You Are The Sun (and All That I Bask In)

you are the sun (and all that i bask in)

pairings (separately!) - diluc ragnvindr, kaeya alberich, albedo, childe/tartaglia, zhongli, xiao, kaedehara kazuha, scaramouche, dainsleif, thoma, arataki itto, gorou x gender neutral reader

word count - 3549

genre - fluff

format - headcanons + blurbs

warnings - kissing, skinship, sharing a bed, vague spoiler for dain's identity, consensual waking with kisses

summary - good morning kisses with the boys :)

a/n - this is my submission for @xiaosmoon's valentines collab for the 7th day prompt: good morning kisses! :) it's also my first post in a while (i'm a lil rusty on writing so forgive me if i don't make sense in some parts aaa), and i just wanted to say thank you all for the neverending support and love i receive on this blog despite my inactivity, it means the world to me :) i hope you enjoy the post! <3

diluc—☆

there's never a morning where diluc doesn't kiss you upon awakening

it's how he starts his day and as necessary and mundane as eating breakfast or brushing his teeth (or breathing, dare he say)

good morning kisses are among his favorites because to him, there's no better way to be welcomed into the waking world that with the softness of your lips against his

he'll sacrifice some of his time allotted for his morning routine, but it's worth it just to spend a few more minutes with you

his kisses are firm and bathed in unwavering love, yet they shield a trembling longing that's caged beneath the flesh of his skin. every ticklish traversal of your fingertips, warm from sleep, stemming upwards from the small of his back to the apples of his cheeks set his heart ablaze and body alight. you'd cup his cheeks and welcome him to the world of consciousness with a smile that rivalled the stars themselves and a kiss tasting of the remnants of sweet dreams.

diluc would murmur words of insistence: that with the sun's blossom over the rolling hills and mountains of mondstat, he too should rise and tend to his duties. but within your arms under thick, wooly sheets was where he longed to be and desired to remain. it was easy to persuade him to spend an extra five minutes wrapped up in your arms: embarrassingly so. he'd pay the price when he scrambled to get ready, sands of time running so quickly through his hands as he would later hop around on one leg with half his leg in the pants hole, ruby broach tugged halfway over his face.

but it was all worth it to spend just a little more time basking in the morning sun and waking up to the feeling of your lips on his. so he stays for just "five more minutes" and lets his lips and soul connect against yours.

more characters utc!

kaeya—☆

kaeya loves to wake you up in the same way each morning: with his kisses

morning sun is always too hot for someone like him but you ground him back in reality and let him know that to live is to burn as much as it is to freeze

there are no teasing remarks, no neatly folded smiles or careful laughs

just your sweet kaeya and his loving kisses to greet you with the morning sun

dawn was never preferable for a man who thrived in shadows: but you were a different kind of light.

gentle as a firefly, ethereal and milky as the moon and tender as lakewater in the depths of midnight: you were his sun if sunshine were bathed in an inky mist.

with his arms wound tight around your body and a caress of his thumb just beneath your eye—shut in bliss and slumber—kaeya observed the rise of dawn and felt his skin tingle with a cathartic release, leaving the calm rise and fall of your chest and gentle pitter patter of your heartbeat to soothe the aches and sores that came with the sun.

he'd wake you up first with a kiss to your forehead (because blessed was the brain beneath your skull that looked at him and found love, solace, and home). your nose would scrunch up adorably, but settle back to baseline; this would not do. then, another to your cheeks (both of them, because he loved how supple and sweet they felt beneath his lips). next were your eyelids, where he longed to see the beautiful (e/c) gems hidden beneath the tenderness of your skin and recite poems of love with nothing but his eyes.

finally were your lips, where you became his muse and breathed life into him. by this point, you'd awaken (though you usually awoke when he kissed your eyelids but feigned sleep with a tricky smile on your face) and wrung your arms around his neck to tug him closer; and he'd let you, just like he did every morning.

but kaeya decided to prolong his usual morning kiss routine with you today: the early morning sun fancied you a divinity and bathed you in its glow, and though he was just a mere sinner, he longed to lay within your embrace and commit every inch of your beautiful face to his memory by heart.

