I got some horrible fanfiction ideas, but im scared to use AO3. Please read the tags properly before you engage. Updates slowed down because of studies. They/Them. 18+
Synopsis: Variants of Mark have been popping up and you end up meeting one of them as you return back to your apartment. It seems the you in all their different worlds had died because they had fallen for you. Ready to make up lost time he tries to kidnap you, but unfortunately for him there probably was a good reason you were supposed to die early on.
CW: Blood, Graphic mention of death of Characters, Manipulation, Angst, Swearing, Attempted Kidnapping, Mind Control, Obsessive
HC: Reader is Gender-Neutral, Reader does not have any powers, Reader knows Mark's Identity, All Characters are in college, Literally everyone is insane including the Reader
Characters: Variant Mark Grayson, Cecil Stedman, Mentions of Omni-man, Debbie Grayson, Atom Eve, Angstrom Levy
Note: A concept that has been brewing in my head for a while which I just wanted to get rid of. I tried to keep the Mark Variant also vague so you can pick and choose your preferred one but realistically it will probably be a Mark Variant who had interactions with humans. It turned out to be a lot freakier than I thought. It's a bit different from my other works but I hope you as the reader enjoy it!
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It was just like any day for you, the city of Chicago was always in constant danger to the point you were getting alerts on your phone 24/7 and now you had become numb to them. It wasn't as if they were affecting you personally. You had already detached yourself so far from all of the super hero bullshit and you were happy living your life ignorantly and safely in your home.
So imagine your shock when you see Mark Grayson, Invincible when he was wearing his silly costume, standing in front of your apartment door. He looked, different. You couldn't pin point whether it was the costume or not but he certainly did not look like how you remembered him, however the most noticeable difference was the look he had in his eyes when stared at you.
He looked almost hungry.
You had just gotten back from grocery shopping for the week and right now you were stuck in a stand still with this man who was not saying a word. You both stood staring at each other, almost unsure of what to do next. Someone had to break the silence, the groceries were getting heavier as the time passed.
"Hello Mark, It's been a while." You never denied the fact that you knew it was him. It was an open secret when you guys were in high school but the rule was always never to talk about it. A rule that you both followed to keep your friendship to a certain level. He had set this boundary that you were never able to cross and you let him as much as you hated it. It almost felt like he had purposefully blocked you out from his life. Something to this day you cannot help but resent.
If he was hungry before, now he was starving just by the sound of your voice. ‘God, it has been a while indeed ‘ He thought. Other than his eyes widening a bit, almost like he was still comprehending your existence, he didn't move an inch. All you could do was sigh and move closer. You inched forward only to stop right in front of him. He stood their blocking your door still unmoved.
“Move out of the way Mark. I have things to do.” He didn’t respond, only shifting to the side to give you access to the door. You fiddle with the keys in your hand, trying to pick the correct one. You could see from your peripheral vision that he just continued to stare. Was Mark always this creepy? The superhero business must have gotten to his head.
It felt like ages, especially with Mark refusing to look away from you, but you were finally able to unlock the door and head inside. As you walked in, door still opened, you turn to look at Mark who continued to watch you. You sigh.
“Get inside and close the door behind you. Clearly you want to talk.”
———
Mark sat on your couch while you unloaded your groceries. He was no longer staring at you though, instead looking around the place in almost a trance. You don’t even remember the last time he ever came to your apartment. You eyed him time to time to see his eyes wander around the apartment, almost trying to ingrain the place into his memory. However eventually his eyes diverted back to you, and once again you both ended up in an unmovable, uncomfortable staring contest. For the first time during this entire interaction he broke his silence.
“You didn’t change a thing.” Was all he said. You could only raise an eyebrow in disbelief. “What are you on about?” You mumbled, looking away to put the last boxes into the cupboard. “The last time I saw your apartment it looked just like this.”
You wondered if he was mocking you.“Why would I change anything? Besides, it hasn’t been that long…” You stopped yourself. When was the last time you had met Mark? It was right before you were headed to college. You both had a terrible disagreement and your relationship basically had become nonexistent. But that didn’t feel right, it had been about 2 years at this point and you were certain your decorations had changed to a noticeable degree.
“Either way it doesn’t matter. Why are you here Mark?” You deflected, you didn’t really want to argue or bring up unnecessary conversation. You turn to face him, your back towards the counter top, allowing yourself to lean on it with your arms crossed. You just wanted him out of your house. Mark stared at you, almost like he was trying to figure something out. “When was the last time we spoke?” He asked. You didn’t want to answer, honestly you were quite offended he would even ask such a question. “Are you serious right now?” Mark could hear the anger in your voice but he remained still, waiting for your answer.
You were certain you were going to see red, but instead you took a deep breath. The sooner you answer, the quicker he was going to leave. “Don’t play games with me Mark. You know damn well when we last spoke.” Mark shook his head. “From what I recall, I never stopped talking to you. Ever.” You blink, did he hit his fucking head while he was saving the world ? Was Super power induced amnesia a thing? If that was the case it honestly made you feel worse.
While you were busy seething in your rage, waiting for Mark to one day come to you grovelling on his knees begging for forgiveness, here he was, completely forgetting what you had argued about. You were the only one who was upset about it.
Where would you even start? His father threatening you was one thing. You could also blame on his stupid superhero persona taking priority in his everyday life. There was also Eve, sure you were jealous but you still remained civil even when he mentioned his liking for her. You didn’t get to pick and choose how Mark would live his life. At the end none of these were the main issues that lead to the end of your friendship with him.
“I couldn’t be a part of your life. You said it yourself.” It all came down to the fact you were not someone who had powers. You weren’t born with them, nor did you get any through other methods. God knows you tried but that wasn’t something you were going to tell Mark. You were always content in staying with him even without them. You had met Debbie and though she was struggling you were willing to do the same, simply because of the fact you were in love with him.
But in the end it was a boundary that Mark never wanted to cross and you could not fit into the life that he had chosen unless you had some power in you. So you both argued, you begged him to let you be a part of his life and he refused. Then he left and you remained. You cringed at the thought.
You didn’t want to bring back bad memories. You shook you head, glaring at Mark who still remained stoic on your couch. “Listen ok, I don’t know what is going on with you and I’m not in the mood to find out. If something is wrong with your head you go to Cecil and figure it out.” Mark’s eyes narrowed, finally making a move. Up from the couch within seconds he was face to face to with you in the kitchen. Trapping you between the counter top and his body you weren’t able to move out of the way quick enough. You flinched at the sudden movement only for him to hold your arms to keep you in place.
“How do you know Cecil?” You could feel the grip he had on you tighten. His words felt vindictive, like he was trying to erase Cecil from your mind. You only winced before spitting back at him. “What the hell is wrong with you?! Let me go so we can talk properly.” And without a second thought he let go, allowing you to step back and rub the sore spots now on your arms. Another reminder of your differences.
“I know we always pretend that I don’t know anything but you really think I wouldn’t have met Cecil with the amount of times you go and play super hero? God, get over yourself.” The animosity in your words apparent. He stared at you once more and at this point you were getting sick and tired of it. Before you could tell him to get out of your house, he spoke.
“You really haven’t talked to him in ages huh? You can’t even tell us apart.” You stopped in your tracks. Trying to comprehend what he had just implied. This time you really took a look at him, his suit was far different than you had remembered and now that you were barely an inch away from him you couldn’t help but notice the look in his eyes clearly. It wasn’t the usual doe eyes he would often wear whenever you guys had talked. He looked far more sinister than you could imagine.
Then the alert on your watch rang out once more. However, compared to the usual red alerts you would hear due to monster or alien attacks it was different. The ringtone rang out for longer, meaning it was a direct mail from Cecil himself. You hoped ‘Mark’ wouldn’t notice but it feels like he could tell when yours eyes briefly glanced down the watch only to look back at him.
“If it’s important you should take it.” ‘Mark’ whispered. He was no longer facing you directly, his body levitating just the slightest to make you look up at him, almost in a demeaning manner. You quickly took up the offer before he changed his mind. Trying to cover up Cecil’s name popping up, you opened the mail. You immediately shut it off after seeing couple of words.
INVINCIBLE VARIANTS, LOOKING FOR YOU.
You could put two in two together. You look back at him and for once his poker face has somehow grown into a smirk. All you could do was give a weak chuckle. “Ha, it doesn’t seem to be that important.” You mumble, trying to now rack up a new idea of how to get out of whatever situation you have just walked into. “I beg to differ.”
And before you could even argue about it, he had already picked you up like a pup and took you out of the apartment.
———
Your preferred form of traveling had never been flying. You always thought it was quite expensive and being trapped in the air unable to move around freely was just not your cup of tea. The only difference between flying on a plane and being carried by a super hero was the fact you could actually feel the wind velocity and it was harsh.
You were basically clinging onto him for life, he clearly not minding it. You weren’t even sure where he was taking you and at the speed he was traveling there was no shot that you could even ask him about it. All you could do was hope whatever version of Mark this was had some compassion to at least keep you alive long enough that you could come up with a solution.
You watched, watery tears forming in your eyes, as the vision of the city slowly began to fade out into the distance. He had basically tossed you over his shoulders, preventing you from actually seeing where he was taking you, but the city scape began to shift to ocean body before finally all you could see was the lush green of a thick forest. God he was going to kill you in the woods.
You looked down at your watch as the service bars began to decrease. You felt your mouth dry up. It had never crossed your mind what to do if Mark had turned out to be evil. It was such stark contrast to his usual self you couldn’t even imagine how he would act. Well, technically you could since you had met his father and he was definitely not pleasant company. However Mark was always insistent that he was different from him so it just never crossed your mind that maybe in another life he was just like his father. You just wished you had prepared to a certain level. As Cecil had mentioned, you could never trust a hero, they could always go rouge.
You could only wonder what vendetta this version of Mark had with you. You had a horrible end with the Mark in this world you could not even begin to grasp what happened to you in their universes. You could only hope it would be a quick death. As you lamented how your life was going to end, you noticed as the greenery began to expand in your vision as he slowly began to make his descend to the ground.
When you both had finally reached to touch the ground he once again picked you up and placed your feet on the ground. You felt your legs giving out but as he continued to hold onto you, it prevented you from falling over. You tried not to be scared but damn was it hard when you weren’t certain about your death. You didn’t understand why he even took you here. Either way it was too late to worry about what he could possibly do to you, so with the courage you had you asked.
“Why did you bring me here?” Mark listened to you ask, though your voice was clear and coherent he could tell you were scared as you couldn’t stop shaking under his grip. He let out a laugh. You had not changed at all. “For your safety.” He let go of you, watching you fall to the ground as you still did not recover from the trip he just took you on.
“OOF!” You groaned. You tried to get up, only for a hand to push you onto your back. Mark laid down beside you on the grass ground, his hand still directly on your chest ensuring you would not get up from the ground. You turn to look at him as he faced towards you, now both of you laying down on the grassy ground facing each other. “ I’m not the only one who planned on getting to you. If we stayed at your apartment who knows which version of me would have got to you first. I’m just glad it wasn’t the Mark of this world, but then again I doubt he would come.” He laughed and you could only grimace. He wasn’t wrong, you only wished his words didn’t sting. You tried to not react, instead forcing yourself to ask more questions in order to assess the situation.
“Why are you guys trying to find me?” You watched as Mark’s face contorted a bit. It was as if he was genuinely thinking about how to answer. You watched as his eyes would glance over to your face, before finally reaching over and placing a hand on it. You felt his hand caress your face in the most gentle way possible, tracing the curves from you forehead down to your chin before cupping your cheek in his hand. Before you could react he answered in a whisper, almost like it was a secret between the two of you. “Because I’m in love with you.”
You shot up from the ground. You did not hear that right. You could not believe that. You slowly sat up on the ground, your legs pulled up to your chest and you pushed yourself away from him. “No you don’t.” You reject, continuing to push yourself as far as you can. Mark at this point had sat up as well, annoyed that you had even gotten up in the first place. “What do you mean no?” It was almost a snarl, you could see he was frustrated.
“Mark would never say that to me. He was never in love with me.” He frowned. “Well I’m not that Mark. I’m your Mark.” You shook your head. “My Mark would never say that.” You reiterated again, only to see he was getting even more frustrated.
“He can’t be your Mark if he wasn’t in love with you.” He snapped back, slowly inching himself towards you. You continued to push yourself further away from him, only for you to be pushed up against a tree. Using it as support you tried to get up but before you could make a run for it, he had already used the opportunity to trap you against it using his body just like he had done back in the kitchen.
He slipped his arms around you, one grabbing you from the waist while the other one snaked behind your head. He began to press his body against yours and you could feel the heat from his body exert onto you. He leaned his head into the crook of your neck and all you could do was let him. You couldn’t help but feel hot. In any other situation you would have been over the moon if Mark had told you he was in love with you, but this wasn’t the Mark you knew. You weren’t even sure which Mark this was.
“What about the me in your world? ” You could only stutter out. You could feel his grip tighten and on a reflex you ended up wrapping your arms around as he continued to close the distance between the two of you. You could hear him sigh, his hot breath touch your neck which only made you shudder.
He lifted his head up, and instead leaned towards your face, allowing both of your foreheads to touch. His eyes closed as he answered. “Dead.” It was a cold cutthroat answer and you could feel your blood run cold, only the heat from his body warming you up. You couldn’t react or answer. Each breath you took was shaky and honestly you could feel your throat close up. He continued.
“You died in my world and this was extended to any universe where I had ended up loving you. You didn’t even have a pretty death either. It was brutal, bloody. Can’t say for the other worlds but in mine I watched you explode in pieces like a balloon. Everything that was inside here…” he poked your chest with his, laughing while he talked about your brutal death “ …out into the open. Pop!” He continued to laugh, his grip now tightening even harder. He held you so tight you could feel him shake as he laughed.
“Why are you laughing?” You ask, blinking your eyes rapidly in hopes no tears would flow out. He smiled at you, eyes opening to look into yours. “ Because I missed you so fucking much. You wouldn’t believe it but I have gone to so many worlds, and every single one you weren’t there. I was losing my shit you could not even imagine.” He kept laughing as he spoke. His pupils were dilated, as he continued to look at you as he recounted his tales.
“I was at a fucking loss and then I come here. To the same apartment that I have been going over and over and right before I break open the door I hear the jingle of keys….” He stated, his eyes slowly drifting down to your lips before shooting back up to look at you. “…and there you were. Like it was just any other day. I genuinely thought I was hallucinating. Then you spoke and oh god!” He chuckled, his head going back to the crook of your neck once more.
“The sound of voice was exhilarating. Then you let me inside and it smelled just like you, like you were actually still living there. Every thing was the same but you were finally there!” He ended, his voice loud and clear In your ears. You could not even begin to comprehend what you just heard. He was looking for you. In every universe. You weren’t shaking anymore. This was what you had always dreamt about. This was the Mark that you had always been dreaming out. He was different, odd and perhaps insane but this was the Mark you wished that had picked you. The arms you had around him tightened as you slowly accepted the hug he gave, which in turned made him loosen his grip, allowing both of you to fully enjoy the hug you both shared.
However it was not going to last and you knew it. You knew he wasn’t here just to see you. So you had to ask one final question. “Then what are you going to do with me?” He let go. His hands now holding onto your shoulders as he smiled at you. “Simple, I’m taking you back to my world.” You blink, shocked by his response. “You can just do it?”
He let you go, and shrugged. “Not really. I actually came here for as a favour for Levy but hey it’s bad to return home from a trip without a souvenir." You were in disbelief he even said that. ”Well, I should take you back before, any of the other Marks end up finding out you were alive. “ He chuckled, reaching back to grab you but you pushed your hands towards him to stop him. ”Wait!“
He frowned, eyebrows furrowing. “What now?” “Uh, I would like to go with you but…” You mumbled, trying to think of an excuse. “But?” He asked, impatiently. You had to think fast. “Before we do, I would like to go back to my apartment.”
He stared at you confused, but took a step back to allow you to elaborate. “It’s just, I want to take some things with me before I go. If that is alright with you?” You ask, as nicely as possible, hoping he would let you go back even If it was just a couple of minutes.
You waited for his answer, as you watched his face. He was thinking deeply about it. Squinting towards you, trying to see if you had something planned up your sleeves but you gave him a shy smile instead. He was too weak for you, and with how you were just as helpless as he had remembered it wasn’t like you would be able to do anything even if you wanted to.
“Fine, just a quick trip back and then we getting the fuck out of here.” You sigh in relief.
———
The trip back wasn’t as harsh. Instead of hastily throwing you over his shoulder this time, he carried you bridal style at a timely speed back home. He argued that if he rushed he might have ended up meeting another Mark and he really didn’t want to bother fighting them especially since it could end up with you getting hurt. You felt so shy realizing how much this version of Mark was in love with you. It felt like you were dreaming, but you had pinched yourself multiple times during the trip and it was clear this was real. You tried not to act giddy.
When you guys had reached back, this time it was obvious that someone had come to your apartment as your door was smashed into it. You assumed another variant came just to check if you were there. You hoped he didn’t stick around and lucky for you he had not. Slowly entering the apartment you glanced around while Mark had followed behind you. “If there was another version I would have sensed it by now. Don’t worry and get your shit ready. ” He calmly stated, only making you roll your eyes.
“Impatient much?” You mumble, slowly making your way towards your bedroom. You hoped Mark would not follow you inside but he was basically attached to your hip at this point, ever since he had confirmed that you were in fact very much alive. When he entered your bedroom he stopped in his tracks.
“This looks…different…” He muttered. Your room was basically a scrap yard. Metal sheets and other miscellaneous materials scattered the room, soldering gun aimlessly tossed onto your desk followed with plans scattered all around your room. You didn’t look at him, instead filtering through all your materials trying to find what you needed but you entertained him. “How different?”
“Your room was quite normal from what I remembered. You were never this messy. Also I was certain you were majoring in biotechnology. ” While he continued to state what he had remembered you finally was able to find what you had been looking for, promising yourself that you would clean your room the next time you set foot in here. “Oh yeah I’m still majoring in that. I just decided to take a minor in cybernetics.” you say casually and before Mark could react, you slapped the device you had just pulled out from your scraps onto his head.
The intense shock the robot gave left Mark completely breathless, dropping him to the floor. He couldn’t feel his arms or legs, leaving him a state of complete paralysis. That was until you spoke. “Stand up Mark. I want you to look at me.” He watched in horror as his body began to stand up against his will, just so it could look at you and boy did you look happy.
You couldn’t help but chuckle in glee. “You wouldn’t believe this, but I have been dreaming about this day for years too. ” You whisper to him. He watched as you tapped your watch, scrolling through your contacts until you reached Cecil’s number. Even before the first ring Cecil had already picked up. “You alright? Your signal turned off and I was not able to reach you at all..” He answered, quick and efficiently. Mark wanted to scream but he couldn’t, whatever you had just put on him stopped him from freely moving at his will. “Alright? I’m over the moon here!” Mark watched as your chuckles turned into hearty laughs. Though he was upset with what you had done to him, he couldn’t help but think that you just looked stunning especially when you laughed.
“God you should have called me straight away when you knew about this! Anyway I just wanted to let you know the product works, I’ll send you the blueprints. I’m taking a much needed break for a while.” Before Cecil could even stop you, you ended the call. You looked at Mark smiling ear to ear as your laughs died down. You watched him try to speak but nothing came out. “You can speak if you want.”
“What the fuck did you do to me?” He growled, still being forced to stand, un moving. All you could do was giggle. “Give me your hands.” and he obliged, his arms moving towards to reach for you. You took his hands in yours and cupped your face between them. It wasn’t a lie, you were avoiding super hero bullshit just like you promised, but god you loved Mark so much. Ever since he had left you had been so obsessed with him you basically felt like you couldn’t breath properly. He probably loved you to some level, trying to keep you safe from all the dangers of the life of a super but you didn’t want to be safe. So you put your time in research as early as you can remember just to see if you could genetically change yourself to be able to stand beside him. Sadly that didn’t end up very far, however it did interest you in the world of robotics, and with your interest in biotechnology you decided why not combine the two?
Then you met Cecil with a proposition. You gave him blue prints and theories on how to create artificial mental limiters that could be applied onto supers to ensure that they would stay within their limits. He funded for a prototype just to see if it was possible and it worked. Then it just kept spiraling, what if we could artificially control supers? What if you could genetically re-write materials in supers? The possibilities were endless and Cecil was willing to put the funding into it and you were willing to do so as long as you were protected and had updates about Mark.
“It’s just a controller. ” You answer back, closing your eyes to enjoy the feeling of his hands. You continued. “ Basically it lets me control you however I please. I give you a command and you have no choice to do it. I have a specific blueprint for this but the one I gave you is a bit special.” You looked up at him, squinting wit a sly smile. “It doubles as a kill switch.”
Mark watched as you took one of his hands, slowly moving it down to touch your chest, specifically the space where your heart was located. “I had this one engineered specifically to work as long as my heart beats. The minute it stops beating, your head is going to explode….” And almost in a mocking sense you repeated the sound he had made when talked about how the other you had died.
“Pop!” You laugh. “I had been making this in hopes on the side hoping that one day Mark would end up changing his mind about us. Before he could leave I was going to use it on him so he would have no choice but to stay. Mark always had the upper hand in deciding what we could or couldn’t be, I just wanted to have control over the situation for once.”
Mark could only stare, breathless. He brain still racking up to what he was being told. He pictured the version of you in every universe and even going through all the possibilities it was just impossible to imagine this was how you ended up. He knew the you in his universe was smart but it seems he was clearly underestimating your potential up to this point. He wanted to be be angry, he wanted to say you deceived him and he was going to tear you apart the minute he was set free from the chains that you had put up on him.
But all he could do was feel the beat of your heart in your chest and how once more he could feel the heat from your body illuminating onto his hand. Something he had been dreaming for years, yearning to feel and hear. You watched as he struggled to pick his words. You wondered if he was regretting picking you but alas it was too late for him to regret it. He picked you. He decided to be your Mark the minute he stepped in front of your door before any other.
“I’ll give you back your autonomy don’t worry. I might be a freak but I still love you nonetheless. ” You laugh, a bit more dreary. You hoped at least this Variant of Mark would love your strange mind but then again no one likes being unable to control the situation they are put into, you knew that personally. You glanced at him once more, allowing him to drop his hands back to his sides. “But is there anything you want to say before I do? ” You asked, hoping he could finish cursing you off now so he would calm down when you set him free.
“Please just let me kiss you already.” He begged.
You stared at him in shock, before it slowly turned into laughter.
“You’re free to do whatever you please, Mark.” And he lunged at you, pushing you up against your desk, all the scraps and notes dropping on the ground as he finally locked lips with yours, finally able to satiate the hunger he had since the minute he had laid eyes on you.
You laugh through the kisses he pecked onto your lips and gasping through the ones when he was able to slip his tongue through. It was messy but you did not care.
Synopsis: Wriothesley just can't seem to get a certain journalist off his back. But to his surprise this journalist is very thorough with their work and it seems they aren't willing to give up just yet.
CW: -
HC: Reader is gender-neutral and uses They/Them pronouns, Reader does not have a vision. Reader is a journalist working at The Steambird.
Characters: Wriothesley, Sigewenne, Mentions of Neuvillette,Furina, Traveler and Paimon
Note: Ok, I promise I'm writing the Neuvillette one, it just is much longer than I expected so I apologise for that. Instead have this one which is shorter but I am still proud of it. I love Wriothesley's design and attacks and LORE but had to skip the banner because I wanted Furina so badly. So think of this as me coping with that. There are going to be some Fontaine spoilers but honestly, it is so little I don't think most people would notice it. As always please make sure to interact with the post, I love seeing the tags or comments I get in the posts, and I'm glad people like my silly ideas about characters I like. Enjoy!
The first time you ended up in the prison was by accident. You just happened to be with a kamera at the wrong place and time and ended up being accused as a stalker. Since the judgment was decided by the Iudex and the court now, the easiest solution was to throw you in prison until the actual perpetrator had come to light. At the time you were cussing and throwing hands with the guards but the minute the Duke came into your vision you couldn’t help but halt.
You couldn’t believe it, this was every Steambird employee’s dream. To be able to meet the Duke and have a proper interview with him would reach the headlines in an instant. However, to no one’s surprise, he had rejected your proposition. Before you could make any more moves to convince him, the actual culprit was found with the help of the traveller and his flying partner and you were forced to say goodbye to the Fortress of Meropide. Just like you had entered, you were kicking and screaming when they threw you out.
So you had to make a plan to somehow enter back inside. Being an esteemed journalist at The Steambird, it was no surprise they refused to let you in and casually stay in the prison. Most criminals tend to stay there even after their term is over but you didn’t have an actual reason to be there. But if you wanted to get a scoop before Charlotte could beat you to it, you needed to take some desperate measures.
