Chapter Text
Kaeya dropped by the Angel’s Share to see his favourite and only brother. (This is of course, disregarding whether he had biological brothers that have now completely escaped his memory).
“Master Diluc!”
“I am not serving you alcohol this early.” Diluc snarled. He was polishing some glasses and taking inventory, the sun high in the sky.
“Oh, I’m not here for alcohol.” Kaeya leaned forwards and slipped a letter onto the bar, sliding it forward towards Diluc. “I have a letter for the Dark Knight, I assume you know him? Give this to him later. Send my regards as well.”
Kaeya gave him his signature smile and flounced out the door. Diluc sighed, annoyance creeping in as he took the letter and slipped it into his pocket.
Kaeya took stock of everything he would need for this expedition. He had some apples and cookies, some of Klee’s bombs, a letter for Jean, he had already given Diluc his letter… Kaeya decided he was ready. He took the potion on the table, already measured out and prepared and downed it in one go, coughing at the bitterness. Kaeya grimaced, for Albedo’s sweet tooth, could he not also make his concoctions better tasting? Kaeya’s head started spinning before soon, his eyes were blinking open to find that his apartment was much bigger than he remembered.
He went over to his mirror, clothes hanging off of him before he confirmed that the potion worked. Kaeya was now a child.
He changed into his ‘child clothes’ which were surprisingly big on him despite being for a nine-year-old, which was his age. The clothes were stressed and dirty, to fit in with the infiltration mission.. Kaeya reached for the items he needed, stuffing the cookies, apples, bombs and the letter into his pocket. He adjusted his eyepatch to fit his new head size. His hand hovered over his vision.
Visions, when separated from the bearer, was never a good thing. Kaeya had tried to separate himself from his vision plenty of times but the empty void it left him always made him ditch the attempt. He couldn’t fathom how Diluc had managed to go so long without it. On top of that…
Kaeya sighed. He really was a small child. Malnourished, weak, his left eye was hurting from having not yet been treated by the Ragnvindr doctors. He likely couldn’t hide or properly wield even a knife. Kaeya stuffed his vision into his shoe, inspecting it carefully to make sure it didn’t glow through the material and give him away. Okay. He was ready.
The Fatui base. Specifically, a base that was owned by the Fatui harbinger Dottore.
Kaeya had found out about them for a while, and had been agonising about how to bring it down while figuring out what they were doing while ensuring the children inside were safe. Everything pointed to an infiltration mission, but that would require a child. And archons forbid anyone use a child for an extremely stressful mission. Kaeya had gotten the solution from one of Albedo’s concoctions - he would become a child and infiltrate it himself.
“Hey!” an anemo Fatui boxer cried, running over to him and harshly grabbing him by the arm.
Kaeya winced at the pain that managed to cause. The Fatui agent was overwhelmingly strong while he was in this state. Kaeya was suddenly very grateful he had brought his vision.
“Kids,” the Fatuus huffed, “don’t try running away again.” He shoved Kaeya through a door, Kaeya landing on his hands and knees from the force.
Kaeya winced, standing up. This body bruised too easily. Then he looked up, he was greeted with the faces of many young children, only about as old as he was. All of them almost just as skinny, ragged and scared as he seemed.
“Are you okay?” one of them asked, coming over to check on him. Kaeya stared at their blonde hair and concerned eyes and felt his resolve strengthen.
“Yeah. I’m okay,” Kaeya said, smiling his brightest smile. “What is this place?” he asked.
“Dottore’s experiment lab. You’ll,” the kid hesitated, “You’ll find out.”
“Experiments? What does he research?” Kaeya asked, cocking his head and looking around at the room. It was barren but Kaeya was already analysing all the escape routes, thankfully, everything seemed to be as planned.
“He researches us. More like what his experiments do to us,” one kid supplied. “We get poked and injected everywhere. If you survive you get experimented on more, if you don’t, you don’t.”
Kaeya felt his heart break into pieces. The seven or so kids looked so devoid of hope, like a young child from Khaenri'ah.
“When does he experiment on us?” asked Kaeya.
“In about two hours. Cleo’s already been injected, so we’ve got a bit of time before the next person.” The kid supplying this information looked upset, “Ria is next.”
