Opposites Attract | Diluc x Reader

Stalking, Sarcasm, and Recruitment

“Follow them and tell me what’s going on,” Diluc whispered to the bartender who was casually wiping glasses after the whole fiasco.

“Ok Master Diluc,” the bartender nodded before leaving his station in the tavern to Diluc. 

You sat down on one of the seats in front of the table counter waiting to see what Diluc would do. The bartender that Diluc had set out was one of his informants, a shadow Diluc had hired to keep watch around the city. While having a background as a bartender, the real occupation of the man was to inform Diluc of anything going on in the city.

Diluc gave you a glass of Dandelion Wine before moving to one of his customers to serve them their order. You immediately noticed that the tavern was unusually quiet, though, as much would be expected after what just happened.

The simple fact here was that everyone was left out of the loop of something big going on. It was clearly seen from Kaeya’s actions after the mage lady had whispered something to him.

~~~~~

After everyone was generally done with their food and drinks, Diluc ushered everyone out of the tavern leaving only you and him inside. 

“So who was that girl?” You asked first as soon as the door closed. 

“The librarian of the Knights of Favonius, Lisa,” Diluc replied while wiping glasses absentmindedly.

“What do you think is going on?”

Diluc looked at you before bluntly replying, “Let’s wait until my informant is back. I’d rather not make assumptions yet.”

Just as Diluc had said that to you, the bartender from earlier barged into the tavern, his face pale and sweaty. His eyes looking at you and Diluc with worry.

“What’s going on?” Diluc placed the glass he was holding calmly on the counter.

Letting out an exhale, the man leaned on the door, “I was listening on their conversation and-”

Out of nowhere, someone started knocking on the door. DIluc nodded to the man who opened the door hesitantly. There stood none other than the traveler Lumine and along with her was her flying companion Paimon.

“Diluc!” Paimon flew to him, her hand shaking. “We need your help.”

“WIth what,” Diluc raised his eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

“Um,” Paimon suddenly backed away. “Paimon doesn’t mean to be rude or anything but is it fine for them to hear. It’s confidential information that Paimon has.”

Paimon pointed to you and the bartender who had decided to sit down to rest. 

“It’s fine,” Diluc nodded. “They’re people under me.”

“If you say so,” Paimon shrugged before looking towards Lumine. “Do you want to tell him or does Paimon tell him?”

“You should tell him,” Lumine looked away.

“Jean has been kidnapped!” Paimon shouted in her high-pitched voice.

Lumine quickly covered Paimon’s mouth with her hand before muttering, “You don’t have to inform the whole city of this.”

Diluc looked at his informant who simply nodded in agreement. That must have been the information that he had found out.

Sighing, Diluc narrowed his eyes, “And why did you come to me for help. If I remember correctly, you know very well that I don’t work well with the Knights of Favonius. Don’t involve me in their matters.”

“How can you be so cold-hearted?” the usually conserved Lumine suddenly slammed the counter. “Weren’t you her senior back when you were with the Knights of Favonius? Jean has been taking care of the city constantly keeping the peace and now you're just casually here ignoring the situation.”

Closing your eyes, you replied in Diluc’s stead knowing that he would be able to give a proper answer, “Who said that he’s ignoring the situation?”

“Y/n,” Diluc gave you a look that immediately told you that you shouldn’t talk anymore.

“And you are,” Paimon flew right up in your face with a suspicious look.

“Y/n,” you replied to the flying fairy, your eyes dead with boredom.

“What’s your connection with Diluc?”

“What are you,” you scoffed. “His mother? Last I remembered, you don’t need to know everything about him, much less who he comes in contact with.”

Your snarky reply and confident smirk left Diluc shocked. During the times that he had spent time with you, you had never acted like that. Usually, you were composed and respectful. This sarcastic air around you had him confused. 

Was this the real you?

Sighing, you closed you slowly closed and opened your eyes to compose yourself again. For some reason, the flying fairy Paimon had annoyed you to the point of no return that your sarcastic side came loose. It was only in the moments that you were truly annoyed that you let that side of yourself free.

“Sorry about that,” you gave an apologetic smile. “It’s a force of habit.”

Paimon gave you another look of suspicion before flying towards her companion who gave you a small smile from your interaction with Paimon. You smiled back and the two of you exchanged a look of amusement. You knew that if the two of you were to talk, you would immediately click.

“Back to the matter at hand,” Diluc coughed, bringing everyone back to the original subject. “Why are you in need of my help? Can the Knights of Favonius not do this themselves?”

“I talked Kaeya into asking you for help,” Lumine said before Paimon could give an explanation. “After a lot of arguing, he agreed. I know that you have large amounts of connections that would be very useful for us. Not only that, you’re an excellent fighter with well-honed skills. With how things are, you would be a very valuable asset.”

“Why else did you ask Diluc for help,” you looked at Lumine with calculating eyes knowing that what she had said wasn’t the only reason for approaching Diluc.

“We can’t disclose this information to anymore people,” Lumine sighed. “So the current rescue group is quite limited. We need strong and reliable people to help us and Diluc was one of the people I could think of.”

“So who is in this group of yours?” Diluc questioned.

“Me, Kaeya, Eula and hopefully you. Lisa needs to keep things under loop and she is the one of the best people to take charge and Amber isn’t really suited for these things.”

“I-”

“One more thing before you make your final decision,” Lumine’s face darkened. “The Fatui are involved in this.”