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“Diluc!”
Diluc looks up and sees Kaeya walking down the path, a waving Klee on his shoulders. Both were dressed casually, which Diluc is immensely grateful for.
Even Diluc himself is dressed in leisurewear; old clothes that have seen better days and a sun hat to keep the autumn rays from burning his face. Which Kaeya playfully flicks up, nearly toppling the hat off.
Diluc grabs it, glaring at the smirking Kaeya.
“Glad to see you finally made it,” Diluc says. He looks up a Klee and gives her a small smile. “You look very cute, Klee.” And she did, in red overalls, matching gumboots and her ever-present hat.
“Thank you!” Klee says. “I even wore my special grape crushing shoes.” She swings her legs wildly and hits Kaeya in the chest with her heels. Diluc’s smile grew wider as Kaeya winces.
“That’s good, but crushing grapes is done-”
“After we pick some!” Kaeya interrupts, lifting Klee off his shoulders. “Which is the first thing to do when harvesting.” Kaeya gives Diluc a meaningful look.
“Right,” Diluc says. “Of course.” He leads the pair down the vineyard, giving them a quick run-down of the place: what each workers does and how the vineyard was split into different sections.
Diluc stops at their designated sector. He lets Klee taste some of the grapes, telling her that he knew they were ready to harvest because they tasted sweet. Diluc splits a grape to show her the seeds inside, and how you can also tell by how the seeds have started to darken.
Klee looks around in wonder. “Do you have to taste all of these grapes?”
Diluc laughs. “No, thankfully not. But we do try from each section, just to make sure. Grapes can only be harvested in one day, so it’s critical to pick the correct one. The grapes have to also be completely dry when you harvest them, so a day like today is ideal.”
Diluc hands Klee a pair of well-used secateurs and shows her how to properly cut the grapes at the stem. After a couple of demonstrations, Diluc deems her an excellent grape harvester and sets her loose with a container, warning her to stay in this sector of the vineyard.
He grabs his pair of secateurs and hands Kaeya another spare. Kaeya takes them but his eye doesn’t leave Klee, who is making quick work of cutting the grapes down.
“Are you sure giving such a sharp object to a child is a good idea?”
Diluc shrugs, cutting grapes with efficiency. “We were children when we used to harvest grapes. She also deals with explosions on a frequent basis, I think she is more than capable of handling what is essentially a pair of big scissors.”
Diluc can see Kaeya is still worried so Diluc reassures him, “But we’ll keep an eye on her to make sure.”
Kaeya sighs. He turns towards his section of grapes and begins to cut. “She’s just been excited about all of this, so I’m scared that enthusiasm might carry over to her cutting off a finger.”
“I think I’m more at risk of having just a stick left than her losing any limbs. But enthusiasm isn’t always a bad thing, I’m glad she’s finding this all interesting. Winemaking isn’t an exciting process.”
“Diluc, you do not understand,” Kaeya says. “We spent two hours this morning just picking the right shoes. Two. Hours.”
“Ah yes, shoes that are essential to, I’m sure what she had in mind, the crushing of grapes. Which is typically done bare-footed, as you well know, or,” Diluc continues, giving Kaeya a meaningful look. “With actual crushing machines that the Winery owns, that you also know about because you were here when Father first bought them. Remember how he wouldn’t shut up about them for months.”
“God, don’t remind me. So many long conversations about the sleekness and the efficiency of them,” Kaeya groans. “And believe me, I tried to explain this to her. But she was convinced her shoes would make the process go a lot faster and that we would have wine by the end of the day.”
“Ah.” Diluc winces. “That might be a bit of a tall order. But I can offer her some grape juice by the end of it instead?”
Kaeya snorts. “I remember how excited you were about getting to make that.”
“With good reason,” Diluc says with a sniff. “Fresh grape juice is always the best.”
“I beg to differ, there are so many better things than grape juice.”
“Oh? Like what?”
“Like actual wine,” Kaeya says. Diluc crinkles his nose, unimpressed.
“Or getting to see your boyfriend in a cute hat.”
“I’m only wearing this hat because otherwise I would get burnt,” Diluc grumbles.
Kaeya lets out a startled laugh. “I almost forgot about that! A Pyro-holder who gets sunburnt easily and a winemaker who hates wine.”
