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The plan was to lure Huffmann and the Knights of Favonius away from Mondstadt with a couple of slimes in order to keep Diluc’s Darknight Hero identity safe. He was sure that the knights could handle it while he and Lumine would defeat the real threat - the Order of the Abyss. Lumine finding out about his vigilante identity proved to be a good thing because without her, the knights would have discovered his secret. Huffmann had his suspicions about Diluc for a while now, but he couldn’t clear them up without help, as much as he hated to admit it.
After dealing with Abyss Mages and a couple of Hilichurls, Diluc and Lumine raced back to the tavern just shortly before Huffmann came back to pick up the drink he ordered. Good thing he’d had the foresight to bring the Winery staff to the tavern; they gave him the perfect alibi. It was a close call, but Huffmann seemed to believe that Diluc never left the tavern and wasn’t the secret protector of Mondstadt, and left after paying for his drink.
“That was a close one! I thought for sure that we were toast!” Paimon, Lumine’s floating companion, groaned as soon as Huffmann left.
“I foresaw this eventuality, which is why I placed the Winery staff here. Everyone but you two were already informed to cover for me,” Diluc explained as he handed them their non-alcoholic drinks.
He had a hunch that Lumine was much older than she seemed to be, but just to be on the safe side, he didn’t want to serve potential minors alcoholic drinks. She didn’t seem to mind anyway, contently drinking her Berry & Mint Burst.
“Really everyone?” Paimon asked.
“Not all of them! Or should I say, not all of us,” another voice joined the conversation and Kaeya walked to the trio with a smile on his face. He turned to Lumine and Paimon, but kept his back to Diluc.
Despite this odd behavior of Kaeya’s, Diluc still had a bad feeling about this. Kaeya was with the Knights of Favonius, they would believe him if he told them about his secret. When they staged a fight a couple of months before Lumine arrived at Mondstadt, the situation was different. Back then, he didn’t plan to become the Darknight Hero, but Kaeya let him escape because it would turn out to be a problem if he was accused of being a vigilante. The delusion he used in the fight was destroyed anyway, which was probably for the better.
It hurt to let go of the only thing that belonged to his father before he passed away, but he could also not cling onto the past forever.
“Kaeya?! Where did you come from?” Paimon exclaimed in shock. Unlike her, Lumine remained calm, patiently waiting for Kaeya to continue speaking.
“I just picked a good spot to quietly sit and watch the show,” Kaeya admitted coolly.
“Does that mean you have been here the whole time?”
Of course he was, Diluc silently thought. His former friend would always stick his nose into everything, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that Kaeya was here too. Lumine of course didn’t know that, he realized.
“Correct, the ‘Darknight Hero’s Alibi’,” Kaeya began and finally turned around to look at Diluc, “I think it’s my favorite chapter so far. More intriguing than a fine wine,” Kaeya finished with a wink.
Diluc resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but he still let out an annoyed sigh. “So? You plan to report everything to the Knights of Favonius?”
To his surprise, Kaeya laughed and raised his hands in defense.
“Come on now Diluc, you know me better than that! I have no interest in exposing secrets,” he told him so earnestly that it even surprised Diluc. Could he really believe a compulsive liar like Kaeya?
“I was just curious to see how far Mondstadt’s Darknight Hero would really go, and you did not disappoint.”
“I have nothing to prove to you,” Diluc responded almost angrily, but composed himself when he realized that Lumine was still there and was watching their interaction.
“Of course! I must say though, I didn’t see it coming that the mighty Darknight Hero would actually need help from other people,” Kaeya teased, which annoyed Diluc even more.
“Sorry, we’re closing. Please see yourselves out.”
Kaeya laughed yet again, mimicking his posture from before, but the smile he gave Diluc now was somehow less genuine than before. It was almost as if Kaeya felt… resigned, but he couldn’t figure out why. It shouldn’t matter to him anyway, they were no longer close. Kaeya should just leave.
“Alright, alright! I have no further need of wine to entertain myself tonight, in any case. Just one last thing before I go.”
Diluc thought that he could give him that one moment to speak. “It had better be the last thing.”
