Chapter Text
Kaeya should have said ‘no’ the moment Venti stepped into his office with a shit-eating grin and a spring to his step.
His curiosity had always gotten the best of him, though.
“My, my,” Kaeya said as Venti strode towards his desk, slowly followed by a sheepish-looking Aether and a curious Paimon. Those two, they didn’t even tickle Kaeya’s suspicion; they were as real as one could get, Aether with his heart on his sleeve, Paimon with her usual lack of filter. Venti, on the other hand… “To what do I owe the pleasure of such lovely company?”
“Kaeya!” Paimon floated her way to Kaeya’s side, her little body shaking with what Kaeya gathered to be excitement. “Venti had a great idea for the festival!”
“Oh?” Alarm bells were ringing a funny tone in Kaeya’s head, but no one would have been able to tell from the placid expression on his face as he leaned back on his chair. “Color me surprised, considering there are only three days left to the Windblume festival…”
“That is precisely why it is a good idea,” Venti added as he came to stand before Kaeya’s desk, arms crossed over his chest. “The perfect way to say goodbye to the festival until next year.”
“It really is perfect!” Paimon added.
Kaeya looked at them both for a long moment, then turned a raised eyebrow towards Aether, who simply shrugged. No clues from that end, it seemed. “Any changes to the festival’s schedule should be addressed directly to the Acting Grandmaster—“
“We already have Miss Jean’s approval,” Venti assured him. A soft breeze flew through the open windows when he laughed, filling the room with the soft scent of cecilias. “Even Miss Lisa seemed on board!”
Well, now Kaeya was not only suspicious but terrified out of his mind. “In that case, I’m all ears.”
“You know how the main theme for the Windblume festival is love, right?” Paimon rushed to ask.
Kaeya couldn’t help a small smile in her direction. “I’ve heard something about that, yes.”
“And you know how everyone is looking for love during the festival!?”
“Yes…?”
“We’re going to celebrate an auction!” Venti exclaimed, and Paimon immediately turned towards him with her tiny hands pressed into fists.
“Tone-deaf bard! Paimon was going to say it!”
Venti laughed softly again, one hand rising to scratch at the back of his neck. “Sorry, Paimon. I guess I’m excited too!”
“An auction?” Kaeya wondered out loud, putting a finger to his chin and tapping softly. “Let me guess; the main prize would be a nice set of alcoholic beverages?”
“What does that have to do with love!?” Paimon exclaimed.
For a moment, Venti seemed to be seriously considering Kaeya’s words. “That’s not a bad—“
“ Hey !”
“We were thinking of auctioning a date,” Aether said softly, and like every time he actually opened his mouth and spoke, everyone in the room turned towards him to listen. “Venti pointed out that a lot of people feel sad at the end of the festival when they aren't able to express their feelings, or when it doesn’t go as they planned it. So we thought we could do something to help those people out.”
Kaeya blinked. “By making them pay to go on a date with someone?”
“Oh, not just anyone,” Venti chimed in, leaning his hip against Kaeya’s desk. “You see, at first we thought of just asking people who wanted to find a date to offer themselves to the auction, but that could arise… problems. The matters of the heart have to be handled carefully, after all.”
“Of course,” Kaeya nodded, though he was more preoccupied with keeping in check the mirth in Venti’s eyes as he spoke.
“ Then , we thought, why not make it more like a consolation prize? Maybe someone didn’t get a confession from the person they love, but they could still end the festival on a date with someone beautiful and funny who would no doubt cheer them up, right?”
Kaeya turned his head towards Aether, pretending to hide his mouth from Venti’s sight behind his mind to stage-whisper: “Does any of this make any sense to you?”
Aether shrugged again. “Only when they told me who they had in mind.”
“It’s you!” Paimon shouted with a twirl in mid-air.
“…Excuse me?”
They were drunk. Were they drunk? Was he drunk? Because Kaeya had the feeling his guests had been talking to him for a while now, but none of their words had made any sense whatsoever.
That was, until Venti stepped firmly in front of Kaeya’s desk and set his hands on the top, the better to lean over towards Kaeya and say: “For the end of the Windblume festival, Sir Kaeya Alberich, we’re going to auction a date with you .”
Kaeya couldn’t help it; he laughed. And then laughed some more when Paimon chastised him for it.
But it cut short when Venti’s smirk grew.
“…You’re not serious, are you?”
“As serious as the raging winds at Stormterror’s domain,” Venti replied.
