LOYALTY. | diluc x reader

three - resentful grudges

–"this is bad" you said for the sixth time in a row as you walked in an endless circle while hugging yourself and holding one hand over your mouth.

–"can you please stop saying that and explain what happened?" amber, who sat at your dining table asked as she watched you walk like a fly.

–"oh, this is so, so bad" you said once again making amber groan.

you had just come back from visiting jean in her office where she spoke to you about the new upcoming mission of having to fight a camp of skirmishers somewhere near some ruins close to monstadt. everything was going fine until she told you who would be paired with you for the mission. you usually fought and trained alone, which you didn't mind.

you laughed nervously as you remembered her saying you would be fighting with diluc, considering how your electro vision would go greatly with his pyro vision. how she got him to join a battle for the knights of favonious was beyond you.

–"i'm gonna be fighting along diluc in a team all because of some stupid skirmishers that made themselves a nice little camp in the middle of some damn ruins near mondstadt" you said all in one breath, looking at everything but amber who you were talking to in the beginning.

–"now i know i'm supposed to understand you because i myself talk fast, but could you slow down?" she asked.

inhaling then exhaling, you finally looked at amber and told her the situation to which she simply held her eyebrows raised up in disbelief.

–"why would jean do that?" amber asked you, coming over to you to give you a hug.

you hugged her back after a moment of staying silent, not knowing the answer either. your eyebrows furrowed as you exhaled once again.

–"never in all my 21 years of living have i been stuck in such an awkward situation" you admitted to the shorter girl.

–"i wish i could be there for you"

in that moment you wondered what diluc thought of this situation. surely she had told diluc about having to be in a team with you?

after weeks of preparations - that mainly consisted of training - for the battle, the day had come when you would have to face the red haired man. you understood this wasn't going to be an easy battle, especially considering the fact that these were skirmishers twice or thrice your size so you ensured you would be properly fit for the battle.

it was becoming a crisis how many skirmishers had appeared almost out of nowhere.

you waved goodbye to your roommate amber as you left the gates of mondstadt. you walked towards the end of the bridge where a familiar shade of scarlet red and dark clothing was standing, holding a beautiful bird on his gloved hand. you felt your heart drop to your stomach before approaching him.

–"hey" you simply said after arguing with yourself over what to tell him when seeing him face to face.

–"hey" he repeated as he looked at you then back to his bird which he scratched then sent to fly away.

–"that's a nice birdie" you said, trying not to make the air around you as awkward as it really was.

–"thank you," he began, then after a moment spoke up again, "shall we?"

you nodded as the two of you walked for about an hour in almost a complete silence. you spoke a few words to each other every now and then, only small talk though.

you hoped the uncomfortable atmosphere your relationship gave off wasn't going to affect the way you performed when fighting skirmishers. luckily it didn't.