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“You should really approach her, you know.” Kaeya said teasingly with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Diluc shot a dirty look at his step-brother, unamused at his antics. He mentally counted to three in his head as he resisted the urge to get violent with him.
Diluc shook his head in annoyance and disapproval at Kaeya’s actions, with their friend and co-worker Childe now joining in, much to his chagrin. He felt a headache starting to form in his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose and ran a hand through his fiery red hair.
Pretty much everyone in the coffee shop had noticed that Diluc had taken a bit of a liking to one of the regulars here. That one rather pretty girl who always sat at table four, the one with bright blue hair and eyes the color of a sunset that he could stare at for the entire day.
From what Diluc could tell, she was a college student, just like him, Kaeya, and Childe. Based on the small details that he’d been able to identify, she was majoring in criminology like his brother based on the various books that she had. He’d seen books on forensics laid out on the table plenty of times already, pages colored blue with highlighters.
“She must really like blue.” Diluc thought to himself as he took a quick glance at her blue laptop and blue headphones, each one in different shades, which he presumed was for variation.
Diluc was no stranger to being chased by girls. As a matter of fact, he was one of the most popular students in his program, with quite a lot of females throwing themselves at him. While he did find it flattering (and boosted his ego a bit), it turned him off.
The Ragnvindr heir did not like being chased at all. He was well aware that the girls who desired him only did so either for his looks, wealth, or both. As a result, he made sure to pick the people who he hung out with in a regular basis.
His circle of friends was relatively simple. It included his adoptive brother, Jean, Barbara, Rosaria, Venti, Lisa, Venti, and Childe, as annoying as the former was. Still, he liked them because they weren’t afraid to be honest with him, and they genuinely liked him for being, well, him.
Still, that didn’t stop them from making fun of him for being the only single guy in the group. Kaeya and Rosaria have been together for years now, same with Jean and Lisa. Venti was still in the process of courting Barbara, who seemed to be reciprocating his advances. Childe had Lumine, a rather quiet girl with a twin brother who seemed a bit… too overprotective of her.
And now that left him all on his lonesome, at least before Yelan left for Liyue. The foreign exchange student from Liyue was truly something. It brought back memories from the past as he began to ponder over them.
“I’m truly sorry, Diluc. But I have to return to Liyue due to family reasons. If it’s any consolation, you’re the best boyfriend I’ve ever had. I just want us to leave on amicable terms.”
It’s been months now, but it nevertheless stung. They had dated for a year and a half before she needed to return to her home country, and he really understood her reasons. Long-distance relationships were tough to maintain, and with both of them being heirs to major companies, he knew they would barely have time for one another.
Despite all that, it didn’t make the breakup any easier for him. While they still do contact each other from time to time, the frequency wasn’t very consistent. If he were being honest, it hurt him.
But all of that changed when he began working at the Storm Dragon cafe, and then this blue-haired girl waltzed into the shop.
See, when Kaeya saw how hung up he was over Yelan, he thought of an idea to get his mind off of her. Being the caring brother that he was despite his annoying tendencies, offered him a position to work in a rather remote coffee shop.
“It’s to help you get your mind off of her.” he recalls him saying that day. Crepus was quite supportive of the idea, as he said that it would give him some experience on running a business. Needless to say, he agreed.
The Storm Dragon was owned by Zhongli, a man from Liyue (oh, the irony), and his wife, Ei, a migrant from Inazuma. From what Diluc heard, they were supposedly both heirs to companies that were bitter rivals, but neither of them wanted that. Their decision to run was solidified when they actually met each other, and it was love at first sight from there.
The husband and wife duo were pretty kind and gave them a reasonable paycheck for a bunch of college students working part-time. They seemed to enjoy giving him a higher pay grade compared to Kaeya and Childe, though, because he actually worked and rarely slacked off. He liked to rub it in their faces from time to time.
Now for the blue-haired girl again. It was one of his days when classes only happened during the morning, and he was able to leave the campus early as a result. It had been his usual routine, from cleaning up the counters, brewing coffee, and warding off unwanted advances from random girls.
He remembered thinking to himself it would be another uneventful day, but boy, was he wrong. After an hour or so, the familiar chime of a bell alerted him, Kaeya, and Childe of a customer. They started off with their customary greeting before returning to their usual duties.
Out of curiosity, Diluc decided to look at their patron and quickly got his breath stolen away from him. The customer was a girl, likely around his age, and she had the prettiest blue hair he had ever seen.
She was dressed rather modestly in a simple white shirt with a grey hoodie accompanying it. She wore leggings that showed off some rather shapely legs and a pair of black sneakers. Diluc used to think that the concept of love at first sight was foolish (no offense to Zhongli and Ei), but that opinion would change the moment he saw this girl.
