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After the Lantern Rite, Liyue slowly returns to its regular pace: the streets, once crowded with tourists and locals all day long, are back to the familiar buzzing of vendors; the red, gold and yellow decorations are moved to give space to the usual colorful panels; and Ganyu, who only took the week off because Tartaglia begged her to take a break, was, much to her relief, back to her work.
The next big festival Tartaglia asked her to mark on her calendar was the Qixi. He most likely butchered the pronunciation when speaking this one, but neither Ganyu nor Zhongli, who was teaching him Liyuen, said anything. Either Tartaglia was getting better with his lessons or they decided it was a lost cause already.
Anyway, from what Tartaglia had heard while in the city, most people from Liyue didn’t celebrate Lovers’ day at the date he’s used to, which made sense considering it would conflict with the end of the new year’s celebration. So, Tartaglia did his research, and was relieved to see there were about six more months for him to prepare. He wondered if he should do something special on the 14th of the second month, but it was a mystery if Ganyu would even know about Valentine’s day.
Although she is closer to mortals than her Adepti companions nowadays, Ganyu is still very conservative in her beliefs. Every end of season she reports to Rex Lapis despite the fact that Zhongli has stepped down, and she’d be first to raise her weapon (perhaps second only to Xiao), if her Archon ever asks her to. Her doubts about the mortal’s abilities to command the nation by themselves were still very present, but this is something to be discussed between her and Keqing; Tartaglia expresses his point of view by challenging her to a duel and asking for a rematch everytime Ganyu pins him to the mountain wall with an array of arrows.
To be fair, Tartaglia doesn’t lose much when he has daggers in hand instead of a bow matching hers, but he does have an underlying suspicion Ganyu takes it easy on him on some days, mostly to her own amusement. Although Ganyu appreciates when Tartaglia climbs up the mountain to fetch her Qingxin flowers when he loses, she also enjoys spending the night away from the city per his request as the winner.
It’s been a few days since their last match, and Tartaglia starts to feel the days blending into one another the longer it takes to find something to distract himself. Friday wakes him up with a freezing breeze and, by noon, it had already made him take out his coat and scarf from how relentlessly the Sun has been shining down on his desk. If only moving it wouldn’t alert the whole bank, Tartaglia would’ve pushed it away from the sun's direct attack.
When his shift was finally over, Tartaglia sports a headache and a need to walk the long way to Ganyu’s workplace, maybe take her out to eat something cold, and spend the night together if she agrees.
It’s been some time since he’s been over to Ganyu’s house and, as much as he enjoys his apartment’s view of the harbor, it feels too empty for him to feel comfortable alone. On the other hand, Ganyu’s place always smells like flowers and cleaning products, it’s surprisingly cozy considering she doesn’t spend much time there, and, from his part, Tartaglia has slowly been leaving some things of his own around: a small stone statue of a white bear, his apron and cooking gloves, the twin sets of blue mugs he got as a present from his siblings. It’s not much, but it makes it feel like their house, and lately it’s been feeling like a second home to him too.
Tartaglia can’t help it, he feels at ease when Ganyu is by his side, and he hopes, a bit hopelessly, that Ganyu feels the same.
This is why, when he exits the bank from the back door, praying to whatever deity’s listening that no one asks him to stay overtime, he’s startled to see Ganyu there, about to enter.
Ganyu looks like she has appeared straight out of his innermost desire to see her, but the way her uniform is creased from spending too much time sitting on a desk is real, and her posture is a bit off balance… Ganyu is quick to move and brings her left arm behind her back, as if there was something that she wished to hide from view.
“Hey,” Tartaglia says, a seed of confusion growing in his chest. Why are you here ? is what he wishes to ask.
“Hi,” Ganyu murmurs back. She moves her eyes from side to side, a blush spreading out in her pale cheeks that doesn’t seem to come from the exertion of staying under the midday sun.
Slowly, Ganyu takes a step back, then another while raising her head to look at him. It seems almost like an invitation for him to follow, so Tartaglia starts to walk in her direction, taking small steps after each of her equally small steps, until they’re on the other side of the alley.
Standing in front of the wall, Ganyu smiles, and it’s bright and familiar enough to dissipate any ill-being from that particular day.
“This is for you.” From behind her back, Ganyu presents him a bouquet of Qingxin flowers, white as snow, as delicate as moonlight.
Tartaglia stares at the flowers, a wave of wonder washing over him. Carefully, he extends a hand in their direction, touching the large petals with the pads of his fingers, velvet texture underneath. Then it hits him: their fresh fragrance, as if they were picked right after they bloomed.
“For me?” He asks, because Ganyu is still blushing and her expression always makes his emotions go wire.
“Today is Lovers’ day, isn’t it?”
Tartaglia nods, still caressing the petals. He thinks they might be the softest flowers he’s ever seen.
“And as we’re… lovers…” Ganyu looks away even though her words are firm. “I thought I’d do something special.”
“Oh sweetheart.” Tartaglis can’t help but sigh at her care. With his other hand, he cups her face, pulling it up so Ganyu would look at him and, tenderly, presses a kiss on her forehead. “I really appreciate it.”
The skin is warm under his lips.
“I— I’m glad.”
Tartaglia can almost see the way Ganyu smiles, it’s small and contained, so he presses another kiss on the bridge of her nose, then lower at the cold tip, and down at her lips to coax a bigger smile from her. Not long after, Ganyu is giggling while Tartaglia peppers her whole face with warm kisses.
“Someone will come,” Ganyu tries to say with a breathy voice, pressing him away with a hand on his chest.
“So what? Can’t I kiss my lover on lovers’ day?”
Tartaglia presses one final kiss on her cheek before they hear the back door opening from behind them.
Before Tartaglia could reassure her, Ganyu is quick to take his hand and sprint down the alley to the open road. His laughter echoes to the sky, he can’t contain it inside, not when his heart is begging for him to shout to the whole Liyue how much Ganyu makes him happy.
The streets are familiar after a few turns, and Tartaglia adjusts his hold on Ganyu’s hand as they climb up the stairs to enter her neighborhood. It’s quiet at this hour, for most people are downtown visiting the night market while it’s at its peak.
“Will you stay?” Ganyu turns to him. Her eyes shine with content underneath the awkwardness of running away like they were a couple of teenagers, and the flowers on her hand sway slowly in the breeze, as if beckoning Tartaglia to think conscientiously about his answer.
“Do you want me to?” He asks instead, swinging their hands, because if they already behaved childishly before, they could get away with the innocent happiness that comes with it once more.
“Of course I do.” Ganyu’s smile is the most beautiful thing Tartaglia has ever seen, and sometimes he wishes he had learned more about poetry so as to have better words to describe it.
“Then I will.”
With an overdramatic bow, Tartaglia takes her hand close to his face, looking up at her while he presses a long kiss on the back of her glove. Not only does he wish to stay for the night, but, hopefully, Ganyu also wants him to stay longer in her life.