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It was hot. It was always hot in Mondstadt when summer comes especially around the winery, there is no shade sure inside the fans were on keeping the place cool but outside? Scorching. No shade over the vine yard yet they had to collect the grapes before they brown in the sun.
Kaeya was the lucky one. He loves the sun, and instead of burning up, he tans much more easily. However, Adelinde will still drag him back into the shade to put on sunscreen every once in a while. His hair is tied up, and he wears looser clothes as he holds a basket on his arm, picking grapes with ease.
But Diluc was dying in the heat, it didn’t help that his hair was thick and heavy, causing him to have to wipe his forehead every few minutes. Despite being covered in sunscreen, layer after layer, his face was as red as his hair from the sun. His vision seemed to make it worse, like most pyro users had a higher internal body temperature, making him have to sweat more to cool himself down.
“You okay there, Diluc?” Kaeya teased, looking up from the section he was working on.
“Oh, shut up,” Diluc groaned, wiping his forehead for probably the thousandth time in the past hour. His basket wasn’t nearly as full as Kaeya’s, his white shirt was sticking to him. He pushed his hair off his neck everything felt sticky and uncomfortable.
“Do you want me to call Father and tell him you can’t finish and need to go inside?”
“No, I can still finish my section, besides, he is busy.” Diluc shook his head. He didn’t want to disturb Father, he wanted to finish his part of the chores even if it was hot. “Fine, but at least let me help with your hair.” Kaeya put down his basket and walked off, leaving an overheated and confused Diluc alone.
He came back a bit later with a ribbon in hand, “Hold still for a sec,” he forced Diluc to turn around, starting to gather up Diluc’s hair.
“What are you doing?”
“Putting your hair up, duh, should help a bit.” Kaeya struggled a bit more than he thought he would; he couldn’t even hold it in one hand. “You really need a haircut or something, get a few layers instead of this thick blanket on your head. It’s like your hair is as thick as wool.” It took a few tries, but he finally got it tied up in a high ponytail. It wasn’t the neatest ponytail in the world, but it would help keep the heated hair off Diluc’s neck.
“There you go. Does that feel better?”
Diluc brushed the bangs from his forehead, but nodded. He could feel a difference, even if it wasn’t the biggest, it was better than before. “Yeah. Thanks for the help, Kae.”
Kaeya let out a laugh, picking up his basket, “Sure, now let's so who can collect the most grapes before Father is done with his paperwork and comes out to check on us.”
Diluc fixed the basket on his arm and nodded, he did not want to lose to Kaeya trying to pluck at the grapes faster than before, moving along the vineyard section by section. Kaeya had a head start, but Diluc was more competitive than him, which fueled him to go faster.
Crepus finished up his paperwork a bit late, taking nearly two hours, probably because of how boring it was. By the time he checked the clock, it was 4 past noon. He took off his coat, knowing the day had been hotter than usual lately, so he wouldn’t need it. He climbed down the stairs. The smell of moon pie was in the air coming from the kitchen. The boys have probably come inside by now, maybe even helping Adelinde bake, so he headed in that direction. The delicious smell got stronger the closer he got, the door was wide open.
Crepus peeked inside the open door, the ceiling fan was on the highest level, all the windows were open as well, and Adelinde was taking out one of the last moon pies from the oven using the oven mittens. There were no teenage boys in sight.
“Miss Adelinde, where are Diluc and Kaeya?” he asked, walking into the room fully.
The head maid looked up, looking more confused if anything, “I don’t know where the young masters are. Why didn’t they come in?” She was starting to look more concerned now.
“I thought they did they have been outside for a while now.” he moved a hand on his chin, stroking his beard, turning back to the front door. “I'm going to go see if they are still working on the vineyard.” he didn’t wait for a response as he moved from the kitchen.
He pushed open the front door, going down the steps to the vineyard. With a single glance, he knew the boys did their chores, he couldn’t spot a single grape on the vines. But where are the boys themselves?
Crepus would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried after all the two don’t disappear that often. He moved along the vineyards, checking each section slowly, going from the first one on the far left. Then he went to the one in the middle, finding a few grapes that were on the ground, probably dropped naturally and forgotten about. Then the last one, which was on a slight upcline with a large tree at the very end. It was centuries old, long before his family started the winery.
He made his way up the path, looking all over, maybe with the extra height, he could find his kids if they were nearby, of course. Turns out he didn’t even need to look around for them. When he made his way up to the tree, there they were, baskets full of freshly picked grapes sitting on the grass, and leaning on the trunk of the tree were Diluc and Kaeya. The two were fast asleep, lightly snoring, cooling down in the shade.
A smile formed on his lips. Stepping into the shade, he didn’t want to wake them, the scene far too sweet to interrupt. Instead, he grabbed the baskets, taking them inside for Conner tomorrow morning. He came back to where the boys slept, as much as he would love to let them sleep, it was for the best for them to come back inside.
Crepus used the tree as support as he bent down, gently shaking the two’s shoulders. Kaeya was the first to wake, raising a hand to rub his eye, but ended up rubbing the eye that was covered instead of his visible one. It took a few more shakes to get Diluc to open his eyes, letting out a big yawn.
“Father?” Diluc sat up, his ponytail now a mess with a few leaves in the curls, and his voice drowsy with sleep. “How was you boys' little nap? You deserve it, you really cleared out the field.”
Kaeya stretched, sitting up, “It was good. Archons, it's hot.” he flapped his hand, fanning his face, trying to cool down the heat. “Yeah, it's probably the hottest day in Mondstadt in the past few years. Let's get you two back inside to cool down.
The two ended up having to help Crepus up, not being able to get up even with using the tree. Despite how good the day ended up being, all three of them hoped it would never get this hot again.