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1.
Kaeya lives for the drama.
Drama is what spices up the mundane fecund of his everyday life as a Knight of Favonius. The dynamism, the extravagance, the prose of it is – in his opinion – the greatest entertainment. Even the little trivialities of everyday life are spiced up by inevitable sprinklings of little drama, and there’s plenty of little trivialities to go around when one’s job is a Knight.
Yes, Kaeya lives for the drama.
Even more so when it’s happening between two people he knows.
The Acting Grandmaster crosses haughty arms over her chest. Her face is flushed with barely restrained anger.
“Master Diluc, I’ve implored you several times informally to stop getting yourself involved with the Fatui! I realize that you are frustrated about the tensions we have with them, but we must pick our battles. They are honored diplomats in this city, and”—
“Diplomats, my foot.” Diluc interrupts coolly. He mirrors her furious countenance. “Anytime there is injustice, you’ll get up and put a stop to it. Except for when it comes to the Fatui, because all of a sudden, you’re some poster-girl of diplomacy, and we should ‘pick our battles’”—
“Is there any point to telling you to behave?” Jean frowns at him. “You’re clearly not interested in my advice as a friend to keep away from them, so perhaps I should exert my authority as the Acting Grandmaster on you.”
“Oh, you’re going to lock me up?” Diluc scoffs. “All this to protect the Fatui? Really, Jean. You know better than that.”
“You know better than to get yourself involved in needless danger!”
Kaeya watches their back and forth with amusement. Personally, he isn’t too worried about what happens to some Fatui stiffs, and he’s certain Diluc can take care of himself regardless of whatever danger he might get himself into.
Jean’s concern is very intriguing, though. Kaeya doesn’t think he’s ever seen her this heated, except whenever Klee gets herself into trouble. What on earth is making the Acting Grandmaster all riled up when it comes to his estranged brother?
“You’re injured.” Jean’s concerned voice interrupts his muse. Kaeya watches wide-eyed as she marches right up to Diluc and flutters her fingers anxiously over the miniscule scratch on his cheek.
Diluc flushes when her hands touch his face. “S’ nothing,” He grumbles in mulish embarrassment.
Oh?
Kaeya grins from ear to ear.
So that’s what all this fuss is about.
2.
Albedo knocks on the door to Jean’s office, awaiting a response. He waits a few seconds, and knocks again.
No response.
Albedo cocks an eyebrow. How curious. He glances at the ornate grandfather clock nearby. 1:54am. Very late, for sure, but Jean is usually around at this hour. The lights are on, anyway, so she mustn’t have clocked out yet.
Perhaps something happened?
After a second of contemplation, Albedo clicks the door open.
Jean is there, slumped on the divan. She is all but curled up against the winery master Diluc. Her head rests on his shoulder, and the documents she’d been holding in her hands had slipped out to scatter all across the tiled floor. Diluc is asleep too, his head resting atop hers. His arms are crossed over his chest sternly. It mustn’t have been very comfortable, sleeping with the Acting Grandmaster’s weight sprawled on him like that, but his expression is utterly serene.
Albedo stares at them in surprise.
Huh. He thinks.
And then, with the slightest of smiles on his face, he closes the door quietly and goes on his way.
3.
Lisa scribbles in some notations on her parchment, and looks up at the other occupant of the library.
Few men are as good-looking as Diluc Ragnvindr. Albedo is fierce competition, and she supposes Kaeya is quite handsome as well. If only he were able to return his books to the library on time. He stands leaning against one of the bookshelves with unassuming languidness, poring through an old novel with a thoughtful expression on his face. In the afternoon sunlight, his hair and eyes glow like fire.
Lisa enjoys the eye-candy with relish. Very good-looking indeed.
She smiles at him unwaveringly as he raises his head from the book to frown at her, unabashed at having been caught staring. Diluc strides over to her to place the book he’d been reading on the tabletop.
“Can I borrow this?” He asks impassively.
Lisa looks down at the book before her. The teal cover is emblazoned artfully with the title of the book: The Biography of Gunnhildr.
Lisa raises her eyebrows curiously, the beginnings of a smile stretching across her face.
“Of course, but may I ask why? Surely Acting Grandmaster Jean would be more than willing to tell you anything you needed to know of her family’s history.”
Diluc’s face flushes as darkly as his hair at the mention of Jean’s name, to Lisa’s increasing amusement.
“I don’t want to bother her with this.” He mumbles, avoiding her eye.
Hmm? Lisa’s smile stretches over her face. What an unexpected turn of events.
She processes the details with a wry smirk, and hands him the book with a wink.
“Have fun with your reading, Diluc, dear.”
Diluc grows – if possible – redder, and marches out of the library without another word.
4.
Marjorie nearly falls out of her chair when the Acting Grandmaster walks into her shop cautiously. Uh-oh, she thinks cautiously. Has she fallen behind on the taxes, again? She’s certain she’d paid them properly this month.
“How can I help you today, dear Acting Grandmaster?” She wonders if her voice sounds strained.
“I… I wanted to make a purchase,” Jean says hesitantly.
