Chapter Text
It had been five years since Ajax had returned to Mondstadt. Five years since he and Diluc had gotten married. Diluc would be lying if he said he was used to the way things were now. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be used to it.
“Diluc.” Ajax nudged him awake. “We’d better get up before Adelinde sends Diona after us again.”
Right. They had adopted a young girl a month ago. She had gotten used to living in the palace quite quickly. She was an interesting kid. Not as rambunctious as Ajax’s younger brothers, but she was still a bit of a handful.
“I can’t believe the head maid has weaponized our daughter against us.” Diluc grumbled. ‘Our daughter.’ Diluc was still getting used to that, especially.
Ajax chuckled. “Come on. Let’s get up.” Diluc sighed as he forced himself to sit up. As he stretched, he yawned. Then, he got out of bed and trudged to the bathroom.
He had just finished brushing his teeth when Ajax walked in. “Here.” Ajax said, pulling a stool over to him. “Sit down. I’ll do your hair.”
Diluc sat down on the stool and sighed. Ajax was careful as he brushed through Diluc’s hair. The redhead nearly fell asleep again, but before he had the chance, Ajax had finished putting his hair up. “There. Done. Now come on. Let’s go get dressed.”
Once they were both dressed, Ajax led the way to the dining room. “There you two are.” Diona frowned at them. She was standing at the end of the hall.
“Good morning, Diona. We’re not late today.” Ajax said. “Are you surprised?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes. You two really should worry about fixing your sleep schedule.”
“We’re busy.” Diluc grumbled. “You’ve seen the stack of paperwork I have to deal with.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t go to bed on time.” Diona pointed out before she turned and started walking back to the dining room. Diluc and Ajax followed.
“As much as I know you don’t like it, I do agree with her.” Ajax pointed out. “You’ve been staying up really late working on that paperwork, when none of it is actually urgent.”
“The sooner I get it dealt with, the better.” Diluc pointed out as he sat down in his seat at the dining table. “Besides, doing it at night gives me more time to spend with you and Diona during the day.”
“Good morning.” Kaeya looked over at them and smiled. “I thought Diona was going to wake you up again.”
“The last time she woke us up, she hit us with a pillow.” Ajax said.
“I could have dumped water on you for being late.” Diona said, huffing.
“I’d really rather you didn’t.” Ajax said. “I don’t want to deal with that mess and I’d rather not make the maids deal with that mess, either.”
“Fine then. I won’t.” Diona said. She turned back to her food and continued eating.
Diluc shook his head and turned to the pancakes that had already been put on the table for him.
The rest of breakfast was spent with simple conversation, with some suggestions for the plans for the day. Diluc finished his breakfast and sat back, quietly listening to the others talk.
This was still new to him. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be used to living with a family like this, but he wouldn’t change it.
Ajax’s hands landing on his shoulders made Diluc blink. He looked up at him curiously. “We should go for a walk in the city today.” He said. “What do you think?”
“Sure.” Diluc nodded.
“I’ll come with you.” Diona said. “Can we go to the candy shop?”
“We went last time we went out.” Ajax pointed out.
“But I’ve been sharing my candy with Teucer and Anthon, so I don’t have any more.” Diona pointed out.
Ajax sighed. “Alright. We’ll go to the candy shop again, then.”
“Okay!” Diona smiled and hopped out of her chair before heading back to her room.
Diluc chuckled. “You can’t say ‘no’ to her, can you?”
“No.” Ajax grumbled. “It seems I can’t. C’mon. We should probably go get ready.”