Cross-posted on AO3

Day 16: Broken Bones

Diluc couldn't remember who had told him, but he remembered hearing that there was a treasure hidden somewhere on the Winery's grounds. When he had told Kaeya about it, he felt his heart warm when the boy's eyes had lit up.

It was rare that anything would genuinely catch the younger boy's attention.

The two had made the decision to go together to look for the treasure. While the rumors had never specified where the treasure was, the only thing that remained consistent that it was on the Winery grounds. They made a plan to sneak out that night and take some pokes around inside before making their way outside.

Checking around the house hadn't really made them any progress, though it had taken the longest. There were nooks and crannies that they hadn't thought to look through, rooms they had never entered, and the cellar was just filled with bottles of wine. Diluc had to snatch a bottle away from Kaeya when curiosity had gotten the better of the smaller boy's judgment. It earned him a pout, but that was it.

That was when the boys decided to turn their search outdoors. They scattered around the grounds looking for the treasure but they couldn't find it no matter how hard they looked. They check every bush, every row of grapes, as well as every stack of hay around the property.

"Hey," Kaeya called.

Diluc turned to look and found that the younger boy had stopped. His arms were partially crossed with one hand cradling his chin in a thoughtful pose as he tapped his foot. His eye kept darting around as if pulling together some information that only he could see.

Suddenly, Kaeya stopped moving.

"What if," he inquired curiously, his eyes swiveling upwards, "it's not down here?"

Following his brother's gaze and found that the boy had been looking to the roof. He could feel nervousness start to build in his stomach.

That was pretty high.

"Are you sure, Kae?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

Kaeya's face looked surprised, like he hadn't thought for a moment that Diluc wouldn't be up for scaling the side of the manor. The young boy's expression changed to one of contrite.

"Nevermind," he said quickly, already turning back towards the entryway. "It was a dumb idea. Let's just go back inside, they'll notice that we've been gone soon enough."

Guilt ate away at his heart as he watched his brother begin to walk away. He knew that it was hard to get Kaeya interested in anything. The boy usually just kept to himself and barely ever interacted with anyone but himself or his father. He didn't want to discourage his happiness just because he was a wuss.

"Wait!" he called. Rushing forward, he grabbed the other boy's wrist, causing him to freeze in place. When he turned to look at the older boy, his face was closed off, carefully blank. Diluc hated that expression; he liked it much more when he smiled, however rare it currently was.

"I didn't say we couldn't try," he chirped, trying to lighten the mood. "We just need to be careful. That would be quite a drop if we fell."

Kaeya seemed to lighten up, that glint returning to his eye, but the smile didn't return. It was like he was forcing himself to walk on eggshells in case he said anything out of line.

Diluc was going to make sure that he would be grinning like an idiot when they found that treasure.

Going back inside, the two boys were quick to find a room on the second floor with a balcony. Kaeya boosted Diluc up first, the redhead being quick to pull the other up with him. When they turned to scan the rooftop, both of their faces split into wide grins.

Dead center of the roof was a chest that didn't really look like anything special, a very common chest. But to the two children, it might as well have been gold.

That was when it happened.

Dilic turned and gave Kaeya a pat on the back, probably harder than he should. The feature caused the blue-haired child to stumble on his feet. Diluc could only look on in horror as Kaeya tried to steady himself on the uneven roof tiles. Ultimately, it was in vain and Kaeya finally lost his balance, disappearing over the edge.

For a moment Diluc just stood there before his mind finally caught up with what had just happened. The sound of a sickening crunch made him finally spring into action.

"Kae!"

Rushing forward, Diluc was quick to peer over the edge, praying with all his might that it wasn't as bad as it had sounded. The sight he was met with made him feel sick.

Kaeya lay unmoving on the ground, his left leg bent at an odd angle. The poor boy clutched his thigh as he appeared to be holding back any sounds of pain that Diluc knew he wanted to let out.

Not waiting a single moment, Diluc was quick to scale down onto the balcony before jumping from the railing, using a crouch and rolling forward to absorb shock form the landing. He could feel his ankle smart, but ignored it as he rushed to Kaeya's side.

The younger boy looked up as he approached and Diluc felt like he had been punched in the gut. The boy was holding back tears and was biting his lip so hard that he was surprised it wasn't bleeding yet. He could hear the sounds of the manor staff starting to move about and could tell without looking that dawn had already settled on the horizon, the light turning Kaeya's hair an odd purple-ish color.

Maybe he was going into shock if he was having thoughts like that.

He moved to comfort Kaeya, running a calming hand through his hair. It was what his father always did when he hurt himself and was the only thing he could think of, wanting the boy to feel the same calming effect it usually had on him. While he tensed at the touch, Diluc didn't miss how he also seemed to unconsciously push his head into the touch.

He kept up the gesture until he heard a familiar voice approaching.

"Diluc!"

His head shot up to see his father running over, concern and fear written on his face.

That was good, his brain told him. Father would know what to do.

"Father! I'm so sorry," he sobbed, his face wet with warm tears.

When had he started crying?

"I-I wanted to show – show Kaeya something and when we – we found it, he fell," he stuttered. He couldn't bring himself to continue as he broke down, sobs tearing uncontrollably from his throat.

It was his fault Kaeya got hurt.

Just as quickly as his cries started, he was swept into his father's embrace. The older man held him closely to his chest, running his hands through his red locks as he murmured reassuring words in an effort to calm his distressed son. Sadly, the boy just seemed inconsolable.

The rest of the night was spent with Kaeya on bedrest and Diluc never leaving his side. Kaeya's leg had been bandaged and put in a splint. His father had immediately had an eagle sent to the cathedral for a healer. He didn't leave the boys either, sitting in a chair on the bedside as he watched the two cuddle for warmth in their sleep.

He spared the paper on the side table a look as he went over the events of the day in his head.

He had been busy the whole night arguing with the head of the church about the legality of keeping foreign children with unknown backgrounds. Varka himself had listened closely, not really giving his opinion until he had heard Crepus out. By the end of the night, Crepus had walked out of the office victorious with the papers in hand and a dumb grin on his face.

Now, as he watched the two boys sleep side by side, he wondered how he was supposed to break the news to Diluc that he was now a big brother.

A/N: This chapter took two days (the 20th and 21st) to finish because I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to happen and who was going to be the one with broken bones. I was originally going to have Diluc promising to never hurt Kaeya again and then jumping to Kaeya's POV after a time skip as he faces down an angry Diluc about to cleave him in two for telling the truth.

I decided to go for the fluffier ending.