Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Klee lives by three principles, in her life.

One, Albedo and Kaeya are the most amazing big brothers to have ever big brothered, and anyone who tries to hurt them will receive the evilest, biggest, and the strongest of Klee’s bombs.

Two, Jean is a powerful force to be reckoned with. Klee is almost sure that she has secret Klee-finding super powers. Maybe her Anemo Vision is a disguise. Her true Vision is a Klee-finding Vision.

Someday she’ll figure it out.

Three, Klee has a sharp sixth sense when Jean isn’t involved, and Albedo, Kaeya, or her mother are involved. It’s been proven through experiments that even big brother Albedo approved of, without a doubt. If you don’t believe her, that’s on you. 

(A secret fourth principal that she still hasn’t officially presented to the world is that big brother Albedo probably likes big brother Kaeya more than she thought he did. He draws Kaeya a lot in his sketchbook, and even makes sure that Klee never runs out of blue crayons to draw Kaeya with.

She’ll have to think more about it. Some research and expeditions have to be done, big-brother-Albedo-style.) 

Based on these three principals, Klee plans her day. Breakfast with Miss Lisa and Amber comes first, then escaping Jean’s secret powers, and finally waiting by Albedo’s laboratory until Sucrose comes and sneaks her in, so that she can draw herself and Kaeya with Albedo’s equipment.

But , because there’s always a but when it comes to Klee and her plans, her sixth sense is not very happy about today. She feels the same way that she did when her mom left. 

“Dodoco, do you feel it?” She whispers, and Dodoco maintains his silence. He looks a bit less fluffier than normal, so she takes it as a yes. Klee nods, picking up Dodoco and instead of putting him in her bag like always, she holds the plush close to her heart.

“We’ll face the outside world together, today, Dodoco!” She says with determination, patting Dodoco’s head to reassure him. He seems nervous, and Klee’s an attentive friend. “We’ll find big brother Kaeya too. If it’s a monster or a bad guy that’s making us feel like this, he’ll deal with them in a sec!” 

Dodoco looks happier and more relaxed, so Klee takes this as a sign to finally open the door of her room and step out.

Breakfast is as fun as it can be. Aether joins them, Paimon as well, and Noelle makes them pancakes, making sure to put extra chocolate sauce over Klee’s She also sneaks her two more berries to put next to her little tower of deliciousness, which Klee thanks her with a kiss on her cheek. 

“Klee, wanna come out with me today?” Aether says, and while he sounds calm, his hands around tightly hooked onto Paimon, keeping the little fairy from eating every single plate on the table. She almost feels bad. She also thanks Dodoco for not being a menace.

“Can we go fi-” Ah, she almost forgot Miss Lisa’s here. Miss Lisa is very good friends with Miss Jean, and Klee doesn’t want her to snitch on her. Fish blasting needs to be done with secrecy , as long as she’s under this roof.

“...fi?” 

“...feed the ducks!” She finishes, and Miss Lisa dangerously giggles, hand reaching out and stealing one of her berries. “No bombing the ponds, yes, little Klee?”

"I never said that! Miss Lisa, can I have my berry back?”

Miss Lisa must be friends with the treasure hoarders, because she doesn’t give her berry back. “Of course you didn’t. I’m just making sure your little friends never make it into the pond and hurt the fish, yes?”

Klee huffs. Terrible day, so far. She has had her berry stolen, and has been warned against bombing the pond.

Maybe that’s why she felt so down this morning. 

“Of course they wouldn’t.” 

Oh! 

Maybe today isn’t so terrible!

“Would they, sweetheart?” 

“Big brother Kaeya!” 

Stolen berry forgotten, Klee hops off her menacingly tall chair, and tumbles her way to the taller man that has just walked in, throwing herself at his legs. She taps on his knees and looks up. It’s a little code between them for Kaeya to pick her up, and like a faithful knight, he does. 

Kaeya reaches out for Dodoco, putting him on his shoulder while Klee wraps her hands around his neck and plays with the longer parts of his hair. Dodoco snuggles up to Kaeya, looking at peace. 

“Going out with Aether today?”

“Big brother Aether and I are going adventuring today! Do you want any treasure, Kaeya?” 

“Hmm… maybe get me a few Calla lilies, please, little miss.” Kaeya puts Dodoco down on the table next to Paimon, who is quick to start poking at him. “I’ll be gone on a little adventure myself.” Kaeya announces to the room, and Lisa perks up.

“Ah? Are you going to be dealing with the Abyss?”

Kaeya nods. Klee pouts. The fluffy monsters were never good news. She doesn’t trust them enough to let them close to Kaeya, not after what they did to Aether and her bombs. 

“Could you bring me one of their weapons? There’s a little experiment I want to work on.”

“You got it. Klee, be a good girl today, yes? Don’t bother anyone while I’m gone.” He leans down, crouching to Klee’s height, and Klee knows she’s about to hear a secret. “Jean is going to be in the HQ at noon, so don’t cause any trouble during that time, or you will be doomed.” 

Klee nods dutifully, doing a little salute. “No trouble during noon, yes sir! Will you come hang out with big brother Albedo and I when you’re done? We could have a sleepover!” 

Kaeya smiles, and Klee has come to notice that he only smiles like this when she mentions Albedo. She has yet to decide if she’s jealous that Albedo makes Kaeya smile like this and she doesn’t, or if she’s happy that her two big brothers are such good friends with each other.

“Sure, sure. Promise. Take care on your adventures!” He salutes Aether and ruffles Noelle’s hair before offering a bow to Klee, and Klee bows back to be respectful. Kaeya finally leaves, and Klee looks up to Aether expectantly.

Aether smirks, and hands Dodoco back to her, who had been held hostage by Paimon for the while. “Klee, help me teach the Cryo regisvine a lesson?”

See, Aether is searching for materials, as always. Frogs, lizards, flowers, pinecones, anything that he sees, it’s a treasure and he takes it. Klee respects that. She wishes more people treated her bombs like how Aether treated anything pickable in Teyvat.

Dodoco disagrees. Actually, he’s right. If anyone picked up her bombs, they’d explode. They’d be hurt, and Klee would be doomed to eternal confinement.

“I need some cecilias, Klee. Can you help out?” Aether asks, and Klee is already running towards the Starsnatch cliff, but it’s too far and at some point, she takes a break next to the Archon statue by Windrise. 

There are Calla lilies not too far from the statue, and she hops on to collect some for Kaeya. 

“Oh Dodoco, I wish we had Cecilias here too.” She vents, Dodoco listening like the best friend he’s ever been. At some point, Dodoco stops listening, and when Klee turns to scold him for not giving him his utmost attention, she notices what Dodoco is distracted by. 

Three Cecilias, growing next to the Calla lilies by the pond.

That’s not normal.

Is it? That’s so not normal. Cecilias don’t grow just anywhere, not at all near ponds. That’s what Aether had said.

“What the hell.” Klee whispers, because Jean isn’t around to scold her for saying hell , and plucks the Cecilias out, tying them together with a hair tie. “Dodoco, did you see that? That’s a miracle, right?”

Dodoco agrees, with his silence. 

She brushes it off, distracted by a little red fox by the tree. She’s munching on a red, shiny apple, but she looks lonely.

“Oh, Miss fox, I wish you had a friend, you little lonely thing!” She coos, trying to sound like Lisa when she’s doing the same to Klee. The fox spares a single glance at her, and goes back to her apple. 

Out of nowhere, another tiny red fox shows up, with a mouthful of apple, and runs up to Miss fox, and suddenly Miss fox isn’t so alone anymore.

Wait a second. Did she just summon a red fox out of nowhere? Did Klee do that? Maybe Klee did that to the Cecilias too. 

“Dodoco, something’s fishy!” Dodoco tries to point out that they’re by a pond filled with fishes, but she waves him off, telling him that’s not the point. 

Klee has critical thinking skills, thanks to big brother Albedo. So she concludes, with evidence as heavy as three Cecilias by Windrise, a red fox and his apple, that at some point during this little adventure, Klee becomes a god.

You can be doubtful, rightfully, but Klee has enough evidence to form a strong case to support her godhood. Funnily enough, it ties back to Cecilias and Calla lilies. 

Albedo’s favorite flowers, and Kaeya’s favorite flowers. Her big brothers always find a way to shove themselves in her life, somehow. 

“We should go back. Albedo is probably done with his work by now! Should I ask for Spaghetti, or Sunshine sprat, Dodoco?”

Dodoco looks like he’d even eat Klee if they waited around here without food for any longer, so she quickly puts him in her bag to stay safe from his hunger, and starts heading back towards Mondstadt, three Cecilias for Aether and a small bouquet of Calla lilies for Kaeya in her hands. 

“We should tell big brother Albedo about my godhood. I’m sure he’d help us see how powerful I am! Maybe big brother Kaeya will take me with him next time he fights the fluffballs.” Klee says, and behind her, the Archon statue gives out a faint glow, but she’s too content with her flowers to notice.

Back in Mondstadt, Albedo’s lab doesn’t have their usual code hung up on it. There’s no ‘come back later, Klee’ on the door, and it’s locked up. Timaeus isn’t by his usual post, neither is Sucrose, so Klee forces herself back to the headquarters to see if Albedo’s there.

...Which, arguably, maybe she shouldn’t have. Actually, she isn’t that hungry anymore. Lunch could wait, and she’d prefer to be in her bed, sleeping, ignoring whatever that is happening outside of this little room she owns. Maybe this is the reason why she was feeling so bad this morning. Klee's intuition never lies. 

She doesn’t want to see or hear any of this. Dodoco is in her bag, and she feels a bit frozen in place, so she can’t pull him out and hug him. She cradles the flowers closer to her chest.

“We lost him, we have to send a search party-”

“I almost died! He took the hit, otherwise-”

“He got attacked, we couldn’t handle them-”

“Guy, you need help-”

“Who’s lost? Who got hurt?” She asks, and everyone in the hall stops talking. Jean, Mister Guy, Mister Swan, Albedo and Master Diluc stare back at her. 

Master Diluc only ever comes to the headquarters when someone is in trouble. He once did that when Kaeya got kidnapped by a bunch of thieves, and he came another time when Jean had fallen ill.

There’s a tiny ball of painful stress in her chest, and she rushes up to Jean and hides behind her. Not sure what she’s hiding from, just that Jean would keep her safe.

Swan coughs, and Klee suddenly becomes aware of the spreading red on his hand and his chest. “Captain Kaeya was-”

Kaeya ?

“Swan!” Jean scolds, and then looks back at Guy. “Take him to the cathedral. Make sure he gets treated.” 

The red on Swan’s hand only gets redder , and Klee suddenly comes to the conclusion that she hates red. She wants to get out of her clothes and wear something white, gold and blue. She could match with Albedo and Kaeya, instead. She doesn’t need a red hat anymore, nor does she want the red dress.

“Oh, Klee.” Jean whispers, and Klee already feels small and stupid behind Jean’s legs. Are they going to tell her more about Kaeya? Did something happen to him? She got him flowers, and he promised to come over for a sleepover. Kaeya never breaks promises.

“Great.” Diluc whispers. He looks stressed, too. All she knows is that he probably hates Kaeya, so she’s a bit confused why he’s so upset, but she has her own problems to worry about. 

Albedo rushes up to her, easily picking her up and heading towards her room. “Hey! No, let me go! Mister Swan said Kaeya was hurt!” She protests, and almost kicks at Albedo’s chest before he puts her down swiftly in the middle of her room. 

His eyes are a little red, and his hair is so much more disheveled than usual. He’s not okay, Klee can tell as much. She wants to hug him, but she’s also terrified and would rather be hugged and receive love instead of giving it.

Albedo runs a hand through her hair, and she can feel it shaking. “Stay here. I’ll be back for you in a bit, yeah? Just gotta take care of some things. Can you do that for me?”

“Okay.” She’s absolutely not going to do that for Albedo. No disrespect intended, but she’s almost a god, and gods don’t listen to other people. Not when their big brother is hurt.

“Okay.” Albedo repeats. He doesn’t look good, and even if Klee isn’t feeling good herself, she decides to be the bigger person and hugs Albedo first. He tenses up for a moment, but then hugs her back, and they stay like that for a few minutes before Albedo lets out a sigh and stands up. 

He looks better, and Klee becomes even surer of her godly powers. Albedo stands by the doorway. “Kaeya is hurt, but we’re gonna find him and make sure he’s okay, so don’t do anything he wouldn’t want you to do, okay, Klee? Amber will bring you your lunch and dinner, so don’t go out.” 

Klee wants to cry, but she feels like if she does, Albedo will too, judging by his face. She looks down, trying to focus on the flowers until the tears go away themselves. One sneaky tear falls onto the flower, and Klee melts in embarrassment.

The flowers in her hand look… awful. They’ve lost a few petals, and her bouquet looks uglier than the coat Master Diluc wears. Kaeya wanted a pretty bouquet, not… this.

“Okay, Albedo!” She chirps, the tears gone, determination replacing them, and she plans her nightly escape to do what Kaeya would have wanted her to do: get him a proper bouquet of Calla lilies.

They find Kaeya thanks to Master Diluc, Amber tells her, when she brings her some steak and some fried egg. The steaks have Amber written all over them, and the fried egg has a telltale thumbs up, Bennett’s signature. 

Amber stays over for dinner, and Klee is thankful for that. There hasn’t been a single night where she’s had dinner alone. If it’s not Albedo, Kaeya comes by. If Kaeya is too busy or injures himself, Jean and Lisa stop by and take her out to Good Hunter’s. 

Amber leaves when she tucks Klee in bed, taking off her red dress and helping her into white pajamas with clovers all over them. 

“The clover is the signature of good luck!” Amber says, as if Klee doesn’t know that already. Klee pretends she’s surprised, because it keeps Amber talking. She’s feeling a bit too alone tonight and would appreciate someone entertaining her.

Selfish, yes. But Klee is a god, and she knows for a fact that gods are selfish, sometimes. 

“Your good luck will help your big brother, so don’t worry and sleep so we can see him first thing tomorrow, yes?”

Well, that’s the goal, but Klee needs to get her bouquet ready so she can make Kaeya happy tomorrow. Back when she got sick, everyone brought her little snacks and toys to cheer her up. Kaeya doesn’t eat much, so snacks wouldn’t work. He also doesn’t play with toys or bombs, so that’s not manageable, but he loves flowers.

Besides, he asked for them. Klee would be a terrible little sister if she didn’t get him what he asked of her. So she pretends to be asleep, for a few minutes, remaining as unmoving as Dodoco and squeezing her eyes shut, and Amber is so easily convinced, unlike Albedo and Jean.

(Kaeya’s not easy to convince, but he lets her off the hook. That’s why he still remains her favorite adult, rivaling Albedo.)

The door to her room isn’t locked. It never is, the true lock between that door and the outside door is the looming shadow of Jean over her head. 

Well, Jean isn’t here right now. Jean is either at her home, or in the cathedral, by Kaeya’s side. There are probably two guards by the entrance, but Klee has a few treasures to distract them with.

