chapter 8 - can i have this dance?

One month later

The night of the Favonius Ball arrived. I helped Klee dress up, we found her a very pretty dress. It was a simple red dress, reaching down her knees with thick straps. Big white flowers decorated the skirt. I was brushing her hair, putting small braids in it and decorating with clover-shaped hairclips I made for her.

"Are you sure, you are not coming, big sis?" she asked as I applied the clips in her hair.

"Yes" I answered "But you can have some fun, Klee. The whole city will be there"

"And what are you going to do, big sis?"

I looked at the table with my piled up research notes on it. I was always done with my paper.

"Working, probably" I shrugged.

"That's soooo boring" she stated. I chuckled.

"Yeah, but it has to be done"

Once she was done, Lisa came to pick her up. I thoroughly thanked her for taking care of her and she promised she will bring her home before midnight.

It was only half past five. I sighed as I sat back to continue my work. I only had a few parts to write and I would be finished. Maybe it will be enough to receive my certificate and continue my work as a real researcher...

One and a half hour passed, but I got stuck.

Ahh, I need a drink. I thought. I hope Angel's Share is open even though everyone is at the Favonius Ball...

I decided to try my luck.

As I stood before the tavern's door, I didn't hear the usual chatter of people, but the music was on. I entered to find an empty tavern with only Diluc behind the counter.

His eyes widened as he saw me.

"Oh, hello Tessa" he greeted me. "Why aren't you at the Ball?"

"Not my thing" I shrugged. "I love dancing, but I don't really like surrounded by all that people. What about you?"

He rolled his eyes.

"As if I went to the useless knight's stupid gathering. One more excuse to them not completing their duty"

I smiled at him. "Don't be so harsh"

He shrugged a little. He really didn't like the knights. It was understandable, but sometimes he took his hatred too far.

"The usual is fine?" he asked. The past month I spent some nights at the tavern and it was really fun. It really felt like the three of us started to get close again, but instead of playing, now we drank together.

"Yepp, thank you"

He served my drink, he was clearly bored because of the empty tavern.

"Why did you open Angel's Share tonight?" I asked, sipping on my drink.

"Well... if only one person comes here, apart from you, and they would find the tavern empty, they would probably cause trouble. It's better to keep the good reputation. And at least I have an excuse why I am not at the Ball"

"Fair point" I nodded.

"And how's your paper going?" he asked, he seemed genuinely interested. I usually try not to bore people with my research too much.

"It's fine. It needs some minor corrections and I think I can finally submit it. Let's hope the sages find it okay and I get my certification" I explained.

"And... did you find an answer?"

"Well, I found some connections between people who have the same vision, but there are always some exceptions" I already explained my topic to Diluc and the others a different night, so I didn't bother doing it again.

"Connections? Like, in their personality?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, that's probably not the case. Take... for example... Kaeya and Rosaria. They both have cryo visions, but while Kaeya is more social and smooth-talker, Rosaria appears rude to others at first and doesn't really make connections. And there's Eula Lawrence too... she's also different from them. Personality comes from background, but to obtain a vision, you need something else"

"I see.." he hummed. He was seriously thinking about the things I said. "So it has to do with the archon's ideals? Like... you receive anemo if you pursue freedom?"

"That was my first thought back then" I said. "But that's not the case either. Just think about that Sumeru is the land of wisdom... so theoretically speaking super-wise people would get dendro vision. But... if we think about people we know... Lisa received electro, Albedo has geo and my mum has pyro"

"I give up" he raised his hands. "So what's the conclusion"

I smiled. "There's no such thing as conclusion. But, most people with the same vision has something in common. Like, pyro is the most simple one. People with a strong passion towards something has pyro visions. Amber's passion for being an outrider, Klee's passion for bombs, and other people like I met a toymaker whose passion was to make children happy, a chef passionate about cooking, and you..." I stopped there. I started blushing heavily and looked down. I needed to stop before I embarrass myself and somehow make it clear that I was inspecting him.

He folded his arms, a little smile appeared on his face. "Go on, what's my passion, Tessa?"

"Y-you tell me" I answered, my face still red like a tomato.

"No, I am actually curious what you think" he forced.

"Y-you're p-passion is p-protecting Mondstadt" I stuttered. "And the p-people you care about"

I still looked down, I didn't want to see his reaction. But the silence was deafening.

Eventually, he chuckled. "Interesting. It's kind of an honor that you see me this way"

Good. He doesn't think I am a weirdo.

I finally dared to look up at him. He was lost in thought.

