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• Mha, haikyuu, genshin
You should check out:
mha:
exes to roommates to lovers with monoma
haikyuu:
3:47 pm (tsukishima kei)
genshin:
arranged marriage with scaramouche
Masterlists:
mha masterlist
haikyuu masterlist
genshin masterlist
looking for a certain character? look up their name💌 in my tags to find posts and reblogs!
synopsis: In other words, five times Dottore swore he hated you and the one time he realized it was the opposite.
includes: dottore w/ gn! reader
notes: I wanted to try my hand at these 5+1 fics, and Dottore seemed to be the best candidate. Behold, 6k+ words of fluff. Reader and Dottore are complete menaces (and not very good people) and you also throw a book at someone.
I. blindness
Much to anyone’s surprise, Zandik was having what he would call a good day. Today was the last day of all of his especially boring and easy classes, the illegal parts he secretly ordered came in, and he would be able to stay in his dorm for a while before classes started again. A break from these all these so-called scholars would be much appreciated. He was growing rather tired of them and was greatly looking forward to the much-needed retreat of progressing his research. He could feel it already - the sweet sensation of tinkering with the new parts quickened his pace.
What he was not expecting was his door to be open, voices and rustling noises coming from inside. Immediately a frown appeared and his good feeling was lost. Quickly, he entered the room and saw an unknown figure donning the Akademiya’s robes, and an academic counselor he recognized standing in his room. Now he was glad he made sure to put his tools away. Ones that were totally not prohibited.
“What is the meaning of this?” He didn’t try to hide the loathing in his voice.
The counselor shifted in place, clearly not wanting to be here anymore due to his presence. You, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care. In fact, Zandik could see that you were smiling.
“Ah, hello Zandik. Good to see you are doing well,” she lied through her teeth. “This here is [Name], your-”
“Your new roommate!” you chimed in. The counselor shrunk in her place even more, probably regretting all her life choices now as Zandik’s laser gaze was on her now.
“I thought I made myself clear when I informed you that I did not want anyone in my dorm?”
“Yes, well, as per the rules of the Akademiya, every scholar should try to have a roommate for the purpose of cooperation…” Her voice became progressively smaller as Zandik continued to burn his gaze onto her, “a-and collaboration. Regardless of your thoughts, [Name] has to try to dorm with someone, and that someone happens to be you.” You nodded your head in agreement as the counselor spoke.
“So please, um, try to get along!” She quickly excused herself and scurried out of the room, leaving the two of you alone. You smiled at him yet again, sticking your hand out for a handshake, to which he only spared a glance and turned away.
“Pleased to meet you! I’m excited to live with you!”
“We’ll see about that,” he scoffed. You’d be out of here in less than a week, just like the few other roommates he had. But to think he had to spend his break with a nuisance in his room now? That irritated him to no end. Though what confused him more was your sunny disposition. Quite literally everyone in the Akademiya knew him and acted the complete opposite.
“Hehe, sure. By the way, I call the top bunk bed!”
It was from that moment he knew.
Zandik hated you.
II. relentless
Zandik had been giving you the cold shoulder since the moment you stepped into his (now yours too) dorm. You knew this would be a tough journey, but damn. At least he was good eye candy and wasn’t loud. (If you excused his eerie laughter in the middle of the night.)
On this particular night, Zandik was at his makeshift workbench tinkering with Archon knows what, as usual. Unfortunately, even though you found it to be interesting, you were unfamiliar with all of that mechanical stuff. You always would look at him while he worked, and while he would sometimes snap at you to stop staring, he never actually did anything about it. Today was one of those nights.
“You’ve certainly been at that for a while,” you commented. Zandik showed no sign of reaction.
“You don’t want anything to eat? Or drink?” you continued.
“Don’t have time,” he responded with no hesitation, far too interested in his new play toys, and also wanting to shut down this conversation immediately. But, you didn’t think these were the ones he usually used. You think he kept the deadlier ones hidden away in case you reported him or something.
“To consume something?”
“To make something right now,” he corrected.
“Well, yeah, I know. That’s why I’m going to make it for you,” you clarified, kind of surprised (but also not) that you needed to say it directly. This managed to make your roommate pause.
“So you are offering to cook for me?” he clarified your statement yet again.
“Yes?” This time he freed his hand of items completely and looked you dead in the eye.
“Explain.”
“E-Explain? Well, I mean, we’re roommates and all, habiting the same space. It only makes sense that we do things we each other once in a while.”
“So you expect a transaction.”
“A transaction…? Huh? No! This isn’t some kind of business deal or whatever. No, I do not expect anything back from you. I am doing this for you because I want to. There’s nothing more to it.” There was no response from Zandik, and he was silent as if he was trying to process what you just said, which was rather cute.
“I do not understand.”
You mentally sighed. “That’s fine, for now. I’m gonna whip something up anyway.” Before he could protest further, you disappeared into the tiny kitchen the Akademiya’s dorms provided.
You had to think of a suitable snack. He probably wouldn’t eat it if it was too cumbersome and distracting from whatever he was doing. He needed some kind of finger food… and you had just the idea. You believed that when you were a struggling Akademiya student, it was only natural to have some good recipes up your sleeve.
Samosas. Delicious bite-sized pieces of goodness. Although they would take a bit to make, you didn’t think Zandik would care. He hardly realized the difference between minutes and hours when he was in this kind of scientific state. And you were glad you stocked up the pantry with your own products because you really had no idea how Zandik lived in these conditions.
Soon enough, you had made a portion for him (and secretly snuck a few for yourself) and you had also made a piping hot cup of coffee, a student’s best friend of course. You then plated it and brought it to your roommate, setting it down in front of him wordlessly, to which he seemed surprised.
Zandik did not realize you were even still doing that. He thought you were bluffing. But now that such aromatic food was right in front of him, his stomach came to life and he noticed the dryness of his throat. With squinted eyes, he tentatively picked up one of the samosas and inspected it. (Did he think you poisoned it or something?) But then he popped one into his mouth and began to chew experimentally. His face did not betray his emotions, but your questions were answered by his next actions.
“Hmm,” he said matter-of-factly, before nomming on another samosa. You peered at him from the top bunk bed as he polished off the bowl of samosas rather quickly. Now, he was waiting for the coffee to cool.
“Sooooo, how was my cooking?” you questioned, already internally knowing the answer even if he didn’t admit it.
“It was convenient,” he admitted. Most of the time, Zandik did not cook for himself, as he found the process a waste of time when he could be doing other things.
“I’m glad. And the taste?”
“It was fine.” Actually, it was far more than fine. The constant consumption of the easiest food to make had dulled his taste buds and made him accustomed to bland food. Though your food was quite tasty, Zandik was not about to let you get a big head now.
“Just fine? Seemed like you scarfed them down pretty quickly,” you teased.
“The quicker I eat, the quicker I am able to devote my full attention to the research,” he corrected you. You pouted but still felt pleased.
“Then I’ll make something for you every day.”
He felt on guard again at your kindness. “Why?”
You raised an eyebrow at him. “Didn’t I already say? ‘Cause we’re roommates and all, and also soon-to-be friends. And friends usually help each other out, yeah? And also because I’m kind of worried how you eat the same thing over and over.”
He immediately frowned at your proposal. “I am not your friend. And never will be.”
You shrugged your shoulders and moved to lie down instead, pulling the blankets over you. “Ehe, we’ll see. I have a way with words, you know!” You smiled and winked at him, to which you received a deadpan glare. “Good night, Zandik! Oh, and make sure to clean up afterward!”
“Hmph.”
Friend. He toyed with the word and idea in his head, mocking it internally. Friend… friend, as if that could ever be feasible. Of course not.
Zandik hated you.
III. possessiveness
It had been a while since you moved in with Zandik, and he stopped treating you with disdain. Though, Zandik was Zandik, so you still got a tongue-lashing from time to time. (But you could never take him seriously anymore, which irritated him.)
Lately, though, he had begun to show you some of his research, and even begun to let you tinker with some of his stuff! Only while he was present of course, but you were elated. Though, he seemed to be enjoying this more than you somehow. You could ask one question and suddenly he’d be on a tangent. But you were just happy he was talking to you.
You had been upgraded from hated stranger to tolerable stranger to okay acquaintance in Zandik’s eyes. You had insisted on calling him your friend, to which he still did not understand, but for some reason he allowed it. Perhaps it was because it felt nice.
Actually, you were a helpful, okay acquaintance. You frequently looked over his notes for him, correcting spelling and grammar errors from when he scribbled so fast. Tidied up his bed and work space too. The best part was that you had begun to run errands for him so he didn’t need to leave the dorm himself. After these series of events, you had declared yourself his assistant without even asking him first, but he supposed that was okay. He valued usefulness. And maybe your company a bit, too. And although he enjoyed silence the most, maybe he liked how nice your voice was in the background.
Today was one of those days where he waited for you to get back from an errand. It was quick and easy, and the seller wasn’t too far away. Like always, he occupied himself with his work and awaited your return, which proved to be fruitful as usual. But after a while, something did not feel right.
Zandik could not put his finger on it. Why did he have this feeling in the back of his mind? He was quite irritated at this itch he could not reach. Perhaps you would have-
That’s right. You. You. You. Where were you? That’s when he realized that you were gone longer than you usually were. To think that his body and mind would get so accustomed to your presence. He wasn’t sure whether to feel disgusted or not by this feeling.
He wondered what was the holdup. But there was naught he could do except wait. And wait. And wait. Until the jiggle of the doorknob drew his attention and you stepped through the door with the items he requested.
“Hey, Zandik,” you greeted, locking the door behind you and dropping the bag on the table. He didn’t respond, but you didn’t think that was anything strange since he never cared much for greetings. “Got your stuff,” you continued your normal routine, kicking off your shoes and shedding your sweater, expecting the silence to continue.
“What took you so long?” You almost did a double-take when he spoke.
“What?”
“What took you so long?” he repeated.
“Oh, on the way back, some students stopped me and asked if I could explain some stuff to them. I guess I did take a bit longer than usual. Why?” you questioned. Did he really notice the difference? It hadn’t even been that long, maybe ten to fifteen minutes extra that you took. And plus, it’s not like you two were doing anything together. Just sitting in silence with metal clanking as usual.
When you did not get any response, you raised your eyebrows and tip-toed your way over to him to get a glimpse of his expression. It was mostly empty if you ignored the eye twitching and the downward curve. You had to dig your fingernails into your palm to control the chuckles.
“Could it be… did you miss little old me, Zandik?”
“Perish the thought,” Zandik immediately interrupted before you could even finish your sentence. “Your whereabouts are not my concern,” he vehemently denied.
“Mhm, alright then.”
“I simply do not see why you need to talk to those so-called scholars. They are not worth the time or energy to even look at.”
Ah, there it was. So he was jealous. You understood now.
“Well, I was just doing what a normal, nice person would do.”
“The fact that you are still living with me proves you’re not normal. As for the nice part, you don’t need to do that for anyone.”
“Oh really? So what should I do, turn a blind eye to everyone else and save the sweet words for you?” you joked.
“Yes. Were you not the one who declared yourself as my assistant? Assistants always follow their seniors,” he stated matter-of-factly.
You were completely surprised at his mini confession, that if you spoke carelessly, you knew you’d stutter. But you weren’t complaining. You ignored the heat on your face, and matched his words.
“Hmm… I would say in that case, you can’t speak to anyone either, but it’s not like you do that anyway,” you said simply, biting down on your lip to prevent laughing. Zandik immediately scowled at your statement.
“I don’t need, want, or care to speak to anyone. But since you clearly need to be around these low-tier scholars, you can get out this instant.” You couldn’t help but double over with giggles now at his defensiveness and landed on Zandik’s bed. He huffed. You loved when he acted like this.
“Ah, I’m so glad I asked to dorm with you,” you giggled with a dopey grin. Zandik paused his work, taking in what you just said.
“You… what?”
You turned to lay on your side and propped yourself up on your arm. “Hmm? Did I say something strange?” you questioned.
“You chose to live here? With me, of your own choice? I knew it was strange when the counselor chose me of all people. Surely there were others available?” Zandik was utterly baffled as he had now temporarily abandoned his tinkering to gauge your expression.
“Yes! Shall I recount the exact events for you?” Without waiting for an answer, you prattled on. “Okay so, I went to the counselor lady and she wanted me to dorm with this random guy, and I was like okay cool, but then I got this little sneak peek of the list she had and I saw your name in fancy handwriting. And then I was like, hey, that’s the smart cute morally dubious guy that I hear people talking about! So then I said, nah, give Zandik to me instead please- hey, why is your face kind of red?”
You ended your little rambling and sat up straight, leaning into your roommate’s face. “Hey, are you embar-” Before you could finish your sentence, he quickly spun back around to face his desk, trying to block out your incessant giggling.
“Shut up,” he hissed in reply, quick to defend himself. “No one in this school would willingly live with me.” And how dare you call him that? That… c-word.
“Well,” you clutched your chest to prevent any more laughter, “That’s clearly not true anymore, because I’ve been here for quite a while! But wow, your face!” You toppled back onto his bed grinning. He swore you were brain-dead.
Zandik hated you.
IV. like-mindedness
Zandik did not like being in public. That was something you came to realize and understand rather quickly. For the most part, you had no qualms with it. You were quite content with bantering with him in the privacy of the dorm or in the desert or forest looking for whatever specimens he wanted. There were no distractions, no other people to give you weird stares or looks.
It was another normal day for you, and you came to realize that you’d actually been living with Zandik for quite a while. You liked to think that you two were rather close now. The time had flown by quickly for you, but apparently very long for others. To say people were baffled was an understatement.
People were shocked, fascinated, intrigued, fearful, any word you could think of, at how you managed to dorm with Zandik and still be alive, mentally and physically. Many people even applauded you for managing to live with Zandik for so long. You had people coming up to you asking for tips on how you confronted your fears so easily. The crazier ones even wanted to write a paper on your mental fortitude. (Thankfully your roommate hadn’t found out about that yet.)
Today, however, the two of you decided to stop by Puspa Café after class. It was a nice day to dine outside, and the coffee and food there was excellent. You had no complaints, especially since this was your first time doing this kind of thing with Zandik. It was going quite well, as the two of you read over your notes in silence until whispers began to penetrate the tranquility.
“Hey, look over there. Is that Zandik?”
“Oh wow, you’re right! This is my first time seeing him outside of class.”
“Really? This is my first time seeing him in general.”
“Well yeah, he only goes to class and then back to his dorm. Everyone knows he’s a freak.” Their blathering continued and you twitched your eye, unable to concentrate. You peaked at Zandik but he looked unbothered.
