Cross-posted on AO3

Day 9: Buried Alive

They really just had the worst luck.

Diluc sighed as he tried to get comfortable against the bigger rocks that he was sitting against. He knew that it was only a matter of time before a search party found them, but that didn't mean that he was happy about being stuck in a cave in the meantime.

Casting a look over to his side, he checked on the calvary captain, who had been suspiciously quiet. The man was also sitting with his right arm resting on his raised knee, his head aimed downwards. If Diluc didn't know better, he'd say that Kaeya was giving him the silent treatment. But he knew the man better than that and can see that he's favoring his left arm against his stomach. He felt a pang of guilt in his chest when he remembered how Kaeya had seen the Treasure Hoarders and had rammed him out of the way when he noticed the explosives.

He must have hurt himself then.

With a sigh, he rose from his seat and moved over to where his brother sat. Kaeya's head shot up and he looked weary as Diluc moved closer, but the older didn't stop. Kaeya looked tense, but Diluc gently grabbed his forearm and pulled it away from his body. The captain tried to resist at first, but Diluc quick to reprimand him.

"Don't be an idiot," he said calmly. "We need to be sure that you didn't hurt yourself in case we run into any more trouble."

Kaeya made a face but could see the logic behind the words and let his brother check his arm. After a quick check over, Diluc sighed in relief. The arm wasn't broken, but it was most certainly at least sprained.

"We're never doing a favor for Barbara ever again."

It was a poor attempt at lightening the atmosphere, but Diluc knew he wasn't exactly good at it. however, when he looks at Kaeya's face, he notices that his cheeks had started to turn red as he hastily looks away.

"What's with that reaction?" he asks.

The other mumbles something unintelligible under his breath.

"I can't hear you if you mumble."

The captain refused to look at him, but thankfully, complied and raised his voice.

"Barbara doesn't know that we're here."

"What do you mean?" Diluc asked. He wasn't exactly angry since he knew something was up. It was odd to go all the way to Liyue for an errand for the Deaconess was already very strange.

Kaeya finally turns to look at him, his face flushed red.

"Barbara doesn't know that I was doing this, okay?!" his brother exclaimed.

Well, that was just –

"That wasn't what you said before! Why would you lie about this?!"

To say that Diluc was stunned would be an understatement. He thought Kaeya was over lying straight to his face. Had even promised to try not to lie unless necessary anymore.

"I was just going to have you deliver it and take credit for it," Kaeya mumbled.

"Why?"

"Because it's too embarrassing, alright?!" Kaeya shouted. His face had gotten redder and redder during their conversation and was now almost glowing in the dark.

Diluc is floored about how Kaeya's twisted logic could be working here. his confusion, however, quickly turned to amusement and Diluc found himself bursting into laughter like he hadn't done in years

"Stop laughing, Diluc!" the younger whined in mortification.

The feeling of a fist colliding with his shoulder made him flinch, but it didn't stop his laughter. He could still remember when Kaeya had acted the same way when he had gotten him a gift for his own birthday when they had been twelve. He had still been pretty new to the concept of birthdays but had somehow convinced Adelinde to teach him to make Diluc's favorite food at the time. He had been even redder than he was now and had sputtered when Diluc had hugged him.

It was a bittersweet memory now that he was older and realized just how much of his childhood Kaeya had probably missed out on to become a spy. It soothed something in Diluc that the little boy he knew was still somewhere in there.

"I-It," the redhead chuckles as he tries to calm down. Kaeya's pout almost sent him into another round of laughter. "It shouldn't be too long before a rescue team comes for us since I told Adelinde where we were going. I told her to send help if we weren't back within three hours."

It had already been over half the time and that they weren't going to have to wait long. He heard the other snort as he seemed to do the math in his head.

"You know that by the time we finished collecting the jade, they would have to come for us anyway?" Kaeya asked with an amused smile. "You just didn't want to walk back with all of that jade."

Diluc gives him the flattest expression he had ever seen his brother give.

"Maybe. Do you have a problem with that?"

The two stared at each other for a minute - faces completely serious - before they both bust out laughing at the same time. The two settle down against the uncomfortable rocks and decide to just calmly wait until for Adelinde and Elzer to show up with back up.

By the time they showed up to free them, though, they found the two asleep as they leaned on each other.

A/N: The draft was originally written on the 31st of January and was finished on the 10th of February. I ended up writing this one day late because I just didn't have the motivation.

Please accept this fluffy piece as an apology.