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Where. Is. He?
Kaeya picked at his nails as he paced the Angel Share’s balcony. He’d been planning this for too long for Diluc to be so late. The past few months had been full of clearing out camps of hilichurls in record time just so he could have time to focus on the finer details of the plan. The decorations, the invitations, the presents, even the cake. Each repeatedly refined detail motivated Kaeya more to make this at least a good day. Kaeya worked so hard just to prepare for this day. Trying his best to keep things civil so Diluc would know he at the very least wouldn’t have to worry about a “spy” that lives and breathes in the Knights of Favonius.
So where. Is. He?
He was supposed to work behind the bar today, he talked to Charles and Elzer to make sure they could guarantee he’d be working today. This would be the first birthday he’d celebrated properly since their father since Master Crepus’ passing. It needed to be perfect. The timing for the party was the hardest to get down since he had to wait for the right year to have the best chance of success. He was planning on doing this… ever since Diluc came back from his little “adventure” away from home. A half Birthday party and half I’m-sorry-for-lying-and-betraying-you-and-being-a-spy-but-I-still-love-you-so-I-organized-this-party-can-we-be-brothers-again…party.
According to very reliable sources (cough cough the traveler) Diluc had been doing better. This was also somewhat evident based on observations. He seemed to be more… relaxed. It took a lot more to tick him off than it did before. Kaeya fondly remembers when they were younger and Diluc was a little more on the hot headed side. Both he and Crepus were, honestly. Becoming a cavalry captain had aged him, gave him the maturity he needed. It was only after Crepus passed did that maturity ever bitter into smoldering resentment and rage, just to be cooled again over time.
Kaeya was sure no birthday would live up to the ones they had as children but Kaeya wanted to try.
He couldn't try without the man of the hour though,
So where-
A knock interrupted his thoughts and he turned around as Paimon threw open the door.
"Man your stations! Master Diluc is walking by Flora's flower shop right now!" Paimon exclaimed, kicking her feet excitedly. "Oooohh! Paimon's so excited she just might burst!"
Kaeya smiled at her, steadying his own nerves. "Thank you Paimon, you're as reliable and sharp as ever. Make sure everyone's ready. Could you remind Klee to light the candles from the bird and not all at once when she lights them?"
Paimon nodded with a playful salute, "You got it captain!" Then she paused and put her hands behind her back and looked a little sad. "If you're not going to take credit… Are you sure you can't at least join us? I'm sure Master Diluc wouldn't mind you being there."
"Thank you for your concern, Paimon but I'd rather not risk it. You can go back inside, I'll be okay." Kaeya gave her his best reassuring smile but it didn't make her feel much better. She didn't argue about it though, just nodded and flew back inside to carry out her orders.
Kaeya looked over the edge of the balcony and sure enough, he could see the familiar glint of bright red come around the corner. He shifted back so he could hide around the corner and be harder to spot as Diluc came up the stairs but Diluc seemed to be resigned, staring at the floor instead of his surroundings. As he got closer Kaeya felt his anxiety boiling up again.
What if Diluc hated it?
What if he found it as an insult and only resented Kaeya more?
Maybe this was a terrible idea- But it was too late.
If Diluc hated it then Kaeya would free himself by jumping off this balcony. Just to escape though, the height isn't tall enough to kill him.
As Diluc reached the front door Kaeya also peaked his head through the door to witness the surprise in action. Diluc opened the door and was immediately caught off guard by the gathering of people inside who cheered "Happy birthday Diluc!"
He stared at them like a deer in headlights before his ears finally caught up to him and a small sheepish grin appeared on his face. "How did you all do this…?"
"Barrels of wine certainly help." Venti giggled and Rosaria nodded.
Paimon cooed, "Aw he's smiling! It worked!"
"To be frank, it was a lot of preparation," Albedo stated simply.
"We all wanted to pitch in and give you a good birthday. Although some of us " Jean emphasized, "pitched in more than others." She, along with most of the group, were specifically given instructions to not tell Diluc that Kaeya had organized it. "Come on, we have presents for you."
She took his hand and led him over to the small pile of presents and letters. Diluc went through each gift and letter, thanking each person as he got through them.
A fancy old fashioned bottle opener from Venti, a wax letter stamp set from Lisa and Jean, even a bottle of pyro-enhancing elixir from Albedo to name a few; Finally he opened up the last present which was from Kaeya. He scanned the crowd quickly before shooting a glance Jean's way.
Jean picked up on the silent question. "He told me to wish you a happy birthday, and apologize on his behalf since he couldn't be here."
Diluc nodded, concealing his slight disappointment. "Is he working right now?"
