Light comes into the room through the cracked door when Diluc comes in-blinding me in my half-asleep state. Archons I'm tired.
He tip-toes in, pushing my hair out of my face before kissing the tip of my nose. "Diluc," I whisper, pulling him closer by his hand.
He lets me, sitting down on the bed next to me. "Yes, Venti?"
I don't answer, shifting to lay my head on his lap. "Venti," He whispers again, petting my hair.
I hum as an answer, pulling my arms closer to me as he rests his hand on my hair.
"Venti," His voice is soft, like crystalflies floating around the winery. He pauses, his hand no longer petting my hair, his breath caught in his throat. The wind in the room stills, I don't realize I'm waiting for him to breathe until he does.
"Let's get you under the covers." He coos, gently pushing me off of him.
I nod, letting go of him.
He pulls the covers back and I crawl under them. He pauses again, but not as long this time. He crawls into the bed with me, pulling the blankets up to my shoulders when I lay my head on his lap.
He starts to hum, and I close my eyes, focusing on his arms holding me.
"Wind Sprite?" There's worry in his voice, and it wakes me up a little, but not by much. We're safe, I don't sense any danger.
"Yes, Diluc?" I whisper, falling asleep slightly.
"Would you move into the tavern's apartment?" The question catches me off guard. Why would I move in?
"What do you mean?" I ask, shifting to look up at him.
"I want you to stay in the tavern." He's still running his fingers through my hair, lulling me closer to sleep, which makes this a bad time for a conversation. I'm going to fall asleep. Archons I'm tired.
"Why?" I mumble, I don't want to. I like how I live now, the freedom of it.
"I don't like the idea of you sleeping out in the wilderness. I want to know where you are." He says, one hand in my hair the other resting on my shoulder.
"I would feel bad if I stayed here, it's your place in the city." Taking the hand on my shoulder into my own, I kiss his knuckles, one by one.
"Move in with me instead."
What?
The offer takes me by surprise, my breath catching in my throat.
"Diluc, I..." I start but he cuts me off.
"Just think about it, Wind Sprite. We can talk more later. Rest." He whispers, Leaning down to kiss me.
He starts humming again, using his thumb to rub circles on my shoulder.
I don't know what to do. How do I answer him? I don't want to. I like how I've been living now, sleeping out in the wild isn't bad once you get past getting woken up by hilichurls a few times. And Traveler is always there to step in when things get too dangerous.
Should I let Diluc do the things Traveler does? Staying with him more wouldn't be bad. I do like him, more than I like most people.
I let these thoughts drive me to sleep.
By the time I wake, Diluc is gone. Which is odd, I usually wake before him. He tends to sleep in when he patrols. But he didn't patrol last night.
When I go downstairs, Traveler is waiting for me. "Oh, hey Venti!" They say, standing up from the stool they were sitting on.
"Traveler, why are you here?" I ask, rubbing my eyes.
"Diluc called out to me while I was walking down the street and asked for me to wait in here for you. Which helps a lot, cuz I was looking for you." Traveler looks at me, worried in their eyes. "Venti, are you ok? I've never seen you so disheveled after sleeping."
Taking a moment to look at myself and I see why Traveler is worried. My clothes are wrinkly, there's knots in my hair, looking at my hands I seem to be pale. "I'm fine, ehe. I guess I need to go by the tree again, huh."
I usually clean up a bit more when Traveler isn't looking, but I wasn't expecting Traveler. I was (wanting) expecting Diluc.
"Where's Diluc," I pause, fully taking in my surroundings, "And where's Paimon?"
"He's going to be in Liyue for the day. Something about turning Ningguang's offer for expansion down." Traveler says, leaning against the counter. "I asked Paimon to be his guide for the day."
"I bet Paimon wasn't pleased. Isn't Paimon your guide only?" I ask, fixing my clothes.
"Paimon said it would be ok this one time. Besides, I think Paimon is excited about finding out how your flirting attempt went. You didn't exactly tell us what happened. You said you would, but we all got busy." Traveler explains, but I only groan in response.
"Don't call it an attempt. It went horrible."
"It couldn't be that bad, you did convince him to date you." Shaking their head, Traveler reaches for me, taking my hands in their own.
I try to shake out of their hold, but they don't let me go, forcing me to keep eye contact. "We're not dating. We don't know what we are." I explain as Traveler holds on to me tighter. I pause, thinking for a moment. Traveler stays silent, waiting for me to continue. "He asked me to move in with him."
"What?! Venti, that's huge!" They say, shock written on their face. "What did you say?"
Traveler lets me pull my hands away, so I begin to play with the tips of my fingers. A nervous habit. "I didn't say anything. He didn't give me the chance to." Their face scrunches in confusion so I continue. "He told me to think about it, I was really drunk."
"Are you going to? Move in with him, I mean" Traveler asks, still shocked.
"I don't think so. I like how I live now." It's reliving confessing this to Traveler, and even more so doing it without Paimon here. Paimon can be a little loud-mouthed.
"You were also happy to love him from afar, but now you're sleeping with him."
"I am NOT sleeping with him. We went on one date, Traveler, one. "I say, cutting them off, shocked that Traveler would think such a thing.
"Not what I meant, Venti. You've been sleeping in the same bed right? I didn't mean sleeping sleeping with him. Unless... there's something you want to tell me?" Traveler wiggles their eyebrows at the last statement, laughing a little bit.
"No."
"Alright, alright." They laugh, putting their hands up in surrender. "Let's go do commissions, and then we can spend the day together, how about that?"
"As long as we leave this conversation alone," I say, letting them lead me out of the tavern. We lock the door behind us and go to the commission's board.