“Also one who holds no love for the Knights of Favonius,” Diluc says. “And yet is dating their captain.”
“You don’t say.” Kaeya smirks. “You’re just full of contradictions, aren’t you?”
“I like to think it makes me interesting, don’t you agree?”
“Diluc, I can honestly say, never have I once found you anything but interesting.”
And that was true, from the first day Kaeya met Diluc he had been the brightest, most interesting person Kaeya had ever met. Never was someone that excited to get to know Kaeya, a total stranger who had appeared randomly one evening and shoved his way into the Ragnvindr household.
Crepus had to reprimand Diluc a few times not to overwhelm Kaeya, but Kaeya was basking in the unique sensation of being Diluc’s entire focus.
He had done everything to experience that over and over again. From the simplest of acts of picking Diluc his favourite flowers as a surprise gift and buying him trinkets at the market, to joining the Knights and working by Diluc’s side.
Looking back, Kaeya found his young self truly ridiculous but couldn’t blame the love-struck child. There was always something special about having Diluc’s full attention on you.
And now he had it back, with Diluc’s cheeks turning a very cute pink at his words. “Flatterer,” Diluc muttered.
Kaeya gave him his most charming smile. “But no less true.”
“Stop dawdling and more cutting. You knights are always so useless.”
“I’m sure you can put me to better work,” Kaeya mummers. “If you find me so inadequate.”
Diluc gives Kaeya a considering look. “You know, I might just have a better use for you after all.”
OoO
“Diluc this is not what I had in mind!” Kaeya shouts.
“Really? Because this is exactly what I was thinking. What were you expecting to happen?” Diluc asks in faux-innocence, knowing well that Kaeya couldn’t answer with Adelinde right there.
Kaeya grumbles, getting back to working on turning the Crusher-Destemmer machine. They had finished collecting all of the grapes, the three of them moving and grabbing multiple containers as they moved along the rows. Diluc fetched them water as they worked, to keep them hydrated and to also check up on the rest of the workers.
Afterwards, Klee went to help Adelinde with lunch while Kaeya and Diluc got started on loading the grapes into the Crusher-Destemmer. Diluc made sure everything was accounted for while Kaeya complained bitterly about the manual labour.
“Well I think you are doing a fantastic job, Kaeya,” Adelinde says.
“And as always Miss Adelinde, I strive to live up to your expectations.”
Adelinde huffs a laugh. “Never change Kaeya.” She puts down the tray she was carrying. “I’ve brought you all some snacks. Klee helped me put them together, although she was more interested in eating them all.”
“I’m sure you are very used to that, Miss Adelinde,” Kaeya says. “When Master Diluc was a child.”
Diluc frowns. “I didn’t constantly eat.”
“No,” Kaeya agrees. “But you were always stealing food from the kitchen. I remember you running out with dinner rolls shoved in your pockets, a trail of bread crumbs leading to innocent little me who just wanted to play in the gardens.”
Diluc huffs as Adelinde laughs. “That reminds me of this one time I caught him red-handed trying to steal grape juice from the kitchen cupboards.”
Diluc groans, knowing exactly which story Adelinde is talking about. Kaeya stopped working to listen in glee.
“He tried to deny it but his mouth was completely stained purple. I had to listen patiently as this child told me very seriously that he was checking for mice with a bottle badly hidden behind him and three more scattered around his feet.”
“Diluc, why were you stealing grape juice?”
Adelinde explains, “He was told he couldn’t have any more after he got sick on them the day before.”
“And you still went for more? After getting sick?”
“I was five!” Diluc says, with a blush high on his cheeks. “I liked it and I thought I could easily sneak them out. Clearly not.”
“What was the plan here?” Kaeya asks. “Couldn’t you have stolen the bottles? Why were you drinking them in the kitchen?”
“I figured someone would notice the missing bottles, so I thought I would drink them and fill them with water instead.”
Kaeya snorts. “Ah yes, the alcoholic method of things. They start so young,” he says in mock despair. “How many did you drink before getting caught?”
“Oh only the one,” says Adelinde, smiling. “He wasn’t very sneaky and I was alerted by the noise he was making. He only learnt to be quiet when you arrived, Kaeya.”
“Thank you, Adelinde,” Diluc says pointedly.
