pavo noctua┊ klk

have this dance

Glasses clink in the distance as liquids slowly ripple inside said glasses. A bustling crowd filled with people's mixed conversations, one could hardly even recognize someone through the crowd of masks, but when eyes turn their gazes to strands of fiery red hair, people would immediately flock to the owner of those red strands. 

Today though, was an exception, said owner of red strands was nowhere to be found on this celebratory night. Ludi Harpastum was just around the corner and the Acting Grandmaster herself arranged a party to gather everyone. The Cathedral was where it was held, Dawn winery had been the first choice but, seeing as the distance from the city to the winery isn't exactly ideal, they settled just in the Cathedral. 

But back to the topic at hand, perhaps the winery owner himself had some other business to attend to? 

Surely enough, the wondering man got the answer to his question upon seeing a subtle black cape below the balcony, he smirked. His sharp eyes followed the cloaked figure, seeing as they had seemingly walked to the back door, the man moved away from his leaning position and into the hallway that leads to said back door, but of course, not until he took a sip of his Dandelion Wine at hand. 

There, the figure stood, black cloak long gone and instead was wearing a white suit with beige highlights covering a black dress shirt and the usual tie, on the collar of his blazer was a pin, similar looking to that of his family's heirloom. And a mask-- not any different from that of the darknight hero's, just with some small and more extravagant details here and there. Glitter and sequins on the edges and a small feather just at the tip of the eye. 

"And here I thought I saw someone looking rather like the darknight hero walking towards the back door. Turns out it was just Master Diluc himself." Kaeya raised his glass as Diluc bowed in greeting. 

"Sir Kaeya." Kaeya smiled and took a sip of his own glass, the bitter taste of the wine hitting the back of his throat. He himself wasn't wearing anything too flashy either, a white suit under a blue cardigan which was of course-- as open as ever, it showed a bit of the black dress shirt he was wearing. The fur coat he always wore around his shoulder was still there, except now it had been a shade of dark blue, and on his neck was a black choker. The mask he wore however, only had one socket-- as expected. Eyepatch long gone, he had covered his left eye with his bangs, a silver mask outlined with shades of blues and purples, on the corner was a bright yellow gem that resembled the shape of his pupils. 

"What do you say, shall we go for a drink?" Diluc realized that Kaeya's glass had already long been emptied out, raising and tilting it to the side to show its emptiness. Diluc stood there wordlessly, but eventually nodded and started to walk towards the ballroom as Kaeya giddily followed him from behind. 

Their glasses clink as a mumble of 'cheers' followed, the owners of said glasses downing the wine. Kaeya released a satisfied sigh whereas Diluc only sipped in silence, but if one were to look carefully, you could see the scrunkling of the master's nose just at the smell of the liquid. Kaeya chuckled at this before looking back at the dancing crowd before them. 

Catching a certain purple woman's gaze, the two exchanged waves before the former returned back to her table where someone he could recognize as Jean was sitting at. 

The people were dancing in pairs, some he could recognize as the famous couples around town, some he recognized as the ones who were too shy to even show it in public. And some he recognized who looked like teenage kids slowly treading into the sea of love, testing the waters. This brought a smile to his face. 

He remembers the days when he and a certain other young boy would take ballroom dancing lessons, unfortunately for the two of them, the bluenette would always mess up the steps and would accidentally step onto the other's foot or trip and bringing the other along to the face of the floor where they only sat laughing at the mistake. Those were the days. 

And what he didn't expect was, for the redhead behind him to walk up, facing him with an outreached hand, his other hand to his back, his frame almost bowing, "Sir Kaeya." 

And he remembers. 

Those rosy cheeks that came with the cheeky smile, hand reached out, figure completely wrong from what they had been taught but the confidence made up for it (he was a little confused but he got the spirit), "Kaeya." 

The masked man parted his lips to speak, "Would you." 

The kid smiled even wider, "Will you." 

And then as if they both spoke at the same time. 

"Have this dance with me?"

Their gazes were the same, soft smile adorning their faces as soft eyes looked at him as if he were the most precious thing they had ever seen. At that moment he had almost cried. Their masks hid their expressions, but they could still see through each other effortlessly. 

And his hand reached out, placing his onto the other man's hands. Soft. 

A smile crept up to his lips, and with it, he said, 

"I would love to."