“We’re right in front of them and can still talk about you like that?” You were simultaneously shocked and impressed at their audacity and stupidity. Zandik simply shrugged his shoulders, his uncaring attitude shining through as he was practically immune to these kinds of scenarios now. You huffed and flipped a page in your book. Sometimes you wished you could borrow some of his ability to not care what people think.
But there was only so much you could take. And Archons above, these scholars and their incessant talking were annoying. You had no idea how Zandik could continue to read so intently with this racket. At least he was more pretty when he was quiet.
Slowly you stood up, and Zandik glanced at you, a bit confused but not too interested, still absorbed in his own book. His eyes returned to the text, but then he heard a loud thump from the side. Now more of his attention was on you, as he saw you now closed the thick book shut.
“[Name]?” he questioned, raising an eyebrow. You were now retrieving some Mora, probably for the bill, and laying it on the table. “Do you have business to attend to?”
“Business? You know what, yes, yes I do,” you chuckled a bit eerily. “But it’ll only take a couple of seconds.” With that, you picked up the textbook and lifted it up and down like a weight. Finally, you positioned yourself properly and raised your arm toward the direction of the student.
You threw the fucking textbook.
It was a sight that Zandik would never forget. A heavy book that would hurt anyone’s arm from lugging it around, flew through the air, and with uncanny precision, knocked the scholar right in the face.
It was dead silence for a few seconds.
And then chaos.
Screams erupted from the other students at the table at the sight of their fallen friend. A commotion was born as people scrambled to the boy. Zandik was having a bit of trouble comprehending what just happened. Yes, he just understood that you just threw a textbook at a guy, but he did not understand at the same time. Even he knew not to harm someone in public. (Private was a different case.) And you did it with no hesitation, no logical thought process of what would happen. It was an activity far from what most scholars did.
While he was in a little stupor, you quickly pushed your papers into your bag and slung it over your shoulder. “Hey! Teyvat to Zandik! Don’t just sit there! We have to leave the scene!” you scolded him, taking initiative and stuffing his work into his bag as well. He wasn’t the most pleased with how you treated his precious research material but that was only a fleeting thought compared to what just occurred. You threw his bag over your shoulder as well and cursed at how heavy his damn textbook was. But what he did not expect was what you did next.
Rolling your shoulders back to prepare yourself for the weight, you then grabbed his hand and started pulling him away.
Zandik then had no words to describe his emotions. He could only focus on the prickles that arose from all over his body at such prolonged and close contact with you. He was used to your teasing - running your hands through his hair on occasion, or leaning in close to his ear to whisper something, but this simply broke his scale. He felt as though he was moving unconsciously, feet moving in sync with yours, and he had no idea how to feel or even understand this phenomenon.
“Hey, I know you can walk faster than that!” Your voice snapped him out of his unfamiliar sensations, and that’s when he realized what was happening. You had actually managed to drag him so far along that you were both probably halfway through the city looking like complete, bumbling fools. And you were still holding his hand, and that’s when he realized again how lovely you looked in this moment. He quickly discarded those thoughts.
“Release me this instant, [Name],” he threatened, immediately putting his vexed look back up. He could feel your warmth penetrating his whole body just from your hand.
“Sure, sure~! Let’s turn into this alley to hide,” He could tell that was a complete lie because your laugh was so loud it probably rang out all the way to Port Ormos. Zandik scoffed and bit his lip to prevent a smile.
Soon enough, you both reached a secluded part of the city, away from all the hustle and bustle and caught your breath. You slid down a wall in relief and closed your eyes while Zandik had his eyes trained on you for what you just put him through.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” he raised an eyebrow at your crazy behavior. You peeked at him and put your hand on your chin, in a thinking position.
“Hmm… well, that was quite fun, was it not?!” you tried to keep a straight face but you could not help but laugh at your friend’s incredulous expression.
“You- we, we are going to get in trouble with the dean you know. And the counselors,” he said, trying to bite down the smile that kept rising when he remembered the expression on the assaulted student’s face.
“We’ll be fineeeee,” you shrugged your shoulders and stretched your letters. “Haven’t you gotten into more trouble with the head administration with your little controversial experiments? Besides, if we’re lucky, he’ll be too scared to report the incident,” you laughed, completely nonchalant about what you just did.
“Hmph. The blame is on you if anything happens,” he attempted to speak in an irritated voice, but he could not help but be amused. A bit elated, even. There were many people he wanted to see get chucked with a textbook. And do worse things too.
But a bit of the thrill came from how you did that with no hesitation. It was a… strange feeling to have someone do that for him. Actually, this whole relationship was strange. You were strange. Even he felt strange. He was honestly a straight-up asshole to you sometimes, like he was to everyone else. But that didn’t drive you off. You still did things for him. You still spoke to him. You didn’t want anything in return, not money, not knowledge, not relics, but perhaps what you did want was-
Zandik stopped that line of thoughts in its tracks, trying to ignore how his hand was all tingly from you holding it. Things were fine this way, he declared. He could not admit he was enamored with you. Nothing needed to change. He had to maintain his view of you, otherwise…
“You know, I’m surprised I even got you to do that. Did you hit your head too?”
“Shut up.”
Zandik hated you.
(You two did get into trouble. The Akademiya assigned you an apology essay which Zandik refused to do so you had to write two separate essays for each of you. With some begging, he did your homework for you in return, and somehow managed to get the blood stain off of that textbook you had thrown. You didn’t question where he learned that.)
V. kindness
It had been years since that fateful day, the time when you first moved in with Zandik. The Akademiya was a long and arduous grind, but that was to be expected. Your friendship with Zandik was one you cherished more than most things.
To say the two of you were close was an understatement. You still remember the counselor’s expression when you told her how well the two of you were getting along, and that there was no need for you to ever switch roommates. You think she became afraid of you too after that.
Tonight was a relaxed night. Zandik and you were not doing any work, simply laying side by side on his bed. (Even though he always threw fierce words at you, you knew he liked your touch.)
In the beginning, you would never be able to tear him away from that desk, but with time comes new things. You were just happy he was getting more hours of sleep.
The two of you lied in the dark as usual, simply enjoying the cool Sumeru breeze and the muffled noises from the city. You learned to grow content with these simple moments. But tonight you felt like talking.
“Hey, Zandik?”
“Hm?”
“Remember when you met me?” You could feel his head shift to look at you, probably for asking such a dumb question.
“Yes, I do. Too well, actually.”
“What was your first impression of me?” you questioned, realizing you never actually asked him that.
“That you were quite annoying and a thorn in my side.”
Anyone else might have been hurt by these words, but you did not mind. He made it pretty obvious that was how he felt in the beginning anyway, so it was no surprise. “But what about now?”
“You’re fine.” Even in the dark, he could feel your pout and pleading eyes. “And your intelligence and helpfulness deserve to be praised, I suppose.” And then he could feel your smile grow as your face was partially on his shoulder. From then the conversation flowed through many things. That research paper you two were working on, some kind of experiment he wanted to do on you (he swore it was painless), about that one scholar who was always annoying during the lectures.
The more you spoke, the more you realized how much of your life centered around being with Zandik here. You didn’t know if you ever wanted to graduate. To ever be apart from him.
“You know, I’ve been thinking. How long do you think we’ll live here?”
“Hmm, it’s hard to say. The benefits the Akademiya provides are far too good to let go of now. Speaking of that, there’s somewhere I want to visit.”
“Oh, you mean those hidden ruins you think are connected with Khaenri’ah?” How nice it would be if you could just drape your arm over his chest.
“Yes. Though I don’t know if the Akademiya will let me make another trip back to the desert as of right now,” he pondered.
“Are you referring to how you’ve been on the Matra’s watch list for years? So they started following you everywhere?” you giggled.
“Not just me. You too, [Name],” he rolled his eyes. “At least I never threw a book at someone in public.” You pouted and playfully punched his arm.
“C’mon, that was so long ago! You can stop bringing it up!” you whined. He would never let that go, huh? The conversation died down from there, but it was a comfortable silence, which you loved. After that little banter, your eyes began to droop and you yawned. Zandik glanced at you.
“Tired?” You nodded and blearily rubbed your eyes.
“Sleep, then,” he commanded, and you had no qualms with following that. Soon enough, Zandik was the only one left awake, staring out at the open window. He had found these little resting sessions of yours good for clearing his mind. He closed his eyes too.
Two people, on the same tiny, college-sized bed, arms brushing each other and talking nonchalantly. Totally, two good friends.
Friends. Friends, friends, friends. Long ago, the word left a distasteful feeling in his mouth, and it still did, but not for the reason he originally felt. Now, what he desired was more complicated.
Zandik hated you.
VI. endless
Zandik knew he would be expelled from the Akademiya soon, for the crimes he committed. And yet, instead of preparing for any future plans, he found himself following the directions of a note you left on his workbench. Meet me at our usual spot, 8 PM.
He was a busy man, more so in soon-to-be exile. He didn’t have time for your frivolous games. But for some reason, he found himself heading over to the cliff anyway. It was dark outside, but the stars illuminated your figure, and that was when he noticed the basket next to you as well. You noticed him and sat up eagerly.
“Hey, you made it! I was worried you wouldn’t come, to be honest.”
“...What is this?”
“Eh? A picnic, of course. The weather is real perfect for one.”
He was so astonished that the laugh building in his throat could not come out immediately. Surely you were aware of what he had done? Practically everyone in the Akademiya knew. You couldn’t walk for five minutes without hearing rumors floating around. Or perhaps you were that oblivious?
“Oh really?” His familiar, eerie laugh that you loved finally rang out. “Did a Ruin Guard finally toss you around well enough? Only an idiot wouldn’t know what I’ve-”
“I mean, do killers not like picnics anymore?” You replied so nonchalantly, he was actually a bit shocked.
“You’re… you’re frustrating,” he murmured.
The way you managed to make him so tongue-tied all the time made him itch to put you in your place, to snap back somehow, but he found himself unable to lately. Actually, he struggled to do that for a while now, and he despised how you made him feel like a bumbling fool.
“Heh, perhaps some of your unhingedness rubbed off on me,” you shrugged, patting down the spot next to you. “Look, I made samosas for you again.”
The blanket was soft and comfy, and though he didn’t care much for the flavors of food, he did enjoy your cooking. You continued to polish off your meal before you spoke again.
“So, I hear you’re going to be expelled soon.”
“Correct. Though I care little for this place, it’s a shame to lose a suitable environment for my research.”
“Have you decided where you’re going? I’m sure you’re not planning to stay exiled in the desert for the rest of your life,” you hummed. “Leaving this country, perhaps?”
“That seems to be the most logical action. There is nowhere in this nation that would fund my research.”
“I see. You’re going far away from here.” Zandik nodded in reply, but the more he thought about it, the more irritated he felt. Far away from here meant far away from you.
To think he felt no remorse for murder but he felt a tingle of emotion (sadness? regret? anger?) at no longer being with you. Whatever it was, it left a bitter taste in his mouth. He loathed to admit it, but he enjoyed your company. He enjoyed dragging you out of bed in the morning, and he enjoyed you dragging him to bed at night. He enjoyed your bantering, your inquisitive nature towards his work. He enjoyed being the only person you’d treat like this and having one person to himself. Zandik enjoyed you, thoroughly and fully.
“Well, keep me updated. I already got my bags packed and ready to go.”
“What?” A quirk of yours, he realized, was being able to leave him surprised at the most unpredictable times. Although scholars must plan for every possibility, he found it difficult to prepare for yours.
“I’m coming with you, of course. You’re gonna need your number one assistant with you. Hey, why’d you stop eating? We still need to get through the Padisarah Pudding.”
“You? Accompany me?” All of a sudden, everything made perfect sense. Yes, of course! You were right, he thought, as a fit of laughter overcame him. It was a splendid idea, one that pleased him immensely. Having you with him would be a great asset for his research. No one suited the role better than you. And you, in general, were… nice. You didn’t grate on his nerves like everyone else.
“Ha! Good! Amazing, even! I shall be sure to tell you when we depart from this nation of fools.” You raised your eyebrows at his sudden enthusiasm, but witnessing Zandik’s bursts of inspiration was nothing new to you either.
“Well, glad to see you’re so keen on it,” you chuckled. “But I have a request. Actually, it’s more like something I have to say to you before we embark on this. It’s crucial, really.”
“Oh? Do tell.” He wasn’t rich, but he had the ability to procure a wide variety of items. The Nation of Wisdom was more corrupt than one would think. But he did wonder what you would ever want. You didn’t chase after material goods like the majority of humans.
“To be frank, I like you,” you declared, looking right into his eyes. At that moment, it felt like the world had gone silent. The wind stopped blowing, the animals lied low, the grass no longer rustled. “I like you. I want to be more than just friends with you,” you stated bluntly. You felt that getting straight to the point was the best course of action with Zandik, since many things besides his research and manipulating people tended to go over his head.
“So, what do you say?”
There was no response. You attempted to build your case.
“By the way, did you think I’d go through all this trouble if I didn’t want to be with you? I didn’t dorm with you for no reason, you know.”
“...”
“For such a smart guy, you aren’t very good at this, are you? Well, I can’t be too mad. I’ve been dealing with the denseness for a few years now. You know, I’ve been making the first moves this whole time.”
“...”
The lack of response was beginning to make you nervous. You preferred the maniacal laughter of rejection at this point. “H-hey, I’d like a reply, you know. You don’t need to accept-”
Zandik thought. And he found that the words he spoke next were genuine.
“I find you… agreeable as well.”
You couldn’t help but throw your head back and laugh, shoulders now relaxed. “Why, such an amazing compliment from the high and mighty Zandik has me even more lovestruck!” He wanted to be mad, he really did, but it was at this moment he understood what it meant to be mesmerized by another person. He had found himself mesmerized by ancient machines, ruins, texts, his research. But he truly found you beautiful, your giggles echoing through the night.
“I’m agreeable, yes?” You turned to face him, your body leaning in closer to his. “Am I agreeable enough to do… this?” You tentatively glided your fingers over his hand, gauging to see how far Zandik would let you go. He stiffened at the foreign contact, clearly unused to it, but let you continue.
“What about this?” You slid your hand up and down his arm, keeping your eyes on his face the whole time. He tried not to show any emotions, besides a half-hearted scowl, but you could still see the red tips of his ears. He was so cute.
You scooted closer to him and let your other hand rest on Zandik’s thigh. “I think I’m much more than agreeable in your books,” you teased, cupping his cheek. He scoffed in response but did nothing to refuse your advancement. You leaned in and connected your lips with your lover’s. It felt damn good. Zandik had no idea what he was doing, but it was endearing nonetheless. You kissed him again, and again, and he reciprocated, albeit a little awkwardly. Your heart soared as you pulled away, and placed a few final kisses on his cheeks.
