a huff escaped your mouth as you fell to the dirty ground, hitting your head against a patch of uncut grass that reached your knees, your aching back resting on the floor. you held a hand over your eyes, blocking the sun rays from seeping into your eyes.
a sudden, much larger shadow appeared and stood over you. it engulfed the shadow of your hand, making it look like an ant next to an elephant. you moped in the shade, using this small moment to take a break after a long, seemingly never ending fight.
–"are you just going to laze around?" you heard the familiar smooth voice ask you and you smiled, not wanting to get up.
your eyes fluttered open once again, they squinted for a moment from the overwhelming light. the sight of diluc standing over you arose before you, he held a hand out for you to take a hold of.
not long after a hesitant debate with yourself, you took his hand into yours as he pulled you up with all his strength, making you gasp after almost falling over again.
–"sorry" he laughed before using his claymore to swing against the mitachurl behind him, all you could do was stare in silent awe as the beast fell to the ground.
diluc turned around to look at you again, his bangs falling into his eyes. his hair was begging to be cut.
he looked at something behind you and went to warn you about the second mitachurl that was nearing your guard, until you cut him off by pressing a foot against his chest as you flipped backwards, finally slashing the monster in half, its body disappearing into thin air.
–"sorry" you mocked his tone, followed up by a smirk.
he observed you after you fell to your feet, holding one hand on the ground and spinning your sword in the other with your eyes set on the third lawachurl that was sprinting at the two of you. you were a fast fighter, flexible in many areas.
–"diluc!" you yelled at him after doing a flip over the third lawachurl, touching its shoulders resulting in its body being electrocuted.
he knew exactly what you wanted him do, he sent fire flying the lawachurl's way with a swing of his weapon. the beast fell over after a groan, the body disappeared as did the others'.
you stood up, making your sword disappear with another flip, "that was the last one, wasn't it?" you asked in a rhetoric manor. diluc crossed his arms as he looked away from you and into the distance while you made your way towards him.
–"it's actually really pretty here," you said, looking over the starsnatch cliff, "i never noticed"
diluc stood silent. even though he had no desire to respond to your attempt at small talk, the ghost of a smile played along his lips. you sat down on the ground, swaying your legs over the edge of the cliff.
inhaling the air, you felt a shiver go over your arms and the hairs on them stood up from the cold. as the year made its way into the beginning of november, it got colder with each day that passed. the streets of mond seemed emptier then the leaf-less trees in wolvendom.
diluc and you had been battle partners four times by now, you successfully got through a lot of enemies which led you to grow respect for each other. you still weren't exactly friends, but you were starting to get along better. perhaps it was better this way, you thought.
even though your relationship was changing for the better for once, you could still see a hint of hesitance in dilucs eyes.
–"shall we head back?" he said after letting you enjoy the view for a few minutes.
you hummed, getting up again to start the journey back home. as the two of you walked along and the sun set, you glanced over to the red haired man, taking up the sight of him. his hair was messed up, a small cut on his cheek was present and his eyes were narrowed and set on the path.
he always stirred up a melancholy feeling in the bottom of your stomach and your gut didn't know how to feel, probably from all the butterflies that blinded your vision.
when you felt your face heating up you looked away from him and kept the focus of your eyes on the path, though not the focus of your mind.
you thought back on the memory of how passionate he was back when you were younger, how ecstatic he was on becoming a knight of favonious and how happy he was when he became the cavalry captain. now, he seemed to always be bored; aloof; uninterested; unimpressed. you weren't sure if you missed the old diluc or the old friendship you had together.
diluc looked down at you from the corner of his eyes after noticing your obvious staring, he thought about what you were like when you were younger as well.
you never knew precisely what you wanted to do in life, all you knew was that you wanted to protect the people you cared about, diluc could relate to that. yes, you wanted to be one of the knights as well but you never thought you'd succeed. now that you did, you were so happy. yet it always felt like something was missing.
slowly but surely, the pair of you entered mondstadt. you knew this was going to be the last mission with diluc, knowing everything got taken care of and all the emergencies had been cleared out.
–"so," diluc began then sighed in defeat, "this is it?" it was stupid of him to ask that as you both knew the answer, but he still did. maybe he wanted a different answer?
he seemed dissapointed in a way, his eyes glooming over everything but you. your shoulders relaxed after being unknowingly tense. you opened your mouth to tell him something before being interrupted by yet another familiar, feminine voice.
–"hey! you're back!!" a loud, joyful amber was spotted behind you with a bucket in her hands.