Kaeya looked towards a kid that seemed to shift uncomfortably. Everyone tried not to look at her, and she looked like she would’ve cried if she thought that would do anything.
Kaeya took out a cookie and broke it, holding out one half to Ria. “You’ll feel better if you have a cookie,” he told her, giving a sincere smile.
She hesitantly took the cookie half, nibbling on it. “Thank you,” she mumbled, then brightened. “This tastes really good!”
Kaeya grinned. “Right? I have enough for everyone else too.” Kaeya took out a few more cookies, giving half to everyone. “But while you guys eat the cookies, you have to listen to me and trust me okay? I’m going to get you out of here.”
The other kids looked at him strangely, a mixture of fascination and fear.
“People tried-” one of them started.
“What’s your plan?” another interrupted.
Kaeya took out the letter, and explained his plan.
Explosions shook the compound, making the Fatui guards run to inspect the commotion. Kaeya pried the door open, finding the coast clear.
“Go! Remember what I told you.”
The kids ran out into the night as Kaeya kept watch until they disappeared from sight. He ran over to the door that apparently was where the experiments took place. If his luck was good, Dottore was also distracted by the bombs, or he was distracted by something else. If not… well, Kaeya had about two hours before his insurance arrived, and he was glad that it wouldn’t be that long since his child's body was already starting to tire.
“Lord Barbatos,” Kaeya whispered to the wind. “Protect the others. And if you can, help me.”
He snuck into the room, seeing a myriad of strewn papers, syringes, strange liquids and so on. Kaeya had contemplated bringing a kamera, but the thing would certainly not fit among his clothes inconspicuously enough.
“My my, what do we have here?”
Kaeya whirled around to see the harbinger in question staring at him with a grin.
“A new one? No. A special one.”
Kaeya gulped as the harbinger walked closer to him, cyan blue hair and white, crooked mask screaming his identity. The man tilted Kaeya’s head up to look at his remaining good eye, a star pupil that few knew was an identifier of his home country. The man’s grin widened.
“Oh I’ll have fun with you.” Kaeya’s blood stilled, the silence being stifling.
“Who are you?” Kaeya asked.
“Oh I’m sure you know that, little Favonian servant. Afterall, that is why you came to my base to begin with, right? The other children will be rounded up,” Dottore waved his hand, “But I’ll have my fun with you.”
Kaeya inwardly cursed, the kids might not make it after all. Dottore had figured him out.
Kaeya smacked a needle out of Dottore’s hand, the thing spilling a little liquid as it landed on the floor.
“Why you-”
Kaeya dodged his grab, and continued scanning the room as he made it to the other side. Dottore threw a knife that Kaeya just barely dodged, luckily having his reflexes intact. He found a door that he opened, pushing himself through.
This room looked vaguely similar, with yet another room encased in glass visible from inside. There were papers and books, along with vials and weird-looking potions in various places.
Dottore had caught up with him and threw a shard of ice towards him, Kaeya spotting a delusion. There was an explosion as one of Klee’s bombs collided with the shard. Kaeya was wary of using any of her bombs in the room. He needed the papers intact, afterall. He was also running out of them. He only had a few small ones on him, and used most of them in the previous explosion.
Dottore grabbed him by the neck, digging his hands around him as Kaeya struggled for air, sure that his neck was now bruised. He kicked up with his foot, hitting Dottore square in the chin with the crackling sound of ice striking the man. Kaeya landed awkwardly, but managed to not break anything. Dottore was stumbling backwards and Kaeya threw a bomb at the man, then ran to his other side and kicked another stream of ice towards him. If done right, he could lock Dottore in his own glass room. Kaeya made to go forwards to hopefully seal the deal before something metal hit his arm with a painful crack .
Kaeya screamed in agony before he told himself that he was not going to go into shock from pain. He had dealt with worse before. He looked up at Dottore who, at this proximity, seemed to loom over him as if a giant, seemingly unfazed.
Kaeya tried to duck to avoid a blow to the head but only half succeeded, trying to shield his bad arm from the impact of hitting the floor. His head spun but he was fairly sure there weren’t any permanent injuries. Hopefully. Kaeya’s vision filled with crimson, as a flaming bird flew in, sweeping Dottore off his feet.
“Big brother!” Kaeya cried instinctively. Oh he was going to regret that.
