Chapter Text
Kaeya stepped into the house and stopped, his eyes landing on Ajax, who was sitting at the table. He and Diluc had been talking all morning while the kids chased each other around the table with their plushies, giggling.
“When did you get here?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
“A couple nights ago.” Ajax answered, smiling at him. “It’s good to see you again.”
“I guess it’s good to see you, too.” Kaeya still looked confused. “I didn’t hear anything about you being in town.”
“I don’t think a lot of people noticed me. People seem to be noticing the fact that Diluc’s been walking around the city with children a lot more than anything else.” Ajax pointed out.
“I guess you have a point there. I did hear about him walking around town with the kids yesterday.” Kaeya looked at Alex and Alina. “Are you two ready to go? I thought we’d go to Wolvendom and visit Razor today.”
“Ooh!” Alex nodded and ran over to Kaeya with a big grin. Alina followed behind him.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Kaeya patted Alex on the head before turning to Diluc. “I’ll be back in a couple hours. You wouldn’t mind if I stayed for dinner, would you?”
“That’s fine. Is Albedo already back on Dragonspine? He only got back a few days ago.” Diluc frowned.
“You know him. He can’t stand being away from that mountain for more than a couple days. I’m supposed to be bringing Klee up to visit him tomorrow.” Kaeya sighed. “I’ll see you later, ‘Luc.”
Once the kids were gone, Ajax turned to Diluc. “We didn’t really get around to it, but we are supposed to be discussing the whole marriage thing, aren’t we?”
Immediately, Diluc’s face turned red with blush. “Yes, I suppose we should discuss that.”
“Have you really never talked about marrying anyone?” Ajax asked, tilting his head.
“There was a point when I talked to Jean about it. Something of a security measure so people wouldn’t think that two people from big family names had some sort of aversion to marriage.” Diluc answered. “But that was before she met Lisa. And before I met you.”
“Huh. I find it hard to imagine you and her together.” Ajax said. “Anyway, how exactly would this work between us? With my mission, I can’t really go around wearing an engagement ring. There are a lot of people that don’t like me and they’d probably try to track down whoever gave me that ring.”
“I’d like to see them try anything.” Diluc muttered, scowling.
Ajax chuckled. “I would, too, honestly. But still, I’d rather not risk revealing you to any of my enemies, even if you could easily tear through them.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “We could make an official announcement whenever my mission is over and I can finally leave the Fatui altogether.”
“An official announcement.” Diluc sighed. “I’m not sure that’s something I’d look forward to.”
“Why not? Isn’t that how it usually works with big name families like this? Even though Mondstadt doesn’t have a monarch or anything, you big name families still follow the lines that most important families do, don’t you?” Ajax asked.
“Yes. We do. Which would mean an official announcement. My father said he did the same thing when he married my mother and when I was born. And I’m technically supposed to do an official announcement about the kids, but I have yet to do that.” Diluc shook his head. “Custom here in Mondstadt for important families is that other large families will get gifts befitting the announcement. So, my announcement about Alina and Alex would probably lead to a lot of gifts for them, whereas our engagement announcement would lead to a lot of gifts and congratulations for us.”
“You don’t like those customs, do you? You don’t seem to like much that comes with the Ragnvindr name.” Ajax reached over and grabbed one of Diluc’s hands, running his thumb over his knuckles soothingly. “Maybe we don’t need to do the whole official announcement bit. We can just do this for us. You know, leave all those customs behind.”
“We could.” Diluc slowly nodded. “Hm…”
Ajax watched his boyfriend quietly for a moment. “Is there any family we’d receive backlash from for not following customs?”
“Only one, really. But they’re an odd case. They already don’t like my family very much. Or any of the other big name families in Mondstadt.” Diluc answered.
“Wait, why?” Ajax frowned.
“The Lawrence Clan. They tried to take Mondstadt over and form an aristocracy, but Barbatos was quick to stop them when they got out of hand. They destroyed the original statue of Barbatos in hopes of destroying the promise that had originally been made by all the big families of Mondstadt and formed more of a tyranny. Now, they don’t really like any of the other big families.” Diluc explained. “There’s really only one of them that doesn’t look at the other big families in some sort of negative way, which is their eldest daughter, Eula. She’s a part of the Knights, but the Lawrence Clan also doesn’t like the Knights, so she was essentially disowned by them for joining.”
“That’s just cruel.” Ajax muttered, scowling. “Anyway, how many big families are even in Mondstadt?”
