[yobibadoobee]

POSTER

eager to finally get the full package of being a returning legendary commander, a certain winery owner instead cuts the celebrations short.

TAGS: diluc x afab!reader, varka x afab!reader, jealousy, basically varka fucks around (unknowingly) and finds out lol

NOTES: this lovely idea came from @crowttore !! varka SHOULD be banned for leaving jean with so much work (and just because i say so MUAHA)

WORD COUNT: 1.6k

You are probably working the busiest shift Angel’s Share has had in years.

Although Mondstadt is known for ordinary nights akin to festival gatherings, you’re certain the celebration of the Grandmaster’s return is even grander than any kind of festivity. The tavern is abuzz with a full crowd, as tales and drinks pass around the whole room freely. Your patrons are especially generous tonight—ordering vintages and the finest ingredients for mixes left and right, racking up large tabs as if their pockets would never run dry. You’re sure you are due for a hefty paycheck once the night is over. One that you’ll only earn if you give the best customer service a bartender could ever offer.

Customer Service, that is, entertaining the man of the hour’s shameless flirting included.

Having only been on staff for 3 years, you have never encountered the Knight of Boreas beyond the times he was on official business, before he left for the expedition in Nod Krai. Charles says that Varka hasn’t changed—just definitely downing a lot more liquor than he used to. It all makes sense, really. Who wouldn’t want to drink carelessly after conquering trials you’d only hear of in legends?

You just wonder if he is usually this friendly with women.

You can feel his stare by the bar, locking onto you every few minutes or so, flashing you a toothy smile on the occasion you happen to catch his gaze. Shamelessly.

Whenever you would pass by his table to gather empty glasses for a refill, he would have you linger a moment longer—asking whatever he can know about you, always making sure to slip a compliment before you leave. As if that weren’t enough, he would continue on when you return, seemingly never getting enough of your replies.

At this point, you’re sure he’s only drinking to keep talking to you.

“Should you really be going through rounds of Death after Noon this quickly, Grandmaster?”

“I won’t be dead after noon just because of this, my lady,” he laughs, grinning as you place the said mix in front of him, “You can’t blame me, who would not want to drink something made by a stunning beauty?”

“Careful now, that concoction might just be slipped with something unsavory,” you reply, clearing your tray of refills to his companions, who already have their heads on the table. “I believe this is the last turn of the celebrations tonight, good sir, is there anything I can get you before you go?”

Varka clutches his chest dramatically, curling the cloth over his chest, “You wound me, my new favorite bartender. Five years’ worth of hardships yet you turn me away from a good time just as I’ve finally return to leisure—“ He flings his hand by the side, which you figure is his act of throwing his heart away.

You roll your eyes at his antics. “Would that be all, sir?”

“Ah, how cold, I suppose this really must be good night.”

He rises from his seat, stumbling a bit, before taking a step toward you while maintaining a respectful distance despite the influence of alcohol. He offers his hand, which you stare at confusingly, hesitantly placing yours atop his.

The golden knight gives you a handshake. “It is nice to meet you.”

He then lifts your hand towards his lips, shifting his hold onto your fingertips as he presses a light kiss on your knuckles— an act that instantly flusters you.

He grins stupidly again. “I’ll see you tomorrow, eh?”

You quickly pull your hand back, turning your face anywhere but him.

What the hell, what the hell, what the hell. Did he really just do that?

But before you can even respond, a looming figure does it for you.

“There won’t be a tomorrow. We’re closing. Please leave.”

Diluc steps in between you both, bumping into Varka as he passes. There is a scowl etched to his face— sharp, absolutely displeased. You wonder what set him off so suddenly, when not even a full house had shaken him earlier when the celebrations started.

He slams his hand by the table you were serving, jolting the sleeping knights awake, startling the rest of the room.

“Don’t forget to settle your tabs,” voice low, full and firm.

He turns to you, gesturing towards the bar.

You quickly follow his silent orders, watching from behind the counter as he stares off practically the mayor of the town into submission. Varka, drunk but not stupid, ushers his men to take their exit with him, knowing better than to test the young master’s change of demeanor. This prompts the rest of the crowd to follow suit, after dutifully handing their payment.

Before the grandmaster could fully step out of the door, however, he looks over his shoulder right back at you, fluttering his eyelashes before flashing you a wink. He gives you that hideously charming grin again, shamelessly adding, “Tomorrow, miss, okay?”

