Work Text:
What an awful night to be outside, Kaeya thought when he closed the door of the Cat’s Tail behind him. The wind blew the cold rain right onto his face, making him miss the cozy warmth of the tavern he had just left before he had even made a proper attempt to really step outside.
It could not be helped. Kaeya had already spent much more time in the tavern than he had originally planned. He had been on duty, investigating after a clue of some treasure hoarders making shady business in the backroom, but the intel had either been false or they had caught on his presence and changed their plans. In any way, all he had done was play Genius Invokation. He had even remained mostly sober. No matter what people said, he always took his official duties seriously.
As a dutiful knight, his work did not end when the clock passed a certain point, and he also went out of his way to investigate suspicious events wherever and whenever he encountered them. Just like tonight, when something had caught his attention from his place in the Cat’s Tail.
It had not been much more than a flickering light he had seen from the corner of his eye through the window. A stranger in Mondstadt would not have thought anything of it, would have brushed it off as a single lost lightning or a wanderer passing by with a lantern, but Kaeya knew better. It had been a very familiar light, one he had witnessed countless times in the past - the light of Diluc’s signature attack, the beautiful and impressive fiery phoenix which burned everything on its way to ashes.
So Diluc was back to his work as Darknight Hero.
It should not have come as a surprise to Kaeya. Some things just never changed, and a noble man’s heart probably was one such thing. Diluc had been back in Mondstadt for several weeks now, but this was the first time Kaeya encountered any traces of his secret nightly work, so he was curious, and maybe also a little concerned. Diluc’s Pyro powers were strong, and they often left a line of destruction behind them. It was unlike him to unleash those powers within the gates of the city. What might have caused him to resort to such measures? Kaeya really wanted to find out.
Finding Diluc was easy enough, but Kaeya was unprepared for the state he was in. He discovered him close to the city gate, between the shops and the stables downtown. At night, this was deserted ground ever since Varka had taken the horses and left Mondstadt.
Diluc was crouching on the ground and trying to uplift himself with the help of his massive Claymore, but it was very obvious that he struggled. He was still wearing his mask, so his facial expression was pretty much unreadable to Kaeya, but from the way he groaned it was easy to assume that he was in pain.
With just a few quick steps, Kaeya was at his side and kneeled down next to him.
“Diluc?”, he addressed him worriedly. “Are you alright?”
“It’s… fine.” the man replied through gritted teeth, and Kaeya hesitated what to do. Even if he had not been as good at reading people as he was, the lie was just too obvious. Nothing was fine. There was a bleeding wound on Diluc’s abdomen, and he was in pain. His first impulse was to grab him and steady him so that he would stop clinging to his weapon, but with the way things stood between them, he did not dare to touch him just like that.
So instead, Kaeya tried to talk some sense into that stubborn man he had once known so well: “Please be reasonable, Diluc. You’re injured. Nothing is fine. Is the attacker still around?”
Diluc shook his head. “I’m pretty sure my attack drove them away.”, he said. While this information helped to calm down Kaeya, it seemed to upset Diluc even more. “Archons, I really can’t believe it… Making such an amateur mistake - as if I’d learned nothing at all!” he cursed, and at that, Kaeya finally chose to give in to his urge to touch the other’s shoulder.
“Don’t blame yourself now.”, he tried to ease his anger. Diluc’s fury could be terrifying, he had once felt this on his own body, and now he feared that his heated feelings might cause him to do something stupid and worsen his wound.
“We need to get your wound treated.” he told him. “If I steady you, do you think you can make it to the Angel’s Share?”
“No!” Diluc stated bluntly. Kaeya was perplexed for a moment. Were his injuries more grave than he had thought? Or did he really refuse to accept his help?
“Adelinde is there tonight. She’s helping out with the spring cleaning.” Diluc informed him, and Kaeya immediately understood. The Dawn Winery’s headmaid had been like a mother to them when they grew up. Neither he nor Diluc could bear to see her worry like this.
“Ok, I get it.” Kaeya agreed. “In that case, our challenge is a little bit on the tougher side, hm?”, he joked light-heartedly and took a look up to where the headquarters of the Knights of Favonius would have been visible, had it not still rained cats and dogs. It was also the place where Kaeya lived, and with that the best option to inconspicuously treat Diluc’s wounds within the gates of the city.
