Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Sir Kaeya!” 

Kaeya pauses his walk through Mondstadt’s cobblestone streets at the call of his name, turning around to see one of the last few remaining heads of Mondstadt’s noble houses running up to him. 

“Ah, Mr Imunlaukr, is something the matter?” Kaeya asks, offering his handkerchief to the now panting and sweaty man. “Are treasure hoarders targeting you once again?”

“Thankfully not, no.” Emil Imunlaukr says, passing the cloth back after wiping his face with it. “I wanted to ask about the wedding proposal.”

“Oh. Sorry, I haven’t had a chance to write back yet, um I—I’ve been rather preoccupied recently.” And it’s the truth, Kaeya hasn’t given much thought to the numerous proposals he’s been sent, and most of the time, no one asks him for a follow-up when he doesn’t respond. 

Here is an exception though, as Emil had sent a few more letters and personally asked once already, though they had been interrupted. And now, seemingly seizing his chance, Emil asks, “Can I have the answer now, Sir Kaeya?”

“Ah, to preface, I’m not sure if I can give you an answer you’ll find satisfactory, sir—” Kaeya carefully begins to say.

Emil interrupts him. “What, is my daughter not lovely? Not good enough for you?” The man spits out, already getting visibly enraged.

“Nothing like that, sir.” Kaeya quickly replies, putting his hands up in mock surrender. “I’ve just been rather focused on…” 

And then, he spots Diluc Ragnvindr. He’s standing off to the side, not so surreptitiously watching them. He’s as gorgeous as the day Kaeya first met him, all those years ago.

Just as beautiful as the day Kaeya lost him.

When his eyes meet Kaeya’s, he looks away.

“Diluc…” Kaeya unintentionally murmurs his name out loud, the sight of the redhead doing terrible things to his heart as usual.

“Master Diluc?” Emil turns around, looking for the aforementioned man.

Now that he’s been beckoned, Diluc strides closer as if he hadn’t been within earshot the whole time. “Mr. Imunlaukr, hello.” He nods in greeting to the white-haired man. And then, with a bland look directed at Kaeya, he does not say anything else other than his name. “Kaeya.”

A plan forms in Kaeya's head, and he dares to go through with his hastily made and half-concocted idea. “Hi, darling.”

Diluc doesn’t react outwardly and doesn’t say anything, not even when Kaeya goes over to draw him into a hug.

“Just play along, please.” He pleads in the other man's ear.

Diluc gives him an almost imperceptible nod when Kaeya turns his head to see his reaction, and Kaeya takes it as a go-ahead to wrap his arm around the redhead's waist, pulling him into his side. Diluc, to his credit, only barely stiffens under Kaeya’s touch—Kaeya can’t tell if he’s glad for it in this situation or hates that Diluc is so little affected by him. He faces Emil once again, whose mouth is agape.

“Such perfect timing. Sir Imunlaukr, while your daughter is beautiful and would probably make a splendid wife, my affections, as you can most likely tell…lie elsewhere.” Kaeya gives a pointed look at the man next to him, whose stern face betrays nothing of his feelings about Kaeya’s possessive grip on his waist.

“With Master Ragnvindr?” Emil asks, looking at the both of them with barely concealed scrutiny and suspicion.

Kaeya opens his mouth to respond, but surprisingly, Diluc is the one who answers first, albeit very robotically. “Yes. Kaeya and I have recently reconciled.”

They decidedly have not. But does that mean that Diluc has entertained that possibility as well?

Kaeya shakes the thought away and continues to fib. “But it’s still very recent into our courtship, so we haven’t told anyone yet. I do hope you can keep this little secret for us until we’re ready to let the world know of our budding romance?”

“I see, of course.” Imunlaukr nods, still obviously displeased but complacent. “Congratulations on beginning your courtship then. I hope to receive an invitation to the wedding.”

Kaeya tries not to choke on his saliva at the thought of marrying Diluc. “Haha, yes…if Diluc accepts, we’ll be sure to.”

And then, thankfully, Emil bids his goodbyes and walks away. Kaeya releases his hold on Diluc with a grateful sigh. 

“Apologies, Master Diluc, I didn’t mean to get you involved.” Kaeya says, looking at the other man, who’s simply staring back at him. “Emil Imunlaukr is just a little bit too invested in my dating life. Hopefully, he doesn’t tell the rest of Mondstadt about today.” Kaeya laughs it off, fully expecting Diluc to just nod in his stark, staunch way and go on about his day.

To Kaeya’s surprise, Diluc does not leave immediately, he doesn’t even put even more distance between them. Instead, he goes, “He said something about a wedding proposal you didn’t respond to. What’s that about?”

Kaeya fidgets with his coin. “Ah, yes. That.” 

“Yes, that.” Diluc says, raising an unimpressed eyebrow upwards.

“He’s trying to set me up with his daughter Arianne—and while she really is a lovely woman, I’m pretty sure she’s got her eyes set on one of my knights. And considering I caught them necking in the bushes during his shift just yesterday, best to leave them alone now that they’re finally making some progress, eh?”

Diluc doesn’t respond to that explanation, not really. Instead, he asks, “Do you get these sorts of proposals often?” There’s a weird look on Diluc’s face as he asks that question, his face scrunched up as though he’s sucked on a big slice of lemon and still reeling from the after-effects.

“I suppose you could say so.” Kaeya answers, though the answer is framed more like a question. He’s genuinely unsure, as he doesn’t really keep track of them and usually just puts all the letters into one pile and shoves them into a drawer.

Why would he accept the offers of courtship when the only person he’d ever considered marrying was the man right in front of him; the unflappable “Uncrowned King of Mondstadt”, the one person he’d betray both Khaenri’ah and even Mondstadt if it came down to it, for?

“I see.” Diluc does not look pleased, but when is he ever with Kaeya?

A decade or so ago (though it feels as though aeons have passed), however, it was rather easy. A gift of seashells from a leisurely day of fishing at the beach here, a wine bottle nicked from the cellar there, there was not much Kaeya wouldn’t do to bring the toothy smile he adored so much on Diluc’s face.

The same remains true, but Diluc’s teeth have straightened themselves out, and Diluc does not smile openly at Kaeya anymore.

So Kaeya keeps talking, because Diluc barely ever gives him the time of day, and he wants so badly for the redhead's presence back in his life that he just rambles on, saying, “Well, y’know, with so many of our men gone with Grandmaster Varka, Mondstadt’s quite bereft of eligible handsome bachelors like myself—”

Diluc makes a little sound at that, but Kaeya cannot possibly hope to decipher it right now, so he presses on.

“And I’m rather popular with the elderly in Mondstadt—”

“As I’ve seen.”

“So, as you can imagine, I do get a few propositions every now and then. Most of them aren’t serious, mostly just them throwing their net out there, but a few do actively pursue me like Mr Imunlaukr earlier.”

“And do you plan on accepting any of them?” 

It’s an odd question to be coming out of the last remaining Ragnvindr. Diluc’s not exactly the nosy type, nor does he normally engage in small talk of all things with Kaeya—the fact that this conversation is happening at all is already out of the ordinary.

“No.”

But Kaeya is a liar who lies almost as often as he drinks—and they both know it—and even though he’s being truthful for once, Kaeya can see that Diluc can’t trust it. Can’t trust him anymore. Even though, once upon a time, if Kaeya jumped off a cliff, Diluc would have followed him right down, glider or not.

Finally, Diluc acts as Kaeya had expected; he crosses his arms and simply goes, “Hmm.”

“Right. Well, Emil usually can keep a secret, but in the off chance he does tell the rest of Mondstadt’s nobility and questions start coming your way, let me know so I can dissuade the ru—”

“I don’t see why we need to deny it.”

Kaeya almost drops his coin. “You…what?”

“I receive a few proposals often, though usually Adelinde throws them out before I can read them. But the letters bother you as well, correct?”

“I mean, a little bit, yes—”

“And I have no intention of marrying any time soon either, nor any romantic prospects. Let them think we’re courting one another.”

This couldn’t be more out of character for Diluc, who is usually quite honest and direct, a man known for being intensely protective over Mondstadt. He doesn't mind them lying to everyone? Seriously, this is Diluc Ragnvindr, owner of the Dawn Winery who tends to wear a long black coat with a blazing pyro vision at the hip standing in front of Kaeya, right?

“Oookay then.” Kaeya’s sure he looks as dumbfounded as he feels. “Thank you?”

“No thanks necessary, after all, this arrangement should only benefit the both of us.”

“And when you speak of an arrangement…what exactly does that entail?”

Diluc blinks at him. “I presume we will simply say yes when people ask if we are both taken.”

Kaeya scoffs. “And you think that’s believable for us; ex-sworn brothers whose disdain of one another is clear to see? To outsiders and those who do not know us very well—hell, even the ones who do—no one would believe it if were to suddenly claim we’re dating.”

“Then what do you propose we do? If our ‘supposed hatred’ of one another is so obvious, we should remedy that.”

What does he mean by ‘supposed’? Diluc hates him, doesn’t he? He’s never acted as if he held Kaeya in any sort of high regard.

(That’s a lie, though. He knows that as much as he despises the way the Knights of Favonius runs, Diluc will never think of Kaeya alone as anything less than competent. And if Diluc truly held no positive feelings for him, Kaeya’s purposefully ugly vase would not be put on full display in the Winery and there would be no letters where Diluc wished Kaeya would take better care of himself.)

“We would need to display our affections openly. You should make an effort to woo me, Master Diluc.”

“...I should woo you?”

“You’re the more standoffish one, so yes.” 

“...How?”

