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Jean couldn’t believe her ears when Kaeya came waltzing into her office that afternoon, telling her of another request from one of Mondstadt’s citizens. What surprised her most was the one who made the request, even more so than the actual request itself. She eyes Kaeya curiously.
“Master Diluc needs help… finding his tortoise?”
Kaeya can’t help the laugh that escapes him. “Archons, I knew it was already such a weird request, but hearing you say it aloud makes it all the better,” He admits, holding his stomach from all the laughter.
Jean can’t help but crack a smile. “Master Diluc of all people? To find his tortoise, too?” She shakes her head. If she didn’t know better, she would think that she’s dreaming the entire scenario.
“Apparently he considers this a more personal issue than Knight business, so he insists that if we don’t want to help him, we don’t have to,” Kaeya shrugs, a knowing smile tugging at his lips. “But he looked like he was losing hair over this. As amusing as it sounds, he looks miserable.”
“He’s losing hair? Over Bubbles?” At this, Jean can’t hide the small laugh that escapes her throat. She covers her mouth, but Kaeya immediately bursts into laughter, pointing at her playfully.
“You find it funny, too! Admit it, Jean!” He tries to get her to confess, but Jean is much stronger than this. She tries her best to hold in her laughter as she stands up from her desk, walking around and past Kaeya.
“Come on, I’m sure we need to help Master Diluc find Bubbles now,” she breathes out, trying her best not to break. She’s a knight, she shouldn’t break her composure so easily! But the mere thought of Diluc going around the winery trying to find his tortoise sounds almost too good to be true. Kaeya merely smirks at her, his own laughter coming too easily, and she smiles as he follows after her.
“As you wish, Grand Master.”
“Acting Grand Master, Kaeya.”
From the outside, nothing seems amiss at the Winery. The sun is high up in the sky, shining down upon the servants and maids as they carry out their basic duties of the day. Everything seems calm, almost too calm.
The real storm comes from inside the estate. A simple knock on the door is all it takes before it swings open, and Jean and Kaeya both take a step back in surprise. In any other situation, Adelinde would be the one greeting them, maybe even offering them some tea or a few snacks she prepared in advance. No, there’s only one person who would open the door with such enthusiasm in the midst of a so-proclaimed emergency.
Jean bites her lip to stop the smile from coming on. “Good afternoon, Master Diluc,” she greets him warmly. The redhead is having none of it.
“Just get inside already. Please.” Diluc steps to the side and makes a vague gesture for them to come in. Jean and Kaeya both talk several steps into the estate, coming to stand idle in the foyer as they take in their surroundings.
“So, about Bubbles…” Jean trails off, glancing between Kaeya and Diluc.
“I’m sure Kaeya already told you. I can’t find him anywhere,” He stresses, running a hand through his hair. Kaeya wasn’t lying when he said it looks like he’s losing hair over his tortoise. Jean’s lips press into a thin line.
“Come on, Diluc, I’m sure he couldn’t have gone that far,” Kaeya tries to reassure the other man. Jean nods next to him.
“Did you make sure to use your peripherals?” She asks, tilting her head to the side.
Diluc turns to face them and oh, if he already doesn’t look tired of them. He slides a gloved hand over his face. “Of course I used my peripherals, Jean. I wasn’t born yesterday,” he groans.
Her brow furrows at his words. “Are you sure? I remember when we were younger, you always had trouble finding Bubbles even though he was right in front of you.”
“Maybe if you wore your glasses like you’re supposed to, you would’ve found him by now,” Kaeya teases, and Jean tries her best to hold in her laughter. Diluc gently swats away their hands, pushing them into different parts of the foyer. She always forgot Diluc actually wears glasses due to his handling of a pyro vision, but he always insists he doesn’t need them.
As if he isn’t constantly squinting to look at something or someone. It would probably help him more, but Diluc is a stubborn man.
Being in the winery like this again brings back memories from their childhood. If she listens hard enough, she can still hear their childish laughter echoing throughout the estate, or their screams and shouts outside amongst the grapevines. Many memories were made here during the summer. She wonders if Kaeya and Diluc are thinking the same thing.
She brought her own tortoise to the winery when they were younger. Given that they aren’t such rambunctious and lively pets compared to dogs, Jean and Diluc often found themselves in silence as they admired their tortoises. Even when Kaeya was added to the mix years later, they were oddly fascinated with watching the tortoises munch away at a cabbage leaf. Perhaps it was because they were too young at the time that they gave into the simplest pleasures of life, even if it was just admiring the slow tread of a tortoise across the floor.
“You know, this surely reminds me of when Jean lost her own tortoise here a long time ago,” Kaeya suddenly speaks up, disturbing the silence that hung in the air just moments ago. “I really don’t get how these little fellas can slip from under your noses when they can’t even run.”
Diluc scoffs. “I don’t hear you finding my tortoise,” He says, clearly annoyed. Who knew a simple pet would have him all bothered?
“Hey, we found Pablo in the end. We’re going to find Bubbles, too,” Jean reassures the two brothers as she looks behind some crates close to Elzer’s desk. Behind her, she can hear Kaeya and Diluc muttering something under their breaths, their banter giving her a sense of familiarity. It’s unlike her to reminisce on the past, but being around the both of them like old times has her digging through old memories again.
Picking grapes from the grapevines when they were in season, listening to Diluc perform on the piano, trying their hand at cooking in the kitchen only for Adelinde to help them in the end… Jean has many memories at the winery. Even the more simpler memories, like their little tortoise play dates.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees something peeking out from behind the crates. Jean moved them out of the way and she sighs, turning her head to shout over her shoulder.
“I found him!”
She takes Bubbles in both hands, being careful not to carry him awkwardly before she stands up. Kaeya and Diluc are behind her in an instant, and she smiles as she hands over the tortoise to Diluc. He lets out a sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Jean,” He says with the smallest smile tugging on his lips. Kaeya clears his throat next to him, and Diluc barely glances at him before saying, “And Kaeya, too… I guess.”
Kaeya gawks at this. “I guess? Jean wouldn’t have even found Bubbles if I didn’t tell her you needed help!”
Diluc smirks at him. “Oh, but you weren’t the one who found him. Why should I even give you my thanks?”
“You— I can’t believe this. Hand over the damn tortoise, you don’t deserve him!” Kaeya tries to reach for the tortoise but Diluc immediately turns on his heel, blocking all of his attempts to snatch Bubbles out of his hands. Diluc carries Bubbles in one hand as his other hand swats Kaeya’s hands away.
“It’s my tortoise, you’re just jealous that you never got your own when we were younger,” Diluc huffs as he pushes Kaeya away.
“That’s not even true in the slightest,” Kaeya tries to defend himself but Jean and Diluc both know that he’s lying. Crepus even offered to get Kaeya his own tortoise, but he was too afraid of taking care of his own pet at the time. Still, it didn’t mean that he wished that he had his own despite all of that.
Jean watches as the two of them continue to banter. She swiftly takes Bubbles out of Diluc’s hand in fear that something will happen to the poor tortoise after all their searching. She’s surprised to find he barely notices, too caught up in trying to get Kaeya to back off.
Suddenly, she feels younger. In front of her are younger versions of Kaeya and Diluc, the both of them bantering as they always did. The scene feels too familiar, and a feeling that Jean can’t quite pin down bubbles up in her chest. She smiles before letting her laughter fill the air.
They might be adults now, but there’s still that small child inside of them. Even with their pasts hanging over them, Jean is happy to know she can still share moments like these with Kaeya and Diluc.
“Some things just never change,” She mumbles to herself.