- - -
“So, you were sentenced to 30 days in the Fortress of Meropide for taking a picture of Lady Furina while she was chasing her hat that was blown away by the wind?” Wriothesley could only raise an eyebrow at the statement. It wasn’t a surprise that some people ended up here for ridiculous reasons, but the amount that you had accumulated over one year was just unbelievable.
There was the time you decided to release a bunch of birds inside the Opera Epicles. It wouldn’t have been an issue to get them out, but somehow you managed to train them so they could coordinate their movements to somehow re-enter the Opera Epicles after they were thrown out.
Then there was the time you filled all the water fountains in the district with Fonta and to this day people still cannot figure out how you got your hands on such a large shipment without any suspicions arising.
To put it simply, the list was endless and at this point, you had probably been in and out of jail more than any citizen he had met. He honestly would not have cared the slightest about you if it wasn’t the fact HE was the reason you were acting like this.
You beamed at him in glee, notebook and pen ready in your hands. He could also see the kamera peaking out of your satchel, probably filled with a brand new film. He tried not to scowl. He couldn’t help but be a bit annoyed by your persistence.
“You know with a track record like this, everything you have done up to now is going to sound more interesting than whatever comes out of my mouth.” He sighed, dropping the papers onto his desk and to no one’s surprise, you immediately began to write down everything he said.
“Maybe for another journalist, but what point is it for me to write about my own stories? I write scoop about celebrities, not my memoirs. ” You answer, pen on your chin trying to figure out which category his statements could fit.
Wriothesley could only sigh. Every time he did all he could remember was Sigewinne’s words.
‘ Don’t sigh too much, you’re going to end up sighing away all your happiness!’
It was a shame he couldn’t keep his promise, but honestly, the only one he could blame was the columnist who sat right across him. “ I am no celebrity. My answer remains unchanged. No interview.” He reached over for his cup of tea, which had turned cold at this point. He didn’t realise that time had passed so suddenly. It seemed you were just capable of taking over a person’s life just like that.
He tried to stand up to make a new cup only for you to halt him. “Oh did your tea get cold? Sorry, let me make you one.” Before he could react you already took his cup and made your way to the kettle. He blinked in confusion before settling back into his chair. “Are you even sure you can make it right?” He decided to humour both you and himself. He knew you were just trying to suck up to him so he might change his mind, he wasn’t dumb though. Maybe he could use it to his advantage and kick you out of his office. As he tried to wrack up another reason to kick you back outside, a fresh new cup of tea was placed before him.
And it was perfect.
The tea was infused almost too well. It was pure black with no random additives that Sigewinne insisted were better for his health. No sugar, creamer or milk. There weren’t even any tea leaves left in the brew.
He took a sip, surprised with how it wasn’t boiling since you had just prepared it. A suitable warmth reached his lips as he took a sip of it. He had to stop himself before he could chug it down. He wasn’t an animal, he knew proper tea etiquette.
“Are you a fan of tea, Journalist?” He asked unconsciously. He wished he had shut his mouth, you already write down everything that comes out of his mouth and he didn’t need to give you any more leverage. To his surprise, you didn’t immediately go and reach for your notebook once again.
Instead for once, you looked away from him, refusing to meet his eyes. “I do partake in tea sometimes but I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite. I prefer sugary drinks usually.” You answer, sheepishly brushing your hands together, continuing to look away. Wriothesley squinted at you, unsure whether you were acting shy due to embarrassment or because you were a bad liar. “This tea is steeped far too well for you to be saying that.”
You almost immediately beamed up, your shy demeanour leaving in an instant. “Oh! That’s because I learnt how you liked to brew your tea!” Your eyes reached his and he wondered if you realized what you had just admitted to.
“Isn’t it a bit suspicious you know that?” He asked, taking another sip, it was certainly good tea. You again turned embarrassed. “Well, you tend to pick up some things when you stay around a certain place often.”
“Oh?” His curiosity getting the better of him, leaned towards the desk to fully take you in. “Please do tell me what you have collected thus far.”
“Well, a journalist can’t show everything they have gathered, unless it’s properly published.” You mumble, trying to slowly back away from his desk. For once you were trying to get away rather than him trying to get rid of you. It intrigued him a bit, what else were you hiding? “Well, unless you do have permission, I doubt you will be going around publishing articles. That is unless you were a scandalous reporter?”
He was shocked to see how wide your eyes grew, for once your usual reporter nature had gone from your face, now looking like any normal citizen living in Fontaine. “I would never! It is unethical!” You defended yourself, you would never dare to publish articles without people’s permission. “Then you wouldn’t mind me reviewing what you have unless you have something to hide?”
And that was how Wriothesley ended up with all your documents, which were now scattered on the desk alongside your prison testaments. You only handed him the documents relating to him but he was surprised to see that you have accumulated quite a number of them. It made him wonder why even bother with an interview if you already had so much knowledge about him.
“This is everything? You have been working hard it seems.” He said. His teacup was now empty, but he needed a new brew if he had to sit all day just to read through everything that was left. You had already collected his entire existence on these papers. His best and his worst moments.
“You know, now I’m starting to doubt that your first imprisonment was a mistake.” He chuckled to himself, which only made you feel red hot with embarrassment. “This is all public knowledge. Sure some were a bit harder to find but if you know what you’re looking for it gets easier” You mumble, fidgeting with your hands. He wondered why you were so embarrassed.
Everything written here was all about him, but you acted as if you were the one on full display. He continued to flip through what you had written. The words you had articulated were quite intriguing, if you did write a scoop about him he was certain he would have had his nose in the papers as well. All your points had thorough evidence with the times and dates it was recorded. There was even certain information he completely forgot about himself.
“You know, with such extensive research you have done, you can pretty much write a whole article about me. Hell, you could even fake an interview with me and I would honestly think I did an interview with you and forgot about it.” He said, placing down your work on the desk once more so he could fully take you in.
He wasn’t one to pay attention to the little details if he wasn’t interested but when he took another look at you, it felt as if he was seeing a completely new person. Your notebook was tucked into the little front pocket of your shirt, and he could see scratches and marks on the visible part that stuck out. Some corners of the pages were dog-eared while others had little sticky tabs poking out from them. Your pen was now tucked behind your ear, it was blue, the colour that usually was smudged on the palm of your hands which you were currently fiddling with. Lastly, your Kamera, the film may have been brand new but the Kamera was fairly old, a dent was visible on the top and he could see a sticker of a Melusine on its side, the same one he would see stuck on his gauntlets from time to time.
You suddenly didn’t seem like the annoying tenacious reporter on his back. You were a journalist, a writer. You had something you wanted to work on. A passion which seemed to exceed expectations. You were not worried to ask questions over and over until you got an answer but you were embarrassed to showcase your work, afraid of the judgment that others give.
“You know you don’t need to have an interview with me? You can just write whatever it is here and get it done.” He answered, collecting all your research together to hand it back to you.
You shook your head, sighing. You finally turned to look at him. The prison was not known for its lighting but the way the light reflected onto your eyes made it shine with a passion he couldn’t seem to grasp. It almost distracted him from your words.
“It isn’t the same. I want it to be authentic. All of this-” You pointed at your work, which was a full stack at this point. “ was just from the ‘grapevine’ as some may say. I want to hear about your experiences and thoughts from you.”
He thought about your words. It bounced in the walls of his head, like an unstoppable echo. No one up to this point had ever bothered to go directly to him to ask about certain things. It was always the rumours.
The Duke bought his title.
The Duke would snap your neck if you looked at him wrong.
The Duke is under a permanent sentence in the Fortress of Meropide.
And here you were, asking him directly, even though everything written in your documents was fully true with proof, whether he could give some time of his day just to ask the same questions all these papers could answer.
He could only chuckle, one that wasn’t in a joking tone. “You like me quite a lot don’t you, Journalist?”
He watched as your sincere reporter's face morphed into what he could only describe as pure embarrassment. He was only shocked with his words but your expression completely delayed his bashful reaction. Instead, he smirked, a bit satisfied for once you weren’t on your high horse.
You grabbed the documents, stuffing them into your satchel and shutting it so quickly he could hear how crumpled they were getting.
“Well, it seems since you aren’t willing to do an interview today I’ll come again another time.” You almost yell, trying your best to close your bag so none of the papers would slip out.
“You’re right, aren’t you glad you have more than 30 days to ask me again?” He retorted, only to see your eyes grow wider. He was certain if he could touch your face, it would have been burning up with how much blood had rushed to your face.
Before anything else could have been said, you turned around rushing yourself out the door. He watched as you scattered down the stairs, making sure not to fall before finally hearing the door shut loudly, the metal clamps echoing in his office. However not a second later the door hinges squeaked once more, and you peeked your head a bit from the staircase.
“Um, goodbye, for now, Sir.”
And with that you rushed back down once more, door shutting as loud as it did the first time you left. And Wriothesley could only laugh, he wasn’t sure if he had laughed so much before his entire life. Who would have thought that the pure journalist might have a slight crush on him? It intrigued him a bit.
You were here but the only proof of your essence was in your prison statements and the teacup which you brewed tea for him. You were careful not to leave any of your documents or items around, it prevented Wriothesley from coming after you because technically he had nothing to hold against you.
However, he knew he probably would not be able to see you for some time unless you finally got the courage to come to him again. He fiddled with the empty teacup once more. Well, who knows, maybe he would finally come around to doing that interview with you, perhaps he will answer one question at a time while you brew him another cup or for a change of pace he could brew a cup for you instead. You would like sugar in yours, wouldn't you?
It seemed now he had to do his little research on you and maybe, just like you, be a little petty just to be able to see you every day during your 30-day prison sentence.
may i request wanderer, (scara, whatever his goofy ahh name is rn), alhaitham, ajax and kaeya reacting to reader, who’s usually not a fan of physical affection, coming up to them and snaking an arm around their waists while resting their head into their neck?
thank you!! 🩷
CW: swearing in wanderer's part because I believe he would say fuck
HC: Reader is gender-neutral, Reader does not have a vision.
Characters: Wanderer, Al Haitham, Ajax (Childe), Kaeya [Seperately]
Note: Thank you so much! I apologise for the late upload as I am currently studying. I got some time for myself so here you go. I hope I do this justice. Please make sure to interact with the post and enjoy it!
Al Haitham
Al Haitham tends to be prepared for whatever is to come, however, the sudden feeling of an arm around his waist was not something he thought he would ever need to prepare for.
Kaveh was finally out of the house, preferably looking for a job rather than complaining about everything Al Haitham did. This also gave Al Haitham the luxury of inviting you over without Kaveh taking your full attention. He wouldn’t say he was jealous, but Kaveh knew how to take care of company far better than he could. It was the one thing that left a sour taste in Al Haitham’s mouth, but he would never let Kaveh know about that.
You both were enjoying the quiet atmosphere of the room, nose shoved in books and lounging in your chairs. It was clear you both had chemistry which didn’t need to involve spoken words or gestures, Al Haitham liked your quiet company and you enjoyed his.
It didn’t take long but he finished his book, a little too fast it seemed because he could still see you weren’t done with yours. Not wanting to bother your reading, he closed the book and stood up to get another one. As he tried to quietly navigate the bookshelf, he didn’t realise your eyes slowly lifting off the pages to look at him.
Al Haitham, back turned, looked through the shelf thoroughly. It was clear he had pretty much read everything else on the shelf. He either had to reread another book or go out to find another one. Didn’t seem like a bad date idea to take you out book shopping with him. However before he could reach a decision, you began your attack.
An arm reached around his waist, followed by a gentle head on his shoulder. Al Haitham tried his best not to flinch but the shock of such an unexpected gesture made him shudder a bit. He turned to look down at you, who had slyly made their way to him without him realizing. You had a gentle smile on your face, happy to catch him off guard.
You both were typically not physical. It wasn’t something Al Haitham was against but it was pretty clear to him that you were not someone who indulged in that sort of affection. So seeing you make the first step was not something Al Haitham had prepared for. He looked back at the bookshelf.
“What are you looking for?” You perked up, trying to stifle a laugh. You knew what you did and you were fishing for a reaction from him. “ A book.” He answered, almost robotically.
“Hmm… I’m certain you read everything on this shelf” You could see the corner of his mouth twitch. It was small but he was reacting, you could feel your ego getting bigger. “Yes, you’re right.” Was all he could muster.
It never occurred to Al Haitham that he would enjoy such proximity to another human being. He tended to avoid any type of physical touch from most people. However, the way you held him just made him feel so warm, especially knowing you would never typically do something like this. He knew he would never recover from this, only wanting more in the future.
“Do you want to go out and get some new books then?” You ask, your head nuzzling closer to his neck. “That would be preferable.” He answered. You let out a chuckle, arm slipping off from him. But before you could pull yourself away, Al Haitham reached out his arm, forcing you to stay in your place, both of you now wrapped in each other’s embrace.
You let out a laugh. “Enjoying this much?” “Can’t say I don’t. “ His response only made you laugh more. “ Well it’s up to you, we could go get new books, or, we could just stay like this. What do you say?” Before Al Haitham could respond, a creek from the door could be heard.
“I’M BACK, OMG YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE THE THINGS I HAD TO DEAL WITH- Oh you have company.” Kaveh burst in, welcoming you the minute he saw you. Luckily for Al Haitham both of your reflexes were fast enough to pull away before he had seen you guys so close to one another.
Standing in front of the bookshelf, barely an inch apart, you both stood trying to seem as normal as possible. Al Haitham couldn’t believe he was getting embarrassed by almost getting caught by his roommate.
Al Haitham wasn’t prepared for what had happened today but he knew you planned to do more of this in the future. Hopefully, he would be prepared for the next time you did attack, and maybe he should find ways to kick Kaveh out for longer. He definitely did not want Kaveh to walk into whatever you both had planned for the future.
Childe (Ajax)
The closest that Childe has ever been able to touch you was probably during your friendly spars. You loved your distance and tended to keep a lot between the two of you. Even though you both had been together for quite a while it seemed you were not the type to get touchy with others. So Childe himself was amused when you decided to wrap an arm around his waist.
“What’s the occasion?” He asked, trying his best to focus on what was written in front of him. It was like you had calculated it. For once he was at the bank properly reading documents at his office when you decided to pop by. Now here you were slithered next to him, wrapped around him with your head on his shoulder.
He tried not to react, but he honestly wanted to throw away whatever he was reading just to return the favour. It was bold of you to do something like this so suddenly at such a random time. You never came by when he was working, even though he insisted. Paperwork was not fun for him but you were a rule-abiding citizen when you weren’t on a battlefield. He just had to know what was going through your mind for you to do this.
“No particular reason. Just felt like it.” You answered, nonchalantly. Your tone was dull and meek, escaping your throat like a whisper. Your usual fighting spirit was not there and he could sense it the minute you spoke. He finally looked at you and it was clear as day that you were not feeling well. Your hair was dishevelled and your eyebags were very noticeable.
Every single scenario flooded his mind. Was it because of work? Was someone rude to you? What happened to the person who would maniacally laugh whenever they got a scratch on him? He wanted to bombard you with questions but he stopped himself. Maybe it was because he was using his brain at this very moment rather than his instinct to fight, but he knew asking questions was not going to make you feel any better. So he reacted instead.
Shifting the documents to one of his hands, he let the other one wrap around you, engulfing into his side, closing any gaps between the two of you. You only responded by letting him do so, completely enveloping yourself in his arms and him in yours.
“Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”He asked, giving you one more chance to answer if you wanted to. “I’m alright. Just let me stay like this for a while.” Even if he was disappointed by your response he wouldn’t show it. Instead, he responded with a hum, not prodding you with any more questions and letting you enjoy the warmth he could provide with the embrace.
So you both stayed together, wrapped in each other's arms while he worked. It didn’t take long for you to fall asleep but that didn’t stop Childe from keeping you by his side. Even in your sleep, your arm refused to let his waist go which did make him chuckle, maybe he could tease about this when you were feeling better.
Honestly, he expected the first time you held him like this to be in a more romantic setting but he was not going to complain about what he was getting. It was already a big step that you decided to come to his side for comfort. Your usual method of letting go of bad feelings was always sparing so it was a nice change of pace.
Maybe next time you do feel bad and need his comfort he will be able to get some words out of you. For now, he’s going to let you do whatever you want, even if it means catching him off guard with an arm around his waist.
Kaeya Alberich
“Cheers for a happy 6 months!” Kaeya chuckled. You both clinked your glasses, giggling tipsy from the alcohol. You both had been dating for half a year now, which was unbelievable in Kaeya’s mind. Kaeya always had a one-sided crush on you ever since you both had done academy training together. Who knew you felt the same? And now here you both were, celebrating together.
Kaeya could see Diluc roll his eyes yet he didn’t care. He knew it was considered cheesy to celebrate every month of a relationship, but you were the type to enjoy such things so he couldn’t say no. He began to love these silly celebrations with you, it felt special.
“You guys do know this isn’t the most romantic place to celebrate right?” Diluc piped up, as he organized the wine shelf behind him. Kaeya stuck out a playful tongue at him before taking a sip, which only made your tipsy self giggle some more.
“Yeah yeah, but it’s the place where we first confessed! It has special memories, you should be glad your tavern can create such happy moments.” You say, words a bit slurred but still understandable.
As you spoke you could hear the other tavern people cheer, which only made you cheer along. Kaeya could only stare at how stunning you looked at this moment. He still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact he was dating such a wonderful individual.
Diluc sighed, preparing you both another glass. He slid the glasses over. “Here then, for a successful 6 months.” He mumbled, rolling his eyes as you and Kaeya once again cheered.
Kaeya took the glass without hesitation, ready to down it in an instant, but he wasn’t prepared for what you had planned. An arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him and his chair closer to you. Kaeya had already begun to drink but the sudden action caused him to choke on it.
He coughed so much, that the drink spit out of his mouth. Diluc looked in disgust while you only could worry. “Are you alright?” You ask concerned, but Kaeya couldn’t hear anything. It was unbelievable, you had wrapped your arm around his waist! You both have never been this close before!
You tended to always stay in your own space and Kaeya wasn’t going to push it, especially since you guys were still freshly dating in his mind. He wasn’t going to risk ruining a relationship he dreamt of for years. Maybe it was the alcohol but it seemed that you had the confidence to pull such a sneaky trick.
“I’m fine i’m fine. It went down the wrong pipe for a second.” He tried to laugh it off, wheezing between sentences. He hoped you didn’t notice his panic, he didn’t want you taking your arms off him anytime soon. You smiled at himy placing your head on his shoulders which only made his head spin more.
Diluc looked at Kaeya in amusement. He got front-row seats to see his brother who was typically cocky completely speechless. Kaeya looked as a devilish smile crept up on Diluc’s face. “You know, it really is such a special day. Here, more drinks. On the house.” He slid you both more drinks. Kaeya could only stare in disbelief as you continued to chug them down like nothing.
“You’re being kind today Diluc! Thank you!” You gleefully exclaimed, setting the glass down and wrapping another arm around Kaeya. Your head that was on his neck pushed closer, and Kaeya could feel your hot breath on his neck, which only made him feel hotter.
The alcohol wasn’t helping, he could feel the dizziness get more intense as you pushed yourself closer to him. He was certain you were going to melt and mould him into slime with all the heat he was accumulating.
He could see Diluc prepare another drink, a sly smile still on his face. If this was how you acted tipsy he wasn’t ready to face you when you were a complete drunk. He stood up from the chair, pushing the glasses away from you which only rewarded him with a whine.
“we had enough for tonight. I’ll take you home.” You pouted but mumbled an OK, standing up yourself. However, you refused to let go of his waist, forcing him to stay close to you at all times. He tried to control his shyness but it was hard when you were so close.
“Hope you both enjoy the rest of your anniversary!” Diluc called out, a smile on his face as Kaeya glared, guiding you out of the tavern. He hoped the next time you decided to pull a stunt like this, you both weren’t as drunk anymore.
He also planned on never having anniversary celebrations at the Angel Share ever again. Or at least not on Diluc’s shift. He wasn’t ready for what other PDA you had in store, knowing Diluc would fan the flames to embarrass him. Maybe next time you guys can go drinking at each other’s houses instead. You’ll have to see on your seventh anniversary.
Wanderer
“What the fuck?” That was the first words that came out of his mouth when you decided to wrap an arm around his waist, placing your head on his shoulder.
“Shut up I’m trying to rest here.” You mumble, closing your eyes, enjoying the icy sensation from his porcelain-like skin. The Sumeru desert was hot, unbearably hot. You didn’t want to come here but when you’re working in the Akademiya you didn’t have a choice in what you had to do to progress your research.
Lucky for you, you were accompanied by a walking ice pack. It was a shame his attitude wasn’t as cool as he was.
“No, I won’t, get off me.” He hissed, trying to push you off himself. You just rolled your eyes, gripping him a bit tighter. You knew he could easily toss you aside if he wanted to get you off. He had a vision that allowed him to blow you away in an instant, so him being so meek was an act.
“Yeah yeah, good luck with getting me off, i’m quite persistent.” You continue to mumble, pushing your head into the crevice of his neck. Wanderer had a very peculiar scent. A mixture of grass and freshly picked kalpalata lotus. It was such an odd smell but you honestly have got a bit addicted to it. It also helped his frosty exterior enhance it. Either way, the smell felt clean and cool, a refreshing scent during such hot weather.
You could hear him scoff, the sound ringing in your ears a bit since you were so close. You were close enough if you just turned your head you could peck him on the lips, you would have done so if you weren’t so tuckered out.
“Whatever, I’ll let you off this time. I won’t let you pull this shit next time.” You could only chuckle. This wasn’t the first time he tried to threaten you. To be honest he seemed to dull down a lot more compared to everything that happened before. You both weren't usually touchy, actually, you were not touchy at all, so whenever when you do shit like this it always ticked him off. You were honestly surprised he hadn’t gone into a swearing fit like when you first held his hand. It was almost as if he was slowly getting used to your touch, which you didn’t mind.
However today you were just out of it, too tired to mess around with him or worry about touch. The shade of the cave you both sat under accompanied by his cool refreshing self attached to your side made you drowsy. You could feel your brain finally go into shut-down mode.
“Hey, don’t you dare go to sleep… ” You would think he was trying to stop you from falling asleep but his intentions were clear when you could hear how softly he whispered those words to you. You could feel his arm, which was nowhere to be seen until now, finally, wrap around you from the side.
“If you fall asleep I’m going to leave you here to fend for yourself…” He continued to whisper. It almost sounded like a lullaby but you knew the sun would be rising from the west if that was the case. “Yeah yeah, at least bury me in the sand before you do.” That was the final words you said before you finally got knocked out.
- - -
To no one’s surprise when you did wake up, he was still at your side. Both of you were unmoved from the original position from when you had fallen asleep. The only difference was that the sun had set and the stars littered the sky.
“Good morning to you.” He grumbled which you answered with a yawn. “ What happened to leaving me alone to fend for myself?” You asked, trying to let go but as he remained unmoved you could not.
You huffed, trying to push him off but he finally decided to use his given strength to make sure you couldn’t. He didn’t turn to look at you, instead focused on the sky. You sighed, giving up and following his gaze up to the sky. Was the sky always full of that many stars?
Synopsis: You promised Kaeya drinks, he promised to be your wingman so you can finally ask his brother, Diluc, on a date. However your plan comes crashing when rumor comes out that you would be buying drinks for all the knights. You also just can't seem to get rid of this bard who keeps singing songs to you. Will you achieve your chance to ask your dream man out? Let's find out.
CW: ALCOHOL, OTHER THAN DILUC NO ONE IS GOING TO BE SOBER, minor swearing, Venti is a bit clingy too
HC: Reader is gender-neutral, Reader does not have a vision, Reader works as a knight, Reader is very clearly in love with Diluc (lol)
Characters: Diluc, Kaeya, Venti, Jean, Mentions of Favonious knights and Traveller (Honorary Knight)
Note: Going to apologise in advance because I have no idea how alcohol works as I am not a drinker and don't plan to. I clown on Diluc a lot because my friend is obsessed with him however funnily enough he is the character I have the most ideas with. I'm talking angst, fluff, comfort, everything. Anyway enjoy this cringe fest! Please make sure to like, comment or reblog the post. It helps it reach a wider audience and motivates me to write more silly stuff like this. Enjoy!
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The current situation was far from ideal. Tonight was supposed to be the night you finally dared to ask Diluc out on a date. However, right now you were surrounded by drunken knights who wouldn’t stop singing along with an even more drunk bard who had his whole body wrapped around you. You could see Diluc seething at the bar, his fist clenched on the glass so tight you were certain it would break any minute now.