He watched Kaeya close his visible eye for a moment, and when he opened it again, it showed a range of emotions for a split second. Genuine happiness, a warmth he couldn’t explain, but also what seemed to be sadness for some reason. He was smiling, but it didn’t quite reach his eye.
“I feel strangely comforted that you now have an assistant, Diluc.”
The unspoken words weighed heavily in the air. I know you don’t trust me. I’m sorry that it isn’t me.
Diluc didn’t know how to respond, but Kaeya didn’t wait for an answer. He wished him a wonderful night and left the bar, leaving the confused Traveler and Paimon behind.
Thankfully they didn’t pry much into the matter, so he served them another drink as a token of his gratitude while he mulled over Kaeya’s last words and expression he had on his face. Ever since the fallout that changed their lives forever, Diluc didn’t trust Kaeya anymore, especially when the dark-haired man remained with the Knights of Favonius after he left, the same people that betrayed his father.
He had heard from his informants that Kaeya was responsible for putting the traitor who tried to conceal the truth about his father’s death behind bars, but how could he trust a liar like Kaeya ever again? Diluc had felt the bond between them shatter the day Kaeya admitted to being an agent for Khaenri'ah.
Why did Kaeya stay with the knights, after everything that happened and after everything the then Inspector Eroch did? How many more secrets and half truths did he keep from them? How much does it all involve Mondstadt and its people? These were all questions Diluc couldn’t answer.
One thing was clear however: if Kaeya wanted to destroy Mondstadt, he could’ve done so when Diluc left for many years. The city was practically defenseless without him and he knew the knights stood no chance against both of them.
Diluc was pulled out of his thoughts when he noticed Lumine staring at him. Her golden eyes gazed at him with curiosity, but also gave him yet again the feeling she knew more than she let on.
“People can be a little difficult sometimes,” she said, smiling ever so slightly at Diluc. “Maybe little is an understatement, but they’re irreplaceable even so. And when someone we love leaves us, and as we are forced to watch how their life fades right in front of our eyes, the pain that follows hurts in an unimaginable way.”
She paused for a second to look at her companion, who had fallen asleep at some point before turning her gaze back on Diluc. “If they love you and you love them in return, make sure to let them know that. Life is too short to dwell on past mistakes and you’ll never know when it’s over for someone. Cherish them and the time you have left.”
The mysterious traveler gave him one last small smile before picking her sleeping companion up, leaving the bar and a confused Diluc behind. Sometimes he really had to wonder how old she really was. Even though her appearance didn’t give it away, she gave off an aura of a person that has seen so much more of the world, or maybe even other worlds, than he ever would.
Although Diluc had traveled through many places in Teyvat during his year-long journey, it seemed to be nothing compared to the experience Lumine had.
Letting out a long sigh, he decided not to ponder over her strange advice for the time being. He had a bar to clean up and it was getting late.
The door closed with a soft click after falling into its lock. Diluc pulled at it to test that it was indeed shut tight and let out an approving hum when the door stayed closed.
He turned around, looking up to the sky. The moon was full and shone brightly this night, but even though the conditions were perfect for his nightly missions, he did not see the need to venture out of Mondstadt tonight. Instead he took a small detour to the town’s fountain plaza to order some food to go from the Good Hunter. He hadn’t eaten all day and didn’t want to bother Adelinde to prepare something this late in the evening.
On his way to the fountain, Diluc stopped in his tracks when he spotted Kaeya leaning onto the fountain, looking up to the sky as Diluc did before. He hadn’t spotted the redhead yet, but the moonlight shone down on Kaeya, casting him in an ethereal and mysterious light. The words Lumine told him earlier came to his mind again.
“Cherish the time you have left.”
Diluc closed his eyes. The happier memories from his childhood resurfaced. After the fateful night that changed his life forever, he’d swallowed them down along with his feelings of love and happiness. He sealed them away in order to leave his naive child-self behind and mature into the person that everyone expected him to be.
But back then, when he found the foreign freezing child in the rain, it all seemed so far away. Kaeya was timid, shy and quiet. Diluc remembered taking his tiny hands and dragging him everywhere he wanted to go, babbling his ears full while Kaeya followed obediently.
