Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“And this here is Kaeya. The usual tour guide is currently unavailable, so he’ll be your guide around school and show you to your classes. The Academy has made… arrangements with his father. He is our student helper as a service to the school to prove that he cares about studying here, and should not be expelled. Please direct any questions about this Academy his way. Once again, it’s great to have you, Miss Minci.”

“Thank you,” she replied, turning to the boy beside her. He wore the school uniform, but his hair and glowing skin showed Lisa that he was meticulous about how he looked. The white dress shirt under his blazer was unbuttoned far more than Lisa thought was allowed, exposing a toned chest. His good eye flicked down and back up her body, and he shot her a smile. Lisa narrowed her eyes but smiled back. 

“Let’s get going, shall we?” he said, gesturing out of the principal’s office. Lisa nodded and followed him closely down the long hallway. “That old secretary always has to tell everyone my business. I heard she’s retiring soon, but I know she’ll find a way to gossip about me anyway.”

“I’ll try not to repeat what I’ve heard to anyone else, then.”

“No, it’s fine. Everyone already knows I’m only here because my father pays them not to expel me before I can graduate.”

“Have you considered causing less trouble and stress for your father and the staff?” Lisa didn’t know if she should be sassing the only person her age that she’s spoken to in months, but she had always been helpless to stop her sarcasm from spilling out. It would have been easier to firmly grip a bar of soap with wet hands.

“I actually have considered that, thank you. I hardly think I’m to blame for protecting my friends through some light harassment of people who suck. It’s not my fault people are too sensitive and can’t handle some teasing. But I’m getting off track. The nurse’s office is over there,” he pointed to the right, where a glass door with a red first-aid symbol was engraved on the door. “And this is the gym. Play any sports?” 

Lisa peered into the large room, the size of a Cathedral, and watched as a group of boys aggressively shoved each other in a game of basketball, their sneakers squeaking against the waxed floorboards. 

“No, I am not really built for athleticism.” 

“Hm. Well, this is the library. Maybe more in your area?” 

Lisa craned her neck to see through the windows of the next room, and she was too late to stop the gasp from escaping. There were rows and rows of perfect shelves of books in a library that seemed somehow bigger than the gymnasium she had just seen. The library had a peaked glass ceiling, an impossibly clean blue carpet, and more books than she had ever seen packed into one room. Students sat on soft chairs scattered across the ground, deeply engrossed in all types of novels and biographies. Other students sat hunched over desks, alternating their focus between their notebooks and textbooks and chewing the ends of their pencils. 

“Yes, I think I’ll spend quite a bit of time here.” 

“You heard the principal. There’s a place for everyone here ,” Kaeya repeated in a breathy, mocking voice. Lisa chuckled. 

“It’s a bit of a cliché saying, but it’s still cute,” she replied. 

“We’re nearing the classrooms.” He brought his finger to his lips as they rounded a corner and proceeded further down the hall. The doors of each classroom were glass, and bored students watched the pair walk by with vacant interest. 

“Cafeteria is upstairs. I’ll show you the way later. This is your Calculus class.” He gestured to a glass door labeled 314, where rows of students had their attention fixated on a blackboard at the front of the classroom.

“So, should I just… walk in?” Lisa asked. She wasn’t exactly shy, but she didn’t particularly revel in the feeling of interrupting class and having every student watch her scan the room for an empty seat. 

“This is also my class, so we’ll walk in together,” Kaeya answered, pulling the door open for Lisa to walk through. 

“And when you take the derivative of this function, you can- Oh, hello there. You must be the new student.” 

Just as Lisa predicted, all eyes turned to her when the professor interrupted himself to greet her. 

“Yes.”

“Please, introduce yourself to the class.”

Kaeya slinked behind her towards one of two empty seats in the room, giving her a thumbs up as he sat. 

“My name is Lisa Minci. My family just moved here from Sumeru.”

“Do you like Calculus, Lisa Minci?” the professor asked. Lisa flicked her eyes to the equation on the board, where all letters and symbols and no numbers were to be found. 

“Sure, when I understand it.” A ripple of laughter echoed across the room, and Lisa beamed with pride. The professor nodded in agreement, waiting for the class to get quiet again. 

“Excellent answer. Thank you, Lisa. You may sit in that empty desk beside Jean. Jean? Could you wave so Lisa knows who you are?” 

Lisa turned her head towards the class, and time skidded to a halt when she locked eyes with the blonde girl sitting in the middle of the front row, as close to the board as possible. 

She had her hand partially raised, but Lisa had hardly noticed when all her mind could focus on was the girl’s stunning blue eyes, her sharp cheekbones, her angled jaw… the slope of her neck… the strange, distant expression in her eyes… 

Lisa had completely forgotten that she was instructed to sit next to the girl, stuck in the trance of that closed-off blue stare. It was only when the professor cleared his throat and Jean lowered her hand that Lisa had the good sense to move her feet, tearing her eyes away from the girl. The professor resumed his lesson before Lisa had even sat, his chalk clicking sharply against the board. 

As she lowered herself into the chair, Lisa set her bag down in between her and the blonde girl, who had brought her attention back to the board. Trying to make as little noise as possible, Lisa slid open the zipper of her bag and fished out her notebook and pen. She brought her arm to the table to begin writing, but accidentally bumped her elbow against the girl next to her. 

“Sorry,” the blonde and Lisa muttered simultaneously, and the girl drew her arm away. No, it’s my fault, Lisa wanted to say, but she didn’t think the girl would appreciate more distraction from the lesson. There was a lot scribbled on the board that she had to take in, considering that there were only ten minutes left of class, but Lisa began copying down what she could anyway. She cursed her parents for dropping her off in the middle of the school day instead of letting her wait until the next morning. A few times she found herself scratching her head wondering how the professor got the answer to the equation, but she decided she would work it out later, once she was home. It didn’t help that half of her brain was focused on her peripheral vision, at the blonde that silently solved the equations in her notebook before the professor had even finished explaining the first step. 

Before Lisa could finish copying down the entire board, the loud bell interrupted the professor’s sentence. 

“Alright class, see you in a few days! Don’t forget to do problems eleven through forty-five in your textbook for homework!” Students all around her began shuffling their books into their bags and exiting the room, the girl to Lisa’s right being one of the first ones out. Lisa watched her go, memorizing her brisk walk that radiated confidence and purpose. 

“What are you smiling at?” a voice behind her asked, causing Lisa to jump in her seat. She turned and came face to face with Kaeya, but his attention was torn away as quickly as it landed on her. “Hey, asshat. I’m driving the car today,” he told a boy with bright red hair tied back into an elegant high ponytail, who completely ignored Kaeya’s existence and shoved past him. 

“Friend of yours?” Lisa asked.

Kaeya wrinkled his nose. “My brother.”

“He doesn’t look like you.”

“Really? I thought it was like looking in a mirror, if I was stupid and always angry and only good for swinging around heavy objects.”

Lisa had to laugh. “What’s his name?” she asked as they exited the classroom together.

“Assface.” 

The cafeteria was, somehow, the largest room Lisa had seen so far. Rows and endless rows of tables lined perfectly, each crowded to its limit with students in the same teal uniforms. If Lisa squinted, it almost looked like the sea. 

“I’m going to assume you didn’t make friends in the four seconds you were away from me, so you’ll be sitting with me today, just because I think you're cool. I’ll introduce you to everyone. And consider yourself incredibly lucky, because the entire student population would commit heinous crimes to sit with us.” Lisa only nodded, tailing Kaeya as they walked to table at the far end of the cafeteria. Some students looked Lisa’s way, their eyes flicking between her and Kaeya. She smiled back whenever she met someone’s eyes, but they quickly looked away. What a strange bunch of students.

Finally, Kaeya came to a stop at a table where Lisa instantly spotted the red-haired student from earlier, who was busy devouring his sandwich like he had never eaten one in his life. Lisa continued scanning the table as she lowered herself into the seat between Kaeya and the red guy, and her heart staggered in her chest when she noticed the blonde girl from Calculus sitting diagonal from her, just across Kaeya. She had her back to Lisa, engaged in a conversation with two girls beside her: one with light blue hair and a black lace headband, the other with brown bangs cropped just above her eyes. It seemed they were discussing homework for another class, judging from how they were hunched over a pile of papers. 

The blonde nodded along to whatever the girl with bangs was saying, her attentive eyes not letting a single word or gesture go unseen. She did not turn her head away until Bangs was done talking, handling the information she had received with care as she wrote quick notes on her papers. Everything about her radiated respect and consideration.

Lisa was seized by the realization that she wanted the blonde’s attention- and the blonde clearly had a lot of it to offer- on her. 

“Everyone! This is Lisa. She just moved here from Sumeru, and she’ll be sitting with us for the foreseeable future. Lisa, this is Amber. She was fed too much caffeine as a child and now she can’t sit still.” He pointed to the girl with brown bangs who gave Lisa a bright smile and wave. Lisa did the same.

“I wasn’t actually given caffeine, for the record,” Amber said. 

“That’s Eula. If you can get her to smile, I will give you my father’s entire inheritance.” The girl with blue hair gave her one curt nod. Lisa returned it, suppressing her excitement to be properly introduced to the next girl. 

“Kaeya’s just kidding, Eula is really sweet!” Amber chimed in. “And she gives amazing hugs,” she said, playfully nudging Eula’s arm with her body. Lisa watched as Eula turned further away from Amber, fully giving her a view of Eula’s back. Lisa was about to feel bad for Amber when she noticed why Eula had turned away. Leaning closer to the papers in front of Jean, a red blush spread across Eula’s face, presumably one she wanted to hide from the possibly caffeinated girl behind her. Lisa turned back to Amber and gave her a wink. Kaeya pointed at the blonde, and Lisa felt her heart skip a beat.

“This is Jean. Everyone and their mother is in love with her, but no one has even gotten close to grabbing her attention. She’ll probably marry whoever her mother tells her to anyway. And you’ll never see her outside of school hours, because she lives in a prison.” Lisa couldn’t stop herself from tilting her head to the side in confusion, but Jean only shook her head at Lisa and looked back down at the papers. 

That’s it? That was all she got?

“This guy doesn’t matter,” Kaeya continued, waving off his brother. “Rosaria is most likely smoking behind the gym, and Albedo isn’t here right now. He’s probably eating spiders in the chemistry room again, so it’s for the best. I think that sums up everyone in this group.” Kaeya lowered his voice, and everyone went back to what they were doing. “You’ll notice if you walk anywhere with us that people kind of… part ways for us to walk uninterrupted, and they’re, well, unusually nice. That’s because these three,” he gestured towards Eula, Jean, and his brother, “are the elites of this school. They’re inheriting their clans once they graduate, and they’ll rule over Mondstadt and all that. Not me though. As the adopted child of the richest nobleman, I get all the benefits of the luxury life without sharing the burdens.” His brother glared at Kaeya, who just smiled. “So everyone’s trying to get in good graces with the three of them now, before they rise to power. Especially Jean, who’s set to be the next Grand Master once the current one retires.” 

Lisa stared at the blonde, who was not listening to Kaeya at all, deeply engrossed in her paperwork. 

“The next Grand Master?”

“Yeah, she’s been training for it since she was born.” Something in Lisa’s stomach twisted. 

“Does she want to be Grand Master?” Lisa asked, not taking her eyes off the blonde, watching the way her jaw grew sharper when she tilted her head to write. 

“Well, she doesn’t have much of a choice. If you ask her, though, I’m sure she’d say yes.”

“Is that what you meant by her living in a prison? Is her life the prison?”

“Well, yes and no. I was more referring to how her mother doesn’t let her hang out with us, or anyone. Any sword training or tutoring or anything like that happens inside her house. No one has ever seen her outside the Gunnhildr estate when she’s not in school.”

Finally feeling Lisa’s eyes on her, Jean lifted her head from the paper and turned towards the new student. Lisa had meant to smile, but her face- and body- were completely, uselessly paralyzed by Jean’s vacant, calculating stare. Still, something inexplicable drew her in, and Lisa decided at that moment that she would speak to Jean privately, no matter what it took. 

“Hey, I recognize that look,” Kaeya said, leaning in so only Lisa could hear. “Don’t put yourself on the list of everyone trying to get Jean’s attention, because trust me, the waitlist is longer than any book in that library you saw earlier. You’ll get your turn when you’re seventy.” 

Lisa broke the stare to face him. “I can wait until then.”

Kaeya rolled his eye. “Another lost cause already. What is it about her? She barely talks to anyone and she’s only seen for a few hours a day.”

“Not everything has an explanation,” Lisa replied, taking a bite out of her apple. 

“Alright class, we have a new student with us today. Miss? Would you mind standing up and introducing yourself?” 

Once again, all eyes turned to Lisa as she rose from her seat beside Kaeya. In this class, you can pick your own seats. No one sits to my left, so it’s yours.

“Hello, my name is Lisa Minci. I moved here from Sumeru.” She instinctively searched the room, and her heart leapt when she saw the blonde- Jean - staring at her from the front row.

“Thank you, Lisa. Do not hesitate to ask me any questions. You may be seated.” 

Lisa sunk back into her chair and leaned into Kaeya. 

“Is Jean in all your classes?” 

Kaeya stared at her. “Yes. So is Eula, Amber, Rosaria, Albedo… the whole gang has every class together, but clearly your eyes don’t work when it’s anyone else.”

“Clearly,” Lisa agreed, watching the blonde tighten her ponytail across the classroom. Lisa knew she wouldn’t have to pay as much attention in this class anyway. Literature had always been her strongest subject.

A few minutes had passed before Lisa opened her notebook and scribbled into it. 

Which one is Rosaria? 

She slid it to Kaeya. He took the notebook and her pen and began scribbling back. Lisa noticed his hand wasn’t moving across the page, but rather drawing long strokes in the same spot. He finally slid the notebook back, and Lisa had to hold back laughter at the most poorly drawn portrait of what looked like a small boy with spiky hair and terrifyingly disproportionate eyes. 

??? 

Kaeya jutted his thumb towards the back of the room, and Lisa had to clamp her hand over her mouth when she saw the one Kaeya must have been talking about. Rather than a disfigured little boy, there was an older student, probably Lisa’s age, with short-cropped red hair and a piercing red gaze that was facing the window. Lisa turned back to the notebook.

You must have failed art. Albedo? 

Kaeya shook his head and took the pen from her again. This time, he actually wrote something. 

Art is subjective. Albedo is in the chemistry lab.

Lisa nodded, and directed her attention back to the lecture. They were covering a book Lisa had read a thousand times before, and the upcoming paper that made the other students roll their eyes and groan in agony was one Lisa looked forward to. She had been waiting for a chance to analyze the story, and now she could earn a good grade for it.

“And,” the teacher continued after announcing the essay. “This will be a collaborative assignment. You will have one partner to work on this with you, but the grade will be split evenly between the two of you. So don’t allow yourself to do all the work and let someone  earn a grade that wasn’t theirs to earn. I’ll post the partner assignments to the board after class.” 

“A split essay grade?” Lisa asked. “I don’t know if I’ll like that. I can get a little possessive with my writing.”

“I hope I’m your partner then. I wouldn’t interfere.” Lisa rolled her eyes at him as the bell rang, and students rushed to the front to see who they had been paired with. Disappointed grunts and squeals of relief resounded from the crowd, and slowly the classroom began to empty as more students exited. Lisa watched Jean check the chart- and to Lisa’s shock, Jean turned to look right at her. Lisa froze, and Kaeya crashed into her backpack behind her. Jean gave her a small smile, or maybe Lisa had only imagined it, and the blonde quickly left the room. 

Heart thrumming, Lisa approached the chart, pressing her finger to the top name and sliding down until she found hers. 

Pair 12: Jean Gunnhildr, Lisa Minci.

“Who’s your partner?” Kaeya asked from behind her, but Lisa couldn’t answer. He scanned the chart himself and groaned. 

“Prof, can I be paired with someone else? Lisa, perhaps?” Lisa turned to him, eyes wide.

“Sorry Kaeya, the pairs are set in stone.”

Kaeya scoffed again. “Well aren’t you lucky,” he grumbled. “Half the school would kill to be in your place.” 

“I would kill you if she said yes. Why are you trying to ruin my life?”

Lisa turned back to the page, her eyes memorizing the way their names looked positioned next to each other. It took a few seconds for Kaeya to decide that she wasn’t going to move on her own accord, and grabbed her elbow, pulling her out of class. 

“Well, I suppose you’ll need her phone number,” Kaeya said, once Lisa was walking down the hall. 

“I suppose.”

“And you’ll have to ask her for it.”

“I will.” 

“When?”

“When I see her next,” she replied, waving him off. 

“Oh, would you look at that? She’s right there,” Kaeya pointed towards the entrance of the building where students were awaiting their rides. Jean stood at the door watching the cars pass by, as though afraid she would miss hers. 

“Oh, there she is,” Lisa said through gritted teeth, her nerves freezing her body.

Her feet failed her for the hundredth time that day, but this time Kaeya placed his hand on her back and gently pushed Lisa forward. 

“Hey,” Lisa whispered to him. “I think we have that project together. Can I have your number?”

“Huh?” 

“Sorry, just practicing my script,” Lisa muttered.

“Your script? ” 

“Hello. It seems we are paired for the project. Please let me know your preferred method of communication.”

“Way too formal. Most of the time I am pretty sure that she is a human, so you can talk to her like one.”

“You’re right. Howdy, friend-”

“Ew.”

“Hey there, I-”

“No.”

Lisa turned to Kaeya, exasperated. “What do you want me to say?!”

“Hi Jean, can I have your number? We have that project coming up, so I thought we should establish communication early on.” 

“That sounds too formal to me.”

“She’ll like it.” Lisa turned to Jean. “Go on,” Kaeya urged.

Straightening her spine, Lisa approached the blonde. Would it be too intimate to tap her shoulder? They hadn’t had any physical contact yet, not counting the accidental brush in Calculus. 

Before Lisa could decide how to get Jean’s attention from behind, Jean whipped her head around and looked directly at her, expression painfully blank and unreadable.

“Hello,” Jean said. Lisa’s heart leapt. She hadn’t planned this far.

“Hello,” Lisa replied.

This was going terribly.

“We have that project together.” Jean’s voice was so smooth and composed, like she had never yelled a day in her life. 

“Yes.”

A pause. Lisa wanted to tear her skin off.

“How should we communicate?” Jean asked.

“I have a phone?” Lisa dumbly offered.

“I do too.” Jean blinked. Lisa glanced at Kaeya, who was uselessly talking to another student at the far end of the hall.

“Okay…” 

Jean stared at her, unmoving. 

“So, what’s your number?” Lisa pushed, unlocking her own phone and handing it to Jean.

“Oh, right.” Jean took the phone from her hands, and their fingers briefly brushed together in the exchange. Lisa snapped her hand back as if the contact had seared her skin, and immediately cursed her reflexes when Jean looked up at her, face heavy with regret. “I’m sorry,” Jean muttered, quickly typing her number into Lisa’s phone. 

Lisa blinked. That did not just happen. She had one chance and she messed it up horrendously. Jean handed her phone back, careful to pinch the far end where Lisa could easily avoid Jean’s fingers. This was her chance to undo her mistake- and take her first risk. 

Lisa reached for her phone, but she extended her arm slightly further than Jean had expected and brushed her hand again, this time with obvious intent. And she held eye contact for good measure. Jean’s eyebrows raised just barely, her eyes falling to where their hands had touched for the second time in less than a minute. Lisa looked at her screen and tapped where Jean had written “Jean G” in the contact name, and scrolled through her keyboard. She glanced up at Jean, who was watching intently, and clicked the heart. 

“Just so it gets my attention when you text me,” Lisa said, meeting Jean’s eyes again. The blonde’s lips were parted in surprise, just barely. If Lisa wasn’t standing mere inches from her face, she wouldn’t have noticed. It had probably been a while since Jean had been surprised by someone. 

There was something so thrilling about being near her. Lisa could almost feel the power and status Jean carried, hidden in her perfect posture, the ironed uniform, the tight ponytail. But when their eyes met, Lisa knew- she could sense it- there was something hidden beneath this polished exterior. Perhaps it was the way Jean’s eyes lingered on hers for longer than Lisa had expected, like she was a kind of specimen in a Petri dish and Jean was about to study her. Or, it was the way Jean looked like she was holding back a smile in the smallest twitch of her lips- like she was forcing herself to keep a straight face. If Lisa stared at Jean for a moment longer, she feared she would be sucked into the blonde’s gaze and never be seen again.