Backtracking to how you have ended up in this situation, it all started because of a rumour. Whispers among the crowd saying Donna was going to make her move soon. You couldn’t allow this, you had loved Diluc since his days as a knight! Sure you never dared to confess this entire time but Donna barely had any history with this man compared to you! She had a long way to go to get to your level. However, it didn’t help that Diluc was a bachelor and a perfect one at that. Even if Donna did or didn’t make her move, someone else might snatch him up sooner or later. It didn’t help that the honorary knight seemed to have become close to him as well. You need to act fast.
So you made a deal with Kaeya, if anyone was going to help you it had to be him. When you first told him about your crush he burst out laughing, before realising you were serious.
“Wait shit for real?” He asked, dumbfounded. You nod, trying not to be embarrassed. He stared at you like you had just said the most unbelievable thing. In Kaeya’s defence, you did say the most outrageous thing imaginable. He knew Diluc was considered a hot target in the single’s market, but for you to also fall for his charms? A shocking revelation.
“Are you going to help me or not?” You ask, now impatient. You didn’t have time to let him make fun of you for liking his brother, someone could be seducing him right now! Kaeya blinked at you in disbelief. However, his face soon shifted to a shit-eating grin. You groaned, instantly regretting your decision. “If you’re not then I’m going to ask someone else ok?!” You exclaim, annoyed and try your best not to give him more reason to make fun of you.
“Nah nah! You came to the right place! I’ll help, I'm an amazing wingman!” He laughed. You shushed him, you didn’t want anyone else to know about this and Kaeya tried his best to hold in his laughter but chuckles and giggles could not stop escaping this man. “Just buy me a couple of drinks and I’ll make sure you both end up in bed together by the end of the night!” He teased, which only made you groan.
That was the plan, you buy him drinks and he would help you look good enough for Diluc to swoon over you. However, for some reason, word got out and suddenly the whole knight team was out and about ready to get drinks from you.
“Wow, aren't you generous? Paying for the knights to drink as much as they want!” Swan chuckled. You didn’t know how it ended up like this, even Kaeya shrugged at you confused. Somehow word got out that you would be paying for ALL the knights to drink until they passed out. It had gotten so big that even Jean decided to join in.
“Well, the knights barely have time to come together and have fun, so I couldn’t miss this.” She smiled at you and that stopped you from calling the whole thing off because there was no way you could say no to Jean.
So now here you were, at Angel Share, drunk knights singing and playing games at the bar. You chugged down on a bottle of wine, feeling like absolute shit. Not only were you going to have to pay for all this but right now you were the worst offender in Diluc’s eyes. Dragging all the knights here and ruining his shift. All you wanted to do was confess but instead, you ended up creating the worst environment for any love to happen.
Finally the damn bard on your lap. You don’t know how he got into this but he was drinking off your tab as well. He was so grateful for your generosity that he decided the best way to show it was by singing tunes dedicated to you while sitting on your lap. He had one arm wrapped over your neck, which strummed the lyre in his hands. He was wrapped around you like spaghetti on a fork. It didn’t help that Diluc could see this man sit on your lap while singing tunes about how wonderful you were.
So right now in Diluc’s eyes, you were, a drunk who wastes their money on alcohol, loves to bring chaos to environments, and also a flirt who has no shame in doing PDA with strangers. The least ideal person to date. You avoided any eye contact with Diluc, you could not face him at this point. You turned to look at Kaeya who was completely out of it. He had drunk so much that he was pretty much passed out just a couple of minutes ago.
‘So much for being a wingman…’ you thought, but honestly speaking in this situation, if Kaeya spoke up it would have probably ended up worse. You looked at the time, seeing how it was almost 12. The bar was set to close soon and Diluc would begin to kick out the knights. Finally, this terror would end and you could go back to your house to cry yourself to sleep. You were smart enough to call the next day off. you hoped whoever spread the rumour had a terrible hangover tomorrow while working the next day. They deserved it.
As you continued to curse the people who spread these twisted rumours, the bard decided to speak up after chugging down another glass. “You seem down my friend! Another song will cheer you up!” He laughed, stringing his lyre once more ready for another song. Cheers of knights could be heard across the bar, hyping him up for another. You sighed, placing a hand on the lyre and putting it down. “No no, I think we had enough songs for tonight. Let’s end the night guys.” You say, trying to stand up while carrying the bard bridal style.
As you tried to stand up, the bard whined trying to shake you off. You underestimating how drunk you were couldn’t carry his weight anymore, especially when he was moving around. You tried to steady yourself but the bard would not stop squirming leading you to slip and fall down. Making sure the bard didn’t hit the floor, and get hurt you shifted your body so you would land on the ground instead, your back hitting flat on the floor while the bard fell on top of you to soften his fall.
The bard whined, resting his head on your chest while you had your grip him to make sure he didn’t get hurt during the fall. The crack of glass could be heard in an instance. Everyone turned towards the sound to see that Diluc had in fact, shattered the glass he was cleaning the entire night.
“Out.” He said. The aura in the tavern immediately turned grim. Knights anxiously made their way out the door, saying their goodbyes to you. Jean carried Kaeya on her back, giving you a weak drunk smile before heading out as well. The bard clearly didn't get the clue as he had passed out on top of you.
Diluc was mad and it was all your fault. You could feel the tears come out. It especially didn’t help that you were drunk out of your mind, unable to hold back your emotions. You gently pushed the bard off you, trying to stand up. At this point, the only people left were you, Diluc, and the passed-out bard.
You mumble sorry, trying to get up while tears continue to flow down your face. Unable to see clearly made it a bit of a struggle to get up, it also prevented you from noticing Diluc who had somehow made his way to you. You jolted up, almost falling over once more, but he caught you before another slip occurred. His arm wrapped your waist gently, steadying you up. You could feel yourself heat up.
“You have to be careful. Here.” He mumbled, guiding you to sit down. You were shocked he had not kicked you out honestly. You looked at him teary-eyed as he pulled out a handkerchief from his apron, dapping your tears away.
“You can sit here and wait until I close. I’ll drop you off afterward. “ He exclaimed, placing the cloth in your hands. “Oh no you don’t have to, I need to drop off the bard home first.” You say, your hands gripping on the cloth ever so tightly. You didn’t dare to stay with Diluc, especially after how terrible the night went. You wanted to leave as soon as possible but the minute you mentioned the bard you could see Diluc halt.
His gaze turned cold as he glared at the unconscious bard on the floor. He walked towards him, picking the bard up from the scruff of his clothes and heading towards the door. He tossed the bard out like trash before dusting his hands off. “Venti can figure out his way to get home. You're unsteady and drunk, so I’m taking you home myself.” You had no escape now. Muttering an ok, you put your head down trying to feel as small as you could.
Were you such a mess that Diluc didn’t think you were capable enough to get home? You were still a knight! Sure you weren’t an honorary knight but you were one, and a decent one at that. You could feel your thoughts spiral but it always leads to the same conclusion. Diluc would never like you back and probably felt pity for you.
You didn’t know how long you were lost in your thoughts, before Diluc spoke up. “I’m done, let’s get going.” He said. You try to answer but the alcohol finally seems to be in your system because you couldn't force yourself to say coherent words. You groan which only made Diluc sigh.
He lifted you from your seat, making you wrap your arm around his neck. He wrapped his arm around your waist once more and held onto your arm with his hand. You immediately could feel the heat from his body. You were already sweating because of the alcohol but now with his heat on your side, you could almost feel your skin burn. You whine, trying to push him away a bit but his grip on you was firm. You look him directly in the eyes. Big mistake.
He had the same poker face he usually had but for some reason, stars were dancing in his eyes tonight. Was he always this beautiful? You weren’t sure if the alcohol was playing tricks on your mind because you couldn’t believe how stunning this man looked. Looking carefully at his face you could see light scars scattered around his jaw. His cheeks were decorated with slight freckles. You couldn't believe how close you were to even notice them.
You weren’t sure what came over you but it was too late to stop the words from spilling out of your mouth. “I’m in love with you.” You stared at him before suddenly realising what you had just said. You can’t believe you had just said that. You wanted to take it back, your brain was wrecking up on excuses to say to him.
‘It’s a joke’ or ‘I didn’t mean to say that’ or even an ‘I meant it for someone else’. Your brain kept thinking of various things you could say but nothing would spill out. So here you were mouth gaping open, begging yourself to say something.
Diluc sighed, and you could feel your heart shatter. “Let’s take you home.” You didn’t argue, letting him drag you back to your house. You could feel yourself fall asleep on the way. You gave up in defeat. At least you were off the next day, you would be able to drown in your sorrows tomorrow.
As you tried to comfort yourself, you felt yourself drift off asleep. You could hear Diluc speak but the words wouldn’t register, you needed to escape from him for a bit.
—
You woke up on your bed, you turned to look out the window to see that it was still clearly night. You groan, sitting up on your bed. Your room was dark but you could see a light peeking under the door of your room, the living room light was still on. You groggily walk out of the room to turn it off, only to see Diluc outside. He was in the kitchen, rummaging through the cabinets.
You look at him in disbelief while he turns to face you. “You ok? It’s too late to buy hangover medicine so I wanted to see if you had any stocked up.” You try to speak, only to be stopped by a cough. Your throat felt so dry, you couldn’t say a word. “Oh, drink this.” Diluc handed you a glass of water, which you chugged down in an instant.
“I was going to hand it to you with the medicine but never mind. You should go rest, I’ll leave soon.” He said, continuing his search in your cupboard. You shook your head. “You can just leave, it’s fine, I can take care of myself.” You wanted him gone as soon as possible. As domestic as it felt having him in your house taking care of you, this man rejected your confession and you didn’t have the strength to handle it at this moment.
You had a splitting headache and a broken heart and Diluc being here was not going to fix that. Diluc halted, stopping his search, you could see a frown on his face as he closed the drawers before turning to you. “Can I ask you something?” He asked, ever so quietly. He was always a silent type of guy, but even this time you could hear how vulnerable he was. The way he asked you in such a soft way made you instantly answer him without a second thought. “Go ahead.” You wanted to hit yourself, you wish you didn’t have such a soft spot for him.
“I heard a rumour, going around…” he continued. He played with his hands, fiddling them about as if he was feeling shy. You cringed at the thought, why would Diluc of all people feel shy? You were just being delusional at this point. As you contemplated your thoughts he continued. “People were saying you invited the knights out for drinks because you got engaged, is that true?”
The cup you had in your hands dropped to the ground. You were glad it wasn’t glass because it would have shattered in an instant, and you had seen enough things shatter today. However, you honestly could not believe the words that had just come out of Diluc’s mouth. “Wait what? Are you serious?” You ask, completely thinking this was a prank. “Why would you think that? Who would even say that?” Who was spreading these rumours around? You were going to kill them.
“So it’s false?” “Of course it’s false! I’m not even dating anyone!” You exclaim, now wondering whether your confession was rejected because Diluc thought you were cheating on your nonexistent partner.
“So you aren’t dating Venti?” “I don’t even know who that is!” You say, frustrated. You put your hands on your face, feeling annoyed. You groan into them in anger. All these stupid rumours were the reason you were here with a horrible headache and Diluc looking at you like you were scum on Earth. You wanted to crawl up into a ball and disappear right now.
“Then can you do me a favour?” Diluc spoke up, disturbing your grovelling session. You look up from your hands and stare at him sadly. “What?” You weakly ask.
“Can you confess to me again when you aren’t drunk?” You blink, unsure of what you just heard. “What?” You say, still unable to process what he had just asked you to do.
“Your confession. Say it to me when you aren’t drunk.” He said once more, looking at you with his unchanged expression. He was being deadly serious. He was asking you to confess again. “Wait wait, so you don’t hate me?” Diluc tilted his head, eyebrow raised. He seemed shocked you even said that. “Why would I ever hate you? Were people saying that?” He asked, crossing his arms, his face turned dark when he said it but you shook your head. “No no, but, does that mean you like me?” You ask, feeling sheepish.
And for the first time this entire night, you could see a small smile fall on his lips. His face softened, no longer a glare in his eyes. His cheeks rose a bit when he smiled and you were certain this smile was for you. “Ask again when you aren’t reeking of alcohol.” He retorted back playfully. “Now, off to bed, I’ll head out now. I heard that you won’t be at work tomorrow so I better hear from you soon.”
With that, he left you, alone in your house, with your thoughts full of him. You knew for a fact you were not going to be able to sleep the entire night, nor was your headache going to be fixed by any type of medicine.
Sorry Mondstadt, but your favourite bachelor is finally going to be off the market!
—
The slight sounds of a lyre could be heard in the distance on the streets of Mondstadt. A drunk bard still singing a tune.
“Did you hear about this rumour? There is going to be love in the air soon~”
Synopsis: Jing Yuan is a bird magnet. As harmless as it sounds, it seems to lead to misunderstandings.
CW: Nothing
HC: Reader works under Yukong. Reader is gender-neutral.
Characters: Jing Yuan, Yukong, Fu Xuan, Mentions of Tingyun and Yanqing
Note: Genshin to Honkai pipeline is real omg. Honestly I am not that interested in Honkai Star Rail or any of the Honkai games but I do play it and let me tell you I love this man. The characters in this game do not miss. Already making drafts for a Sampo fic. My one goal is to max them out. Also anyone interested in Aeons fanfic? Just asking. Anyway, please make sure to like, comment or reblog. Interactions with the post lets it reach a wider audience. Requests are also open! Enjoy.
Jing Yuan was used to the attention given to him, it wasn’t shocking to him. An individual of his status always would draw attention amongst the crowds. However, most people tend to divert their eyes or at least make an effort to pretend they weren’t staring, especially when they weren’t supposed to. It was considered a decent thing to do. However you on the other hand clearly did not understand this concept.
The first time he had caught your eyes, he waited for you to shyly look away like most people did, however to his surprise you kept a stern gaze towards him, refusing to move. It did phase him a bit, how strange that you had no shame to look away knowing that you had been caught. He chuckled to himself, that time he gave you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you felt it was more awkward to look away.
However, the staring continued. You stared at him whenever you had the chance. He could feel your gaze burning from the back of his head. How were you so confident? Does he not scare you? Do you not understand authority? Maybe you just didn’t have the shame to hide the fact that you adored looking at him. He tried not to crack a smile every time he did catch you staring. He didn’t want others to know why he was laughing at himself.
It wasn’t a surprise to him, having people fall for him. Tingyun was already making sales from his looks, so it was clear that many people were head over heels for him. Maybe you were just like them, an admirer who was terrible at keeping a secret. He didn’t mind, he was already used to the attention.
—
“You seem to be distracted these days. Is your age finally catching up to you?” Fu Xuan jabbed. Jing Yuan let out a chuckle “ I don’t know what you mean.” He answered, unphased. Documents were piling up and Yanqing still didn’t have a decent partner to train with, he had too many unnecessary things piling up on his head. Fu Xuan was clearly here to mess with him for letting things go on for this long.
“Don’t try to hide, you have been laughing to yourself or cracking smiles out of the blue! Have you finally lost it?” She asked once more. Honestly not what he had expected her to say. He thought she was here to clown him for not finishing his work on time, he didn’t realise he had got caught. She continued. “If so, I’m willing to take your place any day for your ‘early’ retirement.”
Jing Yuan rolled his eyes, looking back at the screen in front of him. “If you don’t have anything better to do you’re free to leave. My mental state is perfectly fine.” Fu Xuan let out a smirk. “It won’t be for long.”
Jing Yuan turned to her, he didn’t want to give her attention especially when he was this busy, but Fu Xuan was not going to stop fishing for answers. Raising an eyebrow he decided to take the bait.“And what makes you say that?” Fu Xuan let out an almost sinister laugh. Jing Yuan could only frown, he didn’t like the sound of that.
“I recently foresaw a future of yours.” The room felt cold in an instant. Jing Yuan was now fully focused on Fu Xuan, who continued to smirk victoriously. It didn’t seem to be serious but it didn’t seem to be a good thing either. “What did you see?” He asked nervously, he tried his best to hide it, he didn’t need to give Fu Xuan any more openings.
Fu Xuan pretended to think, withholding the information rather than stating it at once. Jing Yuan sighed, of course, Fu Xuan would want to have the high ground. “I’ll repeat, what did you see?” He stated once more, a more serious tone plaguing his words.
Fu Xuan scoffed. “You’re no fun.”
“If it involves me then it involves Xianzhou Luofu and its people. I would rather not be left in the dark about this.” Fu Xuan shrugged. “It isn’t something serious. If it was, I would have told you about it instantly. You know I am not one to take my time.”
“Then why hide it from me?” “Because it’s funny.” Jing Yuan sighed. “Just tell me.”
“Don’t feel like it.” And with that Fu Xuan's hologram disappeared. Jing Yuan huffed, how annoying. It seemed that people around him were forgetting what respect meant.
—
Yukong never made physical trips to meet with Jing Yuan regarding any issues on the Xianzhou Luofu. It was a big ship, and it was a waste of time to constantly travel back and forth when they could communicate via holograms.
However it was always safe to bring confidential documents face to face, a third party might cause leaks. To his surprise, you tagged alongside her during one of their rare trips. However, for once, you didn’t look up to look at him. He tried his best to focus on what Yukong kept saying but his eyes kept wandering back to you. Why were you not looking up? Was it because this was the first time you had seen him face to face? However he didn’t like this, he wished you would just look up like usual.
“Tingyuan couldn’t make it?” He asked, trying to focus the shift on you. You jolted up, now nervously looking at Yukong who also was caught off guard. Yukong looked back at you, before turning back to Jing Yuan trying to seem unphased. “Yeah, she was assigned a task alongside the trailblazers. You had assigned her to them.” She asked.
“Hmm, I did? “ Jing Yuan asked in a playful tone. You still didn’t turn to look at him, now just looking down at the floor to not draw any more attention. He couldn’t hold a smile on his face anymore, he was getting annoyed. Why today of all days you decide not to look at him?
He wanted to see your face properly, not in his hologram form. As advanced as things were in Xianzhou Luofu, when he is in his hologram form he can’t see everyone clearly. It was like being stuck behind a screen. Now that he was finally face-to-face with his ‘staring partner’ he wanted to see what you looked like.
“Well, since things in the Xianzhou Luofu are not settled yet, I would prefer if you could hand me documents face to face from now.” Yukong blinked, before realising what he had stated. “But sir, that would take some time, and I can’t always make trips here when I need to take care of my team.” Jing Yuan tilted his head, pretending to be oblivious to his schemes. “You can just ask Tingyuan, or your companion right next to you. If you trust them to accompany you then I’m certain they can help you bring me these documents. Am I wrong?”
His statement finally made you look up. He believed he was ready to face your gaze, but he was being too cocky it seemed. When he had locked eyes with you he almost looked away with how sudden it was. Your gaze was sharp and strong, just as the times you had looked at him before. You had a poker face, attentive to your work since Jing Yuan had personally entrusted you to do Yukong’s work. It seemed the hologram way of communicating had dulled down the intensity of your gaze full of determination. Jing Yuan didn’t expect to get such a whiplash.
He held his ground, he didn’t need any reason to feel shy now. Fu Xuan’s words started to replay in his head, he wasn’t sure why. You couldn’t be the reason for his downfall, could you? There was no way.
Yukong sighed, interrupting the spiral Jing Yuan had going inside his mind. “Of course. We won’t disappoint you. “ She answered. “I’m glad to hear that.” Jing Yuan smiled, his gaze never leaving you as you did the same.
—
It wasn’t surprising that you made most of the trips. He found out that you were new to the job, at least to Yukong’s sector. Since Tingyuan was busy with the trailblazers and Yukong had her duties to attend to, you ended up being the special courier for any confidential documents. Most of the documents were digitised so your trips weren’t common, but Jing Yuan made it his mission to make sure you somehow ended up in his office.
Was this corruption from the higher-ups? Probably, if anyone knew what he was doing they would think he was bullying you but he didn’t mean any harm. He just likes the mini-staring matches you both have. Not many people look at him with such confidence.
It also didn’t seem to be an issue as it seemed that you liked the job. No matter how many times you were told to bring in documents, you always followed through without complaining. Tingyuan tended to ask for bargains while Yukong would straight up avoid making rounds. You on the other hand would be ready to make a delivery in an instant. It was probably due to the fact you were still new to the job, but he liked to pretend it was because you wanted to see him often.
He smiled to himself thinking about it. He didn’t like how much of a narcissist he was. He knew people loved him but having his delusions of someone liking him more than just the ruler of the Xianzhou Luofu must be his breaking point. Fu Xuan was on to something, you must be his downfall.
—
It was like any other day, you made the delivery and you were going to head back to your station. However, Jing Yuan was getting tired of this. It was any day now that the trailblazers would be done with the Stellaron attacks and he would finally have to step in to fix what was left. This means everything would return to normal and your trips wouldn’t be necessary anymore. All these trips didn’t make you both any closer either, you were keeping a distance between the two of you.
He also noticed how you reduced staring, it seems you had caught on the fact that he knew you were staring. He honestly was surprised you didn’t realise it sooner, it wasn’t like you were hiding it. But now whenever he would catch your eyes you would jolt up as if he caught you doing something horrible. If it was in the past he wouldn’t have minded, but now whenever you looked away he felt frustrated.
As the day was going to end as it usually did, Jing Yuan finally snapped. He needed to change this routine you both had created. “May I ask you a question?” He asked. He caught you so off guard you dropped the documents on the ground. Scattering them all over the floor. In an instant you dropped down, to collect the papers off the ground. He followed suit, trying to help.
“Oh, you don’t need to do that sir!” You try not to stutter. You didn’t expect him to ask you anything. You guys never spoke anymore than anything related to work, so the sudden question caught you off guard. “ Don’t mind me, I just wanted to ask a question. I didn’t think it was that shocking.” He chuckled.
You nervously laugh, continuing to gather all the materials before he could get any more. To your horror, he had already collected most of it. However, the piles of paper were now in a mess, completely unorganised from how it was originally arranged.
“You can sit with me and chat while we organise these.” He stood up smiling, mockingly shaking the documents towards you while you tried not to get embarrassed. “My apologies sir.” You mumble, standing up with the little amount you were able to get. “I’ll forgive you if you answer my questions.” The way he spoke was so calm. He was a ruler for a reason, his voice was loud in battle and comforting to his citizens. You instantly felt at ease when he didn’t seem to mind.
“I’ll take you up on that offer, sir.”
—
When he said questions, he meant a lot of questions. He asked why you chose the job, what you liked, your interests, and your hobbies. He was ticking off everything at this point. You of course answered. The way he articulated the questions and the calm sound of his voice seemed to have entranced you. You were certain if he was a lawyer he would have gotten the answers right out of you in an instant. It was no wonder he was in such a high position.
“You seem to stare a lot don’t you?” A question that you didn’t expect. He smiled, eyes closed ready for an answer. Did he catch you off guard? He hoped so, he wanted to tease you a bit, making you realise that your silly little crush on him was already discovered. Maybe it was sudden but with how truthfully you were answering his questions he didn’t expect you to lie your way out of this.
You could feel the rush of blood on your face. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to stare! It’s just…” you cut yourself off. He patiently waited for your answer. What could it be? Did you like his face? Many people did, it was the reason Tingyuan was making a fortune for so many years. Or perhaps you would be bolder and say you liked his body? His clothes and armour enhanced its appeal. Or maybe his hair? It reminded of a lion’s mane to most and Yanqing would always mention how elegant it looked, even after he had spared the entire day. He wasn’t even sure how it stayed in such luscious conditions.
He tried not to tap the table, eager for your answer. He could hear his heartbeat increase its speed, he didn’t realise how nervous he was. What was it about him that you just couldn’t help but look? He needed to know now.
“ The bird.” It was almost a whisper when you spoke. He wasn’t even sure he heard you properly. “The bird?” He repeated, a bit dumbfounded. You nodded, guilt leaving your body but suddenly feeling sheepish. You can’t believe you were going to admit this.
“ You always have a bird in your hair. It’s so unphased I always wondered whether it was tamed.” You continue to say. You watched Jing Yuan stare at you, unable to speak. You took this as a sign to continue. “Well you see, I love looking at birds. Especially since in Xianzhou Luofu, they are quite rare. But you have one always on your shoulder! So when I first saw it I was so shocked. If you don’t mind me asking, could you tell me what type it is? Is it a Zebra finch? A Waxbill? The red beak makes it a bit prominent but I couldn’t see its feather pattern so I couldn’t tell what type it was.”
As you continued to go on and on about the bird, Jing Yuan was trying his best not to show any signs of embarrassment. He couldn’t believe this. He had thought this entire time you had looked at him due to admiration. Honestly, it was his fault for making up delusions on his own but he didn’t expect this. You were staring at the birds that usually landed on his shoulder and hid around his hair. He was so used to it he completely forgot they even stuck next to him while he worked.
