Chapter Text
Diluc sighed as he turned and stepped around the fallen body of the mitachurl. He was moving slower than usual tonight, and as a result, he’d suffered a rather awful injury this time. There was blood running down his arm from his shoulder, where there had been an arrow a few minutes before. He’d ripped it out quickly and kept fighting, but he knew he probably should have retreated at that time. Either way, he decided that there was no point in saying he should have done this or should have done that. Now it was only a matter of getting home and taking care of this wound before Adelinde had the chance to find out. He wasn’t looking forward to the earful he’d get from her if she did.
Thankfully, when he finally got home, the winery was quiet. There weren’t any staff members milling about. Everyone had gone home to sleep. Diluc quickly went up to his bedroom - he had now moved into the master bedroom, but he only found the courage to do so after Ajax had left - and stepped into the master bathroom, starting a bath and stripping. He needed to make sure he didn’t have any other wounds and he needed to get clean. He felt gross, covered in a mix of his own blood from the arrow wound and the hilichurl and mitachurl blood.
After his bath, he dressed his wound and changed into some silk pajamas. Then, he flopped into bed and sighed, staring up at the ceiling. It had been two months now since he’d received any letters from Ajax. He wondered where exactly he’d gone and what he was doing. And he also worried that something might have happened to him. He shoved that thought aside. He couldn’t risk getting too anxious over that right now. He had other things to focus on.
‘I need sleep.’ He thought. He was moving slower due to his fatigue. Despite the fact that he knew this, he still found it hard to crawl into his bed alone and sleep. It had been three years since Ajax had left, and yet Diluc still couldn’t handle sleeping without the Harbinger next to him. And to think he’d only ever slept beside him for a few months.
Diluc sighed and curled up under the covers anyway. He needed to sleep. He knew that. He figured he might as well lay down and just stay there until sleep finally came to him. After all, the arrow injury was going to be keeping him from monster hunting for a little while. ‘Let’s just hope no news of the Fatui off Dragonspine or the Abyss Order comes in for the next couple days.’
~~~
“Sir? Ah, sorry. It looks like I’ve woken you up.” Adelinde was standing in his bedroom doorway with a box in her hands. “You have some mail. I think it’s from that person you’ve been corresponding with for some time now.”
Diluc was up in an instant. ‘Something from Ajax? A gift maybe?’ It wouldn’t be the first time he’d received a gift from the Harbinger along with a letter. He got out of bed and walked over to Adelinde, carefully taking the box from her and fighting back a big smile. He wouldn’t smile until he was alone. “Thank you, Adelinde.” He said, dipping his head to her. She nodded at him before turning and leaving, shutting the door behind her. Diluc immediately turned to his desk, a big grin appearing on his face as he sat down in his chair and opened the box. On top sat the letter in its usual pale blue envelope. He always sent letters in pale blue envelopes.
~
Diluc,
Good news, my lovely firefly. I’m in Liyue now. I thought I’d send you a couple treats from this place. The food here is delicious. Have you ever tried it?
I’ll be stationed here for the foreseeable future because of a new mission. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to spare some time to come see you in Mondstadt. What do you think? Or maybe you could come see me. Either way would be fine.
Actually, I have a better idea. How about, on the day you receive this letter, you meet me at Stone Gate? I’ll be waiting there every sunset until you show up, and you know I keep my promises. I’ll see you soon, firefly.
Love,
Ajax
~
Diluc stared at the letter and shook his head, chuckling. He couldn’t remember when, but at some point Ajax had decided to start calling him that stupid name. ‘Firefly.’ Of all the cute pet names he could have chosen, did he have to pick that one? ‘At least it’s unique.’ His brain had supplied when he first saw it in a letter. Now, every time he saw it, though he would never admit this, it made him feel a bit giddy. Ajax had taken the time to come up with some unique and cute pet name for him. He couldn’t really help but feel a little more special.
For a moment, Diluc considered writing a letter back, but then he reread the part where Ajax had proposed the meeting at Stone Gate. ‘I can manage that.’ He thought. ‘I don’t have to work at the tavern tonight. Alright. I’ll go.’ And with that, he was up and getting ready for the rest of his day. He had originally planned to go over some paperwork, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to focus on it, so instead he figured it would be better if he went out for a walk to pass the time. ‘I’ll have to be careful.’ He reminded himself. ‘I’m not supposed to fight anything for the next couple days.’
