𑁍

anyways, that’s where it brings you to now. you were in the middle of telling kazuha about your day when you suddenly spotted a familiar figure in the distance causing you to pause your movements, kazuha copying with a confused look.

it was your ex.

you couldn't help but feel a sense of dread as memories flooded your mind. you hadn't seen your ex in months, and you had thought that you had moved on from the heartbreak they had caused you. which, you have moved on, but you still can’t help the familiar feelings that come over you. it makes you feel guilty because kazuhas right next to you.

your ex noticed you, both locking eyes. you wanted to tear your eyes away from them, or even pull your eyes out of your sockets but you just couldn’t look away.

as your ex approached, you tensed up, unsure of how to react. to your surprise, your ex greeted you with a warm smile and a friendly hug. you hesitated, but you couldn't help but reciprocate, feeling a wave of nostalgia wash over you.

kazuha, who had been watching the entire interaction (even from when you first noticed them), felt a pang of jealousy shoot through him.

he had grown to care deeply for you, wanting to keep you by his side forever, and the sight of you interacting with your ex made him very uneasy. he tried to brush off the feeling, reminding himself that you were the one with him now (even if not officially), and that your ex was just permanently a part of your past.

you pulled away from your ex, turning back to kazuha with a guilty, and apologetic look. “uhm, kazu, this is my…” you trailed off awkwardly, not really knowing what to call them. kazuha already knew who this person was to you, you just didn’t wanna seem rude officially introducing your ex, as your ex.

“i’m their old friend.” they continued for you, offering out their hand for him with a sweet smile, though the wind told kazuha different.

“it’s… a surprise to meet you.” kazuha took their hand with swift haste, an obvious fake smile plastered. you cleared your throat as they both pulled away, moving back to stand next to kazuha you looked to him, and he looked back.

“you don’t mind if they spend the rest of the day with us?” you asked, a sheepish smile on your face as kazuha let out a sigh only you could really hear. “of course not, it would be my pleasure to meet an old friend of your past.” he made sure to clarify.

“great…” your ex looked at him with a challenging look and then turned around. “i saw there was a place just past those trees over there, let’s go take a look.”

they took your wrist pulling you with them, scaring you out of surprise. you looked back to kazuha who was quick to follow you two, though mainly focusing on the connection between your wrist and their hand. his eyes finally travelled up to meet yours and you offered him an apologetic smile, as in to say everything will go fine from now on.

however, as the day went on, kazuha couldn't shake the wretched feeling inside of him. he just wanted to steal you away forever, not liking the feeling of someone else being a threat to you two. and your ex was one. they seemed to be getting too close for comfort, and kazuha couldn't help but feel like he was slowly being pushed out of the picture.

the sun began to set, and your ex had already said their goodbyes, apologising that it must be weird for you and that they overstayed their visit. kazuha was glad they finally seemed to realise.

he pulled you aside, away from everyone else who was still in the cherry blossom park, thought not much. you looked at him with a curious look, both your arms crossed over each other. he took a deep breath before speaking, his voice low and hesitant.

"i know i shouldn't feel this way, and it’s not my place to really say this, but seeing you with your ex today... it made me feel… horrible. i care about you a lot, and the thought of losing you to someone from your past scares me."

you were a little shocked. i mean, kazuha feeling insecure? usually he knows whether or whether not he should be feeling vulnerable in a situation, because the wind whispers the secrets to him. so he must be feeling really upset if he’s not trusting the winds of the archon.

you continued to stare at him, trying to find out how he was really feeling inside from his face. you could see the pain and vulnerability in his eyes, and your heart ached for him. you felt guilty.

you took his hand and pulled him into a tight embrace, "kazuha, you have nothing to worry about. you're the one i want to be with, and nothing will ever change that. my ex is just a part of my past, but you... you're my present and my future." you smiled at him warmly.

kazuha's tense shoulders relaxed as he returned the embrace, feeling a sense of relief wash over him. he had been so worried about losing you, but hearing your words made him feel more secure in your relationship. the negativ emotion on his face disappeared, getting it replaced with a way more positive one.

as the two of you pulled away, kazuha leaned in to press a soft kiss to your forehead. "thank you," he whispered, his voice filled with emotion. he grabbed the wrist your ex held earlier, and pulled it up to his lips to kiss, his eyes not breaking eye contact the entire time.

the rest of the evening was spent in a comfortable silence, the two of you enjoying each other's company as the sun set over the horizon. the memory of your exes visit was fading fast along with the light in the sky.

you knew that there would be more challenges ahead for you both, but with kazuha by your side, you felt confident that the two of you could overcome anything together.

lol corny.

— scaramouche

scaramouche, the cunning and mischievous harbinger of the fatui, had always been a man of many talents. but there was one thing that he couldn't quite control - his jealousy. and as he watched you interact with aether from behind a wall, scaramouche couldn't help but feel a rising sense of possessiveness.

you lived with scaramouche in the fatui headquarters as his assistant, and loving partner. your best friend, aether, would usually visit you sometimes with scaramouches permission, but he never really knew what you two got up to since he was always out on missions when aether was there.

this was the first time he was present while aether visited and he’d never felt such regret in saying yes before. he wished he never gave permission to that blonde.

while scaramouche had tried to ignore the growing friendship between the two of you, he found it increasingly difficult to do so throughout the day. aether was a charismatic and friendly traveler, and it was visible to the eye that you seemed to enjoy spending time with him, much to scaramouches dismay.

as scaramouche continued to watch the two of you talk and laugh, he couldn't help but feel a nagging murderous feeling in his chest. he knew that he had no right to feel this way, mostly because you’d get extremely angry at him if you found out he wanted to kill your best friend... but he couldn't help the way he felt.

then, to add salt on his internal wound, aether leaned in closer to you, his hand brushing against yours. scaramouche's eyes narrowed as he watched the interaction, feeling a surge of anger. if aether didn’t mean that much to you he would’ve already ripped that plat off.

as he started to slowly get a better look of the two of you, he noticed something that surprised him - aether seemed completely oblivious to what he was doing. he was just being friendly, completely unaware of the intimate actions he was creating, and of the harbinger's leaking jealousy flowing throughout the entire building.

scaramouche took a deep, long breath, trying to calm himself down. he knew that he couldn't let his emotions get the best of him, especially not near you and aether. one noise and you’d hear him, which would cause you to find him and boast him with questions.

it’s okay. he can last… at least that’s what he told himself.

as the day went on, scaramouche found it harder and harder to control his burning jealousy. it felt like a forest fire inside of him. he didn't want to lose you to some prick, and the sight and thought of aether getting too close to you made him feel sick to his stomach.

finally, it was night and you three sat around a small table chatting. well, it was mostly just you and aether speaking while scaramouche held back a nasty look to him.

as he sat there anticipating for the time aether would leave, he saw something that made the last thread inside of him snap. aether had tucked some short hair strands behind your ear, then his hand trailed down your neck and rested on your shoulder as you continued to speak. it was an innocent friendly gesture, but scaramouche had had enough. he stood up abruptly, glaring at aether sharply.

"i think it's time for you to leave," he said, his voice harsh and fast to leave his body.

aether looked up, surprised. "what? why?" he asked.

"because i don't want you around here anymore," scaramouche replied, his voice laced with venom.

you looked between the two of them, confused and slightly angered by scaramouche's sudden outburst. "scaramouche, what's going on?" you asked, reaching out to touch his arm.

but scaramouche pulled away from you. you looked at him, slightly hurt from what he did, but in a way that you knew you upset him in some way seriously which made you upset.

his eyes dark and his jaw clenched. "i said leave, aether," he repeated, his voice colder than before.

aether stood up slowly, looking between you and scaramouche with a mix of confusion and concern. "i don't understand what's going on, but if you want me to leave, i will," he said, his voice calm and measured. “i’ll see you!” he said with an awkward smile, you giving a sad one back.

as aether gathered his things and prepared to leave, you turned your attention back to scaramouche, your voice hurt and angry. "what was that about?" you demanded, your voice shaking with emotion.

scaramouche's expression softened slightly as he looked at you, but the jealousy was still evident in his eyes. "i'm sorry," he said, his voice low. "i just... i don't like seeing you with him. i don't want to lose you. the way he touched you just then and today i…”

you sighed, feeling torn between your feelings for scaramouche and your friendship with aether. "scaramouche, you know that you don't have to be jealous," you said, trying to reason with him. "i care about you, and i'm not going anywhere."

scaramouche nodded, his expression still pained. "i know that, but... i can't help the way i feel."

you reached out to take his hand, squeezing it gently. "i understand that, but you can't just push people away when you feel threatened," you said gently. "it's not fair to them, or to me."

scaramouche nodded again, his grip on your hand tightening slightly. "i know, and i'm sorry. i'll try to do better," he said, his voice heavy with regret.

you smiled at him, feeling the tension between you start to dissipate. "that's all i can ask," you said, leaning in to press a soft kiss to his cheek. "let's just focus on enjoying the peace we’ll have together, okay?"

scaramouche's lips twitched up into a small smile as he leaned in to return the kiss. "okay," he said, his voice softening. "together."

"oh, then should i try wear my other outfits? maybe i'd even get a promotion." you could feel his sly smirk from through the walls to which you scowled. "just.. have another day off and go shopping to buy a new one." you offered the idea.

"no, nevermind. i think i found something better." he spoke normally, the voice only just making its way through the thick walls. "show me after you've gotten into it. i don't trust you." you eyed the closed bedroom door you saw from your view.

you heard a sound of agreement and went to pick your book back up, but not even a line into it and you heard the door opening. you could sense him in front of you and you placed the book back down again. "that was qui—..." your voice trailed off as you took in the view.

ajax was leaning against the wall in front of you with his arms crossed, and no. shirt. on. your mouth stayed agape while you kept staring, refusing to take your eyes off the godly sight laid upon you. you could see him smirking at you but you weren't even mad. his body was making up for it. did he always have such rock hard abs?