A sudden notification came to your phone which made you stop your little bird talk. You read it and immediately stood up an instance. “Oh no! The time!” You almost shout, your worried gaze not looking away from the phone. You look at Jing Yuan sadly, and he could feel his heart was close to bursting. Not only from his embarrassment but also how unhappy you looked knowing that you would have to depart from him.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t organise all the documents in time. I’ll make it up to you next time sir!” You begin to gather your things and head out. As you near the door you turn back to him shouting. “I apologise if this is inappropriate, but I hope to talk to you again!” You say. You take a bow before turning back and running out the door.
All Jing Yuan could do was stare as you left. Suddenly he could feel all the emotions he had held back to save face flowing out. He slumped on the desk, hands on his face trying to cover his face which was completely red. He could not believe this had happened to him.
He heard a little chirp near his ear. He looked to the side, to see his little bird friend peeping at him in glee. “You did this to me.” He grumbled, glaring at the bird who continued to chirp, almost as if it was laughing at him. Sighing, he slumped back on his chair, trying not to think about what just had happened.
He couldn’t help it though. It made sense now, you probably were curious about the bird, trying to figure out what kind it was. He was the one overthinking it, making up stories in his head where you profess your love to him. No wonder Fu Xuan said what she did. She knew this was going to happen.
He sighed, picking up his little friend off his shoulder onto his hand. After making a mental note on finding a way to get back at Fu Xuan, he began to think about you again. He was already too deep into this, he was going to make you like him back. He stroked the bird’s head as it peeped in delight. He looked down at it as it playfully nipped at his finger.
Another idea popped into his head. The last words you said played in his head again as he stared at the bird who danced around in the palm of his hands. He felt a smile creep on his face.
“Well, at least I can figure out what we are going to be talking about next time we meet.” He chuckled to himself, humming a tune alongside the bird. He was already too deep into this, and he was not going to let you go that easily.
He was going to make you look at him the same way he looked at you, one way or another. Who would have thought a love of birds would lead to this?
hi! may i request the sumeru men reactions to the reader asking for a hug?
Note: This is the first time I got a request. I was so excited I basically dropped everything else I was already writing to make drafts for this! I did my best I hope you guys like it, especially you random user! Thank you for the request! Please feel free to like, comment or reblog! I love hearing from you guys and engaging helps the posts reach a wider audience! Enjoy! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
ASKING SUMERU MEN FOR A HUG
CW: A bit suggestive but it's very safe for work! Some swearing in wanderer's part.
HC: Reader is gender-neutral, Reader does not have a vision. Established relationships but it's in the early stages (Aka you guys just started to date).
Characters: Al Haitham, Cyno, Kaveh, Tighnari and Wanderer
Al Haitham
“Absolutely not.”
You never felt so defeated. It seemed that no matter where, when, or how you asked, he almost always refused to hug you. It wasn’t as if you were asking much from him either. It wasn’t like it was a kiss or more. It was just a hug, and here you were being rejected by the person that you had planned a future with.
“Why not? It’s normal for people who are DATING to do it!” Al Haitham hummed, almost in agreement but he refused to answer. You huffed, before tossing your arms up in the air in a rage. “You can’t just ignore me either! Why are you dating me if you want to do nothing with me?”
Al Haitham raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side. “I’m supposed to do something with you if we are dating?” You couldn’t help but stare in disbelief. “YES! THAT'S WHAT IT MEANS TO DATE!” He hummed again, and you could feel yourself fill up with rage.
“But we already do things together, “ He nonchalantly said, pulling out a list from his pocket. “ You slept over at my house, ate food off my plate and even took sips from my glass, borrowed my clothes and took pictures of me multiple times without my knowledge. So it’s pretty clear that we do ‘stuff’, as a couple.”
You groan, hands falling on your face in defeat. “It’s different! We barely do anything intimate! I want to hold you! “ You sigh. Arguing with him always felt like pouring water into a bucket with holes, no matter how much you fill it up it all goes to waste.
“Intimate you say?” Al Haitham mumbled, setting the list from his hand to a side before making his way to you. “Oh, we have been very intimate.” You squinted at him. He must be joking right? You guys don’t even hold hands!
“Don’t joke about this. I’m being serious.” “Do I look like someone who would joke?” You unconsciously began to step back, why was he getting closer? You didn’t like that. It didn’t take long before you bumped against a wall and there was barely an inch between the two of you at this point. Al Haitham looked at you and all you could do was nervously stare back. Did you go too far this time?
He leaned towards your ear, and since the distance had shortened you could feel the heat coming off from his body. You spoke trying to ease yourself. “When have we ever been intimate?” Al Haitham scoffed, making you flinch as he was too close to you now. Everything was too loud. His breath was too loud, and you could feel the breeze on your neck, sending chills all over your body. Your heart was also beating too fast, you were certain he could hear it as clear as day and you knew he was going to make fun of you for being so tense around him.
“You clearly don’t remember but of course I do. I’m quite a light sleeper.” With that, you felt a hand slide up your back, and you felt your body jolt up. “Maybe you don’t remember the times when you would feel me up like this? I’m trying to sleep after a busy day and then I can feel your hands slowly creeping up.” His words were almost a whisper but his actions were loud. Another hand circled your waist and slowly both hands pushed you close to his body. Chest to chest, you could almost feel his heartbeat as loud as yours.
“I don’t mind, it does feel nice to be held once in a while. But no one wants to hug someone the entire day.” He slowly put his face to the crook of your neck. The hand that was once sliding your back now holding your head in place, while his other arm circled your waist making sure you couldn’t leave his grasp. “Tell me, is this not intimate enough?” He chuckled, nipping at your neck.
You lost it, immediately pushing him away. You have never felt so hot and you could still feel your heart racing. The parts where he held you felt cold but the sensation continued to sting. You couldn’t believe that you had been feeling him up while you slept. All this time you had been hugging him and it seemed Al Haitham had a limit for it. This was the most embarrassing thing you had to find out about yourself. You had no idea how to defend yourself.
“Well? Is that not intimate enough? Do you want to do something else? Your quota for hugs is up but I’m up for doing more.” He suggested a light smile on his face. You couldn’t handle this.
“NEVERMIND! PRETEND I SAID NOTHING!” And with that you bolted out of the door, leaving Al Haitham alone in the room. He chuckled to himself once more, picking up the list he had set down before looking through it once more.
“One more thing added to the list I suppose.”
Cyno
“If you win a match against me, I will consider it.”
You stared at him in shock. He must be joking right? “You’re joking right?” You ended up saying what you had been thinking. He shook his head. “Do I look like I am joking right now? I’ll tell you a joke later but right now I’m being serious.”
You sighed. You always refused to play a match with him. He always got so intense about genius invocation TCG and it also didn’t help that you were hopeless at card games. So in short he was setting you up for failure.
“I can’t believe this.” You mumbled to yourself, your hand pinching the skin between your eyebrows as you frowned in defeat. You can’t believe he would stoop this low just to play a card game with you.
“You know I can’t win.” “You won’t know until you try.” You huffed, an irritated smile on your lips as you looked at him in annoyance. “You already know I suck at card games. I lost at gin rummy, I always got last place in go fish and I even had to forfeit a match against Kaveh in poker! The man who always loses money! I lost to him!” You tried not to get embarrassed but who wouldn’t get embarrassed when they had to defend themselves by mentioning how much they have lost?
“Genius invocation TCG is different,” Cyno said, still refusing to budge. You could feel yourself wanting to throw a tantrum, but you decided to be the bigger person. You took a deep breath, calming yourself before you spoke up once again.
Who were you kidding, you were a petty bastard. “Well, I guess we can never hug or be close to each other. We can be the first couple in Sumeru that has any intimacy! Oh, parents will be so proud to tell our stories to children! “
You glared at Cyno who remained unphased. You sigh once more. “Whatever, I don’t have time to argue with you about this.” You began to turn around to leave but Cyno spoke up.
“What if I teach you?” You look over your shoulder to see if he was joking once again. He stood proudly, a face showing how confident he was in his ability. You groan, turning to face him once more. You didn’t want to argue with him.
“Fine.” You say, making your way towards him. “Let’s play a match.”
—
You don’t know what you expected when he said he was going to teach you how to play. You were not prepared for the fact he made you lean against him, his head resting on the crook of your neck while you both sat on the couch. Cards displayed in front of you lay in a mess.
You couldn’t think straight, his voice was right next to your ears, going on about which cards were the best supports and which character cards were the best. Wasn’t this technically a hug? He had his whole body wrapped around you. His entire body was interlocked with yours and you could feel the heat from his body radiate on yours.
His arms circled over yours, hands pressed on the back of your palms to make sure you held onto the cards correctly. His legs forced you to shut yours so he could sit behind you with ease. He had never been this close before. You never felt his voice this close to your ears.
You wondered if he noticed. Maybe this was what he planned from the start. Maybe he wanted to tease you a bit because of how much you tried to avoid him before. You decided to prod. “You know, If this is how we are going to play cards, maybe I won’t mind playing a couple of matches with you.”
Cyno stopped talking. You wondered whether he realised you caught on. Maybe he wanted to be this intimate with you and was just embarrassed to say it directly to your face. You waited for his answer. It almost felt like an eternity. Both your bodies are so close, almost as if you both were one. He finally spoke up.
“We can’t play cards like this. Otherwise, I will see your entire deck when we play an actual match.”
You never wanted to hit someone so badly.
Kaveh
“What?!”
You blink confused. “I just asked for a hug?” You question yourself, did you say something wrong? Kaveh stared at you, before replying with a nervous chuckle. “Ah yes, of course. A hug! Sure sure! Come here!” He said, extending his arms towards you.
You could see he was shaking a bit. Was he nervous? You almost felt bad asking him for a hug. He was shaking like a wet dog. “You know, it’s ok if we don’t hug? We can take our time with this.”
Kaveh blinked, his nervousness disappearing and replaced by sudden guilt. He dropped down on the couch, face covering his hands. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make it a big deal.” He mumbled, refusing to look up at you.
You sat across from him, waiting to see if he would continue to speak. When you realised he wasn’t going to budge you sighed, speaking first. “Is something wrong? You always overthink these things so I would prefer if you just told me outright.” You ask, you always considered communication as an important role in a relationship. Kaveh was one to put up walls whenever you tried to initiate any form of intimacy, whether its words or actions. You just wish he could tell you why.
“I just..” He cut himself off. Suddenly he sat straight up, placing his hands on his knees before taking a big breath. “I haven’t been hugged in almost years.” Now it was your turn to be shocked. “What?!” Kaveh flinched at our outburst.
“What do you mean you haven’t been hugged?” You ask more confused than ever. “Ha well, you see I haven’t seen any of my family in years. And you know my friends, they aren’t your typical huggers.” He chuckled nervously, trying to play out what he said as a joke. Seeing that you didn’t laugh with him, he coughed in his hand in embarrassment. “ So, physical touch is not something I am used to.”
You both stayed in silence. Which made Kaveh more nervous. You could see how his leg would bounce up and down impatiently and how he refused to look you directly in the eyes. “I’m not going to be mad at you for not hugging me. If we have to take baby steps to help you overcome it then it’s fine. So if you want, we can start now or later.”
He finally looked at you, a calm smile dancing on your lips. You extended your arms out to him, encouraging him to take the first step. “It’s all up to you. We can stop at any time.” Kaveh anxiously looked at your arms, before slowly inching towards you.
It took a while but he embraced you. You could hear how loud his heartbeat was, and the heat rising on his cheeks felt warm on your neck. You thought he was immediately let go but to your surprise, he clung on a bit tighter. You took this as a sign to wrap your arms around his back. He felt very warm to your touch.
The tension on his shoulders loosened. As he slackened a bit you could suddenly feel his entire weight on your body. Unable to hold him up you felt yourself slowly pushed back on the couch. “Oof!” You let out, when you finally collided on the couch, Kaveh’s full weight fully pressing you down on the couch.
The minute you yelped, Kaveh immediately pushed himself off, now facing you as you lay beneath him. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to push you down like that!” You let out a slight chuckle, your hand instinctively pushing a strand of hair out of his face. His face was already red from how shy he got from the hug but it seemed to get redder the more you played with his hair.
“Don’t worry about it. See? It’s not that bad.”
Tighnari
“I don’t mind but is this really the right time?”
To be fair he wasn’t wrong. You both were currently patrolling amongst the forest floors in Gandharva Ville and just finished clearing up a fungi infestation that was expanding nearby. So now you both were covered in mud and dirt, sweating profusely while making your way back to the Ville. So in theory, this was not the most ideal place to hug.
However, Tighnari barely has any time for you! Sure you guys are dating, but it’s very clear you both value your jobs too much! Anytime he is free you’re already back in Sumeru City to give the reports to the higher-ups and when you could finally make time for him he is already out patrolling before night comes. The minute you both come back you guys are so tired you immediately fall asleep where you stood. Heck, one time you had passed out near the entrance while he somehow ended up on the roof!
To put it simply your jobs were ruining any chance of you both from having any physical contact and now it was driving you insane. It didn’t help that Tighnari’s fluffy tail was always teasing you from a distance. You could kill if it meant you could hold it even for a second.
Today you both were finally able to patrol together after having your schedules never align for almost weeks. You even begged Collei to stay back just so you could have some alone time with him. You know you shouldn’t try to do anything inappropriate while doing your job but desperate times call for desperate measures.
You both were heading back to the Ville anyway. You’re certain the minute you guys reach and finish your reports you both would be too tired to do anything together! This was your only chance! “I know it’s not ideal but we barely have any time for each other! Please just for a minute!” You pleaded, begging he would budge.
Tighnari was one to do his job, he rarely deviated from his goal till he was done with it. But you were right, even he was getting impatient about how little you both could do together. He sighed. “Fine, just a hug.” You could almost hear angels sing the minute he agreed to your request.
“Anyway make it quick-” Before he could continue, you already pounced, cutting him off. Unable to hold your sudden weight, you both fell to the ground, more mud spilling to the sides. “Ew…” Tighnari groaned. You didn’t care about the mud or the fact you both were sweating like pigs. You had your arms already wrapped around him in an instant. Your face on his chest, listening to his heartbeat steadily. Who knew such a simple gesture as a hug would bring you such comfort?
Tighnari looked down to see you grinning happily. He couldn’t help but smile as well, wrapping his arms around you as well. He stroked your head and rubbed circles on your back. It was pretty clear you both needed this. He wasn’t sure how long you both stayed like that but he could see the sky begin to turn shades of orange and yellow, indicating the sun was setting.
“We should really get going now. “ He said, looking down at your form. To his disbelief, the sudden warmth and comfort you had gotten from his hugs had caused you to fall asleep. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me….” He groaned again, remembering that you were in fact, a heavy sleeper.
He had to carry you back to Gandharva Ville by himself. Lucky for him even in your sleep you refused to let go of him while he piggybacked you there. He began to take a mental note that maybe you both should request fewer hours of patrol and align your schedules together. He was not risking you falling asleep every time you both embraced. But for once you both will be able to go to sleep in each other’s arms.
Wanderer
“Are you out of your fucking mind?”
You honestly weren't surprised that was his response to you when you had asked for a hug. The day was tiring enough and all you wanted to do was cuddle with your partner after working all day and that was the response you had got.
Wanderer, Hat Guy, or whatever he was called was technically your partner. As in, he agreed to date you when you ended up blurting out that you found him quite attractive, however, he was far from a good partner. He didn’t like to hold hands. He refused to hang out with you in public. He won’t even eat with you!
Now here you were again, getting rejected once more by your ‘partner’. “Why would you say it like that?” You mumble, feeling embarrassed you thought he might have had a change of mind. Of course, to no one’s surprise, he didn’t. He scoffed. “What are you talking about? You humans always want to focus on such fickle things.”
You glared at him. You couldn’t believe you were dating this fool. Maybe it was your mistake of ever thinking he was cute. “It isn’t ‘fickle’. It’s what couples do!” You try to defend yourself. He, of course, was the outlier when it comes to dating. You weren’t sure if he had ever dated before. Even if he did, he was probably terrible at it even then. “If you don’t want to do any of these things with me then why did you agree to go out with me?”
He raised an eyebrow, he remained unphased with your outburst. “And it’s important to you?” You wanted to strangle him. He must be joking right? “Of course, it is important to me! I want to feel like we are a couple…” You huffed. Talking to him felt like smashing a wall with a hammer, only to find out he had already built another layer on the other side. No matter how many times you smashed it, he already had another one ready to piss you off.
He hummed, and all you could was stare, wondering whether he would respond. Seeing that he was not responding to it, you sighed. “You know what? Never mind, pretend I didn’t ask. Maybe we shouldn’t date, I don’t think we have the same values.” He immediately shot up, his entire attention now focused on you.
“Now wait a damn second” He started but you immediately cut him off. “Face it! We have nothing in common and you don’t want to do anything I want. Not only that, you have no plans for me too! “ You could feel that you were probably going to start rambling. But the minute you start it’s almost impossible to stop.
“You don’t want to do anything with me! Especially in public, we haven’t even gone out for that long but surely a walk together around the city wouldn’t be a bad idea? Not only that, you don’t even want to be seen with me at all! Am I that embarrassing to be around?” You continued to babble about. Unbeknownst to you, he already made his way towards you.
Before you could continue your rant, he wrapped his arms around you. You yelped, suddenly realizing he had picked you up as if you weighed nothing. Not only that, you were clearly levitating off the ground. You began to panic, trying to push him away, only resulting in him hugging you tighter, refusing to let you go.
“Let go of me!” You whined, trying to kick your feet, your hands on his shoulders trying to push him off. He was cold. A hug usually felt warm, but against your warm body, he chilled you down. As you begged him to let you go, he finally spoke. “I’ll let you down if you stop complaining. Deal?” You nodded eagerly. You were not a fan of heights and you didn’t want him to fly any higher.
“Good.” He said, slowly descending back to the ground, however even after he put you down he refused to let you go. “Now listen here you idiot, I don’t know what your plan is but I don’t plan on breaking up with you over something so minimal. However, if you think these things are important I’ll try to do them often. But before that let me make everything clear.”
He put his forehead on yours, closing any gap you had between the two of you. While your face began to burn up due to the realization of how close you both had become, his face remained unchanged. Unconsciously your hands slid back to his back, pulling him closer to you.
“Firstly, I don’t eat, especially because I don’t need to eat to maintain myself, so I consider it a waste.” He spoke in such a hushed tone now, you couldn’t believe how gentle he was at the moment. You weren’t even sure if you could concentrate on what he was saying. His words echoed in your ears like a siren, bouncing on the walls inside your mind.
“Secondly, I am being constantly monitored, due to reasons, and I don’t want a certain person to realize that we are together because she is not going to let me hear the end of it. “ For once you could see a faint redness on his cheeks, however, there was almost no heat that radiated from his body. He looked like a doll, and for once you began to realize how pale he was.
“Finally, you are the first person I have ever ‘dated’. I have been amongst humans for a very long time, but this is the first time I have gone beyond friendship. So this is a first for me. “ He pushed you back. You almost let out a whine, refusing to leave his embrace but he was going to overpower you in that sense. You missed the chill he gave you, now only surrounded by the warmth your own had produced.
While you pondered on how you missed his touch, he continued to speak. “I’m rude and blunt. I am not someone who understands why humans want to do certain things, however,” he grabbed your hands, squeezing them tightly in his palms, almost as if he didn’t plan on letting go. “ If these things are important to you then I will try to do them. I apologize for frustrating you. There, you happy now?”
You stared at his hands which grasped yours. Wanderer frowned, unhappy with how you have refused to respond to his speech that he did his best to articulate. “Well?” He impatiently asked. You looked up at him, a cheeky grin on your face.
Synopsis: Short stories about the moment in time that the character fell in love with reader. Continuation of Sumeru characters.
CW: Mentions of being hurt
HC: Reader is gender neutral and does not have a vision. Reader is a doctor (Tighnari) and a Trader/Merchant (Candace)
Characters: Tighnari, Candace
Note: I already started with Sumeru characters, I might as well finish them all before I go to the next region. After this there will only be two more post for the Sumeru characters which will hopefully have Wanderer, Layla, Kaveh and Faruzan. Also this one was not my proudest work. Hopefully I will either re-write this or make better stories for these two, they deserve the world. Spoilers for the story in Tighnari's section. Anyway, enjoy.
Tighnari
Tighnari was known for being self-sufficient. He made his elixirs and medicine for not only others but for himself as well. At this point everyone was certain that he could have easily got the title of a doctor if he pursued it, however, as humble of a person he was, he refused to be a forest ranger stationed at Gandharva Ville. Which leads to you now, feeling useless.
You, unlike him, actually had the title of a doctor. You were also stationed at Gandharva Ville alongside the team. However, at this point, almost everyone tended to go to him for help rather than you. You still got your pay but was it worth it if it meant you would have to always be second to him? It was humiliating, to say the least.
You tried to not let it get to you. You were a doctor, it was your job to attend to those when they needed it and you knew even if they didn’t like you, you couldn’t refuse service unless deemed otherwise. So anytime someone had shown displeasure of having you treat them rather than the saint of the forest rangers, you just suck it up and try your best. You wouldn’t say your abilities were lacking either, especially since you were trained to do this for almost years. Tighnari praised your abilities constantly. However, Tighnari himself had such a great reputation, a couple of good words couldn’t replace the original.
Even if the group never acknowledged you as the official doctor, in the written agreements you were considered to be one, therefore you always had to be near at least one active team at all times. This usually meant you were patrolling with Tighnari. He made sure you kept your distance, which meant it was usually you trailing behind him, watching him be cool and in action while you sat on a log counting how many boar shrooms go past you during that time.
Tighnari also being so perfect at taking care of himself, even if he was hurt he already had the tonics made to heal himself after battles, rendering you once again useless to the team. The last straw was when he decided that he wanted to try random mushrooms around the Sumeru forest, against your better judgment, and somehow managed to live through it without your assistance. At this point you decided that maybe you were not needed in this team, beginning to write your official request to change teams.
Only mid-way through writing your letter, you were taken to Pardis Dhyai for another request. It seemed one of the scholars, Haypasia was infected with a maddening disease and now had to be taken care of specially. You sighed, shoving the half-written letter into your pocket to follow Tighnari to the location.
_ _ _
When you met her you were certain she must have caught a horrible disease. She kept going on and on about contacting the divine being and you couldn’t wrap your head around the rest of the nonsense she kept spewing out. To keep both you and Tighnari’s minds at ease, you conjured a sleeping tonic to rest her mind.
“Efficient as always. Hopefully, she will calm down after she wakes up.” Tighnari praised you. You let out a light laugh, a sudden guilt in your chest. He never said anything bad about your work, it felt wrong leaving just because others couldn’t see your effort. However, he was the source of why you were having such an issue so you weren’t sure what to do about it.
Sudden noises began to be heard outside. You watch Tighnari, his ears up and alert, watching the door attentively. “Keep away from the main entrance, I need to get rid of some unwanted guests, “ He said on his way out. You nodded even though you knew he couldn’t see you.
It was now just you and an unconscious Haypasia in the building. You sat at the edge of the bench she lay on, pulling out the letter once more. You began to finish off your letter.
“Dear Grand Sage,
It has come to my attention that the forest patrol at Gandharva Ville is sufficient enough with staff that they do not need my services in the area. Therefore I would like to transfer to a patrol station in another area that may require my services.
If evaluation or proof is needed, I will be happily willing to provide a date and time for it.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Best Regards,-”
Just as you were about to sign off your letter, you heard Haypasia stir in her sleep, mumbles of panic in her voice. You immediately stood up, dropping the letter in your hand. Either she was suffering ailments from the disease or the medicine, either way, you needed to get her a soothing medication as soon as possible.
You looked around for your medical bags only to realize that Tighnari must have taken them with him to meet his “guests.” You bite your lip, hesitantly looking for anything you could do.
“I’ll try to come back as soon as possible, stay strong.” You whisper to Haypasia, before running out of the room to find supplies. You hoped nothing wrong would happen during that time.
_ _ _
You were only gone for a couple of minutes at most however the minute you returned the only view your eyes laid on was now a stable Haypasia and an injured Tighnari. He sat on a mechanical crab, wincing horribly. You decided now wasn’t the time to question the crab, and immediately rushed to him.
“Are you alright?! What happened?!” You yell out. For once he wasn’t preparing something to cure his pain, which meant it must have been something severe or incurable. He let out a slight chuckle, trying not to cringe from the pain.
“Our guests just gave me a present. Not a pleasant one but they insisted I have it.” He joked, trying to lighten the mood. Being rewarded with a harsh glare from you, he sighed. “I was struck by lightning.”
Your jaw dropped, and so did the medical supplies in your hands. “WHAT?!” You yelled once more. You could feel tears form in your eyes. He looked at you worriedly, trying to extend an arm towards you, only to be stopped by the pain worsening. “Don’t you dare try to comfort me when you’re the one like this!” You reply with a sharp tone which made the ears on his head flick down, almost like a sad little cat who was being scolded.
