Through Thick and Thin- Diluc x (female) Reader

Chapter 8: Baking Day

I awoke to a knock outside my door. The sun shone through my window, telling me that I had slept in.
"Give me a second," I slightly yelled to the door. I stretched and stood up, yawning. Opening the door, I guessed who it was before I even saw him. "Hi Kaeya."
"Sleeping in?" He said, crossing his arms. "How esteemed of you." He remarked sarcastically.
I sighed. "I'll be out in a minute, let me get ready." My ears twitched in annoyance at being woken up, although I had probably slept in enough already.
I grabbed the two jars of wolfhooks before opening the door again, Kaeya leaning on the wall opposite to my door. "What time is it?" I asked, closing the door behind me.
"Oh, modest mid morning." He said, pushing himself away from the wall. "Nine or so."
"Wow I did sleep in." I said. "I'm usually awake before sunrise."
I yawned as we walked down the stairs in headquarters, and I was suprised to see Noelle waiting for us. "Noelle!" I smiled, happy to see her.
"Lady y/n, how are you this morning?" She's still calling me that? She seemed to have a heap of respect for the Knights of Favonius, even though I wasn't really a knight. "Let me carry those for you."
"Thanks," I said as I handed her the jars of wolfhooks. "Are we ready to do some baking?"
"I can't say I've baked anything good before," Kaeya spoke up as we walked down towards the courtyard. "So I won't promise I'll make anything worth eating," He chuckled.
"Is this you trying to get out of helping?" I asked with a smirk. "It won't be that easy."
He sighed. "Damn."

I breathed a sigh of relief as I put both pies in the wood oven. "Really Noelle, I can't thank you enough."
"Me neither," Kaeya said, eyeing the pies in the oven. "You really helped us out here."
"It's no problem," she said sweetly. "Just my job, that's all."
"Don't be so modest!" I said with joy. "I owe you one, okay?"
She nodded. "If you say so, Lady y/n." She turned to Kaeya for a moment and waved before setting off.
"What now?" Kaeya asked. I watched the pies for a moment.
"Well, we wait." It was silent for a bit, before I spoke up. "The festival is tomorrow, right?"
Kaeya nodded. "Yeah, why?"
I peeked to make sure no one was around to listen. "Do you plan to tell them tomorrow? During the festival."
He froze for a moment. "I don't know. I've gathered gifts and everything, but..." he scratched the back of his head. "I guess I hadn't planned this far."
I sighed. "Me neither." I glanced around again. "I don't know if I should say anything yet. I haven't known him as long as you've known Albedo."
The air seemed thick for a moment when we thought about our situation. Reality crushed us, reminding us that we weren't in some fantasy romance novel. What if he said no? Or even worse, what if they stopped talking to us entirely?
"I guess we just have to have faith," Kaeya said, crossing his arms. "You only live once, so what's the matter if something goes wrong? The only thing to do is move forward, right?"
I smiled and nodded. "You're right." I sighed. "I'm probably going to at least wait until after the festival. I still feel like he hasn't known me long enough to give me a chance."
"Y/n," he said, and I looked up at him. "Trust me, it'll be fine."
"How do you know?" I said, to which he shrugged.
"All I know is he hasn't smiled like that in years," He said, glancing at the civilians walking by. "Even if he doesn't reciprocate, you're a good friend to him."
I felt my heart flutter at the thought of Diluc once again. "You're right... again."
He chuckled before leaning down to the oven. "These smell pretty good. Do you think they're almost done?"
I checked on them too. How long had we been talking? The crust of the pie had turned a golden brown, the top had rose, bursting with wolfhooks.
"Yeah, I think so," I turned and put on some mitts and reached in to pull the pies out. I set them down on the counter near the oven, the smell filling the air. "All done!"
"These look great," He said, taking in the aroma. "If they don't like these, they aren't worth it anyways, right?" He joked.
I laughed, setting the mitt down. "Yeah, you're probably right. These look delicious!"
"Who are we talking about?" Said a quiet voice.
Kaeya and I both shrieked in surprise. I grabbed my heart in fear. "Holy— Sucrose?" I exclaimed. "You scared the gnosis out of me, don't do that!" My ears were completely flat after I had been startled out of my mind.
Kaeya laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. He breathed deeply, trying to calm down. "Nothing, no one! How did you sneak up on us like that?"
"She's so quiet," I said, breathing heavily after my heart attack. "You don't even hear her coming..."
"I..." Sucrose said meekly. "Did I scare you that badly?"
I nodded quickly. "Yes! Very badly!" I started laughing, realizing the irony of the situation. Sucrose, a meek soul, had scared us out of our skin.
"I was walking by and smelled the pie, so I looked over and you guys were here..." She said quietly. "I just wanted to see what you were doing."
Catching my breath, my ears returned to their normal position. "Just baking... for fun."
"For... fun?" She said. "Kaeya too? I thought you didn't like baking."
"Ah ah! No," he put a finger in the air. "I'm bad at baking," He smirked.
"Long story, anyways it's my day off so I'll catch up with you guys about lab stuff tomorrow!" I said, turning to the pies.
"Tomorrow is the festival, so you will only be there in the morning," Sucrose said. "Albedo is going to give you time off to enjoy the festival, since you've never seen it."
"Okay, got it." We stood around for a second. "So... do you want me to save a slice for you?"
She looked down. "Sure..." She said guiltily.
"I will, I promise." I said, laughing. "I'll catch up with you tomorrow. We've been baking all day, so we're headed to the tavern. It's almost sunset."
She nodded before setting off. "That was close." Kaeya said.
"Too close... she sneaks so well, and on accident too?" I said, grabbing a knife.
I sliced both pies into six pieces each before handing one to Kaeya. "Carry that for me, will you?" I said as I put the pie in his hands. "I'll leave them in my room, and we'll give Albedo his tomorrow morning."
"Okay." He said, holding it carefully.

