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"I've always wondered what this room looks like," Kaeya said, his gaze traveling the expanse of the luxurious bathroom, over the marble countertops, dark-tiled floor, and navy drapes pulled closed over the windows. "We were never allowed into your mother's quarters when we were young."
"Well, they aren't her rooms anymore," Jean said. "Feel free to muddy up the floor as much as you like, unlike her I won't scold you for it."
"I'm not Diluc, I don't come traipsing inside the house with muddy boots," Kaeya said in mock offense.
Jean laughed at the memory of a young Diluc running through her family's estate, leaving a trail of dirty shoe prints as he tried to track down Jean, and her mother's resulting fury at his audacity. "Mother was not happy about that, was she?"
"She lectured him for a full fifteen minutes, did she not?"
"Longer," Jean said with a chuckle. She reached down to turn on the tap for the bathtub. "I don't have the same fancy soaps that Diluc has, so I hope you like the scent of calla lilies."
"Fancier soap than I use," Kaeya said, though Jean was sure that was untrue. "I asked for a warm bath and you've delivered, I don't care about the soap."
Jean smiled at him warmly. She'd been unsure at first, inviting Kaeya over to the Gunnhildr estate. So rarely do they meet up outside of work, and when they do, more often than not it's at one of Diluc's residences. Recently, both the Angel's Share and the Dawn Winery have felt more like a home to her than her own childhood home ever had. Living at her family's estate these days felt more like rooming at an expensive apartment, for all the comfort she found in its echoing halls.
Yet Kaeya had wanted a bath, a warm, cozy, candlelit bath, and unlike her and Diluc, his own apartment didn't have a tub that could accommodate them both. Since Diluc was 'taking care of business' at the Winery, a code they'd long since interpreted as "I can't have the Grand Master of the Knights and her right hand man witness me committing crimes on my own property," his spacious bathtub at the Dawn Winery manor was out.
So that left the Gunnhildr estate. She'd worried that Kaeya would notice her discomfort in her own home immediately and call her out on it, but surprisingly, she felt more at ease in her home than she had in months. His presence was soothing. It felt like a part of her core identity, who Jean felt she was outside of her mother's expectations of her, was finally able to exist in this building. With Kaeya, she felt like herself, like Jean, not like the Dandelion Knight, not like the daughter of the Gunnhildr legacy.
She stood and stepped in close to Kaeya, who'd begun disrobing. He was only left in his thin white undershirt and pants, now, bare of the ornaments and decorations he usually wore.
He paused in undressing as she reached for him and placed one hand on his cheek. "A bath was the right idea," she said softly.
He mirrored her touch and caressed her face, too. "I'm always full of good ideas, Jeanie," he murmured. He leaned in to press a gentle kiss against her forehead. "For my next good idea, I think you should take off some of these clothes."
"Not sure how I'd take a bath with them on," she teased, drawing back so she, too, could undress.
Kaeya had been neatly folding his clothes on the counter, but when he saw Jean discarding her own clothes in a heap on the floor, he said, "Oh, it's this kind of house, is it?" and promptly swept his pile of clothing onto the ground. He shrugged out of his shirt and tossed it dramatically aside, before shimmying out of his pants and kicking them off with a flourish.
She laughed. "Yes, it's that kind of house now." She finished undressing by taking out her earrings and placing them in a dish on the counter, alongside the few other pieces of jewelry she owned.
Behind her, Kaeya poured the soap under the running water, and soon the room was full of the rich scent of calla lilies. The soap foamed, creating a thick layer across the water.
Jean leaned against the counter and watched as Kaeya, now naked, stepped into the bath. She admired the outline of muscles in his back, lean and sinewy under his warm brown skin. He sank into the water, sliding down until only his head and the tops of his knees were visible, his legs bent and sticking out of the water.
Eyes closed, Kaeya sighed. "Aren't you going to join me?"
Jean pushed off the counter and did as he asked, stepping into the opposite side of the tub. She submerged herself, stretching her legs across the bottom of the bathtub. She nudged her leg against Kaeya's. "Without Diluc here, you've got room to stretch, love."
"Without Diluc here, the bath is going to run cold much faster," Kaeya mumbled.
"I don't have an entire household using up the hot water all day. We'll be just fine."
A smile quirked on Kaeya's lips. "Good, because I think I'd like to stay here forever."
For a while, they sat in a comfortable, hazy silence. When the water threatened to spill over the edge, Jean turned off the tap, and the sudden quiet amplified the sound of Kaeya's breathing, echoing off the stone walls of the room. Jean matched her own breath to his, with some effort. He was breathing much slower and deeper than she usually did.
"Oh," she said suddenly, opening her eyes. "I forgot to light the candles." She glanced over to the candles she'd brought in earlier, abandoned on the counter.
"If we keep wishing Diluc were here, we'll subconsciously give him a complex."
"I can handle a match, you know. We don't need his Pyro to light a few candles."
"But that would require getting out of the bath again, and I won't let you do that."
