CW//Spoilers For Twisted Wonderland Diasomnia Chapter.

If I were to allow tipping, would that be of interest to anyone? I do write for free but sometimes, earning while doing something you love helps boost your morale.

║Childe║Changed

Requested from Wattpad.

Female reader as requested.

Word count: 4.1k

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Liyue is a prosperous city that attracts many and all sorts of people from business-related work to thieves who wish to earn extra cash. Everyone goes to Liyue with something on their mind that they hope to find in the city. There's even you- a normal person and a vision user- who came to Liyue all the way from Qingce village to look for a job. Everyone in Liyue all came with different reasons, but was all tied to Liyue.

Originally, your goal was to make enough money for a lifetime and then return to the mountains and help the elderly care for the fields and other needed work. That's just how your character was, but then an unforeseen event occurred and now you were in Liyue for a person.

"(Y/N), can you go pick up a batch of qingxin flower near Qingyun Peak? I'd ask Qiqi, but I sent her already to look for another herb." Baizhu enters the back room where you were sorting out the herbs in alphabetical order. "Sure, Dr. Baizhu. I'll do it right after I'm done these," you said.

"Thank you, (Y/N). Sorry for troubling you. I would go if I was fit for such exhausting travels, but you know how weak my body is," he said and you nod in understanding. He was the great doctor, but can't even heal his own illness. You didn't care about that as it wasn't your business and depart for the pharmacy when you were done at the back.

Looking at the sky above you and the position of the sun, you could tell that you will return late at night even when you run. You left from the sight of the city with only a satchel for the flowers. It was dangerous, yes, but you can fully protect yourself just as Qiqi can with her petite stature.

You were exhausted even before seeing a qingxin flower, but you did not stop. If you did, you'd have to camp the night out in the wilderness and that was something you were never fond of. Right now, you could tell that it was somewhere 3-4 in the afternoon- soon to be evening- and you departed from Liyue around 10 in the morning. "Please, Geo Lord, let me find these flowers soon," you say a quick prayer before stepping foot in the mountain area.

As if Rex Lapis had heard your little prayer, you found enough to satisfy Baizhu for two weeks at least, but the time it took was too long and by the time you decided it was enough, it was seven at night. You cried when you thought about how long it took just to reach the outer edge of Jeuyun Karst. "No! I am not camping out here!" you say out loud and determinedly made your way down the mountains- a bit slower when descending- and use what little energy you had with your determination to push dismiss your aching feet.

However, it seems that Rex Lapis didn't allow your travel back to be safe as you were soon facing a Lawachurl. "For the love of..!" Your sword appeared on your right hand and made sure that the satchel was sealed shut before engaging to fight the beast.

The beast, although bigger and most likely stronger than you, had a slower reaction time and decided to use that as an advantage so you dodge its fists and jump when he smashes the ground, but then, a sudden jolt of pain shot through your whole body when a stone came at you. You dodged it by a hair's length but collapsed soon afterwards. "My damn feet..!" Your body- especially your legs- was exhausted from the nonstop walk which made your reflexes a bit slower.

The lawachurl made it's slow approach towards you with its towering stature. You thought of a quick escape, but you just needed your body to co-operate with you. "Come on. Move!" You were pushing your exhausted legs past its limits, but knew it was your end when it raised its two arms that was to crush your smaller frame.

Your body suddenly jolts with energy and you found yourself suspended in air. You took this chance and use your vision to enhance your sword and bash the lawachurl's head open. It cried out as you jump away from it and watch as it disintegrated like any other wretched beast. You were left panting and scratched up, but you were happy that none of the flowers had fallen out.

"Ho~ What's a beauty doing out here so late at night?" A voice suddenly made its way to your ears and turned to your right, your sword blocking your body. The owner of the voice suddenly appeared before you and clashed his make-shift weapon with yours in an instant. "Oh? You've got quick reflexes even when you're exhausted. I should praise you for that."

"What are you doing?" you say through gritted teeth and push your sword. Then to your relief, the person jumps back a couple metres away, their weapon disappearing, and you sighed as you collapsed on the ground, your sword disappearing. "Haha, sorry to scare you. I was passing by and saw that a beauty was in a pickle," they said. "I was deciding whether or not if I should help you out, but you already took care of it." They shrug and puts their hands on their waist and grins at you.

You look at the person before you with a cautious gaze. They were male with ginger hair, blue eyes, and foreign clothing, and by the looks of it, he was somewhere near your age. "So, you're saying that you saw me, but didn't bother on helping me right away?"

The male looks at you and shrugs again. "I was going to help you since you're cute, but like I said- you already took care of it."

"And if I wasn't cute, you'd just leave me here to die!?" You were exhausted, but still manage to pull the look of disbelief. You waited for a reply, but instead, got a change of topic. "Anyway, what are you doing here so far from safety?" he asks and made his way towards you, his weapon out of sight as to not make you alert.

"None of your business," was all you could say in your exhausted state. "Ouch, no need to be so cold," the male says, though not even trying to mask hurt. You were tired of talking to the irritatingly brunette and wanted to return to the pharmacy. Slowly, you pushed yourself off the ground and took a step slowly. But, your body failed in fulfilling that and you fell forward and into the arms of the man, his hands holding your arms out of reflex. "Oh, don't tell me you've fallen for me now--" He stopped his teasing when he noticed that you were out cold. "Ah, what am I going to do?"

-

When you awoke, you found yourself facing a ceiling and feel the the comfort of a soft pillow and mattress and a warm blanket covering your body. You slowly sat up, hissing at the soreness and pain that washed over your body with a now conscious mind. The first thing you notice when looking at your hands and arms was that they were bandaged up and even feel a bandage on your left cheek.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty. It's about time you woke up," an irritating voice comes and greet you and chuckles. You recalled the fight with the lawachurl and the brunette who suddenly jumped out of nowhere and pick a fight with you. You turn your head to the right and see the same brunette at a small table, sipping his drink. The sun shone from behind him which made him look as if he was glowing. Now that it was daytime, you can properly see his face and was almost taken aback by how charming he looked.

He could see how your irises expanded at the sight of him which made him smirk. "Oh? You suddenly interested in me now?" he teasingly say and you suddenly broke out from the trance you were in just now. "Don't joke around with me," you said, remembering to what you has awoke to. "Anyway, where did you bring me?"

"Straight to the question with such a demanding tone. That's quite new to me," the brunette says. "Anyway, you can call me Childe, but I rather you call me babe." He chuckles which really upset you and you didn't mask to hide your frown. "I don't care who you are. I want to know where I am."

He looks at you and sighs. "Man, you're going to be a difficult one, aren't you? We are at Wangshu Inn," he finally answers. "I don't know where you live so I brought you here and bandaged you up. On that note, you should thank me."

You looked at your hands and then at the brunette who rested his cheek on the back of his hands and a leg crossing over the other, grinning cheekily at you. "Thank you." You got up, your body still aching from the fight. You see that you were still fully clothed and you mentally sighed out of relief before snatching your satchel on the nightstand beside the bed and leaving the room and soon the inn.

"(Y/N), I was worried when you didn't return last night and was about to send Qiqi to help you," Baizhu greets you at the pharmacy. "Qiqi was worried," Qiqi greets as well, wrapping her arms around your legs as a mean for a hug.

"Sorry, Doctor Baizhu. I had ran into some trouble and was tired to walk back last night," you said. "Oh, and I gathered a lot of qingxin flower for you." You took off the satchel off your shoulders and handed it to the doctor. "Hope these are enough."

"I'm sure it is. Thank you, (Y/N)," he said and puts the satchel full of qingxin flowers on the counter. "Alright, why don't you go ahead and rest for two days to heal your wounds? He looks over at your bandaged arms and face. You were grateful and thanked him before leaving the pharmacy.

-

The second day, your body wasn't hurting as much, but your wounds were still wrapped up in bandages which you changed when you got home. You found yourself lacking of food so you were out early in the morning on grocery shopping. "Ham.. Eggs.. Milk.." you read your list loud enough just for you to hear. But, since your eyes were glued onto the thin sheet of paper, you didn't notice a person suddenly appear before you and block your way before bumping into their chest.

"Ah, my apologies. I wasn't looking ahead," you say and rub your nose. "Hoh~ Well, what do you know? I thought you looked familiar and I was correct. Seems like we meet again." The all too familiar voice spoke above you, making you freeze up on the spot.

Slowly, you raise your head and see none other than the male from two days ago. "Is it just me or are we possibly fated to be together? Do you remember my name?" he asks, a grin forms on his charming face. "I'm afraid I don't," you said half-heartedly and excused yourself before brushing shoulders with him as you walk away. But, he grabs your elbow and stops you from walking any further. You look over your shoulders and give him the 'what gives' kind of look. "Well, since you forgot, I'll remind you again; my name is Childe," he says and leans close to your face. His eyes were a deep blue even under the light and felt as if you were drowning under water, where the water was an alluring colour of a pretty, deep blue. You were mesmerized, but notice that there was more to what the little pond you had found in his ocean eyes which made you much alert. Childe notice the fiery flames in your eyes suddenly on guard and he chuckles before straightening up.

"So, what's your name?" he asks. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe we're on the comfortable terms to know each other's names, sir," you stated. Your words are constructed to be polite, but your tone says otherwise. "Aw, you're going to play it the hard way with your saviour?" He forces a pout that was definitely not going to make you feel guilty so you stood there just staring at the brunette. He laughs and puts a hand on his hip. "Very well, I will do whatever I can to make you tell me your name."

You were about to turn your head and walk away, when a voice rang out across the streets. "Master Childe~" A high-pitched, flirtatious voice calls his name, drawing you both behind him. By the way they dressed, you could immediately tell that the female before you two was one of the many scums that could be found in large cities and that being said, you know exactly what kind of person the man whom called himself Childe is like.

"Master Childe, I've found you~ Did you know how sad I was when you didn't show up for two days?" The female clung onto the male's arm, completely dismissing your presence. Now that he was distracted, you took this chance to slip away from him and do your grocery shopping.

However, just because you slipped away today, didn't mean you slipped away forever or that you can do it the next time, and with that in mind, Childe was seen hanging around you- well, more like pestering you. But, with time, you soon came to accept the fact that the man wouldn't stop any time soon and told him your name and exchange words with him.

Of course, you had your doubts and had your guard up around him, seeing as he had a scum following him around almost daily, but you soon realize that you could see past the one part of him that didn't make up even one percent of him.

In months, you felt something in your chest that you know was wrong, but you couldn't help it as it dealt with him.

"Hey, (Y/N), wanna go on a little date for dinner?" Childe asks, approaching you out on the streets. When he said 'date' you know that it wasn't an actual date; it was a thing he said meaning to buy you lunch or dinner as a friend.

"You'll have to wait for an hour for me to get off work," you said, making your way up the steps of the pharmacy. "That's not long at all, apropos to getting your name, that is. I can wait," he said and gives you one of his dorky grin. You shooed him away and he did just that, off to reserve a seat for the two of you.

The hour felt long and made you impatient that it even shows. Baizhu looks over at you and smirks, knowing the reason had to be related to the young man he had been seeing occupying most of your time and mind. "(Y/N), since your shift is close to an end, why don't I let you go now? It makes no difference and Qiqi is here to help out if needed," Baizhu said, seeing as you face light up. "Really? Thank you so much Doctor!" you cheer, not even hiding the fact that you were indeed impatient to see Childe. You made haste around the counter and leave the pharmacy.

"Where is (Y/N)?" Qiqi asks, coming out from the back of the building, holding some sort of plant. "She just left, Qiqi," Baizhu answers and see that Qiqi became sad and pouted. "Qiqi was going to ask her if she'd search for the cocogoat with Qiqi.." Baizhu chuckles and put a hand on top of the little girl's head. "Sorry, Qiqi, but she's on a date."

"A date? What do you mean?" With that, Baizhu was now occupied trying to explain to the best he could as to what a date meant in the said case.

