circuitice | CALL ME OUT

[ first meeting, kaeya says. something in diluc pricks, like a single droplet of ice upon unfathomable heat. ]

Perhaps. A first meeting between the current shape of you, and the current shape of I.

But it is not our first.

You know what I meant.

[ he sighs softly. ]

Don't be so serious. This is a chance either of us could have predicted, isn't it? Besides, I'd rather focus on the fun.

[ a drawing lilt to that final word, as he teases with something akin to lightness. and then he decides to lean towards Diluc, with ease and confidence, teasing into his ear, ]

And I thought we weren't going to have the desire to compare~?

[ the sheer crucible of diluc's hands, clamped on his steering wheel, ensures that neither of them end up as paste on the side of some gaudy building.

the gaudy building: a fifty-story building with the glitz of a ode to post-modern art, all gleaming windows and elegantly jutting blocks that rise up to tower over the financial district in the heart of the city proper. diluc pulls into the parking garage with nary a sigh. ]

You have a terrible definition of fun. [ but his head cants. diluc peers at kaeya out of the corner of his eyes - and away. the underground parking garage swallows them whole. a preview of how the ascent up into the building: the parking spot is clearly premium, a mere three steps away from a cloistered, private elevator.

diluc parks. ]

You have no second thoughts, then?

[ he raises an eyebrow at the question. There were many ways to read into that, and while he noticed Diluc’s looks, part of him wishes there was that same level of expression as when they were younger.

It had always stuck with him. Waiting to burst forth upon sight of that familiar flash of red. And yet… he hums thoughtfully, ]

I wonder what your definition of fun is, then. Especially since it’s far too early to have regrets, don’t you think?

[ he regretted a great many things. Being trapped in his father’s sphere of influence. The loneliness. The skeletons in his closet that he refused to deal with. All this belies the easy going smile he wears with practice.

Diluc is a fantasy, a hope that maybe he can tackle the loneliness for one night before he escapes back into the gaping maw of the darkness.

Really, he should be asking Diluc if he has regrets. But then again, Kaeya assumes that he receives many entreaties like this. At this rate, he should be practiced at taking what he wants, and discarding what he doesn’t.

So, it’s fine. It’s too early to have regrets. ]

[ far too early to have regrets, says kaeya. thinks diluc - that the terrible has already been done. between the act and the motion is a thousand little thoughts that has passed between diluc and kaeya into infinity. all unspoken; all unmade, because diluc had lost sight of kaeya, once, and hasn't known him since. perhaps regret is just another word for longing.

diluc shakes his head, long and slow. it is not, in fact, the answer to kaeya's question. ]

Upstairs, then.

[ the elevator lifts. floors begin to race them by. diluc's hand finds its way first to kaeya's fingers, and then to the pulse of his wrist.

there's nothing kind about the way he draws him in against the elevator wall, crowds him against the mirrored surface there with an intensity known only to forest fires. ]

Kaeya.

[ if kaeya is bothered, it doesn't show in his posture. he lets himself be drawn in, and backed into a corner. his expression is one of interest, but mild and held close to himself. his free arm snakes its way between them, and then lazily bends over diluc's shoulder, towards his neck. or towards that gorgeous mane of red hair.

whatever Diluc is musing on, Kaeya doesn't mirror. and he tilts his head, exposing the line of his neck, as he bats his eyes innocently. like he doesn't feel the flames threatening to engulf him. ]

Yes, Diluc?

[ kaeya tilts towards him, like a moth to flame. diluc thinks - what does regret taste like?

the long line of kaeya's neck is acquiescence. diluc asks, regardless, his voice low and ashen. ]

May I kiss you?

[ if he said no, most would ignore him. But Diluc is asking, and there's a flash of a memory, of how sincere diluc is. and kaeya doesn't want to place the sharp feeling in his chest that thought brings.

and so, he teases in a different way. ]

Oh, are all the cues I'm giving not enough of an answer?

[ he uses his arm to pull them closer, his fingers catching some of Diluc's hair as he cards his hand through it. ]

Yes, I wish you would.

