Wriothesley's very stressful and very embarrassing first date prep:
(He's wearing a formal suit to impress Neuvillette.)
It isn’t like Wriothesley to ask, but, “How do I look?”
Clorinde looks over her shoulder as he approaches, her eyebrows furrowing slightly, “What’s with the suit?”
“Does it look good?” he prompts, holding his arms out to his sides, “Come on, Clorinde. I know it’s hard to scrape your jaw off the floor when you see me, but–"
“Pfft. You wish.” she scoffs, folding her arms, “You look fine, I guess. Where are you going? On a date?”
He can’t really think of a compelling comeback to that. For some reason… His heart’s in his throat.
“Wait.” she turns around, giving him her full attention, “You’re actually going on a date?”
He sighs, “Don’t get all excited about it.”
“Me? Excited about your love life? It’s just… normally you don’t do dates.”
“Did someone say Wriothesley’s going on a date?” Sigewinne asks, approaching from behind Clorinde’s legs.
A groan rips from Wriothesley’s throat. He doesn’t need a scene to start. “Look, Clorinde. Forget all of this, okay?”
“Sigewinne, how do you think he looks? Date ready?”
Sigewinne studies him, finger to her chin, “According to what I’ve learned about humans…. I think you’re sure to wow any human you come across!” she says, giving him two thumbs up.
“Yeah, that’s not exactly helpful.” Wriothesley says, squinting an eye as he adjusts his rings, “I’m not going out with a human.”
Both of their brows furrow.
“Then… What are you going on a date with?” Clorinde asks. “Don’t tell me. You’ve gotten desperate enough to take a Clockwork mek on a date?”
“Why is that your first guess?” Wriothesley asks flatly.
“Is it a melusine?” Sigewinne asks.
His face scrunches up, “What? No. Ladies, there are plenty of other creatures in Teyvat that aren’t human.”
“A creature.” Clorinde repeats, “You’re… dating a creature?”
Wriothesley runs two hands down his face, rubbing away his rapidly increasing stress, “No! He’s– I mean–”
“He’s?” Clorinde smirks, “I always figured.”
“No. You didn’t.” Wriothesley says, rolling his eyes.
“Hey. Welcome to the club.”
He’s blushing. This wasn’t worth it.
Just as he thinks about walking away without another word, he looks down. Sigewinne’s eyes are wide open.
She's connected the dots.
(Snippet from my newest fic chapter [smut])
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