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Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines ft. T.I. & Pharrell


Chapter 9: a Villain’s Departure

Hero Kaeya x Villain male reader

Summary: Nieblina was just a stop along your journey. This, your friends didn’t know.

Word Count: 3,600

Warnings: arguments, fighting, crying

Mayb’s notes: Wrote this in two days? After spreading out chapter 8 within several months??

Kaeya was restless.

Even if the day had been long, even if his feet ached, even if he laid in the swimming comforts of your bedsheets.

He could hardly close his eyes. So, he busied himself with planning.

“We’re leaving tomorrow.” You say for the umpteenth time, “I’ll pick up Nyx and Raph at the stables and you’ll go around asking for information. We’ll meet by the entrance. I won’t be taking longer than five minutes. The wait alone won’t be hard.”

He sits with one leg up and the other laying across the length of the bed, his torso resting against a pillow. Clearly he wasn’t going to be sleeping anytime soon. He stares to the side, at the stars and the moon of the sky.

“Or?”

“We can get them together.”

“Right.”

Kaeya can make out the sound of your amused laugh at his side. You’re laughing at him, he knows, at his request for unnecessary repetition and his restless shuffling and impatience. The night was still young and he needed to rest, else he spends the rest of it paranoid under the bright moonlight.

“What of your friends?” He asks, now; a new question.

Regardless, you don’t see the need for him to ask. “What of them?”

“Will they be alright with your sudden departure?”

You think about it but for a moment. You’re sure they would be fine. After all, you were far from a settler. They knew you traveled often and they knew you’d be back sometime. This, you were sure of. “Of course they’ll be.”

“Are you sure?”

Although, were you really? “Yes.” You hoped so.

“What of Morden, then? He doesn’t quite seem the type.” Kaeya, tonight, was full of doubts, as he was the past week and the past month; ever since the misterious plague had arisen. This was a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long while, not for eight years, and he certainly hadn’t missed it.

“And he isn’t the type. A single day of reconcile will not be enough for him, that is certain, but he will have to understand as he always does.”

“Always?”

“Always.”

Kaeya frowns to himself, staring down at his hands only illuminated by moonlight. He then turns and meets your eyes.

You’re staring at him, half smile on your face, head leaning against the fist you’ve propped up on an elbow. There’s a tiredness in your droopy eyes, and he can tell you’re only staying up because of him. Him and his doubts.

“You’re sure of it?”

You laugh again, “Yes, darling, I am.”

He lets his gaze drift away to the young night sky again. But… even with the reassurance, he was sure of something different than you were. Despite knowing the man for nought but a day, he felt like he knew how he would react. “He wouldn’t convince you to stay? With him?”

“With him?” You chuckle at the idea and begin to speak again, if not for your realization. “Are you jealous?”

“What?” His gaze snaps to you again. “No.” He replies, all too gruff and quick.

“Areyousure?”

He scoffs, “Yes. Yes, I am.”

His eyebrows are furrowed and, quite clearly, you can see his irritation. Though, this was another thing you were sure of, his jealousy; and so, you continue to prod him open. “Then what is causing the doubts about him? About me staying with him?”

Kaeya purses his lips, having been finally caught. His jealousy hadn’t been apparent to him, not in a clear way. It had only been feelings, frustration he hadn’t quite decyphered. Iamjealous, he realizes.

But he does not admit it.

He leaves the question unanswered, though his silence clearly proves your point. You smile, though he only sees it through his peripheral. Even if you would usually flaunt your triumphance, tonight was not the time. You were too tired and you were sure he was too, even through his uneasiness.

“We’ve discussed our plan twice over, and then some.” You announce with flair, arms splayed out to silently ask him to come to you. “So come here, let your mind rest. It’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”

Kaeya sighs. He hoped you were right. For now, he should listen to you.

When he finally relaxes in your arms, back against your chest and hands holding yours as they intertwine in front of you, you feel as though you’ve gained a victory. “‘Sides, Morden’s place is messy.”

The knight laughs, forgetting his worries but for a second. He’ll allow himself to, instead focusing on you and your embrace.

The next morning, unlike the one before, he wakes with you.

“Hey.” You greet, a small, groggy smile upon your lips.

“Morning.” He replies.

Sometime in the night, he’d shifted to face you. His head still lays upon your pillow, and yours upon your fist, just like the night before.

The strip of your hair that hangs just shorter than the rest stands out in the morning sunlight. He tucks it behind your ear. You notice this, of course, and smile. He smiles sheepishly too. You take his hand, which couldn’t help but linger, in yours and push it to your cheek. Kaeya traces his finger along your cheekbone, feeling the warmth of you. “What time is it?”

“Just after sunrise.” You chuckle, “You missed the view.”

He notices you’re about to speak again, but of course, he knows what you’ll say. “Of me, right?”

You give him only an amused smile, “You know me well.”

The moment only lasts a little while, and in that time, he almost forgets what is to come in the day ahead. His realization comes with a groan as you pull yourself to sit up. “We should start our day, else we run late on our plan.”

“We should.” He agrees, though he stays in his position for a little more time, watching you wake up for a second time that day.

He watches intently as you rub the sleep out of your eyes with a yawn, then stretch your arms and legs as far as you can. He can almost feel how nice they feel himself. Afterwards, you turn back to him, “You were saying?”

“Right.”

The morning, nor the planning of the night before, hadn’t done anything to put him at ease. Soon, he would be out in the wild with nothing but travelers’ hearsay of plague to follow; back in the fogged forest, then whatever came afterwards. He wasn’t used to wilderness; Mondstadt’s walls were all he knew, if not that, then the fields of its outskirts.

It was as though his own Grand Master wanted to keep him within Mondstadt when he took all the horses at the Cavalry Captain’sdisposal.

But, for the moment, he had to think about something else. He had to distract himself, thus he did so with work. It came to you as a bit of a surprise when he decided not to fetch the horses with you, though it was quickly covered up by joy. His attachment to you in a 'dangerous’ place like Nieblina was apparent, so it was nice for him to step out on his own. It showed you he understood that the people weren’t bad.