albedo—☆

waking up to albedo makes you question if you're still dreaming

he's most likely still asleep, resting after a fruitful day of work of all kinds

but even in sleep his love is more tender and sweet than a droplet of honey

albedo often woke up to the tickle of your fingertips gliding over his scalp, just barely grazing over the roots of his thick locks. but he preferred his eyes to remain shut just so you'd continue for a little longer. when he eventually did open his eyes, he peered into your own pools and saw within them his entire world and all that he loved.

albedo wasn't much of a poet: he preferred to pour his creativity into blossoming pieces of art from his fingertips. but when you laid so calmly and warm in his arms and peered up at him with what looked like twinkling stars in your eyes, a plethora of thoughts washed over him like a gentle tsunami.

"radiant", "exquisite", "luminous", "ethereal", were just a few adjectives that came to mind whenever you looked at him with the gentle caress of morning sun on your face and a hazy smile on your lips.

he was sure that the flowery words of love that he wanted to convey to you were translated over when his lips met yours and all in the world fell silent.

childe/tartaglia—☆

should he wake up first (which occurs more regularly), childe will first study your face as if he'd be quizzed on it later

but really he adores how the sunlight contours the grooves and dips of your face and his attention is tethered tight to your lips like a metal coil

try as you might to persuade him that your morning breath isn't worth his kisses—he won't listen

because when childe wants something, be it glory, power, or the world even, he'll do what it takes to get his hands on it

even the strongest of knights need a kiss from their beloved to start the day right

childe takes his opportunities by the horns and slings reins upon them so that with a flick of his wrist, they are putty or stone in his hands.

but it seems you were the one to saddle him first.

it frustrated him: all you had to do was lie in slumber, eyes shut peaceful and safe and calm, and his heart would be sent aflutter. when you awaken and caress his face; greet each of his freckles and swipe fluffy locks of ginger hair away from his ocean eyes and shield him from the red hue of early morning sun, he is putty in your hands.

he's only ever know the worn grips of sword and knife handles and the sharpness of finely tuned words and edges of blades and pointed arrows that jutted outwards and would draw blood if he pierced too hard.

but you are soft, tender, and warm; a far cry from the frigid temperatures of cooled metal.

his good mornings, sweet words, and bubbled laughs are muffled between intertwined lips and a dance of hearts and a tangle of your hands in his locks. your smiles are swallowed between his lips and they taste of sugary syrup (and he's reminded that you love pancakes, and thus an idea for breakfast is formulated in his mind).

you're in no need of any words to convince just how putty childe is within your arms: his lips that meld so sweetly against yours say it all.

zhongli—☆

zhongli is a creature of habit and finds stability in repeating little things in his daily life

one of these things is to brew you a cup of tea—just the right temperature, amount of sugar, and milk—and serve it to you just as dawn begins to break over the horizon

there's no better way to greet a day full of promise and opportunity than to spend it with you and a warm beverage

you are an ethereal creature more beautiful than any cut of jewel that zhongli has ever gazed upon in his entire life. even with a wrinkled shirt, dried drool on the edge of your oh-so-kissable lips which always stretched into a sleepy smile whenever his fingers brushed against yours, and the glossy glaze of morning mirth that never faded no matter how many times you batted your lashes.

the porcelain cup of tea that he had carefully set aside for you had surely gone lukewarm right now, but you had let him know how delicious it was upon the first, steaming hot sip with a pleasant hum and gentle smile on your face.

now you laid your head on his chest, searching absentmindedly for the gentle thunder of his beating heart beneath the soft, cotton fabric of his shirt. he'd shake you gently every now and then: a proper reminder not to fall back asleep yet as the day before you and him had yet to be greeted.

yet despite being the strongest of the adepti and the former holder of divinity, it is you who silences an archon with a kiss to his lips and a gentle pat to his cheek.

xiao—☆

sleep doesn't come to xiao; it's as unnatural as breathing underwater

so he'll stand guard and chase away the shadows and cobwebs that surround you while you sleep

and when morning finally comes, and you've awakened to your loyal lover at the foot of your bed, he's of no position to object when you beckon him closer

with your heartbeat as a lullaby, perhaps he'll learn what it's like to breathe underwater

"you're awake." his voice was quiet, gentle; careful not to rouse you from tender sleep too abruptly

your eyes still phased in and out of consciousness, body begging to hold onto the last remnants of your sleep but you surged forwards and ripped the tendrils of slumber from your arms to greet your lover.

