Work Text:
Rosaria’s heels click against the stone staircase at the Knights of Favonius Headquarters as she heads up to Albedo’s office. She’s been to his office before, often to corral him to bed after she’s returned from her nighttime jobs to see a light still shining from his office window.
(He’s stubborn, but when Rosaria catches him sleeping with his head resting on his desk, he usually listens and heads home.)
Today, though, the Headquarters is… considerably more lively. Even before Rosaria opens the door to Albedo’s office, she can hear Klee’s laughter, and as she swings the door open, she’s met by the sight of three Knights of Favonius covered in paper scraps, stickers, and glue, sitting in a circle on the floor.
They all look to the door when Rosaria enters, Klee jumping up to meet her. “Rosaria!”
“Hello, Klee,” Rosaria says, still taking in the sight before her as she pats Klee on the top of her head. She shifts her attention to Albedo and Kaeya, who look only slightly guilty about the mess. “Valerina asked us to make flyers for the Furball Fortress, not to redecorate Albedo’s office,” she says plainly.
“Maybe a redecoration was just what the space needed,” Kaeya laughs, “Wouldn’t you say, Albedo?”
“A change of scenery is always welcome,” Albedo says with a nod.
Rosaria shakes her head. “You three…”
Klee juts out her bottom lip. “Don’t be mad, Rosaria, we’ll clean up when we’re done! I promise!” Klee doesn’t pause long enough for Rosaria to respond before she says, “But look what I made!”
She rushes over to pick up a flyer and show it to Rosaria—it’s incredibly charming, with a little cat cut out of paper and glued to the center of the flyer, surrounded by star and paw-print stickers.
“Beautiful work, Klee,” Rosaria says, holding the flyer in her hands and appraising it like the priceless artwork it is. It’s certainly eye-catching, and the childlike touch will probably work in favor of the cat sanctuary.
“C’mon, now you’ve got to make one,” Klee says, tugging on Rosaria’s habit to lead her further into the room. Rosaria joins the others on the floor, and Klee promptly reaches up to place a sticker on Rosaria’s cheek. “You’ve gotta match,” she says like it’s a fact.
Rosaria chuckles, casting her gaze to the flyers that Albedo and Kaeya are working on: Albedo’s, to no one’s surprise, has a variety of cat sketches (and Rosaria vaguely wonders if Albedo’s using the opportunity to sharpen his cat anatomy skills), whereas Kaeya’s flyer makes more use of the paper scraps, creating a kaleidoscope-like background with cursive text over the top.
After taking a look at the supplies sitting out before her, Rosaria grabs a pair of scissors and gets to work cutting out the silhouette of a cat. They have plenty of work yet to do: Valerina asked for “a good amount” of flyers, which Rosaria assumes to mean at least twenty.
Klee’s already working hard on her next flyer, her tongue sticking out as she concentrates on putting stickers just so.
Really, Rosaria had considered just letting these three handle making the flyers themselves, because after a full day of church duties she couldn’t shirk, the last thing she wanted to do was more work. However, as she looks at the smiles on the faces of those around her as they craft their flyers together, she thinks—well, maybe it’s not really work.
She fashions some paper thorns for a border on her flyer, and as she’s gluing them down, Kaeya says, “So, Rosie, any plans for the night?”
Rosaria looks at him. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, Albedo and I were thinking… If you’re not busy, that is—”
“Spit it out, Alberich,” Rosaria teases, smoothing down the thorns to the flyer.
“Getting there,” Kaeya responds with a slight smile. “I heard that the Cat’s Tail is having a pretty deep discount on drinks tonight, so long as you play a round or two of cards while you’re there.”
One of Rosaria’s eyebrows shoots up. “Albedo wants to go for drinks with us?”
Albedo chuckles a little. “Perhaps just to play you in cards.”
“Don’t act like it’s a rare opportunity,” Rosaria responds, “If you weren’t so buried in your work, there would be plenty of time for cards.”
“Hey now,” Kaeya laughs, “You two clearly have different views on… overtime. But if you’re both up for it—”
“I want to come too!” Klee interrupts, and Rosaria sees that while they’d been talking, Klee has managed to put a sticker on each one of her fingertips. She stifles some laughter as Albedo explains to Klee that she will have plenty of fun hanging out with Jean and Lisa tonight, while peeling one sticker at a time off of her fingers.
