Work Text:
Kaeya’s head shot up as a loud bang sounded. No screams followed, so he sat, just for a second, and took a deep breath. He stood up from his desk and poked his head into the hallway. Green smoke billowed from around the corner. Kaeya sighs, grabs a handkerchief from his desk, and braces himself for the mess he knows is waiting for him.
It came from the alchemy lab, because of course it did. As he got closer, Kaeya could make out quiet sniffles. This made him hurry, skidding around the corner.
The smoke settled to the ground and slowly dissipated, so Kaeya tucked the handkerchief in his breast pocket, not bothering to protect his lungs. Among the green smoke stood a smudge of red.
Of course.
“I wanted to see Albedo, but the door wouldn’t move, so I pushed it!” Klee waved her hands around her as she spoke. “I fell into the room though, and I knocked a bunch of bottles off the table. The glass broke and it started fizzing so I just… ran!”
“Are you okay, Klee? Did you get any on you?”
“No, I got out quickly enough.” Klee fiddled with her fingers, and Kaeya saw a small burn on her thumb.
“Good, good,” Kaeya grabbed her hand, holding it up to his eye. “Are you sure?”
“Fine! The steam got me.”
Kaeya smiled, and put her hand down. As he patted the back of it, he said “You’ll be fine, then. It’ll just hurt for a while.”
Footsteps sounded down the hallway. It seems like everyone else finally started to catch up. Jean led the charge, with Albedo and Lisa following closely behind.
The three looked at Kaeya with an unspoken is she alright ?
Kaeya nods.
They all let out a breath, and Albedo went to the door to check the damage. He stood still for a while. Slowly, he turned.
It’s a silent rage. Albedo knows better than to yell at what was an honest mistake, but Klee also knows better. She can tell by the shaking clench of his jaw that this is the angriest he has ever been.
“Albedo… I’m sorry.”
A shaky breath. “It’s okay, Klee.” But Albedo followed this with his departure. All four sets of eyes watched him round the corner, and heard him head down the stairs.
“Let’s… give him a minute!” Jean said.
Trusting Kaeya to handle the Klee situation, Jean follows Lisa through the doorway.
Klee is still looking where she last saw Albedo.
“He hates me.”
Kaeya sucks in a breath. “He does not.”
“How can he not hate me? This is the worst thing I’ve ever done.” Tears begin to well up in Klee’s eyes.
“Klee, no offense, but you are a baby.”
“Hey!”
“No, I mean it quite literally. You are a child.” Kaeya kneels down beside her. “If you were my age and did this, maybe he would be mad at you, but right now, he’s just mad at the situation. Trust me on this. This is your big brother we’re talking about, you two have a bond that can’t be broken.”
Klee just sniffles, but she manages to wipe her tears. Kaeya rubs a hand on her back.
“Come here.”
Kaeya is a little surprised at the force with which she hugs him. But he doesn’t complain. He just holds Klee until her tears die down. It’s a bit of an awkward position, balanced on one knee while curled protectively over her.
He’s spared when he hears footsteps coming back up the stairs. Without even turning his back, he knows it’s Albedo. Gently, he pries Klee off of himself, and puts both hands on her shoulders. She meets his eye, and they share one resolute nod.
“Klee, come here.”
Klee shuffles her feet, but she makes her way over to Albedo silently. He mirrors Kaeya and drops to one knee. He all but scoops her into his arms, and buries his face in her shoulder.
“I’m sorry for scaring you.” It’s muffled, but Klee could hear him just fine.
“I’m sorry for ruining your lab.”
“Oh, Klee…” Albedo pulls back to look her in the eyes. “You are so much more important to me than my lab. I struggle to think of anything you could do to actually make me mad.”
Klee just sniffs.
“Truce?” Albedo holds out a pinky. Klee hooks her own around it, and they give a firm shake.
Kaeya can only smile softly at the scene. He waves goodbye to Klee when Albedo truly scoops her up, and she gives a little salute before being carried away to her room to clean up.
Lisa exits first. “The damage is really, really bad.”
Kaeya stills. “What? Is there structural damage?”
“No, your damage.”
Jean grabs Lisa’s elbow. “Do not.”
“Well now I’m interested. Tell me, Miss Minci, what my ‘damage’ is?”
Lisa takes a moment to pretend to think. “Hmm. ‘A bond that can’t be broken?’ That sounds awfully familiar.”
Jean bites her lip.
“I have no clue what you’re talking about, you’ll have to be a bit more clear.” He normally loved playing this game with her, but he can feel the familiar curtain fall over his face as he schools his features. It’s not that he doesn’t trust them, quite the opposite, in fact. They were there for him right after it happened, after all.
“It’s about you and that brother of yours. Hopefully you get it now.”
Kaeya swallows. “That’s enough. Please. Not now.”
Lisa jumps at the chance. “So, later?”
