Broken Chains (Diluc X Reader)

Chapter one

The usually calm town of Monstadt was buzzing with excitement. It was the annual windblume festival and the entire town was in high spirits decorating the city and prepping for the fun to start. In the midst of all the excitement and buzz, a young girl with (h/c) hair was sitting at Good hunter with a cold drink. She was reading some sort of book and relaxing. A few people greeted her as they went by and she waved back to them. "Are you still reading while the festival is just starting?" The young lady turned her head to be faced with fiery red eyes and the same bright red hair. "Diluc! I see you got done with your tasks early today?" She quickly stood up from her seat and pushed her chair, making sure to leave Mora on the table for her drink.

"(Y/n), you should be out enjoying the city on a day like this," Diluc crossed his arms frowning at her. Sure he wasn't too big on festivals like this or people for that matter, but he did want (y/n) to enjoy it. She had mentioned that she had never been to Monstadt before nor did she partake in its celebrations. "I know, but nothing is quite ready yet and everyone is still busy getting ready so I thought I should maybe enjoy some time to myself. You are the one who makes me work quite often." The girl snickered at her clever remark and skipped past him. She needed to head back to the tavern to help Diluc anyways. The man couldn't argue with her on that so he just turned to follow her.

It had been about a year since the girl came into his life. He wasn't very fond of her first, she tended to be a bit on the mouthy side and they clashed on everything. Now the two seemed to fit effortlessly. She was guarded and he himself knew better than anyone it was hard not to be. (Y/n) was a very wonderful company to have around in reality, and after Lisa had trained her in Electro she seemed to be amazing in combat as well. "Hola!" The two had reached Angel share within minutes to see Venti standing outside waving to the pair. "It's not even 12pm yet.." (Y/n) Sighed under her breath and went to greet the Bard.

"Hello, Venti!" She spoke not questioning why he was here. "I saw Charles was out on a break and waited here. I knew someone would come back to open up shop sooner or later." The archon winked at them. (Y/n) just laughed off what he said trying not to get too annoyed with the short man. Sometimes she questioned how he didn't die of alcohol poisoning. She gestured for Venti to enter after unlocking the door. "Well come on in for a few drinks. A few- no more than five got it." Venti laughed and nodded his head. He had to obey whatever she said or else the women would kill him. Literally. The god nodded his head followed her in with Diluc behind him.

Diluc watched the two head towards the bar as he started heading for the upstairs. He needed to grab a few things before they were officially ready for the festival tomorrow. The man could faintly hear someone else come in the tavern but he ignored it and went on with looking for what he needed. He kept thinking (Y/n), the other night when she had a nightmare he couldn't help but wonder why. She hadn't had one in over 3 months.

"Kaeya I am going to zap you!" Diluc sighed loudly. His bother had entered the tavern. The redhead found the thing he was looking for and started making his way back downstairs. As he entered the downstairs he looked to see Kaeya looking a little terrified and (Y/n) with a ball of magic in her hand. "Did I miss something?" Diluc said holding two bottles of very old wine in his hands. (Y/n) laughed a little and shook her head, she was clearly irritated.

"I was just asking the young lady if she was free for a date tonight," Kaeya said looking over to Venti. The young man just chuckled and shook his head. "Sure let's go with that." In reality, he was teasing her about her little crush on Diluc. "Don't you have something else to do? Like a job, that you are currently on duty for?" (Y/n) said, turning around to clean the back counter.

"I am not, I have today because everyone is prepping for tomorrow, even Jean is off duty today." The blue-haired man corrected the waitress. "Shocking." She rolled her eyes and sat a mug of booze down on the bar for Kaeya to grab.

"If you cause any more fuss I won't hesitate to throw you out again." Diluc threatened as he walked behind the bar to help (Y/n). "How sweet of you." The tan man rolled his one eye and took a swig of his drink. "Are you enjoying the festival so far (Y/n)?" Venti asked trying to clear the room of the bad vibes. "It hasn't even begun yet, how is one suppose to enjoy something that hasn't started yet." The bard smiled at her reply. "True but the atmosphere in the city has changed, has it not?"

(Y/n) gave him a simple nod and went back to getting the Tavern ready for tonight. They were supposed to be very busy tonight. Lots of tips to be made as well. "So you have never been in town when the Wind Blume Festival happens?" Kaeya asked avoiding eye contact with the mage. "Nope, is it really that big of a deal? It seems wonderful I will admit but everyone is taking off work for so long.."

"It is, people from all over come and visit. Even from Liyue, it's quite the party. Games are set up everywhere around the area."

"Don't worry you won't be forced to take time off from working we all know how much you enjoy keeping yourself busy," Diluc commented as he handed her the bottles of wine. "Mm thank you for not forcing me to take work off, but I know you will make me take a few hours off during the night." The redhead gave her a small smirk and exited to bar to go do something else upstairs. (Y/n) huffed and looked to Kaeya. "Oh, you are not off the hook!"