Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Freminet’s desire for routine is cemented in nearly every aspect of his life; a simple rhythm all things must abide by. Waking up, doing chores, diving, sometimes taking up small commissions, tinkering with whatever needs to be fixed or improved upon, reading- either to himself or to his numerous other siblings, spending time with the twins he cherishes most, and going off to bed.

Of course, parts of this routine are occasionally placed back and forth, they’re expected. Having to abandon routine for the sake of a sudden mission, no matter what it may be, is expected. Being dragged forcefully into vacation, however?



“Lost in thought again little brother?” Lyney pinches one of Freminet’s cheeks to get him out of whatever dreadful mindweb he’s stuck in.
“Don’t worry, you could use a change of pace from your usual routine, a little fresh air to counter the mundane. I can't imagine being cooped up in your own bubble all the time as any fun in the long term, after all." He teases

“It is fun for me…” Freminet begins to retort but trails off thinking yet again.
Now that he considerably puts thought into it, he hasn’t really been anywhere but Fontaine his whole life. Where he practically knew every nook and cranny of Fontaine’s depths, the foreign world seemed much more daunting- he’d rather sink.

“Lyney’s right you know”, Lynette cuts in, “You do need a change of pace every now and then.”

“But it’s not habitual”

“Then make it, starting today.” She replies simply, as if stating mere fact and not the end of his life. 21 years in his homeland only to crumble the second he steps foot on foreign grounds, what would Maman think?

“I still don’t see why you two had to drag me along on your mission.”

“We’re not dragging you along on a mission, silly! The mission part’s for us, it’s your vacation” Lyney makes sure to mouth that last part out very clearly, his mouth movements somehow making Freminet feel uneasier than knowing that they’ve arrived at Port Ormos.

Amidst his impending anxiety that pulls him away from being able to fully soak the full beauty of the port in, he must give architectural credit where it is due, he starts mulling over the finer details for a split second before his whole body sinks, sensing their ship come to a halt.

“Come on Frem, I got someone to carry our luggage for us, we can go directly to the hotel!” His brother grabs his arm- it’s cold, part of which could be attributed to his holding a Cryo vision, the other part probably to the fact that he’s so shamelessly anxious of this unfamiliar environment that all the blood in his body manages to freeze along with him

♡♡♡



Lynette promptly plummets herself face-first onto the couch, soaking in the fresh smell of furniture before turning to lay on her back and observe her brothers; Lyney seems to be really keen on making himself familiar with every polished surface their two bedroomed hotel suite has to offer, particularly engrossing himself in opening any and all windows he could find.

The same enthusiasm could not be echoed for her younger brother, however, who fidgets with the locket on his neck- his mother’s locket, and sits stiffly in a chair nearby.

“Freminet, I can smell your anxiety from over here.” Lynette remarks “Maybe you should work on unpacking, get the gears in your brain to function again.” She makes her way over to him and reassuringly places her hands on top of his to steady them, the warmth making him quiver a little less. “And I promise Freminet, nothing here’s going to come and bite you, so don’t worry.”

“I don’t know about this, Lynette…” Freminet begins, despite his siblings being biological siblings, their personality differences outweighed their similarities. It’s something he got used to over the years since he got to know them, that Lynette was always someone he could rely on closely, go to advice for, vent to, she was like him almost.

Unlike him, Lynette wanted Freminet to go on this vacation, unlike him, Lynette’s suppressing his intrusive conscience, reassuring him that everything would be okay.

Maybe that’s the scariest part- the person who tries him against his preconceived beliefs and present concern, is none other than Lynette. He almost always caves in and listens to her anyway.

And maybe Lynette knows that, because in the next second of him having these thoughts she softens her voice:
“Freminet, look, your brother and I really want you to get out there, to put it bluntly- you can’t stay cooped up forever, you need exposure, real exposure, not the stuff you read in fairytales. You’re not a little boy anymore, and Lyney and I know that, and we only want what’s best for you. I think “Father” knows it too, why else would she agree for you to go on a vacation?”

