to his side using her knees. The dragons would have to do almost nothing to tear apart the walls of ice and give chase, so Lumine grabbed the Knight by the shoulders and dragged him quickly undercover of a pair of boulders that would gain them at least a couple more seconds. She heard a chuckle when she hugged his head next to her chest and over her thighs.
“Guess anyone would consider themselves lucky to be in my place.”
“I was worried you might have took a blow too hard,” she said, exasperation mixed with relief in her voice, “but if you’re good enough to flirt then I guess I can stop worrying.”
She eyed to the other side of the boulder with the corner of her eye. The geovishaps had already broken down the defensive ice walls around them and were moving towards their location.
“No, Miss Lumine, I would never dare to do something as uncool as to die in front of you,” Kaeya said, still trying to craft a cheeky smile despite the obvious pain he was in, “that would definitely got me to lose against Diluc and I just can’t ha—“
“Can you please be quiet for a second? We’re supposed to be hiding,” she harshly cut him off. On a second thought, he might did have taken a blow too hard to his head and now it was showing. “We just need to hold on a bit longer for reinforcements to g—“
“Oh yes right, reinforcements.”
The Knight moved his head up and down and stopped suddenly feeling a surge of pain made evident by his grimacing mouth. Lumine turned her head slightly to keep watch on the dragons that were mere meters away.
“Although I must say, if said reinforcements never got here I could not be mad about the fact of dying in this situation, since I’m already in heaven…haha.”
His laughter brought the attention of one of the geovishaps towards their hideout, and Lumine’s heart begin pumping like crazy.
“Captain, stop talking!”
“Hmmh, I could get used to you bossing me around like this!”
“ Kaeya !”
“Oh! Are we on a first name basis now? How very nic—“
“Jeez!” On a desperate attempt to keep his mouth shut, Lumine bent forward and locked their lips together. She felt his chest rumble with a gasp before he melted and started a second kiss without breaking the first one. Then he lifted his hand to softly caress her cheek.
Breathing heavily she sat straight, trying to hold her blush to creep up her cheeks. “I told you to keep quiet…” she breathed. Then an explosion blasted behind them, propelling her forward.
“Boing boing boom!” Said a tiny voice, while Paimon’s anguished yell called her and the Knight’s name.
“Klee, careful with that, I want to take it back to the lab,” Said the cool and calm voice of the Head Alchemist, “Master Diluc, please.”
“You’re the single most strange person, what do you plan on doing with this gunk?” Replied the other pyro user.
“There you are!” The small faerie cried, patting away rubble and dirt off Lumine’s hair, shoulders and dress. “Paimon was very worried she wouldn’t make it on time —waah! Kaeya?!”
Lumine looked down. He laid unconscious with his head over one of her knees, her white dress showing a very distinct bloom of blood steadily spreading up.
“Sure you don’t wanna come in?” Asked Lumine to Paimon who had stayed back, floating between sparks of light.
“You shouldn’t be so kind with him either,” the alluded folded her arms firmly over her chest, pouting.
“Come on,” the traveler chuckled, “you can’t stay mad at him forever!”
“The attack on the geovishap was his idea and his plan to begin with! He put us all in danger! Paimon won’t forgive him that easy.”
“Well,” Lumine meeped, knowing her friend was absolutely right, “there was no way he would have know…”
She had tried to forget the awful crack she heard when his body fell to the ground. How she felt her heart and stomach jumping out of her body through her throat, and the relief she felt when she saw him moving. Kaeya was someone that to her eyes always had a strong and invincible image, a powerful stance and the sharpest mind of all of her acquaintances in Teyvat. His strategy against enemies usually was flawless, and despite sometimes just scratching on recklessness, she know she could fully trust him. No matter what others believed. And… there was also the thing about…
“Anyways!” Paimon continued, luckily pulling her out of her thoughts, “Paimon is not ready to see him just yet! You can tell him he better recover soon so Paimon can beat his butt!”
And with a dramatic flair, she popped away, disappearing into the air. Lumine was once again alone with her thoughts in front of the Favonius Headquarters Infirmary, trying to stop hesitating with the hand over the doorknob and just step inside, but her heart began pounding so hard she could feel her throat clenching.
“Awwww man!” She grunted, with her fingers buried in her hair, massaging her scalp and eyes and cheeks until she leaned her back over the door and stared at the tall wood board ceiling.