"take a picture while it lasts." he shrugged, straightening his position on the wall. you shut your mouth, chewing on the inside of your cheek. “you..." you spoke, trying form your words. "you should put some clothes on." you cleared your throat, fighting to get out of your trance.

you grabbed the blanket that was laid on the couch and brought it and yourself over to him. you wrapped the blanket around him, moving away. "put some clothes on, its cold, you know." you averted your eyes from his torso. god, his abs were to die for. how was he so perfect? how were you blessed with such a toned body?

"hm, your gazes are very subtle..." ajax spoke sarcastically as it only hit you that you failed at removing your eyes from him once again. "well... well this is your fault. i know what you're trying to do." you glared at him trying to turn the tables. "oh? and what am i trying to do?" he asked, dropping the blanket onto you instead.

"you're trying to tease me with," you gestured to his naked body. "with all of that." it took you your all to not touch him. god, could he just pound you down already? "so you're saying just because i have no shirt on, i'm trying to fuck?" he acted shocked, raising his eyebrows.

you frowned. "what? what? don't twist my words, i never said you're 'trying to fuck' i just said... i just said that... that uhm," your brain was twisting up as you tried to think of what you said earlier, but you just couldn't remember. ajax let out the laugh that you loved, but also hated because he only did that laugh when he'd successfully riled you up.

"calm down, i know what you said. i'm only teasing you." he gave you a soft smile, pulling you in to embrace you. this was meant to be a sweet moment but you couldn't help but want him to be embracing you like this in a different situation.

ajax knew what you were trying to do as you began pressing yourself up against him. "hey," he spoke grabbing your attention. you looked to him and raised an eyebrow. he pulled the blanket that was wrapped around your neck to pull your face closer to his, before he claimed your lips. you instantly kissed back, running your hands through his hair. ajax moved his arms to your back, the blanket sliding off you to the floor as his hands glided under your shirt.

he moved you against the wall, your mouths sloppily moving against one another as you both wanted all that was offered in between you two. your hands moved down to his torso, pawing at his toned body. he placed his leg up against your crotch, making you gasp giving him an opportunity to slide his tongue into your mouth.

you whined as he moved his leg away from you, reminiscing about when he'd next give you that pressure you oh so wanted. ajax pulled away from you, giving you a quick kiss before glazing your shirt off of your body. you turned your face away, flushing from the embarrassment of you being exposed. he grabbed your jaw and placed his lips back onto you, fondling with your pants as you moved away. "you're not going to work anymore, are you?" you panted with your eyes heavy, looking at your lover with want.

"what do you think?" he replied back with a teasing smile as he moved his hands down to your lower body.

— scaramouche

he sat on the edge of the bed, scrolling on his phone while you played around in your closet with a frown. "baby, do you know where my favourite shirt is? i can't find it." you asked looking at him.

he paid you no mind as he shrugged. "just wear another one, i don't know." he mumbled out. you rolled your eyes as you focused your gaze back onto the clothes in front of you. "i need my favourite shirt, not another one. this is an important event we're going to." you spoke out remembering that he wasn't even dressed up. he looked like he was dressed for home.

he looked up to you, placing his phone down next to him. "well, i don't know what you want me to do about it." scara crossed his arms. you picked a random shirt out in front of you and threw it at him. "is this one good?" you asked as he raised the shirt up in front of him to take a better look. he snickered and tossed it to the floor. "if you're trying to look like a fucking toddler, then yeah, sure."

you glared. "you have cool looking shirts, could i borrow one?" you walked up to him and placed your hands on his shoulders. "sure," he eyed you down. "go for it. though, they're not really for going out things." he reminded you.

"doesn't matter. you're not dressed up so it'll be okay if i'm not." you browsed through his items of clothing before picking out one you liked. "could you hold this?" your passed it to him before he could even answer. you slowly peeled off your shirt in front of him, not even noticing the way your boyfriends eyes stuck to you.

oh god, you were beautiful. how had he never thought about how good you looked? he'd seen you like this so many times, even with lesser clothing, but he never took a good look. how could someone be this heavenly? honestly, he just wanted to take you right then and there. who cares about the stupid event?

"...ara? scara! are you there?" he was stuck in his thoughts that he didn't even realise you calling his name. "yeah.. yeah. need something?" he feigned a frown at you. "yes, actually." you did a grabbing motion with your hand towards the shirt he was holding. "oh, right." he quickly passed the shirt over to you, moving himself back over to the bed to sit down.

you hadn't put on the shirt just yet, but instead you were gazing over at your lover. you weren't stupid, you knew he was staring at you. you could almost feel the stare that was shot into your torso by him. if his eyes were knives, your body would’ve been shredded by now. scaramouche caught your stare and tried to act annoyed while fighting the distraction of your body. "need something?" he vaguely asked, picking up his phone to distract his eyes with something else.

"i'm not dumb you know," you dropped the shirt that you were holding to the ground. "far from it actually." you shrugged, a small smile claiming your face. he clutched his phone a little tighter, gnawing on his lips. "what do you mean?"

"i mean, i know your were staring at me." you moved closer to scaramouches position on the bed. "i wasn't staring." he defended himself. "theres nothing there that impresses me." he lied, moving his phone to cover you so he didn't look. "oh? nothing that impresses you huh," you raised an eyebrow. "then maybe i should go find somebody else that does get impressed by me—"

"no." he swiftly replied, moving his phone to glare at you. "don't even think about it." he scowled at the idea, frustration visible on his face. "well, if it doesn't impress you, shouldn't i go find someone who it does impress? no point in being with someone who doesn't find me impressive." you gave a teasing pout, trying to bite back a laugh at his reaction. obviously, you'd never find someone else. you loved him too much, and he knew that too. but still, even knowing you're just teasing him, the idea still irritates him.

"it.. it does impress me. a lot." he admits, trying to move his face from your sight so you couldn't see his flustered face. you walked over to him, laying him down on the bed with a smile. he started fidgeting under your gaze, waiting for you to do something. these looks you gave him always made him nervous. usually he could tell what you were thinking just by looking at you, but in these situations he could never expect what comes next.

"i know it impresses you baby," you smushed his cheeks together, forcing his head to look at you. "i know it does." you whispered before clashing your lips together. he tensed first, he didn't expect for it to be that quick, but he soon relaxed and blended into you. he gripped onto your back, moving his hand over whatever he could. he loved every part of you, though he'd never admit it due to ego reasons.

moving your hand up his shirt, you caressed his stomach. he wasn't muscled up or had any abs, he had a slim, toned figure that you absolutely melted over. you swore he was created by some god above. you started moving your hand up further, pinching and playing with his nipples making him whine and wrap his legs around your waist.

the kiss turned messy, all tongue and lip. though, he loved these kisses. he didn't care if it was dirty, he just wanted to taste every part of you, he'd do it every day if he could.

you smirked into the kiss, pulling away but he trailed after you. you moved him back down on the bed, lifting his shirt up a bit to trail your kisses down lower, lower and lower. "n— not yet.." he gave a lustful gaze to you. "hm? what do you mean?" you moved up to kiss his neck. "fuck.. i want this to last.. mmh!— l- last longer.." he mumbled out, trying to cover up his sweet noises.

you smiled, moving down to grab onto the bottom of shirt. "then lets get even, okay baby?"

his look went away as he studied your features over and frowned. "you look stressed. are you okay?" ajax grabbed your jaw to pull you closer and have a better look. you tatted his hands away from you and sighed. "i'm only a bit stressed, my job keeps piling up with so many things and—… yeah."

he bit the inside of his cheek. "y/n, you know it's not healthy to do this type of thing. if you need a break tell her majesty, you're her right hand for archons sake, she'll let you and pause your work so it stops piling."

"ajax, you know its not that easy. right now its a difficult time. yeah, maybe she'd say yes if it were a usual day but no. with the harbingers out in other nations, there is nobody to handle their jobs here except for me." you crossed your arms.

"wait, what? you're handling the harbingers jobs as well as yours?" he almost let out a glare for your rash decision. "y/n, let me help you. i'll be able to handle the harbingers jobs well. i have nothing else to do anyways."

"no. ajax just don't, you can't help me. you're not allowed to do other harbingers jobs especially when they're many ranks above you." you chewed on your lip, standing up from the couch hoping to get away from the near soon heated atmosphere.

"okay.. well, what about your job—"

"you know you're not allowed to do my work out of all jobs, ajax. i've told you too many times to count. my job has confidential information that nobody but me and her majesty can know."

"i know that. i'm just asking to help with the work, not know it. there's a difference." his voice was stern as he got up from the couch too. "ajax, no. i appreciate the offer but helping me is the same as knowing the information. end of discussion." you opened up cabinet in the kitchen to grab a glass.

"what's so bad about me knowing the information? yeah, yeah, its secret info but i'm your boyfriend. you know i'm not going to tell anyone." he chuckled weakly. "who's there to tell anyways? i don't have anyone but you truly."

you ignored him and shrugged, putting water into your cup and downing it in a second. "i said end of discussion ajax." you slammed the glass onto the bench, though not hard enough to smash it. he gave you a look up and down until the realisation hit him smack in the face.

"you don't trust me, do you." it came out more of a statement than a question. you froze your steps to upstairs and stood still, refusing to look back at him. of course i trust you, you wanted to tell him, but why wouldn't the words form out of your mouth?

he swallowed, biting his cheek almost hard enough to draw blood. "why? why don't you trust me?" his breathing got shaky. "is it because i'm a lower rank than all the other harbingers? because i seem to dumb for my job? too young? what is it?" he kept pestering you with questions and all the words seemed to be filling your head to the brim.

your grip on the side of the staircase got stronger, you didn't know whether it was going to be your hand or the wood that was going to break first. he kept speaking, you could tell his stressing out was travelling to your stress, making it rise higher and higher.

