Work Text:
"Did you seriously think this is considered acceptable?! Let me tell you-"
Well, Ganyu thought to herself in bewilderment, this is certainly an unusual start to the day.
"-I don't know who in Teyvat taught you etiquette, but if I ever met them I'd tell them-"
As the sounds of Keqing's rant washed over her, she reflected a bit on the novelty of her situation. She'd never known the Yuheng to be one to hold back her words, but they were usually kept at what was passably indoor speaking volume, and dressed up in professionalism.
"I don't understand how you could possibly choose something so, so tacky-"
She'd certainly never seen the younger woman so caught up in ranting about horrible gift choices that she hasn't noticed the morning shift starting.
As Keqing dropped the current object of her ire and picked up yet another article off the desk, Ganyu privately wondered how things had gotten to this point. She and the Yuheng had never quite seen eye to eye, between her own devotion and the young woman's critique. Their relationship was thus strictly professional, keeping their opinions to themselves so as not to interfere with their work. And for the most part, that was fine. It got awkward and tense on occasion-ok, pretty frequently- but Ganyu wouldn't deny that work that involved the both of them got done at a comparatively dizzying rate.
So how had it come to this? How did Ganyu find herself in this situation?
“-You really think that Ganyu would appreciate this, this garbage?! I cannot believe you’d even think-”
This surreal world where her eminence the Yuheng was rattling off all of the general secretary's likes and dislikes, and lambasting one of the new hires for somehow managing to hit every possible one of the dislikes.
How had this happened, exactly?
Well, the story starts with what Ganyu walked in to when she entered the Pavilion that morning. As she approached her workspace, she noticed the smell of flowers growing stronger, until she rounded the corner and found her senses overpowered by the massive, beautiful, and yet completely unwanted bouquet that topped off the pile of gifts before her.
Now, normally Ganyu would appreciate flowers. She loved them, and passing by a few on the streets always brightened her spirits. But here in her workspace, where there were many delicate tasks to accomplish that needed her undivided attention, she preferred a handful of select varieties with lighter, calming scents like Qinxing. Stronger scents were overpowering, and diversity was incredibly distracting for a nose like hers. This bouquet was exactly the wrong thing to bring into her workspace, to say nothing of how all the other things were taking up space and blocking her ability to get to work.
Things only got worse when the one responsible showed himself shortly afterwards. He seemed alright, Ganyu supposed, but his pushy and intrusive attempts to woo her were rapidly wearing even her patience thin as she tried to let him down nicely. She was just about to cast aside her gentle nature and actually snap at him when she heard a familiar, crisp set of footsteps accompanied by the scent of earth, ozone, and lilac.
Eyes like garnets took in the scene before them. They flicked to the would-be suitor, to the pile of gifts in Ganyu's workspace, to Ganyu herself. The half-qilin vaguely noticed how Keqing's eyes seemed to linger on her for a moment longer, taking in her posture and body language. She could almost visualize the gears turning in the Yuheng's head, as well as the moment when the facts all clicked into place. "You're blocking the hallway," she said, subtly turning towards the man. "Please leave."
"Ah, sorry. We'll be finished soon." The message seemingly flew over the head of its intended recipient as he tried to take Ganyu aside. "Now, Miss Ganyu, if you please-"
As fast as lightning, Keqing's hand shot out, giving him a light yet rough shove backwards before grabbing firmly on to Ganyu's shoulder. "Let me rephrase that," she said coldly, stepping forward and drawing herself in-line with the surprised secretary, "you're bothering her. Please get back to work."
There was a hushed silence.
"I...I'm just trying to court her..."
"Oh? Well there's a time and place for any such things, and I can tell you that the workplace is not it, much less the general secretary's personal workspace," Keqing replied. "In fact, you've messed with her room layout without her permission or input, so you're already on the wrong foot for that."
Ganyu blinked. That...was actually true. But how did she know that?
"And how would you know that?!" As if echoing her thoughts. "What would a godless heathen like you understand about Miss Ganyu?!" Okay, maybe not. Not in those words at least. Ganyu expected Keqing to launch into a tirade about the gods, to just dismiss him offhand, or even pull rank and get him hauled off by the millelith.