Kaeya tried his best to get to his feet before something- no. Some one picked him up and held him to their chest.
Kaeya was reminded of Crepus. Red hair, protective stance and warm body, but was also struck by the differences. Namely that Crepus never picked him up so cooly or strongly - the man had back problems and as much as the two boys wanted him to carry them, it became much less frequent as they grew.
Kaeya leaned into Diluc’s chest as he felt heat behind him and a clash of blades before Dottore decided to scram.
For a second, all he could hear was his own tiny, thumping heart and quick breaths, as well as Diluc’s steady heartbeat.
“Are you okay?” Diluc asked, pulling Kaeya out of his dazed state.
“Ah, wait!” Kaeya cried, lifting his head to look around, glad that most of the papers seemed intact. “Put me down.”
Diluc gently let Kaeya down as Kaeya ran first, to some papers that were still smouldering, waving his hand over them to put them out with Cryo. He winced as his bad arm screamed at him but started gathering the papers.
“What do we need?” asked Diluc, coming over to him.
“As much as possible. Papers, potions, anything of value. We need to know what he was up to.” Kaeya thought for a second. “Did you take out the guarding Fatui? If we have time I can send for some knights to investigate and take everything instead. Preferably, we shouldn’t leave the place unguarded so I can-” Kaeya’s head swirled for a moment, making him sway and get promptly caught by Diluc.
“You are not going anywhere but straight to the church. I took out everyone, and Dottore won’t come back anytime soon.”
Kaeya wanted to protest but was cut off by Diluc lifting him up again. “Fine.” he huffed. “But we need to send for knights as soon as possible.”
Kaeya could feel Diluc’s eye roll.
As they made the journey back to Mondstadt city, Kaeya said, “You were early.”
Diluc huffed, “I opened the letter early. My suspicion paid off. You almost died.”
Kaeya laughed, “I wouldn’t have died. My plan was originally to find out about everything by primarily observation but… I couldn’t watch any of the kids get experimented on.”
“Your plan was faulty to begin with, the kids were almost caught.”
“You saw them?” Kaeya asked, “Did they get to Mondstadt alright?”
“I escorted them there, after shooing off the Fatui. They said that ‘Sir Kaeya had sent them to find Grandmaster Jean’.”
Kaeya nodded. “They remembered. That’s good.”
Diluc brought him to the church, where the healers, Jean, and the other kids were.
“You’re okay!” One of the kids cried, running over to him. Diluc put him down and Kaeya grinned.
Kaeya then grimmaced at the hug, and the child pulled back, having noticed his broken arm. “Well, you’re alive. That’s good enough.”
They led Kaeya over to the rest of the children, who seemed happy to see him as well and generally happier overall.
“We never got your name!” One of the kids cried, with shiny eyes.
“My name is Kaeya,” Kaeya hesitated. “Is it okay if I said I lied to you guys a bit?”
The kids huddled together a bit, to listen to the confession with more privacy.
“I’m not actually a kid. I used some alchemy to become a kid so I could infiltrate the base.”
“Makes sense.” One of the kids shrugged.
“Are you sure ?” another asked, scrutinising him.
Kaeya laughed, “Yes. I need to ask one more favour from you guys.” The kids listened intently. “You guys need to tell us what happened to you. Your whole story. I’m going to be completely honest, the reasons are 1. So we can cure you and treat you properly, and 2. So we know what he was doing and can stop him.” Kaeya looked at the clearly traumatised kids, “You don’t have to tell us right away, and you can tell whoever you want. Me, Grandmaster Jean, Mister Grumpy Diluc over there,” There were a few laughs from the kids at that, “But please tell someone.”
The kids nodded in agreement, some with eyes that told Kaeya that they were not going to follow through with the promise, and others with a bit more trust.
The healers got their hands on Kaeya and helped him bandage and alleviate the pain from the broken arm. They also looked over his head and myriad of bruises and scars. Most of the scars were not from this particular incident, but luckily, Barbara didn’t ask many questions.
Lastly, Kaeya had to face the scariest trial of all: Jean.
The woman in question sighed when she saw his sheepish face. “You must be starving. When was the last time you ate?” she asked, leading him out of the church.
“I ate this afternoon when I was an adult, but this body probably hasn’t eaten much. I do feel sort of hungry- AH!”