"ajax, just shut up! for fucks sake." his mouth clammed shut and he froze. "i don't know why i don't trust you. maybe its because you don't tell your family shit and run around behind their backs pretending to be some silly toy maker. or maybe its because you never tell me anything until i find out for myself." your jaw clenched when you turned back to him and saw glassy eyes refusing to look back. "look i—" your voice broke down. "i don't need help."

and to there, you made your way up the stairs and into the bathroom. closing the door with a slam and leaving the man all alone.

a shower is what would always calm you down, but as you were scrubbing yourself so hard that you felt like your skin might come off, you couldn't stop thinking about your boyfriend and your poor word choices.

how could you say that to him? you knew the reason he didn't tell his family was a hard topic and that he had trust issues himself, that's why he was afraid to tell you anything. though, even through the trust issues he had, he still trusted you enough. it was truly just fear of you rejecting who he really is.

you stepped out of the shower and dried yourself off. staring into the mirror, concentrating on the mirror, and not looking anywhere else. in the silence of the towel friction, you could hear quiet sobs from across the hall. you had almost dropped your towel when you realised. was he crying?

he never cries. yeah, he had glassy eyes near the end of your argument but he always finds a way to stay strong and suck those feelings up. shit. how big did you mess up with him this time?

you got changed into your clothes that you'd set out for yourself and groomed your hair down neatly. your hand grabbed onto the handle softly and you pulled open the door, making your way quietly down the hall to the shared bedroom.

you opened up yourself to the room, the light of the outside spreading onto the bed through the gap you made. "ajax?" you questioned the silence. the blankets rustled and not even a second later, someone's head popped out.

ajax's eyes widened and he tumbled himself out of the bed and rushed towards you, engulfing his arms around your torso. "i'm sorry. i'm really, really sorry. i shouldn't of—" his voice cracked as his grip on you tightened, "i shouldn't of pried into your business, and— and—"

you shushed him, slowly moving both of you towards the bed. you laid down and placed his body on top of yours so his head rested on your chest. "it's okay, baby. it's not your fault." you whispered quietly, feeling your shirt dampen from your lovers tears.

"it's all mine. i went too far and should've just explained nicely to you instead of my words becoming harsh. i know you struggle with telling your family and i know you struggle with opening up sometimes." you smiled softly as he looked up to you. "but i'm here, okay? i'm here to help you open up, i'm here to take care of you, i'm here to love you."

he sniffed and shuffled his face closer into your chest. "and i do trust you. i don't know why i couldn't tell you that earlier, but i do. you're the person i trust most in this world." you played with the ends of his hair. "though ajax," you grabbed his attention, he moved to look back up to you. "you do need to understand that i can't tell you anything confidential, or her majesty will have my head." you let out a light laugh.

he smiled small. "i, i know. i was just selfish because i wanted to use my excuse of 'helping you' even though i just wanted to spend time with you. it's lonely having barely anything to do because all the jobs are given to the higher ranks." he sighed. "it's silly but i do love working. well, working in a sense of having something to fight instead of lazing at home."

you tapped his forehead. "hm, well how about this. i'll talk to the tsaritsa about taking a well needed break so we can spend some time together and," you twirled his hair around your finger. "and then when i get back i'll ask her to give you some jobs to do. yeah?"

ajax hummed, going back to nestle into your chest. you moved yourself down to kiss him on the head. "i love you," he whisper-mumbled into your shirt. your face broke out into a soft smile,

"i love you too."

"i'm back." you heard from behind you. instantly your hands dropped from your head and you were met with a slightly frightened face. "albedo! i missed you." you smiled walking over to him.

"did you drink the potion?" he interrupted your positive mood. "no," you blurted out all too swiftly. "then why is the glass smashed and the liquid gone?" he moved over to the table with a frown.

"i accidentally smashed it but i don't remember drinking it?" you shrugged casually. "y/n this isn't a matter to just shrug over. you drank something when i said not to and now there's an untested chemical inside your body." he heaved a heavy sigh.

"i didn't drink it." you frowned. albedos tense body dropped as he took a good look at you. you were right, i mean, you did drink a truth potion so you'll only be speaking of which is true. "okay." he spoke lightly. "i believe you."

your frown disappeared. "i'm glad because i hate when you're mad at me." you gave a small smile which he didn't return. "what? when am i ever mad at you." he turned around, picking up the shattered pieces of glass. "all the time! well maybe not always but--" you sighed, "you just always look uninterested in me or mad at me even if you're not."

albedo slowed down his movements and felt an ache in his heart. did he really act that way? maybe he did. he always tried to mask up his emotions with you so you couldn't see how he truly felt. he tried to speak but he just couldn't find the words. knowing he won't say anything, you continued in his silence. "it's just so frustrating because i love you and—"

SMASH.

you jolted and swiftly turned your attention to the sound. albedo had dropped the pieces of glass onto the floor along with his arms that sat on the sides of him. he swallowed and turned to you, "you what?" his voice almost came out in a whisper.

"i love you." you repeated confusingly. what is up with him right now? albedo walked over to you and inspected your face. "are you okay?..." you glared at him, "of course i'm okay. why would i not be?" you looked into his eyes, trying to figure what was wrong until it hit you.

you smirked. "its because i said i love you, isn't it?" you teased, moving closer to him. albedo didn't respond, he just looked away with the tips of his ears red. "i love you, albedo."

he huffed, trying to turn away more. there was no doubt that you did now, all thanks to the potion. though, should he really be frustrated? i mean, you returned his feelings and he's happy, he just can't think to vocal his words because he's scared to delve into this feeling.

when he turned back to you and looked into your eyes, his mind flickered back to the times you've been there for him, the times you’d waste your day to just sit with him while he worked, the times when you’d take klee for the day just so she wouldn’t interrupt his concentration, the times you’d risk yourself just for him to test something even after his refusals, and the times you’d pretend to be interested in his long monologues only just to hear him speak.

he could feel himself swoon over the memories. what was there to be scared of? your feelings were true and you take care of him tremendously. maybe this wouldn’t be all too bad. albedo gave a small smile and moved a step closer,

“i love you too.”

— diluc

"c'mon, we've got to get you home." he sighed, helping you walk out of the tavern with you using his shoulder as support. you had a tough day at work with the knights so you came to the tavern to relieve your stress. though maybe you relieved it a little too well with how light and swoony your body felt, hiccupping so often because of the alcohol.

you weren't heavily drunk, just drunk. but it did have an effect on you because to no surprise, you were a lightweight. diluc tried to stop you, but when you guilted him with your sob story about your day, he gave in. gave in throughout the immense teasing his brother presented him and the seductive eyebrow raises venti gave him while looking between diluc and you.

"i'm fine diluccc, honestly." you gave him a wonky smile that was supposedly meant to show your 'stability'. he gave a smile back, "so fine that you need my support to walk you home? because if you are i have work i need to go back to—"

"no! no, don't leave me here. i'm exhausted and there's creeps out and about that will try and take me if you aren't here to protect me. you wouldn't want that, huh?" you looked to him as you stumbled a bit on the ground, your legs struggling to stay up.

"honestly, i wouldn't mind." he gave a teasing look to your fake frown. "one less person off my list of, 'people i need out of my tavern forever'." diluc fixed your position and made you lean your weight more on him to support your strolling. "hey, why do you even need a list?" you rolled your eyes. "who needs a list when you can just kick them out right there and then."

"giving me ideas, huh? i like it when your drunk, you have no idea what you're saying." he chuckled as your brain tried to comprehend his words. "oh! so you're saying i should come to your tavern and get more drunk?" your eyes darkened as you smirked. his laugh dispersed and he pretended to let go of you making you yelp and glare at him. "get drunk again and i'll have one of those 'creeps' you say are on the streets come and escort you home instead."

"you wouldn't do that. you love me too much." you faked kissing noises to tease him as he flushed a little. "what an absurd accusation." he cleared his throat a little and let out a sigh. you hummed and looked away, your eyes taking in the front of your house. "well then, thank you for the escortation. if that's a word..." you mumbled the last bit.

"no problem," he smiled at you. "just don't get drunk again or i'll have to leave kaeya to look over the tavern again." his smile dropped as he remembered who he left in charge. you opened up the door to the front of your house and ushered him over to you. "need something else?" he asked.

you pulled him into a kiss, running your hands through his hair and trailing down his shirt. he froze into it but he automatically encased his arms around back. you moved away, going into your house. "goodnight diluc, i love you." you smiled and closed the door to your house, leaving a still man outside your door.

only when the lights inside your house turned off and the rest of the street lights surrounding him copied, did he come back to reality. did you just kiss him? tell him you love him? what the fuck just happened? did it really even happen?

he walked slowly back to the tavern with so many thoughts inside his mind. he couldn't describe what he was feeling at that moment. so many things flowing throughout his body, but the biggest emotion he was feeling right now was happiness. never in his life would he think you loved him.

when he walked into the tavern he was met with a drunken gaze from his one and only brother sitting on a stool at the bar. "well, hello brother." kaeya tilted his head as he rested his chin on his palm. "you look a little..." he gestured at diluc. "frazzled... have a good time with them, huh?"

the pyro holder just mumbled something under his breath and moved behind the counter. "your hairs undone." kaeya smirked pointing at the others hair. "is that any of your business?" he glared. "maybe so because i told them to do that." the knight replied shrugging.

diluc ignored him, cleaning the dirty glasses people had left on the counter and put them away. "you should be thanking me, you know?" kaeya spoke up. "i put pressure on them today at work and told them to have a few drinks here to rid of stress because i know you'd walk them home after."

that made diluc perk his head back around to his brother. "you made them drunk?" he gave a sharp glare as kaeya put his hands up in defence. "i didn't make them, i just offered an idea," he sighed getting off the stool and made his way to the exit. "an idea that obviously turned out great, i mean, look at you."

diluc pointed to the door right behind the cryo user and he just nodded. "yeah, yeah. i was going anyways brother." he pulled open the tavern door and stepped outside before he turned back around with another teasing smile. "you love themm..."

he gave a second glare towards kaeya. "yup, going before i get hurt!" the door to the tavern closed leaving diluc alone back with his thoughts. his brother wasn't wrong at all which frustrated him because now all that would come out of the knights mouth is teasing. not to mention the word would come around to venti and, oh god,

the struggles he goes through just to love you.

