[He's not the one petrified of the weather. Diluc wouldn't have suggested such a thing if he hadn't heard the exhaustion weighted in that sigh Kaeya had let out. He shifts his arm to make it more comfortable around his brother's shoulders, having the unintended effect of tucking him in all the closer.
It feels strange to do this now. His memories of when this would happen involve them both being a lot smaller.]
And you don't have to try to sleep. Just try to rest.
[He grunted lightly into his mug, not really in the mood to keep protesting any longer. He sighed again, relaxing as best he could in between the thunder and the warm honeyed milk settling in his stomach and making him sleepy. Eventually, the mug was emptied and sat loosing in his lap as his eyes drooped.
For a moment, he felt like he was a kid, experiencing his first moment of brotherly bonding over being without his biological father during another storm and realizing he had a new family to keep him warm and safe.
Kaeya pulled his legs up, curling them right on top of Diluc’s as he sleepily pulled the blanket up to his shoulders. He let out a contented sigh through his nose, closing his eyes completely now.]
[Somewhere between the mug falling loose in Kaeya's hold and the moment he shifts his knees up onto the couch, Diluc takes the mug from his hand and places it down on the floor beside his own. The weather grows calmer by the time they finish their drinks, with only the rain hitting the windows and an occasional, distant roll of thunder.
He makes a soft sound of surprise when Kaeya moves and curls up on him like that, but he doesn't have it in his heart to push him away. Instead he shifts him very carefully to make things more comfortable for them both, and moves the blanket so it's less tangled up. With one arm under the blanket around Kaeya's back and the other over the top, draped lightly over his curled legs, he's all but cradling the man against him.
Diluc sighs softly, closing his eyes and pressing a gentle kiss to Kaeya's hairline. Something warm swells in his chest and he murmurs very quietly.]
[Kaeya didn’t respond. Not because he didn’t hear, but because he wasn’t sure he heard correctly. He was barely aware of curling up against Diluc, to be honest, until his brother said that. But he was too tired and exhausted to move. And to answer. But that warmth in his chest that he had been feeling since they left the hospital was felt once more, warmer and brighter than before.
Kaeya didn’t know what to make of it.
His hand shifted around his stomach to where he felt Diluc’s hand under the blanket at his back and gently curled a couple fingers into it. He couldn’t reach all around, of course, but he managed to snag a few digits, just a subtle and quiet way to let the other know he heard and he was responding in some fashion.]
[He hadn't said it with the expectation that Kaeya would be too deep into sleep to hear him. Maybe he'd even wanted him to hear it. What was the point of saying something like that if it wasn't heard by the person it was directed at?
Diluc smiles faintly to himself as he feels Kaeya's fingers curling around his hand. He gives the other man's body a gentle squeeze with both arms and relaxes into the back of the couch.]
[Without the thunder constantly jumping his heart and the feel of being wrapped up in comforting warmth, it wasn’t too difficult to follow that request. He was asleep within a few minutes.
He awoke to the morning light in his face, it seemed the storm passed over completely and the sun was shining. He snuggled back deeper into his blanket, closing his eyes to catch a few more ZZZs… only to open them right back up with his brows furrowed as he realized he was now laying down rather than being upright. He lifted his head and that’s when he realized that at some point during the night, both he and Diluc had gone from sitting up to laying down… with Kaeya using Diluc’s chest as a pillow. He was still being cradled between the couch and his brother’s warm body.
He honestly didn’t know if he should be embarrassed, mortified, or utterly pleased at this. His face heated right back up and slowly, delicately, he tried to push himself up to disentangle himself from the blanket and Diluc’s arms without waking him.]
[He'd made an attempt of it, but after dozing off a couple of times while sitting up and waking up with a pain in his neck he'd shifted them both around while half asleep and ended up like this, with Kaeya tucked between him and the back of the couch.
When Kaeya wakes up Diluc is fast asleep, one arm hanging off the couch and his hair in complete disarray. His chest rises and falls softly with each breath, and Kaeya's nerves are at least spared the fact that the robe he fell asleep in is still covering most of his bare skin up.
He has one arm around him and when the other man decides to try and move, he gets a soft, sleepy grunt of protest and that grip around him tightening just a fraction.]
Five more minutes. [Diluc mutters with a sigh.] Then I'll... I'll get up.
[Kaeya sighed and settled back down. He waited exactly 30 seconds and tried again because now that he was awake, he really needed to bathroom. That’s what happens when you have a drink in the middle of the night, two if you count the half finished tea still in his apartment.
But he was still met with resistance and he sighed louder.]
Diluc, you can sleep five more minutes but I need the restroom.
[He's still half asleep, half-lodged in whatever dream he was having before Kaeya disturbed him, but when he speaks those red eyes open and he blinks a few times before abruptly lifting his arm off his brother's back.]
Mm. Sorry.
[Immediately, he shifts to get out of Kaeya's way and busies himself with tidying the mugs up off the floor. It's a distraction, of course... to try and take his mind off how wildly his pulse is suddenly racing.]
[Kaeya was very thankful for that. Not just for his bladder but because he also needed a moment to figure out what just happened. He really fell asleep on Diluc, didn’t he? And Diluc let him. The whole thing was wild and he really didn’t know what to think or say or do. But he couldn’t be in the bathroom forever so he finished up, washed his hands, and padded back out into the living room. Since Diluc was cleaning up the mugs, Kaeya got the blanket to fold.
He handed it back to Diluc once his hands were free and rubbed the back of his neck.]
…I should get going but uh… [Smooth.] Thank you. Again.
[It hadn't been the first time in the last few weeks that Kaeya had fallen asleep on him, and Diluc isn't at all fazed by that part of the situation. What does bother him are the unfamiliar feelings buzzing around his head as he washes the cups and listens to the faint sounds of Kaeya moving around in the bathroom.