Kaeya felt himself yet again be swept off his feet and lifted up into Diluc’s arms.
“Jean has some food in her office from the Good Hunter. Let’s continue this discussion then.”
Kaeya gladly inhaled the food that Jean had gotten. He still had manners, but he was hungrier than he thought. Diluc snatched up his food once he was about halfway done with it.
“Hey!” Kaeya protested, grabbing for the food. Diluc placed the food on the table a bit away from him. Kaeya reached out to take the food and… was too small to reach it. Jean laughed.
“Jean! You’re supposed to be on my side!” Kaeya cried.
“The absolute opposite. This was incredibly risky and irresponsible of you, not to mention you almost died.”
“Why did you take the food anyway?” Kaeya whined. Diluc raised an eyebrow.
“You’re malnourished and basically starved. Eat anymore and you’ll throw up.”
Kaeya blinked at the words, remembering when he was around this age and Crepus did almost the exact same thing.
“Right, Master Crepus did that too.”
“If you recall, he only did that the second time, after you threw up the first time.”
“Awwww, you do care.” Diluc huffed, rolling his eyes.
Kaeya had told them what his plan was. Knights were already on their way over, Albedo and Lisa accompanying them to survey the base. He told them how he had found out about this, about getting the potion from Albedo, about giving Diluc that letter for insurance, getting the kids out and the fight with Dottore.
“You have the antidote for… this?” Diluc asked, gesturing to Kaeya.
Kaeya laughed, “The potion lasts for a week, then wears off.”
“That’s why you took a week off,” Jean sighed.
“Yep!” Kaeya grinned.
“Too bad. Your punishment for doing this is paperwork.”
“What?” Kaeya protested, “I’m
tiny
. My hands will have horrible handwriting and will
ache
!”
Kaeya looked at Diluc and Jean’s faces, the faces of two of Mondstadt’s elites who had writing practice since they could hold a pen and held no sympathy for him whatsoever.
“You guys know the pain of it, don’t you pity a poor child?”
“You’re not a child, Kaeya. Maybe this will make you contemplate your plans more carefully next time.”
Kaeya huffed, “I considered my plans very carefully. Fine.”
“If it’s okay with you, Grandmaster Jean,” Diluc started, completely ignoring Kaeya again. “He’ll be held at the Dawn Winery while he stays like this. I’ll make sure he does his paperwork and doesn’t do anything reckless.”
Jean smiled while Kaeya stared in shock, “That would be a great help, Master Diluc. I remind you though, and you too Kaeya, that I am still an Acting Grandmaster. Not a Grandmaster like you told the kids.”
“They wouldn’t know the difference. No one in Mondstadt does either, so what’s the point?”
Jean huffed but maintained a fond look in her eyes.
“I’ll go check up on the kids, then on how the investigation team are doing. The kids will be taken care of by the church. Now, children like you need to sleep lots to grow tall.”
“Might I remind you that I grew taller than you in the end?”
“Diluc,” Jean gestured to Kaeya. Diluc nodded and picked Kaeya up yet again. This time, however, Kaeya was a bit more used to it.
As they walked back to the Dawn Winery, Diluc asked, “Why me? Why was I the insurance?”
“Because you’re my big brother,” Kaeya mumbled sleepily. “Right?”
There was silence for a little bit. Kaeya was almost sure he was asleep before he felt Diluc pressed a kiss to the top of his head, whispering so quietly one would only hear it if they were pressed to his lungs: “Yes.”
Diluc POV:
Kaeya waltzed into the Angel’s Share like he owned it. Which legally, he did not. Morally, their dad had given half of everything to Kaeya, which the blue-haired man had given up.
“Master Diluc!”
“I am not serving you alcohol this early.” Diluc snarled. He was polishing some glasses and taking inventory, the sun high in the sky.
“Oh, I’m not here for alcohol.” Kaeya leaned forwards and slipped a letter onto the bar, sliding it forward towards Diluc. “I have a letter for the Dark Knight, I assume you know him? Give this to him later. Send my regards as well.”
Kaeya gave him his signature smile and flounced out the door. Diluc sighed, annoyance creeping in as he took the letter and slipped it into his pocket.
