Eternal

There were things that were simply out of reach. Like a life adorned in gold to a poor man, or a chance at life for someone with the death penalty on their neck, there were things one simply couldn’t change. For Kaeya though, it was something much nearer, so near it felt like he could grasp it with his own two hands were he to understand, but that was the point—he remembered, but he didn’t understand. Not one bit.

To him, it was like reading a very long story while hating the main protagonist the whole time. Maybe ‘hating’ wasn’t the right term, he didn’t despise himself, but the amount of questions that piled up as the story went on really stressed him out. Kaeya didn’t even consider the past-him the same person anymore, because why did that person come to such a conclusion when they could have saved themselves and why did that person love others who barely treasured their presence at all? Why did that person sacrifice themselves for people who betrayed them? Remembering his past life was a curse for there was no one alive who could answer these lingering mysteries for him. Now, instead of living his present, he found himself thinking of an incarnation long past. His dreams were tales of characters he’d never met and his days were filled with questioning, wondering, stressing over the littlest details he couldn’t even change.

It became all the more monotonous since the dreams never revealed anything new to him. In fact, he already knew all the things that happened in his past incarnation for as long as he remembered. The dreams only repeated his knowledge over and over again like a never-ending nightmare; a reminder that there was no way for him to run from fate.

The story was simple. The red thread of fate curled around his neck, and that was how he lived; having his duty that had been set in stone haunt him as he ran from that godforsaken nation. Love and arguments transpired, friends and foes were made. For a lingering second he thought Mondstadt was home, but when the truth came to light, they didn’t hesitate to declare their betrayal. He remembered exactly how their kindness turned to mistrust in less than a night, and somehow… Somehow, he still sacrificed himself for them all. Why? Kaeya didn’t understand his past self at all.

The life he had now was spent trying to avoid anybody who he knew hailed from those nations. Sure, everyone was different now. They might be older or younger, and they might know each other or they might not. They might be good or they might be evil, but the fact stood that they betrayed him once upon a time, and he wouldn’t have that happen again no matter what. After all, they said that life was a cycle and Kaeya wouldn’t let himself fall into that same hole. So, he resided in small villages with faces he could count, faces he didn’t remember. He lived a humble, boring life that he was happy with and would be happy with as long as he didn’t meet anyone he knew beforehand.

However, his co-worker, Kaveh, seemed to disagree.

“You are wasting your years and beauty away living like this,” he said once again that morning. A long-lasting argument that Kaeya was so tired of, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“What do you want me to do?” Kaeya asked as he dusted the books. “It’s not like anyone here is down to date. Everyone’s old and ready to retire, who’d want to date li’l old me?” The same lines repeated, over and over; a cycle.

Kaveh sighed, wiping the table below. Despite his best efforts, there were some marks that wouldn’t leave. A sign of how old the table was, as was everything else in this bookshop. Even so, the furniture was very high quality and the books were well-tended-to. This bookshop was, after all, owned by Al-Haitham; part of a heritage that had been owned by his family for generations. They had always been successful and this was just one of the branches. It was smaller than the ones in the city, but it was just as well-maintained.

“This is why I’ve been telling you, you should move back to the cities and get yourself a handsome boyfriend,” he complained like he was personally feeling the effects of Kaeya’s dating choices. “However, I have a new solution.”

Oh, no. That can’t be good, Kaeya thought. It wasn’t like he wanted to leave the city in the first place, but when he got wind of Jean Gunnhildr, the very successful businesswoman moving nearby, he just had to flee. It wasn’t an easy decision, but after having the same nightmare for a week, he decided he couldn’t survive like that anymore. It was too tiring to hear the same declaration of betrayal by that woman every night only to have to wake up to a reality where he was working an underpaid nine-to-five.

Perhaps taking his silence as a sign to continue, Kaveh continued whole-heartedly, “I know you’re tired of hearing me talk about this, so I propose a deal! There’s a friend of Al-Haitham who’d like to date you. If you agree to this, I will stop bothering you about your less-than-satisfactory dating choices.”

“Oh? And if I go on a date with him and it doesn’t go well?”

“I’ll still back off, as per the agreement. So, deal?”

Well, that was a juicy deal. He’d been nagged for two months at the very least. ‘Sick of it’ didn’t even begin to describe his feelings about their morning conversations. So, without thinking much, he asked for the details of the date.

