haru˙⋆✮⋆˚࿔

tonight, he said he wanted to take you out stargazing. he didn't say to bring anything, but to prepare for the weather being a bit chilly, hence your current predicament. you settled on your sweater, it was warm enough to protect you from the cold night air while still being comfortable enough to not make you feel stuffy.

just as you finished putting on your outfit, you get a text from sylus telling you that he arrived at your apartment. you quickly grab your keys and your motorcycle helmet before rushing downstairs to see him in his signature fit whenever he drives his motorcycle, the black leather pants with his black leather jacket that has the red and white accents on the sleeves.

the light from his phone illuminated his face as he looked up and greeted you with the smirk he always wore.

"don't you look cozy," he says.

"i interpreted your dress code as being comfortable. so here i am, comfortable." you explain to him, already putting on your helmet. you tap on the seat of his bike, signaling for him to get on.

he chuckles. "so impatient," but he gets on anyway, revving up the engine before letting you sit behind him. you wrap your arms around his torso tight and he sets off.

you drive for a good 30 minutes or so, just outside of the city. when you arrive, you don't recognize the area. he stops on the foot of a hill and kills the engine, before getting off the bike. he takes of his helmet before taking off yours and setting them both on the hand clutches. he then offers you a hand to hop off, which you take. strangely, he doesn't pull his hand from yours, so you don't retract it either. he leads you up the hill, where on top is a small picnic set up, red and white checkered blanket laid on the ground with a variety of your favorite foods on it. it's surprising how no insects or ants have gotten to it yet.

"it's so.."

"what sweetie? cute?" sylus asks with a raised eyebrow.

"..unexpected. who knew the infamous onychinus leader knew how to set up such a domestic view?" you tease, swinging your interlocked arms back and forth while looking up at him with a cheeky smile.

he smiles back, pulling you towards the picnic before settling down on the blanket and letting you sit beside him. "well, it would be rude of me to not know the preferences of the one i asked out, would it not?"

you hum. "i guess that's true. i guess i was just under the impression we were only gonna look up at the sky and point out constellations. didn't expect a whole night picnic with it." you lie down, bringing your legs up to bend your knees with your feet on the grass and your hands behind your head. you stare up at the sky, all the stars are visible from here since you were so far out from the city where the city lights couldn't block the view. it really was a perfect stargazing spot.

you feel the body next to you also lie down. you can vaguely see from your peripheral that he's basically in the same position as you, only one of his legs is propped up on the other and he only has one arm behind his head while the other rests on his stomach.

"i would only prepare the best for my date of course, no more no less." he says casually.

wait.

was this a date?

it's not like you haven't pondered on it before. regular nightly outings with a man who pays for you 99% of the time? that's basically a date.

but then again, it's not like he's explicitly asked you out on a formal date before. or hinted (you think) at anything but platonic feelings towards you. even if it did hurt a little because, what normal man does this platonically?

you brushed those thoughts and feelings aside however. sylus was a man who took what he wanted whenever he wanted. he was always direct in his approaches, business and non-business wise. so if he never asked you out, it was safer to assume your hang outs were platonic at best.

you turn to look at him to see him already looking at you, his red eyes piercing your own.

"sylus, is this a date?"

you see his eyes widen a fraction for just a split second.

he bursts out laughing, rich and loud and full of joy. he's practically glowing and clutching his stomach from laughing so hard.

"hey! im seriously asking!" you sit up to look down at him, frowning at the man. his eyes are filled with tears of laughter and you can't help but smile. once he ceases his laughing fit, he looks at you with a soft look.

"sweetie, have you just realized?"

"realized what?"

he sits up now too, his head a fraction above yours making you now look up. he's smiling at you fondly, brushing stray hairs from your face before caressing your cheek with the palm of his hand, the warmth of it bringing you a sense of comfort.

"i've been courting you for weeks now."

"..you have??"

he snickers at you. "count how many people i casually take out for dinners and pay for all of them. how many people have i taken into my home just to taste expensive wine with me? how many people do you think i just take a drive for out on my motorcycle just for fun?"

you open your mouth. then close it.

"okay to be fair, you never explicitly asked me on a date. or said any of those were dates for that matter." you argue before he suddenly kisses you. you squeak in surprise, but return the kiss nonetheless. when he pulls back, he huffs another laugh.

"i guess that's my mistake then, sweetie." he wraps his arms around you, then pulls you down to lie on top of him.

"will you let me make it up to you?"

"oh? how would you do that?"