“Now, how did that feel?” You already knew the answer to that, of course. You knew Zandik for a long time, and could tell when he was in a shitty mood, a bad mood, a grumpy one, an excited one, a happy one, and much more. This mood was one you haven’t seen until now, but it sure was a good one. Completely flustered was a great look on him.
“I… I cannot come to a definitive answer as of now. I would say that I need to carry out some more experiments to reach a conclusion.”
“Oh? Then I’m a willing participant for however long as you want,” you smiled, finding comfort in his soft, teal locks.
And that’s when Zandik truly realized. You were more tolerable than the rest. You were bearable enough to want to keep you around forever. Smart enough for him to desire to hear your honeyed voice. Soft enough to want to feel your skin against his. Ah, he would never say it though, as he brushed his lips over yours once again.
summary: there’s a fragility to each moment spent with you, finite and fleeting as all mortal lives are. but you always find your way back to him, even when you return missing fragments of yourself. he has loved you ever since he was naught but a mere hatchling you’d dug from the earth, and he will continue to do so through war and peace and retirement. (reincarnation au)
note: writing for one of my favorite tropes again, zhongli my beloved i will always give u happy endings, might be a bit inaccurate in some lore and timeline aspects but i tried my best to stick close, multiple character death/s (reader), depictions of blood and death
word count: 4.1k
“Hello again.”
Morax—back in the days when he was just a little dragon incapable of much thought, back when the name Morax hadn’t even been granted to him—nuzzled his little snout against your hand.
You smoothed your fingers over his soft scales, an indication of youth in dragons, and smiled as he melted at the simple affection.
There had been a softness to that moment, a memory untouched by the grimness of war, in a time when peace reigned and the three sisters ruled over the skies, not a floating celestial castle to be seen.
He remembers your voice and your touch, the way your eyes brightened when you smiled and the way the corners of your mouth quirked when telling a story. He didn’t know your name then, only that you were a local in the nearby village who ounce unburied a small dragon from the earth as a child and had taken care of it since.
That dragon was, of course, him.
-
“Here for another meal, little dragon?”
You brought a small piece of meat to his snout, cooing when he took it from your fingers and delicately chewed on the meat.
He doesn’t remember what it tasted, only that it had a soft, chewy texture that made it easier to eat for his soft teeth that were still in the process of hardening as he aged.
A hand ran over the scales on his head.
“You’ll need a name, won’t you? Something to be remembered for all ages.” The sun had hit his eyes then, making him incapable of seeing what kind of expression you’d had. “I just know my little dragon will grow to be a fearsome one.”
-
“Morax!” You laughed, running as the dragon that was now at the same height as your hips chased you across the clearing. “I told you, no more meat or else you’ll become overweight!”
It wasn’t about the meat, he remembers, it was how you always seemed to shine brightest when you were running about without a care for the world around you. He’d only wanted to keep that smile on your face.
You leaned on your knees, gasping for breath, and still, you shone as radiant as the sun to his eyes.
-
You struggled with carting a box full of all sorts of fruit and cooked meat. He used his hardened snout to help you push the cart near the entrance of the cave he usually dwelled in.
“Thank you.” You softly patted the scales beneath his chin. “I’m not as young and spritely as I used to be.”
He huffed an indignant snort as if to disagree with you. A soft exhale left your mouth, fondness evident in the quirk of your lips.
“You understand me, don’t you? You always have, my smart little dragon.”
-
He sat beside you, quiet and solemn as you hummed a tune beneath your breath.
“Morax,” you started, something different in the inflection of your voice. It never returned back to its normal cadence after you caught an illness that had lasted a year and nearly took your life. “I’m not long for this world—”
He shifted in protest, a snarl in his throat that you wave away with a wrinkled hand.
“Don’t be so upset,” you soothed, “It’s simply the way of life.”
You ran a hand through the underside of his chin, feeling the hardened scales that will continue to grow stronger until it can withstand the force of steel—or a meteor.
“You’ll live for a long, long time, and by the time you reach your prime, I will be nothing but a distant memory to you.”
He remembers disagreeing but never outright conveying it to you. He had thought you understood what his silence meant. If only he’d been able to speak back then, he would have spent hours upon hours telling you how much you meant to the little dragon you had dug up from the earth.
-
You laid down for a nap beside him, still managing to look at him with those bright eyes of yours amidst a face weathered by time.
“My little Morax, you’re as big as a house now, aren’t you?” You had softly pet the side of his head as he curled around you. “Wake me up when the sun rises, okay? I want to hand feed you meat like I used to...”
He closed his eyes and let dreams sweep him away once he felt you fall into a deep sleep.
In the morning, he would awake to the sun casting light over him and the stillness by his side.
You never woke up again.
-
He took to guarding your small village from petty thieves and the occasional mercenaries sent by neighboring villages. It’s what you would’ve wanted, he thought then. You had no family, but the elders and the children and the workers you’d made friends with were dear to you, and so, they were dear to him as well.
Word spread of a village being granted the protection of a mighty dragon. More people came asking for shelter and to settle in, he never showed protest to it.
Years passed, the village grew, and he continued to wonder what it would have been like to watch over these people with you by his side.
He remembers days spent lounging in the clearing he buried your body in, an era where peace still reigned and rest was not yet a luxury he couldn’t afford.
-
You appeared on the second century after your passing, wide-eyed and mouth parted in awe as you stared at the large town that used to be your homely little village.
“Morax?”
He had thought it a dream then, a mirage his mind consumed. There was simply no fathomable way you were here in the flesh, alive and whole and young—so much younger than he remembered you being.
But your eyes were still the same, still as bright and resplendent as the sun. You were here. You were real.
He doesn’t know how he ever managed not to squish you beneath his weight back when he’d been young and excited with less restraint to his actions. It is a memory he remembers fondly, stored tightly within his chest, a moment of peace amidst the war looming on the horizon.
It was a comical sight, a human holding their arms out to their side yet still not managing to encompass the entirety of a dragon’s snout. He used to fit so snugly at the palm of your hand.
“Look how big you’ve grown.” You press your lips to a single scale, already as large as your head. “I have missed you, old friend.”
-
It was a worry that niggled at the back of his head amidst questions of how you came back and why you remember him.
Morax, for all his years alive that would seem many to mortals, was still but a young dragon then. Even when he was roughly the size of five houses.
He didn’t want to see you grow old, to watch as time eroded your spirit and left nothing but a husk of what you once were. The thought of having to relive those days when you could barely stand up to meet him at the clearing outside your village made him want to curl up and burrow deep into the earth.
He didn’t want to sleep beside you only to awake to the sight of your chest still and your breaths nonexistent.
He didn’t want to watch you die again.
-
The choice was taken out of his hands when he returned to his town—your town, just as much as it is his—and found it burning.
“There’s a nearby village that needs your help. Go, Morax, lend your hand to those who need it,” you had told him as you caressed his scales, and he had obeyed, because while the elders and the people come to him with their pleas and their wishes, he will only ever answer to you.
It had been a trick to place his attention away from your town.
He learned what anger meant that day, learned what it felt to crush a house beneath his claws and how to move the earth to his will and what it meant to take a life.
He was young and furious and mourning. It is a dark memory he doesn’t like to dwell on, full of pain and regret and the vicious sense of satisfaction that came with killing. It was the first time he had ever shed blood. It wouldn’t be the last.
As he watched the village be buried beneath the earth and the stone he’d called upon, he turned his back and made the long trek back to a home that was now nothing but ash and dust.
And as he rooted through the rubble in the vain hope of finding your body to bury, Morax learned what it meant to be an unwilling participant in a war.
-
It was as if fate was paying back the abundance of time you’d spent with him in your first life with short moments that were always cut too soon.
In your third life, you found him sleeping on the remains of what was once your town. You had wept and embraced him as much as you could, and he, in turn, tried to convey how much he had missed you.
The two of you traveled together for a while, and that life was where you rode on his back for the first time as he soared the skies.
“They’re like your eyes,” you once said, holding onto his scales as he flew above the clouds, the light of the setting sun casting the two of you in molten gold, “Golden. It’s been my favorite color ever since I first saw you open your eyes. They always shine so bright.”
You died that same day, having encountered a vengeful deity after he set foot on the ground. He had won that fight, but he wasn’t able to protect you.
-
It was in a battlefield that he saw you again.
He remembers how the small deity’s blood had felt upon his tongue, dripping down sharp teeth and soaking the battle happening in the ground below with blood. It had been sunny then, he remembers, when he descended from the skies in triumph and looked down the masses gazing at him with fear.
And then there was you.
Blood and dirt and other unnamable things clung to you like a second skin as you clumsily held a spear close to your chest, but you had beamed at the sight of him and yelled out his name.
“Morax!”
It was short-lived.
It had been a stray arrow, they would later plead with tears and mud streaking through their terror-filled faces. But all he cared about at that time was that one moment you dropped your spear to run to him, and the next you were falling to the ground, an arrow lodged right where your heart lay.
He left that field bloodied with corpses, your body strewn on his back as he flew to the clearing in your first life. There, he buried you beside your other incarnations.
-
“I’d like to settle one day, once all the fighting and killing has stopped. Maybe in a house overlooking the sea. Somewhere surrounded by mountains. Just a place where there’d be lots of space for you too.”
You leaned against the bulk of his frame, burrowed in a cliffside to wait out the fight between two gods happening on the other side of the lake.
-
“That was never there before,” you said, squinting at the castle in the sky as you laid on his back.
He rumbled his agreement.
You sighed, hearing the war going on below and wondering when it was all going to end.
“The stars don’t shine as bright as they used to.”
-
“Are you alright?!” You yelled as you frantically helped the woman—a deity—up from the ground.
Morax’s thundering roars echoed in the air as he summoned pillars from the earth and shattered the feeble ice that the opposing god put up.
The woman stared at you with wide eyes, noticing how labored your breathing was but otherwise looking unbothered by the fight happening in front of you.
“Are you not worried…?” She asked, her voice sounding as delicate as she looked.
You turned to her with a grin you’d hoped was encouraging. “There’s nothing to fear, Morax is strong!” Then, you offered her your hand. “Here, you can hold my hand if you’re afraid.”
She accepted it, feeling the tremors in her fingers calm at the warmth emanating from your palm.
“Guizhong,” she suddenly said, looking up at you, her heart racing. “Forgive my rudeness but… my name is Guizhong.”
You smiled, as bright and lovely as Morax would have described had he been there to see it. “Allow us to lend you and your people a hand, Guizhong!”
And for the first time since the war began, she felt hope blossom in her chest.
-
“Which life is this now?” Guizhong asked him.
“Nineteenth,” he answered, more of a growl that resembled a word. Morax, in his newly obtained form, was still not used to the ways of mortals, namely, the fact that he can now speak his thoughts out loud.
You were conversing with Cloud Retainer, something regarding a weapon that could be used to help the war. The mechanics were lost to him. For all that he could now be considered a deity, for all that the people have started calling him Rex Lapis, he was still so oblivious to the ways of the world.
Guizhong placed a hand on his shoulder, a reassuring smile on her deceptively gentle face. On that day, she promised to help him protect you.
And that life was one of the few where he got to watch you grow old.
-
“You don’t know how to read?” Guizhong asked you, surprise coloring her face.
You sheepishly laughed, “I’ve never been taught in all the lives I’ve lived. And most of my time with Morax was spent fighting and running from the war.”
You looked down your hands, feeling the smooth, unblemished skin of them. Young and unscarred. There had been a large gash that ran across your back in your previous life, and when the night got too cold and you were left alone with your thoughts, you felt the ache of thousands upon thousands of wounds you’d collected throughout your lives.
A dainty hand covered your own. You looked up to see Guizhong watching you with a fond smile.
“Let me teach you, then.”
-
Guizhong always invited you to sing to the glaze lilies scattered around the Assembly. She claimed your voice was like a melody that soothed the flowers to bloom.
In truth, she only wanted to hear you sing.
-
“No, that’s not how you hold chopsticks, Morax!” You laughed, taking hold of his hand and rearranging the chopsticks haphazardly held in his fingers. “There, much better.”
His fingers remained clumsy, unused to such sensations, but you promised him that he’ll get used to it in no time.
-
You slowly guided him through each step, gently correcting a mistake in his footwork and adjusting the spear in his hand when needed.
Morax was a fast learner.
Soon, he would develop his own way of wielding the spear, but for now, you coached him through the right techniques and laughed whenever he dropped the spear in a spin.
-
“The moon,” he suddenly said, looking at you with wide, earnest eyes.
“Yes, what about it?”
He seemed to struggle with finding the right words to convey what he wanted to say. You patiently sat and waited for him to gather himself.
“It’s beautiful tonight.” Then, as an afterthought, he added, “Isn’t it?”
You tilted your head to the sky, a nostalgic smile on your lips, lost in memories of days spent lazing about in that old clearing and staring at the starry sky. “It is.”
His hand felt warm around yours.
-
“I don’t want to die anymore.”
He held you as your blood seeped from your clothes and painted the grass a dark shade of red. It was a slow process, bleeding out, to wait for your blood to drain until your heart stopped beating and your eyes lost the light in them.
“Morax.”
You were crying, clutching your side where a god had pierced their blade clean through. You were dying so slowly, yet there was no time to get a healer.
“Please.”
Your eyes begged for an end to this pain.
His tears fell and mixed with your blood.
On your twenty-ninth life, he cradled your head to his chest and wept as he gave you a quick, painless death.
-
When he saw you again, he held you until the sun disappeared and his arms felt numb before reluctantly pulling away.
You held his face between the palm of your hands and kissed his forehead, your eyes red and smile brittle at the edges.
“I’ve missed you,” was all you said before you leaned close.
Your lips felt impossibly soft against his.
-
“Morax,” you whispered against his skin, on your thirty-first life when he finally found the courage to show you what being loved by him meant. “I love you.”
It was the first time you spoke those words to him.
It wouldn’t be the last.
He kept you awake all night, ignoring the war happening around him and pretending, just for a moment, that the world only consisted of you and him.
-
During your forty-second life, an anomaly happened.
He and the rest of the adepti were unable to gauge how it happened. Guizhong, for all her smarts, was not able to discern the reason for it either.
And then there was no time to ponder upon it anymore, because Osial attacks the Guili Assembly, and not only does he lose you, he also loses a friend.
Her last words to him consisted of a riddle and a memento in the form of a lock. “I never stopped searching for a reason. I think… this may be it.”
And in her eyes, he saw a confession — she had loved you too.
Thousands of years later and he is still no closer to opening it, and thus, no closer to figuring out what caused the loss of your memories.
