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The boy Father brought home doesn't talk.
At least, Diluc hasn't heard him talk yet.
True, he's been mostly kept out of the guestroom, because the boy was sick for the first few days of his stay. But it's been over a week now, and the newcomer was getting better – yet still not uttering a word.
Diluc doubts anyone in the house has heard him say anything. He never answered with more than a shake of a head. The maids have been gossiping, when they thought Father wasn't there, that maybe the boy couldn't talk at all. Crepus always scolded them for it.
When Diluc asked him about it, he looked troubled, but smiled down at him.
"Our guest is just very shy, strawberry. We need to give the boy some time."
'The boy' – that's what everyone in the Winery calls him, because he didn't even share his name. Diluc thinks it's extremely unfair. He wouldn't want to be called just "the boy", as if he was just any boy there is. As if he wasn't special.
This boy, though – he's very special. In fact, Diluc is sure he's the most unusual person he's ever met. From all the people he's seen, the newcomer's looks are the most exotic. Surely that made him the most exceptional boy, at least in Mondstadt.
That's why Diluc decided to call him 'Storm Boy' in his mind, after the storm Father found him in, at least until they learned what to call him. Or, until he comes up with a better nickname. Maybe something to do with his singular, starry eye…
Said starry eye locks with his red ones and Diluc realizes belatedly that he might've been staring at the newcomer for too long.
He flushes, caught peeking, and walks out from behind the guestroom's door awkwardly. He closes it behind himself, hovering close, unsure whether walking deeper inside won't scare Storm Boy too much.
The guest observes him warily from where he's sitting in bed. He rarely leaves the room, since he's still recovering from the sickness. If he does, it's always when nobody's looking, rushing back if he's seen outside as if he'd done something wrong. Yet for some reason he hasn't accepted Diluc's offers to play outside together.
Father told Diluc to give Storm Boy time to get used to them. He brought him some children's books to read so that he isn't bored alone.
He seemed to be reading one now, before he noticed someone observing him and set it aside. His full attention is now on Diluc.
Diluc bites his lip, uneasy.
"Um. Are you… feeling better now?" He asks eventually.
A nod. That's a good start.
"That's great!" He smiles. Storm Boy hugs his covers closer. "Uh, are you still cold? Do you need something to warm up? I can bring you a sweater – or another blanket!"
Feeling more confident, he starts walking closer to the bed, but Storm Boy flinches and leans away. Diluc freezes in place and puts a hand to his mouth. He forgot Father told him not to be too sudden around their guest because it scared him.
"Sorry," he mumbles, "I didn't mean to startle you."
Storm Boy just stares. Diluc fidgets with his fingers, desperate to get rid of the growing awkwardness in the room.
"I, uh. Well… If you don't want blankets, maybe I can ask Addie to make you something warm to drink? …Do you like hot chocolate?"
The guest tilts his head, interested, but clearly confused.
Diluc’s jaw drops.
“You never drank it?”
A shake of a head. Something sparkles in Diluc’s eye.
"You should definitely try it, then! It’s sooo good."
He subconsciously advances more towards the bed, slowly, and can now see Storm Boy closer. He seems to be dropping his guard, not running away when Diluc reaches the frame of the bed and stops.
"And you know, Addie makes the best hot choco ever. She makes me a cup when it's winter and it warms me up really well!"
The boy hesitates a bit, then nods. Diluc beams.
"Alright, I'll ask her to make you one for dinner then, and–" he pauses, suddenly remembering why he came upstairs at all.
"Oh, right. About dinner." He smiles down at Storm Boy. "Father said it'll be ready soon and told me to ask you whether you wanted to eat with us tonight?"
All he gets in response are furrowed eyebrows.
"I mean, you always eat all alone here in bed because you were too sick… but since you're feeling better now, you could come sit with us at the dining table if you wanna."
The boy looks at him for a bit, mulling something over.
It's then that he opens his mouth, and Diluc’s eyes widen thinking he'll actually hear the boy talk for the first time… but the boy catches his expression and seems to realize what he's doing. He clenches his jaw shut again and bites his lip, preventing himself even more from uttering a sound.
Like he's scared.
