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XXX
Unspoken words and bygone dreams,
Bonds broken from hurt and misunderstandings,
Still shining through,
was love.
XXX
Most days, she didn’t really care about it too much. Really. She didn’t.
But sometimes, she really wished she could be just a little bit taller for situations like this one.
“Kaeya, stop that,” Lumine complained, pouting at the smirking Calvary Captain who was holding the book she wanted high up in the air.
“Does it bother you, princess?”
She glared at him. “I swear, if you don’t give it back, I’m not giving you your present.”
A brief pause settled over as surprise flitted over the captain’s face before melting into intrigue. Azure eyes locked on hers while a smirk tugged on the edge of his lips. “Oh? But I thought you were my present, Lumine.”
The smirk on Kaeya’s lips widened as he watched her cheeks flush red, trying to compose herself as she sputtered in embarrassment. “You – you’re impossible.”
Oh, how he adored teasing her.
Relenting, the man tilted his head to the side and returned the item to her. He was curious at what she’d brought him. So he looked at her inquisitively. “Well?”
Lumine rolled her eyes before digging through her backpack to pull out a neatly wrapped box, tied with a pale blue ribbon and handed it over to him.
Accepting it, the Calvary Captain shifted his gaze between her and the box for a second, considering before mischief glinted and he dropped down, tugging her along as his back fell onto the couch.
“Kaeya!” a grin curled on his lips at her startled yelp.
“What?”
She whacked him on the shoulder, though traces of fond exasperation peeked through her features.
Finally relenting, the man sat up properly, adjusting his position so that she was nestled against him and could see him open the gift. Breathing in the scent of her hair, immersing himself in her presence, Kaeya allowed himself to let his guard down.
“Are you ever going to open it or not?” Her golden eyes met his, face tilting to the side.
“As my darling wishes,” he drawled, smirking at her reddening cheeks.
Unwrapping the gift, hie blue eye at the sight and he swallowed, not expecting to see -
Set in a simple frame, was a photo of him, Diluc and Jean standing together – him, grinning while annoyance coloured his older brother’s face, Jean shaking her head in exasperation at the two of them while trying to hide her amusement.
A long, shuddering breath escaped the knight as a whirlpool of emotions swirled through him. Lifting a hand to his eye, he swallowed – but his gaze remained on the picture in the frame, memories flitting through his mind. Of simpler times and whimsical days.
“He doesn’t hate you, you know,” Lumine’s soft voice drifted across the air, anchoring him back to the present, gaze gentle as she looked at him. All of him.
She reached out, wiping away the tears and nestling closer to him, and squeezed his other hand reassuringly.
Lumine thought back to the day when she had confronted the man. She’d lost her temper during that day, as it had been one of the nights where she had found Kaeya lost in the throes of a nightmare. Shaking. Trembling.
Wanting to die.
“He thinks he should be dead, Diluc!”
The Dawn Winery owner’s movements stilled.
“...what?”
“You heard me,” she said, letting her hands fall to her sides quietly. “He thinks he should’ve been dead instead of…” A pause, a shuddering breath. “He thinks you hate him and wants him dead too.”
Silence fell, relentless as a storm and as delicate as a dangling thread. As if, should a pin drop, it would be the loudest sound in the room.
Diluc tore his gaze away, closing his eyes as he ran a hand through his hair and exhaled.
“The idiot.”
A pause.
“Wait here.”
Confusion darted across her features as she watched him retreat from the room, only to return with what seemed to be a...photo? In his hands.
“Here. Give this to him.”
Her breath caught as she saw who were in it. A part of her wanted to ask him to give it to Kaeya himself, but…
She didn’t want to push it.
“Okay.”
Lumine threaded her fingers through his hair gently, stroking his cheek with her thumb.
"Kaeya, love," she whispered. "There's nothing to forgive, you hear me?"
"There's nothing to forgive."
And if she could feel Kaeya tightening his arms around her, she simply returned the embrace.
It was more than enough.
~Finite~