“Have a good day, Miss Minci.” Jean turned on her heel and walked through the school doors, and a shudder ran down Lisa's spine at the sound of her name on Jean's lips. Within seconds, Kaeya reappeared beside Lisa, and they watched in silence as Jean slid into the back seat of a sleek, pricey-looking black vehicle. The car door was held open for Jean by an impossibly tall, muscular man in a suit that resembled more of a building than a human. He closed the door once Jean disappeared into the car, and rounded the vehicle to the driver’s seat.

“How’d it go?” 

“I got her number.”

“I see.”

“She watched me put a heart next to her name.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I put a heart next to her name in my phone and she watched me do it.”

“Wow, that’s… bold.”

“Memorable?”

“Definitely.”

“Good.”

Chapter Text

“You know, you never told me who you’re partnered with,” Lisa turned to Kaeya, who was driving her home. He had forced his nameless brother into the back seat, and had no problem driving far over the speed limit in his father’s sports car. 

Kaeya sighed, finally tapping the brakes of the car as they approached Lisa’s street. 

“It’s this girl Donna. She’s in love with this,” he pointed at his brother with a thumb over his shoulder. “And she is certifiably insane. She mutters his name under her breath wherever she goes, doodles their initials all over her papers… There is one day a year where we can wear anything we want that isn’t our uniform, and she wore a shirt with his face on it.”

Lisa’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s a lot.”

“Yeah. I imagine she’s furious that she was so close to the right brother, but she got me instead.”

“It was probably for his safety,” Lisa suggested. 

“Still, why couldn’t I have been paired with someone cool, like Rosaria?”

“I don’t know her, but I doubt you two would have gotten any work done.”

“You’re probably right,” he muttered, pulling to a stop in front of her house. “Well, see you tomorrow!”

Lisa thanked him for the ride and made her way into her house. After greeting her parents, she all but sprinted into her room, phone in hand. Should she be the one to text first? Or should she wait for Jean? Lisa stared at the name in her phone, a shiver running down her spine at the memory of their fingers brushing together. Then she paused. How had she been reduced to this so quickly? Kaeya had been right about one thing: she barely knew Jean. Yet here she was, swinging her feet laying face down on her bed, anxiously debating whether or not to text first.

With a heavy sigh, Lisa decided it was best not to bother her yet. She removed her Calculus textbook and flipped open to the assigned homework, frowning at the first question. Her eyes gravitated towards her phone again, the black screen staring back at her. Suddenly, as if on command, it lit up. Lisa snatched it and grew disheartened when the message was from Kaeya. She opened his message and read:

Are you any good at math?

Lisa shook her head. 

If you’re asking for help with Calc, you won’t find any here.

The reply was instant.

If only someone had Jean’s phone number :/

Lisa rolled her eyes. 

Yeah, you do. Be a dear and ask her for me, will you?

The reply took a bit longer this time. 

Sorry, I can’t read. Let me know what she says! <3

Lisa scoffed. He had known Jean for how many years? And he was forcing Lisa to text her? 

Drawing in a deep breath, Lisa clicked Jean’s name. She stared at the screen, the cursor blinking mockingly in the empty message box.

Hey, it’s Lisa. Have you started the Calculus homework yet?

Lisa read it, frowned, and hit backspace. It was too abrupt.

Hi, Lisa here.

Backspace.

Hello, I was just wondering

Backspace. Lisa groaned. 

Hey Jean, it’s Lisa. I was looking over the Calculus homework and I realized I didn’t finish copying down the board. Do you have the notes from today’s class?

Lisa squeezed her eyes shut, her thumb positioned over the Send button, and pressed down. She heard the woosh sound confirming that the text was sent, and finally pried her eyes open. There her message sat, unaccompanied by a response.

Two minutes passed, and Lisa had regretted ever allowing her family to move her to this school. 

Another five minutes passed, and Lisa shut her textbook, opting to begin the outline of the project she’d work with Jean on. She had the book nearly memorized- having read it so many times- and with a desperate need to distract herself, she wrote seven and a half pages of notes based on her memory of the book before her hand cramped. When she checked the clock across her room, nearly an hour had passed since she sent the text. 

The sun had already begun to set behind the treeline. Lisa admired the way it glowed orange behind the thousands of leafless branches. 

“Lisa, dinner’s ready!” her mother called from downstairs. As if on cue, her stomach growled loudly. Her parents didn’t appreciate it when Lisa brought her phone to the dinner table, so she left it on her bed and descended the stairs. The meal was accompanied with conversation about her father’s new job, her mother’s adjustment to the new house, and Lisa’s ability to make friends on the first day. 

“Well, Kaeya didn’t really have a choice. The principal chose him to show me around.”

“Wait, what’s his last name?” her father asked.

“I don’t remember.”

“Is it Alberich?”

“Yes.” Her father sat back in his chair, chewing thoughtfully, his eyes on Lisa. “Why?” she asked.

“He’s the one that those Ragnvindrs took in.”

“Those what?”

“The wine family.”

“Oh yeah,” Lisa recalled. “He mentioned that his father is in the wine business.”

“No, Lisa. His father is the wine business. You got yourself a powerful friend.”

“Is there anyone else?” Lisa’s mother asked. 

“Well, there’s this girl Jean, but we haven’t talked much yet. We have a group project coming up, though.” 

“Jean who?” her father asked.

“Jean… Gunnhildr.” The name was engraved in Lisa’s brain. 

Her mother let out a gasp, and Lisa’s father’s bushy eyebrows shot up. 

“You befriended the Gunnhildr heiress?” her mother asked slowly, like she couldn’t believe she was piecing together that question as she was asking it.

“Well, like I said, we aren’t really friends yet. She was just friendly to me.”

“Do try to be her friend, will you?” Suddenly, Lisa felt herself grow defensive. Her mother was terrible at hiding the ulterior motives behind her request. She, Lisa’s often lonely mother, had always cared so much about fitting in wherever she was. Lisa could only hope it didn’t rub off on her.  

“Why? Just because she’s an heiress? Who cares about that?”

“ We care about that, Lisa. If you grow close enough to her, we might even get an invite to the annual Gunnhildr charity event. Oh, I bet the neighbors would line up at our door, dying to know what the inside of the Gunnhildr estate looks like.” 

Lisa watched her mother speak, her voice breathy and dazed, her eyes focused on nothing. She was completely bedazzled by the idea of a family she knew nothing about. 

“Well, sorry, but I couldn’t care less if she was inheriting all of Teyvat. She’s just a girl.”

Her mother’s face dropped. Lisa stopped herself from rolling her eyes at her mother’s theatrics. Slowly, her mother set her fork down on the plate, eyes locked with Lisa’s. 

“I understand that you’re new to the area, so you don’t realize what you’re saying yet. But Jean Gunnhildr is not ‘just a girl’. She is the daughter of the most affluent family in all of Mondstadt, if not Teyvat. She’s going to be the next Grand Master, for Archon’s sake. She is more powerful than any other student in your school- than any of the adults your father and I work with. Everyone here knows the name Jean Gunnhildr.”

Lisa blinked. “Okay? She’s still a human girl, though, right?”

Her mother shook her head, light brown waves bouncing. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

Lisa scoffed. “Well, I’m done with dinner. I have homework.” Her parents nodded, and she quickly returned to her room, making a beeline for her phone and opening the messaging app. 

Her veins felt like they were being tugged in excitement when she saw the blur of a heart emoji on her screen. 

When she refocused her eyes and sat at her desk, it was unmistakable. Jean had responded.

Good evening, Lisa. Here are today’s notes, and the notes from last week’s classes. Please let me know if I can help with the homework. I’m free to call for the next hour.

Lisa choked on the air entering her lungs. Call? Was she ready for that? Jean wanted to call her? 

It wasn’t a big deal, Lisa told herself with a shake of her head. Jean probably called people all the time. She didn’t seem like a texter. Lisa rushed to her bag to flip open her notebook and textbook to the right pages, spread them on her desk, and drew in a breath. She checked when Jean had sent the message- 13 minutes ago. Jean still had 47 minutes to talk. Lisa cursed her parents for making dinner at the same time they always did, instead of thirteen minutes earlier. 

Her thumb hovered above the phone button, and she wondered if she should have prepared topics for conversation beforehand. Alas, the clock was ticking and Lisa was running out of time, so she hit the call button and brought the phone to her ear. 

Jean answered after two rings. 

“Lisa?”

She closed her eyes, replaying the sound of Jean’s voice saying her name. 

“Hi.”

“Hi. So, stuck on the homework?”

“What? Oh, yeah. Math wasn’t required at my old school, so it’s been a while. I guess I could use a refresher.”

“Well, how about I walk you through the first question in the textbook and we’ll see how you’re feeling afterwards?”

Lisa smiled. There was something so chivalrous about how Jean was phrasing it, a politeness so practiced and polished that Lisa almost wanted to watch it crumble. 

“Sounds good,” Lisa replied. Jean had taken charge of the conversation so swiftly and easily, something Lisa bookmarked in her mind for later.

Jean began explaining the first step in a way that was so decorated with details and frequent pauses to make sure Lisa was still following. Lisa fought to stay focused on the free lesson from the Academy’s top student, but she was helpless to stop herself from getting lost in the sound of Jean’s voice, the little inflections on certain words and the praises when Lisa gave the right answer.

Lisa glanced at the clock on her wall. They’d been talking for just over twenty minutes, leaving them about twenty more before Jean had to go.  

“Do you need a break?” Jean suddenly asked. 

“From math? Almost always. But that’s okay, you don’t have a lot of time left anyway.” There was no way Lisa would waste her already limited time with Jean by stepping away from the phone. “I’ll let you know when it’s too much,” Lisa added, smiling to herself at her own double entendre that would probably go way over Jean’s head. 

“Please do,” Jean replied smoothly. “I don’t wish to overwhelm you.” 

Lisa blinked. Was Jean matching her? Or was that simply a coincidentally perfect response? 

“Hey, Lisa? You don’t have to discuss this if you don’t want to, but I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Jean continued. “What’s it like in Sumeru? I’ve never been. I mean, I’ve seen the pictures in textbooks and all, but what’s it really like?” 

Lisa bit her lip. Her heart was beating so loudly that she was sure Jean could hear it through the phone. Jean wanted to hear about Sumeru from her. 

“Well, there are a lot of trees. In the rainforest. There’s also a lot of sand, if you’re in the desert.” Jean laughed, and the sound made Lisa’s heart leap. “The air can be really muggy at times, especially in the summer. But winters are the best weather. It’s never too cold, and the breeze is nice and the heavy moisture thins out, so it’s quite pleasant.” 

Jean didn’t reply, and Lisa allowed herself to continue. 

“The architecture is to be envied by the rest of Teyvat, if I do say so myself. Each building is so rich in history and culture, I could talk for hours about each one of them. The people are really friendly, like… you can just walk up to a stranger and ask them to have lunch with you so you’re not alone, and they’d most likely say yes. Not that I’m speaking from experience, thank you. The school I was enrolled in allows you to study solely what you wish, instead of following some strange curriculum with irrelevant classes.”

“Like Calculus?” Jean suggested, and Lisa thought she heard a hint of humor in Jean’s tone. 

“Yes, exactly. I always buried myself in the more analytical and research-based courses, so I never had to worry about math. Although, I’ve always enjoyed chemistry. Something about mixing completely different elements together and testing what happens has drawn me in as long as I can remember. But when it comes to classes like physics… those equations frighten me. There is no love in my heart for math beyond what’s necessary.”

“You’re good at it, though. I hardly feel like I’m helping.”

“No! You are helping so much. I only know what I’m doing because you’re an excellent teacher.”

There was a pause, and Lisa heard some shuffling on the other end. 

“Thank you. I’m just happy to help.”

“Also, about our upcoming project. I read the book, and I’ve written something of an outline for what our essay could look like. I can send it to you, and you’re free to make any changes you’d like.”

“You’ve read the book already?”

“A few times, yes. The author’s other works are also amazing, and you can see how the war in his country affected his writing. It got darker, and the topics in his books were noticeably heavier than his previous publishings. That’s actually one of the things I wrote in my outline. When the war neared his hometown, he- um, I’m sorry for rambling. It happens every time I talk about a book.” Jean hopefully did not hear the smack of Lisa’s palm against her forehead.

There was another pause. 

“I’m excited to work with you, Lisa.”

She felt her cheeks burn. 

“I’m excited too, Jean.” 

“Unfortunately, I do have to go. I’ll see you in school tomorrow. Maybe we can meet in the library before class to study Calculus, or discuss the project further. It appears you have some strong ideas.”

“I look forward to it. See you tomorrow morning.” 

“…Lisa?”

Her heart stopped beating.

“Yes?”

“Don’t stop yourself from rambling next time. I want to hear everything you have to say.”

Lisa’s mouth fell open, and she snapped it shut with an audible clack . 

“Thank you.” She hoped she didn’t stutter. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodbye.”

“Bye.”

Click.

Lisa felt her lungs tightening and realized she had been holding her breath. With a long exhale, she leaned forward on her desk and rested her forehead on her arms, replaying every moment of the conversation in her mind. She knew that what Kaeya said was true- most people would commit manslaughter for a phone call with Jean, but Lisa could hardly bring herself to care about any of the extravagance surrounding Jean’s name. Instead, she found herself turning the conversation over in her mind, smiling stupidly at the thought that Jean- this stoic but curious girl, wanted to know about Sumeru, how she patiently listened to Lisa, how she… 

I want to hear everything you have to say.

Lisa lifted her head from her arms, her face aflame. As quickly as she could, Lisa packed her belongings back into her bag for the next day and got ready for bed, despite it being several hours from her usual bedtime. At this point, she would do anything to make morning come faster. 

Chapter Text

The sun was just rising over the treeline behind Lisa’s house when she began her walk to school. Her stomach was twisted into a knot, so she courageously declined her mother’s breakfast, risking the growls of an empty stomach later in the day. Whether or not she would live to regret her decision was the farthest thing on her mind as she trudged forth in the frigid air, opting instead to plan out her thoughts for the project so she could collaborate properly with Jean. 

About halfway through her walk, Lisa heard the sound of a car braking next to her, gravel crunching under the slow tires. She turned and saw Kaeya in his father’s car again, only this time he was in the passenger seat. His red-haired brother clutched the wheel, staring straight ahead. 

“Need a ride?” Kaeya asked, lowering his sunglasses despite the lack of sun in the early morning sky.

“You don’t have to drive me everywhere, Kaeya. The school isn’t that far.”

“I know I don’t have to, but it doesn’t look good for me to associate with people who walk to school.”

Lisa rolled her eyes and got in the backseat of his car, and Kaeya’s brother drove the three of them to school far slower than Kaeya had driven her home the day before. 

“You know, you never answered my text yesterday,” Kaeya said as Lisa tugged her backpack into the car behind her.

“What text?”

“I asked you to help me with the math homework by recycling to me whatever Jean told you.”

“Oh, right. Well, you should have just asked her, because she’s a much better teacher than I would have been.”

“If you ask Jean to explain two plus two, she’ll give you the entire context about when the number ‘two’ ever came into existence, why it looks the way it does, and maybe a demonstration on how ‘two’ is pronounced in each dialect across Teyvat.”

Lisa sighed. “Isn’t it wonderful? She’s so intelligent.”

“Ugh. Anyway, why were you talking to yourself before we pulled you over?” Kaeya asked.

“I was just thinking about that project for literature class.”

“Oh, you were trying to think of a way to impress Jean.”

“What? That’s not what I said.”

“I’ve seen many try and fail. I know what strategies you people use to get her to think you’re different.” 

Something twisted in Lisa’s chest, but she smiled anyway. 

“It’s just a project, Kaeya.”

“Sure it is. Jean’s smart, Lisa. Too smart for her own good. She might not reveal much, but she can see right through anyone.”

As if he hadn’t just thrown such a haunting sentence at her face, Kaeya proceeded to tell Lisa about how Donna had showed up outside his house the night before, claiming that she wanted to review the project with him. She was found by one of the maids outside his brother’s bedroom, trying to see into the window.

“What’s your name, anyway?” Lisa finally asked the one who was driving as he pulled into the school's parking lot.

The red-haired brother looked at her through the rearview mirror and opened his mouth to answer, but Kaeya cut him off. 

“Is that Jean standing outside the school?” Lisa whipped her head out the window, eyes frantically searching the direction Kaeya was pointing. She spotted Jean standing outside the doors, blue eyes bouncing between each passing car. “Is she… waiting for you?” Kaeya asked incredulously. 

“She might be,” Lisa breathed, unsuccessfully trying to force her smile back into a flat line. 

“This will definitely ruffle some feathers, honey. Be prepared.” 

“What do you mean?” Lisa asked.

“People around here are… very competitive about Jean.” The more Lisa heard anyone- Kaeya included- speak about Jean, the more Lisa noticed that they acted like Jean was a trophy to be earned. Lisa wanted to ask more, but Kaeya turned in his seat to look at her, his eyebrow raised. “Well, best not to keep her waiting.” 

Lisa took her cue and leapt out of the car with a brisk thank you in the driver’s direction. Jean immediately saw Lisa, her face unchanging but eyes unmoving as Lisa approached. Lisa felt her skin humming under Jean's stare, her feet carrying her faster than her usual pace. Just before they stood beside each other, Lisa shot a glance in the direction of what she thought was the sound of someone whispering. A group of four girls stood behind a tree, staring directly at her with murderous expressions. Lisa waved at them, but they only continued staring, watching closely as Jean held the school door open for her. 

“I wasn’t sure if you knew where the library was, so I thought I’d show you the way,” Jean informed her once they were inside the school.

Lisa wasn’t sure how it was possible, considering Jean was wearing the same clothing as everyone else, but she somehow looked even better than the day before. 

“Kaeya showed me yesterday, but I forgot,” Lisa lied, allowing Jean to lead her. As she walked, people from every direction in the halls stopped to stare at her. Jean continued onward, chin held high. Either she was ignoring the whispering students, or she didn’t notice them at all. 

“Everyone’s staring at you,” Lisa whispered, leaning in to Jean.

“No, they’re staring at you. ” 

Lisa looked at the next pair of girls that eyed her up and down.

“Why?”

“Because you’re walking with me.” 

“So?”

Jean stopped and turned to face Lisa, her face unrevealing of thoughts within. “I’m glad you haven’t heard who I am yet. I imagine you’ll act differently once you do, though.”

“What, about you being an heiress? Quite frankly, I couldn’t care less.” 

Lisa hadn't thought it was possible, but Jean’s expression grew more intense, her lips parted and her eyebrows raised. 

“You know about me?”

“Yes. I’m sorry if I’m missing something, but I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal.”

Jean scanned Lisa’s face, and it was all she could do to maintain her composure and allow Jean to see that she meant what she said. The blonde’s face was calm, but her focused eyes revealed her reluctance to give in to Lisa’s words. 

After a few moments, Jean turned away from Lisa, her face sunk with a disappointment that made Lisa’s heart clench, like she failed a test she had studied for.

“People have tried telling me that,” Jean said, rounding the final corner and slowing her pace, “But it always ends up the same way. People only care about the name I carry. Nothing more." Jean lowered her voice, and Lisa wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t want to be heard, or if she didn’t want to say it at all. “That doesn’t seem to be the case with you, though.”

Lisa smiled, but Jean wasn’t watching. 

“You’re right.”

Jean sped up her walk, and Lisa had a feeling Jean didn’t notice her own wider strides. Besides gawking at her wealth and eventual Grand Master status, Lisa could not understand what made students so desperate for Jean's attention. Surely it couldn't be that simple. Jean Gunnhildr was far more than the name she shouldered.

“We’ll see. I’ve been wrong before.”

Lisa didn’t know what she could say to convince Jean that she was telling the truth, so she chose to change the subject. 

“Kaeya told me no one has ever seen the inside of your house.” 

“That's partially true. Someone has, a long time ago.”

Lisa wanted Jean’s words to sink in, but they had arrived at the library. They chose an empty table in a secluded corner towards the back. 

“Which should we cover first? Literature or Calculus?” Jean asked with a small smile, but Lisa noted the emptiness in her eyes. Lisa so desperately yearned to grab the girl within and shake her out, the one that Lisa knew was there… somewhere under the perfect student that was currently flipping through her notes. 

“Whichever you’re in the mood for,” Lisa answered.

“I’m indifferent.” 

A thought seized Lisa. She wondered how much freedom of choice Jean had in her life. 

“I insist,” Lisa insisted. “Choose for me.” 

Jean looked up from her notebook, and Lisa saw it again. An expression of confusion and hesitance.

“Alright then, literature first. Tell me about the author. You cut yourself off yesterday.” Jean raised a knowing eyebrow paired with a small smile, and Lisa's heart flipped.