Dodoco sits next to one of her bombs, looking oddly proud of the destructive element. Klee picks it up and holds it in her hands, slowly making her way towards the door. 

Place the bomb, step back, activate it.

Simple.

Easy. 

She puts the bomb in the library, and considers it revenge for Lisa stealing her berry in the morning, and runs back to her room. Her Vision has the bomb exploding seconds later, and the guards rush into the library, trying to find the source.

Klee giggles. Dodoco is quiet as always, but his silence is chaotic and menacing this time, and he’s satisfied with their plan as well.

They’re out of the headquarters, and Klee marches through the back alleys of Mondstadt with nothing but white pajamas, golden clovers and Dodoco. 

She’s almost out of the gate, but there’s a suspicious noise around the area with the tavern, so she stops, and sneaks all the way to Angel’s Share to see what’s happening.

This is Kaeya’s favorite place, isn’t it? She wouldn’t want it to be damaged by anyone. Someone could be trying to break in, and Klee’s status as a god and Kaeya’s little sister won’t let her ignore this potential crime scene.

As she gets closer, her Vision starts getting warmer in her pocket, and she has a second to acknowledge that before one of those fluffy mages screams and falls over on the ground, a flame catching onto its hair.

Klee drops Dodoco and runs behind a chair, trying to see who is setting the bad guy on fire, and soon enough a dark man with red hair and a mask covering his face comes in, claymore on fire.

He stands over the mage, and without hesitation, the claymore pierces its chest. Klee flinches, because ow , that looks painful, not to mention its hair is still burning.

“What’s wrong? Can’t take a little hit? Maybe you should’ve thought twice before doing the same to Kaeya, bastard.”

Oh, that’s a bad word. 

(Albedo won’t let her use it. He’s already been so merciful to let her say hell . He’s also very strict with her vocabulary, because she once called a hilichurl a bitch cause that’s what Aether called them, and she got grounded. Aether too, actually.

For a week.

She doesn’t know how Albedo has that power over her and Aether. Maybe his Geo Vision is a fake too, like Jean’s Anemo Vision.)

But , apparently this is the same person who stabbed Kaeya, so Klee decides that the stranger has every right to call it a bastard. In fact, she calls it a bastard and a bitch in her head, because that’s what it deserves. 

The Abyss mage is trying to say something, but the man twists his claymore, and its body starts to turn into dust. It was too morbid the first time she saw one do that, but it hurt Kaeya, so Klee doesn’t mind it this time.

The man lets out an angry huff, and turns to her direction, not looking at her but rather scouting the area for more enemies, it seems.

And that’s when she sees it.

“Master Diluc? Why are you dressed up like a thief?”

Master Diluc jumps, and it takes him a few seconds to actually see Klee in the dark.

“Klee?”

“Yes, it’s me!”

“How the f-how did you-?” Diluc pauses and touches his face with his hand, tracing his mask. He looks disappointed. What are you doing here?”

Oh. She isn’t going to answer that, because she’ll get sent back to her room if she does, without a doubt. 

“What are you doing here?” She tries to deflect. Kaeya always does that, and somehow it works.

“Oh, not that. Did you pick that up from Kaeya? Why are you here, Klee?”

Maybe it only works for Kaeya.

“Um.” She fidgets with Dodoco’s tail, the poor thing tolerating her. 

“Do you want me to call Jean here?”

“Hey, no! No fair! You’re dressed up like you’re trying to hide something, I’ll tell on you if you’re going to snitch!” She stomps her foot, as if to show the power she holds. She’s been talking to Diluc for a few minutes and she already sees why big brother Kaeya keeps making fun of him.

“This is why I don’t deal with kids.” Diluc whispers, thinking Klee won’t pick up on it. “Okay, tell me why you’re here, and I won’t tell Jean. I might even help you.” He pauses, and kneels down to her level. “ Only if you keep what happened here between us.”

Klee gasps, and Dodoco is shocked. “So you were hiding something!”

“It’s nothing dangerous.” Diluc rubs his eyes. Albedo does that too when she drops too many bombs, so she decides to have mercy and tone it down a little bit.

Just a bit. Maybe Master Diluc will help her find some flowers. 

“I need Calla lilies.” She whispers, suddenly feeling shy. She’s never really talked to Master Diluc other than when he’s arguing with Kaeya, so she doesn’t know how to make him say yes to her. She’ll go for the puppy eyes. It always works on the knights, and Sucrose. 

“What for? Can’t you wait till Flora starts selling them in the morning?”

“Kaeya’s gonna be up in the morning! I want to get him some flowers and he asked for them yesterday . It’s already too late!”

Diluc flinches a bit at the mention of Kaeya. Klee is slowly becoming frustrated. Maybe she’ll use her godly powers to teleport out of here and get some Calla lilies from Springvale’s pond.

“Okay. Okay. Let’s make a deal. Keep quiet about this. You never saw me, I never helped you. We’ll go get some flowers, and come back to Kaeya. Yes?”

Klee nods. She can say she used her newly found powers to teleport and magically get a bouquet of Calla lilies, and magically teleport back to the cathedral by Kaeya’s side. Yes, that works.

Diluc stands up and runs a hand through his hair. “Do I need to pick you up?”

“I’m a big girl! I can walk by myself!”

“You’re seven . I’d say that’s not big at all.” Diluc says, and he sounds like Kaeya, for a moment. Klee really, really misses Kaeya. 

“No, I’m eight ! I’m pretty old already! ” 

Diluc lets out a short laugh, and motions her to follow him outside of the gate. It’s a bit cold, there’s the wind, and she’s feeling a bit sleepy, but before she gets to complain about any of them, Diluc sighs and scoops her up. She almost protests, but then Diluc wraps his coat around her and suddenly it’s not as cold anymore.

Dodoco also snuggles up to Diluc, and that’s when she decides that maybe she can like Diluc. 

“Don’t even start. You’re wearing nothing but a pajama and it’s definitely past your bedtime. I’ll wake you up when I have a bouquet and we’re back in the cathedral, yeah?” 

“But I can walk...” She really can’t, she’s already losing the ability to figure out sentence structure. 

“If you catch a cold, Kaeya, Jean, and that blonde boy won’t let me hear the end of it.” Diluc whispers, and holds her a bit more tightly.

“Hmm… you have a point.” She pulls Dodoco closer to her chest, and happily settles her face on Diluc’s shoulders. “Master Diluc?”

“Can you sleep already, kid?” 

“I’m trying to be nice, don’t make it hard!” Okay. That was a little rude, but Albedo isn’t here, so Klee can be as unhinged as she wants to. “Amber said you found Kaeya. Thank you, Master Diluc.” 

Diluc tenses, which makes his embrace a bit less comfortable as it was a few minutes ago, but Klee is too tired so she’ll take anything as a pillow. Diluc doesn’t reply, which is rude, but he saved Kaeya so she’ll ignore that for now.

Dodoco falls asleep, so she doses off too.

Klee wakes up to a constant poking on her cheek, and when her vision finally clears up, Diluc has taken off his mask and his weird cloak, and is poking her cheek. He’s not looking at her, though. He’s focused on something else. Explains why he’s still poking her. Persistently.

“I’m awake now.” She groggily says, and Diluc finally stops, and she rubs her cheek. 

“Good morning. We’re at the cathedral now. Don’t make too much noise or he’ll wake up.” He whispers, and she perks up so quickly she almost falls off the chair Diluc’s put her on, and finally sees what Diluc’s been staring at.

Kaeya.

Kaeya! Alive. She thinks he’s alive. 

There’s a very weak up and rise under the blanket draped over him, and she has to squint to notice it, but it’s there. It means he’s fine. He is fine, right? He should be, because Klee’s already tearing up, and even though Jean has told her it’s okay to cry when she needs to, she still doesn’t want to.

“He’s okay.” 

Apparently Diluc can read minds. Just like Kaeya. It’s a bit unsettling, but Klee doesn’t mind it. She is a god herself, it’s understandable if other people get special powers too. Jean and Albedo already have anti-Klee powers, Diluc’s is harmless, to a limit. 

She sniffles and wipes her face with Dodoco, who doesn’t appreciate it at first but then accepts his fate, and tosses the doll to Diluc to hold him for her. Diluc looks offended, but she ignores it. “This is what I get for getting you flowers?”

Klee ignores him. She climbs up the bed Kaeya’s sleeping on, much to Diluc’s frantic and quiet protests, and settles herself on his chest. She can feel his heartbeat if she puts her hand on his chest, so she keeps it there, careful not to move around so much that he wakes up.

He looks like he’s having a good dream, even if he’s a little pale and his breathes are a bit shallow. 

She looks back at Diluc, hand still on Kaeya’s heart. “Why are you still here?”

Diluc looks offended. “I’m sorry, am I disturbing you?”

Klee pouts. “I thought you didn’t like big brother Kaeya.”

“Big brother Kaeya? He’s not your...”

“He’s my big brother. Everybody knows!”

“Is he now? Alice took him in or something before she left?”

“That’s not how siblings work. You probably don’t know the first thing about siblings.” Klee argues. She feels like she wants to punch Diluc, but Kaeya probably wouldn’t approve, so she stays still. Funnily enough, their argument is in whispers and quiet words, because neither of them want to wake Kaeya up. He needs his rest.

“I know how siblings work so much better than you, kiddo.”

“No, you don’t! If you did, you wouldn’t be saying this.” Klee pauses. Actually, maybe Diluc does know about having siblings. Maybe he had one, and he doesn’t have them anymore, so he’s… jealous?

Yeah, now that she thinks about it, he seems jealous. Maybe he wants Kaeya to be his big brother as well.

“You’re jealous!” She gasps, and Diluc’s face morphs into displeasure itself. “Excuse me?”

“You’re jealous! You wish you could call Kaeya your big brother. It’s okay, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. Maybe if you apologize to him for being so rude and grumpy like an old woman all the time, he would let you!”

“What-I’m older than Kaeya. Three years older, in fact.”

“Big brother is a concept . He can be your big brother… meta...mita…”

Diluc tilts his face. She sees it as encouragement to keep searching for the right word, but she can’t quite figure it out.

“...Metatoritally?”

“Klee, I’m almost sure that’s not even a word.”

“Albedo says it all the time to Sucrose. Like… he’s…”

Actually, she doesn’t really remember. She doesn’t even know why she used that word, and she’s used enough words to get her point across already. Diluc seems to reach the same conclusion, since he drops it. Klee isn’t done with the conversation, though.

“Whenever Albedo goes quiet means I won the argument. You’re quiet now. Did I win?”

“No, you didn’t. I’m not jealous of you having Kaeya, of all people, as your big brother.”

“Aww, but I’m sure you are! Adults are so stupid, they never say what they’re feeling.” She lowers her voice even more, “Don’t tell Kaeya, but he does that too. Albedo told me!”

Diluc winces, and for a moment he looks sad enough that Klee almost forgives him for being so grumpy. But of course, he ruins his short lived redemption. “Klee, drop it or I’ll call Jean up.”

“No fair.” Klee huffs, but she still comes out of this battle victorious. Diluc resorted to violence, so she’s sure he was just afraid of facing the truth. She shrugs and goes back to listening to Kaeya’s uneven breaths, and his faint heartbeat under her hand. 

The sun’s lighting up the room at this point, and before Klee can celebrate her first allnighter, Diluc stands up, dusting himself off. Dodoco is tossed at her head , and she gives Diluc the best glare she can manage. The ones Jean gives her when she blows up Timmie’s pigeons.

Diluc laughs, and it sounds a bit like Kaeya’s, so she forgives him again. He holds out his pinky finger, and she knows an important promise is about to be made. “Don’t tell anyone what you saw at night, okay? I’m not doing anything bad, but I can’t have others knowing about it.” Diluc pauses. “Don’t tell Kaeya I came here either. If you do, I’m telling everything to Jean about your little heist.”

Diluc is a master manipulator, Klee concludes.

“You’re fighting bad guys, right?”

“Kind of. Will you tell anyone?”

Klee considers it. “Okay. I can’t guarantee Dodoco will keep quiet, though.”

Diluc snorts, and Klee takes his pinky in hers. “A vow of secrecy! Just cause you were nice enough to save big brother Kaeya, though.” She almost lets go of his hand before remembering they still haven’t said the special chant, so she holds Diluc’s pinky tighter in hers and starts reciting it.

“ You make a pinkie promise, you keep it all your life. You break a pinkie promise, I throw you on the ice. The cold will kill the pinkie that once betrayed your friend, the frost will freeze your tongue off so you never lie again.”

Diluc is looking at her with his mouth opening and closing like one of the fishes in the Cider lake. Klee tilts her head.

“Who the hell taught you that?”

“That’s a bad word! I get scolded for saying it.” She pirks. “Aether’s friend taught me that. Tar...Tartguy?”

“Tart guy.” Diluc deadpans. He probably thinks she’s a bit dumb, but really, being a god is tough business. She can’t remember everyone’s names. 

“I don’t know! I only hung out with him once. Then Kaeya stepped in and told Aether if he ever took me out with a Fatui har… har… harbang?”

“A Fatui harbinger ?”

“Yes! You can be very smart, Master Diluc! Kaeya threatened Mr. harbinger!”

“I’m gonna have a word with Aether.” Diluc mutters, and it’s a bit harshly said, so Klee apologizes to Aether in his head. To Mr. Tart as well. 

Diluc glances at Kaeya for a second, and lets out a sigh. His hand reaches out and brushes Kaeya’s hair away from his forehead, and Klee can see it’s drenched in sweat. Kaeya probably has a fever… but Barbara will be here and take care of him, right?

“He’ll be fine. Be good, Klee. I’ll leave him in your hands for now.” Diluc points at the flowers. “Don’t forget to give him those.”

The bouquet is actually very pretty. Diluc has somehow sneaked in three little lampgrasses in it that shine even though the sun has risen. 

Klee yawns, and as soon as Diluc leaves, she curls up next to Kaeya’s legs, not wanting to disturb the bandages on his chest. She calls it a sleepover, because Kaeya promised they’d have one tonight, and even though he’s not really awake for it, he’s still here. Kaeya keeps his promises.

“I’m a god now, big brother Kaeya.” She whispers, tracing a little clover on Kaeya’s knee. “You’ll be fine before you know it! It’s my… godly powers…”

She falls asleep to the quiet, short breaths Kaeya takes, and dreams of a red little fox and her red little apple.

Someone’s running a hand through Klee’s hair, and it’s relaxing and familiar enough she almost falls asleep again. The only thing that keeps her from doing that is not one, but two voices calling out to her.

Annoying. Klee wants to sleep again.

“Klee?”

“Little miss Klee? Hey, wake up darling!” 

“Barbara…?” She squints, and rubs her eyes a few times to see what’s in front of her. Two sets of blue eyes with blonde hair stare back. 

“Oh, Albedo!” She chirps, and she’s up from her spot on Kaeya’s bed, jumping to wrap her arms around Albedo’s neck. Albedo catches her quickly, hands scooping her up like always. Barbara is next to her, and Klee leans in to kiss her cheek, which Barbara accepts with a giggle.

