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There are few things in life that make Diluc as happy as being Kaeya’s big brother.
They’ve been inseparable as long as Diluc can remember. When his father remarried, he was dismayed, used to Crepus spending most of his free time together with him, but when he and his new step-mother told Diluc that he was going to be a big brother, he could barely even remember his disappointment.
Kaeya has the cutest laugh and the brightest, bluest eyes he’s ever seen in his life, brighter even than his mother’s, and Diluc has loved him since day one.
Nowadays, he’s remiss to say no to Kaeya in almost any capacity, especially when it comes to seeing him smile. That’s why, even when he’s eleven, he obliges his sweet little brother when he comes bounding into the den one late spring day, asking to play his favorite game.
They've been doing this for some time now - ever since Kaeya stumbled upon Diluc, Jean, and Lisa playing house one day, when they were younger, and promptly demanded to join. Then, even when they weren't over playing with Diluc, Kaeya would default to playing house over anything else.
Diluc never bats an eye at Kaeya's favorite game, nor his insistence to play the role of Diluc's wife. He doesn't think about it when it leaks into their real life on occasion, Kaeya clinging to him and saying they're married.
It doesn't bother him - he just laughs, hugging Kaeya tightly to his side with a grin. Watching those big blue eyes beam up at him is worth any price to Diluc.
He's getting older now though, outgrowing some of the childish games that have long brought him endless summer days of glee. But that doesn't mean he can say no to his baby brother, not when he stares up at him with a hopeful gaze, pleading to play house again.
Crepus decides he’s had enough one day though.
Diluc is coming up on twelve when their father stumbles upon them playing Kaeya’s favorite little game, the boy draped in a white sheet tied around his waist for their “wedding day”.
“What are you doing?” He asks.
“Playing house!” Kaeya responds, carefree as ever. “We’re getting married.”
Crepus frowns at the younger of the two, pressing his lips into a thin line.
“I don’t think you should be playing like this, boys,” he tells them, glancing over to Diluc, who’s playing with a plastic ring. “It’s inappropriate.”
Diluc can’t help but feel almost embarrassed when his father says it - like he’s been caught doing something wrong.
“What?” Kaeya gasps, clambering to his feet. “How come?”
“Diluc is getting too old to play pretend like this,” he explains. “He should be doing things with kids his own age. Maybe it’s time we found you a new playmate, Kaeya - maybe a girl–”
“No!” Kaeya cries out immediately. “I want to play with my big brother! I don’t want to play with anyone else! I’m the wife!”
Diluc isn’t entirely sure what the look that crosses Crepus’ face is. He looks unhappy, but there’s something else in it that Diluc isn’t familiar with, flashing in his father’s eyes. He does not meet Kaeya’s outburst with his own, and simply frowns at him.
“Enough,” he says, firm but easy, then turns his gaze back to Diluc. “Diluc, if you don’t get dressed you’ll be late for violin lessons. Kaeya, change out of that… ridiculous outfit. I don’t want to see it again.”
“Yes, father,” Diluc obliges. He leans over, undoing the belt tied around Kaeya’s little waist, keeping the white sheet folded over on him. His little brother pouts, but lets him, and Crepus’s footsteps recede a moment later.
Kaeya waits until he’s long gone, peering around Diluc before he sits back up.
“I don’t want to stop playing house with you,” Kaeya admits quietly with a little tug on Diluc’s sleeve, disappointment evident in his voice. Diluc gives him a sympathetic look.
“I know. But father doesn’t like it. And maybe it is a little weird.”
Kaeya frowns. "Is it because we're boys? I can be a girl."
Diluc tosses the sheet aside and watches as Kaeya sits back on the edge of his bed, taking off the plastic little crown he’d been wearing.
"I think it's because we're brothers," Diluc tells him, recalling the displeased expression their father wore just a few moments ago.
Kaeya kicks his legs, a thoughtful look on his face. "And that means I can't be your wife?"
Torn between wanting not to disappoint his sweet baby brother and the desire to tell him the truth, Diluc finds himself helpless, and instead of doing either, he stands up and smiles at him, reaching out to take his hand.
“C’mon. Let’s go see what Adelinde made for lunch,” he says.
And just like that, the issue slips from Kaeya’s mind, eyes brightening at the idea of Adelinde’s delicious cooking.
Years later, Crepus’s disapproval of his second-born son reaches its limit.
Diluc finds out in an entirely unexpected way.
It’s early summer, the first summer after he’s finished his schooling, and he’s holed up in his room, sprawled out with a fan going as he reads a book. His father’s been obsessed with his future, pushing him to take advantage of every avenue available for a head start - bringing him to work meetings, trying to set him up for interviews, and the worst: trying to find a “potential match” for him.
He tries to remind his father that things aren’t like that anymore, that he can find someone for himself, that the Ragnvindr lineage isn’t in danger, and while Crepus always says he’ll relent, he feels like he still tries to set him up on an unnecessary date every other month.