 Lisa smiled widely, Jean’s eyes falling to watch the movement. The blonde was seated in a formal position, her back perfectly parallel with the chair, her hands folded in her lap.

“Well, he’s a Natlan native,” Lisa began, opening the multi-page outline she had scribbled the day before while waiting for Jean’s reply to her text. She spoke again for longer than she had intended, but with each point she brought up, three more sprang into her mind. 

Nothing could have prepared Lisa for how difficult it was to see Jean enthralled with Lisa’s ranting in person- how Jean nodded along, her eyes boring into Lisa’s like she needed to hear every last word that Lisa had to offer. When Lisa finally drew to a stop, Jean leaned forward in her chair, bringing their bodies only a few inches apart. 

“Amazing,” Jean breathed. Lisa lowered her arms from the table to hide the goosebumps spreading across her skin. 

“I know, he really is,” Lisa nodded, drumming her fingers on the surface of her notebook. Jean stared at her with such intensity that Lisa almost looked down to ensure she was wearing clothes.

“I wasn’t talking about the author, but his story is interesting too.” Lisa blinked. Before the words could register in Lisa’s already spinning mind, Jean had tugged Lisa’s notebook from her arm and began reading her notes. “You have nice handwriting.”

“Thanks,” Lisa said. Fire back, a voice in her mind whispered. “You do too.” Jean looked up at her. “You sent me your notes last night, remember?” And I saw you writing them real-time in class yesterday. I watched the way your fingers gripped the pen and swirled it across the page with an elegance that cannot be taught, just like everything else about you. 

“Oh, right.”

Keep going.

“Do you like math?”

“It is my least favorite subject,” Jean replied. 

“But you’re so good at it!” Jean only shrugged. “Are you just naturally good at everything you do?”

Jean closed Lisa’s notebook. “Not quite. Expensive tutors your whole life will make you unnaturally good at everything.”

Lisa didn’t know how to describe it, but it felt like Jean was extending a hand towards her, asking Lisa to dig in. Kaeya had described Jean as reserved and private, but she was dropping hints at a less than perfect life. And she was inviting Lisa into it.

The bell rang loudly, announcing to students that it was time to herd themselves to their first classes. Jean patiently waited for Lisa to pack her things, and together they walked to their first class together; the History of Agriculture in Teyvat. It wasn’t the most riveting subject, but heavy reading classes is where Lisa’s strengths as a student lay. She was already growing accustomed to the stares of those watching Jean walk beside her, and- as humble as she was- even put an extra sway to her step to contrast Jean’s assertive walk. The empty seat in this class was in the center, away from Jean or Kaeya or any of the others Lisa had met. That was okay, it was only for an hour. The bell rang again just as the professor entered, and he began his lecture while shrugging off his coat and removing stacks of papers from his briefcase. 

Even from the distance she sat, Lisa could hear Kaeya and Rosaria whispering and giggling in the back corner, occasionally forcing a blonde boy to participate in their conversations. The hour passed slowly, and class ended with Lisa having far more knowledge about the different types of fungus around Teyvat than she ever wanted in her life. 

Jean was not in Lisa’s next two classes, but she recognized the blue-haired girl from yesterday’s lunch seated in the corner in both. Lisa didn’t approach her, but the girl gave her a curt nod in both classes. 

Finally, Calculus was upon her. With Jean’s help over the phone, Lisa had actually been able to solve the questions in the homework, and proudly handed the worksheet to the professor. Kaeya said something about handing it in tomorrow for sure, and then the lecture began. Lisa was torn between allowing Jean space to focus on what was being taught, and the dizzying urge to stare at the features on Jean’s face, memorizing each slope and angle. 

An hour later the bell rang, and Lisa had absorbed maybe three sentences out of the entire lecture. Jean turned to her.

“I saw you had done the homework. You’re such a fast learner.”

“You’re the one deserving of praise,” Lisa replied. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“I assume you’ll be at lunch today?”

Like I would give up the chance to stare at your face for an hour.

“Oh…” Jean chuckled, her face suddenly red. 

“What?” Lisa asked.

“Nothing! I mean, it was a bit sudden, but most definitely not unwelcome.” She smiled shyly, unable to meet Lisa’s eyes. 

What was she talking about? 

Then, it hit her. 

“Did I say that… out loud?”

“I hope you don’t get bored staring for so long, considering I’ll probably just be doing homework like always.” 

Lisa would beg her parents to move back to Sumeru the moment she got home.

Lunch went by in the same seating arrangement as the day before, but now Lisa and Jean exchanged more glances, and Kaeya made more sounds of overwhelming nausea whenever they giggled and blushed. 

Literature went by quickly, and Lisa had appreciated watching Jean watching the professor, memorizing the face she made when she was focused. There was no doubt Jean would make a wonderful leader one day, if her composure throughout the day was any indication. The last bell of the day rang, and Kaeya escorted Lisa to his car once they were outside. Jean had given her a brisk wave before entering the same large vehicle as the day before, and Lisa cursed the tinted windows that prevented her from watching Jean leave. 

“I really don’t need you to chauffeur me everywhere,” Lisa groaned, his brother getting in the passenger seat. 

“It’s literally on the way. We pass in front of your house on the way to ours. Just get in.” Lisa gave him a thankful tap on the shoulder and slid into his backseat. The drive home was as illegal as the day before, with her head nearly slamming against the roof of the car whenever he drove over a tiny bump.

After dinner, which her parents decided to ruin with more questions about Lisa’s new friends, Lisa decided to go for a walk around her neighborhood. Ten minutes in, she thought about how she was talking to Jean on the phone at that time the day before, and decided to check her phone. And her heart and feet skidded to a halt. 

There was a message from Jean.

Good evening. I was looking over the requirements for the project, and had a few questions about what direction we should go in. Let me know if you’re free for a call, or if you want to meet at the library again tomorrow morning. 

Without hesitation, Lisa slammed the call button. 

“Lisa.” 

“I am so sorry for the delay, I just saw your text.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” She sounded neither upset nor forgiving. Somehow she managed to be even more monotone over the phone. “I don’t have a lot of time left, so whatever we don’t cover now we can always finish in the library tomorrow.”

“Yes, of course. I don’t have my notes in front of me, because I’m, um, walking. But I can still mentally participate.”

“You’re walking at this hour? Where are you going?” 

“Nowhere in particular, just needed to go on a stroll, you know?” she chuckled awkwardly, and pressed her lips together in self hatred at Jean’s silence. “Anyway, I’m listening.”

“I don’t mean to distract you from your walk. We can just reconvene tomorrow.”

“You’re not distracting at all, Jean. I like talking to you.” Another pause. “We don’t even have to discuss the project.”

“Well, I did want to ask… is Sumeru the only place you’ve lived?” Lisa came to a stop at an unfamiliar 4-way intersection. Jean was asking about her. Not about Sumeru, or the author of the book… her. 

“Yes. I lived in Mondstadt as a child, then my father had to move to Sumeru for work. My mother usually just stays at home doing… something. Cleaning, I guess. So the move never really bothered her.” 

“Did it bother you?” 

“I…” Lisa had never stopped to consider this. She was so swept up in the frenzy of her father’s promotion that she figured a quick goodbye to her friends and promises to stay in touch were enough. At the time, at least. “I’m not sure. I miss my old friends, but I made some great ones here.” 

“I see.”

“What about you?” Lisa turned left onto a street, hoping she’d find her way back later.

“What about me?”

“Have you ever moved?”

“No, I’ve always lived in Mondstadt. Our family is deeply rooted here.”

“So I’ve heard." Lisa drew in a deep breath. "Do you… do you want to be the Grand Master when you graduate?”

The silence was long and loud enough that Lisa checked to see if Jean had hung up. The sound of her footsteps on the concrete sidewalk filled echoed back to her through the phone.

“I don’t know,” she answered quietly. Lisa stopped walking. “But I don’t have a choice. I can learn to like it.”

There was a broken bottle in the grass beside Lisa’s feet, and she thought it resembled the state her heart was in. 

“I’m sorry.” 

There was some shuffling on the other end. “I have to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Lisa.” 

“Goodnight.” 

The next morning, Jean didn’t wait for Lisa outside of the school, but was seated at the same empty table in the library from the day before. They began discussing the project, and Lisa noted the way Jean was careful not to let the conversation get personal, sharply returning the subject to their tasks whenever Lisa asked an off-topic question. It wasn’t unfriendly, but Jean was making it clear that they would not have conversations like the one from the night before in public, so Lisa stopped her attempts. 

Jean seemed grateful when Lisa stayed on track as they drafted their essay, shooting her lingering smiles and nods- her face as indecipherable as ever. The school day proceeded almost exactly like the day before, except Lisa was formally introduced to Albedo, the science prodigy who ate one spider out of curiosity and would never live it down thanks to Kaeya. 

During their lunch period, Lisa and Albedo spent the hour discussing his scientific theories in Chemistry. Lisa was so absorbed in his ideas that she missed Jean’s repeated glances her way, the blonde’s lips curling into a small smile as she watched Lisa pouring over Albedo’s notes. 

The evening phone calls became a regular thing, and though they were short, Lisa was grateful that Jean was talking to her at all. Little by little, Jean revealed more about herself. Lisa paid close attention to how she cleanly avoided discussing her family, except the one time she mentioned a younger sister. Lisa was left with the impression that they either didn’t get along, or they were not well-acquainted for some other reason. The stares at school reduced greatly, as it seemed the student body grew accustomed to seeing the pair together. 

It took just over a week for Lisa’s tranquil routine to come to a shattering stop. She should have known things were going too well. Envy, Lisa learned, was not something that should be ignored. 

“What’s your favorite subject?” Lisa had asked her one morning as they sat in the library. Jean folded her hands on the table, one of three poses Lisa had noticed Jean frequently alternate between. She seemed to be deciding if she should answer the question. Lisa had learned that if Jean didn’t answer something, it meant Lisa could ask again later that night over the phone when there was no one else around. 

“I don’t know if I have one. I like to read, I suppose.”

Lisa smiled, and Jean returned the gesture. It made Lisa’s heart leap every time. 

“I like to read too. Seems that great minds think alike.” Jean’s face was unmoving as ever, but Lisa noticed the slight narrowing of her eyes. Jean was interested, or at least Lisa hoped she was. “Got a favorite book?”

Jean tilted her head to the side. “Promise not to tell?” she asked, which seemed uncharacteristic of her. Lisa supposed that if Jean really didn’t want something known, she wouldn’t have risked saying it at all. Still, the question confirmed Lisa’s theory. Jean was holding out her hand for Lisa to take, confirmed by the proposal of exchanging light-hearted secrets. 

“I will take anything you tell me to my grave,” Lisa replied easily. Jean bit her lip.

“Vera’s Melancholy.”

Lisa tilted her head. “That’s the one where…” She lifted a finger to her lips, rifling through her mental library. Jean watched her closely, eyes scanning Lisa’s face. She really did believe that Jean could see her thoughts for a moment. “Oh! That’s the romance one, right? With the lovers from different planets?” 

“It is. Sounds like you’ve read every book in existence.” 

“I probably have,” Lisa said with a nonchalant shrug, resting her chin on her fist. Jean let out a chuckle, and Lisa felt the strong urge to reach out and grab her hand.

A thought came to mind, and Lisa debated whether or not she should say it for all of half a second before blurting it out. “I’m willing to bet you like romance novels because you like experiencing those emotions, even if they’re through someone else’s eyes.” She was nearing territory that she hadn’t explored yet, and she wanted to see how Jean would react. 

Jean’s face dropped. There was an instant change in the atmosphere between them, and Lisa wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have said that. 

“Are you okay?” Lisa asked. Jean nodded, looking down at her hands. “I was just kidding.”

“Sorry, I just… Nevermind.”

“What is it?”

Jean unlaced her fingers from each other and spread them across the surface of the table. Overcome with a reckless surge of courage, Lisa did what no other student had dared to do. She reached out and gently wrapped her fingers around Jean’s hand. Jean stared at where they were connected, eyes wide like it was a foreign object. 

“You can talk to me,” Lisa whispered. Slowly, as though against her better judgment, Jean lifted her eyes to Lisa’s. For a moment, Lisa saw a crack in Jean’s impenetrable mask- a glimpse of the wounded girl underneath. It made Lisa’s heart ache and her fingers tighten around Jean’s.

“I don’t really know how to describe it,” Jean said, her voice so low that Lisa had to lean in to hear better. “But I’m really enjoying our time together, and… to put it bluntly, I think it would hurt more if you were lying to me about... how much you care about me... than it has with anyone else. And I don’t want to give you the power to hurt me that much, but it’s out of my control. You just understand me so well, and you make me feel like a person. It's not something I'm familiar with.”

Lisa reached up with her free hand and gently tipped Jean’s face up with a finger under her chin.

“Jean,” she breathed. “How long have you been harboring this doubt? Of course I’m not lying to you. Please, trust me.” Lisa seldom pleaded for anything, but it felt more appropriate now than ever in her life. 

For the third time that day, the same expression returned. Jean looked confused by Lisa, scrutinizing her like an unsolvable equation. As always, it was followed by a look of pain- as though Jean was battling herself and losing. 

It drove Lisa insane. 

The look vanished as quickly as it appeared. Jean’s face faded back into that same apathetic expression she greeted everyone with, and Lisa wanted to kick herself for not holding onto it longer. The mask was sealed. 

“The bell will ring soon. We’d better get ready to go.” Jean pulled her hand away from Lisa’s and rose from the table, looking down at her. “Do you want me to walk you to our next class?” 

Jean had never offered to walk with Lisa before, she just did- and Lisa had treasured it. 

“No, thank you.” A feeling of dread crept up Lisa’s spine. She wondered if she had said something wrong, or if she should have said more to eliminate Jean’s doubts and fears. “I’ll see you in Calculus later,” Lisa said with a small smile. Her voice was a little more formal and dismissive than she had intended, and earned a quick nod from Jean. That professional tone was probably what Jean was most familiar with, after all. 

The bell rang before either of them could continue the suddenly uncomfortable conversation, and Jean slid her arms into her backpack straps. 

“See you around, Lisa.” She walked away before Lisa could respond, and Lisa could only watch as Jean exited the library with that same dutiful walk that she always carried herself with. Just as Kaeya had said, students parted ways to allow her passage, and she gave each student a brief nod on her way out, her perfectly manicured uniform disappearing out the door.

With a sigh, Lisa slid her notebook into her backpack and wondered what had just happened. It was obvious that something was troubling Jean, but it was just as obvious that she wasn’t ready to share it with anyone yet. Lisa would be as patient as Jean needed. She found herself wondering why she cared so much about Jean, but couldn’t answer her own question, so she pushed it away.

Lisa left the library and decided to stop at the bathroom before going to her first class. The bathroom had eight stalls, three of which were occupied. Lisa chose the one farthest from the door, dimly listening to the students bustling just outside in the halls as they walked to class. A few moments later, when Lisa approached the mirror to wash her hands, she was stunned to see someone standing directly behind her. A girl Lisa had seen somewhere before, but couldn’t place exactly where. 

The girl stared at Lisa through the mirror, and Lisa slowly turned to face her. 

“Can I help you?” Lisa asked. The girl only smiled, but there was something sinister about her that began suffocating Lisa. Something moved in her peripheral vision, and Lisa turned to see another student staring at her, and a third moving to stand in front of the bathroom door. 

“Lisa, is it?” the first girl asked. “From Sumeru. We have literature class together.” Lisa nodded, fighting to keep her expression calm as she bumped into the sink behind her. “Friend of ours said you were getting a little cuddly with Gunnhildr this morning. Said you even had the gall to grab her hand.” 

Lisa knew what this was about. 

This will ruffle some feathers, honey. Be prepared.

“We were studying together,” Lisa offered, keeping her voice even.

“That’s interesting, because I don’t hold anyone’s hand when I study.” 

“It was just a reassuring gesture.”

“I don’t think so, princess. I’m going to make something clear, and give you the benefit of the doubt because you’re new around here." She took a step closer to Lisa, who pressed her back against the sink. "I need to be friends with Jean. Close friends. Maybe even more than friends. That goes for everyone around this school. We all have our reasons, but I'll get to that later. Now, some of us have made more progress than others. My friend got as far as an invite to Jean’s estate, only for Jean to pull back at the last second, because that’s the kind of person she is. So, we’re not exactly a huge fan of hers, but we would all benefit from being close to her. I think personally she’s a stuck-up spoiled brat who thinks she’s better than everyone, but I also need to become a Captain of the Knights of Favonius after I graduate, so it’s up to me to use these few years where I’m stuck in her classes to make her warm up to me.” 

A knock came from the bathroom door, but the girl guarding it quickly twisted the lock shut.

“I’m making good progress on our little friendship,” the first girl continued, leaning a little too close to Lisa’s face. Her breath was rancid and too warm. “And none of us need an outsider like you to ruin everything and get in our way. You’re distracting her from us. You see where I’m coming from?"

"Not really," Lisa replied.

"I’ll let you off with a warning this time. You know, beginner’s luck or whatever. Stay away from Jean and you’ll never hear from us again. Do we have a deal?”

Lisa had flaws. She knew she could be stubborn and argumentative, sometimes taking her insults a little further than she should have. She was aware of these shortcomings, but in some situations, they were her weapons. 

She couldn't believe that this was it. This was why Jean was so slow to trust, and why students shot daggers at Lisa with their eyes whenever they were seen together. Lisa overestimated her classmates. It really was that simple. They wanted to use Jean, the girl that had been used her entire life.

The girl that least deserved it. 

Lisa's blood boiled under her skin.

“I don’t know who you think you are,” Lisa began, steeling herself and trying to keep her rage at bay. “But you don’t tell me what to do. I mean, really. Are you going to beat me up?” Lisa made sure her tone was condescending, so the girl knew she was being mocked. “You’re going to use your brute hands and knock my delicate little teeth in? Then my parents sue the school, your parents will be disgraced for raising you to be the way you are, you don’t get the job as Captain. What else? Are you going to spread rumors about me? I guarantee you anything your small brain comes up with can be easily disproved, and you’ll be the ridiculous, pathetic bully who lied about the new student for no reason. I know this might wound your unnecessarily large ego, but you don't frighten me in the slightest. In fact, you disgust me."

The girl took a small step back, then she physically snarled. Lisa could see bits of food between her front teeth and grimaced. 

“You little-” She grabbed Lisa by the shirt and shoved her against the wall, her hatred seething through her uneven breaths of rage. Lisa tipped her head down to look at where the girl’s hand remained clamped on her shoulder, effectively pinning Lisa back. “I’ll make you regret ever setting foot in this school.”

Lisa could only smile. “Don’t you see? Your scare tactics won’t work on me. If you want Jean’s respect, I’d recommend starting by treating her like a human being, rather than a means to achieve your own fantasies.”

“I couldn’t care less about Jean’s respect.” The girl spat the word so harshly, and Lisa cringed when she felt saliva landing on her face. “ She’s the one that doesn’t deserve any of mine. As for you… you may not be afraid, but that doesn’t mean you’re not susceptible to pain. Let me show you what happens to people who talk down to me.” 

“Oh my. ‘Susceptible’ is a big word for someone like you, isn’t it?” Lisa taunted. She knew she should probably have stopped her mocking ten minutes ago, but it came to her too easily, and was worth the pain this girl had planned for her.

The girl raised her hand and clamped it on Lisa’s neck, completely cutting off her airflow. Lisa hadn’t been in a position like this before, but she refused to let this girl see her cry. Her parents- her mother especially- really would wreak havoc on the school until the girl was expelled, and that thought allowed Lisa to look the girl in her wild eyes.

The flushing of a toilet echoed throughout the bathroom, and the girl’s grip weakened as she whirled around towards the one guarding the door. 

“You said it was just us in here,” she growled.

“I- I thought I checked all the stalls-”

The stall door swung open and all four people in the room froze with anticipation to see who the intruder was.

Lisa’s eyes widened as she watched Eula emerge from the stall, completely avoiding everyone’s silent, terrified gaze as she washed her hands with care. The girl choking Lisa stepped back, eyes trained on Eula in what appeared to be utter fear. 

It took far longer than it needed to, but when Eula finally tossed the used paper towels into the trash, she turned on her heel and approached the girl that had assaulted Lisa.

“You’ll have to forgive me for what is coming,” Eula calmly said to her calmly, her face as unexpressive as Jean’s.

“Eula- I can explain. It’s- this is just a joke. I wasn’t actually going to do anything to her, I was only trying to scare her a little.”

