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Kaeya glanced up at the clock and let out a sigh when it read just half an hour before noon. It felt as though the day was dragging on, and the piercing pain behind his right eye was doing nothing to help the situation. He looked back down at his desk – it was getting close to the end of the year and he had reports to write on the young knights who lived within headquarters.
It wasn’t a difficult task, just one that took forever to complete with repetitive tasks. At least this year there were not any quarrels over roommates. Kaeya let out a half-hearted chuckle at the memory of the year before when three knights had been unable to coexist in the same area and all three had refused to move out of the room. Luckily, the issue had managed to solve itself as the Grandmaster had given the boys a stern talking to on behalf of Kaeya.
Kaeya was thankful for Grandmaster Varka, but he felt a little less thankful this year as the Grandmaster had left and taken all of the calvary and put Jean in charge. Which wasn’t a terrible decision - Jean was amazing at filling in the hole that Grandmaster Varka had left but Kaeya saw how it weighed his close friend down. Jean was only a few years older than Kaeya and he couldn't imagine the stress being placed upon himself..
Well, as much as Kaeya didn’t like the idea of having the responsibility of all of Mondstadt on him, a part of him did wish that it was he who had to deal with all the stress and not his dear friend. She deserved a chance to relax but with the way the knights were running on bare bones there was no room for relaxation for either the Acting Grandmaster or any of the remaining captains.
Either way Grandmaster Varka being gone and taking a good amount of knights with him was exactly what left the knights in the position they were currently in. Kaeya paused his writing as he took a deep breath. The words were beginning to swim together, or multiply but he still had work to get done. He was absolutely exhausted. However he still had work to get done.
He picked up his mug of coffee and brought it to his lips and took a sip. Lukewarm. He shook his head in frustration before he set it back down. He had work to get done and he knew that if he were to go and make another batch of coffee he would never convince himself to focus on finishing up the reports. He picked up the quill and dipped it in the ink before he took a deep breath, trying to will the headache out of existence as he got back to work.
—
“..ya! Kaeya!” followed by a pounding from somewhere in the room was the first thing Kaeya heard when he woke up. He blinked a few times trying to process where he was before there was another knock on the window. The young man’s brows furrowed, his single eye squinted to try and keep out as much light as possible which thankfully was not much as the sun had already begun to set.
He approached the window sluggishly and stopped in his tracks when he saw a man with red hair and a sickeningly sweet smile on the other side. Kaeya stood standing dumbfounded at the realization..
“Ajax.” Was all he said, blinking away the exhaustion to make sure he wasn't just hallucinating the man on the other side of the glass.
“The one and only,” Childe said with a tilt of his head, “You wouldn’t mind letting me in, now would you?”
Kaeya brought a hand up to his head and ran his fingers through his hair, attempting with zero success to get rid of the headache as he processed what was in front of him. He slowly walked towards the window and unlocked it before pulling it open.
“You do know that I shouldn’t be letting a criminal into my office, correct?” Kaeya asked, and in response Childe gave a small shrug.
“I haven’t done anything to Mondstadt..”
“Yet.”
“Hey!” The harbinger let out with a small laugh as he ducked in through the window and let himself in while brushing off his clothes, “I don’t intend on ever harming your home, Kae, and you know that.”
Kaeya rolled his eyes, “I know. Lock my window before you find yourself a spot to sit.”
“Aye, Aye captain.” Childe said as he closed the window and flipped the lock and took a few steps in, “So..”
“What’re you doing here?” Kaeya asked as he let himself fall unceremoniously back into his chair, “As far as I’m aware there shouldn’t be a harbinger here for another… two weeks at the earliest.”
Childe gave a small pout in response before he leaned back on the sofa, “I just thought I’d come visit you..It’s been a while since we last saw each other and I just thought..”
Kaeya looked over at Childe and couldn't help but think about just how pathetic he looked with his lips set in a pout, large blue eyes locked on him and.. Kaeya let out a sigh and put his arms out in an offering for a hug.
Childe was quick to jump off the sofa and wrapped himself around Kaeya feeling Kaeya melt into the hug with a satisfied hum, “Plus..” Childe began, “I’m not sure if you remember but tomorrow is a very special day.”
“Hmm.. is it?” Kaeya asked, resting his head against Childe's chest, listening to the steady heartbeat of the other man.
“I mean.. It’s only the most handsome man’s birthday tomorrow.”
“I wasn’t aware you had a November birthday,” Kaeya said and Childe let out a small laugh.
“Play dumb all you want.” Childe slowly pulled himself away from Kaeya and looked down at him, studying his features before he glanced at the paperwork on his desk, “Are you off the clock yet?”
Kaeya sighed and looked down at the mostly completed paperwork on his desk before he looked back up at Childe who was standing there with the irresistible pout again. Kaeya mentally cursed himself for falling asleep before he could finish getting his paperwork done, but the same way he knew he couldn't get up to get more coffee because he would never be able to get himself back on task he felt the same way now.
