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★ i was very tempted to write the self-insert as childe instead of reader but i stuck it out for you guys </3 this idea is 100% from @erispancakes and is dedicated to her (￣ε￣＠)
★ this is based off the tent scene in the twilight saga: eclipse. if you’ve never seen it before, here’s what happened. gn reader is childhood friends with both diluc and kaeya but in a romantic relationship with kaeya (1.8k words)
Kaeya Alberich would love to punch his brother Diluc Ragnivindr.
But since you would get angry if he actually did, Kaeya can only imagine punching Diluc. And he does that a lot.
Like now, when the three of you are working on a makeshift camp for the night in Dragonspine and you keep laughing at something Diluc is telling you. You’ve been his best friend since you were children but Archons, does Kaeya want to rip him away from you and knock him square in the nose right about now. Kaeya had to restrain himself from breaking the metal stake for the tent in half.
It’s almost like Diluc is purposely keeping you away from him. How did Kaeya get stuck pitching the tent alone yet you and Diluc are collecting firewood and making a fire together? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
He watches the way Diluc makes you smile so hard that your eyes crinkle and as much as he wants to wipe that grin off your face, he knows how inhumane that would be. So, Kaeya restrains himself to the tent and tries his best not to pay any mind to his brother and partner.
Kaeya sighs as he thinks about your childhood. Once, the three of you were inseparable. You were young and free and didn’t have a single care in the world. Then Crepus died and the world turned upside down. Diluc left without a word and you and Kaeya were left breathless. Finding solace in each other was your only comfort and it was inevitable that a romance would bloom. Really, it’s understandable why Kaeya would be jealous when Diluc finally returned and the first thing you did was run into his arms.
Eventually, the tent and fire get finished and the three of you climb into the tent together. It’s cramped but Diluc squishes himself near the entrance so you and Kaeya can hold each other finally. Kaeya wraps a blanket tightly around you both and leans his chest against you back, pressing his nose at the back of your head so he can be reminded of your comforting scent.
Your hand finds Kaeya’s under the blanket and you play with his fingers, idly lifting his ring finger and tracing the section where a ring would lay. As you close your eyes, you shiver. Even though you’re bundled in many layers with a hat and gloves, you can feel the brisk air of the mountain through the fabric. The cold isn’t bothering the men like it’s bothering you - their visions protecting them in different ways.
Diluc’s vision keeps his body warm enough to fight off the cold while Kaeya’s cools his body down enough where the cold doesn’t affect him.
“You’re shivering,” Kaeya whispers into your ear, trying to pull his hand away from yours. He knows his skin must feel like ice to you right now.
“I’m fine,” You mumble, half-asleep. You try to pull Kaeya’s hand back but it’s gone. You shiver again and Kaeya moves back a few inches so his body doesn’t touch yours anymore. You frown and throw your head over your shoulder, “Kaeya?”
“I don’t want you to freeze to death,” Kaeya says, “I’m as cold as it is outside.”
He’s right, you think. You feel a bit warmer without Kaeya’s body pressed against yours but the absence of it makes you sad. Your eyelashes are freezing together from your tear ducts and you’re positive that if you open your mouth again, your teeth are going to start chattering.
And the warmness you feel momentarily begins to fade - fast.
As the night creeps in, the temperature drops even more. You’re shivering more, clutching onto your arms to try and conceal whatever body heat you have left.
“We should try to head down the mountain,” Kaeya says to Diluc. He’s drifting off himself but jolts awake at the sound of Kaeya’s statement.
“It’s too dangerous. We won’t be able to see anything without sunlight.”
“But they’re going to freeze.”
Diluc sighs, “It’s safest here. I can light a fire but that’s all.”
Kaeya knows that Diluc would never put you in danger so he trusts him. Diluc dips outside the tent and his hand illuminates for a moment until a spark catches on the frozen twigs. A fire begins to burn and Kaeya awkwardly moves your body so it’s closer to the entrance of the tent and you can, hopefully, feel some warmth.
The brothers make eye contact before Diluc’s eyes fall on your shivering body. He hesitates before shaking off his first coat and tossing it inside the tent. “Another layer,” He says flatly.
Kaeya scowls at the coat for a moment but decides you surviving the cold is more important than his dignity. He picks up the coat and drapes it over your body, tucking the edges under you.
Diluc is staring still, a frustrated look on his face.
“What?” Kaeya snaps in a hushed tone, “Like you said, we have to stick it out.”
He muttered something under his breath and turned to look out the tent. The fire crackles a few times more before a gust of wind and snow rush by the campsite and extinguish the flames. Darkness overcomes the tent again.
You’re shaking now, trying to curl into yourself even more. Your lips are turning blue and Kaeya’s heart aches. He wants to help you but he physically can’t.