For the first time in his part-time job in this cafe, Diluc found himself distracted on the job.
“Diluc, need help picking your jaw off the floor?” Childe said tauntingly. That broke him out of his stupor. He needed only to shoot the ginger a threatening look to make him raise his hands in surrender.
“Chill out man. Was just messing with you.” the other teen said with a laugh before looking at the girl who was now busy with her laptop.
“But I will say, she’s super hot.”
“One of the few things you and I actually agree on.” Diluc responded quickly. Childe let out a laugh at his comment. “Yeah, but not quite as hot as my babe Lumine though.”
The redhead only shook his head as he couldn’t help but smile a bit at his friend’s antics.
That memory was over two months ago, and by now, the girl had become a regular to the shop. She would return exactly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, which just so happened to be the times of his shifts.
Seeing her became a bit of a regular occurrence for him, and he would serve her quite frequently. Strangely enough, it seemed like he was always the one that got sent to serve her order. When he asked Zhongi about this, he was met with a reply that feigned ignorance.
“Childe and Kaeya are quite busy with the counter and blending drinks when she’s around. You’re the only one I can count on. Besides, I think she likes it when you bring her food.”
Damn it, it seemed like even his boss was onboard with his friend and brother’s antics. He shook his head and dispelled the thought.
As of now, it read 2:30 in the afternoon, and it was one of the more relaxed times in the cafe. This usually meant that almost everyone was either at Mondstadt’s schools and universities or were busy working in their cubicles.
If Diluc had to guess, their blue-haired regular either had a rather lengthy break during this time of the day, or she had no classes at all. She would usually sit around in the cafe for an hour or two, just typing away at her laptop and highlighting sections of her book.
“You sure seem to have a thing for blue girls, eh brother?” Kaeya said teasingly as he caught him sneaking glances at their customer. Diluc was glad she was wearing her headphones that time, because he would have socked his brother in the jaw right then and there due to how loudly he said that.
“Say that again when she’s aware, and I swear to the archons above I’m breaking your jaw.”
Kaeya let out a laugh as he enjoyed his brother’s growing irritation. Knowing that this would get him nowhere, Diluc willed himself to calm down.
“What’s it to you anyway? None of this is your business.”
Kaeya just shrugged. “Thought you should know that I see her sometimes in the criminology building.” he said while preparing to blend another cup of coffee. “But we never get into the same classes together. I’d even asked Jean and Lisa about it, but they apparently don’t have her too in their classes.”
“Huh, interesting.” Diluc mused as he waited for his brother to finish the coffee. He realized just now that it was for the girl.
“Diluc, kindly bring table four her order, please,” Zhongli said as he handed the steaming Mocha Frappucino to the redhead. This was pretty much the only thing the pretty lady ordered whenever she came here, typing away at her laptop and highlighting sections of her books.
Diluc nodded as he fetched the order from his superior and walked over to her table, coffee, and cake in hand.
“One Mocha Frap and Chocolate Mousse.” Diluc said in a tone that conveyed a well-mixed tone of casualness and professionalism, one he had perfected in the one and a half years he had been working in this cafe.
“Oh, thank you, Diluc.” she said with a pleasant smile and clapped her hands together in delight at her meal. He simply gave her a small smile and nodded before returning to his station behind the counter.
Diluc generally didn’t mind customers saying his name out loud. It was in his name tag, after all. But when it came to this girl, he felt… odd? Don’t get him wrong, it’s not that he hated hearing his name come out of her mouth. As a matter of fact, he quite liked the sound of her voice. It had a distinctly low timbre but was unmistakably feminine.
He let out a sigh as he just ignored the thought and went back to work. In a couple of minutes, the cafe was bound to get busy. Diluc tried to occupy himself by cleaning up some trays and blenders, but his mind still wandered off to that girl.
Come to think of it, he didn’t even know her name, yet she’s been calling him by his name for months now. Diluc now had a mission the next time he served her food.
“I’m going to figure out your name next time.”
—
It was another Thursday at the Storm Dragon, and Diluc was anticipating the girl's arrival. He looked at his watch, noting that she should be arriving right about… now.
As if on cue, she arrived with the accompanying chime of the bell. Every staff member in the shop recited the greeting, and they resumed work. Diluc took a quick glance as she saw her walking up to Ei, who was currently on cash register duty.
“Another Mocha Frappe and Chocolate Mousse, I presume?”
The girl chuckled. “Yep.”
She proceeded to hand her bills to Ei, who swiftly grabbed them and got to work on computing her change. Once the receipt was printed out, she handed her her change and receipt. The girl gave a respectful nod and thank you in response as she took her spot on table four.
