𝕦𝕟 / LUCKY *

@jinxbe​ asked: laugh + !! || nonverbal asks - accepting !!

they decided on cereal for lunch, after spending time in her flat while barbara messes around with chords and lyrics and bennett provides emotional support (and steals the affection of her pets) all morning. it’s a rare day off and the kind of lazy morning barbara’s come to adore, slow and sweet as syrup.

things, of course, start to go wrong while she’s grabbing the bowls and cereal and leaves him to the milk, and right when barbara’s thinking that their luck is holding for a suspiciously long amount of time the carton hits the floor.

“ hey, ” bennett starts, shrugging as peony trundles over to lick up the mess. “ no crying over spilled milk, right ?? ”

and it’s mean to laugh at bennett, too close to punching down or outright bullying, but then bennett’s laughing, light and sweet and barbara can’t hold in her snort any longer. there’s a beat of silence, like he’s realizing what he just heard, but then — — — they both dissolve into stitches, high and bubbling and happy happy happy in a way barbara hasn’t felt in ages with anyone but — well, anyone but bennett.

        a crossbow bolt flies past his ear, near enough that the sound vibrates ——— how wonderful that he avoids what could have been an EXCESSIVELY BLOODY MESS / or, at least, becoming entirely blind here on the surface where there is the oppressive light of the sun / and he twists, blade flashing through the air as he turns to cut down the bandit, metal clashing as they shove his blade aside through sheer force alone and / drives his own blade through his chest, frost blossoming from the point of entry long his skin. THIS had been something of a surprise, what had been meant to be a rather straightforward reconnaissance trip had turned into a rather bloody mess by nature of running into a camp of unfriendly ruffians. shame, really. kaeya much prefers the FRIENDLY ONES.

        THEY AND BENNETT CAN DEAL WITH THIS EASILY ENOUGH / there are only so many bandits and the pair of them are much better trained in comparison ——— naturally, given that kaeya had been the one to primarily train bennett in the art of swordplay. it’s evident in the way that bennett holds his sword, in the way that he dives for his opponent, the rhythm with which he moves through his footwork / less so in the fine detail—work, in how bennett ATTACKS ( faster quicker frenetic energy overflowing. ) kaeya had only come along to help train him when bennett had already taught himself some things, after all.

        ( there had been the debacle involving kaeya’s teleportation and, perhaps they had insinuated that bennett could very well LEARN HOW TO TELEPORT through sheer force of will alone, because kaeya, himself, had learned much the same way that bennett had ——— lie ———  but, in the end, bennett’s disappointment over the fact that he couldn’t teleport led kaeya to reassuring him that this form hardly required teleportation, and it’s quite acceptable to omit that part from this form / there had been a master swordsman who practiced this form who found himself incapable of teleportation as well, in fact. et cetera. )

        it shouldn’t take terribly long to dispatch this lot / kaeya sends a blast of cold at an incoming enemy and glances over at bennett / JUST TO MAKE SURE. bennett can take care of himself, there’s hardly any doubt about it, and it’s less that kaeya is checking to make sure he’s safe and far more than they must always have a full view of the battlefield ——— you can hardly be in control of it without categorical knowledge / and kaeya kicks against an enemy’s chest, sending them flying into one of their lovely friends.

        SIX LEFT AND FOUR REMAINING, a singular crossbowman to the distance and three holding rusted swords, chipped and slightly too dull, two of those three with extra daggers on their persons which look like far more of a threat than the swords, if only they could manage to get close enough. if they were able to dispatch the ones with daggers then bennett should be more than capable of eliminating the final swordsman while kaeya dealt with the crossbowman. granted, the distance fighter should have been dealt with earlier, but he’s terribly slow with reloading and an awful shot / the thought almost makes kaeya want to LAUGH as he twists, movements always fluid / before feeling a hand close over their arm and a strong pull that kaeya throws their weight into instinctively. it’s BENNETT’S HAND, he can tell instinctively, gloved and small fingers, and as kaeya’s weight shifts and bennett pushes ahead of him he can see, what with the clear view they have over bennett’s head, that there had been yet another bandit, WHOLLY UNACCOUNTED FOR, lunging for them.

