𝘛𝘞: 𝘈𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘩𝘰𝘭

"𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶."

Notes before reading:
~ This oneshot is based off of the special event "Of-Drink-A-Dreaming". If you have not yet completed that event or you haven't seen a video going over it yet, I must warn you that there are major spoilers ahead. Though I did change it up a bit and include Venti ~

<~•~>

When the redheaded man sat down in his own tavern, curios to see who the new bartender Luka kept mentioning was, he didn't expect to see you, the one and only love of his life serving a drink to a drunk bard.

"No wonder no one else has figured out yet that you're the almighty Lord Barbatos," you groaned as you placed a large glass of wine in front of him. "Enjoy your ninteenth glass of the night, bard."

"*hic* thank you, (Y/N)," Venti replied with his trademark cheeky grin, hiccuping as he reached for the glass.

Diluc exclaimed, "shouldn't you have cut him off by now?"

Your head darted up, your eyes meeting. "Oh, Master Diluc! Sorry, I didn't see you coming in. Do you want anything to drink?"

"Please, just call me Diluc," he responded with a warm smile, "and I'll get one Gray Valley Sunset, if you don't mind?"

"Sure," you shouted at him, getting the list of recipes out before turning back to the bard. "Just... gimme a second. I'm still getting the hang of things around here."

Diluc replied, "oh, don't worry. That's fine with me." He then hesitated before asking, "but really... how is Venti going to pay for all that?"

You shyly chuckled, embarrassed as you admitted, "he said he'd give you back the bottles of wine he stole from Dawn Winery yesterday and play a song for me if he stole yesterday if I treated him to a couple glasses of wine on the house."

Diluc scowled as he turned to the bard, glaring at him. "He did what?"

"It was only *hic* thirteen bottles..." Venti exclaimed, raising his glass up and waving it around as he defended himself. Then he paused for a second, and confusion flashed over his eyes. "Or maybe it was fourteen..."

"Oh great arch-" you groaned before stopping yourself. "Actually I take that back, I wouldn't classify this round-faced drunkard as 'great'."

"Hey," Venti shouted, "you take that back right now, or I'll- I'll- *hic*-"His words were all slurred, and he looked like he was about to faint as he started finishing the glass.

Diluc scrunched his face up and sighed, "you don't have to do this for me, (Y/N). I'll find a way to get those bottles back, trust me."

"No, it's alright. It's already been done, there's no going back now," you replied kindly as you started walking up to Diluc with his order.

"Thanks, (Y/N)," he muttered as a small smile spread across his face.

"Don't mention it," you replied before chuckling, "it is my job after all."

Diluc began, "well then tha-"

Suddenly, a large thump echoed through the tavern. In an instant, both Diluc and you casted a glance towards Venti who was now slumped on the table, snoring peacefully.

"You really should've cut him off," Diluc sighed.

"Yeah," you gulped, "I really should've..."

As you walked back to assist the passed-out bard, Diluc grabbed the drink resting in front of him and took small sips of the juice.

You asked, "is the drink alright? I think this might be one of my first times making that. Almost everyone who's come to this tavern so far wanted some drink with alcohol. The only people that asked me for a cup of tea and coffee so far was actually Lisa and Jean."

"I'm not surprised," Diluc answered, "most Mondstatians do have quite the obsession with alcohol."

"After today, I finally understand why Diona is so persistent with her goal of making the worst alcoholic drink ever," you laughed, "this town needs to take control over their obsession with wine some day."

In response, Diluc let out a rare chuckle before taking another sip of juice.

After a small, comfortable silence you spoke up. "So... you haven't answered my previous question yet. Am I really that bad?"

"Oh," Diluc exclaimed, coughing as he tried to quickly respond despite the fact that he was currently taking a sip of the juice. "No, of course not. It's quite good. Actually, it gives me a lot of nostalgia."

"Nostalgia?" You asked, walking up to him after finishing cleaning up the empty glasses of wine Venti drank from. "How so?"

Diluc gazed out into space, as if remembering some long-forgotten memory. "Believe it or not," he answered, "the first drink I ever made was a glass of Gray Valley Sunset."

"No way," you gasped, pulling out the chair across from him and sitting in it. His eyes quickly darted towards you as you asked, "seriously? Why did you make that despite all the other things you could've made?"

"Well," he sighed before quickly sipping the last of the drink, "no reason, really. My father was shocked too actually. I was just remembering him. That's why I was feeling nostalgic."

"Oh," you replied, realizing you might've made him remember a painful memory. "Sorry about that."

"No, you don't have to say sorry," Diluc quickly exclaimed, "you didn't mean anything wrong. After all, I like remembering the good memories about him." He then let out a large sigh. "I just... still miss him..."

"I know," you said. You gave him a comforting smile before rubbing his hand.

"Thanks for the consideration though." Diluc lightly smiled back. "It means a lot."

"And thank you for being in my life," you responded.

"I don't know what to say to that," Diluc stated as he got up out of his chair, causing you to step back. "But I do know that that bard needs help. We should take him back to Dawn Winery."

You nodded your head and laughed as Diluc and you walked back to Venti's sleeping figure. He helped you lift him up and wrapped Venti's arms around both of your shoulders before you two managed to drag the bard out of the tavern.

"By the way," Diluc began, causing you to stop walking as he gazed at you thoughtfully. "If there's anyone to thank for being in my life, it's you. I've never met anyone as kind and caring as you before, so I truly thank you for that. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

<~•~>

(A/N): Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this oneshot. This is based off the event that recently ended. I just loved it so much so I decided to quickly write a small little oneshot about it.

If you enjoyed the story, please feel free to vote or give me a follow! Every time someone does that it always lightens up my day to see that people actually like the crap I post.

Also BENNETT CAME HOME!!!

Anyways, I hope y'all have a good day! Bye!

(1208 words)
(Posted on March 28, 2022)