Diluc had owed a great deal to Al-Haitham for helping him move to his new house. They’d been business partners for quite a while now, although one might wonder why a winery business would work with a bookshops owner. He didn’t know either, it was a decision that had been made a few generations ago, but it worked well, so. He didn’t expect him to care so much about helping him to get acquainted with the new place, though. Maybe Haitham was just worried, what with the village being tiny. Diluc, after all, had lived in big cities his whole life and Haitham had been in the same boat before he moved here. Birds of a feather flock together and all that.

With that, he agreed when Haitham offered him to go on a blind date with a friend of his. When he thought about it, it was a tad unethical to be repaying favors in this way. However, as he sat in the cafe looking at the pretty bluenette who just entered, he thought maybe he owed Haitham double the favors now.

The cafe was just like any other cafe, albeit more deserted. Usually, cafes were crowded with high schoolers and university students who wanted to do their work with the company of coffee. There wasn’t any university nearby and high schoolers who lived here might find coffee to not be worth their price, so it wasn’t a surprise that Diluc found himself to be in the company of a few old men who seemed to be on their lunch break.

Kaeya—Diluc briefly recalled his name from his prior conversation with Haitham—greeted the cashier who he seemed to be friends with. They talked for a bit before the cashier pointed him to Diluc’s direction. He couldn’t help but straighten his back. When they made eye contact, Kaeya’s expression changed. The smile was momentarily erased from his face. Upon seeing Diluc looking at him, he smiled again and gave a little wave, but the sincerity was lacking. In fact, he looked a bit nervous as he walked to their table.

Maybe Diluc just looked intimidating. Or maybe he recognized Diluc from the papers, but if Haitham had already told him about Diluc then there was no need for surprise, surely.

“Hi! I’m Kaeya. I assume you’re Diluc Ragnvindr?” he asked, sitting down.

“Hello, Kaeya. And you’re right on that front. I hear that you’re working for Al-Haitham. Is he treating you well?”

“Mr. Haitham barely ever visits the bookshop. It’s mostly me and Kaveh, and the ghosts of customers,” he explained. “It’s only crowded at the beginning of the school year when the kids come to buy new books. The elderly don’t seem to be interested in books. What about you, do you enjoy reading?”

“Is that an indirect invite to come visit your bookshop, Kaeya?”

Kaeya let out a smile that Diluc begrudgingly thought was cute. At least it looked more genuine than before. “It’s a test, actually. I can’t date people who don’t read,” he said cheekily.

“Well, I’m glad to say I’m an avid reader, then,” he said. It took only a minute for them to order before they continued their conversation. “This little village mostly has children and elderly, right? What pushed you to move here?”

Kaeya shrugged. “I’m tired of the city, s’all. What about you, why did you move here?”

Diluc paused drinking. “I’ve never told you… that I just moved.”

Kaeya paused too. Just like earlier, a little falter in his demeanor that wouldn’t even be visible if Diluc wasn’t thoroughly paying attention to him. “Kaveh told me—that is, Haitham’s partner.”

“Ah…” So he said, but Diluc didn’t quite believe him. There seemed to be something else he was hiding. Even so, there was no way to find out right now, so he let it go. The date went well and since they enjoyed each other’s company, Diluc wanted to exchange phone numbers to keep in touch with him. At first, Kaeya hesitated. For some reason, the bluenette’s smile was wiped from his face for a mere second; just like when he first saw Diluc, but he still typed in his number. All in all, it was a good occasion and definitely went above all expectations for Diluc.

Playing with fire.

There was no other way to describe what Kaeya was doing right now. And when he would undoubtedly fail, there was no other thing to do than blame himself for it.

Really, he didn’t even know who he was going on a date with until he actually saw the man. Kaveh hadn’t told him anything about the date until one day before, and even then, he only told him the time and place. When he made eye contact with Diluc, the one person he’d prayed and hoped to god he wouldn’t meet in this lifetime, he felt his heart drop. The first thing he thought of was that his life was really cursed. His instincts were telling him to self-preserve, to run and never look back—sure, it might take another lifetime to meet someone he got along with as well as Kaveh, but who cared—but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to leave. He sucked it up, smiled and sat down.