— scaramouche

working as a harbingers assistant is tiring, of course, anyone would know that. but you were fine with it. all you had to do was tend to their needs, be sent on errands all the time, having to stand next to your harbinger for hours while they get to sit down during meetings. yeah, it sounds tiring but you get used to it after a while.

when you first looked into employment for that job, all of that was on the list of things you needed to do and, it made it perfectly clear those were the only things you were allowed to do. so how come you were standing face to face in a battle stance with your boss?

"uhm, my lord i don't want to uh," you shifted a bit as his gaze was heavy stuck on you. "i don't want to pry into the details about my job but are you sure practicing your skills on me is one thing i have to do because—"

"are you questioning me?" his voice was stern as he straightened his position up and sent a straight glare into you. "no of course not i— it's just i'm very weak compared to you and a hit of your power could do some damage to me. have you thought of using a training dummy? or.. or something.." you could feel yourself lowering under his gaze.

"i wouldn't hurt you." scaramouche spoke, and you swore for a second you could see the way his eyes softened when he looked at you. "obviously speaking because you're my assistant. nothing else...." he trailed off. "i wouldn't want you dying on me." his look turned hard again.

"oh, then why do you have a sword? and why did you give me one too?" you questioned holding the sword up to have a good look at it. "well, i was going to practice my skills but i forgot it was you." he looked you up and down. "so, i'll do something else." a sadistic smile appeared on his face making you sweat. "uhm, something... something else?"

not even a second later the harbinger was in front of you, centimetres away from your face. he grabbed your arm and stared at you. "i'll be shooting a new skill i found i had into you. tell me how painful it is." your eyes widened as you tried to pull your arm away, but with his grip you couldn't "wait, wait, let's think this though! i thought you weren't going to hurt m—" your speech was cut off as you felt your body fill with electricity. it felt like it was travelling into your veins and dragging out all the energy you had while it zapped every part of you.

you fell flat onto scaramouche unconscious. he pulled your face in close to his and smiled. "well, looks like it worked. finally." he spoke as he pulled your body away with him into the headquarters. when he got inside the place he brought you to dottores lab. no, he was not allowed in there but how would he know? dottore was somewhere out in sumeru.

he laid your body down on the bed, taking a seat which was next to it. he pulled open draws that were behind him and started searching for something. his hands felt something familiar and when he pulled it out, he was met with a clear pink liquid in a syringe. scaramouche smiled as he placed the sharp end to your arm and injected the liquid.

the pink stuff was no aphrodisiac or an awful drug that will make him take advantage of you, it was just to ease the pain you felt in your body. of course it had a side effect of not feeling aware of what you're saying but he promises he's only giving you this to help you! he's totally ignoring the the side effect. totally.

he could see your twitching in your unconsciousness. looks like you were finally waking up. scaramouche got a cup of water for you, he may of caused this but he still loves cares for you after all. "mmh, my head." you flinched as you raised your body up to sit instead of lay.

you turned your body to the left of you and were met with a pair of indigo eyes. "oh thank god you're here." you smiled thankfully, "what's going on? why is my head pounding?"

"you don't remember?" he asked, trying to sound surprised even though he knew you wouldn't remember. "i made your head hurt." he shrugged and cross his arms as he sat on the chair. "what? why? did i do something wrong?" you frowned.

"no, i was just testing my skill on you but i guess your body wasn't strong enough to handle me." he faked a pity expression. "but its okay, i gave you some medicine and the pain should wear off soon. you just won't remember anything that's happening right now." scaramouche smiled.

"i knew you'd do this." you glared at him. "always using me to test your power or using me for something else which always injures my body. you're lucky i love you because if i didn't you would be ruined." your glare disappeared as you remembered your feelings for this awful man in front of you.

scaramouche was in no shock, he knew you loved him, it was obvious. anyone around you two could see the way you gawk over him and are always reluctant to go to many lengths just for him. he loves you too, but he'll never let you know or show his feelings. its too risky for him to put himself out there.

"how far would you go for me?" he questioned you, standing up off the chair and moved to stand next to you by the bed. "what?" you tried to comprehend his question. "are you deaf? i asked how far would you go for me." he bit his cheek to ease himself up.

"i'd go to any lengths. its a part of my contract with the fatui to do anything you ask." your words almost came out in confusion. doesn't he know this already? you thought. "no, i'm speaking about you. ignore the contract terms. how far would you go for me?" scaramouche asked again.

"i'd go any lengths for you. just ask and i'll do it because i love you." you spoke truthfully, face turning as serious as it could get while being drugged. he smiled and bent down to your level on bed. he caressed your cheeks, making you flustered. his gaze was soft and never once faltered. he pulled you in for a kiss. it was soft and he played with the hem of your shirt, trying to loosen you up. you melted into him, gripping onto his neck like he'd disappear if you held on too loosely.

when he pulled away you trailed after him as he gave a small smile. "good, that's good. as long as i can trust you i'll always keep you by my side. i love you." he moved back to his seat beside you. your eyes started to feel heavy all of a sudden, it was like you were just hit smack in the face with exhaustion.

your body fell back against the bed, it being weak from the need you had to sleep. "fall asleep, i'll be here when you wake up." scaramouches voice softened as you finally fell asleep. your breathing grew lighter and he almost found the sight calming.

it's a shame you wont remember anything though.

“do you.. do you have to?” your breath was shaky as you struggled to speak with your throat burning. “yes, i must.” xiao replied standing up from the bed, walking over to your side. “just… call out my name if you really need me.”

you nodded opening your mouth to say something else before he shook his head. “it’s better if you don’t speak. if you speak it means you only get worse and that means more work for me.” you tried to give a glare to him but it only came out as a weak haze. “sleep. it’s what you really need.” he sighed.

as he started to walk away, you grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. “what?” xiao raised an eyebrow like he was annoyed at the action. truly, he could’ve just easily pulled his arm away with the weak grip you set on him, but he didn’t want to. plus, you were too sick to even notice the fact that he wanted to stay with you, so he took the advantage he’d been granted.

“do you care for me?” you whispered looking at him the fullest you were able to. “care for you?” he gave you a weird look. “of course i care for you i—… i care for most mortals. it’s part of my job to protect them.” xiao hesitated to answer.

you let out a chuckle, “yes.. protect from harm not take care of when sick.” you smirked. he cleared his throat, trying to think of an excuse to answer before he died of humiliation. maybe you being sick didn’t stop that curiosity that he hated oh so much (spoiler alert, he loves it). “i am merely protecting your health from harm.”

“would you do this for anyone else?” you questioned with a croaky voice, your eyes fighting for their life to stay open as you waited for his reply.

xiao stood there tensing. no, of course he wouldn’t do this for anyone else, only you, but he wouldn’t tell you that. though, nor can he lie to you either because you’d see right through him. “look, i have to take my leave.” his voice softened when he saw you on the brink of sleep.

you gave out a small smile to him and xiao swore his heart leaped inside of his chest. “i.. i love you.” your voice whispered out hoarse before your grip on his wrist loosened and fell to the side of the bed.

xiao froze in his spot and his eyes widened, heart feeling tight. you loved him? loved him? him? you reciprocated his feelings that you didn't know he felt for you? was this a joke?

no, it wouldn’t be. you wouldn’t joke about these things and you were too weak to even think about playing some joke right now. though, maybe that was the problem. maybe your mind was just fogged up so bad that you mixed him up with someone else.

but that can’t be. xiao watched you from afar to see if you had any love interests and there was nobody. so were you being true? did you actually love him back?

he needed to get out of the bedroom asap. it felt so suffocating that if he were to stay in there any longer, his body would’ve woken you up and he’d force all his questions onto you. xiao ran outside to the balcony and breathed in the nights cool air, feeing his shoulders loosen and his breathing become lighter and quieter.

he jumped up onto the railing and looked back into the room, you lying down on the bed dreaming about whatever wonder you were dreaming about.

xiao couldn’t help the small smile of joy that claimed his face. he didn’t mind your small confession, not one bit. maybe finally he could open up his heart and learn how to love,

with you.

- kazuha

“oh my y/n…” he muttered with a small chuckle as his eyes followed your sloppy actions at the table.

you had gotten into a drinking contest with venti, and somehow, won. he had gotten 7 intakes and you had gotten 8. though, once venti saw you were indeed a lightweight, he flew out of there faster than the wind leaving kazuha to deal with your drunken self. not that he minded.

“mmh, my heaf hurfts, sort ofh, i shink…” you slurred out, resting your head on the table right in front of kazuhas hands.