You looked at the crab. “Put him down on the bench please.” You command. To both you and Tighnari’s surprise, it followed your orders, gently guiding him towards the nearest empty bench.
“Hey, you're supposed to follow my commands,” Tighnari mumbled. You rolled your eyes before sitting down next to him, motioning to your lap. “Put your head down, you need rest. The bench is rough so you can lay your head on my lap instead.” Tighnari looked at your lap and back to you.
“Now.” He slowly laid down on your lap, trying not to cause more damage to his wounds.
“There is no treatment for being struck by lightning from what I learned, however, if you rest enough you can use your vision to counter any elemental energy inside you.” You wipe any tears from your eyes before they got worse. “I’m sorry I can’t help you, like always.” You mumble, gently pushing his hair out of his face, petting his head.
Tighnari on the other hand couldn’t rest, he wasn’t even sure the words you spoke were registering in his mind. Your hand felt like heaven especially when his body was in such pain. All he could was stare at you as you tried your best not to cry. He didn’t expect you to react this badly when he got hurt. Especially since you had seen him get hurt before.
You glared at him once more, placing your hand over his eyes to cover it up. “Go to sleep, you idiot.” No matter how hard his heart was beating, he still somehow managed to slowly go to sleep. The feeling of your hands stroking his head was still faintly in his mind.
_ _ _
It was no surprise Tighnari recovered perfectly fine. Vision users had a special talent to heal at a faster rate than normal individuals. However, one aspect of Tighnari had changed and that was the fact whenever he got injured or hurt he asked for your help. This included minor injuries.
You weren’t sure what triggered this change but it made things a lot easier for you knowing that you were still needed by the camp. His sudden change also meant the team was also opening up to be treated by you. You almost forgot that you had even tried to write a letter to switch patrol areas.
Tighnari didn’t forget though. The day he was injured he caught a glimpse of the letter peaking through the bushes from where you had dropped it. He saw you carry it around multiple times so he had assumed it was important, keeping it with him until he got better. He didn’t mean to peak, you just had not closed it up at the time.
He disapproved of the contents of the letter and definitely didn't want you to follow through with what was written, especially since something clicked in his subconscious mind that day he got hurt. So he had been holding on to it without even thinking of handing it back.
He liked being efficient and getting things done on his own accord, but if being treated by you meant you would stay longer by his side, he was willing to play sick all day. He just hoped you wouldn’t catch on until he could confess.
Candance
Candace rarely stepped foot outside of her village. It was the world she only knew to say the least. Looking after the village as a guardian since the mere age of 8 meant she wasn’t one to travel outside often. She was almost certain she had not stepped out of Sumeru at any point in her life.
Yet you were quite the opposite. The minute you were old enough to travel you already headed your way to Liyue, far from her reach. How was she going to protect you if you left? She wasn’t sure and it made her nervous. Every day you were gone she wondered whether you would ever come back. She had no way of knowing.
You always did come back. A bag full of various items from all over the world. You started to make a living from it, trading items from region to region. It suited your free-spirited nature. You didn’t only bring items for trading of course. You brought gifts for the village, this of course included Candace.
_ _ _
Candace made her rounds around the village It was a typical work day for her. Then she heard the jingle of bells and the footsteps of sumpter beasts coming nearby. Immediately she headed towards the entrance. Of course, it was you, with your bag full of trinkets and your body covered in bandages.
Candace stopped in her tracks. Bandages. You didn’t dress up like that. She watched as you limped towards her, a grimace on your face that only made her eyes grow wide. She ran up to you, holding you up for support while you tried to catch your breath. “Ha, tough trip this time.” You try to joke. Candace was having none of that.
She immediately picked you up bridal style, to which you could only respond with a yelp. Leaving your supplies and sumpter beasts in the sand, she ran to her house. She should have convinced you to never leave the village. Look at the state you ended up in. This could have all been prevented if you stayed by her side in the village where she could take care of you.
She ignored you as you kept telling her you were fine. All she could think was how stupid she was to agree to let you go over and over again. She dropped you on the bed, rushing towards her dresser to get more bandages and medicine.
“You don’t need to bandage me again, I did an ok job!” You whine, showing off your bandages to her. Candace sighed, returning with the medical equipment. “Oh please, when was the last time you replaced them? I bet you wore the same wraps the entire trip.” You pouted, flopping onto the bed in defeat.
“Sit up, I need to change them.” You face away from her, arms crossed. “You think of me as a baby. I’m a grown-ass adult!” You mumble, refusing to look her way. Candace was certain she was going to sigh away all the life in her body having to deal with you. “Well someone needs to protect you. Look at you. Every time you come back you’re worse than before, covered head to toe in scars and blood! It’s almost like you have a death wish.”
You finally peak over your shoulder. You looked at Candace, who continued to have a pained expression on her face. You could see her shake. Frustration? Sadness? It didn’t matter because she was not enjoying it.
“Why do you have to leave me here and run away? Do you want to die? The minute I look away you’re always gone off to someplace else and I can’t go with you. How am I supposed to protect you when you keep leaving? One day you’re going to end up dead and I won’t even know what happened to you.”
You sat up, hand digging into your pocket. “Candace.”
“I’m so tired of this, you have always been so reckless. Did you forget this was your home? Did you find something so incredible out there that you forget? Why do I bother at this point, it’s not like you care.”
Candace wasn’t sure what was coming out of her mouth at this moment. She was always so rational and careful with her words. She would never say things like this, always keep such thoughts to herself. You somehow managed to make it all spill out. “Candace..” You say once more, pulling out a box from your pocket. You stood up now, facing her.
“What now? You’re going to leave again? Did you come here to stop by before going off on your next journey? Where to? Fontaine? Mondstadt? Hell, I heard Inazuma opened up recently, you can go there and leave me alone again.”
You grabbed the supplies out of her hand, tossing them on the bed. You reached out and grabbed one of her hands. “I got you a gift.” You placed the box in her hand. She looked at you, unphased. You gave her the softest smile you could, helping her open the box to see the contents inside.
“It’s earrings. It’s a pretty rare stone, it’s blue when you look at it, but when you put it up to the light it reflects a yellow tint. It reminded me of your eyes.” You say you enclose the box in her hand. You reached for her other hand and grasped them ever so.
“Candace,” You smiled as she looked at you, almost dazed. “Even if I ever end up with all my bones broken, I am certain I will always end up finding my way towards you. I have seen almost every crevice of Teyvat, and I would still end up in Aaru Village by your side.”
You grip her hands tighter, your eyes not leaving her even for a second. A small gentle smile on your face made her heat up. Had you always looked so mature? When did you become so different? You were pouting like a child a minute ago. She always thought you were careless, always lost in your world of adventures. But here you were, looking at her as if she was the world to you.
You finally break the staring match, looking down at her hands. “Look at you, worried about my scars when you’re as bad.” You loosen your grip, now circling the scars and calluses on her hand. It felt electrifying.
You let her hands go and she felt cold, your touch made her feel too complete and it confused her. You looked at her once more, she watched the way your eyes were shining. She could only feel how amazing it felt, how wonderful it was that you looked at her in such a light. “Don’t worry about me. You already have a village to take care of, that’s already a big responsibility. Let me help you instead.”
Standing up, you began to make your way towards the door, only stopping near the entrance to turn back to her. “Now come outside, I got gifts for everyone and sumpter beasts to feed.” with that, you began to make your way out the door.
But, Candace couldn’t stand up. Her usual strength drained. Her legs felt like jelly and she could feel her heartbeat still unsteady. She felt cold but when she raised a hand to her cheek she could still feel the heat.
She looked down at the earrings in her palms. All your gifts were usually kept in her cupboard. You always gifted her such precious items, too valuable considering how she works. However this time, she wore them, taking off her old ones and placing what you had given on. She stood up using the bed as support and hobbled towards the mirror on the dressing table. The earrings shined just as you had told her, blue with a tint of yellow.
She hoped you kept your promise to protect Aaru village with her. She also planned on making sure you take responsibility for what you had done to her that day.
Synopsis: Cyno and Traveller came across some letters during an expedition and Al Haitham basically annoyed about the contents of it.
CW: Slight Angst, Death of Characters, Mention of suicide
HC: Reader is gender-neutral, Reader does not have a vision, Al Haitham was King Deshret in the past
Characters: Al Haitham, Kaveh, Nahida, King Deshret, Mentions of Goddess of Flowers, Cyno and Traveller.
Note: Does anyone else know about the reincarnation theory? I think it's pretty intriguing and I am definitely going to use that as a plot point to make angst. It's what the people deserve. I decided to change things up a bit and put in a small description of what's to come. There is a lot of reading in this one, like a slow burn kind of feeling because I love putting lore into reader x character stories. Also this is after Nahida's archon and story quest, so there will be some spoilers. Enjoy.
The current feeling Al Haitham was experiencing was irritation and he was certain it was because of the papers that lay orderly on the table in front of him. It was a series of letters, extracted from one of King Deshret's reserves. They were in envelopes completely sealed with only slight discoloration on the paper. Many would think the contents of these letters would be extraordinary, especially since they were so well preserved, but to Al Haitham's disappointment, it was far from a discovery.
They were love letters and minimal ones at that. One requested a walk alongside the desert city and another insisted to go to the festival held by the Goddess of Flowers for Sumeru's Archon. Al Haitham sighed, looking through each letter carefully. At first, he thought maybe it was a secret code that he needed to decipher, but to his dismay, it was not. Just ordinary love letters, which embarrassingly seemed to be written by the King himself.
"Of course, Cyno would be the one to give me something so useless." He mumbled to himself, recounting the time when Cyno and the Traveller had dropped by his house at 3 in the morning just to hand him the letters. They were lucky he was reading at the time, otherwise, they would have been standing on the front porch until sunrise. However, now he regrets it, realizing he wasted hours of his night on this. He shouldn't have stayed up.
Almost mockingly, Kaveh entered the room, yawning as if he was just woken up from the best sleep known to man. The man yelped, seeing Al Haitham awake sitting on the living room sofa with papers laid out everywhere and a fierce look in his eyes. "You know it wouldn't hurt to make some noise when you're working, I thought you were a criminal." Al Haitham huffed, not bothered to retort at the moment. This intrigued Kaveh, who decided to prod more.
"What got you so grumpy on such a lovely day?" He asked, walking towards the papers to take a peak. Al Haitham leaned back in his chair with another huff. "Letters found in of one King Deshret's reserves. I made the mistake of thinking it might be useful." Kaveh picked one up, reading the texts and irking an eyebrow. "And you're certain it's his?"
Al Haitham gave Kaveh an annoyed glare. "Of course, the handwriting matches almost all his other official documents." Kaveh hummed, a confused look on his face, he turned the paper around, trying to look for something. Now it was Al Haitham's turn to raise an eyebrow. "What?"
"Is there no indication as to who it was written for?" Al Haitham sat up a bit. "What?" "Well, the letters had to be written for someone, but looking at it, it seems he never sent out these letters. Not only that, he wrote a bunch of them, no signs they were opened until now." Kaveh wasn't wrong, there was no sign of an address or the recipient addressed onto the letters.
Kaveh put down the letter, stretching himself before making his way to the kitchen. "What a shame, poor guy never got to tell that person how he felt. " The irritated feeling in Al Haitham's chest began to grow and for once his usual poker face was gifted with a frown.
He didn't like not knowing something.
---
Al Haitham didn't know what he was achieving by doing this. Requesting an audience with the archon just to find out about a lost king's love life? It sounded embarrassing even to say. However he needed to scratch the itch that was in his brain, he needed to know why King Deshret had never sent out these letters. Or even if he did send one, where he could find a reply to the letter. Al Haitham didn't like doing useless things, but at the same time, he disliked not knowing something in its entirety.
Nahida had greeted him, to which he responded with a bow. After giving a detailed summary of the situation, he held out the letters to Nahida. She took them, awing at the number of letters. "Wow, that's quite a lot." He nodded. "Yeah, I'm certain he must have at least sent one. Maybe he even got a response. But I cannot find anything else."
"Have you asked the people who gave you the letters in the first place whether there was anymore?" Al Haitham nodded. He requested the Traveller to once more check the ruins for any signs of letters which the Traveller kindly obliged to. However, there was nothing it seemed. Al Haitham didn't like that outcome.
Nahida nodded, also intrigued. "I do not remember anything of that sort, but I can check the Iriminsul tree's records to see if there is anything related to this." She said, gesturing to the overflowing of letters in her hand. "I would appreciate that."
Al Haitham stood to a side waiting with crossed arms. It only took a couple of minutes but Al Haitham could feel his patience wearing out. Why was he so obsessed with finding out? He wasn't sure and somehow that irked him more. He wanted to just get this over with.
"Found something." Al Haitham could feel his entire body react, alerting himself to carefully listen to the results. Nahida displayed a glimpse of a memory, it almost looked like a puppet show. She began to speak as the memory played out. "King Dhesret had sent multiple letters over his lifetime so it was a bit difficult to go through, but there was one particular instance where he went to deliver a letter. This was the only record that stood out to me."
The puppet show depicted King Dhesret, making his way through the desert until he reached a city, extending his hand with a letter in it to an individual. The individual did not have any distinguishing features, and before anything else could happen the memory faded into Nahida's palm. Nahida extended her hand, which Al Haitham accepted.
She placed a little orb in his palm before backing away. "I found records of the location. I put it into that form so it's easier for you to access. You might find the letter there." Al Haitham looked down at his hand, before gripping the orb tightly between his fingers and palm. "I'm thankful for your assistance my archon."
Nahida smiled at him. "I hope you find what you are looking for. Good luck."
---
It was no surprise the location was that of an abandoned city in the desert. Houses were broken down and sand piled inside, the definition of a ghost town. Al Haitham frowned, it would have been annoying if thieves had come around and taken any records here. He just hoped that the letter wasn't valuable enough to be taken.
He followed the instructions displayed by the orb, following into a small brick house, almost the same as any of the other houses. He looked around. It was a pretty humble house, maybe a family of three could have lived here in the past. He was certain the place was given to the ancestors to the individual who received the letter because even when the house was abandoned, it looked like it was lived in pretty well.
Children's drawings were scattered on the walls. There were marble sets and broken game pieces in the sand. Three beds with no mattress and chair pieces were broken and scattered around the place. A hearth in the center of the room was covered in soot due to the number of times it had been used.
However no sign of where a letter could be placed. There were no cupboards or chests around intact. No scrolls or hidden compartments he could see. "This whole trip has been a waste of my time." Al Haitham grumbled to himself. The usual him would have just made his way out, but to his surprise, he began to dig. He dug out corners, near the hearth, beside the games. There must have been something. He didn't want this stupid trip to be a waste.
He finally dug beneath one of the bed frames, which lead to the discovery of a box. A small tin box that was used to hold cookies or treats for children. Al Haitham sat down on the sand, opening the tin to see what was inside.
He found a letter. The name written on the front seemed familiar to him, almost on the tip of his tongue, but it wasn't a name found in any of his research. He took out the letter, gently opening it, trying not to damage the envelope. He could tell the letter was taken care of and he didn't want to deal with any of the scholars lecturing him for damaging historical documents.
The letter inside had seen better days. It was discolored and wrinkled. It was as if someone had crumpled the paper and then tried to straighten it out. The fold between the pages was forming tears and the paper was warped. Al Haitham tried his best to gently open it to read its contents.
---
"My dear friend,
I apologize for the sudden letter, I couldn't bare to tell you this by myself so I hope you will forgive me someday.
I cannot spare you any details of what is going on, but I want to inform you that I will no longer be present in the world by the time you opened and read this letter.
I have done something that caused the lives of my friends and my citizens and I need to make things right.
Thank you for everything you have done for me and I hope you live a happy life with your family.
Your friend,
Deshret."
---
It was a suicide note. Contrasting to any of the letters he had written, this wasn't a love letter. King Dhesret wrote a final letter to this person as a friend, completely hiding away the fact he was ever in love with them.
Al Haitham wondered what he was feeling right now. Rage? Disappointment? He wasn't sure, but either way, he had to drop the letter on the ground before he decided it needed to be ripped apart.
He couldn't believe he had spent almost an entire two days trying to uncover this, only to find out the letter that the king had ever sent was a suicide note to the so-called person he loved. At this point, he decided he was done. Gathering the letter back into its box, he began to make his way back home.
---
The last thing he needed to do was get rid of the letters, meaning give them to the Akademiya Archives for safekeeping. He was satisfied, finally being able to get rid of these letters.
He made his way into the library and saw someone near the desk, head down, reading papers scattered around. You were so distracted with what you were reading you didn't even see him enter and hover over you.
A slight cough made you jolt, making you look up at Al Haitham. He had a poker face on and you could feel your face brighten up. You were not prepared to take off the current acting grand sage. You began to speak, trying not to jumble your words.
"OH! Sir! How can I assist you?" You laugh sheepishly, trying to hide your sudden shyness. He placed the letters on the desk without acknowledging your awkwardness. "We found some records written by King Dhesret. I do not think it's important but the Akademiya would say otherwise." You awe at the letters. You quickly put away the research papers you were reading and began to open the letters one by one, displaying them on your desk.
"Oh my! They are love letters!" You could feel yourself blush, you wondered if King Dhesret might have been rolling in his grave knowing these would be permanently displayed in Sumeru's history after this. "If that is all you need I'll be on my way." Al Haitham began to turn around. "Oh no please wait!" Al Haitham turned back and you felt yourself shrink as he scowled at you.
"I'm sorry but, I will still need you around. Since you're the one who brought these in I will need to ask questions to prepare the article when presenting these in the archives. A description of what they were and what was discovered from them. I'll try my best to make it quick." You wondered if you had spoken so fast ever in your life. However, you knew Al Haitham was not a patient man when he had to do things he deemed unimportant.
Al Haitham on the other end was tired. He had not slept properly in days trying to piece why the letters were irritating him so much. Even after discovering the final letter, he still felt like he had failed a mission. He wanted to get rid of the letters and get over it but instead, he sighed, dragging a chair near to your desk and sitting across from you. He watched your face of worry turned into a smile.
As he sat closer to you, his eyes caught on the nameplate on your desk. Your name matched the name of the person King Dhesret had sent the letter. No wonder he thought it sounded familiar.
"Is something wrong Acting Grand Sage?" You ask. Al Haitham shook his head. "No. Also, don't call me that. Al Haitham is fine." He crossed his arms and you responded with a meek nod, before going back into the letters.
"Right, so let me ask some questions. Any noticeable things you discovered when researching these letters?" Al Haitham shook his head once more, he felt like he would end up doing this the entire talk. "No, only the fact that King Dhesret might have been a coward it seems." You note everything he said down.
As he continued to shake his head and answer your questions, he watched your eyebrows furrow, almost in frustration. He looked amused, wondering if he was pissing you off. You finally broke, when Al Haitham decided to diss the King once more.
"I'm sorry if I might be going out of the line here, but, do you perhaps think this discovery was a waste of time?" Al Haitham scoffed, he usually kept a poker face, barely showing any emotion in his words, but he couldn't keep up appearances when he was this tired. However, it didn't change his honesty. "Yes." "Can you elaborate on why?"
Al Haitham raised an eyebrow. "The letters don't provide much for the history-" You cut him off, which did surprise him a bit. "I beg to differ. The letters themselves don't help the general history of his rule as the King of the desert, but it does give insight into him as a person."
Al Haitham wanted to say something, but you continued to speak and for once, Al Haitham wanted to listen. "For starters, all these letters are considered love letters but the requests he suggests are so, simple, almost as if he was trying not to make it obvious. It's clear to us since he never made requests like this via letter before. He was known for being confident and rebellious. But the person writing these letters was too shy to say it out loud." You point out certain lines in the letters.
"Next, almost everyone was certain he was only enamored by the Goddess of flowers, especially since they ruled together. But then we see the letters, addressing someone who isn't her. Some of the letters even suggest that she might have encouraged him to write it out. Such as the flower petals and their imprints you can see on some of the letters. " Al Haitham watched you trace over the patterns on the letter. He assumed they were just slight discoloration, but closely looking into them he could see the flower petals of a padisarah flower carefully imprinting the letter.
"Finally, how well the letters were preserved. Something must have held him back from sending them, but it seemed that he always planned on sending them at one point. He could have easily thrown or torn these apart, but something about these letters was important to him. It expressed something that he wanted to say so badly but something prevented him from saying it." He watched as you pulled out the letter King Dhesret actually had the courage to send.
He watched as you gently opened it, a slight smile falling on your face. You catch yourself before turning a shade of red. "Sorry, I just noticed how our names matched, it almost felt like King Dhesret sent this letter to me." You giggled and Al Haitham frowned, the thought kind of annoyed him.
You cough, noticing his frown, shifting your eyes away back to the letter. "Anyway, this letter proves why he never sent the rest. The recipient had a family. Maybe he was too late, or maybe they didn't have a choice but to start one. This was during a time forbidden knowledge was affecting the citizens. They both couldn't make time for each other because of it, leading them to live different lives."
Al Haitham watched you look down at the letter, a bittersweet smile on your face. He didn't enjoy how that looked on your face. You began to speak once more. "Are you familiar with the term 'Right person, wrong time'? It's a pretty common trope in romance novels." "I don't read romance novels." You let out a light laugh and Al Haitham had to catch himself from thinking that the laugh suited you more than the sad smile on your face.
"Of course you wouldn't, I am not surprised. However, I think this is a clear example of it. It's very clear that the recipient cared for him to such an extent." Al Haitham cocked his head to a side, a gesture implying 'Why do you think so?'. You continued. "The state of this letter pretty much shows it. First, it was crumpled, probably out of anger. But then it was straightened out carefully and placed into the envelope. You could also see how much it was folded, almost as if they kept it around and opened it constantly over time. The warped paper also indicates that it had got wet, probably from tears."
Al Haitham watched as you carefully point out all of it. He wondered why he felt so jealous of a stupid letter, the way you held it so gently, almost as if the letter was written for you. He hated it.
"They probably felt the same way or something similar. Too bad he never sent the rest. Something could have happened if he did." You sighed, folding the letter gently before placing it back in its envelope.
You finally caught yourself, realizing how much you had been rambling at the time. You felt yourself turn red once more. "But you already knew about all this! I'm so sorry for going on a tangent!" You mumble out, trying to hide your embarrassment.
Al Haitham sighed, making you feel like you were hit in the face by a bat. The grand sage was known for being ruthless and you didn't want to be on his bad side. Imagine your surprise when he finally decided to speak up. "No, it's fine. I suppose I was not thinking thoroughly. I apologize for downplaying this discovery." You blink in shock.
Al Haitham stood up. "I suppose we are done now?" You nod, tongue-tied and unsure how to respond. "Then I'll be on my way. Thank you for taking care of that." He began to turn and make his way to the door. He stopped near the entrance, turning once more to face you, who still haven't taken your eyes off him. "I might come around another time. It seems your insight into certain topics has intrigued me." With that, he made his way out of the door.
---
On the way out, he met Nahida, who set at the railings of the stairs, looking out at the view. He didn't know why, but he made his way toward her.
"Did you find what you needed?" She asked, acknowledging him approaching her. "It seems so."
"Are you satisfied?" He thought about it. "No not really. I still think he was a coward. " Nahida let out a laugh.
"Do you want to change that?" Al Haitham raised an eyebrow, confused about what that could mean. "I'm sorry my archon, I don't seem to understand."
"If perhaps you were King Dhesret, would you want to change how it ended?" She asked, rephrasing her question. Al Haitham still didn't understand what she could be implying but decided to answer anyway. " I would be nothing like him."
Nahida hummed in approval. "I see I see. I wish you good luck then." She looked at him and smiled. She dropped down next to him and waved him goodbye. Al Haitham gave a bow, before watching her enter the Akademiya Archives, where you were currently working.
Maybe it was the sleep deprivation but he thought about how happy you looked when you saw the letter had your name and how much it irritated him. Al Haitham didn't know why, but he felt like writing a letter. He shook his head, making his way back to his house.
He just hoped whatever he did write didn't end up in the archives in the future. Especially since he planned on inviting you out very soon. He picked out some flowers on the way, hoping you would like them. It seems like he wasn't going to get any sleep anytime soon.
Note: Honestly I have been so busy and I have so many posts on the back burner, but I had this one in my thoughts so much I had to put it out before the feeling went. Basically a continuation of "The Clone Thesis" so read that before reading this. This might be a bit shorter than that one though. Enjoy.
CW: Angst, clones, experiments, drugs, Mention of self poisoning and harm, death of character, mild cursing
HC: Reader is gender-neutral, does not have a vision. Clones go by it pronouns.
