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[fall]
It's an uneventful Tuesday afternoon. The cool autumn air breezes around four men sitting outside Angel's Share. Diluc is only sitting with Kaeya, Cyrus, and Nimrod because he’s waiting to take over for Charles, but until then, he has to endure Kaeya griping about this and that with enough melodrama to put an entire theatre troupe to shame.
Presently, Kaeya's griping about his gloves wearing down from how much he's using his sword. For once, it’s not even a euphemism for anything.
Diluc judiciously keeps his mouth shut because calling Kaeya out on his custom gloves is very much a pot meet kettle situation. So undeterred, the cavalry captain grumbles on, showing where the seams unravel and the leather is near translucent.
"Man, I didn't know the Ordo would literally 'work you down to the bone'," Kaeya laments, rubbing at a spot Diluc knows is all hardened calluses. Cyrus and Nimrod nod in understanding, and they clink glasses in solidarity.
Diluc just levels them all with an unamused stare.
"If the Knights truly work you to the bone, why are you here on a weekday afternoon?" he asks flatly, ignoring the small pout shot his way from Kaeya. The puppy eye is fake, he tells himself. Do not cave.
Diluc eventually leaves the three to their own devices, taking the helm behind the bar and doing his damn job unlike the Knights. The three remain at that table until well past sundown. When Kaeya waves them goodbye, Diluc sees him rubbing at his fraying gloves again.
Two days later, there's a knock on the door to Kaeya's office. The man is hunched over a particularly dense report. Blue eyebrows are furrowed in thought, but his expression immediately brightens at the visitor. A blonde waltzes in nonchalantly, already quite at home in Headquarters, and plops a package wrapped in glossy paper on Kaeya's desk.
"Delivery for the most handsome man in Mond?" comes the Traveler's voice, light with laughter.
"Oh, a gift for me? You shouldn't have," Kaeya responds, mirroring the mirth. The Traveler is truly too fun to tease.
He gets two scoffs for his trouble, and Paimon nudges the box forward. "We didn't buy that for you! The sender wants to remain anonymous."
When the duo hustles off to their next daily commission, Kaeya unties the ribbon on the package. Something falls, metal hitting the desk's wood, and the light catches on two stars adorning a new pair of gloves.
There's no card or message with the gloves, but they're exquisite. Kaeya just smiles knowingly and tries them on.
They must've cost a pretty penny. Reinforced seams rest where they'd rub against a sword's hilt and polished metal crowning cutouts expose tanned skin without leaving it vulnerable. The sturdy but supple leather would last for another season or two at least.
The next time Kaeya visits Angel's Share, he gives Diluc a cheeky wave and wiggles his fingers, the gloves conspicuously on display.
Diluc looks away and doesn't bother greeting Kaeya outside of a curt nod, but the dusting of pink on his cheekbones speaks volumes.
- -
[winter]
It never gets too cold in Mondstadt, but winter still brings a nippy gale through the streets. People tend to huddle in coats and duck indoors for mugs of hot cider and mulled wine in an effort to keep the chill at bay.
Everyone expects Kaeya not to be as bothered given his Cryo vision, but in truth, he's freezing.
Will he ever say anything? Hell no. And if he ignores it, the cold never bothered him anyway. But in his youth, he had a predilection for wearing a turtleneck beneath his shirts and jackets for no reason other than he's cold. Obtaining a Cryo vision didn't make it much better.
Still, evil never sleeps, and evil happens to appreciate the sight of his collarbones and sternum. Come hell or high water, wildfire or blizzard, the tits stay out.
Diluc also looks at his collarbones and sternum, but he knows how when Kaeya thinks no one is looking, he shivers.
Diluc knows Kaeya craves warmth and desires it like a sunflower yearns for the sun. He also knows Kaeya purposefully withholds it from himself unless it's the simmering burn of alcohol in his veins.
That man will die of pneumonia before he dies of cirrhosis at this rate, and neither is an acceptable fate if Diluc has a say in it.