Worse still, Kaeya is set to leave after this summer. Crepus and Kaeya’s mother have agreed after a handful of incidents both at school and home, that Kaeya would be better suited for a private school. He and Diluc were both heartbroken, naturally, but Diluc promised Kaeya they would make this summer the best yet.
They’d managed to convince Crepus to let them go to the beach house later that summer, just the two of them. Diluc was old enough to drive, and it wasn’t too terribly far, and reluctantly (and with Kaeya’s mother’s prodding), Crepus had agreed. They’ll go to the beach and watch the fireworks in July and walk the boardwalk and gorge on junk food, Diluc’s last breath of freedom before he dives headfirst into work and adulthood.
There’s still quite a few weeks for that though, so here Diluc is, hiding in his room, with his nose in the pages of a book to escape the harsh realities of his father’s pushiness and the impending sense of doom he feels about the internship he’s being shoehorned into.
Distantly, he registers the sound of footsteps racing toward his room, and pauses mid-paragraph, expectant. His bedroom door flies open with a bang, and still he nearly jumps out of his skin. There in the doorway, is his brother, looking utterly distraught.
“I have to go,” Kaeya says, storming into his room in a haste. Diluc is more confused than anything at first, setting aside the book he’s been reading.
“What? Go where?” Diluc asks, sitting up on his bed, and watching as Kaeya approaches after closing the door behind him. It’s then that he notices he’s crying, face splotchy. “What happened?”
“They’re making me leave today,” Kaeya sniffs, clambering onto Diluc’s bed. He looks miserable, wiping away a line of tears that spills down his face.
“What? But you weren’t supposed to leave until the end of summer.”
“I know. But. I messed up,” he admits, sounding guilty. It takes a long moment before he looks back at Diluc with a watery gaze. “Just promise me something.”
“Anything,” Diluc says, and means it.
"Don't forget me," he pleads tearfully. Diluc's heart threatens to split in half at the sight of the desperation on his brother's sweet face. "Please, 'Luc, promise me."
Kaeya is a baby no longer - he’s grown, thirteen, blossoming into adolescence, but sometimes that youthfulness stands out in him. Here and now, crying in his room, Diluc is reminded of that more than ever.
"I could never forget you, Kaeya," Diluc tells him, reaching out to brush a messy blue lock of hair back from his tear-stained cheek. The boy smiles, all sadness and melancholy, and leans forward. Diluc thinks he's going in for a hug, and freezes in shock when Kaeya pulls himself up and kisses him.
His lips are chapped, and taste like salt and heartache. Diluc can’t move, letting Kaeya press their mouths together clumsily. He feels something warm in his chest, heart thudding, but he’s too shocked to even begin processing it.
When Kaeya pulls back a moment later, Diluc watches as a fresh wave of tears roll down his face. His own eyes water, and he swallows thickly before he leans in and pulls Kaeya into a tight hug.
“It’s okay,” he tries to comfort him. “It’s just for a while. I’ll see you for Christmas, and during summer, and your breaks.”
“But…” Kaeya trails off. “What about our vacation?”
“We can do it next summer,” Diluc tells him, rubbing his back gently before Kaeya slips out of his arms, looking at him with mixed emotion, reaching one hand up to wipe away his tears.
“Okay,” his little brother agrees after a long moment, holding tightly onto Diluc’s hand, as if he might slip away, and maybe that’s precisely how it feels right now. The notion makes Diluc’s chest ache miserably, and he leans forward to press a reassuring kiss to his baby brother’s forehead. “You promise?”
When Diluc pulls back, those hopeful eyes he loves so much are peering up at him, tears drying, and Diluc offers up the sweetest smile he can.
“Promise,” he says softly, and in the moment, that seems to be enough to placate Kaeya.
An hour later, Diluc watches out of the window of his bedroom as Kaeya’s luggage is loaded into the car and he climbs in and is driven away.
Dinner that night is quiet, and Kaeya’s empty place at the table taunts him.
“Father,” Diluc begins finally, pushing his food around on his plate. Crepus hums in response, looking up at him as he finishes chewing a bite of steak. “Why did you make Kaeya leave today?”
He sees Kaeya’s mother - his step-mother, Elluna - cast a glance at her husband, mouth pressing into a thin line before she reaches for her wine glass.
“It’s what’s best for him,” Crepus explains easily. “Kaeya needs a different environment than you do, Diluc. He’s having a hard time flourishing here these days, and your mother and I decided that this would be the best course of action.”
“What do you mean, having a hard time?” Diluc prods.
“Don’t worry about it,” his father says dismissively. “What you should be focusing on now is this internship. I had to pull quite a few strings to get you in.”
“But, father–”
“No buts,” Crepus interrupts with finality. “You know I just want what’s best for you both. And this is it.”
“Mother?” Diluc tries, shooting her a desperate glance. She eyes him, wary and tired before she sets her wine glass down.
