Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

While Mika was always glad to get more experience, being away from Mondstadt on the expedition was starting to take a bit of a toll on him. So when Grandmaster Varka asked him to deliver a letter, he gladly took the opportunity to see his hometown again. 

But, standing here at the shoreline of Cider Lake, he felt a slight sense of hesitation.

Alright, Mika. He told himself, taking a deep breath. You haven't seen these people in months, and you have a lot of things to catch up to with the Stormterror threat and everything, but you can do this. Just act natural.

As expected, Mika got off to a great start by colliding with a person before he even entered Mondstadt.

He responded with the totally casual and normal thing to say when someone bumps into you, which is obviously:

"ohmyarchonsiamsosorryishouldhavebeenmorecarefulareyouok"

After a few seconds of profusely apologizing to the stranger (despite not being the one who ran into her), Mika finally thought to offer his hand to the stranger. The blonde person accepted his help, getting to their feet.

Mika took a second to observe the stranger. She had short hair, which was a shade of blonde that was a lot lighter than Mika's. She wore an ornate white dress, the style of which was completely unfamiliar to Mika. He took note of the sword that she carried on her back, as well as the small floating fairy-like thing floating next to her.

"Oh, no, it's fine. It's actually my fault, I should have been more careful." the stranger said, dusting herself off. She looked up at Mika. "Have we met before, by the way?"

"Hm, now that Paimon thinks about it, Paimon hasn't seen you around either.." The small creature calling itself Paimon crosses her arms, looking at Mika somewhat suspiciously. 

"Oh, that.. that would probably be because I haven't been in Mondstadt in a while.." Mika said softly, silently cringing at himself. He really wish that he didn't talk so awkwardly. However, the stranger seemed unfazed. "I don't.. think that I've met you either." he continued, "A-are you a traveler?"

"Mhm. People call me Lumine. I just arrived in Mondstadt a few days ago." Lumine said, nodding. "And you?"

"Oh, m-me? I'm.. Mika. I'm part of the Knights of Favonius Reconnaissance company. It's-it's nice to meet you."

Lumine opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could, Mika started walking away.

"imsosorrybutihavetogonowalrightbyehaveafantasticday"

And as he was dashing away, Mika could vaguely hear Lumine and Paimon speaking to each other.

"Well, that was weird. He said two things to us and just left abruptly.. He looked like he was scared of us."

"He definitely did.. But we probably shouldn't take it too seriously. The Knights seem like they're always busy with one big important problem or another. Anyways, we should probably get going. Don't want to miss out on commissions."

Chapter Text

(POV: Lumine)

By the time Grandmaster Varka's letter was finished and Jean had dismissed everyone, the Knights of Favonius Headquarters was almost empty, spare for Lisa and Jean, who were whispering to each other at the side of the room, and Kaeya and Mika on the other side, who seemed to be conversing with each other.

"Hey, Lumine?" Paimon said, pointing towards Mika. "That's the kid who read the letter, right? Didn't we also meet him at the bridge?"

"What, you only just noticed?" Lumine said, rolling her eyes at Paimon. "No wonder you're able to float, you're so light because you don't have anything in your head."

Ignoring Paimon's angry grumbling, Lumine continued. "I wonder what him and Kaeya are talking about. Let's go see, shall we?"

Lumine and Paimon approach the pair. Lumine noticed that Mika looked kind of uncomfortable. Lumine honestly couldn't blame him, with how Kaeya could be sometimes. 

"Hey there, Kaeya! Hi, MIka!" Paimon said, waving.

"Oh, hello Traveler!" Kaeya turned to face Lumine, his usual sly smile on his face. "Mika and I were just talking about you." he continued, gesturing towards Mika. Lumine glanced momentarily at him. Mika looked relieved, almost as if salvation had finally come.

(We're still basically strangers, but he looks so relieved to see me. I wonder what that's about.)

"Oh yeah, Mika!" Lumine smiled. "We've met each other before. Just a few hours ago, actually."

"W-wait, so you're.. you're the Honorary Knight Captain Kaeya was telling me about?" Mika stammered. "Wow.. I-I was just heading about how.. about how you helped Mondstadt with Stormterror?"

"Yeah, that would be me.. But still, it's not like I did it without help." Lumine responded, glancing behind her at Jean.

"W-well, yeah, but still.."

"Oh? Mika, you're usually not this flustered, even around strangers. I dare say that you've taken a personal liking to the Traveler." Kaeya said, breaking the awkward silence and replacing it with even more awkward sound. 

Lumine glanced over at Mika, who'd gone beet red and gone completely silent.

(Alright then, I guess it's up to me to come up with a way to get us out of this conversation.)

"Ahem. By the way, Mika. I was just about to head into Wolvendom to get some Wolfhook berries for a commission. Want to come with me?"

"Oh?- Oh! Of course! I'll.. I'll come with you!"

And with that, Mika dashed out of the lobby before anybody could say anything else (that seemed to be his specialty). Lumine briefly waved goodbye to Kaeya before going to join him, and Paimon followed after.

Outside of the Knights of Favonius building, Mika and Lumine turned to face each other.

"Wow.. Paimon knows that Kaeya likes to mess with people, but that was a bit.. weird."

Lumine shrugged, "Well, it's certainly not the worst I've seen from him."

"Is there actually a commission, or did you just.. say that to get us out?" Mika asked.

"Oh, no, I do have a commission saying that," Lumine responded, checking her equipment. "It just depends if you want to come or not."

"Oh- S-sure, I'll come with you! I've been in Wolvendom a few times, and I think I have it mapped out.."

"Alright, that's settled then! Next stop, Wolvendom! I'll race you two there!"