Diluc x Reader

9

after picking all the mushrooms in the nearby area with diluc, you two decided it was enough and both simultaneously stood straight again, you swung your bag on your back again and walked over to diluc.

"ive gathered around twenty or so. what about you?" you asked him as you approached him. he held a few mushrooms in his hands since he didnt have any idea on where to put them yet.

he spoke up, "sixteen." diluc simply said. you thought to himself, 'wow he has such a way with words.' you thought after he replied uninterested, he really didnt try to hold a conversation.

you looked down at his hands and turned around, he seemed to understand immediately what you were doing. his free hand made his way to your backpack, unzipping it in the process.

he then carefully placed the remaining mushrooms in there. after he was done he zipped it back up and you turned around as you heard the backpack zip on again.

speaking up, "lets find aether and paimon." you said, wasting absolutely no time in joining them again. in all honesty, you really wanted to eat a fresh mushroom pizza now.

diluc nodded at your statement and walked to the place where the four of you previously seperated ways, close to the statue of the seven at windrise.

you two wandered together side by side without saying a word, you wouldnt blame him though, its only been four weeks since you two knew each other and you didnt start on very proper terms.

besides, this was the first time you two actually had some interaction at all. the only few times youve talked to him where simply to order some non alcoholic drinks at the tavern.

ridding you off your thoughts, you looked straightforward and saw aether and paimon approaching diluc and you from the opposite side of where you came from.

paimon noticed you two walking and being her energetic self, she yelled out, "n/n! we found tons of mushrooms!" she said as she waved at you two.

as you four reunited to the same place, you all discussed about what you guys found. there were plenty of mushrooms now, more than enough to make at least four mushroom pizzas for each person.

aether found along the way some berries and sunsettias, which can be helpful as well. he spoke up, "lets find a place to cook a we walk to dragonspine." he said as he started walking south.

he turned around slightly, looking a bit over his shoulder and continued, "im sure there are some places along the way." aether finished and looked forward again as he started walking.

you nodded at his statement and walked behind him with diluc besides you. paimon was floating in front of diluc, talking about how much she likes food and how she couldnt wait to savor the tastes.

looking in front of you, you saw the giant ice mountain. it was still far away but it certainly had a cold looking presence, some thick clouds were surrounding the peak of the mountain and there was way too much snow to your liking.

as you tilted your head slightly down, you saw a small camp in front of the foot of the mountain. diluc next to you spoke up, "aether, we can cook over there right?" he said as he narrowed his eyes at the camp.

he shifted his gaze to aether, who looked back at diluc and continued, "i recall that camp being a research camp." the red haired man finished.

the blonde boy in front of you wanted to speak up but was interrupted by his excited companion, "thats right, our friend albedo is there often." paimon said as she gave you all a closed eyed smile.

"maybe he is here today too." she retorted and raised her hand to hold her chin, thinking hard about whether albedo would be at the camp or not.

thats when you noticed that the sky was slowly becoming a dark orange, indicating that the sun would set soon. you furrowed you brows and spoke up, "are we going to camp over there?" you asked all of them.

diluc acknowledged your question and thought out loud too, "we do need a place to stay overnight, preferably not dragonspine." he explained while looking ahead.

apperantly none of you guys thought about staying the night, luckily you could probably sleep for some time at the research camp untill dawn. but once you all would enter dragonspine, it would be difficult to find a place to sleep.

you four would spent a fair amount of time in dragonspine, that is because aether had some other things to take care off as well.

as you all approached the camp, you noticed it looked like a decent place to overnight at. it had a blacksmith, several tents set up, a place to cook and more.

paimon broke your observation with her loud voice, "aether, look!" she said as she pointed straight in front of her, towards a certain tent.

she was pointing to a male who had his back turned to you guys, he had ashy light blonde hair reaching below his shoulders, partially pulled back in a neatly braided ponytail.

you immediately saw how similar his coat was to yours. he was wearing a long white coat with short sleeves, a black hood, black and gold details, a golden chain, and lining.

paimon continued as she was still pointing at the man, "albedo really is here!" she finished and aether shifted his head to where paimon was pointing.

the so called albedo heard his name being called and turned around, laying his bright teal eyes on the four of you. aether waved at the young man as he approached him.

diluc and you simply followed, not knowing what else to do. aether stopped in his tracks as he was standing in front of albedo now.

he spoke up, "long time no see." he greeted the young man, albedo curled the tips of his mouth slightly upwards, giving aether a soft smile.

"it really has been a long time." albedo spoke up, right as the words left his mouth, he shifted his eyes to the alchemy table in front of him. he seemed rather occupied with it.

aether wasted no time, he wasnt here for small talk, "we are going to liyue, is it okay for us to stay the night here?" he asked politely while putting his hands on his hips.

albedo who still had his eyes on the alchemy table looked at aether and answered him, "liyue you say?" he asked, completely evading the question.

he raised his hand to hold his chin while looking to the side, he was thinking hard about something but then spoke up, "you should go to iris for that." albedo told aether in a calm tone.

"but im sure she will let you." he quickly added and looked back at the alchemy table, grabbing a few materials in the proces of doing so.

aether nodded and greeted albedo farewell as he made his way to iris, she wasnt too far away. diluc and you stayed behind, not too close to albedo to make sure you didnt interrupt his work.

he spoke up, looking to the side as he did, "there is a fire over there, we can cook there." he said and started walking to the place.

you started walking as well, it was a few steps outside of the camp but at least you could cook some mushroom pizzas now. you opened your mouth as you walked besides diluc, "yea we can better start cooking." you started saying.

"even if we are not allowed to stay, we can still make some food." you concluded while you stopped in your tracks as you reached the small fireplace.

diluc agreed with you, "thats true." he simply said and lowered himself to the small pot. you got your backpack off and placed it on the ground besides you.

you zipped it open and got all necessary ingredients out. suddenly you got a random thought, "what if we cant stay there." you thought out loud as you looked to the side of you, towards the camp.