Chapter Text
Sometimes, when teasing and jokes go too far, the damage done to the person targeted can be irreparable. It’s possible that no harm was meant initially, or that someone just wanted to embarrass their friend a little bit. Maybe they wanted to humble some they don’t get along with, someone with an overinflated ego that needs to be taken down a peg. The issue with treating somebody like a joke is, you can never be too careful, and you can always make careless misjudgements.
The air was a little bit too thick in the tavern after Amber decided to pull a “prank” on the Cavalry Captain. She would have never meant any real harm to come to the guy! She’d swear on her job and anything else dear to her if it meant someone would believe that she didn’t mean anything bad to happen. It was just supposed to be a prank that popped the blimp that was Kaeya’s ego.
But seriously, for the past week, Kaeya had been running unchecked through the KoF HQ. Asking knights in training to run errands for him, flirting with the nuns while on the clock, turning in all of his reports to Acting Grand Master Jean at the last minute, or worse, late! He just seemed to think he ran the place! Like the world practically revolved around him. Amber personally couldn’t take any more of his antics so she decided to take it upon herself to put him in his place, she’d take one for the team. Handling the aftermath would be no problem for the Outrider anyway.
But this…situation. This was not what she was expecting.
Kaeya’s face had to have been cherry red. He just stared up at everyone from his seated position on the floor with wide worried eyes while the whole tavern just stared back at him.
His calm and collected mask started slipping as he hissed at Amber who held his eyepatch in her hand. “I told you no,” he said with venom lacing his voice. Getting up from his seat on the floor, he points a finger at her. “Jean will hear about this.”
He turns to Diluc, finger still extended. “And you. You know what happened to me. You know why I can’t show that to people, but you still let it go on. You could have stopped her.”
“Kaeya-,” the traveler starts, trying to compose themselves from the initial shock.
“Oh shut up,” Kaeya spat at them, rendering them silent. “I can see the way you’re all looking at me; you’re horrified! You’re all looking at me like you might be sick!” he said, turning all around in a frenzy to glare at everyone around him. To add insult to injury, his frantic shouting was causing the people around him to back away, fear and disgust evident in their expressions.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and threw his hands up in exacerbation. “Un-fucking-believable,” Kaeya scoffed. Reaching in his pocket, he grabbed some money for his drinks and paid with a forced smile, hands shaking with rage. He quickly snatched his eyepatch from Amber, and left the establishment with a slam of the door. Not a word more was heard from Kaeya for the rest of the evening.
How could this have all gone so terribly wrong? Amber wondered, bringing a hand up to her face in embarrassment. Her pranks have never failed this badly! How could I have miscalculated so much! I didn’t know Kaeya was hiding something like that!
The sight of Kaeya’s full face remained burnt in her mind. Sculpture-esque beauty everywhere except for his right eye and everything above it. Tight and dry skin resembling layers of liquid wax covered his face from the height of his cheekbone through his hairline. Patches of skin were discolored darker and lighter in some places. His eyelid lacked lashes and appeared to be partially fused closed due to the scarring of the surrounding tissue. No right eyebrow could be seen, and the part of his scalp covered by his signature side bangs was completely barren of hair. It was clear that the injury responsible for his scars prevented hair growth in that area as well. The most jarring details were the deep scar running from cheek to forehead that was clearly made by some sort of large blade and the indentation in his forehead from what could only be missing bone.
If she were being completely honest, the only word she could think of to describe the sight was…”grim.” There was going to be hell to pay if Jean really did find out about this.
Amber sat down on a stool at the bar with a heavy sigh. “God dammit, Amber,” she cursed herself. “You are such a fucking dolt.”
Diluc set down the glass he was cleaning when Kaeya went on his rant. “For what it’s worth, Amber, He isn’t a vengeful or grudge-holding person.” Diluc gave the best optimistic face he could give as he spoke, earning a sad smile from Amber. “If you go to him and genuinely apologize and try to make it up to him, he’s likely to forgive you in no time. Though he does get very hot at first, and you are probably going to have to face Jean as he tells her everything.”
