Archive of Our Own

Dilluc Ragnvidr was known as a perfect man, never faltering, never breaking. So upon waking at his normal time of 8:45 am he swiftly got out of bed and proceeded to go about his normal daily routine with the calendar on the wall prompting him to remember he was working the full shift at the angel’s share while Charles was on holiday. He was working all 5 shifts this week, to repay the man for covering two of his own the week before and to give him a break to go and visit family outside of Mondstadt.

He went through all of his routines, getting changed and discarding his pyjamas into the laundry pile for a maid to remove later, getting dressed into his normal attire, crossing yesterday off of the calendar and then checking his daily schedule in his business journal. It was a relatively clear day, though he recalled Adelinde clearing most of his week for him to focus on the angel’s share. All that was left on his to-do list was to check the inventory he had at the winery and take any surplus with him to restock the tavern upon arrival. So with his journal tucked safely into his satchel, he made his way downstairs for breakfast and coffee, knowing it would be served at 9:15 sharp.

Upon arrival into the kitchen, Adelinde was placing his food on the table, her own to the side of his, as he noticed a bag next to his chair, which hadn’t been planned, nor was it part of his routine. He looked at her inquisitively, settling down into his regular seat and had a sip of coffee, before questioning her about it.


“Adelinde? There's another bag next against my chair?”


“It is due to storm tonight. I thought it would be best to take preventative measures, and have you stay at the tavern tonight. I have already sent word ahead with another maid to make the bedroom to a good standard, and the bag is complete with everything you’ll need for an overnight stay.”  She spoke, clearly anxious about her decision, as she hadn’t asked, but had done what she thought best.


Diluc nodded back at her, processing the change in his routine, and continued to make his way through the breakfast. After finishing his food and coffee, he stood and made his way to exit to the cellar to do his stock take, before he was interrupted by her once again.


“Master Diluc?”


“Adelinde?”


“Due to the storm, I did take some extra precautions, they’re in the bottom of the bag. It also has all of the regular items to your schedule, including a calendar.” She looked at him, face softening slightly. It wasn’t a secret that he didn’t like storms, to any of the residents at the winery, but only Adelinde, Kaeya and Elzer had interacted with him during one.

He knew exactly what extra precautions entailed, meaning his card deck for Genius Invokation TCG as well as a special cup without ability spill, not unlike a children’s sippy cup. He gave a curt nod, and made his way down to the cellar.

With a note of what the tavern needed and what he needed to replenish in the business journal, he signalled for one of the maids to help him move the inventory upstairs. Elzer had already called for a horse-drawn carriage to be at the winery to move the stock, so it was a matter of getting out of the winery and to Mondstadt in one piece. With the 27 bottles of dandelion wine, 3 creates of cider, and 2 creates of regular beer tucked gently into a padded area, and many jars of juice, types of coffee and cocoa paste placed alongside it, he bid goodbye to Adelinde and Elzer, put both bags into the carriage and climbed in himself.

Hauling himself into the carriage to avoid muddying his boots, he sat and got lost in his thoughts while the horse made its way through to Mondstadt. He was thinking about how he had acted as a child, especially when it came to storms. He had always been petrified of them, cried, and begged his father, well into his teen years to stay with him through the night. And now no one alive had seen him cry, other than that fateful day. To be entirely truthful to himself, he wasn’t sure how he would cope tonight. Since his return, Adelinde or Elzer had always made excuses to stay with him throughout the night, and of course, he knew they were excuses but he hadn’t had the heart to turn them away as it was clear they both cared dearly for him. But now, he was alone.

That wasn’t even touching upon the problem he had with storms when his head filled with a fog and he found himself unable to act normal. His father had always known what to do, or how to comfort him, so he had never paid much attention to the explanation. It was something along the lines of his brain regressing to a childlike state to deal with a childlike fear, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it at all. Idly, he wondered how much Adelinde and Elzer knew about it. Since the first time he had spilt juice when trying to make it after being woken up and Adelinde had helped clean it up, she had always been the one to fill his cup. Likewise, Elzer had been the one to get his card deck, as he enjoyed shuffling the cards to soothe himself, or when younger enjoyed the pictures and would create stories and universes about the characters.

Vaguely noticing that they had passed the main entrance to Mondstat, Diluc tore himself from his thoughts and pulled himself back together, fixing his tie and his hair as well as getting ready to stand for arrival at the side gate, used for unloading produce and stock for all stores around the cities’ centre. He was 2 hours early to the tavern, but fixing stock only took an hour and a half, so his regular arrival time wasn’t too far thrown off, and he could busy himself with making some regular patrons’ drinks early. Upon arrival, he hopped off the carriage and unlocked the door, before busying himself with helping the carriage driver unload the stock into the tavern. Once everything had been unloaded, and in one piece, he tipped the driver a handsome 1,000 Mora for staying silent as well as not breaking any of the cargo and began moving everything around himself.