Kaeya sputters at that. “W—what do you mean, how? Didn’t Master Crepus send you to all those etiquette lessons where the teachers taught you how to dance and court nobles and whatnot?”

“They did, but those customs are outdated and you are no stranger that I need to charm from the get-go. And if I remember correctly, you joined me for nearly half of those lessons and did so well that my teachers used you as the example I should follow.”

Kaeya swallows nervously. “Aren’t we, though?”

“Hmm?”

“Strangers.”

Diluc appraises him with a look so complicated that Kaeya does not even bother trying to figure it out. And simply, as if anything has ever been simple between them, he replies, “No.” 

(No, because strangers do not know the way you preferred your toast when you were 9 years old, a stranger did not hold your hair back after you puked from the stolen wine bottle from his father’s collection when you turned 14, and it was no stranger that tried to kill you at 17 when your world fell apart around you.)

Kaeya does not know what to say in response, so he says nothing.

After a beat of silence, Diluc continues, “Adelinde always told me that I should always consider my prospect’s likes and dislikes more over any general impersonal attempts. How would you want to be courted?”

Oh, Kaeya has fantasised about that far too often. If Diluc would be the bashful, gentile sort, or, if it were more recent, a more aggressive, desperate type due to years of fraught tension and yearning glances. Would they picnic by the Statue of the Seven at Windrise, collecting windwheel asters for one another, laughing as they ate their sandwiches and drank fruity cider? Or would they dance at a grand ball, each intimate touch of fingers to arms and shoulders and backs sending electrifying sparks down their spines? 

But Kaeya goes for the sweetest, easiest answer because if he really thinks about it, it doesn't matter how he's being courted as long as Diluc is the one doing it.

“I’m not too hard to impress. Just send me some flowers, treat me to a nice meal or two, and hold my hand as we take a nice walk through the city, and we should look believable enough.” 

“Like this?” Diluc clasps Kaeya’s hand in his own.

The touch almost makes Kaeya jump. He’s sure he would have let out a little shriek had he not remembered that they were standing in the middle of the street, in full view for everyone to see. “Yes. Have you never held anyone’s hand before? Didn’t you and Jean date for like, three months?”

And what a terrible few months of agony that had been for Kaeya, to watch one of his best friends and the love of his life seemingly fall for each other. The night of Diluc’s 16th birthday, Jean had pulled Diluc aside, intending to talk to him privately. Kaeya remembered that being a little odd, as all three of them were good friends and quite open with one another, but things made a little more sense when they came back a few minutes later, hand in hand with equally red matching blushes. 

Now, though, it is Kaeya’s fingers that hesitantly interlock with Diluc’s. Diluc looks down at their hands, with yet another pensive gaze, and then looks back up. He divulges, “Jean never actually liked me like that. It was only to appease her dad.” 

More things click into place. Diluc never spoke much about his relationship with Jean, but Kaeya had thought that was because he was, to put it plainly, avoiding Diluc. After all, it was not Jean’s fault he was too late to confess his feelings to Diluc, not her fault that he never would be able to due to the heavy words of a Khaenri’ahn regent bestowed upon his son, the apparent last hope. But Jean never looked all interested either, now that Kaeya thought about it. Indeed, she showed a lot more enthusiasm for a certain Spantamad student’s return from Sumeru than she ever did for a kiss from Diluc. And then, when Jean hadn’t come round for a while and Diluc revealed they’d broken up, Kaeya was too elated and relieved to question it further.

“And in Snezhnaya?” Kaeya asks before he can stop himself.

Diluc first turns to wave at a merchant, before fixing Kaeya with his steely gaze once more. “What do you mean?” 

“While you were out on your…trip, did you not…have any romantic encounters?”

Diluc stares at him.

Kaeya drops Diluc’s hand and brings his fists to his sides, clenching them slightly. “Sorry, I forget my place sometimes, you don’t have to answer that.”

Diluc reaches over and grasps Kaeya’s hand in his once more. His palm feels like it’s scalding, though Kaeya knows he’s not using his vision. Quietly, he says, “The only pursuing I did was of revenge.”

“I see. That’s good then, I guess. I won’t have to fight off any of your exes once they catch wind that we’re together.” Kaeya jokes with a weak smile.

“So we are doing this then.”

“I suppose we are. Think you’ll be up for the challenge of being the elusive Cavalry’s Captain’s boyfriend?” Kaeya teases.

Diluc blinks at him. “It can’t be too hard, can it?”

“Oh? Well everyone’s watching us now, why don’t you prove how easy it is then?” Kaeya steps even closer into Diluc’s space, purposefully trying to rile him up.

Diluc gives a furtive look to the people surrounding them, discovering the number of curious eyes on them. The whispers and gossip are too far away for either of them to hear, but they’re the only spectacle on the street they could be talking about.

“Not here.” Diluc mutters.

“Then whe—” Kaeya’s sentence cuts off as Diluc suddenly grabs his wrist and drags him off to a nearby alleyway.

Diluc pushes him up against the wall, and it takes all the breath out of Kaeya’s lungs for a moment. 

…Is Diluc going to kiss him?

“Oh my, you're really dedicating yourself to the role, huh?” Kaeya remarks breathlessly, dizzy from the implications of their position.

“Shush, Kaeya.” 

“I'm just saying…” Kaeya’s sentence trails off as Diluc leans in even further, making the space between their bodies an almost negligible amount. His crimson eyes burn into Kaeya’s, and Kaeya has the thrilling, exhilarating thought that Diluc really would kiss him right now to shut him up. “I didn’t think you’d go this far to convince them.”

“If I’m going to play the part, I may as well do it properly.”

Oh, there’s that tiny smirk, the one that proves just how dangerously hot Diluc is when he’s determined about something he genuinely finds enjoyable.

And if he’s so committed to the bit, Kaeya’s certainly not about to stop him. Not when his cologne is all Kaeya can smell, when his eyes are all that Kaeya can focus on, when his body heat is Kaeya’s new favourite source of warmth.

“And just what are you playing at, here in this dark alley?”

A light blush dusts on Diluc’s cheeks. “We are pretending that we’re so overcome by each other we had to duck off to the side. Glimpses of something secretive are the best way to encourage rumours, after all.”

Kaeya barely holds back a laugh. “I never thought that the prim and proper Lord Ragnvindr would be the type to plan something so illicit, much less actually do it. And in public too.”

Diluc raises an eyebrow, but the ghost of his smirk still rests on his face. “And who said we’d be up to anything illicit?”

Kaeya gives a pointed look towards the searing heat of Diluc’s palm on Kaeya’s waist, the way he’s trapped between Diluc and the wall behind him. “I think us being here, pressed up against each other like this, is evidence enough.”

“Oh, but we’re not doing anything, are we? Your hair isn't even messed up enough to suggest anything of the untoward sort.”

“Is that a request to mess up my hair, Master Diluc?” Kaeya asks, nonchalantly twirling a loose curl of Diluc’s flaming red hair, tugging on it slightly when Diluc doesn’t respond right away.

“Depends.” Diluc finally says. 

“On what?”

Diluc’s gaze flits from Kaeya’s lips back to his eyes, a motion so quick that Kaeya would have missed it if he wasn’t looking so intently. “On whether you’d say yes or not.”

Kaeya inhales deeply, half out of shock, half-pretending to consider it—as if there would be any world in which he wouldn’t let Diluc Ragnvindr do much more than just mess up his hair a little. 

“Why don’t you ask me and find out?”

In the end, however, Diluc never gets to make his request, because a shared heated look is enough for Kaeya to pull Diluc by his lapels for a kiss that must have been blessed by Celestia itself. Diluc melts into him easier than Kaeya had expected but without any of the predicted boyish hesitation. It’s no chaste kiss Kaeya had imagined having with him for their first ever one, but it’s so much better than any fantasy—even when Diluc roughly kisses him back, backing Kaeya even further into the cold stone wall till it digs uncomfortably into Kaeya’s back. But Kaeya couldn’t give less of a damn about anything in their surroundings right now, not when the kiss wholly overtakes him. Diluc tastes like heaven, his hands just as divine as they move up to cup Kaeya’s face, a gentle motion in complete contrast to the way he’s all but shoved his tongue down Kaeya’s throat. Kaeya pulls on his collar even more, needing Diluc closer, even closer, till they are one and the same. Diluc changes the angle of their faces just slightly so he can kiss him deeper, and Kaeya takes what he is given and consumes every hitched breath hungrily. 

He forgets why they’re even kissing in the first place, forgets what possessed him to lower his defences, forgets to question Diluc’s shocking enthusiasm. All that exists is them, their mouths meeting again and again, a decade’s worth of tension crescendoing in an explosion of scrambling fingers and wanton presses of lips against lips.

When they separate, it is not because they want to, but because they are too out of breath to continue. Kaeya’s realisation of who they are to each other and what exactly they’re doing sets in, sobering him up from the fuzzy feelings of finally kissing the man he’s pined after for years.

Diluc seems to come to that realisation too, his eyes widening as if he hadn’t just kissed the living daylights out of his ex-sworn brother. They look at each other, still holding one another, before Diluc takes a step backwards, releasing Kaeya.

Kaeya misses his embrace immediately—and then he has a second epiphany.

Namely, that he is so, so fucked. Because if this is what it’s like to kiss a Diluc who supposedly doesn’t have much experience, Kaeya cannot even bear to imagine someone else kissing Diluc when he has undoubtedly learned even more. 

Panting and still leaning against the wall for both physical and mental support, Kaeya says, “I think I messed your hair up more than you did mine.”

