"i miss you. i know i’m not supposed to, but. i just had to see you." did he show up at kaeya's door uninvited & unannounced, half-blind with a fever & shivering in 6 layers? yes. there aren't enough braincells to rally into a screaming match against his gooier impulses & the winery is so e m p t y. there are 3 respectful paces between the opened door & diluc's toes; he's being good,.. excepting the pathetic puppy eyes that trace the familiar lines of kaeya's face. ah, comfort - a t l a s t.
SOFT(ish) ANGST PROMPTS
This has to be a dream. He has to be sleeping.
He has to be asleep, still. There's no way that this scene was going to be real. But also, pinching himself would have given off a strange message.
In his defense, Kaeya was asleep in the comforting warmth of his bed -- then, he heard a knock at the door. Considering that it woke him up, it had to be a pretty loud one. Grumbling, he had dragged himself from the bed and slid on a warmer coat to not freeze once the door was opened...
And by the Archons, this wasn't a scene he expected to see.
This, this is why he had to still be asleep. Dreaming. Dreaming deliriously, he thinks.
But the only delirious one between the two clearly isn't him.
His throat is uncomfortably dry, cracked as a desert, and Diluc's words don't register. There's no way that he had said those precise, soft words. No way. This is confusing for him, who stands there like a deer caught in an headlight for several minutes... or, at least he thinks. His instict tells him that they stood in front of eachother for hours, days and even months, but ultimately his rational part clarifies that it had only been a few minutes, at worst.
And, like the conversationalist genious he is, all Kaeya can squeak out is a quiet, almost unheard ' Luc? '
Then, and only then, he registers the other's pathetic condition: the heat he emanated from a fever licks at his face, and when he looks up he sees that his eyes are really, really unfocused. He looks every last bit like complete shit, and now Kaeya feels...
Well, he feels. He has registered what Diluc told him -- but he can't comprehend it. He knows what words mean, he uses those often -- and, somehow, now he's the one speechless.
You know how, usually, family reunions are supposed to go? Filled with tears and gross snot, clinging to eachother for dear life, bone-crushing hugs. But him and Diluc are no longer a family.
Yet, he's here.
This is where the stunned captain's brain begins to reconcile with his movements. ' Luc, ' he calls again, speechless for another moment. ' Luc... come inside, ' he begs, softly. Five tentative fingers curl a few times before he hesitantly moves to grab ahold of Diluc's sleeve, trying to tug the redhead towards him. ' Come inside, please? You're... you're freezing. You're not okay. Let's get you something warm and clean, okay? '
Bold words, he knows. All the smugness has been knocked off and replaced with worry for the sorry state of his brother, as he wins the initial shyness and tugs him inside the much better, rain-devoid house. And when he has managed to win the worst of Diluc's resistente, there's a lump in his throat, and he refuses to let go of his sleeve.
His voice should be more stable. But, actually, all he can croack out while his fingers catch the droplets off Diluc's sleeve are ' I missed you too. '