        where had they miscalculated? had this one been apart from the rest, off checking the perimeter or else taking a piss? waiting in the wings? the last option is impossible ——— call it ARROGANCE if you wish / but kaeya had ensured that the immediate area had been no more than KAEYA AND BENNETT AND THEIR TEN LOVELY COMPANIONS / and eleventh hadn’t been in the cards, though it changes little other than surprising them, and thereby IRRITATING HIM.

        bennett’s hand leaves their arm as he darts forward, blade at the ready, not even pausing as a blade drives cleanly through his shoulder, leaving a rather deep cut there that begins to bleed immediately / giving bennett an opening to slice once, twice, and then upward, driving the attacker back. kaeya gives his injury a slip of a thought, reassessing and calculating quickly and finding that his FORMER THOUGHT PROCESS STILL APPLIES and it’s quick enough to dispatch the remainder. less than a minute, in fact, between kaeya leaving bennett’s side and returning, leaning down to peer at the injury properly.

       -❝ another battle scar to add to the collection, ❞ perhaps he shouldn’t joke about this sort of thing but it’s not as though THEY AND DILUC AND JEAN hadn’t been on the field with the knights since they were bennett’s age ( … ) so very young.

       ❝ oh, it’s nothing, ❞ bennett says, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling, bringing up the hurt shoulder in something of a shrug. kaeya catches a FLICKER OF A WINCE, poorly hidden, ❝ just a bit of a cut, that’s all. ❞

       ❝ now, bennett, ❞ kaeya tuts teasingly, pressing two of his fingers against bennett’s radial pulse just long enough to feel the reassuring thrum, ❝ what would barbara say if she were to hear you speaking like that? ❞

        bennett laughs / looks abashed for a moment, foot kicking against the ground ( he’s so young so young far too young for all of the tragedy that life has chosen to place upon his shoulders, SO TERRIBLY YOUNG ——— it’s a pattern, isn’t it? is mondstadt a BEACON FOR DESPAIR? they’d hardly be surprised, if so ) as he glances at kaeya, watches them pull a clean scrap of cloth from their bag, and bennett shifts closer obligingly. ❝ well, when you put it that way… i wouldn’t want to disappoint her, ❞ such a kindhearted kid. there’s hardly any shortage of those, is there?

        ( diluc had laughed like this once / diluc had been bashful and kind and CHARMING once / wide eyed and luminous and burning burning burning ALIGHT FOR MORE ——— the pair of them aren’t the same, not by half, but they are so so very similar. similar enough that it makes their chest ACHE, memories settling in the cracks of his foundations, freezing on contact, prying them ever wider. )

       ❝ nor would i, ❞ kaeya agrees so very solemnly, ❝ arm up, if you would. only slightly, that’s more than enough ——— i’ll just need to apply pressure so we can get you back to barbara before you BLEED OUT. though perhaps we leave out how you got hurt… unless you want to see that furrow in her eyebrow, that is. ❞

        bennett laughs again : SO VERY BRIGHT / it hurts to hear as the light hurts to see. they tighten the makeshift bandage accordingly, patting bennett’s back when he winces with the pressure. ❝ well i don’t want to worry her. ❞