Kaeya knew his schedule too well, Diluc knew this meant that Kaeya wanted him to open the letter in the late evening, when security around the city was low. Well screw what Kaeya wanted, Diluc was going to open the damn letter. The winds were also being unusually restless, and Venti was giving him a look.
The letter read:
Dear Dark Knight Hero,
There is a map that has a marking on it, encased in this letter. That is where I currently am. I have taken on a rather difficult enemy, one of the Tsarita’s darling harbingers and if you don’t see me making my way back to Mondstadt it is possible I am still there, infiltrating their base and may require assistance. A fair warning, I may look different as the infiltration required me to change my appearance.
Love,
Your favourite Monstadion resident,
Kaeya
Diluc sighed, rubbing his temples. Kaeya had gone and taken on yet another tough fight. Kaeya also would likely be by himself. No matter how many times Diluc had tried to convince himself that he didn’t care about that man, it still didn’t hinder the speed at which he readied himself and started sprinting to the location.
On his way there, with the sun almost entirely behind the horizon, he spotted a group of children, running from some Fatui. Diluc easily defeated the Fatui.
He turned his attention to the children, who were holding some apples and one of them, a strange letter.
“Are you guys okay?” he asked, with some of them nodding and some of them shaking their heads.
“We need to get to Mondstadt to deliver this letter. We’re running from Dottore’s lab.”
Diluc snarled, “That jerkwad. Come with me, I’ll bring you to Mondstadt.”
The seven or so kids followed him pretty easily, and he offered to carry anyone who was too tired, but they refused.
“Why are you helping us, mister?”
“Because you are unaccompanied children on Mondstadt land, and I have a moral obligation to make sure you guys are okay.”
“Hm…”
Diluc looked down at the letter. “Who are you supposed to give it to?”
“There was this kid at the lab who said to go to Mondstadt, and ask the guard at the gate to bring us to Grandmaster Jean. He said to say that Sir Kaeya sent us.”
Diluc almost stopped right in his tracks at that. “Sir Kaeya?”
“Mm hm! Do you know him, mister?”
Diluc hesitated, “Yeah, I do. You said a kid told you all this?”
“Yep. He’s new, but he gave us cookies, and apples, and we might as well trust him since we don’t really have any other choice.”
Diluc’s heart melted at their words and attitude. It reminded him a lot of someone he’d rather not think about.
“I extend my offer once again to carry anyone who wants it. Though we don’t have too much to go until we’re there.”
“I want to be carried!” one kid decided. Diluc easily picked up the far-too-light child into his arms. “Whoa! I can see forever up here!” Diluc laughed, a rare smile on his face.
“Can I read the letter?” Diluc asked, fully prepared for the child to say no.
“You seem trustworthy enough. It might be a ploy. But we have as much reason to trust you as we have him.”
Diluc read the letter. It read:
Dear Jean,
These children come from Fatui Harbinger Dottore’s experiment lab. Most, if not all, are orphans so please speak kindly to them. Have the healers ensure they are healthy and fed and ask them what has happened. Don’t push them to say anything if they don’t want to.
I have enclosed a map extract with my location at said Fatui experiment lab. If I am not back in a few hours, please send for backup. I’ll explain everything when I get back.
Sincerely,
Captain of the 4th Cavalry,
Sir Kaeya
P.S. If someone who is not supposed to read this, reads this, I will explain everything once I get back. You can trust the Mondstadt people, especially Jean. They treat outsiders very kindly.
Diluc folded the letter and replaced it in its envelope again. The group had reached the gates of Mondstadt.
“Master Diluc!” One of the knights greeted, “What brings you here at such a late hour of the night? And who are these kids?”
Diluc put the kid he was carrying down. “Please escort them to Acting Grandmaster Jean’s office. They bear a letter from Sir Kaeya that will tell the Grandmaster all she needs to know.”
The knight nodded. “Understood, follow me, children.”
One of the kids tugged on Diluc’s sleeve with wide, innocent eyes that have seen too much. “Are you going to go back and save him?”
Diluc nodded, “Yes.”
“Good.”
Taking out the Fatui was the easy part. Diluc had dealt with plenty of Fatui before and swiftly dealt with all of them. The inside of the compound, however, was fairly complicated and Diluc was wondering where the hell Kaeya was.
Then he heard a scream.