Seriously, Kaeya just wanted to survive and live a decent, humble life. What were the chances someone like him would get to meet a rich celebrity in a cafe? A bookshop keeper and a winery owner? It was only telling that fate wasn’t done making him miserable. Yet for some reason, despite knowing this…

Well, Kaeya must be very stupid because he continued going on dates with the man. He had to admit, Diluc made him happy. His presence, his actions, it was difficult to not grow fond of him after a while. He was a gentleman who seemed to know everything that Kaeya liked and he was genuinely interested in Kaeya. That was more than he could ask for, in a life where he’d been on a run this whole time. He had always thought it would be safer for him to not date. Dating meant… lots of things; caring for someone, being cared for by someone. It would be difficult to leave someone he cared for, but he didn’t expect that this would be his weakness. He didn’t expect his walls to tumble down the moment he was shown this kind of care by someone else.

It was in the simple things.

They spent lots of time in that cafe, it quickly became their favorite spot as the town is tiny and there was barely any other place they could spend their time in so comfortably. The bookstore was their second favorite, as Diluc usually came over to pick up Kaeya from his shift. Seeing the two walk around town in the evening hours wasn’t a rare occasion at all. If Diluc was lucky that day, the bashful Kaeya might let him hold his hand.

Kaeya was a beautiful man. When he first came to town, it wasn’t so at all. He looked hungry and tired, like a person who had gone through much distress; tattered clothes, the only thing shielding him from the snow during that winter as he walked into town. He wasn’t poor—he bought the house and bought food and whatever else he needed with no hindrance, so it was a question till this day, why did he suffer so much?

At first, they thought he was a thief or a runaway. For someone to have enough money to buy a house, yet looked and had the demeanor of a homeless man, wasn’t it too odd? Yet, no one was looking for him and the newspapers didn’t plaster his face. Weeks turned into months, then years, and no one cared about these questions any longer. All they knew was that Kaeya Alberich was their dear bookstore keeper and he greeted them with a friendly smile every day, so all that was inconsequential.

Everyone liked teasing him about it when Diluc wasn’t around to hear, “When are you marrying that nice man?” and “You seem happier now that he’s around!”

Kaeya… was happy indeed. He and Diluc had many shared interests. When they didn’t, they were interested to hear what the other had to say and were respectful, not once looking bored. As such, their conversations flowed seamlessly. The only time they had a (joking) argument was when Diluc brought him to the winery for a wine tasting.

Kaeya’s eyes had brightened and he took to it like a moth to a flame.

Diluc acted petulant with him that day as he laughed.

“Shouldn’t you be happy that you got a free wine taster? I must be doing better than those people you pay to do this stuff.”

Diluc took the bottle in front of him just as Kaeya was reaching out to grab it, causing him to break out in a pout. “Wine taster? You’re more like a freeloader. Wine tasters only taste the wine, not get drunk off of it,” he said, putting the bottle away. Unbeknownst to Kaeya, he was hiding a fond smile as he turned around.

“I’m not drunk. I can still drink more.” Kaeya was still pouting when he approached Diluc.

Diluc raised an eyebrow at him. “You have to pay me if you want more. For Kaeya Alberich, I only accept payment in kisses,” he said bluntly.

It took a second for the words to register before Kaeya’s face warmed up at the speed of light. He averted his gaze from Diluc who was looking at him seriously. “How can you say such a thing with a straight face?!” he asked, hitting Diluc’s shoulder gently in his bashfulness.

Since their first date, Diluc hadn’t been shy in showing his adoration to Kaeya. He was always asking, “When are you free next?” and “Would you like to go here with me tomorrow?”

It got to the point where he didn’t even need to ask anymore. They just knew each other’s habits and schedules, and now they spent most of their time with each other if not for work.

And so, Kaeya found himself falling in love before he knew it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Just like when he first found Jean, his nights were now decorated with nightmares. He frequently woke up in heavy-breathing in a daze. Sometimes, he wouldn’t even remember his own dreams, only a splash of red and he’d know immediately what it was about. He’d taken to stealing a cup of coffee every morning, but even that didn’t save his face from panda-eyes.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for Diluc to notice.

Yesterday, Kaeya had texted Diluc that he would be busy the next day. However, it seemed that the man knew exactly what he meant. When morning came, someone had knocked on his door, along with the text, “Can I come in?”

Looking at it now, Kaeya smiled helplessly. He knew he’d messed up terribly. If he had set his sights on self-preservation, then he would have run away the moment he made eye contact with Diluc on their first meeting, but as it was now, there was no way he could leave. Kaeya had… more or less given up. If he had to choose between loving Diluc or surviving alone, the result was already clear, so he texted back, “Sure.”