Diluc steps forward, urging the knight to fully step out, then shuts the door just right— nearly hitting Varka’s back. Just as quickly as he made a scene, he marches off to the cellar, deliberately ignoring the confused looks you and Charles send his way. Heaving a heavy sigh, he takes in the stillness of being alone in a room with nothing but barrels.

He’s displeased. He is absolutely displeased, alright. The sight of you being flustered by that gigantic dog had made his stomach curl. He wonders how many more impulsive incidents might come from the hold you have of him, simply by being yourself. Diluc is painfully aware that if not for the manners instilled to him by his father and the obvious fact he doesn’t have any right to be upset over you simply doing your job, or over you in general, he was certain what happened earlier would have ended very differently.

Tomorrow, my ass.

No right of you, manners present or not—Diluc is still a petty man.

And a petty man would make sure that not even the man holding the highest position in the city could stop his unreasonable decisions.

A hangover would never stop a man deprived of home.

As Varka sneaks off from his office again, leaving an entire stack of paperwork, along with his still recovering companions to set off for Angel’s Share, he already plans what specific mixes he would indulge in that should only be made by the stunning bartender he never encountered before the expedition.

What a pity it was, truly, to not have been graced with the picture of a beauty much earlier with the years past. No matter, he would just make up for it now, practically skipping ahead his men. Their own giddiness, however, suddenly drops the moment they reach the tavern doors.

Varka peaks over, confused. “What’s the matter, boys?”

The awkward silence unsettles him. He steps forward, following where the knights are pointing at. He expects a threat— only to be met with a poster bearing his features, drawn rather offensively.

BANNED.

In bold red lettering across the top. Beneath it settles an awful portrait of his face that does not do him justice at the slightest. It was as if he is not a Grandmaster, but a wanted criminal for the most horrific crimes committed in all of Teyvat.

Varka is left just as dumbfounded as the crowd beginning to gather around his men.

“Preposterous! Who would dare pull such a terrifying prank?” He exclaims dramatically.

Before anyone could further his cause, the owner of the establishment cuts through the crowd, standing his ground directly by the poster.

“I assure you, it is not a prank, Grandmaster.”

“Diluc, my boy! How could this be!? Why would a loyal customer be subjected to such treatment?”

The redhead crosses his arms, leaning against the door, “As the head of this business, don’t I get a say which patrons are permitted entry, especially if they are known to cause trouble?”

Varka opens his to mouth to protest, only for Diluc to cut him off with a sharp look.

“I dont normally suggest our customers to try our own competitors, but Cat’s Tail is just around the corner and would surely serve you to satisfaction, Grandmaster.” His gaze hardens. “For now, you are not welcome. End of story.

End of story, indeed.

As Diluc ignores the various snickers rising from the spectacle of banning a man others might consider too valuable to refuse— he couldn’t care less. Because just beyond the door, inside the tavern, is something he’d rather keep to himself.

You.

Varka can only stare, mouth wildly agape, as the door shuts firmly in front of him. Poster still plastered on.

this took me an alarmingly long time lol, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOML DILUC. please leave a reblog or reply if you liked it, they’re very much appreciated.

© yobibadoobee. Do not repost, copy, recommend in any other media and feed onto ai.

[yobibadoobee]

UNDER WHAT WAS LEFT IN DAWN

in which kaeya finds out about something of his brother’s he wasn’t supposed to.

tags: diluc x afab!reader, secret babies (hidden pregnancy).

“I must say, what an awful and very coincidental resemblance this princess of yours has to a certain brother of mine.”

Although Kaeya had every right to suspect, wasn’t he just too rude about it? What would he know? For all intents and purposes, the script you’ve made could actually be true; a very timely encounter right after you moved to Liyue with another red-headed man resulted in you receiving the biggest gifts of your life—the twins. Well, yeah, it isn’t. Your point still stands. You say the script anyway.

“Yes," you say, leaving no room for doubt. “It is a remarkable one. Right after Diluc abandoned you and me, I met another man, and well, you could fill out the rest. It's just, sadly, he passed away before I even gave birth—"

“Mom! Aeli!!”

Your son runs to you and your daughter. Your son, who looks like the boy who gave hope to Kaeya each day to forget a promise-less land, holds the same bright smile and energy. Your son, for all the world, managed to duplicate Diluc in a small body—despite his twin sister being an exact replica of you, except without the hair and eye color. It made you too complacent, your script being passable with your girl because your genes fought. But your son, who you could never use the same excuse for to anyone who knew about you and Diluc—he just wasn’t supposed to be here!