She did not expect Keqing to narrow her eyes and ask "Is that a challenge?" Or for her to march over to the pile and start by inspecting the bouquet. "Well for starters, I can tell you just went to a florist and said "make me the biggest and loudest bouquet mora could possibly afford". If you knew Ganyu at all, you'd know she prefers smaller ones with milder scents." She took a whiff and grimaced. "Yeah, I can't even tell what's in here. Wait a second." She sniffed again, and her eyes widened. "Are these perfumed? Seriously?! That's even worse! You really want to confuse her?!"
Ganyu felt her jaw going slack as Keqing finished up with the bouquet and proceeded to pick up another gift, analyzing it briefly before picking apart all the things the half-qilin found wrong with it. Then she put it down and did it again for the next. And the next. And the one after that. The more she found, the angrier she got, and soon Yuehai Pavilion was filled with the sounds of the Yuheng's tirade as she lambasted the would-be suitor for his gift choices. Time practically stood still as people coming in stopped to gawk. The whole while, Ganyu found herself going redder and redder as Keqing revealed more and more knowledge of her preferences. She could hardly believe this was happening; since when did Keqing pay this much attention to her? Evidently a lot, as this rant had started at maybe a quarter 'till, and the hour was fast approaching.
"...and if I know enough about the gods to see what could be offensive about this, then Ganyu would definitely reject that!" Keqing snapped, slamming the current box shut. "And now, let's see what you've got here-"
And upon seeing the next item, Keqing froze.
There was deathly silence. When the Yuheng finally regained her voice, it was dangerously calm and quiet. "Excuse me," she said to one of the janitorial staff, "I need you to bring me a large bag. For disposal." As the sound of footsteps disappeared into the distance, she looked back up and produced the box once again. "Tell me. What are these?"
"...Fontaine chocolates?"
"The expensive kind, right? Made with dairy? As in, with animal products?" Literally everyone who had seen Ganyu eat went white as a sheet at the magnitude of this mistake. Keqing meanwhile just held her face in her hand, stupefied.
“Heh…” Oh no. “Hehe...hahaha…” Ganyu paled. This young man had finally done it. "AHAAHAHAHAHAHA" He and his cluelessness had finally broken the Yuheng. While the various staff looking on were fixated on Keqing's guffaws, Ganyu didn't miss the way Keqing's hand tightened around the box as if making to crush it. This wasn't mirth, this was fury. The kind where one gets so outrageously angry that the brain can only respond with laughter, presumably by relishing the thoughts of utterly destroying the culprit. Ganyu had only seen it a handful of times in her lifetime, the most memorable being the time when Mountain Shaper had accidentally knocked over one of Cloud Retainer's inventions. The craters from that incident had formed a few small lakes for a time, at least before the Archon Wars swept away that part of the landscape. And now here it was again, manifesting in one of the most ferocious humans ever to become a member of the Qixing.
At last, Keqing stopped laughing. "You're fired."
Ganyu’s jaw dropped open as the hapless employee let out a shocked “Wha-?!”
"You heard me. You're fired. To disrupt Ganyu's work is to waste the Qixing's time, and you've not only done that, but you've also somehow gotten wrong everything possible." The janitor returned, and Keqing began clearing out Ganyu's office. "As Liyue's administrators, we require the best and the brightest among our assistants. We certainly don't need an imbecile who will blow a fortune on what a half-week of research would tell them is a losing bet."
Keqing swept up the entire pile into the bag and shoved it into its giver’s arms. “Take these ‘gifts’ of yours and go. Throw them out, enjoy them yourself, give them to charity, I don’t care. You’re a disgrace to the Qixing, a disgrace to Liyue, and a disgrace to your ancestors eighteen generations back!” she bellowed. “GET OUT!”
With a final squeak, the young man scurried away. Silence promptly descended; with the subject of her ire gone, and most of the people around them still frozen in place at the spectacle, the only sound left was the sound of Keqing’s labored breathing as she massaged her temples with her hand, slowly recovering from her outburst. When her muscles went rigid, Ganyu knew she had finally remembered herself. Though her posture impressively didn’t change, Ganyu could literally smell the young woman’s mortification as she asked “Don’t you all have work to do?” Though her tone was a bit weaker than normal, after such a fearsome display her inquiry jolted everyone into action. The stopped clockwork of Yuehai Pavilion started once again as everyone hurried to bury the incident in the usual hustle and bustle.