When Diluc saw him, he wasn’t coughing or sneezing. His temperature wasn’t even high, he just looked extremely tired.

After checking his temperature, he sighed. “What’s wrong? How did you become like this? Yesterday, you didn’t even look tired.”

Kaeya smiled at him. “I used makeup. I initially didn’t want you to come here at all.”

To see me like this.

“Then, if you have changed your mind and let me in after all, are you finally going to explain?”

At that, Kaeya wasn’t sure what to say. How could he even explain this? So, I remember all about my past life and I remember that you used to be my lover before you stabbed me in the back for your nation wasn’t going to cover it, right? Moreover, the chances of Diluc thinking he was a sane individual after his explanation was incredibly low.

Thinking about this gave Kaeya a headache which he closed his eyes to subdue, but suddenly the image of a familiar bloody battlefield appeared in his mind. It surprised him to see a sight like this while he was awake, it made him jump from his bed. However, the blanket that was covering him made him lose balance. Thankfully, Diluc immediately caught him and placed him back on the bed.

“Alright, alright, if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. No need to jump at me like that,” he said, worried.

Kaeya was even more worried. If he started seeing these things while he was closing his eyes, wouldn’t it be terrible for him? What if he was on the road and he saw someone coming to stab him, wouldn’t he lash out and hit some innocent strangers by the sidewalk? Within only a minute, his thoughts already ran off while Diluc was still waiting for his answer by the bedside.

The redhead unexpectedly grabbed a tissue and gave it to him. “Stop worrying, Kaeya. I’m not going to force you to explain anything, don’t bite your lip like that. It’s bleeding.”

Kaeya took it and wiped his lip. It really was bleeding, he thought dumbly as he looked at the now-reddened tissue. Then, he looked at Diluc. “If you knew that it is our fate to become lovers, yet one day, one of us is fated to be betrayed by the other, what would you do?”

This time, it was Diluc’s turn to look at him dumbly. He didn’t reply for a second, yet when he did, the only thing to come out of his mouth was, “What?”

Kaeya was irritated at this reply. He grabbed Diluc’s arm and looked straight at his eyes. “If you had known all along that one day, one of us must betray the other, would you still have pursued this relationship?”

Finally, Diluc’s eyes cleared. His eyebrows were still scrunched up cutely, but he answered the question seriously this time. His answer, surprisingly, was quite simple:

“I don’t care about fate.”

They stared at each other in silence.

Dumbfounded, Kaeya asked, “What?”

“I don’t care about fate,” Diluc repeated. “If it had happened, who’s to say it would happen again? The previous me and the me now are different people, even if we have the same name and face—even if we have the same fates. I don’t believe that you could ever betray me. As for myself… I suppose you would only have my word for it, but I can’t imagine a setting in which I would betray you either.”

A setting. It made sense that Diluc brought this up. Obviously, he had yet to know what their past lives entailed and what kind of world it was in, but in this world, in this small town, how could one betray another to such an extent? Thinking back, it was a bit blurry to him now, how he even got betrayed. He only remembered that there was a big war between Mondstadt and Khaenri’ah, and Diluc killed him then, with his own hands. Kaeya had always hated this part of his memories—who liked to see their own death? Despite being inherently different people, it was still sickening to see, it was traumatizing. Even more sickening than normal deaths, as the person had Kaeya’s appearance.

His death… had always been foreshadowed from the beginning of his life. It followed him around like a shadow, clawing at his feet from the darkness like it wanted to be set free.

Back in his childhood, Kaeya remembered his past life like a story he had read a thousand times, but there were details he tried to forget, things he pushed away out of fear, guilt, or even hatred. Back then, it was a jumbled mess in a child’s mind, a child who was forced to grow up quicker no thanks to the vivid memories in his mind. However, nowadays, the memories only came up in his dreams when certain people were nearby. Otherwise, they wouldn’t bother him.

Now that he thought about it, back then, there were no nightmares at all. It was only when he ran away that those wretched things corrupted his dreams. So, why did they appear at all? How could he make them disappear?

Diluc sighed beside him. “You are thinking so seriously, yet I have no clue what you are thinking at all,” he murmured. “If you have any need for me, just call out, okay? I’ll go cook breakfast. I know you haven’t eaten yet.”

Then, he left Kaeya alone with his thoughts.