On one of the coldest days of the season, Kaeya steps out onto the streets of Mondstadt in a pale blue coat trimmed with fur. Everyone and their grandmother's jaws drop in admiration – who would’ve thought the Cavalry Captain could look even more regal? The felted wool hugs his figure, radiating warmth and class in spades, and a soft hood caresses his cheek like a tender lover. The entire city collectively agrees such a coat would suit no one else in all of Teyvat other than their beloved Captain.
When asked about where the coat came from, Kaeya simply responds, "It's getting chillier, so please take care of yourselves too! Can't have such a beloved citizen of Mondstadt falling victim to a cold of all things, can we? There are things even we Knights can do little about." A delightful non-answer, one that warms hearts without saying anything at all.
Of course, nobody is there to see the subtle curve of Kaeya's smile as he fiddles with a tassel on the coat’s hem.
Later that week, when he catches Diluc's eye during a meeting, he winks (blinks?) at the redhead and twirls the tassel. An identical tassel swinging from Diluc's coat waves in reply.
- -
[spring]
Spring showers bring precious Windblume flowers, but sometimes, those showers get pissed and turn into torrential downpour instead. The Knights are expected to operate rain or shine, but they also bring the rainwater in with them whenever they sit their sopping asses down indoors.
One sopping ass plants itself on a stool in Angel’s Share, dripping a messy puddle. Diluc wrinkles his nose at the mud and water Kaeya brings in with him, handing him a dishrag.
“Please clean up after your own mess,” he remarks. While Kaeya is busy wringing himself dry, Diluc slides him a warm (non-alcoholic) cider.
Kaeya pushes his wet hair back and grins in what he hopes is a roguishly handsome manner. He knows it works, even if Diluc ignores him again in favor of serving another patron.
When the long-suffering tycoon-vigilante-bartender isn’t looking, he adds a generous glug of something alcoholic into that cider. Diluc peers at him from the corner of his eye, but he says nothing and simply lets it slide.
Yet another tick mark goes onto the mental tab Diluc keeps running for Kaeya. Angel’s Share might not let patrons go on credit, but Kaeya’s snuck a nip here and a swig there far too often to not tally up.
“My umbrella got stolen by a lonely whopperflower that promptly got pissed because the umbrella wasn’t a mate,” Kaeya offers casually as a means of explanation for his sorry state, taking a sip from his drink. It’s completely ridiculous and totally implausible, but Diluc admits the image is a pretty funny one.
“I see the Knights can’t even be honest to sentient plants,” is all Diluc says.
Kaeya does as he is told and dutifully cleans up his mess, leaving not a speck of mud or drop of water. Why, he even helps clean up after Rosaria when she, too, strolls in soaked to the bone.
In true Mondstadt fashion, they stay until last call and then some. Rosaria eventually peels from the group, citing an allergy to unpaid work when cleanup begins. By the time everything is wiped down, only Kaeya and Diluc remain.
A quick peek outside shows it’s still raining quite heavily, and lightning strikes a few meters away rather ominously. The poor soul that wanders around unprotected in that storm would inevitably be shivering with fever the next day.
Diluc sighs and shrugs on his coat, resigning himself to his fate. He ducks behind the bar again and pulls out an umbrella from under the counter. “Here.”
The umbrella is tossed at Kaeya’s face, but he snatches it out of mid-air deftly before the moneymaker could incur damage.
“Mm? If you give me the umbrella, what about you?” Kaeya asks, raising an eyebrow. He turns it over in his hands- it’s sturdy and pragmatic, a black one with a handle of carved lacquered wood fashioned into a small owl. It’s…rather cute.
Diluc affixes the last button on his coat and beckons Kaeya closer. “I’ll get another one. For now, just...walk with me.” Never mind the fact that Mr. Ragnvindr has a coach and can get home comfortably inside a carriage or, heck, even on a horse.
Still, Kaeya smiles and bows with a flourish. “Of course. I would be delighted to escort a helpless citizen home.”
