Chapter Text
Kaeya is so dead.
This is a frighteningly frequent thought for someone who has frighteningly frequent nightmares about Kaeya dying, but nevertheless it is the first thought that pops into Diluc’s head as soon as the front door of the Angel’s Share comes into view.
Because who else but his dear menace of a brother could be behind this?
CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, reads the elegant red crayon on the scrap of paper stuck to the door. Crayon. Father didn’t put the two of them through hours and hours of handwriting practice just for Kaeya to waste it on crayon. To say nothing of the words themselves.
Of course Diluc is proud of his brother for finally committing to sobriety – if Kaeya needs any reassurance of that, he’ll repeat it until he loses his voice. But commitment has its limits. Commitment does not give one the right to shut down an entire tavern just to make it harder for one to get a drink. Unless he was trying to stop the rest of the city from drinking too, but somehow Diluc doubts his brother’s intentions were so noble.
He forces his mouth to stop hanging open and takes a deep breath before tearing the sign down and swinging the door open to find the perpetrator behind this blatant vandalism.
Said perpetrator has taken up his usual seat at the bar without a care in the world, leaning back with his elbows on the counter, his cheek resting against his fist as he flashes Diluc an unforgivably casual smirk and waves with his other hand. Obviously he was waiting for this exact moment.
“Morning, Luc,” Kaeya says, his eye sparkling in a way that signals he’s up to no good. It’s a common sight for anyone remotely close to him, but something about it today strikes greater unease into Diluc’s heart than usual. “Long time no see.”
Funny, now I’m wishing it’d been longer.
At least Kaeya doesn’t look or sound drunk. There’s not a single bottle or glass beside him, so… maybe Diluc doesn’t need to worry too much about whatever this is. And at least July is here too, perhaps his only ally in this place. She nips one of Kaeya’s fingers while he’s too busy smirking, and Diluc doesn’t stifle the smirk that pulls at his own lips upon hearing a frantic yelp from his idiot baby brother. Maybe now he’ll stop wearing those sad excuses for gloves and buy actual gloves that prioritise function over form. Or stop testing the patience of the cats around them. Or both. Ideally both.
“Why has the homicidal cat decided on me as a target?” Kaeya whines as he soothes his reddening skin. “I thought she only went after rodents.”
“Your hair could cause some confusion in that department.”
Kaeya’s eye widens as he blinks the slowest, longest blink in history, mouth hanging open just as Diluc’s had been moments before. “Take that back.”
“No.”
“You– that was uncalled for.”
“You walked right into it. And it wasn’t uncalled for,” he says, holding up the sign that’s now crumpled beyond legibility. “You have five seconds to explain.”
“Why are you allowing the homicidal cat to get away with baseless violence unpunished? Have you been training her to attack me? I bet you have. That’s the sort of bullshit only you would–”
“That was five seconds. You explained nothing.”
“What’s there to explain? The sign says it all. Put it back before you confuse your would-be patrons.”
Diluc crumples the sign up even further until it’s a tiny ball, barely even half the size of his fist–
And sets it on fire.
They watch in silence as ash trickles out of Diluc’s hand like sand through an hourglass, scattering around his feet in a small pile, trace amounts landing on his perfectly polished boots.
“You’re cleaning that.”
“Why do I have to clean your messes– I don’t even work here–”
“Then what gives you the right to declare that my tavern–”
“Our tavern, unless you want to take me to court over the inheritance split–”
“In case you forgot, you signed everything over to me–”
“Why haven’t you gone and fixed that yet?”
“Because it’s a lot of paperwork and legal fuss for something that’s useless in practice.”
“It seems like it would be useful now to solve this little dilemma.”
“Kaeya,” he groans, taking a step closer, brushing off the last of the soot from his gloves and very delicately placing one hand on the counter as he stares his brother down, “can you, for once, explain what exactly it is you think you’re doing?”
Clearly his stare isn’t intimidating enough, because Kaeya’s smirk doesn’t fade. “Tavern’s closed. Cavalry Captain’s orders.”