Characters: Dottore, Dottore Clones, Mentions of Balladeer, Nahida (Buer) and Traveller
It was like a slideshow for Dottore, watching your memories from when you were a baby to your first dissection. He scrolled through them like they were a PowerPoint presentation he needed to get through before an exam that was starting in less than an hour.
Acquiring your memories was quite an easy task for him. He had his little trip to Sumeru to get both of the gnosis and not only did he get them but he was also able to mess around with the old tech he used back in the day for the fun of it. However, the trip was exhausting. Not only did he have to sacrifice his clones but he also had to build a robot for a puppet. It was almost comedic when you think about it. Either way, he believed he should have gotten a souvenir from the trip.
That was where your memories had come in. While the Traveller and Buer were busy messing around with a husk controlling a mecha, he was easily able to meet the tree and extract what he needed. Buer wouldn't mind, would she? Of course, she wouldn't, she wouldn't even notice it was missing. Buer only knew about his clones anyway, she never mentioned getting rid of any other clones that he had created.
Now here he was, watching your memories. All he needed to do now was program it into the clone's system, and you would be back in his life as if nothing happened. It was that simple, however, he remained unmoved. He couldn't believe himself, he doesn't like wasting time but here he was, replaying your memories front to back. What was holding him back? He had some theories but he didn't like the sound of any of them.
First, it was what you currently were. Right now you were completely reborn, everything is a new experience to you and shockingly Dottore himself had become one of your experiences of first love it seems. It was his mistake of creating a clone of you so hastily without all of your components in order. So right now you were madly in love with him. It wouldn't have been an issue, he could have just reset you or made another you. The problem was that he enjoyed the current you too much to do either.
The way you were so hopelessly obsessed with him and how you would melt just by the touch of his hands. Just to make sure you continued this way he made sure to program the rest of his clones to detest you so you would only have your eyes on him.
This led to the second issue, you detested clones, even though you were technically the one who first suggested the cloning thesis. Again another fault on his part for not taking into account the consequences of his unplanned actions. He programmed the clones too well. When he got back the excitement in your voice, talking about the clones being gone almost made him cringe. Putting your memories in now would mean you would know what you had become and he wasn't sure how you would react to it, since the current you were already smashing lab equipment daily.
The last issue was the previous you. While scrolling through the memories he always seemed to stop at one point. It was the only part he would let play through without skipping. The usually sped-up memory turned back to a normal pace and he watched as you looked up from the ground to face an annoyed-looking version of himself when he was younger. It was the first day you had met him.
---
Dottore, otherwise known as Zandik, at the time, was sneaking behind the Akademiya's nose to mess around with the ruin hunters in the mountain. Specifically, the giant abandoned one at Devantaka. He assumed he was being secretive enough. That was until he saw your face down on the ground writhing in pain.
He planned to sneak past you and continue his journey. That was until you grabbed onto his leg, murmuring about a cure in your bag. Unable to shake you off, begrudgingly Dottore helped you reach your bag where you shot down two bottles of unknown substances.
"Zandik right? The guy who got suspended for messing with ruin hunters? " You slurred out, chugging another one of the bottles. You reeked of chemicals and for once Dottore was disgusted by the smell of something so strong. "Since you're alive I am going to go on my way." Dottore ignored you, brushed himself off, trying not to express his disgust before turning away from you.
"Uhh wait hold on!" You say, finally being steady enough to get up and follow behind him. "I want to hear about your discoveries!" You excitedly shout out. Dottore sighed heavily. "Why? So you can report it to the Akademiya? Piss off, weirdo." He grumbled, still refusing to face you.
You rush forward to block his path, sticking a hand out to him. "You can call me whatever, I do not care, but I do care about knowledge and research, especially the forbidden ones. " Dottore looked down at your extended hand, which you wiggled a bit. "It's called a handshake. You take my hand with yours and then you shake it." You say, a grin on your face. Dottore could only scoff, slapping your hand away from him.
"I do not have time for this. I got better things to do." Dottore tried to go past you. "Oh I know, I see what you do almost every day." He stopped in his tracks, finally looking you properly in the eyes with a scowl. "What?" He hissed. He hated your face, still smiling like an idiot. "That's right, I see you almost every day going the same path, entering the ruin hunter, messing around with its system to activate its canon. I see it all. I, however, do not know what you are doing to keep it up and running and that's what I want to ask about. " Within seconds Dottore had pushed you against a tree, a knife to your neck.
"Oof! Hey don't be so rough!" You groan. Dottore wondered if you were drunk because of all of those chemicals you had consumed, either way, he had better things to worry about. He wasn't afraid of getting his hands dirty to upkeep his research, he wasn't going to let anyone get in the way of it. "Why are you following me? Are you one of those stupid spies they have to keep students in check?"
Imagine his surprise when you burst into giggles which slowly turned into full belly roaring laughter. The grip he had on you with the knife to your neck was not getting looser but you still kept laughing. He watched a slight cut graze on your neck because of it. 'Great, a crazy drunk knows about my project. Fucking great.' He groaned to himself.
"Don't worry don't worry! I ain't like that…" You settled your laughter, looking him in the eyes. He felt something click when you did, your eyes were not malicious or scared. You were excited, your eyes were shining in awe. Only someone insane would dare to look at him like that and it seemed the archons finally decided today was the day he would meet one. You continued speaking.
"…Actually, I'm also doing some illegal research." You grinned at him. His grip loosened on you due to curiosity, which let you drop down to go through the things in your backpack. You pulled out a notebook and more of the unusual bottles from it. "The area here is full of toxic mushrooms and fungi, almost all of them banned by the forest rangers to interact with and this rule was extended to the Akademiya. However I wasn't going to let them have all the fun for themselves, so I have been experimenting with it by myself and making cures for it."
You extended a bottle to Dottore, which he took. He swirled the bottle, watching the liquid glisten inside. Even without taking out the cork, he could smell the distinguishable chemical smell seeping out of it. No wonder you were on the floor when he first saw you, you were poisoning yourself. He looked back at you as you smiled at him. "If I continue this, I might make one that will make me immortal, which again is considered illegal under the Akademiya rules."
Dottore hummed in response, now intrigued. You stood up once more, brushing yourself off and once again extending a hand towards him. "Now, let's start over. Zandik, would you please tell me about the ruin hunters you have been activating?"
---
Dottore began to speed up the memories once more, he didn't plan on reliving his past. He already knew what was in store after that. How you guys almost blew up the Akademiya, how you guys sneaked into the forbidden records all the time and the first time you showed him your Cloning thesis. It was history for him which he refused to re-live.
However that was the issue, you in the memories even though you did insane things alongside him, slowly began to change. He left the Akademiya, you didn't. Your morals remained the same as before but you always refused to experiment on others, which lead to you being the one that dealt with all the experiments you wanted to do.
Dottore was certain that would be the cause of your death. Imagine his surprise when he found you had died in an accident during a storm in the desert. At that point, he was already in the Fatui and you both were slowly drifting apart, your motives too different from one another. He was certain your death would not effect him but something inside him just snapped when he found out, which lead to this entire mess.
If he put these same memories into you now, he didn't know what you would do or how you would react. You wouldn't be the doe-eyed person in love with him and for some reason, he couldn't handle that thought. So here he was once again, flipping through the memories one by one before stopping at the memory of how you both met, continuing the cycle almost like a mantra but in this situation, it was not calming him down or make him think rationally.
For once, he has stuck in making a decision and he would have continued to stay in that trance, that was until he heard footsteps nearby. He shut off the memories being displayed, reverting it into an orb, almost the size of a tablet, and putting it into his coat.
You stuck your head into the room, beaming when you see him inside. You make your way in, enveloping him in a hug which he responded with a pat on your head. "You alright? You don't look so good." You say, looking at his face. All Dottore could do was sigh. "It's just my face." He patted you once more as you continued to hug him with no plans of letting go.
He decided he was going to deal with this another day. Until then, he tried to enjoy the cold embraces you gave. He just wished for once it was as warm as the handshake you had given him in the past.
Note: Zhongli just trying to fit in to a normal life by trying to get into the dating pool lol. I think the concept has a lot of potential. Am I going to execute it properly? Probably not but it's still fun to write about. Not my best work but I wanted to get this out since it's been in my drafts for a while. Also I know Zhongli looks very young but I genuinely headcanon that Zhongli looks a lot older than Hoyoverse depicts him. No way he is going to be pretending he is in his 20's when he talks like that. Anyway enjoy!
CW: None
HC: Reader is gender-neutral, does not have a vision and is around their late 30's.
Characters: Zhongli, Hu Tao, Mentions Childe, Traveller and Xiao
"Have you ever thought about going on a date, Mr.Zhongli?" Hu Tao asked innocently. Zhongli looked up from the cup of tea in his hands and raised an eyebrow at her. "May I ask why you're bringing this up?"
Hu Tao shrugged, her fingers circling the rim of her cup playfully, refusing to look him in the eyes. "Curiosity. I know some people don't care about things like that but you never even mentioned whether you wanted to meet others in a romantic setting."
"I see." Zhongli hummed to himself, sipping from the cup of tea. He just began his mortal life and now that the entirety of Liyue was safely in the hands of its people he didn't have to worry anymore. Now he was free to continue his life as a mortal.
He was not any type of mortal of course. After resigning from being Morax he has now taken the form of Zhongli, a consultant at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour. There were times he doubted whether his new persona was believable to others or not since he had never done something like this in the thousands of years he was alive. This was also set in stone when he experienced the shopping spree with the Traveler, realizing that even though he was the one that had created Mora, he didn't know how to use it in a traditional sense.
He closed his eyes, lost in thought. Going on a date would make his mortal life more convincing. A cough was heard, forcing him to open his eyes. Hu Tao curiously looked at him, eagerly waiting for an answer.
"Well?" She asked. Zhongli saw a glistening of mischievous light bounce in her eyes. He figured she was up to something but continued to answer her truthfully. "I have never actually thought about it since I had other matters to focus on. However, now that you have mentioned it, I think I wouldn't mind going on a date."
Hu Tao slammed her hands on the table, standing up in the process. Her sudden movements dangerously tipped her cup of tea over the edge of the table which Zhongli caught without a second thought. "Well, I have just the offer for you!" She exclaimed excitedly. Her eyes were on fire at this point and Zhongli wondered if he had walked into a trap.
---
You were shocked to find out how quickly your friend was able to set up a blind date for you. When you broke up with your long-time partner, you began isolating yourself and only focusing your time working as a secretary in Liyue Qinxing without a break. It had got to the point where you only woke up just to head to work and you were not surprised when you're co-workers began to worry about it.
"You need to rest! You have bags under your eyes!" She exclaimed, worriedly looking at your features getting worse and worse as the days go by. You let out a light laugh, which turned into a sob as you dropped your head onto your desk in despair.
"How can I rest? The minute I stop working all I can think about how miserable I am." You chuckled. Your friend sighed, placing her hands on your shoulder, and shaking you vigorously.
"IT HAS BEEN ALMOST AN YEAR! YOU NEED TO GET OVER IT!" You winced at how loud she yelled at you. You straightened yourself up as she took her hands off your shoulders, face-palming instead. "Look the easiest way to get over an ex is to find other things to do, and since you are not planning on doing any new hobbies anytime soon," She paused, glaring at the stack of papers you were drowning yourself with before continuing ", I suggest you try to go on a blind date instead. You know, meet someone new!" She proclaimed, clasping her hands in excitement.
You frown. " I don't know about this… even when I was dating before they said my standards were something no normal person could handle. Am I ever going to find someone who can deal with this?" You asked, motioning to yourself. Your friend gave you a smirk, taking a note pad out of thin air. "Just tell me your preferences and I'll do my magic."
Quite frankly you just wanted to get your friend off your back and go back to doing your work. So jokingly you told her the most bizarre unrealistic standards known to man. However, when she handed you a note with a date and time for your blind date all you could stare at was the slip dumbfounded.
"Huh? What?" You asked confused. She puffed her chest proudly, looking down at you as you sat at your desk gripping the paper in awe. "I have my ways." She laughed. You raised an eyebrow. "Were they illegal?"
She shrugged, still looking satisfied. "Not really. Just made a deal with someone else. Her usual tactics are just as crazy, so I was able to convince her to help me find your 'dream partner." You looked at the slip and back at your friend with a worried gaze. "Am I going to meet someone weird?" She grinned at you mischievously. "Don't worry. I heard he fits the bill perfectly." You gulped nervously, looking down at the handwriting on the piece of paper.
You dug your own grave, haven't you?
---
You did not expect to be so nervous, especially at your age. You felt a teen again, nervously practicing in front of the mirror trying to figure out the best look for your "first blind date". You lost count of the number of times you checked yourself out in the mirror. Your eyebags were still heavily visible and your skin was dry due to the heavy stress. At least your outfit looked clean and ironed for once.
You tried to calm yourself down, taking deep breaths every few seconds you feel your heart begin to race again. It didn't help how your friend hyped up this man you were allegedly going out on a date with. "I mean he can't be THAT incredible, right?" You nervously laughed to yourself, trying to convince yourself that the person you were going to meet was probably just an average joe. "There is no such person who would fit those standards. I made up half of the stuff in the list anyway." You kept mumbling to yourself, beginning to make your way toward the date location.
Oh, how wrong you were. When you reached the restaurant you did not expect to see Zhongli. You had done business with him before and very recently you had worked alongside him following the death of Morax. Now here you were, on a date with him. You gulped, now more nervous than ever. Zhongli was not only known for his knowledge but he was constantly described as an extremely beautiful man. You were able to ignore those comments while you both were strictly doing business.
Now you sat in front of him, as he ordered drinks for the table. You were tongue twisted, unsure of how to begin a conversation related to the date. Unbeknownst to you, Zhongli was also nervous. He was confident at the beginning, he had been living for thousand years, surely a date would have been nothing to him? However, now that he sat in front of you he was also unsure of how 'human' he was supposed to act. He had met you before and you were a very serious individual. While doing work you both had kept a certain distance to make sure it was all professional but now that barrier was gone what was the limit? Zhongli began to realize he had never once had to worry about that before. Who knew being human would be so complicated.
You finally decided to build up some courage and speak first. "So, have you done something like this before?" Zhongli thought about it, he had meals like this with Childe before, would that be considered the same thing? " I have done something similar before…" You curse yourself for asking. 'He must be a professional. He must have gone out with multiple people before!' You thought. He continued to speak. "But this is my first time going on a 'blind date', as they say, it. " He finished, taking a sip from the tea before he ended up saying more.
"Haha, well I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Mr. Zhongli." He shook his head. "Zhongli is just fine." You smiled at him. "Ah I see, I'll keep that in mind." You wanted to curl up and die.
"Well, we only met a couple of times before, so let's just get to know each other for now. If it isn't too rude to ask, how old are you?" You continued. Zhongli stayed quiet and you began to wonder if it was a rude question to ask. You were almost about to take it back before he answered. " I turned ..50 this year.." He said, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Zhongli was slightly agitated, was that a believable answer? He was technically 6000 years old but he can't say that. He also knew that with all the talking he has been doing to the people in Liyue Harbour it was not going to be possible for him to be less than his 30s but with your reaction, he wondered if he should have said he was younger. "But you look so young? I didn't expect you to be in your 50's. I thought you were in your late 30's like me." You laughed a bit, relieved he didn't get offended. Zhongli noted that he should make his appearance more believable in the future.
"Am I too old to be your date then?" He asked, wondering if this was the end of it. You shook your head and smiled at him. " No worries, we both are adults. I do not mind the age gap." You were honestly glad he was older, it would have hurt your self-esteem if someone as smart as him was younger than you. "Well since you are older, then do you have kids? "
"Would having them be a problem?" He questioned. "No not really, I don't plan on having my own but I don't mind if my future partners had any." You answer, looking at him in the eyes. Zhongli looked back at you, trying to see if your eyes reflected the right answer. Now that he looked closely at you, it seemed that your eyes were the most expressive. It showed how earnest you were to hear his answers. He didn't want to disappoint you. He remembered Xiao, would he be considered his child? He cared for him like a parent does but he wasn't so certain due to how 'official' Xiao acts around him. Maybe he would fix that in the future.
"I do but he is now grown, so you won't have to worry about looking after any children." He answered, sipping his tea once more. He looked down at his cup, it was empty and the food had not even arrived. He thought the more you both talked the easier it would get but it was making him even more nervous. The more he answered your questions and seemed to get a positive response, the more his hopes went a bit higher. If he messed up now the disappointment was going to be harsh on him. Sure he was doing well but at what point would he say something which would end it all? He didn't expect himself to be so unsure. He poured himself another cup of tea.
You were also a nervous wreck. It felt like this entire time you were asking all the questions. Was he not interested in getting to know you? Your thoughts were going in spirals, trying to figure out what to ask next. You watched him pour another cup of tea for himself and put the cup up to his lips. If his face didn't show how elegant he was his actions did. It's as if he was made in the image of an archon.
---
His cup was empty again and he began to realize how silent it had become. He looked at your unchanging face, your eyes showed that you seemed to be lost in thought while you stared at him. It clicked that so far you were the only one asking questions so far. He placed the cup down on the table, letting out a little cough into his hands to get your attention. You snap back into reality, watching as his golden eyes stared at you and you braced yourself for what he planned on saying. "What do you do in your free time?"
The worst thing he could have asked. You had been making sure not to make any time for yourself these days. You had tried to fill your head with working for almost a year now. Most tasks you did before always involved your ex and it got to the point where if you tried to do it by yourself, you felt empty. You stopped most of your hobbies due to this and now you began to realize that you had become an empty shell of a person.
You didn't want to bring up your ex during a date so you went the safest route. "I've been so busy these days, I don't have much free time for myself. " You gave him a weak smile, your eyes shutting in the process. Zhongli frowned, he couldn't tell what you were feeling. You don't know if your façade was believable but Zhongli took the bait.
"I see, that's a shame. I do understand, I was working constantly my whole life but recently it all seemed to have calmed down and now I can able to enjoy a cup of tea in tranquility after such a long time." He looked at your cup, it also remained remained empty. He took the teapot, filled your cup, and gently pushed it toward you. "I hope you find peace soon, it is no fun to be overworked." He gently smiled at you. You felt immediately soothed by the gesture. It seemed you had been overworking yourself since such a small act of kindness calmed you down in an instant.
"You must have had it hard." You say, gently taking the cup of tea and putting it to your lips. Zhongli shook his head. "I had friends to help me out when things became difficult. Even recently I had help from a certain traveler and my job was done quite fast because of them. I have to thank them for giving me time to leisure around. You should surround yourself with people like that too. " You mentally wrote down a note to thank your friend for setting you up with such a stunning man. You looked up at him from your tea, curiously. "May I ask what you do in your free time?" Zhongli smiled at you once more. "I go sightseeing around Liyue. I recently got an invitation to join the Pearl Galley on board."
You look at him in awe. "Must be nice." You mumble. As Zhongli tried to speak, steaming plates of food were placed on the table. You both looked at the waiter who glanced at you both apologetically. "I am so sorry for the delay! Enjoy your food. This one is on the house." Zhongli had realized that the waiters were taking long. He watched them peak out the kitchen, whispering amongst themselves since their regular customer was on a date for the first time. He was glad you were oblivious to their gossip. The waiter sneaked a glance at Zhongli, winking at him discreetly. It seemed Zhongli didn't have to worry about how to properly pay today.
---
You underestimated how hungry you were because the date was cut short due to how fast you had finished your meal. You hoped Zhongli would not think of you as a glutton but he stayed quiet during the meal. You were surprised at how carefully he had eaten his meal, almost as if he was studying the food while he ate. You wondered if he was a food enthusiast.
But you weren't sure you could ask him about it next time. You couldn't tell if the date went well. Did he even want to go on another date? Did you fail your first blind date? You began to sulk, trying to convince yourself it was for the best and that maybe you were not cut out for love. However, your thoughts were once again stopped by the sound of a cough.
You turned to look at him and when you faced him properly he began to speak once more. "About my invitation to the Pearl Galley…" He took out the invitation, handing it to you. You looked down at the contents written on it, skimming through it and stopping at the final line written in bold italics at the bottom of the card.
"Every guest with an invitation has the opportunity to bring one extra guest with them on board."
Zhongli continued to speak. "I was wondering if you could join me on board. That is if you are free on that date." Your eyes darted up at him and he was certain he saw stars dancing in your eyes. "I am definitely free on that date!" You say almost in a hurry. He was asking you on another date! You couldn't let this chance slip by.
He smiled at your enthusiasm, gently taking your hands into his. You could feel your heart burst. "It's a date then." He whispered. You couldn't wait.
Note: Somehow I cannot imagine Dottore in a sweet loving relationship but I did want to write about this guy without writing him as abusive. I think he would have patience with the one he loves but no one else. What do you guys think? I apologise if this one isn't up to standards, just a stupid concept I had in my mind when I found out Dottore made clones of himself. Also we all are going to pretend Dottore is Zandik in this ok, I am not sure if it's confirmed or not but it is in my little story universe.
CW: Angst, clones, experiments
HC: Reader is gender-neutral, does not have a vision. Clones go by it pronouns.
Characters: Dottore, Dottore Clones, Mentions of Balladeer
From the laboratory, you looked out the window.You noticed the sun peeking over the horizon.It was the next day while you stayed up all night organizing the shelves of the place. You breath out, seeing the wisps of cold air form into smoke in front of you. The cold weather did not bother you; you couldn't even feel it. However, what bothered you was the clone that Dottore had left to watch you closely as you continued organizing the rest of the equipment left.
You could feel it's gaze on you, burning holes into the back of your head, and you tried to act unbothered by it, but there was a limit to how much you could handle being watched like a hawk. It felt like it was waiting for you to make one wrong move, enough to report back to Dottore at least. You could feel the anxiety piling up, especially since you had been watched since yesterday.
You gripped the notes that you planned to organize in your hand. You could feel them crumple in your grasp. You finally broke the silence.
"Do you not have anything better to do?" You asked, turning to look at it square in the eyes. It had the same red eyes as him. You tried to ignore that thought. You scanned it to see if it would reply. It blinked its eyes at you before shrugging. "I was assigned to watch you until he got back. If I could, I would definitely be doing something a lot more productive. "
It leaned forward from the chair in which it sat, placing its head in its hands whilst still looking at your standing form. You glared at it. Its face remained blank. Both of you didn't want to do this, but it seems the doctor has other plans. "Are you not tired? You have been watching me all night. "
It looked at you as if you were an idiot to even ask it that. "You have been up all night too. You don't seem tired either." It retorted. You huffed, turning away from it to go back to organizing the notes. "I can't believe he makes things like you." You say it back to it. It didn't reply, but you knew it was smirking behind you. It acted just like him, and it made you want to throw up.
Because it wasn't him. It wasn't the man you were in love with.
---
By the time you had finished organizing everything, you could hear the clatter of footsteps outside the laboratory. You could feel yourself light up. 'Is he back?' You thought You rushed towards the entrance, pulling the door slightly ajar to peak outside. You were not allowed to leave the laboratory unless he was with you. He didn't even let you roam around with his clones, so you spent most of the time locked inside the lab, waiting for him to return.
'A peak wouldn't hurt' You think to yourself. He never got mad at you for peaking outside of the door, even though he had told you multiple times not to do so. You tried to see if he was there in sight, and you caught a glimpse of his fatui uniform. You could feel a smile forming on your face, a jitter running through your body. He was back!
You watched as he talked to another Fatui member. You couldn't see their faces clearly as their mask obstructed their faces and their figure was facing away from him. However, you could hear parts of the conversations.
"….Sumeru….Gnosis….King…Akademiya…."
Your smile turned into a frown. You couldn't figure out most of the words they were saying, but it seemed that Dottore was not going to be sticking around for long again. You slid back inside, closing the door silently. You turned to look at the clone, who continued to look at you with an unbothered expression. You glared at it.
"You know, he is going to go away again." It said, mockingly. It sat back in its chair, stretching itself. You frowned at it. "Why would you say that?" It looked at you, the same unenthusiastic expression on its face but with a hint of mocking energy in its eyes, almost as if it was toying with you.
"He's the 2nd Harbringer. He has better and more important things to do than play house husband with you. You already knew that, so why ask me? " If only looks could kill. You wished his clone would die just by your gaze. You didn't want believe it was right but you knew better. Dottore had a status to uphold, and whatever he was doing in the fatui had nothing to do with you.
You heard the door behind you creak open. You look behind and Dottore is stood right at the door, frowning at you. You gulped, turning to face him properly. "Were you looking out the door again?" He asked, and you gave a gingerly nod. He sighed, and just as always, he ushered you away from the door, closing it behind him.
He looked at his clone, signaling it to speak. "They just organized some documents and equipment. Nothing else. " It answered robotically. You sighed in relief, knowing you didn't make any mistakes that might have disappointed him. He gave a nod to the clone. "You can leave for now. You've got some work to do with the Balladeer. Go meet him at the right wing of the palace."
