Chapter Text
Lisa had the biggest crush on the chivalrous, young Dandelion Knight, but she would never dare try and talk to her. No, Lisa was painfully shy, so interacting with the woman she liked was not something she could just do so easily.
Jean was a sweetheart, truly, but that didn’t make it any less hard for Lisa to let go of her fears. Jean sometimes waved at her, like now, from the training yard, through the library window, where she’d just been caught staring. Oh, oh no. How embarrassing. She sank lower in her seat, raised her book higher and angled it to hide her face.
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Jean, with an equally big crush on the new librarian, spent the past year thinking that Lisa must hate her for some unknown reason.
Every time she tried to make eye contact, Lisa would avert her gaze, rather staring at anything but Jean, every time she waved at her, Lisa turned away.
Jean swore she once even saw Lisa flee into the opposite direction. When she exited Grandmaster Varka’s office, she could have sworn Lisa was heading right for it until she saw her and turned around, walking right back to the library.
She had seen Lisa converse with little Klee, in the library that she had entered for some records that the Grandmaster asked her for. Jean was not jealous of a child. Maybe just a little.
Jean’s eyes followed them to the small children’s area below, watching as Lisa carefully lead the little girl down the stairs by the hand, spoke softly in contrast to Klee’s loud giggles and squealed replies and reached for a bright red book on the middle shelf that Klee was pointing to.
They sat together on the colourful mat on the floor and Lisa read to her, never raising her voice any higher than the calming tone Jean heard upon entering.
Jean was in love.
But it didn’t matter, because Lisa clearly couldn’t stand her. The librarian hadn’t spoken a single word to her the whole time she worked here, and it had been an entire year now.
Not even when Jean tried to introduce herself to her for the first time. No, the brunette had simply gawked at her until Jean awkwardly apologised for bothering her, excused herself and shamefully made her way out of the library to slump down in front of the door with her head held in her hands.
The guards in the entrance hall had looked at her strangely, asked her if she was alright, but it only added to Jean’s shame.
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Librarian of the Ordo Favonius wasn’t a possible career Lisa envisioned for herself when she left Sumeru to return home. In fact she hadn’t really thought of anything yet, until the position fell into her lap, nearly forced upon her as it was.
Grandmaster Varka had heard of her. How, she did not know. She supposed that came with being branded the smartest student of the Akademiya in two centuries.
Not that she ever wanted that either, she had just wanted to blend in and do her best. To learn more about the topics that interested her and conduct some experiments on her own, then eventually write her thesis and be told she did a good job, that was all she wanted. Nothing more.
But Varka had heard of her somewhat unfortunate reputation that she never asked for, and he offered her Captaincy of the Eighth Company of the Knights of Favonius right after a hearty “Welcome back to Mondstadt, lass!”.
Lisa very nearly let out a distressed noise deep in her throat. Eyes wide and more than a little intimidated by the giant in front of her, Lisa shook her head, no.
He didn’t look deterred in the slightest and once he started listing off more potential jobs for her, secretary, assistant, librarian, Lisa began to realise that he was never just going to let her slip out of his grasp without a struggle.
He wanted her to work for the Knights, and if it was job that he considered below her capabilities that she wanted, that would work for him. Lisa nodded her head at the offer of librarian, she always liked books, perhaps it would be nice to work in a library.
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Lisa found great joy in the task of cataloguing and organising the books of the library of the Knights of Favonius. It was a quiet, methodical task and no one disturbed her. It would take her days, if not weeks and she had free reign to order everything exactly how she liked.
Everything went well, until just a few days after she finished organising, the young knight she’d seen training through one of the library windows came barging in.
Jean Gunnhildr, Mondstadt’s very own Dandelion Knight, sword at her hip, a fresh cut on the side of her neck and charming grin on her face, her very handsome face with those piercing, steel blue eyes that were looking right at her. Oh Barbatos help her.
Yes, yes she definitely forgot how to breathe. No matter, she would just hold her breath until Jean left again, yes, that could work, it would be fine, she could be normal about this.
Her ears were ringing, she saw Jean move her mouth but all that she heard was the deafening ringing in her ears and the fast, heavy thumping of her heart trying to escape her chest. She really hoped it wasn’t anything important that brought Jean here today.
When Jean finally closed the door behind her, Lisa regained the ability to breathe. With a heaving chest she stared into her tea, as if it could calm her down by just existing and sitting still on her desk as if nothing had happened, and perhaps it could.