“He’s right,” she says, though somehow Diluc feels as if she sounds pained to admit it. The smile that pulls at her lipsticked mouth looks forced, the corners of her lips twitching, but here and now, Diluc doesn’t feel like it’s right to push. Instead, he sets his fork down and frowns.
“May I be excused?” He asks. Crepus casts a glance at his plate, half-full, and over to Elluna, who gives him an almost imperceptible nod.
“Go ahead. I’ll see you tomorrow morning for your interview.”
“Goodnight,” Diluc says, tiredness creeping into his voice. The emotions of the day seep into him, heavy and harsh when he finally retires to his room, and quickly, he falls into a fitful sleep.
Kaeya doesn’t come back for Christmas.
Or spring break.
Or summer.
Diluc tries writing for months.
He tries calling, but Kaeya’s never available. He’s in class, or doing extracurriculars, or sleeping. It’s frustrating to no end, disappointing at best and heartbreaking at worst. He tries not to let it get to him, but it gets harder and harder, until one day he finally mentions it to their father.
“Your brother’s just busy,” Crepus reassures him. “He has a lot on his plate now, Diluc - and so do you. Now…”
Every conversation goes the same way after that. He misses his brother dearly, but every time he tries asking about it, his father’s answers grow more and more clipped.
A year into it, Diluc finally gives up.
His internship ends, and he finds work with a prestigious company, and slips into a new life, slowly but steadily. He climbs the corporate ladder, his father’s connections settling him into a comfortable position, and when he decides to leave, he’s able to find a new job with a cushy salary in the city.
He makes new friends, helps lead conferences, joins a sports league in the city. Eventually, Jean’s resume makes its way across his desk, and before he knows it, they’re working together and putting every other department to shame.
One day, Diluc simply finds that he’s… content.
His little brother, long lost, turns into just a memory, forever fourteen and kissing him goodbye with tears in his eyes.
-
It’s only noon, and Diluc is already contemplating calling the executive in charge of the account he’s working on to ask if they’re stupid.
He’s been knee-deep in reading all morning, drowning in the usual corporate jargon, but he’s staring at the endlessly conflicting information on the contract in front of him in dismay for so long he fears he’ll have to have the whole thing rewritten - by someone who actually knows what the hell they’re doing.
Blinking away the strain in his eyes, he opens up an email to the account exec, asking for a direct call, and quickly sends it on its way, right as the clock hits 12:00 on the dot. He shuts off his computer and leans back in his chair, rubbing at his temples as he feels the beginnings of a headache come to life in his skull.
It’s still too early for this.
“Ready?” A voice comes from the door to his office, and he opens up his eyes to see Jean standing at the threshold, purse in hand.
“Please. Very,” he replies. He stuffs his keycard into his pocket, along with his keys, and eagerly clambers to his feet and leaves his office behind him. He’s half-way down the hall with Jean when his phone rings.
It’s an unknown number, and he’s half-tempted not to answer, but since he’s waiting on the account executive’s call, he swipes his thumb across the green phone icon and brings it to one ear.
“Hello?”
The other end of the line is silent.
“Hello?” Diluc repeats in irritation. “I really don’t have time for this–”
“Diluc?” A voice comes a moment later.
“Yes, this is Diluc,” he huffs. “Who’s calling?”
“Wow. Hey. It’s uh - it’s Kaeya.”
Diluc stops dead in his tracks in the middle of the hallway and Jean promptly collides with him, almost spilling her coffee everywhere.
“Hey!” She complains in frustration, but her voice is lost in the sound of blood rushing through Diluc’s ears. It’s not until a moment later does he snap out of it, when Jean takes a step around him to shoot an irritated look at him, and then he realizes Kaeya’s begun talking again.
“...didn’t know if this was the right number, but Adelinde promised me it was.”
There’s a long pause, as Diluc stands there, speechless.
“Who is it?” Jean asks, trying to dab away the coffee stain blossoming on the front of her neatly ironed white button-up.
“You still there?” Kaeya asks.
“Yeah,” Diluc replies. “Yeah, I’m here. Sorry. Jean just. Spilled her coffee.”
A little laugh comes from the other line and every corner of Diluc’s brain lights up. It’s definitely Kaeya, he thinks, listening to that laugh, familiar and yet somehow so different.
“Wanna tell her I said hi?” Kaeya suggests, and he has that teasing lilt to his voice that Diluc once knew so well when they were teenagers.
“Yeah. I - Kaeya says hi,” Diluc exclaims, looking at Jean, who’s brows arch so high they nearly fly off her face completely.
“Kaeya?” She repeats, and Diluc nods, unable to stop the little smile that creeps across his face. He pulls the speaker of the phone down to his shirt, covering it.
“Go ahead, I’ll meet you at the cafe in a bit,” he instructs Jean, who, still dumbfounded, nods before she takes her leave.
“Is this a bad time?” Kaeya’s voice comes a moment later as Diluc steps into an empty meeting room nearby and lets the door close behind him. He shakes his head, as if Kaeya can see him.
“No, no,” he insists. “I’m on lunch - just heading out.”
“Oh. All right.”
