Work Text:
It isn't that Kaeya has abandonment issues, but when your father leaves you in an unfamiliar country as a child and the man who took you in dies and then the boy you love most in the world disappears for three years — well, he might have a couple of issues. But the closest thing to therapy Mondstadt has is Lisa Minci, Jean's couch, and a bottle of fine wine, and that's good enough for Kaeya.
"Start from the beginning," says Lisa, taking a long drink of wine before passing the bottle over.
"So I had just taken him over the balcony railing and we were —"
"Skip ahead five minutes," interjects Lisa, "and give me back the wine."
"All right, fine, we were in bed —"
*
They were in bed, and Diluc was half-asleep with his eyes closed and his hair an absolute disaster that Kaeya was attempting to tame with gentle fingers.
"You still with me?" Kaeya asked, with a sweet kiss upon Diluc's forehead, and then another on his nose, and another —
"Stop that," groaned Diluc, turning away, and Kaeya laughed and kept kissing him anyway, until Diluc relented with a sigh and turned back to look at him.
"Good, I have your attention," said Kaeya, as though he were terribly starved for it. "I was thinking..."
"Mm," mumbled Diluc, rightfully skeptical.
"... that we should get married."
*
If Lisa's bottle had been full, which it was not, it surely would have spilled.
"Oh, Kaeya," she whispers, with one delicate hand to a rosy cheek, eyes bright with feeling. "That's wonderful, but... why do you look so... ?"
Miserable. Kaeya looks miserable.
"Story isn't over yet," he points out.
*
Diluc hadn't spoken for a while. Kaeya hadn't been worried; he knew Diluc better than anyone, after all, and part of why he had chosen to drop such a bomb without preparing him beforehand was to achieve the stunned, speechless reaction he was getting.
And then Diluc had finally opened his mouth, only to say: "You're serious."
"Of course I am," said Kaeya after a beat, suddenly unsure, because that hadn't exactly been the response he'd counted on, and... why did Diluc look so concerned?
*
"Oh, Diluc," moans Lisa, finally setting her bottle down so that she can use both hands to cover her face.
"He didn't say anything after that," says Kaeya, haunted. "He just rolled right back over and went to sleep."
"Did you ask again in the morning?" asks Lisa, peeking out between her fingers.
"That's the thing," Kaeya says grimly. "I always wake up before Diluc — he isn't exactly a morning person, not these days — but this time, I woke up and he was already gone."
The office is dead silent. Lisa offers the wine to Kaeya, but he waves it away, and that more than anything speaks of how dire the situation has become. She moves closer and wraps an arm around his shoulders in a bracing hug.
"You need to talk to him, love," she murmurs gently. "You can't assume the worst."
"I know," says Kaeya, and he does. But he thinks about being seventeen years old and waking up alone in the barracks and hearing from someone else that Diluc Ragnvindr has skipped town, and the part of Kaeya that has learned to open up again after all these years wants to lock down the gates and never open them again.
But he also thinks of the way Diluc looks at him now, the way he never did even when they were young and head over heels for each other because Diluc had always known that Kaeya was hiding something and couldn't truly see him. Now Kaeya has no more secrets to hide, and Diluc sees all that he is, every day, and despite all that they have been through (or maybe, because of all that they have been through) they have never been closer.
Kaeya knows Diluc loves him. He is as certain of this fact as he is certain of anything. It's in the way Diluc says his name even when he's annoyed, the way Diluc tries not to smile when Kaeya is covering his face in kisses, the way Diluc tucks himself close to Kaeya in the middle of the night and presses his face against his shoulder and mumbles, "Love you," and never remembers doing such a thing the next day (or so he claims).
Diluc loves Kaeya.
So what happened?
*
This was what happened:
Diluc waited for Kaeya to fall asleep, then reluctantly extricated himself from Kaeya's arms and got to work. He cleaned himself up as best as he could — though he found his hair was unmanageable, as it usually was after Kaeya stayed the night, and simply tied it back and tucked it under the hood of his cloak — retrieved a well-worn book from one of his dresser drawers, and slipped out of the manor.
By horseback, he was able to make it to the city just as the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. Leaving his horse at the stable by the gates, he swiftly and silently made his way to a familiar door.
"Master Diluc?" The old man was still wearing his nightcap.
"Please accept my sincerest apologies for disturbing you at this hour," said Diluc as he pulled his hood back, "but I am in urgent need of your assistance."
"Of course, of course! How can I help?" said the old man, as any good citizen of Mondstadt would if Diluc Ragnvindr came knocking at their door, no matter the hour.
A short time later, when the rest of the city finally began to stir awake, Diluc signed off on the last piece of paperwork.
"Would you like to stay for a cup of tea? Perhaps a scone?"
Diluc was already putting his cloak back on. "I would love to, but another time, I'm afraid. I really must get going."
"Understandable. You have a long day ahead," said the old man with a kind smile, accompanying him to the door. "Safe travels, Master Diluc."
*
Qingce Village was a significantly longer journey to make, and on the way, Diluc passed by the winery again. He slowed his horse to a walk as he longed to climb back into bed, longed to wrap Kaeya's arms around him and admire the way the morning sun lit up Kaeya's handsome smile. But he was nothing if not determined to see out his plans, and he allowed the winery to fade into the distance as he continued on his way into Liyue.