Diluc gave him his old clothes, warm food, shared a bed with him when they were younger, trained together, stole grapes, made Adelinde mad, were up to no good when Kaeya slowly stopped being so shy and skittish and enjoyed naps in the afternoon sun when they weren’t training together.
As much as he hated to admit, Diluc was actually fond of these memories. He couldn’t deny that there was something blooming between the two of them, but Diluc was too afraid to act on it and then it was too late anyway.
They both changed so much now and he didn’t know if he was ready to open his heart again. He still didn’t have the time to properly grieve and act on his feelings, other than physically lashing his feelings out on Kaeya.
With a deep sigh he opened his eyes again, but was surprised to see that Kaeya had left. He did not seem to have passed by Diluc, otherwise he would have said something. Maybe this was for the better, Diluc thought. He’d try to talk to him on another day, when he wasn’t exhausted from fighting slimes.
But first, he needed food.
The weather had changed since the evening in which Kaeya expressed how glad he was that Diluc found a partner in Lumine. The clouds had hung low for a few days now, but not a single raindrop fell. This wasn’t such an odd phenomenon, after all, weather changes were bound to happen, and yet Diluc couldn’t help but chase the anxiousness out of his mind.
He had the feeling that something terrible was about to happen. On top of that, he had not seen Kaeya around for a while now. He didn’t normally mind, after all Kaeya had the tendency to disappear for an unknown amount of time, but as much as Diluc wanted to believe that everything was alright, he couldn’t.
Diluc sighed as he watched over his empty bar. Lately none of the regulars, which were usually the knights and the annoying Bard, had visited the Angel’s Share. He also noticed that it took him longer to finish his nightly routine as the infamous Darknight Hero because the numbers of Hilichurls and Abyss Mages around Mondstadt increased. What was going on with the Knights that they couldn’t do their job properly?
A flash of lightning interrupted his train of thoughts. All of a sudden, a heavy downpour started and thunder growled in the sky. Diluc watched as the people of Mondstadt fled into buildings or under roofs to escape the rain, but no one seemed to be interested in coming to the bar. Had he perhaps forgotten to flip the sign to “open”?
With nothing left to do, Diluc reluctantly left his spot behind the counter and walked over to the door. He opened it with the intention to check the sign, but was stopped when a cloaked figure approached the door. It was raining heavily, but they didn’t seem to care.
Cloaked strangers were unusual in Mondstadt and would’ve normally caused a lot of attention, but because of the rain, no one was around to see them. Diluc wanted to turn them away at first, but something about this cloaked figure looked so familiar that he didn’t find the heart to do so.
He stepped away instead, letting the stranger walk into the tavern. The stranger was drenched from head to toe, leaving trails of water behind as they walked inside. Again something stopped Diluc from saying anything, even though he would’ve complained about the water on the ground if it was anyone else.
The stranger walked straight to the counter, sitting down on one of the bar stools. Diluc walked behind the counter after the stranger sat down.
“What would you like to order?” He asked with a little hesitation and hoped that it wasn’t heard in his voice. The stranger shifted a little, holding onto their coat and Diluc could’ve sworn that that they were shivering a little.
“One Death After Noon,” the stranger, who was clearly male, rasped quietly. His voice sounded familiar too, but Diluc couldn’t completely make it out. Not many people ordered this specific drink, many thought that it was too strong, so it was only ordered when someone lost a bet. Or when Kaeya was bothering him during work. Now that he thought about it, the stranger’s voice sounded very similar to Kaeya when he was sick.
Diluc shook his head. He hadn’t seen Kaeya in a while and the last time Kaeya was sick was when they were children. He shouldn’t think about him right now, so he turned around to prepare the order, mixing the drink with practiced ease.
“Lousy weather we have today,” Diluc could hear the stranger say. He thought that he could also hear his teeth chattering, but it could’ve also been his imagination. Diluc wasn’t much of a talker, so he only acknowledged his statement with a grunt.