It was a monotonous task, but one Diluc didn’t mind seeing to himself. Charles had always let him do the restock, as he liked to do it his own way and had his own rhythm, but Diluc supposed it could just be that Charles hadn’t wanted to do that part of the job. With the majority of the stock down in the basement, he pulled an extra bottle of dandelion wine out to keep behind the bar, with the idea to buy Kaeya’s silence and avoid any snarky comments due to the storm clouds overhanging Mondstadt.

While their relationship had been improving since the traveller had come into everyone’s lives, he wasn’t entirely sure that his social mask could hold up as it normally did on busy nights. Sure he could interact normally with drunk customers, and deal with Kaeya’s teasing and jabs, but tonight was different. He was unsure if he’d reach out to Kaeya in a soft way, or if he’d start crying the second Kaeya made a jab, and honestly, he wasn’t sure which would be worse. It was an open display of weakness, either way. Both options were much better than snapping at his brother, and straining their already fragile relationship though, so if he could keep Kaeya away for the night, today’s shift wouldn’t be too bad.

It wasn’t far from the regular opening time of the tavern, so after wiping down the bar, already clean from the night before, he opened the door 20 minutes early and busied himself with slicing limes for the more exotic drinks. Slowly, the bar began to fill with those on their lunch breaks after a juice and lemonade mix, or coffee, with Kaeya poking his head in to say hello.

“Master Diluc,” He started, getting cut off almost instantly.

“Sir Kaeya,” Dilluc responded, keeping his voice level, social mask snapping back into place perfectly.

“The Angel’s Share is open early. I was wondering what the special occasion was, is that a problem?” Kaeya made his way forward, leaning both forearms on the bar to look up at Diluc.

“I was here early after refilling all the stock, nothing else. Thought I’d open slightly early and get other’s drinks prepared.” He turned his back, avoiding a curious eye, to grab another glass for a knight's drink.

“But I see you didn’t have mine prepared ahead of time, so cruel to your dear brother?” Kaeya spoke, grinning at Diluc, a smile reserved for teasing him specifically.

“Well, it is 3:45 pm, and you are not due to end your shift until 5, no? We can’t have the Cavalry Captain of Mondstadt wandering the town while drunk on shift, can we? It’ll make the knights look more pathetic than they already are.” Diluc bit back with a slight smirk, watching Kaeya’s jaw fall open slightly in fake hurt, whilst thinking of a response.

“Are you implying that I am a lightweight Master Diluc?” Kaeya dramatically moved a hand over his chest, “Oh how you wound me.”

Diluc shook his head lightly, turning to stare at Kaeya, “Yes I am, now get out until the end of your shift.” And Kaeya couldn’t argue with that, so he just nodded, waved to the other patrons and made his exit.

Time passed by quickly with no one interacting with him other than to ask for new drinks, and he was content with the hours flying by as it meant sooner to close, and then sooner to sleep. Hopefully, he would sleep through the storm, even though he knew the chances were slim, but was once again pulled out of his thoughts by Kaeya and Rosaria barging in, alongside Lisa. He found himself slightly upset that Kaeya wasn’t alone, for some strange reason. Forcing himself to move past that, he was glad that Kaeya was in a group, it meant that he would be left out of the teasing and jabs, and only asked for drinks which he supposed he was okay with. It was his job after all.

It was a Wednesday, one of the busier nights at the tavern so he wasn’t too surprised at the big rush between 6 and 7 pm, taking it in his stride, even if he was desperately missing Charles’ company and ability to chat to customers as a distraction. He wasn’t overwhelmed per se, but he was definitely struggling more than he normally did on this shift. The crowds didn't seem to be ebbing, but the storm had started. To an outsider, there was nothing wrong with the way Diluc had been treating customers as they simply thought it was busy, took their drinks, and left.

However, Kaeya knew. Kaeya, who had been staring at him since the thunder and lightning had begun, and Diluc wondered what he remembered about how he had been during the storms when they were younger. He wondered if Kaeya was also thinking about how they had shared a bed after Father had insisted Diluc was too old to share his bed, or if he remembered Diluc crying through the worst of the storms.

Needless to say, he wasn’t surprised when he was the one approaching the bar to order the next round of drinks for their table, leaning over the bar to start teasing him, with Diluc interrupting before he could.
“Next round of drinks are on the house, and I’ll give you a full bottle to not, tonight.”
Faltering and thinking through what to say before deciding to test his luck, Kaeya started, grin back on his face, “To not what, Master Diluc?”

