Work Text:
Crepus was just trying to work when the office door opened. He didn't look up, smiling when he felt a familiar weight drape over his back. "Hello, Kaeya."
"How did you know it was me?" Kaeya shifted to rest his chin on the top of his father's head.
"Diluc likes to announce himself. You just appear like a cat." Crepus kept writing. "Did you need something?"
"No, 'm just bored."
"So you're here, reading my ledgers for fun?"
"They're riveting," Kaeya insisted. "Are you almost done?"
"Soon," Crepus promised. "If you'll stop blocking my light."
Crepus didn't move to disloge his son. This was normal. Had been normal since Kaeya was small enough to actually fit in his lap. He was taller now, far too big for that, but apparently Crepus' personal space was still communal property. Some things never changed.
Diluc wandered in ten minutes later, took in the scene, and sat on the arm of Crepus' chair on the other side. Diluc leaned on his father's shoulder.
"Comfortable?" Crepus asked dryly, now squished between his boys.
"Mhm," Diluc agreed, peering at the ledgers. "Is that the quarterly report?"
"It was," Crepus muttered. "Now it's apparently a family reading activity."
"Bonding time," Kaeya said cheerfully, cheek fully pressed to the top of Crepus' head.
Crepus didn't make them leave. Couldn't. He just adjusted his position slightly to accommodate both of them and kept working, his sons draped over him like oversized cats seeking warmth.
------
It was worse, or better, depending on the perspective, at night.
Crepus had long since given up on the idea of sleeping alone in his own bed. At least twice a week, he'd wake to find one or both of his kids had migrated to his room during the night.
Sometimes it was nightmares. Sometimes it was just seeking out their father. Sometimes there was no reason at all except that apparently his bed was more appealing than theirs.
"You're seventeen," he'd said to Diluc once, waking to find his older son sprawled across three-quarters of the bed. "Don't you think you're a bit old for this?"
"Probably," Diluc had mumbled, not moving. "Your bed is bigger though."
"You have a perfectly good bed."
"Not as comfortable."
"It's the same quality mattress!"
"This one has you in it."
And Archons help him, how was Crepus supposed to argue with that?
------
It was especially common after they'd been in trouble.
One night after a furious Crepus had caught Kaeya staying out past curfew, he woke around midnight to his door creaking open. A moment later, the mattress dipped as Kaeya climbed in, curling up on his side facing away.
Crepus didn't say anything. Just rolled onto his side to face the teen.
"Are you still mad at me?" Kaeya asked quietly to the darkness.
Crepus sighed, reaching out to find Kaeya and pull his younger son tight to his chest.
"No. I was never really mad at you, darling," he murmured to the top of Kaeya's head. "Just worried. You scared me, coming home so late without a word."
Kaeya was quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry for breaking curfew."
"I know you are. And I forgive you."
Kaeya shifted against his chest. "Am I still grounded?" He dared to ask, almost sounding hopeful.
"Most definitely."
"Okay." Kaeya sighed, defeated. He shifted closer, seeking out Crepus' body heat. "Love you."
"I love you more, snowdrop."
By morning, Kaeya had somehow migrated to take up most of the bed, one arm flung across Crepus' chest, completely relaxed in sleep.
------
Some nights, it was both his boys.
The night they had gotten into a fight and the whole thing ended in the boys being punished, both equally upset with Crepus about how "unfair" it was, was apparently no different.
They showed up at his door anyways, in spite of their earlier dramatics.
First Diluc, who climbed in without a word and settled on his right. Then Kaeya, who hesitated in the doorway.
"There's room," Diluc said quietly.
Kaeya climbed in on the left side, sandwiching Crepus between them.
"This is absurd," Crepus said to the ceiling. "You're both practically adults."
"Your point?" Diluc asked.
"My point is that you both have your own beds. With more space. Where you could actually stretch out."
"But you're here," Kaeya said simply, as if that explained everything. And maybe it did.
They lay there in silence for a while. Then Kaeya said quietly, "I'm sorry. For fighting with Diluc."
"I'm sorry too," Diluc added. "For my part in it."
"I know you both are." Crepus pulled them in closer so Kaeya was on his chest and Diluc his shoulder. "But you both know better than to fight like heathens. One of these days," Crepus hesitated. "One of these days, I'll be gone and you'll need each other more than ever. Life is too short and too arduous for brothers to fight like that."
"Yes sir," they said in unison.
"Good." Crepus kissed each of their heads. "Now go to sleep. And try not to steal all the blankets this time."
"No promises," Kaeya muttered, already half-asleep.
By morning, they were a tangle of limbs and blankets, both boys still using Crepus as a pillow. His arm was asleep, he was too warm, and he desperately needed to get up.
But in that instance, with the soft morning light and both his boys relaxed and sleep-warmed against him, Crepus couldn't find it in himself to move.
This was his life. Comfortable captivity by two teenagers who were growing up far too fast and somehow would never be too old to seek comfort in their father's presence.
Crepus wouldn't have it any other way.
