Through Thick and Thin- Diluc x (female) Reader

Chapter 58: Goodbye for now, Liyue!

As I took a seat on the transport balloon I sighed in relief, happy to be off my feet. It was slightly cushioned, although not very much. It was certainly better than walking to Mondstadt in my condition.
"All set?" Aether asked, looking to Diluc.
Diluc nodded in return, and off we were. I looked behind me at Wangshu inn one last time as we departed, my eyes settling on Xiao. I had hoped he would come with, but I knew wouldn't. He had a job to do here in Liyue, after all.
He was standing near the elevator, waiting for it to come back down. His arms crossed, Xiao watched us leaving for Mondstadt.
I smiled, waving. "Thank you!" I yelled to him. "I'll pay you a visit if I come back to Liyue!"
"That's... not necessary," Xiao yelled back, but I saw a smile start to cross his face. "But I suppose I cant stop you," He waved a little before turning and stepping on the elevator, ascending back up to the inn.
I turned my eyes back to the path, somewhat satisfied with the farewell. "You sure made a lot of friends in Liyue, y/n!" Paimon said.
"I did, didn't I?" I said. Chongyun, Xiangling, Xinqiu, Hutao, Zhongli, Xiao... did Childe count? I wasn't so sure he was a friend anymore. "I have quite a few letters to write when I get home."
"When we get back to Mondstadt, Paimon wants to eat a big dinner!" She said, looking like she was about to start drooling.
"I liked the Liyue food a lot, but I do kind of miss the food back home," I said, remembering the dishes that I grew up with.
"I bet I can guess exactly what you're thinking of," Diluc said, looking back at me.
"Can you?" I said, smiling playfully. "Alright then, take a guess."
"Mushroom Pizza?" He said, raising a brow and smiling slightly.
"Yeah, but I don't know if I should give you credit on that. It's too obvious," I said, although I couldn't help but smile.
"Mushroom pizza?" Aether tilted his head.
"We get that for lunch sometimes," I said simply, although we actually liked to get mushroom pizza quite a lot.
"How much did I miss since I went to Liyue?" Aether asked, smiling a little. "Diluc found someone... I wonder what else changed."
"Oh..." I said, remembering Kaeya and Albedo. I laughed a little, but quietly. "Yeah, go talk to Kaeya when we get there," Kaeya and Albedo... that's right, they were together now too, weren't they?
Realizing what I was talking about, Diluc cracked a smile. "A few things have indeed changed."
"And Noelle made it into the Knights, do you know her?" I asked, smiling widely.
Aether and Paimon nodded. "Yeah! Paimon knows Noelle! She makes really good deserts!" Paimon said, already drooling again.
I remembered when I made deserts, which Noelle helped me with as well. "You like deserts a lot, huh Paimon?" I asked, to which she nodded wildly. "I should make you some wolfhook pie sometime. You'd like it."
"Wolfhook pie?" Aether asked, tilting his head.
"Yeah, my mom made it for Sucrose and I all the time as kids," I said, smiling fondly at the memory.
I couldn't wait to get back home. I wondered what Kaeya would think about my missing eye... and Sucrose was going to flip.
"Diluc, did you tell Sucrose about my eye?" I asked nervously.
"Oh... not quite," he said, scratching the back of his head. "I wasn't sure how she would take it, and I figured it would be better to talk about in person. She only knows that you've been injured."
"Damn. Kaeya's going to think I'm copying him now, too," I rolled my eye, but couldn't help but smile.
Kaeya... that reminded me. Was he the one who got Albedo to book only one bed rooms? I remembered his words from before.
"I'll get you for this, y/n!" I had called Albedo his boyfriend, to which Kaeya responded to me playfully with a declaration of revenge. It all started to click. Although, I don't think it ended up as 'revenge' for Kaeya, since Diluc and I ended up closer than before in the end.
Had he hoped for an awkward situation? He didn't even know that Diluc and I had shared a bed at the winery before. My head started to throb from all the thinking, so I stopped and turned my eyes to the road.

