EARLIER IN THE DAY . . .
"What was so important you had to meet me here?" Red eyes observed the grey-haired male sitting in front of him. He tapped his fingers against the counter while waiting on the answer.
"You know Childe and Kaeya are in town, right?" Alhaitham said, taking out his phone and opening up to Kamsta.
"Well yes, it is winter break after all. What is your point?" Diluc raised an eyebrow at his friend's sudden actions.
Alhaitham showed him a picture of Kaeya with Childe, who was sulking on top of a table with a puddle of tears around him. "My friends and I are going to be coming to your tavern tonight. I tried talking them out of it but looks like they really want to be here. Cyno, Kaven, Tighnari, and I will be playing cards tonight."
Diluc sighed, propping his elbow up and pressing his fingers into the side of his head. "Get to the point already."
Alhaitham had navigated his way to Mona's Kamsta page, clicking on a picture of her with (Y/N). He turned the phone around once again to Diluc, pointing his finger at the other girl in the picture. "Do not let those two near her. At all."
"I'm not some babysitter Alhaitham. I am a business owner." Diluc tapped the wooden table at each of his words.
"You owe me a favor if I recall correctly." Diluc turned his lip up at Alhaitham who had a small smirk on his face. Oh how much the redhead hated dealing with this peculiar man when it came down to matters like these.
Outside of owing favors, Alhaitham was a pleasant person to be around. The two had things in common and understand things to the same extent, and even had a similar problem. Having that one person in their life who would always seem to annoy them or find a way to get under their nails.
"And what am I exactly supposed to do? I can tell Kaeya not to step foot in the tavern, but it's not he will listen." This was true, even though their relationship was quite a finicky one, Kaeya always had selective hearing for whatever Diluc had told him not to do. Almost like a child doing as they pleased without caring about the consequences after.
"Be intimidating. Just don't cross the line." Alhaitham narrowed his eyes as Diluc realized what was going on.
Ah, so that's what this is about.
"Do you like this girl?" Diluc asked the question when Alhaitham had picked up his glass of water. The glass wavered in his hand slightly, the water threatening to spill over had the movement been a bit more vigorous.
"Like?" Alhaitham casually took a sip of his water and set the glass back down on the table. He took a quick glance to the sitting area of the tavern while doing so."Perhaps I do."
The redhead raised his gloved hand, with his palm facing upwards as if he was offering something up. "Then why don't tell her to stay back?"
"That would be cruel, would it not? I'm not that heartless. Come on Diluc, you know me better than that."
"Then keep her at your side then. I'm not your personal babysitter. Why don't you ask Albedo? He babysits Klee often, I'm sure he can do the job just fine."
Alhaitham glared at the redhead's sarcasm, who chuckled in response. "That would cause her trouble if I did that. She's friends with Mona and Layla, the astrology lovers. They keep telling her the stars know her fate. Even though (Y/N) beat around the bush with it, (Y/N)'s friends are telling her two of us will end up together."
Diluc scoffed upon hearing the astrology and stars nonsense, as he had heard plenty of that from Mona when she first moved to Mondstadt.
"You owe me a favor, and you're going to do this for me." Alhaitham brought up the favor topic once again, keeping his gaze on the redhead.
"Then you'll owe me one for doing this for you," Diluc said, taking a sip of his grape juice.
"It's settled then." Alhaitham extended his arm across the table and opened his hand. Diluc sighed as he grabbed his friend's hand to shake it.
The two retracted their arms back, each taking a sip of their drinks at the same time. "So, what do you want me to do exactly?"
"Keep those two away from her. Simple as that. They'll probably sneak in when you aren't at the counter. They'll have an inside connection more than likely to let them know where you are." Alhaitham started to list out potential outcomes as if he was conducting results for research purposes.
"Right, don't you think (Y/N) will be concerned about some stranger coming up to her knowing her name, and telling her to follow me?"
"Just don't make it awkward," Alhaitham suggested, Diluc feeling his eyebrow twitch slightly.
Sometimes Alhaitham's stubbornness was a bit too much for him. Though he wasn't one to talk when it came to being stubborn.
"Kaveh isn't going to drink away my tavern, is he?" Diluc asked with a stern look.
"It would be interesting if he did. He might since he's not in the same vicinity as me for the time being." Alhaitham shrugged his shoulders as he didn't care what the blond was going to do. Alhaitham knew that he wouldn't have to wear his soundproof earphones tonight, hopefully.
Diluc turned around, raising a hand up at his friend. "Alright, you should get going now. I'll take care of those two if they try anything tonight. Don't go too crazy on the alcohol."
Alhaitham looked off to the side as he felt dread slowly crawling up his arm. "Don't let Cyno order the hardest liquor."
"Before I let you all step foot in here tonight, do you all have designated drivers home?" Diluc turned back to look at Alhaitham, who had a blank expression on his face.
"I'm sure we will. Layla probably won't drink, she can take Mona and (Y/N) if those two decide to drink."
"And you?" The redhead asked, Alhaitham shrugging once more. "You could drive me back to my place."
Diluc let out a sudden laugh which made his friend narrow his eyes. "Read the room. Get (Y/N) to drive you home. If Layla and Mona are this invested in what the stars are telling them, they will leave her behind."
Alhaitham propped his elbow up and turned away, covering the lower part of his face. "I don't think that will happen." His ear tips were slightly warm at Diluc's suggestion.
Diluc smiled at the grey-haired male, shaking his head at his actions. "If you see those two sneak in while I'm not visible, shoot me a text. That way your friends won't be suspicious of your actions. I'm sure you can't reason for calling me over or walking over to me and two minutes later I'm walking down with the girl you like."
"Yeah, whatever. Just make sure those two don't try anything funny. Childe and Lumine aren't a thing right now." Alhaitham reminded Diluc, who nodded.
"Oh, I know. Jean has already told me. It was quite a bit of a scene that was made, wasn't it?"
"I wouldn't know, I wasn't there. Remember, I'm the antisocial one." Alhaitham pointed to himself as if he in a way mocking Diluc.
"Says the one who has a crush on someone."
Alhaitham suddenly got up and he placed his hands on the counter with some force. "I'll see you tonight." With that, the grey-haired male exited the tavern, leaving Diluc standing there all by himself. Or well, so he thought it was the two of them.
"Diluc, I don't think I should've been here for that conversation."
"He knew you were here. Otherwise, he would've called you out. He's sharper than you think."
Jean smiled sheepishly as she let out a small laugh. "Yes, he's the one who's majoring in three subjects, right?"
"He's a studyholic to a lot of people. I'm intrigued to see who this (Y/N) is that caught his eye."
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ACCIDENTAL√ WILL BE ON BREAK NEXT WEEK (02/22)
> IRL MATTERS TO ATTEND TO <
stay healthy and remember to take care of yourselves
SEE YOU 03/01 (march 1st) utc-5 — utc-8 10:00—13:00 est post time
posting early or else I wouldn't have been able to post on the scheduled day.
ANXME