Diluc immediately moves his hands up to fix and smooth out his ponytail which had come loose from earlier, and Kaeya admires the way the red waves flutter. When they were younger, Diluc sometimes conceded to Kaeya’s numerous hairstyling ideas and let Kaeya run a brush through his long fiery hair to put it into a bunch of messed-up braids or clips that made his hair stick out at random angles—and Kaeya has the same itch once again to bat Diluc’s hand away and comb his fingers through that soft hair himself. He keeps his hands firmly planted at his sides now though, because he is not really Diluc’s lover who gets to do such things casually.

(Even if he’d certainly just been kissed like he was Diluc’s lover.)

“I’ll try harder next time.” 

Next time?

Kaeya’s not sure he can survive another kiss like that one, but he simply nods.

When Kaeya and Diluc stumble out of the alley with mussed hair and slightly rumpled clothes, they pretend not to notice all the eyes on them. For a moment, standing on the street, their relationship irrevocably and forever changed, they simply stare at each other.

“Um.” Diluc says, strangely inarticulate for the man that he is. He looks so beautiful in the sunlight, his lips now so red and shiny all because of Kaeya’s doing that Kaeya loses his words for a moment.

After a beat of awkward staring, Kaeya clears his throat. “I should get going.” Kaeya offers up, needing to say something.

“Yes, indeed.” Diluc’s still staring at Kaeya as if he’s grown a third arm, his voice all stilted and strangely polite. “Have a nice day.”

Kaeya almost wants to snort in disbelief at the situation they’ve put themselves in. “You too.” He says instead, and walks away quickly, aware of the louder mumbling and pointed fingers in his direction.

(And if Kaeya finds himself distracted at work for the rest of the day, absent-mindedly touching his lips, that’s no one’s business but his own.)

Chapter Text

Just as Kaeya had expected (and feared, even though that was exactly what they had intended), word spreads all throughout Mondstadt and beyond that Kaeya and Diluc have not just reconciled, but also started a romantic entanglement with one another. Whispers and giggles seem to follow him wherever he goes, and on his patrols near the Angel’s Share, both his fellow Knights and citizens are eager to spend their breaks there, right at the front of the bar. 

On top of that, he’s being treated better than he’d ever been before; the tailors give him discounts, merchants give him free fruit and vegetables as their congratulations, and any enemies that had been plotting against him backtrack. Kaeya always was very loved by Mondstadt, even with the elusive nature of his charm, but there’s no denying that the Ragnvindr name adds to his status. With the rumours ever-evolving, most of the citizens even seem to think they’re betrothed or secretly already married, and Kaeya almost laughs out loud every time he hears an outlandish theory about them.

Diluc, to his credit, plays the role cooly as well, as if deceiving the public comes as naturally as it does to Kaeya (though to be fair, to everyone but Kaeya, he’s done a good job of disguising himself as the Darknight Hero). He offers Kaeya a smile when he enters, gives Kaeya his wine without threatening to give grape juice instead, fakes a laugh at Kaeya’s silly pick-up lines, and even kisses his cheek goodbye. 

Kaeya tries not to think of that world-altering kiss or of the possibility of kissing Diluc again for the sake of his own heart, but it’s hard not to spend many a sleepless night thinking of their kiss when he has to see Diluc again and again, be it for work, for their fake relationship, or as the Darknight Hero and Cavalry Captain. They never talk about it, but there’s a tension brewing there between them, and not one borne of hatred and defunct old memories. And Kaeya knows he is not overthinking things or seeing things that aren’t there because Kaeya now knows what Diluc looks like when he wants to kiss him on the lips—and Diluc’s certainly been giving him that look a lot lately.

Whatever it is exactly that’s going on between them threatens to implode spectacularly, but if it culminates in them sharing another passionate kiss once more, Kaeya doesn’t think he would mind it so much.

What they do talk about, though, makes Kaeya feel like they could have been talking like this all along. On their fake dates, they talk about everything from intel on any monsters near the city gates to how to care for birds and horses—the conversation between them seems to flow like wine during the Windblume Festival, simply because they’re now forced to be in each other’s space more. Their banter feels more like genuine teasing rather than out of irritation, it’s way less awkward in general, and Diluc even compliments the peacock earring the traveller gifted Kaeya one day. Truly, it’s fucking with Kaeya’s head, to know that they can be not just civil, but affectionate with each other. It’s comfortable—and something so phoney should not feel so uncomplicated.

Kaeya knows he’s truly screwed when Jean and Lisa corner him in his own office with stiff body language and dubious smiles. 

“Hello, my dear Acting Grand Master and lovely Librarian, what can I do for you both today?” Kaeya asks, shuffling some paperwork and making it all even.

“We heard a fascinating rumour the other day, Sir Kaeya.” Lisa says, astute eyes sparkling with intrigue. 

“Oh, is that so?”

“And we figured you’d know more about it, considering it pertains to both you and the former Cavalry Captain.”

“Does it now?” Kaeya asks, feigning ignorance.

Jean sighs. “Okay, let’s just cut to the chase already. Is it true that you and Diluc are seeing each other?”

“I do see him when I visit the Angel’s Share on the nights he is bartending, yes.” Kaeya answers, still very clearly deflecting.

Jean sighs once again. “Kaeya. The whole town is talking about you two, so much so that people have been asking me as well what I know. In fact, Donna came up to Lisa and I crying yesterday because she supposedly never stood a chance against you and Master Diluc’s ‘childhood love’.’”

Kaeya cringes inwardly. It’s no secret that Donna had a huge and unfortunately unrequited crush on Diluc—and Kaeya could relate. 

“What’s going on between you two?” Lisa asks directly, perching herself on top of his desk.

With a tired sigh that matches Jean’s, Kaeya tells them the truth. “There is nothing between us. A week or so ago, Emil Imunlaukr was hounding me about a wedding proposal, Diluc was nearby and I pretended I was seeing him already. Diluc said we simply didn’t have to correct other citizens if they assumed we were in a committed relationship.”

Jean’s previously crossed arms uncross in surprise. “What?”

“Then what was all the flirting and goo-goo eyes you were making at each other all week about?” Lisa asks, raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow.

“We were not making goo-goo eyes at each other—we’re not teenagers.”

“That’s not what Nelson and Payne saw, apparently.”

Kaeya blushes. “Okay, maybe we both realised we’d need to do a bit more than simply say we were together to seem convincing—”

“And that meant making out in a dark alleyway?” Lisa asks, admiring her nails before fixing Kaeya with a look so shrewd it reminds Kaeya of Diluc’s stern falconry teacher.

Kaeya’s ears burn at the memory. “Master Diluc thought it would be a good idea.”

Jean looks at him in utter disbelief. “Diluc pulled you into a corner to kiss you? And he actually kissed you?”

He did, his lips were soft and warm, he kissed just as seriously as he looked, he kissed him as if he’d been waiting his whole life to kiss Kaeya too—

Kaeya shakes away his thoughts before they can turn into a daydream yet again, and shrugs his shoulders. “Look, I barely understand his actions either. But it does help the both of us so I’m not going to put a stop to it till he wants to.” 

Lisa frowns. “But Kaeya, you love him.”

Ah, the ever-present problem in Kaeya’s life.

”Being in this farce of a relationship you truly want—isn’t that just going to hurt you further?”

“It’s not like we’re doing much to prove we’re dating.” Kaeya mumbles. “I just show up to the tavern and flirt with him like normal.”

In his heart though, he knows Lisa’s right. This is exactly what he wished for; to be lauded as Diluc Ragnvindr’s betrothed all across Mondstadt—but he isn’t treated that way by the man himself. 

“And you think this is a good idea? Even though you’ve been in love with him since you were fourteen, and you both have never properly reconciled?”

Well, okay, if Lisa’s going to state it like that, then of course it’s going to sound ridiculous.

“Mhm.” Kaeya hums weakly in assent.

Jean’s concern is clear. “I don’t think you should continue to pretend to be someone you’re not when it’s just going to hurt you.” 

Kaeya almost wants to laugh. He’s been doing that all his life. 

What’s probably just a few more weeks in the grand scheme of things?

“It’s fine.” He says. As he thought, the blonde and brunette don’t look very convinced. “Really, I’ll be fine in close proximity to Diluc. It’s not a big deviation from what we’re like already anyway.”

“If you say so.” Lisa says, getting off of his desk. “Be careful, though.”

“I will.”

“Promise that you’ll put a stop to this if it feels like it’s going to do you some real harm, okay?” Jean asks, reaching over to squeeze his hand.

Squeezing back, Kaeya replies. “I promise, Jean.”

Presumably satisfied, Jean nods and lets go and Lisa also leaves it at that.    

The rest of Mondstadt isn’t as easily satisfied by the knowledge that Kaeya and Diluc have supposedly reconciled, however. During their lunch break at Good Hunter where Kaeya’s actually having a rather lovely conversation with Diluc about the Traveller’s latest exploits, a little crowd gathers around them for some questions, including Bennett, Fischl, Diona, Barbara, and Razor. 

“So, how exactly did you and Master Diluc reconcile? It must have been so hard to not run into his arms immediately after he’d been gone for so long!” Barbara asks, hand over her mouth as she giggles, looking at Kaeya expectantly. 

Kaeya takes a moment to recall Diluc’s return to Mondstadt.

When Diluc had come back, he had come back completely out of the blue. As much as Kaeya had managed to keep tabs on the blazing force decimating Fatui in Snezhnaya through his wide information network, Kaeya never really knew his next move. He didn’t know that Diluc had supposedly retired from that rampage until Adelinde, bless her soul, had written to Kaeya privately as soon as Diluc took back his post at Dawn Winery again. 

