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By the time Kaeya was an adult, him and Diluc had lost complete contact with each other, and only rarely saw the other on the streets of town every few months or so. Even when one was with a mutual friend and saw the other, the brothers would just out right avoid each other.
This went on for 4 years.
And no one knew why.
Except Jean, who was close friends of both.
Diluc always had this sort of jealousy towards Kaeya, yet Kaeya didn't know why. He never could.
So that's why Kaeya broke contact four years ago. It was for both of their sakes.
- - - - - - -
Kaeya sighed softly as he stood at the entrance to the local town bar, Angel's Share.
His eye glanced through the glass door, attempting to see if a certain bright red haired male was inside. Though his vision was obscured due to the amount of people inside.
"Might as well.."
He mumbled to himself, walking close to the doors and opening them. Once inside, he glanced around again. Nothing. He almost felt relieved. Almost though. The only reason he walked into this specific bar and not any off the others he regularly went to was because he was searching for someone. And with no sight of that parson, he felt defeated in a way. The one and only time he came here, and no sight of the owner, even though Kaeya swore he saw the owner work on Thursdays at this time. Was the owner on vacation? Late? Sick? In an office or bathroom?
Kaeya let another sigh out and just went to the bar.
"I'll just take a shot of whiskey."
He spoke to the bartender, glancing off to the side. The bartender handed the male what he order rather quickly before walking off. Kaeya raised a brow to this, but didn't really have the energy to care. He took the small glass into his right hand and quickly downed the shot.
"Fuck, that's the good shit."
He mumbled, smirking almost.
He might as well stay, he really wanted to speak to the owner. Reunite perhaps?
- - - - - - -
Kaeya got to Angel's Share around 6:30-ish pm. It was now 11:49 pm. He had taken small shots of the same whiskey around every thirty to forty minutes, and was about to take his nineth shot. Besides the bartender and himself, there was oddly no one else here. Weird, considering it was Thrusday. Was tomorrow some special event? Kaeya pulled out his phone, hitting the power button with his thumb. The bight screen turned on and killed his eyes, but after a few seconds to adjust, he could read the date. It was only the 29th of April.
Today was nothing special, right?
Or were closing times just early on weekdays?
Oh right, people had lives and work. Not everyone could drink on Thursdays. Lucky for Kaeya, he was a self employed business owner of a small winery, and could work whenever and how ever long he wanted.
He sighed, placing his phone back into his pockets with his left hand. With his right, he held his head and sighed.
He couldn't remember why he was here again. His memory was hazy. Downsides to being drunk.
A second sigh escaped his lips as he looked around the bar.
Maybe he should just give up what he was originally here for and go home.
He took a moment to think and attempted to remember the last few hours.
Why the hell was he at this bar he avoided at any cost?
"Sir? Are you alright?"
The bartender spoke, causing Kaeya to snap out of his thoughts and worries. He looked at the person and grinned.
"Just peachy."
He unknowingly said in a sarcastic tone. The bartender nodded, going back to cleaning a glass.
"You're Kaeya Alberich, right?"
"Yes, that's me, the one and only."
"Mister Ragnvindr has told me many stories of you. Good, don't worry."
Kaeya blinked in slight confusion. There were good stories about himself? Let alone more then maybe five? Impossible.
"Like that one time you threw a fake snake at mister Ragnvindr and cause him to scream. And that other time the two of you were bickering, and mister Ragnvindr's father decided to turn it into a fun water gun battle to ease the tension. He's told me many, many more. You two seemed to have a great bond."
The blue haired male sniffled, glancing away. And soon, it came back to him. The reason he was here. He wanted to finally make peace with his brother, who was now the owner of this bar, mister Diluc Ragnvindr. Today was the day before Diluc's brithday, and Kaeya wanted to celebrate as brothers again, like they did years previous.
"Do you know where he is?"
Kaeya asked, holding back tears of pure regret.
"Yes. He's in the back office over..."
The bartender paused, pointing to a door with an 'Employees Only' sign on it.
"There."
Kaeya nodded, silently thanking the bartender with a simple nod as he stood to his feet. His legs were shaky and slightly unstable, but he needed to see his brother. making amends was his top priority, his health could wait.
He stumbled over to the door, which was sadly across the bar, and he had almost tripped a good three to seven times. But eventually, he was there.
His eye glanced at the door handle, and he went to reach for it with his left hand but, he hesitated.
It was a brief hesitation though. He was a little too drunk to listen to his subconscious at the moment.
Kaeya opened the door and slipped inside, quickly closing the door behind him. He looked into the room, it was a nice office. It didn't remotely fit the theme or aesthetic of the bar. It was actually quite... comforting in a way. It felt safe, warm, and like his room as a child.
Wait, why would it be like his childhood room?
He shook the thought off and carefully walked, more stumbled, further into the office.
And that's when he saw him.
"Diluc?"
- - - - - - -
Diluc was quietly sitting in his office, almost glaring at the monitor with the camera system on it.
He didn't exactly have much better to do, besides go make drinks. But that was out of the question, since mister "I'm better then everyone else" was in HIS bar.
Wasn't Kaeya the one who said that would never speak again? And look who shows up 4 years later. And right before his own birthday!
The red head sighed heavily in irritation.
"Why is this happening?"
He grumbled to himself. He sat back in his chair and crossed is arms, now full on glaring at Kaeya through the moniter.
"Couldn't have Kaeya picked literally any other day besides today and tomorrow, or maybe even not come here at all? What the hell is he even planning? The audacity."
Diluc became more irritated by the minute, though his irritation didn't last more then an hour or so.
His thoughts began to be bombarded with the good memories him and his brother had.
All the times their father would break up bickering by giving them both water guns, all the harmless pranks Kaeya would pull, even the times where Kaeya bought a rat and put it under Diluc's bed as a prank, which then turned to Diluc having an emotional bond with said rat.
A tear feel out of his left eye, which he quickly wiped away with his sleeve.
"Maybe I shouldn't have been such a pick all those years ago Kaeya didn't deserve it. Fuck, he had already lost not only his home and family, but his whole town. God why was I such a brat..."
Diluc sat up, yet began to lean towards his desk. He rested both elbows on the desk, then buried his face into both of his hands.
It stung him every time he thought of his childhood with Kaeya, and it hurt even more every time he thought of how much of a prick he was Kaeya.
He massaged his forehead, feeling tears form. He tried his best to ignore them. Tried.
All he wanted to do was go home and hide, but it was too risky with Kaeya still here.
Diluc looked up and at the bottom right corner of the monitor. It was close to midnight. Had he really been in hiding for nearly six hours? Oh his poor bartender must be exhausted. He didn't really seem that way though.
He sat back in his chair again, unknowing the door had opened. His eyes were closed at this point, due to being tired and having a small headache.
"Diluc?"
Diluc's red eyes shot open and looked towards where the voice came from.
He quickly stood to his feet and went over to the person, soon bringing them into a tight hug.
So many emotions went through him. Regret, anger, relief, sadness, happiness.
He couldn't tell which emotion was exactly showing, but he couldn't care.
Kaeya soon hugged back, which made Diluc a little more happy.
They both sat in silence for three, maybe ten minutes, but the quiet hug was... refreshing. Though they separated their hug, both taking deep breaths.
"I'm sorr-"
Diluc paused, and so did Kaeya. It went silent again for a few seconds before bursting out into slight laughter.
"Oh my Barbatos!"
Kaeya somehow said through heavy laughter.
They were both rather content with this.
It was nice, being with relatives. Sure, one was adopted, but they were brothers!
Forever and always. Whether Diluc liked it or not.