Work Text:
The last gentle rays of sunset slip through Ganyu’s fingers as she squints slightly, rolling her shoulders in a stretch before her gaze comes back to the notebook in her hands. Her brush scribbles are fast, yet exact and calculated as she writes while kneeling on the terrace’s stone floor, her little personal garden a few meters away.
…The soil must be loosened to a depth of around thirty centimeters, which will help the Glaze Lily stabilize itself and eliminate the need for staking. The roots must be facing downwards during plantation, and the soil must be kept moist at all times. When fully grown and if cared for correctly, Glaze Lilies will show their bloom during the night when sung at, no matter the season or the weather.
She sets the brush down on the floor and carefully brings the pot in front of her closer. As the sunlight slowly dims in the horizon, Ganyu clears her throat, hands planting themselves on the pot’s earth in something resembling a caress. A shy melody follows suit, closed eyes and gentle words as the lone flower opens to reveal a splash of white, fragile petals into the night. Ganyu smiles as she opens her eyes to see the bloom, wiping the earth off her hands on her gardening apron before she grabs her notebook and pen once again, graceful lines full of care rendering the flower immortal on paper.
She looks down at the drawing of the Glaze Lily and sighs to herself. Ningguang making her take a few days off to rest from work wouldn’t technically be so bad, if she wasn’t constantly anxious over the workload that her absence will mean for the rest of the Qixing. And it wouldn’t be so bad if she could share those few days of rest with her partner, either. At least her little personal project can keep her occupied, and she finally has enough time to accompany her notes with hand drawn sketches, too.
Keqing, although she has been told as many–if not more times as Ganyu to get some days off, still works up until points Ganyu didn’t know were even possible for a human being. Still, she presses on, and Ganyu can only be glad she gets to see Keqing throughout the day at work, and later when they come back home together and share the last few hours of the day. For now she is content to stay home and wait for Keqing to come back, although Ganyu would be lying if she said she didn't miss those quick glances during meetings and shy smiles at the pavilion.
Like clockwork, she hears the entrance door opening and closing accompanied by the rustle of Keqing’s heels being taken off, and smiles to herself as she hears her girlfriend's ‘I’m home!’, mouthing the words in unison as they're pronounced.
Ganyu rushes to her feet and brushes the leftover dirt off her gardening apron, opening the sliding door to the terrace to see Keqing standing in the foyer as she places her handbag on their table.
“Welcome back.” Ganyu does her best not to leap to Keqing’s arms immediately, but she still plants a chaste kiss on her lips before speaking. “I missed you.”
Keqing laughs– the slight trace of pink on her cheeks makes the oldest smile even wider, and Keqing’s arms now circling her waist make warmth bloom in Ganyu’s chest. “I missed you too, the other secretaries at Yuehai Pavilion can’t even take notes without me having to slow down my pace.”
“You only missed me because I’m good at my job?” Ganyu can feel the amused smile forming on her lips, and Keqing rolls her eyes in response.
“Not really, I missed you ever since I realized I had to let go of you in the morning.”
Ganyu raises an eyebrow, amusement still present on her now slightly warmer face. “That doesn’t sound good, Miss Yuheng.” Her voice coats itself with smugness and she kisses Keqing's forehead. “Should I come back to the Pavilion before you end up firing anyone because you miss me too much?”
Keqing laughs, it's light and airy as she holds Ganyu closer, “You know I’m better than that.” Her clever eyes shine with happiness, but Ganyu can still distinguish the faint eyebags adorning them. She caresses her cheek and Keqing leans into the touch, closing her eyes for a second. “But enough about work, how was your day?”
“It was… Relaxing, I think.” Ganyu sighs, “I couldn’t shake my mind off the thought that me having a few free days would mean double the work for everyone else.”
“I said enough about work, Ganyu.” It is not an order as much as it is a request, and Keqing plants a small kiss on her lips to reiterate that. Ganyu responds only with a bashful, apologetic smile before she follows Keqing’s gaze to the terrace. “Were you taking care of the garden?”
“Ah- Yes.” She takes a step back, suddenly aware of the dirt patches on her apron, and tries to ignore Keqing’s little adorable pout at the loss of contact. “I'm almost done with the silk flower entry, but I wanted to sketch something for the Glaze Lily’s page today, too.” Ganyu holds Keqing’s hand and guides her to the terrace, handing over her notebook with a proud smile. “I think I’m done with that entry for now.”
Keqing’s hands take the notebook from Ganyu as if it were to break with the smallest of forces, and a small smile blooms on the Yuheng’s face as she reads its contents. “The method for grafting Silk flowers is not one of high difficulty, but practice is still imperative to fully perfect the technique. The perfect time to do so is the middle of summer, when the flower produces the most sap, as this will ensure the new plant thrives…”
She stops for a moment, reading the rest of the paragraph in silence before gently brushing her gloved fingers against the drawing. “It’s wonderful… I would never have guessed you were this good at drawing.”
