Work Text:
Ganyu watched as faint droplets of rain trickled down the pane of glass, amber leaves shivering and shaking from the harsh, biting winds. The sky was a deep, rich blue, like a darkened sapphire speckled with droplets of a snow-white, the moon glowing softly against the bright stars. An uncountable amount of stars, it seemed, some the size of a single mora while others were merely unseeable. Odd for Liyue; the light was often too bright to see the more miniature stars from the obscure amount of lanterns dotting the city.
She watched as with every breath, the window brightened in color and turned the same color as frost-bitten ice as a mysterious fog rolled over the glass. This fog didn’t last long, as it soon disintegrated back into the air from the heat of her room. Ah, it was stuffy in her room, wasn’t it? What was the last time she had exited?
Ganyu let out an exhilarated sigh. Work had been tough; she hadn’t realized she had been working until the stormy depths of nightfall. The moon had already risen plenty into the sky, stars brightly beaming against the darkened background. All of the daytime had been wasted on meaningless things, all for the sake of her worry of possible procrastination. Has it always been like this?
There was a sudden tap on her shoulder. Ganyu’s body tensed up, moving backward a few inches before she let another shaky breath. It seemed as if time as slowed, finally allowing her shoulders to slump down and her back to uncurl.
“Ganyu?” a familiar voice had questioned, “Are you alright?”
Was she, ‘alright’? Yes and no; Ganyu concluded. Things could have been better, yet they weren’t the worst, at least not yet. The sounds of the rain colliding with the concrete was oddly relaxing after work, same with how the vivid golden leaves contrasted so wonderfully with the darkness that had seemed to swallow Liyue. The work itself might’ve been bad, yes, but in the present moment, she was… almost fine.
“Yes,” she ended up croaking out despite herself, “I’m okay.”
The purple-haired girl sat herself beside Ganyu, a frown tugging at her lips. An unreadable expression was present in her eyes; doubt, mystery, guilt? Only the Archons could tell, Ganyu figured.
“You’ve been working all day,” Keqing responded, her palm reaching out to touch Ganyu’s thigh. “You’re exhausted. Even I don’t work that long, Ganyu.”
Ganyu glanced down at the fidgeting palms in her lap in shame. Keqing was very good at reading emotions; she always had been. It was a miserable idea to try to hide her true self.
She let out a rather sleepy sigh, head drooping downward. “You’re right,” she responded, “I know I should take a break, but…”
“But what?” she replied.
Ah, how clever Keqing was.
Keqing was absolutely right. But… what? What was preventing her to take a well-deserved break, to finally gaze at the wonderful scenery instead of a formal document or mysterious riddle? What was stopping her from feel enjoyment within herself and not the joy-sucking feeling of constant stress and exhaustion, pulsing through her veins as she filled out form after form.
It seemed Keqing had noticed the silence. She shuffled beside Ganyu, just a little bit, and spoke once again. “Will you take a break with me?” she decided, “I would like to be with you, Ganyu.”
Ganyu smiled. The words brought an odd amount of joy to her heart; she felt warmness wrapping around herself all throughout her skin, the pulsing of her heart becoming suddenly very clear. With a subtle nod, a look of satisfaction rippled throughout Keqing’s eyes.
Keqing then, after a content sigh, laid her head against Ganyu’s shoulder and reached out to hold her hand. Ganyu accepted the request and gladly held the purple-haired girl’s palm within hers, fingers intertwining as a new feeling of safety and reassurance rang inside of her. She closed her eyes, too, just for a brief moment like Keqing’s had to feel what it would feel like, and oh- it was bliss. Maybe taking a break wasn’t so bad after all.
The exhaustion soon took a toll on both of them, and they ended up sleeping together by the view of Liyue right beside them.