His eyes dart to the side, visibly troubled. Diluc is about to suggest something, when Storm Boy suddenly gets up from bed, rigid and determined, and starts walking towards the door.
"H-huh? Wait!"
Diluc runs up to him and waves his hands in front of himself.
"No, you don't need to walk down right now! It'll still be a while until we'll be eating. You can relax and we'll call you down when everything's ready."
Storm Boy glances at him, unconvinced, and Diluc realizes that he forgot one major detail.
They still haven't learnt the guest's name. How could they call for him without knowing it?
"Oh yeah. Um," He begins unsurely, "You didn't tell us your name. So I'm not sure what to call you."
Storm Boy'e eye widens, like he never realized that. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, but no sound comes out. He seems to change his mind every second. With each failure, his expression just grows more and more discouraged and he glances at Diluc again, eye apologetic – almost fearful of his reaction.
Diluc panics, waving placatingly.
"Don't worry!" He places a hand on Storm Boy's shoulder reassuringly. "I mean, you don't need to tell us right now! Only when you want to. It'd just be easier, I guess…"
He ponders for a moment, observed by that single, silent eye.
"Well… it doesn't have to be your name exactly, right?" he realizes then, "Maybe there's something else we can call you? Some nicknames?"
The boy's lips twitch down in uncertainty.
"Like…" Diluc wonders how to explain it, "My dad calls me 'strawberry'. You know, because of my red hair! And because it's cute. So, if we do the same for you… you could be 'blueberry'?"
The longer Diluc talks, the more twisted the frown on Storm Boy's face appears, visibly not understanding. Diluc stops and observes him.
"Do you… not know blueberries either…?"
He doesn't miss the flash of distress in that starry eye before Storm Boy's face shoots down to the floor shamefully. His hands clench tightly on his shirt. He shrugs.
"No, no, that's fine! We can use something else. Uh… maybe… How do you like 'Bluey'? …No? 'Starlight'...?"
Diluc knows he went too far when Storm Boy's posture completely closes off, his expression almost empty when he looks up. He turns away quickly, waving a hand dismissively in a half-shrug.
Diluc backs off. He clearly overwhelmed the guest, but he's unsure how to continue now. He really wants to know his name, but it seems impossible to get it out of the tanned boy. Everything Diluc seems to try to do to get them to communicate backfires and only makes it worse.
Was there no way for them to make contact at all?
…
Unless…
He perks up with excited noise. Storm Boy startles, face baffled as Diluc squeezes his hand and gestures for him not to move.
"Wait, wait, I have a great idea! Stay here, okay? I'll just– run and get something really quickly."
With that, he runs out of the room, not looking to see if Storm Boy listened.
Sprinting into his own bedroom, he rummages through the desk, grabbing crayons and a few stray pieces of paper. With those in hand, he darts back to Storm Boy, only to see there was no need to rush. The guest is still standing in the exact same place with a perplexed expression.
Diluc heads up to the small table next to the bed.
“Here!” he gestures for the boy to approach, showing him the clear sheet and holding out one crayon for him to hold. The guest takes it tentatively. “Now you can write your name down, if you don’t want to say it!”
Diluc praises himself inwardly for his genius plan. Surely nothing could go wrong now?
And yet, Storm Boy hesitates.
He glances at Diluc unsurely. Diluc only tilts his head, motioning towards the page in what he hopes is an encouraging gesture. It must work, because the blue-haired boy sits down in front of the table and holds the crayon to the sheet.
A second, two of complete silence pass… and then the tanned hand begins moving along the page.
Diluc observes with interest as unconfident strokes slowly start to leave behind big, wobbly letters. The boy’s handwriting is messed up and he seems insecure about jotting anything down at all. Almost as if he couldn’t actually do it.
But that would be absurd. This boy should be somewhere around his age. He must have been taught to write by now, no?
Storm Boy finishes the last letter, but still looks over the paper with evident worry. Diluc leans over and frowns, trying to decipher the shaky alphabets.
“Oh!”
He smiles in triumph. He knew this was a good idea.
“So your name is ‘Xaya’! That’s really pretty!”