“Kaeya. Not tonight. Please.” Diluc snapped at him, a frown heavy on his face after realising he had almost shouted, apologising quickly as the anxiety about losing his brother started to build, “I’m sorry for snapping. Please take your drinks and leave me with space.” He slid a tray toward Kaeya, before picking a bottle of dandelion wine up by the base, and handing it over neck first, not unlike how he would hold a sword by the blade when passing Kaeya the handle as children. And he knew Kaeya thought that too, based on the way his eyes softened and took the bottle without another word. He was unable to figure out whether Kaeya’s gaze had softened sharing the memory, or if he simply understood his fear. Kaeya nodded at Diluc, pocketing the bottle and took the drink-filled tray back to his table.

Customers had slowly started to leave, tabs being paid, and with crowds dwindling, Diluc could finally take a breather. His anxiety hadn’t calmed whatsoever and he was dreading making the loud call for last drinks’ as he had no idea how meek his voice would sound, or if it would even be heard over the sound of rain hammering at the windows, or the crack of lightning, or-. Taking a deep breath to cut off the train of thought, he rested his palms on the bar, scrunching and un-scrunching his hands from fists in an effort to self-soothe, and noticed Kaeya staring at him once again. So naturally, he turned his back. After gathering himself once again, he made the last drinks’ call, took note of who ordered what, and busied himself with those orders. In an effort to kill more time, he took all the remaining drinks over to individual tables and chased up the last few tabs that needed to be paid, before returning to clean behind the bar and finish his notes on what stock needed replacing tomorrow.

Close to 30 minutes later, no one was remaining, other than Kaeya. He once again turned away from his younger brother, just because their relationship had been improving didn’t mean Diluc felt any more comfortable interacting when he knew Kaeya would see straight through his act. In the time taken where he had refilled the coffee jar in the corner, Kaeya had made his way toward the bar and taken a seat at his usual stool. Diluc took notice of the entirely unopened bottle of wine that was gently placed on the bar, and before he could question it, Kaeya started to speak.
“You still don’t like storms, huh?”

“Why thank you, Captain Obvious.” Diluc bit back at him, no real temper behind it.

Kaeya smirked, “Cavalry Captain Obvious to you actually.” Diluc rolled his eyes to that, wiping down some crumbs left at the bar, choosing to ignore his younger brother.

“You really weren’t that obvious though, if that’s what you’re concerned about,” Kaeya tried to reassure, and hopefully spark a new conversation. “I think it’s just because I know it bothers you, so I could see that you were tense throughout the night. It wasn't very polite of you to buy my silence though, dear brother.”

Choosing to ignore the first half of the sentence, Diluc responded dryly.  “Surely it must be better than me kicking you out, no?”

As if on queue, lightning struck, and then thunder boomed so loud it sounded as if it was above them. Diluc flinched, doing his best to hide it, and Kaeya just stared as the room fell into silence once again.

“We are closed now, you know that. Go home Kaeya.”

“And what will you be doing? I don’t live far from here, you do.” Kaeya idly responded, acting as though he was feigning interest while inspecting his fingernails to remove some debris.

“I’ll be staying the night at the tavern. Adelinde sent another maid ahead earlier today to turn a meeting room into a suitable room for the night.”

Kaeya glanced at the door and seemed to hesitate deep in thought. “I saw you flinch y’know. You could come back with me, or I can stay here if you’d like to not be alone.”

The foggy part of Diluc’s brain came back at full force at the idea of not being alone through the rest of the storm, and being able to stay with his younger brother, just like when they had been young themselves. Nevertheless, he still found himself saying no, without really thinking it through. Kaeya argued with him, having known Diluc would disagree about going to his, but sighed anyway.

“It really isn’t far y’know, and I don’t mind having guests. Or I could stay here?”

“I’m not a child Kaeya, I can look after myself during a storm.”

“You used to act like one during.” Came back the witty response, and Diluc froze. He had thought that Kaeya hadn’t known all these years but apparently, he had this whole time. Unable to think of a fully coherent response, he settled for “Well maybe I had just been a child at the time.” It was a lie, and they both knew it. More lightning illuminated the dimly lit tavern, and Diluc stood frozen in place.

Kaeya sighed, stretching and rolling his shoulders, “Well guess I’m staying the night. Is there another blanket around here?”

