You had been there through it all—his brightest days and his darkest nights. From the moment he lost his father, to the rage that burned through him as he chased revenge, to the cold, distant man he had become. The boy who once smiled so freely, who dreamed of protecting Mondstadt with honor, had buried himself beneath the weight of his past.

But you refused to let him stay trapped there.

As his childhood friend, you had seen every version of him. As his partner, you vowed to bring back the warmth he had long abandoned. You never pushed—he wasn’t one to open up so easily—but you stayed. You were there when he needed silence, and you were there when he needed a hand to pull him back from his own thoughts.

At first, he resisted. Old habits, old wounds—he thought they were permanent. But then he’d catch himself softening in your presence. His walls didn’t feel as necessary when you were near. And slowly, carefully, you started to see it. The way his touch lingered a little longer, the way his eyes softened when they met yours, the quiet moments where he allowed himself to breathe.

Maybe he wasn’t the same boy he used to be. But with you, he didn’t have to be trapped in his past anymore.