Chapter Text
“Come on, Diluc.”
Ice clinks against the edge of the glass, the amber liquid inside coming dangerously close to sloshing over the edge every time he moves it. “Just a sip,” Kaeya wheedles. “How’ll you know if you’ll like it if you won’t even try?”
The glass is now close enough to bump against his elbow, and Diluc finally looks down with a long-suffering sigh. “We’re underage, Kaeya.”
“So?”
“I thought Charles refused to mix you the alcoholic drinks.”
“I found a way.” Kaeya shoots him a winning smile, nudging the glass again. “C’mon. Death After Noon – three parts dandelion wine, one part sparkling. It’s a classic, so you’ve got to give it a go.”
Diluc hesitates. Kaeya can see he’s wavering, so he presses on.
“Besides, everyone else is drinking.”
Of course they are – Angel’s Share is a tavern, after all, and a favoured spot for the Knights of Favonius to unwind during their downtime. Despite Diluc’s prodigious rise up the military hierarchy, the two of them are still teenagers and much younger than their coworkers. And you’re not really part of the group unless you tag along once in a while.
Kaeya never minds, really. Sometimes the men swap interesting stories, and it’s always easier to convince Charles to pour him a drink if he’s in the company of others. Diluc, on the other hand, is always so straight-laced that Kaeya finds himself wondering if he’s even enjoying himself at all when he sits, nursing that glass of juice all night.
“Just one glass,” Kaeya continues, and leans forward with a glint in his eye. “Unless you’re afraid it’ll be too much?”
Diluc sits up a little straighter, a frown tugging at his lips. He’s so predictable. “Not at all.”
“Then have at it.” Kaeya holds up his own glass as a toast, knowing he’s won this round. “Cheers!”
It takes about twenty minutes for Kaeya to realize that this had been a mistake.
Diluc made a face upon taking the first sip, but gamely forced himself to keep going. Now the half-empty glass is sitting abandoned on the table, while its owner is...
Well.
“Kaeya,” Diluc is clinging to him, but swaying so unsteadily that Kaeya’s forced to wrap an arm around his shoulder lest he falls off the stool and hits his head. “Kaeya, Kaeya…”
“What is it?”
Diluc pulls his head away from Kaeya’s shoulder, just enough to offer him a sweet, wholly affectionate smile. “Nothing. I just like being near you.”
He pillows himself against Kaeya’s side again with a happy sigh. Kaeya clutches at the table with his free hand and takes three shallow breaths, all-too-aware of the warmth pressing against him and trying to rein in the frantic beating of his heart.
Oh, Barbatos. He’d made a mistake.
“Kaeya?”
Diluc is looking at him again. His features are softer like this, more relaxed, and he’s sporting a luminescent blush that stands out in contrast against his pale skin.
Kaeya swallows hard. “Yeah?”
“You’re thinking hard about something.”
It’s not a question. And for all of the giggling and swaying that Diluc’s doing, he’s still speaking clearly and not any less observant.
“Just thinking that I didn’t expect you to be such a sweet, clingy drunk.” Kaeya slides the familiar, easy smile back onto his face like a mask, reaching out to pat gently at Diluc’s hair and running his fingers through the soft, fluffy strands. “You’re cute like this.”
Diluc pouts. “Only like this?”
He must really be drunk if he’s sporting lines like that. Kaeya chuckles, more genuinely this time. His hand trails down from Diluc’s hair, lingering lightly on his cheek and feeling the warmth radiating from his skin.
His heart feels full to bursting. Diluc’s looking at him with such a soft, trusting expression, and it’s these smiles that saved Kaeya all those years ago when he’d been abandoned in Mondstadt by himself. Whispers of endearments are at the tip of Kaeya’s tongue. It would be so easy to tip Diluc’s head up and close that distance between them–
Then Diluc tips his head, pressing his cheek against Kaeya’s palm, and Kaeya flinches back as if he’s been burned.
Diluc looks surprised, too, and his brows furrow downwards. “...What’s wrong?”
I want to kiss you, Kaeya thinks, followed immediately by a wave of self-revulsion and rapid chorus of, You’re drunk, you don’t like me that way, I can’t take advantage of you like this.
After all, Diluc is the young master and heir to the Dawn Winery, and he’s always shone brilliantly bright. Kaeya, on the other hand…
Just an abandoned spy, biding his time in a foreign land that’s become too much like home.
He doesn’t have the right to feel such things for his foster brother.
“Nothing,” Kaeya says instead, and guilds Diluc’s hand to the table so he can brace himself against it before standing up. “I’m going to go get you some water, okay?”
He lingers far longer than he has to, passing time by chatting up the pretty girl at the bar and only goes back once he’s sure his racing heart has calmed down again. Sliding a glass of ice-cold water down, Kaeya blinks when he finds Diluc already holding a cup and throwing back the last of its contents in one go.
“Wait, was that–” he looks at the empty place where Diluc’s half-finished drink had been before. “That was the rest of your wine.”
“Mhm.”
“...You didn’t like the taste, though?”
“Well, you’re the one that dared me to drink it,” Diluc’s gaze is less focused than before, and he’s no longer smiling. Right in front of Kaeya’s disbelieving eyes, he reaches for the second, mostly full glass of Death After Noon that Kaeya had been sipping.
“Whoa!” he stops him, pushing the glass of water into Diluc’s hand instead. “No more of that. I went to get you water, remember?”
“Yeah, and you sure took a while to get it.”
There’s an uncharacteristic bite to Diluc’s voice that has Kaeya hesitating, confused as to where the sudden aggression is coming from, and during that time Diluc reaches past him to pluck the second glass of alcohol off the table.
“Besides, I didn’t come to a tavern to drink water.”