The sun had only just set when we arrived, most citizens already home or busy in the taverns. We stopped just outside the gate, the knights waiting outside waving to us.
"I'll send for assistance right away," one said before walking into the gate.
"Assistance?" I said, tilting my head.
"Well, we can't really fit a transport balloon through the gate," Aether said, smiling.
"Right..." I shifted in my seat, ready to get out of the uncomfortable transport. I had been sitting in it for hours. "How exactly is this going to work?"
"It's good to see you, Lady Y/n!" I heard a familiar, polite voice from inside the gate. I turned my attention to the source, and smiled as I saw Noelle approaching. She was pushing a chair, only it was on wheels.
"Noelle. It's good to see you too, but you don't have to call me that," I said, feeling a little flustered. She was still calling me 'lady'...
"Ah, I'm sorry. Just a habit of mine," she apologized.
"Paimon heard you made it into the knights!" Paimon brought up, smiling.
"I did," she smiled happily. "Y/n is the one who delivered the acceptance letter. That's why I'm more than happy to assist her now."
"You're more than happy to assist just about anyone, Noelle," Aether said.
"Come on, I'm sure y/n would like to have some rest," Diluc said, hurrying the conversation along. I smiled at him, just happy that he was still alive after what happened. He had nearly died twice now.
"Oh! Of course," Noelle said. She brought the chair over, and Diluc helped her move me from the balloon transport to the chair. Noelle had incredible strength, which surprised me for her small stature.
"Thanks," I said, happy they were there to help me. "Diluc, where are you staying for tonight?"
"I have to go back to the Winery," Diluc said, kneeling down to the chair. "I'll be here first thing tomorrow morning, I promise."
I nodded, although I was a little sad he wasn't going to go back with me. It wasn't entirely unexpected though, since he probably needed to be home as much as I did.
"Noelle, here," Diluc said, handing her my bag. "Theres fragile items in there, so please be careful."
She nodded, slinging the bag over her shoulder. "Leave it all to me!"
Diluc leaned down and planted a kiss on my cheek, and I flushed a little since everyone was right there. "Travel safely, Diluc," I smiled.
He nodded before waving to everyone else, and then setting off. At first I was a little worried, since I was used to not letting him travel alone. But, I remembered that he wasn't injured anymore. He could take care of himself.
"Paimon wants to go to good hunter and get some sticky honey roast!" Paimon said, looking to Aether. "Pleeeease?"
"If Noelle can take y/n back okay, than I guess it won't hurt," Aether said, and then turned to us. "You think you can take her back?"
Noelle nodded with certainty. With that, we stepped inside the city, Noelle pushing the chair steadily. Very quickly, we ran into our first problem.
"What about the stairs?" I said, raising an ear.
Noelle stopped, looking up at them. "I'll take care of it," she said, and effortlessly lifted the entire chair easily.
"Woah, h-hang on, is this a good idea?" I asked nervously. She held the chair incredibly still, and didn't break a sweat.
"Noelle is pretty strong, you'll be fine," Aether reassured me, although I still wasn't sure.
I held onto the chair tightly as Noelle made her way up the stairs. All this, and my bag was still slung over her shoulders.
She set the chair down gently as we reached the top. "Wow... you are incredibly strong, Noelle..."
"Thank you L... y/n," she reminded herself. Was she so used to calling me that? We were equals, weren't we?
"I mean... that's superhuman," I said, looking back to her. Noelle had such a small stature, but could lift the chair, my bag, and me... up a flight of stairs? She never even broke a sweat, either.
"And that's good hunter over there, see you guys!" Paimon said, floating straight to the counter.
"Sorry about her, she gets real stingy about food," Aether said, smiling apologetically. He started walking towards Paimon. "We'll stop by tomorrow, don't worry."
I nodded. "No worries. Enjoy dinner!"
Aether waved, and ran to join Paimon. Noelle continued pushing the chair past good hunter, where I heard them conversing.
"What happened to y/n?" The lady at the counter asked Aether, worried. She must have wondered where I was, since I was a regular before going to Liyue.
"She was... it's a long story," Aether said, watching me wave to him as Noelle rolled me by.
"First that incident a few weeks ago, and now this?" The lady said, waving to me.
"Incident?" Paimon asked, tilting her head.
I felt my stomach clench when I remembered that night. I hadn't told Aether and Paimon, and they hadn't been to Mondtstadt in a few weeks either. They didn't know about it.
"I forgot that they didn't know," I said as we passed the water fountain. The sound of the water made me feel comfortable, and reminded me that I was home.
"That's alright, you don't have to tell everyone everything," Noelle said, lightly putting her hand on my shoulder.
"Still I- oh great," I said, looking up at the steps that towered over us. "How many stairs are in Mondstadt again?