Oh, how he longs for the days when being Kaeya’s older brother actually meant something. Nowadays it’s just a free pass for Kaeya to annoy the shit out of him. Maybe it was always that way, but at least Kaeya used to have the decency to pretend otherwise.
“I didn’t realise the Cavalry Captain’s jurisdiction extended to the opening hours of taverns.”
“Things have changed a lot since you quit. I’m only doing my job.”
”Somehow I find that hard to believe.”
“You’re disappointed whether I do my job or not,” Kaeya says with a deep and completely insincere sigh. “But if you really don’t believe me, you can borrow a copy of the updated handbook sometime–”
“Can you just tell me what you’re trying to accomplish here?”
“Well, if you’d take a look at the updated handbook–”
“Kae–”
“–you’d see that the tavern has fallen short of the building standards outlined in Appendix 1: Inner City Affairs, Section 27-A–”
“There’s no such thing as Section 27.”
“Like I said,” Kaeya says, rolling his eye, “things have changed. Keep up with the times before you get left behind.”
“You’re telling me they added thirteen sections in four years and yet the city has remained virtually unchanged. Sounds like a bunch of pencil-pushing nonsense to me– oh wait, that’s exactly what the Knights specialise in these days, isn’t it?”
“…There’s only fourteen sections in Appendix 1?”
“You’re telling me you don’t know a basic fact like that?”
“How do you know? It’s been, what, eight years since you had to read that thing?”
“I only quit four years ago.”
“…You actually read the handbook after you made captain?”
“Naturally.”
“No– Luc, no one does that, because everyone except the newest recruits knows it’s a pointless endeavour– Archons, you really are a nerd.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“Setting that aside – brother dearest, do I honestly look like I have time to read the handbook and memorise–”
“Yes.”
“–how many sections there are in each– hey.” Kaeya glares. “You know I’m a very busy man–”
“Who has enough free time to meddle in the business of taverns he isn’t even supposed to be patronising anymore–”
“The only one being patronising here is you–”
“Even if there were a Section 27 with all these imaginary building standards that I’ve somehow never heard of until today,” Diluc grits out before they can get even further off track and lose sight of the thing that started it all, “the tavern would be perfectly up to code, because it’s perfectly well-maintained. I’m ninety-nine percent certain of it.”
“Right, well, it’s a good thing you left that one percent of wiggle room, because this place is in crisis – and I’m a living, breathing crisis myself so I can say that.”
Diluc stares. Kaeya stares back.
“Don’t– Kae.” Diluc breathes out slowly as he lets go of the counter and drops into the seat beside his brother. “Don’t say things like that about yourself.”
“You and Adelinde said that acknowledging the problem is the first step to fixing it. Are you telling me not to listen to Adelinde? Should I tell her that you told me not to–”
“Calling yourself a crisis isn’t acknowledging the problem. It’s just putting yourself down for no reason.”
“Alright, then I’m in crisis – that’s acknowledging it, right?”
“…Crisis is a strong word. Don’t use it so lightly.”
“Who says I’m using it lightly?”
Can you stop worrying me with your vagueness for one second?
“Kae– are you– is everything okay?”
The weight of his voice seems to finally knock some sense into Kaeya, and the playful smirk he’d been sporting up to now falters.
“I’m– I’m okay, Luc, don’t worry–”
“It’s fine if you’re not–”
“I am. I promise. I was just joking around and got carried away. Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.”
After what’s happened every other time you’ve told me that…
“Have you been thinking about drinking? Or– doing… something else?”
Kaeya was already looking away, but he looks away even further at that and presses his lips together even tighter, making them tremble under the pressure.
“Kae?”
“Vaguely,” Kaeya says, barely loud enough to hear, before sighing softly and turning around in his seat to sit at the bar properly, facing the opposite way to Diluc.
He tries not to let any panic infect his voice or gestures as he gives Kaeya’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “That– that’s okay. Remember, we got rid of anything you could use to hurt yourself– and I’m here for you, so–”
“It’s just hard to stop thinking like that,” he murmurs, burying his face in his hands and muffling his voice.