Eula tipped her head down to glare at her. The height difference left Eula towering over her.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you.” The girl visibly exhaled a sigh of relief. “What Jean decides as fit punishment for your actions is beyond my control, however. I have an excellent memory, and will be recounting today’s events word for word in our clan meeting tonight, in front of all our families. Which, of course, includes Frederica Gunnhildr.” The girl’s skin faded into an ugly yellow shade that almost made Lisa feel bad for her. Eula turned her attention to Lisa, who was just regaining her ability to breathe. “Allow me to walk you to class.” 

Lisa pushed past the girl and followed Eula out of the bathroom, the other two that were guarding the door practically leaping backwards as they passed. 

“Thanks for that,”  Lisa said, once they were safely in the halls again. “Kaeya told me people were weirdly possessive of Jean, but I didn’t know it was that bad. And for something as stupid as taking advantage of her family.”

Eula hummed in agreement. “The students at this Academy seem to believe that if they are on their best behavior when Jean is around, they will reap the benefits later in life, in hopes that Jean will recall their good deeds and promote them as she sees fit. It’s a pity for them that Jean knows exactly what they’re doing, and who they are when she’s not looking. I can guarantee that more than half of the student population will be sorely disappointed a few years from now when Jean doesn’t magically promote them from maids and garbage workers to high-ranking Captains.”

Lisa let out a short laugh. “Has anyone tried warning them that their act isn’t working?” 

“Well, Kaeya and Rosaria are a pair that revels in making fun of the glaringly obvious two-faced students, such as the one you encountered in the bathroom. I believe Kaeya is planning to skip tonight's meeting, so if Diluc tells Kaeya about what that student did to you, Kaeya will become her greatest nightmare. Endless mocking until graduation, at the very least. Sometimes Kaeya will get out of hand and tie particularly troublesome students to trees or steal their clothes as they shower in the gym, so Jean has tried refraining from sharing her qualms about certain students with him to prevent him from getting expelled. Again.”

Lisa tilted her head to the side, remembering Kaeya’s words when they first met. I hardly think I’m to blame for protecting my friends through some light harassment of people who suck. It’s not my fault people are too sensitive and can’t handle some teasing.

She would never admit it to Kaeya directly, but she felt oddly proud that he and his friends were maintaining justice around the school, especially on Jean’s behalf.

“Who’s Diluc?”

Eula glanced at Lisa. “The son of Crepus Ragnvindr? Crepus is the current head of the Ragnvindr clan and owner of the largest wine business in Teyvat.”

“Oh.” So that was his name.

“I believe we have the same class right now.” Eula held the door open, and the class turned to watch Lisa walk in, accompanied by yet another clan heiress in less than an hour.

“Thank you again, Eula.”

“Don’t worry. I will have my revenge later.”

“On me?”

Eula ignored the question and went to her seat, leaving Lisa to wonder if Eula just had a strange sense of humor. Jean sat in the front row, with Diluc sitting a few seats to her right. She was immersed in the book she was reading and didn’t look at Lisa, much to Lisa's disappointment. Kaeya and Rosaria sat in the back row, but he rose from his seat to greet Lisa when she found her seat. She watched him slink between the tables on his way to her, leaning in to whisper something in Jean’s ear on his way over. Jean briefly turned in Lisa’s direction, but looked away the moment they locked eyes. 

Then, to Lisa’s delight, Jean turned back, her expression changed from one of nonchalance to one of anger. And she wasn’t looking at Lisa’s face- she was looking a little lower. 

“What’s up with your neck?” Kaeya asked, sitting in someone else’s seat beside her. 

“My neck?” Lisa instinctively reached to touch it, and Jean brought her eyes back up to Lisa’s face. Once again, the blonde turned away when their eyes met, but despite looking back down at the book, Lisa could tell Jean wasn’t reading it.

“And why do you sound like a heavy smoker?”

“What?” She turned to her friend whose eye were also glued to her neck. Kaeya’s eyebrows knitted together in concern and he gently held Lisa’s chin, turning her face side to side. 

“Are you okay? Or did you just trip and fall onto a hand-shaped rock?.” Lisa pushed his hand away. 

“I’m fine.”

“There is a handprint on your neck and you can barely talk.”

Lisa sighed. “I don’t suppose you have a spare scarf lying around somewhere.”

“What happened?”

The professor walked through the door and began setting up his belongings at his desk, shrugging off his coat.

“I’ll tell you later. I don’t want you getting suspended or expelled on my behalf.” After a long pause, Kaeya moved back to his spot at the rear of the classroom, and the student that had been patiently waiting for him to leave finally took his seat beside Lisa.

Throughout the entire lecture, Lisa tried not to fret about walking around with marks on her neck for the rest of the day, and cursed her genetics for her easily bruising skin. The hour went by quickly, and the bell soon dismissed everyone. Lisa slung her backpack over her shoulders and tried to inconspicuously cover her neck with her hand, moving her arm around in an attempt to find a pose that looked natural. 

“Lisa.”

She turned. Students all around her shuffled out of the classroom, blurring past Jean and her piercing stare.

“Yes?”

“Who did this to you?”

Heat crept up Lisa’s cheeks.

“I don’t know.”

Jean stepped closer. It was the closest they stood to each other… facing each other. Up close, Jean’s eyes were breathtaking. They were the color of the ocean right before a thunderstorm, when the water grew dark from the lack of sun.  

Lisa tried to tear her eyes away, but she could feel herself getting sucked into that sea of gray.

Upon closer inspection, Lisa noticed a few more details that she cursed herself for originally missing. Jean’s cheeks were littered with faded freckles, a ghost of what must have been the cutest feature on her as a child. There was a small scar lining Jean’s left eyebrow: short but deep. Her skin was glowing and smooth, like a heavily edited magazine cover, only in real life. She seemed to embody perfection- or perhaps her flaws hid elsewhere, in a location people could not see easily. The irritatingly flawless skin contrasted the slightly chapped lips Jean had, which Lisa was noticing for the first time too. 

No matter. Lisa could think of more than one way to wet Jean’s lips. 

“What did she look like?” Jean asked quietly, the clench of her jaw betraying her calm. She was angry- maybe furious. Lisa bit her lip, and Jean’s eyes flicked down to watch.

“She had light brown hair, I guess.”

“Anything else?”

“No.” Jean narrowed her eyes. “Honestly, Jean. She was the most average-looking girl I’ve seen. I don't know anyone at this school outside of your friend group.”

Jean sighed deeply. “Very well. If you see her again, come find me right away.” The crease between her eyebrows faded away. “Lisa, about this morning, I-”

“Jean? May I speak with you for a moment?” came a third voice. Jean and Lisa both turned towards the back of the class where Eula stood. 

“Yes.” 

Lisa took that as her cue to leave the two alone, but couldn’t help but wonder if she would be the subject of their conversation.

As she walked down the hallway to her next class alone, Lisa noticed after a few minutes that students were still staring at her. Upon watching them a little closer, Lisa noticed that they were looking at her, then looking directly behind her. Lisa turned and saw Eula and Jean silently walking side-by-side a few paces away from her, like her personal bodyguards. 

“What are you two doing ?! I thought you were back in the classroom!” Lisa could not properly express her exasperation. “Are you trying to put me on every student’s hit list?”

“You’re injured,” Jean said flatly. “And Eula informed me that it was, in fact, a student who assaulted you. She didn’t provide a name, but promised details at our meeting tonight. In the meantime, I’ll accompany you to your classes until Kaeya drives you home.”

“I appreciate it, but you really don’t have to-”

“I know I don’t have to.”

The two stared at each other for a moment, but the angry glint in Jean’s eyes told Lisa that she wasn’t going to win this standoff. And, deep down, she didn’t particularly hate the idea of Jean protecting her…

Lisa arrived at her next class and spent the entire hour and a half thinking about Jean’s controlled rage. Jean clearly wanted to know who the student was, and Eula not telling her must have driven her up the wall. Lisa felt her cheeks burning at the memory of Jean’s eyes on her neck, the pain of the girl’s heavy hand long forgotten.

What kind of anger did Jean have? Was it quiet and contained, let out in heavy sighs and shakes of her head? Did she work her anger off through a rigorous exercise? Lisa could see it in her mind: Jean’s muscles rippling as she ran on the treadmill, sweat building at her brow…  hot, quick breaths puffing into the air… Lisa squirmed in her seat and forced the thought out of her mind before she stormed towards Jean's seat and felt the hard muscles for herself.

As promised, Jean walked her to each of her classes- silently, to Lisa's dismay, until they finally arrived at literature class. Lisa watched the students file in, half-listening to Kaeya’s rant about why it was a scam that he had to attend the clan meetings as the adopted kid, and why he was going to skip tonight's until he decided that learning about Lisa's assault was more important. 

Then, the girl from the bathroom walked in, her eyes immediately finding Lisa. They held each other’s gaze- Lisa’s absent of emotion and hers filled with anger- until the girl sat and turned her back to Lisa. 

“Wait,” Kaeya said from beside her. “Please don’t tell me that’s her. Say that girl isn’t the one who beat you up in the bathroom.”

“First of all, she didn’t beat me up. Let’s record history correctly. Second of all, what if that was her? Who is she?”

“Well, it explains why Eula is waiting until tonight to tell Jean. If Jean knew, she’d probably slit her throat right here.”

“Why?” 

Kaeya turned to look at the girl, who still had her back to them. 

“That’s Ellin. She’s like, obsessed with Jean. I’m talking Donna-level obsessed. She would do anything for Jean to notice her. One time, I think it was two years ago, Ellin had her friend lock her in a closet with Jean at the Favonius training center and pretended it was an accident. Jean said Ellin kept trying to put moves on her while she was trying to kick down the door. They were trapped in there for like, an hour before Jean finally bust the door down by herself, but Ellin’s friend didn’t hide for some stupid reason, and Jean immediately knew that all of that was Ellin’s doing.”

Lisa’s eyes could not have been wider. “Now I want to slit her throat.”

“Ellin is so annoying, and she keeps begging Jean for personal training sessions in the most vomit-inducing attempt at flirting I’ve ever seen. There have been other instances of Ellin trying to get Jean alone after that, but Jean never fell for it again. Now that you have the background information, you understand why Ellin would explode with rage at someone like you who got Jean to like you right away. The best part is that Jean hates her. And Jean doesn’t hate anyone. She’s, I mean you already know. She’s nice to everyone, super welcoming, super good listener. Sure, you’re above everyone in the sense that she lets her guard down around you, but-”

“Wait. Did she say that?”

“Say what?” 

“Did Jean tell you that she lets her guard down around me?”

“She does what?” Kaeya brought his finger to his chin.

“Kaeya. Answer my question.”

“I can’t remember what your question was.”

“ Kaeya. ”

He looked over to Jean, still immersed in her book. 

“Alright, don’t ever repeat this- especially to Jean, but yes. A few hours ago, probably while you were getting beat up honestly, she asked me what I thought of you. I said I liked you, and I knew you were the real deal. After pushing her and annoying her, she finally admitted that she feels safe around you, and she can be herself whenever you’re near. It scares her to feel this way, but she's risking it anyway. For you. She said… what was it? Something about time slowing when you’re around, and how you give her peace of mind. Sorry, I’m not as poetic as she is, so I don’t remember what her exact words were. Anyway, the fact that now Jean finally has a reason to get rid of Ellin is… honestly everything she’s ever wanted. And of course you’re the one to give her the chance.” 

Lisa’s heart was thrashing around in her ribcage like a ping pong ball. The school day eventually ended and Lisa went home in Kaeya's car, but her mind was polluted with a single thought.

Jean said what?

Chapter Text

Lisa did everything she could to stay occupied. She went on a walk, but her phone battery was low and she didn’t want to get lost, so she went home earlier than she had planned. She counted each book in her room to make sure she wasn’t missing any, and she wasn’t. She finished her homework for every class, checking each one four times. She scrolled through social media, called her friends from Sumeru, played with her cats, helped her mother with the dishes. 

There was nothing left to do but wait, and Lisa had never been very good at that. Sprawled across her bed, she was practically vibrating in anticipation. She knew Kaeya would be the first to get back to her, but she could have gnawed her nails completely off in excitement when she thought of Jean finally calling her. 

It was a Friday night, and Lisa’s only friends in Mondstadt happened to be the most high-class students at her school, dragged by their parents to a meeting to decide how to best govern Mondstadt. She pictured Jean beside her mother- what did she look like? An older version of Jean, Lisa imagined. Jean probably had her back perfectly parallel to the chair like she always did, her hands neatly folded in her lap, wearing her noble outfit, nodding along to whatever was being said… 

When Kaeya had told Lisa about the noble outfits, she could have burst in curiosity. He informed her that he didn’t have a picture because phones weren’t allowed, but promised that Jean looked good. Lisa hated and loved him for telling her, because now she had to live off of her imagination. Don’t worry, he had told her. You’ll get a chance to see it eventually. Whenever our parents drag us to make public announcements at the Plaza, we all have to wear them. 

Lisa held on to the hope that the clan leaders would make any kind of announcement soon, if it meant finally seeing what Jean looked like on duty. 

Just when the wait was about to kill her, her phone buzzed. Lisa opened it to a message from Kaeya. 

Just got out. Ellin’s never recovering from this!

One of Lisa’s cats sauntered into the room and sat on her stomach, forcing the air out of her lungs. 

Details please!!

Three dots appeared, and Lisa wished she could reach into the screen and force him to type faster. 

Promised Jean I wouldn’t tell lol <3

It took everything in Lisa not to hurl her phone across the room. 

Why?? 

Lisa closed her eyes, deciding it was too painful to watch him type.

Wish I could speak on the matter, but alas. 

Useless. Lisa began petting her cat, and found the stress leaving her body as she did. She wouldn’t see Jean until Monday, so she better call tonight. Lisa thought of calling first, but figured Jean would call her as soon as she was ready. 

A few minutes passed of Lisa staring at her ceiling, her cat having expressed his distaste in her petting but continued sitting on her lungs. Finally, her phone buzzed again.

Call from Jean G ❤️

Lisa tried to sit up, but her cat didn’t move, so she sank back down. She hardly noticed that her movement had upset him when she answered Jean’s call, so she was not ready for his readjustment.

“Hey Jean- oof!”

“Hello?”

“Sorry, my cat apparently thinks I'm a sidewalk with the way he's walking all over me. Anyway, what happened?” 

“Nothing eventful, I suppose. Eula told me what Ellin did to you in front of everyone, and I made it clear that proper measures would be taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

“What are the measures?”

“Ellin has been expelled.”

“I see.” There was a pause. “Thank you.”

“And she won’t be allowed within the ranks of the Knights.”

“Interesting.” 

“And if she ever goes near you again, wherever in Teyvat you are, she is to be killed.”

Lisa choked. 

“ What? ”

“I’m kidding,” Jean replied flatly.

“You’re kidding, huh… Are you saying you didn’t want to kill her when you found out?”

“No comment.”

“When Eula described what she did, and when you saw the bruise that turned an ugly purple on my neck… didn’t that just make you want to see how far into her face your fist would go?”

A longer pause.

“Ellin is lucky Eula waited to tell me,” Jean answered quietly. 

“And I’m lucky to have you,” Lisa replied, her face set aflame. There was another pause. A long one. Jean really needed to stop giving Lisa reasons to regret her words.

“Lisa, have you heard of the charity event my family hosts every year?”

“I vaguely remember Kaeya telling me about it, yes. He mostly only mentioned it to tell me that no one’s been invited by you.”

“Hm. Well, I’m inviting you. If you would like to attend. It’s next Saturday.”

Did Lisa imagine the tremble in her voice? 

“You’re… inviting me to the event that no one’s ever been invited to? Inside the house that no one’s seen?”

“Yes.”

“This might actually push the students over the edge, you know. I could be murdered for this.”

“You don’t have to worry about other students bothering you, as long as you’re okay with a few stares. I made sure to make an example out of Ellin.”

“Jean, you’re getting me all flustered.” 

“A-anyway, let me know if you’d like to come. You don’t have to decide now, but I need to know by Thursday.”

“I’m coming.” 

“Excellent.” There was a sigh of relief on Jean’s end that made Lisa smile. “There will be a car at your house on the day of the event to pick you up.”

“I assume it’s going to be as formal as an event could possibly be.”

“Yes.”

“What are the chances you and I can go dress shopping together?”

“My outfit has already been picked out… and I’m afraid fashion is more Kaeya’s area of expertise. Please ask him to help you if you need it.”

“You’re right, I want to surprise you.” Jean chuckled on her end, and Lisa wished her cat would dismount from her body so she could breathe properly and laugh along. 

“Well,” Jean said, “I’d better get going. See you on Monday.”

Jean had taken a leap in inviting her. It was Lisa’s turn.

“I miss you.”

Lisa had enough practice to get used to Jean’s long pauses, but it was never enough.

After generations rose and fell, Jean finally answered.

“Likewise.”

Click. 

Lisa wanted to squeeze her cat and scream, but she opted instead to cover her face with her arm and blame the warmth in her stomach on the animal crushing her lungs. 

The weekend came around, and Lisa agreed to accompany her mother on a shopping trip. It wasn’t her favorite activity, but her mother made it worth it by buying Lisa her favorite tea and cake at the end of the day. 

Lisa and her mother were browsing a small clothing store when she heard noises behind her, a cross between a giggle and a gasp. Lisa turned and saw two students from her class whose names she didn’t know. They stared as Lisa’s mother slid the garments down the rack one by one, their eyes locked on her. One girl leaned in to whisper to the other, and they giggled again, their eyes watching Lisa’s every move. Lisa didn’t usually grow uncomfortable in situations like these, but she was with her mother who had a tendency of digging into Lisa’s life when something out of the ordinary happened. 

“Mom, can we go? I’m getting a headache in here.”

“I’m almost done, honey.”

“I’ll wait outside then.”

“Alright, I’ll be quick.”

Lisa left the store, hopefully leaving those girls behind, and found a nearby bench in the shade. She pulled out her phone and opened her messages with Kaeya, but a large shadow spread over her, two pairs of old sneakers coming into view. 

The two girls had followed her out, and were now towering over her, wicked smiles on their faces. Lisa couldn’t bring herself to feel nervous, rolling her eyes instead and looking back down at her phone.

“It’s Lisa, right?” one girl asked. Reluctantly, she looked up again and put on a fabricated smile, one they surely saw right through.

“It sure is! Can I help you?”

“Well,” the other girl said. “We just had a question.”

“Oh really?”

“We were just wondering… I mean, you’re new here, right? Like, brand new. So how did you manage to surpass all of us and land yourself right in Jean’s pocket, eating lunch with the sons and daughters of the clan leaders, having the brothers driving you home every single day?” 

Lisa had known exactly what they were going to say when she saw them, but heaved a sigh anyway. 

“There is no magic to it. Kaeya showed me around the school, and I guess he liked me, so he invited me to join his friends during lunch. From there, I got a little closer to Jean and we started studying together. There’s nothing else to it. Just a coincidence.”

“What exactly are you after? What favor will you ask Jean for once she becomes Grand Master?”

Lisa scoffed. “Favor?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty obvious that you targeted her and got her to trust you for a reason.”

Lisa’s anger began boiling over, her patience running thin. It deeply hurt her the first time she heard why students treated Jean differently, but now it just enraged her. 

“Sorry to break your hearts, but I’m not after anything. Jean is a wonderful person, and being her friend is reward enough for me.”

The girls’ faces fell, clearly displeased with Lisa’s answer. “You expect us to believe that you just want to be Jean’s friend. And those brothers just drive you everywhere like your personal butlers because they’re friends with you.”

Lisa smirked. “Let me ask you something. Do you give each other rides?”

The girls glanced at each other. “Sure,” the taller one answered. “I drive her to school because she doesn’t have a car.”

“And do you,” Lisa asked, looking at the shorter one. “Refer to your friend here as your ‘butler’ whenever she picks you up?”

“No, of course not.”

“Hm, a bit rude, isn’t it?” Lisa prompted.

“Yes, it definitely is.”

“Right. So how does it differ when it’s my friend Kaeya giving me a ride? Is he suddenly my butler?”

“No, but he’s-”

“He’s doing me a favor out of the kindness of his heart, because he can. I don’t know why this is so hard for you to fathom.”

“Kaeya is notoriously selfish and rude to everyone that isn’t in his little circle,” the shorter girl cut in.

“To everyone? Or to the people that provoke or try to manipulate his friends? Careful with your answer, now.”

“Lisa, honey? Where are you?” came her mother’s voice from around the corner. Lisa rose from the bench in one swift move, forcing the girls to step back.

“The sooner you realize that Jean and her friends aren’t gods amongst humans and you shouldn’t be fighting for their divine blessings, the sooner you’ll actually have a chance at them respecting or even befriending you.” Lisa gave them another tight smile. “Lovely chatting with you two. I hope it doesn’t happen again.”