–"what are you doing?" you asked, glancing at the bucket.
–"i'm glad you asked, i could really use another pair of hands" she began, "this is for flora, said she needed it for some flower thing? i don't know, i'm not a professional in gardening" she snorted at her own joke.
diluc had one eyebrow raised but didn't question it, "i've got some business in dawn winery so if you'll excuse me-" he said before he simply left without another word. he didn't even turn around to look at the two of you.
amber watched him leave you two, she shrugged, still hugging the bucket in her hands. you ended up helping amber and flora after your roommate explained to you what needed to be done, it was part of a commission.
–"you are coming to kaeyas birthday party, right?" she asked you while the two of you walked along the shore by the side of mondstadt.
it was already dark out, the only light coming from inside the walls of mond. the sound of waves pushing and pulling calmed your mind as you found a good spot at the docks to sit at.
this was yet another tradition you had with amber, getting a bottle of wine or apple cider and heading down to the docks to drink and simply enjoy each other's presence with chats and laughs. it only happened about twice or thrice a month though, mostly when you didn't feel like going to the tavern.
–"wow, he's already planned it? isn't it a bit early for that?" you genuinely asked.
you opened the bottle of dandelion wine, knowing not to let amber open it. every time amber tried to open the bottle, something bad would happen like the bottle slipping out of her hands and falling into the water or somehow breaking it, making the glass burst everywhere.
a lot of bandages were wasted on an evening like that, neither of you were dissapointed though, you just laughed it off.
–"well it's not planned out yet, but he told me to ask you if you're coming. i think he's making a guest list?" she asked herself, rubbing her chin as you filled her glass with the dark red liquid.
–"oh- i'm definitely coming. i mean i have to, right?" you said, the thought of diluc joining the party crossed your mind.
amber took a sip from her glass, looking at you from the edge of it. she got an intrigued look in her eyes as she put the glass down on the wooden dock that seemed to be darker then usual from the moisture. she looked as if she had just read your mind.
–"you know," she started, "diluc is going to be there"
you felt your ears light up on fire when she said that and you spit your drink out, fortunately it was towards the water instead of amber. it wouldn't be the first time that happened, though.
–"really?" you stuttered out, holding one hand over your chest from almost choking on your drink.
the brunette girl who sat with her legs crossed only smirked at you teasingly. she found you so easy to read, at times you were kind of grateful for that.
the moon shone bright, no clouds in sight. you were grateful it was night, though, as amber couldn't see your face redden at the mention of the man.
amber knew you liked him, it was obvious to her. she could be a real klutz sometimes, but she was the bestest, most understanding friend you ever had. you were glad you could be the same kind of friend for her.
–"you should really tell him" she said, knowing you knew what she meant.
–"what if he doesn't feel the same way?" you asked her, even though you were staring at the waves that blinked at you.
–"then he's an idiot!" she exclaimed, which made you laugh out.
–"thanks amber, maybe i will"
–"you must!" she insisted, continuing to drink from her glass.
you looked back at her with a thankful smile, inhaling the minty night air while your palms held your body upwards. you looked up at the stars, thinking about absolutely nothing and purely enjoying the moment.
–"oh and also," amber looked at you again, "i've heard some talk about giving you a promotion at the knights" she said casually.
–"what?!" you straightened your head to look at her so fast you got mild whiplash.
–"yeah, jean suggested it cause she saw how amazing you've been all these years and how great of a leader you can be" you couldn't believe your ears, "but you've gotta pretend like you don't know, okay? i'm telling you this so you don't flip at the celebration" she admitted, playing with the glass in her hand.
you nodded urgently, a big grin that reached both ears was present on your face now and you had almost completely forgotten about diluc.
–"thank you for telling me," you chuckled, "wait- you said celebration?"
she gave you a smiling nod. now you were a bit nervous to accept a promotion in front of so many people. you knew how grand the celebratory galas were and who you'd have to impress. on one hand it was exciting and refreshing, the galas, yet on the other hand they could be exhausting.
–"um, do you know what title i'll be getting?" you asked in hesitance.
–"not quite, i know it's not gonna be, like, the highest title but a pretty high title" she shrugged, "you'll be fine, i know it" she smiled as she tried reassuring your running thoughts.
you unclenched your jaw when she said that and you hummed in reply, sighing in a thoughtful relief.
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a/n: hope you enjoyed this chapter ^^, as you can see i've lowered the "every week an update" to "every 5 days an update"
i've also got an angsty xiao x reader in my drafts 😏, would anybody be interested in reading it?