-
On some lives, you remember, eyes lighting up with recognition as you abandoned everything you’d been doing to run into his arms.
“Morax,” you would whisper as he nuzzled his head into the crook of your neck.
On some lives, you would pass by him with blank eyes, the same lilt to your voice but without the fondness that came with it.
“Hello again,” he’d say.
You would smile awkwardly. “Hello?”
And he would mourn you all over again.
-
“He’s suffered enough, hasn’t he?”
Your words were enough to still Morax’s spear.
You knelt in front of the young-looking deity, offering your palm to him. “We will not shackle you, and neither will we force you to serve.”
His eyes were wary, yet so incredibly full of disbelief and hidden hope.
You gave him a smile you hoped was as gentle as it seemed.
Rough, battle-hardened hands clasped onto yours like a salvation.
“Please,” he whispered, something so undeniably broken in his tone as looked up at you the same way one might look up at the stars.
Later on, Morax would name that young deity Xiao.
-
There were tales and poems written about you. Rex Lapis and his undying lover.
It was widely romanticized and highly inaccurate. For one, he didn’t meet you in your first life as a large and intimidating dragon. He was naught but a hatchling you used to feed fruits and meat with a childish laugh. The two of you had grown up together, but where you had grown old, he remained young, a dragon who hadn’t even reached a fourth of his lifespan.
You always laughed as you read to him some of the more outlandish ones, in those lives where you remembered enough to love him as deeply as you used to.
“‘And they fornicated upon the moonlit night, a dragon and a mortal—’ I’m sorry, I can’t take this seriously.” You burst into a fit of giggles, leaning against him on your shared bed as the book you’d been holding fell to the side, forgotten.
“Shall I have a word with the authors of such books?”
“No, no!” You were quick to refuse, placing both palms on his cheeks and grinning. “They’re amusing to read. Perhaps I should commission a play, that would be so entertaining…”
He gazed at you fondly, cherishing each precious, limited time the two of you have.
-
When he ascended the throne of Celestia, you were the first person to greet him upon returning to Liyue.
There was a nervous edge to your smile, but still, it came as naturally as breathing to you. You often questioned it, how everything just seemed to come easily for you.
“I think I know you,” you once told him a week after you met in this life, “I just can’t remember where.”
And you would always come across the numerous retellings of your lives, hands shaking and so full of regret and grief for a life you could never quite recall.
You never failed to apologize to him after.
I’m sorry I forgot.
I’m sorry I can’t remember.
I’m sorry I don’t love you.
-
It became increasingly frequent with each century that passed. Only one incarnation of you every six lives remembered your past.
He made you love him in each one. Even if he had to start from the bottom, even when you looked at him without a spark of familiarity, even when it hurt—he never failed to capture your heart again and again.
-
The Cataclysm happened in a lifetime where you remembered.
Morax, to this day, wishes it hadn’t been the case. Perhaps then, you wouldn’t have insisted on fighting alongside him.
Perhaps then, you wouldn’t have died so early.
Your body was left beneath the rubble and ruins of Khaenri’ah’s Royal Palace. The only thing that stopped him from upturning it to search for you was the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.
-
In the twentieth year after the destruction of Khaenri’ah, he made a contract with a golden haired traveler who carried the aura of the stars.
Five years after the contract was signed, your body was returned to Liyue in a casket covered with Inteyvat flowers.
-
He remembers waiting, and waiting, and waiting a little more until he looked up and realized that four hundred years had passed without you.
He searched each nation, visiting village upon village, hoping to hear news of you or a past life of yours having lived there, but there was nothing.
It was as if you had simply ceased to exist.
He refused to believe it.
-
Mountain Shaper advised him to rest.
It was strange to walk the streets of Liyue again after a hundred years of absence. He never failed to appear during the Rite of Descension, but taking on his draconic form and parading as a mortal man were two different things. And the latter, he found in all the years he’d been ruling Liyue, was much more preferable than the former.
Conversations flowed around him, and he wondered what you would have been doing had you been here with him.
He stared into the Harbor, smiling as he remembered your quiet musings during the early days of the Archon War.
I’d like to settle one day, once all the fighting and killing has stopped. Maybe in a house overlooking the sea. Somewhere surrounded by mountains. Just a place where there’d be lots of space for you too.
Settle.
It was a wishful thought, but…
He turned on his heel, mind made up.
If he couldn’t look for you, then he would have to wait for you to come to him. In the meantime, he would arrange the finest house for you to live in peace after five hundred years of being apart and a lifetime of war and bloodshed.
-
Morax—Zhongli sits at a table at Third-Round Knockout, leisurely sipping tea as he listens to the story teller regale the tragic tale of your second life. A little inaccurate, on a few accounts, but for the most part, it was as he remembers it.
The tea tastes exceptionally sweet today. A good omen, perhaps.
He feels the vibrations from the ground, telling of a person approaching him from behind. He lets whoever it is get close, unable to detect any malicious intent.
“That’s completely false. I, for one, never ‘wept in delight as I was reunited with my dragon lover’.”
He nearly drops his tea in shock.
He turns his head to the right, his heart in his throat as he hopes and begs that his ears did not deceive him. He sucks in a breath—
And meets the loveliest pair of eyes gazing down at him with mirth.
Meaning: comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness
Word Count: 1.5k~
Description: Finding a wet, sad Scaramouche on the side of the road and bringing him home
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The cold rain was slowly soaking through your clothes as you hurried back from the city to your home in the outskirts of konda village. You’d gone into Inazuma city that morning to do some weekly shopping, but unfortunately for you and your groceries, a thunderstorm had started while you were shopping, and while you could hide under the overhangs of buildings when you were in the city, that wasn’t the case while walking home through the open countryside.
You were trying your best to keep your packages from getting completely ruined by trying to walk under trees, but this proved to only make things worse. The rain poured down through the leaves far more intensely than you had expected, making your efforts to protect your groceries practically pointless.
As you walked under the treeline out of konda village and towards your home, you saw what looked to be a man sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree a ways ahead of you. When you finally got close enough to the man to determine that he was indeed a man, a man who was completely drenched. You also couldn’t help but notice the faint purple glow of an electro vision by his side, as well as something else glowing and purple in his pocket…could he somehow have two visions? What else would glow like that and…oh shit. You could feel him glaring at you before you’d even looked up to confirm.
“What do you think you’re looking at?”
“Sorry I didn't mean to stare…”
“Whatever, just leave. Now.”
“Are you um, okay?”
You weren’t sure if it was just the rain running down his face or if he was crying, but either way he seemed like he needed help, and maybe some tea.
“I said leave me alone didn’t I? Are you deaf?”
“Sorry you just, you seem like you need some help.”
“Hah you think that I would need help from you?”
“Well yeah don’t be stupid, if you stay out here for too long you’ll catch a cold. I don’t live too far away. Just come home with me, and you can dry off, and I’ll make you some tea.”
You weren’t quite sure why he looked so stunned, you hadn’t been too rude had you? Regardless, you decided to just ignore it and start walking home. After a few seconds of walking, you noticed that the man wasn’t following you, and you turned around to find him still staring up at you dumbly and, oh no, yep, he was definitely crying now.
“Oh I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“You really think you could make me cry? How special do you think you are?”
“Uhm sorry I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“You sure do apologize a lot don’t you. What, are you scared of me?”
“I’m not scared, I just don’t want to upset you when you’re already upset.”
“I’m not upset. I’m fine. It’s just this stupid thing…”
You watched one of his hands travel to rest over the purple glow in his pocket.
“What is that?” You were afraid he might yell at you for asking, but instead he just smiled bitterly.
“It’s my heart.”
“Your heart…?”
“Archons, you're slow. If you won’t be able to understand the answer, then don’t ask the question. Why are humans so idiotic?”
“Humans? But aren’t you…?” And just like that he was glaring at you again, perfect.
“Okay well nevermind, you should get up. I need to get going before my groceries are ruined, and you need to dry off, so let’s go.”
Once again, he didn’t move from where he was sitting.
“Please? I need to go, and I don’t want to let you get sick.”
He hesitated but finally stood to follow you. Now that he was actually standing, it was a lot easier to tell what he actually looked like. He was a lot shorter than he seemed, but he was somehow still taller than you. He had dark hair, now wet from the rain, cut into some kind of bowl cut/undercut hybrid, and he was dressed somewhat ornately, considering he was sitting in the mud up until a moment ago, and- oh gods was he wearing shorts in this weather?
Regardless, it was time to head home so you set off with the drenched man trailing behind you.
Scaramouche was still trying to wrap his head around everything that had just happened. You had to be insane. No one had ever spoken to him like that before and came away completely unscathed. Who exactly did you think you were that he could possibly need your help?!
Yet here he was, walking along beside you and your groceries on the way to your home.
Maybe it was the promise of warm tea and drying off that got him to follow you…or maybe it was the fact that he found you and your lack of fear oddly comforting. Or maybe it was because he had been feeling disgustingly human ever since he had gotten ahold of the electro archon's gnosis and no longer wished to be alone.
It could also simply be because you were nice and pretty and he trusted that you were stupid enough to not have any sort of malevolent intentions towards him… yeah it was probably that one.
The two of you and your groceries had finally arrived at your home safe and sound. You were now in your kitchen putting said groceries away and boiling water to make tea while the man you had met by the side of the road dried off in another room.
By the time the water had boiled, the man was walking back out and- oh archons why hadn’t you given him a blanket or something to cover up with?!
There was now an almost naked and surprisingly unbothered man standing in your kitchen while nonchalantly asking where he should hang his wet clothes to dry. You were trying wholly unsuccessfully to keep from blushing (or looking at him too long because gods he was pretty) and could only answer his question by pointing to a drying rack in the corner of the room.
“Just over, o-over, over there”
The man raised his eyebrows at you before turning to go hang his wet clothes.
You didn’t have much he could use to cover up, given that you lived alone and any clothes you did own weren’t exactly in his size, so when he had walked back, in a moment of pure brilliance you unceremoniously chucked a blanket at him that hit him square in the chest before falling to the floor.
“What do you want me to do with this?”
“Well cover yourself up obviously!...idiot.”
He rolled his eyes at you before picking it up and wrapping himself in the blanket and sitting down onto one of your couches.
Now thoroughly flustered, you walked back to the kitchen to finish making tea for the both of you.
Why did he have to be so…hard? no, bumpy? Either way, why was a man that was barely taller than you built like that?! It’s not like you liked him or anything… you just thought he was kind of pretty…even if he was kind of mean.
You finished stirring honey into the two cups of tea, picked them up, and walked over to where the strange man was sitting on your couch.
“Uhm, can I ask you who you are?”
“Why would you need to know that?” He smirked as your face fell slightly.
“Because I have no idea who you are, and you’re in my house, so…”
“Hah, it was your choice to bring me here.”
“...”
“Do you really want to know that badly?”
“...Yeah, I do.”
Scaramouche rolled his eyes before pausing for a second. Perhaps he could trust you enough to tell you who he is…minus the detail of him being a fatui harbinger of course. Maybe that way he’d be safe if the traveler ever came to talk to you…how dangerous could you really be anyway? Besides, it’d be nice to have someone call him by his name for once…especially in your pretty pretty voice.
“My name is Kunikuzushi. The details of who I am are…unimportant, especially to someone like you.”
“The hell do you mean someone like me?!”
Scaramouche almost immediately started laughing at your outburst, your reactions were just so…entertaining.
“I mean human.”
“AND YOU’RE NOT?!”
“Hah! You’re so naive it kills me!”
“I’M NOT NAIVE YOU’RE JUST AN ASSHOLE!”
Scaramouche rolled his eyes, grabbed his tea, and leaned against the back of the couch while you berated him for his comments. He didn’t remember the last time he had felt so …content, and at this point, he wasn’t planning on leaving until the Tsaritsa herself called him home. He glanced over at his clothes hanging on the drying rack and the pocket of his shorts that contained the glowing purple gnosis he had worked so hard to retrieve. He had no need for anything like that in this moment, it didn’t matter now. For now, he was content to simply sit there and listen to you shout at him while he sipped his tea.
"Sorry ta bother ya Sunarin, I know yer packin' but yer roommate had a stressful day and is uh," Osamu clears his throat, "not safe ta get home. I'd drive but my car's-"
"In the shop, I know." Suna sighs and there's a soft jingle of keys. "I'll be there soon."
Osamu clears the bottles of sake off the counter cleaning around your slumped, sleeping form. He softly nudges you. "Sunarin's on his way ta get ya home."
You whimper pathetically, words slurring, "i'snot gonna be his homemuch longer."
Osamu feels a pang of his own pain.
It was bittersweet, his best friend being recruited by a division one team. He was mostly overjoyed and proud, knowing how long Suna had been playing volleyball, but a small part of him hurt because it meant his best friend moving away.
He knows Suna's always going to be his best friend so the distance won't damage their friendship but you...
His employee, the first one he hired who's been working for and with him since the beginning
Who got to know Suna from his frequent visits and became friends, accepting the spare room he offered when your old lease was up...
You don't have that history with Suna. Though you celebrated with him just as hard as Osamu, the part that hurts over him leaving is much larger.
After a few nasty customers today Osamu offered you a drink as you closed up. It quickly escalated as you poured your heart out and swore him to secrecy at the same time.
Osamu lets Suna in when he knocks and watches the middle blocker help you to your feet, draping one of your arms over his shoulders as he wraps one of his around your waist.
"What's gonna happen when you leave? Osamu asks quietly.
Suna snorts. "You're gonna need a bedroll in the office."
Osamu shakes his head. "No, Rin." He motions to you with his chin. "What happens...when you leave?"
Suna searches his friend's expression, not answering.
Osamu holds the door and keeps his promise, keeps your secret, but simply offers. "I think ya need ta talk about it."
Suna tucks you into the front seat, Osamu's words replaying in his head as he drives home, you slumped against the door in sleep.
"Suna!" You jump. "You scared me, I didn't see you there." You try to laugh it off, the surprise of finding him standing in the dark as you take out Onigiri Miya's trash, but you're clutching your chest. He can see through your false bravado. "What uh...what's up? Why are you standing out here like a creep?"
"I...got drafted."
You raise your brow and smirk. "What by the army?"
Normally he'd quip back but his heads spinning too much. "No. By EJP Raijon."
"Oh." Your expression clears in shock. "Oh damn, like drafted, drafted."
"Yeah." He shifts his gym bag.
"We'll that's, that's great right? That's what you were hoping for!"
"I guess." He shrugs.
"Tch, what do you mean you guess!" You grab his arm and drag him inside announcing to the whole restaurant that your roommate was going to play professional volleyball.
After one too many jokes that night about having to find a new roommate he started to get frustrated but when he asks "is that all you think of me? Your roommate?"