Amber groaned. “This was a complete disaster! I didn’t know half of his fucking face was melted off! He was just being so fucking obnoxious at work and I thought I could humble him with a prank!” She put her arms up on the bar counter and buried her head in them. “It was just supposed to be a joke,” she cried. Her face grew hot and tears stung at her eyes. She was so ashamed of herself.
The traveler, who had been watching this interaction stepped over to Amber and began rubbing her back. “It’s gonna be alright, Amber. You didn’t know. None of us did. Except Diluc apparently? What was the deal with that? He singled you out,” the traveler eyed Diluc a tad bit suspiciously.
The bartender sighed, and frowned, staring straight at the floor rather than make eye contact with anyone as he recalled a snippet of information. “I was there when the incident that caused his scars went down. It was the worst night of both of our lives, and neither of us like to talk about it or even remember it,” he reached a hand up to adjust his hair and took a deep breath. “He has always felt….embarrassed and self conscious of his scars since that day. Now looking back I really should have said something when I saw that it was going too far, but I thought it would just be fine. I’m guilty in all of this too, Amber.”
The “this is likely the reason why he covers them up and acts overconfident and flirtatious” remained unsaid.
The traveler just nodded, satisfied with his answer though having an inkling that there is something Diluc isn’t telling them.
“What in the world am I going to do to make this up to him?” Amber blankly stared straight ahead at seemingly nothing. Her eyes were now red from crying and wiping tears. She looked at Diluc with little hope in her eyes and asked: “Diluc, I know your relationship with Kaeya is strained, but is there anything you know he loves or even small things he appreciates?”
Thinking for a moment he replied: “For foods he loves chicken mushroom skewers, red wine, and…some sort of tear-and-eat flatbread he’s always made since he was a child. He would eat that for breakfast lunch and dinner if he could. In fact, he absolutely loves any food that doesn’t require utensils to eat. Something about the ‘chemistry of one’s hands interacting with the food makes it taste better?’ I thought it was a bit odd as a child, but I’ve noticed that it’s always been something that brings him great comfort, it must have been an important family tradition from his early childhood. I respect it a lot more now as an adult.”
Diluc looked up to see the traveler and Amber looking at each other with a knowing smile. “What?” He crossed his arms at the two of them.
“Oh, nothing Master Diluc. I just am marveling at how you know so many intricate details about someone you care so little about on a daily basis…supposedly,” Traveler said with a smirk.
“I never said I don’t care about him at all,” protested Diluc, turning around so as to not have his face be read into as well. “He’s genuinely hurt right now. I’m not so heartless as to let someone I used to be closer to hurt alone just because our relationship is strained now. I don’t hate the guy.”
Amber smiled and looked down at her lap. “Thank you for helping me, Diluc. What about material things? He dresses so flashy, he must love jewelry and clothing right?”
“He does enjoy fashion, jewelry and all of that. However, what he loves the most are books. He has always loved reading, even as a child. Because of his constant pursuit of knowledge, he is almost as intimidating as Lisa in regards to how much he just…knows.” Diluc paused for a second, coming up with an idea. “Ask him to explain something you know very little about. He loves to feel helpful in that regard. He also will gladly talk your ear off for two hours if it is something he knows a lot about, so be warned. If he doesn’t happen to know everything about what you asked, give him a day or two and he will come back to you asking if you still needed the information. If you want your relationship with him to be built back the quickest, say yes. Show him he is needed and wanted around.”
“This is perfect information, Diluc. Thank you so much. I’m going to get on that tomorrow. I’ll probably have to give him space, but I’ll at least look into getting him his favorite foods and novels.” With that, Amber got up and paid for her drinks, leaving just the traveler and Diluc at the tavern.
A knock came on Jean’s door while she was in the middle of finishing up a stack of paperwork. Judging by the urgency, she assumed something had happened and got up immediately to answer the door.
As soon as she did, an icy gale nearly blew her away. Kaeya, she thought. In front of her stood the cavalry captain, eyepatch hastily attached to his face. He was red in the face and even redder in the eye. His hair was all messed up like he had been forcefully hand-combing it forward into his face on the right side.
