Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Kaeya
A very drunk Kaeya was stumbling down the peaceful streets of Mond on his way back to his home… Which he thought that was quite ironic, given the not-so unexpected fight he’d just had.
No… perhaps the wasn’t right. More like the fight he unintentionally had started.
“C’mon, Diluc,” Kaeya had slurred, sloshing his Death After Noon around lazily in his wine glass. “What objection could you possibly have? After all, I do have excellent taste in wine.”
“I already said no,” Diluc replied tersely, obviously ticked that the drunk Cavalry Captain was preventing him from closing up early, given that they were the only two left in Angel’s Share.
Kaeya let out a dramatic huff. “It’s a wine-tasting soirée, how could I possibly attend without being on the tasting committee?” he pouted.
Diluc didn’t even look up from cleaning the bar to reply. “You’re supposed to be in charge of security on behalf of the Knights, so no, you can’t be drinking on the job.”
“Ah, but you see, that’s where you’re wrong.” Kaeya grinned mischievously as he clumsy gestured with the glass in his hand, spilling a few drops on the freshly cleaned counter.
The disgruntled bartender gave his “client” a stern glare before moving to wipe up the spilled wine.
“If I were invited to participate in the wine tasting by none other than the illustrious Diluc Ragnvindr himself, I couldn’t possibly say no. You know as well as I do that I could do my job just as well from the tasting table as I would in the crowd.”
“Kaeya–” Diluc ground his teeth in frustration, but was promptly cut off by the chatty knight.
“For Barbatos’s sake, Diluc, just let me have this,” Kaeya exclaimed, clearly losing his patience.
“I already told you–”
“What? You’re going to taste it yourself? You hardly have the right palate,” the drunk man interrupted.
“Even Father knew it, since he’d always let me sneak a sip of the latest batches before they went for sale, while you’d sit there and complain about the bitterness.”
Diluc clenched the rag tight in his fist at the mention of their late father.
Kaeya let out a dramatic sigh, another exaggerated pout on his face. “Oh, how heartless do you have to be to deprive your dear old brother of being one of the first to taste Dawn Winery’s latest dandelion wine?”
“Kaeya.” Diluc growled.
“Though I suppose the 'brother' part is all in the past now, isn’t it? You don’t even reply to my letters anymore,” the drunken man complained.
“Ever since that damned Stormterror incident, you’ve been even more cold and distant than usual.”
“Kaeya.”
“You know, Father wasn’t the only one to die that night. The brother I once knew died too.”
Too far?
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Diluc slammed his fists down on the counter. Kaeya could have sworn he saw the Pyro Vision on the bartender’s hip glow brighter in his anger.
He hadn’t even noticed that he had flinched until he saw his wine glass shattered on the floor.
A brief look guilt and regret flashed across the redheads face, before he pinched his nose and sighed.
“Go home, Kaeya,” Diluc said softly, his eyes squeezed shut.
“I’ll help clean up,” Kaeya offered quietly, reaching for the rag on the counter.
Diluc grabbed the rag himself, refusing to look the drunk knight in the eye. “Just go home. Please.”
Kaeya resigned himself and left the tavern silently. Perhaps he really did have too much to drink. His drunken ramblings only ever made things worse.
All that over something as stupid as a wine tasting event.
Maybe Kaeya really should have just dropped the subject after the first few refusals. He briefly wondered which unsuspecting thief or monster would pay for his own stupidity tonight.
It was an interesting pattern that kept Kaeya occupied in his downtime. The so-called “Darknight Hero” made almost nightly appearances these days, but the severity his actions always just happened to coincide with events at the tavern or Winery the day prior.
The last time, Venti had enlisted several drunk tavern regulars to make a scene while the bard snuck off with a bottle of Dawn Winery’s most expensive wine. This would have gone smoothly if the drunkards hadn’t swung at Six-Fingered José, which started an all out brawl.
The next morning, every hilichurl and Treasure Hoarder camp north of Dadaupa Gorge had been burnt to the ground.
Kaeya had reached his small apartment in a drunken haze before he knew it. There was a brief moment of sadness, remembering his childhood home, full of unconditional love and light. Now it seemed him and his brother could barely hold a civil conversation.
After unlocking the door, Kaeya didn’t even bother getting changed, heading straight for bed instead. He sat down on his bed, pulling open the drawer in his bedside table. Once, this was where he kept Diluc’s Vision while he was away from Mond, both as a place for safekeeping, and as a comforting reminder that his brother was still alive, wherever he was.
He had spent countless nights, watching as the Vision flickered and dimmed, but faithfully never went out.
Now, the drawer sat empty. This should have been a good thing, but to be completely honest, Kaeya had never felt so distant from his brother than to see how much the once lively boy had changed.
Kaeya sighed, feeling the effects of alcohol eating away at his consciousness. He laid down, and thought of the few letters he had actually received from Diluc. He only replied to less than half of Kaeya’s letters, but he couldn’t help but remember what his brother had written in his last reply.
No need to worry about my safety. Take better care of yourself instead.
It was a tentative peace between the two estranged brothers. They both looked out for the other and fretted about each others safety, though neither would actually admit that aloud.
Kaeya thought about whatever dangerous situation Diluc would be charging into tonight, with no backup and little regard for his own safety. Not that Kaeya was a stellar role model with respect to those, either. But that never stopped him from worrying about his increasingly reckless brother.
It wouldn’t be until morning that Kaeya noticed the dried tears on his cheeks.