“Of course, Master Diluc,” Adelinde says, not even hiding her amusement. She turns to Kaeya and says, “Kaeya, I wish you the best of luck.”
“I think I’m going to need it, Adelinde.” Kaeya puts a hand on his chest. “But you have brought me immense joy today, and for that I thank you.”
Adelinde just shakes her head and leaves her two ridiculous boys to their work. Kaeya steps forward and grabs an apple from the tray, tossing it into the air a couple of times before taking a bite out of it.
He grins at his still-pouting boyfriend. “You were such an adorable child."
“Shut up.”
“Stealing grape juice, really?” he snickers, picking up one of the glasses of grape juice Adelinde left them. “Don’t worry Diluc, I will gladly give you mine. No stealing required.” Kaeya holds out his glass, waving it between his fingertips.
He can see Diluc ready to swipe it out of his hand but stops when they both hear the patter of running footsteps.
“Weird Grown-Up!” both looked up to see Klee running towards them. “Can I crush the grapes now?”
“I don’t know,” Diluc says, turning his attention away from his aggravating boyfriend. “Do you think we’ve got enough grapes to do so?”
“We have loads! I’ve collected like a million of them, so we definitely have enough.”
There was a sizeable amount of grapes that have been cut and de-stemmed from the various workers. That meant that they had more than enough to spare for Klee to crush them the old-fashioned way.
“Well if you think so then I see no reason to delay.”
Diluc leads them to an area that Adelinde had kindly set up, with the old stomping bucket that she must have unearthed from storage and a wash area for one’s feet. Piles of grapes have already been placed inside the bucket, ready for them.
Klee squeals and makes a beeline for the bucket. She’s ready to jump in and start stomping when she’s stopped just in time by Kaeya grabbing her mid-air.
“Woah there,” Kaeya says. “Remember, you have to listen to Diluc before you can do anything.”
Klee looks up at Kaeya, confused. “Isn’t it just stepping on some grapes?”
“Essentially,” Diluc says. “But you need to do a couple of more steps before you can begin, the first being washing your feet. I don’t think anyone would be pleased with soil and dirty feet wine.”
“Ick! That’s gross!” Klee shouts, scrunching up her nose in disgust. “But don’t worry Weird Grown-Up, I have special shoes on so I don’t need to do this barefoot.” Klee gives her shoes a considering look. “But I guess I can wash them.”
Diluc winces and tries to gently explain, “Unfortunately those shoes will be too harsh for the grapes. Bare feet work best because they gently split the grapes open and that causes the wine to be less bitter.”
Klee frowns at her shoes and looks sadly up at Diluc. “So no special shoes?”
Diluc shakes his head. “I’m sorry but no special shoes.”
“Okay,” Klee says and Kaeya puts her down. Klee reluctantly takes off her shoes and Diluc helps her clean her feet.
“Ready?” Kaeya asks, holding her up again but this time over the bucket of grapes.
“Ready!” Klee shouts, gaining some of her enthusiasm back. Kaeya drops her in and Klee immediately squeals.
“It feels weird!” she yells. “It’s all bumpy under my feet.”
“Don’t forget you have to stomp,” Diluc tells her, grinning when Klee begins to step hard on the grapes, laughing and jumping around as she eventually gets used to the feeling.
“My feet are turning purple!” Klee sticks her one foot up high to show and sending pieces of grapes flying.
“Very cool,” Kaeya tells her and Klee goes back to happily stomping
Kaeya sighs. “They’re going to be stained for days after this, aren’t they?”
“Her boots will cover it if you’re worried,” Diluc says, smiling when Klee begins to hum tunelessly while walking in circles.
“I’m more worried about her sticking her feet into everyone’s faces, showing them off.” Kaeya shrugs. “Oh well, Jean’s problem now.”
“You’re wicked.”
“Kaeya,” Klee calls. “Join me!”
“But I don’t want to ruin your fun,” Kaeya tells her, wondering how on earth she managed to get a purple streak on the side of her face.
“It’ll be more fun if we do it all together,” Klee says, very seriously.
“But that means Diluc should join as well.”
Diluc shrugs, taking off his hat and rolling up his pant legs.
“Wait.” Kaeya blinks in surprise. “You’re seriously joining?”