Kaeya’s first stop was the 'Ducklings Dung’ bar, which was the name he’d missed the day before. Before stepping in, he takes a deep breath. He does stuff like this all the time, that is, activating his charming side in the hopes of athering information. This time shouldn’t be all too different.

The bar wasn’t all that full this morning, but that wasn’t a problem. The bartender, he knew, held the most secrets. “Never did catch yer name. You’re not here with (y/n)?”

Kaeya shakes his head and leans against the bar counter.

The bartender notes his stance, how he doesn’t sit, and already knows what is to come. The stranger wasn’t going to be here for long.

“It’s Kaeya.” With those words, he pulls down his hood.

The bartender snickers just at the sight of him, “Ye look just like Morden.”

He offers a nice, small smile, “I’m aware of that. But, I can assure you, I am nothing like him.”

“That’s good!” She exclaims in return. “We don’t need two no-gooders livin’ in this bar. So, what can I get ya? I see it’s not drink fer sorrows you seek.”

“That’s right. I’m looking for information.” He prepares himself to ask the hardest question, “Do you have a price?” A woman like this bartender wouldn’t take too kindly to it. She was too headstrong, ever, to accept even bribes for valuables. Those things couldn’t be paid for with currency.

She gives him an apprehensive stare up and down, “Depends.” Her mood changes entirely from good spirits to serious and careful.

“Do you know of a plague?”

“Sure,” She busies herself with cleaning a pint cup, “I know of plenty. You mean ongoing ones, though?” Kaeya nods. “Then it’ll be the 'Blood Parade’.”

His interest was piqued. “Tell me about it.”

“I have a price.” He hums in agreement, so she continues, “All I need is to know what you need this information for. I’d apologize for being nosy, but you’re a new face around here. Rumours say you’re not staying for long, either.”

Rumours? They’d already formed about him? He shakes his head, “I hope you won’t speak of this to anyone else?”

She nods, “My lips are sealed.”

“Then, I’m trying to find its origin in the hopes it’ll help me find a cure.”

The bartender’s face immiedately scrunches up. “I know one that has done this before, and you do too. I suggest you ask them about it, but the search was long, and the results barren. You do not want to do this.”

“This plague is affecting my city.” Kaeya insists, “I have to do this for them.”

“Then you’re a fool.” For a moment she pauses, though Kaeya stays to see if she’ll continue. Noticing his persistance, she sighs. “But the price has been paid. I’ll tell you of the Blood Parade.”

Then, he spoke with different vendors. Specifically, those who sold wares that originated from nations allied to Mondstadt or were of those nationalities. The problem, however, was that they often varied. Some held disdain for their previous home, others only gained their information from travelers, and the rest did not know of strife within their hometown.

The King of Mondstadt had held the news of plague under wraps, in fear of news spreading of the kingdom’s momentary weakness. He did not need his (dishonest) powerful reputation being stained. Perhaps allied Kings knew of the problem, but it was evident that the citizens did not; especially if they were citizens no more.

In some occassions, he knew about their former nation more than they did.

“You want to ask me of Fontaine?” The vendor snickers, knocking her hook hand against her table as if it were funny. “I barely know 'er. Been exiled since I turned the ripe ol’ age of sixteen. Sorry, boy, I’ve got nothin’ to tell ya.”

Kaeya can’t stop his exclaim of surprise, “Really?”

“As real as the stars.” She smiles sullenly, eyes drifting off to her wares; the only thing that connects her to Fontaine anymore.

“How do you cope with that?”

Her lips press into a thin line, “Some days I sit by the docks and admire the water. Fontaine was often described as the City of Oceans, right? I can’t quite remember anymore.” She laughs drily, “Some other days, I simply cannot. Being freshly sixteen and leaving your hometown, your parents and your friends… It’s not easy to deal with.”

Kaeya sympathizes, gloomy frown of his own spread across his face. The vendor notices this and asks, “Left your town too, have you? For good?”

“Not for good, no.” He scoffs, “But I have not left it for longer than a week since I’d arrived, I was only a kid. You can imagine the attachment I have for it, Mondstadt.”

She chuckles lowly to herself, “I don’t have to imagine. Well, uh- What’s your name?”

“Kaeya.”

“Well, Kaeya,” She clasps her flesh hand on top of his shoulder reassuringly, “You’ll get over the homesickness. You’ll come to accept the bitterness of it all. Eventually, you’ll feel whole again. Leaving is hard, but life goes on. You can’t stay behind, 'else you’ll get dragged down below surface by the waves of your sorrows.”

He nods appreciatively, “That’s good advice, miss..?”

“Not miss, nor missus.” She declares indignantly, “Just call me Vyra.”

“Thank you, Vyra. I visited Fontaine just over a month ago, by the way.” Vyra’s face lights up. “She is still the City of Oceans you remember, and she is doing better than ever.”

“That’s good to hear, Kaeya.”

The last people to seek information from were travelers. A great many people were travelers, and in Mondstadt, he’d only have to find a new face to identify one. But he was new here too, so he didn’t know the faces of new nor old differently. He would need your help for this one.

When he meets you at the rendezvous point, you’re waiting for him; evidently bored as you create random, purely aesthetic sparks of color in front of you. The horses are already packed up and ready to go, all that was missing was him.

“Took your sweet time.” You remark light-heartedly with a smile. “You ready to leave?”

“Not quite.” He ignores your little sigh, “I’ve asked vendors and I’ve asked bartenders. I have info on what we’re looking for, and traces. All we’re missing though, is the travelers. They don’t stand out for me.”

You shrug, “Okay, makes sense. But tell me about what you know first.”

“Well,” He starts, “The plague we found in Mondstadt is widely known as the Blood Parade. You know what that reminds me of?”

“The ball music.”

“That’s right. The plague parades through town, quickly infecting everyone in its path. Parades are signs of celebration, and this ball clearly is too. What nation is celebrating with a ball soon?”