"You're the Ragnvindr boy, aren't you?" Master Lu squinted dubiously at Diluc's unkempt hair, made worse by the trip.
Diluc diverted the old carpenter's attention from his appearance with a very large, very hefty bag of mora. "An advance."
Master Lu loved his trade no matter the profit, but it had been a very long time since that much mora had made its way into Qingce.
"Well then, sir. What can I do for you?" he asked, straightening up and regarding Diluc with interest.
"A few custom orders," said Diluc, and he took out the book he had taken care to bring all this way. It was a small sketchbook he had started drawing in when he was no older than fifteen. He felt both vulnerable and liberated when he handed the book over to the carpenter. "I have some concepts here to work with, if you're willing to consider them."
After flipping through the book carefully, Master Lu had only this to say: "I see you're a fan of symmetry and pairs, and... birds?"
Diluc cleared his throat; the afternoon sun was warm on his face. "Peacocks and owls, to be specific."
*
Kaeya is long gone from the winery by the time Diluc returns in the evening, which is not surprising given how busy the man is, though a little disappointing.
"Master Kaeya seemed troubled as he left," Adelinde advises him the moment he enters the manor. "Is there anything I should be made aware of, Master Diluc?"
"Troubled?" Diluc repeats, with a frown.
"He asked if I had seen you leave, and I informed him that you and your horse were both gone before I arrived this morning." Adelinde crosses her arms, looking faintly disapproving. "Master Diluc, with all due respect..."
It is not the first time Adelinde has gently scolded Diluc for disappearing without notice, and he inclines his head in acknowledgment of her disappointment.
"We're getting married," Diluc says.
"Master Kaeya has been in a wonderful mood these past few months," Adelinde is saying, "and — excuse me?" She stares at him.
Moco and Hillie, from around the corner, shriek as one and come charging forth.
"Master Diluc! Is it true? You're getting married?"
"I knew it! I told you, Hillie, when I saw Master Kaeya practicing his proposal last week!"
Now that Moco and Hillie knew, the entire winery would know by the end of the day, and Diluc silently apologizes to Kaeya.
First, however, he needs to explain himself to Adelinde.
"Let's have dinner," Diluc says, taking a seat at the dining table, "and I will tell you everything."
*
After his chat with Lisa, Kaeya finds himself wandering into Angel's Share, only to find none other than Diluc working the bar as if it is simply a regular night in Mondstadt and not the bookend to one of the most stressful days in Kaeya's recent memory.
They make eye contact. Diluc mouths Kaeya's name, and excuses himself from his current customer as quickly as possible to round the counter, stride up to Kaeya and — kiss him, right there in the tavern, in front of everyone. Kaeya is certainly not complaining, but to say a public display of affection from Diluc is rare would be putting it generously.
He's still stunned when Diluc pulls away.
"We need to talk," whispers Diluc urgently, taking Kaeya by the hand, fingers automatically interlacing.
"I agree," says Kaeya, with no shortage of relief, and they exit the tavern, leaving the bar in the capable hands of... Lumine and Paimon, apparently.
Diluc leads them a short distance away to a quiet residential block. It's about as private as anywhere in the city can be.
"So, that was quite a show you decided to put on," Kaeya comments, tone light to mask the confusion and uncertainty weighing heavy in his thoughts.
"Everyone knows," says Diluc. They're still holding hands.
"You may be right. I suppose we gave up on subtlety a long time ago," Kaeya acquiesces.
"I meant that everyone knows we're getting married," says Diluc. "I mentioned it to Adelinde, but Moco and Hillie overheard, and —"
"Oh, gods," Kaeya groans.
"Are you upset?" Diluc asks, tightening his hold on Kaeya's hand in concern.
Kaeya doesn't know whether he's upset or whether he wants to laugh until he cries. For now, he brings a hand to Diluc's face and gazes into his eyes with helpless affection.
"You're going to be the death of me, Diluc Ragnvindr," says Kaeya, with a deep sigh.
"Diluc Ragnvindr-Alberich, soon," says Diluc, in that bluntly honest way he does, and Kaeya's chest squeezes so tightly he really thinks he might die.
"So, are you going to explain where in the world you decided to go gallivanting off to today?"
And, by the blessing of Barbatos and the Four Winds, Diluc explains: first, by handing Kaeya a key, and gesturing to the door that had been an unremarkable feature in the backdrop of their conversation until that moment.
"I bought us a house," says Diluc. "It's completely cleaned out, so we can't live in it yet, but I commissioned several furniture pieces from Fanmu Carpentry that should be ready within the next month —"
That is as far as he gets before he's being pressed up against the door and kissed the living daylights out of. There's a muffled clatter on the cobblestone of the key falling from Kaeya's hand, but they'll deal with that later. They'll deal with everything later.
Right now, Kaeya cannot believe how ridiculous the man he loves is and how he gets to spend the rest of his life with him.
"I love you," Kaeya says against Diluc's neck, emphatically. He can feel the heat flooding Diluc's skin beneath his lips.
Diluc loves him, Kaeya knows. It's in the way he bought a house for them before he even had a ring on his finger.
"I love you too," Diluc says even though he doesn't have to, and then he leans in and murmurs into Kaeya's ear, "Why don't you pick up that key so we can take this inside our new home?"
And gods, does Kaeya love Diluc.