Just a few metres in front of you, you see Childe's back towards you as he chatted with a Liyue local. You were about to call out his name when a girl suddenly steps into view, blocking you from getting close to Childe. "So, you're the one hanging around Master Childe, huh?" was the first thing she said and looks at you up and down in disgust. "I don't get it. I mean, you don't even got the parts to be Master Childe's best."

Oh dear.. You know the girl all too well as she was the one you saw running to Childe and throwing herself at him. Childe has many more of the scums around him, but this one was around him the most. You bet that she brawled with the other scums because she wants Childe all to herself- well, his money.

"Hey, look, I'm going to be really nice here and tell you politely to leave Master Childe alone. He doesn't have time to loiter around someone who's body is of no use," she says and gives you a wicked grin, putting a hand on her hip to show dominance. You were unfazed and gave her a blank expression. "I'm sorry, but who are you to decide who I can and can not hang out with?" you ask.

"Hah, don't get on my bad list, girlie. Just so you know Master Childe slept with me the most," she states proudly. The words did hurt you, but it didn't make you cave into a cowardice. You kind of guessed he has slept with many women, considering how he had scums all over him. "Okay, I get that you're a scum, but you haven't answered my question."

You could see that the girl was already breaking and you couldn't help but snicker at how easy she was. "Listen here, I bet you haven't even gotten a taste of what Master Childe can do, considering how small your breast is," she laughs, looking at your average ones. "And I bet once he's gotten a taste of you, he'd be done and leave you."

You honestly didn't know where this conversation was going, but you stayed calm and hear her. "Oh? Then, tell me how I should please him to make him stay with me for- let's say.. Forever?" You cross your arms, still not letting her get to you.

"Psh, you think he'd stay with you even if I tell you?" She was hysterical, her face twisting to make her look like a witch. "Look, I'm sorry, but I really don't have time to talk to you. Have a good day," you said. You were about to brush shoulders with her when she grabbed hold of your arm and weakily throws you back. "Hey, you're not going anywhere until I know you're not going to hang around him."

"Sorry, but I can't comply to your wishes as it was your 'Master Childe' that came onto me," you state, grinning with your own wicked grin.

The girl snaps and lunges herself at you, but before she could even lay her long nails at you, you pulled out your sword and point it at her throat, just mere millimetres to lunging it in. Your face was still cool as ice, but the girl's mocking face turned to horror. "Listen, scum, I don't have time for idle chit chat as I have a date with your Master Childe," you said and lean to her ears so that only she could hear what you had to say next. "I don't care who you are, what you are to him, and I know that you can't even touch me so you best behave before my patience runs out and I plunge this sword at your pretty face. I'm being nice here and have pretty high patience so you best run along now."

The girl nodded frantically and runs past you. You turn around and watch as the girl disappears from sight. "Maybe you should call me Master," a voice whispers, feeling their breath tickling your ears. You turn around and was faced with the grinning ginger. "That is not going to happen."

"Maybe some day." He shrugs, which you immediately said no to. "Haha, but you said this was a date so that's a step close, no?" Your face flushed, forgetting that he was close by and had heard what you said to the girl. "Gah, I was just trying to let that girl feel mad," you said.

"Oh? You sure you don't want to call this a date?" he asks, giving you that glimmering eye look. "You can call it whatever as long as I get a free meal," you say and brush past him.

"Well, I know another way for you to get a free meal, but I wouldn't call it a date," he snickers and your lightly dusted face heated up quickly, knowing what he meant. "Shut up!"

"What? I was saying that we can always hunt," he lies, acting innocent to frame your impurity. "If you're not going to take me on that 'date', then I'm going back to the pharmacy," you said. He chuckles and fall in step with you, leading you the an expensive restaurant.

After the meal, you two were walking along the docks in silence, the ocean in the background was shimmering and wondered if it was a million noctilicious jade instead of pure water.

"So, what did you talk about with that girl from earlier?" Childe suddenly asks in a light tone. Your mind suddenly thought back to the event that had occurred with the girl and what she said about Childe sleeping with her. You wanted to ask, but you felt as if it wasn't right since it was his life and you didn't even know how to approach such question. "I'm sure you already know," you said.

"No, I don't so do enlighten me, since it was about me," he says. Then, you thought that it was the perfect time to add what you wanted to ask and took the chance. "Eh, nothing much. She kept on bragging how you slept with her multiple times though," you managed to slip in and shrug, playing it cool.

"Woah, woah, woah! She said that!?" Childe stops on his tracks and you turn to look at him. "That girl.. I swear that I haven't slept with her, or anyone for that matter!" Childe says, seeing his eyes look almost quite desperate to reassure you.

Your heart felt lighter, but decided to go on with the teasing. "Oh, really?" He nods almost instantly and you had to conceal your laughter. "Well, she said how you good you tasted and how well you did in bed to the point that I believed in it," you said, covering your mouth with a hand to hide your devilish smirk.

"You don't believe me?" he asks. "Nope," you said, not giving in to his saddened eyes. Then, almost in an instant, Childe walks closer to you and grabs your shoulders harshly. "Hey, what are you--" Your lips were sealed with his own. His lips was soft which caused a spark to jolt within you and making your legs almost became like jelly, giving in to the kiss.

Your hands were on his chest as he wraps an arm around your waist and the other on the back of your head. His tongue easily slipped past your lips and was now in a battle with yours, but that battle had ended sooner than you wished for when he pulls back and found the both of you panting. "I swear to you, (Y/N), that I didn't sleep with her," he says in a low voice.

To his surprise, you laughed. "I was just teasing around with you. Of course, I believe you," you said and smiled. The brunette stare at you in disbelief and when your laughter died down, you were kind of worried if you made a mistake in doing that. Then, he brings his lips back to yours with much more tenderness and you wrapped your arms around his neck, bringing him closer to you.

He pulls away again to your disappointment. "You are the only one I'd ever sleep with," he says, his wrap around your waist becoming tighter. "Then you better ditch those other girls or you're sleeping with no one," you joked before bringing him for another kiss, this time being longer.

---

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║Zhongli║Family Outing

Requested from Wattpad.

Female reader as requested.

Fluff.

Word count: 2.3k

---

Even when it was just the two of you, you were expected to bring mora, so why would that change when there is an added person into the family?

"Mommy, Mommy! Look here, I finally tie it on my own!" A little rascal came running to your room with booming footsteps echoing down the hall, where you were still getting ready, showing you their poorly tied tie. You look over at the door and let a little chuckle before walking towards the smaller male who was quite the unique set of eyes and kneeling down to his level. "Wow, it looks good!" you praised, fixing the bowtie for him, earning a cute, little laugh from him.

The little rascal whose bowtie you were trying to fix was none other than your child, Qian. Qian was a unique child as he had features that normal humans don't have.

A second set of footsteps came echoing down the halls and stopped at your door. You look up and see your dearest husband, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed and an unshakeable smile on his lips as he stares at the two most precious beings in the world. "Not going to mention how I helped you, I see." The older male chuckles. Qian turns his head to look up at his father before looking back at you again. "Oh yeah! Daddy taught me how to tie it, hehe," the adorable, little boy adds.

You laugh at the added statement and stood up. "Alright, should we go now?" you ask to which both of the males nodded- one with excitement. "Oh, right, Qian, make sure you hide your horns." You look at the two sets of horns that rested on top of the little boy's head.

As said before, the reason why Qian is unique is that he was a mix of a mortal and god-- yours and Zhongli's.

"Oopsies! I didn't know." He quickly retracted his horns so that they were no longer visible. His eyes, however, remained the same glowing amber eyes just like his father's; a truly unique set of eyes that makes him differ from everyone else along with his hair, and also the fact that he had the same immortality as his father.

You walked over to the door where Zhongli wrapped an arm around your waist and gave you a quick kiss on the lips. "Ew, that's gross!" Qian covers his eyes with his hands as he said so, making both you and Zhongli laugh at the little action. "Can we go now? I want toys and books!"

"Alright, we can go now. Come, grab mommy's hand," you said and offer him a hand for him to hold onto. He uncovers his eyes and reaches for your hand, feeling the warmth from his tiny hands and fingers trying to cover most of it. Zhongli went to the other side of him and held his other hand and left the house.

"Mommy, mommy! Look at the doggies!" Qian points at the two dogs that watch the inner part of the bridge, giggling as the dogs wag their tails and walking closer to the young boy. He let go both of his hands from either of yours and Zhongli's grasp and went over to the dogs, ruffling their furs. You smiled before turning to your husband, "Can you watch over Qian while I buy a few things?" Not wanting to take Qian away from the dogs, you relied on Zhongli.

He nods and places a kiss on your head. "Of course," Zhongli says. On every outing, you would take this as a chance for grocery shopping. It was hard to keep the fridge at home full especially when you had a little tyke that sneaks into the kitchen for snacks.

Not wanting to overfill the fridge, you bought only the necessary things that you have fully noted down on a paper along with snacks for Qian. He- although has the same mindset as his father's and a bit of his knowledge- could be quite the handful when he doesn't get his snacks-- throwing tantrums when he wants things. But that was just how kids were and there is nothing else you could do to appease them.

"Mommy, where did you go?" Qian asks when you returned with a bag, still playing with the dogs. "Just went to buy food," you answered, smiling as Zhongli offers to take the bag from your hands. A gentleman, he was.

"What about snacks?" He leapt up excitedly, walking away from the dogs to clung onto your dress. "I wouldn't dare forget them," you replied, seeing his eyes light up happily, then hugging your legs. "You're the best, Mommy!" You rolled your eyes. "So, I'm the best when I buy you your snacks, huh?" you ask, feigning offence and pick him up to meet your eyes. He shakes his head frivolously and re-worded his words, "Mommy is the best even when she doesn't buy Qian snack!" He kisses your cheeks and you giggled.

"What about me?" Zhongli speaks up, pointing at himself as he waits in expectance. Giggling, Qian reaches out for his father who happily engulfed him in a warm hug. The little boy then places a kiss on Zhongli's cheek and smiled. "There! Daddy gets a kiss too, so don't be sulky anymore." Zhongli chuckles and places a kiss on his son's cheeks as well.

"Where would you like to go, Qian?" Zhongli asks, carrying him with one hand as he holds the bag with the other. "Toys!" he exclaims, eyes glimmering with stars. Chuckling, the three of you made your way to a toy shop where Zhongli put Qian down to roam the store, excitedly picking a lot of toys. "Qian, you can only pick two things, okay? You already have a lot back home," you reminded, sweat dropping.

"B, but Qian really likes them..!" He pouts, giving you his doll-like eyes as he pleads. It was something that he always does and was very effective. You felt an imaginary punch to your stomach, picturing your soon-to-be empty wallet, but you just didn't know how to say no to such a face. You cranked your head to your side, looking at your husband who stood idly by cluelessly, hinting him to help.

He notices your graved face and immediately understood and clears his throat. "Qian, mora, you see, may just be a materialistic thing that one can obtain, but obtaining it is much harder than you realize, so mortals always make note of things called prices that requires mora. By doing so, they can save extra mora for other needed things," he lectures, though it doesn't seem that Qian understood what his father told him.

"Mommy can go get more, right?" he asks, clearly not understanding what Zhongli had said. "Money shouldn't be thrown around carelessly, sweetie," you spoke, kneeling to his level and placing a hand on his shoulder, his bright eyes reflecting off of yours. "Okay.. But we can come back to buy them, right?" Qian asks, to which you nodded. "Then, Qian will pick these two! Mr. Cyclops is cool!"

You look at the toy in his hand, knowing that it was a very popular toy from Snezhnaya. The toy maker was also very popular amongst children, so it was understandable seeing Qian choosing the toy. You stood up and ruffled his head before turning to place a kiss on Zhongli's cheeks. "It wasn't the best explanation, but it did make him choose two," you say and walked off to pay for the toys.

"Mommy, mommy, I'm hungry!" Qian tugs on your hands after so much walking. "Well, it is the afternoon.. Where does Qian want to go?" you ask. "I want to eat where that fire-breathing teddy bear is!" he says almost immediately, showing his enthusiasm. "Ah, Wanmin Restaurant it is." You chuckled, knowing he meant Guoba.

