jean, you need to take a break

dumb blonde, red haired idiot

"must you insist i take time away from work? you have work of your own do you not?" the blonde enquired as they both exited her office

"i do insist yes, you can't spend all of your time being consumed by piles of work that just keep growing. a break wouldn't hurt now would it?" diluc responded, ignoring the last question

however jean didn't care that he ignored the last question as perhaps she'd find out that he have an important matter to attend to later on during the day and she'd take it as an opportunity to work again. the blonde huffed moodily, almost childlike

the pair left the knights of favonius headquarters and both stopped walking as they got outside.

"so where would you like to go?" jean asked to break the awkward silence

"it's up to you, i'm not the one who sits in a stuffy office all day and hasn't been in fresh air since that battle with stormterror" diluc joked, which was a rare occurrence

"oh stop it, at least i don't spend my time around drunkards" the blonde answered back

"you failed to stay on topic, but in all seriousness you should pick before i just take you to ellin" he half joked, he knew how much she doesn't enjoy being around ellin.

jean doesn't hate ellin, she just thinks ellin admires her a bit too much to the point it makes her feel a tiny bit insecure and awful. her humble personality couldn't take it, she feels she has the same amount of importance as the other knights.

"um.. well i haven't been to windrise in a while" she replied

"off to windrise we go then" he said as he hesitantly linked arms with the blonde

jean noticed his successful attempt and decided to question it "what do you think you're doing?"

"making sure you don't run off" he replied as a hint of red flooded his cheeks, he was uncertain if it was embarrassment or his feelings acting up but he quickly snapped out of it

the two slowly made their way to windrise, jean was quick to admire the ancient tree stood before the giant field. she didn't say a word though, she was too mesmerised by it. diluc noticed this and for a while they walked towards it in silence until it was time for the silence to be broken.

"you seem to like windrise a lot judging by your expressions" diluc pointed out

"i do yes, i remember when we were younger we'd come here when i had spare time after training and we used to play here a lot. it was our favourite place" the blonde recollected

it was something they both remembered quite clearly. the times when they were close, the times where work didn't do them apart as much, the times before she became the acting grand master. oh how he missed those times a lot. he'd do anything to get those times back or restore them.

"i remember that too, good times those were. perhaps coming here is a sign for us to come here more often" he said

"that'd be nice" she smiled

diluc never wanted to admit it but every time jean smiled he could feel his heart melting a little, almost as if it warmed his heart and made him a bit softer. he really liked seeing her happy, it put him at peace. catching sight of her smile caused him to smile back slightly, another rare occurrence

when she noticed his smile she thought about how she hadn't seen it since they were kids and how she had missed the softer side of him.

"i haven't seen you do that in years, it's nice to see your smile again" jean stated

hearing this made diluc feel even more soft than before. he felt happier. he didn't want his soft side to show again so he quickly changed his expression

"is that so? well i'm glad it's a sight you can enjoy i guess" he replied

an awkward silence fell upon the two but neither cared, they were enjoying the scenery whilst thinking of what to say to the other next. luckily, jean had an idea that'd bring the two even closer

"diluc, do you want to go back to mondstadt? there's something i need to do there" she asked

"as long as it isn't work" he answered slightly grumpily but only because he was adamant he didn't want her to work and because he didn't want her to be away from him

she practically dragged him to mondstadt like a child tugging on their parents arm when they're being too slow. she was excited for this opportunity

"you stay here okay? i'll be right back" she said as she rushed into marjorie's shop

diluc waited patiently for the blonde and around 5 minutes later she exited the shop

she came out with two small boxes that looked as if they contained jewellery

"you're back, and just what have you bought?" he asked

"i'm glad you asked" she said as she opened one of the boxes "well, i saw some nice necklaces in the shop and i thought that it'd suit you" she put the necklace around dilucs neck

he sighed but shortly after he decided that this necklace wasn't a bad thing after all "why thank you, may i ask why you have a second box?"

"it's for me, we're matching now" she smiled again

he felt the happy warm feeling in his heart again and the more it occurred the more he craved it. he couldn't quite tell himself, but he was in love with her. his feelings never cooperated with him in the slightest but today they decided to help him come to that conclusion

jean put on her necklace and handed diluc a box in case he didn't want to wear it but in reality he knew he'd never be taking it off.

the two spent some more time in mondstadt, they by the cathedral to look at the view of mondstadt from below and spent part of the night at the cat's tail.

as night grew nearer they both came to the conclusion that they'd have to part ways for the night. they both didn't want that to happen but it was going to whether they liked it or not. they were stood outside the cat's tail now

"it's getting quite late, don't you think? perhaps i should walk you back" diluc offered

"oh, it is. i didn't realise, well you can if you'd like to" said the blonde

he kept to his word and walked her back to headquarters

"we're here now. i'll be seeing you tomorrow, alright? don't you try to work all night."

"you've seen right through me" jean chuckled

"well you better not work tonight. i have an idea of something nice we could do tomorrow and i'm sure you'd want to visit starsnatch cliff with me" he tempted her

"i'd like that a lot" she smiled

"well sleep. goodnight dumb blonde"

"dumb blo- that makes you a red haired idiot" she laughed slightly

"whatever, just go to sleep. goodnight" he said, successfully containing his laughter

"goodnight red haired idiot" she said softly

they both parted ways, diluc went back to dawn winery and they both slept for the night. the two were excited to see eachother tomorrow, especially jean. she was glad that it didn't seem he felt forced to be around her and it was more by choice. it was a choice she was glad that he made because now she wanted to be around him all of the time. she had to shut these thoughts down as they were too self indulgent for her liking