"hmm.." he looks up at the sky and pretends to think. "maybe by properly asking if i can court you now."

"…"

"may i be your boyfriend?"

its your turn to huff a laugh, and you playfully smack his chest before giving him another kiss, a softer one.

"was that so hard to ask me?"

"to be fair sweetie, you also agreed to the dates, so i assumed you knew what they were."

"well i guess we're both just stupid then."

he smiles, and allows you to pull back just enough to look up at the sky.

you spend the rest of the night cuddling and chatting, finding comfort within each other. sure the both of you were kind of oblivious, but atleast you got together!

at some point you fall asleep in his arms, he watches you sleep with a smile, allowing himself to be selfish for a little bit with you. he kisses your forehead, whispering sweet nothings before gazing at the stars, he wishes upon every one of them that you continue to choose him in every life, in every universe. even if you both might not realize you have already been destined for each other in the first place.

both of you didn't think it was weird to reassure each other of your (not so platonic) platonic, "best friend" feelings towards each other.

safe to say both of you were kind of oblivious.

and literally everyone noticed this but the two of you.

—

you were currently skipping along the main streets of makochi with a bag of freshly baked bread, its warmth and scent seeping through, making you feel already more giddy as you anticipate eating it.

as you walk, you suddenly spot a familiar figure with white hair stretching out his back with his arms above his head in a nearby alley. he somehow feels your gaze on him and turns to look at you, and thats when you realize it's umemiya. he calls out to you and you run over.

"hi umemiya! what are you up to?" you ask, peering behind him to see not only hiragi, but sugishita too, both setting down the last of a pile of potted plants near the backdoor of the building beside you.

"hey!" he smiles at you and pats your shoulder in greeting. "nothin much, just finishing up an errand. i finished growing a batch of tomatoes for kotoha and delivered it to her friend on her behalf." he explains.

the two boys behind him approach you both, and while he doesn't speak or do much, you notice sugishita's eyes shining when you make eye contact with him.

"hi sugishita! hi hiragi!" you say to both of them.

hiragi grunts a hello and sugishita nods, still not ceasing his gaze from you. not like you mind though.

"are you guys done?" you turn back to umemiya. "i have some bread if you guys would like! i know how much effort it must have taken you guys to do this.. considering how many plants there are," you offered.

"oh no we couldn't possibly-"

"i insist! lets sit, also i probably couldn't finish all of this if i tried honestly," you say with a chuckle, dragging umemiyas arm with you as you make him sit along the wall of the alley.

"you two as well!" you say directed at the other two boys, who don't really put up much of a fight. maybe it's their way of saying they're also hungry!

you give out some bread for each of them, saving a loaf or two for yourself before sitting next to sugishita, instinctively leaning closer towards him.

you can hear umemiya and hiragi chatting before you hear the boy beside you speak up.

"..it's good."

you hum in agreement. "the bread? yea i know right! i bought it off the old couple who we helped a while back with their laundry. they were super nice and offered me a discount, but i didn't want to pay any less and i ended up paying more.." you end off with a nervous chuckle.

while speaking, you didn't realize how sugishita's gaze never left your face. you also didn't realize how many crumbs you were getting around your mouth before he reaches up his hand to brush some of them off. you freeze in surprise at his sudden gesture, while he makes this seem like a normal occurrence, like he isn't basically leaning forward and inch every second that passes while still having his hand on your face.

"..sugishita?" you whisper.

he blinks at you, and from this proximity, you can see how the tips of his ears and his cheeks have a soft pink glow.

"if you're gonna kiss just do it." says hiragi's voice.

you both flinch back, and the other two boys are both looking at you, unamused expression on hiragi's face while umemiya is giggling like a school girl.

you felt warm and looked away, eating your bread as a distraction while you hear sugishita punch hiragi.

"we were not!"

"yea, and i'm inlove with umemiya."

"you are?!" asked umemiya, already smiling.

"NO I'M NOT-"

you laugh and lean against sugishita again as he feels the vibrations of your body on his side. he puts his arm around you and brings you closer, still munching on his bread. you can feel his thumb softly brushing your shoulder, and it brings a small sense of comfort to you.

you could feel yourself drifting off after some time, as you feel sugishita adjust his hold on you so you're leaning against his chest properly now. you can hear his heartbeat beneath his chest, steady and firm as he still slowly rubs his thumb on your arm.

"you should sleep," he whispers. "i'll be here when you wake up."

"thanks sugi." you whisper back.

as you fall asleep, he also starts to drift off, finishing his bread and allowing his head to lean on top of yours.