You stutter.
He'll never admit that his heart stopped beating in the few seconds it took you to answer.
"N-No, you're my f-you're my friend." You blink owlishly under his gaze and he wonders what else he could have been searching for.
Nothing.
Nothing happens, he already knows nothing happens when he leaves.
He helps you into the apartment and you robotically leave your shoes by the door and shuffle past the kitchen but you don't go to your room.
Eyes closed you sleepwalk into his room.
He quickly kicks his shoes off and chases after you with a gentle call of your name but you pull out of his grasp.
"Leavemelone Samu," you groan. "Jus lemme go tobed."
"I'm trying but this isn't your bed," he protests handling you far more patiently than he would anyone else.
Your features crumple like you're going to cry and you're still slipping out of his hands. "Yesi'is..." Your bottom lip trembles. "Sunasgone Samu, an' imtaking his room."
He stands helplessly in the middle of his own room as you climb into his bed, under his covers and wrap yourself tightly. He sees how you bury your nose in the blanket and inhale.
"Stil'smels like him, too..." You exhale shakily like you're still on the verge of tears. "Imnot gonna tell him he left this either..." Your breathing evens out as you drift. "...I's all I'll have to 'member him..."
Suna feels a strange pain in his chest as he watches your lips slack open.
You stretch, twisting your wrists as you flex your arms straight, and yawn. You slept surprisingly well given the last thing you remember is falling asleep on the counter at Onigiri Miya but your horizontal orientation clearly means you're in bed. And when you open your eyes and take in the piles of moving boxes you realize you're not in your own room.
Cringing in embarrassment you tiptoe out of bed, pausing at the door until you know the apartment's empty, you scurry to the bathroom.
After the longest shower you can stand, you get dressed to find your soon-to-be ex-roommate moving boxes closer to the door.
He regards you with his usual smirk. "Morning sleeping beauty."
There's a rush of heat to your cheeks and you don't know what to do with your hands. "I-I'm so sorry about last night."
"Which part?" He teasingly asks "the part where I had to drive all the way to Onigiri Miya to pick you up or the part where you stole my bed?"
You grimace. "Both."
"Don't worry about it," he chuckles dryly.
"Do you want any help?" you offer, doubting your ability to actually be helpful to a professional athlete and he smirks, thinking the same thing.
"Nah, I'm good." He goes back to his room and looks around, patting his pockets, before picking up the last box and adding it to the stack by the door. "The mover's are parking now."
You nod and try to stay out of the way as his things are moved out. As the last box is taken he goes back to his room and brings out a small cardboard box.
"Here."
Your brow dips as he hands the box to you. "What's this?"
He shrugs, dropping his keys on the counter for you. "Just a small going-away present."
"Oh, but I don't have..." Your words fade when he shakes his head.
"I'm good." He holds your gaze in his strange quiet intensity. "Take care of yourself."
"You-You too, Rin."
With the box in your arms you don't have to overthink giving him a hug versus a handshake or something equally awkward. He just waves once, leaves,
And you're alone.
Still holding the box you numbly shuffle into his room, taking in the vast emptiness from corner to corner.
Outside the moving truck rumbles, loudly at first until it drives off, leaving you in quiet.
You slowly sit down on Suna's bare floor and let yourself cry. You're going to miss the movie nights, shared meals, incessant jokes...
You're going to miss your old roommate...but he was never just your roommate, was he? From the moment he walked into Onigiri Miya you had been in love. And becoming his roommate, seeing him walk from the bathroom to his bedroom in just a towel, the way he would leave a cup of coffee on the counter for you in the mornings...only made you fall harder. Fall deeper.
But he was out of your league and your boss's best friend...so you never wanted to risk what you had.
Wiping tears and snot from your face you open the box, the sight of his blanket sending another wave of tears crashing down.
You pull it out and wrap it around yourself, crying harder, as a letter with your name in his scrappy writing falls out.
Hands shaking you pick it up and read:
I'm in love with you. I've loved you for a long time and was hoping you'd ask me to stay but you'd never do that, would you? Because you're a good person who supports me but I can tell you with 100% certainty that if the roles were reversed I wouldn't do the same for you.
You unfold the paper and something extra falls out. You absentmindedly lift it up as you read the end:
I know I'm moving and all but...I'm still gonna need a roommate....
Speechlessly you look at the extra thing, heart racing as you see it's an airline voucher.
synopsis. your tiny apartment didn’t possess over a huge bed, not one that’s big enough to accommodate you, your boyfriend and his wings. so, the only solution? getting a new one for him, of course.
cw. none! just tooth-rotting fluff.
author's note. hawks deserves a hug. and a kiss. and just—somebody who takes care of him :( i'll do it for free, too
wc. 1.7k.
There were very few things in the world that you loved more than your charming menace of a boyfriend.
Your darling boyfriend, who took the time to ask you how your day went, every time without fail, nevermind the tiredness he felt. Your darling boyfriend who spent what little free time he had helping you with dinner, despite your protests for him to go lay down. Your darling boyfriend, who worked himself to the bone, and endured the brunt of his fatigue by himself whenever his shifts ended—always feigning nonchalance as he stumbled into your living room.
You didn’t know why he did it, didn’t know why he always chose to come to your place instead of his own. You were very well aware of the apartment he owned, the big, king-sized bed he hardly ever slept in. Still, he insisted on coming to yours once he finished his patrols. To your apartment, where a bed that could hardly be classified as a queen-sized one was waiting for him.
It’s because your place is closer!
You recognised his words as a lie immediately. However—it was an oddly endearing lie, so you chose to let it slide. For some reason, Keigo adored sharing your smaller bed with you, to have you close to him, to feel you cuddle into him as you ushered him to get closer so his larger frame wouldn’t fall off. And, well, if you were being honest…so did you.
The lovesick bubble you wrapped yourself in each night popped when you caught sight of his wings on a particular evening. His pretty, fiery red wings laid mostly on the ground as he slept. On the ground. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, as the bed was barely big enough for the two of you—let alone for the two of you and the entirety of his wings.
That didn’t mean you weren’t bothered by the sight, however. Then and there, you decided that it simply wouldn’t do.
Keigo over-worked himself—day in, day out, and he started the cycle back up again the day after with the same smile on his face. So, you settled on taking a page out of his book for the next few weeks.
Aside from your regular job, you took on a couple of extra side-jobs; small things—such as babysitting your neighbour’s kids, or walking their dogs. And right before the next month was over, you’d gathered enough money for a big, king-sized bed you knew for sure would be big enough for your boyfriend. You’d looked at him often enough to know his wings and their size by now.
Yet, even though you’d chosen the right size, it seemed your newest purchase wasn’t as compliant as you’d hoped it would be. Its next move was rolling the screwdriver you were using far and far away from you and off its frame. With widened eyes, you reached for it, cursing under your breath as it rolled out of your hold. You couldn’t exactly move much, as you were pretty sure the structure would fall apart if you did.
With bated breath you watched as it rolled closer to the edge, fingers twitching to reach it but never quite covering the distance. You sighed in absolute relief when a single, red feather drifted in front of you and caught it right before it fell off. The joy was short-lived, as your relaxation caused your posture to change, and thus a few of the screws fell from the frame you were holding upwards. You watched in disappointment as the planks fell down, not even bothering to catch them.
“So…whatcha doing?”
A frustrated groan left you, and you kicked one of the wooden beams aside in annoyance. With a pout on your lips, and your arms crossed over your chest, you sought out your boyfriend’s pretty golden eyes.
“Battling IKEA,” you huffed, sighing as you watched another screw fall from the barely-standing build. You pinched the bridge of your nose, shaking your head with closed eyes to compose yourself. “And losing.” The baby feather put the screwdriver down next to you, earning the first smile of the evening from you. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Keigo answered. There was a newfound pep in his step as he walked towards you, a heavily amused smile gracing his mouth as he sat down on the ground in front of you. “Now, mind telling me why I saw a couple loading our old bed into their car?”
You shrugged. “I sold it to them.”
“Why?”
“Wait—Since when was it our bed?”
His cheeks flushed at your words, the bridge of his nose covered in a soft pinkish colour. “Don’t change the subject,” he grumbled, a hint of a pout slowly fighting its way onto his lips. “Why did you sell our bed?”
“Because I got a new one?”
Keigo looked at you; he wasn’t as amused at these antics of yours, not like he was a few seconds ago. He sighed. “And why did you get a new one, sweetheart?”
You briefly contemplated whether you should give him the real reason for your new piece of furniture, or if you should mutter a quick-witted lie. The decision was quite easy. He looked at you, head tilted to the side, wings partly on the ground and as fluffy as ever whenever he was around you. Both legs spread out while he leaned back on the palms of his hands—the look in his eyes made you melt, and suddenly lying to him was never an option to begin with.
Taking a final glance at his wings, you sighed. “We didn’t fit on the other one,” you admitted. You felt the heat rise to your cheeks. Was all of this ridiculous? Did you overreact? Fuck—did he think it was weird?
Keigo frowned; that cute little crease between his brows appeared again. “Huh? What do you mean? We fit in there just fine.”
You hummed in disagreement, and glanced at his wings again. “No. We didn’t,” you grumbled. “Half of you laid on the ground every night.”
It was clear he didn’t grasp what you were hinting at immediately. All expressions were given free reign as soon as he stepped into your home, as soon as he was shielded from the outside world, and thus it was remarkably easy for you to notice the whirlwind of emotions he went through in approximately 0.2 seconds. Confusion, curiosity, realisation, adoration.
“What do yo—oh,” he whispered in the last part, voice softening as the thought settled in. His eyes softened considerably, wings and shoulders sagging as he scooted closer to you. “You got a new bed because…because my wings laid on the ground?”
“Mhm.”
“…Why? Why—why would you do that?”
The waver in his voice tugged on your heartstrings, and you smiled at him. You brushed a few locks of his hair out of his face, cupping his cheek with one of your hands shortly after. He melted into the touch almost instantly, and brought both of his hands up to engulf yours as a measure to keep it there.
“Because I wanted to,” you admitted, voice kind and gentle. You didn’t miss the way he swallowed down a lump in his throat. “You work really, really hard, and for some reason you insist on coming here instead of your own apartment—”
“This is closer!”
“—Yes, yes, whatever you say, babe.” He pouted at your disbelief, and you chuckled briefly before getting serious again. Your thumb brushed over his cheekbone and he blinked rapidly at the feeling. “I just figured that…if you were going to come here after working all day, you at least deserved a comfortable bed to come home to.”
Keigo didn’t respond instantly. He sat in your hold a bit longer, nose twitching as he sniffed. “Thank you,” he mumbled after a few seconds. Turning his face, he nudged the palm of your hand with his nose before pressing a soft kiss to it. “Thank you. That’s—Thank you. You’re…I love you. Very much.”
You supressed a giddy smile. Making grabby hands at him, he took the hint, and the both of you leaned in. He captured your lips in a kiss quickly, having done so countless times before.
“I love you, too.” You mumbled in-between the kiss. “Very much.” You added, and he smiled against your lips, bumping your noses together. With a sharp intake of breath, you placed your other hand on his other cheek, turning serious all over again. “Now, help me assemble this bed before midnight. I get cranky when I’m not in bed by then.”
Keigo laughed. It was airy, and light, and full of joy as he nodded. “Of course, baby,” he sighed happily, pecking your lips again. “‘M on it.”
+ + + BONUS!
It was midnight. You’d finished it just in time before your inevitable grumpiness arrived, though, with your current view, you felt it rising up all the same. Blinking at the red, shiny feathers, you frowned. They were on the bed now, but that was about it. You could still see them—meaning they weren’t covered underneath the cosy blanket the two of you huddled under.
“What’s wrong?”
Having sensed your disdain, Keigo mumbled a quick check-up. His voice was groggy, still heavy and thick with sleep as he was nearing the start of his own slumber.
“…They don’t have a blanket,” you murmured into his shoulder. At this time of day, you were far too tired to start another guessing game. “It’s—It’s too small.”
“Hm?”
“Your wings.” You whispered; frowning and chewing on your bottom lip in contemplation. “The blanket is too small when it’s all bunched up around us.”
“‘S alright,” he breathed out. Moving a bit before pushing you tighter against him, he pressed a kiss to the top of your head. His arms squished you against him, and he huffed in amusement at your squeals of protest. “‘S alright, baby bird, you don’t need to get a new blanket, too. I’m perfectly happy like this.”
You didn’t respond. A part of you felt challenged at the sight, a part of you felt irritated at seeing a shimmer of failure. You still hadn’t fully achieved what you’d set out to achieve.
“Baby bird?” Keigo called out, opening an eye to look down at you. “You don’t have to buy another blanket. Okay?”
Eventually, after a few seconds of silence, you sighed. “Fine. Okay. I won’t buy you another blanket.”
He smiled, closing his eyes again, and kissed your temple. “Good.” He mumbled against your skin. “Now, go to sleep.”
i cannot believe that work got as much attention as it has (thank you everyone😭😭) it was just supposed to be a small piece to get me back into writing
i am currently working on a bigger genshin project to celebrate 100 followers (!!!), so that's taking up most of my time, but if i do write a part 2 i'll be sure to tag you!
tags: fluff, gn!reader, comforting dottore, soft dottore, skrunkly man is sad, slow burn fluff!!! also forgive me if he's kinda ooc lmao
------
A bummed out look is on the harbinger's pale face, he looked drained from staying up all night, but something else also seemed to be on the doctor's mind.
The door to the room he was in was opened by a figure, the creak of the door caused the doctor to look towards the entrance way to see his recently acquired partner, you, standing in the doorway.
"Oh, it's just you," he spoke wearily with a sigh. The doctor's behavior was usually more smug than it was currently, so perhaps there was something wrong?
"Hm? You sound tired, are you alright?" you asked, picking up a pace and striding tiredly towards your lover.
You were about to run your fingers through his hair when he grabbed your wrist gently. You stopped in your tracks, "Sorry," you spoke, putting your hand down. "It's fine," he spoke, yawning.
You could see the bags under his eyes as he took off his mask, his hair almost looked wet from being so oily, you could swear it would begin to mat any time soon.
Your concerned look granted a glance from Dottore, "You look troubled, are you okay?" he asked, then you crossed your arms, "When was the last time you showered?" you asked, a suspicious look on your face.
To that question, he began to think for a moment, "Two... no... perhaps three weeks ago.." he stated, and at that, you put your foot down.
"Oh absolutely not! Come, I'm going to give you a bath, you desperately need one!" you demanded, Dottore didn't have time to speak as you dragged him by the arm into your living quarters.
The room was large, with a queen sized bed, and several drawers and additions to the room, but despite the large room, you ignored all of it and dragged your lover into your personal bathroom.