“I don’t see why not,” Diluc says, climbing gingerly into the tub with a cheering Klee. “I don’t mind my toes being a little purple.” He looks up at Kaeya with a smirk. “Why, are you afraid of some purple feet?”
Kaeya quickly joins in and soon hands, clothes and feet are stained purple-red. Kaeya begins to sing a song Crepus would have the workers march to, bumping hips with Diluc and marching in time with Klee. Diluc tries to correct some of the words while singing along, smiling at Kaeya’s antics. Klee begins to make up some of her own marching anthems when Diluc and Kaeya run out.
“I’m tired now,” Klee declares, after exhausting all possible ways of using the word grapes in a sentence.
Diluc gives her a look of exaggerated surprise. “But we have to do this for three days.”
“Three days!” Klee stops walking in shock. “But I have to go back to Master Jean tomorrow!”
“Unfortunately you belong to the Winery until all of the wine is finished being made.”
“How long will that take?” Klee looks almost scared to ask.
Diluc thinks it over, leaving Klee nearly vibrating in suspense. Finally, he says, “About a year.”
“A year!”
“Wine takes a long time to ferment,” Diluc informs her, very seriously.
“If you had let me wear my shoes it would have been done already.” Klee looks down at the mashed-up grapes with consideration. “Or maybe some bombs would have helped.”
Kaeya frowns at her. “Klee, what did I tell you.”
“They would have been really, really, really small bombs,” Klee says, looking at Kaeya hopefully. “You wouldn’t even notice them going off.”
Diluc grimaces. “I would prefer no gun powder in my wine, thank you.”
“So no bombs?” Klee asks sadly.
“I’m afraid no bombs,” Diluc says. “I guess you’re stuck at the Dawn Winery for the year.”
“But I have to go back to being a Spark Knight.”
“Oh a Spark Knight,” Diluc says in awe. “Why didn’t you say so? That sounds like a very important job.”
Klee puffs up her chest in pride. “It is!” She looks at Diluc very seriously. “So I need to go back to help the Knights of Favonius.”
“And those Knights certainly need all the help they can get.” Diluc nods. “Very well, since you hold such a high position I suppose I will have to let you return. But not before some dinner.”
“Yay!” Klee shouts and quickly scrambles out of the tub.
“Wash your feet!” Kaeya calls but it's too late and Klee had already ran out.
He winces at the purple-stained footsteps leading out the door and looks apologetically at Diluc. “Sorry.”
“Nothing we probably haven’t done ourselves. Although dinner is probably still a couple of hours out.” Diluc looks down at his feet. “We should probably put these grapes with the rest, so they can be crushed together.”
“All that hard work,” Kaeya laments. “Just to be replaced by a machine.”
Diluc gives the grapes a considering look. “In all honesty, we can probably use these for grape juice, make some tonight and have it tomorrow.”
“You and your precious grape juice,” Kaeya teases before shrugging. “Could be fun, we can involve Klee.”
Diluc grimaces. “We should probably catch her before she runs into the house. Or Adelinde sees her.”
Kaeya looks at the purple footprints in horror. “Yeah, we should hurry.”
OoO
They found Klee quickly, following the trail she left behind, and see her getting a stern talking to by Adelinde.
Adelinde is quick to turn her glare onto the both of them. “And you two, I expected better. Letting her run around the house, staining the carpets.”
“Apologies, Adelinde,” Kaeya says. “She was very excited to try your cooking and got away from us. We’ll get her cleaned up right away. Klee,” Kaeya turns to a chastened Klee. “I suggest you apologise to Miss Adelinde.”
Klee darts a look at Adelinde before returning her attention to the floor. “Sorry, Miss Adelinde.”
Adelinde nods. “Apology accepted.”
“Are the stains possible to get out?” Diluc asks.
“Lucky for all three of you.” Adelinde casts her eyes over them pointedly. “I am very experienced in getting grape stains out of things. I suggest you get cleaned up quickly and not make a mess anywhere else.”
“Yes, of course,” Diluc says, along with Kaeya’s, “Right away.”
Kaeya whisks a shamed Klee out of the room, following Diluc’s already retreating form.
Diluc opens one of the doors once they are up the stairs, showing them the guest bathroom. “You can use these to get ready. Towels are already there for you to use and I’ll bring you both some clothes.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Kaeya quickly protests.