Xaya’s face immediately falls and grows troubled – borderline scared. He quickly grabs the crayon again and with even more sudden movements he crosses the name out, immediately beginning to write a new one.
“Oh…” Diluc is a bit put off, “So not Xaya then.”
The repeated mention of the name only seems to distress 'Xaya' again. His writing gets frantic, and consequently grows more and more uneven.
“Uh, hey– It’s fine, you don’t have to be so worried…”
Storm Boy ignores him and instead moves the sheet toward him again, almost desperately. A new name is already written on it. Diluc eyes it, a tad confused since it looks very similar to the one before. Maybe the pronunciation changed?
“Uh… 'Xeya', is it?”
Xeya only bites his lip, clearly upset. He grips the crayon really tight. His hand shakes when he tries to put something similar to the letter ‘a’ between ‘x’ and ‘e’.
Diluc sweats.
“'X-Xaeya'…?”
He glances at Xaeya for confirmation, only for his heart to clench when he's met with the sight of held back tears. The paper rips with how violently the tanned boy crosses out the letters, staring at the page with heartbreaking helplessness. His lower lip is trembling.
Diluc reaches out a hand hesitantly, hoping to placate him before he completely breaks down.
"It's– it's okay, don't worry about it! You don't need to do it right now – we can wait until you learn your letters better–"
The second his hand lands on 'Xaeya's' shoulder, the boy shoots up from the chair, making Diluc flinch away in shock. The guest doesn't pause and immediately runs for the door, escaping the redhead's outstretched hand and pleads to wait.
In an instant, 'Xaeya' is gone from the room, his sprinting footsteps surprisingly fast and so quiet Diluc doesn't even hear them.
For someone still recovering from an illness, he's in good form, but Diluc still worries it won't last. What if he gets lost? The Winery is a really big place and 'Xaeya' is so small. It'll be hard to find him. What if he gets sick again from the strain and nobody's there with him?
He seems so scared all the time. Diluc can't just leave him alone.
He quickly grabs the leftover paper and crayons and sprints out after him, but the boy has already disappeared. The knot inside Diluc's gut tightens. What will Father think if he finds out his son scared their guest away? If something happens to 'Xaeya'? He'll get in trouble for bothering him and won't be allowed near him anymore!
He has to find the boy and apologize quickly.
Carefully, making sure Father is out of earshot, he questions the maids whether they've seen the boy go anywhere. Yet although some of them saw him momentarily, none knew where he went.
None except for Adelinde.
"I believe I saw our guest run outside not two minutes ago. He shouldn't have gone off too far."
He thanks her and is in turn met with an encouraging smile.
"I will postpone the dinner. Please take care of the boy well if you happen to find him, Master Diluc."
"I will!"
With that, he finds himself outside, looking out at the vineyards. Having himself often ran away from the maids into the leaves, Diluc knows they are a great hiding spot. 'Xaeya' couldn't have run away further than the Winery's borders, so that's probably where he is.
Especially since there are… so many of them.
Repeating to himself not to get discouraged, he steps in between the branches, carefully glancing around. This shouldn't be too hard. The maids always managed to find him eventually. He just needs to watch out for any possible signs of movement or voice.
It's only after at least ten minutes of searching, though, that he hears a silent rustle from somewhere to his right. He turns in time to see a crystalfly is hurriedly flying away from where a few branches are swaying unnaturally, despite there being no wind.
As if someone shooed the creature away.
Diluc carefully parts away leaves to uncover the spot. From between the grapes, a starry eye meets his own, wide with alertness. The tense, tanned hand is still raised.
Diluc smiles with a sigh of relief.
"There you are."
The guest says nothing. He looks like a cornered animal; ready to either flee or be hunted. As Diluc tries to take a step closer, 'Xaeya' twitches, ready to run, and the redhead stops in his tracks.
"Sorry, I don't want to scare you," he backs away, keeping his distance. "I didn't before, either. You just… worried me when you ran away. I thought you could get lost, or sick."
He slowly lowers himself to the ground, sitting across 'Xaeya' and placing the papers and crayons on the grass in their hands' reach. At the sight of them, Storm Boy starts lifting himself up.