You search through your mind for hearsay you might’ve heard throughout your travels.

There’s Mondstadt’s own festivals, though you were sure the King (being a puppet) wouldn’t be capable of invoking an entire plague.

Then there’s Sumeru’s festivals, but Sumeru didn’t have any areas for balls, giving away all large enough spaces for libraries or laboratories.

Finally, there was Fontaine. Fontaine was fond of their classical music and ball dances, and their Queen’s liking for grandeur certainly fit the need for 'perfect musicians’, as you’d heard when examining the plague-ridden corpse.

“Fontaine.”

“We have a suspect.” Kaeya declares. “Anyway, most bartenders told me what we knew already, as well as places ridden by plague. They’re mostly fairly small Kingdoms –though they can handle plague better than Monstadt’s King– currently struggling through sickness. It’s safe to assume they’re not causing it, nor do they have a cure.”

“Worth a visit anyway, right?”

Kaeya analyzes your hopeful look, pleading eyes, raised eyebrows, downcast face… He couldn’t say no to you, but it was extremely dangerous. “We can’t guarantee protection, a way to help them, nor our own safety.”

You sigh, “It may help us find traces. I do agree that we cannot guarantee our safety, but we also cannot guarantee we’ll find clues in places were the plague isn’t prominent.”

“Then it shall be our last resort.” That, you could agree on.

“What about the vendors, then?”

“Unfortunately, most were disconnected from their former lands. Those that did know something had nothing to say of the plague. If the other powerful nations hid the plague as well as Mondstadt did, then it’d be even harder to get information over here.”

You nod. It made sense. Nieblina was isolated and the people were outcasts. Perhaps it was only wishful thinking. “Then off to the travelers, yeah?”

“Travelers?” The both of you turn towards the entrance of the stables, were Lorelai stands, seemingly shocked.

“Lorelai?”

“(Y/N).” Almost as instantly as shock paints her face, anger comes. Her eyebrows furrow and she frowns deeply, “You’re leaving.”

“Why…” You deflect her statement, “why are you here?”

“Lester said I’d find you here.” The bartender… Kaeya realizes she told Lorelai, and possibly Morden too.

He hadn’t thought of the possibility, but if he had, he wouldn’t think it much of a problem. Clearly, he was wrong, and so were you. You’d lied to him. Your friends were certainly not going to take this lightly, and it was already taking effect with Lorelai.

“You’re leaving.” Lorelai says again.

You quickly find an excuse, “I’m merely attending to my horse.”

Her eyebrows furrow even deeper as she analyzes the saddle and bridle on both your horses, meaning they were ready to leave. She knows you’ll lie, so she turns to the stablehand, “How much longer are you keeping the horses?”

“I was told to keep them for a mere two days.”

“When?”

“The night before yesterday.”

“You’re leaving.” She repeats, “Stop lying to me.” Her eyes, as wild as they’d seemed the night before, seem much different now.

There was no more denying. “I’m leaving.” You confess.

Her eyes seem sad.

Lorelai’s nose scrunches up, “Why? Why are you leaving?” She doesn’t give you time to respond, “You’ve only been here a day, and you’ve been traveling for a month prior. There’s no reason for you to leave. You don’t have debts to settle. You’ve seen the world twice over. You’ve found your old lover boy. So why?”

You move to speak, but she interrupts, “It better not be what Lester told me.”

You shoot him a look and he can only manage an apologetic one. “What’d Lester say?”

“You’re chasing another plague.” She stalks forward, heels digging hard into the stable’s dirt floors. “This one’s going to kill you, (y/n).”

This one?

“Lorelai-”

“Don’t deny it.” She stabs her accusatory finger against your chest, “Don’t deny me.”

“Lorelai, I’ll be fine.” You assure, placing your hands on her shoulders so as to soothe her in a way, “I’m not doing this alone, and-”

“Why are you leaving us?” Lorelai interrupts. Her eyebrows furrow and raise and suddenly her eyes find it hard to keep themselves open, “Why are you leaving me?”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“You are.” She cries out, “You are!”

“What’s going on?” Morden bursts into the stables, Zero close behind. He takes sight of your furrowed brows and deep frown, the tears streaming down Lorelai’s conflicted face, and Kaeya by the corner.

“(y/n)’s leaving for another plague.” Zero fills him in.

Immediately, Morden’s face falls. But instead of just blaming you, he’s coming down hard on Kaeya. “It was you, wasn’t it, pretty boy? You’re convincing (y/n) to do this?”

While Lorelai’s anger had morphed into sadness, Morden’s anger was going to stay angry. “You don’t know how the last time went, how hard (y/n) tore himself apart. It was a madman’s search and you; you, Kaeya, are a madman.”

Kaeya raises his hands in surrender, “I’m only trying to protect my nation-”

“And it’s the one that betrayed (y/n), but you’re stringing him along.”

“Shut up Morden.” The man quickly snaps his head to you, “Shut it. I’m following along on my own will. I’m leaving.”

“Are you listening to yourself?” He asks in disbelief.

“Yes.” In a quick motion you turn away from Lorelai, who almost doesn’t stop herself from falling forward as you do. She reaches out to grab you by the shoulder but you’re quick to deflect her.

“The people need help, Morden. Zero, I know you understand. Lorelai, as I once helped you, I have the instinct to help others.” You beckon Kaeya to follow with the gesture of your hand. “Nieblina is an isolated town. You have no idea how bad it is out there; out where the plague marches through town like it’s nothing but a pile of hay.”

“What we do have an idea of is how hard you put yourself into your work!” Lorelai shouts. “This’ll be the death of you.”

As you grasp the saddle, ready to mount up, Morden puts a hard hand atop your shoulder. This one, you can’t shake off. “You can’t spend the rest of your days searching in the wake of death. We tried to help you last time, but you shook us off. If you’re going to the same thing again, then… then we’re not going to try anymore.”