In an instant, the clone stood up from the chair, stepping out the door, leaving both you and Dottore behind in the lab. You smiled in victory. 'Finally that thing is gone.' You thought, before looking at Dottore with a smile.
Dottore sighed at you, moving away before slumping in a chair near the window. You frowned. "Is something wrong?" You asked, gently moving towards him. You dropped down to your knees and placed your head on his lap, sitting on the cold tiled floor next to the chair.
He shook his head, taking the mask off his face. You could see his eyes, pure red. His clones looked exactly like him, but you knew even if he pretended to be a clone, you could always tell them apart. He had light bags under his eyes, moles scattered across his face almost like stars, and you could see wrinkles forming at the edge of his mouth and corner of his eyes. He looked human, they did not.
"Are you sure?" You asked again, doubling down. He looked down at you, placing his hand on your face, caressing it ever so gently. You wondered how these same hands did all those horrible things that people would whisper about.
Experiments. Murder. You almost didn't believe it until he confirmed it himself. "You must have had your reasons." You said, still trying to defend him after he had confirmed every bad thing he had done. He didn't reply, so you just never brought it up again. However, you still had some hope that he did those heinous acts for some purpose.
His hand gently moved its way to your head, patting it softly. "I need to go again." He whispered. Your head immediately shot up, staring at him in disbelief. "But you just got back!" You complained. You gripped onto his uniform tightly, looking into his eyes, trying to see if he had any guilt left in him when he said that to you. However, all you were rewarded with was one of the same blank stares that the clones would give you. Your throat closed up, and a sick feeling entered your stomach. Loneliness swirled inside you.
"It's an important matter. It might take a while, but the clones will keep you company until I get back. " You stood up in an instant, and you could feel your eyes watering while you stared at him in defeat.
"It's not the same! Those things are not you! I want to be with you! Not those things that pretend to be you! " You felt the screaming in your throat when you yelled at him.
He sat in the chair and watched as you wailed in sorrow. You tried to pour your heart out but it was only rewarded with silence from him. His lack of reaction did not help in this case. Unsure of what else to do to get a reaction, you dashed for the shelves, tearing down the contents within them. Your hands smashed the pipettes, burettes, and other equipment from their stands onto the floor. You stamped on the books and documents that were scattered on the floor covered in glass.
You looked at him for a sign of worry or guilt but he remained almost stoic. You played this game before and it seemed he was patient enough to wait till you were done with your little tantrum.
Your little rampage and crying left you tired and sweaty. You could feel your heart palpating and your breathing was still unsteady. Tiredly, you slid down onto the floor, sitting against the broken shelf on the glass and ripping documents. You could feel glass pieces pierce your legs through your clothes, but you didn't care. You pull your knees up to your chest and bury your face in them, continuing to sob both in shame and disappointment.
Dottore watched you breakdown, sighing once again. He stood up from his seat before making his way to you. He dropped to one knee up to your level before brushing your hair away from your face. "You're right I apologize. The clones can't replace the time you and I had. Forgive me. " He gently placed a kiss on your head while you continued to try and halt your sobbing.
"Let's get you cleaned up. I'll let one of the clones clean this place up. "
---
Dottore remembered the past, back when he was a scholar and didn't go by the name 'The Doctor'. He considered those days his most embarrassing memories as a scholar, which he wanted to forget, however the most painful memories tend to be the ones to stick around.
"Zandik!" A voice called out to him. Dottore sighed in annoyance, turning to face the direction of the voice. You waved him down, beckoning him to come closer to you.
He frowned, making his way towards you. You were an unusual person. He couldn't figure out what was going on inside your head most of the time. Most scholars and scribes kept their distance from him, calling him insane whenever he would bring up his theories and discoveries. However, you, on the other hand, would chuckle whenever you heard him go on his tangents. "I can't wait for you to take over the world." You would say, applauding about his theories whenever he would rant about them. He wondered if the other scholars thought you were insane just like he was.
You pushed a bundle of papers towards him. He raised an eyebrow at you before looking down at the paper. "Cloning?" He read the title. You gave an excited nod, beaming at him. "Wouldn't that be so cool? I haven't been able to put it into practice, but I wrote down some possible ways that it might work. I just need some kind of funding to do this and I will be set! "
Dottore scoffed, turning to read what you had written down. The stack of papers was as thick as a log. "You're telling me this isn't done?" He asked, motioning towards the thickness of the paper stack. You huffed. "Of course it's not done! It's just the theory! I still need all the necessary equipment to be able to conduct this experiment! You wouldn't believe it but the Akademiya said they wouldn't fund it! Now I have to find a third party which can outsource this project now! Unbelievable! "You blabbed on while Dottore continued to flip through the pages.
"What would you clone anyway?" You tilted your head to the side, smirking at him. "Myself, of course." Dottore looked up from the paper and back at you, while you continued to grin at him like an idiot.
"Look look, you've got to hear me out!" You said, as Dottore looked at your questionably. "There won't be any ethical issues since I am the one who is going to be cloned! Also, if it's an exact clone of me, then my life would be so much easier! It could be attending all these boring lectures while at the same time I conduct my experiment! We wouldn't be wasting anytime and my thesis could be approved quicker than any paper that has been published the last decade! " You jabbered on, trying to convince him of your exciting new plan.
Dottore sighed, handing the report stack back to you. "But it's a clone, it's not going to be 'exactly' you." You gave him a pout. "Of course it's not going to be exactly me! A clone could never replace me! " You grinned at him.
You were right, of course. A clone was never able to replace what you had left in him. He could feel another sigh escape his lips,as he looked down at the 'You', who was crying on the floor in front of him. You died years ago, back when you were still in the Akademiya. It was quite a sudden death and Dottore didn't even have the time to respond to it properly since he had been scouted by the Fatui at that point.
Dottore's first plan was to bring you back to life. He kept you preserved in a cryo chamber, however as time went on and one, he couldn't seem to get any successful results. Your body was not lasting and he needed to find another way to preserve you.
During that time, he had come across your thesis paper once again, something that you were unable to finish before your unforgiving passing. He read the paper thoroughly, almost learning it by heart. Which resulted in his next idea. Using his funding from the Fatui, he decided the next best option was to clone you an entirely new body and bring back your memories through your clone. However, it was far from a success.
The 'you' he cloned was nothing like you. 'You' didn't have the same witty remarks or the incredible mind that he had once witnessed. At the start, 'you' were closed off, shy and wouldn't even speak up until you were told to do so. 'You' listened to every word he said, almost like a puppet.
He planned to scrap you and try again. That was until 'you' had confessed your feelings for him. He didn't realize the feelings he had back then and the clone's confession made it click in to place. The desperation he felt to bring you back and the way he would read your final thesis almost like sacred religious text, it all made sense to him
The confession left him with a hollow feeling in his stomach. For the first time in his life he felt so sick. 'If only you were the real one.' He thought bitterly as he looked down at your clone, who smiled at him ever so gently. As if he was the world to it. He knew this thing he had created was not you and he would probably never get to see the same person who would brightly tell him every single day 'Take over the world for me!'. It had your face but it was not you.
In the end, he couldn't scrap what he had created. Maybe he was an idiot, but the thought of getting rid of something that looked like you made it feel like he was losing you once again. So no matter how many tantrums or trashing your clone did to his laboratory, he would always gently hold "you" in his arms over and over again. It was the only bittersweet way he could tell you how much he loved you.
Even though he knew the clone would never replace you, he hoped that he could slowly shape it back to how it was.
Note: I actually planned on writing all the Sumeru characters in one post but I thought it was getting a bit long. So I decided to split them instead. Also I think people do not write enough fanfic for the female characters. I did not proof read this at all. Sorry if it's not up to standard. Enjoy.
CW: None
HC: Reader is gender neutral and does not have a vision.
Characters: Cyno, Nilou
Cyno
You had known the General Mahamatra ever since you both studied in the Akademiya together. You watched him surpass you and your colleagues, rising to the ranks to where he is now. You watched in awe and also ashamed of yourself for not being able to keep up to his level. However times had passed and now you too were a scholar teaching amongst the rest in Akademiya.
While most tended to to go down the path of finding new information or discoveries for the next hit paper, you kept to yourself keeping logs of all the current surplus of information scattered through the Akademiya walls and passing those knowledge to the budding scholars of the future.
You and Cyno were not close friends however you both friendly enough for a wave or a quick hello back to each other since you were one of the few scholars that didn't seem to fear his gaze. Otherwise you barely saw him, knowing that he was someone who tended to do his job hidden or by himself. Due to the difference in your jobs you didn't expect to cross one another anytime soon, but when news came that one of your students may have been working to acquire illegal knowledge capsules you and him somehow ended up together in the mission to catch them in the act.
"I can't believe this is happening." You groaned to yourself, face in your hands while you crouched against the wall. This was the worst thing to ever happen in your entire history as a teacher. You couldn't believe that one of your students were going this far just to pass the exam. Were you too strict? Did you fail to teach them properly? It was too late either way. You looked up from your hands to stare at Cyno who stared down at your crouched form. His face emotional less and his glare sharp.
If it were anyone else they would be whimpering under his gaze, but you could tell he didn't seem to harbor any negative feelings. Well at least not to you. "If the rumors are true they will be held accountable. You don't need to worry about that. " You shook your head, standing up and facing him head on.
"It's not that." Cyno arched an eyebrow. "It's an issue with me. If I did my job as a teacher properly they wouldn't have needed to take such drastic measures. If this is true I at least want to hear their side. I want to make sure this never happens again." You answered, trying to keep a brave front. Cyno stared at you blankly before turning away to walk out from the building. "Do whatever you want. It depends on what we find anyway."
You watched him walk out of the door. All you could do was sigh, following after him. How embarrassing was it that this was the first time you both had talked to each other properly. "If this is how fast you plan on going the entire mission we aren't going to finish anytime soon." You jumped in shock, realizing that he had not left you to catch up but was waiting for you outside the door. "My apologies." You mumbled, even more embarrassed than before. This was not going to be a fun.
---
The plan was simple . Since you kept a low profile compared to most scholars, it would be easy for you to infiltrate the merchant camp with the rest of the knowledge capsule hunters. After sneaking in, using the codes that were given to you by an unknown source, Cyno mentioned he had his ways but he did not look pleased about it, you would try to find your student amongst the crowd. After they had been spotted all you needed to do was take a picture using the kamera.
After the evidence had been acquired, all you needed to do was send the signal to Cyno and rush out of the place as fast as you can so that Cyno could shut the whole place down for good. You could feel yourself getting nervous the closer you stepped near the camp. You still had hope that maybe your student was just being framed or it had been someone else.
However seeing the familiar face amongst the rest of the buyers only filled you with dread. You reached your hand to grab the kamera, slowly inching close to be able to take a clear picture of them in the act. Just as you were about to pick the kamera out for a quick picture, you halted hearing the distress in your student's voice.
"We can't be here father. There are already rumors about me. My grades are not even that bad, I can pass the bar exam without the knowledge capsule." You heard them say only to be hushed harshly. You could feel your eyebrow twitch in rage. You watched as your student looked around worriedly, trying to drag their father away from the rest of the crowd.
You felt the tension in your body release, your student wasn't the one who wanted to get access to the knowledge capsules. Their father just was a cunt. You wanted to go there and drag them away from him, telling them that it will all be ok. You looked down at the kamera and then to the signal in your hand.
Without a second thought, you clicked to the button to release the signal. You winced hearing the loud sound it made, Cyno was not lying when he said he would hear it from miles away. The merchants and buyers looked around dazed by the sudden sound. You immediately began to make a run for it but instead of the door you ran straight towards your student.
Pushing their father to a side after he had loosened his grip, you grabbed your student by the wrist and began to make a run for it. You could hear your student shout your name in shock but you continued to make a run for it, hearing the now panicked and distressed calls of the people back in the illegal trade "THE GENERAL MAHATRAMA! HE'S HERE!". You could feel a smile form on your lips, Cyno was definitely having a field day.
---
You could feel Cyno's irritation when he realised what you had actually done. However you were lucky enough that he was willing to hear you and your student out. You were glad they rumors were not actually true and it wasn't them who wanted to acquire illegal knowledge and you were happy to know Cyno was willing to actually believe you.
"Thank you." You said, you could feel your face heat up and at this point you couldn't tell whether it was from the joy of helping your student or whether you were just feeling shy. You could see Cyno's eye twitch a bit however his face remained stoic. "I was just doing my job. The trade was successfully shut down because of this anyway. We shouldn't be hearing about any illegal knowledge capsules anytime soon." You shook your head.
"I meant for letting my student go." You smiled at him and he huffed. You wondered if you were imagining it but you could feel him seem shyer than before. " That was barely anything."
"Still let me pay you back in a way." Cyno raised an eyebrow at you. "What do you suggest?"
"Maybe dinner? Or perhaps a game? I heard you loved playing a certain card game." You teasingly mention, pulling out a new pack of cards that you had made sure to bring with you just for this. You could see a glint of light form in his eyes.
"I can't turn down a challenge." He answered. Cyno didn't know what to make of you when he first met you, all he remembered was how you would gingerly wave at him whenever he would catch you staring while he instinctively waved back. He watched you grow fond of your students and show your interests to teach. You might not think he cared too much about you but he was always paying attention.
You guys were not close but you were always in the back of his mind. Maybe that was why he decided to hear you out when you decided to pull something risky like that during the mission. Either way, Cyno always had a form of affection for you and it seems your invitation to play Genius Invokation TCG has finally confirmed that maybe it might be just more than acquaintances. Cyno just hoped his stoic nature would keep it under wraps, at least for now.
Nilou
"Do you know how to dance?"
It was the first thing that Nilou had said to you when she saw you trying to dance on the outskirts of Sumera city. You decided to stroll into the Grand Bazaar one day. You just went inside to peak. The Akademiyan scribes would have been completely against you from entering but you were so curious. They always had something bad to say about the place and you just had to find out why hated the place so much.
You stumbled inside during an event that day. The lights illuminated the stage and the star of the show swayed to the rhythm of the music. You stared in awe when you saw how delicately she danced. She looked as if she was floating. All eyes were on her, including yours. She didn't even stumble at any moment and you couldn't even see a bead of sweat dripping down her face. 'Must be an angel' You thought.
You didn't expect to stay for the whole event but you lost track of time. Watching show after show, the theatre had so much to offer! Why would the Akademiya be so against it? The shows were exciting and full of life, most of them even showed a valuable lessons which were easy to understand by the general public.
Either way you got hooked on going to see what they had in store, especially the dances. The moves felt so calculated and precise. You could feel your Akademiya brain trying to figure out how they did it, which was what lead you to your first encounter with Nilou.
You were trying to copy what you had written down during one of the events. You wrote down her exact foot placements, the way her hips swayed to the beat and even the different speeds changes during all movements. However nothing was going right! You kept stumbling over you feet and you could not meet the beats.
You were surprised on how scarred you got during the process, who knew you would stumble so much just to learn how to dance? You huffed, wiping the dirt and grime off your outfit and pulling out the notebook from your pocket. You could not figure out what you were doing wrong? You repeated the steps in your head, jotting down what you had possibly missed causing your failed attempt. You sighed frustratedly, putting the notebook back into your pocket.
You made your way towards the river and began to pose. Nilou started her routine dance in a specific way and you wanted to find a way to replicate it. You looked at your reflection, you were too stiff and it looked awkward. You kept trying find a good angle and that was when Nilou had popped out, asking you the question.
You yelped, almost falling into the river, however you were saved as gentle arms grabbed you by the waist. You looked at her as she steadied you before letting you go. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scar you!" She said, arms up and face apologetic. You could feel your face warm up.
"How long have you been watching?" Nilou chucked a bit. "A while now. " You could feel your face become warmer. Nilou looked at you worriedly. "Oh! I wasn't watching you on purpose or anything! I was actually collecting some wood for the theatre props! I'm so sorry for invading your privacy!" She said, pointing towards the bundle of wood collected near by some trees.
You shook your head, trying to calm yourself down. The angel in your favorite new pastime had saw you dancing like a mess, however you still had some Akademiya scholar pride, you couldn't show her that this situation bothered you. You coughed into your hand, trying to hide the rest of the blush which was slowly going away. "It's alright. It's not like this is a private area anyway. I'll be on my way."
You turn to go pick up your stuff only for your arm to be captured by Nilou's firm grasp. "Oh please wait! I saw you dancing and you seemed you needed some guidance. I could help you practice if you like!" You turned to look at her as she smiled at you. Her eyes were such a gentle blue and full of life. You couldn't say no to that.
"That would be quite helpful actually." You mumbled quietly, still trying to keep whatever pride you had left in you. You wanted to know how to dance, you wanted to feel like you were floating as well. Nilou let out a laugh, it was sweet and you could feel yourself get butterflies in your stomach just from hearing it. "Let's get started then shall we?"
That was the start of your dance practice journey with Nilou. If Nilou wasn't in the theatre she was near the outskirts of Sumeru City with you. She taught you from the very beginning. It started from stretching. You were stiff as a board, which was how Nilou described you when you couldn't even bend to touch your toes. You tried to tough it out and you were surprised to see how fast results showed.
You looked at Nilou excitedly after you were successfully able to do her entire exercise routine without asking for a break. She giggled at your joy, she never had such a student who wanted to learn this much.
Then she showed you how to match the rhythm. It was simple, she held your hand and guided you.
First Step, Second Step, First Step, Second Step.
You held onto her hands tightly, watching both of your feet's intensely. You were worried that you would step on her toes at any moment. However during this moment all Nilou could do was stare at your face, eyebrows furrowed making sure not to miss a step. She couldn't but think how cute you looked so serious for something so simple.
Finally after learning the basics, she showed you how to do a simple routine, all the dance steps separately. You showed her your notebook full of all the records you kept of her shows. She looked at it enthusiastically. "You wrote this all down?" You gave her a nod, proud of your academic ability to be able to take notes down so well.
She stared at the notes which were accompanied by the drawings. You had written down almost her entire show routine. She could feel a blush creep up her face. You had looked at her so intensely, making sure to not even miss a single hand movement or foot placement. She could feel your eyes burn in the back of her head now and she wondered if she could continue doing the shows like she always did if it meant you looked at her in such a way.
"You didn't need to write all this you know?" "Why not? The way you move is so beautiful, I couldn't help myself. " The words flew out of your mouth so smoothly you didn't even realise how shy Nilou had gotten. Her face was entirely red at this point and she could feel her legs almost giving out. She huffed, placing the book to the side.
"Well you won't need that book when I am training you directly." She grasped your face, making you look at her directly in the eyes. " All you need to do is look at me." This time you could feel your face heat up.
---
The training took months. It became a daily occurrence of you sneaking out from the Akademiya to go to the Grand Baazar. Almost everyone knew your name and after Nilou was done with work you both would leave to go dance alongside both of your new secret dancing spot.
Nilou sat down on a rock, patiently waiting for you to began dancing. You were no longer the scholar covered in dirt and grime due to stumbling over your own feet nor did you look stiff when you tried to match the rhythm. You were confident and you wanted to show Nilou the progress that you both had achieved.
When you started to dance Nilou could feel her chest ache. You were so enchanting. She wondered if this was how you felt the first time you sneaked inside to watch her dance. She couldn't take her eyes away from you. 'Ah, an angel.' She thought as you smiled at her during your routine.
She didn't know how to express the emotions she felt inside her but she knew was she wanted to keep dancing with you in secret. Your dancing was for her and her viewing only.
Notes: My silly little headcanon for Pantalone is that he is someone who does his job too well so he is kind of bored of it. Meaning now he likes to use his money to do 'fun things'. I like to think he is also a very experimental and since he has the budget to do weird shit he just does. Have you ever had that weird feeling that you suddenly became very aware of yourself and have this realization that you have free will? Yeah he is constantly in that mindset. So now you, the reader will have to deal with his shenanigans. Sorry it's a bit shorter than the previous one. Enjoy. :)
CW: Blood, Self-inflicted injury, Poison consumption, Cursing, minor character death, mentions of fighting
HC: Reader is gender-neutral and has a masterless vision (Hydro). Reader is also a bit of an idiot in this one sorry.
Characters: Pantalone, Dottore (Mentioned)
Poison
When you first started working for Pantalone you expected him to be someone who did his work quite seriously. However, after observing him, you began to realize he was far from it. He was constantly bored, only putting in the bare minimum effort to get things done.
Reading and answering documents? If it wasn't from the Tsarista herself he barely even glanced at it.
Setting a budget? You watched in horror when he just wrote a million mora cheque and handed it to the fatui soldiers within a heartbeat.
Writing reports for the end of the month? He wouldn't even double-check it after he was done writing.
You began to wonder whether you were going to be ok working under this man when he looked like he barely put any thought into any of the work he was doing. That was before you read his reports.
His handwriting was what caught your eyes first. It was elegant, almost as if it was printed directly onto the paper. If you had not witnessed him writing the reports in front of your eyes you almost wouldn't believe it was written by hand. There were no scratched-out works to indicate a spelling mistake or even a spill of ink on the paper.
His writing was also straightforward. You were quite impressed seeing how detailed he could get while making sure not to write any unnecessary information. "You wrote this in one sitting?" you asked, skimming through his writing once more. Pantalone looked at you, tilting his head a bit to see your face which was still face-deep in his reports. He wondered why you were so impressed.
"After you write 100 of these it becomes muscle memory. It all feels the same to me." He answered, waiting for you to finally look up from the paper. Realizing you weren't going to stop reading, he huffed annoyed, grabbing the paper out of your hands.
You glared at him, to which he responded with a smile. "Let's do something fun. I'm tired of looking at these already."
Other than his unbothered attitude towards work, you found out that he had quite a twisted personality. His definition of 'fun' was helping you discover your new vision powers. However, unlike a normal person, he always tried to find a way to mess with you while doing so.
You were not blessed by the archons to receive a vision and that was one of the reasons you resented your sister. However, now that you held your sister's masterless vision in your hand, shining as brightly as it did when she was alive you wondered if the vision itself was a curse.
Before you started to work for him, you had to explain to Pantalone how you had gotten your hands on an active vision without being bestowed one personally. He listened eagerly as you began to recall the moment you were almost beaten to death by his soldiers. It pissed you off a bit having to recall a situation that was completely avoidable if his subordinates weren't such dicks but you continued till the end.
"So I assume you are a healer then? Your ability to heal quickly is quite extraordinary." He asked excitedly. You roll your eyes, sitting back against the velvet cushioned seat, sinking into the comfort of the chair. You didn't expect him to ask so many questions. At this point, he pretty much heard your entire life story since you left Snezhnaya.
"If we somehow found a way to reactivate masterless visions as you did, then maybe we could get rid of the whole delusion production we have going on here. " Pantalone remarked, getting up from his seat. He made his way to his desk, pulling out what seemed to be an envelope opener from his desk. The sharp edges made it fitter to be a dagger. "It would make the process cheaper." He finished, slightly glazing his fingers across the edge of the knife.
You irked an eyebrow at him, wondering what nonsense he planned on pulling now. He smiled at you, making his way back to you. Instead of sitting back in his seat across from you, he stood right next to you. Pulling his glove off his right hand, he began to speak. "Since you are a healer, and a quick one at that, I want to see if that applies to others as well."
Before you could react, he stabbed himself in the palm, dragging the blade from the bottom of his pinkie to the end of his wrist. You jumped out of your chair in shock, knocking back the chair which lead to a resounding thud in the room. You stared at him in disbelief. He put the dagger down on the table, which stained the white cloth lace effectively. He pushed his scarred bloody hand toward you. "Fix it."
You were surprised to see how unphased, his smile never escaping his lips. You could feel a sudden pressure fill the room. You didn't know what you did to heal yourself before, the healing just happened on its own and now Pantalone wants you to heal him in an instant!
You could feel yourself panic, his eyes watching you carefully while you tried to process what to do next. Maybe it was the ringing in your ears due to the stress which made you lose your train of thought or the way you could see his blood flowing between his fingers and dripping on the red carpet floor but without a second thought, you reached for his hand, slowly bringing it towards your lips.
Pantalone watched you, dumbfound, as you placed a soft kiss on his hand. Almost in an instant, he could see stitches made of water form, mending his skin and cleaning up his wounds. The water shined a bright blue light which highlighted all the details of your face. After the wound was stitched by the water threads, the light faded like vapor into the air. It almost looked as if he had never stabbed his hand at all. The only proof it happened was from the blood laced on the knife, the floor, and now on your lips. He wondered if it would stain. Red seemed to be your color.