Diluc had to mentally calm himself down as he suddenly felt his heart rate spike up. He was just going to ask her for her name. Nothing too major, right?
Once her order was ready and he heard Zhongli’s usual call, he took the tray of her food and approached her table. It was now or never for him.
When he finally arrived at her table, he carefully set down her cake and frappe on the table.
“One Mocha Frappe and Chocolate Mousse, as per usual.” Diluc said with a slight smile.
The girl noticed this and stopped typing on her laptop for a bit and made some room to bring her food closer, giving him a smile of her own and thanked him. When she noticed that Diluc hadn’t moved from his spot, she gave him a questioning look.
“May I help you?” she politely asked. Diluc cleared his throat and swallowed the lump that he didn’t realize had formed.
“Uh, well…” Diluc began and then trailed off. He mentally cursed himself for messing up this one simple thing. Despite the earlier blunder, he managed to regain his bearings and tried again.
“So I’ve been serving you for over two months now, and you pretty much know my name because of this.” Dilic gestured to his name tag. “If it isn’t too much to ask, may I know your name too?”
“Ah,” the girl began as she let out a pleasant giggle.
“It should be a crime for someone to be this cute.” Diluc thought to himself.
“I’m Eula. Majoring in Mondstadt’s Criminology course. Pleased to know you, Diluc.” she finished with a smile. Diluc gave a nod and returned the friendly gesture to her.
“Pleasure to know you, Eula.” he said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must return to work.”
“Alrighty.” the girl said before turning to her food with a mischievous grin. “This cake has an appointment with my stomach, so I’ll be excusing myself too.”
Diluc couldn’t help but laugh at her words, with Eula joining him with some giggles of her own. He gave her a small nod before heading to the back of the counter again, with Childe and Kaeya awaiting him with wide grins on their faces.
“Mission accomplished, we presume?”
“Yeah.”
—
This was one of the days when Diluc entered the Storm Dragon not as an employee but as a customer.
The professor for the final class of the day called in sick at the last minute. So, he figured the cafe would be a good place to hang out in the meantime since he didn’t want to go home yet. Zhongli and Ei spotted him, and each gave a friendly greeting.
He settled for an Americano and some blueberry cheesecake for his order and scanned the area for a place to sit. His eyes quickly landed on a familiar head of light blue hair, and he made his way there.
“Mind if I sit?” Diluc asked Eula who was writing something on her paper. Hearing his voice caught her attention, and she flashed him a radiant smile.
“Not at all.” the girl said as she cleared some of the papers on the table to make space for him.
As soon as he made himself comfortable on the opposite couch, Diluc pulled out his laptop to work on some of his other subjects. He had an economics paper that was due on Friday but wanted to get it done as soon as possible so he didn’t have to worry about it.
He and Eula didn’t say anything to each other in the meantime, both absorbed in their own work. Though after a few minutes, Eula paused from her typing and looked at him.
“I don’t usually see you on Wednesdays. Anything interesting happen today?” she asked before sipping on her frappe. Diluc looked up from his screen to see her questioning look.
“My professor called in sick at the last minute, so we were able to have a free cut since they couldn’t find a substitute teacher in time. The library was pretty crowded, so I decided to go here.”
Eula hummed at his response, seemingly content at his answer. She rested her head on one hand as she absentmindedly stared at the window, observing the streets of Mondstadt as people walked by the cafe and cars sped down the road.
“You know, I get the impression that you’re here every day. You must really love the Storm Dragon, huh?” Diluc asked her as he blew at his steaming americano. The girl chuckled upon hearing this.
“It’s a pretty quiet and peaceful place. I don’t like places that are too crowded, and this cafe serves some of the best mocha frappes I’ve tasted in a long while.”
Diluc nodded in agreement at her answer. “I do have to agree with you on that one.”
Eula giggled at his words. “You sure it’s not out of personal bias since you work here?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
The two of them shared a laugh at their conversation, enjoying each other’s company already. Though Diluc had known Eula’s name for over a week now, this was the first time that he’s had a chance to talk to her like this. If he were being honest, she was a joy to talk with, and he wouldn't mind spending hours just chatting with her.
He learned quite a few things about her, how she was from a family of corrupt politicians and businessmen who she disowned at the age of 10, and how she learned to survive on her own after running away with her bare essentials.
She also told him of a fateful encounter with two girls named Amber and Collei and how she found her real family when she turned 12.
Diluc was completely impressed by her willpower and resilience. Having grown up in a relatively luxurious lifestyle, Diluc couldn’t imagine the hardships that she went through. That alone made his admiration for her grow deeper.