"Hello, welcome to Wanmin Restaurant! Please, sit wherever you like!" Xiangling greets. Qian's smile grew wider when his eyes landed on the girl and ran up to her as you and Zhongli walked to an empty table. "Miss, can I see Mr. Fire-breathing Bear?" he asks, tugging her clothes. "Oh, of course, Qian!" the female giggles and takes Guoba out. On every outing, Wanmin Restaurant was one of the places Qian loves to go and that's because of Xiangling's Guoba. He would never go to another restaurant even when suggested.

Xiangling sat her bear on the extra seat around your table- right beside Qian- and look towards you and Zhongli. "Please, take your time to look over the menu! Oh, I've also added new dishes that children might like," Xiangling says enthusiastically before leaving the table to tend to other customers.

After choosing lunch, Xiangling makes off to the kitchen and leave the three of you plus Guoba to chat for a while. "Mr. Fire-breathing Bear is cute!" Qian states, touching the bear. "Mommy, can Qian have one too?" He turns to look at you.

"Ah.. Of course!" you say, giving him a close-eyed smile. It was a good thing that Guoba was behaving on order or else it could hurt someone.

"Here are your orders!" Xiangling returns as quickly as she went, the order in her hands and places it on the table. "And a little snack for little Qian!" she says. Qian giggles and thanked her before she excused herself once more, bringing her Guoba along.

After that, you just strolled around the city until sunset and eyed interesting things, making sure that neither Qian nor Zhongli went off on their own for things they've found an interest in. It was indeed fun, but it almost felt like you had to babysit Zhongli as well who almost always wanders around to buy things without preparing money with him.

"Mommy, how come Daddy isn't allowed to bring money with him?" Qian asks, running along the edge of the docks, pretending that his Mr. Cyclops can fly. Zhongli was certainly caught by surprise and a tint of pink was seen on his face as he forcefully coughs onto his fist-- most likely embarrassed for the reason. You snickered, eyeing the man from the side of your eyes before looking over to the little boy. "He is bad at managing money, so that is why mommy has them. And also because daddy always forgets to bring his money," you answered. "When he was courting me, I had to pay for most things to which he will pay by taking me out for dinner." It was only times that Zhongli can date onto a calendar, that he will remember to bring money. Other than that? Expect to bring your wallet.

"How did daddy manage to marry mommy like that?" he asks, surprised and draws his full attention to the two of you. "Well, daddy has other charms to look at. He's especially good in b--" Zhongli immediately covers your mouth, knowing full well of what you were about to say. "I would take whatever means necessary to marry your mother-- mora aside, of course," Zhongli states, hearing you laugh from beside him, though having a mouth over you.

You remove his hand to add on but was then cut off by putting a hand over your mouth. He laced his arm around your waist and draws you close before removing the hand and placing a kiss on your cheek. "I'm just kidding. You know I will never say that," you say, giggling at his attempt to shut you up.

"Ew, daddy is kissing mommy!" Qian spoke, drawing your attention to the young boy. "It was just a kiss on the cheek.." you say. "That is still kissing!" Qian defends.

You chuckled. "Alright, come here, Qian. It's time to go home and make dinner," you say, outstretching a hand for him to hold. He excitedly runs towards you and grabs hold of your free hand, your other being held by Zhongli.

After dinner, you all sat in the living room for some more family bonding time, Qian now presenting his horns as he plays with his new toys along with his old ones. But it didn't take long for the hours to pass before looking at the clock and decided that it was time for Qian to go to sleep.

"Alright, Qian, time to go to sleep," you say. "But I still want to play with Mr. Cyclops.." He pouts. "You can play with Mr. Cyclops tomorrow, okay? He won't leave," you assured. He was a bit reluctant, but soon allowed you to pick him up to bring him to his bedroom, Zhongli trailing behind.

You helped him change into sleepwear and tuck him nicely under the blanket, then turning on the lamp on his bedside table and turning off the light before returning to sit on the edge of his bed. "Good night, Qian. Let mommy and daddy see you in your dreams," you say softly and kiss his forehead. "Good night.. Mommy.." With that, his eyelids fell heavy, drifting him off to dream land.

You stood up and turn to look at the door, seeing Zhongli's eyes glowing much brighter in the dark room. One more look at Qian before you made your way to Zhongli who waited outside the hall, leaving the door slightly open as usual.

"I'm tired." You yawned, wiping a tired tear from the corner of one of your eyes. Zhongli chuckles lowly and caught you by surprise by picking you up, bridal style. "Then, it must be time for my dear to sleep as well," Zhongli says, smiling down at you as he walks to yours and his bedroom where he lies you down and crawling to the other side of the bed, getting underneath the blanket with you.

You muzzled into his chest, letting him wrap his strong arms around you closely and engulfing you in his warmth. "Good night, my dear." He kisses your forehead. You hummed, tired, and said, "Good night, my love."

---

After coming back from a much needed break, I will be continuing to write. In preparation to releasing the next fiction, please read the following (you don’t have to as they can be read separately):

Lilia Vanrouge - Sweet and Naive (Yandere content. Fem! Reader)

Lilia Vanrouge - Sweet and Naive / Invisible Chains (Yandere Content. Fem! Reader)

General lilia skskskskskssk he looks so pretty and handsome at the same time with his long hair😳🥺 (from pinterest)

You don't understand how much I love past! Lilia. 😭 I can't even put into words how much seeing him with long hair kills me (in a good way). My legs quiver and I soon melt as soon as I even think about him during his younger, war-cry days.

║Jade Leech║ Do You Love Me? / Geraniums

Jade Leech x reader / slight Floyd Leech x reader if you squint

Reader: Gender-neutral/not mentioned

Warning(s): characters might be a little out of character

Word count: 11.6k

Character count: 61.9k

Angst with comfort , but then with a tiny bit more angst.

All rights reserved. Do not steal/copy and paste and upload it anywhere.

—

Note:

I’m still quite new to the Twisted Wonderland community so I do apologize sincerely that the characters might seem out of the norm.

My first contribution to Twisted Wonderland.

Also, is it spelled Grim or Grimm? The wiki says Grim but if I remember correctly, the brothers’ surname is spelt Grimm, if ‘Grim’ is actually referring to the brothers, that is.

—

You loved him and you were sure he loved you too.. Err, you hoped that you were sure he loved you too. You can't deny that although Jade is a gentleman and very kind to shower you with presents which are things you've never dreamt of wanting, let alone ask somebody else to buy them for you, there is something missing in the interactions between you two. It almost seemed like there is no love in everything he does with you.

But you daren't speak of that to Jade and only to appear as a clingy or paranoid lover. Maybe it's just you. Maybe he still needs some time to adjust to the current flow of having someone else to take care of other than his twin. You couldn't fault him, seeing as you were the one who confessed first and the one to take another step in the relationship. You were rushing things, you've noticed. It may have been months into the relationship but maybe he needs years. As a lover, you have to be patient if you want things to work out between the two of you.

“..--man..” Inside the depths of your mind, thoughts regarding Jade and the rocky relationship you have was all that mattered that you didn’t realize that a certain furball was calling out to you until blue flames were in your line of sight, scaring you. “HUMAN!” “Gah! Grimm, don’t do that to people!” You said, although the tone of your voice did not sound as angry as one should, seeming that your mind is still elsewhere to not care enough. “Yeah? Well, you were spacing out that you didn’t even realize we walked past your classroom!” He snaps back. 

You look at the number above a classroom door and he was correct. “Oh.. Sorry..” You turn around and walk back down the hall and to your respected morning class. Grimm, who was tailing not too far behind you, had judging eyes; you have been spacy ever since the last date you and Jade had- which was 3 days ago to be exact- and had barely replied to anything he’s saying. He could be cursing you for all you’d know, but got either silence or a quick hum that didn’t even sound like you were acknowledging him. 

He was furious at first since a henchman should always listen to their master, but now he wonders if there is something wrong with you. He is aware that humans like you, who have no ounce of magic and are susceptible to anything, will find it difficult to live in a twisted world like his where magic holds supreme. The stronger you are, the more you are feared in this twisted world.

“Hey, is something wrong?” he asks, crossing his arms as he stands on the desk, looking up at you with questioning eyes. “Yeah, I am. Have I done anything to worry you?” “Gah, whatever, it’s nothing then.” He turns away, feeling stupid for even asking such a question. “You humans can be so confusing.. Saying that you’re fine when you aren’t,” he mumbles, which you didn’t hear nor bothered to ask to repeat since you were mostly in your own world. 

‘Maybe.. I should buy him a gift?’ You thought. He said that he has rather been awfully busy, you noticed. With what exactly? You weren’t too sure, but on top of whatever he’s busy with, he has Monstro Lounge. You don’t have much madols in your pocket, but you’re sure you can buy something heartfelt that he might like. 

Deciding on it, your spirits lightened and in your heart, a burning flame of determination. Maybe what Jade needs is to relax and if you come to him bearing a gift, he might get the message that should he need to seek comfort in someone who he can be himself around with, you are there. You can hope that this will work and that the feeling inside you of having a strained relationship will disappear.

Grimm, who was watching you closely beside you, eyed you judgmentally. To him, and to anyone who was looking, you looked like a crazed person who switched from being  unbearably depressed to smilingly widely in a span of a few seconds. 

-

Come after school, you make your way to Crowley’s office for permission to go outside the school’s premises– and hopefully get a little more madol out of the bird man– this weekend, which isn't too far away, seeing as it's tomorrow. It would rather be a tiring thing– to go outside over a gift you planned to make– but what you needed couldn’t be found in any of the campus shops. 

“Oh, Shrimpy! There you are.” An all too familiar voice calls you from a not too far away distance. “Floyd!” You smile. “What do you need?” 

“Nothing. I came on an errand for Jade,” he states plainly. You tilt your head to the side. It was odd for Jade to have someone- let alone Floyd- to do something for him instead of coming to you himself. This made you worry. Was he starting to feel burned out? Was he falling sick because he wasn’t resting enough? “O, oh.. What does he want?”

“Mm.. This.” Floyd reveals a single flower. “He said that this is a.. Uh..” Realizing that he forgot the name of the flower, he took out a small paper- presumably with the flower’s name on it- before continuing his sentence. “This is a geranium.” 

“Oh! They’re lovely.” You happily accept the flower. Although it may be only one single flower, knowing who gave it to you- your significant other- meant more than receiving the world given by someone else. Floyd wanted to say something else, eyes briefly looking at the small piece of paper in his hand and to your bright expression, seeming as if he wanted to say something more. But he didn’t. He dared not read aloud what was on the next line and opted to smile his familiar, goofy smile that you’ve come to love. Platonically, of course. 

“Hah..” He sighs after a while. "This is tiring.." He mumbles, which could be interpreted as being tired from doing errands for Jade although in truth, it meant something different.

"I'm going back to the dorm now. Bye, Shrimpy~" He says lazily as his entire, sluggish body turns around and walks off before you could get a word out. Nonetheless, he knows how appreciative you are towards him for bringing the gift. After all, it was a gift from your beloved Jade. 

Jade who, despite being so busy and probably under stress, still thought about you and even if he couldn't come to you personally, still sent someone else to deliver his heartfelt words of love in the form of a flower.

Safe to say that you completely forgot about your plans and head off to Ramshackle to preserve the flower for as long as you can.

-

"What's with that look?" You finally asked when you snapped back to reality. Grimm was staring at you so intently that the reason you came to, was that you felt a gaze on you. Turns out it was just Grimm. “Hmph, you’re really a weird one..” He mumbles, which you could barely make out, before he walks off to the kitchen downstairs, leaving you alone with the geranium placed in a glass vase filled with water to gaze at O’ so lovingly. 

Unbeknownst to you, back at Octavinelle, Jade was in his room, completely unoccupied– well, if you don’t count him admiring his terrariums as something to be busy about, that is- opposite of what you were thinking about the past couple of days. Now, why didn’t Jade come to you to deliver the flower if he was so free? That is something only he knows the answer to. 

