Chapter Text
Things in Mondstadt, these days, functioned much as they had for years before. Jean was overworked as Grand Master, Lisa avoided her library duties to attempt to get Jean to take a break. Venti did whatever he wanted, Fischl insisted she was… oh, nevermind. Kaeya and Diluc still didn’t talk unless they were exchanging vicious verbal jabs. It wasn’t good or healthy, per say, but it was normal.
As it happened then, it was no strange request from Jean when she asked Kaeya to embark on a solo mission to investigate Abyssal activities. Truth be told, he had been longing for a chance to unsheathe his blade and spill some evil blood. He had let Jean know that he should be back within the week. So perhaps, the deviance from the norm was what had set all of the Knights in a fitful frenzy upon him when he arrived at Mondstadt’s gates a month later than planned.
He was worn. The mission had gone very poorly very quickly, causing him to go into hiding for over a week just to avoid getting caught by the Abyss again. Of course, he had grossly underestimated their numbers, and changed his plan from “eliminate all” to “cause as much damage before he physically couldn’t anymore.” Kaeya had rigged up a large explosion that left him wounded, flinging him against a cave wall, busting an ankle, and breaking a few ribs. The trip back to Mondstadt was long and miserable because of it.
No one seemed to care that he was miserable and injured though! Instead, they took the chance to berate him, scolding him even as they guided him to the Headquarters. A Knight pushed open the double doors, and Kaeya could hear shouting. It was angry, heated, with what sounded like threats. He furrowed his brow, pushing off the Knight and dropping his hand to his sword’s hilt. He shoved open the door to Jean’s office, startled to see Diluc mid-shout at a pale-looking Jean.
Diluc whipped around to look at Kaeya, and he was suddenly struck by the look of sheer anger and despair on the other man’s face. He hadn’t seen him so intensely upset since… well, for a while.
Whatever Diluc had been yelling about seemed to have died in his throat upon seeing Kaeya enter the room. Kaeya was leaning heavily against the doorframe now, too exhausted to even attempt a defense for Jean. After a moment, Diluc huffed sharply, shoving past Kaeya as he strode out of the room. Kaeya staggered back, struggling to keep his balance for a moment, before glaring at Diluc’s back as he walked out.
“Dick,” he sighed, turning to Jean. “What was he on about?”
Jean furrowed her brow, gaze suddenly turning from fatigue to outrage. “Where have you been?!” She demanded.
Kaeya groaned, limping into the chair across from Jean’s desk. “Trying to fucking survive, Grand Master. Your intelligence was wrong. There was easily four times the amount of Mages in the vicinity as I had been led to believe.”
Jean’s expression shifted. “I… That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, it certainly doesn’t. Also, fuck your new Knights. I deserve a drink for the shit I put up with, and those little-“
“-Kaeya,” she snapped, cutting him off. “I told them to intercept you if- when you came back. And you’re going to Barbara after this, not the tavern. What happened?”
Kaeya gave a long, pained sigh, seeing that he wasn’t going anywhere yet. Relenting, he recounted the events of the past month. Jean looked troubled, but never interrupted or chastised his methods. Rare. He finished, and she nodded slowly.
“Alright. I will look into adjusting our next strategic planning outlines. Thank you for your service. Please, go get healed. You look pathetic.”
He sent her a withering glare. “My pleasure, Grand Master Jean. I’m so happy my information could aid our noble cause.” He let the door slam behind him as he left.
Still, he did as she asked, finding Barbara after about an hour of limping. She immediately shrieked, beginning to mumble some verse from the church, hands glowing blue as they roamed over his body.
It wasn’t fifteen minutes later that he was on his way to the tavern. He felt it was safe to assume Diluc would not be bartending, as he had been lighting Jean up for whatever reason. That thought gave him pause. Why was Diluc even in the Knights’ Headquarters? Diluc hated the Knights, and tended to avoid any interaction with them if at all possible. So what had caused him to lash out?
As soon as Kaeya realized he was spending his mental energy thinking about Diluc, he pushed the thoughts from his mind. Thinking about Diluc while drunk, as he was soon to be, was never a good combination. It either ended with him so angry he had to stagger to the woods just to let it out safely, or churning with such self hatred that he would continue to drink until blackout. Neither option was ideal.
The hinges on the heavy oaken door of Angel’s Share were well oiled, so the door opened silently as Kaeya walked in. As he had expected, someone else was behind the bar tonight. He sighed with quiet relief and slid onto a bar seat. His favorite drink was out of season now, so normally he would just buy a bottle of wine at the market and take it back home, but he had gotten in too late to make a market visit. Just as he was about to get the bartender’s attention, someone sat in the seat beside him, putting something heavy on the table.
Kaeya looked over, immediately masking his shock at seeing Diluc. Why was he here? Next to Kaeya? Had he finally snapped and was looking for a quick and easy kill? No, he wouldn’t. Probably.
The two of them stared at each other for a moment before Diluc spoke up. “You look like shit.”
“I didn’t have time to fix my hair between the trip back from Abyss dealings and getting scolded by Grand Master. So, forgive my audacity in entering your sacred tavern so ruffled .” Kaeya tinged his words with venom, trying to let Diluc know he was not in the mood to argue.
Diluc seemed to understand, because he was silent for another long moment, just staring at Kaeya. Uncomfortable, Kaeya shifted his gaze to the object on the bar. It was a bottle of wine, pristine and unopened. It looked old though, aged just the way Kaeya liked. A pang of longing went through his chest, aching for the taste of fine wine down his throat.
Diluc caught his gaze and sighed. “This red is— er, it’s definitely rotten. I know you’re desperate for some wine though, so helpfully it will kill you overnight. Enjoy.” With that, Diluc sniffed indignantly, not waiting for a response before he was out of his seat and storming out of the room.
Kaeya took the bottle, staring at it in awe. A bottle of this value could easily go for a thousand mora for its date. He was also confident it was not rotten- he wasn’t an idiot.
As he looked at the bottle, it filled him with a strange warmth, and begged the unfathomable question. Had Diluc chosen to do something nice for him?