The letter had saved him from a premature heart attack at seeing Diluc in person in the streets of Mondstadt again, but he still hadn’t really been prepared to see Diluc. Not when the last time he’d seen him was at the cusp of his own death. 

And he did not know the person that came back. This Diluc was a man, strong and broad and littered with scars that said nothing of the baby-faced days he spent frolicking around in fields of dandelions with a blue-haired partner. This Diluc did not look like Kaeya’s other half, this Diluc did not remind Kaeya of his old bygone home. Kaeya could not reconcile the image of the sweet boy who patiently taught him how to ride a pony for the very first time with the man who returned with no laughter lines and an expression so frigid it rivalled Kaeya’s own icicles. 

Diluc did not even deign him with his harshness the first time their eyes met, though. He had barely spared him a glance, and it stung. Stung so badly it was indescribable and left Kaeya speechless and frozen in front of a merchant’s stall where he was buying some snacks to give to Noelle and Klee later. 

Relief transformed into a bitter rage. How dare Diluc return, with nary a word, much less an apology, to his supposed “sworn brother” after putting him through years of anguish? How could he when he had left Kaeya alone, left him to grieve the only real father figure in his life and the only sense of security he had felt? How could his eyes glaze over the eyepatch on Kaeya’s right eye, when he knew full well that when he had struck his face, it was meant to do more than just horribly disfigure one of the pretty periwinkle eyes Diluc had complimented so much when they were younger?

And worst of all, didn’t Diluc know just how scared he had been? That the glossy pyro vision he’d left behind served as a lifeline for Kaeya. That for over three gruelling years, Kaeya could not sleep until he clutched that vision in his hands from its place underneath his pillow in the dorm of Knights of Favonius and ensured that the vibrant blood red was still brightly glowing as it should be. That Kaeya begged the Anemo Archon (even after finding out their true identity) every time that light dimmed even the slightest bit for their winds to make it all the way to Diluc, to protect him, to keep him safe now that Kaeya couldn’t.

How could Diluc be so blasé?

The anger had lasted but a moment, however, because then it reared its ugly head to reveal the cold, hard truth underneath, the one that had shaped Kaeya indefinably: regret. Because Kaeya felt he didn’t even deserve to feel any of the grief he felt at being so dreadfully spurned—he did that to himself. It was he who picked that moment out of all moments to confess to being a traitor, and Celestia had chosen to present him a cryo vision for his sins instead of letting Diluc’s flames consume him. 

Kaeya had wished Diluc had just killed him that day. Then he wouldn’t have had to deal with this mystery of a man who was worse than mean, he was nonchalant. He wouldn’t have to continue carrying the burden of a horrible choice he’d have to make one day, the heavy weight on his chest of having to lie, lie, lie, till there was none of his true self left. He’s still waiting for the ball to drop upon him, for it to ruin every good relationship he’s made with the citizens by exposing his true identity: an agent of Khaenri’ah meant to betray them all.   

And for those reasons, sometimes Kaeya still wishes for Diluc’s claymore to have decided his fate.

He thinks he’d be happier throwing himself into a floor full of spikes than trying to constantly piece back together the remnants of his heart that only breaks further when he sees Diluc Ragnvindr in all his glory behind the bar at Angel’s Share. 

So then why does Kaeya go back, almost every other day without fail, when he’s only met with indifference? 

Because he’s not, not truly. Maybe at first, Diluc had been able to resist, but here is the thing about growing up so closely with another: Kaeya, much to Diluc’s apparent dismay, still knows how to bait him, how to get under his skin. Kaeya does it every time, because Kaeya would rather be seen as a constant thorn in Diluc’s side than as a chewed-up piece of wintermint gum stuck underneath polished black boots that Diluc could peel off and throw out without thinking much of it. 

And, thankfully, Diluc had not changed completely—he still fell in perfect step with Kaeya when they battled together, he’s still incredibly tender and gentle with children and animals, and every now and then, Kaeya can see glimpses of a curl in Diluc’s lips when Kaeya makes a terrible, half-assed attempt at charming him. Even if it disappears within a second and he then threatens to kick Kaeya out of the bar for “trying to use cheap lines for free drinks”. 

It’s a reaction—and that is so much better than evaporating out of Diluc’s existence. If Celestia chose to keep Kaeya alive, he may as well spend it with the one he loves the most, even if that love has him seeing the bottom of a bottle a little too often to be healthy.

A gentle index finger propping up his chin brings Kaeya out of his melancholy. “Kaeya?” Diluc questions, incredibly soft in a way Kaeya hasn’t been graced with in a long time.

“Hmm? Sorry, I suppose I got lost in thought.”

Diluc, much to Kaeya’s surprise, chuckles quietly. “As you are so prone to do, love.” That soft gloved finger moves back to push a stray lock behind his ear, and Kaeya ignores the loud chitter and giggles from their audience to focus on not blushing at the nickname and the simple, tender touch. Diluc’s attention goes back to the widely grinning teens. “You wouldn’t believe this about Kaeya, but he’s actually a rather bashful sort of lover—especially when it comes to me.”

And just what does Diluc Ragnvindr know about the different types of lovers? And why is Kaeya the timid one?

“Shy as I may be,” Kaeya begins, attempting to restore his dignity, “I have no problems telling you all about how I wanted to propose as soon as I saw him again.”

“Is that so?” Asks one of the teenage girls in the group.

“Very much so. I was starstruck, ready to get down on one knee and beg for him to come back to me. Luckily, I didn’t have to.”

“Then what did you do, Sir Kaeya?” Bennett asks, his emerald green eyes so vibrant and glittery that Kaeya hates himself even more for having to lie to him.

Kaeya looks at Diluc, who’s already looking at him. He looks as though he really wants to know as well. “I went over to the Dawn Winery and…we talked.” 

“That’s it?” Razor questions. 

“In the end, it was a lot simpler than we thought. We both wanted the same thing, after all.” Kaeya answers softly, tearing his eyes away from Diluc to look at the group in front of them. “But being awkward friends was not enough for us, and we’d missed each other far too much to continue tip-toeing as we were doing. So, one day, Diluc showed up at my doorstep with a big bouquet of calla lilies—”

“And I asked Kaeya to marry me.”

Various squeals and cheers erupt from the group and Kaeya swats Diluc’s shoulder. He exclaims, “You asked me if I would consider it in the future, not if I wanted to be your fiancé!”

“Is that not the same thing? We’re going to end up married either way.”

Kaeya can barely hear the second outburst of giggling and mirthfulness over his own thundering heartbeat, the mere insanity of this situation putting his heart into overdrive. 

Gods, Kaeya wishes Diluc truly thought that.

“We’re still courting each other, Master Diluc.” Kaeya reminds him.

And just what is Diluc thinking, making it out to seem like Kaeya and him will never separate? Isn’t this going to make it so much harder for them to stage their breakup later?

(Granted, they’ve never even discussed the expiry date for this scheme, nor how exactly it would end. Kaeya’s certainly not going to bring it up first, because parading around as Diluc’s intended is a role he does not wish to stop playing so soon.)

“Actually yes, why are you both bothering with the tradition if you’re both ready to marry?” Diona asks, looking at Diluc with not as much contempt as usual. Perhaps she’s saving that contempt for Kaeya instead, considering the last time he got absolutely sloshed at the Cat’s Tail, he’d tried to bargain with her to take a cat home. 

(In Kaeya’s defence, the cat had the fluffiest bright red coat of fur Kaeya had ever seen and an expression so grumpy it rivalled Diluc’s—whom Kaeya had immediately thought of once he saw that cat.)

As he speaks, Diluc intertwines his fingers with Kaeya’s once more, and Kaeya’s heart skips a beat as his thumb brushes idly over Kaeya’s scarred knuckles. “We’re taking the opportunity to relearn each other. Neither of us wants to hurt each other again, and we’re not willing to risk a marriage on unchecked issues from our past.”

That’s…a rather practical and realistic answer—one Kaeya would have suggested as well, if Diluc had ever started the conversation of reconciliation. 

(The irony is not lost on Kaeya, of how they’re talking of reconciliation instead of actually resolving their conflicts and making this so much easier on both of them. But he supposes it’s always easier to dance around their history than bring it fully into the light.)

“That’s so sweet!” Fischl exclaims. It’s the shortest sentence Kaeya’s ever heard come out of her mouth. Had the romantic display in front of her rendered Oz the Raven’s job as a translator moot?

The interrogation continues till Diluc has to all but tell them politely to leave them alone to enjoy the rest of their now lukewarm meal, and Kaeya has to put a hand over his mouth to stop his laughter from the way random teenagers give Diluc some final advice on how to keep Kaeya happy and even threaten to egg the Winery if he hurts Kaeya.

“My mother told me that she never goes to bed while still angry with my father, and they’re very happy together. So you should take her advice as well and make sure to communicate!”

“And don’t forget to compliment him, Master Diluc!”

“Yes, Sir Kaeya needs to be able to count on you for support and kindness, don’t let him down!”

Diluc exhales slowly, and attempts to placate them by saying, “I’ll be sure to take care of Kaeya to the best of my abilities, don’t worry.”

Kaeya’s surprised Diluc didn’t add a “now, shoo” to the end of that sentence.

“I didn’t know I’d have your fan club to contend with when I first suggested this plan.” Diluc mutters once they’re all finally gone, and Kaeya finally lets out the burst of laughter he’d been holding back.

“Surprised?” He asks once he’s finally stopped laughing, though Diluc’s grouchy glare makes him grin once again.

“Somewhat.” Diluc answers. “I knew you were popular, but not so well-loved that I’d get death threats.”

“You should think of me in a much higher regard then.”

Almost as if it was unintended to ever leave his lips, Diluc mumbles, “I think about you often enough.” 