“It’s been a long time,” Diluc says. He hears a rustling on the other end, and then Kaeya hums in agreement.
“Six years,” he notes.
“Six years,” Diluc repeats, unable to stop the way he sounds a little shell-shocked at the whole thing.
He can’t believe it’s been that long since they’ve spoken. The reminder tugs at his heartstrings, and he is overcome with the urge to ask what happened, and why he never heard from him, but he bites his tongue. Maybe that’s a bit much, five minutes into their first conversation in so long.
They lapse into a pause before they both blurt out the same question at the same time: “How have you been?”
Kaeya laughs on the other end of the line, and the strangest sense of nostalgia washes over Diluc, warmth blooming in his chest.
“Oh, you know. Surviving,” Kaeya tells him casually, then goes quiet for another moment before he clears his throat. “Hey. Listen. Instead of doing this on the phone, I just… wanted to see if you wanted to catch up sometime. In person. Maybe… coffee or something?”
“Absolutely,” Diluc replies immediately.
“Wow,” Kaeya says. “A lot more eager than I expected.”
Diluc’s brows furrow. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Ah, no reason, I suppose. Well. When and where, then?”
They agree on a small cafe near the neighborhood where Kaeya lives, on Sunday, at one. Diluc’s so nervous he gets there twenty minutes early, and then being so early only makes him more nervous.
Maybe he needs something to drink.
Six years, he thinks distantly as he orders a tea. Six years and finally he’s going to see his brother again. He tries to remember the last time he saw Kaeya. He was crying, asking Diluc not to forget him, and the memory incurs a sense of melancholy in him, bittersweet and sad.
He has to physically stop himself from checking his watch more than a handful of times, glancing away each time he catches himself doing it, and the last time he does, he looks up just in time to see a flash of blue at the door before it jingles open.
His breath catches for just a moment.
Kaeya.
He crosses through the threshold, door closing behind him, and when his gaze lands on Diluc, he freezes.Those familiar blue eyes burn into him, a little older, a little more tired, and it hits him how grown up he really is now.
For a moment, he almost can’t believe it’s really Kaeya, but then his little brother splits into a smile, just as bright as when he was a boy, and Diluc doesn’t have a single doubt in the world. It’s contagious, and Diluc’s mouth curls into a matching expression, a sense of childish glee rising in his chest.
Kaeya rushes at him and Diluc meets him with ease, extending his arms so the young man can crash into his embrace. A giddy little laugh escapes him and Diluc can only pull him in tighter.
“It’s been so long,” Kaeya murmurs against his shirt.
“I know,” Diluc replies, squeezing him tight, a hand running over his back.
It’s… different. Kaeya is different. Gone is the scrawny kid he’d known so well, and in its place a young man. Diluc can feel every inch of his brother against him, lithe and strong in places he’d never been, and the temptation to let his hand wander further and feel comes to mind.
Instead, he pulls away and Kaeya follows, touch lingering. He can smell Kaeya’s cologne, something bright but musky, and it makes his head go fuzzy for a split second. Their gazes meet, and Diluc can’t help the way his eyes trace the lines of Kaeya’s face - sharper and still soft somehow, and so undeniably handsome.
Something electric crackles between them.
Diluc can feel it from the tips of his fingers all the way to his feet, and when Kaeya grins, wide and unrestrained, it only gets worse.
This is no way to feel about your brother, he thinks, but a moment later Kaeya sweeps forward, linking their arms together, and that thought fades back into the background, a distant static lost between his presence and Diluc’s longing.
“Let’s go catch up, huh?” He suggests. Something sparkles in his gaze before he opens his mouth to continue, leaning close. “Big brother.”
Coffee turns into lunch, which turns into a walk, which turns into dinner, and before either of them know it, night has come. It’s easy, falling back into stride, like two halves of a whole finally clicking back together again.
Kaeya drags him to a dive bar in a neighborhood of the city Diluc never goes to. Perched on a stool next to him at the counter, he tells him everything, then - about boarding school, how Adelinde sent him recipes from home, how Crepus wouldn’t let him write to Diluc, about the letters and calls from his mother filled with regret.
It surprises Diluc to hear these things - most of all the fact that Crepus kept a strict hold on Kaeya’s ongoings until he was solidly eighteen. He’s been working for the last year to get things straight again, and though their father has apologized, he admits that he still has a hard time.
Finally, though, he spills the reason why Crepus sent him away.
“You threatened the girls my dad wanted me to marry?” Diluc asks in surprise. Kaeya laughs, burying his face in his hands in embarrassment.
“In a half-assed way,” he says in defense a moment later, exposing his flustered expression. “I was thirteen, my brain wasn’t fully developed.”
“What did you say to them, Kaeya?”
“I told them I’d ruin their weddings. And worse. And maybe I cut half of the last girl’s hair off.”
“You cut her hair off,” Diluc parrots in disbelief, then despite himself, laughs, barely muffling himself with his fist.