"Tessa"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you" he gave me a closed eyed smile.

"For what?"

"For keeping me company tonight. And for the talk. Promise me we can talk more about your research in the future. And anything else, actually"

And there we go again, my face was redder than wine.

"S-sure" I couldn't quite place that comment. It was rare he expressed emotion that way. I found this a good opportunity to ask a question that has been bothering me.

"Diluc?"

"Yes?"

I bit my lips. Should I really ask it?

"W-where did you disappeared for three years after Uncle Crepus died?"

His eyes widened. A gloomy look appeared on his face.

"I guess it's no use keeping it a secret from you" he struggled. Maybe it was too hard for him to talk about it? Or afraid of my thoughts? He sighed. "I... went to investigate... what happened to father... I... I am not proud of the things I did. That was a very dark era of my life"

"Y-you don't have to talk about it if you don't have to..."

"N-no it's fine" he stated. "I just... I don't want you to think badly of me because of my actions back then... I... travelled through Tevyat and learned along the way that the Fatui gave a delusion to father and... I know he knew about the possible consequences, but... I couldn't accept it. I wanted to blame someone. I wanted to take revenge... I... did terrible things... killed many people. Bad people, but I still took their lives"

I gasped. I didn't expect him to tell me everything honestly. I kind of already suspected those things he said by the little bits of information from Venti and mom. But hearing him saying these things out loud... I didn't judge him. I understood his feelings. It just made me feel sad and empty. I wish I didn't left Mondstadt so I could have been there for him. To save him from himself.

But it's too late now.

"I... am sorry" he said "I... wouldn't be surprised if you would be upset"

"You don't have to apologize" I stated. "You might not believe me, but I understand your feelings. And I am sorry you had to go through these things alone"

"Now everything's different" he sighed.

The air around us was heavy. The past memories appeared as a gloomy aura around us.

"Let's not talk more about these sad past things" he smiled. "Everyone is having fun at the ball, and the two of us have each other's company"

"Yeah, like, we haven't really had fun together for years. But I remember that Favonius Ball years ago. That... was kind of okay, I guess"

"Yepp, you tried to dance the night away and you chose your partners" he laughed.

"I even asked you to dance" I remembered "Otherwise, you would had spent the whole night sitting on a chair"

He was blushing a little. He never was much of a dancer, when we had dance classes as kids, he always stepped on my feet. Kaeya, on the other hand enjoyed it just as much as I did. He even offered Diluc to give him tips. I remember when they danced together and Kaeya was the "girl". It was incredibly funny.

Diluc came out from the bar and stood before me. He bowed his head and reached one hand out towards me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He was blushing. "I-I am asking a d-dance from you"

My eyes widened. But I gladly accepted his offer. He led me to the middle of the tavern. His left hand slid on my waist. He held me strong and we started dancing to the music. Well, he learned a lot. He led me, I just had to follow him. Our movements synced as we both remembered the steps from those classes. Two to the left, one to the right. I looked deeply in his crimson-brown eyes and grinned.

"What?" he asked with a little smile playing on his lips.

"Did you practice?" I asked as he spinned me.

He rolled his eyes. "Shut up" but the smile from his face didn't fade. We danced through the song and I felt like I was falling.

Falling deeply, unavoidably for him.

I used to love him as a child. And I couldn't forget him growing up. But now it was different. It was stronger.

The tavern's door opened, a tipsy Rosaria entered with an even tipsier Kaeya. We immediately stopped dancing, but they saw us holding each other.

The drunk expression faded from Kaeya's face, as his lips curled into a smile.

But that smile was one of the scariest thing I ever saw.

"Are we interrupting something?" he asked in a venomous tone.

Diluc cleared his throat "No, we just had a dance" he let me go and he walked back behind the bar. I followed him and sat on the stool to finish my drink.

"You know, there is a ball happening right now" continued Kaeya. "Or... did you two just wanted some alone time?"

"Oh, shut up Kaeya" Rosaria rolled her eyes.

The silence was heavy. Kaeya stared at Diluc with an amused smile. I found it the perfect time to escape the situation.

"Thanks for the drink, Diluc" I stood up and left some money on the counter. I escaped before anyone could say anything else.

I breathed in the cool air of the night.

What the bloody hell is Kaeya's problem?

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Author's note

Well, this chapter is a little longer than usually buut I wanted them to.. get a little closer now, I guess? I hope all the research stuff is not that boring, but it's a huge part of Tessa's life sooo

Anywaaaay thank you for 100 reads, it means a lot ❤️