It goes downhill from there. The air around Diluc is mostly gloomy now and he isn’t talking much, mostly taking small sips of his stolen drink every now and then. Unsure of what to do about his sudden change in attitude, Kaeya occupies himself by chatting with the other knights and waitresses, but watches Diluc out of the corner of his eye to check that he hadn’t gotten too drunk and passed out.
It’s about half an hour later that Diluc empties his second glass. His face is almost beet red now, and he’s swaying visibly in his seat. Kaeya watches as Diluc braces himself drowsily against the table, turning his head a couple times as if he’s not sure what he’s looking for, then finally tips over to lean against the closest person beside him – another man, who looks down in surprise before laughing and raising an arm–
"Alright, that's enough," Kaeya intervenes, tugging Diluc back and allowing the redhead to slump against him, head dipping limply to rest on his chest. Diluc's skin is warm against his own, hot puffs of breath breezing against Kaeya's collarbone in a way that has Kaeya hastily rearranging their positions, throwing Diluc's arm over his shoulder and supporting him as they stand up. "Time to go back home."
Diluc makes a sleepy sort of noise, squinting as he looks up blearily at Kaeya. "What," he's definitely slurring now, half-heartedly trying to brush Kaeya off. "You're finally done cha...chatting up other people?"
Where did that come from? "I've had enough for one night, and I think you did too," Kaeya says firmly, dragging Diluc along as he heads for the door. "Let's get going before you fall and break your nose."
He only pauses to wave at Charles before leaving, and then they were out into the cool evening air.
Their manor at the Dawn Winery is several hours of travel away, but they have an apartment in the city too – Master Crepus had been all too happy to arrange it for his sons, saying that they’d need to rest well to attend to their knightly duties. It’s only a short walk from Angel’s Share, which Kaeya finds himself immensely grateful for as he drags Diluc’s staggering form up the street.
“Geez, who knew you’d be such a gloomy drunk? You started off in such a nice mood, too…”
He mutters it mostly to himself, but Diluc is evidently still conscious enough to catch on. “Just who…” he stumbles, slurring. “Just who’s fault do you think it was?”
“Yeah, I know,” Kaeya drawls. “It’s my fault for daring you–”
It’s a pretty reasonable answer, he thinks, but Diluc responds by kicking him in the shin and sudden movement almost sends both of them sprawling across the cobblestone floor.
“Hey, hey – I’m the only thing keeping you upright, you know!”
When he finally drags Diluc through the doorway, it’s with no small amount of struggle. Diluc is practically dead weight against him as Kaeya struggles to help him take off his coat, the two of them tripping over each other to the bed in the dark after he forgets to light the lamp upon entering.
“Maybe you shouldn’t drink again,” Kaeya grunts as he finally tosses the coat away. “Not if you get like this.”
Still, his motions are gentle as he helps Diluc sit, then lay down on the bed, tugging him away when he’s in danger of bumping against the headboard. Diluc simply gazes back at him with hazy, half-lidded eyes, and for a moment Kaeya thinks he probably isn’t even listening anymore, but then–
“You...didn’t act like your usual either…”
“Huh?”
“You’d buy girls drinks...chat them up…” Diluc’s head tips back, eyes drifting away to gaze at the ceiling as his body relaxes. “But you didn’t...even though, with me...”
Diluc trails off with a soft sigh. Kaeya waits, but there’s no follow-up – and a few moments later, he realizes that Diluc’s eyes had slid shut, his breathing evening out.
He’d fallen asleep.
Moonlight casts an almost ethereal glow on Diluc’s features, the cascade of red hair across the bedsheets and faint blossom of pink across his snow-white skin. Kaeya’s seen him like this countless times before, had often snuck glances when he knew Diluc wouldn’t notice, but it never fails to steal his breath away each time.
God, he’s so…
Kaeya barely realizes when he’s started to lean down, almost in a trance, and only pauses when he finds himself hovering over Diluc’s sleeping form. There’s so much want in his heart that he really does feel like it might burst. He’s close enough to feel the small puffs of air when he exhales. Close enough to–
Just a little more, and their lips slot together.
Diluc’s lips are soft and warm, a gentle flame like the pyro vision he holds; like the steadfast kindness he always extended to others without fail. Kaeya sucks in an unsteady, ragged breath. Some part of his brain is already screaming for him to stop, to pull back before he can wreck their relationship beyond repair for his own selfish wants, and yet...
A little nudge and Diluc opens up for him, so nice and pliant that Kaeya can almost pretend he’s willing. The taste of alcohol is still strong on his tongue but with a hint of sweetness as Kaeya licks into his mouth, tentatively at first and then much more roughly, one hand rising to cup Diluc’s cheek and tip his face up to a better angle.
It’s intoxicating, and he can’t get enough.
Only when Diluc shifts, letting out a small moan, does Kaeya finally snap back to his senses, jumping away and almost tripping over himself in his haste. The frantic thump-thump-thump of his heartbeat fills his ears as he looks over to the bed in panic, but Diluc doesn’t seem to have woken up, and merely mumbles incoherently before falling silent again. His lips shine in the moonlight, wet with saliva and just a little bit swollen.
Kaeya just about throws himself out of the room, slamming the door shut and pressing his back against it before sinking down with his head in his hands.
I’m the worst.
All that determination not to take advantage of Diluc’s clingy affection in the bar, and what did he end up doing? He’d made out with Diluc while he was unconscious and vulnerable.
I really don’t deserve this.
Not like any of that is news to him.
With a bitter laugh, Kaeya pushes himself back onto his feet and stumbles for his own bedroom, shedding his jacket as he goes. He absolutely can't act on these urges again. And if Diluc somehow remembers this tomorrow, then he’d more than deserve whatever punishment is about to come his way.
But, until that happens...
Staying with you as your foster brother is more than enough.