Work Text:
Stormy nights were not appreciated by either of the somewhat estranged brothers. It was on one such night they had grown apart, and yet another much like it insisted on bringing them together once more.
The skies raged and crackled with thunder as if each lightning wished to reveal something hidden behind the skies and the clouds, insisting on lighting up the night.
They had battled together once more for the first time in years, back to back, protecting one another as the swarm of abyss mages and their persistent mob of hilichurls gave no reprieve. Unrelenting ruin guards that seemed to dance to the rhythm of the mages’ cackles. But Kaeya and Diluc had persevered.
They had rushed through the night, the strikes scissoring across the sky angrily, illuminating the roofs of the Dawn Winery to guide their way. Yet when thunder rumbled and lightning fell away, engulfing them in darkness for a few moments the small lamp grass flowers kept them safely on their way. They each had an arm around each other’s shoulders, though neither knew who was helping who walk; both being winded, injured and tired.
Perhaps the storm was particularly helpful that night, assisting them in keeping their concern for the other hidden, as well as giving them a discrete path to safety. Especially considering the Master of the Winery was now donning his Darknight Hero outfit.
Diluc knew through Kaeya’s letters that the Cavalry Captain knew well of his secret, and the lack of surprise or hesitance in the man’s eyes when he had arrived just in time to prevent the well-meaning vigilante from being swallowed by too many enemies far too fast - told Diluc all he needed to know.
Fighting side-by-side brought to mind some of the words Kaeya had written to him.
You, I'm sure, are aware of the great dangers that come with acting alone.
Standing against enemies together had felt more natural than either expected.
They had not met often since Diluc’s return. Kaeya’s insistent letters and a few formal occasions had been the height of their initial contact. However, it would have been a lie to say Diluc had not been relieved to see that familiar silhouette arrive at the right moment. Even though he might wish to deny ever needing assistance.
Kaeya, on the other hand, felt a mix of awkwardness and excitement being able to enter the Winery side by side with its owner, instead hiding from him. Even if their way in right now was through the backdoor to avoid any unlikely bystander or insomniac maid from seeing Diluc's garb. Despite their precarious situation, Kaeya was an official guest this time. This impromptu visit also afforded him the chance to make sure his hard-headed brother was truly uninjured. In his mind, disowned or not, Diluc had never ceased being family, and he worried.
Their wet boots left a clear track of their path on the polished floor. They even slipped a couple of times while trying to make their way up the stairs, which only added to their current humiliating state. They could not help but laugh quietly in defeat, which was followed by quiet groans of pain. Laughing hurt and holding it back seemed to ache even more. They wouldn’t dare wake up the staff, least of all Adelinde.
They reached Diluc’s bedroom in safety and secrecy, heading to the small sitting area the room housed. With a flick of his fingers, Diluc had a fireplace roaring with warmth and light. He put down his sword and was about to plop down on the sofa when Kaeya stopped him, grabbing him urgently by the arm.
“Don’t sit there! Adelinde will kill you if you get the fabric soaked and bloody.” The mix of a hiss and whisper brought Diluc back from his near exhaustion. It was only then, with the fire lighting their surroundings and Kaeya santing right before him, that he could see his brother’s eyepatched eye seemed to be bleeding, a cut splitting the corner of his brow and seeming to run down the eyelid.
“Right...” Diluc pulled up two simple wooden chairs from the corner of the room. “Sit.” He spoke plainly, before disappearing into the hallway.
Kaeya stood there, wondering if he had done something wrong again. A chill ran down his spine as the wet clothes unclung from his skin when he moved, but he sat down as he was told, his mind filled with exhaustion and growing pain now that he had finally relaxed. He was too tired to be clever or rebellious, yet the silence troubled him.
He had written letters, almost too many letters, trying to get Diluc’s attention, trying to be useful, to keep in touch. He had only received two replies to the near dozen he had sent, but he had treasured those and kept them safe. Now, finally being in Diluc’s presence without the added formality of representing the knights - just being himself, he did not know what to say.