“Nonsense. You can’t continue wearing stained and dirty clothes. Plus you both are invited to dinner and it would be best to dress appropriately.”
“Thank you,” Kaeya says and begins to draw a bath for Klee.
“Thank you, Weird Grown-Up!” Klee echoes. Diluc nods and leaves them, going on a search for clothes.
Kaeya is easy to dress, they are roughly the same size and Diluc is sure Kaeya left a shirt here when he stayed over. Klee might be a little harder to dress and Diluc is unsure if Adelinde still had some of their childhood clothes in storage that would fit her.
Diluc winces at the thought of bothering Adelinde now and figures a top will have to make due. He casts a critical eye over his wardrobe, looking for his smallest shirt, and spots something crumpled in the corner.
Unearthing it, Diluc sees that it was a simple button-down that Kaeya bought for him as a joke. The material is of a good quality but it’s what’s embroidered that makes Diluc wince. Darknight Hero #1 Supporter the shirt proclaims on the back, in blocky black letters.
Diluc had begged Kaeya that he better not have gotten this custom made and Kaeya said it was a lucky find when he was at the market. Diluc didn’t 100% believe him, but the material was nice enough that he didn’t have the heart to throw it out.
Much like the ugly vase, any gift from Kaeya ended up being kept, no matter how much they made Diluc wince.
Deeming the shirt okay for Klee to wear, Diluc bundles up the rest of the clothes and knocks on the bathroom door. He alerts both Klee and Kaeya that fresh clothes are outside for them and heads off back into his room to get changed himself.
OoO
“I think my idea of appropriately dressed and yours are two different things,” Kaeya says with amusement, showing off his casual shirt. “Also how did you manage to still get sunburnt?” He gives Diluc a poke on his very red cheeks, snickering when Diluc smacks his hand away.
“Well, I like mine!” Klee declares, doing a spin in her shirt that is essentially a dress on her.
“I got Diluc that, I’m surprised that you kept it.” Not just kept it, Kaeya notes, but used, if the loose threads on the embroidery were any indication.
Diluc looks away, grumbling, “It’s a comfortable shirt.”
“I knew you would like it,” says Kaeya with a grin.
Klee looks up in interest. “Does Weird Grown-Up also like the Darknight Hero?”
Kaeya muffles a snort, smiling innocently at Diluc when he gives Kaeya a warning look.
“I think,” Diluc says. “Whoever they may be, does good around the city, protecting it where the Knights are slacking.” He elbows Kaeya hard to get him to stop snickering. Diluc looks at Klee. “Do you like the Darknight Hero?”
“I find him cool!” Klee exclaims. “I want to go out at night and fight crime by myself too.” She does some shadow boxing, making an explosion noise after clearly throwing a bomb at some imaginary foes.
Kaeya chokes back on a chuckle, rubbing his sore sides. “An excellent influence to young minds, that Darknight Hero sure is.”
“I’m positive that’s not what they intended,” says Diluc, a little helplessly. “And one should listen to their elders and their rules, it’s not safe for one to go out by themselves.”
“Don’t worry Weird Grown-Up,” Klee tells Diluc seriously. “I’m a Spark Knight, I can take care of any dangers, no sweat.”
“Come on little Spark Knight,” Kaeya says, ruffling Klee’s hair. “Let’s see if Adelinde needs help with anything. Diluc was saying we could maybe make some grape juice, does that sound like fun?”
“Let’s go!” Klee shouts and runs downstairs. Or more like jumps down, if the heavy thumps were anything to go by.
“And she’s gone again,” Kaeya sighs.
“How are children so high energy?” Diluc asks, mystified. “Do you ever think we were that energetic?”
“I was a complete angel.” Kaeya places a hand over his heart. He then points at Diluc. “Where I know for sure how much of a troublemaker you were.”
“I was not,” Diluc says, affronted. “You caused more trouble than I ever did.”
“I was not the one that broke Crepus’ vase that one time. But don’t worry,” Kaeya continues, heading downstairs. “I have now replaced it with an even better one.”
Diluc narrows his eyes. “Well, you stole money from his coin purse.”
“Only because someone wanted a sticky honey roast from Good Hunter. Face it Diluc.” Kaeya turns to him with a smirk “You weren’t as innocent as you claim. But I will admit, I like that daring part of you.” Kaeya winks at a pouting Diluc.
