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It’s when Kaeya is deep asleep that Lumine takes advantage of observing him - all guards down with no plastered smiles and shield of thin ice between him and the world that would rather burn and suffocate him. There are moments where he is exactly as a human should be, but they are fleeting. The more her journey goes on, the more she learns about Teyvat and its glaring flaws. The scars on his body are testament to this cruelty, a soldier worn out before he’s even reached middle age. She traces the few that she can reach, back, arms - shoulders and chest.
If he could join her and Aether when they re-unite, maybe he’d be happier - but there are no promises to that. Nothing to prove it one way or another. If she could shield him from the hurt, the burning words of others - protect him as a knight protects a prince, she would be happiest.
Lumine reaches out and gently runs her fingers through his soft hair, each strand so delicately falls into his face and he stirs a bit.
“Lumine?” his voice is heavy with exhaustion, his one eye opening briefly. He reaches up and pulls her down and close to him, burying his face in her chest. “Why are you still awake?”
“Thinking,” she whispers. A heavy sigh, he’s lulling back to sleep.
“Think tomorrow.” is all he mumbles as he falls back to into a light slumber as she gently massages his ears the way her mother did, once upon a time. She lets out a heavy breath and buries her face in his hair. This is what she will have to accept for now, just being close to him.