Lisa’s breath evened out, the ringing in her ears subsided, she watched the steam rise from the undisturbed surface of the liquid in her porcelain cup. Lisa slowly stirred the tea with the small metal spoon beside it and thought, yes, even just looking at tea was soothing her nerves considerably.
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A year later, Lisa was cataloguing the library’s newest arrivals, they had received a shipment that morning and Lisa was proudly pushing the very last book in place for today. Just a little to the left, a little more, and there.
She should have probably climbed off the ladder rather than lean over until she could reach the right place, but that thought came a little too late.
“Good day, Miss Minci.”
She definitely let out a noise of distress this time.
Jean. She didn’t notice her come in at all. She had just let go of the shelf to carefully lean back and climb off the ladder safely but now her hands were flailing in the air for purchase on something, anything to keep her steady on the dangerously swaying ladder.
She hadn’t expected to fall right into Jean’s arms today, but life seemed to have different plans for her.
Jean, wide eyed, securely held onto her waist. Gloved hands clinging tightly onto the blonde’s shoulders.
Eyes squeezed shut, chin resting against the young knight’s forehead, Lisa wondered it she had perhaps just died. Nothing hurt, but from a fall of that height, she should probably at least have a sprained ankle or some bruises or a concussion.
Hesitantly, she opened her eyes. This was her library, alright, not dead then. Her head felt fine too, she wiggled her fingers and felt- fabric? Shoulders?
Jean carefully set her down on the floor. She blanched.
“Are you alright?” Jean asked in a concerned voice and Lisa tried to say yes, but she just couldn’t seem to make her own voice work, so she shut her mouth again to save herself from further embarrassment. She was just about to nod instead of a verbal reply when Jean sighed.
“Look, I don’t know what your problem with me is, but if I’ve done something to offend you, something to anger you, please just tell me what it was so that I can apologise. You always avoid me, I’ve even seen you run away from me, you’ve never even spoken a single word to me. We’re colleagues, you can’t avoid me forever.”
Lisa’s eyes widened significantly, all this time, that was what Jean thought of her? Jean thought she didn’t like her? Lisa shook her head frantically. If anything, she liked Jean too much.
‘I like you’ Lisa signed desperately, knowing Jean wouldn’t understand, nobody in Mondstadt seemed to know how to or be willing to learn how to sign, but she needed to convey her thoughts somehow, and that was the best way she knew how.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Lisa caught Jean’s hand between her own uncertain hands. Jean’s eyes went wide and Lisa froze, why did she do that? What would she do now that she had Jean’s hand in her own?
Startled at her own boldness, Lisa tugged it closer to her chest, held tighter when Jean tried to flinch away in sursprise and pressed the blonde’s hand tightly over her pounding heart and held it there until Jean understood.
“You..” Jean frowned and Lisa’s breath hitched and caught in her throat in anticipation. “Are you nervous?” A little nod. “To speak to me?” Another small nod.
She pursed her lips and swallowed hard. Taking a deep breath to ready herself, she opened her mouth and.. nothing. Not a single sound came out, she had overestimated herself, this wasn’t going to work, she couldn’t speak to Jean.
Her heart was trying to run away again.
She let go of Jean’s hand and swiftly turned around, her shoulders hunching in on herself and arms wrapped around herself protectively. Where was her hat? She would feel much better with her hat hiding her from sight, where did it go when she needed it?
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“Hey, are you okay?” Lisa violently flinched away from the hand that came to rest on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I won’t do that again, I promise.” Jean spoke gently, looking around for something to make the librarian feel better.
There, near the bottom of the ladder, lay Lisa’s wide brimmed hat, dropped and forgotten, Jean picked it up and cleared her throat.
“I uhm.. I have your hat here.” Jean awkwardly held it out to her, hoping the woman would turn around again. She was out of her depth, she had no idea how to handle a situation like this.
Up until today she just thought the older woman hated her for some unknown reason, but when she thought back to any interaction they had in the past, she could see that any action she understood as dislike against her could just as easily be explained away by Lisa just being scared or startled out of her wits.
Had Lisa always just been afraid of her?
Upon realising that Lisa was too caught up in her own mind, Jean decided to risk it and carefully placed the hat back on its owner’s head.