Ganyu waves her hand, shyly disregarding the compliment. “Four millenia makes for a lot of practice, I guess I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.”
“Even for me?” Keqing stops flicking through the pages to look at her in something that Ganyu can only describe as exaggerated bewilderment, and she can’t help but laugh.
“I thought you liked it when I managed to surprise you, Lady Yuheng."
"Oh course I do, innovation is one of the cores to any kind of relationship, but... You know I quite like learning new things about you.” Keqing’s gaze falls back to the notebook in her hands, and Ganyu can only guess it is to hide the embarrassment caused by her own words. She smiles in adoration, the sight reminiscent of a cat that has been found toying with something it shouldn't, and she holds her lover’s face, kissing her lips when Keqing looks up at her again.
“This morning, I also discovered something.” She steps back, taking the notebook with her, and Keqing follows her movements for a moment before staying in place. Ganyu smiles to herself at the motion, approaching a few of the pots in the garden .
“If you crush Qingxin leaves, Sweet Flower cores, and Silk Flower petals and mix them together, you can brew some delicious tea.” She starts cutting the Qingxin leaves and placing them in a little pouch on her apron.
“I know Qingxin is too bitter for you,” Ganyu continues, “but when combining it with Sweet Flowers and Silk Flowers, the sweetness overpowers the bitterness, and it results in an amazing flavor-” She is moving from the Qingxin pot to the Silk flowers when she feels Keqing's arms circling her waist, her lips leaving a chaste kiss on her nape that makes Ganyu’s whole body shudder in surprise.
“Have I ever told you how gorgeous you look when you talk like that?” She curls one of Ganyu’s locks on her finger, and places her chin on her shoulder, looking up at Ganyu. “Your face lights up as bright as a Xiao lantern.”
Ganyu smiles in return, her face heating up from Keqing's words and sudden touch as if it were the first time. “You didn’t let me finish…” She cuts the Silk Flowers and Sweet Flowers carefully, adding them to her little pouch. “Not only is the flavor good, it also helps relax the body and the mind. I think we could both use it, don’t you think?”
“I think as long as you make it, I would love to try it.”
“Well, how about you let go of me for a second so I can brew it for us?”
“That might be a bit harder for me to do.” Keqing smiles, tightening her grip on Ganyu’s waist. “I missed you today, so I think I deserve to be a bit clingy now.”
Ganyu rolls her eyes in response. “As my Yuheng wishes.” With a swift movement, she grabs Keqing’s legs and scoots her on her back, earning a surprised yelp in response as Keqing holds onto Ganyu’s shoulders. It is a practiced motion after the many times she has had to carry a sleepy Keqing to bed, but the small sound of surprise her lover often reacts with is never less than music to Ganyu’s ears.
“Hey, I can walk perfectly fine.” Keqing complains, although Ganyu can still feel her body relaxing and her tired feet dangling lazily on each side of her own waist.
“Mhm, I know.” Ganyu nods as she makes her way to the kitchen with Keqing on her back. Keqing’s hands move now to her hair, playing with Ganyu’s curls before kissing the top of her head.
“What if I touched your horns right now?” It is formulated as an innocent enough question, but Ganyu knows her girlfriend enough to be certain of the amused smile she must be sporting right now.
“I think I’d simply drop you, by accident of course, and drink the tea by myself.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” She can almost hear the smirk on Keqing’s lips.
“I wouldn’t do it on purpose, but you know they are sensitive.” Ganyu steps into the kitchen and places Keqing on one of the chairs, taking off her gardening apron and leaving it in the neighboring one. “I might really drop you by accident.” She kisses Keqing’s forehead and takes the various leaves, petals and flowers from the little pouch, washing them under gentle running water before hearing a match being lighted and thrown into the bundle of wood under the kitchen. She turns around to see Keqing crouching, the box of matches in one hand as she sluffles the logs around.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m making a fire, so we can warm up the water.”
“I can do it by myself” Ganyu grabs Keqing’s shoulders and makes her sit on the chair again before filling their teapot with water. “You sit down and rest for a moment.”
“But…”
“No buts, I want to do this for you.” She sets the teapot on top of the warming surface and grabs the herbs, drying them before crushing them into tiny pieces with a stone mortar. “How about you tell me about your day?”
Keqing huffs, crossing her arms and looking at the ceiling like a child who just got scolded for painting on the walls. “It was fine, we had a meeting about strengthening the millielith presence up in Guili Plains…” Ganyu’s head perks up and Keqing relaxes her posture, hands resting on her thighs. “Apparently there has been a number of complaints from travelers being victims of treasure hoarders’ ambushes lately.”