“What did I tell you about staying in your room?”

“Mm… but Kaeya and I had a sleepover planned.”

Abedo sounds exhausted. He also isn’t holding her as tightly as he would’ve any other day, so Klee can guess it’s a bad day for him. Well, that’s what little sisters are for. They make any bad day into a good one just by existing.

“How did you get here? Jean put guards all over the place.”

“I didn’t want to tell you this so soon but…” She glances at Barbara, decides it’s too early to let her in on this little secret, and leans to whisper into Albedo’s ear. “I’m a god now! I don’t know how, but I am. I used them to get here.”

Albedo is quiet for a moment before letting out a tired wheeze and tucking her hair behind her ear. “Okay, Klee. We’ll talk about this later.”

Klee feels like Albedo doesn’t believe her. She’ll convince him later, because Kaeya makes a small sound, and Klee decides that nothing comes above Kaeya.

“Kaeya!” 

“Oh, sir Kaeya? Are you finally awake?” Barbara quickly pulls out her prayers book, droplets of water shaped like little musical notes around it. Kaeya coughs, and Klee almost sees a bit of red before his hand is covering his mouth. Albedo hands Klee to Barbara urgently. 

Klee decides that the moment she gets back to her room, she’s blowing up all of her red crayons, and changing her outfits to something bluer and golder. 

“Take Klee out. I can handle him.”

“Hey, what do you mean?” Klee protests. She’s so tired of adults thinking they can tell her what to do and decide what she does. “Sister Barbara, put me down! I’m a god, aren’t you supposed to serve me?”

So much for not letting Barbara onto the secret. Barbara gives her an apologetic smile, and quickly closes the door to Kaeya’s room behind her, leaving it just a little open so Klee can spot Albedo standing over Kaeya’s bed. 

Barbara is about to walk away from Kaeya’s room before Klee pulls on her pigtails, just enough to startle her. “Ow! Klee? That’s not very nice!”

“I’m sorry! I can’t leave Kaeya, please let me stay!” She pauses. “I get pocket money from Albedo every month. I’ll buy you a drink!” 

Barbara laughs, and it’s a sweet sound, but Klee would really prefer to hear Kaeya’s right now. “We’ll stay here. But not a single word, little Klee. We’re just here to make sure Kaeya’s okay.” 

Klee nods, and Barbara walks back towards the door, not quite leaning in but at least Klee can hear sounds now. She hears Albedo scolding Kaeya, which is a scary thing in itself, but then Kaeya says something quietly with a laugh and Albedo deflates, sighing. 

Albedo’s silhouette leans over Kaeya’s, Kaeya brings his hands up to put them around Albedo’s face, and just as Albedo leans in-

“That’s enough! Woops!” Barbara covers her eyes, and Klee lets out a loud protest, loud enough for Barbara to quickly free her eyes, and to alert someone in Kaeya’s room, because Albedo’s storming out with red face, but a good kind of red , and wide eyes. “I thought I told you to-” 

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! She didn’t see-I didn’t see-!”
“No, I saw! I saw! You were gonna do what Jean did with Lisa! Big brother Albedo, you should’ve told me you and Kaeya are like Jean and Lisa!”

The room goes quiet. Albedo looks like a dying fish, Barbara’s arms around her are frozen solid, and after a very long minute, Kaeya’s laugh breaks through the tension. 

Oh, Kaeya’s laugh. Oh , Klee can almost cry, because she missed this so much even if it’s just been a single day of not hearing it. 

A tall figure stumbles into the doorway, dropping his weight onto Albedo, who quickly adjusts with a huff. Kaeya’s standing there, as bright as the sun, palest he’s ever seen, and he offers her the biggest smile she’s ever seen. “Hi, Klee. Did you bring me that beautiful bouquet?”

Klee nods, vibrating to get out of Barbara’s arms and into Kaeya’s, but Kaeya’s sick, and Klee needs to control herself. “Thank you, little clover. It’s the prettiest bouquet I’ve ever seen.” He smiles and Klee’s world brightens up a little bit since yesterday. Albedo looks at her fondly, and Klee’s world brightens up even more.

“So, back to business…” Kaeya starts, sweetly. “Jean and Lisa did what, dear?”

“Oh!” That’s a story she can tell! A story she’s been waiting for far too long to tell. “Jean was doing what Albedo did to you, to Lisa in the library!”

“Do what, honey?”

Klee can’t really show it, so instead she grabs Dodoco, and puts the doll against Barbara’s lips, who squeals in response and stumbles a bit. “That! I’m sorry, sister Barbara!” 

Albedo wheezes, Barbara is tenser than she was two seconds ago, and Kaeya bursts out in a laugh. “I won the bet. I told you they were already dating.”

“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe Jean stepped it up.” Albedo whispers and rubs his temple. “I’ll treat you to dinner, fine, Archons above, I can’t believe this.”

“I can’t either.” Barbara stutters. “Jean…? I never thought she’d actually have the guts to…”

“Right?” Albedo mutters. “How…”

“Lord Barbatos must’ve come down himself and pushed her to do it…” Barbara says pensively. “At least I don’t have to listen to her panicking over Lisa anymore…”

“God, listening to Lisa talk about Jean was so frustrating. At some point Kaeya started giving Lisa advice.”

Kaeya keeps laughing, and Klee keeps listening because it’s the only thing that matters, but then he lets out a wheeze and holds his hand over his stomach, and Klee can see red, red, red spreading again. Suddenly the world isn’t as bright anymore, and she doesn’t feel like a merciful god.

“Oh, ow, fuck-”

“This is why you stay in bed , Kaeya.” 

Barbara quickly puts her down and rushes to Kaeya’s side, and leads him back to his bed, prayer book in her hand. They’re there for a few minutes, and Klee stands frozen in place outside of the door, watching as the prayers lull Kaeya back to sleep. 

Dodoco is reassuring, and he settles down in her arms to calm her down. She doesn’t know how long it takes, but Albedo finally comes out and offers her a little smile. “He’ll be okay. Sorry you had to see that, Klee.” He kneels down, opening his arms, and Klee doesn’t waste a second dropping herself into his embrace, stealing warmth from his coat. Albedo wraps his arms around her and stands, and starts walking away from Kaeya’s room.

“Let’s have some time, you and I. Tonight. What do you say? Kaeya will heal sooner if we’re taking care of ourselves.”

Klee mumbles her approval, too tired from last night and too upset from what just happened to talk to Albedo. She’s also a little angry at herself for not protecting Kaeya like she said she would, with her powers, but Albedo’s coat smells a bit like the chemicals in the lab and Kaeya’s cologne, so she focuses on them instead.

Chapter Text

The room’s not really messy, but Albedo scolds her a bit about the pile of clothes in the corner. Neither of them do anything about it. It’s mostly just Albedo being… Albedo.

Klee throws Dodoco on her bed, a little too harshly, and falls face-flat onto her bed. Albedo stops talking, and sighs. “Klee.”

“Mpph.” She doesn’t really want to talk. She’s tired, and all of her celestial energy was wasted only for Kaeya to get hurt again. Albedo’s hand starts running through her hair. It feels nice, especially now that he doesn’t have his gloves on.

“I know you’re upset about Kaeya.”

“Mmph…”

“Barbara’s gonna be by his side all night.”

“Mhm…”

Albedo sighs. He’s clearly frustrated, but he’s an adult, he can deal with it. Klee’s still too little to deal with this herself.

“Wanna draw something together? I’ll sketch you and Kaeya and you can color it. What do you say?”

Klee lifts her head at that offer. A drawing for Kaeya… the bouquet made him really happy, didn’t it? A drawing would make him even happier, right? “Mm. Okay.”

Albedo lets out a content sigh, and pulls his sketchbook out of his bag. “Let’s see…”

He lies down on her bed, and Klee almost breaks down over the black dust falling onto her bed sheets from the chalk, but ultimately decides to let it slide.

She pulls out a box of crayons from under her bed, and lies down next to Albedo. He shifts a bit, so that Klee can color herself on the paper while Albedo busies himself with Kaeya’s face.

She pulls out a red crayon, getting to coloring her dress before pausing. 

It’s red. 

She really, really hates red. For valid reasons, too. She doesn’t even want to wear red anymore. Red is the color on Kaeya’s bandages, on Swan’s clothes.

“Klee?”

“Can I wear purple? Or blue?”

“... Of course you can. Do you want to paint yourself wearing that?”

Klee nods. Albedo looks down at the crayon in her hand. It’s broken in two halves. She didn’t even notice.

Albedo puts the chalk piece down and takes the two pieces of crayon from her hand. In her defense, Klee tries not to cry and ruin Albedo’s sketch with her tears, but her hand looks a bit red from the crayon, and she has no other way to deal with it than to start crying. 

Albedo doesn’t say anything, he just sits up and opens his arms. An invitation that Klee takes without wasting a second, not really caring if her red hand is also making Albedo’s coat red. If anything, it just makes her cry a little more.

Ouch, this really isn’t how a god should deal with sadness, is it? She’s already forgotten all her celestial duties. 

“I’m sorry that you had to see… all that, with Swan and Kaeya.”

Klee doesn’t respond, she just sniffles into Albedo’s shoulder. He can handle his coat getting a bit wet.

“But both Swan and Kaeya are going to be alright and back on their feet, in a day or two.”

Albedo starts playing with her hair, and it’s soothing enough to dry up her tears for tonight, at least. “I know you saw some… unpleasant things you associate with red today.”

Klee nods, her hand coming up to play with Albedo’s braid, untying it to distract herself. 

“But there are other things to associate with red, other than that. Your dress, your hat, they’re beautiful shades of red.” Albedo pauses, putting her back on the bed in front of him, bringing one half of a crayon and holding it in front of her. “Whirlwind Asters are red. Kaeya’s favorite color is red, even if he wears all blue. I think it could be because of you wearing red, too.”

Well… yeah. Maybe. Maybe red isn’t that bad, but the shade on Swan and Kaeya’s clothes will always be the worst.

“Red is my favorite color, too. Because I associate it with you. So, don’t let this affect you too much, Klee.” 

She gets it. She loves gold because Albedo has a golden star on his neck that no one else does, and she loves blue because only Kaeya has blue hair in all of Mondstadt.

Klee doesn’t know if she’s ready to take the crayon back from Albedo yet, given his hand is persistently in front of her face, so instead she just leans forward and bites his thumb. Not too hard that it’d hurt, just hard enough that he flinches back and drops the red crayon, so that Klee can go back to ignoring it.

“Ouch, ow , you’re becoming so much more violent as you grow older.” Albedo whispers, and it’s lighthearted. Klee sniffles and rubs her eyes and then her nose, reaching for the ends of Albedo’s coat to wipe her face clean. 

Albedo can only stare and shake his head in disbelief. “We’re talking about this later.” Well, she gets scolded by Jean everyday. An extra scolding to ignore isn’t going to bother her much.

“Can we color it tomorrow?” She asks, reaching out for Dodoco and bringing him close to her chest. Albedo relents and takes off his coat, throwing it on the ground. He picks her up, tucking her in bed before settling down by her as well on the bed.

“Do you need me to tell you a story?”

“No, not really. Can you promise me Kaeya will be okay tomorrow?”

Albedo smiles and wraps his arms around her, awkwardly at first, but Klee quickly fits herself in his arms and it feels even more comfortable than hugging Miss Lisa. 

She moves closer to his chest so she can feel his heartbeat. It’s a bit louder than Kaeya’s and it doesn’t really beat the same way, but Klee isn’t complaining, really.

“Sleep well, little Klee. I promise you’ll see Kaeya in a day or two.”

“Mm… okay.” Oh. Wait.

She hasn’t really told Albedo much about her powers.

“I think I’m a god.”

“Oh?”

“Mhm. Whatever that I wanted appeared right in front of me today. Even Dodoco saw it.”

“Fascinating. Maybe we’ll find a Klee archon statue somewhere around that pond you keep blowing up, hm?”

Oh, not this again. Albedo should stop thinking of Klee’s criminal past and instead think of her celestial future. 

“You’re not a god, you wouldn’t understand, big brother Albedo!” She pauses, curling up against Albedo. “I should’ve protected Kaeya instead of asking for a fox friend or stupid flowers.”

Albedo starts running his hand through her hair again. She leans into it. “You weren’t responsible for that. Your big brother is very reckless when it comes to himself. The seven Archons couldn’t keep him safe if they tried.”

“Still…”

“Sleep on it. We can talk to Kaeya about it soon enough. Hm?”

Klee nods, and closes her eyes. 

It still feels like Albedo doesn’t really believe in her powers, but that’s okay. From today on, she’ll focus only on protecting her big brothers, her mom, Jean, and all of the knights in Mondstadt instead. No more flowers or playing matchmaker for lonely foxes.

When she falls asleep, she dreams of a little golden star glowing in the sky and a lonely blue fox basking in its light.

By the time she wakes up, Albedo is already gone, but his sketch is sitting on her table. She feels a little guilty looking at it, because there’s an obvious tear stain on it with a mess of black paint, and she knows her tears were the culprit of that.

Eh. They can draw a new one when Kaeya comes back. He’s not really good at drawing, but he can help them.

She hesitantly throws on her red attire, and tries to focus on how Albedo and Kaeya’s favorite color is red, instead of the red covering Kaeya’s bandages.

“Good morning, sweetheart.” Lisa says as soon as Klee walks into the room, eyes already locked on the breakfast that Noelle has prepared.

“Good morning, Klee.” Jean says kindly, and pats on the chair next to her for Klee to settle on.

“Good morning, Miss Jean, Miss Lisa! Good morning Noelle, Aether… and Paimon!” She announces loudly, dodging Paimon’s attempt at stealing Dodoco and quickly eats the berries on her pancakes before Lisa can even think about stealing hers. 

“So, Klee…” Jean starts, and she sounds like she’s about to scold Klee. Klee really hasn’t done anything bad, though. No bombs, no fish blasting… well, she did sneak out.

Oh well.

Her pancakes are going to keep her company throughout this one.

“I’ll start.” Lisa cuts Jean off, “No more sneaking out, little miss Klee. I don’t care if you’re a god or someone decides to escort you.” Oh no, she knows, doesn’t she? Miss Lisa is too smart for her own good. She probably knows Master Diluc had something to do with this. 

She puts up her most innocent expression that never works on Jean, and prays that it works for Lisa. 

Lisa raises her eyebrow.

Klee widens her eyes even more, frowning a bit and stuffs her cheeks with more pancakes. 

Lisa does not stop staring.

“Oh, fine, Miss Lisa!” She relents, mouth still full, and Jean quickly hands her a tissue and flicks her forehead. “No talking with your mouth full.”

Lisa offers her a sweet smile and sips her tea. 

Jean takes away the dirty tissue. “So… Albedo told me a bit about what happened yesterday.”

Well. A lot happened yesterday. 

“I know Kaeya’s situation must be hurting you, but you know that we’re gonna be here with him, and with you, until he heals up, yes?”