“So, what do you say?” Kaeya asks, donning a rather charming smile.
Rosaria would have agreed regardless of Kaeya’s charm (cheap drinks are cheap drinks), but the prospect of spending some time with her partners certainly doesn’t hurt.
“I suppose it’s not too much of a bother,” Rosaria responds flatly.
Kaeya snorts. “Glad to hear that,” he says, rather used to her nonchalance, and they both return their focus to crafting flyers.
With four sets of hands on deck, the crafting session goes relatively quickly, save for a few detours—Rosaria didn’t hold in her laughter when Klee accidentally squirted glue into Kaeya’s hair—and the cleaning after they finish is less of a hassle than Rosaria expected. Klee, for as much of a mess that she can make, is also quite helpful with cleanup.
Albedo’s office doesn’t look much worse for wear once they’ve finished cleaning. Rosaria excuses herself to bring Valerina the flyers while Kaeya and Albedo bring Klee to Jean’s office, with the agreement to meet up at the Cat’s Tail once they’re all free.
As Rosaria walks to the Furball Fortress to meet Valerina, she flips through the flyers, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. It’s easy to tell who made which flyers, but all of them are rather cute. Sketches, paper clippings, and stickers decorate the colorful flyers, which will hopefully spread some awareness of the Furball Fortress—a gig that Rosaria would not admit aloud to enjoying as much as she does. When Rosaria hands over the flyers, Valerina fawns over them, saying that she will hang them up first thing the following morning.
With the flyers out of her hands, Rosaria makes her way to the Cat’s Tail; Kaeya and Albedo have found a table and ordered drinks while waiting for her to arrive. Three drinks sit around some player mats and dice, and Rosaria takes her seat in front of the glass of red wine.
Albedo smiles as she sits down, lifting a hand to her face and asking, “May I?”
Rosaria’s confused for a split second before she remembers—right, that sticker Klee put on her is still there. She nods, and Albedo gingerly unsticks it from her face, only to stick it right on Kaeya’s arm.
Kaeya feigns offense, as if he hadn’t been covered in stickers not half an hour earlier. Rosaria shakes her head, amused.
“All right, Albedo,” Rosaria says, setting her deck on the table, “Show me what you’ve got.”
Albedo scoops up the dice and the game begins. While Rosaria wouldn’t say she’s terrible at the game, Albedo certainly has a strategic mindset about him, and she finds herself devoting a bit more attention to the game than she initially planned. Usually when she and Kaeya play, Kaeya tries to distract her with conversation and flirting—Albedo, on the other hand, clearly wants to play Rosaria at her best.
Rosaria’s sure it makes his victory all the more satisfying. She laughs a little at the smug look on Albedo’s face as she clears off the play mat, and then she says, “Who would have guessed that Mondstadt’s resident nerd would beat me at cards?”
Albedo laughs and says, “Is that your way of being a sore loser?”
“Maybe,” Rosaria replies with a slight grin around the rim of her wine glass.
Kaeya, who had leaned back in his chair and finished his drink while the other two played cards (though probably had to hold himself back from distracting them several times during the game), now leans forward again, setting his empty glass on the table.
“Want another?” Rosaria asks, looking pointedly at Kaeya’s glass.
“I’d better not, if I want to play either of you without getting my ass handed to me,” he says with a chuckle. “But certainly after, another drink would not go amiss.”
Rosaria nods, settling in as Albedo and Kaeya begin to play.
The rest of the night passes just so, with cards and booze and some light banter. The following morning, when Rosaria wakes up in Kaeya’s bed, she slides out from beneath the covers, wishes her partners a hushed goodbye, and heads towards the church.
On her way, she sees several of their flyers plastered up around town and feels a warm swell in her chest. Oh, how Mondstadt has truly come to be her home. The basest pleasures surprise her when she truly examines them—and herself—because she never once thought in her youth that she would end up… happy. She pauses before a flyer Klee had made, one that depicts the four of them with cat ears and whiskers, all holding hands.
She smiles to herself and continues on her way.