You look at Kaeya, whose eye uncovered by the horrible eyepatch is uncomfortably wide. It is rare to have the Cavalry Captain caught off guard, at a loss for words, and frigidly still, but how could he not?

When the words do find him, in another situation and life, you would've laughed at how appalled he sounded. You can’t; you only have this life, which revolved around a plot that involved hiding children from a man you loved so much at the age of 18 because he was grieving and couldn’t think about anything else.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

this is a really rough draft/snippet of my upcoming diluc fic series with the secret baby trope since I loved the angst and thrill of Hiding the Emperor’s Child (manhwa lol). Please forgive for any grammatical errors, note that this scene may appear differently on the actual fic once I get the time to write it 😭

please do not post my works anywhere. let me know what you think by leaving a reblog or reply! :))

if you guys want domestic diluc and his twins from this fic as teenagers, go check out this drabble!

[yobibadoobee]

For some reason, the twins always stunned Diluc.

Wether it be by their antics or tomfoolery, they never fail to put their father in a daze and have him searching for help from his spouse, you, the most incredible woman who has given him these moments.

Today was supposed to go by the same routine everyday, where both children come home from school in Mondstadt. They’ll eat dinner made by Adelinde and announce whatever they had done with their time.

But it didn’t. Aelia decided to push through the winery’s doors and run to her room with striking tears coming down from her face.

“What happened?”

From the door, his son answered with a disinterested tone, “I dunno, must be that secret admirer guy.”

“Secret Admirer?” Diluc didn’t like the sound of that.

“Yeah, remember those love letters that came by every morning? She was supposed to meet up with him after class. She just came back and screamed at me saying I was annoying,” Solaris dumbfounded. He wasn’t impressed at all by his sister lashing out on him because of a stupid date.

“Call your mother, I’ll go talk to her,” Diluc instructed already going up the stairs to Aelia’s room.

He remembered how delighted his daughter was reading the letters sent by this secret admirer, it had her showing them off to every staff of their family. You had even helped her prepare today — which he now realizes was for their supposed meeting; letting her borrow your jewelry, adorning her cheeks with pink and glossing her lips — she was elated. Seeing how his daughter is so disappointed, this guy must’ve really messed up. Gosh, he was going to kill this boy for making her cry.

Reaching her room by the hallway, he knocked and announced, “Aelia, love, im coming in.”

Once he opened the door, he wasn’t ready for the sight that greeted him.

Aelia was curled up in her bed, hugging a big plush that was her favorite gift from her Uncle Kaeya and sniffling as she was still tearing up.

He didn’t like his girl upset, much less because of a boy.

“Oh sweetheart, what happened?” Diluc sat down by the edge of the bed beside Aelia and ran his hand through her hair trying to give her comfort.

“I dont want to talk about it,” Aelia started to cry more.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid if you’re crying like this,” he frowned and tried to persuade her more.

After a few moments of sniffling again and again, Aelia turned her back on Diluc, “It’s all Sol’s fault”

Diluc was stunned and came closer to her, “How is it your twin’s fault?”

“Thats exactly the reason! It’s because he’s my twin!” Aelia exclaimed, now sitting up by the headboard. “Now I have no chances in love!”

“I’m sorry?”

“So I met up with this guy at Good Hunter, Elias, he’s the secret admirer. He’s a schoolmate just one grade level above me. We were supposed to eat but then he called me Sol while we were waiting for our order.”

Diluc listened intently, having his eyebrows furrowed. What now?

“It turns out the letters we’re supposed to be for Sol! The moment he saw “me” by the festival was when me and Sol were in a play about you and Uncle Kaeya, but I was wearing a wig that time to look like Uncle Kae!” Aelia now continued in a more frustrated tone, “When he asked who was the one with the red locks in our play, someone told him it was Sol.”

“His letters only addressed ‘for the long red-haired beauty’ but by that time Sol already cut up his hair so Adelinde thought it was for me, now this is just so messed up and I wont have a boyfriend anymore!” She cried out and started tearing up again.

Diluc was dumbfounded. How could he comfort his daughter who was mistaken as her twin brother? It was inevitable, they are twins, they were bound to be mistaken as each other time by time. But in this context?

He needed his wife.