Jean shrugged slightly, "He said he would be… busy. Apologies again. He said the least he could do was at least leave a gift in his absence."
Diluc waved her off, "It's fine, I still appreciate everyone who could make it by being here today." He pocketed Kaeya's gift and cleaned up the remaining gifts and letters on the table to be easily gathered later.
As Diluc finished fixing up the gifts, he felt a tug on his coat. He looked down and saw the familiar little elf girl in red who seemed to be unmatched in her own excitement. "Weird grown up! It's cake time! Klee wants to show you a trick she learned!" She leaned back while grasping his coat, using her body to pull him more effectively.
"Klee, be careful you might fall," Jean warned.
"She's right, cake time it is." Diluc sighed with another light smile as a partial attempt to get Klee to give up his Weird grown up title. He let himself get dragged away to the pairs of cakes on the bar counter. While the other was a plain black and red cake, this one was square in shape, iced primarily in white with a beautiful cursive ‘Happy Birthday Diluc' in red icing. The words were circled by an iced rendition of his fiery phoenix Dawn leaving a sweet trail of red and orange.
Klee pulled herself up onto the stool and turned to the cake. "Now watch closely!" Klee rolled up her sleeves and held out her hand, focusing really hard until the candles lit up in a path from the bird to the opposite corner of the cake, replicating Dawn’s pyro path in cake form. Klee looked up at Diluc proudly and Diluc gently ruffled her hair. “Thank you, Klee. That was a cool trick.”
Klee smiled brightly, “Now it’s candle blowing time! Make a wish! No telling, is an important rule.”
Diluc paused, giving his wish some thought before blowing out the candles.
“Oh no!” Klee exclaimed, looking back at Jean, “We didn’t sing…”
Diluc shook his head, “I don’t mind-”
“But everyone deserves the song on their birthday!” Klee whined sadly.
“Not everyone wants to be sung to, Klee.” Jean pats the young girl’s back. “Besides there’s always another birthday, right?”
Klee still didn’t look convinced but the strum of a lyre yanked her out her sadness.
“If a song must be sung,” Venti recited, “Listen close for the bard’s strum, this is a party for the Ragnvindr son, so let us raise our cups for a celebration begun!”
Klee’s face lit up as she ran over to the front seat of Venti’s performance. With that crisis averted and the sound of chattering and music filling the room, Diluc cut the cake.
Diluc
was
enjoying the party.
He felt like he should be anyway, the decorations were fun but mature, the music was perfect, the cake…
He paused noticeably as the flavor of the cake registered with his senses. He gave the room a second look over then finally up to the second floor where he noticed Kaeya try to duck out of view.
Kaeya mumbled a swear, returning back to the balcony. He figures Diluc had to have seen him and he tries to act casual. He decides it would be way weirder to try and run away and pretend he wasn’t very obviously staring then to just sit there so that’s what he did. Plopped himself down in the nearest chair the most casual way possible.
The door opened not too long after and unsurprisingly, Diluc sat down beside him with two plates of cake in hand. He sets one plate down on the small table between them, beginning to eat the other slice of cake still in his hand. The silence was deafening between them and Kaeya didn’t make any move to accept the slice of cake offered. The longer he did nothing, the more awkward it felt. He tried to think of something to say.
“Happy bi-”
“Thank you for the party.”
They stared at each other.
Kaeya blinked, his thoughts completely disrupted. “I didn’t- Why are you thanking me?”
“I mean… You set this up, didn’t you?” Diluc said mid bite, as if such information was common knowledge. Well, technically it was, but it wasn’t supposed to be for Diluc. “The party?”
“I-” Kaeya sat back in his seat, running his hands over his face. “How did you know that?”
Diluc swallowed. "To be fair, I didn't know, I just guessed,” Diluc shrugged, scooping up another forkful of cake into his mouth. “Now I know."
Kaeya froze then groaned, running his hands through his bangs. "I don't know who's more childish, you for pulling that trick or me for actually falling for it."
Diluc licks some icing off his lip, "Probably both."
"At least you're admitting it." Kaeya pouted, sitting back up to look at him properly. “How’d you even figure it out? Did someone say something? Well- I guess hiding up here is suspicious so I shouldn’t be surprised.” He felt a little ridiculous now.
“I had a feeling before I saw you.” Diluc shrugged, finishing off his slice and setting down the empty plate. He picked up the second slice. “There were a few things that sort of had a ‘Kaeya’ feel to them but,” He waved around the slice of cake. “I wasn’t sure til I saw this.”
Kaeya looked at the slice confused, it looked like a regular slice of cake to him. “Til you saw…?”
“The flavor of the cake. Dead give away you had some hand in all this.”