“Don’t laugh at me! I just didn’t want to lose you to some girl! You were my big brother and my best friend.”
“I’m still your big brother,” Diluc tells him a moment later, offering up a little smile. Kaeya returns it in kind, soft and sweet, and that youthful urge to protect his sweet baby brother roars back to life like a wildfire.
“Though, I guess it doesn’t matter,” Kaeya exclaims with a little shrug, spinning the straw in his empty glass. “Seeing as you’re still unmarried.”
“I suppose you would be right,” Diluc relents.
“Any reason?” Kaeya prods, elbows on the bar, leaning forward. He peers at Diluc expectantly, who just offers him a little shrug.
“Never cared,” he admits. “Kept busy. Plus father finally relented after I moved out.”
Kaeya hums in understanding. They lapse into silence, only the sound of the other patrons at the bar and the jukebox in the back playing filling the space between them for a long while.
“Hey, so,” Kaeya begins innocently, leaning into him. His cologne swirls into Diluc’s space again, and Kaeya bats his lashes. “Want to buy your little brother a drink?”
Diluc gives him an unimpressed look, watching as Kaeya grins in an attempt to be charming.
“Nice try,” he deadpans, and when Kaeya laughs heartily a moment later, Diluc struggles to ignore the way his heart does something like a backflip.
It’s almost unreal how quickly they become inseparable again.
Going from the complete absence of his beloved baby brother’s presence to seeing him almost every day fills a hole in Diluc’s heart he’d long forgotten about. The time spent with him is easy, carefree in a way he’d not been able to find with anyone else, save for Jean, on occasion.
Even so, he blows off plans with Jean more than once to see Kaeya.
It’s not until Lisa confronts him about it after too many times does he realize how often he’s really canceled on her - on both of them. So, he starts bringing Kaeya along.
It feels good.
Jean and Lisa remember him, eager to catch up, and it’s easier to be friends now that they’re all older. More than once, though, they get mistaken for a double date, and while Diluc’s always ready to protest, Kaeya is eager to lean into it, claiming it’s their anniversary for free cake or creme brulee or whatever else the restaurant offers for dessert.
After a while, he stops bothering to ready an argument.
He tries not too much to think about the amused look Lisa always gives him.
Before he knows it, two months have passed, and summer is in full swing. The four of them have planned a vacation together, and he’s been spending every weekend with Kaeya, even some of his weekdays end with dinner or a movie together. On a particularly nice Saturday, he agrees to meet Kaeya at the park in the early afternoon for coffee.
“You know,” Kaeya begins after an hour of people watching, “we should have a sleepover.”
“A sleepover,” Diluc repeats, turning his gaze from a group of people taking yoga videos in the open field across from them.
“Yeah. Like when we were kids,” he says eagerly, turning in his spot to look at Diluc. He looks so carefree, smiling at him happily in the sunshine, and Diluc can’t bring himself to say no, even if the notion of a sleepover makes him feel oddly unsettled for some reason.
“Alright,” he acquiesces anyway, ignoring the strange feeling that gnaws at him. “When?”
“Tonight?” Kaeya suggests, taking a sip of his coffee. “I’ll bring the snacks. You can pick the movie.”
Diluc thinks for a long moment, considering the state of his apartment. It’s nothing unfixable so he nods his assent. “Tonight.”
It’s seven fifteen when his little brother knocks on his door that night. Diluc answers, greeted by the sight of him grinning, a messenger bag strapped across his torso.
“Heya.”
“Hey. Come in.”
Kaeya obliges, then spends five minutes unloading his bag, dropping every kind of candy known to man on the dining room table, recounting a story about how the store clerk gave him the nastiest look for trying to pay with a fifty.
“Shit,” he groans a moment later, now-empty bag flopping over the tabletop.
“What’s wrong?”
“I forgot clothes,” Kaeya admits with a dramatic sigh. He tilts his head, turning to peer at Diluc. “Can I borrow some?”
“You remembered ten different types of candy, but not your own clothes?” Diluc asks, raising a brow.
Kaeya pouts - actually pouts and despite the fact that Diluc’s mind tells him to kiss it away, he rolls his eyes instead.
“Fine. In my dresser. Take whatever.”
Kaeya offers up a satisfied little look, dropping his bag on the table again before he crosses the apartment and lets himself into Diluc’s room. Diluc picks at the different types of candies he’s brought, glancing through them, before he remembers dinner.
“Pizza now or later?” He calls out toward his room where Kaeya’s changing. There’s a long pause before Kaeya makes a noncommittal noise.
“Later,” he decides. “Snacks first.”
“You’ll ruin your appetite,” Diluc exclaims, and the door creaks open a moment later.
“Ha, ha, very funny, old man,” Kaeya retorts flatly, giving him a look. Diluc’s pajamas fit him well, though they’re a little snug over his hips. He watches as Kaeya meanders back into the kitchen and tries to ignore the smug little voice inside his head that ruminates over how much he likes Kaeya in his clothes.
