#series: yhhom

[purpleqilinwrites]

yours, hers.

a/n: thoughts of ganyu, being half-adeptus and half-mortal, wanting to partake in the mortal custom of marriage with a fully adeptus reader who is also her lover has me in a chokehold! i am completely and utterly obsessed!!!

fandom: genshin impact

character: ganyu

genre: fluff

info: established relationship (you and ganyu are lovers); reader is an adeptus who fought in the archon war; this takes place pre-canon timeline

warnings: might not be canon-compliant; mentions of alcohol (both ganyu and reader are drinking)

synopsis: the humans created marriage to celebrate promises, and ganyu would like to make a promise to you.

word count: 1.4k

fluff-vember prompt: accidental proposal

part of the "yearning has hold of me" series.

fluff-vember 2023 masterlist is here.

Ganyu

There was a clink of porcelain against metal, dulled by the clear wine that filled the serving vessel. Ganyu tilted her head that was snug against her folded arms, and looked up at you from beneath the brush of her hair that partially hid you from her sight. You were stretched out with your back against a prominent root of the golden knotwood tree behind you, dappled light from the evening sun glowing about you and highlighting your beauty.

"All this sighing, and not once have you touched the wine," you said, playful, as you pointed to the eared wine cup sitting to her left, still clean and still empty. Ganyu could not help it when another sigh escaped her.

You raised your own freshly refilled cup in her direction, mouthing a "cheers" before you downed it all in one gulp. There was an easy smile on your face, and she felt warm from beholding you despite being completely and unfortunately sober.

She wanted her head to be as clear as possible about what she would like to suggest.

Ganyu lifted her head and her arms off the lacquered surface of the folding table, and she straightened her posture so that she was sitting upright with her hands to herself. The curiosity flickering in your eyes was the only indication she had that you noticed the new rigidity in your drinking companion. She wiggled her fingers in her lap as you poured some wine into her cup and then gestured for her to drink.

Perhaps one cup would be what she needed.

"I will drink it, if you would prefer not to imbibe," you said, smiling as you stirred the wine in the serving vessel and helped yourself to yet another portion.

Ganyu reached out for the plate of dried persimmons and put two slices in her mouth, rushing through the chewing and then the swallowing. She clenched and released her other hand, the one that was not sticky with the residue of fruit, and then clenched and released it once more in quick succession.

You remained unmindful of the avalanche contained in her as you sipped leisurely at your wine in between delicate bites of dried persimmon.

The wine was bittersweet on her tongue and exceedingly smooth in her throat. She found herself reaching for another cupful as she considered the body of the wine and the flavours that lingered with it. It had a mild sweetness like melons which was pleasantly balanced with a healthy dose of bitterness.

Between the two of you, you were not the one for nitpicking when it came to alcohol; she was far more picky about her alcohol than you were. Despite this, she trusted in your judgment of taste, which was why she was not surprised when she found the wine you brought out for her tasty. Ganyu was already lifting her third cup to her nose for a long inhale before she decided to slow down with a few slices of dried persimmon.

She placed her cup down on the table, empty once again but warmed up from the heat of the wine.

The sky was beginning to darken into night when she looked out at the same faraway place your eyes were fixed on, somewhere along the line of the sea that wove it together with the sky. "I was invited to attend another wedding tomorrow," she said, another piece of fruit in her hand to keep it busy. "That makes at least one wedding a day for all the days of the past month."

Your eyes came back to her at the mention of marriage, open and tender as you regarded her, and the look in your eyes emboldened her. More than any lingering warmth from the wine. More than any illusion of recklessness that indulging in the drink could possibly hope to induce.

Ganyu's intention had been to invite you to accompany her to a wedding since she had been given the privilege of a guest of her own. Just one wedding.

Perhaps, if she could find the words after, she was planning to ask you to move in with her in the new residential compound at Yujing Terrace since construction was nearing completion. Rex Lapis was personally overseeing it, and she had been allotted an apartment in the compound as a benefit for her service in the newly formed Liyue Qixing.

The apartment that would be hers was far too generous for one occupant, but appropriate for two.

There were many humans who sent out invitations to the adepti as a whole. For births. For the blessing of their newly built houses. For the opening of new shops and the founding of businesses. For engagements. For weddings.

Just like her, you had been invited to celebrate with the humans on many occasions, but you have never accepted.

There was something about having witnessed the many weddings she had that stirred something ravenous in her heart. She did not know her own heart to be particularly movable – which was a trait to be credited to her being part adepti – but there was something in the customs of a marriage that left her with the hunger to overlap with you in a way that was tangible.

Adeptal energy had a signature that only other adepti could identify. Among your people, there was no question of your relationship. Your adeptal energy was evident on her entire body, as hers was on yours. The other adepti could sense it. Some of them could even see it. Even more important than that was they respected it.

However—

When you visited her at the harbour in the temporary office building Rex Lapis had set up for her in her new role in supporting the governance of Liyue, would the humans know that she was yours just by looking? That you were hers? Would they even be able to discern the love that bound the two of you?