That earned him a soft laugh from the stranger. “You really changed, Diluc. You were so much more talkative and cute when we were kids. How come you never drive your customers away when you greet them with a cold shoulder?”
Now that had picked Diluc’s attention. This was no stranger in his tavern. Diluc frowned, turned around and placed the drink on the counter, noticing that Kaeya had put the hood of his cloak down and was actually shivering . So it wasn’t just his imagination!
“Where have you been?” Diluc asked with an annoyed huff. He didn’t want to admit it, but deep down he was actually worried about Kaeya.
“Is this how you treat a paying customer?” Kaeya teased with a smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He tried to take the cup, but was suddenly swaying so much that he knocked it over.
Lightning flashed.
“I just wanted to… say… hi…” Kaeya managed to croak before he fell backwards towards the floor. Diluc immediately ran around the counter to catch Kaeya, but only managed to make sure that his head didn’t hit the ground. Kaeya’s body was icy cold and he could feel the cold through his gloves.
“Kaeya?! Kaeya!” Diluc shouted in surprise, noticing that Kaeya had lost his consciousness. Worry rose in Diluc’s chest as he shook the man who was lying on the ground and became frustrated when he wouldn’t wake up, not even when his vision activated and tried to warm his freezing cold body.
He had no other choice. Diluc opened the door, then picked Kaeya up bridal style and ran to the Cathedral. As much as he hated to admit it, only the deaconess Barbara with her healing powers could help him.
It seemed that even Barbatos was grieving as the rain continued to fall.
They told him to wait outside as Barbara worked on Kaeya. He had caused quite a scene and Jean was summoned, but he explained to her that Kaeya was unwell the moment he stepped into his bar. He still didn’t understand why he hid under a cloak either. Was it so that he would cause less attention?
Finally after what seemed like hours, Barbara left the room. However, she was looking to the ground, wringing her hands. Diluc suddenly wished he had left instead.
“I… I tried my best but he… I don’t understand,” she mumbled. “It’s as if his vision malfunctioned and is freezing him from the inside out. ”
“From the inside out?” Jean repeated, sounding shocked. “How is this possible?”
“I don’t know, but I can’t help him! I stabilized him as much as I could, but I’m afraid he… he doesn’t have long,” Barbara whispered, clearly affected by the situation. Jean rushed over to her to embrace her, which made Diluc promptly look away to give them some privacy.
It hurt to know that Kaeya was suffering for reasons no one could explain. Not much was known about Visions, but he had never heard of Visions causing someone to die either.
“How long does he have?” Diluc asked after some time passed. The question left him with an odd feeling. He didn’t want to say goodbye yet.
“I don’t know for sure. Maybe 48 hours at most,” Barbara replied quietly. “I… I will try my best but I can’t promise anything.”
She looked tired. Diluc couldn’t say he blamed her. Kaeya was loved by a lot of people, his passing would leave a hole in a lot of people’s hearts, Diluc’s included.
As much as he refused to admit it, he too would feel the loss.
The time limit was not long, but Diluc wasn’t about to give up. Instead, he was going to find out if he could help Kaeya in any way.
He thanked Barbara and quickly left the building, running towards the Knights of Favonius Headquarters instead to visit the library.
The library wasn’t usually a location he visited and everyone knew that Diluc preferred to avoid the Knights, but because of the circumstances, he made an exception.
Even the library was empty, only Lisa was there, who was reading some books that were spread on a table. She looked like she didn’t want to be disturbed, so Diluc left her alone after she acknowledged his presence.
There were so many shelves filled with books and he did not know where to start. Diluc decided to read books that had general information about Visions, picked a few titles that he found interesting and sat down at a table near Lisa. He flipped through the books, only flying over the words at most, but couldn’t find any useful information.
Diluc read book after book, his frustration growing when none of the books really helped him in any way. He felt a headache forming and was about to give up on his search, but before he could get up from his table, Lisa approached him.
“Are you looking for something, Master Diluc? You’ve been reading books for hours now without break,” Lisa noticed and Diluc almost cursed. He had spent hours here?
“I’m looking for details about Visions, but nothing written in these books has helped me in any way and I can’t spend a lot of time on research,” Diluc told her with a frustrated sigh. She smiled sadly, squeezing his shoulder.
