Work Text:
“Why, Master Diluc! What are you doing down there?” Kaeya playfully smiled as he peered down the opening in the frozen ground of the domain. It appeared as though the floor gave way when some unsuspecting pyro allogene stepped on the trap.
The bottom of the hole opened up to a large cavern that Kaeya couldn’t even see the entirety of. Directly under the opening of the floor, down below in the cavern, Diluc stood on a small platform surrounded by ice. The redhead was looking, as per usual, unamused. He stared at Kaeya from below.
“The knights really sent a cryo user to a cryo domain?” Diluc sighed. Kaeya clapped his hands in glee and laughed.
“If only I had a kamera right now! What’s wrong, Master Diluc? Is there no opening down there for you to walk to?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know I can’t walk across the ice,” Diluc shouted.
“Ah, that’s right. But surely you can swim?” Diluc wanted to wipe that cheeky smirk right off the cavalry captain’s face more than getting out of the cavern.
“Will you just go get a rope?”
“The acting grandmaster would kill me if I left a helpless civilian in here for so long.”
“Helpless?” Diluc scoffed. He took a deep breath and walked to the edge of the platform, placing one foot on the ice. Almost immediately the ice began to melt, and he began to sink. He pulled back and looked up at Kaeya once more. “There’s no bottom to the ice. Furthermore, the ice grows back instantly.” They watched as the ice magically spread to its original untainted form.
“Huh. Is there another way out down there?”
“There’s a tunnel but-” Diluc stopped talking and glared in disbelief as Kaeya jumped down, pulling his glider out in time for a safe landing onto the platform. The cavalry captain and the vineyard owner stared at each other before the latter finally spat out, “Are you daft?” Kaeya brought a hand up to his chest in a faux show of hurt.
“Daft? What a posh word.”
“Sir Kaeya, what on Teyvat are you doing…?” Diluc seethed.
“I’m rescuing you, Master Diluc.” Kaeya ignored the literal steaming man in front of him and took in his surroundings. The cavern was larger than it appeared from above, which would explain the prominent echo everytime one of them spoke. The ice surrounding the platform went on for quite a distance, almost until the eye could see. He could barely see the tunnel that Diluc had mentioned before.
“Do tell me how you plan on rescuing me…”
“Well, I suppose I could make an ice ladder and, ah, oops!” Kaeya made a dramatic display of forgetting a key detail. “That won’t work for you, will it?”
“Why don’t you make yourself an ice ladder and go get a–” A deafening crackling sound cut him off. The pair could only gape as the ceiling above fixed itself, much like ice around the platform had earlier. Kaeya sheepishly looked at Diluc, who returned the gaze with a ferocity that almost scared the cavalry captain.
“Kaeya, I swear to Barbatos…”
“Look, there’s still the tunnel. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Can you even walk on the ice?” Without hesitation, Kaeya stepped onto the suspicious ice that was now glowing, illuminating the cavern. Kaeya grinned and peered at Diluc. The stubborn man crossed his arms and looked away, muttering something unintelligible under his breath. Kaeya walked around, never veering too far from the platform. Once he was satisfied with the integrity of the ice, he returned to the platform.
“How intriguing. This is just like that one type of trap to catch mice, but for pyro allogenes. Now if you had a geo vision…” Diluc held the bridge of his nose.
“Just go through the tunnel and–”
“I’m not leaving you alone here.” Kaeya’s sudden tonal shift shocked Diluc. “That’s the whole reason you’re in this mess, because you do things on your own without any support.”
“I have support…”
“Having maids and patrons who will cover for you and give you intel isn’t the support I’m talking about.” Diluc remained silent, studying Kaeya’s serious and blunt demeanor that usually only came out when the young man was drunk.
The blue-haired cavalry captain clapped his hands together.
