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Bennett was just coming back from a commission bruised up, though, it was surprisingly better than usual since he had taken a lower level commission. Well, it was more so that he had been forced into a lower level commission by Katheryne, since he had been banned from medium to high level commissions because of an...incident. Bennett was lucky though, something he didn’t get to say often, because the ban was only a week, and considering his condition, he was near sure Katheryne would have prohibited him from commissions as a whole for at least 2 weeks.
“Hey Katheryne!” he said cheerily.
“Ad Astra Abyssosque. Did you finish your commission alright?” Katheryne said, slightly concerned. While she knew there was no stopping his endearing enthusiasm for risky commissions, she hoped that this temporary ban would keep him from getting hurt. At least, as unharmed as his luck would allow.
“Yep! There were only a couple of hilichurls. Of course, I have a couple scratches, but it’s not a big deal. I managed to scratch myself on some branches when I was making it to the hilichurl camp. Bad luck, am I right?”
She sighed. At least he didn’t manage to majorly hurt himself this time. “I’m glad you’re in one piece. Should I log this commission under your team or just you?” She had to be careful when treading along the lines of Benny’s adventure team. Technically it should have been disbanded, but she kept it around out of pity.
“Uh...you can just log it under me. Wouldn’t want a sudden drop in the level of commissions logged for my team, ya know?”
Kathryne just nodded and inputted the commission. “Here’s your reward! Have a good day, Bennett.”
“You too!” he said, running into the center square. Truth was, he had no idea where he was going. Commissions were usually way more time-consuming, plus there was the time that healing took afterward. Bless Barbara, but the injuries he managed to attain seemed out of reach even for her. Of course, it’s not her fault, I’m just stupid and manage to get hurt much too often. Dumb bad luck. He suddenly remembered that Fischl hadn’t taken a commission that day and mentioned that she would be in the library for a while. Perhaps he could use this as an excuse to talk to her outside of commissions. After all, Fischl was always interesting. Her way of speaking pulled him in and he was excited to learn more about her intriguing character. It seemed like no detail went unnoticed by Fischl - in fact, when he had tried mimicking her style of speech to make her more comfortable, she told him that she liked how he normally spoke. She said that the way he normally spoke was, “so characteristically Bennett that it would be such a shame to have it lost to the claws of time.” Man, she’s just so cool!
So, Bennett set off to the library, where he quickly found Fischl immersed in a book, a fantasy novel no doubt, surrounded by other books that she either had to read or had already read, almost like a personalized book nook. It was cute how much she liked novels. Not that she wasn’t cute by herself, but there was something about how she would go into the library and stay there for hours that tugged at his heart. She was as passionate about books as he was about commissions. Now, he just had to figure out how to talk to her without disturbing her.
He turned to look at the book currently in her hand. Flowers for Princess Fischl? All his thoughts activated at once. There were so many questions to ask. Why was she reading her biography? Wouldn’t it be a bit traumatic to read about her harrowing adventures? Why did she look so interested in it? Didn’t she already know her own life story? Just as long as he made sure all his thoughts stayed inside his head, he could sort out what he should say first and it would all be fi-
“Oh! Is that Flowers for Princess Fischl ?” Dang it. My mouth is faster than my brain .
“Cursed one!” Fischl jolted, a slight blush washing over her face. She was not expecting him to be here, and he had caught her reading Flowers for Princess Fischl no less.
A sharp “shh!” came from Lisa, who was watching them from her station, opposite of Fischl. “You guys can talk, but keep it quiet, ok cuties?”
After being shushed by Lisa, Fischl continued her train of thought. “Wasn’t thou preoccupied with fighting the evil lurkers near Mondstadt? Why art thou here?”
“She means that she wasn’t expecting you here because you were doing a commission, so she’s confused as to why you’re here.” Oz translated.
“Oh…” Bennett stopped. He needed to come up with an excuse that didn’t sound weird. If he were to just say, “Oh, I wanted to see you,” she would get the wrong idea. Well, technically, it was the right idea, but he didn’t want her knowing that. It felt like any words that he knew had left his brain. “I-uh, I finished my commission early and, um, wanted to read something to pass time!” he stuttered out. An odd excuse, but definitely not a suspicious one.
“Oh, alright,” said Fischl, slightly disappointed. She was hoping that he would say something mildly charming in his naivete, something like, “Oh, I wanted to see you!” or ask her about the kinds of fantasy novels she liked. Of course, anything he said would be stored in the core of her heart for her to relive giddily when he was gone, but he didn’t know that.
The conversation came to an uncomfortable halt, and the tension of what was unsaid was palpable. Anytime one person tried to talk, the other would end up interrupting them, making things even more awkward.
Dang it, I did it again! Why can’t I say the right thing like Fischl? Bennett thought anxiously. I don’t know how to get the conversation started again . Usually I’m good at just saying what I want, but she just makes me so nervous!
“Why do you need to read your biography? Don’t you already know your life story?” he blurted.
Fischl winced at the question, feeling her mouth up-turn into an awkward smile and the blood rushing through her cheeks and ears. She was hoping that in the midst of the silence, Bennett would forget about that debacle entirely. While racking her brain for answers, she happened to make eye contact with Lisa who simply smirked at her, making her feel even more frazzled.