“That’s okay too. You’re trying your best. You’re already doing a lot better than before.” Diluc shuffles his barstool closer and leans over to rest his head against Kaeya’s upper arm. “And you’re being honest about it. That’s the most important thing. Thank you for that.”
“You don’t need to thank me for every little thing.”
“None of it is little to me.”
Kaeya’s lips curl into that familiar frown he always gets when things turn too sincere for his liking, then he drops his head onto the counter with a painfully loud thunk and groans.
“Ugh. We were having so much fun but you just had to go and ruin it as usual. Vampires are supposed to suck blood, not joy.”
“You were having fun. I was trying to figure out why you were set on killing my business behind my back.”
“Have you already forgotten what I came to this country for?” he says, lifting his head to flash another aggravating smirk at Diluc, wagging a finger in his direction to amplify the aggravation. “Today I sabotage the family business. Tomorrow? All of Mondstadt– ow.”
“Cut it out with the bad jokes.” Diluc cuffs the back of Kaeya’s head once more for good measure. “Are you actually trying to keep the tavern closed, or was this just a ploy for my attention?”
“As if I need to do anything to get your attention.”
“Be serious. Stop deflecting.”
Kaeya’s smirk flickers out of existence and he lets out a short sigh, but doesn’t say anything else.
“Do you–” Diluc chews on his lip as he searches for the right words to say. “Charles will be fine without me for a while if you need me to–”
“It’s not like that. I’m fine. I don’t have a problem being here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Quite.” Kaeya reaches up and ruffles Diluc’s hair with a smile of questionable sincerity. “I like being here. With you, with Rosa – with people. Shutting myself up in the apartment isn’t a good alternative and you know that.”
“The world is more than just here and your apartment,” Diluc says, shaking off his brother’s hand. “Why are you even here in the first place? At this hour? You still haven’t explained a damn thing.”
“I was waiting for you.”
“Why the sign, then? If it was about privacy, you hardly need to worry about that so early in the day.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“What does trust have to do with it?” Diluc narrows his eyes. They’re starting to hurt. “What have you done?”
“See, there you go again, always suspicious of your sweet innocent baby brother.”
“Can you please–”
“Alright, alright. So impatient,” Kaeya says, standing up. “You really hate to see me have any fun, don’t you?”
“Where are you going?”
Kaeya smirks and starts walking backwards towards the stairs. The smirk only falls away when Diluc starts to pursue him, steps quickening with his heartbeat, and before he knows it he’s chasing his brother up the spiral staircase two stairs at time.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you pursue the Abyss Order this enthusiastically,” Kaeya says when he reaches the top step, breathless. “Starting to think I shouldn’t explain anything to you–” He breaks off into a whine when Diluc grabs him by the back of his shirt – his cape is missing, unfortunately, or he would’ve used that instead. “Alright! Sheesh. I’ll explain but only if you promise to stay quiet.”
“If anything you’re the one who should be quiet.” He huffs. “Fine. But what the hell do I need to be quiet for–”
Kaeya presses a finger to Diluc’s lips, then beckons him towards the spare room. The one that Diluc used to crash in after a long night if he was too tired to make it back to the winery, that he hasn’t felt the need to use ever since Kaeya gave him the keys to his apartment.
“What have you done–”
“Quiet.”
This time Diluc reluctantly shuts himself up, and Kaeya pushes the door with an agonising lack of haste. When it finally creaks open, they’re greeted by–
“Klee?”
Kaeya shushes him loudly. “Do you know what ‘quiet’ means, you idiot?”
“Why is Klee here?” Diluc hisses back.
The mystery of Kaeya’s missing cape is solved, at least – it’s draped over Klee’s sleeping form as she curls up on the couch, using her oversized backpack as a pillow and clutching Dodoco tightly in the one hand peeking out from beneath her makeshift blanket. And there, curled up on the floor beside her neatly arranged shoes…
“Why the hell is August here?”