His lips. And the embarrassment she felt now when she remembered her impulsive behavior to just lean and kiss him and trying to fool herself with the idea that she just wanted to keep him quiet. Truth to be told she was shook to the core at the realization that her dashing Knight was just like any other frail human against forces of nature. He could still be easily split in two by a monster. Criminals and Fatui usually posed no threat against him but… regarding this… he was just as frail and small as her. She feared for his life. And the thought that had crossed her mind in that moment came with no surprise, but instead with the same sort of soft satisfaction that solving a mechanism brought, like two jigsaw pieces fitting perfectly together.
“No, please. Don’t be dead, I love you.”
That had been the thought. And reminiscing about it brought an uncontrollable heat surge to her cheeks. That realization itself and the fact that he was so out of it he still had tried to flirt with her was what made her act. But now she was frankly mortified.
The door behind her clicked and she stood straight immediately, turning around.
“Hi cutie.” Greeted Lisa, with a small courteous smile. “We’ve been waiting for you to enter for a while now, what’s wrong?”
She was asking what was wrong, Lumine noticed, but her smiling face showed her she was pretty sure of what was wrong.
His lips were — snap out of it already!
“No problem at all! I was just…”
Lisa tilted her head, expecting for an answer that wouldn’t come. Then giggled.
“I just made him drink some tea for pain relief,” the librarian blinked an eye at her, “but he might start getting sleepy, so you guys better hurry!”
And she left, laughing softly. And leaving the door open, displaying Lumine right in front of it, staring hopelessly into the room. There were three beds, and he was sitted up inside the one bed nearest to the left window.
“You guys better hurry to what, exactly?” She harshly thought, trying to ignore the fact that she already knew the answer, then realizing she had just been standing stupidly at the threshold for too damn long. Then started walking towards him. “I’m such a dumbass.”
He stared at her, star-shaped pupil piercing through her heart. God his lips. She cleared her throat and pulled the chair next to his bed towards her, trying to hide the intense look she had directed to his blue robe barely covering his chest and the soft eyepatch over his right eye. His naked hands laid softly over the comforter. They were lean, long, strong. Beautiful. Fuck.
“I’m glad you’re awake.” She started, smoothly saving the stupid you’re awake statement she had been about to blurt out.
“I’m also very relieved to see you came out of that unscathed.” He then eyed her clothes. “And grateful to have the pleasure to live another day and see you in a different garment!”
Well now she was absolutely scorching hot, she could feel it in her ears. Amber had let her borrow a cute casual outfit that fitted a bit tight around her chest, the laces not being tied to help up a bit with the difference in sizes. She obviously hadn’t thought this through.
“I-it’s temporary! Noelle is trying to remove the blood stains out of my dress, so—“
“Bless that girl but I hope she takes her time with that!” He laughed, and Lumine sighed deeply.
“You’re unbelievable.”
The warmth she felt inside her hand made her startle. Kaeya’s long, callous hand had took her own from above her knee. She stared at them, blankly, for a few instants. The sheer size difference between them made her heart beat like crazy inside her chest.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t thanks to you,” he said, in a deep stern and quiet voice she had never heard from him. She stared up, looking him in the eye. Which was terrifyingly close. “Thank you, Lumine.”
She sighed again, this time quietly, and leaned a little bit forward into his warmth and the sound of his voice.
“Are we on a first name basis now?” She chuckled. Her forehead felt the soft skin on his cheek, and her eyebrows furrowed. Her heart was beating up to the verge of death, she thought.
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” He cheekily replied, and then used his other hand to brush her hair back, tuck it behind her ear and catching her chin, making her look up.
She meeped when his lips softly moved upon hers, not kissing just yet, but instead caressing, barely touching. He spoke without pulling back, his breath ghosting upon her already tipped face, “I’ve been dying to do this again.”
Then he kissed her, fervently. All those soft touches and nibs and licks, Lumine felt even more than the first one, electrifying every inch of her skin. They gasped at the intensity and broke apart for a bit, almost panting.
“I’m glad we’re on the same page no—“
“Kaeya, please stop talking.”
“Okay, fair enough.” He laughed, and kissed her intensely once more.
It definitely wasn’t supposed to go like this… but love almost never does.