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"How.. Could you?"
Diluc stares at the half-drunk mess of a man in front of him.
"I couldn't keep it a secret anymore." Kaeya mutters, the shot glass in his hand swaying in his loosened grip.
"You can not be serious." Diluc interrogates in shock, "Kaeya, tell me you aren't -"
"It's true." Kaeya spits out, "I really couldn't hide it from you anymore."
Diluc shakes his head in denial, placing a hand over his mouth. Although he was fully aware of how mindless Kaeya could be when he was drunk, there wasn't a chance that such a thing could be lied about.
"Diluc?" Kaeya mumbles, drinking the remainders of the liquid in his shot glass, "Why are you so quiet?"
The red-haired man does not answer, yet simply stands stiff in his place with a lowered head, his fists clenched.
All those years.
All those memories.
Gone.
Kaeya slips towards Diluc, his hand reaching out to hold his shoulder, "Diluc, why are you -"
"Do not get close to me." Diluc slaps Kaeya's hand away.
"You have to let me explain that -"
"I considered you a brother, yet you do this to me?"
Kaeya's azure eyes widen, "You are and forever will be my brother, Diluc."
"No."
Kaeya's mouth hangs open.
No?
"From this day on, do not even consider me as an acquaintance." Diluc declares, "It would be shameful to consider a traitorous man such as you as family."
Kaeya drops his shot glass in disbelief, his hands shaking uncontrollably, "Don't say that, D-Diluc. We're brothers!"
"I am no brother to you!" Diluc screams, pushing away the man he once considered family with all his might, "How could you?!"
"I was no older than four!" Kaeya points out, "I had no choice! I - I had no say in it!"
"And yet you couldn't have left? You didn't stay as a four year old!" Diluc yells.
"It was too late to leave!" Kaeya pleads, "I had no intention of harming a soul, I swear!"
Diluc pauses, "But you were assigned to, weren't you?"
Kaeya stops in his tracks, unsure of whether to answer the question.
In uncontaminated rage, Diluc struts towards Kaeya, grabbing him by the collar, "Answer me, you coward! You were assigned to murder, weren't you?"
Kaeya attempts wriggling out of his step-brother's grip, failing terribly, "But Diluc -"
"This is your last warning: answer me."
"They were only assignments; I never laid a hand on anyone!" Kaeya pleas.
Diluc's pupils' dilate, and he throws the young man out of his grip. Kaeya staggers back, falling to the ground.
Diluc's eyes brim with hidden tears, his breath sharpening by the second. To think of the man he acknowledged and loved as a younger brother as a foreign assassin and spy, with no mission other than to lurk and murder the people of his region shattered his heart, along with any brotherly emotions which he once held for Kaeya. He couldn't warn his people about his so-called brother, given the reputation he had to uphold and keep, yet he couldn't bear looking in his eyes once again. He couldn't bear being in the same room as him anymore.
He despised him.
Pure hatred.
"Leave."
Kaeya looks up at the stern man, "W-What?"
"Leave. Out of my house." Diluc turns to Kaeya in rage, "Out of my life."
Kaeya wished to deny; he wanted to talk, to explain, to stay. He didn't want to hurt or leave his step-brother's side: in fact, it was the last thing he wanted to do. And yet he left his desires unspoken, his devotion and adoration drowned in the countless bottles he drank.
"I understand."
Diluc wipes away his tears, starting to walk away from the fallen man. As his steps grew further, he heard his indistinct voice one last time, making the tears and brotherly adoration he once disposed of prick at his heart again.
Kaeya stands from the ground, his hand resting on the wooden doorknob.
"Thank you, brother."