#and (since discussion from earlier this month is still in my mind) diluc looks at her and thinks about

[dandelion-wings]

I don't know if I'm writing writing this, but I was thinking about it more during breakfast, and I figure I can at least just write this particular scene!

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Diluc tries to clutch his hand to his side discreetly, under his cloak. The black he wears should hide the red of blood. He should have known, though, that he can't conceal a wound from such an accomplished healer. Especially one who regularly treats Jean.

"Oh, you're hurt!" Barbara exclaims. "I can help!"

Before he can pull away and attempt a leap up onto the wall--a leap that, he has to admit, he's not sure he could accomplish with those muscles torn in the first place--Barbara has come dashing over to push his cloak over his shoulder and pry his hand off the wound. She tugs the fabric back to reveal the rent in his flesh and frowns. He feels an unaccountable stab of guilt at the edge of disapproval in the expression.

"That's not good... but don't worry, Master Diluc, I can fix that! Here, sit on this crate. Take off your shirt- no, right, I understand, you don't have to do that if you can just hold the fabric away for me."

Diluc is too stunned to argue, letting her push him back onto the crate and pulling the torn cloth away as she motions for him to. By the time he can form a question on his tongue, she's already humming to herself, calling a swirl of Hydro out of her Vision to scour the wound painlessly clean and begin closing it from the inside out. He doesn't dare interrupt her work. All he can do is watch, breathless, feeling nothing but an odd tingle on his skin whenever her fingers brush over it.

Finally, last of all, the skin closes, not even a scar left to mark where that deep gash lay. Barbara takes a step back and smiles at him "There you go...." Her smile falters at whatever expression is on his face. "What's wrong?"

"You called me 'Master Diluc.'"

"Oh." She flinches, and he feels another lance of guilt. "I know you- you have to keep it secret, but I was so worried that I didn't think. I don't think any of them heard, though?" She casts an anxious glance over her shoulder at the unconscious bodies of her would-be kidnappers.

"No. *They're* not hearing anything." Diluc is confident about that. "I meant... how did you know? Did Jean tell you?"

"No, of course not. Did... did you think it was that big a secret? Your fighting style is so distinctive, I didn't think you were trying to hide it from people who *knew* you. I did pay attention during training when we were younger, you know," she adds a little defensively, and then, seeming to read something on his face yet again--what good the mask is doing, Diluc no longer knows, "Oh, but I'm sure no one who can recognize it would tell anyone else! I won't, I promise!"

"I'm sure you won't," Diluc assures her, because that, too, he's confident in. Everything he's seen of Barbara this past month tells him that she'll certainly keep such a secret. If anything, she keeps secrets a little too well.

"If you get hurt again like this, you can come to me for healing," she adds. "I know you'd rather go to Jean, since you actually talked to her about this, but... she's so busy, so maybe it would be better if you came to me!"

The moment she mentions Jean, her smile takes on that too-bright aspect that he's learned means she's hiding something. His chest aches, a little too tight, at the sight of it. He hadn't meant to give her the impression that he doesn't trust her. Specifically, at least. He doesn't trust *anyone* easily these days, but that's not a discussion he cares to have.

"Thank you. That... might be best, going forward. I don't want-" To create suspicion for Jean, but he bites his tongue on that, struck with the suspicion that making it all about her sister will only sting her more. "You're a much better healer than she is. Even cleansing the wound didn't hurt."

"Oh... I'm sure that's something she could learn. But thank you! Please, come to me any time you're hurt. I want to make sure you're all right."

Her eyes shine suspiciously in the moonlight, but her smile, while a little less bright, suddenly feels much more real. Diluc feels his chest squeeze tighter, momentarily breathless, and his heart flutters alarmingly in his chest. That smile....

"I will," he says, with the oddest feeling of crystalflies in his stomach as he finds the breath to speak. Slowly, he eases himself off the crate. "Let me walk you back to the Cathedral. I want to make sure these villains don't have any friends lying in wait."

And then, once Barbara's safe, he and Rosaria will come back and find out *exactly* what possessed them in the first place. Diluc isn't sure yet whether he'll insist on turning them over to Jean, who will have her own interest in seeing them punished, or help Rosaria with her usual approach. With Barbara looking up at him like this, touched by just a few words of trust, the second option seems particularly tempting.

I came up with Diluc/Barbara once for one insanely specific arranged-marriage AU and it has lived rent-free in my head ever since. It's always arranged-marriage or marriage-of-convenience and it's never been romantic but tonight I'm rotating the fake-dating version where they're both helping each other with a Social Problem and somehow the Diluc in my head is looking up at Barbara as she heals the Darknight Hero in an alley and feeling something go 'plink' in his heart and oh fuck. I'm doomed. how did this happen, I didn't need another WIP