He rushed over to where he heard it, kicking open the door in time to see a small, blue haired child get kicked in the head, sending him flying backwards.
Diluc focused on the harbinger first, sending a flaming falcon his way.
“Big brother!” That made Diluc pause for just a moment, before rushing over to the small child, scooping him up with one arm and cradling him to his chest. Kaeya was concerningly light.
With one hand wielding his claymore, and his vision shining bright, he battled Dottore until the man was backed up against the wall. The harbinger cursed and made a getaway.
Kaeya was still in his arms, with a tiny body, and tiny breaths, and a tiny little heartbeat that made Diluc feel like he himself was still a child, with the undying big brother urge to protect him.
“Are you okay?” Diluc asked. Kaeya seemed to jolt slightly.
“Ah, wait!” Kaeya cried, lifting his head to look around. “Put me down.”
Diluc gently let Kaeya down as he ran first, to some papers that were still smouldering, waving his hand over them to put them out with Cryo. The boy seemed to cradle and be pained by his left arm. It was at an angle and most definitely broken.
“What do we need?” asked Diluc, coming over to him, keeping an eye on the small thing.
“As much as possible. Papers, potions, anything of value. We need to know what he was up to.” Kaeya paused. “Did you take out the guarding Fatui? If we have time I can send for some knights to investigate and take everything instead. Preferably, we shouldn’t leave the place unguarded so I can-” Diluc watched in horror as Kaeya swayed on his feet, pitching sideways before Diluc caught him.
“You are not going anywhere but straight to the church. I took out everyone, and Dottore won’t come back anytime soon.”
Kaeya’s protest was cut off by Diluc lifting him up again. “Fine.” the boy huffed. “But we need to send for knights as soon as possible.”
Diluc rolled his eyes.
As they made the journey back to Mondstadt city, Kaeya said, “You were early.”
Diluc huffed, “I opened the letter early. My suspicion paid off. You almost died.” The ache in his heart when he thinks about the prospect of Kaeya dying was too much to bear.
Kaeya laughed, “I wouldn’t have died. My plan was originally to find out about everything by primarily observation but… I couldn’t watch any of the kids get experimented on.”
“Your plan was faulty to begin with, the kids were almost caught.”
“You saw them?” Kaeya asked, “Did they get to Mondstadt alright?”
“I escorted them there, after shooing off Fatui. They said that ‘Sir Kaeya had sent them to find Grandmaster Jean’.”
Kaeya nodded. “They remembered. That’s good.”
Diluc sighed. Kaeya’s sense of self-preservation was genuinely quite good as a child, why it seemed to go completely out the window once he was grown up was beyond him.
They got to the church, with a kid almost immediately running up to Kaeya to greet them. Diluc met the eyes of Jean and a few healers.
“You’re okay!” the kid cried. Diluc put Kaeya down to talk to them, noticing the boy wince in the hug.
The other child pulled back, probably noticing his broken arm. “Well, you’re alive. That’s good enough.”
They led Kaeya over to the rest of the children, who seemed happy to see him as well and generally happier overall.
Diluc went to talk to Jean.
“Diluc.”
“Jean. We need a team to go investigate the experiment lab. I’ve cleared out the Fatui there. You read the letter?”
Jean sighed, “Yes. Kaeya succeeds with quite honestly, a very thought-out and risky plan. As is typical of him. I’ve already roused Lisa and Albedo to investigate it. Conveniently ,” Jean sighed again, “Albedo was actually at the headquarters today. No doubt something that Kaeya also accounted for. Them, and a team of knights, are already on their way.”
“Good.”
The two of them looked over at Kaeya, who was surrounded by the other kids, winning them over with his adorable smile and cunning words. Diluc never remembered Kaeya smiling this much at this age. He was, at this age, always withdrawn, untrusting, scared and awfully quiet. Most wouldn’t recognise him as the same Cavalry Captain who talked a storm with his wealth of confidence.
“He looks just like when he was younger.” Jean said under her breath.
“Yeah. He should eat more.”
“I have food in my office. I was going to force him to have supper with me and explain himself. Would you care to join us, Master Diluc?” Jean asked.
Diluc smiled, “I would be delighted. I want to know what he has to say for himself.”
“Likely not very much.”