Sluggish footsteps could be heard dragging outside the halls of his room until finally, it stopped at his door. He didn’t need to answer nor did the person outside need to knock- as if they ever- since the two knew each other well. “I’m back~” Floyd says lazily the moment he opens the door and slumps on the bed, face plastered on a pillow. Jade looks at his brother from the corner of his eyes– eyes with two completely different yet beautiful colours that allured you to him in the first place, but were mysterious, mischievous, calculating, and always looking as if they were plotting something– and spoke, “Thank you, dear brother.” His lips curled upwards into a twisted smile. 

This prompted Floyd to look up at his twin, hugging the pillow that supported his chin. “You owe me one..” He began to say, but sighs. “Eh, Shrimpy’s smile was worth it though so I’ll consider this favour done.” He yawns and places his face back on the pillow once more, still eyeing his brother who was now doing something with his terrariums. After a couple minutes of more comfortable silence, Floyd speaks up once more, with a tired yawn. “Why do you still bother with Shrimpy, brother? I know that you don’t really like them.” This halted Jade from whatever he was doing– actions with his hands stopped mid air before they continued to work away. “You know why, brother.” 

Indeed, Floyd knows, but he doesn’t agree with the method Jade has opted to use. Eh, this was Jade’s problem and not one he wants to involve himself in. If anything happens, he’s sure his brother can make the situation turn to his advantage. After all, Jade was the brains out of the two while he was the brawns. If he were in a similar situation– Eh, what is he thinking about? It’s too tiresome to even achieve such a thing in the first place. And so with that, he turned the other way and took a nap.

-

“I think these are good enough!” You exclaim as you look through the bag at the stuff you bought from Mr. S’ Mystery Shop. He surprisingly has all the stuff you wanted to buy, and at a cheaper cost too! It was a good thing because one, you weren’t sure if the money you had was enough for the shop outside and two, you totally forgot about your plan for the first day of the weekend that you had only the last to go out and do what you sought out to do. “Can’t you hurry up? I’m starving!” Grimm complains. “Right. Sorry!” You apologized as you walked a little faster to catch up to your tiny, floating companion. Glass could be heard clinking inside the bag which reminded you to be careful of where you step. One trip and fall might be enough to break the glasses inside.

“And I also haven’t forgotten that I should be giving you extra tuna today.” You smiled at the furball. Hearing about extra food made Grimm a little less pressed on the matter of rushing, but he pretended to not seem to care about it, opting to turn away with his paws over his chest. 

You stifle a chuckle, not wanting him to get angry. Then, from just barely what your ears could reach, you hear students talking amongst themselves in a.. Somewhat suspicious tone. You look over your shoulder and see students from Savanaclaw on one side and Octavinelle on the other. A bit far from each other but all the same, eyeing at your direction– at you–, grinning and snickering. You suddenly felt uneasy. Being the only magicless student made it a bit tough on adjusting to life at Night Raven. Predators seemed to lurk everywhere you went and without your first year friends around with even a bit of magic, it felt as if you were a naive rabbit who stepped into a den of wolves without knowing. 

“Hey, uh, human..?” Grimm noticed their presence too and with better ears, could pick up their up-to-no-good conversation. You quickly turn to face Grimm and force a small smile. “Let’s just hurry back.” 

Every step you took, you noticed that they, too, took the same amount of steps. You didn’t mean to panic, but you felt too frightened, and so your brisk pace broke into a run, the glass in the bag clanking aggressively. You weren’t the fittest out there so whatever amount of stamina you had, you felt slowly slip past you. Nevertheless, with the help of Grimm’s shouts of attempt encouragement and urgency, you pushed your legs past their limit, and a good thing that you did since you crashed onto a hardened chest– but still better than running into a tree. 

It was a sudden surprise that, fortunately, was received with a quick response; arms wrapped around you and a foot stepped back to stabilize the both of you. “Oh? And what is this?” A familiar deep and smooth voice makes its way into your ears followed along with a chuckle. 

Upon recognizing it, you look up in an almost tearful joy as you look at the familiar mismatched eyes of your lover. “Jade!” You smiled, tears pricking at the corner of your eyes, threatening to fall.  Your racing heart begins to calm and Jade looks up at the incoming herd of students. He could surmise what is happening, but he did not flinch or take your hand to run away with him. No, he stood and watched as they drew to a halt once they were close enough. “My, don’t tell me you were running away from.. Fufufu, no good nobodies,” Jade said to you while eyes never leaving the students. “Come on, you’re on a much higher standing than these men.” He said the last words with an almost spiteful tone, but one can never tell with Jade. 

He spins you around to face your pursuers, both hands on your shoulders and leaning down to the same eye level as you. You look at him, confused and scared. “Don’t look at me– look at them.” You followed where his eyes stared at– at the guys. “See, they don’t look much. They don’t even look like they’re worth your time. What’s so intimidating about them?” He says in that voice that would cause your legs to quake. 

One of the students got ticked off, but Jade, wasting no time, narrowed his eyes and the air around them seemed to suddenly grow cold. “Oh? A nobody dares challenge me? Fufufu.” He straightens his hunched back, looking ready to fight. His height, although not the tallest ever seen, was intimidating enough that inflicted hestiance in the students that they grumbled a few words and scrambled with tails between their legs.

After they had disappeared, paired with a few more long minutes of silence, you turned around, ready to say you thanks. “Thank you, Jade!” He smiles slightly, saying nothing, and brings a hand to hold your cheek, wiping what small tears you had that lingered at the corner of your eyes. “No need to thank me. Although, I do wonder what would have happened if I wasn’t around to protect you.” You dare not dwell on the thought. “Well, we’ll never know,” you joked.

“.. Mm, a shame..” He says under his breath with a smile, continuing to brush your cheek with the hand that was already touching your face. You were in a trance as you looked at him but broke out when he noticed your bag and asked about it. “O, oh! Uh, these are for a.. Uhm..” You sweat, eyes darting everywhere and nowhere all the same. “Oh! Right, these are supplies for a class assignment!” You mentally slapped yourself. It was a poor excuse of a lie but thankfully, Jade bought in, although it did look like he was suspicious of you. He asked no further questions, probably not interested in whatever class assignment it was, and just escorted you to Ramshackle safely before bidding goodbye. 

“That was a close one..” Grimm states to which you agreed.

-

“Eh? Shrimpy was chased?” Floyd knitted his brows with a deep frown, eyes following Jade who sat down on his chair to work on his terrariums again. “If I find those guys.. You let me know who they are if we see them!” Jade sighs. “There is no need for that, Floyd.” 

“But we need to let these guys know that Shrimpy has us!” Floyd said. “We should teach them a lesson so that they don’t try to hurt Shrimpy again!”

Shrimpy this, Shrimpy that. It makes one wonder who you were dating. “Floyd, are you perhaps interested in [Name]?” Jade asks, eyes not leaving his work. “Huh~? Of course I am! Shrimpy is a human without magic~ Hehh~ They’re fun to play with,” Floyd answers, rolling around on Jade's bed. Jade sighs, not meaning the question that way. Nevertheless, he knows the answer. “Well, would you like it if ‘Shrimpy’ was with you forever?” 

Floyd halts his actions. “Huh?” That was all Jade needed to continue. “Since you find them so fun to play with, I don’t mind giving them to you,” he said nonchalantly as if you were nothing but an object that, if no longer wanted, could just be tossed away– or in this case, given away to another man. 

“Heh? But what about–” Floyd asked, sitting up on the bed. “I’ve changed my mind,” he quickly responded. “Is there any need for me to keep a fragile pearl that is always looking for someone else to protect it and not find themselves a shell to protect itself with instead. You know how boring it can be when the same fish stays around you like a fish stuck to a hook.” Such cryptic words flew over Floyd’s head, but he understood that Jade had grown bored of you. 

“You’re going to break their heart if they hear you,” Floyd said. “Don’t worry, I’ll personally tell them myself.” 

-

“Gahh!” Back in your room, you have yet to perfect the gift you planned on giving Jade. Another failed attempt. It was late at night and you were nowhere near finishing. You followed the book down to a T but you can never seem to get the result you wanted. “Grr, I’m trying to sleep here!” Grimm roars. “S, sorry!” 

You look at Grimm and then to the work on your table that has yet to go anywhere, contemplating over something before returning to attempting at perfecting it. You allowed yourself to work on it for a little bit more before heading to bed. Sleep is crucial after all.

-

Sleep is crucial, you had told yourself last night, however, you never really pulled through with that statement since the first thing your friends are greeted with is a zombie you, yawning every few seconds. Throughout the day, your friends will point out how you looked like you haven’t slept at all yesterday– which, they weren’t wrong. You had completely lost track of the time and before you knew it, your alarm clock went off and that’s when you realized that you haven’t slept at all and would have to survive classes without falling asleep through any of them.

It was a challenging task– you either try to put effort in paying in class or try to not fall asleep. Listening in on the subject would be the first option but classes tend to live up to their reputation of being boring and make you sleepy. You opted to stay awake by keeping note of when you feel yourself nod off. 

At the final stretch of classes, you may have drifted off once or twice but you were thankful for your friends to wake you up.

As you walked down the halls, happy that your were finally able to go back to your dorm, Grimm was poking at you about how dumb you could be, saying how not getting any sleep was a much dumber move than having an hour or two of sleep. But to you, it was worth it since at the break of dawn, you have finally perfected the gift. You were honestly excited to see it work its magic itself, but that excitement was hidden under the layer of drowsiness.

You ignored your tiny friend as you pulled yourself sluggishly. However, your attitude completely changed when you saw the familiar back of your lover talking to his twin. It could not be a more perfect timing since you couldn’t wait to look at your gift to fruition. Before you could walk up to them and call out their names, Floyd sees you over Jade’s shoulder and tells his brother so. 

Jade looks at you over his shoulder. You were smiling despite how dizzy you were from how tired you were. You were about to call his name but before you could, he turned around and brushed past his brother. You were confused and.. A little bit hurt. Nonetheless, you decided to talk to Floyd instead. “Shrimpy~!!” He leaps onto you, tackling you in a bone-crushing hug. He rested his cheeks on top of your head and rubbed them, like how a cat would rub their head against their owners. “F.. Floyd.. A little too tight..!” You patted his back in hope he understood and he did, getting off of you. You take a deep breath in and out before asking your question.

“Where is Jade going?” you asked, tucking away the hurt deep in your heart’s darkest corners. “Mm~ He said he has things to do,” he answers, shrugging. “Oh.. Okay. I’ll just send him a text then,” you whispered the last part. “Mm? A text? Do you have something to talk to him about?” he asks and you nod. “It’s more like I want to give him something and I was hoping he would like to come with me to receive it.. But then again, I can always give it to him during school.” 

Floyd was silent which made you concerned for the eel. “Is something wrong, Floyd?” you asked. “Hm? Oh! Hehehh~ Nope!” He puts a hand behind his head. “If it’s a gift for Jade, I can give it to him.” It was a rather attractive offer since you couldn’t wait for Jade to receive it but.. “Thank you, but I would like to give it to him personally. I want him to know how much I appreciate him and care about him,” you said and added, “And besides, I want to watch it with him..” 

-

When you got back to your dorm, you passed out after quickly changing out of your uniform. You didn’t wake up at all that day and it was only when your alarm went off that you woke up, feeling fresh. 

You looked at your table in a small jar– the gift– and made a note to message Jade to meet up after classes are over since you wanted to give him something. You didn’t get a reply, but that didn’t bother you at all since he was still probably getting ready at this time.

But it did bother you later on when classes were about to be over and you’ve had zero text notifications from him. It also made you worry. Was he in danger? Was he sick? You doubt that he got into some trouble since he didn’t seem the type to. Maybe he was sick and couldn’t answer? But he seemed fine yesterday.

“Hey, you have been looking at your phone so intensely.. You can’t burn a phone with your eyes, you know..” Ace said once the bell rang, signalling that classes are over for the day. “O, oh! Was I?” You laughed awkwardly. “I have been waiting for a text actually..”

“Hm? A text? From who?” he asked. “From Jade.” You smiled, thinking about Jade. The mention of your boyfriend draws a halt amongst your friends. Noticing that your friends weren’t keeping in pace with you, you stopped and turned around. “Uh, hey, what’s wrong?”

