A/N: Sorry for the late update. I am now having a mental breakdown over fatui man, Kirito with pole, or building god, and I didn't really know how I could put this in the right way, like when you just start going "YOOOOO!" in your mind. I don't think I succeeded.


Chapter 4 - His Place In The Stars


Tonight was the festival, the day when everyone would be celebrating the heroes of the past, but after Rex Lapis' unexpected death, the event had become a way to increase morale and bring happiness back to Liyue. It was the Lantern Rite. The Sakura trees were in full bloom, the petals floating to wherever the wind took them, flying past hundreds of people dressed for the occasion, past sky lanterns lighting up the night sky like orange fireflies, one making its way into the wide window of Keqing's office, swaying to and fro midair before making its landing. Fireworks were coming in half an hour or so, and the amount of tourists that came for this particular event in Liyue rivalled even the Rite of Descension.

And what was she doing?

Sitting on a leather chair (though it was very comfortable, she had to admit) looking through letters, spending more than 20 mins on one, reading every letter as if her life depended on it, a migraine starting to appear. Actually, it already appeared ages ago, she just didn't care to notice. It was unbelievable how she didn't need to wear glasses yet, or the fact she didn't have any callouses from the 10-line paragraphs she wrote! The amount of words must've went up to more than 200,000. It sounded like this was horrible. True, Keqing didn't go through much desk work when she was with Aether, and the two weeks felt like an absolute vacation, but maybe she had gotten too spoiled.

Her work habits had begun to fade, she wasn't her usual self, and she felt more stressed than she usually would be. Then again, taking a break would increase her laziness. By now, it was practically procrastinating! Keqing pouted, stupid traveler! She'd been pouting more often than usual. Maybe her 'tsundere-ness' was acting up. Groaning, her head smacked the papers, the neatly stacked pile beside her shaking lightly. She already sent her assistant home; she deserved it. After all, she left the poor girl all alone for longer than she could handle.

Keqing was entirely grateful that her assistant went over all of the trivial matters while she was away. Everything else before her was just about business, trading, stocks, investments, and growth charts and graphs about several companies that she supported. What else would you expect? Mora doesn't fall from the sky.

After Aether left, she went back home, changing into the yellow sweater and white skirt she wore a few days ago. There wasn't really any need to buy. Keqing rarely ever went out to do something just for herself, so all the clothes she ever bought were gowns for galas and whatnot. However, she felt like buying something. Keqing was fond of this outfit, and she guessed that Aether did too, considering his small gasp and light blush. Maybe she was self-conscious, insecure, whatever. Wearing clothes that you liked actually felt nice.

A sigh escaped her lips. As her eyes came away from the documents, Keqing glanced at the clock; it was 9pm. The festivals were in full swing, and a sense of pride bloomed in her chest, for she was the one responsible for arranging it. Even if sadness loomed over them, Keqing was glad to know that humanity could lift itself up and stand proud without the need of a god. Perhaps the age of gods was coming to an end. At least, when she died, she could die happy knowing that her people would continue like they always did. Maybe in the future, centuries past now, humanity could be as strong as the gods themselves, but that thought wasn't really something that appealed to her. In that case, they were copying the gods, going against her wishes.

She knew that using a vision made her hypocritical, and she had been thinking of giving it up for more than a while now. Maybe humanity really couldn't defend themselves without a god. In a way, she was powerless without a vision, only being able to stand there and fight without much of a chance, looking at the demise as only a witness, not being able to do anything. Everyone thought that was the case. That was maybe why she always worked so hard. To prove that humans could stand on their own, she worked harder than anyone else, hoping to bring Liyue a better and brighter future. If she had to give up everything, that was fine. Comfort was a luxury, romance the same. She didn't need anyone, and that was the end of it. As long as everyone else was happy, it was fine. That was how she lived.

Having gotten back to her usual mindset, she set up her pen, eyes focusing on the paper, her head fighting a battle against her migraine.

Just when—

Hey, Keqing.

Had the headche become so severe that she started hearing things? There was a knocking at the wooden windowsill behind her. Grunting, she continued on.

Keqing.

Hey, Keqing, answer me—

"Oh my god, stop—!"

Sitting on the windowsill, holding two pieces of food in his hands, was Aether, a startled look on his face. His hand threw the food to the table, hands waving rashly like he was about to fall falling. He was falling. It took her a moment before the silent shock faded, her body dashing towards the boy's hands to pull him up before he face-planted into the rock-hard ground.

Like always, she pulled him up with just one pull, and Aether was the only one gasping, out of breath. She heard him mutter, "The food's okay," faintly, pushing himself up as he leaned on the wall beside the window, afraid he might fall once more. He discovered a new fear: windowsills.