Kaeya’s head whips back up from the slice of mushroom pizza he’d been picking up. “And just what does that mean?”

Diluc looks away. “Forget it. Eat the rest of your pizza.”

Kaeya acquiesces, figuring that a “don’t tell me what to do” wouldn’t exactly help his case. 

They finish their meal and conversation in peace, and Kaeya walks Diluc back to the Angel’s Share, giving his goodbye with a gentle kiss on his forehead, before making his way back to the Knights of Favonius Headquarters. 

That, however, is not the last time Kaeya sees Diluc that day.

“What are you doing here?” Kaeya asks when he spots Diluc standing outside the Headquarters after his late shift is over, secretly delighted to see Diluc once more. “You don’t like asking the knights for help.”

“You’re right, I don’t. But I’m staying in the city for the night, and I thought I’d walk you home.”

Kaeya’s eyebrow raises in suspicion. Kaeya’s apartment isn’t too far from the headquarters of the Knights of Favonius, and both of those locations are on the opposite side of the city from Angel’s Share. 

Kaeya decides to shut off his brain and just go with it. “Oh, that’s sweet of you.” 

Kaeya and Diluc wave goodbye to the guards on the night shift, and as if it’s now become second nature to them, clasp their hands together and start walking towards Kaeya’s flat.

“You don’t have to walk me home, you know.” Kaeya says, still confused about why Diluc’s here. “I’m Mond’s cavalry captain, I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. And with the Darknight Hero’s latest efforts, I daresay the scariest thing out on the streets is myself.”

Kaeya hides the grin that threatens to appear at the way Diluc’s jaw visibly clenches at the mention of his alias. 

“If we are to maintain our façade, it would be useful to be seen out and about at various times during the day, would it not?”

“It’s nighttime now, Master Diluc.” Kaeya replies, gesturing to the beautiful almost set sun across the horizon. “Does this encounter not err on the side of a more scandalous type of outing?”

Diluc looks like he can barely stop himself from rolling his eyes. “We’re adults, Kaeya, and everyone knows we grew up together. It would be less scandalous if you simply referred to me as you did back then.”

“Oh? If I had known it was that easy to get back onto a first-name basis with you, I would have proposed a fake dating scheme a lot earlier.” Kaeya jokes.

“You’ve always been allowed to call me by my first name.”

Kaeya’s chest tightens uncomfortably. “I didn’t think I had that right anymore.”

“Then consider that right now given back.”

“Thank you…Diluc.”

Diluc gives him a small, almost hidden smile, and it makes Kaeya want to claw at the walls. A minute passes by in silence as they continue to stroll together like most couples do, the chill of the night eased by the warmth of their connected fingers. Kaeya inhales the fresh, cold air and admires the cityscape around them, walking purposefully slower to prolong the peaceful walk they’re on. Mondstadt at night is just as gorgeous as it is during the day, but there’s something extra special about the amber-toned lamplights and sparkling stars above them tonight.

It probably has something to do with the man next to him, whose shoulder keeps brushing Kaeya’s. And yet, neither makes any move to put more space in between them to avoid those accidental touches.

“We used to walk like this when we were younger, didn’t we?” Kaeya says, unable to stop himself from recalling a past that was so much kinder to the both of them. “When training used to go on a bit later than usual, we’d hold each other’s hands just like this even though there was always enough light to stop us from getting lost on our way back to the old manor.”

In yet another surprising event of the day, Diluc decides to reminisce as well. “I remember us also taking turns chasing each other, pretending to be a ninja and his target, causing such a racket that people would open their windows and yell at us.” 

Beautiful red eyes fill with nostalgia, and the smile he then shares with Kaeya is so genuine and soft, Kaeya wishes he had a Kamera that would be able to capture the expression for Kaeya to look at again and again—a reminder that change is possible, that Diluc was capable of looking at Kaeya with something other than scorn and apathy.

Kaeya can’t help but smile back, the glee at sharing a sweet childhood memory making his chest all warm. “We were a force to be reckoned with, huh?”

Diluc hums in assent. They continue to walk together. 

When they do invariably reach Kaeya’s apartment, it’s hard to not feel disappointed. And yet, it’s so lovely, so intimate to be brought to your door by someone you love and care about, and that almost cancels out the dissatisfaction.

“Thank you for walking me home.” Kaeya says genuinely, looking down at their interlocked fingers, wanting to push back the inevitable split as well. 

“It was my pleasure.” Diluc replies. He sounds like he means it.

In Kaeya’s peripheral vision, he notices his neighbour, a sweet old lady with a penchant for gossiping and shoving boxes of freshly made cookies into Kaeya’s arms, sitting on her balcony and reading. “Mrs. Becker is watching us.” Kaeya says in a low tone, even though she isn’t. “Shall we give her a goodnight kiss worth remembering?” 

Diluc doesn’t look up to check, he just keeps looking at Kaeya as if he’s a puzzle he can’t figure out. Kaeya doesn’t expect Diluc to agree to that paltry excuse to kiss him, but Kaeya’s been proven wrong by the redhead quite a bit lately. 

Diluc leans in, one hand carefully cradling the side of Kaeya’s face, and Kaeya closes his eyes and lets himself be ruined by the gentleness of a kiss so tender it could make him cry. Unlike the first one, this one has none of the animalistic drive behind it, just a soft press of their lips that makes Kaeya want to sigh and swoon. Under the night’s gaze, with only a bit of streetlight as their illumination, there is nothing but an adoring, sweet touch, a squeeze of hands, and two people who desperately want each other back and have no idea how to ask for their place in the other’s life once again.

It is slow, the unavoidable separation. Diluc’s mouth seems to hate leaving Kaeya’s, and Kaeya’s hands hate leaving Diluc’s.

“Get home safe, Diluc.” Kaeya forces himself to say once there’s an appropriate distance between them once again, even as his body and mind want to reject the idea of turning around to enter his home without Diluc. 

“Goodnight.” Diluc breathes out, and Kaeya watches him walk off into the night, knowing full well that he won’t get much sleep tonight, yet again.

Chapter Text

Another week goes by, and it’s business as normal until an unexpected sojourn up Dragonspine to rescue a travelling group leaves Kaeya with much more than just a light cold. Jean forces him to go home early, and Kaeya spends the next day on his sofa, fighting against his fever dreams. 

That evening, Kaeya finds himself still bedridden—until a knock on the door forces Kaeya out of his restless slumber. With a not-so-graceful sniff and groan, he drags himself off of his couch and to the door, leaning against the doorframe as the door opens to reveal a rather surprising and always dashing figure.

Kaeya’s voice comes out scratchy and rough as he says the name of the man who’s staring him down. “Diluc?”

“You didn't show up to our dinner date, and then when I went to the Headquarters to look for you, Jean told me you took a couple of days off since you were ill.” Diluc says, and Kaeya watches as his face goes from annoyance to concern as he takes in how frail Kaeya suddenly looks, his fluffy blanket wrapped around his shoulders. “I suppose you weren’t lying this time.”

Kaeya breathes in deeply, trying not to let that last comment affect him. “Oh, damn, that was today, wasn't it? Yeah, sorry, this random bout of sickness caught me off-guard—” As Kaeya’s explaining his absence, Diluc barges past him and inside his apartment. ”Hey, why are you coming in, you’re gonna get sick too!” Kaeya exclaims.

“Don’t worry about me.” Diluc says, waving him off dismissively. “And, obviously, since you're unwell, I'm going to stay for a while to take care of you.”

Kaeya watches helplessly as Diluc goes over to his kitchen and grabs his kettle to boil some water, presumably for tea. Diluc looks at him with barely concealed scrutiny. “You haven’t even eaten today, have you?”

“Uhm, I didn’t have much energy to make anything.”

Diluc sighs, and rummages through Kaeya’s cupboards, hands procuring a can of chicken noodle soup and some bread. He pours the soup into a pot, lights the stove to heat it, and then scrounges around Kaeya’s drawers for a bread knife. 

When he notices that Kaeya is just standing there, watching Diluc treat Kaeya’s kitchen as if it were his own, he sighs again as he puts the chopping board down on the countertop. “Go back to bed.” He demands.

“I wasn’t in bed before.” Kaeya replies, just to be contrary.

Diluc fixes him with a disapproving look. “In the state that you’re in, you should’ve been. Go now.” 

Too tired to properly argue, Kaeya acquiesces (though not before saying “Okay, Mom” and pulling an annoyed glare out of Diluc in response). He flops onto his bed, thrashing around to find a position that’s comfortable under the blankets. Right when he gives up, a now jacketless Diluc comes into his bedroom.

He sets the tray of soup, buttered bread, tea, and water that he had brought with him on the nightstand, and Kaeya almost jumps up in shock when Diluc sits down right beside him. Kaeya stares, absolutely flabbergasted when Diluc lifts up a spoonful of soup right to his lips.

Diluc gives him a quizzical look when Kaeya does not lean forward to drink the soup and brings the spoon closer to Kaeya’s mouth. Kaeya hesitantly opens his mouth and internally sighs at the relief of feeling warm soup soothing his dry throat.

“Why are you doing this?” He questions after the fifth spoonful, fidgeting with the fraying tassels of the blanket.

“Is it so wrong for a man to take care of his partner?” Diluc asks, not looking at him in the eye, presenting him with a piece of bread.

Kaeya chews and swallows the bread obediently as well, and then says, “There’s no one else here, you can drop the act.”

Diluc says nothing for a few moments, playing with the soup spoon. Then, finally, he murmurs, “Maybe I just want to take care of you.”