Kaeya was coming back in their direction after being patched up by the healers. He looked up at Jean sheepishly, and Diluc was reminded of the day that Kaeya had accidentally broken his slingshot.
Jean sighed. “You must be starving. When was the last time you ate?” she asked, leading him out of the church.
“I ate this afternoon when I was an adult, but this body probably hasn’t eaten much. I do feel sort of hungry- AH!”
Diluc swept Kaeya up into his arms. Kaeya still felt far, far too light.
“Jean has some food in her office from the Good Hunter. Let’s continue this discussion then.”
Diluc watched as Kaeya inhaled his food, being reminded of the first day Kaeya had come into the manor. The first night, Kaeya had mostly eaten buns and miscellaneous snacks the maids had lying about. The first proper meal he ate…
Diluc snatched the food from Kaeya when it was about halfway finished.
“Hey!” Kaeya protested, grabbing for the food. Diluc placed the food on the table a bit away from him. Kaeya reached out to take the food and… was too small to reach it. Diluc tried to swallow his laughter from seeing the pathetic, adorable sight. Jean laughed without mercy.
“Jean! You’re supposed to be on my side!” Kaeya cried.
“The absolute opposite. This was incredibly risky and irresponsible of you, not to mention you almost died.”
“Why did you take the food anyway?” Kaeya whined. Diluc raised an eyebrow.
“You’re malnourished and basically starved. Eat anymore and you’ll throw up.”
“Right, Master Crepus did that too.” Diluc internally winced at the way Kaeya said ‘Master Crepus’ instead of ‘father’, or ‘papa’, or ‘dad’. He still wasn’t used to it. To be fair though, Kaeya did address him like that when he first arrived at the Ragnvindrs at this age.
“If you recall, he only did that the second time, after you threw up the first time.”
“Awwww, you do care.” Diluc huffed, rolling his eyes.
Kaeya had told them what his plan was. He told them how he had found out about this, about getting the potion from Albedo, about giving Diluc that letter for insurance, getting the kids out and the fight with Dottore.
“You have the antidote for… this?” Diluc asked, gesturing to Kaeya.
Kaeya laughed, “The potion lasts for a week, then wears off.”
“That’s why you took a week off.” Jean sighed.
“Yep!” Kaeya grinned.
“Too bad. Your punishment for doing this is paperwork.”
“What?” Kaeya protested, “I’m
tiny
. My hands will have horrible handwriting and will
ache
!”
Diluc gave Kaeya a deadpan, remembering the hours of writing practice and intense lessons he - and Jean - had gone through even younger than Kaeya was now.
“You guys know the pain of it, don’t you pity a poor child?”
“You’re not a child, Kaeya. Maybe this will make you contemplate your plans more carefully next time.” Jean stated.
Kaeya huffed, “I considered my plans very carefully. Fine.”
“If it’s okay with you, Grandmaster Jean,” Diluc started, “He’ll be held at the Dawn Winery while he stays like this. I’ll make sure he does his paperwork and doesn’t do anything reckless.”
Jean smiled while Kaeya stared in shock, “That would be a great help, Master Diluc. I remind you though, and you too Kaeya, that I am still an Acting Grandmaster. Not a Grandmaster like you told the kids.”
“They wouldn’t know the difference. No one in Mondstadt does either, so what’s the point?” Kaeya grumbled. Diluc couldn’t help but chuckle in agreement.
Jean huffed but maintained a fond look in her eyes.
“I’ll go check up on the kids, then on how the investigation team are doing. The kids will be taken care of by the church. Now, children like you need to sleep lots to grow tall.” Jean decided.
“Might I remind you that I grew taller than you in the end?” Kaeya countered.
“Diluc,” Jean gestured to Kaeya. Diluc nodded and picked Kaeya up yet again. This time, however, Kaeya was a bit more used to it and didn’t squeal. Pity.
As they walked back to the Dawn Winery, stars shining in the sky and almost everyone asleep, Diluc asked his burning question, “Why me? Why was I the insurance?”
“Because you’re my big brother,” Kaeya mumbled sleepily. “Right?”
There was silence for a little bit. Diluc wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but he wasn’t expecting, well, that . He squeezed Kaeya a bit tighter to his chest and pressed a kiss to the top of Kaeya’s head, feeling the thin, soft hair tickle his nose.
“Yes.”