Klee nods. Jean scolds her a lot, and is very strict. But at the end of the day she loves her in a way Albedo or Kaeya could never. Jean is the one who wakes her up and puts her to bed, when she isn’t busy.

Klee’s almost done with her pancakes. Noelle puts a cup of tea next to her, and she makes a grande mistake by drinking it. “Ow, too hot!”

“About that thing you told Albedo about Lisa and I…”

Oh no. She thought Albedo would keep it a secret, after almost doing the same with Kaeya. Turns out Albedo’s not much of a secret keeper when it comes to exposing Klee. What a betrayal, honestly. 

“Told Albedo what?” Aether asks, and she takes this opportunity to dig her hole deeper. “I told him what they were doing the other day!”

Lisa sighs. “Klee, if you see two people making out, just forget about it, honey. It’s not something you’d shout about.”

Oh, interesting. It’s called making out. She’ll be using that against Albedo later.

Aether and Paimon both let out a dragged out Ohh. “It’s not like we didn’t know.” Aether shrugs, Paimon following suite. “It was pretty obvious. Shame we didn’t get to see it like Klee did! But why would you tell Albedo this?” 

“Cause Albedo and Kaeya were doing the same!”

The room goes quiet. 

Jean’s eyes are so wide they might fall out any second, Lisa looks like she’s trying not to laugh, Aether and Paimon look like fish on land, and Noelle is two shades away from Klee’s dress. 

“They… what…? I’m so sorry, I need to-” Noelle squeaks, and quickly gets up, excusing herself with an empty tray. 

“God, I know he literally said he’s into Albedo, but I never thought…” Aether muses, and Paimon pats his head. “I know, I know! Albedo didn’t really… look the type to…” She trails off, and Aether nods in understanding.

Lisa finally breaks, and lets out a laugh. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe they got it together.”

Jean sighs, rubbing her forehead. “Kaeya’s pickup lines actually worked. I never expected Albedo to actually pick up on it. Oh, Barbatos…”

“I can’t believe this. Who would’ve thought his pickup line would work?”

“Oh, oh, what did he say, Lisa?” Paimon chirps. Lisa clears her throat, trying to mimic Kaeya’s voice and… failing. But Klee won’t tell her that, she isn’t that mean. 

“ Are you tired? Cause you’ve been running on my mind all day .” 

“Oh.” Aether hides his face. “Oh, that’s terrible. That’s awful.” 

Jean nods, and with a sigh she turns back to Klee. Klee looks back at her tea, suddenly trying to see if melting into her chair is an option. 

“Are you going to scold me? It’s not my fault you two were… ‘making out’. I’m sorry!” 

Jean shakes her head. “It’s nothing that I can scold you for. If anything, it’s kind of my fault you saw that, really. But next time you see someone doing... that, don’t go around telling people, okay, Klee?”

Lisa chuckles a bit at Jean’s blushing face, and Klee finds it hard not to laugh along, so she lets out a giggle before nodding. “Okay! Can I go, now? I have a lot of work!” 

“Oh, like blowing up poor Timmie’s pigeons?”

Aether slides down his chair, and Klee gets a feeling he’s trying to hide himself. 

“That was one time, Miss Lisa! And it was a favor for a friend!” 

“What friend, I wonder…” Lisa says with an evil smile, side-eying Aether, whose futile attempts at disappearing have failed him. Aether clears his throat. “I need to feed myself and my party, somehow.” 

The moment Jean’s attention is diverted to scolding Aether for hurting a few harmless, defenseless birds, Klee makes a run for it, Dodoco hanging off her backpack, and soon enough she’s out of the headquarters. Windrise is the destination. Where it all began, as she likes to think.

Windrise is as peaceful as ever. There’s already a few Calla lilies growing back in the spot she plucked them yesterday. Today, she’s not here to steal the lilies. She’s here to talk to a friend.

She settles down in front of the Archon statue. It glows a bit, and Klee watches as a little cut on her arm heals. “Woah! My powers don’t let me do that. How did you do that?”

The statue doesn’t respond. 

Awkward. 

“We’re colleagues! You should probably start talking to me. I appreciate the healing, but I don’t know how to use my power to heal my big brother! How did you heal my arm?”

No response. She’s sure she can hear a muffled giggle, but she’s quickly distracted by a little red fox jumping out from behind the statue. “Oh! It’s you again, Miss Fox!” She chirps, and the little fox drops a little glass in her hands before running away, disappearing behind the tree.

Confused, she brings up the vial to look over it. There’s a red liquid in it, and it’s warm in her hands. Not enough to burn her, but enough to be comforting. Kind of like holding her Vision. 

She looks up at the Archon statue, and then back at the glass. 

The orb the statue is holding glows a bit. “Are you welcoming me as your coworker? Is this a welcoming gift?” 

The statue remains silent, but Klee thinks she has the answers that she needs. Standing up, satisfied with her investigation, she quickly puts the glass in her bag, and entrusts its safety to Dodoco. She can show it to Albedo later, have him figure out what it is. He’s smart enough to do that.

For now, there’s a certain redhead in a certain tavern that she needs to talk to, and properly thank. Amongst other things. Diluc was obviously acting jealous last night, over not being Kaeya’s brother. 

On the other hand, Kaeya doesn’t make it a secret that Diluc doesn’t like him. She’s also seen how sad he looks every time Diluc snaps at him and leaves. Really, it’s her job as his little sister to help him fix his relationships with the people around him. 

She’s going to try and fix that too, if only the older man doesn’t act as stuck up as he usually does. 

(Unbeknownst to her, as soon as she starts running towards Mondstadt, a certain bard from the city peeks out from behind the tree, a lyre in his hand and a grin on his face. 

“Maybe I played around a bit too much, making her think she’s a god, but I’m not really opposed to that.” He says to the fox, who nods in agreement. The red fox snuggles up to his leg, and he plays a short tune to thank her for the delivery. “But the potion should help the Cavalry Captain make a speedy recovery, so it’s all good for now, don’t you think?”)

The moment she opens the tavern door, a familiar face with orange hair and blue eyes is tossed across the room, hitting the wall with a painful cracking sound. Klee lets out a gasp, and quickly rushes to his side. “Keep beating me up and I’ll get the wrong idea, Master Dilu-ow-c!”

“Mister Tart!”

Mister Tart looks up, and the grimaces on his face vanishes the moment he sees Klee. “Little miss Klee! Been a while since our last sparring in the chamber, hasn’t it? Aether hasn’t brought you there in forever since Ningguang agreed to help him beat me up!”

Klee shakes her head and brings out a napkin from her bag, wiping his cheek as he struggles to sit up, holding his back. “Actually, big brother Kaeya doesn’t want me to hang out with you anymore. Sorry, I can’t come play anymore!”

“Klee. Get away from him. Right now.” Diluc’s voice rings out, and she finally sees the redhead she came here for behind the counter. He looks proudly responsible for the mess Mister harbinger has become.

“Oh, but he’s hurt, Master Diluc!” Her napkin is useless, but Mister Tart isn’t opposed to it, so she keeps at it. “You can’t hurt the customers!” 

Diluc frowns and gets out from behind the bar. “Childe is our enemy .” Oh. She almost forgot his other name was Childe. Now that she thinks about it, he’s not very fortunate with names, is he? One is a dessert, one is..a kid. 

“But he’s not hurting anyone right now!”

“Yeah, Master Diluc, I’m not hurting anyone right now. I just wanted to try some Mondstadtian drinks! Can’t a  paying customer get what he asked for?”

“A Fatui harbinger deserves nothing but to be thrown off a cliff. Get out.” 

Childe lets out a laugh, and pushes himself up. He’s taller than Master Diluc. If she were Diluc, she would’ve already dipped out of the fight. No use fighting tall people.

“Little miss Klee, are you here for a drink? I don’t think you’re of age yet…”

Klee shakes her head. “I just came to visit Master Diluc!” She makes her way over to the bar, and awkwardly climbs up the tall stool. “I had some busy stuff to talk about!” 

“Busy stuff?” Childe tilts his head, and sits next to her, his back sitting at a very uncomfortable position. “She probably means business.” Diluc mutters, getting back behind the counter. “Be happy I can’t kill in front of an eight year old. Otherwise you would’ve been a burning mess by now.”

“Ohh, that’s hot. Literally and metaphorically.” Childe giggles.

Metaphorically! That’s the word she was looking for yesterday. She’d mention it to Diluc, but he’s so busy glaring at Childe, she doesn’t dare say anything. 

Childe clears his throat. “I heard about your brother, by the way.” He turns to her, with a genuine smile. It looks like the ones Albedo and Kaeya give her when they see her, “I’m sorry. Must be hard to see your family get hurt, right?” 

Klee nods, and pulls Dodoco out of her bag for comfort. “He’s going to be fine, though. Big brother Albedo promised. He also has me looking out for him.” She omits the part about being a god, because Diluc said Childe isn’t exactly their friend. He nods and ruffles her hair. 

“That’s the spirit! With a little sister like you, he’d never get too hurt. That’s how it is with Teucer and I.”

Oh, Childe is a big brother himself too, isn’t he? Aether did mention he has a little brother. She giggles and looks back at Diluc, who puts a glass of red juice in front of her. “What a family man.” He says dryly, and points at the drink. “Drink up. It’s on Kaeya’s tab. What did you want to talk about?” She picks up the glass, taking a sip. It’s grape juice, sweet and fresh. 

“I wanted to thank you again! For saving Kaeya.” She says, and Diluc flinches back. “Oh… of course. The knights were too inefficient to trust them with their captain’s life.”

“Mm… I didn’t really understand what you said.” She confesses. “But thank you! Though, I think he messed up a bit, cause he had red all over him again and Sister Barbara had to put him to sleep.” She frowns, remembering the sight again. 

Ugh, why is Diluc so red? She’s still upset with the color.

“He what?” Diluc says, a bit too urgently. Childe sips his drink quietly, watching the conversation happen. 

“Um. I think he hurt himself a bit and-”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, that idiot-” She’s got to ask Albedo what that means later. It’s probably another bad word she can’t say.

“Hey now,” Childe warns. “We got a kid here, maybe don’t say...?”

Diluc takes in a deep breath, and rubs his eyes. “I’m going to die of a heart attack at the bright age of twenty-three, all because of a dumba- idiot , called Kaeya.”

“Cheers to that.” Childe snickers, and raises his glass. “If you’re so worried, go visit him.” 

Klee nods. “Actually, that’s a good idea! I can’t go alone, I’m scared he’ll hurt himself and I can’t help him! You should come with me, Master Diluc!” 

“You can go by yourself. Take Barbara with you, she’d love to check up on Kaeya.” 

“Oh, but she’s not the one worried right now, you are!” 

Childe lets out a wheeze. “Master Diluc, your emotional constipation has no effect on this little child. Might as well give in.” 

“Cons… what?” 

“Don’t worry about it. What’s up with Master Diluc and Sir Kaeya?” 

“Oh, they want to be friends with each other.” Klee whispers, ignoring the fact that Diluc is probably hearing her, given his frown deepening as she speaks. “But they think they hate each other, so neither of them step up. I wanna help out!”

“Ooh, I see! Come on, Master Diluc! Little Klee has a point.” Childe says with a laugh, emptying his glass and putting it on the bar, alongside some mora. “I’ll get out of your hair for now. Maybe I can come back when Kaeya is free, hm? Convince him to let us hang out again.” He ruffles her hair again, and she gives him the biggest smile she can manage as he leaves.

When they’re alone, she turns back to Diluc, tapping her hands on the table expectantly. “So?”

“What?” Diluc hisses. He sounds like Razor when he’s mad, for a moment.

“Come with me! You can also help me get him some get-well gifts!”

“I don’t need to get him gifts.”

“Oh, come on! It’s so obvious you’re worried for him! I am too, it’s okay!”

“Klee, do you want me to charge you for your drink?”

“And you told me you were jealous last night, not having him as a brother and-”

“I literally never said that.”

“-this is an opportunity you can’t lose!” 

Diluc doesn’t respond. He’s wiping a bit more aggressively at the glass in his hands, and she’s pretty sure he’s glaring at her.

“I’m sure big brother Kaeya wants to see you too.” She says, a bit quietly so that no one else hears. “He thinks you hate him, he told me himself! But you obviously don’t-”

“You have no idea what you’re babbling about, Klee.”

“I do! Adults are so childish, always pretending to feel some way that they really don’t. I’m trying to help you here!” 

God, Diluc is so frustrating. He’s managed to make a god like Klee feel frustrated. It’s almost comic.

“If you don’t come with me, I’m telling Jean what you were doing the other night.” 

It’s a very dirty threat, not to mention Klee still has no idea why Diluc would want to hide what he was doing from Jean. She doesn’t even know what Diluc was doing, really. But Diluc was nervous enough to buy her silence, so she uses it against him.

For a few moments, Diluc is quiet, mouth agape, staring at her unbelievably.

“Oh my god. You’re growing up to be just like Kaeya.”

“Thank you!”

Diluc lets out a groan, and disappears from behind the counter. Just as Klee starts to assume he’s ran away, he comes back out wearing his coat, Charles trailing behind him. 

“Hello, Klee. Not here for a drink, I hope?” Charles says, and laughs when she pouts. Diluc is suddenly behind her, picking her up and putting her down from the chair. “Take care of the bar while I’m out. I’ll be back after I’m done being a bodyguard for an eight year old.” He grumbles.

Charles nods, and Klee begins following Diluc out of the tavern. “What should we get for him?” She chirps excitedly, already imagining all the food and flowers they could take for Kaeya.

Diluc, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have the same idea. “A book. We’re going to the library, first. If you want something else, we could get him something to eat after we’re done with the book. That sounds good?”

Not really, it doesn’t. Kaeya is a nerd, and she rarely sees him doing anything other than reading in his off-time, but getting a book for a sick person might be the most terrible idea she’s ever heard.

Oh well. She needs Diluc to help her out, and she needs to help him out as well with Kaeya, so she nods.

“Oho, you and I are seeing each other a lot nowadays, hm, Klee?” Lisa giggles and pulls her cheek, Klee getting pulled along with it out of the sheer force Lisa puts into her actions.

“Ow!”

“And Master Diluc… never took you for a man to borrow books from the Favonius archives. Anything I can do for you?”

Diluc doesn’t get his cheeks pulled, probably because he’s a bit taller than Lisa, and looks like a grumpy cat. “Where do you keep children’s books?”

Klee blinks. Children’s? Kaeya is an adult… Why would he read a children’s book?

“Huh.” Lisa is surprised as well. “Downstairs, next to where Ella is standing.”

Diluc nods, and starts heading that way. Klee goes to follow, but Lisa puts a hand on her shoulder and keeps her back. “Visiting Kaeya?”

She nods. “I think Master Diluc secretly doesn’t hate Kaeya, so I convinced him to come.”

Lisa hums, a smirk on her face. “You’ve got your head into everyone’s business, haven’t you, little one? Just like Aether. Good job. If they go back on good terms, you’re getting a special treat from me.”

