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hiiii hope u get to relax this weekend bud! so about that hot modern au diluc..... tell me why you hc him as aroace and did he have any past relationships before he figured it out? love knowing ppls sexuality hcs! please draw more modern diluc in classy sweaters and cute cardigans too btw... i want to show him off at pedigree show

I started a draft of this response on Friday and wrote a whole dang essay, so I am going to go back and make it less chaotic and a little more clear and concise jhskjdfh But thank you for sending in this ask ;u; I was happily playing with kitties and stuffing my face with good food all weekend, so it was a very nice break!

As for Modern AU Diluc, I've always liked the HC that he's asexual or demisexual. I don't see him as someone with much sexual attraction because I see a lot of aspects of his personality that me and many of the other asexual people I have known throughout my life all have shared. The aromantic headcanon is actually just for this specific AU! I have a 2nd modern AU where he is still asexual, but homoromantic! That AU is deep in my google docs and hasn't seen the light of day on social media yet, though. So it's very top secret shush shush lol

As for my thoughts for this specific AU, I thought he suited the aroace headcanon the most. I thought it made him a more compelling character within the story and modern setting and even made some of his relationships more complex to write and plan out. And I like a complex challenge when it means I get to pick apart a character's brain, even if I'm the one who technically gave them the brain since it's an AU....dissecting my own creation, if you will.

Since you asked more about his backstory, I'll leave some more info under the cut so I'm not clogging up people's dash ＊*♡( ⁎ᵕᴗᵕ⁎ ）

*Quick list of warnings for this AU before you proceed:

Crepus is dead in this AU, so there is technically past character death that is referenced often in regards to Diluc

Crepus died in a car accident and this is mentioned at least once or twice

There is past Diluven! They are not dating during the part of the story I've got the characters set in as of right now, but it is mentioned and integral information to a lot of the character's connections and backstories.

There are little hints that Diluc picked up bad habits after his fathers death and that he did not treat himself kindly. This behavior is comparable to self harm, so if that bothers you in the slightest, please proceed with caution. It is only vaguely referenced and never stated or explained outright. Man was lacking that self preservation mindset in-game when he ran off to avenge his father, so he also lacks it here, just in a different form

Kaeya and Diluc are portrayed as adopted brothers in this AU

Before I get into his back story, I'll give you his basic profile so you've got a little background info for him:

Character Profile:

Age: 29 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/Him Sexuality: Aromantic, Asexual Education: Bachelors of Science Business Management Occupation: Bar Owner, Bartender, Community Garden Volunteer (President) Relationship Status: Single Extra Info: Diagnosed with PTSD and Major Depression, Kaeya's adopted brother (estranged), has a full back piece tattoo done by Xiao.

You get some of that info from This art I posted before, but I actually made some small changes to the AU since I drew that! Sorry for any discrepancies. You should see the chaos that is my spreadsheet of character info for this AU alone. It nearly crashed my phone once just by opening it.

I'll start with the summary/TL;DR and expand a bit further on some parts just because I can!

TL;DR of how he found out he was AroAce:

Diluc dated Venti for convenience in high school, but never felt an attraction to him or anyone else.He only dated Venti to alleviate the pressure Jean felt from the rumors that she and DIluc were dating when they only saw each other as very close friends. He figured he'd eventually develop feelings for either Venti or someone else, but never did. He went through Trauma™ and officially left the main city in Mondstadt to find himself after the death of his father. He later found a trustworthy therapist who introduced him to the possibility of being AroAce.

Expanded Explanation:

In high school, Diluc watched many of his friends develop crushes and date and chase after love interests. He never really understood it. When people would ask him if he had feelings for anyone, he never had an answer. He didn't feel the need to date or flirt. The idea of being romantic with anyone quite frankly felt strange and foreign to him. He cared for his friends deeply and developed strong bonds, but he never considered any of them to be romantic in nature. Many people mistook his friendship with Jean as romantic due to how close they were.

The rumors put pressure on them both to become an item even if they didn’t have romantic feelings for each other. To relieve some of that pressure, Diluc did his best to try to find someone he felt comfortable returning affection, albeit insincere, to. So many people approached him with such sincerity, it felt wrong. So, when a short, bubbly upperclassman approached him with an offhanded flirt, he flirted back. It was a shaky attempt, but he could tell the star of the theater music department wouldn’t take things too seriously and there was nothing to lose. So, he got closer to Venti and asked him out. He wasn’t expecting they’d become the sweethearts of the school, nor that they’d be voted prom kings and cutest couple in the school year book. What was meant to be an unserious relationship to relieve pressure on himself and his dear friend, became a tiresome obligation.