“You know what? Sure. I’ll talk to you about this later. I’m looking forward to it.” He couldn’t shake them off, no matter how hard he tried. Deep down, did he want to ?
A grin and a raised eyebrow from Lisa, and a relieved sigh from Jean.
Kaeya feels a bit numb as he watches the pair walk away, Jean massaging her temples at the pile of paperwork waiting for her after this, and Lisa rubbing her shoulders.
This is something he’s thought of for a while. A way to break the ice, weather the steam that had grown between them. But every time he thought of it, he managed to convince himself it’s no use. What’s done is done. He felt the same as he always had: he would figure out a way to make them drop it.
That was only the beginning of it. Now, whenever Kaeya had a private moment with Jean or Lisa, in moments of silence, they would just look at him. He knows exactly what they’re thinking of, and they know he knows. Eventually, he gets a little smile and a raised eyebrow. Here, he tries to pick up the conversation again. They let him, the first few times.
Truly, they need to focus more on their work, instead of wasting time on him. Well, at least Lisa does.
It isn’t until one of his on-duty nights that they make their move.
Lisa cornered him as he tried to leave his office, hand to his chest as she pushed him backwards through the doorway. She stepped in after him, let Jean in behind her, and shut and locked the door. When Kaeya looked at her incredulously, she just laughed.
“Really, I thought we gave you enough warning. I know you know what those looks were about.”
Jean rubbed Kaeya’s arm as he took it in. “I know it’s not exactly my place to butt in on your family matters, but… come on.”
Kaeya took a deep breath, readying the justification that he’d prepared since that first day. It’s over and done. What I did was not something that can be forgiven. I deserved the first punishment, and I deserve this one too. What’s best for him is to keep him at a distance. I know he’s uncomfortable around me.
All that came out was a sigh.
“Fine. Give me your advice. I know you’ll give it anyway.”
“Well,” Jean began, “you need to be nicer to yourself, for starters.”
“That’s very rich, coming from you, Jeanie.”
Jean’s smile dropped, and Kaeya can feel a little fear of Barbatos in him.
“Do you know how I spent last weekend, Kaeya?” After his silence, she continued. “I spent some time with Barbara. We got lunch, I took her on a hike, and I enjoyed it! ‘It’ being spending time with my sister .”
A deep, long, suffering sigh. “Fine. Fine. But it won’t be as easy as you think it will be.”
Jean smiled. “I know that. I also know how you feel—how you both feel. I’m not as close with him as when we were kids, but I can still tell that he… misses you.”
“I’m waiting for the actual advice. You have to give me something I haven’t already thought of. It’s not like I’ve thought this over for three years, or anything.”
“I’ve been thinking for about three minutes now,” Lisa hummed, “and I think I’ve got something. How about we plant some fake intel in his network and have him meet up to do a mission with you? I think we recently found a rather simple domain that relies mostly on puzzles to escape, rather than fighting. You two won’t be in actual danger, but you’ll still be forced to work together.”
“You know about his secret network?”
“My dear, do you think I’m stupid?”
“No ma’am.”
“Good! Well, have you thought of that before?”
Kaeya held his chin in thought. “Not in those exact circumstances… I never really wanted to lie to him, again. Not that he would really trust me to begin with.”
“Either way, he does trust me. Can you believe it? He even gave me a compliment the other day. And here I was thinking he was so sour all the time. Turns out all you have to do is give him a map of the recent riftwolf sightings, and his smile will light up the room!”
Kaeya thought of the recent smiles he’d seen on Diluc. He struggled to think of one.
He thought of Klee, her tears, and her joy when Albedo returned.
“I’m trusting you both with this. If you two can successfully plant the information, you have my word that I’ll be there.”
Jean clapped her hands in front of her, clearly praising the powers that be. She looked at Lisa, who nodded.
“You have our word.”
Kaeya tapped his foot on the cobblestone.
He couldn’t head too deep into the domain, or the doors would close and lock behind him. It was hard to find a spot that was out of sight of the door, but would still reveal him and prevent a surprise hilt to the skull. So here he was, hiding behind a pillar like a child.
He hears the gentle crush of boots on gravel, and steadies his breathing. Before he could truly steel himself, Diluc was well past the threshold, and setting off the door.
“Oh.”
At the noise, Diluc spun around, knife flicked from his sleeve to his hand. Lowering his blade after a few seconds, he grabbed his chest and swore. “Why. Why are you here? Why would you do that?”
“I didn’t mean to.” Kaeya could feel the whine leak into his voice. “I was tasked with exploring this place, and I saw these scratches on the walls, and was studying them. I only just arrived.”
Luckily for him, there actually were scratches on that pillar, and Diluc squatted down to take a closer look. “Hm.”
Hauling himself up by a divot in the door, Diluc tested the strength of it. Solid rock, like always. “Great. Well, we have to get out of here. Just… come on.” Diluc checked his pockets and readied his claymore before stepping forward.