That seemed to help. If just the slightest bit, Lisa seemed to calm, to breathe a little easier. A gloved hand held onto the brim of her hat and pulled it lower over the side of her face.
“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll bring you some tea? You like tea, don’t you? I see you drink it all the time. I mean.. not in a stalkerish way, I promise. I just see you from the yard, through the window right there... I think I’ll shut up now before I make it worse.” This was going to be a long day, Jean thought.
How do you make tea anyway? Like coffee? They were not so different, right? It shouldn’t be that hard.
“What tea do you like?” No reply, of course, she should have expected that. “You know what, I will find something, I’ve got this.”
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Lisa was hiding out near the training yard, back pressed agains the wall, just barely hidden behind a tree. She was watching Jean, again.
Maybe she wouldn’t watch Jean so often if the practice dummies Jean liked to use for sword practice weren’t right in her field of vision from the library, or if Jean didn’t practice swordplay with bare arms that drew Lisa in like nothing else.
Why was she out here, hiding behind a tree, you ask? Well, she thought Jean looked unusually tired and the cut across her biceps was distracting her.
Lisa aways carried around some potions against fatigue of her own making, just in case. She also kept some in the drawers of her desk in the library, and she had made this salve that she had just finished testing on herself, it could help skin heal faster.
Lisa just had one tiny little problem, she didn’t know how to approach Jean to offer her remedies. Alas, she had been hiding here for that past half hour or so, who could say? All Lisa knew was that she would quite like to catch a feel of Jean’s arms someday.
“Fancy meeting you here.” Lisa turned around in shock, Jean was casually leaning against the wall next to her, looking dashing as ever. Lisa pressed a hand above her heart, willing it to quiet down. She was just going to offer Jean the salve and the potion, nothing more, nothing to be so nervous over.
Thrusting the tiny potion vial into Jean’s hand, Lisa mimicked uncorking it, tipping it into her mouth and swallowing. Jean trustingly followed her lead and downed the vial instantly.
“Oh. I don’t feel so tired anymore, was this what I think it was..?” That was when Lisa realised she could easily have just slipped Jean poison and she could have gotten away with it too. She only hoped Jean was not so trusting of everyone she met.
Trying not to think too much about it, Lisa grabbed Jean’s sweaty, injured arm and took out the small jar next. She unscrewed the lid and swiped her finger through the paste, carefully dabbing in on the cut before closing the jar again and taking off. Leaving a terribly confused but grateful Jean behind.
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“Would you care for a walk, my lady?” Jean chivalrously extended her arm for Lisa to hold onto and Lisa smiled brilliantly. They had been getting to know each other over the past few months and reached a stage where Lisa was mostly comfortable with looking Jean in the eye and engaging in physical contact every now and then.
Lisa hesitantly put her hand in the crook of Jean’s arm and shyly stepped a little closer, pressing herself up against Jean’s side as they made their way out of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters, across the city, through the gates and towards the whispering woods.
They had a lovely walk until they were ambushed by a group of treasure hoarders attempting to rob them near Starfell Lake.
Jean pushed Lisa behind her and stood tall, unsheathed sword held in front of her, ready to defend Lisa and fight should it prove necessary.
She attempted to reason with them first, her need to give everyone a fair chance to make the right decision on their own was commendable, but not everyone could be argued with. Not everyone would see reason.
More came out of the bushes behind them until they formed a circle around them, caging them in. There were seven of them, on every side and Jean was only one woman with a single sword.
But Lisa was not helpless. Varka had known what he was doing when he offered her the Captaincy of the 8th Company, it was not unfounded.
Standing back to back with Jean, Lisa pulled off her gloves and tucked them into the pockets of her skirt. They were her favourite pair and she was not about to ruin them for some common roadside bandits of all things.
Green eyes, the colour of a meadow in the deep of summer, swirled and flashed with purple energy, the air around them became thick and heavy.
The sky had been blue when they left for their walk, not a single cloud on the horizon. A stark difference to the gigantic storm clouds that came rolling in, gathering above them in the centre of the storm.
The air swirled around them and the thunder rumbled loudly in the sky above, lightning striking the ground closer and closer until static started to gather between Lisa’s fingers, that was what she had been waiting for.
Jean turned to her in shock and stared at the mass of pure electricity now contained within Lisa’s raised palms. Their attackers looked like they were about to run aways screaming.