Kaeya has a view of your face, but they don’t. He can see how hard you’re taking this, he can see your closed eyes and gritted teeth. But he knows you, and he knows you’re going to stand your ground.

You don’t offer anymore words. Instead, you mount up in silence. Kaeya does nothing but follow your lead.

As the two of you leave the stables, you don’t so much as spare a glance. He does, though, a final one. He stares at your friends: Lorelai in her tearful anger, Morden in his rage, and Zero in their silent conflict.

It made him feel all wrong. It reminded him of how Diluc left him that night after he’d used his newfound cryomancy against him for the first time. It reminded him of how he left Mondstadt, how he left his best friends and knights.

“Are you coming?” You ask, and he can hear your frustration as clear as day.

“I am.” Is all he says.

You leave them all behind.


Chapter 8: a Friendship Between Villains

Hero Kaeya x Villain male reader

Summary: There’s a couple more errands you need to run before you inevitably leave Nieblina, one of them includes meeting your ‘loose’ friends. And Kaeya? Well, you couldn’t just leave him behind.

Word Count: 5,555

Warnings: swearing, alcohol consumption, suggestive mentions, mentions of violence

Mayb’s notes: It’s been four months I’m sorry :c

Rustling, outside his—your bedroom door. What could that be? With how tense he was right before drifting off, the sound of creaking wood panels, even if slight, woke him up.

It was most likely you, of course. Who else would it be?

Still, paranoia was creeping into him. He’s never actually slept outside Mondstadt or the reassurance of his colleagues’ presence. The only comfort he can find here is that he’s in your bed, but even that comfort is scarce after what happened beforehand.

Regardless, whoever’s making those footsteps isn’t being careful; in fact, it seems they could care less if they were making noise. That seemed an awful lot like you, didn’t it? With a relieved sigh, he settles back into the sunken shape of his body in the matress.

You only seem to think of him once you’re in the room. Your steps would be nearly completely silent if it weren’t for the fact he knew you were there.

Kaeya remains silent, trying his best to bask in the void that is sleep; Regardless of his wishes, he can’t, knowing you’re here yet not knowing why.

Then he hears more footsteps, and suddenly, the moonlight he just barely registers from behind his eyelids ceases to shine almost entirely.

He opens his eyes to see you sitting on the window sill. “Can’t sleep?”

His voice is calm, you note; despite the fight you had earlier. It’s the calm after the storm, if there is such a thing.

“Not exactly.”

Then it clicks. There was the last room by the hall, your bedroom, and one room to the right, the bathroom, he surmises. You didn’t have more than one bedroom, after all. Still, it doesn’t seem to answer why you’re here. Had you forgotten that he was sleeping here? He thought you more clever than that.

Kaeya sighs again, not in relief nor in annoyance, but disappointment. How could you have let him have the only bed in the house?

“Come here.” And, he thinks, you’re the only person he can rely on right now. He pulls back the blanket to let you in and pats the spot next to him.

You shake your head and huff out a pitiful laugh from your nose, “You sure?”

“Barely. Get over here before I change my mind.”

You shake your head at him once more before climbing in next to him.

Kaeya thinks it’s cold, despite feeling completely fine earlier with the exact same covers and matress and howling wind. The only new thing is you. Then he realizes it’s not cold, no, it’s emptiness. “Could you.. scoot over?”

“One more inch and I’m falling off the bed.”

“No, no,” He laughs in an attempt to ease his nerves, “towards me.”

“Oh” He can’t tell if that is a shocked declaration or a teasing question; not that he cares, since the result is what he’d craved for anyway.

“Better for you?”

“In a bit.” He says, almost in triumph. He wraps his arm around you and feels that his craving is fulfilled and space no longer empty. “Better.” He proclaims, satisfied.

Kaeya drifts off.

The next morning when he wakes, you’re not beside him on the bed. He feels it is reasonable, though, with your fight the night before and his strange ask for intimacy just moments after. He wouldn’t be able to stand sleeping without his arms around you, not with you being so close yet so far, and not after years of doing so—even if they were around eight years ago.

He finds himself surprised when you’re not at home, though; not in the kitchen, adjecent living room nor bathroom—he did check. Your home, cluttered as it is, feels empty without its owner.

His surprise to that wears off when you come stumbling through the door moments later (the stumbling part comes from his remaining bitterness, you were walking just fine), though the irony of you stepping in gives him a new surprise for a newer reason.

You cease up in your step, body almost entirely stiff, when your eyes land on him. “Kaeya,” Your voice seems shocked, even. “you’re up!”

“Yes,” He clears his throat and himself from surprise. “it appears so.”

You resign yourself to ignore the hint of sass you’d caught in his voice. So you clear your own throat awkwardly, shrinking under his observant gaze and loosely crossed arms, and say, “I’ve brought you a cloak.”

His gaze softens and –which you’re grateful for– shifts to the bundle of cloth in your arms. “Oh.”

It seemed rather irrational now, to bring him a concealing cloak, after he’s renounced his knightly armor. A part of you wants to forget that, to hope that he picks up the steel again and keeps it on; it reminds you of the past, back when you used to be so happily young and in love, and somewhat keeps you distracted from the grim of what’s to come after you… finish your pursuit. The other part of you wants him to keep that knight’s armor off altogether, never to let its metal cradle his skin again, to spite the Knights of Favonius and their two-faced morals; and, perhaps, so you can keep him all to yourself and not the knighthood… Scratch that.

Kaeya snaps you out of your thoughts when he takes the cloak from your hands. He lets gravity unravel it for him, and soon enough, the bottom of it is dragging on the floor.

It’s a navy blue, the hero realizes. Good, a nice good color. If you had the terrible forethought to get a black one, you would’ve been matching. Kaeya doesn’t know if the idea is pleasant or not, and he rather not think about it.

“Thanks.” His voice is low, and for the first time it grazes your ears meekly. Huh, meekly. You don’t want that adjective to ever describe him again.

“Yeah. No problem.” You’re not sure what possesses you to bring up the following topic, “Hey, about last night?”