This time, Diluc didn’t argue, and just pointed to the room by the stairs, a door almost hidden by the stairwell and busied himself with the remainder of the bar. All that was left on his list was to sweep, condense any glass recycling together, and move any glasses to the sink. It was a disruption to his routine, but he supposed having Kaeya around wasn’t too bad.

It didn’t take long for him to finish the remainder of the chores and upkeep, before making his own way through to the room that had been set up for him to stay in. He hadn’t been sure of the new decoration there, as there hadn’t been any beds this morning. Upon opening the door, he was surprised to see two single beds, covered with dark red bedding, the same style of sheets that were placed in the winery.

He faltered, dumbly staring at the two beds, knowing there was no way he was getting rid of Kaeya now. But that also meant he couldn't use the cup Adelinde had placed in his bag, without merciless teasing from his younger brother. And to make matters worse, he was already thirsty. He had barely had 2 glasses of water throughout his 10-hour shift, as he had been unable to hide the shakiness in his hands when bringing the cup to his mouth, but he was not about to ask Kaeya to pour him a drink in his own tavern.

He had begun unpacking the bag, pulling out everything he needed to take to the bathroom to change when it was time to sleep. His cup stayed firmly out of sight, despite not being anything too obvious. That didn’t matter, he knew it had been designed for a child, and he also knew Kaeya would take notice even if it was plain. It was a regular cup size, but had a screw-on lid with a spout at the top, to minimise spillages as much as possible. Of course, if he turned it upside down then there wasn’t much the cup could do to do to aid him, but it got the job done for when he was too shaky to hold a regular glass steady. 

As he finished emptying the bag and moving it to the floor, also placing the card deck on the nearby nightstand he waited for Kaeya’s return, unsure of where he had disappeared to. He wasn’t waiting long, before the man re-entered through the door, trying to strike up another conversation.

“So, where was this, every time you’ve kicked me out for being too drunk?”

“It didn’t exist before today, I had no idea.”

“Wh-what do you mean you didn’t know there was a bedroom? It’s your tavern?” Kaeya questioned him lightly.

“How drunk are you? I already stated that Adelinde sent maids ahead. I had no idea there was more than one bed here. And no, it is not an invitation to stay whenever you get too drunk. You live around the corner.” He cut Kaeya off before he had the chance to even think about asking, seeing the man open his mouth to ask that very question. He assumed he was right, as Kaeya closed his mouth again and looked away from him. A small silence passed between them, but it wasn’t long before Kaeya started another conversation, to distract Diluc from where he was staring out the window as more thunder boomed overhead.

“Are you thirsty? You didn’t drink at all during your shift.”

“A little,” He admitted, “I was unable to hold the cup steady and didn’t want to embarrass myself.”

“Why don’t we go and get a drink then?” Kaeya gently tried coaxing Diluc to take care of himself, sensing that he just wouldn’t without the prompt. “I could always go for another, and let me guess. You’ll be having grape juice.”

Diluc was very clearly having some form of internal battle as he didn’t respond for almost a minute. He was between agreeing, but knowing he would be unable to pour it without making a mess, or admitting that he couldn’t and suffering through the teasing. Kaeya was waiting patiently for a response, without putting him on the spot, but Diluc could feel the rising curiosity building within his younger brother.

“I- hm. No, I don’t think I want a drink. If you’d like one, I can make one for you?” Diluc tried sidestepping the question and turning it back to Kaeya in hopes of him dropping it.

“You just admitted that you’re thirsty. I won’t even tease you for drinking straight grape juice this time if it means you’ll drink.”

“I can’t Kaeya. And I wouldn’t be able to drink with or without your teasing, and I’d much rather skip the embarrassment, thank you.”

“C’mon Diluc, I promise I won’t laughhh, I’m not that cruel.”

“I don’t know if I believe you on that, in all honesty.”

“Y’know what? Fair. Surely it’s not that bad, it’s not like you have a sippy cup or anything. So I don't understand the fuss you’re creating about it.” Lightning struck as Kaeya had finished speaking, and he wasn’t sure if Diluc froze and avoided any sort of eye contact because of the storm, or if he had hit the nail on the head.

Kaeya also paused, thinking through how to phrase his next comment while trying to keep a smile off his face. Diluc was clearly embarrassed, but also acting like a child. So he changed his mannerisms not dissimilar to how he’d treat Klee, bribery and slight distraction.

“Diluc? If it is a sippy cup or anything like that, I promise to not laugh if it means you’ll drink something.” Diluc still didn’t respond to his brother, but before he knew it Kaeya was grabbing both of his hands and hauling him into a standing position by the bed. Diluc nodded, to confirm that he did, in fact, own a cup made for children and waited for the inevitable teasing about to come his way. Much to his surprise, none did. Kaeya still holding his limp arms, and talking in such a gentle tone was only furthering the strong fog clouding his vision, to the point of him almost missing when Kaeya next opened his mouth to speak.