"Don't worry! These are not for writing!" Diluc waves a placating hand, "I won't force you to do anything anymore, promise."
He puts a hand to his heart. The boy eyes the crayons doubtfully, so Diluc lifts one up.
"Everyone would be worried if I left you and didn't know where you are. So I should keep an eye on you, at least while you're outside the house. But I also don't want to bother you, so I brought these for myself to draw. And more paper, in case you want to try, too."
He fidgets when the boy doesn't move, just keeps staring at him relentlessly with that starry pupil. His eyes fall down to avoid the intense gaze. He lays a sheet on the soil and starts sketching.
"You– um, you don't need to draw if you don't wanna. You don't even have to stay here. I know I kinda made you sad. Just… if you leave, go inside the house so that the others won't worry."
For a while there's no other sound other than that of his crayon on the paper. When the leaves rustle again, Diluc thinks it's because the boy is getting up to leave.
Then, there's a shuffle of paper in front of him. Diluc looks up, surprised, to see the boy grab a crayon and start drawing as well. Their eyes lock.
And, for the first time, 'Xaeya' smiles at him.
Diluc can't help but reciprocate.
They sit a while in this comfortable silence, each of them busy with their own drawing. Until, at some point, Diluc hears Storm Boy's sketching pause. When it doesn't pick up for the next minute, he shoots him a glance.
'Xaeya' is curiously peeking at Diluc's drawing. When he notices he's been caught, he quickly turns back to his own paper.
"You can look if you want," Diluc picks his picture up and displays it to his companion with a grin.
The boy blinks at the drawing, and then–
He snickers.
His head turns away to hide the giggles that escape him and Diluc stares at him for a moment, shocked.
He actually made 'Xaeya' laugh. He actually heard him.
And oh, how nice it is to listen to him.
However, he can't help but let out an offended chuckle when he understands why Storm Boy's laughing. "Are you– laughing at my drawing? Is it that bad?"
The boy covers his mouth, clearly worried about upsetting him but also unable to stop laughing. Diluc nudges him with a shoulder playfully to show that it's fine.
"Alright, it's a bit messy… but you can see who this is! That's what counts, right?"
The boy doesn't nod like he usually would. Before Diluc can start thinking that it really is that bad, though, 'Xaeya' raises his hand and points at the drawn red-headed figure.
He hesitates, and then he says – says!! – quietly:
"Di...luc."
Diluc really tries not to gape.
Because… the boy actually talked! And his voice is sooo pretty, even though he pronounced the name a bit strangely.
And to think his first word is Diluc's name… it somehow makes him extremely proud.
He hopes his momentary silence at this unexpected turn didn't make the boy uncomfortable as he finally makes himself reply.
"Yeah! That's me!"
The boy nods, then points at the second figure in Diluc's drawing – himself – and says:
"Kaeya."
Diluc sucks in a breath to stifle a gasp.
So that was it.
"'Kaeya'," he repeats almost tentatively, testing how it rolls off his tongue. "Is that your name?"
A nod. Diluc repeats it again, to get Kaeya’s (!!) approval on pronunciation.
"Your name is so pretty, Kaeya. I've never heard of it before. It means it's special, like you!"
Kaeya scratches his neck sheepishly. He pauses when a hand is held out right in front of his face.
Diluc beams. "Nice to meet you, Kaeya!"
The smile he gets back is slightly awkward, but genuine. They shake hands.
"Nice… to meet you, Diluc."
After that, they simply draw for a while more in silence, just comfortable in the presence of a new friend. Yet after a moment, Diluc notices that Kaeya isn't sketching – instead, he seems to be struggling to secretly write his name on paper again.
"Do you want me to write it for you?" he suggests.
Shamefully, Kaeya hands him the page.
"Hey, don't feel bad!" Diluc pats his shoulder. "I struggled to write at first, too. You're actually doing really well! But if you want, I can tutor you."
Kaeya looks up at him with a wide, hopeful eye. He nods fervently.
"Alright!" Diluc throws a fist in the air. "Okay, so I write, then you copy me."
He takes the paper and starts slowly writing a big letter 'K', which Kaeya seemed to mistake with an 'X' before.
"So, what you have to do here is…"