𝚂𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙰𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 [𝚐.𝚒 𝚟𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚡 𝚐𝚗!𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛]

XV

You and Kaeya trekked to the temple, a comfortable silence resting between the two of you. The conversation with Venti still left you shaken, putting your hands in your pockets to hide the subtle trembling. Thinking about his eyes, his smile; it sent an unpleasant shiver down your spine.

“Something wrong?” Kaeya snapped you from your thoughts and you saw his head tilted towards you, a listening ear waiting.

You huffed a breath. “Just a tense conversation.”

“Mm, with the person you left me for?”

You rolled your eyes with a smile, missing the way Kaeya’s lips twitched with satisfaction. “I did not abandon you, I just went to go talk with someone about the Dvalin situation.”

“And you’re going to keep this mysterious someone a secret?”

You paused. Though you figured you yourself could trust Kaeya, Venti’s secret of being Barbatos was not your secret to tell, and Kaeya didn’t help in the original archon quest anyway, so did it really matter? No. But you still felt bad for lying.

“Unfortunately so.”

Kaeya hummed and you could feel the displeasure running off him in waves. “Alright.”

“Kaeya I don’t mean to hide this from you, but this person’s identity is not mine to tell.”

Kaeya turned to you, a soft look in his eye. “It really is alright. I understand.” Kaeya smirked, a glint in his eye that replaced the softness. “Is the traveler off the table? He’s quite the curious subject.”

You tilted your head back n’ forth. “Amber and I met him on the way to a hilichurl camp bust, he and his little fairy are traveling companions looking for his sister, who, apparently, is missing. He said he was going to the city his little companion led him too. According to her, they’re looking for the Anemo Archon to ask about his sister.”

“Ah, but does he know the Anemo Archon has not visited Mondstadt in many years?”

“I may have neglected to mention that.”

Kaeya raised his eyebrow. “You are interested in this traveler as well?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“You are being very vague today.” Kaeya swung his arm around your shoulder, a grin resting on his lips that let you know he wasn’t truly mad. “Are you planning something?”

You chuckled, leaning into his embrace. “Maybe.”

“A surprise I suppose it will be.”

-

You swiped your hand through your hair, blowing back any stragglers and flipping your sword so it rests on your shoulder. The temple was a mess, infested with more hilichurls and other monsters than you remembered, but you and Kaeya breezed through the hoard, taking out all the creatures with easy swings.

It was different fighting with someone rather than against them, especially Kaeya who you had only ever spared. The switching movements made you somewhat anxious but when he effortlessly covered your back as a particularly large group surrounded you two, you easily extended the same trust and ease to him, something you didn’t notice left a light smile on his lips and dust on his cheeks.

You shook your head, your hair whipping you in the face, to get your own heat rising to your face to die down. So it was nice to have someone watching your back and who trusted you enough to do the same for them, nothing to get too worked up over, but you couldn’t deny the flutter in your stomach.