Kaeya says nothing in response, unable to form words that make sense. Diluc takes it as his go-ahead to keep feeding him, coaxing some more bread and soup, as well as a cup of honey, ginger, and lemon tea into Kaeya’s system. Kaeya feels a lot better right away, and Diluc’s handsome face proves as a good distraction from the fever.

It’s…really nice, to be taken care of this way. Ordinarily, Kaeya would despise the thought of anyone thinking of him as delicate or fragile, but under Diluc’s careful hands, he finds it easy to relent to the older man.

“Thank you.” Kaeya says, unable to stop the small smile that creeps up at how Diluc is essentially playing nurse.

Diluc shrugs. “You used to take care of me like this all the time, this is just me returning the favour.” 

Kaeya’s smile slips off of his face. Of course, Diluc isn’t here out of the goodness of his heart or something like that, of course, it’s just because he thinks he owes Kaeya something. In fact, it’s probably because he’s not wearing his eyepatch, so the scar Diluc gave him is painfully easy to see and undoubtedly gives Diluc some modicum of shame.

“What’s wrong?” Diluc asks, frowning once he notices his fallen expression. “Are you in any pain?”

Kaeya’s heart is, maybe.

Kaeya shakes his head, wincing at the movement, the headache he had been experiencing only slightly dulled by the food. “Nothing’s wrong.” Kaeya answers. “I’m just tired, that’s all.” Diluc doesn’t look very convinced. “Did you eat anything?” He asks, trying to change the subject.

“I’ll eat later.” Diluc responds. “Shift over.”

Kaeya makes a confused hum but does as Diluc says, moving over to the side. Diluc directs him to sit up fully, and then fluffs the pillows and makes Kaeya lay down properly. Diluc runs his fingers through Kaeya’s hair, soothing the headache and the little part of Kaeya that longs so badly for Diluc’s touch. Kaeya closes his eyes, finally feeling comfortable, before they snap open when Diluc slides in to lie next to him. 

“Diluc?” Kaeya’s breath then hitches when Diluc loosely embraces him.

“Is this okay?” Diluc asks into Kaeya’s side ponytail, and here, he sounds so unsure, so careful. “When you were younger, you always slept better while you were sick if I was holding you.” 

“Yeah, I did.” Kaeya forces himself to breathe properly and wills his heartbeat to stop racing as fast as it is. “And I probably still do.” 

Diluc pulls Kaeya closer, till Kaeya’s head is resting on his chest and they’ve both got their arms comfortably slung over the other’s torso. Diluc is almost uncomfortably warm but Kaeya feels so much better instantly that he doesn’t mind it at all. Here, nestled with his ex-sworn brother at his side, he feels safe, he feels like himself.

(Kaeya thinks he dreams the kiss that’s placed on his temple as the steady heartbeat underneath him lulls him to sleep, but Diluc’s lips know the truth.)

When Kaeya wakes, he is certain Diluc will be nowhere in sight. Instead, he’s still enveloped in Diluc’s tight embrace and greeted with the fine, delicate features of the Ragnvindr heir first thing in the morning. Diluc looks so much younger in his sleep, an ethereal beauty that reminds Kaeya of lovely springtime flowers and the summery breeze that causes dandelions to spread everywhere and windwheel asters to spin. Kaeya can’t help but reach out to touch him, to give in to his desire to map out Diluc’s face with his fingers. His hair is everywhere, long carmine locks strewn about Kaeya’s pillow, and Kaeya’s heartstrings tug painfully at the memories of several mornings just like this one. Diluc looks like he belongs here, in Kaeya’s bed, at Kaeya’s side—but Kaeya knows not to put his hope in things that are unattainable.

(“But you once thought this was impossible”. A tiny voice says in the back of Kaeya’s mind. “Doesn’t this mean you have a chance for more?”)

It’s as Kaeya is tracing his sharp jawline that Diluc shifts and stirs awake. Kaeya pulls his hand away quickly, but before he can shut his eyes to feign still being asleep, Diluc suddenly grabs his wrist.

One eye lazily opens up. “Is there something on my face, Sir Kaeya?”

“Uhm.” Kaeya stares at his trapped wrist. “No. Just a wrinkle or two. I know of some creams that can help with that—”

Diluc lets go of him just to cover his mouth. “Go back to sleep, Kaeya.”

“I don’t want to.” Kaeya replies, muffled through his palm. When Diluc only simply gazes at him, Kaeya very maturely licks his hand.

Diluc pulls his hand away with a grossed-out noise, juxtaposing the chuckle that Kaeya lets out. “You should get some more rest.” He says admonishingly.

Kaeya suddenly really doesn’t want to, too fearful to wake up to Diluc’s absence—even though he should be long used to it. 

He scrounges up the courage to quietly ask, “Will you stay a bit longer?”

If they weren’t as close to each other as they were, Kaeya might not have noticed the way Diluc’s biting the inside of his cheek, the way he sucks in a breath, the way his eyes droop a little down.

His reply is just as hushed as Kaeya’s question. “I have some business back at the Dawn Winery at noon—”

“Ah—”

“But Elzer can handle it instead.” Diluc finishes.

Kaeya looks back into his eyes. “Are you sure?”

Diluc nods. “Yes. Sleep, I’ll make…” He looks out into the window, where the mid-morning sun shines onto them. “Lunch, I suppose.”

“Okay.” Kaeya shyly cosies up to Diluc once more, secretly pleased at how easily Diluc lets him burrow into him, and sleep gently takes him under. 

The second time Kaeya is up, the sheets are still noticeably warm, the scent of mushrooms and meat drifts into the room, and the sound of sizzling reassures Kaeya that Diluc did, in fact, stay longer at Kaeya’s behest.

What that actually means—Kaeya doesn’t know. But he supposes whatever their relationship has transformed into isn’t such a bad thing.

Kaeya downs the glass of water and medicine Diluc had left on the nightstand, and then takes a quick shower, glad to finally remove the film of sweat and clamminess over his body. When he reenters the kitchen, feeling refreshed and now clad in some casual loungewear, Diluc’s wearing the cute beige and light pink cat-themed apron Barbara gave Kaeya for his birthday two years ago and messing around at Kaeya’s stovetop. His hair is up in a ponytail, revealing the bare pale expanse of his nape, and it takes everything in Kaeya not to wrap his arms around the man’s torso and kiss (or bite into) the newly revealed sliver of skin.

“Hi.” Kaeya says instead of giving in to his urges, as nonchalant as he can be. “You look good in that apron, you should wear it more often.”

Diluc scoffs, turning over what Kaeya now sees are chicken and mushroom skewers, and says, “Keep your housewife fantasies to yourself.”

Kaeya chuckles and puts up his hands up. “Hey, I said no such thing. Sure you’re not living out one of your fantasies right now, Master Diluc?” 

“I told you to drop the title. Just go set the table.” 

“So demanding, you’re not helping your ‘nagging spouse’ case here.” Kaeya replies, but does as Diluc says (because he wants to eat, and certainly not because Diluc looks so adorable as he’s threatening Kaeya with a pair of tongs). 

Lunch is…intimate. There are no bustling crowds, or noisy kids, or waitresses to interrupt them like on their usual fake dates, and yet…it feels no different here in Kaeya’s apartment where it’s just them. A bite into the skewers reveals that Diluc had gone beyond the basics of the skewers and marinated the chicken in sparkling white wine to create the fruity aftertaste Kaeya really liked and often recommended—proving that Diluc did, sometimes, listen to Kaeya. And he continues to do so now, one hand propped on his chin as Kaeya rambles on about the expedition that had put him in such a state in the first place.

There are less snide remarks about the adventurers’ foolhardiness and quips about the competence of the Knights of Favonius than Kaeya had expected, instead, Diluc seems…gentler, more placid. He looks at ease, even though the last place Kaeya had ever thought Diluc could have become comfortable in would be his tiny apartment.

It is well past noon when the church’s bell rings and Kaeya realises just how much time they’ve spent at his dining table, laughing and exchanging stories like they’d never been apart since they were teens. 

“You should probably go, you’ve spent enough time here instead of working already.” Kaeya says with a sigh, staring down at his long-cleared plate.

Diluc sounds genuinely unhappy to leave. “I suppose I should.”

But he stays longer to wash up the dishes with Kaeya, he tucks Kaeya back into bed, and gives him a forlorn look as he leaves. 

And Kaeya now knows everything between them is—if it wasn’t already, it certainly is now—no longer as it seems. 

After Kaeya recovers and they continue to meet up in public, the shift in their relationship becomes a lot more noticeable. Whatever barrier they had in between them seems to have clearly dissolved, so obviously so, that to the rest of Mondstadt, there are no qualms about the authenticity of their relationship. The number of wedding proposals dwindles till there are absolutely none that arrive in Kaeya’s mailbox for over three weeks straight, no grandmothers lecture both Diluc and Kaeya on the importance of settling down, and even the gossip that surrounds them lessens. 

And in those peaceful weeks, where Kaeya takes advantage of their imagined relationship, he’s quite possibly the happiest he’s ever been. 

This Diluc Ragnvindr smiles broadly at him. This Diluc demurely kisses his knuckles in the form of a goodbye. This Ragnvindr looks at him with stars in his eyes. Kaeya would think he was dreaming, if it weren’t for the fact he could very much feel the thrilling touch of Diluc’s hands in his, the warm baritone in his ears, the smell of sweet grapes and petrichor that followed Diluc no matter where he went.

It’s so easy. So easy to forget that this is just a silly little idea they came up with to, what, just get rid of a few letters? Ones that Kaeya never even seriously cared about in the first place?

As the days go on, Kaeya finds himself questioning the whole arrangement once again. Because it doesn’t make any sense, and somehow…this just feels like an excuse both of them are using to get closer once again. 