“I didn’t know you played Genius Invokation? Sooo, how about you tell me where your cup is, and you can show me your deck while we drink.”

Diluc stepped back, causing Kaeya to let go of his wrists, which caused some of the fuzz to ebb enough for him to be able to converse. “In all honesty, I don’t play. I don’t know the rules or how it works, but I do like to shuffle cards, and the pictures are nice to look at when… When I’m like this.” He tried avoiding Kaeya’s face, grabbing only the card deck, but when Kaeya didn’t move to head back out to the main tavern, instead getting prompted to get his cup once again.

“And the cup?”

“...It’s in my bag, I’ll grab it. But again, not a word of teasing Kaeya.” He walked around the bed, taking it out of his bag, and thrusting it at Kaeya to take.

Unable to resist, Kaeya cracked a small joke to test the waters with him, “I wouldn’t dream of it, ‘little’ brother.”
“Kaeya.”

“Sorryyy.” Kaeya dragged out the sorry, to show he truly wasn't sorry in the slightest, but Diluc found that he didn’t mind the comment too much, and let it slide.

They made their way back to the main tavern, each carrying an item to the bar, with Diluc sitting on the other side of the bar. And Kaeya ducked under the main bar, to look for juice to put in the cup.

“Kaeya?” Diluc started the conversation this time.

“Hm?”

“I don’t like this very much. It feels weird.”

“What does?”

“Everything.”

“Helpful,” He snorted at the dumb comment from the redhead, shaking his head lightly

“Well, you’re on my side of the bar for one. And you’re being nice instead of normal. And my head feels like it's full of fog. And it normally does when it storms, but never like this. Never this strong” Diluc was acutely aware of the fact that he was rambling, but Kaeya didn’t seem to mind so he continued. “I don’t like storms. I really don’t like them.” 

While Diluc had been talking, he had absentmindedly been shuffling the cards between his hands, enjoying the familiar feel of different textures of the front pieces, as well as splitting it perfectly in half. Simultaneously, Kaeya had opened and filled his cup with the grape juice he had been craving for hours, as well as poured himself some water, and was just watching Diluc shuffle his cards.

After sitting, with both of them enjoying their drinks, Kaeya started yet another conversation, seeing Diluc had nothing else to add to his list of complaints.“How about, you tell me about the fog in your head, and I’ll teach you how to play the cards?”

“I’m not really sure how to explain it though. It’s not only with storms, but it is strongest then. Pa- Crepus used to say it’s normal though”

“Did Cre-” Kaeya caught himself, choosing to match Diluc’s energy when conversing about their father. “Did Papa say anything else about it?”

“He said, um, it’s a childlike reaction to a childlike fear. Similar to a skill regression I suppose? Like if you don’t touch a bow for a long time, you feel like you’re relearning again.”

After speaking, Diluc took a long drag of juice, trying his best to not use two hands to hold it steady so he didn’t look like a child while acting like one. He had some dignity to keep after all. This failed, and with lightning crashing yet again, he flinched, causing him to drop the cup. Kaeya caught it, before it could hit the floor and passed it back to him with a soft smile and an even gentler tone.

“Maybe hold it with two hands yeah? Don’t think you want a mess to clean up tomorrow hm?”

The boy took the cup with a nod, placing it back on the bar in an effort to not show his embarrassment at such a small show of care. Kaeya smiled at him again, pulling his own deck of cards out of a pocket to place on the table.
“How about I start with the explanation first, and tomorrow we can play? Does that sound okay?”
Diluc nodded, eager to learn and pass on his knowledge to Adelinde and Elzer during the next storm where one of them will be inevitably stuck with him for the night.

So Kaeya began his explanation. He explained the difference between equipment cards, character cards, and support cards, he also explained how rounds work, when to end a round, and how the dice work for energy. After the brief explanation about how the game worked, Kaeya laid his deck out separated into those categories to show what was up his sleeve. A mix of energy cards, summon cards, and support cards to boost his own character. He also placed the cards, image up on the table, organising them into how they’d look in a real match. Character card in the middle, 5 randomly picked cards in his hand and even laid out where the dice would go for Diluc to gain an understanding for when they play together.