“[Name], you haven’t heard?” Deuce asks. Your heart dropped. Did Jade go and got himself hurt? “W, what? What haven’t I heard?” you almost demanded shakily. “Well, we heard that–” Before Ace could say anything further, Deuce clasped his mouth with a hand. “It’s nothing. We just heard that Jade wasn’t at, uh, school today,” Deuce quickly makes up a lie. But this did not calm your heart. Was he sick? If so, you should go over to him right now! 

You sprinted away from your friends and Grimm, not hearing them bicker over something. When you turned a corner, you were greeted with the students from the day you went to buy things for Jade’s gift. “He won’t show up, right?” one asks which another answered. “Yeah, I’m sure.” 

Oh no. Was Jade’s sickness made aware to these guys and knew that no one will be able to help you? The only way to go to Jade right now was to pass through the guys but you don’t have magic to defend yourself nor know any self defense. It seemed that the only option was to turn around and run, but when you turned around, you couldn’t take a step forward before being grabbed by the arm. “Hey! Let me go!” you shouted, hopefully loud enough for something to hear and come to your aid. 

“Heheh, you’re weak and hopeless. No wonder why he left you,” the student who grabbed you laughed. “But I can take better care of you and I won’t dump you because you’re weak.”

“What are you talking about? No, nevermind that– let go!” The more you struggle, the tighter the grip on you becomes– to the point that you wince. The grip on you became tighter and you felt tears trickling down your cheeks. “Hahah! Look, look! They’re crying,” a student watching pointed out. “What a cute thing, eh? Hahah.”

“Ehh~? What’s this?” Down the halls, the heels of a shoe echoed and soon a silhouette appeared in the dark. You felt relieved that someone had come and even more so when that silhouette revealed itself to be Floyd, a hand behind his neck.

He looks at the situation with lazy eyes; first at the guys surrounding you before his mismatched eyes landed on your terrified yet slightly relieved form. “Shrimpy!” His eyes widened and before you knew it, he ran at an incredibly fast speed and punched square in the face at the guy holding your arm in a bruising grip.

“So are you the guys who were chasing Shrimpy down?” he asks in a demanding tone, referring to the shopping incident not too long ago. He cracked his knuckles and neck; ready to beat somebody– or in this case, the guys in front of you. 

He was about to grab the one nearest to him but you stopped him, grabbing his arm slowly and carefully. When you got his eyes on you, you shook your head. If he were to fight them, he would get into trouble and that is something you don’t ever wish to see him in. 

He hesitated. And by the look of the pained expression he had, it seemed as if it was a hard thing to do. But thankfully, he listened, but not before saying some threatening words to the guys who scampered off for good. 

“Shrimpy, are you okay?” Floyd ask you, having his full attention on you. You nod, wiping off the streak of teas on your face. “Other than this bruise that can be treated, yeah, I am. Thank you, Floyd.” You look up at him and smiled a genuine smile. “Hehe~ Anything for you, Shrimpyy~” he said and added, “Those guys won’t ever come back and if they do, make sure to tell me. I won’t let them go this time.” You laughed. “I promise to tell you.”

You would have thanked him once more and left, but you quickly remembered why you were there in the first place. “Oh! Right, is Jade okay?” you ask, catching Floyd off guard. “Mm? Why wouldn’t he be?” he ask, raising an eyebrow. “W, well I heard that he wasn’t at school today and thought that he might be sick.. He hasn’t answered my message from this morning too!”

Floyd was about to directly deny Jade's absence but pondered on it a bit. “Heh~ Where did you hear that?” “From Deuce!” you answered without a second to waste. He tilts his head, looking at you blankly before his expression changes, smiling widely with closed eyes. “Ehh~ So is that it?” You nodded. “Hehe, don’t worry, Shrimpy. Jade is not sick,” he said and patted your head reassuringly. “So he did come to school today? Why didn’t he answer my message?” 

His eyes wandered to the upper corner of his eyes, thinking, before smiling his closed-eyed smile again, stroking the top of your head. “I’m sure he was just busy. I’ll tell him about it.” You smiled. “That would be great. Thank you, Floyd!” You give him your own bone-crushing hug– which couldn’t even hold a candle to his hugs– and walks away, turning every once in a while to wave goodbye to Floyd.

Once you were gone, Floyd’s cheery expression dropped along with the hand that waved at you, a darkness shadowing over his eyes. Mix that with the surrounding light and it made it look like his eyes glimmered. With a deep frown, he went back to Octavinelle where his brother most likely was.

-

Several, long and agonizing days went by and you still haven’t heard from Jade. You didn’t see him around campus and so is Floyd. You wanted to ask him if he told Jade or forgot about it, but he was nowhere. Soon, it was to the point where your gift had to be remade again because it was.. Fading, let’s say. This made you tear up and frustrated when you had to remake it again. Once again, it took some time to make it, but this time you couldn’t bring yourself to perfect it once more. Your mind was too busy with other thoughts concerning Jade. It felt like he just up and disappeared on you. Frustrated, you get up from your seat and go to bed, hoping to catch some sleep with what remaining hours. However, not long before you lay your head did you get up again to work on the gift again. Tomorrow, you will make it so that you will see Jade, even thinking about storming up to Octavinelle’s dorm and demanding answers from him should he not be around the halls.

It was going to be raining the next day and if the sky was telling you something, you wished you listened. There was yet to be rain when you head off to school though and you presumed that it would be raining some time after classes. You showed up to school tired the next day and sat through each class impatiently. It was only after the ring of dismissal that you rushed out of your class, leaving Grimm and your friends, and walked around the main school building, hoping to see any of the twins. When you couldn't, you went to your dorm, got the gift for Jade, and headed off to his dorm. 

Once you got here, you cleaned yourself up a bit to not look like a ghost like your friends had stated, taking deep breaths before you went and looked for Jade’s room. When you got there, you prepared yourself again, giving yourself some encouraging words in your head before raising a hand, knuckle facing the wooden door, ready to knock. 

However, before you could ever make contact with the door, you heard your name. It made you curious so you stayed silent, hoping to know what they were saying.

“Mm, I haven’t seen Shrimpy today.” Floyd takes a deep breath before letting out an even deeper sigh. “When will I be able to see Shrimpy, Jade?” Well, at least you now know that both of them were in the room together. But this begs the question, were they purposely avoiding you? Based on the second part of what Floyd said, it really seemed like that.

“Tell me, Floyd, did you ever tell them what Geranium meant?” Jade asks, not answering Floyd's question. “While it can mean happiness and friendship, it originally represented stupidity.” Jade, who had a vase full of geraniums, plucked one and brought it close to his lips which tugged upwards in a sly smile that was most easiest to do if you had been dealing with the dark for a long time.

“Fufufu, soon, Floyd. But not now. I can’t have them use you as a middleman to get to me,” you hear Jade say. Why didn’t Jade want you to reach out to him? “You haven’t been replying to their messages too, right?” Floyd asks, hugging a pillow as he situated himself on the bed with crossed legs. “Don’t you think you’re being a little too mean, Jade? At this point, I would have come and stormed to the dorm to find you.”

Floyd frowned, feeling bad about how his Shrimpy isn’t aware about the heartbreak that would follow up soon after a few more days of avoidance. “Fufufu, though they were much fun to tease, it’s no longer needed to keep up with this charade. I have gathered all necessary information for Azul should he need to blackmail them,” he chuckles. 

You gasped and quickly put a hand over your mouth, hoping they didn’t hear it. Tears gathered at your eyes and slowly took small steps back before breaking out into a sprint to hurriedly get away from the dorm and Jade. Geraniums.. O’ how it fitted you so. A naive, foolish human like you could never hope to hold a candle to Jade so how dare you think it so? 

Back in Jade’s room, Floyd sighed while Jade returned to his work as if nothing had just happened. Both of them knew that you were coming and purposely started talking when you were at the door, as instructed by his brother. 

“Jade, why couldn’t you just break it off to them yourself? This is way too mean,” Floyd said. “Fufufu, I need one more fun out of them before I can no longer have that chance.”

-

When you got out of their dorm, it was raining heavily and to rub more salt on how stupid you could be, you forgot to bring an umbrella. The only thing to do was run in the rain, the raindrops hiding your tears as you ran through to get to Ramshackle. You clutched onto the jar tightly that glowed much brighter in the darker skies, your heart shattering with every step you took. 

If the rain wasn’t enough to obstruct your vision, your bleary eyes made it worse as you ran. Suddenly, and without warning, you tripped on a tree’s roots, causing you to trip and fall, the jar shattering into pieces like your heart. The pain you felt cursing through you from your hands couldn’t compare to the pain in your heart. All this time, Jade had only seen his time with you as an errand for Azul where you, on the other hand, felt something more. You had felt happiness beyond what friends and family could hope to offer. A much more intimate stage of love.

You cried harder, allowing the rain to drown out your cries and hide your tears, not caring about the gift that had spilled. It was only when the rain had died down and the sun had set well beyond the horizon that you made your way to Ramshackle where Grimm awaited about to get angry with you. But upon seeing your state, he said nothing, eyes following your retreating form to go to your bedroom. 

Grimm and the ghosts in Ramshackle stayed silent that night, hearing the wails that threatened to break your vocal cords. But you did not care and only fell asleep when your eyes felt heavy and forced itself shut.

-

It was a bad idea– going to bed in soaked clothes and open wounds that weren’t treated because in the morning, not only did you feel cold, you felt the pain from the wounds become much worse. You hissed as you got up, making your way to the bathroom and finding the first aid kit to treat yourself. It wasn’t an easy thing to do since both of your hands were in pain and that everything that it touched felt like thorns were pricking on your skin. 

You wanted to shower with what had happened yesterday and getting soaked in the rain, but you felt that the water would just add more pain to the wounds on your hands and knees.

When you showed up to classes that morning, you had your friends question what happened to your hands and legs and why your eyes were red and puffy. You made an excuse of having forgotten to bring an umbrella and having to run out in the rain and tripping on a root which made you cry. It wasn’t a complete lie, but you did omit the part of why you were out and about during a rain and about the heartbreak, though that part did not need to be said, and that your teary eyes only confirmed the rumour that was up in the air a couple days ago. 

You were in shambles and it was only at your downfall did Jade make his appearance in school normal again. To every hall you walk from class to class, you saw him. You stopped at some point and made eye contact with him. You felt your heart tightened at the sight of him. The eyes that you thought were clouded with love for you seemed ordinary. Were his eyes always like that? Did it never hold any feelings towards you? Was it all a delusion that you had convinced yourself? It most likely was when you see that he looks ahead and ignores you.

You felt slightly dizzy and nauseous so you returned to your dorm where your sickness grew worse. You didn’t feel like eating that night so you promptly told Grimm to have dinner by himself and went to bed.

The next time you woke up, which was in the afternoon of the next day, your state turned for the worse and you knew you were having a fever. When you got up, you had the immediate urge to puke so you ran to the bathroom. Grimm stayed home when he noticed you weren’t waking up and looked really out of it. He and the ghosts watched you in silent worry. 

Once you were done puking out whatever you puked out, you looked at your hands, realizing you had forgotten to change the bandages on your hands so it looked very unsanitary. You groaned and got up, looking for the first aid kit to change them again. “Human, your friends came by this morning..” Grimm begins, hoping to get you to talk to him. “They were, uhh, worried.” This was not so Grimm of him and it made him almost shiver but he pushed past that. 

When he got no word out of you, he stayed quiet, fidgeting a bit. He didn’t know what to do. I mean, what should he do in a situation he had never encountered before? 

“Grimm..” You groggily say. Man, was it hard to force yourself to speak. However, Grimm’s ears perked up; ready to listen to what you have to say. “Could you.. Get me a glass of water.. Please?” you asked. “You got it!” He said quickly and went downstairs. 

After he disappeared from your sight, you returned to your room and changed your clothes from the uniform worn yesterday to proper, comfortable clothes. The moment you sit down on the edge of your bed, Grimm comes back with a large glass of water. You would chuckle at the state of urgency he was in, but all you could master was a small smile and a close to a whisper ‘thank you’ before you downed the glass to almost nothingness. 