Last night. Kaeya bites his lip, and lets go, slowly. The slight pain of it doesn’t bother him, he’s too distracted to even register it. “Yeah?”

“Let’s forget about it.”

“Yeah.”

The two of you’ve always shared a lot of attributes. In this way, you were similar. But as you and the years drifted by and apart, you grew to be different. At the moment, you didn’t feel similar in any way. The differences outweighed the similarities. Yet, this was something you both had in common, this was something you’d agree on, if you spoke of it:

No matter how hard you tried, you’d never be able to forget that fight.

Silence, awkwardness, soreness, each equally intolerable. Together? Insufferable.

At the very least, Kaeya thinks, he’s not getting stared at. The cloak had worked, inevitably, and his silhouette could be easily forgotten now that the armor wasn’t there to stand out. He’s glad to no longer be a sore thumb… the hero in a crowd of villains. Felt like the plot of a book, didn’t it?

You still had a couple errands to run, things to buy that were only offered in the waking hours of the morning (for they sold fast) or later in the afternoon (for well off vendors who could very well slack off), as was the same with the night market items of the day prior.

He would’ve felt better like this, just watching over you, not engaging in much at all except the sights of the market, if it weren’t for the day before.

The streets are crowded, he can’t move much without invading someone else’s personal space. Every once in a while someone brushes against him, and staring’s all he can do as they quickly move out the way. Their eyes trace over him and the dark bits of facial features they can spot behind his hood, then eventually go back to their mundane shopping—or as mundane as it can be here in Nieblina.

Still, he thinks, if he wasn’t always thinking about being in a foreign place, that he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Nieblina and any other town. People out here were just living their lives… just like in Mondstadt.

“That’s for special customers only, I’m afraid.” A voice from the side, a clerk’s, catches his attention and breaks his train of thought. “Not for some no-face like you.”

“Try again.” You pull down your hood.

“Ah, (y/n)! Why didn’t you just pull down your hood in the first place?” What was once a disgusted sneer becomes a delighted grin as the clerk’s eyes find yours.

“To be fair, Mag, you should be memorizing my hood by now.”

“Ah come on! You barely show around here in the first place!” Mag’s all too happy to hand over whatever you were asking for earlier, “On that note, who’s this bloke?” He points a stray thumb towards Kaeya, who finds himself frozen on the spot.

“Oh, him?” Your eyes linger on him for a while, up and down his indistinct bodily features. The smile of yours fades, slightly, but he catches it anyway. “Some amateur I’m showing 'round.”

“Got a protégé, or something?”

“Not at all. I wouldn’t want someone to follow me down my path. Mag, this is Kaeya.” Fondly, you place a hand on Mag’s shoulder and veer him towards the knight, like an old friend. “Kaeya, this is Maggot.”

Maggot’s expression turns sour. “Formalities, formalities.” He waves off your hand, “Call me Mag, everyone does, less they’ve got a death wish.” At this, he turns to give you a glare. “Like this fucker right here.”

Kaeya would snicker if he was sure Mag wouldn’t impale him on the spot, but he wasn’t. In sympathy, he begins, “Terrible name to receive from your-”

“Equally terrible parents, yeah.” The clerk’s got this faraway look on his face as he mentions them, which he quickly shakes off. “Anyway, off you go. Got other better customers to attend to.” With that, he pushes you away.

“Right, right, many honorable people in the business of maggot tails, I’m sure.” Maggot what now? Was that what you were buying? “Hope you have a nice day, Maggo-”

“Mag. Have a nice day too, delusionist.”

You roll your eyes somewhat fondly, Kaeya thinks, before walking off.

It’s only now, and after this interaction, that Kaeya realizes you’re somewhat (in)famous around these parts. You can’t even pull your hood back down because the next clerk sees you and shouts out your name, a tone of familiarity on his tongue.

“(y/n)!”

Soon enough, every vendor’s –and sometimes random passerby– greeting you warmly, as if you were one of their own. Although, all things considered, you were. Many of these people have had their family ripped from their hold. To fill that empty void, they found their closest friends became their family.

Hmph, a chosen family; what Kaeya wouldn’t give up just to have that!

Kaeya may not look out of place, but he certainly feels like it.

After morning shopping, you duck into a bar named something along the lines of “Duckling” –Kaeya doesn’t care to engrave it in his mind– as you wait for afternoon vendors to set up shop and all.

“(y/n)! What’ll you be havin’?”

“My regular.” You sideglance him, “Make that two.”

All the people in here know you, and considering your order, you’re probably frequent this Duckling place often.

“Alchoholic?” The bartender asks. It’s both a question and a doubt.

“Hmm,” You hum as you think, “you’re right. Non-alcoholic.”

A little drink in the morning never hurt anybody, certainly not Kaeya –drinker, he was– of all people. Though, he supposes, it’s probably not a good idea to peruse merchandise with liquor loosening your mind and judgement.

You move on ahead. Tables and chairs were crowded close together –despite the tavern being a bit empty– leaving enough walking space for one. Kaeya takes your lead, having nothing else to do.

You were in your element here; he could tell that perfectly clear. There’s a pep to your step and a confidence to your motions. He watches you again, watches you interact with the already drunk morning drinkers, warm smiles, firm pats on the shoulder, familiar remarks and all.

When’s the last time he’s been in a similar situation? The elders’ bingo night meeting as far back as Mondstadt? Hmph, sounds about right.

As you steer away from the agglomeration of furniture and near a staircase, you suddenly turn to him.

Kaeya slids to a stop in front of you, too close in front of you. You’d be able to feel his breath if he hadn’t held it. If you notice, you don’t say anything about it, “I’ll wait for our drinks. You head on up upstairs.”

His gaze follows the direction you nodded to, and then he nods in return. “Sure.” His voice comes out meek and he hates it.

The upstairs is rather nice, empty too; makes him feel like a V.I.P, which certainly you are by the looks of it. There’s a paned door leading to a balcony outside, a collection of mismatched seating in a nook of the room, and a door to his immediate right. The floor plan’s all messed up, he notes. The door probably leads into an apartment and-

It does.