You let his hand go and he pulled it closer to his face, inspecting it. No scabs or scars. Almost an instant recovery. His face of shock began to spark into a smile. You could see his eyes light up with excitement like a man who had just won the lottery. "What am I? Some kind of prince for you to kiss my hand like that?" He laughed, as he watched your face heat up.
"I panicked! I have never done this before!" You retort back, trying to forget the stunt that you just pulled. "Just be glad it worked!" You huffed, crossing your arms and turning away so you would no longer have to face him anymore.
He watched as you turned away from him. 'Exciting.' He thought again. He has never seen someone with the ability to heal this quickly. Questions flooded his head in an instant. How many times you could heal yourself in a battle until your limit was reached? How many people could you heal at once? What exactly was too much? He just had to find out.
He pulled out a handkerchief from his coat. "Well you better start finding another way to heal, I don't think I can explain to my coworkers why my new bodyguard keeps kissing me whenever I get hurt." You turned back around to yell at him only to be stopped by a handkerchief being placed on your lips, wiping off the blood that was on your face. Sadly for him, the color didn't stain.
---
Another thing you noticed when working alongside Pantalone was the fact he kept most meetings with clients short. So imagine your surprise when he kicked you out of his office for longer than 30 minutes. You stayed stationed out his door, whistling a tune out of boredom. You were not allowed to venture far away from him since you were technically his bodyguard, but you never could stay in the same room as him while he conducted his meetings since you were not a registered Fatui soldier.
You could hear panicked muffles and the moving of chairs inside the room, indicating that he was done. You stood up straight against the wall, watching his client storm out of the room in a hurry. You curiously peeked inside to see Pantalone still in his seat. His eyes locked with yours and his fake smile drifted away, forming into a more genuine one. He beckoned you inside and you complied.
He stood up from his seat, stretching his limbs while you entered the room, closing the door behind you. "Tough meeting?" "Very." He answered, yawning. "He just wouldn't give up. He said I was being cheap with the costs."
You hummed at him, making your way toward him. You eyed his desk. There were two cups and a teapot placed for both him and his guest. One cup was visibly empty while the other one remained full. "You're not going to drink that?" You asked.
Pantalone looked down at the cup of tea before giving you a shrug. "Not really." He turned to look out the window. His client slowly made his way toward the gate. His movements becoming more sluggish the closer he went to the door. Pantalone watched him as he began to slow down before completely passing out on the snowy floor. He didn't even make it past the gate. The fatui soldiers nearby began to drag him out of Pantalone's vision. He sighed to himself, turning back to face you. The cup of tea was no longer on his desk and in your hands.
He watched in horror as you placed the cup of tea to your lips. You drank it in an instant, licking your lips to make sure you got every last drop of it. It was sweet and you could taste a hint of floral in it. "What was in it? Limp grass? Sweet flower?" You asked, you had never tasted such a unique blend before.
"Poison." "Huh?" The room fell entirely silent. You and Pantalone stared at each other, waiting for something to happen. He spoke up again. "It was poison."
Your hands began to shake. "Why did you poison both cups?!" You shouted, the cup dropping from your hands and shattering on the ground. You grabbed your neck, you could feel it tingle and you began to worry the effects were already happening. "It was just the easiest option! Why did you drink it in the first place?!" He yelled back, making his way towards you. He grabbed you by the shoulders to hold you steady.
"It smelled nice! I didn't want it to go to waste!" You retort back. Pantalone grabbed you by the face, roughly turning your head around while you could feel tears stream down your face. You didn't want to die because of something so stupid. The tears were more of embarrassment than fear. "Do you feel anything?" Pantalone asked, a lot quieter. His face was full of concern trying to see if any of the visible symptoms he was told would surface on you.
You shook your head, the tears still streaming down your face. "My throat just feels a bit tingly, nothing else." You answered, sniffling a bit. Pantalone frowned. The poison effects were supposed to be in an instant. He had just watched someone die by the exact poison that you consumed. However, it seemed nothing was happening at all. "Are you perhaps immune to it?" He asked. His hand never left your face. He wiped some tears away as you slowly began to calm down.
You could feel yourself frown too. He let you go when you pushed him away to touch your face and neck again, you really did not feel anything else. His face of concern now lighting up again. You knew that face the minute he began to smile again. It was his 'something fun' face. You could feel yourself turn red from embarrassment. "You mean I was crying over nothing?" You mumbled, now ashamed of thinking you were going to die such a stupid death.
"How fascinating!" Pantalone exclaimed, you watched him circle you excitedly, looking you up and down as if you were the most incredible thing that he has ever witnessed with his eyes. "You're immune to poison! That's incredible! Do you know how common it is to be poisoned like that? This is wonderful." You watched as he excitedly babbled to you. "I thought I was going to die!" You whined, covering your face in your hands to hide your shame while he continued to circle you.
Pantalone was having the time of his life. Not only were you a quick healer, but you also were immune to poison! Ever since he had met you again it felt like he was a child discovering the world for the first time. His usual harbringer life which was only full of paperwork and meetings now had some spice to it. He looked at you, seeing the red tint on your face seeping through the gaps of your fingers. 'Red was most certainly your color' he thought, a playful grin resting on his face. What other surprises could you show him? He just had to know.
"I wonder…" You immediately look up from your hands to see him eye the teapot on his desk. You put two and two together. He looked back at you, your eyes locking and now stuck in a staring match, waiting to see who would make the next move. Pantalone was the first to break, immediately diving towards the teapot. You followed suit, trying to grab it before he could do something stupid yet again.
Sadly you were not quick enough. He grabbed the pot putting it up to his lips, chugging the tea from the spout. He dropped the teapot after he was done, the pot crashing right next to the shattered cup on the floor. You could see tea drip from the side of his mouth. He smirked at you, while all you could do was stare at him in disappointment. "Fix it."
---
You healed him again. Since you began training to use the vision you were glad this time you could conjure up your healing magic through your hands instead of having to kiss him. He frowned when you did so. "It would have been a lot more fun if you had kept kissing me instead." You rolled your eyes at him. "Just be glad I bothered saving you. You could have died just now!" He gave you a wide smiled grin that you wanted to punch right off his face. Who knew he would be such a pain in the ass to work with.
He lay on the couch, still recovering from the poison he had consumed. The side effects of the poison were still present even after you had saved him from certain death. It seemed your healing ability was mostly efficient to you than to others. You noted that you probably had to train more to improve this. "It was a powerful poison. I'm surprised the only thing you felt was a tingle." He groaned, clutching his head in pain. "Who would make such a poison like that?" You asked, immediately reaching to fetch the bottle of water on the stand nearby. You handed it to him and he gladly took it.
"The Doctor of course. Well to be fair, I commissioned him to make it." He answered, chugging the bottle within seconds. "I wanted to find more interesting ways to, uh, get rid of unwanted presences and he always delivered as long as I funded it." Pantalone didn't look you in the eyes when he said it. He handed you the water bottle which you kept back on the stand, alongside the rest of the empty bottles of water that he had been chugging down for the past few hours. You found the easiest method to heal others was using a consumable material. You picked another bottle out from a pack from the floor, expelling your magic to give it healing properties. You sighed, looking at Pantalone who watched your hands carefully as they lit up with magic droplets and rings of water.
"The poison itself didn't do anything exciting. He just went into a fit, stormed out saying it was too hot in here, and just passed out on the snow." You looked at him, disapprovingly. He looked up at you innocently. " Do you REALLY not have anything better to do?" He hummed, which was enough to make you sigh once again.
"The poison was not that exciting, but I'm glad I got to see you do something fun again." You glared at him and he returned it with another wide toothy smile.
Note: I have been reading a lot of Pantalone fanfiction and most mention him giving gifts, pampering you or they are those very dark ones where he is not so kind to you. I wanted to read one where he sees you as an equal since most just gives of sugar baby or very obvious power dynamic vibes. Like we barely have any information about him. Lets make as much shit up before hoyoverse finally reveals more about him. This is also going to be very long. I might also make more parts since I have a slow burn idea for this. Enjoy.
CW: Fighting, blood, mentions of a character's death, Cursing.
HC: Reader is gender neutral and has a reactivated vision (Hydro). Reader is also very unlucky, pessimistic and full of rage.
Characters: Pantalone
Rampage
You wondered whether the archons decided to curse you from the day you were born. Born in the coldest day that Snezhnaya had to face, the village leader had told your parents that while your sister would bring them joy you were going to be the one for their downfall. You scoffed when you were old enough to understand what they were saying. You weren't the reason that Snezhnaya had not escaped the cold winters for decades. It was the Tsarista's who had done it. But of course no one would say her name in vain and you too had to keep quiet if you wanted to keep your head.
While your sister grew up amongst the praising adults, you hanged out amongst the rest of the kids just like you. Hungry and cold, fishing or hunting in the woods. "I'm going to be a fatui solider when I grow up. I heard they get to hold cool weapons. That would definitely help me hunt better " Said one of them. "I want to work under the Tsarista. Maybe I will get a vision if I get her blessings. " Said another.
" I just want to get a lot of Mora when I grow up." You look up towards the voice. A young boy spoke softly, his hair was long and ragged but you knew it kept him warm. His glasses were crooked with broken lenses and he also had ragged clothes just like you and the rest of the kids who sat near the campfire which was slowly dwindling.
You scoffed at them all. " I just want to get the hell out of this damn place." You mumbled. That was the final conversation you had with them. Quiet whispers of dreams for a future that barely had any fruition. However things always go in unexpected ways.
When you made your way back to the your house that night, you were bombarded with hugs. You froze, shocked by the sudden action, something that you had barely experienced. Especially from your parents. You looked at their faces which were full of joy. "Your sister got a vision! We are saved!"
The rest of it was a blur. You and your family making their secret escape from Snezhnaya that same night. You didn't get to say good bye to the kids at the campsite. Not that you cared, you were finally leaving the country that the archon has abandoned years ago. You were going to have a future.
---
Years had passed, yet you were still living in the same conditions as when you did back when you were at Snezhnaya. Your parents had put their whole heart, time and money onto your sister who they praised you became a star in Fontaine with the Hydro vision that was bestowed upon her. How pitiful it was to find out that she had no talent for it.
She couldn't hold a weapon, nor read a spell. A vision in the hands of someone who couldn't even use it properly. You had to hold back your bitter laugh whenever your parents would mumble that she would one day become a famous adventurer. 'Delusional people' You thought bitterly.
You joined the adventure guild alongside her. Even if you didn't hold a vision you could fight, a spear was enough to hold monsters back. Even if you weren't the most prevalent fighter, joining the guild made you realize your love for research. You began to write articles after articles for the Fontaine newsletter hoping for a moment of stability if one of the articles was received well.
However as usual, things almost never go your way and you genuinely still wondered if the archons just liked to mess with you. You held out your newest article to the editorial manger. You could feel yourself sweating bullets. You watched in disbelief as he sighed, setting the papers back down into your hands. "I still don't think you have the grasp of this yet. "
"But you barely read it " you mumbled.
"It's not just about the content, it needs to be interesting. Eye-catching. Fontaine is a place of innovation. We want something new and exciting. Not something factual. " He answered. "Maybe you should aim to be a Sumeru researcher instead. However if you want to try again," He handed you a magazine.
It was flashy, full of various texts.
'What the stars says about your future!'
'The new hit series "A Legend Of Sword" is now available in Fontaine!'
'The latest hit inventions of Fontaine near you!"
"This is what the people want to read" You looked at him in disbelief as he gave a weak smile before heading away. You stared at the magazine again. Looking back at the first title boldly printed on the cover. You open the magazine and pull up the page, slowly skimming to your birthday.
" Your days of tragedy are almost over! Big changes are going to happen soon! Don't turn down any new offers which you are going to come across! Good luck!"
You could feel yourself grip the magazine tightly, the cover crumpling under your hands. Even the magazine was somehow making fun of you at this point. You huffed annoyed, chucking the magazine and the envelope in your hand into the trash before making your way back home defeated yet again.
As you tried to figure out how to make ends meet for the month, you slowly walked towards your house, to see members of the adventurer guild near by. Your mother sobbing into her hands while your father looked worse than ever. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, making your way towards them.
---
Your sister had died. Ironically she died by drowning during a mission. You tried not to laugh. You were not happy but how could you not laugh when your life felt like a joke at this point. Was the stars mocking you? Was this the so called big change that was happening in your life? How fucking incredible. The rage that had been building up inside you was close to spilling out.
It didn't help while through sobs your mom kept wailing 'Why did it have to be her. Why couldn't it have been you?' while your father would not look you in the eyes. You wished you had died instead too, at least you wouldn't have to live with people like this anymore.
You held onto the now blank vision. It used to shine a bright blue and was safely placed as a clip in your sisters hair. How funny it was that now the blank vision was laid on your hand. You gripped it tightly before shoving it in your back pocket.
The wails from your mother would not stop, you couldn't hold it at this point. You began to get up and make your way outside. "They were right, your birth was going to be the downfall for us." You could hear your mothers shout one final time before you closed the door behind them as loud as you can. You sigh, looking at the sky, stars barely visible.
"Fuck you stars."
---
Days had passed. Ends were barely being met and you knew your parents were in no shape to work anymore. You began to work odd jobs. Any jobs that the adventure guild could provide at this point. You gave up writing, you didn't have the time for that anymore.
"Thank you for doing this delivery in such short notice." A customer told you, handing the fees for the delivery to you. You smiled at them. "Don't mention it."
You couldn't even remember how many times have you said that at this point. All the easiest and quick paying jobs involved last minute deliveries. You counted the Mora in the bag that they handed you. It was barely enough for a day. You sighed, dropping it back into your bag before making your way back to the Adventure's guild quest board to hunt for another job.
You scanned the board, seeing not many interesting ones that you could handle. Just as you were almost ready to give up for the day, your eyes locked onto a flyer for another delivery. It was a delivery for a carriage to Snezhnaya. You looked at it in awe when you saw the reward amount. Almost half a million mora! What a steal! The delivery was almost estimated to take only a week! You immediately took the flyer, heading towards Katherine to find more details. You were not going to let it slide.
You were informed that the earliest it could start was the next day. Excitedly you went back home to pack. The amount would be enough for you not to worry for at least a couple of months. Paying back any missed house payments or food bills would be a breeze. You thought maybe your luck was finally turning.
You stepped inside your house, excitedly calling out to your parents. They had not been in work for a while since your sister had passed away. However now you could tell them there was no worries for now. At least you thought you could. You were greeted with an empty house. You looked around, almost everything was left how it was.
You went inside, stopping at the kitchen to see a note had been left at the table. Picking it up, you began to read.
"We're sorry. You're an adult now so take care of yourself. "
All that was written in the note. You immediately felt your blood run cold. You rushed to your room, pulling out a dirtied box from under your bed. It held all your funds. The amount you had been saving up for the last couple of months to be able to pay back all the pending payments you and your parents had accumulated. However opening the box, all you could see was it was empty.
They had taken the money and ran. You don't know where, and now they have left you alone with all their debts to you. You knew the next time you ever come across them, you were going to make sure they end up just like your sister.
---
You sold the house and any other possessions that was in the house to try pay off the debts left. Luckily for you it was enough. 'Enough to start over' you thought. You decided the best solution would be to become a wandering adventurer instead.
You packed your things and began to make your way to the designated sight for the start of the delivery journey. The merchants were very nice. They told you stories of all the place that they had gone to. You kept a mental note on where those places were since you planned on going there after this commission.
The journey itself was pretty tame. The weather was relatively calm and only a few slimes and hilichurls bothered to attack. You smiled to yourself satisfied.
You were only supposed to take them to the boarder. So you were not worried, at least you were not worried until you realized who was waiting near the boarder. Fatui soldiers. They looked big and intimidating. Their delusions showed clearly that they had some sort of elemental power with them. You could feel your heart begin to quicken. Something was not right.
"Are you sure this is all that was ordered? " One of the fatui soldiers grumbled. The merchant hesitantly laughed. " I am certain. I can show you the records if you want confirmation." You watched in horror as the fatui soldier glared at him, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him of the ground. "Don't mock us. The Regrator is not someone who will order such a measly amount."
The soldier dropped the merchant to the ground. You immediately ran to him to see if he was alright. The merchant gave you a weak smile before trying to get up, only to be kicked back down. You were shocked, being a fatui agent must have gone to their head.
"Hey!" You yelled back, holding your spear tightly now. "He said he would show the records. Why are you being a dick about it?" The fatui soldier scoffed at you while the rest around him laughed. You could feel your rage pile up again. You pointed the spear at him. The fatui soldier raised an eyebrow at you. "Are you picking a fight?" He questioned. You sneered at him. "Why you asking? Scared to lose?"
You wondered if you shouldn't have said anything because the fatui soldier began to pick up his weapon. All you remembered was yelling at the merchants to run before rushing towards the soldier, successfully plunging the spear to his side. You felt a smile rise on your lips hearing him groan, only to be interrupted by a smack from the side, pushing you away. You could feel it sting but you pretended it barely did anything.
"Wow, two against one? I'm not even a vision user."
---
You don't know what you expected. You were not a vision user. They had delusions. They could use elemental energy to attack and all you had was your spear. You could hear their jeers and laughter while you tried to get yourself back up with the help of your spear which also looked as if it was in it's last legs. You could feel blood dripping down from your head. Scars from your body also bled non stop. You could feel yourself feeling faint.
'It isn't fair.' You thought. You had not felt comfort from the moment you had been born. Why had this been happening to you? So much for big changes and not turning down offers. All you had left in you was rage. Fuck your parents. Fuck your dead sister. Fuck the stars. Fuck the Tsaritsa and the rest of the archons in Teyvat You hoped they all dropped dead and become forgotten.
The fatui soldier kicked you one last time to the ground. You could feel blood almost instantly pool on the ground. How miserable it was that this was how you died. You felt your eyes close when suddenly you felt a slight warmth in your pockets. A sudden rush of energy filled you. You eyes immediately shot up and you could feel yourself stand up again.
The fatui soldiers looked at you in awe, watching you stand up as if you were not beaten to certain death just a minute ago. Your hand reached into your pocket, pulling out your sister's blank vision. However this time it no longer was blank. You watched it shine a bright blue color yet again. You gripped the vision, wickedly smiling at the fatui soldiers who began to hold up their weapons again.
"I'm going to fucking kill you all."
---
The sun was slowly setting in the horizon and Pantalone could feel the Snezhnaya air become colder along with it. He gripped his coat tighter, breathing out a huff of air to see the whisp of white smoke form due to the freezing temperatures. Pantalone sighed. Snezhnaya had not changed one bit. It remained cold and desolate even with all of the people around it. He could only pray that it will change after the Tsaritsa's vision becomes successfully granted.
Pantalone began to make his way out of his office, only to be stopped by a fatui agent who seemed to be in quite distress. Pantalone sighed yet again, working alongside the rest of the harbringers was tiring enough, he didn't want to deal with another problem today.
"Uh, Sir-"
"Make it quick."
The fatui agent yelped in fear. Pantalone folded his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow. "Well?"
"S-someone is having a rampage near the gates! Almost half of the guards have been knocked down! We kept bringing back up but they kept going! What should we do, Sir?" The fatui agent cried out, still trembling. Pantalone just stared in confusion.
"What does that have to do with me?" He asked, still confused about what was going on.
"They came here alongside some merchants. It was a package for you Sir!"
Pantalone thought about what he could have ordered to bring a crazy person along with it. "What was in the package?" "Wine, Sir!"
It began to click in his head. "Ah, the wine I had ordered from Mondsadt. " It was just some wine he had ordered for himself. It wasn't a big order so he just couldn't understand why such a huge problem occurred because of it. "What should we do sir?" The agent asked once again, still shaking in fear.
Pantalone looked at the agent before sighing once again. "Lead the way."
---
Pantalone looked in awe at the scene. Cicin mages, fatui agents and even the skirmishers laid on the snow covered floor groaning in pain. Blood trailed amongst them but they looked well enough to survive. Wails and sounds of clashing could be heard near by. The fatui agent that brought him here stood behind him, unable to move forward at this point
Curiously, Pantalone made his way towards the sound. He walked past and over the bodies on the ground in a quicken paced. Something exciting was happening for once and he was going to be able to witness it.
You don't remember how long you had been fighting at this point. However the stars were now visible and the scent of blood was prominent at this point. You could feel your vision begin to blur but you didn't care. Years of rage had lead up to this point and you finally could let it all out.
You heard footsteps and immediately turned your head towards where it was coming from. You picked up your spear and pointed at the person who popped out from the side. For the first time you faced an actual face instead of a fatui mask. A familiar face in fact.
His hair was long but it no longer stayed ragged. A pair of vintage glasses accompanied his face but they were no longer crooked or had broken lenses. Instead of the rags you remembered, he wore an outfit probably worth more than anything you had owned at this point. All you could stare before blurting out " I know you."
Pantalone could have said the same to you. You were still that feisty kid he remembered back when he was young. Always angry and ready to pick a fight. He could see the flames in your eyes and the way you gripped the spear ready to strike at him. You looked just the same to him as you did before. " You haven't changed at all it seems."
You scoffed. "You certainly did. What was your name again?" Pantalone sighed in relief. He gave you a sly smile and you could feel yourself go back into fight mode instantly. " The people here call me The Regrator." You glared at him while he raised his hands, pretending to be innocent " But i prefer Pantalone now. It's a nice surprise to see you again after all these years."
"I can't say the same to you. I did not have the most inviting welcome when I got here." You barked back at him. Pantalone looked down at the ground at the unconscious fatui soldiers. "My bad." He smiled. "Let me invite you in and give you a proper welcome."
---
Snezhnaya had changed. You couldn't tell whether the air was colder or whether the amount of fatui agents were just too abundant, but it felt more unwelcome than the last time you had been here. You could feel it in your skin. There was no love here.
Pantalone had invited you back to his abode, a building big enough to hold the entirety of your village back in the day. One room in his house was same size as the house you lived in back in Fontaine. You could only stare in awe, your head turning and looking at all the decorations and the beautiful architecture of the place. Snezhnaya was empty but the structures had never been this stunning.
Pantalone sat across you, staring at you while your eyes wandered around the room. You had not changed at all. He wondered what had happened ever since you had left Snezhnaya. It was your wish to get out of here, so why were you back sitting across him? He had so many questions to ask, however at this point he didn't know where to start. He called in a maid, who began to pour in tea and set an entry of food in front of you both.
"I would have offered some wine but it seemed my package was delayed. " He smiled at you while you turned to look and glare at him. "Maybe if your underlings learnt how to keep their hands to themselves and not touch the merchants then maybe your wine would have come on time." You retort back, Pantalone just looked back at you in excitement. Something was sparking in his eyes, he could feel something fun was going to happen if you stayed.
He continued to stare watching you gawk at the food. You reached for the little sandwiches with one hand and for the cup of tea with the other. You ate as if this was your last meal, who knew when you would get such good food again. "Were you always that good at fighting?" Pantalone asked. He watched as you stiffened, almost spilling the cup of tea but you kept your grip steady.
You coughed, the sandwich feeling a bit stuck in your throat by the sudden question. "My fighting has been the same as always. I was just able to last a lot longer." You finally looked at Pantalone directly, he was leaning towards to face you. His head in his hands watching you earnestly. You could feel a blush rise to your cheeks realizing he was watching you stuff your cheeks as if you were never fed in your entire life.
'Exciting.' He thought. Snezhnaya was cold and empty. Other than the Tsaritsa's vision slowly coming to fruition not much was happening around these desolate fields of snow and ice. Every day felt like a chore and Pantalone wanted something exciting.
"What if I offered you a job?" You squinted at him, as he continued to give you the same off smile since the very beginning. " I do not want to work under the Tsarista. Besides, what do I have to offer?" Pantalone straightened up, frowning at your refusal. "You just took down half of my agents. Why would I not offer one to you. Besides," he picked up his cup of tea to take a sip " You won't be working under the Tsarista's. You will be working for me."
You stared dumbfounded as he sipped his tea. Everything was going too fast. Your sister had passed away only a couple of months ago. Your parents have ran away with all your money only a day ago. You were almost beaten to death by a group of Fatui and now their boss who turned out to be someone you knew back in the day is offering a job to you.
You remembered the magazine, the stars. They promised big things. All of these were big and now you wondered, is this the offer I shouldn't turn down. You looked at the room you sat in. The ceiling was high, a chandelier in the middle. Everything in this room was worth more than anything you had earned your entire life. The man who owned this room was now offering you a job.
You still wanted to say fuck the stars but only an idiot would turn is offer down. "What will I have to do?" Pantalone looked at you, his smile feeling genuine for once. "You'll be my right hand. Basically a body guard, keep me company." You stared at him and back at the room, to the food on the table and the teacup in your hand. "I'm in."
He set the teacup down, extending his hand towards you. You set yours down and followed suit. Shaking his hand you heard him say. "I can't wait to start working with you, partner."