Kaeya shook his head, hands splayed over the desktop. “Look, not that I’m not flattered, but… I really do have a lot of work to do. I don’t have time to take people on dates.”
“You already spend most of your nights alone at Angel’s Share!” Paimon said, and ouch, okay, low blow, Paimon. “Why not spend one with someone nice?”
“Or someone loaded, more like,” Aether muttered.
Kaeya needed a drink. “Listen. You will be better off asking someone else. If people are going to spend their money on a date, why not try to find someone they actually would want to date?”
“Come on, Kaeya, modesty doesn’t suit you,” Venti was quick to say. Kaeya threw him a narrowed glance. “Besides, what was it people used to call you? Ah, yes. ‘The most eye-catching gentleman in all of Mondstadt.’”
Something cold, like the touch of an ice shard against heated skin, rolled down Kaeya’s spine. It was because of things like these, Kaeya always did his best to keep an eye on the bard that called himself ‘Venti’.
It had been at least five years since Kaeya had heard that particular sentence. Or something very similar to that, at least.
“If you know that,” Kaeya said with a placid smile as he leaned back on his chair, elbows idly resting on the armrests. “Then you’ll know it wasn’t just me people used to call that.”
“Huh?” Paimon intervened. Kaeya looked at her and Aether, swallowing his guilt; he had almost forgotten they were still in the room. “Is there another eligible bachelor in town we can use for the auction, Kaeya?”
It was Venti who replied to her, his smile now soft and amused. “He means Master Diluc, Paimon. Sadly, Master Diluc is very busy handling the tavern these days. It’s one of the preferred spots in town for a Windblume date, you see.”
“So Diluc gets a pass for being busy but I don’t?” Kaeya tried once more, going as far as pressing his hand against his chest. “I’m wounded, you guys—“
“Everyone loves you, Kaeya,” Aether said with his no-nonsense tone as he stepped forward. There was so much conviction in his voice that Kaeya felt a burst of warmth deep beneath his ribs, at a spot that usually stayed frozen and cold like his Vision. “If you accept to be someone’s date, I’m sure they will be very happy.”
Kaeya sighed, but he was already thinking about it. It wasn’t like a free night would put much of a stop to his usual plans. The free dinner would be nice and, with a little bit of luck, Kaeya would get to dine with someone with interesting topics of conversation at the ready.
Besides, Kaeya hadn’t achieved his long list of confidentes and sources by denying meetings with new people.
One could find useful information even in the most inconspicuous of places.
Still…
Without moving his head, Kaeya snapped his eye back towards Venti. “What’s the money from the auction for?”
Venti straightened his shoulders, his expression very solemn and very serious and not trust-worthy at all. “For the Mondstadt Home for Orphaned Children.”
If Kaeya hadn't been raised the way he had, he would have let out a long, heartfelt ‘fuck’ at that.
But instead, he rubbed the heel of his glove against his eyepatch and said: “Fine. Count me in.”
He just prayed to the Archons in Celestia it would be a pleasant night.
Angel’s Share, the venue for the Auction when the day finally came, was packed to the brim and full of excitement.
Kaeya couldn’t deny he felt flattered all around.
“Look at you, preening like a pretty little peacock,” Lisa said through a smirk as Kaeya finally let go of the curtain and turned around to face her. Someone had gone as far as setting up a small stage at one of the corners of the tavern, hiding it for the time being by a soft, thin curtain. On the other side of it, far more people than Kaeya had ever seen reunited in the tavern chatted and waited for the event to begin, most of them-if not all- holding a drink in their hand.
At least Diluc wouldn’t be mad at the ruckus, Kaeya thought.
“I can’t help it if people love me,” Kaeya finally replied to Lisa, making a show of tilting his head to the side and showing his best smile. “What are you doing here, though? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of bidding.”
“You know you’re not exactly my type.” There was a soft, tender smile on Lisa’s lips that Kaeya couldn’t help but return. It took away all the bite in her words. “I am here for the show, however. This is all Mondstadt has been talking about for the past two days.”
Kaeya hummed noncommittally.
“Nervous?” Lisa asked, grabbing the same curtain Kaeya had just let go of and peeking out.
“Nope. This is all for the orphans, you know.”
“Saint Kaeya, patron of the parentless.”
Kaeya flicked his fingers at the brim of Lisa’s hat. “I know you had something to do with this.”