…lead into an apartment.

“Who are you?”

He’s suddenly face to face with another man, bit taller than him, with an eyepatch mirroring his (that is, just like a mirror; Kaeya’s eyepatch is on his right eye, this man’s is on his left).

Without a care in the world, he flicks the hood off of Kaeya’s face, then his own scrunches up as if Kaeya was a pile of shit.

He’s got no time to think of any fake names or anything, “Kaeya.” The man raises a brow, but he does not reply with a last name. “You?”

“This is no charity, Kaeya. Get off me floor.”

Kaeya thinks—knows that nothing in the world could convince him to do the opposite of what this man just told him to. Despite only being something along the lines of five centimeters taller than him, Kaeya is entirely shaken off by him. The mysteries of his eyepatch (How’d he lose his eye? Did he even at all?), his hulking figure, his alerted stance, his furrowed brow… everything about him was unsettling.

When the cryomancer turns on his heel, he meets your eyes. For one, he’s glad to see a familiar face; for two, he’s glad to see a pair of eyes.

“Relax, Morden, he’s with me.”

Morden seems to relax at this. It’s rather funny to see it, actually, to watch his chest deflate and his heels actually plant on the floor. He hadn’t realized it earlier, but the man had actually been standing slightly on his tiptoes. The thought of it makes Kaeya relax too.

“Next time you send someone up here, alone, who I don’t know, I’ll cut off their head without question.” With those threteaning words spoken, he makes his way over to you, shoving Kaeya aside without a thought.

His threat is not followed by a punch, as Kaeya thought it’d be. Instead, it’s followed by a hug, seems a big one too, if your hands weren’t occupied.

Right, you had more than family here; friends, too.

Suddenly, he doesn’t know what to do with his hands, or his feet for that matter. The right thing would’ve been to take the drinks off your hands, but he didn’t think of that, either. He didn’t think of much, really.

It seems you exchange a couple words before you part, ones that leave you chuckling and ones that he can’t hear.

“This for-” (me?)

“No,” You snap your hand away from him, making the drink in that tall tavern glass slosh and fall on the ground, not that either of you seem to mind. “greedy bastard.”

Morden rolls his eyes, “I’ll grab one of my own then, hoarder; and I’ll call for Lorelei and Zero, too.”

“You don’t-” You start, except he’s already going down the stairs. You sigh, instead, and turn, finally, back to Kaeya. You’re about to start talking again, but are interrupted yet again.

“Who was that?”

“Morden. You can take a seat, the big guy doesn’t own these couches.” You say casually, as if he’d understand, then remember. “Ah, yeah. Wanted killer, o’ course, convicted thief, accused arsonist; all the works.” And to top it all off, you say, “He’s a nice guy.” as if it made sense.

“Yes, of course.” Sarcasm practically drips off his tongue, and while it was bitter, your face seemed to light up at the fact he was showing some bit of emotion.

You roll your eyes at him, “ 'Villains’,” He takes note of the tiredness in your pronunciation of villain, “find their second chances in Nieblina, Kaeya. He may still be out of his mind, and that accusation of arson may be true, but he’s a good man.” He has a feeling there are a lot more 'but’s to take note of, “Everyone here, you’ll find, has done something wrong in their life. Their nation didn’t give them a chance at redemption or the time for an explanation, but Nieblina did. That’s what’s good about this place, and that’s what’s good about the people, flawed as they and it may be.”

“Right.” Is all he can offer in response.

He was speechless, sure; at any rate, he was far from empty-minded. He pondered your words, pondered their validity for a mere second before determining that you were right. Of course you were right, and not because you were right a lot of the time.

Villains, the people of Nieblina were, in name only and in the eyes of their former neighbors only. It was time he saw the town this way.

He thinks of it now, actually. You both view your titles of hero and villain in a tired way; tired in that you’ve heard it all before. For him, it’s the praise people bring to the table simply because of that title, or the novelty of them knowing a hero to the point of their strengths, not their value as a friend. For you, it’s the blame for all that is wrong, the instant hate, and the inability to do many 'regular day in society’ things.

“…how about the other two?” He says it as if venturing out of a comfort zone, which he was to a certain point.

Knowing he’s more interested in their convictions, you say, “Lorelai is as equally annoying as she was a petty thief. Equally petty is the reason for which she was to be hung. She has murdered, but only to get out of an unfavorable situation.”

Kaeya wonders how many situations she finds unfavorable, and how many she’s able to tolerate before knives go flying.

“Zero’s story is entirely on them to explain or not. They’re not fond of it, of course, so refrain from asking. All I can say is that you needn’t worry about them. Their first wrongdoing was not even their own.” Curious, had they been framed? “They’re the warmest person I’ve ever met, personality-wise, though you’ll only find it to be that way once you’ve worked for their hard-gained trust.”

He wasn’t all too concerned about Zero. Despite their name being quite threatening, he doesn’t think he’ll stick around long enough to gain their trust. At the very least, he hopes Zero is a kind of passive person. If he doesn’t bother them, they won’t bother him.

So the two of you wait for the rest. Kaeya doesn’t want to meet them, but what else was there to do? He wouldn’t dare to venture out all on his own, that was out of question.

Even if your friends weren’t entirely bad guys, he didn’t like the thought of it for a reason he wasn’t aware of. There was a deep anxiety in his chest for what was to come.

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Being a knight with an eyepatch and a reputable silver tongue meant he knew that best. People were wary of him at first glance, but they would all eventually fall for his charm and realize that Kaeya was not a bad guy.

He knew the phrase to be true, yet he didn’t apply it now. He was not the wanted murderer, after all.

When Morden comes back, an arm around a woman he presumes to be Lorelai and a boulder of a person behind him he presumes to be Zero, he feels even more anxious.