—

it's dusk when you wake up, and how you DO wake up is when you feel the sturdiness of the person you were leaning on suddenly disappear before being caught in another pair of arms. you groggily look up to see umemiya crouching over you with a smile as he adjusts your body to sit up straight again. you look in the direction where sugishita once was when you see him running after hiragi.

"..can i ask what that was about?"

umemiya laughs and sits next to you, where sugishita previously was. he takes out his phone to reveal a photo of you and sugishita napping peacefully together against the wall, which was what was presumably the reason of sugishita's sudden chase.

you giggle at the photo, not minding the blush starting to rise on your face.

"can you send this to me? he looks cute here!"

umemiya smiles, "yea sure! i'll be sure to take looooots of photos of him next time when he's sleeping if ya want."

you roll your eyes at him. "you know what i mean."

you may not realize it, but you probably like sugishita. and he likes you too, he also just doesn't realize it yet. even though he's chasing hiragi and yelling at him to delete the photo because he can't have other people having records of you looking cute.

while umemiya basically thinks you guys are already dating, he knows not to push it because things like this take time.

so he'll continue to take photos of you two, and he'll continue bringing sugishita with him on errands in parts of the town where you frequent incase you see them.

at the end of the day, it wasn't weird with how you both acted with each other. you just needed a bit more time to realize what was going on between you.

your basket was already filled with multiple lip glosses, eyebrow pencils, eyeshadow palettes, basically every type of makeup product you could think of. and NOT the cheap kind.

you grab a blush that would go well with your undertone and put it in the basket. "i think this is enough for me," you say as you look up at him.

sylus raises an eyebrow and gives you his signature smirk.

"don't be silly sweetie, theres still multiple brands i haven't tried out. are my failed attempts making you lose confidence in me?"

"see i feel like.. your failed 'attempts' are.. actually wait, are you even trying to-?"

before you could get your sentence out, he was already pushing you towards another shelf.

"hmm.." sylus pretends to think. his hands are on your shoulders as he sways you gently from side to side. you read the brand name on the shelf infront of you that he's reading, and theres no way he could possibly-

"terter?"

"…"

and hes already reaching for a cushion foundation.

you stop his hand and turn around.

"there is no POSSIBLE way you could have mispronounced TIRTIR."

"oh? is that how you say it?"

"sylus i know you're messing with me."

he chuckles. "oh? how so?"

"you literally bought me a tirtir toner a few weeks ago don't play dumb!"

at that, he laughs, rich and full of joy. you huff, puffing your cheeks out and crossing your arms.

"..you knew how to pronounce all of those brands didn't you?"

"hmm.." he reaches behind you and grabs a foundation in your shade before putting it in the basket in your hands. he takes the basket from you before putting his free arm around your shoulders and starts making his way towards the cashier.

"i guess we'll never know sweetie. how about i pay to make it up to you?" he says, mischievious smile on his face.

you were so gonna get him back later.

though he moved away to inazuma along time ago, you guys never cut contact, sending letters every month or so to keep in touch. he never failed to remind you how much he loved and cared for you, and how he would never stop thinking about you.

during his time away, you would often spend your days alone. either taking strolls outside the city or thinking of things to write to him about. sure you have other friends, but you still felt lonely without thoma by your side.

when you heard that he would finally be returing back to mondstadt, you didn't hesitate to set a surprise for him. you planned to cook his favorite for dinner, while also remembering to head to the angels share to buy a bottle of dandelion wine.

day of his return, you were busy in the kitchen, the aroma of rice cake soup filling up your home before you heard the front door open. you turn off the stove before heading over to see thoma, a bouquet of windwheel asters in his arms. he smiled brightly as he set down his things before opening his arms towards you for a hug.

you ran to hug him, throwing your arms around his neck while he caught you around your waist. he held you tight as you both breathed in each other's scents, familiar yet still unaccustomed after years spent apart.

he sighs into your hair, pulling back to kiss you. you kiss back, giggling when he dips forward to bend you both dramatically.

"mm.. missed you." he mumbles against your lips.

you smile at him as you stand up straight, playing with the hair on his nape. "i missed you more."

"how have you been? you haven't been isolating yourself have you?" he says, already looking down at you with a frown.

truth be told, the only person you really interacted with regularly other than thoma was jean. but she was always so busy all the time, so essentially you were (unintentionally) avoiding people as much as you could. sure if you passed by a friend in the city like diluc or noelle you'd say hi! you just.. never really actively sought out to hang out with other people, thats all!

you huff. "it's not my fault jean always has something going on.. i don't even really remember the last time i hung out with her."

he sighs, slowly releasing his hold on you and bending down to pick up the things he dropped. you pick at your nails, nervous as to what he would say.