As if to prove his point, Kaeya reached for her, placing a hand on her thigh below the water.
"Oh, however will I escape your clutches," she teased, pulling her leg away. She started to rise.
"If you stay in the bath with me, I'll wash your hair for you."
Jean paused, then sank back down into the bath. "You play dirty, Captain."
"I can get dirtier than this, Grand Master." He motioned for her. "Turn around. I'll even give you a scalp massage."
They both shifted in the bath so that she was sitting between his legs, her back toward him. She passed him the shampoo, then tipped her head back to dunk her hair in the water. Kaeya poured the shampoo straight onto her head, making Jean chuckle.
When Kaeya pressed his fingers into her scalp and began to gently massage out her tension, Jean's mouth dropped open into a satisfied sigh. "You have magic fingers."
"I've been told," Kaeya said, amused. He lathered the shampoo into her hair with slow, deliberate movements.
Kaeya continued with his massage long after the shampoo had been evenly distributed. He dragged his nails across her scalp, sending shuddering tingles down her spine, then followed up with soothing pressure from his fingertips. She moaned aloud, unable to muster any embarrassment for her open display of pleasure.
Kaeya ran his hands down her neck to rest on her shoulders and softly said, "This reminds me of something."
"Hm, what?"
"The first time I gave you a massage like this. How long ago must that have been?"
Jean thought for a moment. "I'd forgotten about that."
He chuckled softly. "Was I really so forgettable? And here I thought you enjoyed me so much."
"Too much. I was embarrassed so I… tried not to think about it too much." For the months following that incident, she'd actually failed miserably in trying not to think about it. Kaeya's hands and mouth were all she could think about, and it was only after they became a real couple that her obsession with him toned down to a healthy level of sexual interest in her long-term partner.
"Embarrassed?" Kaeya said, suddenly sounding worried. "Trust me, nothing you did was embarrassing."
"I let it happen so easily," she said, her face burning with the memory of how she'd let a simple massage from Kaeya turn into his hand down the front of her pants and mouth on her neck. "I didn't even try to stop you, I was…" Pathetic? Desperate for affection? Starved for touch, no matter how inappropriate it was? She'd since resolved her worries about the imbalanced status of their relationship, considering she was his superior in the Knights, but back then it felt like she was taking advantage of him.
"Stop me?" Now Kaeya really did sound stressed. "Did you want me to stop, back then?"
"No, of course not." She turned to face him now, needing him to see the reassurance in her expression. "I'm saying that I was embarrassed by how much I wanted it, once it was offered. How much I wanted you."
"Good. I—that's good. If I'd overstepped, and you hadn't wanted it but I did it anyway—" He cut himself off and cleared his throat, then said, "I made a lot of assumptions that day. It just felt right to be with you like that, and then you seemed to be enjoying it, and you kept saying my name…"
"You assumed correctly, Kaeya. I wanted it." She reached for one of his hands, under the water. "And I believe you did ask me for consent, at one point, and I did say yes."
"Ah, how thoughtful of me," Kaeya said, but Jean could hear through his humor the lingering tension in his voice.
"Sweetheart," Jean said, a wave of fondness for him overtaking her. "You were being thoughtful. If I recall, you were helping me relax. Like you're doing right now."
Finally, he seemed to be assuaged. "You seemed like you needed it."
"I did. Still do. I'm not sure what I'd do without you."
A warm smile crossed his face and he looked down, at their intertwined hands below the water. "I think I'd miss you, if we never fell in love."
"I think I'd miss you, too." She didn't point out that they wouldn't know what they were missing, if they'd never had it, because she simply couldn't imagine what her life would look like without him. She'd always need him in some way, either as a partner, a friend, or even a companion in the Knights. She relied on him in ways she couldn't rely on anyone else, even including Diluc.
Kaeya continued to avoid her gaze, and Jean knew it was time to give him some space and lighten the conversation once more. She turned back around and said, "I think it's time to rinse out my hair, then I can wash yours."
Kaeya made a soft, affirmative noise. Jean reached for a nearby basin and filled it with fresh water from the tap to rinse the shampoo from her hair. Kaeya wordlessly took over for her, tapping her on the shoulder and then taking the basin from her hands.
Once finished, they adjusted so she could offer the same service to Kaeya in return. She knelt in the tub and he sat between her knees so she could shampoo his hair, taking as much time with him as he did for her. After she rinsed his hair, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek to his head.
"The water is still warm," she murmured. It would have been warmer if Diluc were with them, as Kaeya said earlier, but they couldn't always have him around as their personal space heaters. Sometimes Jean wished he'd come to Headquarters with her just to sit beside her at her desk and keep her warm with his all-encompassing Pyro energy.
"Can I tell you something that might sound strange?" Kaeya said.
"Of course."
"I don't miss Diluc like I used to."
Jean hesitated, confusion making her stiffen slightly.
"I don't mean that I don't miss him at all," Kaeya said quickly. "I miss him constantly, when he's not around. But the distance from him doesn't scare me like it used to."