“sort of?” he smiled. “i’d say it would hurt a lot.. you did have multiple drinks.” kazuha lifted your head to inspect your face, angling his head to look at the different sides of you. you blushed at the contact he gave you and leaned in more, liking the feeling of his hand. "oh? you're turning red. are you hot maybe? let me get you a drink." he spoke out putting his hand to your forehead.

he let go of you and stood up from the table, going over to diluc at the counter. kazuha spoke to him for a few minutes, the two men looking over like they were talking about you. a few seconds passed and he was handed over a glass of water.

kazuha made his way back and sat down next to you, handing over the glass. "here, this should help sober you up a bit and maybe cool you down." he smiled as you took the water from him. "unfortunately, diluc didn't have any medicine that could clear you up faster, my apologies."

your mind blanked for a second seeing him smile and you spilt half the water down your body. kazuha quickly grabbed some napkins that laid on the table and tried drying your chest. he trailed with the napkin down your torso until he reached the top of your thighs, close to your crotch area where it was clearly most damp.

you could see how he was distracted drying this area of your body which shot a boost of confidence and tease into you, those feelings almost taking over your intoxicated feeling.

you held his collar and dragged him up to you, your eyes level with his. you just stared at him, gaze almost making him a bit scared if it weren't for the slight desire he could see swimming bigger in your eyes.

"you're cuteee... you know that?" dragging on your word with a smile. kazuhas ears turned red as he just blinked at you. words seemed to of disappeared from his knowledge. "i uhm— he cleared his throat. “thank.. you." he shifted a bit when he saw your smile grow wider.

you pulled away from him as you felt your body grow dizzy. kazuha noticed almost instantly by the way you gripped onto the table and your pupils grew wide. "you knoww.." your words started as you made eye contact with him. kazuha moved his arms around you so if you did black out, you wouldn't go slam right into the wooden table.

you put your hand on his arm which was around your waist area and moved your lips only a few from his. "i love you…kazuuuu'." you blabbered out as your body finally shut down.

your head and body had fell flat onto kazuha. you probably would've slipped onto the ground if it weren't for the way his arm had tensed hard around you.

he wasn't surprised, no. he knew you had feelings for him. but what he didn't know was that you loved him. of course he loved you too, too much at least, but he never confessed because he didn't know your feelings were as deep as his.

but then again you were heavily intoxicated and you probably didn't even mean your words, better yet even know what you said. he sighed at the feeling in his stomach. kazuha wanted to be happy, he'd be overjoyed if this were any other situation different then this one. but he just didn't know if you meant those words.

it only then hit him that there was pressure on his hand, kazuha looked down and saw yours entwined with his while your other was gripping onto his waist softly.

“kazuha..” you let out the muffled word as you drooled onto his shirt. his cheeks fluttered a light red and a small smile appeared on his face. how did he think otherwise? drunken words, sober thoughts.

kazuha tightened his grip on your hand and changed your position to be more comfortable. yeah, he had nothing to worry about. he thought as he smiled, picking you up to leave the tavern.

- ajax (childe)

"shit, did i really have to come with you?" you groaned out shivering even under the hundreds of layers you were wearing. "i appreciate that your siblings love me and want me to come see them, but i also appreciate them coming to me where its much warmer."

"ah, you'll get used to it quick y/n! you've just got to come with me every time i come back to snezhnaya." ajax replied, bumping into your shoulder.

you snorted at his words. "funny joke aj." you rolled your eyes until you saw that he was dead serious and your grin dropped slightly. "i am not coming with you to this region that's freezing my ass off while i can't even handle the cold in liyue." you deadpanned.

"what a shame, it would've been nice having your company in my homeland." you gave a quiet, 'uh-huh' and quickened your pace in the snow. "you do know i only bring the closest here right?" ajax spoke, running up to you to put his arm on your shoulder and pull you in.

"you bring your closest people to a region where its colder than cold and where there's danger spying on them in every corner?" you slowly moved yourself closer into the side of his body. to be warm of course, nothing else.

"no, i mean to see my family. they're very important to me and bringing you to see them in my home means that you're someone i can trust." he smiled looking at you. "so, have you brought anyone else to see your family before?" you felt a feeling inside you grow.

"of course i haven't, you've been the only friend i can actually full on trust. yeah i trust the traveller but its a different type of trust, y'know? it's not a close one." and you felt that awful feeling die down inside you as your face let out a smile and you nodded.

you were about to say something until an ice breeze hit you two, you felt like you were almost going to turn into a block of ice right then and there. "fuck, are you okay y/n?" ajax pulled you to his front to take a good look at you.

"can we.. can we go inside somewhere?" you questioned as your body was shivering hard. "yeah, yeah, but the closest place is some small hotel. is that okay?"

you nodded hesitantly and gripped onto his shoulders as he picked you up. ajax made his way quickly to the building he spoke about, the owners already recognising him, let him in with ease. he dropped you down on the bed and threw the blankets on your body. you glared at him for the roughness.

"wow, is that my thank you for saving you from frost bite?" ajax snickered. your glare decapitated and you let out a small groan and pat the spot next to you. "come, sit here. i don't know how you're even surviving standing away from this warm bed." you spoke.

he made his way over to the spot you patted for him and sighed. "years y/n, years have i been here getting used to it. where my home is and where my work is. i'm bound to become accustomed to this weather." he shrugged.

"don't. you sound like an old man reminiscing about the olden days you lived." you laughed out. ajax just stared at you until you stopped laughing. "you have a nice laugh." he smiled at you.

your cheeks turned a light shade of pink, shaking your head to get rid of this feeling in front of him. "you always hear me laugh though?" you questioned him.

"yeah, but this laugh is different." ajax tilted his head at you. "so you're saying my other laughs suck?" you raised your eyebrows with a fake expression to make it look like you're offended.

"well..." ajax trailed off with a teasing smirk. you scoffed and pulled the pillow from behind him into your hands and threw it onto his face. he turned around to you and glared, snatching the pillow and slamming it back onto you.

"you can't do that!" you frowned. "that was my karma to you, you can't do it back." rolling your eyes. ajax laughed at you as he threw another pillow flat into your lap. you were about to pick it up from its place on your legs until he smashed another onto your face and you flew back from the force. you were about to fall off the bed (that was unusually high) and started flailing your legs around.

ajax, realising what he'd done, shot himself across the bed and gripped onto your waist pulling you back. your shoulders to your head dangled off the edge of the bed as you kicked him in the gut making him grunt. “i hate you so much.” you said in a frustrated tone.

pulling yourself up to sit in front of him, you were met with his concerned eyes. “shit, that wasn’t meant to happen. you literally would’ve broken something if you fell off that high.” he broke out into laughter, not noticing the way your eyes were dazed by him.

and he was talking about your laugh? his laugh made you fall into these emotions you had felt for him even harder. “i don’t hate you.” you spoke out suddenly. ajax gave you a confused look. “well, i’d hope you don’t hate—”

“i don't hate you, i love you.” your mouth blurted making you gasp. you felt your body deflate as you saw his expression, wide eyes and his lips slightly parted. "pardon?" he gasped out.

you swallowed your fears. you've already said it so it's too late to back out now, you thought. "i love you, ajax." straightening out your posture. "i..." he just blinked.

fuck. he didn't feel the same did he? "look, it's fine if you don't have the same feelings. it totally is!" you pause, hoping he'd at least say something but he just sat in front of you like a deer in headlights. you looked out the window behind him and saw it was breaking out into dusk. "i should probably go now anyways.. it would be too late to visit your family and we can't really go anyways since its still blizzarding."

you were about to push yourself off the bed until a hand grabbed your wrist and pulled you back. you turned your body around only to see your face inches from ajax. "are you o--" your words died down when he placed his lips up against yours. it was soft and warm, making you fall into him more.

he caressed your neck while gripping your mid-torso. when you pulled away he trailed after you. "want more, huh?" you smirked at him. ajax smiled, "maybe i do." he spoke shrugging his shoulders.

"so, i'm guessing you feel the same?" you asked him. "no i just kiss people on the lips out of nowhere in a friendly matter." he replied sarcastically. you rolled your eyes and leaned against him, pushing all your weight on him to try and topple him over (spoil alert; it didn't work). he wrapped his arm around your back, squishing you into his side.

"but yes, i do love you." ajax confirmed looking at you sweetly with a smile.

you sighed and got up to the bathroom to wash your face. as you stared into the mirror you remembered when kazuha used to come up behind you and tell you you looked wonderful.

sucking in your tears you washed your face again and changed into your clothes for work. luckily you were able to get a job at this small restaurant owned by a girl called xiangling and her father.

xiangling was sick so you had to fill in for her. locking your motel door you walked out and made your way into the city.

you breathed in the fresh air and listened to the busy place around you, feeling your mood boost a little already. strolling through, many people had greeted you having gained a small reputation already for your delicious dishes.

when you got to the restaurant you spotted a man there already at the counter. maybe someone new? you walked closer to see that you were indeed correct. “hello, are you here to assist me today?” you said to the man.

“oh uh..” the man stared at you, he felt like his breath had been taken away from him, “y-yes! im actually starting this job today.” he smiled at you.

“oh well it’s always nice to have new people,” smiling slightly. “so what’s your name?”

“oh, my names omai.” still keeping his smile, “what’s yours?”

“my names y/n…” you murmured as you assisted the customers lining up.

“nice name!” he said back, walking over to cook the orders.

a week passed rather quickly and you had gotten to know omai a lot more. he was in fact a shy person but he said he felt different towards you which made you glad to have a friend in this city.

you went to work again today and said your usual greetings to omai.

time passed rather slowly, you and omai having small conversations during or switching between him taking orders and you making them.

“hey wanna swap? these customers are getting a bit bossy…” he turned to you.

“oh? so you’re giving me the hard work huh.” you scoffed acting offended.

“oh n-no, i didn’t mean in that way i meant like-” you interrupted him by laughing and he swore his heart fluttered. “omai, don’t worry i’m just kidding, let switch.”

he slowly nodded and walked over to where you were with you walking back over to the counter.