[ no hesitation, diluc thinks, in the lilt of kaeya's tone. no hesitation in the way his fingers wind into the red of diluc's hair. no hesitation in the tilt of his head, the flash of that one blue eye like hoarfrost beneath snow. that is more than what diluc could say.

he affords but a single breath. but this is what the premise of the night is; this is where it unravels. diluc closes his eyes. when he opens them, it is his cue to lean in and take kaeya's mouth for his own.

the kiss is one meant to bruise. ]

[ kaeya doesn't have long to ponder how his teasing was received. he lets the back of his head press against the wall.

he files away that hesitation for later.

and in the meantime, he opens his mouth to Diluc, and presses back against him once reality sets in.

this was the premise of the night. ]

[ kaeya's mouth opens to diluc. it is natural, then, to press the advantage - the twist of diluc's head guides the kiss shockingly deep. regret tastes like warmth, like overripe grape from the vine and greasy pizza. it tastes like something mulled, and spiced, and bitter. they had been too young when they were separated; they are strangers now. they cannot be so.

one of diluc's hands wind its way through kaeya's hair and anchors itself there. the other finds purchase along the contour of kaeya's lips, and then, with deliberate care, skimming over his ear, and down the side of his neck to rest against his pulse. ]

[ his breath hitches just so slightly with the way that diluc's hand presses just so over his face, then rests where his heart's thrum can be felt. he liked the deliberate care. and yet, his other hand moves from where it had been against the wall, and winds its way around his waist to the small of his back.

and vaguely, he hears the elevator 'ding' and feels the rush of the doors opening. And so, Kaeya breathes into the kiss, ]

Invite me in, will you?

[ the elevator rings with the single chime of a silver bell. diluc, still heady with the taste of kaeya upon his tongue, pulls away with the mere ironic lilt of his eyebrow. ]

Was this not invitation enough?

[ the actual invitation: diluc's hand upon kaeya's wrist as he draws him into the penthouse suite. dark reds and blacks augment the white spaces left in swathes along the wall leading into a room that was meant solely to house the view: a entire wall-to-wall of windows detailing the endless skyline. one could stand there and count the stars; one could stand there, and the universe could look back upon them like a solicitous fractal of a reflection. diluc tosses his suit jacket over the back of a couch as they go, drawing kaeya near enough so that the dim light from the nearest tower next door gently cuts a swathe up the contour of his cheek.

the overhead lights activate via motion. diluc gestures for kaeya to remove his coat. ]

Preferences?

[ he's certainly settled on a theme, kaeya thinks to himself as he strips off the leather jacket he'd worn out that night. the heaviness of the jacket makes sense, given thin white shirt with a low cut underneath.

he pulls off his necklace, and then immediately turns to Diluc, draping his hands over his shoulders, and leaning against him. his lips go to brush against the line of his jaw, rather than immediately returning to the kiss. ]

I'm not picky. Just don't make it so I can't go to work tomorrow.

[ of course diluc would be practiced enough to ask this. kaeya knows that this is an act of-- well, some sort of sincerity. though he can't place it. and so, instead, he goes back to his mouth. hungry. diluc is a good kisser,

he tells himself. ]

[ a thin white shirt. a low cut beneath. it leaves, diluc thinks, very little to the imagination. kaeya's lips brush the line of his jaw. diluc allows it, his hands resting first on kaeya's hips, and then up the long, lean length of his sides in an exploratory brush so that they end where the plunging neckline begins.

his skin is warm, and alive. it's difficult to imagine the hoarfrost of winter, but diluc has seen it. their kiss lasts. when diluc pulls away, it is to mouth the line of kaeya's neck, down to where the jut of his collarbones beckon. ]

Thinking about tomorrow already. [ diluc's teeth close into a nip. ] I see where your priorities are tonight.

Mn~.

[ after the brief huff of pleasure, he laughs at that. ]

Is that what you call that...?

[ one of his hands slides back from over his shoulder, to rest on his chest as he lazily tugs at the buttons of his shirt, undoing them much like one might unwrap a present.

it gives him a slightly better view of Diluc at his neck, and... well, he has all night. ]

Well. Consider me chastised.

[ kaeya's fingers begin their work along his shirt. diluc allows it, his chin resting along the crown of kaeya's head. with this proximity, kaeya is heat, and languid shadow. the shirt peels away to reveal the flat planes of diluc's chest, along with the long line of a scar that indicates a shared past long since lost.

in turn, diluc's hand skims the contour of kaeya's face. he brings his chin up, and gently, slips his finger along the edge of kaeya's eyepatch. ]

... may I?