“And I wish I could give myself more credit than that. Alas—“
“Yahoo—!”
“It’s starting, it’s starting!”
Kaeya turned to watch the newcomers pull the curtain a little to the side and slip through the crack. Paimon was flying everywhere in the small corner like an over-caffeinated little bird, while Venti just walked nearer with a spring in his step and a twinkle in his eyes. Even Aether seemed excited—or as excited as Aether could look, at least.
“Is it time?” Kaeya asked nonetheless, some amusement dripping into his voice.
“Just about,” Venti replied. “We’re just waiting for—“
“Everything is ready out here,” a familiar voice said, and Kaeya looked up from watching Venti’s grin spread over his face to meet Diluc’s fiery eyes. Eyes that immediately went dark as a frown fell over them the moment Diluc caught sight of Kaeya behind the curtain. “What are you doing here?”
Kaeya turned towards Venti. “You didn’t tell him!?”
Venti pretended to punch his own temple very, very softly. His grin was still in place. “ Ehe! ”
Even from the corner of his eye, Kaeya saw Diluc’s frown deepen. “Tell me what?”
But Lisa could tell when she was needed. Before anyone could react, she wrapped one arm around Aether’s and her other one around Diluc’s, promptly pulling them out of the curtained stage and away to the sound of a gentle: “Come on cutie, you too Master Diluc, you won’t want to spoil the festival for everyone…”
Kaeya let himself fall on the chair someone had prepared for him with a sigh. “You know we’ll be lucky if he lets us finish the show, right?”
“You’d be surprised! It only took a tiny little bit of convincing to let us do it here, after all.”
“Then why not tell him I was involved in all this?”
At that moment, Venti almost looked sheepish. But Kaeya knew a thing or two about making your face look exactly the way you wanted it to, to make it show feelings you didn’t really feel. Venti had staged this whole thing around Diluc but had kept Kaeya’s role out if. How he had managed to do so, considering Aether and Paimon had screamed about it at anyone who so much as looked at them, Kaeya had no idea.
Maybe it was another one of the bard’s hidden abilities.
“Just thought it would be a fun surprise,” Venti said with a shrug.
Kaeya sighed again. “Your funeral, I guess.”
It would be fine. Diluc knew many ways to kill a man; blood probably wouldn't taint the floor of Angel's Share tonight.
Or maybe Diluc just wouldn't care at all.
Venti moved closer, close enough to put a gentle, calming hand on Kaeya’s shoulder. “What is it, Kaeya? Do you think Diluc is going to get mad at us auctioning off a date with you?”
Kaeya snorted without a trace of amusement, even if he had a smile playing with the corners of his mouth. “No. But I know for a fact he wouldn’t have accepted if he so much as thought this was my idea.”
“Well, no worries there. He knows it was mine. ” Then Venti slipped away and clapped his hands, the picture of cheerfulness as he smiled down at Kaeya. “Chin up, Captain! I’ll take care of this. Are you nervous?”
With a shake of his head, Kaeya leaned back against the chair and dangled an arm over the back as he crossed one leg over the other. The smile that grazed his mouth now was almost feral. “I’ve fought bigger monsters than this, bard. I can handle it.”
Venti, far from being intimidated by the low timbre of Kaeya’s voice, smiled and laughed. “That’s the spirit! Now you sit there and do what you always do.”
“Look beautiful and available?”
Venti winked at him. “Exactly.”
A moment later, a gust of wind pushed the curtain aside, and Kaeya’s dark stage filled up with blinding light.
“Good evening, Mondstadt! Happy Windblume Festival!”
The crowd cheered and clapped as blinked little lights out of his eyes. The tavern was even fuller now than the last time Kaeya had peeked past the curtain. It was impossible to find an empty chair; some had even taken to sitting on the stairs leading to the second floor, or leaning out the banister to look towards the stage. Kaeya smiled at some of them, delighted when they all smiled or waved back at him.
At least it would be a fun night.
“Thank you so much for joining our auction event: a Date with the Cavalry Captain, Sir Kaeya Alberich!”
Somewhere in the tavern, a glass fell to the floor and shattered, but the sound was swallowed by the enthusiasm of the crowd.
Kaeya didn’t stop smiling.
“The Windblume festival is about Love in its many forms,” Venti kept saying, his voice acquiring a soft, melodic tone as if he was about to start singing a tale. “And while we all know sometimes Love can be a bit slippery and escape from our grasp, that doesn’t mean we should end the festival with a sad note!”