Looking over her desk, he noticed the countless stacks of paper neatly put aside, almost like the walls of a fortress. And past those walls were scattered documents, and an empty glass of what smelled like pineapple. The whole room screamed 'professional', something that Aether had just about forgotten, having seen her drunk. It looked similar to Jean's room, but the colour of the walls were of a darker wood than the acting grand master's. Then he glanced back at her, seeing as she put a hand to her forehead whilst her eyes shut tight, groaning quite stressfully, as if she hadn't gotten a 5 star she wanted after 60 rerolls. Life was tough. Fuck those lucky bastards...

Aether looked worried, and he tried to deliver that to Keqing as best as he could. Maybe if he tried hard enough she'd feel guilty for making him that way.

"You're working this late? C'mon Keqing, this is the reason you get sick."

"I thought you were heading for Inazuma."

"Well, I didn't get to say goodbye, did I?"

"Oh... I see."

Keqing was a workaholic—he knew that much. But to this extent? As if the only thing she had going for her was her work? To the point where it didn't matter if she got sick? ...Wait, that actually describes her...

Anyway, going back, people would imagine that being like that is admirable. They'd say that Keqing is just passionate or that she's extremely strong, or that it would take more than work like that to bring her down. To be honest, that was wrong. Sure, she was far stronger than him right now, with that teleporting ability and electro vision, and no doubt she was very passionate when it came to grilled Tiger fish, but past all of that, she was just a teen. Well, in Aether's world, she was. People as young as her shouldn't be managing multiple businesses and going over thousands upon thousands of documents, spending all day in an office every single day to the point that it was actually a habit. It wasn't that she liked work. Keqing was forced to work, and no matter how many times she convinces herself that it's fine and it's for the good of the people, there was no erasing the fact that it was't enjoyable. It was ruining her.

Was she so stubborn?

Aether had been to many worlds before, and having accumulated experience, he knew that sacrificing yourself for the sake of everyone else's happiness wasn't the right way. Someone would always suffer. He suffered. The only problem with Keqing was that she had no one, so he took it upon himself to be the one to take care of her. He would be the one to worry over her. Being alone was horrible. To have no one check you when you're in the depths of despair. No one to give you an ounce of happiness, of reassurance, of hope. It felt like crap. And he knew because he was feeling like crap that very moment. He'll be that person. He wanted to be that person. And it began now.

Without so much as a thought, he grasped her hand, pulling her close to the windowsill with him. With the food in his hands, he climbed up the walls quickly, looking back at the bewildered Keqing as he offered his hand to her expectantly. Aether, feeling like his former self again, grinned enthusiastically as he pulled her up, dragging her across the roofs as they ran, seemingly chasing the bright moon to the end of the world, the wind sweeping past them as her purple hair swayed in the air. She needed to realise, and he was going to show her, that life was more than just work. Maybe that was part of the reason why he came crawling back to her. Aether didn't really know why he came back, and maybe he was just desperate to have someone close to him. Keqing was quickly filling in that spot.

He was cleared of suspicion, everything was done, he could continue on his journey, find his sister, head to the next nation, shit like that, but they never said goodbye. No doubt Keqing was fine about that, but he wasn't. Some invisible force—Aether was sure this was just an excuse—pulled him back to her, and even if he was planning to go to Inazuma, there was this shitty idea about going to the Lantern Rite with her, about wanting to keep in touch with her, wanting to get closer to her, and it's all so confusing, his mind feels like breaking, and he's just... feeling really crazy. It's fucking annoying. Aether could hear her voice echoing in his mind, repeating the word 'pathetic' over and over again.

But it didn't mind him so much.

There wasn't any point in getting attached to her, he was going to leave this world when he found Lumine, but no matter how many times Aether decided he needed to stop, no matter how many times he persuaded himself that he shouldn't, he still got attached. And now, here he was, wanting to get a hold of a person that's supposed to be miles away from him, attempting to hold on to the last thread that connected them, still running, still holding her hand, still trying to be that person for her, still trying to heal his wounds, practically using her. Yeah, he was utterly pathetic. The fact was that he was alone, and maybe because she was alone as well, he felt that they were the same in some way. He wanted to feel alright, and he assumed she wanted to be, too. If anyone was truly alone and they were genuinely feeling fine, they weren't human at all. Everyone, no matter how small the feeling, craved happiness.

If he was never going to see her again, at least he wanted her to be happy. Aether was grateful to her, so grateful to the point where he thought he didn't deserve to have met her. It was as if Keqing put back a missing piece inside him, made him function properly again. No one had made him smile so much for the past six months, and his chest tightened whenever she smiled back at him, blushed at a simple, accidental brush of the hand, laughed whenever she did something that was a bit embarrassing. Keqing wasn't a sadist after all. She was a beautiful, gorgeous person, strong enough to take on the burden of something she shouldn't need to. That's why he came to... admire her.