The bathroom was large as well, with ivory sinks and a large bath area, with hanging cotton towels.
"Here, I'll turn on the water, and you get ready to shower, I'll be washing your hair, make sure you clean up well!" you stated, turning on the hot water so the room will steam, and then escaping the bathroom and going into your own room, changing into clothes that would better allow for you to bathe your significant other.
Dottore just sighed, if this was the price of his little experiment with you, then so be it. He began getting ready for the shower, placing his clothes folded sloppily on the countertop, then he got in the shower.
After awhile, you knocked on the bathroom door, "I'm coming in!" you shouted, and then entered the room, "Are you done bathing? I'll do your hair, alright?" you asked.
"Yeah, I'm done," he nodded, you smiled, grabbed a towel,and opened the shower door, shutting your eyes, "Here, wrap it around your waist," you told him, and he did.
You stepped into the shower, and got out some dandruff shampoo, which the doctor no doubt had after three weeks of not showering.
You squirted the shampoo on your hand, and scrubbed it into his hair, which was at the early stage of matting, similar to an old cat who can't groom itself anymore.
"This usually doesn't happen, Dottore, what has you so focused?" you asked, scrubbing and massaging his head with shampoo, while he closed his eyes, seemingly enjoying the experience.
"A couple of experiments that I can't seem to get right, one of the Eleazar patients died recently, I thought we were handling it well, but I guess not," he seemed to hiss.
"It's alright, you always have more time to experiment," you said, grabbing the shower extension, and rinsing his hair.
Grabbing the shampoo once again, you began rewashing Dottore's matted locks, "I guess so," he replied, wiping his wet face with his hands, as the rinse had gotten water in his face.
As you scrubbed his hair, something clicked in his brain, a fond ideal of what life with someone could really be like. He found himself relaxing.
Apparently playing with his hair is comforting for the both of you, as scrubbing has gotten you rather sleepy. But enough of dozing off into dreams! it's time to bathe this stinky man you came to recently call, "my love."
after the second round of shampoo, you rinsed his hair again, hands running through his minty locks, and soon you found yourself going through another round of shampoo.
Wash, rinse, repeat, the cycle of washing hair only happened three times, one wash for each week he didn't shower.
"Do you really have to wash it so much?" he spoke, seemingly annoyed, "Are you complaining?" you asked, he was silent for a moment, "...No," he mumbled, and you laughed softly, finally rinsing his hair clean from shampoo one last time.
Finally it was time for the conditioner. you grabbed the bottle and poured some on your hands, and ran them through his hair once again, making sure to massage it in thoroughly.
Dottore let out a sigh, as if relaxing, "Hm, do you like it?" you asked, and he nodded, "Yeah..." he spoke, and you smiled.
You took the shower head and rinsed his hair down, taking out all the conditioner.
"I'm finished! you're all clean now," you'd smile, running your fingers through his now clean hair. He also seemed more at ease now, as he stood up and practically leaned over you with his height.
"Amazing, just a few minutes with you and my mood as already increased, maybe this entire relationship experiment can go even further, what do you say?" he spoke, holding out his hand.
"Huh? what do you mean?" you'd ask him, "Couples like us often cuddle, so my next experiment with you, my dear test subject, is doing this so-called 'cuddling'," he smiled, and you laughed, "Sure, as soon as you dry yourself off," you spoke, handing him a towel, and then walking to the bedroom, the prospect of cuddling made you excited, to say the least, so you laid down in bed, awkwardly awaiting your boyfriend.
He came in the room with his shirt off, wearing pants, and your immediate thought was, "why isn't he wearing a shirt?" so, you made your way into the bathroom, and got dottore's shirt that he left there.
"Oh, I almost forgot about that, thank you, dear," he spoke, as you helped him put on his shirt on.
After you finished, you dragged him to the bed, "come on! If you want this experiment to be a success, we have to lay on the bed together," you said with a smile, flopping to lie down on your bed, and he joined with a smile.
While he laid down, you put your head on his chest, it was surprisingly quite warm. He wrapped his arms around you.
"How odd you are," he spoke, looking at you as you twirled his hair in between your fingers.
"I'm odd?"
"Of course you are, what kind of person would actually get me to feel something other than annoyance or anger?"
"well... i'm not entirely sure,"
He smiled, it looked strangely genuine, and then with a soft laugh, he kisses your lips.
hiii, if your requests are still open, can i request headcannons of dottore and reader in the sumeru academia (romantic)? Have a nice day 💕
♡ 𝐃𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐮 𝐀𝐤𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 ♡
synopsis: The prestigious Sumeru Akademiya was filled with interesting and unique characters. But none of them came close to the man shrouded in rumors and loneliness, Dottore.
includes: dottore w/ gn! reader
notes: Of course I can! This was very fun to write, as I love this idea so much. I hope you enjoy this!
Even though you had grown up in Sumeru amongst the greatest scholars and had access to knowledge, you never wanted to become a scholar and go to the Akademiya. You had seen people suffer for years over their research and take half of their lives to graduate. In no way did you want a strict and consuming life like that. You were quite content with being an adventurer for the Guild, as you were very strong and could hold your own easily. That was until you found out your parents had signed you up for the Akademiya without your knowledge, and all your items were moved to a dorm room there. You were highly upset and wanted to leave immediately, but something stopped you. Maybe it was because you were already here, and it’d be a pain to go back and face your parents immediately. And maybe some of those smart scholars could help you with some fighting techniques. So you decided to stay to test the waters, just to see what the Akademiya life was like.
You still didn’t try that hard though, and instead struck deals with other scholars. You found out that many of them weren’t very strong. They couldn’t test their devices, or go to old ruins or dangerous places for their research by themselves without paying a large fee to hire someone. So instead, you would do anything fighting-related for them, and they would help you with the work in return. It was really good actually, whenever you were partnered for some group project with some random person, you’d do all the fighting while they did the academics. This resulted in good results from their research, so the professors at least briefly knew of your existence out of the mass amount of students. It helped that you were patient and kind, so many people grew to like you. This is why many people ran to warn you about the man named Dottore you happened to be partnered with this time.
Apparently, he was a teal-haired man with red eyes who always donned a mask, so no one knew what his real face looked like. Rumors about his dubious experiments and malpractice always floated about but there was never any concrete evidence to convict him. Despite this, he was so incredibly smart that even the top professors acknowledged his intelligence. He rarely left his room, but when he did, the hundreds of students in the hallways would scamper to the side, leaving a clear-cut path for him to walk. No one would dare talk to him, and some were even scared to step close to his dorm room after Dottore’s only roommate left, saying they’d rather live on the streets than with that “madman.” While many people begged you to ask the professor for a change of partners, you were intrigued by this so-called freak and monster. Maybe since you’ve already seen all kinds of monsters in the wild so you weren’t that scared, but you wanted to meet this Dottore.
You walked down the hallway in which Dottore’s room was. It was a normal hallway, with normal rooms, and Dottore’s room all the way at the end of the hall was no different. It was a bit funny to know how people were scared to do such a mundane thing. And so, you raised your hand to knock but before you could, the door opened a crack and a distinct red eye peered at you. How’d he know you were there? You faltered a second but composed yourself, ready to make your introduction, but he sharply interrupted you.
“I already know who you are, and why you’re here. No need to waste time,” Dottore said dryly, noticing as you blinked awkwardly at his less than pleasant attitude. He didn’t say anything else as he eased the door open some more, letting you come in.
It was darker than normal because much of the curtains had been pulled shut. You gazed at your surroundings. His room was more of a workshop and lab than a living space. Different kinds of tools scattered about, clipboards and papers, oh, and he even had Ruin Guard parts?! Wait, was that a syringe?
Dottore eyed you carefully, arms crossed. He was already secretly surprised at your boldness, as no one besides him had stepped foot in here in ages. In truth, he hoped to drive you off with his usual rudeness and questionable room, so you’d go and ask the professor to let you have another partner, so then he could work alone in peace. Oh, how wrong he was.
“Wow! Your room is so cool!”
A moment passed in silence as Dottore had to make sure he didn’t hear things. “What…?”
“I’ve never seen any other student’s room look like this!” You bounced over to a random desk and squinted at some papers. “And I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone research this kinda stuff before,” you hummed, trying to hold it up to the light to read.
It took Dottore another moment to process what you said, but he quickly grabbed the notes from your hand. “These aren’t for your eyes, idiot,” he scowled, for once not sure what to say because no one had ever said that to him. He became even more confused when all you did was laugh.
This was Dottore? You were prepared for a lot worse from the rumors, but definitely not this. And furthermore, he was quite attractive even though he had a smart mouth. You shook your head, feeling as though this would be quite interesting.
“Hey, why don’t we start that project already? I promise I’ll be of good help to you.” Thus began your days as Dottore’s assistant in Sumeru Akademiya.
Dottore was still internally shocked that you willingly volunteered yourself as his partner. Initially was super suspicious of you - you had to be lying, or playing a prank, or planning to leak all his work to outsiders. Barely said a word and brushed you off at first, but found it harder to keep up the act when you continued to be sweet and patient with him. Eventually gave up when you kept barging into his dorm for his company and beating the shit out of his tormentors in front of him.
After the two of you finished the first group project, his chest twinged a bit, a feeling he only felt long ago, when he was chased out of his town with pitchforks and his first few months of being shunned at the Akademiya. He questioned why. Oh - it was because now that the project was over, you’d never talk to him again. But this thought only flitted in his mind, as he refused to think about it any longer, quickly resuming his research. Oh, how he would be wrong again. A few days later, there was a familiar banging on his door, and he unconsciously moved quicker than usual to open it.
“Oh hey Dotty! Move over, I gotta move my stuff into your room?”
“What?” This conversation was starting to feel too similar to the first one he had with you.
“I’m your new roommate starting today, of course! Haha!” You laughed merrily as you handed him the transfer papers. He was too shocked to berate you.
“Hey, is your bed the top bunk bed or the bottom one? I can’t tell because all your science stuff is on both.”
You and your unusualness were going to be the death of him.
After Dottore warms up to you, it is impossible for him to let go. You will forever be with him. Unfortunately pre-relationship, he comes off like an asshole despite him trying his best since he actually likes you. When he tries to convey how he’s glad you’re his roommate now, he probably ends up saying something dumb and insulting, and then cringes in private later at his horrid social skills. Please tell him your feelings first, he keeps screwing it up and you’re probably tired of that. When you confess, he acts so confident but is questioning himself and you so badly - how can you really love someone like him? Buries these conflicting thoughts and is genuinely eager to finally someone who cares. He was one who has no one else in this world besides himself, but he now you too.
Room dates!! This man doesn’t like leaving his room due to all the stares he gets, and he doesn’t like when you’re not with him, so a lot of dates are in the comfort of his room. Well, you’re the one who made it comfortable, after organizing all his messes and buying new decorations and soft blankets for cuddling. I don’t know how the Akademiya is structured, but imagine you and Dottore lying against each, looking out from your high-floor dorm room window out at the city at night <3. (Dottore is in no way a sap for this kind of stuff, but it makes you happy, so he can deal with it.) Dates where you help him tinker with stuff. The two of you buy something, dismantle it, and then rebuild it for fun. Dates where he rambles on for hours about his new theories and future experiments, and the plans that he will fulfill. I don’t know if you can consider experimenting in his room a date, but yeah. Also, you spoon feeding him food because if you don’t he’ll forget to eat.
Dates where he takes you to different locations and makes you fight enemies that he wants the material and drops of. You make him hide behind rocks so he doesn’t get hurt, but he secretly takes notes of all your fascinating moves. Would give you advice after on how to save the most stamina and energy, which moves would give you the most power. Honestly, he could make you a lot stronger with just his observations and words. Dates where he takes you to ancient domains and ruins. Dottore takes notes of all the ancient scribbles and puzzles for his research while you fight for both of your lives. Since he’s a student he still has more free time, he just chooses to spend it on research. Dates where you forcibly drag him out for picnics at night so no one can bother the two of you or stare. Tells you about how all the stars in the sky are lies, apparently. Thinks reciting complicated formulas and scientific facts is romantic.
Dottore carries you easily in the Akademiya. He could do two different reports on the same topic and make them completely different. If you ask him to do so, he’ll moan and groan but ultimately get it done quickly because he’s a genius, and also he loves you too much and would kill a man if you really wanted him to. You don’t need any other partner besides him, Dottore insists. No one can explain the concepts better than him, and no one would take hours to explain them to you either. But he is a bit competitive so if you happen to do better on a test or assignment, Dottore would get all pouty. He likes being the smarter one in the relationship. (You have to convince him that he definitely is and that you got this far with his help.) Also, you taking off his mask so you can kiss his face. This takes so much trust, and it probably happens first in the pitch darkness where you still can’t see his face yet.
Times where the two of you make fun of the people who bullied you. Dottore can be real nasty especially when people are mean to you. You have to calm him down. Study dates happen quite often as well. But you have trouble focusing on all of those hard things so you try to distract and bother Dottore by wrapping your arms around him and snuggling into his neck. He gets all grouchy but gives into cuddles after some persistence. Even though you still didn’t have much desire to graduate from the Akademiya, you vowed to remain Dottore’s loyal assistant for however long. You hoped these days would continue forever, but all you knew was that no matter where Dottore went, you’d follow after, much to his pleasure. Neither of you would have it any other way <3.
Guys, I've been having some severe Capitano brain rot. And I've been thinking about this idea for a while so I'm just gonna put it here...
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Imagine that you're a mercenary, and you get hired by some guy to fight against some people. The pay was generous, so you obviously accepted, however, he failed to mention that you were fighting against the Fatui. And a Harbinger was with them. But nonetheless, you fulfill your job and keep them at bay.
For the first few days, you fight against some regular soldiers along with your allies and it's hardly a battle, with how quickly you sweep them. That is, until the Harbinger comes to end it himself. Capitano, you heard his name from the other people your employer hired, shriveling with fear. At this point, you're the only one who's willing to fight him.
The Harbinger was huge, towering over everyone in sight. You guess he wasn't expecting anyone to challenge him because of his sheer dominating presence but then comes little old you. You're starting to feel a little dumb by the way his neck is craning to look down at you but nevertheless, you position your sword and prepare for battle.
You're glad when he finally takes you seriously and heaves his claymore with ease and swings at you, but you also dodge that attack with ease. It looked like it'd be hard to get close to him so you opt for throwing daggers. You couldn't tell if he was surprised that you survive that but he also blocks the attack effortlessly.
It wasn't hard to tell everyone was shocked you lasted more than ten seconds against Capitano. But before anything else could happen, night begins to fall, a signal of a temporary ceasefire as both sides would have trouble fighting, and needed to recover from the day.