It was his dreams that bothered him, dreams that he wanted to get rid of. To do that, it only made sense if he dove into said dreams to find a way out.

Somehow, this time, he wasn’t the Kaeya in the dream, but rather an outsider. Usually, it would be himself who had to see swords coming his way, but now, he was suddenly freed from that curse. A little surprised at this development, it took a while for him to notice that the scene before him wasn’t bloody and full of horrors. In fact, he was in front of the Knights of Favonius Headquarters.

He looked around him curiously. It had been years since he saw Mondstadt in this kind of state—free from war. It appeared to be spring, with flowers blooming everywhere he saw. Suddenly, Diluc appeared in his sights, walking up to the headquarters he hated so much with a hint of a smile.

Kaeya hadn’t seen his past self who had been waiting for Diluc with a grin of his own. Belatedly, he remembered that they used to spend their time like this, too. With one always approaching the other, wanting to be close no matter where they were or what they were doing. He was a little surprised to remember this detail, for he always thought that his past self wasn’t relatable at all.

He never understood why he loved someone who betrayed him, but he suddenly remembered—how could his past self have known that he would get betrayed? Now, he wondered if his memories were a warning from heaven instead.

The scene changed. Time passed incredibly quickly and seasons changed, but they were still talking to each other in this scene. This time, it was a familiar Mondstadt to him; Mondstadt getting ready for war. The streets were deserted for most people had chosen to migrate to other countries, and the air was restless.

“We should run away,” Diluc whispered. It was quiet in the loudness of the wind, but Kaeya heard it clearly.

“Run? But this is your nation… I can’t just leave.”

“My nation? Kaeya, you are my lover. How could I care about anything else?”

Past-Kaeya averted his gaze and smiled forlornly at the sky. “You know, they found out.”

“What?”

“Jean found out. I’m the regent prince of the opposing country. Isn’t it funny?” He hugged Diluc and buried his face on his shoulder, starting to silently sob. “This is all a sick joke, isn’t it? I’m ready to die for a country that hates me.”

“Then, let’s run away,” Diluc said, his tone becoming more worried.

“I can’t.”

It was at this moment that Kaeya remembered. The Knights had cursed him one way or another, with their librarian’s extensive knowledge. Kaeya had always been immune to the curse of immortality that turned other Khaenri’ahns into monsters, but now, it was set in his body like a time-bomb. Soon, he would become a monster and had no way to get out of it.

As he explained this to Diluc, the redhead became very angry. It was disturbing. He had always known that the Knights were corrupt, to the point of wanting to hide his father’s death, but he thought that with Jean’s leadership, that era of corruption was over. However, it was just as bad now. He should have gotten Kaeya out of there a long time ago, Diluc lamented.

“Before the curse takes over… I know this will hurt you very much, but I don’t want to die by their hands… can you…” Kaeya talked between sobs and was too choked-up to say his request out loud, but Diluc understood.

“Don’t worry, I will… take care of you, my love.”

The only way to get rid of the curse of immortality… was death.

When Kaeya woke up, he felt more than a little confused.

He tried to sort out his thoughts first. In the beginning, he remembered everything from the past, only to grow to resent his past self for being a fool who got betrayed by his lover. In an attempt to run away from fate, he ran away each time a name that seemed familiar was mentioned. His actions were further supported by his never-ending nightmares that only ever appeared when those people were in the vicinity. Diluc wasn’t an exception, but Kaeya had grown so fond of him that he made the decision to stay.

It seemed that he subconsciously understood this choice and his dream showed him that they had always been in love. The one who betrayed him was the Knights, not his lover. He hadn’t even sacrificed himself to save anybody. The reason why Diluc killed him was… to save him.

Then…

Kaeya laughed helplessly. Then, wasn’t he the one who had been a fool all this time? Living like this, running away at the slightest mention of a name—if he wasn’t such a coward, there was really no reason to do such a thing. All his effort… was for naught.

He buried his face onto his arms, feeling all sorts of emotions.

In the end, after berating himself for having been a fool for ninety-nine-percent of his life, he couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on his face after realizing what those memories meant. His relationship wasn’t doomed to end in death, after all!

Diluc sighed as he eyed the food. He was a little hungry, but he had no appetite at all. Seeing his Kaeya so afraid really ruined his mood. Being unable to help him made it even worse, so he could only sit at the dining table while looking at his text messages.