“hey welcome, what can i get for you today-” you stopped instantly and your heart dropped into your stomach, you felt like throwing up.

“is something wrong?” the customer asked looking at you weirdly. “no, n-nothing.” you muttered. it’s the person behind you, you wanted to say.

why was kazuha here? why was he in liyue? why was he in the line up? you felt like fainting when he made eye contact with you, his eyes widening at the sight.

you almost fell back onto the ground but felt arms catch you before you could fall. “y/n, are you okay?” omai said worried.

you swallowed, hard, and nodded your head slowly. omai could feel your nails dig into his skin which made him flinch. “hey, are you sure because you don’t look-” he stopped his speaking when you pushed yourself out of his arms and ran out of the room.

you hid outside at the back of the restaurant and sat against the wall banging your head against it and controlled your breathing.

you groaned, you know you wished to see him just one more time but you didn’t want it to be when you weren’t over him yet.

you really hoped kazuha didn’t see where you ran off to, you didn’t want him to see you like this or see you at all.

you repeated inside your head, ‘please don’t follow me, please don’t follow me, please don’t follow me.’ but your thoughts were interrupted when you heard footsteps.

you quickly scrambled to your feet and moved the furtherest away from where the footsteps were coming from.

you shut your eyes tightly, hearing your heartbeats take over the footstep noises. this felt like it was dragging on forever until you felt a hand on your shoulder and your eyes shot open.

it was omai. “y/n, what happened?” he asked you.

you let out a breath you’ve been holding this entire time, “i just saw someone.. don’t worry.”

“someone? did they do something bad to you? or were they just giving you a rough time in the line?”

“neither, it’s just-… nevermind.” you sighed. “mmh, okay well if it happens again please tell me. i’ll sort that person out for you.” he said putting both his hands on your shoulders.

you gave a small smile to him and nodded, silence taking over. you could hear footsteps coming up, probably just a customer coming to complain there’s nobody at the counter.

you both just stared at each other, it was a weird moment and you started to feel uncomfortable, “hey i’m just gonna go back-” he interrupted your speaking when he started to kiss you on the lips.

you smacked him away from you, “omai what the fuck?” his eyes widened at the action he did, “shit y/n i’m sorry- i should’ve just, shit…” he groaned putting his head in his hands.

you just stared at him wanting him to continue, you’ve felt the presence behind you ever since he kissed you, but you didn’t care thinking it was just the customer from before wanting their food.

“look i-.. would you want to go out with me?” he asked staring into your eyes. you stiffened, “i’m… what?”

“would you like to go out with me.” he repeated more sternly making you annoyed, “no, i’m sorry.” you said.

“why?” he asked moving closer, “i just… i like someone else.” you confessed to him. “who is this person?”

you gave him a weird look, “is it any of your business? actually don’t even answer because it’s not.”

“y/n please just tell me so i know you’re not making it up just to not go out with me.” omai sighed.

“it’s my ex.” you almost shouted it out, getting annoyed at omai. even if you were making it up does it even matter? you said no.

you would’ve almost missed the smile that flashed on his face quickly if it weren’t for the way your eyes were boring into him.

“your ex?” he chuckled, “if you give me a chance maybe you could see that id be way better than him-”

“no.” you glared at him, “please just- don’t bother coming back to work anymore. i’ll be talking to xiangling about this.”

you swiftly ran off, moving out of the way of the unknown person who was watching the entire time.

you felt so frustrated that you didn’t even bother going to continue work for that day, you just ran home.

you could feel someone following you which made you in an even worse mood, ‘could he just not leave you alone? how many times do you have to say no?’

when you got to your door you hoped he would stop following you but no, you could still feel the presence behind you when you went to open the door.

“omai, how many times do i have to say-…” you felt the words disappear from your mouth when you saw it wasn’t omai but kazuha instead.

“kazuha.” you breathed out lightly. “y/n.” he said back giving a small smile, “can we talk?” he asked quietly.

you slowly nodded opening up the door. you swallowed, “uhm, come- come in.” holding the door for him.

he nodded slightly as he walked in, a thing he used to do whenever you would hold the door for him, it was a way of saying thank you.

when you both sat down on the couch you couldn’t stop fidgeting, you would do it whenever you felt nervous.

still struggling to sit comfortably you felt a hand place itself on your thigh, you looked up and saw it was kazuhas hand which suddenly made you feel calm.

“hey it’s okay.” he said softly keeping his gaze on you, “yeah, yeah… uh so what did you want to talk about?” acting oblivious.

kazuha laughed, “i’m sure you know y/n. i want explain myself and apologise to you.. in hopes you’ll reconsider our relationship.”

you can just ask to get back together with me and i’ll take you back.. you thought staring into his eyes.

“y/n?” kazuha said moving closer as in to check if you were sleeping with your eyes open or something.

“oh yes, please continue.” nodding to him.

“okay it’s sort of long but i’ll try to sum it up.” smiling slightly, “the reasons why i would always keep stuff from you and be away for ages is because… i was getting ready to propose to you.”

you couldn’t stop the way your whole body tensed and the way your eyes widened, kazuha squeezed your thigh to try get you back from shock.

“i.. i would work long days at any different jobs to afford the ring i want to get you.” he chuckled, “it was worth a lot and it was tiring working all those jobs but it was worth it because i knew it would make you happy.”

“you… you were going to propose?” you asked him, still in shock. kazuha nodded just staring into your eyes.

“well what about the letters? you never replied and never seemed interested in what i had to say…” you stared down at his hand rubbing your leg.

“oh.. this so embarrassing but i would try to tone down the way i wrote so you didn’t catch onto anything… i would stop writing back because i would’ve just proposed to you in there.”

you couldn’t stop the small laugh that appeared out of your mouth, “kazu’ i would’ve said yes anyways. it doesn’t need to be in a special way you know…” you placed your hand on top of his, “but i do have to admit that it hurt me when you stopped replying, you should’ve thought of how i would’ve felt.”

“i know.” he murmured, “when i came back and saw the note you left i reflected on my actions. i then left inazuma and looked for you everywhere, only for you to be in liyue.”

“did you really?” your eyes widening. “of course i did y/n, i love you, a lot.”

your eyes softened at him and you smiled lightly, “i love you too kazuha and i forgive you, just please stop getting ahead of yourself.”

kazuha put his hands on your jaw and pulls you in for a kiss, you’re surprised at first but give. you feel his fingers press at the nape of your neck and trail down your spine. you gasp into the kiss which makes him grin and pull away.

“what was that for? that’s a little more then you used to.” giving him a suspicious look.

“that.. omai was it? he kissed you..” he said glaring at the floor.

“oh my god, you were the person watching? i thought it was a customer.” groaning from feeling frustrated again at the memory.

“yes i was unfortunately… just make sure nobody else gets to kiss you okay? nobody but me.” kazuha said look back up at you.

you chuckled at his whining, “of course i will.”

he smiled with his eyes before taking both of your hands in his, “you said it didn’t matter in what way i ask you so… what do you say about my proposal?”

your eyes glimmered as you grip his hands harder,

“i say yes.”

“kazuha, you’re finally back! i’ve missed you so much yknow?” you chuckled when you brought him in for a kiss.

“i’ve missed you too my love, it felt dull without you.” he grinned caressing your cheeks.

“you’ve gotta tell me all about it! i wanna hear everything.”

he sighed softly before getting up from leaning over the couch, “let me put my blade down love and then we’ll catch up, yeah?”

you nodded following him as you both made your way to the bedroom. when you entered you threw yourself onto bed straight away relishing in the way the blankets swallowed you. meanwhile kazuha took his time to perfectly place down his sword on the holder before turning around to meet your wanting gaze.

you repeatedly pat the spot next to you and he nodded bringing himself to lay facing your chest.

you grinned and brought him closer, having his head in the crook of your neck and your chin resting on top of his head. “now, i want to know what you did!”

kazuha smiled. “trust me, it was nothing special. just what i usually did except this time i had a reason to want to come home.”

you felt your heart flutter and you smiled back, “i want to know everything, i mean it. i have all day yknow.”

kazuha raised both of his eyebrows before shrugging, “if you insist on every detail then i’ll tell you.”

as he went into what happened you played with his hair, platting the back of it and just running your fingers through his hair.

you could feel how his body tensed whenever you’d put your hand up his shirt and softly run your fingers down his spine or when you’d trace little animals on his thighs.

even though you had him in your arms blabbering away with what had happened in the days, you could still feel like you weren’t getting all his attention like you wanted.

“kazuha.” you said softly but he didn’t hear you over his talking. you tucked his hair behind his ear before repeating again, “kazu’.” still couldn’t hear you.

you interrupted his speaking when you pressed a soft kiss to his lips. you laughed when you saw him frown at you, “i thought you said you wanted to know what happened?”

rolling your eyes at him, “i do! well i did, i just want your attention now.”

“well then you shouldn’t of said, ‘tell me every detail’ because i-”

you pulled him closer, bringing him in for a deeper kiss. kazuhas breath hitched but he cupped your cheeks and kissed you back.

when you pulled away you could feel his lips follow you and pull you back in. the kiss was softer but you were trailing your hands up his back and rubbing circles.

when he pulled away you gave a sappy smile. you caressed the back of his head as kazuha sighed and leaned his head back into your neck. he murmured something sending vibrations into your body which made you laugh.