[ that Diluc's hand goes for his eyepatch first, catches him slightly off guard. He's not used to the interest in that-- after all, who wants to see the marring of a pretty face? of course, Diluc knows. But it still makes Kaeya a little nervous. ]

Are you sure...?

[ because Kaeya most certainly isn't. ]

[ kaeya asks. diluc knows in that moment that kaeya asks not for diluc but for kaeya's own sake. the familiarity of the gesture carves through him. a younger kaeya, asking if diluc enjoys grape juice when the maids begins to serve their meal. diluc stills.

he looks. ]

I am.

But it is your right to say no.

[ "your right to say no," he says. and yet kaeya hesitates. no one has asked him this before, assuming that what was under would ruin the fantasy, the veneer. and so, he's caught off guard.

it's too early to be caught off guard, he tells himself. and so, he acts. because that is what he is good at. ]

Do what you want.

[ he leans in close to Diluc, forcing his shirt past his shoulders. pressing his body flat against those plains as though there was nothing between them.

but there is, and he knows it. ]

[ do what you want, kaeya says. diluc knows, with terrible dawning, precisely what he wants. he wants to take kaeya and shake him; he wants to take kaeya apart. he wants to dig through him for that sliver of their shared childhood, for summer-sweet days and sour grapes from the vine as two children existed chest-to-chest, shoulder-to-shoulder, blood-to-blood as if those days would never end. he wants to reach into kaeya to search for answers that aren't there. he wants to reach into kaeya and search for the right questions to ask.

he wants to bring kaeya to his mouth and re-learn him so that he would know him again once more, just once more, as if the years that yawn between them can be bridge through motion and intention alone.

diluc, who has only ever wanted the impossible - allows his fingers to slip beneath the simple cloth of kaeya's eyepatch. the proximity between them burns. his head cants, and lowers. ]

Let me, then. [ his fingers begin to peel it away, that little bit of cloth between kaeya and the world. ]

[ he forces himself into some sort of passive comfort with it, realizing this is a step into familiarity. is it right for them to be this familiar? they barely knew each other. it's possible, had he not flagged Diluc down, that he could have passed him in silence. he would be dancing and drinking at a club.

he would be getting lost in the night.

does diluc even know or care what he's asking for? kaeya swallows as the eyepatch lifts to reveal the scar over his eye, the way his hidden eye's color stains red in a way that could make one sick if stared at for too long.

his instinct is to turn away, but he just blinks instead, and smiles mildly. ]

You've bared me to the world now. Is that all?

[ red.

kaeya smiles. diluc lets the eyepatch slip between his fingers. ]

There is only you and I here. [ diluc says, into the waiting hush. his hand rests on the contour of kaeya's cheek. ] And I am not the world.

It is only me.

[ you could be the world, a part of him thinks. And then he laughs, and pulls the edge of his shirt in for a kiss, reminding himself (and hopefully Diluc) for why they were there in the first place.]

Then let's not get distracted.

[ and he pulls him closer to the bed, as long as he can use his shirt for leverage. ]

And you should look more pleased with yourself.

[ please - why, diluc wants to ask. it has been years since he has seen kaeya's face like this, bared. he has changed - they have changed, and kaeya asks him to be pleased for it. it's far easier to lean down and to take kaeya's mouth for his own again, to kiss him, warm and full as he allows kaeya to draw them through the open doorway to diluc's bed. the king-sized monstrosity hadn't been his idea, but he hadn't particularly cared when the interior designer billed him for a bed large enough to house a small family simply because the size the room itself could only have been filled by a bed of that size. their combined weight dips along the dark-stained silk covers; the scent of rose petals lingers as diluc cages kaeya beneath him with his limbs alone, one hand in his hair to tilt him for a deeper kiss, and the other finishing the undressing process.

belt - pants. kaeya, who has always run cool. diluc, who has always run warm. the weight of his hand finds purchase across the flat planes of kaeya's chest as he breathes in, sharp.

in the dim lighting, kaeya is beautiful. diluc looks. ]

... what is your preference?

CALL ME OUT

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crawls in a whole ice-age later...

welcomes you back with open arms

thank u friend... wheezes blood

my turn to apologize... im still here...

it's ok... i'm slow as molasses but very enthusiastic molasses tbh