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The familiar noise of Angel’s Share seemed louder than usual that evening. Diluc was mixing drinks and listening carefully for the latest rumors he could turn into useful intel.
Kaeya was there with his drinking buddies Venti and Rosaria, like usual. But unlike usual, Diluc was happy to see Kaeya. And also unlike usual, Kaeya wasn’t trying to start a conversation every time he came to the bar to ask for more drinks. Instead, they just smiled at each other in a comfortable silence while Kaeya watched him mix another glass of Death After Noon.
He’d missed this companionship between them. They hadn’t come out with their relationship publicly again -- they agreed on taking things slow -- but Diluc liked being discreet. Kaeya was with him again, and it didn’t matter who knew as long as they had each other.
He handed Kaeya his drink. “I’m cutting you off after this one.”
Kaeya scoffed, good-naturedly. “Why? I’m barely even drunk.”
“How many of these have you had? Just because we’re together doesn't mean I’m carrying you home.” Diluc wiped his hands on the dishcloth thrown over his shoulder. “Or giving you free drinks, for that matter.”
“You’re no fun,” Kaeya said, but he was smirking. “Isn’t there anything I can do to convince you?” He trailed a finger over Diluc’s arm suggestively.
“No,” Diluc said decidedly.
“Too bad. We could have had some fun,” Kaeya said, taking his drink and leaving for his table, where Venti and Rosaria were waiting. He certainly wasn’t giving up so easily, though.
Diluc looked at the clock hung behind the bar. It was late enough already -- if he wanted to patrol, he should probably get going, even if he hadn’t gotten any good information. He’d been behind the bar long enough for it to be a good alibi, too, if anyone saw him around Mondstadt.
He slipped out carefully from the back door. The cool wind felt nice and the sudden absence of noise was even better. The tavern could sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. Diluc looked around for witnesses and found none, and so he started to move out toward the city gates -- the outskirts of the city were more likely to have enemies than inside the walls.
“Where are you going?”
Diluc stopped dead in his tracks. He was always on guard, but somehow Rosaria had slipped behind him undetected. When had she slipped out of Angel’s Share?
That was dangerous.
“Sister Rosaria. To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked, putting on the familiar mask of the harmless wine tycoon as he turned around to face her.
“Drop the act. Or don’t, I don’t care,” she said. She had her dagger out and was twirling it around on one finger.
“What do you want?”
“What are your intentions with Kaeya?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. She stopped twirling her dagger, but instead examined it carefully. “You and him seem close recently. That’s unexpected.”
“I assumed he would have told you, if he wanted you to know,” Diluc said. Rosaria was worried about his relationship with Kaeya? He didn’t see that coming.
“Oh, he did. But Kaeya doesn’t think straight when it comes to you.” She put away the dagger, focusing her attention solely on Diluc. Somehow, that seemed more dangerous. “You can’t just drop back into his life like this if you don’t plan on sticking around. You turned his back on him once, and if you do it again I’m not sure he’ll manage to pick himself back up again.”
“Why do you assume I’m the one who might ruin things between us?”
“You’re the one who turned on him the first time, weren’t you?”
Diluc didn’t know how much Rosaria knew about his and Kaeya’s falling out. Did Kaeya tell her everything? Did he trust her that much? He measured out his words carefully.
“I won’t do it again.”
“You better not. Because if you hurt him again, you’ll have one more thing to worry about.”
Diluc looked Rosaria up and down. She was unorthodox in every way -- not what he expected her to be as a sister of the church, and not what he expected her to be as Kaeya’s drinking buddy.
“I’m glad he has a friend like you.”
Rosaria’s eyes widened for just a moment before her mask of disinterest took over again. She scoffed, and turned around to return to the tavern.
Diluc stayed there, wondering if he needed to worry about being followed. After a few moments, he figured she was done with him for the moment, and left for patrol.
Rosaria didn’t need to worry. He wasn’t going to break Kaeya’s heart, ever again.