Another gust of wind shakes the tent and Diluc’s coat gets blown off a bit. Both Kaeya and Diluc reach to adjust it and end up bumping fists. Diluc retracts his hand quickly and Kaeya fixes the coat. Kaeya’s fingers feel hot from where Diluc touched him and he internally groans, dreading the solution to your problem.
“Diluc, take my spot,” Kaeya breathes out, the words taking too much energy to say. The redhead looks over his shoulder and shoots Kaeya a confused look. “Seriously. Their toes are going to fall off if we don’t do something.”
There’s a moment where no one moves. You hear the conversation but refuse to open your eyes, not wanting to get involved if this turns into a fight. And when Kaeya crawls to the other side of the tent, away from you, Diluc hesitantly steps over you so he can lay down beside you. He resumes a similar position to Kaeya before, with his chest pressed against your back, and Kaeya wants to scream.
Diluc’s hands slide under your mound of coats and blankets and rest around your stomach. He closes his eyes and concentrates on something before his vision lights up and you sigh contently, leaning into Diluc’s touch. You slowly stop shivering.
Kaeya stares daggers at his brother. He’s exhausted himself but would be damned if he fell asleep while Diluc’s arms were around his beloved. Diluc averts his gaze somewhere else, afraid to catch eye contact with Kaeya.
He feels your arms resting on his and can’t help but stop the smile that slips onto his lips. He had lost you to Kaeya due to his own superiority complex and being able to hold you like in front of him felt like a flex.
“What are you smiling about?” Kaeya fretts, narrowing his eyes at his brother.
“Nothing,” Diluc told him, “Jealous much?”
“Yes. Obviously.”
Kaeya is fine with their banter because it means neither of their attention is on you, who is now fast asleep.
“Did they miss me?”
The question catches Kaeya off guard and he glances up to see Diluc looking at him. Kaeya wants to retort sarcastically, say something that he can’t read minds, but he doesn’t need to read your mind to know the answer. Of course you missed Diluc. Hell, even Kaeya missed his brother. The two of you spent countless nights aimlessly walking around Mondstadt trying to fill the void Diluc left you with. It was painful to think about his absence and even more painful to think about how they could have stopped him.
“Yeah,” Kaeya opts instead, “They did.”
The brothers talk about nothing and everything, something that hasn’t happened in years. Kaeya opens up about what happened when Diluc left, how his relationship came to be and what changed in Mondstadt when he wasn’t there. And while the conversation isn’t warm or inviting, it’s comforting and nostalgic. It reminds Kaeya of when they were kids and stayed up past their bedtime so they could build a pillowfort and talk about how they wanted to become Knights.
The night is calm. Eventually, Diluc drifts into a simple slumber and Kaeya continues to restrain his awakeness. At some point you roll over and rest your head on Diluc’s chest, your hands clutching onto his shirt. You look…right.
Your bodies pressed against one another, your breathing matching, looked normal. Kaeya’s hit with a brick of guilt and he remembers a time when the boys were seventeen and Diluc confessed to Kaeya that he was going to write you a letter for the Windblume Festival. And in that moment, Kaeya felt a surge of emotions towards you. While he had never looked at you in that way before, Kaeya felt a strange possessiveness to have his arm wrapped around you. So, Kaeya found Diluc’s letter and ripped it to shreds.
Diluc, being a somewhat shy teenager, never approached you about the letter. He was waiting for you to come to him and when you never did, he assumed you didn’t feel the same way.
Kaeya wonders that if he never ripped up the letter, would you be with Diluc instead of him? Perhaps that’s the reason why Kaeya isn’t screaming and causing a scene in the tent about Diluc holding you - because he knows that Diluc deserves to experience what he could have had at least once.
When Kaeya eventually succumbs to sleep, he’s woken up hours later to your hushed voice. The sun is high in the sky and there’s even birds chirping outside.
“Good morning.”
The storm has passed and while it’s still freezing, it’s more manageable to travel. “Good morning,” Kaeya smiles warmly at you, “How did you sleep?”
You ponder for a moment about what to say. Frankly, you had a great night’s sleep and feel very well rested and warm. Instead you say, “It was okay.”
Kaeya stands up in the tent and holds his hand out to you. You waste no time in grabbing onto it and Kaeya pulls you up, Diluc’s arms falling loosely around your waist and onto the ground. He’s still asleep so you and Kaeya tiptoe outside the tent.
And as the sun shines down on your rosy cheeks, Kaeya reaches up to pull your hat back down over your ears. He leans down to officially kiss you good morning and you snake your arms around his body, relieved to finally be able to hold him again. Kaeya’s hands trail down your back and over your shoulder, he smirks to himself.
Ripping up that letter was the best decision he could have ever made.