People cheered and giggled, drinks sloshed, music played from another corner of the tavern. If Venti had wanted to add an extra spark of happiness to the festival, he had already managed to do so. Kaeya couldn’t even remember when was the last time he had been surrounded by so much joy.
It made Kaeya forget to keep his act of heartbreaker for a moment and smile softly at the crowd.
He was just happy to see everyone happy.
“This is how we’ll do it,” Venti added, and the crowd lowered their voices down to hear. “I will give a starting sum, and I will increase it as I see fit as long as someone from the crowd matches my sum. The highest bidder will get the prize—a date with Sir Kaeya for tomorrow, the last day of the festival. Everything goes, but your bid will only be valid if I call it, so no need to shout numbers at random, okay? Let’s all behave and have fun!” Another cheer from the crowd marked their assent. “Great, so let’s heat this up a little bit. Sir Kaeya, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself, to lure in the undecided?”
Kaeya laughed low and warm, his fingers carding through his hair as he pushed it back from his eye. He was the picture of nonchalance sitting there on the stage before a tavern full of people, basking in the attention. “Why, I never know what to say for this kind of thing… But I guess I will do my best. Hello, everyone. My name is Kaeya Alberich, Captain of the Cavalry of the Knights of Favonius. I love sunsets, fruity screwers, and the occasional sip of alcohol—but I am more than ready to do anything my date asks me for, so don’t hesitate to bid for me.”
“Perfect!” Venti laughed as the crowd expressed its appreciation once more. “Remember that all money collected tonight will go to Mondstadt’s orphanage, so don’t be shy and bid to your wallet’s content!”
The crowd laughed. Kaeya’s eye roamed over familiar and slightly unfamiliar faces as he maintained his relaxed posture on the chair. He saw people who smiled and waved at him every day during work, people who had asked him for help in the past, and people who still asked him for it from time to time. He saw people who had more than once tried to set him up with their grandchildren, and people who had tried to set themselves up with him.
And, more importantly, and much to Kaeya’s amusement, Kaeya saw people he hadn’t been able to get as close to as he would have liked, who still held secrets from Kaeya’s greedy, greedy ears.
He made sure to smile sweetly in the direction of those people every time he looked through the crowd.
“Alright, then… Here we go! Why don’t we start with… one thousand Mora?”
Ten different hands shot in the air to claim the bid, too fast to say who was first, but Venti was just as fast to give it to the person furthest from him: a young man with bright blond hair and a flower lightly held in his hand. He used it to point at Kaeya and wink, which Kaeya appreciated with a soft laugh and a smile.
“One thousand for the man at the back! But one thousand is so little for our gorgeous Captain! What about two thousand—“
Even more hands shot up, and the auction started to pick up speed. Kaeya didn’t lose his smile nor his relaxed posture, but he was impressed by the quantities people were throwing around. When a bidder —a sweet-looking grandma in a colorful dress— made Venti jump from five thousand Mora up to six thousand five hundred, even Kaeya had to clap and tilt his head in thanks.
The people Kaeya had his eye on were bidding too. In particular, a robust-looking man in Mondstadtian clothes but Szhenazian accessories, sitting by a pretty woman’s side; she kept leaning towards him and whispering what Kaeya imagined were sums of Mora.
Or maybe not. Because when Kaeya caught their eyes and smirked, the man blushed and the woman preened, pushing the man’s arm up to make him bid once more. Nine thousand Mora.
Kaeya’s smile grew. Getting information out of them would be easier than Kaeya—
“Twelve thousand Mora.”
Kaeya choked on his own saliva. The tavern made a sound of awe, the good humor and cheer still in the air, but they could all have fallen silent for all Kaeya noticed. His ears could only hear the echo of that voice dropping that sum of Mora as if it was simply loose change.
Next to Kaeya, Venti laughed with delight.
“That’s the spirit, Master Diluc!” he exclaimed, and Kaeya had no choice but to follow Venti’s gaze to the back of the tavern, more precisely to the back of the bar, where Diluc was watching them with his arms crossed over his chest and a frown so deep, Kaeya thought it had to hurt. There was also a faint blush on Diluc’s cheeks, but that could have been simply the heat of so many people together inside the tavern. “What about it, folks? Are you going to let Master Diluc get the handsome Sir Kaeya all for himself?”