Internally, Bennett was screaming. I know I needed to ask some kind of question, but I wish I would have thought about it more, and now she looks like she’s dying inside. I messed up again!
“I-I mean, uh, it’s fine if you don’t want to tell me! I mean why do people read books anyways, right? Not that reading books isn’t fun, of c-course! It’s just the reasons for picking specific books aren't clear, like sometimes I pick random books and see where that gets me…” he trailed off, realizing he was going on a tangent. I’m digging myself further into this hellhole. This is going to absolute dogwater. Ugh, it’s just my luck I happened to pick a question that freaks her out!
“W-well…” Fischl coughed, attempting to buy time, “...p-perhaps may we read another book, for my memory fails me, and I must keep these events fresh in my mind to wear my legacy proud?” Her voice wavered towards the end of her sentence, making it sound almost like a question. She desperately wanted to get off this topic.
“What Mein Fraulein is trying to say is that she wants you to read a different book with her, since starting in the middle of the book would make it hard to understand.” Oz said quickly, reading into Fischl’s panicked expression. Oz loved to tease Fischl about her crush on Bennett, so he assumed he would get teasing rights for giving her this opportunity.
That interpretation didn’t sound exactly right to Bennett, but the conversation did look like it was coming to an awkward end, so Bennett took the out and looked gratefully at Oz.
“Oh! If that’s the case, let me sit next to you, so that it’s easier.” he squeezed into the book nook and sat next to Fischl. It was a bit cramped, but that was because the nook was made for one person. So, he moved a couple of books around and made it slightly bigger. As Bennett was moving the books, Fischl was freaking out again.
They were touching.
Well, it was less that they were intentionally touching and more that Bennett’s hand and her own would brush past each other as he continued moving the books, but that distinction didn’t matter in Fischl’s mind. She could feel the blush creeping up her neck as her mind went wild, so she quickly turned to the side and began roughly organizing books in hopes that Bennett wouldn’t see her.
“Hey, Fischl, did you pick out a book for us to read?” he whispered eagerly. He felt more relaxed after seeing that she had calmed down, but it seemed that the butterflies in his stomach wouldn’t calm down with her.
“Considering that thou art a mere passerby in such a repository of knowledge, I, the Prinzessin, have given thou the opportunity to pick a book of your choosing,” she quickly fibbed. She, in fact, did not pick out a book to read. However, she couldn’t let him know she was freaking out, so she allowed him to pick out a book. After all, she was interested in the kinds of books he liked to read.
“Oh...sure!” He quickly looked at the books which made the walls of their book nook. He didn’t go to the library very often, so he wasn’t sure what kinds of books he liked or the specific kind of books Fischl enjoyed. He knew she liked fantasy novels, so perhaps it would be best to go with something of that nature.
Seeing his plight, Oz picked a book from the near shelf and handed it to Bennett.
“Wha-”
“Don’t worry about it. Mein Fraulein would enjoy this kind of story.”
It looked like a romance novel. He had not expected that, but if that was what Fischl liked, it couldn’t hurt to try, right?
“Hey Fischl, I found a book that we could read if you want,” he said, handing her the novel that Oz had given him.
Fischl went red. She didn’t know how Bennett knew that she liked these kinds of books, but she knew that Oz had something to do with it.
“Oh, do you not like it?” Bennett said, slightly disappointed. “We can choose a different book-”
“No, this book is fine!” Fischl said, panicked. “I am...unsure of how you managed to pick this novel, but it is a fine book in it’s own right.”
“Oh, alright then. Do you want to read this aloud or should we just read it in our minds?”
Fischl thought for a moment. If they read aloud, they could be on the same page at the same time. It seemed convenient. Plus, they would be able to spend more time together that way.
“Perhaps it would be best for us to read together.”
He smiled. What a surprising stroke of good luck. “Ok, let’s do that then,” he said, trying to hide the excitement in his voice. He opened the book to the first page and scooted next to her so that they could lay the book open across their knees. He blushed, realizing just how close to her he was, but tried to play it off.
“D-do you want to start reading?” he asked anxiously.
“I suppose as Prinzessin I should read first,” Fischl replied.
As she continued to read, Bennett was surprised how soft her voice sounded. When she wasn’t speaking grandly, there was a vulnerable aspect to her voice that he never noticed before. It was beautiful, and he could listen to it forever. Just then, something disrupted his train of thought.
“Ah!” Fischl yelped.
“Are you ok?” Bennett said, jolted out of his stupor.
Fischl didn’t reply and turned her head away. Bennett, on the other hand, couldn’t figure out what was wrong. He looked around to see if there was something that might have poked her until he looked down at his hand. It was interlocked with hers.
“Ah! I’m sorry, I don’t know how that happened!” he exclaimed, pulling his hand away from hers.
“N-no,” Fischl said, trying to regain her composure, “I was simply caught off guard, I didn’t mind…” she trailed off.
“What?” Bennett said, concerned. He didn’t want her to feel bad or think that he was weird.
“I-if you would like to hold the Prinzessin’s hand, I s-shall permit it,” Fischl said, grabbing Bennett’s hand.
“Oh!” He blushed a bit at the sudden contact, but was happy to oblige.
“Shall I continue reading?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said, wanting to hear her reading voice again. “We were on page 9.”
“Thank you, ill-fated friend.”
They continued reading together for the next hour.