“I had been homeless for over two years by that point, and it wasn’t easy having to move from shelter to shelter while running away from my family.” Eula said wistfully.
“It was the 6th day of July when I thought things would finally end for me. I was completely broke and starving, and my clothes were closer to rags than anything.”
Eula had to pause for a bit as her eyes got glassy. Noticing this, Diluc was quick to give her his handkerchief, a gesture which she thanked him for.
“But two girls decided to bring me to their home out of the kindness of their hearts, and the sweetest elderly man welcomed me to their home with open arms. For the first time in two years, I actually felt hope.”
By that time, Eula had a few tears running down her cheeks as she used his handkerchief to dry her face. As if on instinct, Diluc got up from his position and took a seat right beside her, giving her shoulder a comforting rub. The girl gave him a gentle smile that made his heart melt.
“And here you are,” Diluc began as he gently spoke. “Hard at work studying and making a bright future for herself.”
Eula let out a laugh as she sniffled a bit. “You sure know how to cheer someone up.”
Diluc chuckled. “I don’t always get that a lot, so I think you should know that it means a lot to me.”
They moved on to a different topic once Eula had finished telling Diluc about her family, and he used it as his opportunity to tell her about his father and Kaeya. Eula was pleasantly surprised to know that the blue-haired boy he frequently bantered with was his adoptive brother and that he was just left on their doorstep on a stormy night.
“Kaeya was only five when his father left him in front of our house.” Diluc said while staring out the window, the sky turning hues of yellow, orange, and red. “My dad didn’t hesitate to take him in, and he treated him like his own son. And I treated him like my brother.”
Eula nodded as she continued to listen, eager to hear what Diluc had to say. The redhead continued with his story.
“While he does get annoying sometimes with his antics, I couldn’t have asked for a better brother.”
Eula couldn’t help but laugh at that statement. “Reminds me of Amber, Collei, and Amber’s grandpa.”
“They seem like charming people to be around.” Diluc said while staring at his clock. It read 5:30 PM, and only now did he realize how long they’d been talking to each other.
“Huh, it’s actually evening now.” Diluc said as he began packing his belongings. Eula followed suit after looking at her own watch.
“I have to say, it was nice talking to you.” she said to the redhead.
“The feeling’s mutual.” Diluc replied with a smile. Just as he was about to grab his phone from the table, Eula’s hand suddenly shot out and grabbed it faster than he could.
“Password, please.” the girl said as she put his phone right up his face. Diluc slowly took his device and inputted in his pattern. He gave his phone back to Eula, who fiddled with it for a few seconds before returning it to him. It read “Eula Lawrence” in his contact list.
Not long after that, he found her phone shoved in his face this time, the screen displaying a contact entry form. Taking Eula’s hint, he took her phone and put in his own number.
“Awesome.” Eula said as she scrolled down and pressed the save button before looking at him. “Are you busy this coming Saturday?”
Diluc looked at her with a raised brow. “Not really. I did plan on doing some homework in advance.”
Eula rolled her eyes at his answer. “Nerd.”
While he caught the obviously joking tone in her voice, Diluc nonetheless narrowed his eyes. This made the blunette raise her hands in surrender.
“I joke. Was just wondering if you wanted to hang out on Saturday.”
Diluc didn’t have to think too long about it. “Sure, why not. Anyone else coming with you?”
“Nope. It’s just going to be the two of us.” Eula said nonchalantly. This caused Diluc’s eyes to widen slightly.
“Uh, are you sure about that?”
Eula scoffed at him but had a teasing smirk on her lips. “Of course. What, you think you’ll get cooties from me if it’s just the two of us?”
Diluc couldn’t help but laugh at her witty remark. “Definitely not. Where do you want to hang out?”
“Does the Mondstadt Mall sound good? I’ll be there at around 10:45 AM.”
“Alright. So it’s a date, then?”
Eula was caught off guard by his question, but she didn’t let it break her composure. Diluc had to admit, he would have been impressed by this had he not caught the pink tinge in her cheeks as she avoided his eyes.
“Very well. See you there.” Eula said as she grabbed her belongings.
Diluc just stood there and watched as he watched started walking out of the cafe. Before going out of the door, she gave him a friendly wave which he returned as well. He just had a big, dumb, grin on his face as he couldn’t think of anything else other than the coming Saturday.
At that point, he really couldn’t focus on anything else and exited the cafe. Unbeknownst to him, Zhongli and Ei had been watching the entire exchange unfold.
“So, her asking you to have Diluc serve her orders worked out, huh?" Ei mused as she rubbed her chin. Zhongli gently gripped her waist and pulled him closer to him, letting her head rest on his shoulder.
“It would seem so, my dear.”