Through Thick and Thin- Diluc x (female) Reader

Chapter 10: Diona, Bartender of the Cats Tail!

At noon, I waved goodbye to Albedo and Sucrose. "I'll be back in a minute," I said as I closed the lab door behind me.
Kaeya was already waiting for me. In his hand he held a letter, sealed carefully with wax. When he saw me, he tucked it in his coat, and I caught a peek of a Cecilia hidden within.
He seemed awfully quiet. "You ready to give Albedos his gift?" I said, smiling.
"I suppose I can't wait forever," He said, although beneath his confident exterior he seemed tense. We walked up the stairs together to grab the pies from my room which I had stored on my dresser, covered so they would remain fresh.
As we made our way down the hallway, I began to get lost in thought. My heart pounded as I thought about giving the pie to Diluc. What if he didn't like it? No, that's ridiculous, I spent hours on it. He even asked if he could try some. But what if he takes it as a friendly gift, and I chicken out of telling him? I'd end up in the friend zone forever for sure.
Before I even knew it, I was at the door to my room. "I'll take one and you take one," I said. I grabbed a pie in the room, Kaeya grabbing the one next to it. I heard him sigh and take a deep breath. "Are you nervous?"
He was silent for a moment as we walked down the hall. "I didn't think I would get this far if I'm being honest," Kaeya straightened his back. "Maybe it's not too late to back out..."
"Are you kidding?" I said, looking to him. "You gave me this exact talk yesterday, didn't you?" Chuckling, I nudged him a a little. "You'll be fine. I promise."
Kaeya sighed. "I'll take you up on that promise," He smiled a little.
He stopped at the door to the lab. "Deep breath, you'll be fine." I said, leaning on the door. "Ill get Sucrose out of there so you can have some time alone," I winked.
His cheeks tinted pink for a moment, but quickly went back to normal when I pushed my back on the door, opening the lab. "Surprise!" I yelled.
Albedo, who had been turned towards the mist flower, peeked his head around. "Kaeya?" He said, turning and walking over.
"We made some pies yesterday, Kaeya worked pretty hard you know," I said to him. Spotting Sucrose in the corner, I set my pie down and gestured for her to come over. "I promised you I'd give you a piece, come on."
She shyly came over and stood by me. "It looks... good," she said quietly.
"Albedo, you don't mind if I borrow Sucrose for lunch right?" I looked over to him. "Albedo?"
He had stopped a few feet from Kaeya, who stood there frozen. Kaeya looked like he needed my help...
"Yeah, that's fine," Albedo said, although I didn't think he was listening to me. "I'll be here..."
Oh, maybe it was going okay. "Alright, see you Kaeya!"
"Okay..." he said quietly. Realizing he was still frozen with the pie in his hands, he set it down as sucrose and I made our way out.
I grabbed Sucrose and hastily made my way out of the lab. With my sister in one hand and the pie in the other, I dragged her out of the lab and to good hunter.
"Woah! S-slow down!" Sucrose said, her hand on her hat to keep it from flying off. "Why are we going so quickly?"
"I'm wingmanning, don't worry about it!" I shouted as we flew down the steps and into the courtyard.

"I see..." she said as we sat at a table outside good hunter. "So you're helping him? That's why you were baking the pie?"
"Yeah. And wolfhook pie is pretty good, so I wanted to make some for us," I smiled. I had actually made some for Diluc, but I wasn't sure I wanted to tell her. I didn't need an 'I knew all along' moment right now. "What are you going to get?"
"Cant I just have a slice of pie?" She reached for the pie I had set out on the table. I slapped her hand away slightly. "Hey! W-what was that for?" She exclaimed somewhat meekly.
"You can't have desert before your meal!" I said. "You're older than me, you should know that."
She groaned quietly as she rested her head in her hands. "You're right..."
"Okay then," I said, crossing my arms. "What do you want to get? I'll pay this time."
She perked up. "Well... I guess I'll get some grilled fish."
"Sucrose, you always get that," I complained. "Why not try the chicken mushroom skewer? Or the mushroom pizza? Diluc and I had that when we went out— ...when we went on a picnic."
She side-eyed me for a moment before sighing. "I definitely don't want mushrooms."
"Why?" I asked, confused. "You used to love them."
"That was before I learned bio-alchemy..." she shivered. "No thanks..."
"Okay, fine. I guess I'll try the same thing," I got up to order the food.
Walking to the counter, I began to speak to the lady. "Hello again y/n!" She said.
"Hey," I said in greeting. "Just two orders of Mondstadt grilled fish please."
I heard a small voice behind me. "Make it three!" She said.
I turned around but saw no one there, confused, I turned around again. "Did you hear that?"
The lady laughed. "Hi Diona, the usual grilled fish again?"
Diona? I turned around again, this time looking down. "Oh! Diona?"
My ears perked when I saw her. She was just like me? Her ears matched a calico cat, and she had a tail to go with it.
"Who are you?" She said sassily. "Hey wait a minute..." she said, her hands in her hips. "Is this a prank?"
"Huh?" My ears twitched in confusion. "A prank?"
"You even got them to move! Well, you're not fooling me!" Diona said, smiling wide. "Diona, bartender of the cats tail," She said proudly. I had thought Diona would have been an adult, since she was a bartender.
"You can take the ears off now, stop copying me!" She said, stomping her little foot on the ground. Her ears twitched in anger, something I was also familiar with.
I chuckled a little. "It's nice to meet you Diona. I'm y/n, Sucroses sister," I gestured over to the table where Sucrose was sitting, causing her to freeze for a moment.
"Sucrose? Like the alchemist?" She raised a brow. "I'm not buying it."
"She's right over there." I pointed again, leaning to her level.
Diona turned her head towards the table. "Oh..." Her ears went down. "My bad... haha."
I smiled. "It's okay. Do you want to eat with us? We're all getting the same thing anyways."
She thought about it for a second. "We've got pie, too," I added.
"Well okay, if you insist," She ran over to sit with Sucrose, who she started to talk with. Sucrose seemed a little nervous at first, but soon began to warm up to Diona.
Leaning back up to the counter, I ordered the food. "Three orders of the grilled fish."