Marriage was a custom that the humans created to give importance to the promise of a forever that was attainable for them. Their lives were too short for any forever that spanned more than a hundred years. The adepti never had need of such a practice because any length of forever was entirely within reach.

Even so, Ganyu longed for it – the promise that knits two hearts together, celebrated in the manner that both humans and adepti alike could partake in with joy.

"I would like the two of us to have a wedding of our own to celebrate."

The night seemed to stop in its trek to pass over the orange-pink of the evening. The Geo crystalflies darting about like daytime stars seemed to hear a call to return home since the day was coming to an end. The rocks that made up the Guyun Stone Forest held their breaths. The sea that surrounded the two of you seemed to cease its motion and wait.

The sky and the sea and the stones and all the creatures about waited. Ganyu waited with them.

"Of course, Xiao Yu," you said, detaching your back from the knotwood tree root behind you and leaning in to close the distance. You reached for her across the folding table, scooping her hand up from the lacquered surface to clasp it in yours, and the smile that adorned your face was more brilliant than the rising sun. "In the mortal customs and with the blessing of our people, let's be joined."

Her next exhale flowed easily from her parted lips.

As her breath moved from within her to outside of her, so did any nervousness that gripped her heart. Her chest relaxed with your unhesitating acceptance of her marriage proposal. The realisation that her fretting was unfounded was beginning to dawn on her.

She reciprocated the grip you had on her hand in kind.

You once confessed to her many human lifespans ago, before the thick of the Archon War, that your hands were made only for possessing the things of blood and the things of destruction. Back then, Ganyu had neither the courage nor the eloquence to offer you her own differing opinion. These hands of yours were now lined with scars and hardened in many places from even more battles won, but she firmly believed they were made to hold hers.

She lifted your joined hands to her lips and hoped you understood her just the same.

[purpleqilinwrites]

only to us.

a/n: i went to play genshin for the first time in a while to see what's new, and i just ended up spending three hours walking around liyue with my wife ganyu! (what's new is wriothesley and his nice butt. 10/10.)

fandom: genshin impact

character: ganyu

genre: general / fluff

info: established relationship (can be read as either platonic or romantic); reader is an adeptus who fought in the archon war; this takes place pre-canon timeline

warnings: might not be canon-compliant

synopsis: it was time for new wine and new customs.

word count: 0.9k

part of the "yearning has hold of me" series.

Ganyu

The war was over, and a flurry of long-overdue celebrations brightened up the harbour.

While the people were busy making merry and drinking with the adepti, Ganyu found you among the rocks that formed the Guyun Stone Forest. Perched on one of the highest peaks jutting out against the bright blue of the sky, nestled in the shrubbery and trees that had begun to find a home on the things that were once weapons, you were lying on your back with your eyes closed and face toward the clouds.

The war was over, and it was the first time in a multitude of years that Ganyu had the pleasure – or was it relief? – of finding you in your human form.

"The crowds wore on me," you said, as a means of greeting, your voice echoing in the quiet. You beckoned her over by patting the patch of grass to your right, eyes still closed.

With the urgency that her experience in the past years has ingrained in her bones, Ganyu found herself running for most of the little distance between the two of you. She ran until she came close enough to take up room beside you, settling onto the grass and marvelling when she remembered it had not been there when she saw the Guyun Stone Forest formed.

The war was over, and she felt the need to keep reminding herself.

You rolled onto your side to face her, eyes now open. Ganyu mimicked your actions, shuffling closer and resting her head on a folded arm.

Your eyes burned into her, golden and unblinking, and she thought she might need to remind you, too, that the war was over.

"Rex Lapis was asking for you," she said, instead. "He'd like to share some osmanthus wine with everyone who fought with him."

The grass tickled her cheek as she spoke. A mass of clouds floated aimlessly in the otherwise empty blue expanse above the two of you. She waited for a response, alternating between watching a Geo crystalfly flit about some distance behind your head and watching you.

You kept your eyes fixed on her the entire time.

If it had been anyone else, Ganyu would have floundered under what felt to her like scrutiny. There had always been an intensity about you. It was not foreign to her, having been born and raised among full-blooded adepti and knowing the word would apply easily, believably to any one of them.

Even so, your gaze did not unsettle her the way that the eyes of others would.

"The mortals do make the best osmanthus wine," you said, finally. There was a smile teasing at the corners of your lips, a darting out of the tongue across your bottom lip as you imagined a taste.

She should have brought one of the smaller vessels from the harbour to share with you. There were too many offerings of wine to count at the makeshift shrine to Rex Lapis and the adepti in the camp at the foot of Mount Tianheng. Peacetime was new, and so the two of you could form a new custom of drinking out of the same cup of hammered iron. Perhaps—

You reached over to her and brushed a few stray strands of hair behind her ear, and it brought her out of her thoughts and back to the present with you. Before you could pull your hand away, Ganyu curled her own around the bone of your wrist and put your hand to her cheek.

It was cool to her skin, like the waters of the river in the Guili Plains of her girlhood summers. Familiar and always welcome.

"I found you," she said, echoing the words she spoke to you first, from a time long ago.