“Guili plains…” Ganyu’s hand rests on top on the pestle motionless, gaze fixated in the little fragrant leaves she was in the middle of crushing. “Is there any reason why the attacks have increased?”
“We don’t know yet…” She hears rather than sees Keqing’s sigh, and her elbow being placed on the table, her head probably resting on top. “There have been rumors of an ancient artifact being buried somewhere there, so we will be sending an excavation team soon.” As if she could read Ganyu’s mind, Keqing continues. “I will let you know of anything we discover, I promise.”
Ganyu takes a deep breath, and turns around to face Keqing with a shy smile. “Thank you.” She places the crushed leaves in the hot water, and covers the teapot with it’s lid before bringing it to the table. “It needs to steep for a few minutes.” She scoots another chair closer to Keqing’s side and sits down, her partner’s hand shyly looking for Ganyu’s on top of the table. She gently takes it and plants a small kiss on her knuckles before delicately taking her glove off.
“You know that if we knew more I would tell you.” She reiterates her words, and Ganyu can’t help but offer her a small smile in gratitude.
“I know.” Another kiss on Keqing’s hand, this time on her bare palm. She feels the slightest charge of electro on her lips as she does so, and starts taking off the other glove. “I’m not expecting too much, it has been more than two millenia after all.” She holds both her hands and squeezes them slightly with a small smile, “But I appreciate it.”
Keqing nods, slowly, and that’s the end of it. They stay like this for a few minutes, Ganyu gently caressing Keqing’s hands in a practiced motion, taking in the warmth of her palms and slight roughness of her fingers, as Keqing watches her in silence.
“Ah, the tea should be ready now.” She lets go of Keqing’s hands to reach for the teapot, and carefully pours the steaming, sweet liquid on both their cups. “Please be careful, it’s hot.”
She only gets a small nod in response, as Keqing grabs the cup and drinks the liquid. Ganyu follows her actions, the warm, sweet taste shortly reaching her mouth. She puts the cup down and looks at Keqing, whose gaze seems to be fixed on her own tea, grazing her finger on the edge of her cup in a slow motion.
Ganyu blinks. Has their previous conversation made Keqing upset? She really did not mean to belittle her efforts, or those of the Qixing, but she realizes how her words might have made her feel that way. “Darling,” She leaves the cup on the table and grazes Keqing’s arm, slowly reaching for her cheek as Keqing’s curious eyes meet hers. “Is everything alright?”
“No- Well, yes.” Keqing shakes her head slightly before resting it on Ganyu’s palm again. “I was just… Thinking, I guess.” She holds the cup of tea closer to her chest as she closes her eyes for a second.
“About?” Ganyu’s hands reach for Keqing’s hair now, gentle fingers slowly undoing one of her pigtails as Keqing tilts her head with a deep breath.
“You.” Ganyu’s hands rest intertwined on Keqing’s locks for a moment. “About how much you… Care. About everything, about everyone. You are so kind and considerate, and I’m not sure you even realize it.”
Ganyu’s words catch in her throat, and she only manages a small laugh. “Where is this coming from?”
Keqing looks back at her cup, and takes a small sip before continuing “You… named every dog in Liyue, you always take care of any work the other secretaries can’t handle, in your scarce free time you've been compiling an encyclopedia so people know how to take care of the plants that grow across Liyue, you made this tea for me because I was feeling a bit tired… You didn’t really have to do any of those things, but you did. You are incredible, to me at least. I really appreciate you and I’m not sure how I could ever compensate for any of it.”
If Ganyu is to be honest, wanting to be recognized for anything she has done had never crossed her mind before, but now, as her hand rests still atop Keqing’s head and she feels her face warming up, she finds herself to be utterly speechless at the sudden praise. “I… Never thought those were things worthy to be admired for.” Is the best thing she can respond with without having Keqing wait for a proper response for weeks.
Keqing laughs, it’s short and breathy, and Ganyu’s lips form a pout. “Plus, you really don’t have to compensate me in any way.” She goes back to stroking Keqing’s hair, undoing her other pigtail and leaving the delicate golden hair clip on their table. “If you want to, however… Can you help me revise the encyclopedia? I would like to know your opinion, and the perspective of someone as practical as you should help a lot.”
“So you only want me to take a look at it because you want the help of someone who is practical?”
“Huh? No- I-” Ganyu stumbles with her words for a moment before she sighs, recognizing Keqing’s playful tone. “You really are the worst.” She still plants a small kiss on top of Keqing’s head, however. “Will you help me, then?”
“I would be honored to.”