“Am I imagining things, or do you sound more concerned about the cat’s wellbeing than the literal child’s?”
Maybe he shouldn’t have asked his brother to explain. He should’ve known better than to believe his brother would say or do anything that makes an iota of sense.
Klee stirs in her sleep. The movement causes the cape to slip to the floor, but Diluc dashes inside and pulls it back over her before it can fall – before it can hit August and wake the poor cat up. Poor, poor August. Helplessly subjected to his brother’s every whim, and she’s such an angel that she simply tolerates it. Bless her little heart; it’s far bigger than they deserve. Leaving her in Kaeya’s care was truly his worst mistake.
“Hey. That cat is the best thing that ever happened to me, you don’t get to call it a mistake now.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You think too loudly. It makes me want to put you in a coma sometimes.”
“I don’t recall you being too pleased the last time I was in a coma.”
“I’ve grown a lot as a person since then.”
The headache induced by Kaeya’s incessant quips makes Diluc wish he was in a coma too, but he pushes past it in favour of answers because he’s already let his brother talk circles around him for too long. “Why would you bring Klee to the tavern at this hour? It’s barely nine o’clock. How long have you even been here? And why drag August into it? You know how she likes to run off if you give her the chance.”
“I figured I ought to bring August back to her roots to remind her how good she has it with me.”
Diluc rolls his eyes so hard it must be audible.
“Alright, fine. Klee wanted August to have a playdate with the murder cat, and who was I to deny such an innocent request? And she wanted you to come along for a picnic if you were free. Isn’t she the sweetest? She was hoping we’d get to surprise you but it was so early that she simply fell asleep. You should feel bad about that. You should reflect on what a lovely morning with our dear Spark Knight you missed out on and you should feel bad about it. Shame on you.”
“It’s still morning,” Diluc mutters. “How early was I supposed to get here, exactly?”
“You should simply appear out of thin air wherever and whenever Klee wishes it. That’s what the rest of us do. Keep up, brother dearest.”
“My sincerest apologies,” Diluc says in the least sincere voice he can manage. “If you’re done berating me then we can go on that picnic now–”
Kaeya puts his arm out in front of Diluc before he can get any closer to Klee and wake her up. “I had another idea, actually.”
I don’t want to hear it. “And what might that be?”
Kaeya definitely hears his internal thoughts, and doesn’t even attempt to hide his glee at the concept of causing Diluc more pain. He tugs Diluc over to the wall, then points at some unremarkable spot just above the wainscoting. “Look.”
Diluc squints. “What am I looking at?”
Kaeya unhelpfully jabs his finger more insistently in the same direction. “Look.”
“At what–”
“Archons, you are blind, aren’t you?” Kaeya groans loudly, then steps forward and – pulls back the paint…?
“Haven’t you had your fill of vandalism for the day?” Diluc says, shooting him a disapproving look, too confused to inject the necessary anger into his voice.
“It was already peeling. That’s the problem.”
“…Is this what you meant by ‘not up to building standards’? This is what you’re closing the tavern over?”
“Indeed.” Kaeya puffs his chest out, looking proud of himself for no reason. “It’s a real travesty. Dare I say, a catastrophe. This place needs help and quick, before it’s too late and it falls into complete disrepair and past the point of no return–”
“It’s hardly a catastrophe. Don’t be dramatic.”
“I’m not being dramatic. Just look around. What would Father think?”
“I thought I was supposed to stop caring about what Father would think.”
“You should still care about what I think, and I think Father would think this is a catastrophe of devastating proportions. And you know I’m always right.”
Diluc massages his temple but it does nothing to dispel the growing headache. “You have some nerve talking about this place when your apartment is–”
“At least I have a decent couch.” Kaeya gestures wildly to where Klee is still somehow sleeping blissfully through the bickering. “Even August won’t sleep on it – that’s how sorry a couch it is. Do you know how worthless something has to be for August to decide not to sleep on it?”