"that i am," you breathed, and stretched your arms out towards him like a beacon of light, "come."

years ago he would've declined ferociously (because the burdens he carried are forever his and his alone to shoulder). but now he's learned: that his debt is not all he is, that he is allowed to feel joy and feel blossoms of warmth spread across his cheeks whenever you weaved crowns out of qingxin just for him.

crawling onto the bed, his forearms caged your head in as he hovered over you and brushed the tip of his nose against yours no more delicate than a flower petal. you smiled, and skimmed your palms set ablaze with sleepy warmth up from his wrists over his chilled, scarred skin, to his supple cheeks. a tilt of his head to the side and his lips were all yours—and what a feeling it was to dance a morning waltz to the distant roll and crash of the sea.

xiao pulled away first, bashful and elusive and breathless from all you give to and take from him, before settling his body onto yours, head on your chest to listen to the steady beat of your heart. bliss overcame him when your fingers carded through his locks, and he knew this was the closest he'd ever get to heaven.

kaedehara kazuha—☆

kazuha is never far, but when the sun rises so does he

the ocean breeze and gentle roll of the waves stirs something deep within him and he's compelled to go towards it

but he'll always be within reach, and he'll always go where your intertwined hearts desire

guyun stone forest was beautiful in the early dawn when not even the crystalflies had gone to bed and some of the twinkling stars in the mauve sky had yet to return to the inky blackness. the sea breeze ruffled his hair as if the anemo archon themself had caressed his head in silent prayer.

the winds sounded favorable and playful today, like the innocent twinkling of a dangling bell from a cat's collar; today's events would work in his favor.

a silent smile spread across his face when he felt a pair of arms encircle his waist, and a tender kiss pressed to his cheek—chilled from the sea breeze.

your head lolled into the crook of his neck as you peered out at the calm waves, tinted the color of sunsettias in their brightest bloom. kazuha felt your heartbeat pitter against his back and raised his arm (careful not to let you come near the blade that hung from his waist) as a silent invitation to come closer—and you did.

kazuha's lips nestled themselves at the soft, tender part of your head and murmured a "good morning" into your roots; and a special, secret part of him hoped that he'd always be able to wake up to rolling waves, the fresh scent of salt, and your embrace in the early morning.

scaramouche—☆

it's difficult for him to fall asleep, and stay asleep

it wasn't until recently that he had discovered that you acted as somewhat of a remedy to his sleep problems

but he'd rather let his pride stay lodged in his throat and block his esophagus than admit that he falls asleep much better when your hand in clasped in his and your body is snug, puzzle-pieced against his own

even with all his reservations, he always wakes up to your hand intertwined within his own, and his face snuggled into the crook of your neck

"you know," you started, voice still rich and heavy with sleep, "sometimes, you cry in your sleep."

he wasn't even aware he still did that anymore.

"preposterous. you're seeing things." he responded.

yet you squeezed his hand and ushered him closer into the warmth of your body with a shake of your head against the pillow. "i'm not."

silence engulfed the bedroom save for the twinkle of freshly fallen snow from outside the walls of zapolyarny palace, and a pair of morning doves landed on the branch just outside the window before scaramouche spoke again.

"is that why you hold my hand?"

you hummed in thought, lost to the tendrils of thought for only a brief moment before your answer rolled so fluidly out from your tongue without hesitation.