Lisa didn’t give them the time to make that choice for themselves. She made them dance. Shooting little bolts of lighting from her fingers, aiming at their feet, they shamefully jumped and hopped away to safety with more than a few burnt toes and some pants on fire.
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Swirling purple eyes slowly settled back into green. The storm receding, making way for the clear blue from before. Jean stared and stared and stared. She had not known that about Lisa.
When the initial shock passed, Jean noticed Lisa’s hands. Burned, blistered fingers, purple veins creeping up her hands like little twigs and branches of a tree.
Jean sheathed her sword and slowly held out her hands, palms facing upward and waiting. “Could I please take a look at your hands?” She knew better then to try and touch Lisa in even the most innocent of ways without her consent.
With a slightly distrustful look, Lisa obliged and placed her hands into Jean’s, eyes locked onto their hands and pointedly not looking Jean in the eye.
With a little concentration, the wind picked up, twirling a few leaves and dandelion seeds around them as the little space between their hands glowed warmly and Lisa’s hands tingled pleasantly all over.
The veins were fainter but still visible when Jean was done. She was able to heal the burns to some extent, but the brunette’s hands still held plenty of past healed wounds and scars that would not soon fade from a little bit of healing wind. If it were that easy, Jean would have no scars of her own either, but she did.
Jean gently let go of Lisa’s hands, but Lisa held on. It was a little surprising, to say the least. She had thought Lisa would want her hands back to herself as fast as possible. She wasn’t even moving to pull on her gloves again.
Despite the healing, Lisa’s hands should still be hurting from the pain they endured, she should take it easy and rest her hands for as long as possible.
But Jean knew not to push the brunette for anything, lest they go back to the times Lisa would get so overwhelmed that she would just turn around and hug herself to try and calm down. She was rather glad that they had mostly moved past that by now.
“Would you like to sit down somewhere for a while?” A shake of her head. “Do you want to go back to the library?” A pause, her eyebrows furrowed and Lisa started playing with the fingers held within her hands. Jean kept them loose and pliable for her to do with whatever she pleased. Another shake of her head.
“We could go to Windrise, rest a little under Vennessa’s tree? I usually go there when I need a little time for myself.” Jean put the hand currently not busy being toyed with on top of their joined hands and was surprised when Lisa didn’t flinch away at all. That was good progress.
Lisa nodded, slid her fingers through Jean’s and dropped them to her side so they could walk while holding hands. Even after all the things that had happened that day, Jean had not expected Lisa to want to just casually hold her hand on their walk.
She was very pleasantly surprised. She would have to remember that hand holding was a thing that Lisa appeared to be somewhat comfortable with now. Perhaps they could do that again, that would be nice.
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Lisa was frozen stiff with panic. She had just held onto Jean’s hand when she was going to pull it away, played with her fingers and linked their hands. What if Jean didn’t want any of this? What if Jean was only indulging her because she thought she had no other choice but to play along?
It was far to late to let go now, what would Jean think if she just changed her mind halfway through their walk and let go now? It would be so awkward the rest of the way. No, she could not possibly do that.
Unknowingly, she squeezed even tighter in her panic and Jean began to rub her thumb over her hand in soothing motions.
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They lay together in the grass right underneath the tree, Jean leaning against the trunk and Lisa resting her head in Jean’s lap, enjoying the pleasant breeze, the rustling leaves above them and the view of Mondstadt in the distance.
Jean had instigated their position, for Lisa’s comfort, but she nearly had a heart attack when Jean so casually suggested she rest her head in her lap.
“Lisa? Could I kiss you?” Jean asked through the silence, looking down at her with loving eyes.
Lisa’s mind went blank. Jean needed to stop saying things like that with such ease, Lisa’s heart couldn’t take it. However, she also really wanted Jean to kiss her, so she sat up and signed her consent, trying not to seem too eager, but eager enough that Jean would get the idea.
Jean had asked her to teach her a bit of sign language a while ago, she wasn’t very good at it yet, but she understood the most basic of things, like ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and some more by now.
She closed her eyes and leant forward, steadying herself with one hand on Jean’s thigh, waiting for Jean to close the gap and connect their lips.
For a second, doubt creeped into her mind, but Jean was kind, Jean was gentle, she would never try to trick her just to humiliate her, if Jean asked if she could kiss her, then Jean wanted to kiss her.