Keqing never gave up. She was one of those main characters in adventure books, and he found himself copying her bit by bit, much like how a child copied their role model.

Slowing down the pace, Aether—much to his reluctance—let go of Keqing's hand, sitting at the edge of the mountain as he patted the soft area of grass beside him, looking at her. It was Mt Tianheng, a great view where he'd come to often. The most sensible desicion was just to use the teleport waypoint straight away instead of dragging her with him and then using the teleport waypoint, but he had his reasons—mostly because he felt like holding her hand. Thank god she didn't remember that moment at the restaurant last night. Luckily, Keqing wasn't scared of heights as well, because they were sitting at the edge of a cliff.

He handed her one of the two pieces of food he had, watching at the corner of his eye as she bit a small portion off, celebrating in his mind for a moment when he saw her lips curl into a tiny smile. And then... awkward silence as they gazed at the sky lanterns that seemingly gave the dark-blue sky a welcoming orange hue, the lively chatter of Liyue reaching their ears even at the high altitude they were at. A cold breeze flew past, giving the both of them shudders, as Aether glanced at his hands, holding them tight. Last night was all he seemed to think about. Whenever Aether closed his eyes, whenever he heard a girl laugh, he was reminded of her. In fact, everything reminded him of her, so he came back to Keqing, unable to shake off the feeling. And now, instead of it disappearing, it only seemed to get worse.

She turned round to face him more clearly, wiping her mouth with a napkin, "I know I said this before but... sorry about everything. Drinks aren't my strong suit. I'm still prepared to pay you back the expenses."

A revelation came to Aether. Keqing never drank, he never saw her do so the two weeks they were together—and they went to Mondstadt, so he was pretty sure. But even so, she invited him to a drink. Keqing also seemed to always glance at him every few minutes when they were drinking, held him back when he was about to leave, smiled at him more than he ever saw her smile at others, allowed him to do whatever when she was drunk, and reached for his hand. He knew he thought that it was all just because she was drunk, but perhaps that wasn't all it was. She always teased him, hit him, but always said sorry, and she always held back. They were both a wreck, and she wasn't a people person, so maybe it wasn't intentional.

When he got hurt, she stayed by his side for most of the time, only going away when the nurse said she had to, when he shielded her from the attacks, he felt her momentarily hug back before he blacked out, whenever it came to food, she insisted on cooking, whenever he was hurt, she'd come to his aid, and whenever he seemed troubled, she'd always be there to talk to him about it in the middle of the night, and she always made him feel at ease, made him laugh, and even though he knew it was a bad thought, made him glad he got stuck in this world. Keqing had already become that person for him. She fit everything in his imaginary criteria, and she couldn't be more perfect. He didn't care anymore. Aether thought this before, but he really didn't care anymore.

It was bad to get attached to someone who would eventually be apart from him? Who cares? Even if they might be separated, he could cross that bridge when he got there. With her. Together.

"It's all right," he replied, "I couldn't leave you like that. Think of it as a sorry in advance."

Thank god Paimon was with Xiangling at the moment.

"For wha—"

...

The fireworks began, flashes and explosions of different colours filling the sky.

...

They were soft, warm and welcoming, like a fireplace in a chilly day, tasting of blueberry with a slight hint of pineapple. His hand slowly rested under her chin, leading her lips slightly higher, lightly pushing against them. Her perfume, the scent of her hair, intoxicated him, inviting him to go deeper, his hand tracing along her jawline to the back of her head. It was impulse, really. Even he didn't know how it happened, but at least she wasn't stopping him. Her lips parted to some degree, slowly tilting her head more to the other side, her hand brushing through his blond hair, a short-lived moan escaping her mouth, the other hand leaning against his chest, feeling the quick pace of his heartbeat.

They had no idea what they were doing, and thank god they were naturals at it. Maybe fate made it so in order to make the whole thing less embarrassing than it would've been. His lower region was going crazy, but hopefully after having trained for the majority of his life to hide a boner, it was hidden. Having gotten out of breath, he released from her lips, resting his head on hers, noticing Keqing's flushed cheeks, her heavy breaths gently hitting his lips. Without saying a word, she leaned in once more, her hand going up to his cheek, her lips momentarily touching his before going away, then coming back once more.

Both of their hands searched for each other, fingers interweaving, fitting together in the best way possible, the feeling so familiar as if they'd done it so many times before. Their lips parted, and even if they came for the spectacular view of the fireworks, Aether couldn't hear them, and he didn't bother to look them, only focusing to get lost in the amethyst eyes of the person that was sitting before him. She leaned towards him, burying her face in the crook of his neck, her nose moderately tickling him as she nuzzled into him, eyes closing as she muttered, "Idiot," a fist weakly punching his rib before wrapping around him.