“Three, currently. I believe there were more in the past, but the Ragnvindr, Lawrence, and Gunhildr clans are probably the largest ones that still remain.” Diluc answered. “The eldest children from each clan are myself, Eula, and Jean.”
“Huh.” Ajax nodded slowly. “Wait, are there any other kids? I know you and Kaeya are the Ragnvindr clan heirs or whatever, but what about the others?”
“I don’t know about the Lawrence Clan, but Jean has a younger sister. She’s the head deaconess of the cathedral. Her name is Barbara, but she doesn’t share the same last name as Jean.” Diluc answered. “This isn’t what we were supposed to be discussing.”
“I know. I just find it fascinating.” Ajax shrugged. “It’s interesting how even though Mondstadt has never really… well, aside from one, they’ve never really had a ruler. But it’s interesting how big name families follow the customs that ruling families would have probably followed.”
“You aren’t from a very big name family, are you?” Diluc asked.
“No. I’m not.” Ajax chuckled. “I come from a tiny port town in Snezhnaya. You’ve seen the place. The only reason they have it so good now is because I send them money.” For a moment he fell silent. “Oh right. Money… When I leave the Fatui-”
“I’ll take care of it.” Diluc interrupted. Ajax looked at him with wide eyes. “I’ve got more than enough. I can spare some for your family as well.”
Ajax smiled at him. “How did I ever manage to find someone like you?”
“If I remember correctly, you picked me up out of the snow when I was half dead and brought me back to life.” Diluc chuckled.
“I guess I’m lucky I went for that angry walk that day.” Ajax said.
“What?” Diluc raised an eyebrow at him.
“Did I not tell you what led to me finding you? I was angry because they weren’t telling me anything about you aside from your name. I had no idea where you were from or anything. I could only guess you were from Mondstadt from your name.” Ajax shook his head. “I was so mad that I decided to go for a walk around the edge of the city to cool down. I even considered leaving and finding some big monster to fight, but then I found you. At the time, when I brought you back to the palace, I couldn’t help but think that it was probably the stupidest decision I’d ever made in my life.”
“It could have been.” Diluc said. “I guess we both got lucky.”
“You know, sometimes I think it was more than luck.” Ajax said. “Did you know that the Tsaritsa was originally known as the Goddess of Love? I wonder sometimes if this wasn’t a result of her interference. Or maybe I was somehow influenced to go on that walk to find you. Like maybe she knew that I’d love you, so she sent me to you or something.”
“Maybe it was.” Diluc shrugged. “Archons are strange. I’ll never really understand them.”
“Speaking of Archons. That bard that keeps appearing all over the place. Who is he?” Ajax asked. “He seems to know a lot.”
“Venti.” Diluc sighed. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you the truth. He is the Anemo Archon. He just doesn’t want most people knowing.”
“Wow. You know some pretty powerful people, firefly.” Ajax chuckled. “The Eleventh Fatui Harbinger and the Anemo Archon?”
“Venti swears by being the weakest of the Seven.” Diluc said, shaking his head. “I’m not sure I believe him. I’ve read stories about Barbatos many times. They don’t depict him as being weak by any means, at least, not the ones about Durin. Even if that dragon was taken down by Dvalin, it was with Barbatos’s help that Dvalin even had a chance in the first place, according to that story.”
“Hm. Maybe he’s the weakest of the Seven, but Archons in general aren’t weak, right? Most of them have immense strength that humans couldn’t possibly compare to.” Ajax pointed out. “Besides, stories I’ve heard of Barbatos mainly led to him finding a way to talk his way out of situations.”
“Most of the stories of Barbatos are like that. He seems rather good with words.” The redhead said.
“Alright, well, back on track. How is this whole marriage thing between us going to work? And… is that what you want? If not, we can keep it how it is. We don’t have to take the next-”
“I want to marry you.” Diluc said, his face turning red with blush again. Ajax blinked, taken aback by the interruption. Then, he grinned.
“Well, we can figure it all out then. After my mission, we’ll sit down and really decide how this is going to go.” Ajax said. “Hm, but no announcements.”
“Right.” Diluc nodded. “There’s no need, really. We’ll just tell our close friends and family.”
“Perfect.” Ajax nodded, smiling. “That’s perfect.”
~~~
And perfect it really was. The rest of his week off, Ajax spent as much time with his new family as he could. Then, it was back to the mission.