Eventually, after sorting through the (absolutely unnecessary) plethora of snacks Kaeya has purchased, they settle in on the couch. It’s endearing the way Kaeya immediately makes himself at home, half-leant against Diluc, legs splayed across the sectional sofa.
“Oh!” Kaeya chirps suddenly, grabbing for his phone. “Look at what Adelinde sent me.”
He pulls up his phone, showing it to Diluc, and there on the screen is a picture of them as kids, on the last trip they took to the beach. Diluc’s face is slathered in sunscreen, and beside him Kaeya is sprawled out on the sand, half of his body covered after asking Diluc to bury him.
“Oh, god,” Diluc says with a laugh, reaching for his phone to zoom in. There’s a sly look on his younger self’s face, and Kaeya’s grinning, full teeth, eyes squeezed shut.
“We were so cute,” Kaeya sighs dramatically, popping a sour gummy worm into his mouth.
“We’re still cute,” Diluc says, almost matter-of-factly, though what he really wants to say is, ‘you’re still cute.’
Kaeya shrugs, chewing for a second before he speaks. “Eh. You’re okay.”
“Dick,” Diluc retorts, dropping his phone in his lap, and his little brother snickers, grinning at him as he scoops his phone up again, setting it aside. Diluc reaches for the remote, turning the TV on. “You got sunburn on your feet from that trip.”
“Yeah, ‘cause you didn’t bury my feet like the rest of me,” Kaeya accuses, and Diluc’s mouth threatens to twitch into a smile.
“Not my fault you didn’t put sunscreen on your feet.”
“Who even thinks of that?”
“People who don’t want sunburn.”
“Shut up. Remember when we used to play house?” Kaeya asks. Diluc chuckles.
“Yeah. I remember. And father yelled at us.”
“I know,” Kaeya exclaims in frustration, popping another piece of candy into his mouth. “But I was so good at being the wife.”
“That you were,” Diluc agrees, continuing to flip through the movie selections. “If I recall correctly, you were an expert with that easy bake oven.”
Kaeya cackles, falling over and laying back, his head on Diluc’s lap.
“Those brownies were horrible,” he says. Diluc moves the remote to the side, looking down at his little brother with a smile. Kaeya returns it, beautiful and handsome even in the dim light of the living room, and even better in Diluc’s clothes. It does something to his insides, and he struggles not to think about it too much.
“But I always ate them,” Diluc points out, trying to pull himself away from whatever is happening to his heart.
“Like a gentleman,” Kaeya teases.
“Only the best for my wife,” Diluc teases back, and it’s not until it’s out of his mouth does he hear the flirtatious tone he’s used. Kaeya grins, playful and Diluc watches as he bites his lip, staring up at him. Awkwardly, he clears his throat and turns his gaze back to the TV. “What do you want to watch?”
“Your pick, remember,” Kaeya tells him, and turns to peer at the television. They spend a few minutes filtering through options, and then suddenly Kaeya’s favorite show as a kid pops up on the list.
“Oh, here we go,” Diluc says, and Kaeya makes a noise of disagreement.
“No,” he says flatly.
“Oh, yes,” Diluc replies. “It was your favorite, remember?”
“No, it–” Kaeya grabs for the remote and Diluc lifts his arm, just out of reach, one brow arching expectantly. “Give it.”
“Nope.”
The ridiculous theme song comes on through the speakers and Kaeya reaches out for the remote again. Diluc only raises his arm higher.
“Bet you still know all the words, too,” he guesses. Even though they’re lit only by a small lamp and the light of the television, he swears he sees pink dust Kaeya’s cheeks in embarrassment.
“I do not,” Kaeya argues without hesitation, every bit the little bratty boy Diluc once knew. He smiles. “Change it.”
“Make me.”
“Oh, you’re in for it,” the younger man threatens in annoyance, and before he knows it, Kaeya’s sat up and practically pounced on him. Diluc can’t help but laugh, squirming out of reach, holding the remote away, and Kaeya huffs. They continue this charade for a minute, Diluc chuckling at every one of Kaeya’s attempts to get the remote, and it’s not until he shifts a certain way, hips tilting forward, do they both freeze.
Shit.
Shit.
Diluc’s hard.
“Oh,” Kaeya says dumbly, staring down at him, and he moves again, settling into Diluc’s lap.
“Kaeya,” he groans in warning, face hot with embarrassment.
“It’s okay!” He interjects, holding his hand up. “I didn’t mean to–”
Kaeya shifts, awkwardly trying to regain his balance, and Diluc barely stifles a groan, the friction against his now fully hard cock sending a spark up his spine.
“Quit squirming,” Diluc demands, a hand flying to one of Kaeya’s thighs, sprawled over his lap in an attempt to steady him, and it only seats him more firmly in his lap. The smallest gasp escapes his younger brother, legs spread over his own, and he can hear the way his breath hitches.
“‘Luc,” he whispers, voice weak and desperate. It’s then that he feels it - Kaeya’s own cock, pressing against him, in Diluc’s sweatpants.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
He’s so screwed.