"no, i hold it because i love you."

he scoffed, though he knew that you knew he wasn't annoyed in the slightest when he squeezes his arm tighter around your waist and raised your intertwined hands to press a kiss to your skin. he'd always sleep soundly if you remained by his side.

dainsleif—☆

he's seen the fall and rise of the sun too many times to count

the first few times he'd ever witnessed such beauty were breathtaking moment that stuck with him forever despite the circumstances in which he was allowed to breathe in dewy morning air and see the brilliance of the sun for the first time

but the novelty eventually withered away and what remained was numb and cold

until you entered his life and reignited the childish wonder within him; you became his new, eternal sun

he always woke up much earlier than you did: two or three hours were all he really needed at this point. but he preferred waking up earlier, at the time which dawn slowly began to creep up over the horizon, stuck between that lamentful limbo of inky midnight blues and striking, tangy oranges and playful pinks.

your body was pressed tight against his; limp in his lap with the faint fan of your snores tickling the strands of hair at the base of his neck. unlike the sun with which he had once found novel beauty in, your beauty never ceased, the novelty never wore off, and even in sleep you blessed him with light and the luck that he possessed to be able to love someone as lovely as you.

you'd wake up and prop yourself up on his chest to give him a kiss and whisper a good morning, before pulling him back down to sleep within your arms without question.

thoma—☆

thoma's got a strict schedule he needs to maintain

which means he's here and then gone on a long, busy day of work

but that doesn't mean he doesn't set aside the perfect sliver of time in his morning to wake you up in the gentlest of ways and bid his goodbyes until afternoon

thoma would chide you whenever you forced your eyes open just to watch him hustle around the room and throw on his clothes for the day—because there was no need to watch him slowly cut the cord of morning bliss that tethered the two of your together. but you couldn't help it; even if for a moment all you wanted was to lay your eyes on the man you loved.

"go back to sleep, i'll come see you soon. it's a promise." he whispered, careful not to ruin the sleepy trance you were caught in as he drew the thick covers back over your body.

you knew he always kept his promises (even if he did show up breathless with a bouquet of flowers and two sticks of tricolor dango in his hands), but he still sealed them with a sweet kiss first to your forehead, then to your lips for extra measure.

arataki itto—☆

itto is restless and always ready to go at a moment's notice

this applies from the moment he wakes up till the moment he falls asleep

you'd define him as a bit of a menace who drags you out of slumber with him for a morning filled with giggles and tickles and maybe a few pillow fights

but you're the only one capable of subduing an oni; and he'll willingly submit if it meant he'd see that smile he loved so much on your face

you had become accustomed to waking up to the long tips of his nails tickling against the tender part of your skin where your nerves collected together in your armpits and sides. bubbles of giggles erupted from your throat as he mumbled a husky "wakey wakey, sunshine!" into your ear with a voice still caught on the edge of sleep and dreams.

plead and fight as much as you want, itto's strength knows no bounds and he won't stop tickling with sweet laughter of his own until you've got tears running down your face and a permanent smile on your lips.

before he knows it, he's on his back instead of hovering over you and you've straddled his waist with a triumphant smirk and eyes that glimmered with mischief and wriggly fingers that zeroed in on his armpits and neck.

but a kiss to your lips is all he needs to distract you from the impending revenge you desired for the tickle attack. and what could you say? the plea of a truce in his kiss was enough to subdue your fighting spirit and fall prey to his embrace.

gorou—☆

he's shy and still stumbling through the thickets of love and affection

but there's never a morning where gorou doesn't wake you with feathery light kisses that lead up from the ends of your shoulders to the tips of your warm ears

part of him doesn't want to stir you yet from sleep but the other part of him wants to see your beautiful eyes and talk about everything and nothing in the moment of morning where there was finally no need to rush to do anything

he didn't want to wake you up at first, but you had a knack for being in sync with him so when your eyes fluttered open a little after his did and your hand reached up to smooth his frazzled, thick locks, he felt a little less guilty for rousing your awake. you had probably become used to the little tingles that resounded whenever he pressed his lips against your shoulder and led up towards your neck, and you always smiled and reassured him that you loved being woken up with something as gentle as his lips.

gorou loved when your fingers would find the soft part of his ears and stroke them softly as if you were handling glass. his heart felt full and swollen with an indescribable feeling that he hadn't felt before (and it felt light and airy). you hummed out an interesting thought you had from the day prior, and let him run over the day's plans for his soldiers while you stroked his head and let him run his calloused and battle-scarred hands over your back.

if possible gorou wanted to freeze time in this exact window of time each morning and prolong the domesticity and sweetness of your morning talks for just a little while longer. all he's ever wished for was something stable, comforting, and sweet and he finds all that he has ever yearned for within your eyes and embrace.

date published: february 7th, 2022