The breeze was beginning to pick up speed, ruffling her hair and then yours as it passed. A few amber leaves twirled about you. Your hair fanned out behind you, the breeze having run its fingers through the length of it, longer than it had been in years but still shorter than you were inclined to keep it.

Ganyu would like it very much if you would leave your hair to grow, for her. Selfishly, because she imagined you would be extremely attractive with your hair long. A little less selfishly, because seeing you with a blade in hand to trim your hair as close to your scalp as you could manage was a habit you had cultivated in wartime.

The war was over, and you could afford to live looking forward now that it was behind you.

You hummed, cupping your hand along her jaw, and stroked the pad of your thumb along her chin in tune with a song she did not recognise. "I knew you would find me," you said. "I know you, Xiao Yu. You always do."

Ganyu closed her eyes to better focus on the sound of your voice, on the touch of your hand. It was a folk song you were humming, one of the many that were native to the tribe of sea-dwelling adepti you came from. She could not remember if it was a lullaby, or if it was a hunting song.

The breeze tapered off, and the grass that sat between your body and hers stilled in their frantic dance. Your humming became louder as it filled the air, and this space that crowned the Guyun Stone Forest belonged only to her and to you. This space, where she was more alive than alive has ever been.

It was surely a lullaby, with how her eyes seemed to weigh heavier as her attention to your song began to wane.

[purpleqilinwrites]

yearning has hold of me.

— Sappho, from If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho (2002) trans. Anne Carson

through the years, there has always been a force that moved between you and ganyu — yearning.

relationship: ganyu / reader

info: reader is an adeptus who fought in the archon war; this takes place pre-canon timeline

warnings: might not be canon-compliant (please check individual entries for relevant content warnings!)

this is an open-ended series, so i will be adding works to it whenever i write something new!

the works are not in chronological order. they can also be read as a standalone pieces.

only to us. — it was time for new wine and new customs. general / fluff || wc: 0.9k

yours, hers. — the humans created marriage to celebrate promises, and ganyu would like to make a promise to you. fluff || wc: 1.4k

tag: #series: yhhom

[purpleqilinwrites]

tagging.

hewwo, this is how i tag the things here.

general

#admin || this is my housekeeping tag.

#kaija rambles || this is just me talking in general.

#kaija memes || sometimes i make low-quality memes to amuse myself.

#kaija answers: [ask type] || this is my tag for the asks i've gotten in the ask box, that i have answered. tags currently in use: #kaija answers: request; #kaija answers: ask; #kaija answers: secret santa; #kaija answers: ask games

#kaija recs || this is my tag for fics from other writers that i like. #kaija reblogs || this is my general tag for things that i reblog.

#kaija gets tagged || this is for all the times i get tagged!

#kaija's ask games || this is my tag for the asks games i have going on. unless specified otherwise, ask games are not time-sensitive!

#self-reblog || this is me reblogging my own posts.

#[fandom] || this is how you can find all the things on my blog in a specific fandom (includes my writing). tags currently in use: #black clover; #dungeon meshi; #genshin impact; #haikyuu!!; #jujutsu kaisen; #love and deepspace; #pokemon

#[event name] || this is how you can all the things on my blog about a specific event (includes my writing). tag currently in use: #event: au-gust 2021; #event: secret santa; #event: valentine's day; #event: fluff-vember 2023

content

#kaija writes || this is my writing tag across all fandoms and genres.

#kaija writes: [fandom] || this is how you can find all the things i've written in a specific fandom. tags currently in use: #kaija writes: black clover; #kaija writes: dungeon meshi; #kaija writes: genshin impact; #kaija writes: haikyuu!!; #kaija writes: jujutsu kaisen

#kaija in zine: [zine acronym] || this is how you can find all the things related to the zines i'm in. tag currently in use: #kaija in zine: ttsbtd

#drabble || this is how you find all the drabbles i've written (word count < 1.2k).

#fic || this is how you find all the fics i've written (word count ≥ 1.2k).

#headcanon || this is how you find all the headcanons i've written (bulleted lists).

#[genre] || this is how you can find all the things i've written in a specific genre. tags currently in use: #angst; #fluff; #general

#longfic: [longfic acronym] || this is how you can find all the things i've written for a specific longfic. tag currently in use: #longfic: tui

#series: [series acronym] || this is how you can find all the things i've written for a specific series. tag currently in use: #series: yhhom

#cw: [content warning] || this is how you can find or avoid all the works that contain content that is a possible trigger. tag currently in use: #cw: alcohol; #cw: suicide

content masterlists

#masterlist: main || this is the tag for the main masterlist for all my writing.

#masterlist: [fandom] || this is the tag for the masterlists for a specific fandom. tags currently in use: #masterlist: black clover; #masterlist: genshin impact; #masterlist: haikyuu!!; #masterlist: jujutsu kaisen

#masterlist: [event] || this is the tag for the masterlists for a specific event. tag currently in use: #masterlist: au-gust 2021; #masterlist: fluff-vember 2023

#masterlist: [longfic / series acronym] || this is the tag for the masterlists for a specific longfic or series. tags currently in use: #masterlist: yhhom; #masterlist: tui

miscellaneous

event-specific tags. tag currently in use: #codexsecretsanta