“Now let’s think of a plan to get out of here,” he said with resounding determination. Kaeya got on his knees and inspected the ice. “You really can’t see anything below the ice. It’s endless.” He continued to mutter to himself for a minute before he actually spoke to Diluc. “Can you throw a fireball or something to see how far down the ice goes?” Kaeya asked without looking up. Diluc sighed and kneeled by the edge of the platform near Kaeya, though noticeably further back than the other. He placed his hand on the ice and it began to melt. Pushing his hand down, he summoned flames that continued to further melt the ice. The pair watched the spectacle before them, searching for any end to the ice below. Diluc strained himself to keep the flame going further down, but it was endless.
“That’s enough, Diluc.”
Diluc, not listening, increased his flames. Kaeya had to back away as the heat started to be unbearable. After about half a minute, the fire faded out and Diluc was left sweating from the exertion. Surely he wouldn’t have been so exhausted from this. Kaeya’s seen the Darknight Hero himself use his vision more than that in less time.
“How long have you been stuck down here?” Diluc looked at him and grunted.
“I’ll be here forever if you don’t go do your job.”
Kaeya watched as the ice grew back to its original state as if Diluc hadn’t just unleashed his fury on it. He sighed and crossed his arms, looking around at his surroundings once more. At this point, he started to regret jumping down. He tried to weigh his options when a loud grumble could be heard. Kaeya looked at Diluc in surprise. The redhead refused to face him in a stubbornly childish way. As much as the cavalry captain wanted to laugh, he instead dug in his pack for a protein bar and without saying anything tapped the hungry young man on the shoulder and gave him the bar.
Diluc took it without argument.
“Thanks.” Quickly and without shame, Diluc devoured the bar.
“It’s about time we get outta here,” Kaeya said.
“How?” Kaeya grinned and turned around, getting on one knee and holding his arms out from his side. He looked back at Diluc.
“C’mon, let’s go.” Diluc looked disturbed.
“You have to be kidding,” Diluc exasperated.
“Well can you think of a better–”
“Yeah, I can think of something better than a freaking piggy back ride!”
“Swallow your pride, Master Diluc, and just get on my back.” Diluc just stared at him incredulously. “You’re not getting out of here any other way,” Kaeya said in a sing-song voice.
“Kaeya…” Yup. Diluc sounded angry.
“I won’t tell anyone. Now let’s get going. I’m sure Adelinde will have a nice dinner waiting for you.”
Reluctantly, Diluc walked up behind Kaeya, staring down at the smirking cavalry captain.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” the redhead muttered before slowly getting on Kaeya’s back.
Kaeya shakily stood up with a groan.
“You’re a little heavy–urk–you’re–ack–choking–me!”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t notice.” Diluc unhooked his arm from around Kaeya’s neck and held onto
his shoulders, leaning as far as he was willing against the younger’s back.
“Right. Don’t try that on the ice and hang on tight.”
“Just focus on not slipping,” Diluc said.
Kaeya slowly stepped onto the ice. While normally he could traverse it quite easily, he had to now account for the added weight that begrudgingly sat on his back. He would need to be quick because there was no way he could support Diluc’s weight all day. Gingerly, he put one foot in front of the other, creeping along the ice.
“Ya know, I remember this being the other way around a long time ago,” Kaeya broke the tense silence. Diluc had paused before saying anything.
“...you still think of those days?” Kaeya sighed and dropped his upbeat demeanor.
“You think I wouldn’t?” Diluc’s grip on Kaeya slackened. It was miniscule, but Kaeya noticed it all the same.
“I wouldn’t think you’d want to.” Kaeya grunted in response, masked as an effort to hoist Diluc further up his back, but he didn’t bother continuing the curt conversation. He decided to focus on taking one step at a time. They were so far away from the platform now that it would mean death for Diluc if he were to fall. Kaeya wasn’t letting anything happen to Diluc…
But of course at the exact moment he thought that, Kaeya’s foot slipped.