With that he slowly pushed himself up off of his seat and suddenly the world around him was spinning. He blinked rapidly as a hand rose to his head and he stumbled back leg hitting against his chair but two firm hands clasped themselves on his waist.
“Whoa.. Easy,” Childe said before he wrapped an arm around Kaeya’s waist to guide him out from behind the desk.
“I think it is time to go home,” Kaeya said, taking a step forward and pulling himself away from Childe’s grasp, but offered his hand out to him, “Care to join me?”
“I would love to,” Childe said as he gingerly took hold of Kaeya’s hand and followed along as he was pulled forward by his boyfriend.
—
At first Kaeya wasn’t sure what woke him up. He slowly blinked his eye open and felt the warm body of another person beside him. He could hear the rhythmic breathing of his partner and nothing seemed to be immediately alarming. Kaeya turned to lay on his side and looked at Childe through his half-lidded eye. The other man was gorgeous – that much Kaeya could not deny. His face a masterpiece of features with a perfect amount of freckling over his cheeks.
As annoying as Childe could be at times, Kaeya couldn’t deny how much he meant to him. Maybe this is all he had been woken up for.. To really appreciate the small beauties in life such as the blood thirsty being that now slept next to him.
His thoughts were stopped in their place when his stomach turned uneasily, Kaeya placed a hand on top. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to not eat whatever food Childe had managed to scrape together for dinner. But – Childe was an amazing cook. It didn't make sense that..
Another churn. This time Kaeya sat upright in bed, swallowing back saliva that had begun pooling in his mouth.
He took a slow breath, trying to quell the rapidly rising nausea.
“Kaeya?” He heard a voice mumble, but in his state it was difficult to tell where it was coming from. The logical part of him knew that it must have been Childe, woken up from the shifting but the other part of him hoped it was a hallucination or a trick of the mind.
Another swallow and things seemed to be fine. He took another deep breath and went to lay back down before a cramp caused him to curl into himself.
“Fuck..” The blue haired man muttered, swallowing the surplus of saliva that had once again pooled in his mouth, reminding him of the inevitable.
“Are you okay?” The voice asked, a sturdy hand on his shoulder but Kaeya couldn’t find it in himself to respond. He gave a shake of his head before he quickly shot up with a hand over his mouth barely suppressing a gag underneath.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Childe said, and Kaeya could feel the mattress shift as Childe got himself out of bed and went around to help guide Kaeya out of bed, “C’mon, let’s go hang out in the bathroom. It’ll be easier to clean up in there.”
Kaeya allowed himself to be pulled out of bed and guided down the dark hallway by Childe, focusing more on his turning stomach and trying to keep the contents in. He burped, bringing up a wave of vomit but desperately swallowed it back with a low whine.
“It’ll be okay,” Childe whispered, letting out a low curse as he stubbed his toe against something he could not see.
It only took a second for Kaeya’s body to revolt a second time and this time he was unable to swallow. He tried his best but it only resulted in another gag as he heaved up the meal he and Childe had shared the night before. Hot vomit sprayed from between his fingers and he coughed violently as he finally pulled his hand away, heaving and bringing up even more of the half digested food.
“Oh. Shit,” He heard from beside him, and as he vomited again on the hardwood, helpless watching as it splattered on his own pants legs and socks he felt hands pulling back his bangs and holding them in place, before another hand was felt rubbing his back.
“It’s okay,” Childe whispered, and Kaeya found it hard to believe as he dry heaved, his stomach doing everything in its power to turn him inside out right in front of Childe, “I should’ve known you didn’t feel well,” Childe mumbled more to himself than to Kaeya.
“It was just a headache,” was the reply Childe got from Kaeya, and he let out a small laugh.
“Yeah.. And you were tired, practically leaned on me the entire walk home last night.”
“Did not,” Kaeya said before he burped and spit out bile, “Ugh..”
“That’s not important,” Childe said as he stopped rubbing Kaeya’s back in small circles, “What’s important now is that you get cleaned up.” In response he got a noncommittal hum, but Childe took it as good enough of a sign to guide Kaeya around the mess and into the bathroom.
“You almost made it.”
“Shut up.”
Childe chuckled before he found a lighter and lit a candle in the bathroom. He didn’t want to make it too bright in case of aggravating the headache Kaeya had mentioned. Once there was light he led Kaeya to the toilet and helped him sit down next to it before he got to work himself.
The first step was running the bath water and making sure it was a nice lukewarm temperature. He wasn’t quite sure if Kaeya was running a fever, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Once he had the bath water running he made his way back to Kaeya’s room to find him another pair of clean clothes.
“You okay?” He asked as he stepped back into the dimly lit bathroom. Kaeya was leaned over the toilet seat, his head practically in it as he gagged and coughed up whatever was left in his stomach.