Back on good terms?

This is new information. So they used to be good friends, right? 

“Sure, Miss Lisa!” 

Diluc comes back, and there’s a little book in his hands. Lisa’s expression morphs into a litte frown, but it mostly looks like she’s looking at a sad cat. “A peculiar choice… .”

“I didn’t ask for an input, Lisa.” Diluc groans. “Are you going to register it or anything?”

Lisa taps her quil against the paper for a bit, before putting it down and offering a kind smile. “Tell you what, you can take that infinitely. Just don’t mess up the cover, or the pages. Then we’ll have some trouble. Give it back when everything sorts itself out.”

Maybe it’s the exhaustion from yesterday, but Klee really doesn’t understand what they’re talking about, so instead she resorts to grabbing onto the fur at the bottom of Diluc’s coat, playing with them.

Diluc sighs. “Well, that just means I got a free book to hold onto for the rest of my life.”

“Aw, don’t be so hopeless. A little goes a long way. I’m sure everything will work out.”

“Ready to go, Klee?”

Klee lets go of the coat quickly, not wanting to incriminate herself in case anything happens to it. “Let’s go! We should get some food from Good Hunter’s and then head to the cathedral.” 

Lisa pirks. “Actually, I have some spaghetti cooked already. Not really having an appetite today, so how about you take it to Kaeya? He’d have more use for it. It’s spicy too.” She brings out a purple lunchbox from under her desk. 

Lisa’s spaghettis, while a bit too hot for Klee’s tongue, are delicious, and she’s sure Kaeya would appreciate them too. So before Diluc can even think of rejecting it, she reaches out. “I’ll take it! I’ll tell big brother Kaeya you said hi, Miss Lisa!”

“Master Diluc, not to rush you, but we’ve been standing here for half an hour already.” Klee stomps her foot impatiently, standing behind Diluc who has had his hand on the doorknob to Kaeya’s room for a long while now. 

“Mhm.”

“That’s what you said ten minutes ago! Why are you stalling?”

Diluc groans and drops his hand. The spaghetti is getting cold in Klee’s hand. 

“Um. So.” He turns to her, and kneels on the ground. “We already have a lot of secrets between us, right, Klee? Like how I sneaked you out and got you some flowers…?”

Oh. Is she being blackmailed? “Are you trying to blackmail me, Master Diluc? That’s not fair! And to a child!” 

Diluc’s eyes widen and he quickly shakes his head. “No! No no no, I’m just… can you keep one more secret?”

Oh, of course she can. Klee’s perfectly good at keeping secrets, except for when she’s talking to Kaeya and Albedo. They have a way with dragging words out of her mouth, and it’s not really a bad thing since both of them are trustworthy enough, so she just nods. Albedo and Kaeya can also keep Diluc’s secret, if it comes to it. 

Diluc sighs, pouting like a child. “I… Kaeya and I really hurt each other a few years ago. That’s why… both of us aren’t really on good terms anymore. I don’t like him, he doesn’t like me.”

“Oh, but you like him!” Klee insists. “Like how I love him! You saved his life, you wouldn’t do that for people you don’t like.” 

Diluc shakes his head. “Sure. I still care for him. But he still doesn’t really like me. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to-”

“He likes you too! I’m sure he does!” She lowers her voice, leaning in. “Big brother Albedo told me a secret last night. Kaeya’s favorite color is red.”

Diluc seems confused. He huffs and throws his head back. “How does that even apply to this situation, kiddo?”

Klee gasps. “Master Diluc, even Dodoco is smarter than you! Have you looked in a mirror recently? You’re a red crayon!”

“Wow.” Diluc scoffs. “That’s flattering.”

Klee doesn’t know what that word means. She ignores it. “Your hair is red, your eyes are red, your gloves have red in them, your Vision is red! Big brother Albedo said Kaeya loves red because I wear red. I’m sure he likes it because you’re red, too!” 

Diluc winces and looks away from her, running a hand through his mess of a hair. They stay like that for a little, Diluc actively avoiding her gaze and hiding his face. She wants to snap at him, because it’s getting late, Klee still hasn’t had lunch, and Kaeya is sick and he needs to sleep early. Not to mention Lisa’s spaghetti’s almost ruined at this point.

Diluc rubs at his eyes and stands up, stepping back. Klee looks up at him, confused. He shrugs. “You go in first.”

She lets out a frustrated sigh, and twists the doorknob, not wanting to delay seeing Kaeya any longer. Adults are just children that got too big too soon. At least Master Diluc is. 

“No way! The spark knight herself has come to visit me.” Kaeya rasps out from the bed he’s lying on, turning his head to face her. Klee quickly jumps on the bed next to him, careful not to be anywhere near his chest, and settles on his legs. 

She wants to punch him for a second, because of how much he worried her, but she settles on tapping his knees three times.

“We’re going fish blasting when you heal up, and you won’t tell Miss Jean, because it’s your apology to me for getting hurt.” She says, with finality. Kaeya puts his hands up in surrender. “Yes ma’am. I’ll even make you skewers and grilled fish with Timmie’s pigeons and the fish you blow up. I’ve no excuses.”

“And no more going after Mr. Fluffball!” 

Kaeya lets out a strained laugh. “That, I can’t promise. But I’ll promise to be more careful.” 

Klee’s about to scold him more before Kaeya’s head snaps towards the door, and she finally sees that Diluc has just walked into the room. He looks like he’s trying to melt into the wall, the book hidden behind his back.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Master Diluc?” Kaeya says, suddenly less energized than he was a moment ago with Klee. 

Suddenly Klee doesn’t want to be here. The room feels a bit too tense for her comfort.

Diluc opens his mouth for a second, closes it again, opens it again, closes it again-alright. This man has no intention of talking.

“Master Diluc saved you! He’s the one who came after you.” She says, and Kaeya’s gaze stays on her for a moment before focusing on Diluc again. Diluc shuts his mouth, sends a glare her way before looking back at Kaeya and finally stepping away from the doorway. 

“Thank you… I suppose. You didn’t have too.”

“The knights are already inefficient enough with you. I can’t imagine what they’d become without you.” 

“Aw, you flatter me.” Kaeya says dryly, turning back to Klee. “Thanks for the flowers. Sorry you had to see that yesterday, darling.” 

“Just start being more careful, big brother Kaeya! Albedo and I had the worst night ever because of it.” In his defense, Kaeya looks guilty. “Oh, Albedo gave me an earful already, don’t worry.”

Diluc clears his throat. “How are your injuries?”

“Hum, if you ignore the fact that I accidentally opened them up yesterday, they’re pretty good. Barbara’s healing and Calla lily extract are an amazing combo. I’ll be out by tomorrow, if I’m lucky.”

“...Don’t do anything rash until you’re out of here, and I’ll let you have a night of free drinks at the tavern.”

Kaeya eyes Diluc for a moment, looking suspicious. “Are you sure, Master Diluc? You’re being oddly generous.”

“Are you opposed to it?”

“Of course not! You could buy my loyalty with free drinks.” Kaeya chuckles, and Diluc groans.

Diluc is still hiding the book behind his back. Klee looks at Dodoco, who seems to agree with the plan she’s coming up with, and grins. If Diluc is blackmailing him, she’ll annoy him in her own ways.

“What are you hiding, Master Diluc?” 

“Are you hiding something? Maybe a bottle of wine, I hope. I haven’t had a drink in two days and I’m already suffering.”

The glare Diluc sends her way is a little scarier than his last one. It’s almost edging onto the one he gave Childe earlier. “I’m not going to be the one who encourages your developing alcohol addiction.” He drops the book on the bed, next to Kaeya’s hand. Kaeya immediately reaches out, bringing the book up to his eyes to read. “ And if there is no tomorrow. What an intriguing title. A children’s book, too. Are you trying to call me childish, Master Diluc?” Kaeya flips the book open, looking through the first few pages before his eyes widen and his grip on the book tightens.

Klee shifts closer, trying to also see the book, before Diluc’s hand grabs her cheek and pulls her back. “Ow!”

“Your cheeks are your weakness. Stay back and don’t meddle in adults’ business, kid.” 

“You are so rude! And so mean! No wonder why you think everyone hates you.”

“ Klee .” There’s a quiet warning in that voice that Klee stubbornly ignores. 

“Big brother Kaeya, do you hate Master Diluc?”

Kaeya looks like he snaps out of a trance, and slowly sits up. It’s a bit of a struggle at first, and both Klee and Diluc help him up so that he can sit without bothering his injuries. He doesn’t let go of the book, though.

“Um. Why are you asking?”

“Master Diluc thinks you hate him.”

“Klee.” Diluc warns again. “Stop making up stories.”

“But I told him since your favorite color is red, he’s probably one of your favorite people. Right? I think I did good.” 

Kaeya looks out of it. He tilts his head, and it seems like he’s trying to come up with an answer. He looks back down at the book in his hand. “I… don’t hate…”

“Okay. that’s it.” Diluc lets out a frustrated sigh, and soon enough, Klee’s lifted into the air against her will. “I wish you a speedy recovery, Sir Kaeya. The offer stands.”

“Put me down! Hey!” She pulls on Diluc’s mess of hair, and pulls on it, taking triumph in the groan that Diluc lets out, but it’s all futile as soon enough she’s out of the infirmary. 

“I am never telling a kid my traumas. Ever again.” Diluc mumbles, and Klee pulls harder on his hair. It’s oddly satisfying. Diluc doesn’t seem to agree, because he quickly pulls her away from his head and holds her at a distance, storming out of the cathedral. 

“You are such a child. You should be thankful, Master Diluc!” 

“Ah yes. How inconsiderate of me. Thank you for spilling the secret I entrusted you with.”

“Some secrets need to be said! You can’t fix your friendship with Kaeya if you keep-”

“It wasn’t a friendship. We were a family.” Diluc snaps, and they finally settle on the seat outside of the cathedral, just by the statue of Barbatos. 

Diluc stays quiet after that, looking up at the statue and ignoring Klee. His foot is tapping on the ground rapidly, and he looks like he’s about to cry at any second, so Klee postpones any attempt at teasing him. Instead, she scoots a bit closer to him and pats his arm, hearing a quiet sniffle in response.

(Just before they leave Kaeya’s room, Klee is sure she sees Kaeya tear up, eyes still fixated on the book. It doesn’t look like a bad kind of crying, because he has a small smile on his lips, despite the tear that runs down his cheek.)

Chapter Text

Master Diluc makes sure to drop her by Jean’s office, by the time he’s done with his temper tantrum. Jean looks a bit worried about Diluc, Klee is too, but the man leaves the headquarters before Jean can ask.

“Did something happen?” Jean picks her up, and Klee quickly makes herself comfortable and wraps her hands around Jean’s neck. She doesn’t know how to explain it, but Jean feels too much like Alice. It’s comforting.

“Um…”

“Would it help if I promise not to put you in confinement?”

“Yes! In fact, it’d help so much I might just tell you about what happened to Timmie’s pigeons last week!”

Jean laughs, and opens the door to Klee’s room. Wood salutes them before Jean shuts the door and puts Klee down on her bed. “Now, wear your pajamas while you’re telling me the story, okay?” 

Klee nods and begins changing. “Um. I think Master Diluc and Kaeya used to be really close.”

Jean flinches.

Maybe she shouldn’t have said that?

“You wouldn’t be wrong… why do you say that?”

“Master Diluc told me they were family. Kaeya cried too, when Diluc came with me. I’ve never seen big brother Kaeya cry.”

She starts crawling under her blankets and Jean sits on her bed, running her hands through Klee’s hair. “Kaeya is a bit out of it with the medicines, don’t worry.” She sighs and pauses, pursing her lips. “Klee, how about I tell you a secret and you tell me one?”

Klee considers it for a moment. There aren’t too many secrets Klee is keeping right now that would be important enough to make a deal with. Everyone already knows Albedo and Kaeya were making out, Jean won’t need to hear about herself and Lisa, the fish in Cider lake have only ever been blown up by her so…

Oh. She could tell Jean about Master Diluc. Right? 

Jean can be trusted. Whatever Diluc was doing looked dangerous too, if Mr. Fluffball managed to stab Kaeya, Master Diluc doesn’t stand a chance. She’s doing Diluc a favor if she thinks about it.

“Okay. I have a really good one! But you go first.” 

“Kaeya and Diluc used to be brothers.” Jean whispers, “Diluc used to be Kaeya’s big brother, just like you and Kaeya. Some things happened, and they’re not really on good terms anymore.”

“But don’t they love each other? I don’t get it.” 

“Adults are like that. I don’t get it either. They’re two little boys in overgrown bodies. To be honest, they were more sensible when they were two little teenage boys.”

Klee giggles a bit. “I got Master Diluc to get a gift for Kaeya. Do you think that will help them?”

“Oh?” Jean smiles. “That’s wonderful. Thank you, Klee. You’re doing what the Archons couldn’t.”

Little does Jean know she is part of the Archons now, but Klee doesn’t mention it. Not a good time, and that’s not the secret she wants to tell.

“Now, your turn. Tell me a top tier Klee secret.”

“Master Diluc is fighting Mr. Fluffballs at night. He wear a really ugly thing while he does it too.”

Jean’s hands stop in her hair and her eyes widen, and for a moment Klee thinks she might’ve told the wrong secret. Maybe she should’ve stuck to Timmie’s pigeons. 

“Interesting… so our little tortoise racing champion is now the Darknight Hero…”

“Tortoise racing champion?”

Jean chuckles and leans down to press a kiss on Klee’s forehead. “Don’t worry about it. Goodnight, Klee. Albedo said you should visit him tomorrow at his lab.”

“Mm… what about Kaeya?”

Klee’s already feeling sleepy. Jean’s and her mother’s kisses always do that… somehow. 

“How about you sleep and see for yourself, tomorrow?”

“Okay… goodnight, Jean.”

(Somewhere in the alleyway behind the tavern, Diluc, on his way to another patrol, sneezes. He puts up his mask, his hood, and turns to leave the alleyway and look through the spots the Abyss mages usually hide out in.

Well.

That silhouette isn’t an Abyss mage, but she just may be as dangerous as one.

“Bless you.” A feminine, familiar voice speaks, and Diluc feels his soul leave his body. “You know, Klee isn’t a good secret keeper. She also thinks your getup is very ugly.”

“...Hi, Jean.”

“Hi, vigilante. When were we supposed to find out about this?”

See, if Diluc is going down, he’s going to drag down Kaeya with him. One, because Kaeya deserves it. Secondly, because Kaeya is Klee’s favorite adult, as far as he knows. He can’t take revenge from the eight year old who snitched on him, but he can extend her revenge to her big brother instead. 

“To be fair, your right hand man already knew. Your beloved Sir Kaeya.”

“I’m sure he’s been too busy with his new boyfriend to come tell me his older brother has been wiping out the streets of Mondstadt. I think I’ll let him off the hook this once.” Jean says with a grin. 

Wait a second.

New what?

“His-his what ?” )

“Oh, my knight in shining armor, good morning little clover!” 