Two years later, Ajax had finally moved into the winery and was officially married to Diluc. He woke up to someone shaking him excitedly only a week after they had gotten back from a honeymoon in Fontaine. “Papa! Dad! Wake up!” Alex yelled. Ajax groaned and looked over at his son, who was grinning at him, his silver eyes shining with excitement. “Come on! Miss Adelinde made pancakes! You have to get up now!”
“Okay, okay, we’re up.” Diluc grumbled, sitting up and rubbing his face.
Alex giggled and ran over to the door. “C’mon, we can’t be late!” He yelled before taking off down the hall.
“He’s going to fall down the stairs one of these days.” Diluc muttered.
“I don’t know about that. He hasn’t yet, has he?” Ajax chuckled. “Hm, why is he so excited again?”
Diluc chuckled. “Did you already forget? Today’s the first day of the Windblume festival. He wants to be first in line for everything. He rushed me out of bed last year, too.” The redhead got out of bed and stretched. “C’mon. If we don’t go downstairs soon, he’ll come back up and yell at us again. Or Adelinde will come after us.”
“Alright.” Ajax at up and yawned.
It didn’t take long for them to get ready and head downstairs. Both Alina and Alex were already eating their pancakes. Well, Alex would have been eating if he wasn’t being chided by Adelinde.
“You can’t eat so quickly, Master Alex. You’ll make yourself sick.” She muttered, frowning at him.
“Funny.” Diluc said. “Kaeya got in trouble for the same thing a few times. He used to get really excited every time there was a festival. Ludi Harpastum is his favorite festival.”
“Ludi Harpastum, huh?” Ajax smiled. “How do the kids like that festival?”
“I think Alex just likes festivals in general.” Diluc sat down in his seat and started fixing the pancakes that were already sitting there. Ajax took his seat between Alex and Diluc.
“Dad, you don’t have to work today, right?” Alina asked.
“No, but I do need to check in on everything.” Diluc answered. “I have work tomorrow.”
“Isn’t the tavern doing an outdoor booth for the festival?” Alex asked. Diluc nodded at him. “I want to stop and say hi to Charles.”
Ajax had just taken his first bite of pancake when the front door opened and in barreled a little girl with blonde hair tied up in pigtails. “Alex, Alina!” She climbed up into the chair next to Alina. “Ooh, pancakes!”
“Klee, quiet down. Indoor voice.” Albedo said as he followed her inside. Kaeya was right behind him.
“Your hair’s braided today?” Ajax tilted his head.
“Albedo’s doing.” Kaeya answered. “Klee wanted us to match.”
“That’s cute.” Ajax chuckled.
Albedo sat down across from Alex and looked up at Kaeya as he sat beside him, across from Ajax. “Do you have to work at the tavern today, Diluc?”
“No. Charles will be handling everything today. I just have to stop by and check in.” The redhead answered.
“You’re still up for taking Klee for a little while, right?” Kaeya asked. “We’re still up for taking the twins for a little bit later today.”
“We can take Klee for a bit.” Diluc nodded.
“I forgot about that arrangement.” Ajax mumbled. “But I don’t mind. Klee’s fun to hang out with.”
“Yay!” Klee clapped her hands together, still grinning. Her smile never dropped even as she turned back to her plate of pancakes that Adelinde had brought out for her.
“Good morning, Master Kaeya.” Adelinde said as she set a plate of pancakes in front of him.
“Good morning, Adelinde.” Kaeya dipped his head to her. “Thank you for breakfast.”
“Of course. Here, Master Albedo.” She set another plate in front of the alchemist, who nodded his thanks to her and turned to grab the syrup.
“C’mon, hurry up and eat.” Alex groaned. He was already done with his food, but he had yet to leave the table.
“Hey, don’t rush other people, Alex.” Ajax frowned at him. “We’ll make it to the festival and you’ll have plenty of time to go do whatever it is you want to do.” Alex gave him a pout in response, but didn’t say anything else.
“Seems someone is rather impatient.” Kaeya chuckled.
“He’s like you when you were a kid. You could never just wait patiently to make it to a festival.” Diluc said, smiling.
“I wasn’t that bad.” Kaeya glared at him.
“Maybe not during Windblume, but you certainly were during Ludi Harpastum.” Diluc pointed out.
“No, I wasn’t.” Kaeya shot back.
‘Wow, I’ve never seen them argue like this.’ Ajax looked between the brothers with wide eyes. ‘The last time I really saw them argue, they were fighting over whether or not Diluc should even be with me.’