“Come on,” Kaeya says and continues to walk down. “Let’s make sure we don’t anger Adelinde any more than we already have.”
OoO
The making of the grape juice and dinner was thankfully uneventful. Adelinde had tried to shoo them out a couple of times, claiming that she was more than capable of taking care of everything.
“It’s not that we don’t think you’re capable, Miss Adelinde,” Kaeya says. “We just feel like we’ve put you through enough stress for one day and you have been a massive help in making sure nothing got burnt down. Now.” Kaeya holds up a bowl of peeled potatoes. “What do I do with these?”
Adelinde sighs but relents to having their presence in her kitchen. It probably helped that the rest of the housekeepers were finishing up the wine process, so it was just Adelinde by herself to prepare dinner.
Diluc is in charge of watching over Klee and the grape juice-making process “Because you love the stuff enough to try to steal it,” Kaeya teases, dancing just out of reach of the tea towel Diluc tries to swat him with.
“Do I take the grapes out now?” Klee asks, standing on a stool to peer over into the boiling pot of grapes.
Diluc looks over. “We’ll give it a minute.”
“Okay,” Klee says and starts loudly counting. “One, two, three, four.”
Kaeya gives a muffled snort and he and Diluc share an amused look. Diluc walks off and starts getting a fine mesh sieve and a bowl ready for when the grapes are done.
“Fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty!” Klee shouts. “It’s done now!”
Diluc quickly heads towards her, lest she gets any ideas on picking up the pot herself. “I’m going to pour this over the sieve, would you mind helping me press them down while I do so?” Diluc asks, carefully lifting the hot pot.
“Okay!” Klee jumps off her stool and nearly causes it to topple over in her haste. Diluc eyes the wobbling chair until it seems no longer in danger of falling over and goes to Klee.
He pours the grape mixture into the sieve and Klee very carefully begins pressing down on the grapes with the back of her ladle. Diluc made sure to keep the pot angled away from her and would sometimes stop pouring to give her space.
Together they made quick work of straining the grapes and it was time to leave it overnight to cool, Diluc promising Klee that they’ll have fresh grape juice in the morning during breakfast.
Both were quick to help Adelinde with the rest of dinner until she eventually sent them to set the table. Diluc suspects this was mostly to give herself room to finish up cooking, without constantly monitoring the three of them.
Kaeya swiftly grabs a bottle of wine, “for the table,” he explains at Diluc’s pointed look. Diluc rolls his eyes but lets it go, heading over to collect some glasses and even a wine glass for Kaeya. Kaeya beams at him when he spots it.
“Can we light the candles?” Klee asks, seeing some candle sticks set on a side table.
Kaeya shrugs. “I don’t see why not. A candle-lit dinner sounds lovely.”
“Yay!” Klee grabs the candles and positions them in the middle of the table, Kaeya supervises her lighting them.
Diluc comes back with dishes of food, Adelinde following behind with more. Between the four of them the table was quickly done being set and everyone had dished up. Adelinde excused herself to clean the kitchen. She ignored everyone’s insistence that she join them, claiming she would enjoy dinner with the rest of the staff.
Diluc asks Klee what a actually Spark Knight does and she eagerly launches into telling him all of the adventures she has gone on. Kaeya interjects from time to time to explain things in clearer detail or steer the conversation towards less possible child-endangerment territory.
“You know,” Kaeya tells Klee. “Our own Diluc here used to be a Cavalry Captain for the Knights, back in the day.”
“Really?!” Klee shouts in shock. She quickly turns to Diluc and gives him a critical look over, as if reassessing everything she knew of him. “What happened?”
“That was a long time ago,” Diluc explains. “And the Knights and I no longer see eye-to-eye.”
“But you and Kaeya hang out loads more now and you’re less grumpy around Kaeya, even though he’s a Captain,” Klee says and then frowns. “Were you grumpy with him before because he stole your place? I would be upset too if I could no longer be a Spark Knight because Master Jean gave it to someone else.”
“Is that true Diluc?” Kaeya asks, smirking, but his hand grips the stem of his wine glass tighter than necessary. “Were you mad that I got made Cavalry Captain?”
