CALL ME OUT

[circuitice]

this post for CMO for kaeya. new threads and TLs to go here

Comments

[hotcall]

[ they are not children anymore. it had been diluc who had first called it a game. kaeya's stroke stills, and diluc considers the night and the implications, the secrets and the dark. he concludes: kaeya is no longer the child he once knew. it is too soon to know how diluc ought to feel about it.

there is a cant of his head. and then, deliberately, diluc allows his hand to retreat from beneath kaeya's. his serving knife carves through the pizza; he slides a slice onto kaeya's waiting plate. ]

Your pizza. After a night of drinking, you must be hungry.

[circuitice]

Mm, starving, now that I think about it.

[ he withdraws, and Kaeya's smile grows animated, and yet still, betraying no thought beneath his mask. But once he has the pizza, he pulls the plate close. his glass is half empty, and he really shouldn't be rude.

And so he's quiet as he takes his first bite. ]

[hotcall]

[ kaeya smiles. diluc frowns. but the lilt of his lips have always been so. he takes a slice of the pizza for himself; knife and fork, and the ginger pickings of a late-night meal. it's good, in the way that cafe food is good. he doesn't dislike it. it is, however, hardly his focus of the night.

that kaeya has appeared now, of all times. diluc has not considered the timing. he had been focused on the why, not the when.

he is the first to break the silence: ]

Where do you live, now?

[circuitice]

[ a knife and fork… oh, Diluc. Kaeya picks up the pizza with his hands and takes a bite. ]

Why, do you want me to take you home~?

[ but he is still going to judge him for his inability to eat pizza. It’s distracted him from the seriousness of the conversation, and provided some levity. ]

[hotcall]

[ wow!!! don't Perceive him, this is clearly how you eat pizza when you have no friends to tell you how to do it otherwise ok. ]

I was going to offer to drop you off, actually. I'm assuming you don't live in the vicinity?

[ never hunt near your burrow and all that. ]

[circuitice]

... Diluc, please put down the fork and the knife. It's completely distracting.

[hotcall]

[ a beat. ]

What.

[circuitice]

Surely you know how to eat pizza.

[ he says with his pizza in his hand.

People could start staring. ]

[hotcall]

I do. [ says he, still holding his knife and fork with that little square of pizza on the end of it. ] I happen to be consuming some.

[ behold, moving that fork to his mouth... and eating it!! this is surely how people do it. ]

[circuitice]

So, you don't.

[ he sighs, over dramatic, as he takes his next bite, putting the pizza down to consider. ]

I see.

[ and then a soft smile as he rests his cheek in the palm of his hand, folding his other arm over. ]

Anyway, what were you asking again?

[hotcall]

[ - hang on, ok. hang on. diluc stares.

slowly, he puts down his fork and knife. the dim light glints with the motion of his sleeves as he retreats to his side of the table. and then, equally slowly, he picks up the rest of his slice of pizza with his hands. the dough is oily. the toppings precarious. but it is what it is - it's not as if he hasn't had worse. diluc takes a bite of his portion of pizza, and then, without quite looking away, chews.

there. his answer. happy? ]

[circuitice]

[ hold please, he bursts out laughing ]

[hotcall]

[ WOW.

diluc is absolutely going to clutch his slice of pizza with Dignity for a good, long minute. that's right, get it out of your system. ]

Kaeya, what.

[ what!! ]

[circuitice]

[ please, please. but he straightens and clears his throat, taking the wine in hand to help calm himself down ]

That was cute. And, I've been proven wrong. Thank you for that.

[ he knows he's being brattish, but he can't help it. there's just something about the other-- he clears his throat and puts the wine glass down. ]

You wanted to give me a ride home?

[hotcall]

[ the laughter lingers in the air. diluc looks. kaeya laughs in a way entirely unfamiliar to the schema that diluc has put together of a childhood friend lost. he laughs with the very edge of hoarfrost nipping at his heels, like a precipice waiting to be crossed. he laughs like the very edge of the world.

diluc breathes out. he does not, in fact, put down his pizza. ]

Perhaps this is my impetus to rethink that. [ but he's eating anyway, another prim bite that does little to dent the size of the slice. ] You have not mentioned where it is you lived, in any case.

[circuitice]

Mm.

[ he considers that. Seeing where he lives would be-- he doesn't want to think about it so much. What would Diluc think of him? Here, in this cozy place, it was easier for him to look more whole than he was.

maybe even feel more whole.

What would he think if he took him home? or to the place he lived. it was hard to call it a home, as it were. he looks at him, letting his thoughts idle for a second too long (or was it an eternity? no, it must have only been a second, or he would have received another one of those mysterious looks.) and clears his throat. ]

I'll take the escort on one condition.

[hotcall]

[ a single condition. the risk is palpable. but they have not reached an agreement. and-

this is kaeya.

diluc's head dips. ]

Which is?

[circuitice]

You join me inside to see who loses this game of chicken first.

[ he says, fully prepared to laugh it off, if he refuses.

he expects he will. diluc was better than that. ]

[hotcall]

[ a beat. diluc looks. there is only one possible interpretation of that condition. and so it follows that diluc takes time to weigh it. the weight of his gaze is consideration; it is, also, the wariness built only through time and separation. diluc does not need both eyes to see what kaeya can see with one so clearly.

but this is kaeya. perhaps the choice was made for him long ago. ]

If I were to accept, I have a condition of my own.

[circuitice]

Oh?

[ he has forgotten the wine and the pizza at this point. focused on Diluc.

he expected him to decline. he's still prepared to laugh it off if only to save his pride. ]

[hotcall]

[ bloodless, as if it were mere business: ] That you first come home with me.

[circuitice]

[ there’s a pause, a hint of confusion. He contemplates— is this a trap? But what would be the catch…

But he doesn’t let himself contemplate too long. ]

Deal.

[hotcall]

[ it comes as no surprise that kaeya would take such a risk. diluc looks, and then, primly, finishes another bite of his pizza. he places the leftover slice onto his plate. he cleans his hands with the handtowel provided. ]

Is that all, then?

[ from this conversation - from this cafe. ]

[circuitice]

[ he nods, but not without taking the wine glass, and finishing it with one drink. He hates to be rushed, but also, he wants to rush. Though, he realizes, he should have made Diluc watch as he finished a second glass.

next time.

he flags down the waiter, and states, ]

I think we're done here.

[hotcall]

[ kaeya flags down the waiter. diluc's eyebrows quirk. ]

Your treat?