Lorelai fixes him with a mischevious grin and wild eyes. Kaeya hadn’t formed a proper expectation in thought, but this was the kind of woman he was subconciously expecting. She had unruly hair and an equally messy outfit, heels the length of a nice dagger (which actually did seem like daggers stuck in a shoe) and a full length utility belt stuffed to the brim with who knows what. She was young, he can tell, something around just about of age.

First, she greets you. “(Y/N)!” Then, just as quick, she points at him. “Is this first place?”

Without even waiting for an answer, she shakes off the arm around her shoulder and comes stumbling over to him. “Lorelai, it’s nice to meet you!” She doesn’t wait for Kaeya to extend his hand, only takes it in her own without permission and shakes it vigorously. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“…may I ask what competition we’re supposedly participating in?”

“Who’s most annoying!” She rolls her eyes as if he was supposed to know that.

Kaeya turns to you, an eyebrow raised. You give him a shrug that’s intended to say you don’t know, but it looks more like 'I do know, I just don’t want to take the blame’. After all, who else would she have heard about him from?

“So it's that Kaeya?” Morden asks, eyebrows just about shooting up in his hair.

“Must be.” Zero grunts.

“Don’t seem so annoying so far.” Lorelai remarks cheekily, “Hmm, (y/n) when’s the last time you saw this guy?”

“About six years ago.”

She doesn’t seem phased in the slightest at that revelation, if it even was one. Perhaps she’d only forgotten. “Must-a aged, bummer.” She shakes her head and exclaims after a sigh, “Disqualifieeed. Technicality first place, but, oh well.”

You glance over at him for a second, maybe more. To him, it looks like you’re debating whether or not to say something; though in the end, you don’t say anything. (You were debating whether to say “He still can be.” but you didn’t want to hurt his feelings in the end, not after what you agreed not to speak about.)

“Congrats, then. You’ve only increased in annoyance for the past two years. So much for aging.”

Lorelai rolls her eyes and shrugs, “If I’m not old enough to like raisins, I’m not old enough to be aging yet. I’ve told you, time and time again! When are you going to-”

Seemingly tired of Lorelai’s antics, much to her dismay, Morden interrupts her, “It’s been a long time since you were in town.”

“A month!”

Morden chooses to ignore that statement, “Any stories to tell?”

“What mischief have you pulled?” Lorelai pipes in.

“I hope not much.” Zero says, sitting down on one end of the couch. It’s the end farthest from Kaeya, but he still feels the cushion on his part of it sink down a little. Morden and Lorelai follow suit, with Morden boldly squeezing right between the two of you and Lorelai taking an (quite roughed up) armchair.

And so, you begin. Kaeya finds himself listening in too.

Apparently, you’d learned to cover up your tracks. Kaeya’d only known you were at that bar by Mondstadt because of your reputation and hearsay from bar patrons, as well as the fact Mondstadt was his so called “domain”. Had he not been actively searching for you, of course, he wouldn’t have found you.

To Zero’s dismay and Lorelai’s amusement, you’d caused plenty of mischief. Though you’d argued that “Mischief is drawn to me, not I to it.”, Zero was far from convinced. From messing with dwarves’ heights, casting illusions of food to fool halflings, and outpranking goblins, perhaps it really was attracted to you; or maybe that was Kaeya’s city walls Mondstadter life speaking.

“So what’d you do, then?” Morden asks, a residual twinkle from full belly laughs sparkling in his eyes.

“Why, I stuffed it up his nose, of course!”

Morden laughs again, his ugly rat laugh that he only pulls when he’s so loose. “Atta boy!” He clinks his pint against yours, causing your drink to slosh dangerously around the rim. “Although, if I was you, I’d have aimed lower and back-er.”

“You try stuffing a splintered staff up a gnome’s arse, then!” You exlaim with a quick chuckle, “I woulda gladly done it if I was able to reach low enough.”

“I thought you liked to keep a low profile.” Kaeya remarks. Well, that’s what he’d assumed, anyway.

“If my bounty’s high, well,” You shrug and take a swig of your drink. To fill in the blank is easy, but you continue anyway, “I do what I need to. If I’m basically unknown there, a rare treat I know, I have my fun. I’d bring you, he- Kaeyaif I knew where to go.”

Kaeya takes note of you acommodating to his boundaries, avoiding the nickname hero, and smiles to himself.

“But you wouldn’t bring me?” Morden raises a brow.

That is debatable. You and I…” You grimace, “would be getting up to more trouble than mischief.”

Morden takes a sloppy gulp of his drink and wipes the rest of it off his cupid’s bow, “Gotta agree to that.”

Kaeya raises an eyebrow at the “trouble” (whether that or that) but he remains quiet; knowing he wasn’t going to know your friends for long, and he figured he didn't need to know them either. This was all going to be a bygone nightmare soon enough.

Although, he had a feeling Morden was staring at him out of the corner of his eye. He couldn’t quite tell, what with his and Morden’s blind spots (eyepatches) facing each other. He wouldn’t doubt it, anyway. Morden had placed himself between the two of you for a reason, and he was fairly sure he knew it.

“Well, anyway, pertaining to that 'mischief’: I managed to get myself in jail. I-” You seem to stop in your tracks at the sight of Zero’s raised eyebrow. “Alright, yes, I guess you can call it 'trouble’. Regardless, I’m here now, yes? It doesn’t matter all that much. I-”

You’re interrupted again, this time by an alarm. Kaeya jumps in his spot, but looking around him, he notices you all seem quite at rest. The clock’s 12 pm alarm had been spouted by a (rather realistic) bird, who’s tune was not birdsong, but rather awful sirens. Morden laughs at his alarm, but he chooses to ignore it.

“The afternoon market must be set up by now.” You stand, much to the others’ dismay. Disappointment paints their faces in an unflattering light. “Coming along, Kaeya?”

“Nice of you to give me an option.” The knight remarks, “But I was going regardless.”

You chuckle at that, and he has a feeling you already know why he’s coming with.

It certainly felt blatantly obvious.

“So, what is it that has your hair standing on end?”

