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Kaeya and Diluc haven’t exactly resolved the tension between them but they have been talking more.
Kaeya’s birthday was tomorrow and he decided that he would try and celebrate with Diluc as they did when they were young.
Well, celebrate was a strong word. He just wanted to eat cake with his brother on his birthday. He hasn’t really had a celebration in years. The only person he wanted to celebrate with hated him so what was the point.
Luckily, Diluc didn’t outright avoid him anymore. He didn’t just glare at him with the promise of finishing their fight from years ago. There was still animosity behind his eyes but it wasn’t as strong as before.
This gave him hope of reconciling. Diluc was the one person he grew up with. The person who took him in. The person who taught him the language. The person he was attached at the hip with.
He was his brother.
The next afternoon, he baked a cake to the best of his ability. The first time he cooked for himself in a long time. Usually eating takeout or something small from Angel’s Share.
The vanilla cake came out of the oven, not a flavor Kaeya would typically go for but vanilla is Diluc’s favorite flavor. He had all the necessary supplies. Icing, sprinkles, and piping bags. Well, some of the necessities.
He started by spreading a baby blue frosting all over the cake. He tried to smooth it out to the best of his abilities but there were still a few lumps and imperfections. He used the piping bag to try and add some cool swirls on the side.
He made the swirls in a vibrant red to look like the flames on Diluc’s greatsword. The design didn’t turn out how he expected as his hand was a bit shaky and he underestimated the difficulty of cake decorating.
The swirls were uneven and lopsided. They clearly weren’t made by a professional but it didn’t have to. This was all how it looked when he and Diluc were young, messy but made with love.
As the last few touches, he spread out sprinkles on top and then piped in dark blue letters, “Happy Birthday, Kaeya”. The absolute final touch was to put the candle on the cake but he wanted his brother to do that. Like how they used to.
Kaeya put his all into decorating that cake and was tired. This was the best time to go see his brother. it could refill his energy and they could reconcile their relationship. Kaeya put the candle in his back pocket as he grabbed the cake and headed off for Angel’s Share.
The tavern should be closing now and Diluc would be locking up. He traversed carefully, not wanting any ruin to happen to the cake or the candle. Kaeya’s whole focus was on not dropping the cake when he spotted his brother.
His face lit up as he walked faster until he arrived by Diluc’s side. “Diluc! It’s my birthday, so I brought us a cake to share. Just like when we were younger!”
Kaeya’s mouth started talking before he could think. A smile was on his face as his excitement took over. He hadn’t been this happy over his birthday in years. He didn’t look up at Diluc through any of this and just kept talking.
“I brought a candle for you to put in there! Remember like how we used to do. You would get so jealous when my
“Kaeya.” A cold, stern voice spoke up and interrupted his ranting.
Kaeya, for the first time since he ran up to Diluc, looked up. Diluc’s expression was not what he thought he would see. His face devoid of emotion and his eyes filled with annoyance.
“Just because I have started talking to you does not mean we are brothers. You ruined that relationship. We are simply strangers with memories. Do not ever act like we are brothers ever again.”
His eyes once again filled with that resentment and hatred towards every mention of Kaeya. His voice filled with venom as he spoke to him. He didn’t even wait for a response or look to see how Kaeya reacted to his statement.
He walked away, didn’t look back, left him there, face no longer filled with excitement. Tears were falling before he really processed what the man had said. The shock from these words caused his hands to freeze up and the cake fell on the floor.
All of that hard work and the soul he put into that was gone. The candle was still in his back pocket but he couldn’t care less right now. The tears wouldn’t stop falling as he watched Diluc walk away.
How could he be so stupid. He is the one that ruined their relationship. How could he ever think that exchanging a few good words could fix what he ruined. He fell to his knees in front of the Angel’s Share as his tears streamed down his face.
He looked pathetic right now, the Cavalry captain, on his knees just because of a few words. The cake he worked so hard on laced face down, squashed in front of him. The red swirls even worse now.
Diluc wanted to kill him, how could he forget? The reason he has a vision, the reason he had cried on his knees like this that night. God he is so stupid, so fucking stupid, why did he do this.
The night air felt so cold now that Diluc was gone for good. There was no recovering from that. He can't save this relationship. Kaeya felt empty, he felt lost. After their initial fight, all he wanted to do was make up. What was he supposed to do now? How could he act like he was fine after this?
He just wanted to give up. Living for Diluc, for the hope of him loving Kaeya as a brother again, was the reason he hadn’t died yet. Guilt ate at him every night, that if he got to Crepus just a bit sooner, would he have been able to do anything. If Crepus wasn’t the one who found him, how happy could Diluc be right now.
If he never came to Mondstat, if he had died when he first showed up, then how would this have gone. He wanted to curl up and cry his eyes out till next year. All this repressed sadness was coming up. The stress of losing the only person he loved like family was eating at him.
Kaeya had really fucked up hadn’t he? Could he really not fix this? Did he seriously lose his brother?
He reached into his back pocket and grabbed the candle. He flipped over the destroyed and disheveled cake as he stuck the candle into it. Tears dripping down onto the frosting, he lit the candle.
“Happy Birthday, Kaeya.” He whispered to himself as he cried his heart out.
That night, if anyone heard the Cavalry captain screaming his pain into the night sky, they didn’t mention it.