Work Text:
Family Tradition
It was barely dawn when Diluc had tiny, but wide sky-blue eyes staring up at him, and a fluffy feline laying across his feet. Dawn would have probably been at the window, having her morning conversation with Dandy, were it not so early.
Kyra was going to be their early bird, he could already feel it. Having already eaten, she was calm, but not ready to go back to sleep. This meant he had her to himself for a little while longer, until Jean was up, or Elaris decided she was hungry enough to bother waking.
“Boop!” he said, lightly touching the tip of her nose.
The tiny giggle she let out was bright enough to light the room. She kicked her feet against his belly, as she enjoyed doing so much, and reached for his hand. He spread his hand over her chest and belly, and let her grab hold of his fingers, wiggling them as she tried to control them.
“Uh oh. You’ve got Daddy now! How will I ever get away, hm?”
At that, Kyra paused, looked him straight in the eye, scrunched up her face… and growled. Diluc froze for a moment, mouth open in shock, then shook his head. He was imagining it, surely.
“You don’t want Daddy to get away?!” he teased.
Again, Kyra stopped gnawing on his fingers long enough to scrunch up her face, and growl.
“Oh-ho… this is just too good to be true,” a smooth voice came from behind him.
Diluc spun half around to find Kaeya leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, and a large, delighted smirk spread across his face. There was no doubt in Diluc’s mind that he’d heard the tiny warrior’s disgruntled little sound.
“What are you doing here?” Diluc asked, trying to distract.
Kaeya wandered into the room, and knelt next to where Kyra was sitting on Diluc’s lap, the little girl watching her uncle the entire time.
“Apparently, I’m witnessing the tradition of passing down growling methods from father, to child,” Kaeya said, letting Kyra take a finger when she reached out for him.
“What? That’s ridicul–”
Then, before Diluc could even finish denying it, Kaeya growled softly at the little girl.
Kyra, absolutely delighted, scrunched up her face and growled back at Kaeya. Kaeya looked up at him with the expression of a man who had just won the grand prize.
“She,” Kaeya said matter-of-factly, “is my favorite Little Fireball. She’s bilingual, too!”
Diluc made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat.
“Grrr!”
Oh, Gods. He was not going to win this.
“Don’t worry, Luc! Even though she is officially the most reasonable Ragnvindr I’ve ever met, you are still my brother, and my favorite Big Fireball,” Kaeya assured pleasantly.
The bluenette looked down at Kyra, who was still holding his finger and watching him with those bright blue eyes, clearly waiting to see what her silly uncle would do next. Kaeya obliged her with another low sound, shorter this time, lilting slightly at the end like a question.
Kyra kicked her feet, scrunched her face, and answered him with absolute confidence.
“She’s agreeing with me,” Kaeya said, nodding his head as Kyra shoved his finger in her mouth.
Diluc was nearly at a loss for words. “You… You don’t even know what you said to her.”
“She does!”
Kaeya stood, and before Diluc had fully processed what was happening, scooped Kyra up with the practiced ease of a man who had been sneaking her away from her father for months.
“We’re going downstairs,” Kaeya announced. We have matters of great importance to discuss.”
With that, Kaeya and Kyra were out the door, Kyra’s fingers already tangled in his blue hair. Dandy chirped up at him just like he would to Dawn between lazy purrs.
Diluc sat there, arms still slightly curved, mouth open, lap empty. He was still sitting exactly like that when soft footsteps appeared in the doorway behind him.
“Happy Birthday, my love,” Jean said, curling her arms around Diluc’s shoulders for a moment to kiss him on the head. “Why are you sitting like that?”
“Because… My brother corrupted our daughter, then stole her!”
He was thirty-seven percent certain Kaeya had taught Kyra to growl. The remaining sixty-three percent was somehow far worse to face.
“I see,” Jean responded with the tone of someone who was completely unconvinced. “And what exactly did he do to corrupt her?”
“First, he taught–”
“Hey Luc!” Kaeya’s voice carried up from the bottom floor. “You’ve got someone very important here to see you!”
He only had a moment to think of who that could possibly be before the hearty laugh followed his brother’s voice. Diluc and Jean looked at each other, both surprised.
“You go ahead,” Jean said, picking up a now awake and fussing Elaris. “We’ll be down soon.”
Diluc got up from the floor, slumped his shoulders and shuffled his feet until he got to the door. He straightened up, gave Jean one last glance, noticing how beautiful she was as she fed their child, and went down to greet his guest.