It’s good enough for our Archon, Diluc thinks, and the memories of carrying a passed-out Venti up here on too many occasions make his expression more sour. For some reason that seems to delight Kaeya.
“Okay, so you have issues with the interior design of this place.” Diluc pinches the bridge of his nose. “We can talk about that some other time. Can I open the tavern–”
“You still aren’t looking closely enough.”
I’m going to gouge my own eyes out so I never have to look at anything again. “What now?”
Kaeya pulls back even more of the paint – just tear it all off, why don’t you – and points insistently again at a strange, faded marking. Diluc, against his better judgement, leans forward to get a closer look. It’s a slightly lopsided heart drawn in pencil with the letters C + E in mismatched handwriting inside it.
“Now what do you think that stands for, Luc?”
Diluc, still ignoring his better judgement, gives the question some serious thought. “Charles and…?”
The smack of Kaeya’s hand against his forehead could compete with a thunderclap. He doesn’t seem to care that it makes Diluc jump beside him. “Why in the world would that be the first thing that comes to your mind? Are we sure that I’m the adopted one, and not you?”
“What does you being adopted have to do with–”
Oh.
“Praise be to the Archons,” Kaeya drawls sarcastically. “Maybe there is a brain cell in there after all.”
Diluc’s fingers are tracing over the marking before he realises it, though he’s deathly careful not to smudge the decades-old pencil. Mother and Father. Somehow the thought that she must have been in here at least once never occurred to him. How many other places and memories has she been quietly erased from, her existence covered up for Father’s– no, his sake?
How much have I really lost?
He looks over at Kaeya – and his brother’s face has softened into sincerity again, a quiet understanding in his ever-watchful eye.
“I was thinking,” Kaeya says, leaning down and looking between the heart on the wall and Diluc, “that they must have left this whenever they decorated this place, all those years ago. But neither of them are here anymore, and it’s been ages, and this is our place now, so – maybe it’s our turn.” He smiles faintly. “I think Father would want that. For you to really make this place your own instead of clinging to whatever he left behind.”
The thought of redecorating Father’s tavern has never occurred to him either, and it makes his chest tighten for some reason. “What if I like it the way it is?”
Kaeya drops his head with a quiet laugh. “Then we’ll just touch it up a bit, I guess. But at least that would be something.” He lifts his head and taps right at the centre of the heart. “Even a little mark is better than nothing. I mean, you are proud of this place, aren’t you? You should give it the love it deserves.” Then that sincere smile turns into a smirk in the blink of an eye, and he says, “Or, I guess I could just wait until I’m married so I can really follow in Father’s footsteps–”
“Shut up.”
“Which letter do you think looks nicest next to ‘K’? Perhaps–”
“Perhaps shut up,” Diluc says, remorselessly clapping his hand over his idiot brother’s mouth, then pulling it away before Kaeya can even think of licking it like the immature idiot he is.
“So,” Kaeya says, still smirking, “what do you say?”
Diluc stares straight ahead until the letters in front of him blur together.
“Okay, at the very least you have to buy a new couch. You already said you would. And I’ve been trying to ignore this thing for years now but it’s driving me more insane than I already am–”
“Why does a couch in a room you never even see bother you so much?”
“I’m just thinking ahead – you know, if something happens and you can’t get into my apartment–”
“Is that something I have to worry about?”
“–and you decide to stay here instead, I can’t possibly in good conscience let you sleep on this couch–”
“What’s so bad about it? Klee’s doing just fine.”
“Klee’s a baby. She falls asleep anywhere.” Kaeya points accusingly at him. “You weren’t so different, you know.” Then he points accusingly at the couch. “And look at it – who knows when it was last upholstered? And it squeaks every time someone so much as twitches, and it can barely hold its own weight up, let alone another person’s–”
“Alright. Fine.”
“Alright, you’ll get a new couch?”
Diluc sighs and wonders if he’s about to make a mistake, then decides it doesn’t really matter as long as it pleases his brother for a little while. “Three days. That’s all the time you’re getting to do whatever it is you have in mind.”