Kaeya had no choice but to follow.
The next room was small, and the walls lined with patterned tiles, except one. When Kaeya reached up to touch the blank panel, Diluc grabbed his wrist.
“Ouch! What!”
“Check for traps first, idiot.”
Kaeya pursed his lips. From Lisa, he knew there were no actual traps in the domain, but Diluc didn’t…
After a quick survey of the room, Diluc nodded.
He reached up again, and the first tile glowed softly under his fingers. A hieroglyph on the upper right light flashed, then the lower right. Kaeya pressed the two that glowed in order. The blank panel pulsed once, and then two new tiles flashed in succession. Kaeya made quick work of the game, until the end.
Kaeya had found the pairs quite easy, because they were. But the last puzzle consisted of every tile going off in order. He wasn’t paying attention! He didn’t remember the ones at the very beginning, now.
He heard Diluc sigh behind him, then nudge him aside as the blank panel pulsed urgently. Diluc squinted, then pressed—correctly—every tile. The final panel winked at them, and a new door opened.
“Why didn’t you try to remember all of them? That kind of game always ends with the long sequence.”
Kaeya huffed. “I was caught up in the pure joy of the sport, my apologies.”
The corner of Diluc’s mouth twitched. Twitched up . Kaeya internally jumped for joy.
On the outside, the pair were perfectly civil to each other. Not friendly, but amicable. When Kaeya would get drunk and mourn in Rosaria’s lap about it all, Albedo would question why.
“Clearly he doesn’t hate you. He’s not barring you from the tavern, or even conversation. Where does the ‘hate’ come from?”
Kaeya hadn’t told them the full details of that night, and he wasn’t sure he ever would. He wasn’t sure how to tell them that seeing and feeling their bond sever was like losing half of himself. He could still read every emotion on Diluc’s face, no matter how minute. Years later, when he caught Diluc’s eyes across the bar, he saw glimpses of anger, apathy, and annoyance. He ignored the regret he knew he saw.
So to see a hint of joy and humor in him, and at him, made Kaeya hide his own smile. He knew this was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Diluc had walked ahead, and Kaeya followed.
Two more simple, but time-consuming puzzles were waiting for them. With each one completed, Kaeya let a bit of his happiness out, and it did not go unnoticed. After the third puzzle, Diluc clapped him on the shoulder. Granted, it was to brush off the dust that collected after Kaeya had to haul statuettes across the room, but still.
The fourth room was the final one. The pair could see the door out on the far side of the room, magically relocated, of course. In the middle of the room were two elemental monuments, facing each other across a circle.
At the sight, Diluc let out a short laugh. “Ironic, that it’s the only two elements we wield, hm?”
Kaeya hummed. Of course, he knew from Lisa that the domain adjusted itself to those who entered. As freaky as the ley line magic can be, he supposed this domain could make a good training circuit for new recruits.
“I suppose it’ll be easy to guess the order they’re activated in.” Diluc stretched an arm to prepare.
Lisa hadn’t actually told him what the process for this last room is. I want this one to be a surprise, I can’t give you all the answers now, can I?
“There might be some trick to it.” Kaeya held his chin in his hand.
“Well, get ready, then.”
Diluc struck first, and Kaeya managed to catch himself before he winced as the flames shot out from Diluc’s blade. The monument blinked, clearly activated, but it was blinking fast. Kaeya saw this, and sent a blast of cryo towards the other monument without using his sword. The other monument blinked, and both went dark.
“Ah, the other way around.” Kaeya sent another wave of cryo, more of a gentle breeze, at his monument. Diluc did the same. The monuments blinked out, again.
“Hm,” they said, in unison.
Kaeya had lost count of how many combinations they had run through after that. Failing the first dozen times, he and Diluc just took turns sending elements over in quick succession, but they couldn’t find the combination, even by accident.
“Wait,” Kaeya said, “let’s try hitting them at the exact same time. No delays.”
Diluc slowly nodded his head. “I… don’t know why I didn’t think of that before.”
“One of us has to have the brains, I suppose.”
“If I was the brawns, I wouldn’t have helped with, oh, two of the three other puzzles?”
Kaeya didn’t dignify that with a response, and prepared to hit the monument for what he hoped would be the final time.
Diluc looked like he remembered something. He cleared his throat before simply saying, “Breathe.”
Kaeya didn’t have to ask what he meant. They both knew. The training they put themselves through isn’t so easily forgotten, after all.
Diluc met his gaze, and took a comically large breath in. Kaeya did the same, and they both slowly let the air out. They breathed in, again. Out. They turned, in tandem, and took another breath.
When the elements burst forth, the monuments winked together. The wall opened, and the green of the grass could be seen through the open door.
Diluc smiled, truly. With teeth!
Kaeya breathed in the freshest air he’s felt, in a long time.