Rainy Day Tavern // A Chaeya Fic

At Least I Know; I Am Here To Stay

Summary: A drink at the Angel's Share, and more drama(?)

~

Angel's Share is bustling with customers and patrons. He sees a bard talking to what looks like a sister in a corner, happily plucking his lyre strings to bring out the best mood. The nun beside him sounds like she's reprimanding him. Ajax pulls himself away and towards the barstools. Diluc was taking over for the day, it seems. The Knight wasn't sure why the one-eyed Cavalry Captain had invited him here, but free drinks were free drinks.

He's served before he knows it, though Diluc refuses to look at him, there's some sort of glint in his eye. Ajax looks down at his drink, a bit confused before he takes a sip. Oh. Grape juice. He should've known better. Wouldn't want to go free drinks to waste though... Ajax continues to drink. "One Death After Noon, if you please?" he grins. Diluc begrudgingly does his order.

The tensions between them were still strong, and if he weren't his boss and his job were on a thin line, Ajax might've asked for a spar or two. Ajax watches his movements, not having anything else to do. Drinks were more fun with some company, but his company works at a different bar, so Ajax will have to do with Diluc.

The drink tastes the same as Kaeya's. Ajax relishes in the taste. "Say, Diluc, not wearing your eye patch?" Diluc frowns, his two very normal eyes glaring at him. Ajax raises his hands in surrender. The bartender returns to serving a drink to the bard from earlier.

"I do not need it, it messes with my depth perception," Diluc answers. Ajax chooses not to mention the fact that Diluc wears it every other hour. The people of Mondstadt were odd... Three people with eyepatches? Not that the Harbingers weren't any less weird... Especially the Doctor and the Knave. Tartaglia doesn't know what the Eleventh was like before him, but Arlecchino seemed very determined to kill him then and there.

"What do you even do as a Cavalry Captain anyway?" Ajax murmurs as he slides his empty cup over for a refill. The bartender fills it up with grape juice, as predicted, and slides it back. Ajax drinks it anyway. "I mean, you have no cavalry to captain."

"It's more of a fancy title the Acting Grandmaster insisted on giving me after the previous one was so incompetent," Diluc scowls. "I had recommended someone else to take my place, but they never took up the offer, meaning someone else took their place. Anyway, I was forced to take back my title... Less the Knights become more incompetent than they already are." Ajax doesn't know how to feel about that. What is up with bartenders and dodging his questions? "I focus my work more on the Winery. If Jean assigns me something, I do it, but she knows my priorities are my family legacy."

Well, that makes sense. "Who'd you recommend anyway?" Ajax asks out of curiosity. Diluc sort of... Shrinks? He ignores his question, instead going to clean a glass. There's a distant look in his eye, as if the room around him didn't exist, stuck in his mind. Alright then.

"Did the Tsaritsa not please you or something?" Diluc asks instead after he eventually snaps back into reality. Ajax frowns. Was it that personal of a question that he had to ask one back? "Failed mission?"

"You can put it like that," Ajax mutters. Diluc obviously didn't expect him to answer, because he falls silent for a moment, though Ajax can see him connecting some sort of dots in his head.

"Your stance was horrible during the exam. An injury?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The two fall into silence after that. Ajax goes for another drink, and Diluc actually gives him Dandelion Wine. Must've felt bad or something. Whatever, it wasn't Ajax's problem.

"...My brother," Diluc mutters.

"Huh?"

"I recommended my brother." Ajax doesn't know what could be so bad about that, but he doubts that Diluc will tell him. There was some sort of understanding between the two, so Ajax avoids the topic of their jobs for now... And evidently, not talking about Diluc's brother.