Kaeya missed the crowds’ response. He was pinned to the spot by Diluc’s gaze, that hard stare that he had acquired during the four years they had spent apart.
As he leaned back on his chair, Kaeya rubbed his knuckles over his lips and raised an eyebrow. ‘What are you doing?’ he asked with his face alone, no words needed.
Diluc looked away.
“Fifteen thousand.”
The voice was a new one, rising loud and clear over the murmuring of the crowd, but it was still familiar. It was familiar, but it wasn’t Diluc’s—and it made Kaeya snap his head towards the source, eye wide as Kaeya forgot to hide his surprise.
Sister Rosaria raised her glass in his direction and then took a sip.
Venti, once again, laughed. “My, the church is coming strong! Thank you, sister Rosaria, for fifteen thousand Mora!”
“My pleasure,” Kaeya saw Rosaria say more than he heard her. The sounds coming from the crowd were changing in tune, getting louder and louder.
Fifteen thousand were no joke. Not many people from the crowd would be able to match that amount, much less for what was being offered in return. And, lo’ and behold, a few people that had engaged with the addiction from the beginning didn’t raise their hands when Venti chanted a higher sum. The couple Kaeya had had his eye on from the beginning was still bidding, at least, even if others Kaeya wouldn’t have minded the excuse to speak to didn’t.
So was Rosaria, though, making sure to counter every other sum the people from the crowd tried to match.
When the auction reached the whooping amount of thirty thousand Mora, Kaeya wasn’t even sure how he was supposed to react.
“So generous, everyone!” Venti didn’t seem to be having the same problem. Every time Rosaria raised her bid his eyes glinted, his lithe body seemingly trembling with excitement. “Can we go even higher? How about thirty-two thousand? Anyone?”
No one raised their hands. Rosaria had been the first to reach thirty thousand, and it seemed like she had finally reached the unspoken limit of the crowd; murmurs ran through the tavern as people started looking from side to side, trying to find the valiant who would dare to go against Sister Rosaria and her seemingly never-ending amounts of Mora.
Kaeya uncrossed his legs and crossed them again the other way around, his most charming smile still in place. But he knew Rosaria would interpret his glance the way he wanted her to: a little bit questioning, a lot prodding, trying to gauge her motives without asking from one end of the tavern to the other.
Rosaria simply smiled, a tiny little thing that was barely a curl of the corners of her mouth.
And yet, the image of a grin full of teeth crossed through Kaeya’s mind, the imprint of imaginary canines digging deep into his brain.
Rosaria wasn’t just playing tonight.
She was up to something, Kaeya realized.
“No one?” Venti asked. “Are you guys really gonna give up the date with Sir Kaeya so easily?”
Hands were kept still by their owner’s sides once more. Kaeya saw his couple hesitate by their table, the woman whispering furious things into the man’s ear, but neither of them lifted a hand in the end. Rosaria, on her part, leaned forward on her own table and made the remains of her drink swirl in her glass, unperturbed by the whispers around her.
Her eyes were on her prize.
Kaeya grinned disarmingly.
“Well, then, if no one goes… Thirty-two thousand Mora going once… Going twice— “
“Forty hundred!”
The heads of everyone in the tavern turned towards the bar in unison, Kaeya’s included. Diluc, his hand still in the air, didn’t even seem to notice; his eyes were fixed on Rosaria.
And Rosaria, of course, did not disappoint. “Forty-five hundred.”
“ Fifty hundred,” Diluc called again, even before Venti could open his mouth. It was like watching a sparring contest, everything happening too fast to keep track of it.
Rosaria batted a hand by her head, as if trying to get rid of a particularly annoying fly. “Fifty-five hundred.”
“Sixty-five.”
“Seventy—“
“Alright, alright!” Venti suddenly chimed in, clapping his hands to claim everyone’s attention. His efforts were almost fruitless, though. “Hey! Calm down, I can’t barely keep up with—“
“ One hundred thousand Mora. ”
That was Diluc, because of course it was. A pin could have dropped and it would have echoed in the room; no one dared to say a word, no one dared to even breathe. Instead, everyone looked at Diluc as if he had gone absolutely crazy—and then turned to look if Rosaria would dare be even crazier.
Not Kaeya, though. Kaeya couldn’t keep his eyes away from Diluc, the tension in his body, the fire in his eyes.
Diluc had always been most beautiful when fired up.
Kaeya had just never thought something like this would fire him up that badly.