You start to retreat but before you could, a deep voice inquires about your name. You introduce yourself and Capitano nods, introducing himself as well before leaving. You think he respects you!
You decide to get some alone time so you head out for a walk in the woods to clear your head. But you did not expect to run into Capitano! You stiffen, ready for anything, but he doesn't seem interested in fighting you, at least not now. He's a man of honor, you think. So you just sit down, take in the night breeze and the pretty stars with the man next to you.
You don't know why you keep coming back, but you do. He doesn't say much, but you do, apparently since he's interested in how you became so strong. So you just talk and he just listens, and over time you find yourself sitting closer and closer to him. He shows you how fond the animals of the forest are of him, and you demonstrate some of your favorite techniques. You engage in things no one knows about, silently tending to each other's wounds.
During the day, you battle. During the night, you chat like friends. It was an interesting relationship.
Eventually, he asked you to leave your side and come to his one. You laugh and say that all mercenaries have a contract, and you can't just up and leave, much less to the other side. He seems disappointed but accepts it (for now.)
But after a while, your employer gives up the fight due to immense pressure from the Fatui, and you're free to go. Before you could leave to find your next employer though, Capitano stops you. *lots of fluff ensues blah blah* and he whisks you back to Snezhnaya with him and marries you.
(Then all of the soldiers who were there start spreading the news of how you two met. Capitano starts to feel a little embarrassed. Also, you two training new Fatui recruits and they don't know how to feel when there's the big, hulking, menacing Captain and then little old darling you there, smiling brightly.)
Diluc has noticed you at Angel's Share many times. You're always with your friends. There's never a drink in your hand. You always make sure they aren't too rowdy. You pitch in for the bill even though you didn't drink. You make sure your friends are always safe. You shoot him apologetic looks and smiles if they're being too loud.
He's talked to you a few times, when the chaos of your table causes you to linger at the bar. You confessed to him once that you don't really like alcohol, but don't want to stay home when your friends are having fun.
One night he has to switch with Charles mid-shift. He sees you then, alone at a table, sipping a cocktail and it feels wrong. Your faces goes from disappointment, through barely concealed anger, to apathy. You keep checking your watch and looking towards the door. Eventually you get up and head to the bar.
"Can i get you anything else?" Diluc asks, as a good bartender should, when you return your empty cup.
"I don't know," you say bitterly, "can you make my date appear?"
He wordlessly makes a cup of tea and gives it to you. You perch on one of the barstools and slump on top of the wooden surface of the bar.
"You know, maybe I should have learned after the last two times this happened. I even invited him here because we come often and I thought that would help him remember that we scheduled a date..."
"At this point, just throw the whole bottle out." Diluc comments and you snort.
"I should get a new one, shouldn't I? Any bartender's recommendations?" you joke.
"Well, that would be self-promotion." he says and smiles at you. He would never do this usually, but hey - you're his favourite customer and he wants to cheer you up. Except he doesnt expect the blush that takes over your entire face at his words. You laugh nervously and cover your mouth. 'You're cute.' Diluc thinks and then scolds himself.
"Apologies. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"No!" you almost jump out of your seat. "You just caught me off guard. I didn't expect you to be so forward."
It's Diluc's turn to blush and he averts his gaze from you. You laugh softly at him. Taking out your money, you pay for your drinks but he slides half of it back.
"The tea is on the house. I've started growing some at the winery and I've been experimenting with blends."
"Thank you, Diluc. It was wonderful." you smile at him. You get up to leave, then suddenly lean over the bar. "Let me know when your next shift is, I would love to try one of your homebrews."
Your carefree laughter as you leave echoes in his mind for the rest of the night.
just thinking of shigaraki with a someone as nasty and obsessive as him. someone who loves him as hard as he loves them.
he wants them to be as upset when another person flirts with them as he gets when someone does the same to you. he wants to see those crazy eyes and hear you mutter about how you’ll kill them. he needs to know you’ll do anything to keep him by your side. it’s fucked up and twisted but it makes him feel more secure.
wants you to love everything about him to a nauseating degree. stealing his shirts because they smelt like him and he would be away for more than a few hours. or taking pictures of him when you think he isn’t looking, no matter if he thinks he looks good or not. he wants you to suffocate him with your affection, even if he is rude and tells you to fuck off he expects you to ignore him and sit on his lap during an important meeting. leave your dirty clothes on top of his bed for him to find, knowing what he’ll do with them later. make it easier for him to be creepier with him, because it’ll make you happy to know he loves you.
dottore's literally the most touched starved person you'll ever meet because everyone around him is scared of him and no one really liked him; if they did it's probably because of the knowledge he possesses.
dottore who's pretty hesitant with touch at first. always letting you make the first move when it comes to touch because he just doesn't know how to initiate contact
dottore who's actually a really good cook. Because since he pretty much lived alone he had to learn how to cook for himself so he started experimenting with different cuisines and now kind of has his own unique style of cooking that somehow really fits him.
dottore who stuttered so hard when you first met him (and pretty much everytime you're around him) because all he could think of was how pretty you were and his brain was short circuiting and he gets so shy and becomes the clumsiest person ever.
also fully convinced that whenever he thinks about you his face will flame red because its always so soft and it's all flowers and sunshine.
dottore who will also tale such good care of you if you fall ill man's literally a doctor though he's super awkward about it and is always so worried that he might break you because your so fragile and he doesn't want to hurt you and scare you away:((
You are also the only person allowed in his lab though he would prefer if you aren't there at all because he doesn't want you to think badly of him despite knowing literally everything about him. He just doesn't want you to leave him like everyone else:(
dottore who kissed you to shut you up because you guys were in a heated debate and he just couldn't resist because you looked so hot-
he got so flustered after he realised what he did though man nearly fainted in the middle of the lab
dottore who gets bolder after you reciprocate his feelings. Nowadays, he's holding onto you somewhere. your waist, your shoulder, your hand, your pinky, anywhere he can hold.
He's pretty affectionate though his main love language would be quality time:( he just wants to spend all of his time with you and you only he doesn't even want to go to the lab anymore because then you cant be with him.
dottore who also gets jealous pretty easily; you could just be talking to one of his subordinates and the next day that subordinate is gone and when you try to ask dottore about it, all you'll get will be a "I don't know, maybe you scared them off." or a, "maybe the tsaritsa fired them."
;; some of the things that dottore does with his hands that make your heart flutter.
dottore likes holding you by the waist and rubbing your sides gently like a massage as he rests his chin on your shoulder, smiling as he felt you get flustered. the warmth enclosed in his arms is very comfortable and loving. sometimes, he even gets you to sit on his lap and hug you from behind, placing the long coat of his over your lap and caressing your thighs slowly, kissing your nape lightly (and slowly) as he starts whispering sweet words that you would never expect him to say.
holding hands with him “is a must” (as he says.), everytime the two of you are inside or outside, he keeps his tight grip on your hands, making sure to not let his dearest (possession) get away from him. his favorite way of hand holding is your palms pressed together and him stroking your knuckles gently. dottore smiles fondly seeing you enjoy his tender grip on you.
he’ll take his gloves off for you anytime. he does that one thing where he puts the finger of his gloved hand in between his teeth and he pulls his hand away making the glove come right off his hand smoothly. (he likes to make eye contact with you while doing so, since he’s quite smug.) the first time you saw his hands were when he was done with an experiment and his long, slender, veiny hands were revealed, and you couldn’t stop looking at his hands because for the first time in your relationship (at that time) you never saw his ungloved hand. dottore has never wanted more physical touch with you ever since the two of you held hands (does he admit it though? no.)
he is definitely (and always) down to caress your face while he stares down at your lovely glinting eyes. his soft and fond smile at you says it all. the way you looked up at him while you held his wrist gently and smiled up at him made his heart flutter. the cutest sight of you was made. and that moment has never been left dottore’s mind.
— vale speaks ! .. HELO ME DOTTORE( T_T)＼(^-^ ) HES SUCH A SMUG GOOFY MAN
you’re certain that you know more about neito monoma (the blond haired, devil’s advocate, perpetual smirk on an otherwise angelic face, overly pompous bastard) than you do any of your exes. but the worst part of this, though, is that you know that neito monoma (sweet, surprisingly a good friend, and devastatingly pretty — when he’s actually being himself) knows you just as well as you know him.
to be seen underneath the surface is heartwarming when you want it and feels like you’re being flayed alive when you’re least expecting it.
you know him; he knows this. and yet, you don’t expect him (the genuine monoma) to make an appearance right now.
“his loss, anyway.” monoma’s got his hands in his pockets, with his just-the-right-amount-of-blue-to-be-pretty eyes focused on the wall behind you.
your boyfriend — ex, actually — cheated on you. and monoma is just one of many of the partygoers who just so happened to witness this whole messy ordeal. because of course he’s here. he’s entirely unavoidable. he’s been a constant in your life ever since you punched him in the nose on the playground back in elementary school, and he’s been unavoidable ever since.
“i don’t really think he feels that way, but—” you swallow. shrug. “it’s whatever.” it is in fact, not ‘whatever’.
“y’know, i didn’t even like him.”
monoma never likes your boyfriends. every single boy you’ve ever dated, monoma’s had some snide comment to make about them. sometimes, it feels like he isn’t even capable of liking anyone, but you know him well enough to know it’s just a front he puts on. he likes to push people as far as possible, just to see if they’ll stay.
you want to tell him that it doesn’t really matter whether he liked him or not because it’s not like the two of you are friends, but it feels like too much of a lie.
“you never like any of my boyfriends.” you point out, instead.
notes: why is dottore's so long again why am I like this what has this man done to my brain?????
also feel free to join my discord
Pantalone and the outdoors is not a combination you see a lot. He travels with a luxurious carriage specifically for him and with a butler in tow and doesn't pay much mind to the scenery.
But when he took you with him on a business trip to the Northland Bank in Liyue, he didn't want to pass up on the opportunity to show you some nice places
On your way to the harbor, the two of you spent a night at Wangshu Inn, sharing a nice dinner and renting a room together.
It was your first time traveling with Pantalone and he had held you close at night, littering your shoulder with kisses while mumbling how much he loved you before you went to sleep.
After sharing a nice breakfast with you while it was still dark outside, Pantalone told his butler to drive the carriage further south.
Stopping at Luhua Pool, Pantalone walked up the hills with you so you could admire the scenery together. He sat down with you on a picnic blanket to enjoy the sunrise.
Pantalone wrapped his arms around you from behind and was more busy burying his face in your neck and kissing your cheek than staring at the scenery.
"Aren't you going to watch the sunrise too?", you chuckled as Pantalone rested his head on your shoulder and closed his eyes. He caressed your cheek and pressed yet another kiss to your neck. "You're so much more precious, my dearest", you could feel him smile against your skin before he let out a quiet yawn. He was still tired from getting up so early.
You ran your fingers through his hair as you watched the sun rise over Liyue.
You eventually decided it was time to take a little walk and took your lover's hand, guiding him to the other side of the Luhua Pool where you inspected the terrace paddies before removing your shoes to step into one.
You gestured for Pantalone to follow you but the rich harbinger looked sceptical. "You don't know what's been in there, y/n."
"It's crystal-clear water, it's gonna be fine", you snickered and closed your eyes.
"Clear water can still have bacteria. Dottore says-" "Get over here", you laughed and Pantalone sighed, knowing he couldn't possibly say no to you about this. Not when you smiled at him like this. Besides, he already missed having you in his arms again. Reluctantly, Pantalone took off his fancy shoes and followed you through the water.
You grabbed his hand when he was close enough and leaned against the stone behind you. "See? Isn't this nice? The feeling of the ground beneath our feet, the refreshing water, the beautiful sunrise....", you rambled.
"My feet are wet and cold", Pantalone complained, wrapping his arms around your waist again. "That's what water tends to be like", you chuckled. Not the one in my private spa..., Pantalone thought and sighed.
You splash a bit of water in his face and he's like "N- Don't do that", and pouts.
In the end he grew to enjoy this moment with you despite his initial complaints. He adored the way you smiled at him and gazed into his eyes, taking his hand and pressing kisses to his knuckles. Pantalone pulled you into a deep kiss and took a photo of the two of you to remember your journey before his butler picked you up with the carriage to take you to Liyue Harbor.
Diluc got this idea to take a little detour on his way back to the winery after his shift at Angel's Share was over.
The next day in the afternoon he takes you home with him but not before stopping at the little lake behind Springvale.
After taking a walk through the small village, Diluc asks you whether you'd like to go for a swim in the lake. If you agree, Diluc stays close to you in the water, always making sure you're safe and comfortable and aren't too cold.
Diluc lets down his hair and you bury your hands in it while wrapping your arms and legs around him as he holds you in the water. Diluc kisses your cheek, relishing in the feeling of your fingers in his red mane.
If you tease him this could end in a water fight. Just the two of you splashing each other with water. If you happen to have a hydro or anemo vision you'll definitely win. It's one of the few moments you really see him let down his guard completely and just have fun with you, laughing like he did when he was a little boy and playing outside with Kaeya. For a moment he could forget about his troubles.
You pick him up with the help of the water and Diluc slightly blushes at the feeling of being held like this by you for once. He chuckles at how you carry him through the water bridal style. "I'm beginning to understand why you like this so much", he smiles and you bow down to press a kiss to his lips from above
After you're done swimming, Diluc sits down with you on a towel he brought and wraps another towel around you.
Diluc is one of those people who dries incredibly fast in the sun despite his long hair. You suspect it's because of his pyro vision. Either way, he holds you close to make sure you're warm.
Once the two of you are fully dried, he helps you up a point at the cliff where it was easy to climb up and journeys to the top of the waterfall that meets the lake you swam in with you.
In the distance you can see Dragonspine and its snowy areas and can feel the air get colder the closer you get to it. Diluc lends you his coat temporarily and guides you up the cliff. The snowy mountain has faded out of view and you instead enjoyed seeing the waterfall from above as Diluc wrapped his arms around you.
If you like to use a wind glider or would like to practice gliding, this is the perfect spot.
Diluc would teach you to glide and make sure you know nothing will happen to you as long as he's there.
Is happy if he sees you enjoy gliding after he taught you.
After the trip he takes you home to the winery to cuddle with you in bed
Out of all the harbingers, Capitano is the most whipped for his s/o and the clingiest and I will die on this hill (Pantalone is a close second)
On a trip to Inazuma, he suggests visiting Watatsumi Island with you
He travels there with you on one of the ships of the Snezhnayan fleet and a couple of citizens think you're here for war while Capitano just wants to spend a nice day with his lover
When you wake up in the Captain's room alone in the morning, Capitano has already gotten breakfast ready for you and waits for you on deck with a huge bouquet of local flowers for you and you can tell he's blushing underneath his helmet.