Kaeya’s face lights up like a firework. “You’re going to help me, of course.”
Diluc sighs again. “Naturally. I don’t trust you enough to let you redecorate unsupervised.”
“You guys are decorating the tavern? Can Klee help?”
Klee seems to have picked up a thing or two from his brother, because no one else moves as quietly as Kaeya does – and suddenly she’s right behind them, leaning forward to poke her head through the small space between his and Kaeya’s shoulders. Diluc tries not to jump.
Kaeya is entirely unfazed. “Well now, how long have you been up, little knight?”
“Klee’s really good at decorating – Albedo lets me decorate his room all the time.” She turns to Diluc with a gasp and an impossibly bright smile, eyes alight like two little suns. “Can we make it Dodoco-themed?”
“We are not making it Dodoco-themed.”
Klee pouts. Kaeya pulls her close and pouts with her.
“…We can consider a Dodoco theme,” Diluc mutters – with way too little hesitation, what the hell’s gotten into him? – and looks away.
It’s worth it, though, for Klee’s laughter. And Kaeya’s too-soft smile as he looks down at her, eyes filled with nothing but pure, unfiltered adoration.
Kaeya scoops Klee up into his arms as he stands, eliciting another round of giggles from the kid. “Seeing as you’re being so stingy and only giving me three days, we can’t afford to waste any more time. There’s a dreadfully long list of things to think about, isn’t there, Klee?”
“Klee wants to paint – ooh, we could get Albedo to help! Albedo’s super good at painting.”
“It certainly would be a miracle if your dear brother could spare the time for that,” Kaeya says under his breath with an imperceptible roll of his eye. “Of course, it all depends on whether you’re willing to put up with yet another knight in your tavern,” he says, turning to Diluc.
“I’m already outnumbered here. How much worse can it really get?”
Kaeya laughs. “Is that a challenge?”
“It’s a warning.”
“So intimidating,” Kaeya says, not sounding intimidated in the slightest. “Ah, don’t worry so much, Luc. Between the two of us we could fix up this whole place in three hours if we really put our minds to it.”
“Klee’s here too,” she says, bouncing up on her toes, puffing her chest out and looking up proudly at the two of them.
“Of course, with Klee here we could be done in three minutes, couldn’t we?”
Diluc scoffs, but it’s more affectionate than anything, even if he won’t admit it. “Where do you want to start, then?”
“Well, there’s the walls, the floors, the furniture, and I think some new lighting fixtures might be in order too–”
“You’ve been thinking about this for a while, haven’t you?” Diluc says, a traitorous smile tugging at his lips.
Kaeya sighs. “Look, I tried to tell myself that the stains on the walls add character, but I couldn’t go on lying to myself every single night. You can’t blame me for having standards.”
“You don’t seem to mind lying to yourself about other things.”
Kaeya’s eye twitches. That shouldn’t grant Diluc nearly as much satisfaction as it does. “Yeah, well, I’m working on it. You could stand to work on it too, among other things.”
The traitorous smile grows wider. “Sure, once we finish this, I guess, since it’s apparently your number one priority now. So – where should we start?”
Kaeya nods over to the couch, where Klee’s left her backpack – and, spilling out of it, her crayons. “You can start by remaking the sign you so heartlessly destroyed, first of all.”
The things I do for you…
“See, if you’d just been a little more patient and heard me out before jumping to arson, then you wouldn’t have to do this at all–”
“The more you talk, the more likely I am to change my mind about all this.”
“I hate you sometimes.”
“I love you too.” Diluc picks up a crayon, considers it for a moment, then tosses it right at his brother who skilfully dodges at the last second. Next time. “Now stop wasting time or I’ll bill the Knights for all the lost income of the next three days. I don’t want to be the only one getting anything done around here.”
Kaeya sticks his tongue out – and then remembers to use his words like an adult, and launches into a tirade that Diluc very quickly tunes out, lest he succumb to the urge to throw another crayon at him.
The next three days might just be the longest of his entire life. Strangely, he can’t bring himself to mind too much.