“On the contrary,” Diluc says. “I was never upset that Kaeya got promoted to the position and I personally think Kaeya makes an excellent Cavalry Captain.”
Diluc gives Kaeya a meaningful look. “His methods may be unorthodox and how he goes about things I might not 100% agree with, but he is dedicated to keeping this city safe, which is more than I can say for most of the Knights. I am grateful he got promoted to Cavalry Captain.”
Kaeya and Diluc stare at one another for a moment. From Kaeya’s startled look, Diluc suspects that Kaeya has been harbouring doubts about his promotion, most likely for a long while.
It’s probably true he only got promoted because Diluc had quit and the Knights were short-staffed around that time, but Diluc could not be more proud of the work Kaeya has been doing. Even though Diluc hates the Knights and the hypocrisies that lie within, he knows where Kaeya’s true intentions are and it’s everything good for Mondstadt.
“What about Master Jean?” Klee asks, bringing both of them back to themselves and the present. Kaeya continues the motion of picking up his glass and Diluc turns towards Klee in question. Klee continues, “Doesn’t she protect the city too, even though she’s a Knight? Do you love her like you love Kaeya?”
Kaeya promptly chokes on his wine while Diluc stills in shock.
Even though they have both agreed to a relationship, they were taking it slow, figuring out where their past selves and their current present met in the spaces of each other’s lives. They knew they cared deeply for one another, and have for a very long time, but neither of them have broached what that might mean, never mind using the L-word.
Diluc is the first to recover, sending a worried glance to Kaeya to see if he is in any danger of suffocating. Kaeya waves his concern looks away, getting his coughing under control.
Diluc turns back to Klee to answer, “Jean is fathomable at what she does and has always kept the greater good of Mondstadt in mind. She, however, does tend to take on too much and I wish she would take a break now and then.
“And no,” Diluc coughs, suddenly awkward. “I love Jean dearly but I don’t feel the same way about her as I do about Kaeya. She and I are just really good friends.”
Klee nods, glad she won’t have to blow up Weird Grown-Up for saying anything bad about Master Jean, because if she had to then Kaeya would be sad and Klee would hate that.
She gives Diluc a once-over and Diluc straightens at the sudden scrutiny, almost scared at what else this small child will say.
Klee asks him seriously, “Can I braid your hair?”
OoO
“Okay,” Kaeya says when entering the sitting room. “The little terror is finally asleep.” He flops down onto the couch next to Diluc, leaning against him and groaning into his arm.
Diluc lets out a huff of amusement. “How many bedtime stories did you have to read to achieve that?”
“Just two.” Kaeya shifts his head to the side so that his words were no longer muffled. “But she was falling asleep in the middle of the second one. I think today’s excitement tired her out.”
“I honestly don’t know how she had the energy to continue this evening. It is beyond me.”
“It was the hot chocolate Miss Adelinde gave her. That was very wicked of Miss Adelinde.”
“Probably because of what she had to deal with today, with the three of us.”
Kaeya groans. “Ugh, most likely. Evil evil Miss Adelinde.”
After Diluc had agreed to have his hair done, Klee gleefully herded everyone into a more appropriate room after dinner. She deemed the sitting area to be so, since it had a comfy rug that Diluc could sit on.
Diluc blinked. “Why must I sit on the rug?”
“So I can reach you silly,” Klee explained, pulling on Diluc’s hand and urging him to sit. Diluc obliged and Klee was quick to get to work, pulling and tugging his hair into place.
Kaeya snickered every time Diluc winced after a too-sharp pull, hiding his laughter behind his wine glass.
Adelinde came in not long after, carrying two hot chocolates and the wine bottle for Kaeya. She compliments Klee on her wonderful work so far, even though Diluc was sure Klee was just turning his hair into one gigantic knot. Kaeya helped Adelinde build a fire, since a chill had started to creep in with the sun fully set.
Kaeya now snuggles closer into Diluc’s arm, enjoying the warmth of that fire. He looks up at Diluc and says, “Aw.” Kaeya tugs on a loose strand. “Your hair is coming undone.”
“Yes well.” Diluc pulls at a piece, wincing when a larger part of his hair moves with it. “It’s not the most structurally sound hairstyle.”
Kaeya snorts. “Structurally sound, you’re talking about hair, not a bridge.”