“are you going to sleep kazu’? already?” he slowly nodded, hearing one last heavy breath switch into slow light ones.

his breathing gave you the signal that he was asleep and you lifted the blankets up onto both of your bodies before shutting your eyes too.

about to fall asleep you hear a soft and sleepy, ‘i love you.’

smiling softly you whispered into his hair, “i love you too.”

you came to realise that you weren’t happy in the relationship. it almost felt like a long distance, even if it was not because you both lived together.

you loved kazuha, a lot, and pushed your feelings aside thinking they were stupid. you, of course, didn’t want this to ruin you relationship so you asked if you could join him in his travels even if short. he answered without hesitation, shaking his head in rejection saying he prefers to be alone. you could feel your breath hitch as you slowly nodded, knowing the feelings and worries you pushed aside are going to come back straight away.

was he maybe rethinking this relationship? maybe he thought you were annoying because you kept bothering him, or maybe he just got tired of you. you sighed heavily, swallowing your feelings down once more before turning back to kazuha, seeing he wasn’t there anymore. you looked around but he was nowhere to be seen, making you disappointed. you just decided to just go home and meet him there when he gets back, hopefully.

as you walked into the house you saw kazuha putting stuff away into a shelf. he looked back at you giving a small smile. “my love, i’m going to travel once again.” he spoke softly. you just gave a smile back nodding, wanting to change the subject so you don’t realise your thoughts again. “so, what did you put into the shelf?”

kazuha raised his eyebrows before turning the shelf around out of eye view. “it’s nothing, don’t worry.” he shrugged it off. you frowned at him as you crossed your arms. “what do you mean nothing?” you quoted your speech. “it’s.. it’s nothing just as i said. please, don’t fret.” kazuha walked up to you and pecked your cheek, though it felt empty. “i will be taking my leave very soon, i’ll see you when i do, my love.”

before you could even protest, the door slammed behind you. you could feel yourself crumble to the floor as you encased your head in your hands. was he hiding something from you? why does he not want to show you? why did he leave so quick and so eager? why does he not want ‘his love’ to join his travels?

you decided to come true to your thoughts, not wanting to shove them down anymore. you know you shouldn’t be feeling like this, the feeling you’ve felt for the last few months, maybe you should just.. leave. it was clear as day that he could go on for months without you, so he wouldn’t really care if it was forever, would he?

your mind travelled to the letters he would send you, used to being filled with love, moving onto simple letters, then dry ones, and then… nothing. since he stopped sending you ones, you decided to send him ones but he never responded to that either, so he must not care too much.

you felt yourself automatically holding back your tears as your breathing became unstable, wobbling yourself up to stand. you slowly moved yourself towards your table where there was paper and pen for when you’d write your letters to him. nodding to yourself, you started to write:

‘dear kazuha,

these past few months have been off for us, and i’m sure you’ve noticed too. we spend small hours together before you leave for months and repeat that routine. you’ve stopped communicating with me and you’re always hiding things from me, never telling me wherever you’re going or what you did. i’ve tried to fix this, to put my thoughts and feelings aside for you but i just can’t.

i’m unhappy in this relationship and i can’t do it anymore, so i will be leaving. i love you, a lot, probably too much for me in this situation as it hurts more. i thought this would work but we both have different wants and we’re two different people. so once you’ve read this letter, i hope you’re not upset, i hope you’re relieved. i hope you feel free to stay wandering instead of remembering you have to come home to something.

i wish you safe travels, forever and more.

love, y/n.’

you didn’t even know you failed to keep your tears in until you saw the bottom of the paper severely damp. you swallowed the forming lump in your throat, throwing the pen somewhere onto the table before turning around and going to pack your things in the bedroom.

after you packed everything you needed and doubled checked, you let out a breath you didn’t even know you’d been holding in. maybe this could be a new change for you. obviously not fully, you knew you’d never get over kazuha, ever, but this could still be a time to focus on you.

you left your keys and the spare keys on the hook as you walked out of the house and slammed the door shut. you had to bite your cheek to stop you from spilling tears outside in the public. though, one last thought of kazuha coming back to the house without you there made you break, having to take a small break sitting against the door before you finally left, not looking back.

kazuha had come back two days later with a surprise for you, he was going to ‘pop the big question’. kazuha knew you were the one and he still does, forever will he be thinking that way.

the reason why he had been gone all those months was because it was a long travel to get to where he needed for the ring. he wanted it to be special, so it was specially customised just for you. a silver band that was engraved with your name going along it, the rest of the empty bits being your favourite crystal.

he had to work far jobs for ages to afford it, making his travels even longer. he always refused your invitations to travel with him so you didn’t find out, or changing the way he wrote in the letters in case he wrote to excitedly, making you suspicious. in the end he just refused to write back to you because he was so close to just asking you to marry him in the letters, giving his all and forcing himself to not write back no matter what.

kazuha took a few deep breaths before turning the door handle to open up the front door. when he walked in he could feel the atmosphere in the house feel different, but quickly shrugged it off to look for you.

when he couldn’t find you he thought you’d be out getting food or socialising, then he saw a letter on the table thinking that was just a note confirming his thoughts. he picked up the piece of paper and started reading it:

‘dear kazuha,

these past few months have been off for us, and i’m sure you’ve noticed too. we spend small hours together before you leave for months and repeat that routine. you’ve stopped communicating with me and you’re always hiding things from me, never telling me wherever you’re going or what you did. i’ve tried to fix this, to put my thoughts and feelings aside for you but i just cant’—

he scrunched up the piece of paper and threw it at the wall, he had read enough. kazuha had felt his breathing feeling heavier, he didn’t mean for this to happen. he was so stupid, getting caught up in the excitement too much to actually realise how you might’ve been feeling.

that’s when something switched inside his brain. that’s why you always asked to join him on travels, to be with him. that’s why you would always beg him to stay just a little longer, to be with him. that’s why you would look sad when he was leaving, because you wanted to be with him.

him, him, him. it was all about him to you, you’d truly loved kazuha and he was so blind to realise just because he didn’t wanna reveal the secret. he was mad at himself, swiftly walking over to the shelf to turn it back around.

laying on the shelves were the empty ring box he was going to place the ring in and your favourite flowers casted into a bouquet. he threw the flowers to the ground, petals flying everywhere, along with the ring. he blinked a lot to put back the tears he felt swelling in his eyes. no, he couldn’t let himself cry. what’s there to be sad about? he was going to get you back, end of story, he was yours and you were his.

maybe he needed to extend his travels just a little to figure out where you’d gone to.

you and ajax had met when you first became a fatui agent, him being your teacher. ajax was very interested in you, you looked like a goddess. the way you acted was heavenly and your voice was soothing. not to mention how strong you were too, almost beating him when you two had a 1v1.

overtime you two started falling in love and dated, which turned into being married with a sweet baby boy, c/n. he was your bundle of joy and looked exactly like you. when he was first born you had asked ajax to take a break of being a harbinger until c/n was older or just quit the job altogether knowing it would put the child in danger. of course you had already quit yours too.

ajax had told you, yes, he would quit but it would take some time which you were okay with… but it never happened.

always making excuses saying that ‘he’s figuring it out’ or ‘he doesn’t know how to quit’. you believed him at first but overtime you’d grown to see how the excuses would always be the same things repeated. that caused a hole in your marriage, but nothing too big that can’t be fixed. c/n was always the one to bring you guys back together.

but he can’t do that anymore.

it was only a few days ago, c/n was only 4. he had been kidnapped by the fatuis opposition and you had no idea. usually ajax would always know when something bad in the fatui happened but he didn’t either, he was too busy ‘training’ the new agents, when in truth, he was just lazing off.

you always asked him the same question, “do you know where c/n is?” and he would always say deny. at first you weren’t worried, your boy was known for wandering into the world for exploration, but when he didn’t come back for days, you got extremely anxious. you spent your days searching for him while ajax would just lay back thinking everything was okay. nothing, you found no trace of your baby anywhere.

that was until you had come to visit your husband at work one day.

you and him were arguing, well mostly you. ajax wasn’t even bothering to listen to you. everytime you asked him to help you or to bother looking by himself for your child, he’d brush it aside. you were so sick and tired of him, about to start walking away until two agents had come up and pulled both of you aside.

they were carrying c/n’s body. it was bruised all over, scratched, and dry blood covering his once tanned nose that was now pale as ice. that was the hardest day of your life, seeing the only person that really brought you joy, dead. when you looked over at ajax, he just stared at the boy and held back his tears, telling the agents to let you deal with it instead and he ran away.

he left you to go somewhere, someplace away from everyone. leaving you to struggle with the grief all on your own.

and when he had come back only days later, he saw the house a mess and you sitting down on the floor staring at a wall. ajax had come up to you and asked if you were ‘okay’. okay? did he really just ask that?

that one question made you break and you lashed out on him, bringing you to the present argument.

“silent now are we? if you just listened to me for once, when i told you to look for c/n maybe this would’ve been different. maybe you would’ve found out about the bargain they made to give him back and we’d all be happy!” you shouted, shooting daggers into the man in front of you. “they wanted me to quit being a harbinger so we could get him back.” ajax said sternly.

“oh yeah? so what? your job is more important than our fucking child?” you laughed at him with your husband staying silent once more. “honestly, you know what? i’m not doing this anymore. i don’t want to be in this ‘marriage’. it’s clear you only care about yourself, it’s clear you only care about your job, it’s clear you don’t even care about c/n and it’s clear you don’t even care about me.” your voice broke as you spoke at him.

“what?” was all ajax said confused. you weren't actually going to leave him were you? “you heard me, i’m going. i’ll send the papers to you later.” you moved past him, slamming the door to the house and ran, ignoring his pleas from behind you.

you laughed to yourself as you wiped the tears from your eyes. god he was so stupid, you were done with him forever. no more playing along.

you knocked on the door as you adjusted your clothes and fixed your messy hair. when the door opened a huge smile appeared on your face when you saw who it was. “c/n, my baby! mommy missed you so much.” you picked him up giving a kiss on the cheek, starting to walk into the house. he let out cute little laughs as you gave him all the affection you weren't able to give from the past few days.

you sat him down on the couch you bent down eye level to him. “baby do you know where daddy is?” he nodded his head and pointed to a door down the hallway, “daddy’s in his office working!”

you smiled at him and said you’d be right back. you walked down the hall to the office and tried to be as quiet as possible, attempting to surprise him. when you got to the door, you made sure to open it softly. “surprise!” you shouted as he swiftly looked up from his papers. “holy shit y/n, don’t do that again." scaramouche spoke, getting up from his seat coming over to you.

