TURBULENT / XIAOVEN

sixteen

authors note: this chapter is not that long bc of recent news in america. erm so i have not been in the mood to write or do anything and quite frankly, im full of rage!

so once again, apologies for short chapter it's like barely 1k AHHHH but anyway! currently at my dads so idk if ill update on time next time but hopefully!! also soo happy zhongluc chapter heehee... my silly men.... now kiss! this chaoter is mostly abt zhonglis family + backstory even tho its zhongluc.

also mentioning this very quickly bc it comes in later in the fic erm. not all characters in this fic r queer so. yeah. the main cast is almost all lgbt (except xinyan. sorry girlie. i luv u tho) and majority of the supporting cast isnt rly so... im just saying this incase ppl assume everyones gay when the only actual gay ppl in this fic r venti, chongyun & diluc who's closeted SO. bi rights i suppose? so in advance apologies for any explicit or implied homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, ableism, etc. those r characters actions not mine i pwommy im literally an autistic nonbinary man who luvs men i promise those arent my views.

cws: mention of death, scars, killing/murder, implied child abuse and dissociative amnesia

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diluc isn't really fond of having people in his room, it's not that he has secrets (well, he does but who doesn't?) it's just that he's not really someone who's comfortable with other people in his room. 

as he lays xiao onto the bed, along with the small child, qiqi following nearby, out of the corner of his eye, he can see zhongli taking off his jacket and laying it on the couch in the corner of the room. as he walks towards zhongli, he can hear murmurs between xiao and venti but all he can focus on is zhongli. 

he watches as zhongli brushes through his mix of brown golden strands. diluc doesn’t know what to do when he sees the other man realizing he had been staring for a minute. 

"i apologize," diluc says as he bows his head ever so slightly, "i got distracted." 

zhongli laughs softly, "that's alright. i understand how stressful it must be for us to just suddenly come in and disrupt the routine here." 

"it's not—" diluc shakes his head, "we don't really have a routine here." 

"oh, i do apologize then," zhongli says, "but just to get to something that's been in the back of my mind: where are we sleeping? i know where everyone is sleeping except for us." 

diluc nods before looking at the couch to his side, "you could sleep here." 

"and where will you sleep?" 

"on the floor," diluc says, "i don't want you to mess up your back or whatever." 

"or whatever?" zhongli says, "i'm not that old, diluc. i'm only twenty six." 

diluc blinks once before looking zhongli up and down, "you're twenty six?" 

"yes, why?"

"we're the same age," diluc says and zhongli can't help but feel old when he says that. i mean, people have always told zhongli he looked older than he actually was when he was a kid and he never believed it, well not until now when he was staring at diluc.