Sensing his recoilment, Lynette continues,

“Fontaine is beautiful, but we can't ignore the rest of Teyvat. So, promise me you’ll enjoy yourself as much as you can on your vacation?”

Lynette stares at her brother intently, letting go of his hands only for him to bite his thumbnail, avoiding eye contact.

“Freminet...”

“Lynette…Je ne sais pas..”

“Freminet.”

“Okay.. I promise.”

“Good, now you can go unpacking your things, Lyney and I will share one room, so you can have ample space for yourself.”

As if on cue, she leaves him to his own devices, joining Lyney in the kitchen.


♡♡♡


Freminet works quickly to make his way through piles of luggage- mostly his siblings’ things, to get to Pers. Upon uncovering the mechanical penguin, who buzzes in his grasp, Freminet looks at him apologetically.”

“Sorry Pers, you know they’d never let me keep you free on board..”

Positioning the humming penguin on its belly, Freminet begins to examine for any damage- which, thankfully, is negligible aside from a minor, easily mendable dent. Setting Pers aside, he begins to take out his collection of fairy tales, childish to an outsider, but comforting to him.

“It’s better to spend our time like this.” He remarks, only to be met with another buzz, this time, an encouraging one.

♡♡♡

Freminet doesn’t know how long he’s been reading, but definitely long enough for the noon to morph into night, only coming to his senses once Lyney barges in through the door, and Lynette follows suit.

Lyney’s usual glee is only now amplified, Freminet glances towards Lynette to see what an outsider might otherwise miss- she’s eager too.

“Freminet!” his brother exclaims as he reaches out to pull him in a hug, “We’re going to Zubayr Theatre tomorrow, isn’t it exciting?”

More like terrifying

“We were invited”, Lynette chimes in, “by none other than our new friend Miss Nilou, who performs there.”

It hadn’t registered to him that his siblings might’ve left to indulge for whatever time they had before the mission was set into play, he almost felt guilty for burrowing himself in the hotel all day

Lyney lets go of Freminet, allowing him to breathe a little, only to be suffocated by the next onslaught of words.

“Who knows, maybe you might find some friends there too!”

And if being dragged to a whole different nation wasn’t bad enough, they were expecting him of all people to socialise

The rest of Lyney’s ramblings about appreciating culture and how universal theatre is to every nation are promptly drowned out in Freminet’s own dread. He can’t wait for tomorrow to end, and it hadn’t even started yet.

Chapter Text

Freminet looks back on every sin he ever recalls committing, and deduces that being forcibly ripped out of his carefully blown bubble must be some sort of weird universal push towards atonement. He prays to all the archons he’s ever been familiar with that he won’t shatter underneath the flash and fray of the theater; such places are not his strong suit. Quite the opposite actually– they make him nauseous, for the lack of a better term. Clammy and claustrophobic and nauseous. Surely his siblings weren’t trying to dispel his fears out of him by exposure therapy , right?

He wishes it was socially acceptable to wear his diving helmet out in public, but in the real world, as much as he’d like to shut their voices off by dawning his helmet– people do care, and people do talk, mostly about how rude of a gesture it is, as if coping mechanisms don’t exist. But how would they know? Part of him longs for it not to be so, for the idle chatter to stop just beyond the point where his ears tune out the sound, but like many things in life, his own wistful thinking ends up being void.

His siblings make a big fuss about “dressing the part” too, it almost makes him embarrassed how much they’ve considered him in everything they do, down to planning clothes he was unaware he’d wear, he might as well be their secret third twin– or, triplet?. Freminet decides that “Operation:Vacation” is more near and dear to them than whatever quest “Father” chose out for the pair. Not having any alternative to wear however, he slips into the clothes anyway; Sumerian garments are made specifically with the heat in mind, as opposed to a colder place like Fontaine, which makes the fabric itself feel foreign against his skin.

