ah yes. explaining to your roommates that you were held hostage. fun times.
“What.” She said,
And- yeah understandable.
“Don’t worry about it,” He said, desperately trying to avoid the subject, “It was for only, like, a minute? Or less? I don’t know but it wasn’t for very long and even then- ”
He paused. Barbara looked just about ready to impale him. Either that, or throw him out the window. They lived on the third floor. Not the first time she did it (although it was by accident) but still. Not fun.
“You,” She began and oh wow. For someone with such a soft voice, she could be terrifying. “Are going to shut up and let me heal this.”
He shut up.
An hour later, the injury had healed and Chongyun finished accounting the very short story of that night and they all went to bed.
All in all, a normal Monday night.
-
Diluc, the next day, was stuck in an extremely boring meeting with some Heroes Committee people who were currently trying to convince him to become a hero.
He said no. Again.
“But Mr. Diluc-” One said and Diluc whipped around and glared, “ WHAT? ”
He was in a bit of a snippy mood. Just a bit.
The man was silent and Diluc was losing even more of his, practically non-existent at this point, patience.
“Well? Aren’t you going to say something?”
Silence.
“WELL?”
Then, his phone rang.
He glared at the men once more, “Get out.”
There was thankfully no argument, they just stood up, packed their things, and left.
Diluc scowled before picking up his phone and answering, “Hello?”
It was Jean.
“Hello Diluc,” She said, “How are you right now?”
“Just dealt with some more of those Committee people. Took a few hours.”
“Unfortunate.” She said, “Well then, how’d you and Ajax feel about joining Lisa, Kaeya, and I on a little… mission?”
Diluc raised an eyebrow, “What kind of mission?”
“A jailbreak.” She said, “Ningguang found out where they’ve been keeping Beidou for all this time. Planning to break her out tomorrow night.”
“Really?” He said, “Well, you can be sure that we shall be there.”
Diluc could practically hear Jean’s smile, “Good. We’ll be meeting outside of Frostbite Hold at 1AM. See you then.” And she hung up.
This. This was good. They had been trying to find Beidou, the villain known as the Crux, for a while. She had been detained when she, Diluc, and Jean had encountered Jester, the Number One Hero, and the Captain.
That had not been a good night.
Afterwards, Ningguang, Beidou’s wife and the former villain Golden Jade, had spent as much time as she could trying to find Beidou. Only now, six months later, had she found out where she was being held.
Diluc walked out of his office and took a look around the manor. It was Adelinde and Elzer’s day off, Loco and Millie were still working, and… Fischl and Ajax were nowhere to be seen.
Diluc was trying to remember if any of them had mentioned plans that day when there was a crash from the kitchen.
A crash. From the kitchen.
Oh.
Oh no.
Diluc ran down the stairs and towards the kitchen, opening the doors to see a mess of flour, batter, and, what was quite possibly, chocolate. Of course, in the middle of the mess that would make even Adelinde lose her mind, was Fischl and Ajax, just as covered as the walls, stove, and ceiling.
He was silent as Fischl and Ajax processed his arrival.
Oz was in the corner.
“In our defense,” Ajax began, “You left us unsupervised.”
Diluc threw flour at him.
“HA!” Fischl said before going into a spiel that Oz translated into, “Deserved.”
-
“-the hero known as the Doctor was seen engaging with the villain called Darknight in front of the café known as Adeptal Peace. It was believed that it was only those two, until a nearby witness claimed they saw the villain called Tartaglia take a hostage.”
Chongyun, out of the corner of his eye, saw Madame Ping, the owner of the café, look up. Well, as long as the reporter says nothing on who it is-
“-from the description, the hostage was most likely one of the cafe’s workers, presumably the one known as Chongyun Inoue-Tianheng.”
How in the name of Celestia did they find out it was him and why were they saying his name for all to hear?
Chongyun saw the heads of the regulars look up at the TV before eyeing him in concern. The man he was currently getting the order for stared at him.
“Shit, kid are you okay??” he asked,
Chongyun internally sighed, “Perfectly fine,” He said, “It was just for a minute or two. No damage was done, just a little cut on my neck but one of my roommates was able to heal it.”
“Damn, are you sure you’re alright?” The man said, “I mean, things like this can be a bit traumatizing.”
“If you think that’s the most traumatizing thing that’s happened to me then I must seem to be a very boring person.” Chongyun deadpanned, “Now, what’s your name?”
“Childe.”
Chongyun looked up, “Child? Who looks at their newborn and says ‘Ah yes. Child.’?”
Childe groaned, clearly, questions like this happen often, “Please don’t question it. And it ends with an E.”
“That just makes it even worse.”
“Hey,” Childe began, “Your name is Chongyun Inoue-Tianheng. You can’t say anything.”
“Never heard of two last names?” Chongyun asked. Childe glared. The younger then sighed, giving up, “Alright, I’m going to get to work on the order, but seriously, a flat white with extra expresso, are you trying to kill yourself??”
Childe shook his head, “Not on the agenda today. Maybe later.”
He stared. Childe with an E stared back. “Fine.” He said finally, “I’ll go work on this death-defying drink. Now, please, go away.”
The man just nodded and walked over to one of the tables, bringing out a computer and working on whatever, while Chongyun took a cup and wrote ‘Child’ on it before making the drink.
(Every once in a while, a regular would come up and either make conversation, leave a larger tip than usual, or put down a few pieces of candy at the desk.
Madame Ping offered to give him the next week off, which he refused immediately. She offered paid leave, but Chongyun was barely affected by the previous night. It would be cruel to not go to work and still be paid when he was completely fine.
He had standards, thank you very much.)
-
Ajax had just wanted to get some coffee from the shop that a friend had recommended but noooo, the kid just had to work there. Honestly, Ajax should’ve expected it, but still.
Damn it.
The kid, Chongyun, had said something about it not being the most traumatizing experience that he ever experienced and no, it did not make him feel concern for a child he barely knew, shut up.
At least he knew where the kid worked, that would make apologizing a lot easier.
…
Yeah, Diluc was making him apologize.
He would probably do it anyway but Diluc just solidified the decision. They had a mission the next day, so he decided to do it that night, which was when the shop closed up and he believed the kid had the closing shift, so yeah.
He, of course, couldn’t just walk up to the kid and apologize in his civilian clothing, that would give him away.
Hopefully, he didn’t give the kid a heart attack.
-
About six hours later, Chongyun had finished his shift, cleaned the café up, and was locking up when, once again, the villain Tartaglia had appeared.
Chongyun turned around, and there he was.
Tartaglia was about to say something, but unfortunately for him, Chongyun was not in the mood.
He hit Tartaglia over the head with his backpack, knocking him down, before bolting around the corner.