Cross-posted on AO3

Day 7: Poisoning

The nobles chattered amongst themselves as they made and renewed business deals.

Diluc engaged in chatter if only to keep any unwanted attention off of himself. He couldn't remember why the gala had to be held at his residence this time, but he knew that he was hating every minute of it.

But he refused to sully the winery's – his father's – reputation by being rude.

He could see the knights meticulously placed around the foyer and entrance, ready to act in case one of the nobles decided to do something stupid. Not that they would be able to catch it until after the deed had been committed.

Shaking the thought, he tried to tune back into the conversation he was having with an elderly woman. She was trying to chat up one of her granddaughters to him, he was sure, but he politely refused any and all attempts. He was too busy to be worrying about relationships anyway.

His thoughts were cut short when the woman offered him a glass of what was most certainly wine, by the looks of it.

"You look so tense, Master Diluc," she fretted. "Just have a drink and relax, deary."

Though he hated the dreaded stuff, he still needed to uphold his façade as the host and accepted the cup. Just as he was raising the cup up to take a sip, the glass was gone from his grip. Turning to the offender, he glared when he saw a twinkling blue eye glowing with mirth back at him.

Anger and embarrassment warred in his mind as he glared at the captain.

Just what was Kaeya trying to pull?

"Give it back," he found himself growling.

His tone didn't seem to affect the other, merely earning him a smirk.

"I'd rather not," Kaeya said smoothly, his tone barely holding back the mischievous glee he was likely feeling. "I'm rather thirsty myself, you see? I've had to stand on my feet for hours already. Haven't I earned a drink for all my hard work?"

Diluc tried to make a grab for the glass, but Kaeya put a stop to that by raising the glass higher until it was above his head. He knew the other would have to jump to grab it and potentially embarrass himself in front of several nobles. And it made Diluc feel like he was about to explode.

Kaeya wasn't that much taller than him!

A quick glance around showed that the other nobles hadn't noticed yet, but the elderly woman who had handed it to him looked surprised and a little worried.

"Just stop this nonsense and give the glass back," he seethed.

The captain gave him a look of what was obviously fake consideration, purposefully dragging it out. Diluc was certain he was just to get on his nerves. Then the man looked at him and grinning widely before giving a solid-

"Nope."

-and tilting his head back, downing the drink in one go.

Diluc could have screamed but was stopped by the sound of a soft gasp. He turned to apologize to the woman for his ex-brother's behavior only to pull up short when he noticed that the woman's face had gone far too pale. She looked like she had seen a ghost and one of her hands (the one not holding her drink) gripped the fabric over her heart.

The poor woman looked like she was going to have a heart attack and pass out right then and there.

The solid sound of something thumping against the ground and a glass shattering has him turning back to Kaeya. He opened his mouth to shout at him for dropping the glass but stopped when he realized that he couldn't see him. It felt like alarms were going off in his head.

Confused, Diluc felt something in him telling him to look down and he obliged.

Kaeya laid sprawled on the floor, having collapsed. The glass lay broken close by, the little remnants of wine spilling onto the wooden floors.

Diluc had blood rushing in his ears, blocking out the concerned whispers as the other guests seemed to finally notice something was going on. In a split second, Diluc was by Kaeya's side, on his knees and shaking the man hard. He could hear someone screaming, but he didn't know if it was himself or someone else.

Amber was by his side in an instant, checking Kaeya's pulse and calling for Lisa, who wasn't very far behind her. Diluc felt someone pulling him away as the outrider and librarian checked the captain over. He tried to struggle, but he heard a voice in his ear that sounded an awful lot like Jean's.

"Diluc, calm down! Everything's going to be fine, so please stop struggling!"

He wanted to scream at her, demand to know how 'everything would be fine' when his brother was likely dying right in front of him.

This couldn't be happening.

He could feel his breathing becoming irregular, his vision swimming with the oncoming panic attack.

The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Kaeya's pained, but smiling face.

A/N: The outline for this was originally written on the 29th of January, but was written on the 8th of February because I wasn't really home, having spent almost all day in a car. Lately, my laptop seems to think that it doesn't want to work unless it's on the charger (even with a full battery), so that's been setting me back a little too.

As compensation, please take this short story about Kaeya realizing someone was going to try to poison Diluc and drinking his glass before the tycoon can.