Diluc followed along closely, hand scribbling away at his leg, in an effort to take notes without physically taking them. It was a comforting feeling, and he was enjoying the display, so once it was over, he spread his own deck over the bar, sectioning it into the same piles that Kaeya had. During Kaeya’s explanation, Diluc hadn’t noticed how much more childlike he had begun to appear. Staring in awe at Kaeya’s deck, mumbling about how cool it was thinking Kaeya couldn’t hear, openly drinking from his cup with two hands, and of course, rubbing his eyes with his hands balled into fists after yawning. He took his time explaining the cards, sometimes tripping over words and showed Kaeya the cards he had made up his own explanation for. They mostly revolved around his character, so when the weapon was equipped it would make him “really super strong” and deal +5 damage instead of the meek +1. He got through showing each and every card to Kaeya, yawning more frequently but without falling asleep, even if he had unintentionally gotten much closer to Kaeya’s shoulder.

With both drinks long finished, Kaeya began restacking both of their card piles, leaving them clearly separated, of course not without slipping a duplicate of his own card into Diluc’s deck for him to find at a later date. Checking the time to show a nice and early 3:30 am, he decided to try and work on getting the boy to bed, hoping he’d be too tired to put up much of a fight. Klee could get explosive when she didn’t want to go to bed, and he really hoped Diluc would behave as they did when they had both been children. He had been an easy child, simply following his routine and crashing like a rock, so Kaeya hoped it wouldn’t be too difficult.

“Diluc? C’mon, we need to get you ready for bed,” Kaeya stood, holding an arm out for Diluc to hoist himself up with.
“Mmmm, do I have to? Could just sleep here.”

“I don’t think so, do you still have the same routine? That’ll need doing,” Kaeya began, preparing himself for an argument(?). However, at the reminder of his regular routine, Diluc perked up and made his way to the bedroom to grab the pyjamas that Adelinde had packed, and then went to go into the bathroom, with a small agreement of “Oh! That does need doing.”

The two went their separate ways, and Diluc focused on undoing the multiple layers to his tie, but otherwise changing without much difficulty. He untied his hair, brushed through it, and then made his way back into the bedroom to Kaeya struggling to move the beds slightly closer together, and stood to watch, instead of helping.

“Kaeya?”

“Diluc?” The other mimicked in a teasing tone.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m putting the beds closer together. You used to enjoy sharing, but I wasn’t sure what you’d prefer so I decided to place them closer together.”

“Oh.” He replied, unsure of what he would prefer if he were being honest with himself.

Diluc surveyed the room slowly, noticing that his cup had been refilled, presumably with water. Kaeya had also changed into pyjamas that looked much too big, left by Adelinde’s instructions probably. The dim room looked much more cosy now, and less intimidating to be sleeping in alone, but he still refused to answer Kaeya about sharing the bed. He was an adult, after all.

“Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Are you sharing or not?”

“I’m a grown man Kaeya. I don’t need to share a bed with my brother because of a small storm,” He lied through his teeth, feeling his heart drop ever so slightly at the idea of not being safe, and suffering silently through the night.

“Hey now,” Kaeya raised his hands placatingly to his chest, “I’m not the one acting 7 years old. I also never said that you had to share with me, I said the offer is there should you want it.” Unable to come up with a coherent answer, Diluc just nodded, avoiding looking at Kaeya again, clearly embarrassed. He had never put an age to how he felt, but 7 honestly didn’t feel too far from how he was feeling. Now that they were settling down into their own beds, he realised just how open he had been with Kaeya. He knew it was important to communicate with the other, but he also wanted to be wary of Kaeya’s potential teasing tomorrow.

The thunderstorm had apparently hit its peak, with the rain pelting at the windows, thunder booming, and 3 or 4 successive lightning strikes illuminating the room from the large window. He hadn’t paid attention after the past two, instead choosing to duck his head under the covers and bury down into them, making himself as small as possible. Kaeya didn’t want to push Diluc anymore than he already had but also could tell that Diluc was struggling, yet chose to remain silent until Diluc brought it up himself.

“Kae?” Came an incredibly small and anxious voice across the room, almost too quiet to hear over the pouring rain.

“Yes, Ruby?” Kaeya responded, not thinking the nickname through entirely due to the alcohol in his system, and sleepiness addling his brain. “Oh. Sorry-,” An apology began, with Kaeya panicking that he had pushed an unknown boundary, and didn’t want Diluc to decide he didn’t want him around right now.

“No, it, it’s okay. Could, um, could I still lay with you?” Diluc asked, blurting it out quickly whilst still being filled with anxiety. He couldn’t tell where the anxiety from asking stopped, and the anxiety from the storm began. Kaeya didn’t dignify him with a response, lifting the blankets for Diluc to shuffle across and into his arms. He was doubtful that they’d both fit on this measly single bed, but gave it a shot anyway. It was Kaeya underneath him, so it wasn’t like he would be the one in pain tomorrow. He wriggled around a little bit to get comfortable, and put his head on Kaeya’s chest, unable to quite reach the pillow from where he was, and the buzzing in his brain almost instantly turned off. It was almost as if the storm, nor the anxiety from it, wasn't there.