He's deep in his own thoughts when Kaeya finally emerges and he looks over his shoulder before he turns to take the blanket. The folding of it is almost immediately undone with the way Diluc fidgets it between his hands.]
... Right, hm... You're welcome. [Diluc looks away, a tiny but obviously troubled frown worrying a faint crease between his eyebrows.] You don't need to wait for me to ask next time.
[Kaeya was a little confused at first, tilting his head inquisitively. He didn't need to wait? For what?
...oh. He sighed and nodded, although he looked unsure all the same.]
I'll... think about it.
[It wasn't that he didn't appreciate it but Kaeya just had habits now. Much of it came from being a lonely person and keeping people at arm's length in the process. And he wasn't used to Diluc being... well, being a brother to him. So, his instincts were at war with his buried deep needs that he had had to keep there in order to protect himself after their fight.]
[He smiles slightly, not trying to push it any further than that. The two of them could be quite similar and Diluc knows he wouldn't appreciate being prodded about such a thing. The next time a storm rolled over, he would go to Kaeya instead.]
All right.
[It's funny how he did enjoy the company, and specifically because that company was Kaeya, but... there are still things about how having the other man tucked against him like that made him feel that he needs to sort through.]
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[He's not the one petrified of the weather. Diluc wouldn't have suggested such a thing if he hadn't heard the exhaustion weighted in that sigh Kaeya had let out. He shifts his arm to make it more comfortable around his brother's shoulders, having the unintended effect of tucking him in all the closer.
It feels strange to do this now. His memories of when this would happen involve them both being a lot smaller.]
And you don't have to try to sleep. Just try to rest.
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For a moment, he felt like he was a kid, experiencing his first moment of brotherly bonding over being without his biological father during another storm and realizing he had a new family to keep him warm and safe.
Kaeya pulled his legs up, curling them right on top of Diluc’s as he sleepily pulled the blanket up to his shoulders. He let out a contented sigh through his nose, closing his eyes completely now.]
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He makes a soft sound of surprise when Kaeya moves and curls up on him like that, but he doesn't have it in his heart to push him away. Instead he shifts him very carefully to make things more comfortable for them both, and moves the blanket so it's less tangled up. With one arm under the blanket around Kaeya's back and the other over the top, draped lightly over his curled legs, he's all but cradling the man against him.
Diluc sighs softly, closing his eyes and pressing a gentle kiss to Kaeya's hairline. Something warm swells in his chest and he murmurs very quietly.]
... I love you, Kae.
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Kaeya didn’t know what to make of it.
His hand shifted around his stomach to where he felt Diluc’s hand under the blanket at his back and gently curled a couple fingers into it. He couldn’t reach all around, of course, but he managed to snag a few digits, just a subtle and quiet way to let the other know he heard and he was responding in some fashion.]
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Diluc smiles faintly to himself as he feels Kaeya's fingers curling around his hand. He gives the other man's body a gentle squeeze with both arms and relaxes into the back of the couch.]
I know. Go to sleep.
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[Without the thunder constantly jumping his heart and the feel of being wrapped up in comforting warmth, it wasn’t too difficult to follow that request. He was asleep within a few minutes.
He awoke to the morning light in his face, it seemed the storm passed over completely and the sun was shining. He snuggled back deeper into his blanket, closing his eyes to catch a few more ZZZs… only to open them right back up with his brows furrowed as he realized he was now laying down rather than being upright. He lifted his head and that’s when he realized that at some point during the night, both he and Diluc had gone from sitting up to laying down… with Kaeya using Diluc’s chest as a pillow. He was still being cradled between the couch and his brother’s warm body.
He honestly didn’t know if he should be embarrassed, mortified, or utterly pleased at this. His face heated right back up and slowly, delicately, he tried to push himself up to disentangle himself from the blanket and Diluc’s arms without waking him.]
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When Kaeya wakes up Diluc is fast asleep, one arm hanging off the couch and his hair in complete disarray. His chest rises and falls softly with each breath, and Kaeya's nerves are at least spared the fact that the robe he fell asleep in is still covering most of his bare skin up.
He has one arm around him and when the other man decides to try and move, he gets a soft, sleepy grunt of protest and that grip around him tightening just a fraction.]
Five more minutes. [Diluc mutters with a sigh.] Then I'll... I'll get up.
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But he was still met with resistance and he sighed louder.]
Diluc, you can sleep five more minutes but I need the restroom.
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Mm. Sorry.
[Immediately, he shifts to get out of Kaeya's way and busies himself with tidying the mugs up off the floor. It's a distraction, of course... to try and take his mind off how wildly his pulse is suddenly racing.]
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He handed it back to Diluc once his hands were free and rubbed the back of his neck.]
…I should get going but uh… [Smooth.] Thank you. Again.
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He's deep in his own thoughts when Kaeya finally emerges and he looks over his shoulder before he turns to take the blanket. The folding of it is almost immediately undone with the way Diluc fidgets it between his hands.]
... Right, hm... You're welcome. [Diluc looks away, a tiny but obviously troubled frown worrying a faint crease between his eyebrows.] You don't need to wait for me to ask next time.
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...oh. He sighed and nodded, although he looked unsure all the same.]
I'll... think about it.
[It wasn't that he didn't appreciate it but Kaeya just had habits now. Much of it came from being a lonely person and keeping people at arm's length in the process. And he wasn't used to Diluc being... well, being a brother to him. So, his instincts were at war with his buried deep needs that he had had to keep there in order to protect himself after their fight.]
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All right.
[It's funny how he did enjoy the company, and specifically because that company was Kaeya, but... there are still things about how having the other man tucked against him like that made him feel that he needs to sort through.]
I'll see you later, then.