When he heard footsteps from the bedroom, he surged up from his seat and went to help Kaeya walk. He had been so weak when Diluc saw him earlier, but only after a few hours of sleeping, it seemed that his condition had gotten so much better.

“Come sit down. I’ll warm up the food.”

Kaeya waved his hand. “No need. We’re both already hungry. You come sit down too.”

Diluc abided by his words and they started eating. However, his brows furrowed again, a little irritated. He would wait until after they finish eating to ask, but surely Kaeya couldn’t be pretending that nothing had happened, right?

Nevermind, he didn’t have the patience.

“It wasn’t really surprising now that I think about it, that you knew that I just moved, since you are undoubtedly on good terms with everybody in town. However, you lied and said that Kaveh told you about it. You even said my name when Kaveh hadn’t told you about it at all,” Diluc began, obviously talking about their first date. “Sure, you might have known about my name since you’re such a wine addict, but you didn’t even know I owned a winery back then. Are you ready to explain yet?”

Unsurprisingly, Kaeya threw a dark look at him, swallowing a mouthful. “Do you want me to eat or to explain?”

“Eat, then.”

Kaeya grinned at him and continued eating. Diluc couldn’t help but smile at him. All in all, he knew he would believe Kaeya in the end, no matter how outrageous and insane his explanation turned out to be. He only thought of this as a problem his lover needed his help in solving, and perhaps they could get a little closer in the end, so he wasn’t really worried, especially now that Kaeya was back to smiling cheekily like this.

After they were done eating, Diluc hastily insisted on doing the dishes. Then, they sat together on the couch.

Seeing that Diluc was about to speak, Kaeya shushed him. “Wait for a moment. Let me gather my thoughts,” he said. After a long pause, he finally began. “I’ll just say everything. It’s up to you to believe my words or not. Truthfully, I’ve always been able to remember my past life. I don’t know how. However, the memories are so traumatizing that I’ve been pushing them away to the best of my abilities. This caused me to misremember some parts and think that you deceived me. I even thought that I sacrificed myself after getting betrayed. Anyway, back then, I really thought that my past self was dumb for being betrayed just for love, but now I understand what happened clearly.”

Call him careless, but Diluc really didn’t care if this past life was real or not. Kaeya had already proven it to him when they first saw each other, the way he was afraid yet braved through it. He had already proven it when he mentioned Diluc’s name and when he asked that question. Right now, he just wanted to comfort Kaeya, so he listened attentively.

“The ones… who betrayed me weren't you. In fact, you saved me from my curse by killing me.”

Kaeya’s words ended at that and Diluc was left stupefied.

It wasn’t a surprise for him to misremember. If one’s thoughts were so jumbled up, they would definitely come to the conclusion that ‘the one who killed me is the one who betrayed me’. What kind of place was this, anyway? At first, Diluc had thought that their past life was set in a modern world just like this one, but now he realized that it couldn’t be so, since their world didn’t have something like ‘curses’.

Kaeya stared at him, irritation masking his nervousness. “Say something!” he urged softly.

Diluc smiled after he was shaken out of his stupor. “What am I supposed to say? I believe you, I’ve always believed you.”

But Kaeya didn’t believe in this simplicity. He had always been a bit of an overthinker. “Then why did you interrogate Kaveh?”

“Who said I interrogated him?” he teased. “He said all those things to me himself. I just never questioned you since it didn’t really matter to me at the time. It didn’t matter to me now either, but I know you wouldn’t explain unless you said so.”

Kaeya glared at him for a few moments before sighing and hugging him. “You’re too trusting,” he reprimanded.

Diluc laughed at this. “Oh? I think I trust you the normal amount.”

“Hm?”

“I trust you with all my heart, of course.”

It was always such a pretty sight to see Kaeya’s face bloom into color. It filled Diluc’s heart with love each time. He gently held Kaeya in his arms, kissing the top of his head.

He thought the conversation was over, but then Kaeya seemed to whisper something that he had to strain his ears to hear. “—trust you too.”

Diluc couldn’t hold back his smile. For such words to come from Kaeya Alberich, it really meant a lot.

The two lovebirds were once again in the cafe. Kaveh, who saw them from outside, wanted to puke each time he saw them. Who was it that always rejected his offers of blind dates, only to act so lovey-dovey in front of passersby like this?

Well, all was well that ended well.

Part of the Kaeluc Valentines Exchange