Ganyu cautiously stepped forward. "Lady Keqing...are you...?"
"Are you alright?" Keqing's cheeks were red as she beat her to the punch. "I'm, uh, sorry. I don't know what came over me." She coughed into her fist. "Are you able to work here? Or is the lingering smell too distracting?"
"It's..." Ganyu wrinkled her nose. "...it could be better," she admitted. "The scent from the flowers is much weaker, but some of the other gifts were also somewhat strongly scented."
"I'm sorry, I should've known. That was stupid of me." Keqing sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "What about my office? If we moved your work for the day there, would that be better?"
Ganyu blinked in surprise. "Are you sure? Don't you have plenty of work to do also?"
"It'll be fine." The younger woman waved dismissively. "I, uh, have business in...Dihua Marsh to attend to for the day. I'll help you get settled and then head off."
"Well, if you're sure..."
Keqing turned and offered her a rare smile. "I'm sure."
Ganyu found herself increasingly aware of her own heartbeat.
In no time, the two of them got Ganyu situated, and Keqing set off, leaving the general secretary to her work. The half-qilin found the scent of the Yuheng's office oddly soothing; because she traveled far and wide in her work, faint traces of places far away from the harbor lingered in the air, and Ganyu drew a measure of comfort from the familiar earthy scents.
The day flew by quickly. Ganyu locked Keqing's office behind her, and returned to her own workspace to do the same.
Only to find Keqing putting a fresh bouquet comprised of fresh qinxing and a single Glaze Lily into a vase.
Ganyu halted. Keqing, hearing the change in foosteps, looked up and locked eyes with her, freezing in place.
There was a long silence. "...Lady Keqing," Ganyu began, "may I ask what you are doing?"
"I, uh..." Keqing sighed. "I didn't know how long it would take for the aftermath from the earlier incident to clear up, so I thought I'd try and speed up the process by bringing in a fresh source of smells you'd actually appreciate to help cover it up."
Ganyu peered curiously at the bouquet. "These still have their roots," she observed.
The younger woman flushed. "I wasn't really sure how you determine which plants should be left intact, and which ones are okay to just pluck from the earth. I dug them up carefully just in case."
The general secretary leaned in and breathed in the scent. "This Glaze Lily is wild."
A pause. "...a lucky find on my way back."
Ganyu raised an eyebrow. "It's definitely been sung to."
"How-" Keqing coughed. "Never mind, I guess there really is a difference to a flower expert. Okay, maybe I did sing to it for a few minutes. What of it? Is there something wrong with the song of a skeptic?" The effect of her scowl was dulled by the blush on her cheeks.
"No. It's a lovely scent, so I'm sure the song itself was just as lovely." Ganyu set down the vase. "I don't understand though, why go to all this trouble for me?"
"That's..." Keqing pursed her lips and thought for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was softer than Ganyu had ever heard in their time working together. "I know we have our differences, but I respect your work. I don't really understand your devotion to the Archons, but there's a lot that you do and achieve with your own two hands. I..." She sighed. "I do sometimes feel bad about how much trouble my views alone might cause. I'd prefer to minimize the chance that anything else could be a problem, alright?"
"Is that why you know all my tastes?" Ganyu inquired.
Keqing sputtered. "I, well," she stammered. "Look, when you and I kept getting into disagreements, at one point I started trying to anticipate your objections, to keep things as smooth as possible. One thing led to another, and it justkindofturnedoutthiswayokay?"
"I understand." Ganyu smiled. "And now that I know, I do appreciate it."
Keqing smiled back before turning her heel. "Have a good evening," she said, and left.
Ganyu stayed there for a moment, listening as the smell of earth and ozone faded, and the sound of the Yuheng's footfalls disappeared. She lifted the vase again and inhaled deeply. How wonderful, she thought.
Maybe the two of them didn't see eye to eye on everything. But it felt good to know that Lady Keqing wasn't a completely cold individual.
Now, what should I do for her in return?