He wonders if he looks just as stunning as Lyney and Lynette, who, in his opinion, needn't put any effort into their appearances at all to be seen as striking– hell, even their bedheads have some artistic flare about them. Despite knowing they’d look as stunning as ever, their own well fashioned suits catch him off guard, the signature colours of the twins stand out spectacularly in Sumerian clothing, almost as if out of a fairytale. He trails his eyes along the clusters of detailed (presumably hand-made) embroidery along the seams, noticing a stark imbalance of adornment between the two, with Lynette carrying the bulk of the glamour. The contrast makes it all the more pleasing to the eye.

Lyney’s own outfit is embellished with stunning gold patterns latticed about the front and back, his suit carefully buttoned from the bottom to a little below his standing collar in similarly toned gold buttons. Lynette on the other hand was a whole different story. Freminet takes a good while to graze his eyes along the silvery, flowery patterns against the teal of her draped-on garment, her hair is done in a beautiful updo, allowing the silver jewelry on her neck to shine all the more against the deepness of her silk shirt, which trails off into sheer sleeves.

How they were able to acquire such stunning attire in such short notice is as good as anyone’s guess, but it makes Freminet muster all the more flecks of confidence in himself, even if the collar of his sherwani – as Lyney called it, was itching the hell out of his neck.

♡♡♡
The Theatre is quickly filling up upon arrival, the hectic flow of everything allows his siblings to pitch in backstage with the staff, Lyney chatting up a storm, and Lynette hoping not to break anything. Freminet busies himself with admiring the geometric patterns that lace the theatre, a hallmark of Sumeru itself, in how everything, no matter the size, overflows with these rich patterns.

Before he knows it, the music starts to play. He’d much rather prefer the background chatter, his mind makes a point to remind him to stick close to Lyney and Lynette, but they’re too busy focused on an astonishingly well dressed red haired lady in the distance. Deciding against it as not to be introduced to anyone or anything new, he walks aimlessly in search of a quiet spot.

The dancers won’t be up on stage for a while now, as far as he can tell, and just imagining the dreadful music drowning him further and further deep when they do show up is as petrifying of an idea as being electrocuted is. Lost in a sea of his own thoughts, he doesn’t realise he’s walking backwards into a restricted area, until he bumps into someone and almost loses his balance– a great shock to bring him back to reality, the universe was surely so intent on bursting any bubbles he managed to conjure up.

“Oh– Sorry! I didn’t see you walking there! I’m really sorry I was lost in thought and I…sorry…” she trails off, “Are you okay?”

Freminet is caught off guard by the interaction, almost humoured by how he was in a similar disposition, before registering his own sentience and lack of a reply.

“Yeah, I’m– I’m fine.”
Really Freminet, not even an “it’s okay” ?

His inner monologue burns inside of him as the girl lets out a sigh of relief, retreating to the space behind the curtains, she plants herself down with a worried expression gracing her features, which Freminet is quick to notice, the darkness makes it so that she doesn’t realise he's curiously following her, until he’s right next to the large cushion she’s sat on where he asks:

“Are you okay?”

He flinches when she jolts up in confusion, only to rub her eyes and discern him as a separate entity from the dimly lit room.

“Y- Yeah I’m fine!” her shock makes her lips tremble slightly. She gestures for him to sit down next to her if he wants, and so he does; relief washing over him as he realises he can share this quiet space– or, as quiet as it can be with the muffled out upbeat music playing in the back.

The look of relief morphs into concern, which the girl quickly catches onto, fiddling with her hair to avoid his gaze until she can’t bear it any longer and spills the contents of her worries out into the warm air.
“Well, not really okay, maybe relieved? I don’t know.”

Freminet’s silence signals her to keep going, which she obliges dutifully.

“Miss Nilou was kinda really hoping for me to be on stage with everyone else, but my dance partner…sorta blew me off? I don’t blame him, I mean, he had a secret date– just don’t tell anyone! Though, you don’t know who he is, so I don’t think I should worry…oh gods– sorry, I’m rambling aren’t I?”