        A NOISE SO QUIET IT HARDLY CARRIES ON THE WIND ——— he catches it only because his senses are on alert, intent and waiting, eternally waiting. one can never be too careful when traversing the fields and mountains and valleys of mondstadt, after all, when you’ve made both friends and enemies both of thieves and other troublemakers / not to mention the abyss mages which linger and lurk and are drawn to him. watch him. KNOW THEM / though whether or not they approach is wholly dependent on the monster in question. ( at times he wonders if the abyss has changed them so, has twisted them in such a manner, has changed them so deeply and is there a khaenri’ah left? no, not truly / the sun shone on the eclipse dynasty lifetimes ago / and it BURNED ALIVE. )

        but he catches it, he catches it. a hitch of breath, something wet—sounding and choked, a quiet sniffle. it’s enough to give him pause ; after all, if SOMEONE IS HURT then he can’t continue on / not when there aren’t other pressing matters at hand ( call him COLDHEARTED if you wish / you’re hardly wrong / but PRAGMATIC is accurate, as well, and they’re good at their job for a reason ) and he’s returning to mondstadt proper. so they pause in their near silent movement, head tilting as he tries to locate where the noise is coming from, turning slowly on the spot, head tilting back to gaze up into the starry night sky. after a moment he hums to himself and turns / taking off to the northwest, slipping his way through trees and stepping over roots, slowing as he draws nearer.

        he’s not especially difficult to find ( even taking into account kaeya’s perfect vision at night ). his ash grey hair practically glows in the darkness, lit by the moon’s glow, and kaeya pauses entirely, lingering between the trees and WATCHING / eternally watching. assess / then act. compulsive actions are for elder brothers who allow their emotions to rule them ( ACTING WITHOUT THOUGHT had never ended especially well for kaeya / they have the burn marks to prove for it / for grief—driven madness and the desire to confess / though he had known always that diluc would never truly kill him, simply make him suffer ) but after a moment kaeya circles around, checking the perimeter, before he steps into the moonlight.

       ❝ bennett? ❞ he calls through the night, voice quiet and carrying, as if to avoid disturbing the night sky, itself. here there is only THE MOON as their witness / the stars as their observers. bennett is sitting with his knees to his chest and his face buried there, arms tight around his shins / looking small and fragile / and he STARTS at the sound of his name, head raising from his knees, eyes wide and bright with tears as they stare at kaeya, unseeing for the first few moments ——— vision too blurry, they suppose.

       ❝ kaeya, ❞ bennett’s voice breaks between the syllables of their name and he looks SHAMEFUL, for a moment, and embarrassed. well, it’s hardly as though being found crying is an ENJOYABLE OCCASION for anyone, especially when so very young ( when kaeya had been that age he had hated when diluc or jean or barbara found him crying / they had not cried MUCH by that point in their life, far more prone to tears before the age of twelve, but all the same. ) ❝ i ——— uhm. ❞

       ❝ are you hurt? ❞ it seems like a KINDNESS to allow bennett off the hook of explaining so abruptly, and kaeya starts walking closer still as bennett seems to begin shrugging, before settling on shaking his head no. ❝ let’s return to mondstadt, shall we? surely it will be more comfortable there. ❞

        THAT simply causes bennett to shake his head again, even harder, and kaeya’s eyebrows raise. the ferocity with which bennett is refusing is objectively suspicious ——— he wonders if something happened once more. BENNETT IS A GOOD LAD, a good kid, kindhearted and hardworking and beaten down by the circumstances with which life had handed him. by the people he had surrounded himself with by chance. there are few things different with the bennett that sits before him now, swallowing his sobs, and the bennett that he had found so many years ago / lifetimes ago, training on his lonesome, and offered to help TRAIN HIM. it had been half a joke at the time, but bennett had been so enthusiastic that kaeya could hardly deny him ——— and so he trained him. and so bennett adopted kaeya’s swordplay ( … ) mostly.

       ❝ no… no i don’t, ❞ bennett breaks off, hiccupping. tears are still pouring down his face and kaeya feels a pang of SYMPATHY for him, for his luck / or un—luck, as it were. they give him a once over as best as they can manage with the way that bennett is curled in on himself but / it doesn’t LOOK like he’s hurt. no bruises nor scrapes nor blood, unless it were a head trauma, and they would HOPE that bennett wouldn’t try to hide something so severe as that. then again…

       ❝ you’re certain you haven’t injured yourself? haven’t hit your head? ❞

       ❝ y… yes, kaeya. ❞

       ❝ then i suppose i’ll keep you company, in the meantime, ❞ kaeya seats himself comfortably beside bennett, leaning against the same rock that bennett had situated himself against, knee bent and elbow draped and other leg splayed, leaning back to look at the sky once more.