“I guess so.” Diluc agreed without the slightest trace of humor. Together, they started their way up the many, many stairs through Mondstadt.
Kaeya had no idea how long it took for them to reach the headquarters, but when they finally did, he felt almost as terrible as Diluc looked. They were both soaking wet and at the same time heated from the exertion - surely the perfect recipe for a nice cold, but that was not Kaeya’s biggest fear right now. It was Diluc’s state that deeply concerned him. As stubborn as always, he had not said a single unnecessary thing the whole time, but even he could not hide some of the warning signs of his body from Kaeya. Especially while passing the final steps, the weight on Kaeya’s shoulder had grown heavier and heavier, a clear sign of Diluc's waning power. He also seemed to be even paler than usual. It made Kaeya wonder how much blood he had lost. It was so hard to tell in the darkness of the night, and their wet clothes did not make it easier either.
The final steps through the headquarters felt like hell. While Diluc was slim, he was also well-trained and muscular, meaning that he was freaking heavy. In the safety of the building, his strength seemed to disappear for good, and Kaeya almost felt like he was carrying him up the stairs to his room.
Finally inside, he could not help but drop Diluc down on his bed like a sack of potatoes. Or rather stones. It was not very gentle and made the other man groan in pain, but Kaeya was at the end of his strength, too.
“Sorry.”, he said earnestly and allowed himself to lean on his desk for a moment to catch his breath. “When the heck did you become so heavy?”
“Have you been slacking off with your weight training?”, Diluc retorted sharply.
Well, Kaeya thought, it seems like his injury is not so bad after all if he can already start to scold me again.
“I don’t wield a steel beam like you.”, he reminded him. “I need to be quick and flexible, mister beefcake.”
For a brief moment, Kaeya could have sworn that he saw a tiny smile on Diluc’s face, but it vanished before he could really be sure of it. It was a pity. He had always loved Diluc’s gentle smile.
“Anyway”, Kaeya went on before an embarrassing silence was able to spread between them like it had done so many times since Diluc’s return to Mondstadt. “Take off your shirt so I can take a look at your wound.”
If the idea made Diluc uncomfortable, he did not let it show. Without saying anything, he started to unbutton the shirt and took it off quickly, but then he hesitated what to do with it. It was torn, wet and bloody, and Kaeya knew that he was too much of a gentleman to just let it drop to the floor in such a state, so he took it from him and hung it over the chair of his desk. Then he took a closer look at Diluc.
Although he knew that he should have focused on the wound, he could not help but let his gaze wander all over the exposed upper body in front of him. Once, this had been a familiar sight to him, but a lot had changed since then. Most prominently, Diluc’s back had become broader. He was still pretty slim for a man of his strength, but his body clearly had lost the small frame of a teenage boy. Kaeya could not deny that it was a sight he enjoyed.
However, there was something else he enjoyed far less, and that was the sight of numerous scars adorning this once pristine body. For warriors like them, scars were an inevitable occurrence, but some of those he now saw on Diluc’s body spoke of a grave injury Kaeya knew nothing about. The one on his shoulder was the worst. It looked like a heavy sword had tried to pierce him in two, and by the size of the scar, he was almost sure that it must have been a life-threatening wound.
“Are you done staring?”, Diluc asked at some point, and Kaeya hurried to look away in hope of hiding the blush blooming on his face.
“Sorry.”, he apologized. “I got distracted.”
At that, Diluc raised an eyebrow and gave him a critical look.
“By that scar of yours!”, Kaeya hurried to add, fearing that Diluc might have gotten the wrong impression. It was only half of the truth, but with the way things stood between them, Kaeya was unwilling to admit the nature of his other thoughts, even to himself.
In return, Diluc looked at him in silence, and since Kaeya did not bring any question up himself, he apparently decided to not grace him with an answer to the unasked questions in his gaze by his own volition.
As a reaction to the uncomfortable silence, Kaeya cleared his throat and went back to the task at hand. He kneeled down in front of Diluc and took a closer look at the wound which had been inflicted on him tonight. He could easily tell that it had been left by a knife, but luckily, it was only long, but not deep. No internal injuries were to be feared, which filled him with relief. The heavy bleeding had started to seize, too. It probably had been worsened by the constant movement and the rain, but now that those external factors were gone, the towel Kaeya pressed to the wound did no longer get soaked to a worrisome degree. Thanks to a very efficient ointment from Fontaine - tested hands-on in the Fortress of Meropide and approved by their head nurse - he was confident they might even get around stitching the wound. It was a relief. While Kaeya would have been able to do it, he knew that it would have hurt like hell. And no one should get him started on the questionable sterility of the needle in his sewing kit. He was not a doctor, after all.