“No, it’s fine, it’s not like I have anything better to do than listen anyway.”
That’s twelve more words than usual.

The girl looks at him reassuringly before continuing:

“It’s okay though, I was also wishing for a miracle to make it so I don’t have to face that scary stage– and it’s just… it’s just a dance right? Not the end of the world, obviously. Those hours of practice though… I could’ve studied with that time.”

Despite her attempts at self comfort, Freminet gathers that she is upset and that she does mind, even in the faint light illuminating her face, he can detect her visible agitation. The empath in him claws and gnaws at his insides, poor girl, if only someone could help her out of her predicament .

And without thinking, he blurts out something so completely unlike him.

“I can dance with you.”

The girl takes a solid minute to process what he’s volunteering to do, each second grating into Freminet’s skin like a solidification of the sounds forks make when scratched against chalkboards. When he deduces that the girl can’t produce a response, he regurgitates his prior sentiment.

“I’m no good at dancing but, maybe you could teach me?”



What.

Chapter Text

“Oh, um.” The girl squirms in her seat, clearly not expecting that response– it was more of an offer. Freminet senses her own anxiety with the way she fidgets with her fingers for a solid minute, it makes him cringe into his own skin.

Maybe he shouldn’t have said something like that, but it’s not like it was voluntary, it just… spilled? Either way it’s that or uncomfortable silence, since he’s no good at comforting people anyway. Perhaps he’d come to prefer the silence over the anxiety radiating off of the girl next to him, in the way he can see the gears in her head turn.

She hesitates for a second too long before considering whether or not to take him up on his offer, and then she considers how to word her query.

“Err, are you a fast learner?”

He thinks for a moment, wondering if the twins’ dancing lessons could ever apply here, but the difference between the two nations is one of night and day. Maybe not . Too late to turn back now.
“I’m very good at following instructions, if you tell me what to do then, yes.”

“Okay…” she lets out a sigh, best to salvage whatever part of the evening is left,
“We only have an hour, let’s make it work.”

♡♡♡

Collei had always been referred to as the “clumsy kid” or the token “klutz” growing up; most of this was due to the sudden slivers of electricity running up her nerves as a consequence of her eleazar, which in turn was a result of whatever flare-up residue would find itself on the surface after being dulled down by her dosage of medicine.

The boy’s clumsiness makes her wonder if he has eleazar too, but she rules out the thought since he’s clearly not from Sumeru. His accent isn’t very telling either– she analyzes his features– conflicted on whether he’s native to Fontaine or Snezhnaya, and speculates if everyone from there is doomed to be a bad dancer, or if it’s just him.

His hands are cold and sweaty and he keeps stepping on her feet in his own little fits, fluctuating between languages as he murmurs apologies. She doesn’t really mind, finding that it’d be hypocritical to judge– plus, she’s not really a teacher, much less a good teacher.

She guesses that perhaps “follow my lead” and “do what I do” are incredibly vague terms that shouldn’t apply to something as fluid and in-the-moment as dancing to anyone who wasn’t her. Also, she lucked out by getting anyone to willingly dance with her that wasn’t Nilou (or sometimes Kaveh if he was drunk enough to sway to the music). To mind the awkwardness would be some kind of ingratitude.

Regardless of their respective mutual inexperiences, he manages to somehow, miraculously, get the hang of it. Maybe the words he was saying under his breaths were partial prayers in hopes he’d learn in the nick of time, or maybe he really was true to his word and Collei was just that bad of a teacher– whatever it was, it surely worked, and she found herself feeling much more at ease during their practice. Not by a whole lot, but the burdens on her back felt lighter.

Her eyes dart over to him who refuses to meet her gaze, focused on some unseen force on the floor as his movements get more and more stiff. That won’t do. He’s nervous too, just channeling it in a different way now.