He looked back in the box, and sure enough, there were a couple Liyuen desserts wrapped up inside. Both had blue envelopes with them. That was either a description of the desserts or the recipes for them. Either way, he’d try those later. Right now it was a matter of getting breakfast and getting ready for his walk. ‘I can always bring them with me and eat them while I’m out.’ He turned and headed downstairs.
Adelinde had already set up his spot for breakfast. “I thought I’d make pancakes this morning, Master Diluc. Is that alright?” She said as she spotted him coming down the stairs.
“That’s fine. Thank you, Adelinde.” He said, nodding at her.
“Also, sir, please be more careful about fighting those monsters. Any other nasty wounds like the one on your shoulder and you’ll be put on bedrest for a week again.” She said as she turned and walked back into the kitchen. Diluc had stopped behind his chair, staring after her.
‘How… how did she know?’
~~~
Ajax was restless. He couldn’t stay still to save his life. He had arrived three weeks ago, and in that time, he had wanted to just rush over to Mondstadt and crawl in bed with Diluc and never leave. He knew he couldn’t abandon his mission, though. This was important and if he went behind the Tsaritsa’s back, even if it was for the man he loved, he’d be facing severe punishment. Not death, and he probably wouldn’t be stripped of his title, but he’d definitely get some other awful punishment. ‘Anything but dealing with the new trainees. Some of them are so arrogant.’ He thought, scowling. He was sitting at his desk, tending to, yet again, more paperwork. It seemed the flow of paperwork was endless and he was beginning to get another headache. He contemplated leaving his office, but Ekaterina would probably scold him again for something like that. He’d already ditched his paperwork enough times that week.
Due to how busy he’d been when he first arrived in Liyue, he hadn’t found the time to send Diluc a letter until recently. It was driving him insane because he had no idea when Diluc would finally meet him at Stone Gate, but he hoped it would be soon. His travels there and back to the city had been so often as of late that the people he worked with were starting to get suspicious. (He hadn’t told them anything about Diluc. They didn’t need to know that the Harbinger they were working under was going to Stone Gate to meet up with his lover across the border in Mondstadt. That was unnecessary information for lower ranks.)
“Sir, that paper won’t catch on fire with you staring at it like that. You don’t have a Pyro Vision, remember?” Ekaterina’s voice interrupted his line of thoughts.
“Sorry. I just can’t focus. I’m tired of sitting here.” He grumbled, sighing.
“You need to get your work done.” She pointed out. “It’s important if you want to stay in good graces with the Qixing and have this plan go smoothly. You do realize that, right?”
“Yes, I’m aware. I don’t need you reminding me.” Ajax sighed and flopped back in his chair, staring at the paper and wishing he didn’t have to read through so much. He was starting to get an awful headache. “Can’t I please just get up and go stretch my legs?” Why he was asking, he didn’t know. Technically, he outranked Ekaterina by quite a bit. Her saying he needed to get his work done may as well have equated to a gentle encouragement.
“You’re not going to get any more work done if I leave you at that desk, are you?” She asked, crossing her arms.
Ajax shook his head, frowning. Finally, the woman just sighed and nodded, clearly defeated. Ajax almost cheered as he hopped out of his seat. Immediately, he took off, heading out of the bank and turning to leave the city. He needed the chance to fight something. He had too much energy and the urge to fight was roaring in his ears.
It didn’t take as long as he thought it would to find something to fight. There was a camp of treasure hoarders not far from the city. Ajax would worry about that if he wasn’t about to take them all out. He rushed into the camp and in a blur of slashing Hydro blades, he took every last one of the treasure hoarders out. Immediately, he was disappointed. ‘Too easy. Way too easy.’ He thought, sighing. Then he was off to find something else - something that hopefully posed more of a challenge.
~~~
It was about three hours later that Ajax finally decided to call it quits with his wild monster hunting spree. He turned and started the trek back to the harbor, intent on washing up and getting ready to set out for Stone Gate. He needed to be there by sunset. He couldn’t risk being late.
It didn’t take him as long as he worried that it might to finish washing up at the inn he’d been staying at in the city, and he was off for Stone Gate right after that, making quick progress with a horse that he had rented for the duration of his stay in Liyue. ‘I really should have just bought this horse. Maybe I’ll make arrangements to do that.’ He thought as he rode through Dihua Marsh, keeping an eye out for any monsters.
‘But before that, I really hope Diluc got my letter.’