“Maybe don’t argue in front of the kids.” Albedo pointed out, elbowing Kaeya. The blue-haired man pouted at his fiance, which was funnier now that Ajax knew some things about the alchemist that he hadn’t known before.
He found it very surprising when he found out that Kaeya was engaged to someone who wasn’t even human. To top that off, he was someone who was already hundreds of years old, and there was no clear sign that he’d ever age or die. Ajax wasn’t sure how Kaeya was even able to handle that information and still remain in a relationship with him, but love was a strange thing.
“What kind of games do you think they’ll have this year?” Alina asked, looking at Alex.
“I hope they have that archery tournament again. I bet I can place even higher than I did last time!” He answered.
Soon, the conversation fell on what games they’d have and how the kids thought they’d do in each competitive one. It wasn’t long before they were walking to the city, where they could see the decorations that covered it even from this distance.
They were on their way past the big tree at Windrise when a familiar voice called out. “Wait up for me!” Venti glided down and landed next to Ajax, smiling. “Are you headed to the city for the festival?”
“Yes.” Diluc frowned at Venti. Clearly, the green bard still annoyed him with just his presence alone.
“Ah. Then I’ll just join your group.” Venti said, as though he wasn’t already walking with their little group in the first place.
Ajax raised an eyebrow at him. “Were you waiting for someone to pass by Windrise just to join them on the walk to the city?”
“Hm? No. You just happened to be passing by as I was getting ready to go there myself.” Venti answered, shrugging. Ajax didn’t really believe him.
Their group walked into the city, where Albedo, Kaeya, and Klee split off to go do something that Klee had been going on and on about through the whole walk and Venti took off to go find a good place to play his lyre. Diluc headed in the direction of the booth that was being set up right outside the Angel’s Share, so Ajax grabbed their kids’ hands and pulled them after him as he followed his husband. He figured the kids would want to say ‘hi’ to Charles before they got sucked up into games and competing between each other and the other people enjoying the festival.
“Charles. Is everything alright?” Diluc asked as he walked up. Alina and Alex immediately ran over to Diluc to stand beside him and say ‘hi.’
Charles smiled at the kids before turning to Diluc. “Everything’s fine. There hasn’t been a single problem so far.” He answered. “I’ll send someone to get you if I run into any trouble, but really, you should be fine to enjoy the festival with your family today.”
“Thank you.” Diluc nodded at him. Charles simply waved him off and went back to his work.
“C’mon, Dad! I want to go see if they have the archery tournament again!” Alex grabbed one of Diluc’s hands and started pulling.
Alina glared at her brother. “I wanted to go see if they had the music games they had set up last year.” She said, crossing her arms.
“Alright, how about this? I’ll take you to go see if they have the music games again and Diluc can take Alex to go see if the archery tournament is back this year.” Ajax suggested, setting a hand on Alina’s shoulder. He glanced at Diluc, who only nodded in agreement with his idea.
“Okay.” Alina nodded at him and soon they were walking toward the edge of the city, dodging people in the crowded streets.
“Is any of your family coming to visit for Windblume?” Alina asked, looking up at him.
“Not this year, sadly. Hopefully, we can plan everything out for them to come for Windblume next year, though. And maybe Ludi Harpastum, too. What do you think?” Ajax said. Alina nodded, smiling.
For most of the day, Ajax spent time taking Alina to any and all booths she wanted to go to. He also bought her lots of new trinkets and such, which he was sure he’d be scolded by Diluc for later, but he ddn’t care. At least one parent had to spoil the kids and he was going to be that parent no matter what his husband had to say about it.
At lunch, Ajax brought Alina back to the stand outside the Angel’s Share, where Diluc was already waiting for them. “Ajax, how much did you buy?” Diluc narrowed his eyes at the bags the ginger was carrying.
Ajax smiled at him. “I couldn’t help myself. She kept asking for stuff and you know I can’t say no to them, firefly.” Diluc rolled his eyes.
“What’s for lunch?” Alex asked, looking rather impatient. He got like that often when he was hungry, Ajax learned.
“We’ll stop by one of the booths. C’mon.” Diluc nudged Alex along and soon they had all gathered around one of the many food stalls that had been set up around the city.
As they sat down to eat at one of the various picnic tables scattered around, Ajax looked at his new family and smiled to himself. For once, he was happy without the bloodshed and violence. He was content with everything he had now.
‘ This,’ Ajax thought, ‘is the true epitome of happiness.’