Collei vaguely recalls something Nilou told her in advance the first week of her real , formal dancing lessons, she tries to recall the words as they are in an attempt to maybe translate them over, would translated advice hit the same?

A few more mechanical sways later she concludes that he could really use that advice, since the slow test run would eventually have to be driven faster to when they actually danced to the music.

“Um… if you’re still tense, Miss Nilou told me that focusing on one point while you’re on stage can really help– like, like someone specific in the crowd.”

Realistically, Freminet’s more than well aware that if he got even so much as a minute glance at his siblings who would very well be loitering about in the audience watching him dancing with a girl he didn’t even know on stage, amongst numerous other dancers, he’d likely fluster and fall down.

That wouldn’t do.

There had to be something else, something that wouldn’t feel as daunting, someone who wouldn’t– couldn’t, recreate that feeling of being short of breath–

“What are you doing?”

Somehow the voice startles the girl more, who shoots him an apologetic look before turning her gaze to the source of the alarm, the red haired woman looks back.

“I thought I asked you to– who is he?”

“My dance.. Partner?” The way her statement melds with question does little to reassure Freminet.

“But you were with– this is the worst time to—!”

She says something in Sumerian to the girl, too nice to be scolding, but too daunting to be light hearted. There’s a back and forth between them that he’s glad he doesn’t understand. The lady retreats to the hall behind the curtains, her final statements draining the colour off the girl’s face, who looks back at Freminet as if in a blink she’d turn almost as pale as him. She wets her lower lip.

“Uh, we’re up on stage.”

♡♡♡

The lights on stage are nothing short of blinding, or maybe he’s just sensitive to them, or maybe it’s the way his vision blurs in and out whilst trying to process the onlookers from backstage. Freminet makes a silent prayer even though he doubts the tsaritsa or egeria would help kill the crystalflies nauseatingly making their way through his stomach to his mouth, threatening to spill out.

Then he watches the groups of pairs depart like cows marching towards their sequential slaughter.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five

They’re fifth.

Nothing prepares him for the sharp grip on his hand, and the fast procession to the stage that follows.

The world feels like it’s spinning around them, this anemic-like dizziness overcomes his body where he hopes his steps don’t fail him. Focus, Freminet, focus .

He looks around within a range narrow enough as not to accidentally meet the eyes of his siblings– that’d really fuck him over. He scans to the patterns on his clothes, the ones on the floor– too kaleidoscopic . The ground won’t help.

He drifts his gaze up, up up into a concerned pair of eyes that had avoided his gaze ever since they’d stepped out of wherever they’d been rehearsing.

Everything else blurs out of focus as he takes them in. And he dances before he realises it–-upbeat, practiced movements, they feel all the more livelier with the music, though he drowns out quite a bit of it in his daze.

And there’s this other feeling too– the feeling of his blood fizzing against the interior of his skin, threatening to melt it all off in one acidic burst. His body moves like a programmed meka, yet his movements feel so organic.  He’s never felt more alive than he does now– Lyney and Lynette were right , dancing would do him some good, it feels good, or maybe it’s the high of feeling close to death that’s keeping him alive.


He doesn’t register the time. Or that he asked her for another dance of his own volition.

♡♡♡

“That was–”

“--amazing!” She interjects with her enthusiasm. “I don’t know what came over me, you were– and I was– and, and we were–” she makes vague motions with her flared out arms as if words aren’t enough, the look on her face unparalleled in radiance.

The air outside is cold against his face as opposed to the warm daytime breezes. Freminet swears some of the heat the girl radiates is infectious as he feels his own body heat up.

“We were dancing .” quieter. “ Really dancing, not just– I don’t know– moving around aimlessly?” She’s swaying back and forth to the beat of the music still ringing in his head, as if to retrace the steps, fearful of letting the moment embellish itself into pure memory.

“Your advice really helped.”

“Oh thanks, I thought I lost you for a second there.