“Shit,” he mutters, unable to stop the way his dick throbs. Kaeya looks down at him with a hooded gaze, lips parted on a shaky breath, and Diluc is afraid he’s never been so aroused in his life. He watches as Kaeya’s gaze mirrors his, falling to his own mouth, and as if offering up permission, Diluc slides his hand further up Kaeya’s thigh, to his hip, reveling in the way he sucks in a sharp breath.
“‘Luc,” he whispers again.
This is a bad idea.
A horrendous idea.
Awful.
But Kaeya tilts his head, leaning in just an inch, and Diluc loses out to the desire pooling hot and low in his stomach.
He kisses him.
It’s careful, uncertain and gentle, but the way Kaeya immediately moans into it tells him all he needs to know.
He tastes like sugar, sweet like the candies he’d been eating, and Diluc grips onto him tightly when he feels Kaeya’s tongue brush against his lips. Wordlessly, he obliges, parting his lips to kiss his brother fully. Sugar bursts on his tongue, hot and warm, and Diluc finds himself wishing he’d done this so much earlier.
Kaeya rocks against him, seeking friction, and they both moan, Diluc’s hands desperately slipping over his form to cup his ass and pull him in, snug and eager, and grinds himself back up against the young man in his lap.
“Don’t stop,” Kaeya pleads.
Diluc relents, sliding one hand up his shirt, palm sliding over Kaeya’s warm skin, reveling in the way he shudders. One thumb brushes over a nipple, meeting the sensitive nub and metal.
“They’re pierced?” He asks, incredulous, and Kaeya makes another soft noise, nodding shakily. If his initial reaction is anything to go by, Kaeya’s sensitive there, and Diluc captures the hardening nipple between thumb and forefinger, squeezing ever so gently.
Kaeya’s entire body jerks, his hips angling down to grind against his brother harder. Another soft pinch, and Kaeya’s head tilts back with a strangled moan, exposing the tempting line of his throat.
Fuck.
“I feel like I’m defiling you,” Diluc admits, though guilt feels faraway underneath the desire coursing through his veins.
“Defile me, then,” Kaeya immediately replies, his head snapping back down to look at Diluc. “Ruin me and make me yours, and let me…”
He trails off, those pretty lilac eyes blown black with desire.
“Let you what?” Diluc asks, raising a hand to thumb at the swell of Kaeya’s lower lip, plush and kiss-swollen. His mouth parts, pink tongue darting out to lick at Diluc’s thumb. He presses it in to the heat of Kaeya’s mouth.
He sucks for a moment, lips sealing around Diluc’s thumb before he angles away, and Diluc lets his hand slip back. The sweetest, faintest whimper falls from his lips before he swallows. “Let me be a good wife for you, big brother,” he finally continues in a whisper, voice soft and laced with the prettiest desperation Diluc’s ever heard in his life. “Please.”
He crumbles.
The next thing he knows, Kaeya’s slunk to his knees in front of the couch, and those perfect, sweet lips are dragging up the underside of his aching cock. Everything inside of him screams in conflict, telling him how wrong this is, how fucked up he is, but god if he doesn’t struggle to stay still, fingers twitching, eager to thread through his little brother’s hair as he takes his cock into his mouth.
Diluc’s eyes roll back into his head when Kaeya’s hot tongue swirls around him, and he knows he’s done for. He lets himself descend into debauchery the same way Kaeya descends on him, like a man starved.
Kaeya moans around him and Diluc’s head thunks back against the edge of the couch, reveling in the way his baby brother’s hot, wet mouth sucks him in and envelops him. He can’t take Diluc all the way, though, and he can’t stop his hips from jumping when Kaeya wraps his fingers around the base of him and squeezes.
“Fuck,” is all he manages, broken, every nerve alight with pleasure, and when he opens his eyes and glances down to see Kaeya staring up at him, spit-slicked lips wrapped around his dick, he momentarily thinks that this, Kaeya’s mouth alone, is worth going to hell for. “You’re so good.”
Kaeya moans again, brows furrowing as he tries to force himself further down onto Diluc’s twitching dick, and the redhead watches in morbid fascination as his brother’s eyes well up with tears.
God.
He can’t last, not like this.
“I’ll come if you don’t stop,” he chokes out, thighs going tense as he tries to hold back. Kaeya makes a noise, blinking up at him, and instead of pulling away, he only redoubles his efforts. To stay still is a struggle, every fiber of his being begging to thrust up and fuck into his brother’s sweet throat, but he doesn’t want to hurt him. What he can’t fit into his mouth is enveloped by his lithe fingers, slick with spit and precum, and Diluc has half a mind to wonder where he learned how to do this.
That thought flitters out of his mind when Kaeya does something with his hand and mouth at the same time, tonguing at the underside of his head, and Diluc is undone - it couldn’t have been any more than five minutes.
He wanted to last longer, wanted to indulge in how perfect Kaeya’s mouth feels around his cock, but after months of trying to banish his fucked up thoughts, the real thing is too good, too right, and he falls apart with the way Kaeya’s tongue laps at him.