“Kae?” He questioned, “Where did Ruby come from?” He felt Kaeya shift beneath him, trying to think of how to explain his thought process.

“Well, everything about you is red. And jewels are precious. So, I thought, a red jewel is a Ruby? You’re just my Roo now, sorry kid.” Diluc decided that he was okay with that, nodding to show his approval. He wrapped his free arm around Kaeya’s abdomen, trying to get impossibly closer, while Kaeya ruffled his hair. He was safe, warm, and comforted in his brother's arms, and almost missed Kaeya’s mumbled goodnight.

“Luc? You still awake?” Kaeya mumbled, yawning between. “Goodnight, Roo.”

“Goodnight Kae.”

And he was out like a light.

Diluc was the first to rise that morning. He wasn’t surprised by that, being a light sleeper and having to sleep through a storm, he hadn't expected a restful sleep. Let alone one that nice, it was possibly the best he had had in close to 4 years. He made quick work of detangling himself from Kaeya’s arms and quickly left the room without bothering to change just yet. Bag slung over his shoulder, he lit the fire attached to the bar to start boiling milk for his porridge as memories began flooding back from last night. He could see from the cards left out on the bar that Kaeya hadn’t bothered to clean up after them, but after he had seen the man so vulnerable, Diluc decided he would allow it considering the circumstances. Face flushed with embarrassment, he finished the rest of his grape juice from the night prior, with the lid unscrewed and taken off, before beginning to wash up the two glasses. By the time he had finished washing the dishes and boiling the milk, he pulled the porridge oats out of his bag. There were enough oats in his bag for two people, and he was beginning to think he was either set up, or Adelinde had intended to make the journey out and stay with him.

Nonetheless, he made both portions of porridge, idly wondering if Kaeya’s tastes had changed. He preferred his with a small amount of sugar, with a dollop of grape jam on top, whereas Kaeya preferred honey and extra sugar. Deciding to make his old favourite just in case, he rummaged behind the containers of fresh juice, to pull out the honey to add to a bowl.

All in all, it didn’t take him long. He changed his clothes back into his regular attire, swapping out garments from his bag. The only thing that looked any different to his usual outfit appeared to be the lack of eyebags and an unbuttoned collar. He would attach his tie after eating, always worried about staining it with the porridge. In the time it had taken him to change, fold the clothes into his bag, and pull out the pre-packed travel-size calendar and his stock journal, the porridge had finished cooking. Diluc dished it up, using the fact that he was already moving to shove the cards and sippy cup into the depths of his bag, and waited for Kaeya’s arrival. He wasn’t kept waiting longer than 10 minutes, and also hadn’t finished his own breakfast before Kaeya was stumbling out of the bedroom, looking drowned in the much too big pyjamas he had managed to find.

Diluc looked up, greeting him with a slight nod, and a simple, “Breakfast.” He didn’t want to be the one to bring up the previous night and instead chose to ignore it while crossing out the last stock adjustment that needed to be made. He wrote down what was needed for later in the day, as Kaeya sat down himself beginning to tuck in with a surprised look, “Oh! You remember how I like my porridge?”

“Of course I do? You used to hate it until Adelinde started sneaking extra sugar in, and you would still eat it as quickly as possible to get it over with.” Diluc answered easily as if it was impossible to forget how his brother had always taken his food.

Kaeya laughed, “Well I have grown up slightly. I don’t scoff it down, it isn’t a terrible breakfast nowadays I suppose.”

A comfortable silence fell between them, Diluc finishing his food and moving to clean the bowl, also gesturing to Kaeya to pass his bowl over when he was done, who did so without complaint. It didn’t take long to clean them both, and Diluc was soon sliding back into his seat at the bar.

“So about last night-”

“No,” Diluc spoke too quickly without thinking it through, dodging the question out of habit. “Sorry, continue-”

“What do you mean no?” Kaeya asked, testing the waters to see if he’d be able to get some answers to his concerns.

“Do we have to talk about it?” Diluc started, realising how whiny his tone was coming across, coughing and fiddling with the top button on his shirt as a distraction.

“I would like to have some answers, if you’re willing to answer my questions.”

“Not particularly, but I suppose I do owe you some answers,” Diluc answered, looking away bashfully.
“Yeah, I’d like a better understanding of everything”

“I- I mean I’ll answer what I can. But that might not be an awful lot”

“Better than nothing I suppose”

Taking a deep breath, Diluc steeled himself to answer questions about his quite possibly most embarrassing habit. “What is it you wanted to know?”