A pause

Freminet notices his own hands trembling, something he hadn’t registered before; where she shakes with elation he shakes with pride – almost, or maybe it was the fear of something about to go wrong, something to take away from the moment in front of him.

Speaking of which .

“By the way.. thank you , so much”

She’s addressing him directly!

“Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you for dancing with me ”

“You’re… welcome?”

“Seriously, I didn’t think you’d do as well as you did, and– and I didn’t expect to have so much fun, and–” she’s stumbling over her words, funny how that’s supposed to be Freminet’s usual call.

“--and the time! Oh I forgot about the time! I was so caught up in– Cyno’s probably still waiting–”

“--Cyno?”

“My guardian. Sort of.” she clarifies, brushing past him in an initiative to leave.

It occurs to Freminet that he never really got her name, he’s been dancing with her and basking in her presence for the better part of nearly two hours– embarrassing how he knows her guardian’s name before her own. Couldn’t hurt to ask now, right?

No, that’s even more embarrassing. Stop that. You’ll never see her again.


“I didn’t catch your name?” She pauses.

“Oh, right.”

So embarrassing.

Fully turning around, she gives him a practiced salute.

“I’m Collei, trainee forest ranger of Ghandarva Ville! And you?”

Right, introductions are supposed to be mutual.

“I’m Freminet.” The lack of a title attached makes him recoil a bit.

“ Freminet . Fre-mi-net.” Collei savours the way the syllables roll on her tongue.
“Well, um, it was nice meeting you Freminet! If you ever get the chance to stop by at Ghandarva Ville, I’ll uh, be there. Yeah.”

There’s a voice calling for her from the distance, she turns her head around instinctively before shooting him an apologetic glance.

“Right, I have to go. Bye now!

And with that, she sprints off.

♡♡♡

Freminet thinks back to when he’d last been this light chested. He walks back inside in a state of mental inertness, his vision blurry and his body pulsing with undiscovered emotion, he doesn’t quite make out his own siblings trying to reach him with their words.

“What kind of drug did that girl give you?” Lynette’s question wipes the blissful smile clean off his face. She’s pinching the crook of his arm.

He was smiling?

“Huh.”

“There he is.” Lyney nudges his sister before pointing towards Freminet. “Finally returning to Teyvat, brother? Now, what’s up with you lately?”

“Err, what is?”

“Don’t act so ignorant! One second you’re so adamant on cooping yourself in some sort of enclosure forever, disappear off to archons-know-where, and the next when we see you, you’re dancing with a girl on stage and grinning like a sinthe junkie in broad daylight.”

“And not to mention you go in for a second dance.” Lynette adds, “You’re quick to slither away any chance you get during our dancing lessons.”

“Right…”

“Right? Wrong ! Freminet, this isn’t like you at all. Sacre bleu! Don’t tell me you’re actually on something .”

“I’m not on anything… Really, I’m fine.”

“You’re as pink as a rainbow rose.”

“He’s more red than pink.” Lyney corrects, only to be met with a glare.

Freminet wants to continue, but that striking head of red hair makes its way towards their direction again from where he can its possessor in his periphery; he wonders how much mora he could collect based on the number of times she’s approached him and his family in particular tonight. Not a lot, but definitely something .

“There you two are!” The woman– Nilou he presumes, exclaims. “For a bunch of foreigners you sure do blend in well with the crowd. Oh! and you !”

Freminet impulsively freezes up from where he’s standing , tenses

She clasps her hands together with a warm smile to go with the action.
“Is this the little brother you two were telling me about? Doesn’t seem very little to me” taking note of his stature.

“Sure is! Freminet, meet Miss Nilou, she’s the head dancer here.”

“Oh thank you, but I believe we’ve already met. You know– at your…” she gestures vaguely.  “...impromptu dance rehearsal.”

“ Impromptu dance rehearsal ” Lynette slowly repeats. Lyney can’t help but snicker.

“Speaking of which… is it alright if I borrow your brother for a few minutes?”

It’s going to be a long night.