“All riiiight,” Venti said into the silence, turning towards Rosaria with a swish of his cape. “Sister Rosaria? How does one hundred and five sound for you?”
Rosaria didn’t look back at Venti. She too was observing Diluc, her long nails tapping a gentle rhythm against her table that filled the whole tavern, even the upper floor.
Kaeya leaned forward on his chair, elbows on his knees.
Finally, after what seemed like forever—Rosaria shook her head.
“…No?” Venti asked. “Are you sure, sister?”
Rosaria nodded, but said nothing more.
“Anyone else?” the tavern stayed as silent as a cemetery at night. “Then— going once for Master Diluc’s one hundred thousand Mora… Going twice—“
It suddenly dawned on Kaeya what was about to happen. Who was going to spend an indecent amount of Mora to have a date with him.
Kaeya jumped as if shocked, his whole body turning towards Venti, one hand raised. “Wait, bard—“
“ Gone to Master Diluc for one hundred thousand Mora!”
The tavern erupted in laughter and cheers. Kaeya, still halfway out of his chair, fell down onto it once more with the whoosh of all the air in his lungs. He suddenly felt out of place, as if the heat of the people around him was too much. He longed for the coldness of his Vision, for shards of ice clinging to his heated skin lovingly.
This had not just happened.
Right…?
“Come up here, Master Diluc! Claim your prize!”
Diluc seemed to be as surprised as Kaeya felt. He was rooted to his spot behind the bar, almost as if he was using it as a barrier against the rest of the tavern. The crowd was the first to get rid of its stupor, quickly celebrating the end of the auction by raising their glasses and demanding more alcohol from Charles with the pretext of ‘drowning their sorrows in drinks’.
It was Paimon who set things in motion, bumping her head against Diluc’s shoulder to make him walk forward.
“What an unexpected ending. Right, Sir Kaeya?”
Kaeya turned towards Venti, both of them at the same height since Kaeya was still sitting down in his chair.
The grin in Venti’s mouth let kaeya know that the ending they had reached wasn’t as unexpected to the bard as he was pretending it to be.
“Why?” Kaeya asked softly, beneath the rumbling noise of the crowd. He was aware of Diluc getting closer to the stage, and he wanted an answer before he made it there.
Venti simply shrugged. But his eyes went soft as he regarded Kaeya, his hands loosely clasped before him. “Windblume is a symbol of freedom and love. If someone can’t get any of those things on their own, why not give them a little bit of help?”
Kaeya’s heart skipped a beat. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Venti feigned a pout, but his winning smile soon overtook his expression once more. “What an awful thing to say, Sir Kaeya! A simple thanks would be enough, you know.”
Diluc making it to the stage made Kaeya swallow whatever he was about to say next. He looked as upset up close as he had from the other side of the tavern. The line of his shoulders beneath his waistcoat was too tense; even his ponytail seemed ruffled, like the tail of a cornered cat.
Kaeya wanted to sigh and lean back against his chair in defeat: what a mess he had found himself in.
Instead, he moved to his feet as Paimon pushed Diluc up the stairs, and smiled.
“My, my, what a handsome date,” Kaeya drawled as he put his hands on his waist. “Wish he smiled a little bit more, though.”
Those from the crowd that were sitting near the stage laughed. Color rose to Diluc’s usually pale cheeks, making him look feverish and —as Kaeya had already correctly stated— very, very handsome.
“Shut up.”
Kaeya pressed a hand against his chest. “And what lovely things he says to me—“
“I don’t know what game you’re playing,” Diluc went on, and it took Kaeya a moment and a surprised beat of his heart to realize Diluc wasn’t directing those angry words at Kaeya; he was talking solely to Venti. “But this is absurd even for you, bard.”
“I’m not playing any games,” Venti replied, arms crossed over his chest. Kaeya realized with some amusement that, despite Venti being much shorter than Diluc, he was doing a fine job at mockingly copying Diluc’s disgruntled posture just now. “As I said, this was just a way to end the festival on high spirits! Besides, no one forced you to bid, did they?”
At that, Kaeya’s eyes slid away from Diluc and Venti towards Rosaria. He wasn’t too surprised at not finding her anywhere.
“Speaking of which!” Venti suddenly exclaimed. “I know you paid for this and all, Master Diluc, but that shouldn’t be an excuse not to do things properly.”
Diluc’s frown deepened, if that was possible. “What do you mean?”
“You have to ask Sir Kaeya for a date, of course!”