Diluc resists rolling his eyes lest they fall from his skull, but his tone holds no bite. “Other home. Not to the winery, just the apartment.”
The apartment. Kaeya’s apartment in the city.
Kaeya doesn’t comment on how Diluc didn’t refute the apartment as “home.” Instead, he keeps his mouth shut (in his best interests, really) and steps outside.
With a snap, the umbrella opens. Diluc steps under its span and locks the door behind him. It’s a squeeze for two grown men to fit without getting rained on, so naturally, they’re pressed close, shoulder to shoulder.
There’s nobody on the street with such horrendous weather at such an hour, but if there was, they’d see Kaeya walking with a person obscured by an umbrella, steps in sync.
- -
[summer]
Mondstadt's summers are busy, and the sun baking down on everyone's backs can test even the most patient of people. Diluc has never dealt with the heat well, and his abundant, heavy clothing doesn't help.
It's early afternoon when he makes his escape from the manor. There was a meeting with some buyers from Liyue, and the least he could do was be a gracious host to the men traveling such a far distance in such sweltering heat. Still, it's an ordeal, and Diluc's head hurts.
He makes a beeline for the water at the outskirts of the Winery to cool off. Off come the cravat and coat, folded neatly and set aside on a rock. Up go his shirtsleeves...at least until the risk of sunburn sets in. The perks of being so pale.
There's a spot by the water that he frequents when he wants to have some peace and quiet. A lone calla lily blooms there.
Faint footsteps approaching from behind Diluc make him tense, ready to fight the bastard intruding on his sanctuary. But the steps become familiar, the cadence almost as soothing the owner's heartbeat.
"My, what will the people say? The esteemed Master Ragnvindr looks so scandalous today."
Diluc slowly but perceptibly relaxes, ruby eyes closing.
"The people are not looking, and the one person who is only has one eye." But the fondness is impossible to ignore, and Kaeya takes it as invitation to plop himself down next to Diluc on the waterbank.
"And I am looking very respectfully," Kaeya quips. There's rustling that follows, and Diluc cracks open an eye out of curiosity. Out from a sack comes a glass bottle filled with dark liquid.
"Did you bring wine here?" the redhead asks, nose wrinkling in distaste. "Go daydrink elsewhere."
Kaeya waves his hand, smiling. "Smell it. It's grape juice."
Diluc opens his mouth to question why Kaeya would bring grape juice out here, knowing his distaste of the thing, but the man puts a finger to his lips and pats the bottle with his hand.
The juice begins to crystallize into ice, and a layer of condensation gathers on the bottle's glass. Kaeya whips out a cup and pours a generous portion of purple slush into it. With a flourish, he sticks a spoon in and holds the treat out.
"Enjoy. This ought to help with the summer heat."
Diluc looks at the cup incredulously and gives a snort of laughter. "Did you just make me a slush?"
Kaeya looks awfully proud of himself, and he nods with a grin. "I did indeed. Grape slush. If you don't want it, I could always eat it instead..."
Liar. Kaeya's not fond of sweets or grape juice on nearly the same level as Diluc is.
A fruity spoonful enters Diluc's mouth. Cold sweetness explodes on his tongue, a refreshing burst of flavor that melts after a heartbeat.
"It's almost as good as the cook's," Diluc declares, which is as high as his praise will go out loud. Still, it’s as good as a glowing review. When they were young, the cook's grape slushes were the most illicit and alluring of desserts, especially because Crepus forbade Diluc from having too much.
Kaeya's sighs and shrugs his shoulders in mock-resignation. "And mine is freshly made too. Tough crowd."
They sit at the waterbank in silence, keeping an eye on any slimes in the distance feeling adventurous. Diluc makes a sizable dent in his slush during the companionable silence.
Then suddenly, there's a red blur, and Kaeya ends up with a lapful of warm wine tycoon. Given how Kaeya usually runs on the cooler side, his skin must feel nice against Diluc's own.
When cold lips press against Kaeya's, they taste like grapes and affection.
It's Kaeya's favorite flavor.