He didn’t fall completely, but it wasn’t a good scenario nonetheless. In order to keep from going down all the way, Kaeya fell on one of his knees, the other leg steadying himself so as to not drop Diluc. The moment Kaeya had lost his balance, Diluc instinctively clung to Kaeya as close and tight as possible, bringing his legs up as far as he could to keep away from the ice. His head was buried in Kaeya’s shoulder, as if he were too scared to look.
“It’s okay. That was just a slight miscalculation on my part,” Kaeya tried to reassure, but it was difficult to sound so chipper with his knee that now radiated pain.
“Maybe we should go back.”
“No, no. We made it this far.”
But Kaeya was leery at getting up from his position. It was hard enough doing so on the platform, but now that he was on the ice? It was risky. Of course Kaeya was fully acquainted with standing up on ice, but not with another adult hanging off his back. Kaeya took a deep breath and concentrated. His vision began to glow as a small ice pillar began to form under his knee. It grew tall enough to help Kaeya regain his footing. Just as he had done so, the ice he created began to melt away.
“Guess this place doesn’t like anyone messing with its ‘natural beauty.’” Diluc moved his head away from Kaeya’s shoulder, but remained as close as possible.
“You won’t be able to make it to the tunnel,” Diluc almost whispered. Kaeya gritted his teeth and continued to slowly make his way toward the assumed exit, trying to not make it apparent how much he now favored his injured knee. “Kaeya!” The cavalry captain ignored him completely. One foot in front of the other, he pushed forward. He must have spaced out at some point because he couldn’t remember how he actually made it to the tunnel that, to his dismay, contained the same ice as the cavern. Instead of it being a gradual incline, there were stairs.
“Well, we’ve made it this far…” Kaeya said as he took the first step. He could feel Diluc’s grip tighten, but the redhead didn’t say a word. The stairs were far harder than they should have been, and by the time they reached the end of the tunnel, Kaeya was exhausted. It was a struggle to hold Diluc’s legs any longer, but thankfully the tunnel led right next to the entrance of the domain.
“You can put me down.” Kaeya refused and made his way to the giant doors. “I was able to walk on this before, it’s fine.”
“It’ll be fine once I put you on a surface I know you won’t melt through. That’s how you got stuck down there in the first place, isn’t it?” Kaeya didn’t give a chance for Diluc to respond. “The doors are right there. We’ll make it.”
As soon as the pair made it outside, Kaeya let Diluc off of him, hoping the other wouldn’t notice how he favored his leg. The giant doors swung closed behind them, and the two were able to let out a sigh of relief.
“That was probably the most inefficient way to help me,” Diluc said quietly. He crossed his arms and looked out at the distant view of the sea which the moonlight reflected so beautifully off of. “But, thank you.” Kaeya allowed himself to smile softly and genuinely.
“You’re welcome, Master Diluc. Please don’t go in this domain again. It’s apparent that pyro vision holders aren’t welcome. I promise you the Knights of Favonius will take care of this one.” Diluc nodded but seemed distracted. He studied Kaeya for a few seconds before moving in front of him and bending down with his back towards him.
“Let’s get you to the cathedral.”
“W-what?” Kaeya sputtered.
“You think I didn’t notice what happened back there with your knee? You can’t walk all the way there and the traveler isn’t here to teleport anyone.”
“But I–”
“Swallow your pride, Sir Kaeya, and just get on my back.” Kaeya almost fell over in shock when Diluc turned his head toward him grinning.
“Let me guess; I’m not getting out of here any other way?”
“That’s right.” The cavalry captain’s shock faded and he smiled. He got on Diluc’s back, much like he would when they were kids. Diluc started the trek towards the city.
“You’ve got too much hair,” Kaeya said as he pushed Diluc’s loose hairs out of his face.
“You also complained about that when we were kids.”
“Maybe we haven’t changed as much as we thought huh, big brother?” Kaeya said it teasingly and patted Diluc’s head, but the redhead didn’t shake him off or respond angrily.
“Hm. Maybe,” Diluc said softly.