Kaeya/Diluc

Pairing
Pairing:	Kaeluc
Alternative name(s):	Luckae, Dilukae, KLK, ガイディル
Gender category:	BL
Fandom:	Genshin Impact
Canonical?:	No
Prevalence:	Common
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This article is about Kaeya and Diluc romantic relationship. For gen relationship, see Diluc & Kaeya.

Kaeluc is the very popular BL relationship between Kaeya Alberich and Diluc Ragnvindr from the Genshin Impact fandom. It is particularly controversial.

Fandom

Up to August 2023, Kaeluc was the second most popular ship in the fandom on AO3 beneath Tartaglia/Zhongli, when it was surpassed by Haikaveh.

Is it incest?

It is also one of the most controversial, as in the English translation, the term "結拜兄弟" (sworn brothers) was mistranslated as "adoptive brothers", changing the nature of their relationship and making the pairing incestuous. Although some fans prefer to take the original meaning of the phrase as canon, others prefer to go with the English version or aren't aware of the differences between versions. Other fans might argue that a sibling relationship still exists despite the term, such as in this thread "Kaeya and Diluc are adopted siblings in lore, in every language"archived 1archived 2 on reddit.

In fact, the tag for the gen relationship between Kaeya and Diluc sits just beneath the romantic paring in terms of popularity on AO3. Even taking the English version of the game as canonical, some Kaeluc shippers don't care about them being adoptive brothers or don't consider it "real incest" as they are not related by blood. It has been compared to Eremika occasionally. Hence, this is one pairing where the cultural differences between the Chinese-Speaking Fandom and the international fandom are very apparent (somewhat related: English-Speaking Cmedia Fandom).

Some East Asian fans have voiced the discomfort at the idea that the mistranslation has made some Western fans believe that Kaeluc is incest, explaining that the word "brother" is not used in the same way in China and in the West and comparing it to the way westerners use the word "baby" to refer to their partner without thinking of a real baby.

In an attempt to make their intentions clear, some writers utilise the tag Diluc and Kaeya are Not Siblings to explicitly mark their fics as non-incestuous, and occurs almost twice as often as the "incest" tag on Kaeluc stories. Despite everything, the incest argument is often used against Kaeluc shippers by antis, including racism against Chinese players trying to correct them. The Kaeluc Shippers DNI tag on AO3 has two pages full of stories as of December 2022.

In December 3, Sean Chiplock (Diluc's voice actor for the English version), retweeted some Kaeluc furry smut fanart under the caption "d…dogey…" causing mixed reactions among followers, shippers and antis.

Common Themes

• Smut: Top Diluc seems only slightly more popular than Top Kaeya.

Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fanfiction

• For Those Who Favor Fire by moolktea
• the bird without wings by Anonymous
• melt (speak or forever hold your peace) by anatakana

Fanart

• Sleepy… by @dilu053

Vids

• Rewrite the Stars by midoriyaizuhugs and keayatitty
• i hope we both die by gremlinka.
• Genshin Impact Parody - that one song from FIW by micdingles

Zines

• Pavo Noctua (2022)
• Searing Waltz (2022)
• Intertwined Fates (2022-2023)

Other Fannish Resources

• Diluc/Kaeya tag on Ao3
• Kaeluc tag on fanfiction.net
• Kaeluc tag on Wattpad
• ガイディル tag on Pixiv
• Kaeluc tag on Tumblr

Events

• LucKae Week (2021)
• kaelucweeks Twitter Events
  • Kaeluc Summer Week (August 7-13, 2022)
  • Dawn Rising Diluc (April 25-30, 2023)
  • Kaeluc Summer Week (July 9-15, 2023)
  • Kaeluc Halloween Fest (October 2023)
  • Dusk Falling Kaeya (November 24-30, 2023)
  • Kaeluc Crossover Fest (April 23-30, 2024)