“Kaeya, Kaeya, Kaeya-'' Klee pauses her chant to throw herself at Kaeya’s leg, wrapping her arm around them, resting her head on Kaeya’s knee. “ Kaeya !” 

“She never greets me like that.” Albedo sighs, and she notices he’s experimenting with something. Kaeya winks-or blinks?-and messes Klee’s neatly brushed hair up. 

She’d be mad at him, but she’s just happy that he’s here, so she ignores the sacrifice her hair makes. 

He isn’t wearing his usual blue attire, though. He’s wearing a loose shirt with bandages poking out through it. The bandages aren’t red anymore, and Klee’s red dress suddenly feels less evil than it was two days ago.

“You’re so mean! Don’t get stabbed by Mr. Fluffballs anymore!”

“How does that make me mean ? Your Fluffballs stabbed me!”

“You’re mean for getting yourself in trouble!”

Kaeya sighs and before he can lean down to pick her up, Albedo protests and runs to pick Klee up himself. “Don’t bend down, you’ll irritate your injuries.”

Kaeya carefully takes her from Albedo’s arms, and Klee latches onto his hair's tail and pulls on it, getting a protest from Kaeya and a laugh from Albedo. “My little sister and my boyfriend are planning my demise. Maybe Mr. Fluffballs were just looking out for me.”

“Stop being dramatic.” 

Klee really wants to join in on the conversation, but she’s mostly focused on Kaeya and the fact that he’s here, standing, alright, and most definitely alive. She doesn’t pull on it anymore, but she also doesn’t let go of Kaeya’s failure of a ponytail. 

There’s a golden ribbon wrapped around it, and she starts fidgeting with it.

“Oo, did you notice my fancy new hair tie? Albedo’s property.”

Klee nods and keeps fidgeting with it. Kaeya clears his throat and Albedo looks up, looking back and forth between Kaeya and Klee. “Oh.” He puts his beaker down on the table, and walks over to put a hand on Klee’s back. “Klee, wanna show Kaeya what we did the other day?”

Oh, the drawing! 

Well, not much of a drawing. Her tears ruined it, and as if Albedo can read her mind, he smiles and rubs a circle on her back. “It might just start raining over your head if you keep being so sad. I’m sure Kaeya will love the drawing.”

“Okay.” She finally lets go of Kaeya  and with Albedo’s help, she’s back on the ground. It’s less exciting to be this short compared to how tall she is when Kaeya’s holding her.

The drawing is still folded in her backpack. “Albedo and I wanted to do something for you but…” Ow, she might just cry again. Her eyes are burning a little and her nose is already clogged. “I kinda messed it up.”

Kaeya takes the drawing from her and unfolds it, and Klee looks away because she can’t handle it if Kaeya thinks it’s ugly . Her career as a god or Kaeya’s little sister would be over. 

“We didn’t color it. It was an artistic decision.” Albedo inserts, and Klee knows it’s a lie. Neither of them got together to color it, that’s the issue. Now the final piece is just Albedo’s sketch and Klee’s dried up tears.

(Now that she thinks about it, whenever Albedo makes an error in his drawings, he always covers it up as an artistic decision . What a dirty trick! She’ll keep it in mind.)

“What do you mean, messed up?” Kaeya says and his voice breaks for a moment, but then he’s smiling like he always does and it’s almost as bright as the sun. “I love it, Klee. I’ll put it up in my office when Jean lets me go back to work.”

“Are you lying?” Klee’s tears have successfully retreated back to her… head? Where do tears go? Her nose is still clogged, which is annoying, but she can ignore it for now. 

“Why would I? It’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. You and Albedo should do this kinda thing more often.” 

Albedo sits down in his chair, and before he gets a chance to relax, Kaeya drops himself on his lap.

“Kaeya?”

“You don’t have too many chairs in your office. I’m making myself comfortable.”

Albedo raises his eyebrows, but he wraps his arms around Kaeya’s waist regardless. Klee tries to enjoy the sight before her, she really does. It’s a very warming image of her two big brothers being so in love, but it’s making her feel… 

“Ew.” She cringes and picks up Dodoco, shoving him into her bag. “Ew! Gross!”

“Excuse me?” Kaeya chokes out, Albedo looking equally shocked. 

“Gross! You two should stop making out in front of me!”

“... Making out ?” Albedo says in between coughs, and if it weren’t for his grip on Kaeya’s waist, Klee’s sure he would’ve fallen. “Klee, that’s not what it means- who told you that?”

“Jean told me everything!” She zips up her back, glad to have saved Dodoco from this interaction before he saw anything he would’ve regretted. Kaeya’s laugh is so loud it almost makes Klee forgive them for the discomfort they’ve caused, but she’s already on her way out.

“I’m leaving! Come pick me up when you’re done making out, we’re having a sleepover tonight!”

“That’s not what making out is. That’s not-” Albedo struggles, but Klee runs out of the lab before he has a chance to explain. She walks straight into Sucrose, who drops a suspicious bone after Klee bumps into her. “Oh, little Klee! Was Mister Albedo inside?”

“He’s in there with Kaeya right now! You should come back later. It’s gross.” 

She hands the bone back to Sucrose, before running off towards Windrise. She wants to give her celestial future another chance before she lets herself be convinced that everything that happened was pure coincidence and random miracles.

Sucrose behind her goes red and squeaks, mumbling something about Albedo having a boyfriend , but Klee doesn’t get a chance to see that.

(Once she’s out, Kaeya gets off of Albedo’s lap, leaning against the wall with a hand over his stomach, trying not to laugh too hard and ruin his stitches. Albedo on the other hand, is getting redder and redder, staring into nothing on his chair. 

“I need to talk to Jean.”

“She thinks people loving each other equals making out.” Kaeya wheezes. “Archons, Jean sucks at this. Who’s gonna tell her what making out even is?” 

Albedo buries his face in his hands, trying to hide his blush and failing. “This is terrible. Does this mean everyone knows we’re…?”

“Oh, Klee’s terrible at secrets. Everyone definitely knows. I’m kinda curious about Diluc’s reaction, when he finds out.” Kaeya teases and cups Albedo’s face, leaning close. “Now, let me…”)

When she reaches Windrise, someone else is already there. A bard she’s seen in the city, sitting by the Archon statue and playing his lyre. He doesn’t stop when he sees her. He just smiles and keeps playing. 

It’s a familiar tune. It takes a moment before she realizes it’s a lullaby her mom used to sing before she had to leave. It’s so calming. She can almost imagine her mom is back home and singing to her.  

When the bard is done, he sets his lyre aside and beams at her. “Hello, m’lady! What brings you here on this fine day?”

“I came here to talk to a friend! Where did you learn that song?”

“Ah, the wind and I were talking. They told me of a little girl who fell asleep to that tune. Was it you?”

Klee nods. “My mom used to sing that for me. Who are you?”

“Hmm… I go by Venti. What’s your name?”

“Klee! It means clover.” She points at her hat. “It’s my symbol!”

“Ah, the symbol of luck! Your brothers must be very lucky to have you looking out for her, don’t you think?”

Klee nods, feeling a bit giddy before realizing Venti knows a bit too much about her. He asked for her name a second ago, how does he know about her big brothers? 

“How did you know that? I didn’t tell you that.” 

Venti winces before rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Ow, you’re really growing up to be as sharp as Sir Kaeya… I’m impressed! You caught me red-handed. I know a lot more about you than I let on. All good intentions, of course!” 

“Oh.” For some reason, she really doesn’t feel unsafe. She’s mostly curious how a bard knows so much about her. “But how?”

Venti smiles and a little familiar red fox crawls out from behind the Archon statue, looking up at him expectantly. “How good are you at keeping secrets?”

“Oh, really good!” Is that Miss fox? Klee should’ve brought an apple to give it to her.  

Venti chuckles. “For some reason, that doesn’t really make me feel confident... But I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”

Klee doesn’t really know what that is supposed to mean but… she’s getting to hear another secret so she ignores it. She can ask Albedo about it later.

“Would you understand if I said my other name was Barbatos?” 

Barbatos… the Anemo Archon. Venti is the Anemo Archon. Now that she thinks about it, there’s not much to be shocked about. He talks to the wind and has twin braids just like the Archon statue. 

“I should have guessed earlier, you look too much like the statue not to be him! We might be coworkers!” She says. Venti cringes for a moment and laughs nervously. “About that! About your little… celestial discovery.” Venti kneels, facing her. “That might’ve been my fault. I really didn’t mean for a misunderstanding, little miss.” 

“What do you mean?” Klee tilts her head. Is he trying to tell her she’s not a god? 

“The cecilias were just… me trying to help you out, really, but we both know how it played out in your head.”

He is trying to tell her she’s not a god.

Not that Klee’s upset, she’s sure she’s not missing out on much. Kaeya or Albedo aren’t gods but she’s sure they’re both way stronger and better than any Archon could ever be. 

“Oh no!” Klee whines and kicks an innocent flower with her foot. Miss fox somehow takes this as an indicator that she can rest her head on Klee’s shoes, so she runs over and does exactly that. She falls asleep almost instantly. Klee would like to be a fox in her next life. “That’s why I couldn’t heal big brother Kaeya!”

“I take full responsibility! It’s my fault as an irresponsible Archon. If anything, you’d make a better Archon.” 

“I know, cause I wouldn’t let big brother Kaeya get hurt!”

In his defense, Venti looks guilty. “Oh, his situation is a bit complicated. All of Celestia couldn’t save him if we all came together.” He whispers and pets the sleepy fox, who’s still snoozing on Klee’s shoes.

“That just shows Celestia isn’t good enough.” Klee snaps back, feeling only slightly guilty over how ashamed Venti looks. “Maybe it’s better than I’m not a god.”

“Of course, young lady! You’re so much stronger than most of us at such a young age too!” Venti smiles and pulls playfully on one of her pigtails. “You’ll be so much stronger when you grow up. You don’t need to be a god to protect your family.”

As payback, Klee pulls back on one of his braids, hard enough that it hurts a little bit, just to let out her frustration. Not that she’s upset over not being a god- well, just a little bummed out. She showed off a lot with her newly found status -but mostly to avenge Kaeya.

“Ow, hahah! That hurt.” Venti tries to cover his glare with a smile, but Klee can see right through it. “So… our little misunderstanding, is it cleared up now?”

“Yes, Mister Venti!” She sighs and pats the fox. “Am I in trouble? For acting like a god?”

“Oh no! If anything, I got in some trouble for fooling you into thinking you’re a god. My old friend Morax absolutely ruined me. The wrath of the rock… truly a terrifying experience.”

“I really don’t understand half of the words you’re using, Mister Venti. Not to be rude.” 

Venti chuckles and stands up. He pulls on her hat and boops her nose. “I’ll be on my way now, young lady Klee! Between you and I, I made a few cecilias and lilies grow by the other side of the tree. How about you make a few bouquets for Sir Kaeya and that lover of his?”

“His name is Albedo! And thank you!” She beams. The fox has no intention of getting up from her shoes, so she bends down and picks the fox up, holding it instead. 

“Of course! My job here is done then.” Venti sighs and stretches a bit, and Klee decidedly ignores the quiet cracking sounds that come from his spine.

“Have a good day, Mi-”

She looks up from the fox to see… no one. Venti’s no longer there, and when she looks back at the Archon statue, the orb glows a little green, so she takes that as a goodbye.

“Hi, Klee.” 

Oh, no. Klee really doesn’t have time for this today.

“I know you heard me. You’re not getting out of this.” 

The knights at the gate stifle a laugh and Klee tries to throw her best Diluc-glare, but that only seems to make them laugh harder. 

She sighs. Maybe she should just stop trusting Jean to keep her secrets. She turns back and faces Diluc, who is sporting a new coat instead of that ugly rug he usually wore. 

This one almost looks good. It’s still black, but it has red traces and even edges, so it gets Klee’s mark of approval. 

“Hi, Master Diluc!” She says, feigning joy. “Is there something I can help with?”

Diluc raises his eyebrow and crosses his arm. He doesn’t say anything, so Klee knows it’s her time to confess.

“In my dirrence,”

“ Defense is the word.”

“In my defense , Jean is very good at minipulating me.”

“ Manipulate . Why do you even know that word?”

“Oh, big brother Kaeya throws it around a lot! Please forgive me! I didn’t know you’d get into trouble!”

"You know, just because Kaeya does something, doesn't mean you should repeat them. Kaeya has only a few redeeming qualities you'd like to pick up on."

"I respect your opinion! But I don't really care." Klee sticks her tongue out.

Diluc scoffs. He isn’t really mad, she can tell. He’s like a moon pie, if she thinks hard enough about it. Tough on the outside, mush on the inside. She’s just apologizing to be polite.

“I’ll forgive you on one condition, how’s that?”

Klee really doesn’t trust adults who offer to make deals. Jean already gave her trust issues, Kaeya broke his promise about their sleepover two days ago, so she’s a bit unsure about accepting Diluc’s offer, but she decides to give him a chance. 

“What is it?” 

Diluc offers her his hand, and she takes it. They start walking through the town, and she can’t tell if people are shocked that Diluc is taking a little kid around like a babysitter, or they’re just impressed by his new attire. 

They stop by Good Hunter’s soon enough. Sara offers a sweet smile, asks a bit about Kaeya and serves them Sticky Honey Roast on Diluc’s request. The food tastes too good despite the shadow of Diluc’s untold condition looming over them.

“There’s this one thing I need you to tell me about, and then I’ll forgive you.”

Oh dear. Another person who wants to hear Klee’s secrets. Diluc is just stepping in after Jean, now. 

“What is it?” She says with a mouthful of food, giggling at Diluc’s disgusted expression when he sees it.

“Is there something happening between Albedo and Kaeya?” 

“Oh!”

“What do you mean, Oh ?”

“Well, a lot is happening! They made out yesterday, they made out today, and Kaeya…” She leans in, whispering, and Diluc plays along and leans in too, pretending to hear an important secret. “I heard Kaeya call Albedo his boyfriend .”

“Oh Barbatos.” Diluc groans and puts his head in his hands. “Even the kid knows. I’m the last one to hear about it. Even the kid knows.” 

“Hey! I’m sure Kaeya would’ve told you if you hung out with him a little more! Jean told me you two don’t talk much anymore, that’s why you didn’t know! Brothers are supposed to tell each other everything, but you have to talk to him first!”

“He’s my younger brother. He’s supposed to come out and tell me.”

“No, you’re his older brother. You’re supposed to ask! Big brother Albedo does it with me all the time, he asks about my day and that’s when I talk to him about it!”

Diluc throws his head back and lets out a loud sigh. 

“Master Diluc?”

Really, Jean was right when she said Diluc never grew up and stayed a petty teenage boy. Maybe she’s right about Kaeya as well, but Diluc seems to be so much more miserable.

“Hm?”

“Big brother Albedo always talks to me about how important family is. And how I should try to spend every moment with my family, because one day they might just leave.” 