And then Jean’s lips finally met her cheek. Her cheek? She let out a displeased whine and reached for Jean’s chin with her free hand, slowly turning the younger woman’s head and directing her to her lips instead. Surely she would get it now?
Jean chuckled at her reaction in amusement.
“I wasn’t sure if you would want me to..” she trailed off and smiled charmingly, leaning forward to kiss her properly. Oh and what a kiss it was, Jean was an amazing kisser she learned that day.
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Lisa was letting Jean make them some tea. They were lounging on one of the couches on the lower floor of the library, reading their own respective books in comfortable silence.
Jean did not know how to make tea. She half suspected that Lisa was only indulging her and quite possibly dumping it in some plants whenever she wasn’t looking.
Lisa’s own tea was impeccable, but sometimes she allowed Jean to be the one to make them some. She must know, surely she must know that Jean had no idea what she was doing, how long the tea had to steep and what temperature the water needed to have.
Was that her way of training Jean to recognise these things on her own? Learning by doing? Or did she just not feel like getting up because she was sitting too comfortably, but still wanted tea?
Jean would probably never know.
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“This is.. purple?” Jean questioned when presented with the plate of spaghetti in front of her. A nod. Lisa smiled proudly and gestured for her to try it.
“Okay. I trust you” Jean did not look like she meant those words, but she ate nonetheless. Swallowing the previously dreaded bite with wide, wondrous eyes, Jean turned to Lisa in surprise. “This is amazing! ..What is it?”
Lisa winked, getting started on her own portion. A woman couldn’t just give away all her secrets, could she? Jean would just have to live with not knowing.
When they were finished, Jean insisted on being the one to wash the dishes. It was storming terribly outside, it was dark and the rain fell in buckets.
Perfect. Lisa spent all night trying to come up with an excuse to ask Jean to stay. Of course, she could just ask, but the thought made Lisa far too nervous and somehow, she thought to herself, she would rather jump in a pit of fire than ask Jean to stay just for the sake of staying.
Besides, Jean would probably tell her that she still had some work to do and bolt. But the storm outside would give her no choice.
She pulled on Jean’s hand until they stood in her bedroom, then rummaged around her closet to find a spare shirt and shorts for the blonde. Handing them to her, she went to the bathroom to change into a nightgown herself.
Once both were dressed, Lisa grabbed Jean by the front of her shirt and pulled her along, getting comfortable under the covers of her bed with Jean forced to follow.
She wouldn’t let Jean slink back out the room to sleep on the couch after all once she got settled, and Jean would. Her chivalrous Jean certainly would. She even trusted her to sleep on the floor before getting in bed with her on her own accord. So she took matters into her own hands, literally.
When Jean had made herself comfortable under the blanket next to her, Lisa blew out the candle at her bedside and cuddled into the blonde. Burying her face in Jean’s chest and wrapping one arm around her back, Lisa grew still.
When Jean started carding her fingers through her hair Lisa let out an appreciative hum and snuggled impossibly closer. Pressing her lips against the skin above Jean’s heart after a few minutes of having her hair caressed.
That single kiss was quickly followed by another, seeking out Jean’s lips in the darkness, Lisa missed and found her chin instead.
Jean spun them around, valiantly holding herself up by her hands and knees on the mattress. She found Lisa’s heart and returned the sentiment before kissing the tops of her breasts peaking out over her nightgown and kissing her way up to Lisa’s mouth.
When she finally reached her target, Lisa craned her neck up to meet her, clinging tightly to the fabric of Jean’s shirt and pulling, desperate for more bodily contact as Jean softly moved against her lips.
Lisa almost whined when Jean’s arms wouldn’t budge. She would let the blonde place her hands anywhere she desired and that infuriatingly chivalrous woman just didn’t use the opportunity.
Worse yet, the long, drawn out kiss that Lisa thought would lead to more, only lead to Jean leaning up to place a small, gentle kiss against her forehead, rolling them over again and pulling Lisa close with an arm around her shoulders and a hand on the back of her head.
“Good night, Lisa.” And Lisa was left alone with the sound of her own pounding heart and heavy breathing. Jean could not be serious right now.
After a lot of thought, she dug her fingers into Jean’s ribs and tickled until Jean was squealing and begging for her to stop.
*Okay! Okay, you win! I yield! Anything you want! Just stop!" Jean managed to yell out between laughter.
Smiling, Lisa fumbled to find Jean’s lips with her own in the dark.