The sound of returning footsteps was a welcome break from his thoughts. Diluc returned holding a wooden-box Kaeya knew to be their old first-aid kit. He observed the tension and awkwardness in the actions of the man before him, and felt more at ease. He was not alone in not knowing what to do.
Diluc sat down before Kaeya, the box resting over his knee as he opened it and started separating the items he needed. “Is it just your eye?” He asked as he doused liquid over a small cloth and leaned forward, clearly meaning to reach for Kaeya’s brow.
“It is fine…no need.” The Cavalry Captain leaned back and away from him.
Diluc paused, his gaze intimidating. “You know that I know you were not blinded.”
“Yes…” Kaeya winced in pain, but kept an arm raised to avoid Diluc getting any closer.
“I have seen you without the eyepatch before, remember…” Diluc intervened, guessing that might be the source of Kaeya’s hesitance. Getting no response he added finally, “This is our father’s home. He would have us look out for each other.”
Kaeya’s arm dropped down beside his body, his visible eye searching for the truth of those words. “Our father…” Was he still allowed to speak of Crepus this way out loud, then?
“He has nothing to do with our issues. He would…likely even take your side in all of it if he had been here.”
The Cavalry Captain could not help the soft nervous chuckle that made his shoulders sag in relief. He lowered his gaze once more, this time hoping to hide the threat of tears, not his injured eye. “I am not so sure he would.”
“I knew him longer.” Diluc protested in annoyance. “Now,” He leaned in a little and reached up once more “May I?”
A single nod was all he got, before Diluc carefully removed the bloodied eyepatch. They looked at each other for a moment, Diluc’s red eyes lingering over the eye he had scarred and could now help heal. He took a deep breath, and without another word, set to work.
His career as a nurse was clearly doomed to failure and his finesse in caring for others was none, as one could tell by Kaeya’s constant squirming and wincing, but Kaeya no longer protested. His big brother was taking care of him. Kaeya did not care if he was atrocious at it. “You might blind me for real yet.” He could not help his natural knee-jerk response to being around Diluc: taking a jab at him.
“I am sorry.” Diluc spoke quietly. Neither of them was sure if this was in reply to Kaeya’s throw-away comment, or if it had deeper meaning. Neither questioned it. “That scar is not that bad, by the way. You are just too vain. I bet it would add some character to your whole…act. If you showed it.”
“Not that bad, huh?” Kaeya snorted. “Perhaps I should give you a scar like this too then.”
“Perhaps you should.” Diluc answered quietly.
Despite still having his sight on both eyes, the right one was now swollen and half closed, so only the left one managed to give a visible eye-roll to accompany his frustrated growl. “It is impossible to make a joke around you. Everything becomes a serious matter. You are so dramatic.” It was not a lie.
Diluc cleared his throat in discomfort. He did not enjoy being called such, but he could not refute it. He finished his work in silence, knowing Kaeya would probably need the help of a trusted doctor if he meant to go by without adding another scar to that side of his face, but until morning, this would suffice.
“Elzer told me you stayed over a few days while I was away.” His deep voice broke the silence without shattering it, joining the soft crackling of the burning wood in the fireplace as if it belonged to it.
The corner of Kaeya’s lip tugged up in a mild sneer, yet the nervousness in his blue eye was evident. “Are you going to punish them for it?”
“Is that what you take me for?” The same deep voice that was soft a moment ago, seemed to rumble with the thunder outside now. “I was going to…Never mind.” Diluc stood up at once. “You are patched up. There are dry clothes over that chair. Your room is usually kept clean by Adelinde, you may make use of it tonight. I will not have you say I threw you out in the rain again.”
“I am sorry.” Kaeya’s gaze looked pleading. “Br…Brother…” He held his breath as the word slipped past his lips. It seemed to disarm some of the tension in Diluc. He stayed in place. “Please.” Kaeya’s mind raced looking for words to keep the conversation going, to not let the moment break in awkward silence and their chance at reconnecting turn to ash so easily. “I wrote to you.”
