The air inside the winery was heavy with silence, not the kind that greeted you after a long journey with comfort, but the kind that carried weight—an echo of someone left waiting for too long. You’d expected to hear footsteps, maybe the rustle of his coat as he came to meet you at the door. Instead, your boots clicked softly against the polished floorboards as you wandered through halls that felt strangely empty without him.

You knew exactly where he would be.

The office. His retreat. His shield against everything he didn’t want to feel.

When you pushed the door open, you found him—not with pen in hand, not buried in papers as he often was—but stretched out across the couch, deep asleep. Sunlight filtered through the tall windows, painting his profile in soft gold, catching the strands of his hair that had slipped loose from their tie. Even in sleep, there was tension etched across his brow, shadows under his eyes betraying countless nights spent awake.

He had exhausted himself in your absence.

The realization tugged at your chest. While you had been chasing adventures in Liyue, he had thrown himself into work, perhaps as distraction, perhaps as punishment. You’d always known he carried burdens too heavy for one man, but seeing him here, asleep in daylight like this, made it hit harder than ever.

You approached quietly, the urge to touch him overwhelming. To remind him that he wasn’t alone anymore. That you were home.

For a moment, you simply stood there, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest, the faint part of his lips as he breathed. Diluc—your Diluc—looked younger like this. Softer. The sharp lines of the man the world knew melted away into something more human, something only you were allowed to see.

Carefully, you knelt beside him, brushing a stray lock of red hair from his forehead. Your fingers lingered, ghosting over his temple, down to his cheek. He stirred faintly at the touch but didn’t wake. Instead, he leaned ever so slightly into your hand, as though even in dreams he recognized your presence.

A smile tugged at your lips.

“Diluc,” you whispered, voice full of affection. “I’m home.”

You didn’t know if he could hear you, but as his expression softened, the tension easing from his brow, you liked to believe he did.

And so you stayed there, close enough to catch the warmth radiating from him, content to wait for the moment his eyes would flutter open and realize you had returned—not to Liyue, not to the road, but to him.