Chapter Text
Durin started to notice a disturbing pattern whenever Hat Guy would come over to Mondstadt every few months.
He never really brought the full extent of these topics up with Hat Guy or with Albedo, but he wasn’t blind to these things that were occurring to his friend.
Albedo and Hat Guy were dating, this was not a secret to Durin and he was well aware of the fact that they had been together for quite some time now.
He wasn’t blind to the fact that he saw them holding hands whenever they went out in public and he wasn’t deaf to the fact that they liked to do stuff together in Albedo’s room when they thought he was asleep.
But Durin had been noticing something for these past few months.
Hat Guy just seemed off, like really off.
Like there was something wrong about him. He always seemed like he was hiding something behind closed doors or covered up sleeves, and Durin was completely right on this fact when he had walked into the bathroom late one night to see his best friend’s arms covered in blood.
He knew that face he’d made when he was chopping up vegetables earlier that evening wasn’t just because the task was hard.
Durin spent the entire evening just trying his best to comfort Hat Guy, he had heard him cry and wail which was something he never wanted to hear him do again.
It wasn’t like he’d grown suspicious of him a few days earlier with that strange bottle of pills on his desk and what he wrote in that journal.
He noticed Albedo and his strange dismissiveness when Durin tried prying into what was wrong with him, like they were trying to change the subject.
He was used to Hat Guy being secretive with his personal stuff unless if it was really gravely serious. So why was Durin so confused why he wouldn’t tell him anything.
But after he found his friend in that fucked up, bloodied state, hearing him wail in his arms was possibly the closest thing he’d gotten to Hat Guy actually opening up to him.
They didn’t really talk about it the next day. But he did tell Durin that he would talk to Albedo about it, which did make him feel a little bit better.
Over the course of the next few months, Hat Guy seemed to be improving. Although he was staying back in Sumeru for majority of the time being, Durin’s worries about his friend slowly started to fade.
But something lingered in the back of his mind that he tried his best to ignore until the late hours of the night.
Would they care if he was going through the same stuff as his friend?
All these thoughts brewed in his mind as his wings curled over his body and he squeezed himself a little tighter.
He tried to recall all those kind words his friends had once told him ages ago. Hoping that it would bring him some semblance of comfort in these lonely hours of the night.
”Your wish is to never have been born at all? That’s a fate nobody should wish for.”
”Aww Durin, we do care about you. You’re our friend and we want to help you. Don’t give up!”
”Please come to me if you need anything. I have done my fair share of human research and I can try my best to assist you.”
Durin sighed, placing his arm over his eyes as he stared up at the ceiling. Whatever. He and Albedo were going over to Sumeru soon and Hat Guy would be there.
He couldn’t wait.