Marjorie’s eyes go wide in surprise. The dutiful Acting Grandmaster, here to do something as mundane as shop? Perhaps the apocalypse was nigh. Should she prepare her will, or something?
As dumbfounded as she is, her customer service skills kick in by instinct.
“Is there anything specific that you were looking for?” She splutters.
“Uh,” Jean fidgets with her gloved hands embarrassedly. “I wanted to buy a birthday present.”
For whom? Marjorie wonders curiously. Her sister Barbara’s birthday isn’t going to be for a few months. Being an avid fan, she knows she’s certain about this much.
“What kind of birthday present? For a relative, friend… paramour?”
Jean’s eyes widen, and her cheeks flush a little. She looks like she doesn’t know how to answer that question.
“Something that would be suitable for Master Diluc? Preferably something not too impersonal.”
Marjorie guides her over to some of her appropriate products, but internally, she might as well be screaming. The gears in her mind are whizzing in overtime, trying to process this stupendous piece of information. Wait till the town gossips get wind of this…
5.
Klee wants to run away.
Jean is usually very nice to her, as strict as she is. This time, Klee reasons that she might have gotten just a little carried away.
“… Could’ve hurt yourself and everyone around you!” She is saying presently, tapping her boots against the tiles impatiently. “I’ve told you a thousand times now that explosives are not playthings, Klee. I don’t want to see you getting hurt!”
Klee winces.
“Sorry?”
Master Diluc frowns at her as well, from his place next to Jean. Klee doesn’t know if she likes him very much because he’s always scowling at something. He’s also very mean to Kaeya, and Kaeya is one of her most favorite people in the whole wide world.
“She’s right,” Diluc adds sternly. “Will you be like this even after you grow up, Klee?”
“You need to start thinking before you do things,” Jean continues for him.
“Otherwise, you’ll always be getting yourself into trouble.” Diluc finishes naturally.
Klee looks between them curiously. Is she still dizzy from inhaling all that smoke earlier, or are Jean and Master Diluc finishing each other’s sentences? Oooh, could that mean what she thinks it does? Her eyes brighten with delight.
“Are Jean and Master Diluc in love with each other?” She exclaims excitedly, clapping her hands together. “That’s so sweet!”
The two adults look back at her in utter shock.
And then.
“WHAT?”
+1
Jean shakes her head exasperatedly as Klee departs her office sprightly. She claps her hands to her flushed cheeks, trying to will the heat spreading across her face to go away. She very pointedly faces away from a similarly blushy Diluc, clearing her throat meaningfully.
“Was their anything else?” His amused voice comes from behind her. “Or is that all you wanted from me today?”
Jean scowls, tempted to send him away just to escape the embarrassment of it all. But she wanted to do this now, away from the curious, prying eyes of the rest of the city. The last thing she needs on her plate is to become the subject of city gossip.
(It’s a little too late for that, though.)
“Just one more thing,” She says, and winces at how high-pitched her voice is. Diluc waits.
Jean takes a deep breath and rattles open her topmost drawer to extract the small package she’d purchased from Marjorie’s shop. Within, contained an elaborate little trinket in the faintly luminescent style of a dandelion. She’d thought it would look nice hanging from the thick leather belt he wears around his decidedly muscular abdomen.
She exhales. She gathers her courage and turns to face him with a smile, holding the package in her hands. Diluc’s impassive expression falters into pleased surprise, and he fails to resist the smile that fights its way onto his face.
“Happy birthday.”
Diluc’s eyes glimmer with an unfamiliar emotion as she plucks the package out of her hand.
“Thank you.” He says in a tight voice. “This was very thoughtful of you. I hope you didn’t go to too much trouble over it, considering how busy your schedule is.”
“It was no trouble at all,” Jean tells him sincerely. “I simply wanted to do something special for you.”
“Oh, and why is that?”
Jean struggles with finding the right words to say. She looks at him meaningfully, unable to speak the words out loud, and Diluc seems to understand. His amused expression softens at once into something sweeter and gentler.
And then, to her increasing marvel, he steps infinitesimally closer to her. She waits with bated breath as he leans down to press a chaste, soft kiss against her lips. Her head nearly explodes with heat, but she has to admit that kissing him feels… nice. Very nice.
Nice enough to keep doing it, she decides.
Jean moves closer to him, entwining her arms around his body. He responds in kind, strong arms wrapping around her to pull her body flush against his in a way that heats her right up. Thoughts in the back of her mind faded and stars burst to life, and the kiss deepens.
???
“Jean, Klee says she has something else to say…”
These are the words that leave his lips as Kaeya clicks open the door to Jean’s office. He yelps loudly when he sees what was happening inside, and quickly closes it shut.
He turns appealing eyes towards the eight-year-old sitting cluelessly on a nearby bench.
“You did this?” He asks in alarm.
“Did what?” Klee blinks up at him innocently.
Kaeya only chuckles in response, and quickly shoos her away from the office.
“We can come back another time,” He says, grinning. “Jean is unfortunately very busy.”
“Aw, man!”
Fin