Venti was two years older, and graduated the year after they started dating. Unfortunately, Diluc was still stuck pretending. His last year put more strain on him than he’d like to admit and it became so evident, even Jean began to worry. Before she could ask if he was alright and offer help, tragedy struck.

While driving he and his father to a promotional event for the family business, an SUV lost control on the highway and sent DIluc and his father’s car flying off the road and into the forest at the bottom of the incline beside it. Crepus suffered a severe injury and died before the ambulance or Kaeya arrived. Diluc blamed himself and the SUV that had driven off after the impact.

Tha took a toll on his mental state. The strain of pretending to be like everyone else proved too much on top of the new issues that instantly popped up after the death of his father. As the eldest son, just freshly 18, he was given the reins to the family business. He had to pick up the work in his father’s absence until things could be settled. He also had his finals and college applications to worry about. Venti’s pestering and unwanted advances tested Diluc’s limits and eventually sent him over the edge.

He broke up with Venti at a school dance he had to attend as president of the student council the day before his father’s funeral. Kaeya told him something (I won’t cover in this post) that shattered his hope for the future. In a blind rage he won’t be able to fully remember years later, he kicked Kaeya out and was left alone in a big empty house, save for the handful of staff that still cared for the house. After that, he simply stopped going to class. He did everything in his power to track down the man that killed his father, that the police still had yet to catch.

Within the time he spent obsessively searching for the man, Adelinde and Elzer were doing their best to talk him down and gently guide him towards getting his GED and attending a nearby college in the hopes of helping him back into a stable routine to get his mind off the grief he clearly was not processing in a healthy manner.

At some point, Diluc relented and did as they had asked. His rage simmered out and was replaced with numbness. He would not remember the years of rage or the time spent getting his degree due to his own specific response to the trauma he endured. He took on the family business for a year before he realized it was best to leave it to the people that knew more than he did and the people he knew his father had trusted to keep things running. He stepped down from the company and gave the position to Elzer. Though sad to see him go, the Dawn Winery staff were happy to see him leave to find himself and hopefully work through the grief he’d felt for all these years. He left Mondstadt proper to live in a smaller college town. It was where Jean had gone to pursue her degree and now her Masters. Once there, he opened up a small bar that quickly grew in popularity. He had direct contact with the most well known winery in Mond, so of course he had the highest quality alcohol.

As popularity grew, he was able to hire more staff, leaving him with more and more free time. In the mental state he was in, that free time wasn’t a good thing. Bad habits formed back in college and he still was not coping in healthy ways. As his free time increased, his mental state got worse. He thought getting out and finding something to do would help, so he joined as a volunteer at the community gardens. It was something he could do to distract himself and speak with others in a relatively stress free environment. There he met Zhongli, the person who tended to the beehives in the garden. Zhongli was kind, patient and understanding and very quickly became someone Diluc could call a friend. It helped a lot, the gardens and the new faces, until winter came and there wasn’t much to do when it was too cold for most plants to grow.

It reached a point where Jean was checking in on him frequently. She could tell things were bad. Feeling guilty for worrying his dearest friend so much, he finally reached out for help. With Zhongli and Jean’s assistance, he found a trustworthy therapist who helped guide him towards a healthier path and helped him through his emotions and thoughts. She introduced him to the concept of both Aromantic and Asexual identities. Having that support and direction helped improve his mental state and kept him from dropping back into the worst of his lows. Knowing he wasn’t broken in some way for not searching for romance or intimacy helped quite a bit. It wasn’t so much the label as it was knowing there were other people like him.

He also met Rosaria, who became a regular at his bar. The two later found out they were both Aromantic and bonded quite a bit over the fact. He came to rely on her as a more quiet and subtle source of support and understanding. Zhongli also became much closer to him and revealed they were genderfluid. The concept was somewhat foreign to Diluc, but it opened up his eyes to how diverse humans were in both their identities and presence. Zhongli then introduced him to Xiao, a young man they had taken in after he was in a terrible accident at a young age. Xiao dealt with chronic pain and the heavy guilt of being the only survivor of that accident that killed his closest friends. He and Diluc got along well. Further down the road, Diluc asked Xiao to do his back tattoo, trusting him with a design that symbolized his journey towards healing. Xiao, though he wouldn't admit it outright, was honored to have the bar owner's respect and freedom to design and complete the tattoo.

Now, Diluc is surrounded by and even more diverse community that helps him through the healing and self discovery process.

Thank you for asking me about him and this AU in general :> I have a bunch of google docs with more of his and the other character's stories, but I'll save them for another time, since that wasn't exactly what you asked for ahahaha whoops. Can't wait to draw more of him soon!

Hope you're having a lovely day!

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