“This is about Kaeya, isn’t it? Jean told me about his condition,” Lisa informed him, handing him a strange book. It had no title or interesting cover and didn’t look like it could be found on the shelves.
Diluc accepted the book, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Where did you get this book?” Diluc wondered, but she only winked at him.
“A woman has her secrets,” she said and turned away, slowly walking to the door. “Make sure to return the book to me by the end of the week or I will make sure that you don’t forget to give it back.”
Diluc couldn’t help but shudder at this. Lisa was a force that not even he dared to mess with.
He decided to use the time he had left for today to read through the book, but when he opened the first page, it already became a problem for him because it wasn’t written in the common tongue. Diluc understood what the text was trying to say, but he had to reread several passages which cost him a lot of time.
The book did have more information about Visions than the general knowledge everyone had about them. While reading through the book, Diluc understood why Lisa kept it hidden, as it even described dark experiments that were done in an attempt to understand and recreate Visions.
He did not dwell on them, quickly turning the pages until he stumbled upon potential negative effects that a person would experience through Cryo Visions.
Visions were granted by Celestia for various reasons and they carry the ambitions, hopes, dreams and even feelings of its bearer.
Cryo Visions were special, as they were granted to the most unfortunate people, who the Tsaritsa takes pity on and who she wants to share her love and warmth with. If a Cryo Vision holder’s love was not returned or even rejected, there is a chance that the Cryo Vision would lead to the freezing of its bearer’s heart.
A frozen heart? So now Diluc knew the cause of Kaeya’s predicament, but still not how he could help him. He flipped through the book once more, but found no other useful information other than that. So if love was the cause, does that mean his feelings had to be returned? If so, who was it that Kaeya liked so much and who he tried to hide his condition from?
Diluc knew that Kaeya was liked by many people in Mondstadt, but he couldn’t think of anyone who he loved romantically.
He tried to find more information, but there was nothing else that picked his interest. When he could no longer see the letters in front of him, Diluc realized that it had grown dark outside and that he had no more time to figure out how to help Kaeya for now.
With a sigh, he closed the book and took it with him as he went back to the winery. He didn’t think she should leave such an important book lying around.
Diluc awoke the next day after a fitful night of tossing and turning. He was worried for Kaeya and almost got no sleep at all. He knew that he worried Adelinde and the other maids, but he did not have time to explain and didn’t tell them about Kaeya’s status yet.
After eating something quickly, he went back to Mondstadt and wondered if he could find the traveler. She was the first person that came into his mind and was one of the few people Kaeya befriended. After some searching, he found her sitting at the Good Hunter with her floating friend Paimon.
“It’s Master Diluc!” Paimon exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here so early in the morning?”
Diluc could ask the traveler so many things, but there was only one question that was most important to him right now: “What do you think of Kaeya?”
The traveler seemed surprised by that question. “Kaeya? Hmm…”
She thought for a moment in silence, crossing her legs and putting one hand under her chin and the other under her elbow. When she came up with an answer, she looked back to Diluc.
“I think he’s kind. He tries to conceal his feelings with a happy smile, a laid back attitude and he can come off as a little lazy, but I also think when it comes to protecting Mondstadt, he wouldn’t hesitate to use his strength to the fullest,” Lumine replied, making Diluc frown.
“Was my answer not good?” she asked when she noticed.
“No… no that’s not it, it’s complicated,” Diluc sighed. Her answer was honest, but not what he expected. So the traveler was not the one who loved Kaeya. He thanked the traveler and went to look for someone else to ask.
When he went to the fountain plaza, he noticed that Albedo had returned from his trip to Dragonspine. Diluc remembered that Kaeya mentioned him once, maybe they were closer than he realized. Asking Albedo wasn’t making him look suspicious for wanting to know about Kaeya either.
Diluc approached Albedo, who looked up from his notes. “Master Diluc, what brings you to me?”
Diluc suddenly had second thoughts about asking Albedo. When was the scientist ever interested in love anyway? But he had to do it or he would never find out who it was that put Kaeya into this predicament.
