Chapter Text
All humans harbored secrets, some were silly and or embarrassing but in most cases, they were harmless. Kaeya’s secrets weren’t. Would they come out, his mostly peaceful life in Mondstadt would most certainly fall apart. Sometimes he had trouble sleeping, in fear of what could come in case they found out, but needlessly worrying wouldn’t help him. If it was meant to happen, it would. Until that day would come, Kaeya planned to live his life in Mondstadt in bliss, and savior every second of it.
“Okay, but make sure to be quiet okay?” Kaeya whispered, a mischievous smile planted on his lips. “We wouldn’t want anyone to find you. I would get in trouble too if Jean found out.”
“Don’t worry!” His accomplice whispered back. “Klee will be very careful.”
Kaeya ruffled her hair. He had to take this opportunity, as Klee for once was not wearing her adorable signature hat. That one had gotten dirty when she had gone fish blasting the day before, immediately causing Jean to send her to solitary confinement. Thankfully, Klee wasn’t working alone. Kaeya would help her sneak out more often than not.
“Alright, little knight.” He spoke once they had made it out of the Knights of Favonius headquarters and in a corner, hiding them from unwanted witnesses. “Have fun. If Jean comes back I’ll do what I can to cover for you.”
“Yippie! Thank you, Kaeya!”
He chuckled in response. “But be back before noon, alright?”
“I will!”
And with that the little spark knight ran into the distance. Kaeya smiled after her, another good deed was accomplished. He went back inside. Thankfully Jean was so busy that she’d hardly find the time to check on Klee, and if she did, Kaeya would leave the door to his office open and would notice if Jean were to leave her’s. A perfect plan indeed.
One hour passed, then two, three, five and suddenly it was noon. Jean hadn’t left her office even once. Klee returned as promised, though she was covered in mud.
“Klee. Looks like you had fun.” He commented as he helped her climb inside his office through the window. One of the many secret escape routes the two of them had worked out for her.
“I did! Klee played with Diona today!”
“Diona? You rarely get so dirty when you play with her though.”
“Hehe. We went spying on the weird grumpy man and when he caught us we ran away. But uh… Klee fell and then rolled down the mountain…” she said, a little embarrassed.
“Oh well, you didn’t get hurt?”
“Nope!”
“Then it’s all good. Now let's sneak you back into solitary confinement and get you some fresh clothes. If Jean sees you like this we’re done for.”
“Okay!”
It all went without trouble. Kaeya returned to his own office, and if Klee wanted anything, she had her way of letting him know. The most efficient one was the morse code he had taught her, it was luck that his office was placed right next to Solitary confinement, and he’d hear Klee knocking at the wall.
Another hour passed and Kaeya actually finished all the paperwork he had slacked off on doing the days before. Good, he could go drinking again. What worried him though was a certain Acting Grand Master who hadn‘t left her office all day. Same trouble as always. He sighed as he knocked against the door to Jean‘s office.
There wasn’t a response. He knocked again. Nothing. He decided he would just enter. Jean was sitting at her desk, filing forms. She didn’t even notice him walking in.
“Acting Grand Master?”
“Huh?” Her gaze shot up, the circles under her eyes were dark. “Oh, Kaeya. It’s you. What is it?”
“I was gonna go get a drink. Wanna come along?”
Jean sighed. “I’m very busy, so…”
“But my usual drinking buddies haven’t accompanied me lately. I’ll get lonely if I go there alone.”
“Ask Lisa.”
“That won’t do… besides, I feel like our Acting Grand Master could use a break.”
“I’m… I need to finish this first.” She gestured towards the mountain of paperwork to her left. “Another time.”
Yeah, right. Once she’d finished that more things would come up. The only way to get Jean to take a break was to either force her, or do nothing and watch her collapse on her own. Lisa had already managed to get her to take a break that same week, so it was very unlikely that Kaeya could force her now too. They would just get into a fight, and waste time.
Kaeya walked towards the mountain of work and read the page at the top.
“Kaeya, what are you-“
“I finished work for today. How about I’ll give you a hand?” He said.
Jean blinked. “Huh, you are willing to work overtime?”
“Shocking, right?” He chuckled. “Of course I won’t do so for nothing, only our Acting Grand Master is that generous.”
“Oh, uh…”
“What do you say? We’ll go drinking together next time I ask you.”
“That is all?” Jean said, surprised.
“Hm? You want to do more? Good then-“ Kaeya took the entire staple. “Go to sleep already. I can tell you didn’t catch any at night.”
“Kaeya, you don’t have to-“
“Goodnight, Jean.” With that he left her office and entered his own. The Paperwork was enormous. He’d have to work all night, and a little the day after. But seeing Jean finally leave her office was enough to motivate him for any all-nighter.
Thankfully, although he may not seem it, Kaeya could be quite the diligent worker. This hadn’t been the first all nighter he pulled and it wouldn’t be the last either, but different from his dearest superior, he knew how to take breaks when needed. He was also far more skilled at hiding his exhaustion than Jean, who was rather easy to read in spite of her best efforts.
