Days in Mondstadt

Chapter 21- In the Kitchen

Y/n wheeled around and bit into her palm to keep from screaming. Diluc was sitting at the end of the table, a piece of toast in front of him.

"Holy- Diluc! What are you doing here?"

"It's nice to hear you drop the 'Master' from my name. And It's my house, I can be wherever I want."

Y/n gained some composure and took a deep breath.

"I- still. It's uncommon for someone to sit in pitch darkness while ... eating toast. Why are you sitting in darkness eating toast?"

"I got hungry. I could ask you why you were skulking through my house hunting for cookies."

"Well, I got hungry too."

"You didn't eat much supper."
Diluc's eyes were fixed on her and he had leaned back holding a small orb of fire in his palm.
Y/n realized that she hadn't seen him quite this relaxed since ... well she didn't know when. She must have caught him off guard. His coat and vest were gone and his hands were free of his usual gloves. And his hair... his hair was falling down his back, loose and free as a forest fire.

The small flame in his hand illuminated the side of his face in a way that made y/n really wish she couldn't see him. His eyes were piercing.

"Erm, no. I didn't have much of an appetite."

He frowned a bit but didn't comment.

"Well," said y/n. "I should...I should go to bed."

She slid her hand over the back of a chair and took a step backwards. Diluc stood.

"Wait." He dropped the flame from his hand onto an empty candle.

"You should eat something more substantial than cookies on an empty stomach."

Y/n was about to protest but Diluc lightly pressed her shoulders and steered her to the other chair on the end of the table.

"Sit."

She obeyed.

He went to the stove and lit it, loose shirt flapping with the force of the flames. He easily took a pot down from the hangers above the stove and poured a jar of  leftover radish stew into it. The light from the stove and the candle now illuminated enough of the kitchen for y/n to see the lines of Diluc's arms through his linen shirt. The rhythmic motion of his arm as he stirred would have put her to sleep if she hadn't been focusing on the clear veins on his forearm.

Damn.

She felt oddly disloyal to Kaeya for staring, even if they'd only sort-of made up a few hours ago. She groaned internally and tried to think of an excuse to go up to bed. She had wanted to sit in the dark with her cookies and try to figure out what the hell had just happened.
Kaeya liked her, that much was clear, and apparently it had been going on for a while. The way he had looked at her in that library... he had looked so hungry, as if he was ready to devour her- to consume her completely.

Y/n felt like she should have been happy, like she should be satisfied that Kaeya liked her and she liked him but there was a tiny voice in the back of her cluttered mind that whispered:

What if you're just another conquest? He is not exactly known for his undying loyalty to his lovers. He said he'd liked you for a while, but could he love you? He will grow tired of you and chivalrously end things like the rogue he is. You are not special. Remember the way he flirts with-

Diluc interrupted her train-wreck of thoughts and by tapping her lightly on the head.

"Are you there?"