Kaeya was utterly confused. “How?”
Diluc looked at him as if he was talking gibberish, “Do you know of a single other person who likes sunsettia and raisin cake besides me?”
Kaeya rolled his eyes. “Well no, but that’s not my fault you have bad taste.”
“It’s not your fault,” Diluc nodded, scooping cake onto his fork, “but no one else knows I like it except you.”
“Wait seriously?” Kaeya gawked, “No one?”
Diluc nodded, “The only other person who knows is in a grave so yes, pretty much.” He swallowed again, “I was embarrassed about it as a kid and it’s never really come up as an adult.” He gestures his fork at him, “Do you know how many times I’ve had to force down red velvet because people thought I liked it?”
Kaeya accepts defeat with a sigh. “Remind me to never throw a surprise party for you again.”
Diluc hummed, “Next time, it can just be a regular party.”
“Next time?!” Kaeya spun his head around almost immediately.
Diluc nonchalantly finishes off the slice of cake, “If it means I get more of these cakes, sure.”
Kaeya slowly looked down at the empty plate on the table then the empty one in Diluc’s hands. “Did you come up here as an excuse to have another slice of cake?”
Diluc’s face became slightly red as he looked anywhere but Kaeya. “No.” He set the empty plate down. “I just figured I’d come up here and talk to you. You set all this up, it’s only polite.” He pulled out Kaeya’s gift from his pocket. “Besides, I also wanted to thank you for this.” It was just a small wooden chess piece, carved to look like his pet falcon. He fidgeted with it between his fingers as he spoke. “It’s well crafted. Looks just like Ember. Though it's a little hard to tell which piece it’s supposed to be;” Diluc continued as Kaeya opened his mouth to argue, “But that’s just something future chess opponents have to get used to. Thank you.”
Kaeya straightened a little, a dash of pride flashing across his face. “Of course.”
Silence settled between them again.
"Listen… I won't force you to come down stairs but," Diluc stood up, pocketing the gift so he could gather the two empty plates. "Just know the invitation is open." He turned around and walked in a slightly more leisurely pace, taking his time as he grabbed the door and turned the handle until….
"Alright! You win." Kaeya said, causing Diluc to look at him. Kaeya stood and walked over to diluc. "The traveler should've warned me about how clingy you are. I mean honestly, with the way you're acting, how cruel would I be if I refused the birthday boy's invitation?"
Diluc didn't try to hide the small grin that appeared on his face. He held the door open for Kaeya to walk ahead and his presence was immediately acknowledged.
"Captain Kaeya!" Paimon exclaimed. "We were hoping you'd finally join us and stop hid-!"
The traveler gave her a small jab with their elbow. Paimon froze up and flushed, "O-oh- Paimon means… Finally joining us when you're finally done with your work! Seems you got everything you needed to handle done early, as a responsible and reliable captain should!"
Kaeya waved a hand. "It's alright everyone, Diluc knows."
There's a few uncertain glances between the members of the party and a few unsurprised looks.
"What!" Paimon whined and stomped her foot. "Paimon thought she did such a good job keeping the secret! Who spilled the beans, I can promise you it wasn't Paimon!" She put her hands on her hips and looked around the crowd with narrowed accusatory eyes.
"Actually Paimon, it was all me this time." Kaeya admitted shamefully.
Paimon tilted her head. "Oh? You told him? That's a pretty bold move!"
"I didn't tell him, honestly I…" Kaeya glanced over at Diluc for just a second. He winced and reluctantly admitted, "Well… Let's just say I'm a bit more childish than I thought." Kaeya could hear Diluc's light chuckle behind him.
The traveler and Paimon exchange an equally confused look but Paimon just shook her head. "In any case, now we can all enjoy the party together!" She smirked and crossed her arms. "Just like Paimon had suggested from the beginning."
"Yes yes you're right, thank you oh wise Paimon. I'll take your advice into more consideration next time." Kaeya put a hand on his heart and bowed to really sell it.
Paimon didn't seem to catch on to the sarcasm like the others did so she just proudly scoffed and said, "Proves you right!" The traveler rolled their eyes but then Paimon grabbed their arm to shake it excitedly. "Now let's party!!"
The festive energy buzzed all around the brothers, people talked, drank, danced. Time slipped away without almost anyone noticing. He couldn’t put it to rest without knowing for sure, so Kaeya leaned over to Diluc to directly ask,
“How did I do, anyway?”
Diluc paused, reflecting on the cake, the decorations, the presents…. The familiar puppy-like glint in Kaeya’s eyes as he waited on Diluc’s next move. The small relieved smile that only a big brother could draw out of him as Diluc answers,
“Perfect.”