She shot them a wink before walking towards her mother, and she luckily did not run into any more students before she finally arrived home and threw herself onto her bed and called Kaeya. He agreed to go dress shopping with Lisa later that week, claiming that he knew all along that Lisa would be the one to actually be invited into Jean’s house. 

By the time Monday rolled around, Lisa had to restrain herself from leaping out of Kaeya’s car and sprinting to the library. 

There Jean was, as always, studying notes for whatever class it was. When Lisa approached the table, Jean lowered her papers and smiled. Lisa bit her lip to stop herself from blurting out a love confession.

“Good morning,” Jean said. 

“Hi.” Lisa sat, dribbling her fingers on her knees under the table as Jean began reviewing for their upcoming Calculus exam out loud.

Halfway through their study session, the unthinkable happened. Jean wanted Lisa to fail her exam, it would appear. 

Jean reached under the table and held Lisa’s fingers with her own, a secret touch known only to the two of them.

Lisa stopped her eyes from bulging out of her skull, instead shooting Jean a knowing smile, which she easily returned. 

The day went by quickly, and as Jean promised, Ellin was nowhere to be seen. They spoke on the phone after Lisa had dinner, as always, only now Jean seemed much more eager to ask Lisa questions about her future.

“So, when you have your own bookstore, what will your selling point be? How will you surpass your competitors?”

“Um, I haven’t really thought that far,” Lisa replied. “Have any ideas?”

“I’ve heard of a cafe filled with cats. Since you like them, why not fill your bookstore with cats?”

“Anyone who is allergic to them would go to my competition, don’t you think?”

“That’s a small population of people, and the revenue from those that love cats would cover that loss.” 

“My goodness, Jean. You sound like my lawyer or something.”

“Sorry. The idea just excites me.”

“The idea of me having a bookstore?”

“Of you achieving your dreams, yes.”

Lisa’s mouth fell open. Jean was out of her mind, saying something like that.

“Now listen here, little miss. Let’s talk about your dreams.”

“Let’s not.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to sound weird, but I don’t really have any.”

“That can’t be true. There’s got to be something you’ve always wanted to do.”

“Nothing comes to mind.”

“What are you passionate about?”

“I’m passionate about… you getting a bookstore. Ensuring Eula gets some sort of scouting job so she can be away from Mondstadt and her family, something she's wanted for as long as I've known her. Also helping Eula talk to Amber, although I don’t think I’m the best one for the job. Making Amber the head of the Outriders and living her grandfather’s legacy, like she’s always wanted. Helping Kaeya do… whatever he wants. His answer changes every time I ask.”

“So your passions lie in helping others achieve their dreams. What happens when they’re all where they want to be?”

“I don’t know. I’ll find more people to help. That’s the good part about being Grand Master, I suppose”

“It’s wonderful that you’re so eager and willing to devote yourself to others, but you’re placing yourself second to everyone and everything else. My homework for you tonight is for you to think about what you want.” 

“This might be the first time I don’t do my homework.”

“You can do it, Jean.” 

“I better start studying, then.” She chuckled lightly. “You know, Lisa, if you’re serious about opening a book shop, I know this man who’s a retired real estate agent and lives life venturing between nations as a traveling merchant. He’s a really charismatic guy, and he always wears sunglasses indoors. He’s from Sumeru, actually. Maybe I can-“

“Jean, please. Do not place me with everyone else. I have no intention to leech off of what your family's status can offer me.”

Lisa heard Jean breathing softly on the other end.

“You really aren’t like anyone I’ve met. I don’t know what else you could possibly see in me.”

“Well, I would be more than happy to list all the ways you amaze me and make me want to spend more time with you, but I’d rather do that in person. I’m sure you understand.”

“I find there are things that can only be said in person to you too. But when time comes to say them, I get choked up and can’t speak the words, so I end up just staring at you like a maniac,” Jean laughed.

“Is that what that is? I thought you just couldn’t get enough of me,” Lisa teased, as if her heart wasn’t about to leap out of her body. 

“Well, that too. Goodnight, Lisa.”

Lisa closed her eyes, savoring the moment for as long as she could. 

“Goodnight.”

“I…”

Lisa pressed the phone to her ear. “Yes?”

“I mi- I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”

“I miss you too, Jean.”

Click.

Lisa rolled over and screamed into her pillow. 

Tuesday went by the same way as always, with Jean sadly informing Lisa that she did not do the homework Lisa assigned. Lisa shook her head but allowed Jean to move on with the conversation. At the very least, the seed was planted, Lisa thought. 

During lunch, Kaeya and Jean had switched seats so she and Lisa could sit next to each other to study for their Calculus exam. That was the original plan, at least. The two ended up drifting away from their original conversation, favoring the topic of the upcoming event instead. Jean listened as Lisa described different outfit ideas, stressing Lisa to her wit’s end by saying that anything she suggested was good. 

“Jean, you can’t just say yes to everything.”

“Quite frankly, you could show up in nothing at all, and-” Jean dropped her pencil. Lisa’s eyes grew wide, her jaw dropping. “That’s not what I meant. I just mean-”

“Oh yeah? What did you mean? Because I think I heard you pretty clearly.”

“No,” Jean’s face grew redder by the second. “I was only suggesting that you would look presentable in anything you choose.”

“That is not what you said,” Lisa teased, leaning into Jean’s arm. 

“Lisa…” Jean gritted out, her eyes cast down in shame. 

“As much as I’d like to show up to your party naked, I wouldn’t want to scandalize your guests. I’ll just wait until Kaeya sees the dresses in person tomorrow and helps me pick.”

“Sounds like a plan. Now, we should really get back to-”

“What will you be wearing?”

Jean pressed her lips together. “Eula, Diluc and I have these… outfits we have to wear…”

Lisa gasped. “Your… noble outfit?”

Jean narrowed her eyes. “How did you know?” she asked, turning to Kaeya.

“It doesn’t matter. I will pass away at your party the moment I see you, so keep that in mind.”

“Okay then.”

“You’ll catch me when I faint, won’t you?” 

Jean stared at Lisa for a moment before tilting her head down and running her hands over her pants, brushing off invisible crumbs. She was hiding the ghost of a smile on her lips. Lisa saw it anyway.

“Of course.” 

Maybe it was all the mornings and lunches spent together, but Lisa had slowly learned to read Jean. Where her face hid her emotions well, her body betrayed her in subconscious communication. It was in the twitch of her lips or fingers, the furtive glances to the side, the tugging at the hem of her shirt, pretending to smooth any creases. Sometimes, Jean would wrap the fingers of her left hand around her right wrist and gently rub; a soothing gesture that Lisa only saw when Jean was stressed or panicked, which was rare. Most of all, Lisa saw her effect in Jean’s cheeks when they grew red, or her neck when her pulse quickened. That was Lisa’s favorite reaction.

That night, Jean texted a quick but formal apology- she would not be able to call. Her house was too chaotic in preparation for the event and Jean could not find a spare moment of time. That’s okay, hope you find time to rest, Lisa had replied. She continued texting Kaeya links to dresses she liked, rolling her eyes whenever he responded with a thumbs down. 

Before she knew it, dress shopping day was upon her, and Kaeya was parked outside her house. His out-of-uniform outfit shouldn’t have surprised Lisa as much as it did. Once again, he favored an exposed chest with a not-so-humbly unbuttoned shirt, wearing his long hair in a single braid down his back. His pants were tighter than any of the ones Lisa owned, and his designer boots probably cost more than her house.

“Can I meet your parents?” he asked when she slid into the car beside him.

“No. They’ll freak out.”

“Because you have a friend?” he teased.

“Because you were adopted by the wine man.”

“Oh, I see. I imagine they don’t know where you’re going on Saturday, then?”

“I haven’t told them.”

“I can’t wait to hear how they react,” he said with a sympathetic tap to her shoulder.

They arrived at the formal attire shop in the center of town, and Lisa quickly dressed and undressed gowns of every color and style. Kaeya informed her that she looked amazing in long sleeve dresses, but she needed to show more skin with beauty like hers, which earned him a look of disgust. More than twenty dresses were worn before Kaeya clapped his hands together and announced that she had found “the one” the instant she pulled the curtain back.

“You’ll thank me later,” he said, watching Lisa twirl over and over in the mirror, her gold dress shimmering under the single lightbulb above her. 

“Isn’t gold too much?” Lisa asked. It was styled in a way that had her left arm in a fitted long sleeve, but her right arm was bare. Much to Kaeya’s approval, there was a long dip in the back, exhibiting the crease in her back lining her spine. 

“No, you’ll see why when you get there. Everyone tries to outdo each other.” 

“Well, I can’t say I’m not in love with it, because I am.”

“You look like a celebrity. A fitting date for the Gunnhildr heiress.” Lisa closed the curtain to hide the red that spread across her face.

Lisa purchased the dress shortly after, and Kaeya treated her to matching jewelry sets with a few swipes of his father’s credit card. He literally won’t notice, Kaeya assured her when she tried to smack the card out of his hand.

Finally, long after the sun had set behind the treeline and Lisa was exhausted from walking all around town, she crashed into her bed- after carefully hanging her dress in the closet.

Bought the dress! Can’t wait for you to see.

She didn’t expect Jean to respond that night, so she got ready for bed and was setting her alarm for the next day when her phone buzzed.

You’d look amazing in anything, if seeing you in the same uniform every day is any indication.

Lisa wanted to throw her phone against the wall. 

Chapter Text

The remainder of the week slugged by at an excruciating pace. Jean was more detached than usual, answering questions with less energy and hardly asking Lisa any, but insisting on being near her nonetheless. Lisa knew it was the effects of planning such a huge event, and as excited as she was to attend, she looked forward to the moment Jean could finally catch a break after it was over.

“I want you to walk me through the next problem,” Jean stated in that authoritative voice she used at school. Over the phone, Lisa noted, Jean’s tone was gentler, like she had grown tired of speaking so formally all day. Lisa liked to think it was a tone reserved for her ears only, a gift she could receive every day after school.

Their math exam was only a few hours away. Lisa took the pen from Jean’s hand, making sure to caress her fingertips slowly across Jean’s skin as she did. Jean’s eyes widened and she turned her head away from Lisa, a sign that she was waiting for her blush to fade. 

“Well, first we have to find the derivative of this cosine,” Lisa explained, writing it out as she spoke. “Once it’s flipped, you can move on to the next part.” Jean watched unblinkingly as Lisa explained the problem, neither nodding or shaking her head. It was the same attention Jean showed anyone she respected, the kind that did not waver for even a moment. When Lisa finished, she drew a circle around her answer.

Jean finally broke out in a proud smile that made Lisa’s heart dissolve into dust.

“Couldn’t have explained it better myself.’

“Yes you could have, but that’s okay. As long as I pass.”

Jean tapped the eraser side of her pencil to another problem, focusing on a different unit. 

“And this one?”

“Finding the limits is significantly easier than whatever witchcraft that is,” Lisa said, pointing at Jean’s physics notes.

“You’re finding my limit right now by avoiding the question,” Jean replied, a playful eyebrow raised.

“Do you even have a limit? You’re like, the most patient person I’ve ever met.”

Jean’s smile faded slightly when looked at Lisa in that way again, like she was trying to hack Lisa’s brain. Her eyes remained unsettlingly unblinking and wide, and Lisa wondered if she spilled water on Jean, maybe her wires would burst out of their casing and she would fall flat onto the ground with a metallic thunk.

“We all have limits, but at this point… I think the only time I’ve reached mine was when Eula told me about Ellin.”

Jean wanted Lisa dead.

“Wow, that’s…” Lisa’s brain scrambled to find the words as her cheeks grew warmer.

“Sorry, shouldn’t have said it,” Jean muttered, angling her head down towards her notebook to hide her face.

“Yes, you should have. I’m so glad you did.” Without a second thought, Lisa reached forward and grabbed Jean’s hand, forgetting to hide it under the table. Jean glanced outward towards the library, but no one was around. With a complete avoidance of Lisa’s eyes, Jean laced her fingers with Lisa’s.

“We need to finish studying,” Jean said, quickly flipping through her notes but keeping her fingers tightly wound between Lisa’s.

The Calculus exam went by easily, with Jean having prepared Lisa for every type of question. They spent all of Literature class in pairs to work on the project, and Jean kept her focus on drafting their first few paragraphs while Lisa shot teasing glances at Kaeya, who was suffering at Donna’s side. 

“What do you think? Start with an introduction of the author himself? Or summarize the book first, then introduce the author?”

Lisa brought her attention to Jean, who was crossing out and rewriting sentences in her notebook. There was something so captivating about the way her hand flexed and moved under the harsh light of the classroom, and Lisa greedily took in the sight of Jean’s fingers as they folded the page at the top of the pile in half to review the page below. It was only when Jean looked up at Lisa did she blink out of her fixated trance.

“Um, I think it’s best to introduce the author first, so the audience knows who’s writing the book we’re analyzing, you know?”

Jean looked at the back of her hand, trying to decipher what Lisa was looking at, but quickly gave up and scribbled more sentences into her notebook with a small nod. The clock ticked by far too quickly, and the bell rang announcing the end of their school day. Jean had a considerable amount of their outline done with the help of Lisa’s frenzied analysis from all those weeks ago. 

“Well, I think we’re pacing ourselves well for this project. We should have it done by next Friday at this rate,” Jean was saying as Lisa packed her belongings. 

“Of course we’ll have it done by then. You have the author’s biggest fan as your partner,” Lisa teased, knowing Jean had been doing most of the work. They silently walked out of the classroom and towards the front entrance of the school where students all around them shuffled towards their rides. 

“Hey, Lisa…” Jean practically whispered beside her as they came to a stop by the door, and Lisa watched the way her eyebrows fell, like she was about to announce that she had a terminal illness and these were her last breaths.

“Yes?” Lisa tried not to let panic settle in, but wanted to create a mental net to catch herself in the worst case scenario. Jean swallowed dryly, and Lisa clenched her jaw in anticipation. 

You’re uninvited from the party tomorrow. 

I’m moving away.

I’m in love with someone else.

I think it’s time for us to stop speaking to each other.

“I…” 

Lisa’s heart thudded in her ears. What if it was something she hadn’t thought of?

“Just say it, Jean,” Lisa begged. 

“I was wondering if… you wanted to get coffee after school.” Lisa blinked. “Like right now.” Lisa blinked again. Jean pressed her lips together, unsure of what else to add. “...My mother is going to be home pretty late today because she’s smoothing things out for tomorrow’s event. That gives me a few hours of free time.” Jean turned her head away, her confidence visibly wavering under some unknown force of insecurity.

When Jean’s words fully settled in Lisa’s racing mind, her jaw fell open. Mondstadt would have to find another upcoming Grand Master, because Lisa was about to kill the current contender. 

“That’s it?”

Jean turned back to Lisa, her brow creasing in confusion.

“What? Was there something else you wanted to do?”

Lisa slammed her palm to her forehead with so much force that a pair of nearby students glanced her way. 

“No, coffee is perfect,” Lisa breathed out in disbelief. 

“Are you upset? You don’t have to come, I was just asking because I don’t have anything else planned, and-”

“Oh shush . I’m not upset at all. I’m actually really happy, but I hate you for asking like that.”

“Like what?”

“Nevermind. Are we going by foot? I don’t really know where any coffee shops are…”

“No. I’ll ask my driver to take us there.”  Jean began to move towards the door, but quickly noticed Lisa was not following her. “What is it? Do you not want to go?”

“Jean, are you asking me to follow you into your car and have the entire student body watch us drive away together?”

“Well, yes, if that’s okay with you. I imagine most students have grown accustomed to seeing us together anyway. If you think it will put you in some kind of danger, then by all means, we can reschedule for another day.”

Lisa stared at Jean for a moment, torn between her sense of pride and gratitude that Jean was proudly showing her off to the world, and the sudden, crushing fear that she was going to lose it all somehow. Sensing Lisa’s hesitance, Jean extended her hand. 

Lisa slid her fingers into Jean’s palm, and Jean gently tugged Lisa towards the waiting vehicle in the center of the pick-up lane. Lisa dared to let her eyes roam as Jean opened the car door for her, and she was right. Every student that stood outside the school was turned towards them. 

She couldn’t blame them. She’d gawk too if she was seeing something for the first time in her life. 

As smoothly as she could muster, she slid into the backseat of the car, and Jean slid in beside her.

“Doesn’t the driver usually hold the door open for you?” Lisa asked once the driver pulled away from the curb. There was a thick, tinted glass separating them from the enormous man driving, the kind that allowed private conversations to stay private. If it weren’t for Kaeya, this immense car would have certainly been the most expensive vehicle Lisa had ever been in.

“Yes,” Jean answered, her eyes taking in the scenery out the window.

“Why didn’t he today?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jean said with a wave of her hand. Now Lisa was interested. 

“Tell me. Please.”

Jean tore her eyes away from the window and looked at Lisa, her expression plain as ever, eyes vacant.

“I asked him not to this morning. I told him I’d rather do it for you.”

Lisa’s lips parted with a surprised breath, but she quickly bit her bottom lip to try to hide the smile that followed. Jean smiled back, her eyes softening as she took in the sight. It was impressive how quickly Jean was able to alternate between her expressions, as though she were always brimming with emotion and just waited for the right moment to let them show.

“You drive me insane, Jean.”

“As do you.”

“Me?! What do I do?!”

“For starters, you are the most intelligent person I know, but you don’t even show it off. It just flows out of you naturally, like a true intellectual. I memorize information and repeat it. You live and breathe knowledge. It’s amazing. I learn something new every time we speak. And you understand me, sometimes in ways I don't understand myself.” 

Lisa’s heart rate skyrocketed. Jean… felt these things… about her. Jean had observed her, benefitted from talking to her, enjoyed spending time with her…

“You should keep saying words,” Lisa breathed out, sliding her hand across the leather seat to touch Jean’s fingers. Jean flipped her hand so her palm was up, and welcomed Lisa’s hand on her own. 

“I hope I don’t need to spend too much time on your exterior beauty, although that’s definitely a… an asset of yours. I’m sure you already know how stunning you are.”

“Tell me anyway.”

Jean smiled even wider, her lingering eyes so full of warmth, her body relaxed, her hair slightly unkempt by the wind of the open window. Lisa could have eaten her fist whole.

“Maybe another time. I don’t know how to properly verbalize it yet.” 

“Can you try? I need something to repeat in my head when I fall asleep tonight.” 

Jean laughed, a melodic sound reminding Lisa of honey pouring into her favorite tea. 

“I’ll try, but you might not like the first thing my mind came up with.”

“I would like anything your mind comes up with ever.”

“We’ll see if that remains true after this.” Jean drew in a deep breath. “When I look at you, I feel this strong emotion that I can’t place. I feel like… a vampire at a blood drive, or a toddler at the toy section of a store.”

Lisa’s jaw dropped for the second time that day. 

“What?”

Jean shook her head. “I told you you wouldn’t like it.”

“No, I do. It’s just… very vivid. It makes me want to look inside your brain and see how you went from ‘hey this girl is pretty’ to ‘I am a vampire at a place of blood’ What an interesting thing to say.”

“Because a vampire would be delighted and overwhelmed in a good way to be around all that blood, so-”

“Actually, it’s probably best if you don’t explain, sweetheart. I know what you meant… at least I think I do.”

Jean stared at Lisa for a moment. “You are beautiful.” 

Lisa swallowed air. “So are you.”

Jean shrugged. 

The car slowed to a stop, and Lisa moved to open her door. 

“That door stays locked,” Jean said before gesturing towards the door on her side. The driver appeared at the window and opened the door for them, nodding at Lisa in greeting as she stepped out after Jean. 

“I’ll be in this exact spot whenever you’re ready, Lady Gunnhildr.”

“Thank you, Huffman.”

When they were out of earshot, Lisa leaned into Jean. 

“Lady Gunnhildr? That certainly rolls off the tongue nicely. How elegant.” Jean rolled her eyes. The guard had parked them directly in front of the coffee shop, so it was a short walk to get inside and place their orders. Jean paid for everything, which earned an eye roll from Lisa.

They chose a table in the far corner of the cafe, similar to their spot in the library. Lisa was delighted to see the table was narrow and the chairs on each side were very close together, and when they settled in, their knees were touching. The drinks and pastries arrived within minutes, and Lisa decided to ask a question that had been itching at her for a while.

“So, you mentioned a sister once but you never talk about her.” Jean nodded and sipped at her coffee; black- no milk, no cream, no sugar. “Do you two get along?”

Jean placed the mug back on the table and fiddled with the curved handle. 