It made you feel a little better. You rested your head on the pillow again, checking your phone just in case and later scrolling through Magicam. Your friends texted you– just the Adeuce duo, Epel, and Jack really since they were the ones most closest to you seeing as you guys were in the same year– saying that they heard about your state and wished you a good and speedy recovery. Sebek.. Well, Sebek was Sebek and off to care about his young master more.

When you opened Magicam– you shouldn’t have– the first thing you saw was your page and your profile. It was of you and Jade. Your bio was some along the lines of ‘I would never trade you for the world’. Although it was true that you still would never trade Jade up for anything the world had to offer, it looked like Jade would do the opposite; ready to trade or throw you away. 

Now that you look at it properly, you noticed that Jade never posted a thing about you, had a profile picture of you like you had, nor mentioned you in his bio or any text post. He knew that it would be only a matter of time before he ended things with you. How heartless he was.

You started to cry silently at first but it quickly turned into messy sobs. 

The routine of waking up at random hours of the day, going to the bathroom to puke and change your bandages, then later crying yourself to sleep occurred for the next three days.

One day, however, something was different. You had a dream. You quickly forgot what it was the moment you opened your eyes. Your fever has gotten worse at this point since you did forget to do one thing: to take care of yourself; maintaining a healthy appetite despite being ill. 

When your eyes fluttered open, the room was pitch black except for the light coming from the moon outside. You heard shuffling somewhere around you and you assumed that it was Grimm so you quietly called out for him. “Fufufu, you called out my name throughout your sleep, yet you now call another the moment you wake up?” You were confused at who the voice belonged to, still in a daze with your fever. 

You meant to ask who was there, but you couldn’t voice it out so you opted to look at wherever the voice originated and surely enough, you see a human silhouette– not Grimm’s– just a metre or so away from you. You tried to call again but nothing came out. 

Whoever was in the room was not Grimm, but you didn’t feel scared. I mean, if it were some other student, you were sure Grimm or the ghosts would have chased them out by now. And besides, the presence was very calming.

The figure made its way to your bed, sitting down at the edge of it, their back facing away from the moon’s light so you couldn’t see their face. “Here, why don’t you drink some water?” They help you sit up and support you up, having a hand rest on your lower back while the other guides a glass of water up to your lips.

Once you downed the glass, they helped you lie down before standing up to fetch a wet towel to place over your head. “Don’t speak,” the voice orders and you listen surprisingly.

Scared that whoever the person in your room would leave, you held on to one of their hands. So far, this person was very kind to have helped you in your worst state and you could not bring yourself to let them leave. This gesture made the second party chuckle and stroke your head with their free hand. “My, what would you become if I wasn’t around to guide you? Look at you– it hasn’t been long and you have already went and gotten yourself sick.”

Whatever they were saying flew out of your other ear as you allowed them to stroke your head since it made you feel sleepy. The person only stopped when they were sure you were asleep, your light snoring to prove it. 

At a specific angle, did the moon cast a light at two different coloured eyes. They seemed to glow as they watched you intently, mind running a million miles a minute with thoughts that no one else could guess. 

However, after a while and in the moment of you dreaming, you whispered something that caught the figure off guard. “Do you love me.. Jade?” The way you said it sounded broken, but the person did nothing to console you– not even say under their breath what you wished to hear and hope it makes it into your dreams. 

-

Jade was on his way to his dorm when a loud and annoying furball was racing at him with flames in his eyes and shouting at him. He and Floyd stopped on their tracks and watched as Grimm came crashing into Jade. He quickly pulls away and proceeds to hit Jade with whatever strength he’s got. 

“Hm~? What are you doing here, earless seal? Aren’t you supposed to be with your master?” Floyd asks. “[Name] has gotten worse and keeps calling out this jerk's name,” Grimm states angrily. “This is all your fault! After all the things they went through to make you a gift– failed attempts, broken shards that cut their hands, not getting a wink of sleep–”

“Woahh, calm down there–” Floyd was cut off. All Grimm could see was red. “You go and do this to them!?” At the high level of rage, one would think he would unleash magic that would cause an overblot any time soon and that was something the twins weren’t excited about. 

Floyd reached a hand out and clamped his mouth shut, ears ringing from the shouting. “You’re annoying.” 

Grimm was silent and when Floyd was sure he wouldn’t go and yell anymore, he pulls his hand away. “Now, why don’t you start from the beginning? Make it one sentence only while you’re at it,” Jade said. Grimm crosses his arms. “Hmph. If you haven’t noticed by now, my human isn’t around because of a fever caused by a jerk.”

“A fever? Shrimpy has a fever?” Floyd repeats. He wasn’t aware of this since he wasn’t in any of your classes at all this week– not that he attends them frequently. “And I assume that jerk would be me, yes?” Jade asks, not needing to hear an answer. 

“Mm.. I think you should go and check on Shrimpy, Jade. You’re being a little too mean to them,” Floyd suggests. Jade honestly felt like it wasn’t his responsibility to go over to you and take care of you, but he did agree with his brother that he would just be lower on the standing compared to the guys who chased you days ago. 

After drawing out a long sigh, he eventually agrees. Floyd kept Grimm with him, wanting to play a game of chase. When Jade arrived at the front steps of your dorm, the sun was quick to almost set and the dark colours of the night skies slowly took over. When he entered, he was met with the ghosts that dwell in the building. They were ready to give him a fright, standing right at the door, but he dismissed them and made his way upstairs and to your bedroom where a clutter of things obstructed his path. 

He moves them aside with his legs, sometimes just stepping over them with his long legs until he is finally at the side of your bed. You were mumbling incoherent things by that point that Jade had to bend down to hear what you were saying with that pained expression. “Jade..” Ah, so it was him you were calling out even in the midst of your dreams. How funny it is that you were still uttering his name despite being the one to make you feel worthless. 

Eyes tearing away from you, he looks around at the mess and sighs. Here he thought he would just check up on you before leaving, but remembering Floyd words, he decided to clean up the mess. It would be a bad thing if the dirt of your room made you even more sick. And if you were to become worse, he knows for a fact that his brother wouldn’t stop nagging him.

While cleaning up, he would hear you mumble his name under your lips as if it was a chant; as if it would bring him back to you. He would often stop, close his eyes and take a deep breath in and out before continuing. 

When the floor was spick and span of obstacles, he felt that he did not need to stay anymore. But when he turned around, his eyes caught a glimpse of something in the far corner of the room– where your desk is at. There was a faint glow on the table. It was much dimmer than the light of the moon, but still noticeable if you weren’t in a rush. Curious, he made his way over and noticed all the jars and potion bottles messily scattered. In the garbage bin beside were broken pieces of glass. 

He thinks back to when Grimm had come running towards them in fury, his arm hugged around his waist, supporting the other arm that was drawn close to his face, a finger to his lips. “These must be the failed attempts..” He mumbles, eyes scanning the desk until he was satisfied, though he did not see a book or note of what you were trying to make. 

He recalls you saying that they were for a class assignment, but it has seemed to stretch on for quite a long time and wonder when the due date is. He ponders if you were being foolish again in wanting to be ‘creative’ in potion making or not. You weren’t Rook and you know that so why would you attempt to do something dangerous like potion making without supervision? He would never know with that head of yours. 

He chuckles at that. You were truly a foolish human.. His foolish– Oh? What’s this? Why is he now just thinking about you in this way? He doesn’t believe his feelings towards you have changed. You were always seen as somebody dumb and always needing protecting to him. 

“Jade..” The call of his name snaps him out of his thoughts and looks over his shoulder over to your bed. Your breathing had become quick and shallow. “My, what a dream you must be having,” he says under his breath before leaving the room for only a short duration of time and returning with a bowl and towel in one hand and a glass of water in the other. 

When he returns, he notices your eyes flutter open slowly. And though in the dark, he could tell that your vision was hazy. His shoulders relax at the thought of not being easily identifiable to you. He would hate it if you were to cling onto him again. 

Not wanting to waste anymore unneeded time away from his terrariums, he got you to go to bed after making you drink water and place a cool, damped towel on your forehead. But to his dismay, you held on to his gloved hand. Are you that naive to trust your life to a person you can’t properly identify? He might have been a bad guy and if he truly was one, seeing your vulnerable state would make him think that you were easy to deal with.

The light of the moon and the darkness of the room sculpted out his face perfectly and mismatched eyes that looked at you glowered at that thought. Had you not learned your lesson from being chased by those students? He was amazed you had come this far in life– to make it to Twisted Wonderland. Were you chased at school back in your world? You do come across as the easy type for any predator looking for a prey. Then again, in your world, humans there are also defenceless like you, right? 

At that thought, he was curious about your world. How do so many magicless and helpless humans manage to survive– let alone create a community– without any magic? He wished to ask you, but you were happily snoring away. 

What is he talking about? He was shocked that he wanted to know more about you and the world you came from. He never had asked a single question that would be considered as personal to you.. However, he was amazed. The corner of his lips pulled slightly upwards and in the cast of the moonlight, did he have a genuine smile. Just how did you do it, he asked himself, not realizing the small smile.

After a while, he decided that he should go but once he was about to pull his hand back, his attention was caught on to something else– Despite having a temperature that skyrockets past roofs, your hands were awfully pale and cold.. And poorly wrapped in bandages? He wouldn’t have known through touch by his gloved hand, but both of your hands were indeed wrapped in bandages that were too loose to even prevent whatever wound you were trying to heal to be treated properly. 

He sighs once again at how much tending you needed. It was annoying but he did not complain. He went to your bathroom after carefully getting your hands off of him and searched for the first aid kit– which was just sitting on top of the counter. It was scattered like how your room was just before he entered and decided to clean up. You were almost running out of bandages, which makes him concerned– though he won’t admit it– to just how deep of a wound you have gotten. Just what type of injury did you have anyway?

When he returned to your side again and carefully undos your wrapping, his eyes were shocked to see the deep cuts on your hands. What the Sevens were you doing to have gotten ugly cuts? He would have bombarded you to tell him the truth, but since you were asleep, he couldn’t. He thinks back to the coward guys a week ago now. Were it those guys? He purposely spread word to only a small few, but to think that those guys took advantage of you when they thought he wouldn’t be around you anymore to hurt you? He wished he hadn’t let them go at that moment. 

Pushing his anger aside for now, he wraps your hands in the bandages nicely. It wasn’t too tight nor was it too loose that it would come undone quickly. 

Just when he was about to get up from the bed to return the kit, you weakly ask a question in the midst of your dream. “Do you love me.. Jade?” Your voice was hoarse despite having drank a large glass of water not too long ago. It sounded hurt– no, broken as well.

Does he love you? No, he did not. But, so then what was this unnecessary anger? If he did not love you, he should not feel angry for you. He said nothing and decided that it was rather past the appropriate time to be loitering around your room.

It was at this point that he was sure he had no further tending to, so– subconsciously– he took away the towel on your forehead for a short while, only to place a kiss on the middle of it before putting the towel back on. He hadn’t realize what he did, only doing something routine to him when he would come by your place. 

He would come by your place to chat or do some baking and when it had gotten past the time, you would urge him to tuck you to bed and place a kiss on your head. It was a distant thing to him now that his heart– unknowing to him– still holds onto. 

-

When you woke up, the sun had yet to peak through the cracks in the horizon, but you were feeling much refreshed after sleeping days away. When you wake up, the first thing you notice is the feeling of light pressure on your forehead. Your hands reach for it, and sitting up, you realize that it was a towel. 

You try to think hard of what happened yesterday, drawing a finger to your chin as your eyebrows knit. You closed your eyes and eventually, you did recall someone being in your room, but you just couldn’t remember who it was.

“Human!” Grimm says almost happily when he opens the door to see your figure sitting up. “About time you got up.” He makes his way over to your bed and climbs on top to be by you. 

He crossed his arms and observed your state. Colour had come back to your cheeks and you looked much alive, though you do seem to have lost weight by just sleeping the majority of the time. 