“Oh Jean…” Kaeya murmured quietly to himself. “When are you going to learn?”
Perhaps he’d have to teach her, and maybe he would. But first, work. He began reading through the pile of papers, and surely enough, he was still on at dawn the next day. His eyes burned from fatigue and he struggled to keep them open. Surely enough, he fell asleep at his desk the second the last document had been filed.
But even whilst asleep, a certain blonde knight could not escape his thoughts. He was back in his childhood, being dragged along by a much younger Diluc.
“Where are we going?” Kaeya hesitated to ask. Back then he wasn’t as confident and bold as he was today.
Diluc smiled back at him cheerfully, another thing that had changed. "I told you, it's a surprise!”
“But-“
“Shush! We’re almost there.”
In the distance Kaeya could spot a big house, no, a mansion!
“Who lives there?!” He asked in awe.
Diluc smirked. “You’ll see!” He said before letting go of Kaeya’s wrist and jogging towards the building. Kaeya stumbled after.
The two hid in some bushes behind the building, intensely staring at a window. “I think it’s time.” Diluc whispered as he took some stones to throw at it.
“What are you doing??”
Before Diluc could answer, a girl around their ages appeared behind the window. Diluc waved at her and Kaeya noticed the girl’s originally suspicious glances turn into an excited smile. She climbed out of the window, which had been on the second floor, and charged towards the two boys.
“Master Diluc!” She greeted him, both of them smiling ear to ear.
“Hey Jean.”
Jean’s attention eventually landed on Kaeya and she began to eye him.
“Who is your friend?” She asked.
“His name is Kaeya. He’s new in Mondstadt, my father took him in.”
“Ohh”, Jean’s cheerful smile turned into something more reserved and polite as she turned her attention to him. “Good evening. My name is Jean Gunnhildr. I am honored to make your acquaintance.”
Kaeya could his cheeks flush when she slightly lifted her dress and curtsied.
“By Barbatos Jean, no need to be so formal!”
Jean flushed as well, but rather towards Diluc than him. “Oh uh-“
“I’m also uh honored… Miss Jean.” said Kaeya, causing Diluc to sigh.
“Not you too Kaeya…” he shook his head. “Anyway, Jean and I often do sword practice together and she’s really good!“
“Oh I wouldn’t say-“ Jean attempted to interrupt in order to humble herself, but Diluc just went on.
“I think she could teach you a thing or two!”
Kaeya was just as surprised as Jean was but instead of protesting or arguing, Jean just smiled kindly at him as she said “You want to learn?”
“Oh uh… I mean, yes? You don’t have to teach me, though, if it's any trouble.”
"It's no trouble at all. I’d be glad to help if I could, a friend of Diluc is a friend of mine.”
Kaeya flushed as he sunk into some form of trance at her words. He had made another friend that day.
“Kaeya?” Someone called him but he couldn’t recognize who the voice belonged to. “Kaeya!”
“Huh what?” Kaeya had been dragged out of dream land. He was back at his desk, before him stood a familiar figure. “Oh, hello Amber.”
“Kaeya. I… don’t think it's a good idea to fall asleep at your desk.”
“I will remember that for next time then.” He said. “So how could I aid you?”
“Uh, I brought the reports for last week's mission. I know I’m a little laid, but uh… a certain child had blown them up last time so I had to redo them.”
Kaeya couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Isn’t she just endearing?”
“Uh yes. Very.” She said, not sounding too honest, before putting the reports on Kaeya’s desk. “Anyway, here they are.”
“Well done.”
Instead of leaving Amber blinked at him. Feeling a tad uncomfortable under her gaze, Kaeya began to speak. “Do you… need anything else?”
“No no!” It came from her immediately. “Not at all, I just… I was wondering. It’s not like you to fall asleep at your desk.”
“I just didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Amber frowned. “Drinking at the Tavern again?”
“I wish.” He let out a bitter laugh.
Amber just shrugged and finally left the room. Kaeya immediately flopped back onto the table. He knew he couldn’t go back to sleep again, but even less than that, he did not wish to revisit that dream. It hadn’t been just a dream, the occurrences were reality, a long time ago. The day Diluc had introduced him to Jean was a little blurry in his mind but now he could see more clearly. How odd.
Kaeya both missed and loathed the days of his childhood. Back then he and Diluc had gotten along much better, they had been close. But things had changed. He, Diluc and Jean wouldn’t go sparring in the forests any more, but maybe that wasn’t so bad. Kaeya would lie if he had said he had always enjoyed those times, they usually felt somewhat bittersweet at best.
His current life wasn’t perfect but he had his means to distract himself. Usually in forms of beverages. His favorite distraction however was currently knocking against the wall to convey a message.
B-O-R-E-D
Kaeya couldn’t help but smile. Poor girl. He had left her alone all day, of course she must’ve been bored out of her mind. Exhaustion magically left his body as he made his way over to solitary confinement. Klee was standing with her ear to the wall when he opened the door. She brightened when she saw him enter.
“Kaeya!” She rushed over to him, wrapping her arms around his legs and hugging them tight.
“Hello there, little knight.”