“And yet it’s falling apart all the same.” Diluc brushes his hand through his hair, trying to figure out what Klee had done and grimaces when his fingers instantly got caught by a knot.
“Come here, I’ll fix it.” Kaeya sits up with some effort and turns Diluc’s head away, grimacing at the numerous tangled strands. “It really is a mess back here.”
“You better be gentler than Klee.”
“I promise to be as careful as I can.” Kaeya randomly picks a section and gets started on the long task of de-tangling everything.
“Remember when I used to do this for you all the time?” Kaeya asks, after some time had passed and the bigger knots were mostly gone.
Diluc hums. “It was always my favourite. No one played with my hair except you. Adelinde would most of the time tie it into a practical ponytail so it would stay out of the way, if I even let her do that. I hated anyone touching my hair but you were always so gentle.”
“I loved doing it too. I would look for new hairstyles just to have an excuse to play with your hair.”
“I would have let you if you asked,” Diluc admits. “No excuse necessary.”
The first time Kaeya had asked he saw Diluc struggling to tie it up, his long locks that day just not cooperating and he was growing more frustrated. Kaeya offered his help and he could see Diluc hesitating before letting him, after Kaeya promised he would be careful.
From that day every time they had to go to the market, Kaeya would look at how everyone wore their hair, gathering inspiration. Half his allowance was spent on new ribbons, hair ties and clips for Diluc’s hair. And Diluc would let him play with it, no matter how ridiculous he looked, because Kaeya was always so gentle.
“Do you still have that white ribbon with the red hearts that I got you?”
Diluc frowns in thought. “I’m unsure. I didn’t keep too many of the hair accessories you gave me, it seemed pointless since you weren’t around to put them in for me.”
“I was so embarrassed giving you that one, felt like I was being too obvious with my feelings.” Kaeya chuckles. “But you never caught on. However, you did look really nice wearing it. I think it was one of my favourites.”
Diluc blushes. “I think we’ve already established that I wasn’t the brightest when it came to you.” He clears his throat and adds in a mummer, “I liked the blue ribbon best.”
Kaeya frowns. “Which one? I think I bought you quite a few.”
“The one that matched your hair.” And it pains Diluc to admit that.
“Wait really?” Kaeya laughs, pulling Diluc back towards him so he could lean over to see his face. Diluc had his eyes closed tight and a high blush on his cheeks that couldn’t be explained away by his sunburn or the fire.
Kaeya pokes his cheek. “That is adorable. You mister, are adorable.”
Diluc groans, leaning further back until his head is resting on Kaeya’s shoulder. “I used to get excited every time I saw the ends in the corner of my eyes, because it felt like you were always there.”
“Archons, you were such a cute kid.”
Diluc whines louder, trying to bury his face in Kaeya’s neck. Kaeya uses his hands to prevent him from doing so, laughing the whole time.
“No no, no hiding, come here, I want to kiss you.”
Diluc huffs. “I don’t want to.”
“Now you’re just being mean, come on.” Kaeya physically pulls Diluc’s face towards him, chucking at Diluc’s petulant frown. Kaeya kisses his nose, then his rosy sunburnt cheeks and then finally his mouth, humming when Diluc returns the kiss.
The angle however is very uncomfortable and Kaeya has to reluctantly move away when the cramp in his neck got too painful to ignore.
“Okay, come on.” He pushes Diluc back into place so he can see the less of a mess of hair. “Let me finish this and then we can continue in a more comfortable position. Let’s say, your bed.”
“Someone is confident,” Diluc sniffs. “What makes you so sure you’ll be sharing my bed tonight?”
“I can keep you warm?" Kaeya suggests.
“I have a fireplace in my room that can do that perfectly fine.”
“What about some really good sex?”
“I think you are overestimating both of our abilities to stay awake for that.”
“Says you, I’m sure I can make it worth your while.” Kaeya massages the base of Diluc’s hair, smirking when Diluc leans further into the touch. “How about me doing your hair in the morning?”
Diluc hums. “I think I can be persuaded to let you join my bed for that.”
“I’m glad we could agree.” Kaeya kisses the side of Diluc’s head and gets back to finishing off smoothing the final section.
The next morning Diluc comes downstairs with his hair in a French plait, tied at the bottom with a white ribbon with red hearts.