He moans, balls drawing tight to his body as he climaxes, cum spilling into the wet, inviting heat of his little brother’s mouth. Those blue eyes go wide for a split second before fluttering shut in concentration, and Diluc watches as his throat bobs, swallowing down every drop.
When he pulls off a second later, sucking in a long breath, Diluc has half a mind to feel aroused all over again.
“Come here,” he says, reaching down to pull at Kaeya’s shirt.
He pulls Kaeya into his lap, clumsy and breathless, tugging him in to capture his mouth in a hungry kiss. Diluc can taste his own end on Kaeya’s tongue, but couldn’t care less, licking into his mouth in an attempt to claim him.
“‘Luc,” he begs when they break apart, clinging to him. “Can you - I wanna… fuck, I’m so hard, please.”
Diluc kisses him again, fumbling to tug at the waistband of Kaeya’s sweatpants.
“Shh,” he murmurs against Kaeya’s mouth, parted and gasping. “Let your big brother take care of you.”
The noise Kaeya lets out when Diluc wraps his hand around his cock sends him reeling. A broken, desperate moan escapes him, and Kaeya’s hips jerk, one hand flying to Diluc’s shoulder to steady himself. He can see the tension in every line of Kaeya’s form, fingers digging into his skin, trembling with every stroke of Diluc’s hand. His cock leaks steadily over Diluc’s palm, precum smearing over his hand, and Kaeya shudders when he thumbs at the wet slit then moves to spread slickness further over his length.
“Oh, god,” he moans, beautiful and shattered, head dropping down, foreheads gently meeting together. “That feels–”
He interrupts himself with sharp gasp.
“You’re doing so good,” Diluc tells him, watching in awe at the way Kaeya reacts to his touch, sensitive and utterly entrancing. Teeth dig into his lower lip, and Diluc stares, watching the plump flesh give under the pressure. “My baby brother’s so good for me.”
“Fuck, I–!”
Another shudder wracks Kaeya, and a second later, his breath catches in his throat. Kaeya’s face contorts in pleasure, his eyes squeezing shut, and Diluc can feel him unravel - his cock swells in his grip, and hot cum splatters onto his shirt before tapering off, warmth dribbling over his fingers. His brows arch in surprise, glancing down to his now-soiled shirt, and the way Kaeya’s cock twitches in the aftershocks, dripping over his hand still.
He lets Kaeya catch his breath, shuddering, and he’s tempted to keep touching him, just to see him squirm more. He stops himself for now though, watching as Kaeya’s eyes flutter open again, sated and fucked out.
“Sorry,” he murmurs, still a little breathless. “I’ve been… dreaming about that since I was twelve.”
Diluc lets out a low chuckle, watching as Kaeya blinks languidly, his body relaxing in Diluc’s lap. He lets go of Kaeya’s softening dick, his little brother gasping at the sensation, and watches as his eyes flutter shut again, chest rising with a deep breath. The sight of him, loose-limbed and content incurs a sudden swell of affection inside of Diluc, so intense he thinks his heart might beat its way out of his ribcage.
“Move in with me,” he says. Kaeya’s eyes pop back open, and he stares at Diluc in complete and utter confusion.
“What?” Kaeya mutters, brows arching high on his forehead.
“I said move in with me.”
“No, I heard you, I just… seriously? Are you sure?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Post-orgasmic glow?” Kaeya suggests. “I’m an amazing kisser? My head was just that good–?”
“Kaeya,” Diluc interrupts, unable to stifle a laugh. Kaeya laughs too, his silly little grin contagious, and Diluc pulls him down into another kiss, languid and sweet. It’s unhurried now, but Kaeya still makes a soft noise when their tongues brush together again.
“Mmn,” Kaeya murmurs when they part a moment later, opening his eyes to look at his older brother. “You can’t kiss me like that. I might want to go again.”
“Move in and we can go as many times as you want all the time,” Diluc tells him.
“You’re determined,” Kaeya teases. “You wanna fuck your baby brother that bad, huh?”
It’s meant to be playful, but it rouses something in Diluc, and his spent dick twitches back to life. Kaeya must feel it, because his gaze flickers down for a split second, and he blinks.
“Wow,” he exclaims flatly.
“Shut up,” Diluc grunts. “Listen, I know it’s sudden, but take your time. I don’t want you to feel–”
“Yes,” Kaeya interrupts. Diluc’s mouth snaps shut, and opens again, then shuts. He stares up at his brother.
“What?”
“I said yes. Yes, I’ll move in.”
“That didn’t take much convincing,” Diluc notes, and Kaeya chuckles, wrapping his arms around Diluc’s neck.
“What, did you think I would really say no?” Kaeya teases with a tilt of his head, threading a hand through Diluc’s hair. He swears his heart skips a beat, and his little brother smiles, sugary sweet and all for him.
“After all,” he continues, “I missed playing house.”