“Kaeya? What in the world happened? You look a mess! Are you alright?” Jean’s rapid fire questions went unanswered until Kaeya made it inside her office, shutting and locking the door before plopping down on her new couch. His vision glowed brightly, dropping the temperature of the room a bit.
He sighed deeply. Then, without dragging on his silence any further said: “It’s Amber. She…she showed my eye to everyone.”
Jean was confused for a moment, unsure if she heard correctly. A feeling only describable as anger started bubbling in her chest, but she couldn’t show it until she got all the information. “What?”
“She was playing around, and…She wanted to take off my eyepatch. I told her no, but she kept pushing. She asked what I was hiding underneath since I’d told everyone that my eye was fine.” Kaeya inhaled sharply. “It didn’t seem to matter what I said, she just wouldn’t let up until eventually she just…ripped it off,” Kaeya said, sounding utterly defeated.
“What?” Jean demanded. At this point she was trying her best not to get pissed off. Her own vision began to feel warm on her hip.
Kaeya’s voice got a bit smaller, but more shaky. “Everyone…saw me.” His arms wrapped around himself and he tried rocking back and forth to calm himself down. “They saw my right side, I-I don’t-!” His hands, needing something to do, began scratching at his sleeves to try and find some kind of soothing. “They saw everything. They saw my burns a-and my scars, and they saw…” With a trembling breath he lifted his hand up to his forehead, ghosting his fingers across where the indentation left by Diluc’s claymore was. As he explained himself, the temperature of the room steadily dropped, and it wasn’t long before the two of them could see their breath.
Kaeya let out a low keening noise and tried to catch his breath which seemed to be rapidly running away from him in the crisp cold atmosphere of Jean’s office. The Acting Grandmaster rushed to sit next to him on the couch and wrap him in her arms.
“Shh, Kaeya. You’re alright. You’re shaken up and scared, but right now you’re safe. I won’t let any of what happened today affect your work life. I can keep them quiet. And if anyone tries to give you problems for it, then you just tell me their name,” Jean promises.
“They all know,” Kaeya starts, his voice breaking “How fucking hideous I am!” By this point he was beyond comforting. He just needed to let it all out. “You didn’t see their faces, Jean!” He wailed. “Oh Gods…they thought I was disgusting! I am disgusting!” Hot tears poured from the captain’s eyes and onto Jean’s suit. Jean just rubbed Kaeya’s back, offering quiet shushes and reassurances while he cried.
After about 10 minutes, Kaeya had calmed down. His cries were reduced to infrequent sniffles and whimpers. “Now they know I’m ugly but I parade around here like I’m beautiful. I’m a goddamn fraud!”
Jean let out a short chuckle at the last part, but it made Kaeya smack her on the back.
“Jeanie! I’m serious!” Kaeya pouted.
“Kaeya, you are beautiful. And you’re beautiful with your scars. They give your face character, and make you unique!” Jean said, trying to be positive.
“What they give me is nerve damage and self esteem issues. I miss running my hands on my face and feeling my eyebrow. I miss not having a portion of my skull missing! I’ll miss not hearing people call me all sorts of melted food themed nicknames behind my back…” Kaeya’s eyes started to tear up again, but he just shook his head and sighed.
Jean’s face turned serious. “Will you tell me the names of everyone at the get together?”
Kaeya bit his lip and hesitated for a second. “Okay…Traveler, Diluc, Amber, Paimon, and some random patrons that I don’t remember the names of.”
“Okay,” Jean said very matter-of-fact. “I’ll get right on this Kaeya. I’m shocked that Amber would do something like this, but I believe you, and I want you to know that I’m on your side.”
“Thank you, Jean.” Kaeya said. “I’m sorry for causing trouble.”
“Kaeya, you are not at fault here. I’m going to talk to Amber and we are going to sort this all out. She’s definitely getting a consequence for not respecting your boundaries,” Jean declared.
“Thank you.”
Kaeya gave Jean one last hug before getting up to leave. As soon as he was gone, the room quickly went back to its original temperature. Jean heaved a sigh and fell back onto her couch.
“Am I the leader of the knights or the ringleader for a circus?” Jean pinched the bridge of her nose. Amber was not going to hear the end of this.