It’s not possibly what Diluc has in mind though, is it? They were always like this as kids, sappy and sweet and enthusiastic, but as adults…they’ve never been so friendly and affectionate.

What’s Diluc playing at, exactly?

It frustrates Kaeya to no end.

Then packages start arriving at his doorstep courtesy of an unknown benefactor, and Kaeya knows immediately that something is up. Many of them are his old belongings from the old manor; such as a dark brown leather jacket (that somehow still fits, something Kaeya doesn’t know whether to be happy or concerned about), a few decorations, and even some furniture. But included in those boxes are things that do not belong to him—and he wouldn’t be able to afford them so easily either. Jewellery, finely made blouses, crates of wine courtesy of the Dawn Winery, and a multitude of luxury goods steadily fill up Kaeya’s apartment and Kaeya is helpless against the steady stream of couriers. 

And then one day—four weeks, two days, and three hours into their farce of a relationship—Kaeya’s bank statement says he’s received over four billion Mora from a lawyer acting in Crepus Ragnvindr’s name, and Kaeya nearly faints on the spot. He storms off to Angel’s Share directly, determined to figure out what exactly is going on.

“What’s with all the gifts?” He asks Diluc directly, uncaring of all the other tavern-goers. Luckily, as it’s late morning, the bar isn’t very busy, and the eyes on them quickly glaze over as the appearance of Kaeya Alberich beside Diluc Ragnvindr is not an uncommon one, especially not recently. Kaeya tacks on an endearment, just in case. “Darling.”

Diluc doesn’t even look at him at his clamorous entry. “Hi, love.”

“Seriously, honey, what’s going on? Why do I have half of the old Ragnvindr mansion in my apartment right now?” Kaeya asks, crossing his arms.

Cooly, Diluc responds, “When I went to your apartment, I didn’t understand why it was so bare. So, I asked Adelinde about your current living arrangements and was surprised to hear that you wouldn’t hear of receiving any of your inheritance after I left for Snezhnaya. I’m making amends now.”

Quietly, leaning in to avoid any prying eyes and ears, Kaeya uncrosses his arms and mutters, “You disowned me. From the clan. Remember?”

Here, Diluc hesitates and pauses his motions of cleaning a few glasses, a flash of what looks like regret shining in his eyes. “Not formally though. On top of your inheritance, you should have been receiving a portion of the Dawn Winery’s earnings for the past four years and haven’t been.”

“Why…what? I was still kicked out, whether legally or not. I’m not entitled to anything.”

“Actually, you are.” Diluc finally looks up to look Kaeya in the eye. “It was in my father’s will.”

Kaeya bites back the words “our father”. It probably isn’t the best idea to rile Diluc up when their relationship and all the emotions interwoven are as complicated as they are. 

Kaeya and Diluc never really considered themselves proper brothers, though, and Master Crepus hadn’t really honed that idea in either. In fact, when Kaeya had just turned 17 and Diluc nearly 18, he’d sat Kaeya down to tell him that if Diluc chose to marry him after he also became of age, Crepus would have no issue with it.  

Crepus had declared, “You are both my sons, but if you carry a torch for Diluc as I suspect he does for you, so be it. I’ll figure out a way to walk you both down the aisle.”

Kaeya had blushed and tried to deny having any romantic feelings for the older, floundering to explain himself and his questionable behaviour—including, but not limited to: sneaking into the older boy’s bedroom at night to cuddle and sleep in the same bed as him, cooking elaborate meals for Diluc, going with him everywhere he went, staring at the Ragnvindr heir for a little too long to be considered platonic, and so on. Crepus, however, had spent the last three years watching a pining Kaeya hold himself back from revealing too much and decided to set him straight, telling him plainly that while it would be a little early, Crepus had given them his blessing long ago and that Kaeya should just begin courting Diluc already.

Kaeya had been overwhelmed by the fact that Crepus not only accepted his feelings but was encouraging of them, even implying its reciprocation—so much so that when Crepus spent the rest of that evening brainstorming Diluc and Kaeya’s supposed wedding with him, Kaeya simply went with it. It felt a little silly to discuss a wedding ceremony when they weren’t even in a relationship, forget even having been proposed to, but Kaeya was just a boy in love and he wanted to gush about his crush and dream of a tranquil life.

And that conversation really solidified just how well Master Crepus knew him. Kaeya had gone through a lot to minimise himself, to not take up too much space in the small clan after he’d been adopted into it, and while he worked hard to prove himself as an exceptional member, he’d tried to hide his more personal side from all the staff and family friends to continue protecting himself—Diluc being the exception. Crepus, however, loved him dearly and made a conscious effort over the years to show him that clearly.

Crepus also knew Kaeya’s tastes were a little more laid-back and mellower than the swanky preferences of the rest of the remaining nobles of Mondstadt. Indeed, if they were the Lawrences, even exiled as they were, the wedding would be grand and luxurious and the guests would consist of the whole of Mondstadt's upper class. But that wouldn’t have suited Diluc and Kaeya, who were the more introverted sort of gentlemen, with friends from all social classes. The Ragnvindrs had always been exceptionally wealthy, and Crepus said he would have spared no expense for them, but Kaeya managed to talk him down to a small but sweet ceremony at the cathedral sometime in spring, and then a bigger reception at the Dawn Winery. Grandmaster Varka, who was a close friend of Crepus and officially ordained by the Church of Mondstadt, would most certainly be glad to officiate the wedding of his cavalry captain to his right-hand man. Complete with an archway of calla lilies and small lamp grass lighting their paths because they’d always been partial to those flowers, Kaeya and Crepus envisioned Diluc and Kaeya in dashing white suits and crying as they exchanged their vows in view of Barbatos’ statue, kissing to the background sounds of their family and friends hollering in celebration. Then, they would journey to Liyue or even Sumeru to spend a lavish honeymoon there before returning back to their knightly duties. 

But Crepus wouldn’t get to see any of those plans created on a giddy winter’s evening come to fruition, because then he died, and everything between his sons decayed. 

“I can’t accept it. I’d rather you donate whatever Master Crepus thought I deserved.” Kaeya finally says.

Diluc’s eyebrows furrow. “I could, if that’s truly what you wish. But you should keep some of it at least, he only wanted you to be safe and content after he passed, after all.”

“And he wouldn’t have if he knew who I truly was before he died. But you do, Lord Ragnvindr. Don’t tell me that you want to see me ‘safe’ and ‘content’ as well.” 

“But…I do. I’ve forgiven you a long time ago, you know.”

Kaeya’s lips press into a tight line. He’s lying. He must be. “Well, I didn’t. That’s news to me.” He replies, and he hates the way he can feel his lips wobble in disbelief and heartache.

Diluc looks genuinely shocked. “You must know that I only want for your happiness.” Quietly, Diluc adds, “I would even marry you to make sure of it.”

Kaeya’s jaw drops. “You’re lying.” His voice shakes, despite himself. “You don’t even love me, why would you even suggest that?”

“What? Of course, I do.”

“You don’t.” Kaeya says resolutely, as if no other answer could be correct.

Something in Diluc’s gaze crumbles, as if he can’t believe that Kaeya can’t trust his words either. “Kaeya—”

Kaeya interrupts him and turns away, unable to look at the devastated expression on Diluc’s face any longer, too afraid to see where this conversation could lead to. “I need to go to work. The Knights of Favonius are already so woefully inefficient, isn’t that right? If I’m not around, I’m sure no work would get done at all.” 

“Wait—”

“Goodbye, Master Diluc.”

And Kaeya, the coward that he is, all but runs out of the tavern, only stopping once he’s in his office to clutch at his chest and try to regain his bearings.

Kaeya doesn’t understand. Cannot understand a Diluc who claims to care for him, when all that man has done since he came back is treat Kaeya as if he were an invasive weed that couldn’t be scorched out of existence. In fact, if it weren’t for their arrangement, would Diluc even bother to look at him at all? 

(He would not, Kaeya thinks in despair, even as the same little voice in his head screams at him that Diluc does, Diluc’s eyes follow him wherever he goes, Diluc wants him just the same.)

Kaeya should end things. They should go back to how they were right when Diluc came back, because at least Kaeya could protect his heart that way. 

But Kaeya can’t forget how it felt to have Diluc warm up to him again, can’t forget that reconciliation isn’t as impossible as it feels, and he knows he will not be able to forget the sweet time they spent together these past months—even if it was all a beautiful lie. 

And how could he ever stop loving Diluc?

The door swings open. Kaeya looks up from where he’s sitting in a slouched position on top of his desk, and Diluc strides in, having evidently followed him all the way there. 

Kaeya turns his head away, tears prickling at the sight of him. “Diluc, I do not want to see you right now—”

“No.” Diluc says firmly, shutting and locking the door behind him. “We need to talk.” Diluc cages him against his table, both hands slamming against the dark oak wood. Kaeya hates that he feels excited by the feel of Diluc’s body melding against his again. “Because you don’t believe me when I tell you I love you.”

Kaeya’s heart careens off of a cliff. “How can I, Diluc, when you’ve not said the words in five years? When it will give me hope for what’s impossible? When it will ruin what little peace we’ve managed to make?”

“What’s impossible?”

“I can’t tell you.” Kaeya replies, turning his head away. He feels angry, he thinks, for Diluc’s ability to bring out the worse facets of himself, again and again, even when he doesn’t want to put on his mask.

Diluc sighs. “This is exactly what I don’t want.” Diluc grabs Kaeya’s chin and makes him face him once again. His doleful expression makes Kaeya want to cry. “I want you to stop hiding, I want to know you, Kaeya.” 

