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These days Diluc rarely has trouble falling asleep. He still keeps strange hours, yes, but whenever his day or night is done he slips under the covers beside Venti and rests his head on his shoulder, and soon enough he’s out like a light.
He’s in the middle of drifting off like usual, slowly descending back into a dream. He peeks out from behind wood, taking note of all the people around him. He’s a child again. His father brought him and Kaeya to the church and although he wants to keep his eyes on the pretty stained glass, he bows his head to pray when Crepus taps his shoulder.
Whenever he dreamed of church his thoughts always muddled when it came to praying. What did he pray for again? Certainly as a child he never had anything important enough to bother Barbatos for…
Suddenly he bolts up.
“Venti,” he whispers, a tinge of horror creeping into his voice.
“Mmhph, yeah? What is it?” he asks, face still smushed into his pillow.
“When you were uh,” he pauses, fiddling with the covers between his fingers. “Sleeping. Could you hear people’s prayers?”
Venti opens one eye and tilts his head so he can look at Diluc. He smiles wickedly.
“A little, why? Is someone embarrassed?”
Diluc drops back against the pillows with a pout. “I am being unfairly reminded of childhood memories.”
“Oh c’moooon it can’t have been that bad! I was barely lucid anyway I might not have even heard them. Oo but now I’m curious!”
Venti clambered up to lie on top of him with his arms looped around his shoulders.
“Tell me tell me! What did little Diluc have to say to the Anemo Archon?”
“Present Diluc is praying Barbatos will remember he’s incredibly boney and that he will stop crushing my boobs.”
“Whoops, sorry.” Diluc huffs as Venti rolls off and resettles by his side and clings to his arm. “You’re so strong that I forget I’m not always just like a bundle of grapes to you.”
As they settle into their new position, Diluc’s mind wanders. He remembers the clicks of the sisters’ heels as they walked past the pews, and how his favorite part of the service was always listening to the repetitive noise before it had all begun.
“I don’t think I really understood religion, or prayer, or any of it really,” he confesses. “All I could do was wonder why we were praying to someone who wasn’t there.”
Venti squeezes his hand and Diluc startles.
“That was really blasphemous, wasn’t it?” Diluc asks with a chuckle.
Venti shrugs. “A bit, but I am banned from my own church so I’m clearly in no place to judge.”
“I’ve always wanted to know, what do you think about it? The worship and the way the church operates.”
Venti hums, rubbing his thumb against Diluc’s hand until he swats him off and grabs hold again. He lies still now as he thinks.
“I’d say it’s something beyond me. It’s a little jarring that they use my name and my image, or maybe ironic is the right word. I think more than anything it’s their church. Certainly founded on my ideals and actions, but I don’t have anything to do with its present state really.”
Diluc hums and Venti takes it as a sign to continue.
“Besides, I think I like a little blasphemy. This certainly wouldn’t work if you were a member of the church haha. And I’ve never been one to wait on the power of some higher up, I like to see my people take fate into their own hands.”
While Diluc had long comprehended that Venti isn’t human, it was always difficult to see him as someone with power over others. He supposes that’s by choice, and only now does the reality hit him of how different his life could be if he was someone more faithful. He feels that they’re on even ground, and maybe that’s why he finally surrenders and tells him.
“I prayed for grape juice.”
Venti barks out a laugh. “You whahahat?”
“I don’t even know if it counted as prayer to be honest,” he says defeatedly. “I didn’t know what to do so I would just say ‘today I’m going to go home and drink grape juice.’”
“Oh my goddd. Oh my goddd. Diluc I think I heard you,” Venti says through giggles. It’s too much, he starts slapping Diluc’s shoulders as he shakes.
“Holy shit I didn’t even realize that was someone else. I was like barely aware of anything but I could remember I couldn’t stop thinking about grape juice.”
“You’re lying. You cannot be serious.”
“Please, I’m dead serious. I’d always hear someone just recapping their day at the same time too, not enough to know the details but it happened so often I remember.”
“That. Would probably have been Kaeya.”
“Heathens the lot of you!” Venti cries.
Diluc laughs along with him until sleep drags at their eyelids once more.
“I like this,” he says.
“Yeah?”
“Being silly with you. It feels nice. Makes me feel less old,” Diluc elaborates.
“You think you’re old?”
“You get what I mean!”
“Yeah yeah, I’m just teasing. I get it… I’m not sure if I feel things like young or old anymore but. I think I could grow old with you.”
Something seems to bloom in Diluc’s chest at those words. A gentle, unfurling warmth that makes it hard to speak. He wants to bathe in its resonance forever, but still he forces his own words from his throat, his first and only true prayer.
“I could too.”