Dulic looked up. “I replied.”
“Only twice.”
Red-hair swung around as Diluc shook his head, a snort sounding on his lips. “You are really too free to write that often. I was otherwise occupied with dangerous matters.”
“Hunting people down?” Kaeya’s words made both of them chuckle discreetly. It seemed like deep down they would never change, and yet they had already changed so much. It was puzzling how both could hold true at the same time.
Diluc walked over to the pile of clothes he had set aside for Kaeya, picking them up and handing them over to the other. Although the fire was starting to dry them off, it would not work fast enough. “You know…” He hesitated, his feet shuffling discreetly. Kaeya remembered a young Diluc doing that whenever he was feeling shy. “You can…still come over to stay sometimes. Even when I am not away.”
Kaeya’s un-hurt eye widened as he looked up at his brother, the pile of dry clothes nearly falling from his hands. “I can?”
“I will be…less dramatic and laugh at a select number of jokes if that helps.” Diluc licked his lips, uncomfortable with the vulnerability of his words. “I think…Adelinde and Elzer would appreciate it.” Yes, that sounded better.
“You are such a kind boss.”
“Exactly. You should tell them that.” Diluc nodded to himself. “But just sometimes. Don’t come over all the time or I’ll poke your other eye out with a stick.”
“Noted.” Kaeya bit his bottom lip, a child-like gleam lighting up his face. “Can I already stay tonight, then? After all it is…dark and cold and rainy outside.” Nothing that had ever stopped him from going out before.
“I had already told you to st…” Diluc paused. This wasn’t about reminding Kaeya he had already offered for him to stay the night a moment ago. His words had been angry and his offer resentful. This was his sibling asking to stay home. It had been a long time since he allowed himself to think of Kaeya that way, but it had never stopped being the truth. He took a deep breath. “I suppose…I just got a new chessboard, we could play a round.” He cleared his throat. “And Adelinde made too much food, it will go to waste otherwise.”
Kaeya nodded, going along with their little theater of reluctance, when in truth both were nervous and Kaeya for sure a little giddy at the idea of a sleepover in his childhood home. “You know…for old-times sake tomorrow we could even go grape-stomping,” Kaeya grinned excitedly.
“Oh yes, the grapes will ferment immediately from those sour feet of yours. Instant wine.” Diluc grumbled.
“At least it would mean you didn’t pick the best grapes for *juice*.” Their banter picked up pace as if it had never stopped, as if all of the years in between had been just a bad dream. It was not, they knew it clearly, but pretending they were closer than they actually were brought a measure of comfort. A notion that someday they might again be as they once wore.
-
The sight of them descending the steps once they changed was as if the two grown men had decided to re-enact the past, both wearing warm pajamas as they tip-toed across the house.
Kaeya wore a pair of pajamas lent to him by the owner of the Winery, one that rested a little too large on top and a little too short on the bottom, given their height difference. It made him look like a gangly teenager as he tried to keep his grace in his silent steps.
Much of their following actions was based on the ingrained respect and considerable fear the head housekeeper had instilled in them since childhood.
They quietly wiped down the wet footsteps they had left all over the house upon coming in, a bundle of their wet clothes wrapped in old bed-sheets and tucked under Kaeya’s arm as they quietly made their way quietly to the kitchen.
“Do you wash your own vigilante outfit?” Kaeya asked in a whisper, wondering what they would do with the soaked garment. Diluc stared back at him dumbfounded. “Of course not.” The Cavalry Captain immediately corrected himself. “So Adelinde *does* know, right.” He chattered away despite the seriousness of their current mission.
“Keep quiet! If she wakes up before 5am she turns into a beast.” Diluc whispered back.
“Do you mean literally?” Kaeya asked innocently.
“Why don’t you try and see?”
They kept un-silently arguing about their silence, never noticing the figure in the dark observing them with a warm smile on her lips and a hand on her chest. For a feral beast, she was really quite emotional seeing her boys together once more.