“Oh, right, thank you, Grimm,” you said, making your little companion make the sound of confusion with a raised brow. “You know.. For taking care of me last night.” 

“That wasn’t me,” he said coolly, though did not speak further. “What? Then who..?” Your voice trailed as your eyes wandered to the towel in your hands. That’s when you noticed that your hands were wrapped nicely– a much nicer job than what you could ever do. This only proved that Grimm couldn’t have done it because well.. He doesn’t have proper fingers to grip the bandages– and let’s not forget that he has never done these kinds of things to easily get a beautifully wrapped hand.

You were quiet for a while that Grimm became concerned. Then suddenly, your head shot up and looked at your bedroom. It was clean. Your eyes then landed on your desk where your stuff lay– organized. Someone had come by. Someone other than Grimm had some by and that someone had come to care for you in your worst state possible. If you could just figure out who they were.. 

“Do you know who came by?” you ask. “Nope.” Such a quick response made you raise a brow questioningly. You were about to force it out of him but decided against it; knowing Grimm, he most likely will get angry and call you annoying. You did not push the topic and just hoped that your silent thank yous would be carried by the wind to the recipient. 

Grimm did not want to tell you about Jade and how he came to be in your room which was fine with Jade since he did not want you knowing. After leaving Ramshackle, he warned Grimm to not speak of him to which Grimm replied snappily about not wanting to tell you about him in the first place. Both worked in their favour.

You might have forgotten what happened last night and your dream, but when you woke up, you were very happy. Whatever dream you had, it grew into a new burning desire inside you and you quickly got out of bed and headed over to your desk. This time, you were sure you could make the gift in one go. 

Although you still haven’t forgotten the pain Jade had caused, you still want him to receive your gift and your silent words of appreciation. 

-

When you got to school, your friends came rushing up to you excitedly. “[Name], you’re back!” Epel said, a smile adorning his beautiful complexion. “Man, aren’t we glad that you’re back!” Ace said, a wider smile on his face.

You chatted with your friends and at the corner of your vision, you see two teal headed guys walking inside the building. Knowing that they could belong to no other, you quickly made an excuse and apologized and went to try to catch up to the tall eels. “Jade!” 

Surprised to hear his name come from a voice he had heard many times, he turns around. “Shrimpyy! You’re okay!” Floyd was the first to speak. When you got to a few feet away from them, you stopped. You were brimming with energy and Jade couldn’t help but chuckle at that, though it did not appear visibly. It was only last night were you calling his name and clinging onto him as if your life depended on it. Let’s not forget that he was the one to have broken your heart.

“Uhm, Jade, do you.. Do you have time to meet up with me after school?” you said shyly, looking down at the ground while you fidget with your hands. A clear sign of nervousness. He was surprised and it showed when Floyd looked at his surprised face and snickered.

Don’t tell him that you were still trying. Had he not hurt you enough? “I wanted to give you something.. As a friend, of course!” You quickly added the last part. After not hearing a word out of him, you became doubtful that he would accept. “I, it’s okay if you’re busy.. I–”

“No, I’m not busy. We can meet up,” he said after recomposing himself to how he normally is. You look up, a smile so bright that it was hard to describe with words how it would make one happy. “Okay! I’ll see you then!” You wave and hurried off, presumably to look for your friends once more. 

“Isn’t Shrimpy so nice?” Floyd said once he sees that you have turned a corner. “Shrimpy’s been wanting to give you a gift for a loooong time now. You’re a true villain, Jade.” Jade’s eyes narrow, still looking at where you had disappeared, and smiled slyly. “Indeed, I am.”

-

You had texted him to come meet you at Ramshackle the moment the sun started its descent in the distance. It was such a long wait that you almost couldn’t bear it. But, just as told, he was at your door when the sun began to set. 

“You came!” you said, failing to hide the excitement and relief in your tone. “Fufufu, well, I did say I would come. Now, what is it that you wished to give me?” 

“Follow me!” You got outside, without Grimm and walked to the direction of the forest beside the dorm. The walk was silent, but there was no air of awkwardness between the two of you; as if you two were just merely friends on a stroll. He notices that you have something wrapped in a cloth which he assumed was the gift, held tightly in your still bandaged hands. So why did you need to bring him all the way out here?

By the time you got to a small clearing in the forest, the day’s light completely vanished and in place, was the queen of darkness– the moon– and its colours in full for display.

He stopped walking and so did you, after taking a few steps forward to be in front of him. Without saying anything, you sat down and urged him to do the same things, patting the grass beside you. He complied and sat down where you wanted him to. 

Putting the gift on your lap, you began to unravel what was inside. It was a jar that he had seen in your room. The only difference is that it now had glowing specks of light inside of it. No, they weren’t fireflies.. Just tiny floating orbs of light. 

“Watch.” Was all you said. Silently, you remove the lid and the both of you watch as they proceed to fly out. Some glowing orbs seeped into the soils and before you know it, blue flowers sprouted from where the orbs had gone under. The flowers glowed a faint hue of blue to add more to the enchanting feeling. It was a sight to behold and made him feel much relaxed.

He recognizes these flowers to be smeraldo flowers– a flower that some had come to believe to only be an urban legend. But some do beg to differ and believe that they were flowers of the distant past that no longer grew for some unknown reason.

He was about to ask you how you had come to make these– now true– flowers to grow by yourself, but when he looked at you gazing at the floating orbs of light so fondly– looking so ethereal– with a relaxed smile, he decided not to. 

After a while, your eyes looked at the ground and gasped. “Oh! These are beautiful! I didn’t know that it had this effect.” You smiled widely, happy about what you had created. You had found a book in the dustiest part of Ramshackle’s library and after reading it, you were intrigued. You had never made it yourself– as proven with the many catastrophic explosions– but when you decided to give something in return to Jade, you thought this would be a beautiful present. Though, you must say that the book never said anything about it growing flowers. 

You pluck one closest to you and draw it closer to Jade, hoping he would take it. He eyes the flower, before taking it, a small smile evident on his face. “This is the gift I wanted to show you.. Well, not the flower part– it was something I wasn't aware of– but still, it turned out beautiful,” you said, your voice barely audible that should there be a wind to brush past, you were sure that no one could hear you.

“I heard you were busy lately and I was sure you were stressed so I thought of this in hopes that it would make you relax.. Even if it’s just for one night.. But some failed attempts were inevitable.. As you can see with my hands.. So it took some time.” You chuckled at your foolishness. You didn’t add the part where the bigger cuts were from the time you tripped because you felt that he would just make fun of you again and you didn’t want that to ruin the mood.

What? The cuts were from the times you couldn’t perfect the gift? It wasn’t anybody harassing you? He now felt like he was the stupid one. Ah, he should have guessed as much when he approached the cowering students after talking with you that morning. They were truly scared out of their wits when he showed up. He should ask Floyd what happened as he felt that his brother had done something to them. Nevertheless, what was done is done and he’s sure that they will never look your way again.. That is if they could leave the infirmary. 

When you smiled, your eyes were on your hands that sat on your lap. “Even though we aren’t together anymore.. I was hoping to still give it to you and maybe.. Hope that we could at least be friends after this..” 

Friends? His eyes widened slightly. He was confused, but knew one thing for sure: your heart are like these smeraldos; they are delicate. And you yourself would be what the field of flowers would be; a one of a kind amongst millions. 

“Friends..” he repeats, looking away from your eyes that seemed to make his heart race slightly, and to the field of flowers. “Yes..” He gulps back a lump in his throat that he didn’t know he had. “Yes, that would be nice.” 

When you returned to gazing at your gift to him, it was at this moment that he knew that your heart had pieced itself back together.. And that he had messed up. 

“[Name]..” he calls you, voice almost in a whisper. You hummed in response. “Do you know what these flowers are?” He looks at you to which you do the same. You shook your head. He chuckles. You were still the [Name] he had known before this. “These are smeraldos.”

“Wait, smeraldos?” Your eyes widened in recognition. “I thought they weren’t real!” You felt really accomplished to have found that the flowers of myth were actually real and right in front of you. “Fufufu, I thought the same.”

You returned to look at the sigh before you, now with a newfound pride. Jade looks at you in earnest and before he knew it, one thing struck inside him that made him smile bitterly as he fondly gazed over you.

Now, it was his turn.. It's his turn to go through the heartache you went through because of him, because the look in your eyes tells him that you weren’t looking to go back to the past with him. 

And at that moment, in the field of flowers, did he realize one thing: geraniums aren't fit for you at all. These smeraldo were. They fit your once in a lifetime love for him and that once these flowers dwindle and fade to urban legends once more– as if they were never there– it represents the end of your love for him.

But he chuckles bitterly upon remembering what the flowers represent: the truth that couldn't be told. It seems that the flower could fit him as well. 

His newfound and growing love for you will forever be kept a secret between himself and nobody else for he does not wish to hurt you anymore. 

The truth that couldn't be told, huh?

~♡~

I am back with more Ideas for my beloved retired general husband…

In my head I imagine that Lilia has PTSD and as someone that also has that…oof the PTSD episodes are rough

watching others die, killing others…I feel that a part of him will always believe that he’s a harbinger of destruction and death and that he doesn’t deserve to love someone

it might’ve also added to his issue with raising Malleus and Silver! :0

ALSO I THINK HE’D BE ABLE TO SPEAK DIFFERENT LANGUAGES 😳😳😳

imagine this man leaning down and starting to whisper stuff in your ear in German or French

I’d simply….Perish 💀

-Jonah🐉

JONAH ANON! I am in total agreement with you here. >< I can't imagine Lilia not having PTSD with what had happened and all. I try to find opportunities to subtly hint that in my works of Lilia, but I'm not sure how that's going.

Also, I am very sad to here that you have PTSD. I am not well informed with it (just the term and a tiny bit of knowledge) but if you ever break and need someone to vent/cry/seek someone to talk to, I hope I can be of help. I have parents who are both in healthcare+medicine so I'll definitely ask should a problem arise.

And I like your imagery about the raising children part. I now think that as he was raising his children (you know what I mean), there were times where he'd question himself if he was deserving of them and generally having a hard time accepting how he's now basically a stay-at-home father. I picture little Silver wandering around and just finding him in his room late at night staring out the window with an almost pained look with questions hanging in the air. Silver would be found out after calling out for Lilia. 🥺 It was from that moment that baby Silver would start to wonder what was that look of sadness in his father's eyes that night for, but will never get an answer when asked. Ahh!! Thank you for helping me fill my head of these thoughts.

Lastly! For having been alive for so many years, I do think he is capable of speaking in different tongues but German and French? PLEASE! I can just feel his breath by my ear and chuckling deeply as I read that sentence. Mans could whisper the steps to baking a cake in some other language with that husky, deep voice and I'd melt. Like, it doesn't have to be dirty words! His voice alone can overpower me.

I love having these conversations with you. ☺️ It really makes me happy and hyped up to talk about Lilia.

║Kaeya║A Cold War

Gender-neutral.

Word count: 3k

---

You two had been at it for quite some time now. The war between you and the Cavalry Captain, Kaeya, didn't look like it was going to end any time soon. "Honestly, this has gone for far too long that it's silly at this point," Lisa sighs, watching the two of you from afar. "When are they going to make up?" Jean, who stood beside the librarian, nodded in agreement.

You and Kaeya had crossed paths in front of the fountain in the centre of the city one fateful morning. Snarling and angry at the sight of the male, you turned around with a huff and walked away. Although he was your captain, you two clearly showed a much stronger relationship than commander and knight; you two were friends until the fight two weeks ago.

Kaeya sighs at your retreating figure and walked over to the two, tall females who he had noticed was watching. "Good morning," he greets, a hand raised and a smile on his face. "Kaeya, when are you two going to talk?" Lisa asks, a concerned expression on her face.

He shrugs, pretending not to care of the matter. "Who knows?" he simply say. "Anyway, if that's all you're going to talk about, I'd rather get going with my missions." The Cavalry Captain walks away without letting either of the two say anything. Lisa sighs at the retreating captain. "Both of them really are like couple in quarrel," she states, resting her cheeks on her hands. "I find it very cute." Lisa keeps going on about how you two acted like a couple even though you two obviously weren't. Jean looks over at the witch with dismay and shook her head.