“We do, when we see each other.”

“From your tone, I take it you don’t see her often.”

Jean lifted her eyes from her coffee but looked past Lisa, out the window behind her. 

“Correct.”

Lisa looked down at her own drink- a colorful iced tea. She began absentmindedly stirring the ice with her straw. Jean wanted to talk about this, or else she would have dismissed the topic the moment it started, as she had done so many times in the past. But for some odd reason, she was only answering exactly what she was asked, forcing Lisa to fish for information. 

But maybe Lisa had misunderstood, and Jean didn’t have the heart to abruptly change the topic. So, Lisa offered her a way out. 

“You know, we don’t have to talk about this. It was just something I had wondered about.”

Jean shook her head. “It’s fine. Ask anything you want.”

Well, that brought her back to step one. 

“How old is she?”

“Right now she’s ten, turning eleven next month.”

“Does she look like you?”

“Most people would say yes. I’m not sure.”

“Does she… live with you?”

Jean lowered her eyes from the window to Lisa’s face.

“No.”

“Who does she live with, then?”

“Our father.”

Lisa narrowed her eyes. 

“Your parents aren’t together?”

“No. But no one knows that. As far as the general public is concerned, the Gunnhildrs remain a united family, a powerful clan capable of leading Mondstadt. They don’t know that my father brought my sister to live with him in an apartment a few miles away from our house, or that we only see them once every other month.”

Finally, Lisa understood. Jean was reluctant to speak on the matter because it pained her to do so. Lisa had a working theory that Jean wasn’t allowed to express any kind of emotional turmoil, so feeling affliction was unfamiliar to Jean. And if Lisa deduced anything about Jean in their time together, it was that Jean pushed away anything that was unfamiliar to her; anything that was not written in the script of her life.

Jean was replying in short, choppy answers because she wasn’t allowing herself to feel the sadness associated with her sister and father, she was just answering instinctively.  

It also proved Lisa’s theory from when they had first started talking to each other. Jean had no idea what love looked like.

“I see. I presume once you become Grand Master, they can go public with their separation, since you’ll already have the seat secured.”

“Exactly.”

“That’s a lot of pressure on you.”

Jean scoffed, a mirthless noise. 

“Sure.”

“Are you close with your mother?”

Lisa had a feeling she already knew the answer.

Jean watched Lisa twirl the straw, the ice clinking against the glass. After a long minute, Jean sighed.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“What does it even mean to be close with someone?”

Lisa could not hide her surprise, and Jean looked disappointed in herself.

“If I had to try to summarize it, it means you trust them,” Lisa responded slowly, collecting herself from Jean’s question. “You tell them things you wouldn’t tell just anyone. And they do the same for you. Maybe there’s a sense of safety and protection, whether it’s physical or emotional protection. You feel at ease around them, and vice versa.”

Jean rubbed her wrist, the same way Lisa had seen her do so many times before. 

“I suppose that means I’m close with you, then.”

Lisa’s lips twitched as she suppressed a stupid, wide smile. 

“Yes. We’re very close, I think.” Jean stared at her, and that look of suppressed pain appeared- eyes narrowed and pleading, mouth turned down, brows knitted together. “What?” Lisa asked, hoping for a chance to interpret the face Jean made often.

“I trust my mother. But I don’t know if I would tell her the things I tell you.”

“Is that so? What’s something I know that your mother doesn’t?”

“Well… you asked me about my dreams. You care about what I want. My mother cares about me achieving what she wants.”

Lisa took a long sip from her tea, and Jean watched the liquid level decrease with each passing second.

“I know what you mean,” Lisa finally said. “My parents support my dreams, and they would help me achieve them in any way they could. Sometimes they try to take an interest in my hobbies, but it’s such a fake, transparent interest that I stopped talking about anything I did for fun with them, and they ultimately seemed relieved. I’m not so sure they see me as an actual person with my own thoughts and feelings, but rather someone who just… lives with them. Someone they feed and say ‘I love you’ to each night and to offer hugs when I’m visibly upset. They just need me to be in a constant state of ‘fine’, because it’s unpleasant for them when I’m feeling anything negative. They don’t know how to deal with it, so they just don’t. Unlimited verbal bandaids, but sometimes the wound is bigger than a small cut.”

Jean reached across the table and placed her hand on Lisa’s. 

“This is difficult for you to talk about,” Jean stated. A simple observation, but one that made Lisa want to burst into tears.

“A little. But it’s easier to talk to you than anyone else.” She inched forward, and their touching knees became intertwined legs under the table. 

“How does it make you feel? To have parents that care, but not in the way you need?”

Lisa took another long sip of her drink. She figured this was her chance to show Jean how she responds to emotions, in hopes that Jean might follow suit one day. 

“You ask difficult questions sometimes, Jean.” 

“I’m sorry.” Jean retracted her hand and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You don’t have to answer.”

“I like it when you ask them.” 

Jean smiled, and Lisa returned her attention to her drink. For the first time, instead of saying she was fine with a tight smile, Lisa spoke in full honesty. 

“It makes me feel like… my emotions are too big to handle, and I need to get rid of them so I don’t bother anyone.”

Jean frowned and lifted her mug to take a sip, but lowered her hand before the cup reached her lips. 

“They’re not. Too big, I mean. Your emotions. You shouldn’t diminish them for others.”

Lisa held back a laugh at Jean’s attempt to piece together a reassuring sentence off the top of her head. Before she could reply, Jean continued. “Thank you for trusting me. I’m glad we’re close.” It was so endearingly cute to watch Jean navigate her thoughts. 

“You remind me of a baby giraffe taking its first steps,” Lisa said, a smile tugging at her lips. 

“What?”

“You know how they’re all wobbly, desperately trying to figure out what legs are.”

“Why?”

“I can say weird things too, see? It’s because I can tell you’re trying to comfort me in a way that isn’t like my parents to show you actually care, but you’re not sure how to do it.”

Jean let out a long sigh of relief and leaned back in her seat, but the motion pressed her knee against the inside of Lisa’s thigh. Neither of them moved to readjust.

“Not many people could get away with calling me a baby giraffe. Consider yourself lucky.” Lisa raised a challenging eyebrow, but Jean remained stoic. “You got me,” Jean said. “Will you teach me how to show my concern for you?”

“Of course, but you’ll have to sign up for the 10-year course, and you can’t miss a single lesson.”

Jean laughed, and Lisa soon joined in. They were so absorbed with each other that Lisa didn’t see Ellin walk in through the front door, a few paces behind Jean. It wasn’t until Lisa saw someone staring at her in her peripheral vision that she turned, and immediately saw Ellin. She would have locked eyes with her, but Ellin was too busy staring at Jean, and at their conjoined hands and interlaced legs. 

Jean followed Lisa’s line of sight and her face grew dark upon seeing the former student. 

Her eyes did not leave the other girl. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know she was a customer here.”

“It’s okay, let her get coffee.” 

Jean’s glare didn’t budge, and Lisa should have drawn reassurance from the fact that it was a stare of anger, but it brought little comfort. Having Jean’s eyes off of Lisa was like that cold rush of air against her skin when her warm cat moved away from her, leaving behind that frigid ghost of what was once a loving touch. 

“Jean.”

Lisa glanced towards Ellin, who was steadily meeting Jean’s gaze with a smirk. 

“Jean.”

Lisa straightened herself, which moved her legs away from Jean’s completely. Finally, at the loss of touch, Jean turned back to Lisa.

“I don’t want her in the same room as you.”

“It’s fine. She’s not going to do anything. You already scared her away.”

“But-”

“Jean,” Lisa said in what she hoped was a soothing tone. “It’s okay. I’m flattered that you want to protect me from all my past and present problems, but I can handle it. She’s just a random customer getting her coffee for the day and we’re just two random people on a date in the same cafe.”

Jean blinked. “A date?”

Lisa felt her cheeks burn. “Y-yeah, you know, friends go on dates too. It just means an outing, not like a date date.” 

Jean nodded. “I see.”

Lisa looked down into her nearly empty glass of tea, secretly hoping she’d find a dead animal in her cup so they’d finally have a distraction. No such luck. 

“So when does-”

“We should probably-”

The two stared at each other, both urging the other to go first. 

“What were you going to say?” Jean asked. 

“I was just going to ask what time it starts tomorrow.”

“Oh, at seven-thirty, but you can come whenever you’d like.”

“Sounds good. What were you saying?” 

“I just said that we should probably be heading out. My driver is doing me a huge favor stopping here, because he’s paid to drive me directly to school and back home.”

If Lisa could chew through the sudden tension between them, it would probably be thicker than the table she was resting her elbow on. 

“My parents will also wonder where I am,” Lisa lied. Her parents hadn’t called or texted once. 

“Okay.” 

The two rose from their table and left the cafe, and Lisa delighted in the fact that Jean did not look over her shoulder at Ellin. Lisa did, though, just before the door closed, and shot Ellin a wink as she laced her fingers with Jean’s. 

The drive to Lisa’s house was mainly silent, save for a few comments about the city and its unique foliage. The driver eventually slowed to a stop in front of Lisa’s house. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jean said, sliding out of the car to give Lisa a way out.

“See you.” 

Once Lisa was out of the car, Jean began to move towards her seat again, but Lisa held onto her elbow. Jean turned. Lisa leaned in and pressed her lips to Jean’s cheek, holding for a second longer than she needed to. With a final smile towards Jean’s red face, Lisa climbed the steps to her house and disappeared behind the door. 

Chapter Text

“Lisa, honey, who was that in the car?”

“Hm?”

“That blonde girl. She looked familiar… and the car she drives in must be the price of this house!”

Lisa sighed, bending down to kiss her cat between the ears. Her mother waited patiently for answers, leaning against the kitchen counter with her arms folded.

“Just a friend,” she replied flatly, scooping her cat into her arms and ascending the stairs to her bedroom. She wasn’t thrilled by the thought of her mother watching her through the window, especially since it meant she saw Lisa kiss Jean’s cheek before running off. Maybe if she acted disinterested enough, she could pass off the kiss as merely a friendly exchange of affection. 

When Lisa arrived upstairs, she decided to look through her phone before showering. She had a few messages from Kaeya, a missed call from her friend from Sumeru, and a calendar notification reminding her of tomorrow’s event. As if that wasn’t the biggest thing on her mind for the past week. 

Lisa showered and eventually got in bed with her laptop, but felt far too energized to sleep anytime soon. Hoping to tire her brain out and fall asleep quickly, she put on a boring documentary on how military tactics have changed since prehistoric times; the most uninteresting subject she could think of.

She was only ten minutes in and found herself deeply invested in what the narrator was saying, despite his lulling tone and uninteresting interviews with historians. When the two-hour long documentary ended, Lisa shut her laptop and thankfully found her eyes stinging, even though it was more from her screen and less from her exhaustion. Regardless of what caused her eyes to close, Lisa at last drifted into sleep, dreaming of developing military strategies using different weapons. 

The next morning, Lisa woke up an hour before her alarm, but could hardly bring herself to care. It was the day of the Gunnhildr charity event, where all of Teyvat’s most high-class nobles and politicians came together under Jean’s roof and drank wine with the same price tag as her school's tuition. 

There was no questioning why everyone at the Academy would physically fight each other to get close to Jean. Putting aside the attention and popularity, every student saw Jean as a means to be invited to this event, where they could meet investors and pitch business ideas to Teyvat’s wealthiest, or try to grow close to the Gunnhildr family and secure a high-ranking position in Mondstadt’s government the easy way.

There was also no questioning why Jean was highly selective of who she was friends with, having learned the hard way that anyone who did not already share a lifestyle similar to hers could not see past the name she carried. 

Lisa had breakfast with her family that morning, her father nodding off to sleep with his coffee in hand and her mother absentmindedly pushing crumbs from her toast towards the center of the plate. It was a quiet morning, followed a few hours later by a quiet lunch. The silence broke when Lisa announced she had plans later that evening.

“What party?” her mother asked.

“A friend from school.”

“The one I saw yesterday?”

“Yes.”

“What’s her name?”

“...I can’t remember.”

“You don’t know your own friend’s name?”

Lisa clenched her jaw. “It’sjeangunnhildr”

Her mother tilted her head. “I’m sorry?”

“I said, I’m going to Jeangunnhildrspartytonight.”

“Lisa, I can’t understand you. You’re talking way too fast.”

Lisa’s eyes fluttered shut. She knew this moment would come, but she was still not prepared.

“Tonight… I am going to the house of a new and recent friend known by the name of… Jean Gunnhildr.”

One second of silence became two, then three, then ten. 

“Jean Gunnhildr,” her mother finally said slowly, as if struggling to pronounce a foreign word for the first time. 

“Yes.”

Her mother nodded, then nudged her father in the arm. He jerked up from where his hand was supporting him in his still half-asleep daze.

“Huh- what?”

“Our daughter is going to the Gunnhildr estate tonight," her mother stated, her wide stare betraying her flat tone.

“Oh, very nice. Glad you made friends.”

“Honey,” her mother said, steeling her voice with impatience to catch her husband’s attention. “Do you know what happens tonight at the Gunnhildr’s house? Remember what your coworkers were talking about yesterday?”

“Hmm… oh, it’s that big charity thing, right?”

“Yes, exactly. And our daughter is attending.”

“Our daughter is attending…” her father repeated, trying to piece together why his wife cared so much. Then, his eyes flew wide open. “Lisa, you’re going to that huge event at that rich family’s house?”

Lisa groaned, rubbing a temple with her hand.

“Yes, father.”

“Can we come with you? And how’d you land an invite so quickly? A guy at my job says they send out the invites six months in advance.”

“I don’t know, dad. It just sort of happened. And no, the invite was for me only. Sorry.” Lisa knew that Jean probably wouldn't mind if Lisa brought her parents, but they didn't need to know that.

“Well, who invited you?”

“Jean.”

“Who’s Jean?”

“Honey, ” Lisa’s mother cut in. “Jean is the daughter. The one Lisa’s age.”

Lisa bit back a scream. Her parents could and would go on like this until the moment the car arrived if she didn’t say anything soon. 

“I better start getting ready. My ride will be here in like four hours, which is barely enough time for me to do my hair and makeup.” 

“Lisa, I’m sure you already know, but be sure to talk to as many guests there as you can. Get yourself connected to people, make a good impression, talk about your… books or whatever, so they know how smart you are. And most importantly, be sure to preface each conversation by saying you’re a friend of Jean’s. That’s the best way to get their attention.” 

“Thanks, mom,” Lisa replied, immediately discarding every word she had just said.

“There’s this one man,” her father cut in, “I can’t remember his name, but he’s in charge of real estate around town. I used to see him around Sumeru, but I never actually spoke to him. If you are serious about opening a bookstore one day, he’s your best bet at getting your hands on one. You’ll spot him from a mile away because he’s always wearing his signature sunglasses and purple vest wherever he goes.” Lisa recalled Jean describing the same thing to her. A man who always wore sunglasses and came from Sumeru to sell property around Teyvat. “Find him, talk to him, and your dreams will come true. I’ve heard he works magic, finding his clients the best locations for whatever their business is.”

“Okay.”

“Let me know if you need help with your makeup or anything,” her mom said. “Do you already have a dress?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. we’ll get out of your hair, just let us know if you need anything.”

“Okay.”

“I love you, sweetie.”

“Thanks, mom.”

Lisa spent almost exactly four hours on her hair and makeup, and by the time she had finished closing the necklace Kaeya bought her around her neck, she saw a black car parking outside her house. She descended the stairs using her phone as a mirror, fixing the last minute details of her appearance. If she was fast and quiet enough, she could probably avoid her parents, and she wouldn’t have to-

“Oh, Lisa. You look absolutely beautiful. My knees are weak just looking at you! Honey, tell our daughter she looks good.”

"Looking good, sweetie," her father said with barely a glance Lisa's way, turning back to his television. 

Lisa muttered a brisk thanks over her shoulder before she hurriedly announced that her ride was waiting for her, and her mother watched from the window as she entered the car and finally drove away.

Thanks to the glass panel between her and the driver, she had no idea if it was Huffman, the one who apparently took Jean on occasional coffee breaks. Not that it mattered. Lisa’s nerves were boiling over so she was unable to bring herself to care about anything. Somehow, she felt overdressed and underdressed at the same time. Perhaps the rocking of the car would mess her hair up on the way there, or a tire would go flat and leave them stranded in the wilderness...

The drive was taking longer than Lisa expected. She figured Jean probably lived somewhere away from the bustling center of the city, but they’d been driving on a narrow road through the dense woods for at least fifteen minutes. Leafless trees whipped past Lisa’s window as they sped down the road, blending together in black webs that hid the setting sun. Lisa tried to refrain from leaning against the back of the seat to avoid wrinkling her dress, but her body was getting tired of holding her upright for so long, especially on the increasingly bumpy pavement.

Finally, after what couldn’t have been less than thirty minutes, the car slowed to a near stop and made a sharp right turn onto a wide asphalt path. Lisa watched as the trees began to clear, giving way to a huge, perfectly manicured lawn. Driving a little further, two large stone fountains came into view, one on either side of the driveway. The stones were carved into lions that faced each other, spitting water from their mouths in elegant arcs as they stood on their hind legs. Two small house-sized buildings flashed by her window, and Lisa wondered how long a single driveway could be before they reached the actual house. 

A few more minutes of driving revealed more expanse of vibrant grass, what looked to be a tennis court in the distance, and a pool the size of a classroom. Then, the car began ascending a hill, and Lisa saw it. The Gunnhildr estate, in all its glory.

Lisa’s heart skipped a beat at the sheer size of the house. It looked more like a mall than a living space, no less than four stories high. It had a modern appearance, with tall and tinted glass windows lining the house and decorative marble pillars. Everything was lit by blindingly white lights lining the house and stairs leading to the front door. The stairs were built over a thin stream of water which didn’t make sense to Lisa, but she doubted Jean had any say in the architectural design.

Then, her vision became obscured by the guard from the day before, Huffman. 

“Miss,” he said, opening the door for her. She scooted to the edge of the car, and he held out his hand to support her descent from the tall vehicle. 

“Thanks,” she replied. 

“Entrance is at the end of these stairs,” he said, pointing to the glass double doors far above them.

“Thanks,” she repeated, feeling nauseous from the nerves. 

He returned to the car and drove away, and Lisa was alone with the noises from the fountains, the man-made creek under the stairs, and distant music from within the house. 

As she walked up the steps, she thought about how strange it was to walk on the same stairs that Jean walked daily, and Lisa realized how difficult it was to convince herself that this was a real house.

Despite its magnificence and grandeur, Lisa could not imagine calling a place like this her home. 

She pushed open the heavy glass door once she had reached the top of the stairs, and the music grew exponentially louder. It sounded like a live orchestra, something Lisa had only seen once before, when she was a child. The main hallway was deserted, but what looked like hundreds of picture frames lined the gray walls. Lisa approached the nearest wall and smiled at the sight of tiny Jean squinting against the sun, the reins of a horse in her other hand. She wore an equestrian outfit, and the horse had turned its head 90 degrees towards the camera, making quite an amusing photograph. Another picture showed a slightly younger Jean, maybe eight years old, holding a silvery fish on a hook, one tooth missing from her wide smile.

Lisa's heart clenched at the sight of the innocent girl smiling unabashedly, a stark contrast to the one Lisa currently knew. As her eyes scanned the pictures, Lisa wondered what had happened that removed the light from Jean's eyes as the years progressed. 

The next picture Lisa locked her eyes on depicted Jean standing in front of the house Lisa was presently in, an older woman resting a hand on Jean’s shoulder and a man standing to her left, a small girl in his arms. The woman was tall, taller than Jean was currently, and her face was so angular and sharp, like she had been harshly sculpted out of anger. The man had softer features, smiling proudly as he embraced the little girl he held, but her face was buried in his shoulder, so all Lisa could see was two small blonde pigtails jutting out of a tiny head. Jean looked to be only two or three years younger than she was now, her face deadpan under the woman's grip.

“Hello,” a male voice said from behind her. Lisa turned to see Diluc, Kaeya’s silent brother. “Kaeya asked me to escort you to the ballroom where the party is being held.”

“Do you always follow his orders?” Lisa asked, taking in his elegant black and red attire, with something that resembled a protective breastplate in place of a shirt, complete with a crimson cape that bore the symbol of an eagle. It wasn’t the thick, clunky kind of armor made for war, but rather one that stuck to his figure and moved along with him, just thick enough to protect him from the stab of a sword. It was the same crimson color as the rest of his outfit, clearly tailored specifically for him. This must be his noble outfit, Lisa realized, and it made her all the more excited to see Jean’s.