“Well, I wanted to know what you think about Kaeya.”
Albedo was also surprised about the question as well. “Sir Kaeya? We work together for the Knights of Favonius. He seems like a capable man. Does this answer suffice?”
Diluc didn’t know why he bothered to ask, he expected that Albedo would say something along the lines, but it didn’t bring Diluc any closer to his goal.
As a last resort, he went to Lisa and Jean, but they too only said that they liked Kaeya, but not romantically. It was then that Barbara came into the room and chose to end his futile attempt of finding the person Kaeya loved by informing them that his condition worsened, which meant Diluc was out of time.
While Jean and Lisa tried to console Barbara, Diluc quickly left the room and went upstairs to where Kaeya was. The Knights Headquarters had extra rooms for the injured and he knew that they put Kaeya in one. He didn’t even need to look, something told him that it was the room at the end of the corridor.
Diluc took a deep breath as he stood in front of the door, not knowing what he would find. He was afraid, but he shook his head and swallowed down his fears and regrets, then he entered the room.
The first thing he noticed was that it was cold. The room was significantly colder than usual, which was probably caused by the man who was lying on a bed in the corner of the room. Diluc noticed that his Cryo Vision was lying on a table next to the bed and it wasn’t glowing steadily, but was actually giving off a pulsating light. It grew dim before becoming brighter again.
Kaeya’s arms were folded over his chest. The rising and falling of it was barely noticeable, but other than that, Kaeya looked like he was peacefully sleeping. Diluc walked over to the bed and touched his shoulder.
He was freezing cold. It was even noticeable through the gloves the redhead wore.
Diluc glanced at the Vision on the table again before sighing and turning to face Kaeya properly. He looked at his sleeping form for a while before speaking up, hoping that his words reached Kaeya from wherever he was.
“What are you doing to me, Kaeya?” Diluc asked quietly, moving his hand to cup Kaeya’s cheek. “First you tell me that you’re a secret agent the day Father died, then you completely change into a person I don’t recognize anymore, and then I find out you’re freezing alive because you’re stupid enough to fall in love?”
Diluc laughed bitterly. “I… I hate you Kaeya. I hate that you’re always covering yourself in lies to protect others, I hate that you’re always smiling or even force yourself to do so even when you’re hurt, but most of all I…”
Suddenly Diluc’s vision blurred. He touched his eyes, noticing that he was crying. The only time he had cried was when his father died and after the fight with Kaeya, he had swallowed all of his feelings in order to protect himself.
“Most of all… I hate that I’m the reason for all of this because I let my feelings get ahead of me, I almost killed you and cast you out of the family, when I always regarded you as my family, my sworn friend and irreplaceable as a person. And now I can’t tell you any of this because you’re leaving me behind,” Diluc tearfully confessed, the words of Lumine still echoing in his head: “Cherish them and the time you have left.”
He moved closer, letting his heart decide for him once more. His Vision activated to warm Kaeya’s freezing body, but Kaeya did not move.
“Come back to me, Kae,” Diluc whispered and pressed his lips gently against Kaeya’s own, pouring all his feelings and warmth into the kiss in a last, hopeful attempt to wake him up.
When he moved away, he saw the Vision on the table glowing once more before going dim. Diluc instantly feared the worst, feeling his heart break. He wasted no time in running out of the room, almost running Barbara over, but he did not stop or care where he was going.
All he wanted to do right now is leave Mondstadt, leave the pain behind and run away like he did 4 years ago when his father died. His legs carried him to Starfell Lake where he finally collapsed and cried his heart out.
Diluc was such an idiot, always too busy to notice how others felt until it was too late. And now he had lost his last family that he already distanced himself from because he was too proud to apologize. What would the others think of him now? Would they realize eventually that it was all his fault? Would they blame him for running away again?
As he was looking at the reflection of himself in the water, disheveled hair and puffy eyes, he wondered if life was even worth living anymore now that the only person he really cared for was gone. He moved away from the water instead and closed his eyes, curling into himself as he laid down on the grass, crying himself to sleep.