Before proceeding to tend to the wound, Kaeya took a brief look into Diluc’s face to estimate his condition. Just as he had suspected, he tried to hide his actual state from him, but Kaeya was too experienced in situations like this, and especially in the way Diluc reacted to pain, to fall for his indifferent demeanor. His lips were dry and paler than they usually were, his brows just a tiny bit furrowed and his eyes did not look as sharp and steady as they should. Kaeya could tell that he was in pain, and that he was struggling from the blood loss and the past exertion.
So, to keep an eye on his condition, he decided to get him talking. The content of what he said did not even matter for his cause, but he chose the most logical question at hand: “Tell me, what happened out there?” Like that, he could keep Diluc distracted from the pain the further treatment of the wound would cause, and at the same time notice if his state worsened. And as a nice side product, he might also find out who and what might have caused the brave Darknight Hero to struggle. That was not only two, but three birds with one stone. It sounded like a good deal to Kaeya.
“I had received intel about a group of treasure hoarders who were planning to pull a stunt tonight.” Diluc began while Kaeya started to clean his wound.
“Long story short: it was a trap. One I should have easily seen through after what happened in… nevermind.”
Well, that was Diluc for you. Efficient, even with the amount of words he used. When he was done with his report, Kaeya had not even begun with patching him up, so he decided that it was time to provoke a little bit more of a reaction from him.
“I assume the last time you failed to see through a trap was when you received that impressive scar on your shoulder?”, he asked and felt Diluc stiffen underneath his hands.
“That’s none of your business.” Diluc stated without the least bit of warmth in his voice. Somehow, Kaeya must have hesitated in his movements upon receiving this harsh answer, for Diluc seemed to have noticed that something was off.
“What I mean is that I cannot talk about this.” he added, trying to take a little bit of the sharpness of his words away.
In return, Kaeya nodded, but finished the treatment of Diluc’s wound in silence. The idea that Diluc was no longer able or willing to share everything with him like he had done in the past hurt, but Kaeya understood that it was inevitable. He had brought this upon himself. To do something against the awkward silence between them, he got up from his place in front of Diluc and searched for something else to do.
The movement made his clothes brush against his skin. It made him notice that he was still soaking wet, while Diluc was half-naked, but probably just as wet and cold.
“Ah, sorry.” he apologized. “Am I not a terrible host? I’ll get you a towel and something dry to wear.” he said and left for his closet.
“Don’t forget yourself!” Diluc grumbled from behind him, and Kaeya had to admit that he somehow liked his new way of showing worry without wanting to let it show.
“I have a Cryo-Vision, Diluc.” he reminded him with a soft chuckle. “I’m used to the cold.”
He could feel Diluc’s gaze on him while he looked for something he could borrow for him to wear, but the Pyro-user remained silent until Kaeya arrived next to him with a pack of clothes.
“I mean it, Kaeya.” he said while he took the clothes Kaeya handed to him. “It was always you who ended up in bed with a cold when we were kids.”
Once again, Kaeya stopped in his movements to look at Diluc. So he still cared about things like this?
“Okay, I’ll get changed, too, I promise. But you do the same - deal?”
“Deal.” Diluc agreed with a smile, and Kaeya felt his chest tighten. It was impossible to lie to himself that he no longer cared for this man who was showing such an earnest and gentle smile to him now.
Kaeya had done his best to choose unobtrusive clothes for Diluc because he was all too aware that he did not like his extravagant style at all, but in the end, everything about those clothes screamed that they did not belong to Diluc. The black pants were tighter than his usual ones, and the ivory-coloured cardigan almost had the same complexion as his pale skin. But what struck Kaeya the most was that there was a visible difference in size between them. As teenagers, they had been able to easily switch clothes, but now it was obvious that this had changed. The pants’ legs were slightly too long for Diluc, and despite all of his strength and muscles, the shirt which used to be almost skin-tight on Kaeya was more of a loose fit on Diluc. He had outgrown Diluc in the years the other had been away.