"listen, i know how hard it is sometimes to talk with people," he starts with a soft tone. "but it's okay to let yourself out of your shell."

"i know.." you say, already looking down at your feet to avoid seeing his gaze on you. "i just can't help it sometimes you know.."

you feel his hand on your cheek as he tilts your head up to look at him, a smile on his face. he looked so pretty, gazing at you like you were the only person who mattered in the world, so so patient with you.

"remember when we first met? you wouldn't even speak to me let alone look at me after that incident," he says.

you groan and playfully smack his chest. "don't remind me.. oh my archons that day was actually the worst day of my life.."

truth be told, your first meeting with thoma was a.. tragic? event.. you were running towards the knights of favonious headquarters, forgetting you were supposed to meet up with jean for a rare day off. you ran too fast you didn't notice thoma walking from good hunters, a whole sweet madame in his hands before crashing into him, both of you crashing onto the floor along with the food.

being the gentleman thoma was, he obviously checked on you to see if you were okay before even thinking of his ruined food.

you however, felt like you should've crawled into a hole to die.

you were mortified, profusely apologizing and kow towing before him and throwing him a bag of mora as compensation before he could even get a WORD out to you. all you remember was running away and praying to lord barbatos he would quickly forget what you looked like. and sounded like.

but alas, he didn't. infact, thoma actively sought you out, wanting to return your mora as he didn't need it and to hopefully ease your worries.

he cornered you on the top floor of angels share, where you often stayed when you felt like being alone and wanting to feel like nothing in particular. you didn't even notice he sat across you until he talked.

"i don't think i caught your name last time we met. mine's thoma!" he said cheerfully, already pouring himself a cup of wine as you processed what was happening.

before you could run, he started yapping your ear off with facts about him and it strangely felt.. comfortable. like you didn't really need to try to do anything around him. perhaps it was his warm and comforting aura, or how sweet his actions and words were towards you.

he was your real first friend. and real first boyfriend at that.

but he was the one that chased you, and you didn't know what it was like to actively seek out someone to get closer with them. heck even jean was the one who first initiated your friendship, and your other friendships..

thoma grabs your hand and puts the bouquet in your arms. "all im saying is that you gotta learn how to put yourself out there more. not everything or everyone in the world is out to judge you," he reassures with a smile.

you look down at the flowers, thinking of how patient he was being. he knew that you were still quite reserved, but still never pushed you too far with his encouragements to engage with others more.

"okay.. i'll try next time." you say as you look up st him from beneath your eyelashes.

he pats your shoulders and bends down to your eye level. "promise?"

you nod. "promise."

he smiles and pecks the tip of your nose. "good! anyways, i smell rice cake soup! want me to set the table?" he says as he already starts walking towards the kitchen.

—

after dinner, you guys quickly clear up the kitchen and wash up for bed. you brush your hair as you wait for thoma to finish his shower, tying it in a low ponytail before heading under the covers.

thoma shortly finishes his shower, entering the bedroom in fresh sleeping clothes and damp hair. his headband is gone, which allows you to see how softly his hair falls around his face. you make space for thoma on the bed as he extinguishes the oil lamps around the room before getting into bed with you.

you cuddled up next to him, you head in the nook under his chin with his arm under your head acting as your pillow. you breathe in deeply, savoring his scent, smelling like comfort and home.

he pulls you in closer with his other arm, tucking you in closer with him as he brushes a few stray strands of hair away from your face before kissing your forehead.

"tell me about inazuma," you whisper.

he laughs softly, stroking the back of your head. "it'll be a long story you know."

"think of it as my bedtime story." you push back, looking up at him with a soft look in your eyes. he looks down at you, admiring your facial features. he thinks of how despite your aversion to people, you were still one of the kindest people he knew. he knew how much you loved him and how much you cared for everything you loved. he huffs a laugh and tucks you back under his chin.

"alright. but if you fall asleep in the middle of it i'm not repeating anything i said."

"'ts fine.." you mumble, already drifting off.

he notices, but still speaks into the night. squeezing you tightly to make up for years of not being by your side.

even if you didn't socialize as much as him, he still sees how much you try, and is proud of that. he thinks of this before drifting off to sleep, already planning to somehow get you to become friends with kaeya. but thats a problem for tomorrow.