Diluc shrugged, armored shoulders rising and falling as he began walking down the hallway. “He’s nicer when no one’s watching.”

Lisa smiled at the thought. They walked the rest of the way in silence, with Diluc leading her down a spiral staircase, and Lisa rapidly trying to take in everything she could. Giant, original paintings lined each wall, along with incredibly expensive-looking artifacts and relics encased in polished glass.

There still wasn’t much of a sign that a family lived here, other than the photographs at the front of the house. Everything was so perfectly placed, not a speck of dust or a wrinkle in the ornate carpets to indicate that this was a house teeming with life. 

Finally, Diluc came to a stop in front of two massive wooden doors, the music blaring within. 

“I’ll let you go in first,” he said. “Wouldn’t want people to think you’re here for me.” Lisa nodded in thanks as he pushed the door open for her, and she took slow, tentative steps down the three stairs that led into the massive room. Above her, the ceiling arched gracefully and the white marble floors bore the Gunnhildr symbol in the center. Across the room, a giant aquarium lined one of the walls, fish of varying sizes swimming slowly by. A few people were gathered before it, wine glasses in hand, watching the fish as they spoke in hushed voices. 

There were hundreds of people in the room with her, each dressed better than the one before. Men threw their heads back in harmonizing laughter and women covered their mouths with gloved hands as they chewed, their hats pulled low over their eyes. Everywhere Lisa looked, people were decorated with gold jewelry or pearls or diamonds. Each person was absorbed in their own conversations, but even through the crowd, Lisa could spot a few people glancing her way, taking in her presence.  

Lisa laced her fingers behind her back as she continued forward, eyes scanning for a familiar face. She noticed a group of people that seemed to be her age by the aquarium, and slowly made her way towards them, hoping Jean, or at least Kaeya would be somewhere among them. As she drew closer, she saw a tall man with blue hair and a shorter girl that vaguely resembled him by his side, her platinum white hair tied high into an elegant ponytail. Their clothes signaled that they were from Inazuma, and Lisa watched as they continued their conversation with the others in the group. Lisa approached them and saw that they were speaking to a woman with long blonde hair and a stunning blue dress that was clearly made specifically for her. She was accompanied by a woman in red who wore an eyepatch like Kaeya’s. The two women wore matching hairpins, Lisa noted. A few steps to the right of the woman stood Kaeya, who instantly spotted Lisa. He muttered something to the group with a small bow and approached Lisa, his arms outstretched.

“You made it!” he said, drawing her in for a hug, which she returned. “You look fabulous.” He wore a cape that matched the style of Diluc’s, only his was navy blue and decorated with a diamond symbol in the center. As always, his shirt was unbuttoned more than it needed to be, revealing his chiseled chest to the world.

“Thanks, my friend chose the dress.” She gave him a playful smile.

“Your friend has spectacular taste.”

“I must admit, you know how to dress,” Lisa said, admiring his silk blue shirt and matching pants, tailored perfectly to his height.

“Why, thank you.”

“Diluc was wearing some kind of… armor. Why did he look like he was dressed for a battle of sword fights?”

Kaeya waved his hand as though he was already bored of the subject. 

“Something about traditional clothing, honoring our roots, whatever. It’s purely symbolic, but would probably be useful if anyone tried to stab them with a knife at a public event.”

“So, does this mean Jean is wearing similar armor?”

“All I'll say is, if you were doubting wearing gold, you’ll thank me in about two seconds.”

“What happens in two seconds?”

“Lisa?” came a familiar voice from behind her. 

Lisa turned. There Jean stood, and Lisa grabbed onto Kaeya’s arm for support as the oxygen left her body. 

It was Jean, the Jean who wore the same school uniform as Lisa and had poured so many hours teaching her Calculus and shooting her shy compliments or secret touches under tables. Only now, Jean wore a white and gold outfit, the same flexible armor-like breastplate fitted to her trim figure that Diluc wore, with gold embroidering the edges of her blazer and pants. Her collar rose to just below her jaw, and something animalistic possessed Lisa when the sudden thought crossed her mind: I want to peel that collar back… but I probably wouldn’t stop at that. 

Lisa’s eyes fell to the cape she wore, gold with stripes of white and the Gunnhildr crest in the center- two swords crossing behind a lion.

“Jean,” Lisa breathed. “You look…”

“Kaeya mentioned your excitement when he brought up my clan outfit.” Lisa heard what Jean said in theory, but didn’t actually take any of it in. She could feel her brain swirling the longer she stared at Jean, and it was only when Kaeya chuckled behind her that she had the good sense of blinking, rejoining her mind with her body. 

“Well, I have more people to talk to,” Kaeya announced. “Have fun, girls.”

Lisa took a step closer to Jean, and nearly shuddered under Jean’s gaze as she took in every inch of Lisa’s dress.

“I don't want to say anything nonsensical like last time, so I'll just say you look wonderful,” Jean said with a smile before extending a hand for Lisa to take. “I have to introduce you to my other friends, the ones I don’t see often.”

“I can’t wait.” Lisa walked alongside Jean towards the aquarium, and Lisa stole repeated glances at the way Jean’s cape billowed behind her, her white boots echoing against the polished floor. 

“Kamisatos, this is my friend Lisa, from school. She knows a lot about literature, so I’m sure future meetings won't go stale if she joins me.” Lisa blinked. Future meetings? She pressed her lips into a thin line, knowing that if she replayed the phrase in her mind, she would never erase the blush from her face.

“A pleasure to meet you,” the girl said, tipping her head in a polite greeting. “This is my brother, Ayato. He typically doesn’t attend these gatherings, but he needed to speak to some of Mondstadt’s leaders directly about possible trade routes.” 

“Interesting. What will you be trading?” Lisa asked, turning to the taller sibling.

“If all goes as planned, we’ll start with fruit. We’ll ship our specialty, lavender melons, in exchange for some of Mondstadt’s local herbs and Sunsettias. They’re in high demand right now.”

“Well, I look forward to trying those melons.”

He only nodded, and his sister tipped her head again. Jean led her to the lady in the blue dress, and her eyepatch wearing friend. 

“Ningguang, Beidou. I’d like you to meet my friend, Lisa. She studied at the Sumeru Academy before coming here.”

“Great, more brains,” the brunette- Beidou- said with a surprisingly heavy pat on Lisa’s shoulder, nearly throwing her off balance.

“I’ve never been to Sumeru,” Ningguang said, her voice soft and graceful. “But I hear it's splendid in the winter. Perhaps I’ll visit this year.” She gave Lisa a polite smile. Lisa wasn’t sure exactly what it was- perhaps it was her dress, or her perfectly manicured nails, or her elegant, flowing hair- but everything about this woman screamed rich. 

“You should try a tour around the rainforest,” Lisa replied. “You’ll see all kinds of wildlife and foliage that you won’t find anywhere else in Teyvat.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Beidou said, and Ningguang nodded, turning her attention back to the siblings. 

Jean’s hand appeared at Lisa’s lower back as she began to lead her away, and Lisa could only hope Jean didn’t feel the heat radiating in waves off of Lisa’s skin, like asphalt in the middle of summer. 

Once they stopped at a secluded corner towards the edge of the aquarium wall, Jean leaned against the wall, looking directly into Lisa’s eyes in that same unwavering way that Lisa couldn't decipher, although she had a theory that it was simply pure admiration.

“You’re so good with people,” Jean said. “I try to be, but the only way I manage is by pretending I know what I’m doing and hoping they don’t notice. It comes to you naturally. They all liked you right away, and Ningguang hardly likes anyone.” 

“You must be really good at pretending, then. I’m sure none of them thought you were nervous. I sure didn’t.”

“I’m always nervous at events like these. My mother tells me I have to put on the performance of my lifetime.”

“You’re succeeding,” Lisa replied. Jean grimaced, looking out towards the aquarium, eyes following a slow fish. “Is she here?”

“Who?”

“Your mother.”

Jean's eyes scanned the room. “Over there,” she nodded somewhere behind Lisa, who spotted her instantly. The tall woman from the pictures stood at the center of the room. She wore a uniform that matched Jean’s with the white and gold theme, but her outfit was more fitting for her age. Where Jean, Diluc, and probably Eula- wherever she was- wore hard plates of armor tailored to their bodies that displayed their fit physiques, Jean’s mother wore a rather loose but elegant white blouse decorated with golden swirls along the edges. Where the clan’s children wore capes, Jean’s mother wore a long a white cloak decorated with white fur around her neck. 

Most shocking of all, however, was the man that stood beside her. Jean's mother had her arm wrapped around his elbow and was holding him close, but he could not look more uncomfortable. He had blonde hair that barely passed his shoulders- a lighter shade of hair than Jean and her mother- and wore a white suit and a gold tie. It seemed he put the least amount of effort in his attire than anyone else in the room.

Lisa brought her attention back to Jean’s mother. She looked even more threatening in person, her piercing eyes visible even from a distance. She did not nod along or smile as Jean did when someone spoke to her, but rather stood menacingly and stared, as though threatening the person not to waste her time with their story. Her posture was straight as a pole, exactly like Jean’s, which could only come from years of training. 

“That’s your mom?” Lisa asked, knowing the answer from the pictures, the obvious matching hair, eye color, angle of her nose and shape of her mouth. 

“Yes.”

“She seems scary.”

“She can be.”

“Does she know I’m here?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t I introduce you to her?”

“I… feel nervous?”

Jean chuckled, easing Lisa’s racing heart. 

“Don’t be. She’s always on her best behavior at these events. She knows people are always watching her. All eyes on the host, you know?”

Lisa nodded. “Maybe we can let her come to us. If she asks me questions about Sumeru or literature, I’m afraid my mind will go blank and she’ll think you brought an idiot to her presence.”

Jean shook her head. “She’s talking to real idiots today. You’ll be a break from the stupidity for her.” 

“I hope so. Is that your dad?” Lisa asked, looking back at the man beside Jean’s mother, still trapped by the firm arm around him.

“Yes. Can’t you see how happy they look?” Lisa had to laugh at Jean’s rare show of sarcasm, and couldn’t help but beam in pride knowing it must have been her own influence. 

“They certainly look like they are experiencing an emotion.” 

Jean laughed, covering her mouth with her white glove. 

“She won’t talk to us for long. Too many people to entertain. Come on, let's just say hello.” 

She led Lisa towards the woman, her eyes squinted in judgment at the man she was speaking to. When she noticed Jean, she gave the man a brief nod and approached Jean, leaving Jean’s father alone with the guests. 

“Mother, this is my friend Lisa. From school.” 

The woman turned, her eyes flicking down Lisa’s body in a judgmental stare, then another brief nod. Her dizzying scent of strong perfume paired with a hint of wine was in sharp contrast to Jean's subtle smell of flowers.

“Lovely dress you have on,” she said, her voice surprisingly melodic but firm. Lisa could easily imagine her raising her voice if angered enough. 

“Thank you.” 

“It’s about time you bring a friend home, Jeanie. I was getting worried. Ever since the other girl disappeared, I never saw you bring anyone home again.”

Lisa blinked. Jean grew tense, her shoulders raising several inches with a breath that she did not release. 

“This party is lovely,” Lisa said, desperate to change the subject in hopes of Jean relaxing.

“Hm. I believe the flowers are a shade brighter than I had asked for, but it was too late to reorder them.” She sighed woefully. “It’s a shame, that florist has been working with us for years.” 

“What happened to them?” Lisa asked. Her mother frowned.

“I fired her, of course. She did not complete the task I gave her.” Lisa held back her reactions of shock. The flowers decorated around the room looked perfectly white and gold, matching everything else about the Gunnhildr family. “Jeanie,” her mother said, reaching to grab Jean’s wrist and pulling her in. Lisa hadn't thought it was possible, but Jean grew even stiffer, her hand balled into a fist in her mother's grasp. “Igor from the Civil Affairs is here. I need you to arrange a meeting with us sometime next week.” Jean shifted uncomfortably, her arm twisting in her mother’s hand.

“Yes, mother.”

“Remember what I told you. Let him approach you, not the other way around.” Her mother’s eyes flicked towards Lisa. “Perhaps you can use your friend here to your advantage. Look busy, but reel him in with small eye contact.”

“Yes, mother,” she said again, her voice strained. Lisa could not imagine the two ever having any fulfilling conversations. Jean's eyes almost seemed glazed over as she robotically received her orders. 

Her mother’s eyes darted to someone behind them, her smile widening. 

“Apologies, ladies, I have to go. Enjoy your stay, Linda!” She dropped Jean’s wrist, and Jean immediately began rubbing it the way Lisa had seen her do so many times before.

“Linda?” Lisa asked, turning to Jean. Her skin was white as her armor, and Lisa decided maybe ignoring her mother’s comment wasn’t what Jean needed. “Hey, I don’t need to know what she was talking about, with that girl she mentioned. That stays between you and whoever you decide to tell. How about we find somewhere to sit and complete your mother's mission?”

Jean nodded, but barely moved a centimeter. 

“Lady Gunnhildr?” came a voice from behind them. They turned to see a short, balding old man standing behind her, two glasses of wine in his hand.

“Sir Igor, thank you for coming tonight.” Jean snapped into character, her smile warm and eyes devoid of emotion. “Was there something you needed?” 

“A moment of your time?” he extended a glass towards Jean, who smiled.

“My apologies, I’m not permitted to drink. I’d love to speak to you over by the bar, if you’d like?”

“Alright then,” he replied, drinking both glasses on his way to the bar. Jean finally let out a breath, her shoulders sagging and fists unclenching.

“I must say,” Lisa smirked. “I will never get tired, although a little concerned, of seeing you swinging between Jean and Lady Gunnhildr with such grace.”

Jean chuckled. “Have you ever been to a wax museum, Lisa?”

“Sure, when I was little.”

“Imagine it’s the middle of summer and the cooling systems are broken, so the figures slowly begin to melt. Not too quickly- they take time, the heavy layers of wax sliding down each character’s face, getting more disfigured with each passing minute. Then, when you look away for too long but eventually turn back, the left eyeball is halfway down its cheek, its ‘skin’ dripping off its chin, its clothes melting off… can you picture it?”

Lisa’s eyes could not have been wider, her mouth hanging open. “Yes… I can… vividly. Way more than I’d like.”

“That’s how I feel at events like these. Slowly deteriorating and melting every second. Now if you’ll excuse me, Sir Igor of the Snezhnayan Civil Affairs needs to speak with me because my mother is too busy for him." Jean shot her a glance. "He doesn’t know she purposely occupies herself with people so that he can’t wiggle his way in, and she knows he’ll end up tracking me down instead.”

“What happens if you just don’t talk to him?”

“That would be a disgrace to the Gunnhildrs, obviously.” Jean offered a small smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. To be making fun of her own situation like this showed that Jean had fully removed herself from the stoic, polite persona she showed everyone else. It tore Lisa’s heart that she would have to spend time away from Jean once she left to speak to the man, when all she wanted to do was cradle Jean in her arms.

“If you’re interested,” Jean added, “the real estate agent from Sumeru is here, somewhere. Look for the man with sunglasses.”

“I will not. I told you, I came here for you. Don’t offend me by assuming I’m here to…  meet new people.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust to cement her point.

“Lisa… every time you say something like that…” Jean breathed lightly, like she was afraid to make too much noise as she looked into Lisa’s eyes, her face growing red.

“What?”

“Nothing. I’m glad I met you is all.” Lisa's cheeks caught fire once more, her heart thrumming in her throat.

“I’ll be waiting for you when you’re done,” Lisa hurriedly replied. She reached for Jean’s hand, but Jean pulled away, her face suddenly fallen. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her eyes on the floor. “I can’t. Not here. It would upset the suitors.” 

“The what?”

“I’ll be back,” Jean said over her shoulder as she walked away. 

Lisa turned to look for Kaeya, but he was nowhere to be found. Instead she saw Eula, Amber by her side, talking to Diluc. Eula was dressed in a violet and arctic blue outfit, her cape favoring the violet color with a blue border. Amber wore a sparkling red dress, and Lisa admired from a distance the way they complimented each other. Amber reached for Eula’s hand, which she readily accepted, and Lisa felt a pang of jealousy at the sight of their entwined fingers. In public. In front of everyone. Lisa swallowed dryly and turned away.

She began walking towards the table of various bite-sized foods, her eyes cast down to examine each platter.

"They're called hors d'oeuvres. They come from Fontaine," a voice said from behind her. She turned and locked eyes with... sunglasses. Indoors. And a purple vest, and the tan skin of a Sumeru native. 

With a shiver, she instantly realized who was speaking to her, but figured it'd be rude to turn him away so quickly. 

"They're called what?  Whor-" 

"No no, hors- actually, forget it. Aren’t you a friend of Lady Gunnhildr’s? The one seeking to open a bookstore, correct?” 

Lisa glanced nervously to the side, but no one she knew was nearby. In the distance, she saw Jean politely nodding along with whatever the old man was saying. She let her stare linger on the blonde, hoping that Jean would sense her eyes and rescue her from the conversation. 

“Yes, that’s me. I don’t really have any concrete plans to present to you right now, though. Maybe I will contact you once I have something.”

She turned again, but he raised a hand to stop her.

“Don’t worry about that. As a friend of the Gunnhildr family, I want to make sure you get the best possible location for your future store before someone else gets it. Think with me. You’re intelligent and passionate about this, are you not? Imagine some large corporation swoops in and opens the four-hundredth branch of their business right where you could have had a bookstore, and now you’re forced to rent out a lesser location in a dark corner of the city where customers hardly visit.”

Lisa wanted to continue resisting, but she could see it happening right before her eyes. The money her parents had saved would have been for nothing if that happened. 

“Well, if you have any buildings off the top of your head, I guess I could take a look, but-”

“Excellent. Right this way, I can show you to my map of the city.” Before Lisa could even lift a finger, he began escorting her towards the balcony of the ballroom, where floor-to-ceiling glass windows separated the two spaces. They found a table outside, and the nightly breeze rushed past Lisa’s hair as he sat her down at a table, politely holding the chair for her. Then, he pulled a folded paper out of the inside of his jacket. 

Unfolding it, Lisa saw it was in fact a map of Mondstadt.

“Right here is where we want you,” he said, pointing in the middle of the city, right next to Sara’s largely successful restaurant.

“Isn’t that going to be incredibly expensive?”

“Not with me as your realtor.” He replied with a wink, then moved his finger across the map to the outskirts of the city. “This is where you’ll be if someone gets a hold of the place before you. Now, I don’t want to have you signing anything without your parents present, so I’ll contact them first thing tomorrow if you’d like. If you sign a contract with me now, I will guar-an-tee that shop for you by the end of the week.” He spelled out each syllable slowly, as if afraid Lisa would miss it. “It’ll have ‘coming soon’ or something written on it until you’re ready. What do you say?” 

Lisa looked down at the map, where his finger still pointed to the edge of the city. She sighed, and glanced into the ballroom through the windows, only to find Jean standing directly on the other side staring straight at her. 

Her face was twisted with an unrecognizable pain that Lisa hadn’t seen before. She looked like she was holding back tears, while restraining herself from breaking the glass and strangling Lisa at the same time. 

At first, Lisa had no idea what she could possibly have been so upset about, but then she realized with horror the scene set before Jean. The moment Jean had turned her back, Lisa had run off and sought the guy she kept insisting she wanted nothing to do with, effectively using Jean for her family like Lisa had repeatedly expressed her disinterest in.

Lisa’s heart sank as she rose from the table, eyes locked with Jean’s, heart pounding and hands shaking. 

“Jean,” she whispered uselessly, knowing she couldn’t be heard through the glass. The Gunnhildr turned on her heel, cape following her abrupt movement, and walked to the right, out of Lisa’s field of vision. Lisa began to follow Jean, but the man called out to her.

“Lisa! Are you walking away from our deal?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t think about that right now,” she responded, her mind spinning as she vanished into the ballroom without looking back, leaving the man holding her future behind. 

Chapter Text

Jean was nowhere to be found, much to Lisa's dismay, but Kaeya was standing nearby talking to Amber. 

“Kaeya! Which way did Jean go?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. Lisa looked towards Amber, who also shrugged apologetically.

She continued onward, deeper into the crowd of people, muttering excuse me and sorry every other second. The music was so loud now that she was standing near the band, and her eyes desperately darted to each face around her; none of them Jean’s. 

Despair filled her lungs, clenching down on her throat as her breathing grew ragged. One sentence could have cleared everything, if only she could find Jean. She pushed her way back into the crowd and towards the aquarium on the other side, where the other young magnates had been hanging out. It wasn’t likely that Jean had gone back to socializing, but Lisa hadn’t the faintest idea where else to start. 