Albedo has a sad look in his eyes, when he talks about family. He apparently had something similar to a mother, with him, before he came to Mondstadt, but she left him. He doesn’t say much more, but Klee understands, in a sense. Sometimes she wishes Alice would stop working and just stay with her instead.

“I think you should start talking to big brother Kaeya more! There’s no problem in this world that a hug from a family won’t fix!”

“You’re so naive it physically pains me, Klee.” Diluc says, but it’s lighthearted and he has a sad, small smile on his face. He drops a small sac of Mora on the table, and stands up to dust his coat from all the bread crumbs.

“Are you leaving?”

“Yes. Give the Mora to Sara and send her my thanks. And you’re forgiven, if you start getting better at keeping secrets.” 

“I’m already good at keeping secrets. Adults are just too greedy and want to learn them! Hmm… Master Diluc?”

“What is it now?”

“I’m gonna start calling you big brother,  from now on.” She swings her legs back and forth with a grin. “That way, both you and Kaeya are my family, so you and Kaeya would be family again.”

It sounds like a smart solution. She’s honestly disappointed no one else before her has tried to fix this situation, but she’s glad that both Jean and Diluc gave her the clues she needed throughout time. 

Diluc on the other hand is dumbfounded. There’s something in his eyes that makes Klee feel a little sad.

“Wow.” His voice breaks a little and he quickly coughs to cover it up. “Hadn’t heard that in a while.” He whispers and rubs his eyes before giving out a sigh.

He purses his lips and his hand freezes above her head before he flicks her forehead. “Okay. Let’s play family for a bit.”

A short while after Klee’s done with her lunch. By afternoon, she’s finally in front of Albedo’s laboratory, who doesn’t have their secret code hanging on it, so Klee unlocks it and walks in. 

Kaeya’s asleep on a tiny couch Albedo has in the workshop, and the alchemist himself is working on a mixture. He looks up and smiles when he sees Klee.

“Fun day?”

“Fun day!” She beams, keeping it quiet for Kaeya’s sake. “I also tried to talk to Master Diluc, and he said he’s gonna be family again with Kaeya.”

Albedo’s mouth falls open. He’s quiet for a second before he finally recovers and runs over to Klee, kneeling down to her height and whispering. “What happened?”

Oh, they’re exchanging secrets now. Klee starts whispering too. “I told him he’s gonna be my big brother. Now that he’s my big brother, he’s my family, and Kaeya’s already my family, so now they ’re family again.” 

“Klee, you just solved a sixth grade math inequation using Diluc and Kaeya.” Albedo says with a quiet laugh, and he pulls her cheek. “You did well. I’m sure Kaeya appreciates it. Their little drama has no excuse now.”

“I know!” She pulls Dodoco out of her bag. He looks a little upset, which is fair. It’s been a busy day and Klee hasn’t spared a moment to talk to him. But Albedo quickly takes him and wraps a little golden ribbon around his tail, and Dodoco’s mood inevitably improves.

“I think it suits him.”

“He looks so fancy now.” She giggles and takes Dodoco back, hugging him. “I met the Anemo Archon.”

“...Klee, what?”

“Barbatos! I met him. Turns out I’m not a god, he was just trying to help me out and I thought I was a god.” She looks down in shame, and Albedo, still confused, lets out a quiet laugh. “That’s why I couldn’t save Kaeya too! I thought I was just a bad god, but turns out Celestia doesn’t know how to save people.”

“It’s okay. I’m sure you’re secretly the Archon of luck.”

“Mmm, I think Barbatos agreed too.” 

Dodoco is looking at Kaeya, taking Klee’s attention away from Albedo to Kaeya as well. He lets out a soft sound in his sleep and turns on the couch. It sounds like he’s talking to someone, but he also doesn’t seem to be enjoying it.

Albedo looks a little alarmed. He gets up, sitting by Kaeya’s side and shaking him awake. Kaeya looks a bit… scared at first, but then he sees Albedo and his breathing calms down. 

“Do you need to…”

“No, no it’s okay. Just some… old memories.” Kaeya sits up and leans over Albedo to see Klee. “Hi, sweetheart. Are we gonna have our sleepover now?” 

Klee nods and clutches Dodoco closer to her chest. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“Just a bad dream. Don’t tell Albedo but I think it’s because of how dusty this workshop is. Can’t comfortably sleep here!”

Albedo flicks his forehead, getting a dramatic whine out of the taller man. “Klee, do you have anything else you wanna do? I think we can go to your room in an hour.”

“Nothing! I’ll go ahead to change and clean my room, see you there!”

That’s actually just an excuse. Kaeya looks like he could appreciate some time alone after a bad dream, and Klee doesn’t want to ruin that. 

She doesn’t plan on cleaning up her room, however. Jean and Albedo can take care of that.

“Don’t move around so much.”

The sleepover she had planned is finally happening. A bit later than planned, but Klee’s satisfied regardless. Albedo is busy braiding Kaeya’s hair, a red ribbon in his hand, ready to tie the ends. Kaeya stops fidgeting, finally, and settles down until Albedo’s done.

The little book Diluc gave Kaeya is still sitting on the nightstand. Klee takes it, and hands it to Kaeya. Kaeya tilts his head and leans against her bed. “Do you want me to read it?” 

She would, but she’s too tired for a full story. Also, big brother Diluc gifted it, and she doubts he has good taste in anything, really. Except for maybe making a little bouquet. She shakes her head.

“What’s the book about? Skip to the end!” Klee leans over Kaeya’s shoulder, and he flips it open, moving his head so she can put her head on his shoulder. Albedo shakes his head. “You two have no appreciation for literary arts.”

“It’s a children’s book! None of us are young enough for that!”

“Oh yes? When did you turn into an old woman, little Klee?” Kaeya teases and pulls her cheek, earning a quiet laugh from Albedo as well. 

“I’m eight . I’m three letters away from eighteen.”

“Yes, yes, you’re right.” Albedo brushes her off, and folds Klee’s clothes into neat piles in her closet.

“‘And if there’s no tomorrow’... I think fa- Master Crepus used to read this, back when we were children.” Kaeya says, going through the pages and pausing at the very end, where there’s a picture of two little boys holding each other, and the world around them looks like a few floating islands. She’s confused at first, but then Dodoco points out that the world is being destroyed.

“Can you read it? Why’s the world blowing up?”

“Hmm… ‘ And if the world as we know it is gone, little brother...’, the boy says and holds his brother’s hand, I promise I’m never leaving your side. That’s what big brothers do.’ “

Klee gasps, completely ignorant towards how Albedo winces, and Kaeya’s grip tightens on the book. “That’s kind of the story of us! Right? That’s you and Albedo with me!” 

“Klee,” Albedo starts, and it sounds like he’s warning her. Why is he warning her? Did she say something wrong?

“‘ What if I end up ruining the world?’ the little brother asks. The boy hugs his brother, and the chaos around them calms down. ”

“Oo! That’s not us anymore. I’m not gonna destroy Mondstadt, or the world. Kaeya is still recovering, so he’s not gonna either. What about you, big brother Albedo?”

“Um.”

“What do you mean, um?”

“You don’t have to worry about that, Klee.” Albedo sighs and settles down next to Kaeya, and Klee celebrates this little opportunity to fit her head on both their shoulders, instead of just Kaeya’s. A rare opportunity, but the most pleasant. 

“ ‘Even if you destroy the world, I’ll be by your side. Even if everyone is gone, we’ll have each other. We’ll defeat the corruption together, and go home together. Even if there is no tomorrow…’ ”

“ Family stays together, until the end .” Klee finishes for him, because Kaeya sounds exhausted and upset and she’s not sure if he’s happy reading this story to her. “I could read the last sentence. I knew every single world!” 

Albedo pinches her cheek, and Kaeya closes the book, holding it to his chest. “What a smart girl. If you just stop bombing everything that moves, you’ll be the smartest.”

“Big brother Kaeya! Albedo hates me and won’t support me, but you will, right?”

Kaeya nods, still quiet and gripping the book in his hands. She’s a little angry at Diluc now, because this book is doing anything but make Kaeya happy. 

That’s not what they agreed on, Diluc was supposed to talk to Kaeya and work it out, not make Kaeya upset.

Albedo seems to come to the same conclusion, because he takes the book away from Kaeya after pulling a bit to loosen his grip, and puts it on Klee’s bedside. He tucks Kaeya’s hair behind his ear and offers a smile.

Klee feels… extra, in her own room. Is she intruding on something?  

She’d be upset, but Albedo looks so soft, and Kaeya’s leaning into Albedo’s touch, and she finds it too cute to protest. Slightly gross, but still cute. She quietly watches from her spot on their shoulders.

“You can brood over this tomorrow. Maybe get a drink at Angel’s Share too, talk it out a bit?”

“Everytime we talk, it ends in a fight.” Kaeya pauses. “He did offer me free drinks though.”

“Talk with who? Are we talking about big brother Diluc?” She whispers, not trying to ruin whatever that is happening between the two of them. 

“Hmm… you’re right. But we’ll talk about it tomorrow. We all need rest.”

“Yeah.”

They both ignore her. What a crime! 

If she still was a god, she would’ve cursed them to eternal damnation. 

All her thoughts of cursing her big brothers vanishes when Kaeya picks her up, and drops himself on her bed. She lets out a giggle when Kaeya’s legs hang off the bed. Well, that’s Kaeya’s punishment for being tall. He should’ve stayed short just like Albedo and Klee.

Albedo climbs up after them, fitting comfortably onto the bed unlike Kaeya, and Klee is happily tucked between them. Dodoco stays out of it, staying on her nightstand instead. 

“Goodnight, Klee. Tomorrow’s a busy day.” Albedo unties her hair and runs a hand through them. 

“Goodnight, little spark knight.” Kaeya says before turning out the lights.

“Mm. Goodnight. Please stop being so in love when I’m around. I feel like I’m the extra baggage coming along.”

Albedo says something akin to a curse, and Kaeya lets out a loud laugh that is quickly stifled out by Albedo’s hand over his mouth. Klee ignores them both. It might not be as calming as Alice’s lullabies or Venti’s melodies, but she falls asleep to the sound of Kaeya’s quietened laughter and Albedo’s panicking.

(When Klee and Kaeya wake up without a single blanket on them, both of them develop a grudge against Albedo, who’s happily pulled all the blankets to himself, curled into a ball at the edge of the bed.)

(Neither of them really hate him enough to wake him up, so Kaeya kisses his cheek and Klee calls it as it is. Cute, but also Gross.)

(Albedo makes it late to work that day. Serves him right for stealing the blankets.)

Chapter Text

It’s a lazy afternoon in the Favonius headquarters. There’s not much going on, and the hallways are empty except for Ella Musk growling something in Hilichurlian that sounds a lot like ‘Can we cook together?’. Not that his Hilichurlian is any good but… oh well. Ella Musk will be Ella Musk.

Lisa’s almost asleep on her desk when he walks in, until he ungracefully trips over a small tower of books and the sound wakes her up. He tries to brush it off with a grin and holds up the book Diluc gave to him.

And if there is no tomorrow .

“Cheesy book. Did you suggest it, Lisa?” 

Lisa looks like she’s about to say something, but then she raises an eyebrow at his outfit. “Did Klee draw on your bandages?”

“She said she wanted to put some blue on them to counter the red stains.”

“Oh.” Her face softens at that. She finally takes the book from him, writing something on her registry book. “Maybe consider taking her to a professional? I’m sure seeing her big brother bleed out in front of her wasn’t pleasant.”

“Err, Albedo and Jean have that covered. I think she’ll be seeing someone for a little while to make sure it doesn’t affect her too much.”

Lisa nods, and Kaeya’s about to leave before she speaks up again. “Did the book work, at least?”

He can play dumb and ask what she means by that, but she knows that he understands. Either way, Lisa is a good friend, but he’s not ready to be vulnerable in front of her yet. So he grins, shoving his hands into his (recently purchased, Albedo’s choice) coat. 

He really doesn’t need another person to pity him. 

“If it was an invitation to the tavern, I’d say it worked. I’m heading over for a drink. Would you like to come along?”

“And harass the drunkards? Zap them ‘till they’re sober? Are you sure you’re asking the right person?”

Kaeya laughs. “Nevermind then. I’ll be off. See you around, Lisa. I think I got myself a good three days off of work.” 

Lisa quickly runs forward and throws her arms around her, pulling him down. She’s too motherly for her own good sometimes. “Be more careful, would you?” 

“I will, I’m sorry.” He chuckles. “But, next time I get stabbed, please don’t explain what making out is to Klee. It’s going to take us ‘till eternity to wipe that off her head. I could be looking at Albedo and she’d say stop making out with a grossed out face.”

“Maybe that’ll get you to focus on your work instead of eyeing Albedo all day.” She teases. 

“Lisa!” He dramatically gasps, holding a hand over his heart without pressing onto his wounds. “Your words hurt me so.”

“Drown it with alcohol. Say hello to the vigilante for me.” She winks.

“You got it.” He says absentmindedly, stepping out of the library before-

Vigilante.

“How did you-”

“Oh, Jean likes to talk about the cutest things in bed.”

Crepus used to read this book to them, back when Kaeya was a tiny seven year old and Diluc a ten year old with a Pyro Vision, which should be enough to explain his infinite energy.

Whenever Crepus was away, Diluc would force Adelinde or Elzer to read it to them, despite them being so much younger and decidedly not as good as Crepus at storytelling.

The story is simple. 

There’s an older brother, and there’s a younger brother. Born to this world to a single father, and their mother is nowhere to be found. 

The younger brother has a secret. He has the power to destroy the world at his will, and bad people are after him to gain that power. The older brother doesn’t have a superpower, but he has a heart that beats only for his family. 

When the day comes and the bad people finally get their hands on his younger brother, the older boy wreaks absolute havoc and gets his sibling back, at the cost of their father passing away ( subtly . Since this is a children’s book, afterall), and the world coming to an end.

The older brother ends up finding his younger brother at the center of the chaos, and despite feeling a little betrayed, he recognizes that this wasn’t inherently his brother’s fault.

Safe to say Kaeya walks in on the strangest scene he’s ever seen. Klee’s wearing her usual outfit, Aether by her side. Diluc is holding Klee’s hat in one hand, and the other is reaching for the cup in her hands.

“Grape juice, please!”

“No, Klee,” Diluc chides, taking away her empty glace and putting it out of her reach. “You’ve had 5 glasses. Anymore and your sugar high will last forever. I’m not taking responsibility for that. You’ll blow up Mondstadt before the Fatui even gets a chance.”

“Oh, but big brother Diluc!” 

Excuse me, big brother?

“Aww, she already calls you big brother! Klee, can’t you call me big brother too? I’ll sneak you some grape juice!”

What the fuck is Childe doing here? 

“No, Kaeya hates you. Albedo does too. I’m sorry, Mister Childe! I’m not gonna give you that name just yet. Maybe when you hug it out with my other big brothers!”

“Well, I almost kissed it out with your big brother over here before he burned my shawl.” Childe brings out a crumpled red shawl. Good riddance. That thing wasn’t fashionable either way. But-

Diluc and Childe almost did what ?