When Diluc woke from his slumber, still feeling exhausted, he noticed that the sun was setting. He felt strangely empty at first, but when the memories of the past hours returned to him, he had no choice but to accept it.
He was feeling completely numb, but he had to tidy himself up because he had to take over Charles’ shift for tonight. He didn’t want to return to the winery yet, delaying the inevitable news that he had to tell Adelinde.
Diluc moved to the water, fixed his hair by putting it into a high ponytail and brushed as much dirt off as he could, then walked back to Mondstadt. He kept a neutral expression on his face, talked to and looked at no one until he arrived at the tavern.
The tavern was empty, so he had no choice but to make eye contact with Charles when he went inside, telling him that he could go home now.
“Are you sure, Master Diluc?” Charles asked. If he noticed Diluc’s inner turmoil that he tried to keep hidden, he didn’t comment on it.
“Please go home, Charles,” Diluc ordered and Charles bowed in understanding, leaving Diluc alone at the bar. He tried to busy himself with cleaning the dishes and glasses, even though they haven’t been used.
Diluc had his back turned to the door when he heard someone entering the tavern. He didn’t think that it was Charles so it must be a customer, but he was really not in the mood to serve customers right now.
“Sorry, we’re closed,” Diluc said without turning around, taking a glass to polish it.
The person who entered chuckled in such a familiar way that Diluc’s ears perked and he stopped polishing the glass for a moment.
“Turning away paying customers? How rude.”
Diluc dropped the glass as he whipped around, staring at the man he had presumed as dead just a few hours ago and yet Kaeya was here, leaning against the door with his usual cat-like smirk.
“What? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Kaeya chuckled, walking towards the counter where Diluc was standing, who was still frozen in place because of the shock.
“K...Kaeya?”
Kaeya put his elbows on the table, then leaned forward and put his head into his hands, grinning at Diluc.
“The one and only!” he chirped. His expression morphed into genuine surprise when Diluc stepped around the counter, grabbed his collar and yelled into his face.
“What in Barbatos name did you think when you came into my bar, on the verge of dying? Do you think I would just not care?” Diluc angrily asked, tears streaming down his cheeks before he stopped pulling on his collar and instead leaned forward to hide his head in Kaeya’s chest.
“I spent time trying to figure out how to help you. Then I saw you die and I was unable to do anything. I felt so powerless,” he confessed, shaking slightly because the emotions he felt in his heart were just too much.
As Diluc cried, he felt a strong pair of arms wrapping themselves around him, gently rubbing circles into his back. Diluc felt Kaeya’s warmth and it helped to calm him down, although he was still angry and hurt. He was so sure that he saw the Vision dimming, like it would when its bearer dies.
“I’m sorry Diluc, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Kaeya quietly said before moving Diluc away for a bit. “When our fight happened and you left Mondstadt, I realized that I felt something for you. I didn’t know what it was, not when you returned and changed as a person. I wanted to tell you earlier how I felt, that I was sorry but… you seemed to have moved on without me.”
Diluc looked at him, feeling speechless. “Well, actually, I felt the same way,” he blurted out without thinking, and when his mind caught up to what he just said, he felt his face heat up and look away in embarrassment.
That earned him a snort and then a genuine, relieved sounding laugh from Kaeya and he found that he couldn’t be mad at him anymore, even though he was still embarrassed.
“I guess there’s one thing I can say clearly now,” Kaeya said and cupped Diluc’s cheeks, looking at him with such fondness that it almost scared Diluc. “I love you, I cherish you and I’m sorry for hurting you.”
Diluc felt his heart skip a beat as Kaeya returned the kiss that Diluc gave him earlier. Overcoming the surprise of being kissed, he soon moved his head so that their lips fit better and kissed Kaeya back with so much desperation and only moved away when he couldn’t breathe anymore.
He was breathing hard while Kaeya smirked again and Diluc tried his best to hold himself back from punching his face.
“You’re an idiot.”
“I know.”
“And I hate you.”
“I know that too.”
“Please don’t leave me again.”
Kaeya took him in his arms again, holding Diluc tightly.
“I won’t. I promise.”