To say he knew Varka well was an understatement. From as long as he could remember, his father and Varka were close friends. Diluc and Kaeya grew up with that loud laugh along with their dad’s, so it was a sound he tended to find comforting.
However, in all of his years he’d known Varka, and watched as the man adopted every stray child, cat, and dog he came across, Diluc was not prepared for the sight he was welcomed with.
Kaeya held Kyra with her back to his chest, giving her a full view of the Grand Master… who was hiding behind his hands.
“Peekaboo!” Varka said as he moved his hands away. Kyra stared at him in wonder, obviously amused, but unsure in what way.
Diluc could only watch as the man did this several more times, until Kyra kicked her little legs excitedly, and reached out, trying to grab his hand. Varka gladly let her have it, and she let out an excited squeal.
For a moment, Kyra grasped at the fingers, pushing and pulling at them, then she tried to lean forward, bringing the hand to her mouth.
Varka let out a low laugh. “I don’t think those would taste too good!”
There was another knock at the door, Adelinde bustled past with a smile and let, what he hoped was the last of their guests, in. Albedo and Durin tended to be daily quiet people, especially coming into an already busy room.
That was why the moment Kyra stopped, scrunched up her face, and growled at the Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, it was very well heard by everyone.
Adelinde had stopped in her tracks, mouth slightly open, Albedo’s head tilted to the side, Durin looking like he was pondering how to respond, and was Varka frozen in place, eyebrows nearly reaching his hairline. Not to mention Kaeya, who looked proud, smiling wide.
As if all of this weren’t bad enough, a small giggle came from behind him… Jean on the stairs, holding Elaris, who thought her sister was very amusing.
At the thrill of receiving such an entertained laugh from her sister, Kyra bounced, legs flailing in Kaeya’s grip, and growled again, looking straight at her twin.
“Well, what a magnificent little warrior!” Varka exclaimed. “Vicious and brave.”
All of this. All of them. Everyone in Diluc’s life promoting bad habits in his children…
Jean cleared her throat. “When, exactly, did one of our children start growling?”
“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Diluc mumbled. “Kaeya has corrupted at least one of them.”
Kaeya laughed. “You expect anyone in this room to believe that when they all know exactly who she would have learned it from? All kids present aside, you’ve growled at everyone here at least once.”
“What? I have not!” Diluc growled, only to immediately clamp his hand over his mouth.
It was too late.
“Grrr!”
Varka and Kaeya both laughed again. “I have something to say. Well, other than happy birthday, Diluc.”
“... Thank you.”
“Starting today, I hereby grant my great-nieces–”
“W-wait, what?–” Diluc tried to interrupt.
“— the title of Honorary Knight! I know they’ll grow up some day and become real Knights, but valor like this little one has,” he poked Kyra’s belly, much to her great glee, “will always have a place with us, no matter age.”
Kyra, thrilled by the volume, kicked her feet and growled again. Elaris, apparently not wanting to be outdone, copied the feet kicking, but instead of a growl, she let out a squeak. Surprised, she stopped kicking, and shoved her fingers in her mouth. Regardless of what was going on, these two made Diluc internally melt.
“Your battle cry may need some work,” Varka said, walking over to play with Elaris, “but you’re still my little warrior!”
Varka held out his hands to take Elaris, and Jean handed her over. The first thing the little girl went for was the clip on Varka’s chest, but her hand was gently removed. Next, she managed to grab a fistful of the Grand Master’s hair in one hand, and his bottom lip in the other.
Durin, who seemed to have been deciding on something the entire time, moved closer to Kyra, and leaned in.
“Grrr?”
“Grrr!”
Durin seriously considered her answer, and nodded. “Grrr.”
The two of them had a complete conversation, it seemed, with Kaeya joining in on occasion. The house was chaos, but the good kind.
Jean came to stand next to him, taking his hand in her own, and rested her head on his arm. “Happy birthday, Diluc.”
Exactly a year ago, he never would have imagined that this would be what a birthday looked like. Exactly a year ago… he found out that it was a possibility. Here they were, two beautiful little girls, and Jean, all in his life.
This was, without a doubt, the best birthday Diluc had ever had.
“Hey Adelinde. I bet you could tell us about the first time Fireball Senior growled. It must have been nearly as cute as Fireball Junior!!”
At least until Kaeya decided to talk…