“That’s—! No.”
Kaeya shook his head. With some added theatrics, and because he damn well could, he let himself fall back on his chair. “Honestly, so unromantic—“
Diluc looked towards him with one finger raised. “You shut up. Again.”
“Is this how you get all your dates, Master Diluc? Because I feel for the—“
“ Fine!” Diluc took a deep breath, finally —and only here did Kaeya realize Diluc hadn’t really faced him yet— turning towards him. “Go out with me.”
Kaeya blinked slowly for a second too long.
Then he shared a look with Venti, both of them unimpressed.
Diluc groaned. “What do you want from me? I already let you celebrate this whole… pantomime here, I even participated in it—“
“Second chances are gifts bestowed upon us, Master Diluc,” Venti suddenly cut in. He stepped in front of Diluc, back turned towards Kaeya—but that didn’t stop Kaeya from hearting the soft tone in which Venti spoke to Diluc, equal parts understanding and almost… nostalgic. “The only thing I want from you,” Venti said, and in the next blink he had a calla lily in his hand, carefully extending it towards Diluc to hold. “Is for you to make things right.”
The lily was still fresh, as if had just been plucked out of the earth. It had a sweet fragrance—one that sent Kaeya back to the springtime not in Dawn Winery but at the Ragnvindr state. Back to a sweaty hand in his as it pulled him down a well-traversed path and laughter ringed loud and clear into the air.
Diluc looked at the flower in Venti’s hand.
Then, as if cradling a wounded animal, Diluc picked the flower up and turned towards Kaeya.
He won’t do it, Kaeya knew when their eyes met; because while Diluc was brave and courageous in the face of any kind of danger, this was another thing altogether. There was far too much history between them to make this any easier. There was far too much heartbreak between them to play pretend like this.
But there seemed to be a certain spark in Diluc’s eyes that, added to his still-present blush,—
“Kaeya,” Diluc called softly. And, like a sad, sad moth to a bright, bright flame, Kaeya’s whole attention turned towards Diluc without the need of any other prompting.
“Yes, Diluc?”
Diluc extended his hand so the flower hovered in the space between them, perfect and cool despite the heat in the room. “If you have no other plans… would you like to spend the last day of the festival with me?”
Oh, Kaeya thought as lightning struck certain and true across his heart, pinning him to the spot. I want to spend with you more than that, Luc.
He would never say such a thing out loud, of course. It was one item on the long list of things Kaeya was no longer allowed to have, nor even ask for.
But one day? Kaeya smiled as he took one step forward. His fingertips only brushed Diluc’s hand for the barest moment as he took the flower from him.
Kaeya was not such a good man that he would say no to a sole day.
“If you’re asking me so sweetly, how could I ever refuse?” Kaeya finally said, bringing the flower to his mouth to hide a smile. “I would love to, Master Diluc.”
Whatever Diluc had been about to say—something not as sweet, considering Diluc’s newly formed frown—was swallowed by Venti cheering, which was soon followed by the crowd cheering as well. Kaeya hadn’t forgotten the people around him, but it seemed like Diluc had; the rosy color of his cheeks deepened to a red so bright it almost matched that of his hair.
“Congratulations on landing yourself a date, Master Diluc!” Someone shouted, causing even more laughter around the room.
Thankfully, Venti was quick to step in, calming the roaring crowd with a simple movement of his hand. “Alright folks, that’s it for tonight’s auction! For those of you heartbroken by the… events— there are three bottles of the tavern’s best wine waiting for us! Better run, or it’ll run out!”
Diluc turned towards Venti so fast that his ponytail almost smacked Kaeya in the face. “ Bard!”
Venti winked and giggled, already jumping off the stage with a flutter of his cape and running towards the bar. “Sorry, Master Diluc, but I don’t wanna miss on the wine!”
“Get back here, you little—!”
And there went Diluc, running after Venti to try and salvage Charles from the horde of already-drunk patrons lead by a soon-to-be-very-drunk bard.
Kaeya sighed and sat on the edge of the stage, flower lightly held between his fingers.
He had a date with Diluc.
A date.
With Diluc .
“I’m not gonna survive this, am I?” Kaeya asked the flower in a whisper, watching as his breath mused the soft petals lightly.
The flower, of course, did not respond. Maybe the answer was too obvious to deserve a response.
But—well.
Not even the certainty of doom coming his way could make Kaeya lose his smile.