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Kaeya’s sword clashes against the chipped handle of Thoma’s spear with an echoing crack . Thoma holds him back and then forces the spear upwards, knocking the blade from the captain’s hands and sending it flying.
He plants the end of the spear into the ground, “Kaeya, that’s not how you use a katana.”
“I’m inventing a new method,” Kaeya huffs, jogging over to retrieve the training sword. Thoma sighs and runs his fingers along the new marks on the wooden polearm, wincing at how thin the wood was in places. Despite his brute force approach to battling with a thin blade, Kaeya had nearly snapped Thoma’s weapon in two a few times.
“I was expecting to learn more about Mondstadt fighting techniques watching you two, but it just feels like a weird mating dance,” Gorou pipes up from where he’s reclined against a tree on the Kamisato estate, running his fingers through Kazuha’s hair. The wanderer looked to be half-asleep with his head in the general’s lap, his hands folded on his chest.
“Is it a weird mating dance or an alluring one?” Kaeya asks with a wink. At least, Thoma thinks that it was a wink, but it's hard to tell when he’s wearing an eyepatch.
He exchanges a glance with Gorou before replying, “just weird.”
“Really weird,” Gorou agrees, ears flicking.
“I’m not even watching and it’s weird,” Kazuha adds, scaring the three of them with the sudden addition of his voice. There’s a bit of a smug smile on his face, clearly having gambled on the knowledge that he could surprise them.
Thoma sets the spear down and approaches them, leaning down over the samurai to peer down at him, “I thought you were asleep.”
“Not asleep, just listening,” one of his crimson eyes cracks open to meet Thoma’s gaze, “did you injure yourself? You’re favoring your right side when you attack.”
“I thought you said your ankle didn’t hurt,” Kaeya sighs, approaching to join the conversation. Thoma feels a bit bad for leaving him out, seeing as the Cavalry Captain had come all the way from Mondstadt to visit and had mentioned feeling like an outsider when groups of them got together. Thoma knew that Kaeya was confident enough to carry himself in any situation, or at least act like it, but that didn’t mean it was right to leave his partner to flounder.
“It doesn’t hurt!” Thoma insists, shrinking away from the three different glares that fix on him, “Not enough to inhibit anything I do!”
Gorou’s ear flicks, betraying his slight annoyance despite the cool tone of his voice, “you should rest, or see a healer. I could have asked Her Excellency to stop and heal you on her way to Inazuma City.”
He waves his hands, “It’s really not that serious! I don’t need Kokomi of all people to heal me.”
Kaeya rests a hand on Thoma’s back, that smirking smile of his back in its usual place, “we won’t make you see a healer, but I’m not going to spar with you anymore. It’s not a challenge if you’re injured.” He turns his ice blue gaze on Gorou, “care to take Thoma’s place? We can spar for his honor.”
Gorou laughs, gently tapping Kazuha’s shoulder to get the other man to let him up, “I would agree, but it’s hardly a fair fight.”
“Oh?” Kaeya presses a hand to his chest, enjoying the challenge lacing the others words, “pick your weapon, General.”
“Hand to hand.” Stretching his arms over his head, Gorou steps past Kaeya to the sandy area where he and Thoma had been sparring earlier, “if I can’t use my bow I’d rather be up close and personal.”
Kaeya sheds his capelet, tossing it down beside Thoma, who takes Gorou’s place as Kazuha’s pillow, “promises, promises.”
“He’s enjoying this too much,” Thoma whispers down to Kazuha, running his fingers through the soft strands of silver and red hair. Kazuha laughs quietly, settling back in under the housekeeper’s careful touch. It’s relieving to see him so relaxed and trusting of them, the heavy weight on his shoulders so much lighter than it had been when the two had met. Just having him here, peacefully resting in the Kamisato estate without worry that guards might see him was something Thoma wanted to celebrate.
Instead of disturbing his resting friend, he turns his gaze to his partners. The two are facing off admirably with punches and kicks, each of them swung without real power so that damage wasn’t done. Thoma can tell that Gorou is playing with Kaeya, testing the waters of how far he can actually go to take the man down.
Gorou tries a swipe at Kaeya’s blindside but finds his fist easily deflected with a laugh, “come on, that’s the oldest trick in the book.”
“Just making sure you’ve covered the obvious bases,” Gorou flashes a canine grin and hops back out of the way of a right hook. When he lunges forward again, he jumps up, circling Kaeya’s attempted feint to catch the man with the crook of his knee. He swings himself up, locks his legs around Kaeya’s shoulders and brings the man down in one smooth motion.
The sand is thick enough to take most of the impact, but Thoma still winces when Kaeya hits the ground. Gorou sits back, releasing Kaeya’s arms so the man can prop himself up but still sitting on his back with a triumphant smile.
“You were just toying with me, weren’t you?” Kaeya wipes sand from his face and cranes his head to look back at Gorou, “where did you learn to fight like that.”
“I have a lot of siblings. How about you?”
“None, not anymore.”
“Oh,” Gorou winces and rolls of Kaeya’s back, letting the man sit up, “sorry.”
“He’s alive and well, don’t you worry,” sitting back on his knees, Kaeya brushes his bangs back, “I wouldn’t classify him as a brother anymore is all.”
“That’s… fair.” Gorou still looks uneasy about it, and Kaeya is quick to change the subject.
“Now, I think you deserve a prize for beating me so soundly,” he turns his gaze on Thoma, who had been watching in quiet contemplation, “what will it be?”
“Hmm,” he thinks for a moment before holding out his arms, “you win a kiss, but you do have to come get it yourself.”
When Gorou reaches him, Kazuha scrambling to protect his face from being crushed by the General, Thoma can’t help but laugh into the kiss. Having them all together, here in the place that had become a second home to him, feels right as rain.