Work Text:
The grand master yawned as she opened her eyes, glancing out the window for a time check. Dawn. She’d need to report to work soon, and, as always, she’d been staying in bed for much too long.
She patted one of her husband’s arms, both of which had been wrapped around her since they’d woken up an hour prior and talked of the day’s plans. Both were laying on their sides, with her being cuddled from behind as she lifted her head from her pillow. The rich red hair that fell over her shoulders only shifted slightly as a gentle kiss was placed on her cheek, but aside from that, no attempt was made to let go of her.
“Diiiiluc,” the blonde’s voice was lightly scolding, but the smile that she wore on her face made it clear that she enjoyed the affection from him so early in the morning. “Let me go.” She swatted at his arm, trying to squirm free. It was an impossible game with him, the same ignoring or overall apathetic nature towards her desire to head to headquarters restraining her from leaving his side early in the morning over and over again.
For the married couple, it was the same routine day after day- she’d try to get up, he’d be much too strong for her, and the only solution would be threatening to take away something if he never let her go.
“If you don’t let me go, I’m not going to kiss you goodbye when I get up.”
Oftentimes, such empty threats didn’t work on him.
“Won’t you?” he whispered in her ear slyly, turning her face a deep shade of red. “I think you may enjoy these moments with me more than I do. I don’t recall being the one who owns so many sets of romance novels. You’re the hopeless romantic.” It dissatisfied her that he was correct, and especially that he’d successfully made her blush. As much as she adored him, he frustrated her at the exact same time. Somehow, no matter how many threats she made to try and persuade him to let go, he always had a counter response that made her flush. Shamefully, there were days when she relented and allowed him to hold her for what felt like hours, even if it was just a couple of minutes.
Sometimes, however, she knew when she needed to hold her ground, even if it was much more tempting to indulge in cuddles instead.
“Okay, we’re done.” She shoved his face away with her hand and finally got out of his grasp, drawing to her feet. She ran her fingers through her hair to remove a few of the tangles as she gave a sideway glance back at her redhead. “Can you please check on Aster? She might need changed, and we need to feed her before I go.”
“As always,” he reassured, swiftly gathering his hair into a messy ponytail before heading over to their daughter and lifting her into his arms. She noticed how he seemed to relax, gently stroking the baby’s forehead with his thumb as she continued to get ready for work. She dressed quickly, only facing the difficulty of self-lacing her corset.
“Diluc, will you please?” she asked as she tugged on it, trying to tighten the strings to no avail. He set Aster back down for a moment and headed over to Jean- it was routine for him to help, primarily because the baby weight had made it more difficult for her to do it herself- but she always appreciated his willingness.
She did her best to not let tiny things bother her; after all, she had the love of her life, the knights, and a month old daughter. Those three things alone made her world.
Yet it couldn’t prevent her from feeling insecure. She couldn’t help it- her figure wasn’t as it once was, and even when she thinned out, it still would probably never be the same. Being self-conscious was everything she avoided, but the idea of losing her physical attraction never ceased to burn in the back of her mind.
It was likely that Diluc sensed exactly what was bothering her, because as soon as he’d finished tying the undergarment, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.
“Gorgeous,” was the only word he mumbled, and as her face warmed, she tried to brush off how much she needed the affirmation by patting his cheek with her hand. Her heart always fluttered from any of his compliments; it was so rare to see him ever find anything or any one above average, but she was never “average” when it came to him.
“Quit that. Otherwise, Aster is going to be stuck seeing me as red as your hair constantly. She’ll grow up forgetting that my face isn’t permanently red.”
“I’ll stop when you stop enjoying it,” he teased, a tiny smile on his face as she only seemed more flustered. She tried to shoo him away from being all too right again, and he inevitably broke away to go finish checking on their child as promised. She noticed that the tiny blonde instinctively snuggled into his chest when he’d gotten her settled into his arms, and she couldn’t help but smile fondly as she carried on in getting ready for work.
Upon tying her hair up, she gazed at the mirror to check that she looked as professional as she always did, then fastened her viridescent vision to the end of her coat. Behind her in the mirror, the winery tycoon was seated on the edge of their mattress as he bottle-fed their daughter, the smallest of smiles on his face as he admired his wife’s appearance. She caught his gaze in the reflection; it was warm, it was soft, and there was nothing short of adoration in his crimson eyes. She turned just as he got to his feet, meeting him halfway between the dresser and the bed.
“I’ll see you both at lunch?” she offered, leaving a soft kiss on his jawline and then extending her arms for their baby.
“As usual,” he assured, passing the infant over. Aster shifted her face into her mother’s jacket, letting out a little cry and trying to rely on her for more warmth.
“Hi, sweetie,” she whispered, holding her close to help comfort her. Ever since her birth, she’d had a natural motherly instinct to care for her needs. She knew the difference between her cries, when she appeared ready to melt down, and she’d even learned that sometimes her screams were things she couldn’t stop. Much like she spoke with endearment to Klee after she had her nightmares, she did the same for any little squeal of discomfort from Aster. She would do the best to soothe her and nothing less.
As soon as she calmed, the dandelion knight kissed her on the top of the head. “I’ll see you in a bit, okay? Daddy will take good care of you as usual,” she reassured, even if she did know that the child couldn’t understand what she was saying. She passed her back to Diluc, and he used one hand to brush some of his wife’s bangs out out of her face.
“Lunch,” was all he said before laying his lips on hers for a couple seconds as a goodbye. She cherished those few seconds- she did every time- and couldn’t help but giggle lightly to herself as she cupped his cheeks with both hands, not saying anything for a minute.
“Lunch,” she finally echoed, pulling away and smiling one more time at the sight of her family before finally heading downstairs.
Despite how her new routine meant she could never get to work as early as she used to, and certainly meant she was unable to have a consistent arrival time, those moments were better than she ever imagined they could be.