𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄 , KAEYA A.

6 | GAME ON

― "𝐀 𝕸𝖔𝖗𝖆 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬?" ―

my mouth was left agape and i twisted my face in anger when kaeya happily took the stuffed toy from the vendor, giving me a smug look. he beat me by one point. one point!

"you were so confident. it feels good to see you so defeated." he said, his tongue slipping out teasingly.

at his words, i felt my anger fuel and i dug into my pocket for some mora before practically slamming the little coins onto the table.

"again."

__

"AHAHHAHAHHAH!" i laughed loudly, pointing at him. i proudly held the array of plushies in my arms.

"whatever. i won the first round."

"yeah, and lost the next 5. who would've known the captain sucks at festival games?"

after the first loss, i was utterly ashamed and had to suppress the urge to smack that smirk off his face. i found out after that the first time was only lucky (i was also just rusty until i got the hang of it), as i beat him by a large gap in the next few games. i smiled happily as i received another small stuffed toy from the old man in charge of the stall.

it was a small keychain in the shape of a yellow flower. it looked strangely familiar.

"those are dandelions." the owner perked up, seeing me analyze the object in confusion.

i muttered an 'ohh,' and nodded with thanks. i turned the object around and saw an adorable little wine bottle attached to the keyring, previously covered by the metal flowers. dandelion wine, i assume?

"that's the signature product of dawn winery and is widely famed as a mondstadt speciality. try it when you can!" the little man beamed brightly, and i smiled back at his display of kindness. i tucked the keychain into my pocket and held the other toys tighter in my arms.

turning around to kaeya, i wasn't surprised to see him sulking and pouting like a child, holding a single toy in his hands.

i felt overjoyed at his expression. proving people wrong is one of my favourite things to do, just like when everyone doubted that i will be able to follow in my father's footsteps. but when he had continued to look so solemn, i started to feel bad.

"aw, come on. it's not that bad. don't be a child."

kaeya huffed, refusing to meet my eyes.

i rolled my eyes at his childishness, "you're kidding, right? kae- captain, kaeya. come on."

a small smile tugged at his lips at my slip-up, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared. he still had his head turned away from me. i reached into my back pocket and took out the same keychain. i noticed he had been eyeing it earlier, so perhaps this may make him happy for now.

"here. i'll gift this to you."

kaeya turned his head to me slightly, muttering incoherent things but still taking the object from my hands anyway. he looked brighter, eyes twinkling when he saw the little wine dangling. he cleared his throat quickly after and placed it into his pocket.

"aw. do you feel happier now?"

he pushed my shoulder lightly, making me laugh. "shut up. you're so annoying."

"you deserve it for what you did to me today."

he rolled his eyes. "are you ever going to let go of that grudge?"

i looked at him baffled. "you haven't even apologized. why would i?"

speaking of which, i was feeling confused as to why he refused to say a simple 'sorry' even until now. it's like he was allergic to the word. it would definitely get rid of the underlying annoyance that still sat in the pit of my stomach.