------
Sometimes it happened during the day too.
Crepus would be reading in his study, and Diluc would wander in, plop down on the sofa, and just sit there. Eventually he'd migrate to lean against Crepus' chair, or to sit on the floor with his back against Crepus legs.
"Don't you have training?" Crepus would ask.
"Did it already."
"Friends to see?"
"Saw them yesterday."
"Things to do?"
"I'm doing them. I'm sitting here."
"That's not a thing."
"Sure it is. It's called 'spending time with my father.'"
"We're not even talking."
"Maybe I don't wanna talk," Diluc retorted. "Maybe I just want to be near you."
And that was that. Diluc would stay for an hour, sometimes two, just existing in Crepus' orbit, content with the proximity.
------
Kaeya was more shameless about it than his brother.
Crepus would have important people over to have a serious business discussion with and Kaeya would somehow end up perched on the arm of his chair, or pressed up against him, or just hovering in a way that made it clear he wasn't leaving.
"Your son is very... attached," one of Crepus' business partner observed when Kaeya had sat down right next to Crepus on the couch and curled into his side without a word.
"Yes," Crepus said simply, pulling his son in closer. "He is."
"Doesn't it bother you? Having him underfoot all the time?"
Crepus looked at Kaeya, who was currently pretending to study a book he'd picked up.
"No," he said honestly. "It doesn't bother me at all."
------
Adelinde, that traitor, found it endlessly amusing.
"They're like ducklings," she said once, watching Kaeya follow Crepus from room to room for no apparent reason. "Imprinted on you and unable to stray too far."
"They're not that bad, Addie."
"Master Crepus, I watched young Master Diluc sit in your study for three hours yesterday just to be in the same room while you worked. He didn't say more than ten words the entire time."
"He just likes to be near me sometimes."
"He's eighteen years old."
"Your point?"
She just laughed and shook her head. "No point. It's sweet, actually. Not many young men are so comfortable showing affection to their father."
"I'm lucky," Crepus admitted. "They could have grown out of it. Could have decided it wasn't dignified or mature. I'm just glad my boys are still happy to show me such affection."
------
The night before Diluc's first major solo mission with the Knights, Crepus woke to find both of them in his bed.
Diluc was on the right, tense and clearly not sleeping. Kaeya was on the left, also awake, watching his brother with concern.
"Can't sleep?" Crepus mumbled, half-asleep.
"Nervous," Diluc admitted. "About tomorrow."
"You'll do fine. You're ready for this."
"I know. Logically, I know. But..." He trailed off.
"But it's still scary," Crepus finished for him. "I know."
"What if I mess up?"
"Then you learn from it and do better next time. That's what mistakes are for."
Diluc was quiet for a moment. "Can I stay here tonight? I know it's childish."
"It's okay." Crepus lifted his arm to let Diluc get closer, falling over his older son's shoulder. "You're never too old to need me. Stay as long as you want."
"Me too?" Kaeya asked. "I'm not nervous, I just don't want to miss out."
Crepus smiled and made more room for both of them. "Fine. But if I wake up with someone's elbow in my face again, I'm banning you both from my room."
"You say that every time," Diluc pointed out.
"And yet you keep coming back."
"Because you never actually ban us," Kaeya said smugly.
"Of course not," Crepus sighed dramatically. "How could I ever?"
Crepus knew he would never have it in him to reject them, no matter how inconvenient it could be at times. Every uncomfortable nights sleep, every time being woken up in the middle of the night, was made worth it because his boys knew they could still climb into their father's bed when the world felt too big, and know they'd be welcomed.
Crepus wouldn't have it any other way.
------
Diluc's first night home after his father died, four year after the fact, was a sleepless one.
He lay in his own bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling the unbearable absence.
Without thinking, he got up and walked to his father's room. The door was closed. It had been closed since... since that night. Since Diluc left without looking back.
He stood there for a long moment, hand on the doorknob.Then he turned and went back to his own room.
There was no point anymore. The person he was seeking comfort from was gone. The bed would be empty and cold and void of his father's scent.
He was too old for this anyway. Nearing twenty-four years old. A grown adult. He should be past needing to crawl into his father's bed when things got hard.
But archons, he wanted to. Wanted to push open that door and find Crepus there, ready to make room, ready to listen, ready to hold him while he fell apart.
Instead, he lay alone in his own bed, dry-eyed and aching, and learned what it meant to have nowhere to go when you needed comfort.
------
Kaeya stood outside Crepus' room the night he died, after Diluc had left, with his hand raised. His body ached from the fight. His eyes burned.
No one was in there anymore.
The cryo vision was cold in his pocket and Kaeya wished for nothing more than warmth that wasn't there anymore. That would never be there again, waiting on the other side of the door.
No warm presence to curl up next to. No steady heartbeat to listen to until sleep came. No gentle hand smoothing back his hair and promising everything would be okay.
He lowered his hand and walked away.
Some habits had to be broken, whether he was ready to let go or not. Those soft, golden days were dead and buried just like the man who had provided them.