“What is there to know?” Kaeya retorts, half-heartedly trying to pull his face out of Diluc’s grasp. “Do you truly wish to know of my feelings about marriage, our dead father, about my feelings for you?”

“Yes, yes I do.”

“I think you’ll regret asking.”

Diluc releases Kaeya’s chin and holds both of Kaeya’s hands in his own, resting them on Kaeya’s thighs. “I promise you, I won’t.”

Kaeya shakes his head no. “Don’t make any more promises to me, Diluc Ragnvindr. You’ve broken all of them already.”

“Kaeya…” Diluc says his name despairingly, looking at him with the dejected look of a kicked puppy.

“No, no, you can’t just look at me like that and think that that will convince me.” Kaeya says frustratedly, resisting the urge to claw at his own hair.

“What am I looking at you like?” Diluc asks quietly.

“Like I have a chance.” Kaeya whispers. “Like I still genuinely mean anything to you.”

“You do, of course, you still do.”

Kaeya isn’t so easily convinced. “Well, you have a funny way of showing it.”

Another moment of silence. 

Then, “I’m sorry.”

Kaeya’s truly stunned, and his first instinct is to deny that claim as well—but even he cannot deny the sincerity in Diluc’s eyes as he apologises.

Diluc continues, “I truly am sorry that it took me so long to realise how much I was hurting you by not properly communicating. I’ve come to a few…realisations, lately.”

“And what conclusions have you come to now?” Kaeya asks, still skeptical.

“Firstly, that I missed you. Even when I told myself I hated you, even after I thought I’d moved on, I’ve just missed you so, so much, Kaeya.”

“You have?” Kaeya’s arms fall loosely to his sides from where they had been making a perfunctory attempt at pushing Diluc away.

“Of course I do. I miss us. I miss making lemonade together on summer afternoons, I miss horse racing against you, I miss pranking the maids together.”

“The maids probably don’t miss that.”

Diluc lets out a little laugh. “Probably not. But they do miss you. I miss you.”

“Oh.” 

And then Kaeya’s heart legitimately stops when Diluc states: 

“And secondly, that having you like this, as pretend lovers…it isn’t enough for me anymore. I want you to come back to me, Kaeya, on your own terms, because you want to be mine. Not with this excuse.” 

A million thoughts rush through his head—and Kaeya knows he’s breaking Diluc’s heart just as much as he’s breaking his own when he says, “I shouldn’t.”

“Why not?” Diluc pleads.

“What happens later, Diluc? How can I trust that you won’t hurt me again? How can I be sure that I won’t hurt you? We’ve never even apologised to one another before.” Kaeya answers, holding onto Diluc’s hands tightly, because his words will not let him convey just how much he wants Diluc to stay.

“...I didn’t think we had to.”

“You…what?” Kaeya lets out a choked, disbelieving laugh.

“I thought…” Diluc sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. “I figured we had an unspoken agreement to simply move on and try again.”

“You daft man.” Kaeya says, exasperation clear, even though a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth as it’s such an endearingly Diluc thing to do. “We’re supposed to talk about these things properly, not just leave it up in the air. How was I supposed to know anything you just told me before? I’m no mind reader.”

“Well, haven’t we been reconciling?” Diluc argues. “These past five weeks have been me trying exactly that. This is the most I’ve seen you genuinely smile since I came back to Mondstadt.” 

“I thought you were only being nice to me for the sake of our pretend relationship!”

“Oh. Well, I wasn’t. Not…entirely, I mean.”

Kaeya’s tired of this tip-toeing, so tired of trying to decipher Diluc’s intents under all of his touches and words, so tired of pretending. “Then what do you mean? Speak plainly, Diluc, because I’ve been in love with you since I was fourteen, and each day it only breaks me further to try and figure you out.”

Diluc looks shell-shocked, stumbling over his words in a way Kaeya hasn’t seen him do since they were kids. “You…you’re in love with me?”

Kaeya swallows down the lump in his throat. “Never stopped. I picked you over everyone and everything, and I never truly regretted it. I didn’t that night you threw me out, I didn’t the day you came back and barely looked at me, I don’t regret it now either. I just wish I didn’t have to feel guilty for loving a man who could never love me back.”

Diluc sounds angry at first as he speaks, but it tapers off into a melancholic, remorseful tone. “You’re wrong, if you think you’re the one who should feel guilty. I regret my eighteenth birthday every day. Do you know that when I look at you, all I remember is my father telling me, ‘Take care of the young lad, Luc’ as he was dying in my arms, and how I promptly ignored some of his last words? I didn’t know what to do back then, and I didn’t when I came back. I still don’t know what to do with my feelings for you.” Diluc swallows. His shoulders sag a little, his head facing downwards. “But I’m selfish, so I kept you at an arm’s length, but still close enough to be somewhat satisfactory.” 

A beat of silence passes. A million more thoughts race through Kaeya’s mind as he tries to process everything Diluc just confessed to.

“Well, what now? How do I go on from here?” Kaeya asks, his defeated expression matching Diluc’s. “I don’t…I don’t know what to do. I thought I’d fucked up too much for you to ever care about me again.”

“No, no. It’s not your fault, Kaeya.” Diluc softly replies. “You deserve better than me. I only stayed away from you because I thought, for your sake, it would be better this way.”

“Why would you stay away when all I have ever wanted is to keep you close?” Kaeya asks, frustration and anguish from years of being separated from his other half seeping into his voice. “Despite our past, you are all I’ve ever wanted, and if I could be honest, I would be.” Kaeya admits.

Diluc’s head snaps back up at that, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. “Would you really?”

“I’ve always wanted to be…I don’t think you know just how much I would do for you, Diluc Ragnvindr.”

“Then tell me.” Diluc murmurs, his hands slinking to rest at Kaeya’s hips, the heat of his palms, so much bigger than the sword user’s, branding him through the thin leather of his pants. It occurs to Kaeya that he could, technically, shake him off and exit this conversation before he reveals more, too much—but how could he now, when he’s already confessed his biggest and longest-kept secrets?

So Kaeya screws his eyes shut and presses his lips against Diluc’s, and lets his kiss reveal it all. 

Diluc grips him tighter and kisses him back so deeply that Kaeya feels light-headed from it immediately. It's almost laughable, just how easily Kaeya succumbs to the feeling of Diluc’s mouth on his own. Gone is the fearless and reckless Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius who's known for his shrewdness, ruthlessness in battle, and mysterious persona. Instead, he's replaced with something far needier and vulnerable, cradled in Diluc’s arms because as much as Kaeya tries, he will never be able to hide from Diluc Ragnvindr.

Who cares about his dignity or whatever now though, when kissing Diluc is better than any alcohol he’s ever ingested, sweeter than any confection he’s baked with Klee, holier than any church he’s been to. Now, when it’s real, when it means something that has a name to it. Now, when it’s so easy suddenly, to begin stitching the wounds created by the self-made cavern between them.

Nothing can compare to the easing of years and years of agony, the removal of the misery of loving the one man in Teyvat Kaeya wanted but was so sure he could never have. Nothing is more divine than the little whine that escapes Diluc when Kaeya softly pries his mouth open with a deft tongue to taste those traces of fruitiness further. Diluc kisses Kaeya like he wants to devour him, crushing him into the desk, and Kaeya happily melts into it, into an easier substance for Diluc to consume wholly. Kaeya doesn’t mind being unable to think, doesn’t care that he can’t breathe all that well, because if all his breath is to be stolen by the most beautiful man in Teyvat, then so be it. 

Diluc seems to have some sense left though, and eventually pulls away. His face is flushed, his breathing is haggard, and Kaeya is so overcome by seeing the normally so stoic and put-together gentleman flustered because of his kiss, that he pulls Diluc in for another searing kiss with a desperate yank of his collar. Diluc doesn't protest in the slightest, one hand travelling slowly upwards and eliciting tiny sparks over Kaeya’s side as it makes its way to Kaeya’s ponytail. Slowly, Diluc pulls the hair tie off and sinks his hand into the silky locks that now cascade down Kaeya’s shoulders. 

Tender and sweet, this kiss’ fire is just as passionate, yet softer and calmer in a way Kaeya didn’t think they could ever be with each other. They kiss almost languidly, less of a chase of each other’s mouths and more of a kindling of that flame that’s maybe flickered, maybe lessened, but never gone out.

“I will never move on from you, Kaeya Alberich.” Diluc mutters as they finally part for air, his hand still woven into Kaeya’s midnight blue streaks, the other curled possessively at his waist, keeping him close. “I love you too much to ever let you go.”

“Then don’t.” Kaeya replies, breathless from both the kiss and the confession. He presses a gentle kiss onto Diluc’s lips again—he doesn’t think he can stay away from them now that he’s been offered forever. “Don’t let me go, don’t leave.” The word “again” goes unsaid, but they both hear it. Then, even though it’s insane for him to think, much more even to say out loud, ”Marry me—you’re the only one I’ve ever wanted anyway.”

Diluc only looks shocked for a second before he nods. “Y—yea. Okay.”

Kaeya backtracks, realising what he’s said in his dizzy state. “Oh, I was mostly joking—”

“I’m not.” Diluc says, firmly. “Let me court you properly, Kae, like I should have all those years ago.”

“By all means.” Kaeya replies, those words intended to be cool and flirty but decidedly not when they leave his mouth in a breathy gasp. The nickname makes him melt further, like a candle burning down to nothing but a small pool of hardened wax and a blackened wick. 

Diluc smiles, that brilliant, bright grin he always gave Kaeya as a boy, and draws him into another delicate kiss, and Kaeya lights up all over again.