Afterwards, we rendezvoused with Venti at the tavern. As we walked in, Kaeya immediately headed for the table, as Venti had saved him a glass. I approached the bar, Diluc cleaning a glass. He hadn't even noticed me yet.
"Boo!" He stopped cleaning the glass and looked up at me, raising a brow. "Damn, I guess I don't share the sneakiness Sucrose has."
"Y/n, good evening," he said, giving me his small smile. "Wolfhook juice?"
"Absolutely!" I said with joy. I set some mora on the counter like usual.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" He complained quietly. "Don't worry about paying, at least for the first glass."
"Nope, I'm paying you." I said, crossing my arms. "What are you going to do, reverse pickpocket me?"
He chuckled under his breath as he poured the juice. "Well, if you insist. At least you pay, unlike Venti over there. I've given up on trying, I think." We gazed over to Venti, downing glasses like usual. "Besides, he's grown on me anyways."
"Yeah, I think I agree."
Diluc set the wolfhook juice on the counter and reluctantly traded it for the mora. "Let me know when you want another glass."
"Will do, thanks," I said, grabbing it and walking over to the table.
Y/n, that was really smooth. Wait, am I praising myself for acting normal around him?
Truth was, my heart was racing like crazy. I could barely think of what to say, and I had to really try not to stutter or say something stupid.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I sat at the the table with Venti and Kaeya. "What did you do today, Venti?"
"Oh, you know, bard stuff... nothing else, of course," He hiccuped, and I raised a brow. "What did you guys do?" He asked.
"We baked a couple pies." I said, glancing at Kaeya, and we cracked smiles.
"Baking?" Venti sat up. "Kaeya, baking?" He eyed him suspiciously. "What for?"
"Fun." Kaeya said simply, although we both chuckled as we looked at each other.
Venti squinted a little. "Is it for... Albedo?"
Kaeya's eye widened before he shoved Venti lightly and looked around quickly.
"What was that for?" Venti said, rubbing his shoulder that Kaeya shoved, smiling a little.
"Don't be so loud!" Kaeya whisper-shouted. "How long have you known?"
"Seriously?" Venti asked.