#heidiluc

so after heidi has been living in mondstadt for a while, she gets turned down for some prestigious geologist position in another nation she was preparing for months for.

diluc is, of course, devasted for her when she tells him the news, her eyes half filled with tears and a wan smile on her face, as she downs another fruity cocktail (he tells himself he’s devastated. he wanted her to have this opportunity. the fact that she’d be leaving mondstadt if she got the job has no effect on him or his feelings and he’s not relieved in the slightest.)

it’s close to the end of the night, and heidi is close to sloshed. he’s never seen her drink like this before, and it’s worrying him to say the least; it feels like no matter how little liquor he puts in her drinks, the flush on her cheeks and the glassiness of her eyes only grows. eventually, he asks charles to cover him and gently persuades her to let him walk her home.

they get a few steps out the door, diluc standing at a respectful distance, his hand hovering near her as she stumbles down the street, when she suddenly crumples to the ground.

she’s unhurt, but she’s on her knees and sobbing now and he can’t think of anything to do but hold her until she calms down.

he tries to soothe her and get her to let him carry her home, but she tells him through garbled words that she doesn’t HAVE a home anymore, she broke her lease on it because she was so positive this job was going to work out and now she has nowhere to stay for the night.

he blinks at her. “if that’s all that’s wrong, why don’t you come to the manor tonight and we’ll figure it out in the morning?”

"oh. i... i would appreciate that..."

and so diluc half-walks half-carries her back to the manor, her eyes red and puffy, but she’s smiling for the first time today in between apologies. she’s sober enough to walk now, but he insists on keeping her upright anyways. both of them pretend it’s normal.

they get to the lake outside the grape fields and heidi asks if they can stay there a while to look at the stars before they go inside, and diluc couldn’t deny her for the world

heidi points out the constellations to him for a long time, leaning on his shoulder and describing the stories behind all of them. he’s barely hearing her with how loudly his heart is beating in his ears. eventually, she seems to run out of steam and buries her head into his chest.

“it’s probably a good thing i didn’t get the job, i think. i’d miss the stars here if i left…”

and her face turns to his as she says it, her head against his lapel, and she’s never looked more beautiful and diluc can’t breathe thinking about how close he was to letting her slip through his fingers.

he’s staring at her so intently that he doesn’t notice his hand coming to bring her chin up, the other settling on the back of her neck, until she’s staring up at him with wide eyes and all the stars of mondstadt in them.

“stop me, heidi.” his voice has never been softer or more vulnerable. “please. i-i’ll bring you back to the manor and you can forget everything i’m about to say or do. just tell me you don’t want… this. me.”

she’s so shocked that neither of them say a thing for a moment, until suddenly there’s tears in her eyes again, and oh, archons, she’s laughing, it’s over-

“i love you too, ‘luc. wanna kiss about it?”

her eyes are shining, and when she smiles up at him he can’t keep himself from pressing his lips to hers.

heidi and diluc share their first kiss of many under the stars of the mondstadt countryside.