She saw Ningguang and Beidou sitting together on a velvet sofa, Beidou whispering something into Ningguang’s ear and Ningguang giggling behind a gloved hand. Lisa continued forward, trying to shove down the feeling of sadness that came with the sight of those two women so close to each other, out in the open. In the distance, she saw the Kamisato girl studying the platters of food, as Lisa had been just before the merchant found her. The brother was nearby, speaking to a group of older men dressed in traditional Fontaine clothing. Even now, in the midst of her panic and her racing mind, Lisa couldn’t help but appreciate everything about Jean’s friends- how they carried themselves, backs straight and steady smiles trained onto their faces, just like Jean.  

Lisa sighed, accepting that Jean was not with the group. Where was she? It shouldn’t have been this hard to find one of the hosts of the party. Lisa scanned the room again, her eyes catching sight of the combination of white and gold she had been searching for, but it was Jean’s mother. Lisa felt her shoulders sag. The Gunnhildr leader was speaking to a group of elegantly dressed women, each holding a wine glass. Lisa watched her for a moment, amazed at how Jean was so similar yet so different from the middle-aged woman in the center of the group. Same face, but visibly sharpened and twisted by anger where Jean had soft and pleasant features. 

“Hi,” came a small voice behind Lisa, interrupting her analysis. She whirled around and saw a girl about half her age looking up at her. She, too, had a remarkable resemblance to Jean, which let Lisa know exactly who she was. 

“Hi,” Lisa replied, easily finding a smile despite her rattling nerves. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen your sister recently, have you?”

The girl shook her head. “I want to be a singer.”

“That’s great, honey. Do you think you can help me find her?” The girl turned and pointed up the stairs leading out of the ballroom, back into the house.

“She went that way?” Lisa asked. The girl nodded. I thought you just said you didn’t see her, Lisa bit back. “Thank you, sweetie.”

She rushed toward the grand double doors as quickly as her heels could carry her. One of the doors swung open when she reached it, a couple laughing together as they entered the ballroom. Their hair was messy and clothes ruffled, the woman’s lipstick smudged and the man’s neck covered in patches of red that matched her lips. 

With a small shake of her head, Lisa slipped behind them and found herself back in the hallway Diluc had escorted her from, the music dimly thrumming in the background. Lisa felt she needed a map to navigate the house, the hallways splitting in three different directions. After some wandering, she found an elevator. Of course there’s an elevator in this house, Lisa thought, and pressed the button to the second floor. It even had soft elevator music playing dimly as it rose, and when the doors slid open, Lisa found herself looking at four more doors. Each of them were shut, none of them conveniently labeled with “Jean’s room”. 

“This house is a maze,” Lisa muttered to no one as she stepped off the elevator. Feeling something like a criminal, Lisa cracked open the nearest door but found it locked, so she moved to the next one. 

She repeated the process for the other doors, but they were all firmly lockedd… until the fourth one. 

The door swung open soundlessly and the lights were on, and Lisa allowed herself to step inside. The bedroom was the size of Lisa’s living room, if not bigger. It was in a perfect state, almost like a fake bedroom, set up specially as a prop to convince people that all the rooms were being used. Books were stacked neatly into shelves, pencils lined parallel to each other on the desk, not a single wrinkle visible on the blankets of the wide bed. There was a single picture on the wall: Jean and her sister holding pumpkins at a farm. A shudder ran down Lisa’s spine at the sight of the atrocious vegetable, quickly tearing her eyes away. 

The room was empty, but there was a small balcony decorated with two chairs overlooking an immense lake behind the house that Lisa hadn’t seen until this moment. One of the chairs was occupied. 

Lisa stepped onto the balcony and approached Jean. Her hands were nearly folded into her lap, as always. Her eyes were vacant as she stared out, not moving a muscle to look Lisa’s way.  Suddenly, her armor seemed incredibly heavy on her, and Lisa felt a twinge of guilt at fawning over one of Jean’s many burdens. 

“You shouldn’t be up here,” Jean said quietly, eyes unmoving. 

“I wanted to explain what you saw.”

“There’s no need. Really.”

“Jean, he found me. I didn’t look for him when you left. I was just looking at the cute little food on the platters when I bumped into him and he began asking me if I was the girl who wanted a bookstore, then he insisted that I follow him so he could show me where he would theoretically set me up if I agreed. I told him I didn’t have any concrete plans or interest, and he told me I shouldn’t wait too long because a big company could take the spot from me and force me to open my store miles away where no one would go. It was all just theorizing and speculating, and it was all his idea. If it were up to me, I’d be eating those little rolled lettuce things until you found me.”

“It’s sushi.”

“What?”

“The rolled lettuce things are a type of sushi. The Kamisatos exported them to Mondstadt for the event as a way of introducing what else they have to offer besides melons, should our parents decide to open trade with Inazuma.”

“Okay…” Lisa wasn’t sure if Jean was purposely ignoring what she said, or if this was her way of collecting her thoughts. She also wasn’t sure if she should tell Jean that she knew what sushi was, but she had never seen anything like the one served in the ballroom. 

The two stood in silence for a moment, watching the black water of the lake gently meet the docks in slow, rhythmic waves. The moon was hiding behind clouds, but still cast a light on the water. It was a beautiful sight, one that suited Jean’s bedroom window. 

“I believe you,” Jean said, after several minutes passed of them admiring the lake. “It just hurt when I thought I had been wrong after all. But I know he’s like that. He leaps onto potential customers and doesn’t let them go.”

Lisa let out a sigh of relief and turned towards Jean, whose eyes remained trained on the lake. 

“Thank you. I would never lie to you, Jean.”

“I know.” Jean turned to Lisa, and at this short distance, Lisa could see the fragile pain in Jean’s eyes. Jean looked uncomfortable, among other things. Her collar dug into her skin, and Lisa noticed that her shoulder pads were made of pure iron. 

“Isn’t this heavy?” Lisa asked, tracing a finger across Jean’s shoulder. 

“You get used to it,” Jean answered quietly, eyes falling to the hand that caressed her. 

Lisa leaned in, just slightly. “Aren’t you tired of everything you carry?” She lifted a finger to Jean’s chin and tipped her face up, their eyes meeting in a far more intimate state than ever before. 

Unspoken words bounced between their pleading eyes, and finally, Jean nodded.

“I’m tired every day. I’m constantly angry at myself because… I know I should be grateful for this life, and I know what others would give to spend a day in my shoes, but sometimes it’s so hard. At school, no one sees me as anything more than the future Grand Master. So, they invest favors in me by acting strangely nice when I’m around, as if I don’t hear stories of what they’re really like from Kaeya. Other than the ones you’ve already met, I haven’t had a real friendship in years, if ever. Every time I think I’m… getting close to someone, they ask me about some politician or department head that my family knows, and it all comes crashing down. I realize that it wasn’t real, they were just getting me to trust them so they could use me.” 

Lisa slid her hand forward on the railing towards Jean’s hand, and she accepted Lisa’s fingers, lacing them with her own.

“You can keep going,” Lisa urged, barely above a whisper. “There’s more, right?” Jean gave her a grateful smile, then turned back towards the lake.

“At home it’s the same. My mother has been preparing me for the life she wants me to live from the moment I was born, and I’m still not ready. Every day I feel like I’m disappointing her by wanting a break from this life, just one day off. I made the mistake of telling her once that I wanted one entire day where I can just read in my room and not worry about my public appearance or attend any meetings or anything. Diluc and Kaeya have days off all the time. Eula kind of… runs away, but whenever she comes back, they don’t really say anything, they just pretend it didn’t happen. When I asked my mother… she was so upset. I’ve never seen her like that before. She was angry, and she kept repeating that I was ungrateful and selfish.”

It cut Lisa’s heart to see Jean express such a deeply hidden pain, and she wanted nothing more than to pull Jean into a hug and whisper to her that she didn’t deserve the cruelty she experienced almost daily. 

“I can’t imagine a life like that,” Lisa said. Jean’s eyes remained on the lake, refusing to meet Lisa’s gaze. “Did she say anything else?”

Jean’s fingers tightened around Lisa’s. 

“She locked me in my room and told me that I could have the day off that I so desperately wanted… but I couldn’t leave at all. I was trapped in my room all day, and I didn’t speak to or even see a single person. It was like I was in prison. The next day, I thought my punishment would be over, but the door remained locked. Same thing the day after that. The maid would leave food at my door and I have a bathroom in my room, so my basic needs were being met… but it was total isolation. On one hand, it made me realize how much I valued human connection, but when I finally went to school… my lack of friends was a stab in the heart. Kaeya’s always off doing something he shouldn’t be, Diluc has barely talked to anyone since his mother passed away, Eula and Amber usually skip lunch and spend it together in her car or whatever. I would look at that packed cafeteria and see everyone with their own circles of friends, playing card games or watching something on their phones together, and I would think about how I’ve never really experienced that.”

“Jean…” Lisa couldn’t allow herself to cry, but it was getting harder each second. 

“I’ve learned that it’s selfish of me to say, but sometimes I still find myself wishing I could switch places with someone.” 

Lisa shook her head. “It’s not selfish at all. You live a difficult life. Your responsibilities far exceed those of a typical girl your age. You’re practically already carrying Mondstadt's future on your shoulders, not to mention the family burdens that reside under this roof. And you can’t really escape… you’re essentially trapped in a life you didn’t ask for. It’s not selfish to want a bit of freedom. And you shouldn’t blame yourself for not letting anyone grow close to you anymore, after all the times you’ve been let down.”

Jean stepped forward, and alarms began ringing in Lisa’s brain. She was closer than ever before. Their faces were inches apart, and Lisa remained frozen, trying to suppress her hands from shaking. Then, Jean moved her head to the right and rested her forehead on Lisa’s shoulder. Lisa didn’t move for another moment, allowing the adrenaline rush to dissipate, then she brought her free hand to Jean’s head and held her. She would have stroked Jean’s hair if it wasn’t tied up in a complex way that Lisa didn't want to ruin. 

“I’m sorry you’re dealing with all of this,” Lisa whispered, blinking back tears. “You don’t deserve any of it.”

“I could manage it, probably. I just wish I had…” Jean exhaled into Lisa’s shoulder.

“Had what?”

“Someone to talk to about it. Like I just did with you. But I wish I could have it all the time. I’ve never felt more relieved than when I said all of that just now.”

“Well… I’m not going anywhere.”

Jean lifted her head from Lisa’s shoulder, their faces so dangerously close together. Jean’s eyes widened, ever so slightly, and she brought a gloved hand to Lisa’s jaw. She could feel the warmth on her skin even through Jean’s glove. 

Jean leaned in, and Lisa’s eyes fluttered shut.

Then, nothing. 

Lisa opened her eyes, and Jean was looking down at the ground, tears falling to her feet.

“I’m sorry,” Jean whispered, her voice strangled with pain. “I’m sorry,” she repeated.

“Jean, don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong.”

“That’s not true. I… I’m doing everything wrong. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me and I can’t even get this right.”

“Stop it.” Lisa said as firmly as she could. She lifted Jean’s face, silently watching as more tears streamed from Jean’s eyes and onto the ground. It split her heart, each tear twisting the knife in further, but Lisa would not allow herself to cry. Jean needed someone else to stay strong for once, after a lifetime of suppression and forcing herself not to show weakness. “You’re doing your best, and I am never leaving your side. Do you understand?”

Lisa brushed her thumb across Jean’s cheek, pushing her tears away.

“There’s… more.”

“More what?” Lisa asked. 

“There was a girl.” Lisa’s heart sank. She had no idea where the story would lead, but from those four words alone she knew it’d be gut-wrenching. “It was a long time ago. I’ve had years to recover, but sometimes the wound reopens out of nowhere and I feel like I’m bleeding all over again.”

“Wow… she must have really hurt you.”

Jean lifted her eyes to the ceiling. “She hid her intentions really well. She made me believe she cared about me, made plans about the future with me, listened to anything I said. The school year was coming to a close, and we were supposed to apply for the same Academy, the one you and I attend. We were supposed to spend every day at school together, seeing each other on weekends and eventually graduating and working close together.” A small sigh. Lisa was prepared for the worst, but had a feeling it would somehow exceed her expectations in the worst way possible.

“She asked me one day, if I had any idea who I’d appoint as General of the Knights. She sounded desperate, like I needed to give her a name or something bad would happen. I told her I didn’t know, there weren’t really any strong contenders that caught my eye. I knew that whoever it was would have to be a skilled leader, able to make difficult decisions in critical moments, things like that. She turned to me and asked if I thought she had those qualities. I was a little hesitant, but I didn’t want to upset her, so I said yes. But, I added that there was room for improvement if she was seriously considering the position. I told her that Diluc and Eula could easily have wiped her out in a fight. Eula is virtually impossible to hit, not only dodging but practically floating over whatever swings you throw her way. Diluc is a hard hitter. He may favor heavy weaponry, but his hits can kill. If she wanted me to consider her as a possible General, she’d have to beat both of them in a fight, because what if someone of Diluc or Eula’s skill ambushed her one day? How will she best them in a fight and escape alive?”

“Makes total sense,” Lisa said. Now wasn’t the time to mention it, but whenever Jean exhibited how thoroughly she thought of everything, how not a single detail could escape her, how her mind calculates every possible outcome to every situation… it made Lisa swoon. 

“I thought so too. I was being logical and honest. I was willing to help her train until she was better than them, willing to ask Diluc and Eula to train her themselves. I wanted to get her to a point where I could, in good conscience, appoint her to such a coveted and high-status position knowing she’d be able to defend herself against anyone trying to attack Mondstadt.”

Jean shook her head. 

“I didn’t know that wasn’t what she wanted. She expected me to appoint her out of favoritism, that way she’d be my ‘right hand woman’. And when I told her I couldn’t possibly do such a thing and betray the integrity of the Knights, she flew into a fit of tears and rage. She told me that I had ruined everything for us, and I demolished our future together. I felt so guilty, I didn’t know what to do. I kept begging her to forgive me. She was the only person I had ever felt close to, and allowed myself to trust. But I threw it away because I chose to follow procedure rather than consider her feelings about us.”

Lisa shook her head. “No, Jean. You did the right thing. She was selfish. She only had her own intentions in mind, despite how close you felt to her. The moment you couldn’t do what she wanted, she was the one that threw you away. You do understand that you’re worth more than what you can offer people, don’t you?” 

It seemed that last part set off a new faucet within Jean, and she leaned forward and sobbed into Lisa’s shoulder. Lisa bit her lip and suppressed her own tears, stroking Jean’s back and trying to soothe her shaking shoulders.

“You’re the first person to say that to me,” Jean whispered into the crook of Lisa’s neck.

“I’m sorry to hear that. But I’ll say it as many times as you need.”

 Jean nodded and took a steadying breath, straightening herself from Lisa’s body. 

“I’m sorry. You shouldn't have seen that,” she said, her voice wavering.

“Lucky for you I cry all the time, so we’ll be even soon enough,” Lisa teased. 

Jean smiled, wrapping her fingers around Lisa’s wrist and leading her back into the bedroom. Jean sat at the edge of the bed, and Lisa joined her side, the two staring out at the lake through the window. 

“I don’t know if I said it already,” Jean said quietly, “but you look beautiful tonight. I saw you come in and felt like…”

“Like a vampire at a blood drive?”

Jean threw her head back in laughter, and Lisa’s heart fluttered violently as she watched Jean laugh unapologetically and uncontained. 

“Exactly,” Jean replied once she had gathered her composure. Lisa leaned her head towards Jean’s shoulder and rested for a moment, despite the hard surface of the outfit digging into her ear and cheek. 

“You look amazing yourself. Kaeya’s words did no justice for how you look in this armor.”

“It’s not really armor, it’s just symbolic. It could barely protect me against a bullet.”

“Let’s hope no one shoots you, then.” 

They sat in silence for a minute or two more, before Jean reached over to Lisa’s lap and held her hand. 

“I better get back. My mother is probably mad enough already that I’ve been missing this whole time.”

“I’ll stand next to you until I’m physically removed from your house,” Lisa said, standing from the bed. Jean shot her an appreciative smile before taking another deep, steadying breath.

The two walked out of the room together hand in hand, reaching the massive stone staircase at the center of the house. 

“I met your sister,” Lisa said as they walked.

“Really?”

“I was looking for you, and she came up to me and told me she wanted to be a singer.”

“Ha! That sounds like Barbara alright.”

“She’s adorable. Like a tiny little portable version of you.” 

“Hmm… portable…”

They reached the door of the ballroom, and Jean dropped her hand from Lisa’s. 

“I’m sorry that I can’t be more than just your friend in this room. My mother has assured at least seven different men of my nonexistent interest in them, and I’m not permitted to let them know otherwise until I’m Grand Master.”

Lisa smiled, before leaning in and pressing a brief kiss to Jean’s cheek.

“It’s okay.”

They entered the ballroom together, and faced the rest of the evening side by side. The realtor from Sumeru was nowhere to be found, to Lisa’s relief, but Jean brought him up again when they went to the bar for Diluc’s signature grape juice. 

“I want you to sign with him. Please. He is a little weird, but he can get his job done.”

“I don’t know, Jean.” She sipped slowly. “I truly feel bad. I wouldn’t know he existed if it weren’t for you and your… connections.”

Jean shook her head. “Forget all that. I think you’ve more than proved to me that you… you’re actually here to be with me. I’ll have my father call him and arrange something.”

Lisa sighed. “I just don't want to feed off of you the way everyone else does.” 

Jean smiled. “You're nothing like anyone I've met. I'm insisting that you let me make this call to him.” Lisa cast her eyes to the side again. She really didn't want to have a bookstore in the middle of nowhere, but she also didn't want to use Jean. "Lisa, it' happening. I'm flattered by your reluctance but I promise you, you're different. Please let me do this for you as a way of saying thanks." 

Lisa met her pleading eyes and found her restraint crumbling. Finally, with another long sigh, Lisa nodded. "Thank you, Jean." 

"Thank you for allowing me to take care of this."

Guests slowly drifted out of the ballroom as the night progressed, the crowd growing thinner each passing minute. Ningguang and Beidou waved goodbye from across the room as they left, the Kamisato siblings following shortly after.

Jean politely greeted guest after guest, with Lisa planning the murder of every man who touched Jean’s shoulder or back for a moment too long. 

Another hour passed, and soon it was just the nobles left. Eula nodded to them before exiting with Amber, and Kaeya’s family soon followed. 

When it was just the Gunnhildr remaining in the immense room, Jean brought Lisa towards her mother.

“Oh, hello again, Linda.”

“It’s Lisa,” Jean corrected.

“It’s fine,” Lisa said. She didn’t often feel nervous, but standing in the presence of this woman had Lisa nearly trembling in her heels.

“Is she staying the night?” her mother asked absentmindedly, her back partially turned as she waved a group of maids towards the balcony. Lisa nearly choked on air.

“N-”

“Yes, she is,” Jean quickly answered, nudging Lisa’s foot with her own.

“Very well. Show her to the guest bedroom beside yours.”

Lisa noted how her mother had barely looked their way, a complete contrast to how Jean showed unwavering attention to whoever she spoke to.

“Yes, mother.” Jean led Lisa towards her sister, who stood at the far end of the room examining the aquarium.

“What just happened?” Lisa asked quietly as they approached the little girl.

“I don’t know, but I have extra clothes for you.”

“I’m going to faint.”

“You’ll be fine. Just act like a normal friend would.”

They reached Jean’s sister, and Jean knelt down to meet her eye level.

“Hey Barb. I heard you met my friend Lisa.” Jean threw her arms out, and Barbara ran straight into them, tightly wrapping her own arms around Jean’s neck. Jean lifted her into the air, and she rested her face on Jean’s shoulder, eyes falling shut.

“I’m tired, Jean.”

“I know. I’ll tell Father to bring you home.”

Lisa had almost forgotten the truth behind Jean’s family, and it struck her heart to think of Barbara being driven to a house away from Jean whenever they spent time together. Still, the sight before her made Lisa’s stomach flip, the love and care Jean showed her sister unlike anything Lisa had seen from Jean. 

“Yeah, we’re going,” a male voice said from behind them. Jean whirled around, Barbara already asleep in her arms.

“Father. It was nice seeing you again today.”

“You too, Jean. Let’s go home, Barbara.” He scooped the girl into his arms and left the room, Jean’s mother watching his every move from the bar as she sipped a glass of wine.

“Let’s head upstairs,” Jean whispered. “She might be here a while.” The two finally returned to Jean’s room, and Lisa could hardly believe the sequence of today’s events that led her to the place she was now. With a muffled click, Lisa gently pulled Jean’s bedroom door shut behind her.