He stroked her hair, the scent of lavender teasing his nose, urging him to sink his face onto her head, the sweet taste of her lips lingering. Her twin-tails, as well as her braid, were gone, and Aether thought of telling her to keep it this way, she looked a lot cuter—not that she wasn't with the hairstyle. Her eyes, always sharp and piercing, were now replaced with soft purple orbs that could lure him in like moth to a flame. It all suddenly became clear. He didn't want to let go, and just like last night, he wanted to stay in that position forever.

"I know I won't be able to help you with work much," he began softly, whispering in her ear, "and I'll probably just make you more stressed, and I know this is a bit selfish," he continued to pat her head, holding her hand tighter, "but would you keep me by your side?"

It was the only reason he came back.

Aether felt her move in his embrace, hands timidly pushing against his chest before she rose her head, guilty eyes averting his glance. Her mouth opened to speak, yet nothing came out, or it was more that she didn't want anything to come out. Keqing sharply inhaled, voice on the verge of breaking, and Aether could only guess what was happening in her mind. He had a shot, and it looks like it failed. Maybe he pushed her a bit too far, what with the sudden kiss and now the offer of being with him. Once again, it was impulse. Aether wished a redo button actually existed. Everything would've been so much smoother, but all he could do now was go along. It was Keqing's decision to make, and he would respect her decision. After all, even if he would never see her again, at least he wanted her to be happy. That was the main priority. He got carried away.

"Sorry about tha—"

"I-I..."

Aether moved away, allowing her some space. Clearly, he thought to himself, he messed up. The kiss wasn't planned, and—actually... nothing was actually planned. He wanted to make her happy. How? Dunno. Like every time he charged into battle, there wasn't any real plan, just a goal, and if he were to continue with that analogy, apparently he was losing. The goal was to make her soften, remove that hard-to-approach attitude of hers and remove that 'I'm fine by myself' mindset that she has, but Keqing was hesitating. He held her hand again, hoping to explain everything to her this time. Why was it that there was always an obstacle in his way?

"Forget everything I said. I just... You shouldn't work so hard. You should take a break every few hours, sleep a healthy amount of time, make sure you take of yourself, don't put your self in any danger. You don't need to be alone, Keqing. You're... important to me, and I don't want to see you hurt yourself like this. You don't need to accept. Just please say that you'll change for the better. Tell me that you'll start talking to others, not drown yourself in work, and be happy with life."

It was cringe, but he meant everything.

Maybe that was in one of his top 5 sentimental speeches ever, and he felt like smirking to himself at how well it went, but Keqing was... actually glaring at him. Her eyes had gone back to the way they usually are, the atmosphere around them the same as when he met her for the first time—and Keqing punched him right in his gut, her knuckles inflicting major damage, her fist finishing in a typical martial arts pose. Aether fell back to the cool ground, one hand gripping his stomach whilst the other tried to bring him back up. "The hell was that for!?"

"Honestly!" she pouted, pulling him by his scarf, "You take one step forward, then take one step back!" Each word she spoke came with it a violent shake, her fists tightening as she screamed frustratingly at him, rendering him speechless as she wasted no time in between. "You're always doing these things then jumping back in your shell! What the hell! You're so.. so... gah!" With a small push, she freed him from her wrath, moving away as she looked at the bottom of the cliff, the redness in her cheeks still visible.

The fireworks had finished, and the pain had gone away, and having recovered, Aether sat back up, The fact that she hadn't left was good.

"I'm stupid."

"You are. But that's not what I want to hear."

"Uhm... I like you?"

Keqing glared at him.

"Sorry." He sat a bit closer to her, "I didn't know if you felt the same, and I haven't done this before, but... Would you allow me the pleasure of being with you?"

"You'll get bored."

"No I won't."

A smile tugged at her lips.

"I'll be bossy at times."

"I like that about you."

His hand went around hers.

"I'll be busy for most of the day."

"You're the Yuheng. Hire more assistants."

That wasn't the best way to answer that.

"I'm not good at these things."

"I'm not either."

The proximity of their faces increased, both eyes slowly closing.

"We'll get into fights."

"I'm sure we can work it out."

"What if I distract you?"

"You never would."

Her lips closed the distance between them, slightly parting as Aether tilted his head sideways, his hand brushing her cheeks as another set of fireworks lit up the night sky, and Aether genuinely knew, for the first time in forever, that everything was going to be all right.


A/N: AND THAT'S ALL FOLKS! Thank you for reading this fanfic, and I hope that some of you write some Aether/Keqing ffs because there isn't much rn, and I hope I have either increased your thirst for Aether/Keqing, or have sated your hunger for some fluff. To be honest, I should've added more sleeping-on-shoulder stuff or feeding-each-other stuff, but I didn't since the plot to this isn't really that long. Keqing just got wasted and that's all. Again, thanks and bye!

Also, feel free to use those ideas I just mentioned! :)