Kaeya’s lips purse. “I’m sure you know.”

“I do.” You announce unceremoniously, “Just, maybe I was wrong, you know? Plus, I wanted to give my friends the benefit of the doubt.”

“Your 'loose’ friends?” He can’t help but snarl, “The murderers?”

Your smile shrinks, he notices, but you continue in a careless tone. “Yes.” Perhaps he was dampening your mood. Well, no, he certainly was. But he knew you couldn’t deny that you were contradicting yourself: Villains formed loose friendships, right? Those friends seemed far from loose. “I do let myself get carried away with them.”

Your smile shrinks until it is no more, and finally, he realizes he’s fucked up.

“Sorry…” He mutters it, looking down at the dirty cobbled street ground and his leather shoes and his studded bracelets. He mutters it in shame. He adds more to it than apologizing for the comments of your friends; He adds an apology for the night before. Then he realizes his quietness and repeats, “I’m sorry.”

“For?”

He raises his head and stares ahead, at your tilted head and your furrowed brows and the hanging, short strip of your hair (that he wants to tuck behind your ear); and surmises you’re curious. But there’s a hurt in your eyes, somewhere in there. He remembers the look. “Doubting your friends… hurting your feelings.”

And, against all odds, you smile. It’s a nice smile, a smile of amusement. He’s missed this kind of smile, especially on you. With the shake of your head, that which it entrances him, you say, “Apology accepted.”

“I do understand. Morden’s accusations, Lorelai’s craziness, Zero’s build… But,” There’s a twinkle in your eyes; the eyes that he’s memorized a long time ago, aged as they may be now. He can still see it from the side as you stare down at the products in your hands. “they wouldn’t harm me, nor you. And if they do…” You chuckle, “We both know what I can do about that.”

Light-hearted as it may be, Kaeya lets it reassure him, and it works.

“They’re not bad people.”

He agrees.

“The guards had been patrolling the area. I knew that from the footsteps outside the jail cell window.”

As soon as you came back, your story continued in full swing. It turned out to be quite the long one, too. By nightfall, you’d just barely gotten to the climax.

“It was a foolish mistake to only keep two guards outside. In fact, it was foolish of them to wait to transport me. Had the large bounty not taught them a lesson?”

Kaeya had to admit, you were good at theatrics. Morden and Lorelai’s lips had been seemingly sealed shut as they listened intently to your story, only parting slightly to gasp or add comments.

“It didn’t much matter to me. All I knew was that I had to take advantage of their mistake. I knew there were two ways to do this: stealth or guns blazing.”

“Tell me you went out guns blazing!” Both of your rowdy friends exclaim.

“Who would I be if I picked stealth?” You chuckle, “Guns blazing, all the way.” Kaeya, a man of grace, would’ve picked stealth; but in the end, this wasn’t his story. “There were wards surrounding the cell, of course they weren’t stupid enough to forget those. Though, I am a powerful magician, so-”

“Doubt that statement.” Morden smirks.

You roll your eyes and continue, “It hardly affected me. I was able to undo the wards, and everything came easy after that.”

Lorelai snickers, “You kill everyone, yada yada-”

“Aye, well, that’s where you’re wrong.” She scoffs at your dramaticism. “Two guards it was, yeah? No. It was two guards walking. Apparently, they had stationed plenty right outside my window. They were expecting me to blast out, which I had done. I will say, explosions are fun to produce. So I did explode that cobbled wall. Did also end up exploding a couple guards along with it.”

Zero purses their lips. They knew this was going to happen.

“As fun as explosions are, they are much harder to control. It’s kind of what makes them so fun. I was far enough from the blast, though.”

“…plot armor.”

“I’d taken a good third with the blast. The rest were a piece of cake. Summoning daggers, random spells…”

Yada, yada.” Lorelai finishes.

You’ll have to agree with her this time, “Yada yada. But, after all that? I didn’t regret getting drunk the night before. 'Twas one of the best nights of my life.”

“Are you sure you weren’t still drunk?” Morden remarks with a swig of his drink. “Rather reckless of you.”

“I know you would’ve gone guns blazing, and I know you said so earlier.”

He raises his arms in surrender.

With your story finished both in word and mind, you take in your surroundings. “Oh. It’s evening already.” You’d eaten your dinner earlier, only because Zero brought something from the bar for all of you. You hadn’t registered it was your actual dinner. “I should-”

“Stay.” Morden interrupts. “You can stay here.”

Kaeya frowns at that, and he’s not quite sure why. He corrects that frown quickly when you glance at him from your peripheral.

“No.” It’s simple, yet the movement of your lips mezmorizes him. More than the movement, but the answer too. You were good friends, he knew. Why did you deny his offer?

“The walk home isn’t far, and you only own one bed.”

Morden smirks. “You got that right.”

Kaeya’s frown deepens.

“I’m already entertaining a guest.”

That guest was him, wasn’t it?

when “chapter 10: fontaine” is about fontaine but you’re 3000 words in and you’re not even in the city yet

say what you will about Blurred Lines but the part where they go “YOU THE HOTTEST BITCH IS THIS PLACE”??? hype unmatched

rozabelikovi:to all the books i’ve read in 2019: Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne What if the right grozabelikovi:to all the books i’ve read in 2019: Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne What if the right grozabelikovi:to all the books i’ve read in 2019: Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne What if the right grozabelikovi:to all the books i’ve read in 2019: Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne What if the right grozabelikovi:to all the books i’ve read in 2019: Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne What if the right grozabelikovi:to all the books i’ve read in 2019: Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne What if the right g

rozabelikovi:

to all the books i’ve read in 2019:Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne

What if the right guy… Has been right in front of me?

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I think it’s fair to say that the most common themes in music, throughout every decade of music existing as a pop culture commodity, have been lust and heartbreak. These are two of the most raw and relatable human emotions, leading to their frequent expression through artistic mediums. Often in music, these emotions are taken to their extremes when expressed, and become expressions of dark…

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