“Where have you been?? Klee was knocking all day.”
“Haha, apologies. I was taking a nap.”
“A nap?” She let go of his legs, causing Kaeya to go on one knew to be at eye level with her. “Were you tired?”
“Very.”
“Oh.” She looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling at him again. “If you still want to sleep you can take Klee’s bed! Klee has blankets and pillows and goodnight stories!”
Kaeya’s heart warmed at once and he even began to feel a twitch of guilt for mentally calling her a distraction moments ago, even if he had specified she was his favorite. Klee was more than that.
“You want to read me to sleep?” He said and Klee nodded, determination sparkling in her big eyes. “Why thank you. I shall take you up on that offer one day, but as of right now, I’m not very tired.”
“So you can play with Klee?” The little girl grinned.
“Well, I have a little errand to run.”
“Aw…”
“Don’t look so defeated. It’ll only take a few minutes.”
“So you’ll be back?”
“You have my word.” He gave her a smile before returning to his office and taking the stack of papers from his desk to bring to Jean. Her office was empty when he entered. Maybe she was still sleeping, although that was unlikely. It was far more likely that Jean had taken her three hours of sleep and gone back to sleep like the workaholic she was. If his theory proved true, he’d team up with Lisa to scold her.
He dropped the stack on Jean’s desk, not sure where else to put them. As he turned back to the door to leave, a familiar Acting Grand Master entered, looking noticeably refreshed. She was startled when she almost bumped into Kaeya.
“Good morning.” She greeted him.
“Morning? Oh dear, but it's already afternoon.”
Jean stumbled a little. “O-Oh…” she scratched the back of her neck, looking ashamed. “I… slept for far longer than I thought.”
"Oh, really?" Kaeya said, feeling weirdly accomplished. “That's a good thing then. Did you sleep well?”
“I did. I think… I really needed that. Thank you, Kaeya.”
Kaeya could feel himself flush again, just as he had in his own dream. “Ah… haha, of course. You are very welcome.”
Jean smiled as she walked past him and Kaeya could swear his cheek felt even warmer at that. Some things never change. Whether as adults or as children, Kaeya was always weak to her.
He wanted to leave when he heard Jean’s voice again. “Are these the documents from yesterday?”
“Yes. As well as some that Amber had filed. Those that had been previously destroyed in a mysterious explosion.”
“Mysterious explo-“ it dawned on her. “Oh. Klee…”
“We don’t know for sure if it was her, Master Jean.”
“No, I am pretty sure.” She sighed as she let herself fall on her chair. “You always protect her… not that it isn’t sweet but she has to learn to face the consequences of her actions. You have to stop helping her escape solitary confinement.”
“Ahahah… I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He lied. “Besides, Klee wouldn’t do that. You should have more faith.”
“Yes, of course. As if I haven’t caught her dozens of times already.”
“Oh, have you? It honestly sounds more like someone else I know.”
“Hm? Who are you talking about?”
“I can’t seem to recall, it's at the tip of my tongue.” Kaeya said, pretending to think hard. “A certain noble girl with a good sword fighting ability. Would always sneak out to play with this younger boy her age, to spar with him in the forest… Sound familiar?”
He grinned when Jean finally realized who he had meant. Her face reddened immediately. “T-That was a long time ago! Besides, I don’t remember blowing up lakes while I was out with Diluc either. We just… uh- had some innocent fun.”
“I know, I know… I was merely teasing.” He said. “But I assume you understand the little spark knights desire to… break out every once in a while.”
“I do. But I would be glad if you didn’t entertain it as much.”
“Entertain it? Doesn’t really sound like something I would do.”
“Kaeya…” Jean scolded him but gave up rather quickly. “Anyway, thank you again for doing the paperwork. I know it was a lot.”
“Nothing your dearest cavalry captain couldn’t handle.”
“Alright. You may rest for today.”
“That is good. Because I promised the little spark knight I’d play with her today.”
Jean gave Kaeya a stern look. “She is still under solitary confinement.”
“I know, don’t worry.” He smiled. “I’ll be off then. Oh and, don’t forget the deal we made.”
“You mean about going drinking together? Just let me know when you’ll want to go beforehand, please.”
“You actually remembered. I am touched.” He wasn’t lying, he had genuinely assumed that Jean had already forgotten about it, or that even if she did remember, she’d refuse him because work was a priority.
Against his will, a small glimmer of hope woke inside him.
He hated it when that happened.
“Will do…” he thought for a second, before opening his mouth again to say something he knew he’d regret. “Would you want me to arrange it when Diluc is taking a shift? It would be nice if the three of us could get together again, for old times sake.”
Jean’s eyes began to shine at his words and the faintest flush became visible on her pale cheeks as she gave him the most gentle smile. “That would be nice.”
“Okay.”
Kaeya left the room, feeling bitter. But it was good that he felt this way. It was better than letting that glimmer of hope turn into something more powerful, before letting the undeniable reality come crashing down on him. He risked one last look at the now closed door to Jean’s office before sighing at his own misery. He was truly pathetic. It’s been over a decade now, it was time to get over it.