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Mornings, where Eula is the first one to wake between the two of them, were few and far between.
Kaeya was the early riser between the two of them, although it wasn’t because he was a morning person, no, it was his position as the cavalry captain that required him to be ready for duty before sunrise.
Though she would always wake up thirty minutes after he does, the rare occasions where Eula’s the first to get up were the ones she treasured the most. It wasn’t as early as usual but nevermind that—what’s important was Eula was awake and she had all the time to let herself admire Kaeya as he slumbers.
The sunlight that peeked through the sheer curtains of her room was the first thing Eula sees as she stirred awake, then the familiar sight of one cavalry captain sleeping peacefully; one arm draped over her waist, blue strands of hair that almost covered his eye from view, and quiet snores that she had always found adorable, but would never admit to him.
Eula reached out to gently brush his bangs out of his face, careful not to interrupt his sleep. She retrieved her hand when Kaeya scrunched his forehead in disturbance but even when he showed no other signs of waking up, she opted to only admire his features from where she laid, worried she might unintentionally wake him.
A few more minutes until she finally decided to leave the bed to work on the papers she brought home last night from her office before Kaeya wakes up and convinces her not to work.
Though it was a weekend and Jean had given them both the day off, Eula had no plans prepared for the two of them. While the thought of staying in bed with her boyfriend was very appealing, the spindrift captain would rather not spend the entire day slacking off.
She sat up and stretched her arms upwards, wincing when she felt the sudden spike of pain on her lower back. Just as she was about to completely leave the covers, slightly shivering as the cold air hit her skin when she realized she was only wearing one of Kaeya’s shirts that were two sizes bigger than her and nothing more, she felt an arm seizing her by the hips and pulling her back to sit on the mattress.
She turned to look at the culprit and a soft smile stretched across her face at the sight of Kaeya frowning with his eyes still closed tightly, half of his face buried against the pillow.
“Snowflake,” he called for her in his half-conscious state, pulling her even closer to him. Her heart fluttered at the nickname and she thinks she can never really get used to it. “Stay. You shouldn’t be working.”
Eula raised an eyebrow, gently running her hand through his dark blue strands as if lulling him back to sleep. “...How did you know?”
“You brought home paperwork last night.” He replied as he cracked his eye open, squinting when he looked at her. “That alone was telling.”
“I didn’t want to spend the day doing nothing,” comes her reason and she brushes his bangs away from his face so she could look at him. The hand that was resting on her hip traveled down to her thigh, gently stroking the supple skin with his thumb.
“I’m right here, you don’t have to worry about that,” He suggested, voice muffled and still heavy with sleep.
“My back still hurts,” Eula rolled her eyes as she caught on with what he was trying to say. It’s been two and a half years since they’ve decided to be together and even longer since their first meeting, but there are still days when she can’t discern whether the bastard was joking or not. “And it’s literally eight in the morning.”
Kaeya groaned in response, just as the spindrift knight had expected, and he pulled her down so she was lying beside him once again. “It’s too early, Eu. Two more hours.”
“That’s already too late, Kae, I still have to make breakfast,” Eula said, attempting to remove his arm that was draped over her to leave the embrace. The cavalry captain responded with a grunt as he buried his head on her chest, throwing one leg over both of hers to keep her in place.
“I love you,” she heard him mumble softly against her skin. His voice was quiet, too quiet that she was surprised that she even managed to hear it.
The cavalry captain was known by the citizens of Mondstadt to be mischievous, and knowing that she was the only person who had the privilege to see a side of him that was the exact opposite of how he usually was made Eula’s heart swell with pride and happiness.
Upon realizing that Kaeya must have fallen back to sleep again and there was no way for her to leave the bed until later, she sighed in defeat and started to relax under his touch, reaching up to gently run her fingers through his hair as she planted a kiss on the top of his head.
“And I, you.”
The Spindrift Knight, Eula Lawrence, is a woman admired, feared, and despised by the people of the same nation she was born into. She’s fierce and strong and while she may appear unshakeable to others outside their shared apartment, she had weaknesses, too.
Kaeya Alberich was one of them.