He puts the flowers in a vase in your room and takes his helmet off, letting you give him a kiss. Or 20 of them. Honestly you planned to leave for your trip way earlier but ended up snuggling in bed again with Capitano just giving you slow and loving kisses for what feels like forever. "I love you so much, you have no idea", he whispers before kissing you again, his tongue swirling around yours. One of his hands holds your waist while the other is gently cupping your cheek.
Once you decided it was about time you got on your way, Capitano takes you to the Heart of Watatsumi Island.
You marvel in awe at the cave while Capitano can't take his eyes off you.
He picks you up and spins you around before holding you close again.
Asks you for a dance on one of the platform in the cave
Capitano dancing is an interesting view because that man is basically a tower and he's buff af but he's trying to dance with you and he's so gentle and careful with you
He wraps his arm around you and looks at the glowing pearl at the cave's ceiling with you. In a way, its beauty reminds him of you.
You explore the cave together and eventually settle down outside of the cave, watching the sunset over the beautiful island from between the two waterfalls.
Capitano thinks back to the pearl and considers whether something like it would do well on a ring for you. Man's basically been ready to marry you from the moment you first told him you loved him.
"You mean everything to me, I hope you know that, y/n", Capitano whispers, holds you close and closes his eyes, leaning his head against yours comfortably.
Oh god, this man
Look Dottore may be an evil lunatic but at the core he will always be a nerd who likes to hike through the Sumeru woods for research
Usually he'd send one of his clones to pick up some plants he needs for his lab or would ask Pantalone to order them for him but today he wanted to go to Sumeru himself and take you along with him.
Reminiscent of his time at the Akademiya, Dottore guided you through Mawtiyima Forest whilst rambling about biological things you didn't understand. Other than that he pretty much ignored you at the beginning, being too focused on collecting his samples and inspecting the forest. The times where he guided you away from dangerous plants or helped you over large rocks reminded you that even though it didn't seem like it, Dottore was always looking out for you.
With a sigh he eventually noticed that you didn't really understand his ramblings so he tried the simpler approach of telling you about the plants and mushrooms he was collecting and what could be made out of them.
"This one's poisonous, this one makes you hallucinate, that one made the third sage see the heat death of the universe", he explained while pointing at different mushrooms before stopping at one, "this one's edible." He took the large mushroom with him and later made a little campfire and grilled it for you. He took some spices out of his backpack that he brought along and seasoned it before handing it to you.
You were a bit sceptical because Dottore never cooked anything at home. He went off the rails while he was still at the Akademiya, living off student dorm food and that is a habit he kept. On some days when he was too focused on his research to bother making himself something to eat, he settled for dry ramen noodles. But Dottore has learnt how to survive in the wilderness during his time with various research teams and he knew how to make a meal out of things he found in the forests.
"It's not poisonous", he rolled his eyes underneath his mask as he saw you inspect the mushroom. You took a bite and noticed that it tasted indeed good. After you both finished eating you thanked Dottore for preparing this for you and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
After putting out the fire, Dottore guided you up the hills and cliffs. What was straining for you he walked and climbed with ease. You marvel at the grass below your feet that lit up when you stepped on it and Dottore told you it was because the forest recognized how exceptional the two of you were. You were pretty sure he made that up.
He eventually stepped on one of the large glowing mushrooms and gestured you to follow him. From the top of it you could see the whole forest and smiled, leaning against Dottore.
Once the two of you relaxed and looked at the forest for a while, Dottore took off his mask and his shirt and walked towards the little pool on the giant mushroom.
"Join me", he just said. "In the mushroom water?", you raised your eyebrows.
"iN thE mUsHrOOm wAtER???", he imitated you in a high-pitched voice and groaned, "the 'mushroom water' is actually warm and very clean. The correct scientific term for it is-"
You told him to tell you later because if he was trying to convince you to join him, it was probably beneficial for you not to know where the mushroom water came from.
But much to your surprise the water was actually warm like Dottore had said and you found it quite relaxing.
Many things Dottore told you that you were sceptical about turned out to be true to the point where he argued that you shouldn't be surprised anymore. To be fair, sometimes he did tell people things that ended with them as dead bodies but he'd always roll his eyes and tell you you should know he loved you by now.
Dottore seemed distant and passive at first but eventually pulled you closer and let you rest against his chest. He pressed several kisses to your cheek and ended up kissing your lips for a while. He trailed kisses down your neck and gently nibbled at your skin here and there. You loved when he was affectionate as he didn't show that side of him this openly very often.
"This forest is beautiful", you commented once again and kissed Dottore, "thanks for taking me here." "Do you want to know why the mushrooms are glowing?", he asked nonchalantly. "Sure", you chuckled.
Dottore eventually put up a tent for the two of you near the canyon. He let you wear one of his shirts for sleep and let you join him in his sleeping bag. Held tightly against him, he kept you warm the whole night and pressed a kiss to your forehead once he noticed you had fallen asleep.
CW ♡ none really for this chapter. mild creepiness from shiggy but what’s new tbh
Pairing ♡ shigaraki/fem!reader
Word count ♡ 2,100
minors/ageless blogs DNI ♡ you will be blocked
A/N ♡ as of right now i’ve got around 7 chapters for this but i’ll be scattering posting them, i’m trying to get back into writing again so this blog will be semi active ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡ also it’s under a read more bc all these chapters are kinda fat. so obv reader is chubby in this, but you can assume that all of my reader fics are chubby reader tbh
DAY ONE
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Calculus was your worst class. Not just because you were bad at it, or because Mr. Byrne was rude to you, but because of him. Tomura was a part of an exchange student program. Most of the students adjusted well and made friends, but it seemed like Tomura didn’t even want to be here. He constantly had his hood up and never spoke to anyone as he moved across campus. He sat directly behind you, never contributing to any discussions. All he did was stare at you so hard you could feel his eyes burning a hole in your head. This semester felt like it would last forever thanks to this class. You tried to take notes and listen to the lecture but none of it made sense. As the lecture came to a close, your professor called your name, and Tomura’s. Your heart dropped to your stomach.
“Can you two stay for a moment?” Oh good lord. Holding your breath, you stepped up to your professors desk. “Your test scores have been… inadequate lately. So I’ve asked Tomura to tutor you. He’s already agreed, and I’m willing to bump your grade up. As long as you’re willing to meet up for an hour or two every day till the test next week,” he presented a sheet, dates, times and a place for a signature. “You two fill these out and we’ll see what we can do,” why, why of all people, this guy? Surely there has to be someone else just as smart. Maybe it wasn’t even that. Maybe no one else would tutor you.
“Mr. Byrne I don’t…” before you even finished, he held up a hand.
“If you fail this class, your GPA will drop and you’ll have to retake it. I know you don’t want to be here. Give it a chance,” as he spoke, Tomura was rocking on his feet, anxiously picking at his fingers. He wanted you to say yes. Needed you to say yes. This was his in. He never knew how to speak to you. You were out of his league, and he’d never even spoken to someone he was attracted to extensively, especially not one he wanted as badly as he wanted you.
Tomura had been watching you since you started this class with him. Of course, he’d seen you around campus. You stuck out to him, because you were just his type. Soft hips, chubby, a beautiful smile, and a sunny aura that he didn’t have. Obviously he didn’t know you that well, but he knew you enough. Hopefully you didn’t notice that he found out where you frequented, coffee shops and parks on campus. He definitely hoped you didn’t notice how much attention he paid you, listening in when you spoke to someone, watching your secret little habits you don’t even think about. Tomura wanted to know everything. He knew he was weird, so he’d have to find out how to attract you despite that. That scared him. How could he attract someone like you to someone like him? It didn’t matter. Even if being near you made him nauseous and sweaty, he’d do it. You would be his before the week was out.
“That’s.. fine I guess. I’ll do it,” turning to him, you noticed he wouldn’t even meet your eyes.“So, are you free right now, or do you have a class or somethin’?” Tomura’s throat went dry. All he had to say was that he’s free, and wants to tutor you now, but so many questions and worries bobbed around in his head. Would you want to go to your dorm or his? God, not his dorm. It’s disgusting. There’s a picture he took of you on his computer. You weren’t aware he took it, but it was sticky and he knew you’d be grossed out. Maybe even enough to drop the class and take the failing grade. Finally he managed to sputter out some words, knowing he’d took a weird amount of time to respond.
“We can do it right now. Wherever, i-is fine,” instantly you recoiled. You didn’t want him to know how much you dreaded this so he’d at least do a good job and help you pass.
“There’s some tables in the park if that’s okay. It’s usually pretty quiet,” but public enough to not be totally alone with him, you thought. Tomura nodded, following you out of the building. He always loved how you looked, the way your thighs spread when you sat, how soft your tummy looked. You were confident, and it showed in the way you dressed. He could only imagine how it would feel to touch you, your stomach, your thighs. Being behind you was like a godsend, he got to watch you walk. He could’ve easily outpaced you with his height, but he made sure to keep a slow pace just to stay where he was.
Trying to fill the silence on the way to the park was awkward, but you had to say something. Anything.
“This class makes me feel kinda stupid. It’s not a part of my major but it’s a required class, so I feel like it shouldn’t be as hard as it is, you know?”
Tomura doesn’t know how to respond. The only thing he wants to do is hold your hand. Be yours, so you can be his. His palms are soaked with sweat at the very thought. He wiped them on his hoodie, not knowing what to do with them. Why did merely existing around you make him feel so out of place? All he wanted to do was impress you and he had no idea if he was even capable of that. Instinctively, his hands flew to his neck to scratch at the scarred skin there. You flick your eyes back to him, all you see is his head down, hands digging at his neck.
When you get to the park, it was more empty then you’d hoped. You dropped your backpack at the nearest table and sat down with your notebook full of a few notes and lots of doodles and scribbling. Just like before, it took Tomura way too long to speak.
“What part is uh.. confusing you?” Clicking his pen over and over again, like a nervous tick, he still refused to make eye contact.
“Um, well, I guess the calculus part,” trying to make a lighthearted joke to ease the tension. It was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
“Well, I think we should start with what the basics and… go from there?” Once he got started it was hard to get him to shut up. Turns out if you wanted him to speak, you just needed to ask a distressing amount of questions about math, probably video games too. Tomura was smart, which probably shouldn’t have surprised you. You shouldn’t even be in the same class as him. Your teacher couldn’t teach you half the things Tomura could. Eventually the lights in the park had come on.
“Wow, has it really been, like, two hours? I didn’t even notice. You’re actually a really good teacher,” the compliment made Tomura’s head swim. You tore off a scrap of paper, scribbling your number on it. “Text me, ‘kay? This helped a lot but, I think I need a lot more to pass that test. Thanks for that, Tomura,” you beamed at him, and he finally met your eyes. You were a little hesitant to give it to him, or even give him that wide of a smile. Then he gave his best attempt at a smile back to you. It was crooked and a little unnerving.
With visibly quivering hands, either due to nervousness or tremors, he took the paper. Tomura cleared his throat, and added it to his phone. He pushed the paper into his pocket and sent you a text. Regret sinks in just a touch, but you needed to be able to communicate with him when you didn’t have a class together.
“There, so you’ll know it’s me and not some.. weirdo,” in your head you burst out laughing but you kept an innocent smile on your face. Did he not realize he was some weirdo? Even though he was incredibly helpful with tutoring, he still did weird things that made you a little scared of him. Things on and off campus that made others avoid him. Tomura had long, greasy, unkempt hair. It somehow still held some volume, so you couldn’t imagine what it looked like clean. The bags under his eyes were deep, like he never slept, not a singular time since he was born. His lips were always dry, his voice raspy. You were pretty sure he survived on Monster and take-out. Girls would talk about how they caught him staring. Or walking behind them, quite a distance away, but still following. The talk died down when he started calculus, all because of you. You were the one he wanted. The other girls were pretty, a little stupid, probably easy to manipulate. Getting you though, that would be like the boss battle at the end of a game. Incredibly difficult, it might take a few tries, but the satisfaction it’d bring would be worth it.
“I’m free th-the same time tomorrow. We can meet here if you want,” he was scratching his neck, and you could see his sharp, uneven fingernails digging in and blood getting underneath them. You felt like you had to be nice. Tutoring you was at least worth a little bit of kindness, considering he did it for free. The reason why he did it was so obvious and so obscure. Plus, you were taught manners, and no matter how much you disliked someone, you should help if they’re hurt.
“Oh, you’re uh, bleeding. Here, let me see,” digging through your backpack, you found your first aid kit. You cleaned his wounds, and put some neosporin and a bandaid on his neck. Tomura could cry. The feeling of your fingers on his neck made his dick twitch. He wouldn’t say that, and he’s hoping he didn’t show it. You both went your separate ways, you went back to your dorm and didn’t think much more about it. It was much different for Tomura.
On the walk back, the only thing keeping him from digging the skin fully off his neck was the bandage you put on him. Gently grazing his fingers across it, it made him blush. It also made him incredibly angry. He could’ve said something. Kissed you, even. You were so close, your soft hands making him light headed. Yet just looking at you, feeling your breath on his neck, paralyzed him. The walk gave him time to think, and that gave him time to get angry at himself.
When he stepped in his dorm room, he threw his backpack against the wall, slamming the door shut behind him. His roommate, Touya, sat on the bed opposite Tomura’s. Unfazed by one of his frequent tantrums, he tapped on his phone. Probably trying to figure out what party to be at so he can get his dick wet. Tomura despised him. He could get nearly anyone he wanted but Tomura couldn’t even get the one person he wanted. Everything about you was all he wanted.
The room was dirty on both sides, but his side was worse. Tomura had empty energy drink cans everywhere, figures of lewd anime girls, dirty clothes covering whatever else was there. Sometimes it was clean, when the RA decided to come by. That rarely happened so Tomura rarely cleaned.
“Wha’ happened? Someone mildly inconvenience you again?” Smirk decorating Touya’s scarred face. He looked like a freak too, but he didn’t get the same judgement Tomura faced. Touya had girls lining up to even talk to him. Tomura had girls crossing the street if he passed by.
“I was... an idiot! She was right there. So close I could’ve touched her anywhere or anyway I wanted to. And I didn’t,” aggressively pulling his gaming chair closer and sat with his elbows on the computer desk. Scratching at his neck, he felt the bandaid you placed, running his finger along it. “She…she really took care of me. And I’m practically a stranger.”
“Yeah, yeah. Maybe, for once, you should try not stalking them and being a freak. Act like you don’t want ‘em, they come runnin’,” what he said was maybe right, as much as Tomura hated to admit it. When he meets you again, he’ll test this theory.
