Diluc x Reader

18

the few streaks of sunlight that made its way into the cave were ironically warm, in contrast to the cold and icy nature of dragonspine.

they landed perfectly on your cheek, the warmth laid on your eyelids resulting in the bright white light you saw when you woke up from your dream.

slowly opening your eyes, you adjusted your sitting pose slightly and shifted your back more to the wall of the cave so you could sit up straighter.

that was when you noticed a heavy weight on your lap, you looked down and were met with a sleeping paimon laying peacefully on your legs.

there was the slightest bit of drool coming from the corner of her mouth, you looked around and scanned the area. the first thing your eyes landed on was diluc.

the red haired man was sitting close next to you, about a few inches apart from both your shoulders touching. he had his arms folded neatly in front of his chest, his head facing down with his eyes closed, diluc was still sleeping.

you felt a cold breeze coming your way, the wind flowing through your hair as the cold air pierced your cheeks. your eyes landed on the dilucs coat besides the small campfire, you noticed that aether was still out as well.

the poor boy needed a rest anyways, he always seemed to be busy. your hands made their way to paimon and you gently placed them under her back, you then lifted her body with ease and placed her besides diluc.

she was leaning on his side while sitting with her back against the wall of the cave, you wasted no time and stood up to grab the coat next to the campfire.

after grabbing it, you neatly placed it so both diluc and paimon were covered. it was necessary to stay warm as much as possible in dragonspine.

as you were standing up straight, you noticed someone shifting in their position, you looked to the side downwards and saw aether squinting his eyes open.

he inhaled sharply as he propped himself on both his elbows, you kneeled down to his sitting level and spoke up, "took you long enough." you said while maintaining eye contact with him, inspecting his movements in hopes he wouldnt hurt himself too much.

he gave you a weak smile and placed both his hands behind him flat on the ground to sit up straight, "how long was i out for?" he asked you quietly, he noticed that the other two were still sleeping.

"shorter than expected." you quickly replied back, you shifted in your position and now sat on your legs in a kneeling position. "it was just a few hours, barely even a day" you added on.

aether looked down towards his lap and opened his mouth, "i see..." he said while avoiding eye contact, you could clearly hear the disappointment in his voice.

youve known aether for almost a week but already knew how much he didnt want to be in this situation, he felt like wasting time since he was the only one passing out this long.

hoping to cheer him up, you spoke once again, "hey now.." you started with after you noticed aether wouldnt look back up at you.

"we all needed the rest anyway." you said to him, those words made him look up and his face showed that he waited for you to continue.

"you needed this rest more than anyone too." you continued quickly while trying to find the right words, comfort was never one of your strong aspects.

before you knew it, you already spoke up again, "besides, you still look tired." you said while inspecting his features.

your hand made its way to the back of your neck and you gave aether a sheepish smile as he looked at you, aether then finally spoke up, "youre saying that as if you want me to get knocked out again." he retorted to you with a small smile on his face.

the comment caught you off guard as you didnt expect aether to take it that way, "wait, no-" you wanted to defend yourself but then saw aethers smile, he was just joking around.

you changed your defensive comment and spoke up, "if that means you'd sleep more, then yes." you said while giving him a smile equal to his, joining into his joke.

aether stifled a laugh which made you start laughing as well, almost as if it was contagious.

you two continued joking about knocking aether out and soon the two of you erupted into a laughing fit, both trying to make it sound as quiet as possible to not wake the others up.

"having a little to much fun already?" you heard a deep voice through the laughter. you looked over to your side and saw diluc just looking at the two of you. he didnt seem tired which meant he had been witnessing the scene for quite some time.

aether and you both slowly stopped laughing and the tension suddenly got tense, diluc just staring at you, his eyes diverting from you to aether and back to you, and so on.

the male let out a heavy breath while closing his eyes, he didnt know what to think of that situation of aether and you laughing together but felt slightly bothered by it.

he then noticed the coat that was on him and didnt recall that he had it on before he went to sleep.

dilucs eyebrows furrowed and he started thinking, he figured it was your doing since aether was knocked out and paimon probably couldnt carry it.

tilting his head back up, he spoke up, "what time is it?" he asked in his usual calm voice. you wanted to speak up and tell him it was close to 10AM but someone interrupted you.

"time to eat!" you heard a high pitched voice coming from besides diluc, you all looked at paimon who now suddenly had her eyes wide open, apperantly she as a morning person or just really excited to eat.

aether smiled at her enthusiasm and spoke up, "i got just what you want." he said softly, reffering to the mushroom pizzas you guys made earlier.