With no reply from Kaeya, Childe walked over and took a seat next to Kaeya and began gently rubbing his back.
They spent a while in that position. Kaeya weakly heaving over the toilet and Childe bringing him any amount of comfort he could. It made his heart hurt, but Childe knew there wasn’t much more the two could do besides just.. Let it pass.
“Let’s go ahead and do the bath,” Childe said gently as he stood, helping Kaeya stand and strip out of his soiled clothes and step into the bath water. It had chilled significantly since Childe originally drew the bath, and Childe mentally smacked himself in the face for not heating up more water as he watched as his love began to shiver once he was in the water.
“I’m sorry, I know it's cold..” Childe whispered as he quickly bathed Kaeya, got him out of the water and dried in fresh clothes. Once the bath was over Childe got Kaeya back seated on the ground by the toilet.
“How’re you feeling?” Childe asked, brushing Kaeya’s hair back behind his ear.
“Like shit.”
“Makes sense,” Childe stood back up, “Feel well enough to go back to bed?”
“I guess,” Kaeya sighed as he pushed himself back up to standing.
“Easy there,” Childe said as he made his way back to Kaeya and wrapped an arm around him before sweeping him off his feet, “Wouldn’t want my princess to fall on the way back to bed.”
Kaeya rolled his eyes but he couldn't hide the small laugh.
“You’re an idiot,”
“But I’m your idiot.” Childe responded as he carried Kaeya back to bed, gingerly laying him down in the bed and covering him up, “I’m going to bring a trash can over just in case and.. Then I’m going to clean the hallway. If you need me just shout, okay?”
“Got it.” Kaeya said as he allowed his eye to fall shut.
—
“So.. What exactly are you doing here?” A gruff voice asked,
“I’m spending Kaeya’s birthday with him.” The other voice said, “And right now..I am making him soup.”
Kaeya sluggishly walked down the hallway of his small apartment, unable to sleep through the conversation happening at his front door. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Diluc, but was quick to mask his confusion at his older brother being at his door talking to his boyfriend.
“Oh!” Childe exclaimed as he turned around, “Are you feeling any better?”
“Yeah,” Kaeya said his eye still on Diluc, “Much better than I was doing last night, thank you, love.”
“Love?” Diluc replied with a scoff, letting himself into the apartment before allowing the door to fall shut.
“Mhm,” Kaeya nodded as he walked around his couch to take a seat, “I hope there isn’t an issue, Master Diluc. Afterall I am just…”
“Kaeya.” Diluc said cutting off his younger brother.
“What?”
“Drop the act,” Diluc said and walked around the couch before he took a seat, leaving a respectable amount of space between himself and Kaeya. “I didn’t come to argue with you. I wanted to check in on you and tell you happy birthday.”
“Oh..” Kaeya said and then let out a small laugh, “Well, then thank you. I would’ve gone to visit dad today but..”
“You’re sick.” Diluc finished his sentence for him, “I can tell.”
“You suck,” Kaeya said with a small whine before he leaned back on the couch and let his head fall back, eye closed. “I should be getting free drinks tonight.”
“I honestly think spending the night inside in front of a warm fire sounds much more enjoyable,” Childe said as he made his way back into the room and set down a bowl of soup in front of Kaeya, and another in front of Diluc, “It’s my mother’s recipe.”
“I don’t believe you,” Kaeya said, as he lifted the bowl.
“It really is her recipe.”
“About staying inside.” Kaeya said with a small laugh, “Archons, neither of you can stay inside or mind your own business.”
“Look who’s talking.” Diluc said, picking up the other bowl, “As much as I hate to agree, but I believe Childe is right. You two could always go out tomorrow or the next day.”
“Hmm.. I suppose,” Kaeya hummed as he brought a spoonful of soup up to his mouth, “Maybe tomorrow I could get drinks on the house.”
“I’ll think about it.” Diluc replied.
Kaeya let out another small laugh before he focused on the soup. He continued to enjoy it, allowing the room to fall into a peaceful silence until his bowl was half complete and he set it back down on the small table in front of the couch.
“Oh, I brought you something.” Diluc said, setting down his empty bowl and reaching into his bag. He pulled out a wrapped gift and held it out to Kaeya, “Happy birthday.”
Kaeya took the gift and nodded, “Thank you, Diluc.”
“Anyways, I’ve got to get back to work now. Since you’re staying in tonight you might be able to make use of that gift. Let me know how you like it, I believe it was one of Father’s favorites.”
With that Diluc stood up and took his leave.
“You should see what he got you,” Childe said as he took a seat next to Kaeya, wrapping an arm around him and resting his head on the other man’s shoulder.
“Yeah..” Kaeya said as he unwrapped the present, careful as to not destroy the paper it had been sent in.
And he gave a small smile as he opened the book to page one.