“Have… have you always done this? Alone?” Kaeya bit the bullet, starting with the hardest question out of them all, making Diluc swallow as he hadn’t expected to start out with such a tough question.

“Well. I have always done it yes, probably since about 12 years old. Father knew, so I wasn’t alone until... Well, I’m sure you can imagine,” his voice trailed off, unsure of how to continue his answer. Kaeya winced, choosing to change the topic ever so slightly, to a lighter question.

“Does it only happen during storms?”

“For the most part? Yes, only during storms. It has happened other times, but I usually have a good grasp on it and can force it down. However, when I do that, it does cause it to be stronger during the next storm.” His voice shook slightly, and it dawned on Kaeya how little Diluc knew about his own habit.

“Understood. Does anyone else know?”

 “Not as much as you do.” Diluc admitted, fidgeting in his seat and choosing some place across the bar to look at as he felt Kaeya’s eyes on him. “Last night was the strongest I’ve known it to be, and the first time I’ve put an age to it. I think Adelinde and Elzer have some form of understanding, but I’m not sure how much it is that they know.”

“Does it… Does it help you? Like, do you feel better?”

Diluc paused, thinking about the fog in a new light. “I suppose it does, I didn’t have a single nightmare or wake up screaming. So it definitely makes a difference.”

Kaeya straightened up as he tried to catch Diluc’s line of sight unsuccessfully, “Is that.. normal for you? Is your sleep usually interrupted?” It was a tone of confusion, maybe slight horror, that Diluc didn’t understand. He had rarely slept well alone, even as a child, maybe Kaeya had forgotten that.

“More often than not yes, I think that’s one of the more solid sleeps I’ve had since my return” Diluc responded, twisting further to the left to avoid the concerned look his younger brother was definitely sending his way.

“Ok, last big question. If it happens again, would you like me to be there? Obviously, there’s going to be occasions where that isn’t possible, but well… it was nice seeing you that carefree, I could almost say that you looked cute.”

Diluc scrunched his nose up at being called cute, technically furthering Kaeya’s point and interrupted him.

“Sorry. You found me acting like Klee… cute?”

“Yes? Do you have a problem with Klee?” Kaeya teased, knowing Diluc had no problem with her and snuck her fruits regularly, at least from Klee’s descriptions.

Diluc immediately defended himself, “No, of course not! Only, well, she’s 8 years old Kaeya, of course she’s cute. And I am not 8 years old-“

“Not anymore you’re not,” Kaeya snickered with a small wink and his signature teasing smirk directed at him, letting him know the teasing wasn’t done with malicious intent

“I am not 8 years old, nor should I act like it.”

“You shouldn’t act it? Or are you embarrassed to?” Kaeya refuted, a satisfied smirk returning when Diluc appeared to be lost for words. “So, repeating the question that you oh so graciously skipped, if it happens again do you want me there?”

Diluc paused, deep in thought. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, and if Kaeya visited, he’d also have to tell Adelinde and Elzer. Almost as if reading his mind, Kaeya filled the silence once again. “I can explain it to Adelinde and Elzer, they wouldn’t have done what they have if they didn’t care for you. And I’d very much like to explore this child side of Diluc, my big brother, just this time from a different perspective.”

Kaeya stood, moving back toward the room they had stayed in, with a gentle “I feel like you’re getting slightly overwhelmed, so I’ll give you time to think about it before I temporarily get out of your hair.” The man walked past him while ruffling his hair, closing the door, assumedly to change and get ready to return to his own place to freshen up.

He wasn’t gone for long, but it was long enough for Diluc to collect his thoughts, and think about how he wanted to phrase it toward his younger brother.

“I think I’ll take you up on that offer. …Only if you’re sure you’d want to be there. I can send word to the maids to prepare your room if there is a storm forecasted.” He directly answered Kaeya’s previous question, not divulging anymore information or plans. But there was in fact confirmed to be a next time, and that’s all Kaeya could ask for really.

“Of course I do, or I wouldn’t have offered. Anyway, I think I’ll be out of your hair to let you send for more stock and return to the winery. I’ll be back when you open, see ya later ‘little’ brother! Don’t forget that you owe me a proper round of TCG in exchange for the night!” And with that, Kaeya let himself out, before he could remind Kaeya that he was in fact older, leaving Diluc alone in the tavern, a packed bag alongside him, with a horse outside for whenever he was ready for the long ride back to the tavern.

He had much to speak to Adelinde about upon his return.