I'm digging through my scrapped scenes, looking for something I'm sure I wrote and that I could use for the next chapter, and I found this lovely scene I won't be using (because I decided to be evil and not solve their romantic tension this way.) It's sweet, it's touching, it's the Let's Talk About Our Relationship scene my beloved three needed.
And I won't be using it.
So, here you go. Please note that I haven't really filled in with all descriptions. This is how my writing looks before I give it the final pass, which is also before the revision rounds.
Tales from the scrap file: OT3[Lumine takes care of Diluc for a day before Ajax returns. She’s already in pieces, so she runs and tackles him into a hug when he shows.]
“I take it back, I don’t care what happened. You’re here.”
He hugs her back, lifting her from the floor.
“You were right, though.” “Most of them were just caught in those contracts.”
She pulled back, looked at him. Whatever she saw must have bothered her, because the anxiety in her face turned into soft sadness. “So, what did you do?”
“I trussed up Lawrence for them, burned down the contracts. Had to fight some of his loyal men, but there weren’t a lot of those. [lady from before] saw me at it and rallied her friends to help. It was a mess, but any coup would be.”
“No injuries?”
“Come on, have some faith. Treasure Hoarders.”
She still hadn’t moved out of his arms. He didn’t want to let her go, but he did, stepping past her. She let her hands drift over his arms as he passed. He tried not to think about it, just asked, “How’s Diluc?”
“Mending,” his voice sounded. He limped closer.
Now Lumine was the one that let him go, running over to her beloved, taking his elbow and helping him to a chair.
He had to talk to them. Had to tell them.
Pulling the chair opposite them, he sat down, resting his arms over the table so he could avoid those looks. “There’s something I should say. A confession, so to say.”
“I love you too,” Diluc said.
Surprise. Hope, even. He tried to think about anything else so that his face wouldn’t flush, but the thing with discarding the ‘lovingly shameless idiot’ mask was that he was actually himself while having emotions and oh boy. He lifted his eyes because he was, indeed, a love-struck fool. Diluc was smiling. It was blinding.
He should have said something at this point, but his heart was beating too fast and his skin was tingling with the need to do something, he had no idea what.
“Red, you broke him.”
This was not what he needed to talk about. This was the one thing he shouldn’t ever talk about. This was the thing he should have buried in the snow along with his heart. He heard himself speaking.
“You don’t understand. Love is sacred. You’re clearly back together, I don’t want to… I won’t come between you.”
“Now that’s an image,” Lumine said.
“What about your love? Is that not sacred as well?”
He couldn’t answer that and look at him at the same time, so he looked away. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. His breath left him in a small laugh. It felt self-deprecating. “I’m used to it.”
“Well, I’m not.”
The words shot straight through him. He closed his eyes on the feeling.
“I’ve only ever loved three people in my life and two of them are in this room.” “I’m not willing to give up on you, just as I was not willing to give up on Lumi.”
“What if I break your heart?”
Lumine went still at his words, gave him a fleeting look before looking away. Of course. Way to stick your foot in your mouth, Ajax.
Diluc took Lumine’s hand, kissed it. “That’s life.” “I want you to know don’t intend to hold you down with my feelings. I also know that a lot of people don’t agree with how we see things in Mondstadt, so it’s fine if you want nothing to do with it. Half the time we disagree about these things amongst ourselves.”
“These things?”
“A heart’s freedom.” “The fact that love gives you no right over anyone and that it’s possible to love more than one person at a time.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
She shrugged, “He’s right on both counts.”
He pressed both hands to his face. This was not what he should be talking about. When he looked up again, Diluc was watching him, chin resting on his hand. Waiting, a mere breath away.
So he crossed it, leaning over the table, he took his between his hands and kissed him feverishly, desperately.
The actual confession he pushed deeper into his heart. Some other day, perhaps. Not today.
<3
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