You and Kaeya really showed the citizens of Mondstadt of how you two were at war at each other. Kaeya had started to become a grouch and cold while you were fuming with a fit of anger and it showed in everything you do- from training and wiping out hilichurls to simply eating and easy chores.

"We should get (Y/N) to do something else right now, rather than let them wait for Kaeya's orders," Jean says, knowing that even if Kaeya got a mission for you, you won't even listen to him and go do your own thing. It was also bad for you to linger around the city and throw passionate anger into everything you do as citizens reports how an underling of the Cavalry Captain is scaring away people- be it customers or the people themselves.

You were heading off to the training area to train even more. Although you were kind of sore from training from morning till night yesterday, it didn't keep you from training today so that you can make the blue-haired male take back the words he said to you two weeks ago. "You're not capable in doing these alone!" The words rung repeatedly in your head and made you even more angrier, but mostly saddened.

As much as you appreciate Kaeya's concern of your safety, it can sometimes make you question your worth. What are you good for if you are basically told to sit back and do nothing? That's not why you became a knight in the first place; you wanted to seek thrill while protecting the citizens of Mondstadt and you won't improve if he tells you to slack off.

"(Y/N)," a voice calls from behind you, stopping you on your way to the training grounds. You turned around to see the Acting Grand Master with a couple sheets of paper. You guessed it was most likely missions for you. "Are these tasks?" you ask, no sign of hostility in your tone as you spoke with the blonde.

"Yes, we're short of hands right now and was hoping you could take a look at them," she said and hands you over the papers. It is true that since the Grand Master took most of the knights, there aren't a lot of knights left in the city. But, the tasks given to you can be given to any other knights at any time; Jean just wants to help you clear your mind. "Okay, I will. Thank you!" A flare of determination and excitement reflected your hyped tone.

Jean smiles before waving bye and getting to her own things. You look at the papers in hand, seeing that some would take longer than others, but can still be done all today. Not caring to read the full details, you headed to the locations written and wipe out any and all enemies.

In the end, you did clear them all and felt really proud of yourself that you managed to do all tasks alone. You kind of wanted to boast at Kaeya's face but you were too prideful let that happen.

You were making your way inside the city, now late at night, feeling even more sore than yesterday. Although it was hurting you, it felt rewarding since you haven't done this much moving around under Kaeya's orders.

When you got home, you went straight to your bedroom, rather than eating dinner and washing up. You felt the stinging soreness wash over your body when you were taking of your shirt. "Ack!" You immediately lower your arms as a reaction to the pain. "I should deal with this.." you mumbled. You decided to deal with it tomorrow since you don't have the energy to do so tonight.

The next day, you went to the training field, albeit still sore from two days worth of strained movements. The pain really made you question if you had done anything at all to contribute to the Knights of Favonius; you see the Acting Grand Master put her all into everything and the build up of stress and strain on her, Outrider Amber running around and helping anyone who she comes across and scouting areas around Mondstadt, and even the traveller from some place else is doing something much greater such as helping Dvalin, but what about you? You felt miserable.

You headed to the Knights of Favonius' headquarters to see if Jean could give you some missions for today. You knocked on the door lightly and entered when you hear a quick and muffled 'come in'. "Good morning. Sorry to bother you this early in the morning, Acting Grand Master," you started, closing the door behind you. "I was wondering if you could give me any more tasks?"

Jean looks up from her work and smiled. "Ah, (Y/N), good morning," she says. "I heard you came back late last night. Did I give you too much to work?" You shook your head immensely. "No, no, it's just the trips that made it long."

"I see. Well, I don't have any missions right now.. Why don't you see Kaeya and ask if he has any for you?" Jean says nonchalantly as she discreetly adds, pretending she doesn't know what is going on between you and him. Your head slightly drops at the mention of his name. You didn't want to go to him- not now, at least. "Ah, he probably doesn't have any either. It's fine, I'll do some training on my own," you said and left the headquarters.

When you said that you'll train on your own, you mean to go search for some dangers that will help you improve. You still are feeling sore all over but dismiss it. You did, however, applied some essential oil to help relieve your muscle pain and thought that that alone would help. You headed out of the city's wall and looked for some tough opponents.

Kaeya's eyes narrowed as he saw you leaving through the gates, a worrisome feeling in his guts, but he wasn't going to let that feeling in the pit of his stomach get to him. He felt that he was in the right and that you were too stubborn. Your stubbornness and prideful personality made him really irritated, but he felt sad that you two didn't get to chat like before.

He shrugs his shoulders and went to bother anyone who he sees- most likely Diluc, who was at Angel's Share at the moment.

Nightfall started to set in and you hadn't returned- no sightings of you ever walking around the streets since thos morning. Kaeya wasn't aware of this since he thought you were home like he had always expected of you. It wasn't until the next day when he was summoned to the headquarters by Jean that he knew of your absence since yesterday. "Hey, what did you call me for?" Kaeya says, his usual, playful smirk on his face. However, that fell when he saw Jean and Lisa's expression and feel the atmosphere of the room. "What is it now?" His stomach started to churn in an awful feeling and only one thing was on his mind- you.

"It's about (Y/N)," Jean starts off, making Kaeya starting to feel even worse. "A ruin guard has been found awoken near the Thousand Wind Temple by someone in the Adventurers Guild and no one has seen (Y/N) since yesterday morning. I have a feeling that they are the one who woken it up."

Upon hearing the news, he clenches his fists and his jaws tightened, a shadowed cast over his face as he narrowed his eyes. But, "What does this have to do with me?" he asks coldly. Lisa and Jean looks over at each other with a concerned expression. "Kaeya--" Lisa started off but was immediately caught of by the male.

"They said that they can handle anything so shouldn't you two put some faith in them as well?" he said, raising his voice in anger, recalling what you said to him two weeks ago. "Kaeya, I am aware of the fight you two had but this has honestly gone for far too long that it's silly," Jean says in a calm tone. "Isn't the reason why you don't allow them on dangerous missions is because you care about them?" This hit Kaeya and he hang his head low. It was true that he cares about you deeply and doesn't show the same feeling to anybody else but you.

He imagined scenarios of situations you could be in right now and it made that feeling inside him snap. He turns around and storms off, shutting the door with a boom.

Praying. He was praying to the Archons of your safety as he feels something went trailing down his face from his eyes. It was blurring his vision but he ignores them, running through the darken day.

When he reached to the location of the sightings, he found the ruin guard, awake and walking, but no signs of you. He quickly disposed of the ruin guard and searched the area for you or anything that was on you that dropped that might give him some hope.

A few metres away, there your body lie on the cold ground. "(Y/N)!" Kaeya runs over to your side and felt his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. You were all bruised up along with scratches and blood that was either still running from open wounds or had already dried up. Your eyes were closed and he worried for the worse. Rushing to kneel beside you, heb helped you sit up against a rock, putting his hands under your chin to feel for a pulse. To his relief, he found it beating and pulled your body into his chest, one hand behind your head as the other wrapped around your shoulders. "(Y/N)," he whispers your name, his heart feeling lighter.

Your eyes slowly opens from the sudden warmth that engulfed you. "Nngh!" The moment your mind became conscious, the pain from the battle and the soreness from training before suddenly rushed all over your body. "Ack!"

Kaeya immediately pulls away from you, his face full of worry. "(Y/N), are you okay?" he asks. You look at Kaeya with surprise. "Why.. Are you here?" There was no anger in your tone as you were too exhausted. "I came looking for you, dummy. Now, let me take you back so ease up." You gave a quick nod and closed your eyes, falling into another sleep. Making sure you were asleep, he stood up with you in his arms and made his way back inside the city.

He went to see Barbara in the cathedral so that she could heal you. "My, they're badly injured! Hurry, bring them here," she exclaims with a hand over her mouth at the sight of your badly figure and gestures towards the infirmary. Kaeya listened and places you on one of the beds inside and let her do her thing.

She left as soon as she healed any and all visible, major wounds. Kaeya sits down on the wooden chair beside the bed and waits for you to wake up. You were asleep all throughout the day and only woken up the next morning.

You felt something at the side of you and you slowly turned your head but hissed at the sudden pain, closing your eyes in reaction. Although it lessened thanks to Barbara, the pain didn't fully go away.

Once it subsided, you open your eyes to see whatever was beside you. To your surprise, it was Kaeya. His arms were crossed on top of the bed and rested his head on top of it, sleeping with his lips slightly parted. Your heart warmed and remembered the little scene when he hugged your bruised body.

It looked like he slept late and didn't even bother to comb his hair- meaning to say, he didn't go home and return early in the morning. In that moment, you let your pride down as well as forgave him for what he said two weeks ago. You weakly reached your arms out and tucked a strand of his unkempt hair behind his ear.

You suddenly remembered the reason why you two fought in the first place- you went out to a dungeon, alone, on a mission that you secretly accepted without the help of the Cavalry Captain. It was a simple wiping out of a hilichurl camp but there was no knowledge of an abyss image nearby since it wasn't written on the report.

When Kaeya received word you left on a mission, he was upset and immediately left to find you. He found you soon enough, wiping out hilichurls. His eyes looked off to behind you and see a cryo abyss mage. "(Y/N)!" he warned. You turned to look at him and that's when the abyss image shot an ice crystal. It hit your left arm and you roared in pain. Kaeya quickly made due of the image and quickly rushed to check your wound.

"What were you thinking- going out on a mission alone!?" he angrily asked, gripping your upper arm. "Kaeya, you're hurting me!" you hissed.

"I told you time and time again that you should tell me when you're going out!" he said, raising his voice. "I was doing just--"

"Just fine!? You were hit by an abyss mage, goddamit!"

"It's just a scratch--" He cuts you off again, his tone now booming with anger. "Yeah, it's just a scratch, but what about the next time you go out alone? You could be heavily wounded or even worse!" He wasn't listening to a word you said and the grip on you looked like it wasn't loosening anytime soon.

"Kaeya, would you just listen to me!?" you shouted back in the same volume and tone as his. "I am more than capable as a knight to wipe a few hilichurls and an abyss mage!"

His anger didn't subside but he let's go of your arms, head down as a shadow casted over his face. "So, that's how this is going to be, huh? Alright, then I'll leave you be. See if I care." The words broke your heart. Kaeya turned around and left you there with your head down. That was the last time you guys talked to each other before the cold war.

He groans at the touch, making your heart flutter. Then, you see his visible eyelids open slowly, revealing his unique, blue eyes. He straightened up in his seat with a loud yawn before looking over at you. "(Y/N)..!" he says your name, his visible eye showing surprise.

"Good morning," you weakly greet, a gentle smile tugging your lips. A few short seconds passed before he quickly draws you into an intoxicating embrace. You returned the hug as you bury your smiling face into the crook of his neck. "You dummy. Why did you go out and pick a fight with a ruin guard?" he whispers, deepening the hug.

"I wanted you to know that you can depend on me.." you answer, tears starting to form. "I'm not a child that needs protecting; I'm a knight so please look at me as you would to any other knights." Kaeya pulls back and stare into your eyes. "I'm afraid I can't do that," he said, his eyes stern and serious. "What--"

"Because.. You're different," he cuts you off. You look at him with questioning eyes. "I can't bring myself to not care for you nor can I bring myself to treat you like any other subordinates of mine because I love you." The three words that you never thought you'd hear from the Cavalry Captain came out so easily- it's as if he wanted to say it for so long. "I can't bear to lose you, (Y/N). And just seeing you hurt hurts me more than you realize."

"I.." You looked down on your blanket. "I'm sorry that I made you worried.. I didn't know that's how you felt."

"No, I'm sorry. I should have really told you before you got into anymore danger," he said. You two smiled and pulled you back to a loving embrace. Then, "I love you too, Kaeya."

---

Hi! I noticed that it's been a long time you're active, are you okay?

Hello, anon! Yes, I am okay. I just took a much needed break. :)) Thank you for your concerns~!