"You know he'll come back," Jean interpreted, suddenly understanding exactly what Kaeya meant.
Kaeya nodded. "For so long it felt like if I looked away for too long he'd just disappear."
Jean knew that feeling, too. "Yeah." She smiled softly. “I trust him, even if he is probably up to no good right now.”
“He’ll inform me of the details once he returns, I’m sure.”
“And I’ll hear about it on a need-to-know basis?”
Kaeya turned his face so he could grin up at her. “Exactly. We have a nice system all worked out, us three.”
“Never ask me to write down how it works, I don’t think I could.”
“Diluc would be mortified if we made written records of any of his activities.”
“Yet I bet he has files on us tucked away in his office.”
“I hope they include nude reference drawings," Kaeya said. "We could ask Albedo to draft some for him, if he’s missing them.”
“You will not, and he does not,” Jean said, laughing. She kissed Kaeya’s cheek, enamored by his adorable banter. “Now, would you like to get out of the bath, love?”
He closed his eyes and settled back against her chest. "A few more minutes. I like being held by you like this."
"Then let me sit properly so we can stay here for a while."
Jean adjusted so she was straddling him from behind, her legs on either side of his waist. He tipped his head back, using her shoulder as a pillow, as she gently wrapped both arms around his torso.
They stayed that way for a while, pressed together beneath the warm bath water. The suds had all but dissolved, and Jean admired the way the rippling water fractured the image of their bodies beneath the surface.
When it was finally time to get out, they each donned a bathrobe, stitched with the Gunnhildr crest over the pocket. Jean thought it was a silly expense, but her mother had paid good money so that their loungewear would reflect the status of their clan. Frederica's peculiarities could be seen in every aspect of their estate.
Before heading back to her bedroom with Kaeya, Jean snagged a bottle of wine and a box of chocolate dipped strawberries from her kitchen. The wine had been a gift from Diluc, the strawberries from Kaeya, and she'd had no inclination to open either until one of them was there to enjoy it with her.
Bundled in their robes, Jean and Kaeya sat on the bed together and enjoyed the delicacies. Kaeya drank half his glass of wine then began to drift, the combination of the warm bath and the alcohol after a long day settling heavy upon him. Jean, though relaxed, was far from falling asleep. She gently took Kaeya's wineglass from him, afraid it might slip through his fingers as he struggled to keep himself awake and upright.
"I wasn't finished with that," Kaeya murmured, sluggish hands reaching for the glass again as she set it aside.
"I know, love, but these are white sheets and you're losing your balance."
"I thought you didn't care about stains."
Smiling, she leaned in to kiss his forehead. His eyes fluttered closed and he swayed gently, as if he might pass out and topple over any moment.
She carefully guided him to lay down against the bed. He tried to take her with him, tugging on the front of her robe, so she acquiesced and laid beside him.
"I wanted to maybe…" Kaeya's voice was a low murmur, hardly audible. "Have sex or something…"
She couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her. "Like this? I think that would be taking advantage of you, sir."
"I'm fine with that," he mumbled. He tried to turn over, but he got as far as turning his head on the pillow before giving up. "It'd be only fair…"
"We always have the morning, sweetheart."
"You're gonna stay up all night while I'm just laying here."
"I'll read until I'm tired. Now stop trying to sleep with me and you go to sleep, instead." She kissed his cheek, and his skin was soft and warm beneath her lips.
"Morning," he said, so softly that it took Jean a moment to register the word he'd said. Then the lingering tension in his body dissolved and he settled against the sheets, finally unconscious.
Jean admired the profile of his face; his sharp nose and cheekbones, his thin lips, the scar that ran through his eye, marring the skin of his forehead, eyelid, and cheek below it. He was so unbelievably beautiful like this, relaxed and at ease. She loved that he'd fallen asleep so easily in a new bed, in her bed.
She wondered what it might be like to share this bed with him again. To share this house with him, to share her entire life with him. Diluc would always keep his estate at the Winery, of course, but it seemed suddenly silly that she and Kaeya still lived apart. Even Diluc could stay here when he was in the city, instead of sleeping in the dusty loft above the Angel's Share.
Jean wondered what her mother might think, if she came home from her expedition and found that the two bad influences of Jean's youth had moved into her family home with her. Frederica would be horrified to find Jean settled in with two men and would likely throw a fit, but Jean found she didn't care.
Perhaps she could bring up the idea to Kaeya in the morning, and see what he thought of moving in with her. She expected anxiety to accompany that thought, too, but still she found none. She wasn't worried about asking Kaeya to live with her, even if he said no. She wasn't worried of what her mother might think, because it wouldn't change anything. Jean was in love with both Kaeya and Diluc, and they'd established a relationship that was far more stable than any of the examples Frederica had set for Jean.
Feeling content, Jean gave Kaeya one last kiss against his temple, then grabbed her book from her bedside table. She snuggled in beside him and began to read.
She could really get used to evenings like this.