“Didn’t father teach us that it is impolite to stare at people?” Diluc interrupted Kaeya’s thoughts at some point, and Kaeya felt himself blushing once again. This was the second time this evening he had been caught looking at Diluc like this, and he knew that the other must have had his own thoughts about this.
“Sorry, I was lost in thoughts.” Kaeya admitted sheepishly and hurried to change the subject. “I’ll make tea for us. Do you think you can make it to the dining table?”
Diluc didn’t grace him with an answer but just got up from the bed and moved to the dining table as he had been asked. Kaeya watched him from the corner of his eye while he started to prepare everything for the tea. Diluc’s moves were very careful. Apparently he was aware of his weakened state.
While there was no proper kitchen in the knights’ quarters, Kaeya had allowed himself the luxury of a little stove where he was able to make tea and coffee. Preparing a hot beverage after a long day was a bit like meditation for him, and the different steps were so familiar to him that he did not have to think about them in the slightest.
He filled the kettle with water from the jar Noelle used to prepare every day for him and placed it on the stove, then he lit the fire with a flint stone. By now, he always managed at first try. Several years ago, right after Diluc had left, this had been very different. He had to practice this so many times because he had been so used to Diluc doing it with his Pyro powers that the idea of using a flint stone had been strangely unfamiliar to him. He still remembered that one day, after he had failed countless times, he had gotten so upset that he had thrown the stone out of the window and just started to cry. It was not one of his favourite memories.
While he waited for the water to boil, he prepared the tea leaves. He did not need a scoop to know the right amount, he just knew it, just as he knew exactly when the time to remove the leaves had come.
However, today he made one difference to his usual routine. It took him a minute to find the little flask in his cupboard, but when he did and carefully added a little sprinkle of it to the tea, the scent immediately filled the air of the room. Diluc looked up at him in surprise.
“I thought you hated the taste of bergamot?” he asked Kaeya, uncommonly curious for his wannabe-aloof manner.
“Tastes do change, dear Diluc.” Kaeya replied as if it wasn’t the biggest lie of all. While ‘hate’ was a bit of a strong word, Diluc was right that he did not appreciate the strong taste of bergamot. However, he cherished the scent, because it reminded him of Diluc.
For as long as he could remember, Diluc had always preferred his tea with a little bit of bergamot, and so, although Kaeya had never liked it himself, he had started to associate it with Diluc. And when Diluc had left, the scent had been an easy way to bring some bittersweet memories back for Kaeya.
Memories of evenings filled with learning for the knights’ exams, accompanied only by each other and a cup of tea.
Memories of lazy weekends on the sofa, snuggled close under a warm blanket, reading an adventurer’s novel while sipping tea, often missing the right temperature while being too absorbed by the book.
Memories of the sweet aftertaste of Diluc’s kisses, stolen under giggles and excitement during tea time when neither Crepus nor Adelinde were looking.
How could he not have started to like it?
“I see.”, Diluc replied with a fine smile on his lips, and Kaeya could not help but feel a little exposed.
“But I do wonder…”, Diluc added after a brief moment of silence between them, “... does that change of taste include your favourite tea cookies, too?”
Now, there clearly was something mischievous about his smile, and Kaeya’s eye grew wide.
“Are you asking for one of the chocolate cookies I used to love when we were younger?” he wondered. While Diluc always used to have a sweet tooth as a child, he had always disliked those particular cookies because they were a little bit bitter from the dark chocolate used for them. Kaeya, on the other hand, had always been fond of this taste. Before Diluc could even answer, he got up and brought over a box of said cookies from his desk. They were his emergency food on long days filled with paperwork.
“At some point during my travels, I found myself missing them.” Diluc admitted while he took one of the cookies Kaeya offered to him.
“Strange, isn’t it?” he mused while looking at the cookie.
‘Not at all.’ Kaeya thought while watching him eat. It turned out their hearts were not so different after all. A very familiar and nostalgic scent started to fill the room. Tea, bergamot and chocolate. It made him feel at ease like he had not been in a very long time, and Diluc seemed to be just as relaxed. It made Kaeya’s next question feel more natural than he would have expected it even just an hour ago:
“It’s late and it’s still raining. Are you staying?” he wondered.
Diluc looked up and their eyes met: “If you’ll have me.” he replied.
“Always.” Kaeya admitted with a bright smile.