       ❝ you, ❞ another hitched noise, ❝ no i’m sure that you’re… busy. ❞

       ❝ keeping you company sounds far more entertaining than the paperwork awaiting me in my apartment, ❞ kaeya offers bennett a SUNNY SMILE before looking at the sky once more / offering him a modicum of privacy to cry. ❝ did you know that i once tracked down an infamous thief well known for her skill at changing her appearance? some said that she was a CHANGELING, a creature from the abyss who could simply morph. she had come to mondstadt as a singularly talented DANCER and had stolen the chalice of barbatos ——— ❞ it’s easy enough to weave together a thrilling tale of knighthood and forbidden romance and conflict.

        that none of it is ACTUALLY TRUE is neither here nor there ( … ) whether or not bennett remembers it hardly matters either. it’s noise for distraction, to anchor, to draw bennett’s attention elsewhere, to pretend as though kaeya isn’t hearing every last one of his quiet sobs and hitched breaths and muffled sniffles. no one likes being heard crying, after all.

        kaeya only stops talking ( near the end of this tale when he had been contemplating whether to let the infamous thief go or to arrest her at last ) when bennett has fallen quiet and a soft pressure lands on his shoulder / and when they look, bennett has slumped over : sound asleep. THERE IS STILL A FURROW IN HIS BROW, tension in his expression, too distressed for a boy so young. kaeya hums briefly, something melancholy from his childhood ( long ago, indeed ) and glances at the sky once more / at how the moon has shifted / before he twists carefully so as to avoid disturbing bennett and waking him. and STILL SO CAREFULLY kaeya slips an arm beneath bennett’s knees and draws him away from the rock, supporting his back with his other arm, and heaving himself to standing.

如遇失道旷野之难，路遭 贼人之难, 水火刀兵之难､鬼神药毒之难、恶兽毒虫之难、冤家恶人之难、便呼我名。三眼五显仙人、魈、听召、前来守护。    if you awake to a knife at your throat,     if monsters dig their claws into you,     if death comes knocking at your door    …    call out my name.     adeptus xiao.     i will be there when you call.

i posted about this on twitter ( @.lavorric + @.hcneyOTU hmu ), but there are people bennett doesn’t like & will not even pretend to be cordial to whenever they’re around. these people include :

     - albert      - whoever came up with the fischl dictionary joke      - hopkins, jotun, & draff ( assuming he’s told about razor’s story quest )

what you might notice is that this list doesn’t include his former adventuring party, people who have spoken poorly about him, or really anyone who has otherwise treated him wrong. that’s entirely because bennett thinks those people are wholly justified in their behavior towards him, considering all the misfortune he has probably brought them. 

@jinxbe​ asked: 7+ 20 !! :> bestie hours || hug asks - accepting !!  7 - a hug where one muse picks the other up 20 - an overjoyed hug

bennett’s sprinting towards her before she can piece together why — the frostarm lawachurl is downed, there isn’t anything behind her, right ?? —  oh. he’s excited and wants to celebrate. a bit of anxiety melts off. bennett stops short, arms out, waiting for barbara’s nod (a system they’d worked out long ago for days she feels fragile enough to crack under the lightest touch, with silent communication so neither feels embarrassed) before continuing. 

barbara always forgets how strong he is until she’s lifted a few centimeters off the ground. his sheer joy makes up for their height difference, and it’s so infectious that she drops her mask of composure and hugs back. she’d been ready to dismiss his praise (‘you were amazing, babs!’) — claim she didn’t do anything important, that support was her job and bennett was the one who did most of the work anyways — but finds the words slipping out of her mind, caught up in laughter.