Diluc scowls. Aether laughs a bit before turning back and noticing Kaeya. “Kaeya! You’re walking already! Please come help me out tomorrow.” He chirps, and three other heads turn towards him. Childe and Klee look eerily the same, both with the most mischievous faces he’s ever seen. Diluc, on the other hand, falters a bit and looks away with a cough. Kaeya’s stomach churns. 

This is going to be painfully awkward.

“Sir Kaeya~” Childe hums, sipping his drink. “I hope you’ve made a speedy recovery! I spent a lot of time with Aether getting upgrades for your weapon. Aether said they’ll be enough to take me in two hits.”

“I can take you with my bare fists, Childe.” He says pleasantly, taking off his coat and hanging it by where Jose stands. “Klee, why are you hanging out with a Fatui harbinger I told you not to hang out with?” He picks up the little girl easily, putting her on his lap and taking his seat at the bar. 

Diluc still doesn’t acknowledge him. Ouch.

“He’s still Aether’s friend. We have to improvithe!”

Adorable. Kaeya’s heart almost stops beating. She’s apparently lost one of her teeth yesterday, and can’t pronounce s and z sounds as she used to anymore. 

“ Improvise .” Childe teases, ruffling her hair. Kaeya narrows his eyes and pulls the girl closer to himself, away from the corruption that is named Childe.

“Words are lame.” She whispers and hides her face in the crook of his neck, hugging him. She’s been like that for the past days now. Albedo said something about her being too scared of him leaving again, so she’s going to stick to him like glue until he’s back in his usual uniform and not covered in bandages.

Though, the bandages are almost fashionable. Klee’s drawn a little… elephant, on it. It’s not much of an elephant. It looks like a… well. It can’t be put to words. It’s just something that Kaeya will later ask for Klee to draw on paper so he can stick it to his office wall, because anything that Klee draws rivals the greatest masterpieces on Teyvat.

(The intimidating, infamous Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius isn’t as intimidating to the knights who have already seen his office. There’s just too many drawings on the walls that resemble sights you’ll only see when you’re as high as Celestia itself.)

Diluc still doesn’t acknowledge him. He decides to take action. Said action is annoying Diluc intro recognizing his presence. 

“I don’t think the customer service here is as proper as it should be.” Kaeya starts, and Childe and Aether both look back down at their drinks, predicting what’s about to come. Klee doesn’t react. She’s probably falling asleep. “Usually the bartender greets the customer and asks for their order. Are you so irritated by my existence that you won’t even serve me a drink?” 

Diluc puts down the glass in his hands and looks up, a familiar flame in his eyes. Bingo! Kaeya’s hit the target. Diluc is always too easy to agitate.

“I don’t know, Sir Kaeya. Do the knights ever plan on fighting efficiently so that no one gets injured two inches away from their grave?”

Childe quickly downs his glass and taps Aether’s back twice to push him off the stool. Aether’s drink -albeit, Apple Cider, nothing alcoholic- is abandoned. He almost praises Childe for managing to read the room. Maybe his intelligence isn’t limited to the battlefield.

“Are you sleepy, Klee?” Aether reaches out to take Klee from him, and with little resistance, the half-asleep pyromaniac lets him go. She mumbles about Kaeya disappearing, but Aether whispers something in her ears and she clings onto Aether as hard as she did with Kaeya. “I’ll take her to Albedo.” He helpfully offers. 

Childe drops some Mora on the counter, which Diluc quickly swipes into a jar. “We’ll have to hang out more often, Master Diluc! You too, Sir Kaeya. Be more careful on your little adventures, I can’t fight my favorite foe if you’re hurt!” 

When they’re finally out, Kaeya turns back to face Diluc with a grin he’s practiced far too many times. “Death After Noon, now that the kids are gone. And your boyfriend, apparently.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Diluc snaps, focusing on the drink as if he couldn’t make it with his eyes closed. “I wouldn’t keep it a secret if I had one, unlike someone else in this room.”

“Are we going to be petty about being left out of my love life, tonight? Maybe we should address that get-well-soon gift you got me first.”

Diluc flinches. “Did you read it?” He puts down the drink in front of Kaeya, and he downs it one go. Diluc lets out an exasperated sound.

“I need this to get through this conversation. Don’t look at me like that and pour another one.”

“I’m not giving you alcohol, Kaeya. You just recove- hey! ” Diluc tries to take Kaeya’s hand away from his face while the other hand reaches out for the bottle of Whiskey by the counter. Bottle in hand, Kaeya lets go of Diluc’s face with a grin and pours himself another glass.

“Yes, I read it.” He sips the drink, and appreciates the burn. It’s distracting enough.

Should he apologize? 

He probably should apologize. The book kind of paints the older brother in a positive light, while the younger brother is just… there. Maybe that’s what Diluc wants. An apology.

Before he can figure out his next line, Diluc beats him to it.

“It was… an apology.”

Kaeya almost chokes on his drink. 

“Are you drunk?”

“I don’t drink, Kaeya.”

“Did Klee threaten the wine industry? Maybe Diona? But I don’t see what she’d gain from this…”

“ Kaeya. ” Diluc snaps and Kaeya finally shuts up. Right, he’s the one getting drunk. This is probably so much harder on Diluc, whose ego makes up half of his body mass, and the other half is deprived of sleep, with zero alcohol in his blood.

Diluc fidgets with the cloth in his hands. “I’m sorry for how I treated you when you… told me the truth.”

Kaeya downs his glass. He reaches out for the bottle and pours himself another one, despite the glare Diluc gives him. 

“And I’m sorry that I only decided to step forward when you almost lost your life.” 

Kaeya Alberich, for the third time in his life, is speechless. 

The first time was when his father left him. He couldn’t bring himself to say goodbye, he couldn’t say anything . He just wordlessly watched him leave.

The second time was the night where he told Diluc the truth, and Diluc lashed out, thinking Kaeya betrayed them. He couldn’t make a single word through the strikes, to defend his innocence. In the last seconds, the only thing that escaped his mouth was a cry when Diluc’s flames managed to burn him, and a Cryo Vision appeared.

Today marks the third time. His grip tightens around his glass, because he’s been blaming himself for this throughout all the years. It’s strange to see Diluc take the blame and apologize. This isn’t the outcome he thought he’d see. 

“It’s okay if you can’t accept it.” Diluc mumbles after Kaeya remains silent, “I just-I didn’t want to lose my only family before I-”

“I’m sorry, too.” Kaeya blurts out, and maybe it’s the alcohol talking, but he’s feeling brave enough to talk about that night. “I’m sorry I came to you after father died. I should’ve found a better day, a better time. I should’ve done it sooner.”

Diluc looks like he’s two seconds away from a breakdown, and he finally lets go of the cloth and gets out from behind the counter. He settles down by Kaeya’s side, and pours himself a little bit of the Whiskey.

“I thought you didn’t drink.”

“Give me a break.” Diluc mutters, and gestures to Charles to come take care of the bar. “I’ve a lot of apologizing to do.”

“Me too.”

“Great.” Diluc downs the drink and clears his throat. “Before we start and I get too drunk to remember any of these,” he awkwardly opens his arms, and it takes Kaeya’s drunken mind a few seconds to process what Diluc is trying to get from him. 

“Oh.”

“...Kaeya, this is embarrassing. If you don’t want to- Omph- ”

Kaeya slumps forward into Diluc’s arms, and wraps his own around him. 

Diluc’s always been warmer, compared to him. Maybe it’s the Pyro Vision, but whatever it is, it feels like home. It feels safe, too. It’s still a bit of a strange sensation, but Kaeya likes it. 

It almost feels like Crepus, too.

“I missed this.” Diluc whispers. His voice is a bit hoarse. Kaeya lets out a sigh and only buries himself in further.

“Me too.” 

(They talk a lot, after that. About what Kaeya did for his coming of age, about how Adelinde kept sending him food to the dormitories of the Ordo Favonius ever since he left the mansion, about how Diluc’s going to design an entire room for Kaeya in the Winery, despite it not being a home. 

They talk about Albedo, about how Kaeya and him got it together, and Kaeya manages to tease Diluc a little bit about his love life, too. Guest star appearance would be the eleventh Fatui harbinger. 

They talk about the Abyss mage that stabbed him, a blessing in disguise, and Klee's valiant efforts to bring those two together despite not having a clue about what went on between them.

They talk until Diluc’s a drunken mess despite not having drunk much, and Kaeya can barely stand still. Charles takes Diluc home, and calls for Rosaria to come pick Kaeya up. 

She’s a bit rough on him, but it’s probably out of concern. She hadn’t seen him since he recovered.)

There will be no tomorrow. The younger brother has already set off the end of the world, and the only thing the older brother can do is to stay by his side, so that they can ride to the end together. 

In the end, the villains achieve their goals and the heroes lose, in a sense. Crepus thinks it’s a bit too dark for a children’s book, but Adelinde says the message of family is more important.

“I’m sorry I destroyed everything.” The younger brother sobs, and the older brother only pulls the little one closer. 

“I’m sorry I let you deal with this alone. We’re together now, that’s all that matters.” He holds on to the younger boy, “If the world as we know it is gone, little brother…” the boy says and holds his brother’s hand. “I promise I’m never leaving your side. That’s what big brothers do.”

“What if I end up ruining the world?” The little brother asks. The boy hugs his brother, and the chaos around them calms down. It won’t stop the end of the world. The world that they’ve grown up won’t be the same, after this. But it’s calmed down enough that they can at least spend their last moments together, in peace.

“Even if you destroy the world, I’ll be by your side. Even if everyone is gone, we’ll have each other. We’ll defeat the corruption together, and go home together. Even if there is no tomorrow… family stays together, until the end.”

“They lost the battle. That’s a bit too dark for a kids’ book.” Crepus would whisper while he covers the brothers in three layers of blankets, making sure they don’t get sick with how cold Mondstadt has been in winter. 

“They lost the battle, but they didn’t lose each other, Master Crepus.” Adelinde whispers back, cleaning up the wooden swords and vocabulary cards from all over the floor. Diluc has been teaching Teyvatian words to Kaeya for a while now. “That’s the real battle. Winning your family despite everything else.”

“Klee said you stayed over to talk to Diluc.” Albedo whispers, turning out the lights and undressing. Kaeya says something, but it’s muffled by the pillows. Albedo drops onto the bed after his clothes are off and wraps a hand around him, which Kaeya leans into. 

Albedo’s hand is already tracing lines on his skin. He brushes past the twin scars on his chest, down to the scar the Abyss mage left, and then down his spine. It’s comforting. 

“I did. I think… We both agreed to try a bit. He’s going to invite me to the Winery sooner or later, if I accept.”

“Will you?”

Kaeya pauses. Albedo’s hand moves up to his hair, lazily braiding the tail. “I will. I haven’t been there since father passed. It’s not really a home but… it works.” 

“Mhm.” Albedo sighs and puts his head over Kaeya’s, pulling him closer. “I’m proud of you. I’m sure Crepus would be too, of the both of you. For trying.”

Kaeya tenses up a bit more than he likes to admit. Albedo’s already asleep, even though he doesn’t need to sleep with the way his body’s designed. It’s adorably, and ironically humane. 

Tomorrow feels colder, scarier. Maybe it’s the future he’ll have with Diluc that scares him. Maybe it’s thought of his father every coming back for him that terrifies him.
For now, there’s the warm glow of a Pyro Vision at the back of his mind, and Albedo’s hands are lazily tracing his scars, so he forgets the future and focuses on the present, long enough so that he finally falls asleep. 

(Perhaps he dreams of Crepus, perhaps he calls him father again, and perhaps Crepus tells him how proud he is of them both for coming so far.)

Diluc used to say the story doesn’t resemble them at all, but it fed his best-big-brother ego, so they kept hearing it again and again every night until it was a little mantra in their heads. Kaeya would wake up in the middle of the night, sobbing after a nightmare, and Diluc would copy a few dialogues from the book until Kaeya calmed down and they’d fall asleep together. 

The first year that Kaeya is officially adopted, he never separates big brother from Diluc . Diluc liked it, because it only put more emphasis on them being family, and someimes he called Kaeya little brother to repay the favor.

“Big brother ‘Luc...”

“It’s okay! I’m here, Kae.”

(Of course, that’s only until Kaeya finally feels comfortable enough to turn into an absolute demon. Crepus used to say they had officially turned into siblings the moment Kaeya started showing off his evil side.

Stealing Diluc’s clothes, teasing Diluc’s rich boy attitude, biting his hand, hiding his socks… but the way he said Luc still had a subtle big brother in it, and that was enough for Diluc, despite the evil force he called his little brother.)

Few years later, when a fifteen year old Kaeya confronts his older brother, Diluc doesn’t hold the same beliefs. 

It’s circumstantial, really. Maybe if Kaeya had come out about this any other day, any day where Crepus hadn’t died and the Knights hadn’t betrayed them, Diluc wouldn’t pull out his blade, and instead pull Kaeya closer and accept him. 

Maybe he’d promise Kaeya that they’d be together until the end, even if the sun doesn’t rise tomorrow, even if Khaenri’ah attacks, even if his dad comes back for him. 

That doesn’t happen. Kaeya hurts Diluc so much that he pulls out his blade against Kaeya, a flaming rage mixed with tears and the rain. If not for the Tsaritsa’s twisted sense of humor, Kaeya wouldn’t have gotten away. 

Jean nurses the burns away, after an empty shell of what Kaeya Ragnvindr used to be stumbles upon her door. He doesn’t think about the book, after that. He almost forgets about it until years later when he almost meets his death.

Diluc never forgets about it. Maybe it’s a constant reminder at the back of his head that he failed, he failed to protect the two people he promised he would always protect. He failed to save his father and he failed to keep Kaeya close enough so that he could protect the younger boy. 

It’s circumstantial, really. Maybe if he heard it any other day, he’d pull Kaeya into his room with a serving of Adelinde’s calming tea and Elzer’s ridiculously delicious baked goods. 

Maybe he’d pull out Crepus’ old fountain pen instead of his blade, and hand it to Kaeya; a way to tell him he accepts him, regardless of where he rose from. That he believes in Kaeya’s loyalty. That he’ll be by his side even if the world breaks into two because of him. 

That doesn’t happen. Diluc hurts Kaeya so much that he pulls out his blade against his younger brother, a flaming rage mixed with tears and the rain. If not for the Tsaritsa’s merciful gaze, Kaeya wouldn’t have gotten away and Diluc would’ve ended up losing his only other family. 

He leaves Mondstadt to nurse his wounds, lick them in private and bandage them up. He never forgets about the book. When he almost loses Kaeya, when a little girl in red drags him to meet his estranged brother, he takes the book. 

When they finally talk, he’ll give Kaeya one of Crepus’ drawings and the fountain pen he’d locked in a box in his office. 

When they finally talk, he’ll make a promise to be there, whether or not the sun shines on them tomorrow. 

If there is no tomorrow, Diluc will face the end of his days by Kaeya’s side.