Genshin-Ghost

once again- they will all be gender neutral unless specified otherwise.

PLATONIC! Dori:

Sitting in a cafe after a long night out is normal for you, the nice rays of the morning sun gleaming into the small cafe windows is very nice. Your warm drink of choice in your hands, heating the palms up just enough for a comforting feeling to enrapture you to stay.

Ad you take a sip, the door opens with a small chime to notify the workers of the person’s arrival. You don’t glance over at first, it is 5am, many scholars are awake for their researching or lectures.

However the voice of Al-Haitham takes you by surprise.

“One black coffee, small.”

You’re not surprised by the order, but the man being here of all places is quite odd. You wouldn’t say you stalked the guy, but when you’re out on your adventures you can’t help but to people watch along with your crime fighting. He’s one of the people who actually stays up late at night- and him being here this early in the morning isn’t usual.

When you look over your shoulder just for a quick glance, he’s already looking at you. A shiver runs down your spine from the intense glare he has- the eye bags don’t make it any better…

Finally his coffee has arrived, and you pray he’ll leave right after. His coffee is in a to-go cup after all.

Your prayers aren’t answered, however, and he moves to sit right across from you at the table you’ve chosen. He places the cup down and sighs.

“You’re quite the headache,” He mumbles under his breath. You’re not sure what he means by this, but you still start to sweat- if this buff ass guy is as mean as he seems, you might get your ass beat.

“oh.. uh- heh… sorry about that..?” You somehow mutter out, rubbing the back of your neck and looking away while taking another sip of your drink.

Al-Haitham looks at you, dead in the eyes. Before he looks down at your chest, then back up at you- honestly it’s a little rude, no matter what gender you are.

“Your costume is showing.”

Oh.

Quickly you look down with wide eyes, before noticing that it is, in fact, well hidden behind your button up shirt. You look back at him with a confused expression, and he just smirks at you.

Well… shit.

“I- uh… I don’t know what you’re talking about…” You try to come up with some excuse, however it’s an awkward execution that clearly doesn’t help your predicament.

All he does is nod, “Of course you don’t, why wouldn’t you.”

Another awkward silence forms between you two, you’re sweating, he’s staring at you intently. It’s like this for a couple of minutes, the only break you get is when he takes a drink of his coffee.

Finally- finally- he finishes the cup, the empty sound of it hitting the table while he stands up fills your stomach with relief. Al-Haitham then moves over to your side of the table and places down a folder, the title is “Spiderman?”

When you open it, it’s a shit ton of paperwork and pictures of you, either in action, or simply helping out a citizen with crossing the stream. You look up at him with a confused look, before he moves a few papers out of the way to show a picture of you taking your mask off.

You get bright red as you shove your hands over the picture, the glimpse you saw was enough, your face clear as day.

“I won’t tell anyone, only people who know is me and the photographer.”

Once again, the confused glare stares back at him. If he wanted to keep it a secret, why show you the picture in the first place?

“I won’t tell anyone… if you help with the paperwork.”

Ah, there it is.

You groan, slumping over the table as you sigh. It’s understandable, and from the skimming of the papers, it’s mostly vigilante and property damage reports. But still, paperwork isn’t really the best thing to waste your time on.

However, you’d rather be forced to do an office job than have a bounty over your head thanks to the Grand Acting Sage accidentally leaking that photo.

“…When do I start?”

Al-Haitham smiles at your words, before checking his watch, “About thirty minutes. My office is on the fifth floor.”

There’s a pause in your night, the moon shining over Port Ormos is wonderful, it’s almost like you can watch the stars by looking at the water. The nice breeze, gods, you would take off that mask if you weren’t on a mission- oh, right.

The Matra, who has been trying to catch you since the start of your vigilante ways, has actually paid you to start taking down some black market traders. I mean… it’s more money than your day job, so why not. Plus, it gets them off of your back for the time being.

You’ve been helping them out for a little while by now, and it’s honestly started a good business transaction between you and the Matra.

Tonight you’ve been given the word that some transaction between the biggest knowledge capsule holder and a simple merchant wanting more forbidden knowledge. So you’ve perched yourself at their meeting location, making sure to stay silent and in the shadows for as long as possible….

…

Yeah they haven’t shown up. You feel stood up, honestly. Even though it was just a rumor around the street… maybe you just wanted to get paid handsomely. After another half an hour, you decide to pack it up for the night. Stretching your arms over your head, you stand up on the lamp post with a groan.

“ah… maybe next time,” you mumble, yawning as you ready yourself to swing away- until… a small pair of footsteps alert you to your right.

A small child, wearing rather flashy clothes on, ‘a bit stereotypical if you ask me’ you think to yourself. You wave the thought off as you watch the kid, it is still your job to make sure the people are safe, and this kid isn’t any different, no matter how weird it is for a little girl to be out at night on a port…

Well… until you start to hear what she’s mumbling about.

“Ah~! Sweet, sweet mora~! The fact that he was scammed so easily, haha~! Let’s see here… One, a-two, a-three…”

You have a sneaky suspicion that this is the mastermind you’ve been waiting for. But you’re born in the great nation of justice- innocent until proven otherwise and all that, so you crawl down to your feet and speak to the girl.

“Hey kiddo, what’re you doing out so late?” You try to ask in a polite manner, a slight bit of awkwardness lacing your words.

The girl turns to you with a small glare, before smiling innocently and hiding whatever bag she has behind her back, “oh, nothing! I’m just returning home from a friends house. Don’t need to worry about me, SpiderMan*!”

You move your hand to your hip, and tilt your head. Even if you don’t have kids, or younger siblings, you can just tell she’s lying. “oh? Well still, it’s not safe for you to be alone, I’ll walk you home.”

The girl is immediately defensive about the idea, spouting whatever excuses she has but that doesn’t stop you, all you do is nod and wait for her to finish. After another minute, she deflates.

“… You’re not convinced, are you?”

“Nope, not one bit.”

The girl dramatically groans and continues to walk, “Ugh, whatever. I guess I’ll just have to wait for this then…”

You hear what she says, but ignore it for now. The walk to her house was quiet and honestly a little bit awkward. The bag she’s still hiding jingles and clinks with every movement, making it oh so obvious as to what she’s hiding. However you turn a blind eye to the noise, in all honesty, you feel bad for turning in a child- even if she’s selling contraband.

When you get to her house you realize how empty it is…

“Not to uh… step out of place here but, where are your parents?” You ask, watching as she unlocks the door without a care as to who hears it.

She’s silent for a moment, before whispering, “With my sister, she’s sick.”

Oh.

Well shit now you absolutely can’t turn her in.

You sigh, “So that’s why you sell contraband?”

She seems absolutely shocked- appalled at your claim, “Wh-What?! No- nononono. You must be uh.. must be mistaken!”

Once again, you’re not buying it, while the kid is a good merchant, it seems like she’s a terrible liar. Even so, you sigh and pat her shoulder.

“It’s fine… I.. I won’t turn ya in. Just make sure the people who you’re selling to won’t rat you out next time.”

The girl smiles brightly at you, before smirking and holding her hand out, “Well… if you ever need anything, and i mean anything, you know where to find me. Just call for Dori,” she gives you a wink.

You sigh and shake her hand, a smile hidden behind your mask, before she then grows serious in the face.

“And if I wake up to the Matra at my door, I will come for you.” Then she slams the door in your face. You can hear her giggles from behind the door, oh well.

I mean, you didn’t see anything happen between Dori and her merchant friend. All you did was help a defenseless girl get home, right?