“i missed you yknow? it was a pain being with ajax. god he didn’t even care when ‘his’ child ‘died’…” you frowned to yourself, embracing scara into a hug. he hummed. “so he didn’t quit?” you shook your head at that which made your boyfriend frustrated. “god, he’s so fucking difficult isn’t he.”

“you’ve never really clarified why you want him to quit… could you tell me?” you asked him. “he’s just always in the way of things making everything difficult. plus, i hate how he works with you as he continues to be in love, disgusting.” scaramouche said sitting back down into his seat with you following him.

you smiled as you sat on his lap, “so how was c/n? difficult?” you played with the strands of his hair. “pfft, he’s just like another you. so not difficult whatsoever.”

“right…” you mumbled eyeing him off. you started to rest your head on his shoulders and sighed, comfortable silence taking over both of you. you were playing with the hem of your lovers shirt until he spoke, “so when are you gonna tell him?” you paused your movements and looked up to him. “tell him what?”

“tell him about us, the fact c/n is actually alive and the body he was shown was just a puppet or that c/n isn’t even his son, he’s mine.” you shrugged. “i have no idea. maybe when i give him the divorce papers?” you shrugged your shoulders.

“i’m surprised that idiot didn’t even realise that wasn’t his child. c/n has my hair and eyes.” scaramouche laughed out at the thought.

“well we’ll figure it all out together.” you pulled him in for a kiss.

he laughed and shrugged, starting to move his index down your body. you struggled to push him off you as he tightened his grip on your arms. “get off me you bastard!” you shouted at him. was nobody around to hear you?

he dragged you down to the ground with him and started trying to kiss you but you kept moving your face away and kicking at his torso. somehow he was strong enough to have no reaction to the fighting and just continued, working through your struggles.

you felt so hopeless and tired from your fighting, you wanted xiao but how would he come and save you? he never comes into liyue city. the man started peeling your shirt off and kissed down your torso. you didn't want this. you wanted him to go away. “xiao…” you whispered through your sobs.

your blurred tears could just see a green flash. you tried opening your eyes a bit more and you saw xiao. as he took in the scene, xiao saw red. he bashed the guy who was stuck frozen on you, flat to the ground and kicked him stuck onto the floor instead with his foot.

all you could hear was pleads and gruesome slashing noises. “n— no! i’m sorry! i won’t do it again i-” the man choked on his words as you hear a stab. “shut up.” xiao said, smashing the mans head with his polearm.

you felt like this moment was growing longer and you couldn't bear it. you just wanted to be home with your boyfriend. though, not even a second later and you were in wangshu inn. you saw xiao in front of you and jumped into his arms sobbing. he wasn’t good with comfort at all, but he knew you really needed it right now. he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you tight close to him.

“are— are you okay?” xiao whispered, rubbing the middle of your back in circles. you sniffled and gave out a small, desperate laugh “not really.”

“why didn’t you call me earlier? i would’ve stopped it before that jerk could continue.” the grip on your back tightened as the man was mentioned. “i don’t know it’s just—... everything i knew was gone in that moment and i felt so helpless. it’s like i forgot everything i knew.” your sobs slowed down as you payed attention to your boyfriends presence instead.

“i’m sorry, i took care of him for you.” your lover said as he picked you up and placed you on the bed, laying himself down on your chest. he pulled your arm out from underneath you and drew little circles on your hand in hopes to make you feel better and distract you. “what did you do to him?” you asked even though you had a hint already.

silence.

“it doesn’t matter.” xiao finally spoke as you could see him tensing up. “you know you broke the contract, right?” you said worried he'd get punished severely. the circles in your hand stopped and he sighed looking up at you from your chest. “i’d break all the contracts for you if it meant you’d be safe and okay. i can deal with all the consequences, us adepti aren’t weak.”

you smiled softly at him and kissed the top of his head. “you better be able to deal with them or i'll have to suffer knowing you couldn't handle the suffer."

comfortable silence settled over the both of you. you could feel xiaos breathing getting lighter and how his eyes kept fluttering shut. “you can sleep xiao, i’ll be okay, i have you now.” you whispered softly. instantly with the permission you gave him, he fell asleep with his hand holding yours. “i love you.” you said, shutting your eyes too.

even though he didn’t say it back, you knew with the way he gripped your hand tighter, that he loved you too.

he was aware of this feeling but ignored it, not wanting this to get in his way of work

you on the other hand, it was like love at first sight for you. albedo was the prettiest person you’ve laid your eyes on and you would always make the most of your time with him. you knew the feelings would most likely never be reciprocated and you knew because of that you should back off with the big chance of your heart being broken. but albedo was too intoxicating, he was a drug you felt the need to get high on.

you saw albedo at the alchemy stand with sucrose and you were surprised, he was back in the city? that's perfect. “hey guys!” you walked up to them, speaking to the both, but your eyes stuck on him.

“oh— oh! hello y/n.” sucrose smiled sweetly, returning the smile. “hello y/n.” albedo said sorting out vials on the bench. he was trying so hard to distract himself from looking at you because he knew if he did, he would explode.

“so what are you two doing?” you leaned on the bench in front of albedo making him freeze. god you were just so close. “ah— just sorting out stuff.” sucrose replied, saving the situation when she saw albedos reaction to you.

“mmm…” you mumbled out, eyeing down at albedo. he could feel your gaze and his heart was beating very fast. “actually y/n.. albedo has something to ask you.” she smiled, nudging albedo.

“i do?” he swiftly turned to sucrose as she nodded her head. “oh i do.” he cleared his throat looking up at you. “y/n would you like to..” he cleared his throat. was this it? was he going to ask you out? was this actually happening?

“… like to help me and sucrose out with work?” sucroses jaw dropped as she sent a glare to albedo. “what.” you both said to albedo. “is something the matter?” his calm facade hid the internal blushing inside of him. god he was so stupid why did he ask that? you could've been his.

you coughed awkwardly. “actually i have somewhere to be, i’m sorry! i’ll definitely help out next time though.” you smiled at them as you turned away disappointed. “mister albedo with all due respect.. you’re an idiot!” you could hear sucrose say to albedo as you walked away making you laugh a bit.

you got to the knights headquarters and knocked on jeans door. you heard a small, “come in!” and opened the door.

jean was your older sister and you told her everything, and because of this, when she saw your face she already knew what had happened. “was this another albedo situation?” she smiled at your frowned face.

“yes, he was going to ask me out! i know he was. but he backed out and instead asked me to help him and sucrose out with boring vials! i made an excuse that i had something to do because i couldn’t handle it.” your groaned putting your head in your hands.

jean got out of her seat and came in front of the desk where you were, she rubbed your shoulders and moved your head to look at her. “look, you just need to give him some time. you know how he is in these situations.” she gave another laugh at your glare.

you moved her hand off your shoulder. “it’s been what? 2 years? he should sort these feelings out already.” you pinched the bridge of your nose. “just give up then? if you can’t wait anymore then back out.” she said sitting back down. “no way. i love him too much.” jean rolled her eyes at your incompetence. “i have work to do, complain to me after okay?”

“okay…” you mumbled and you had to force yourself to physically drag yourself out of the headquarters. you knew albedo definitely liked you, right? it was obvious! he just needed a little push to come true to his feelings… and you have exactly the idea. aether can help you out with it! he’ll definitely agree.

“no way.”

“aether pleaseeee?” you begged to him. okay so maybe he wouldn’t agree straight away.. but he will soon! “paimon and aether have commissions to do! we are already too busy at it is. plus we aren’t that good at relationships…” paimon sighed.

“i have commissions to do you mean… and yes what paimon said. me and her aren’t that good at relationships.” aether spoke in an apologising tone. “this is urgent! plus you don’t have to do anything hard. all we do is hang out at good hunter, act like we’re very close and make albedo jealous! then he’ll realise he loves me.” you smiled at the both of them.

“do we really have a choice?” aether said dreadfully. “nope!” you smile. “well paimon likes the idea of good hunter so let’s go!” she said, already flying off to the restaurant. the blonde sighed. “so all i have to do is just act really close to you?” you nodded your head at that.

“and albedo won’t hate me after this, right?” you stayed silent and looked around, trying to pretend you didn't hear him. “we should catch up to paimon let’s go!” you shouted running off.

aether deadpanned at your reaction, sobbing mentally at what he had gotten himself into.

when you three got to the table you made sure albedo was on the other side of the street at the alchemy stand, which he was. okay, plan starts now.

you scooted close to aether and put your hand on his and head on his shoulder. albedo noticed you with aether and when he spotted the way you had positioned yourself onto him, he dropped the vial glass in his hand, glass shattering beneath him. albedo could feel his heart stop.

he felt rage inside of him. why were you with aether? did you like him? love him? did you move on from himself already because of what happened yesterday? he really didn’t mean to.. he wanted to ask you out, he did! you were just driving him insane and it was already so hard to hide it from you. he loved you truly, more than anything. he realises it now, he realises it just how you planned.

from the corner of your eye, you could see albedo staring at you. a small smirk appearing on your face. you pulled aether into a hug, whispering into his ear. “aether pretend to blush so it looks like i’m being seductive to you!”

“trust me i already am.. this is so embarrassing.” he groaned. albedo watched from afar, this sight was driving him insane. why was aether blushing? did he love you? albedo can’t have that happen, he’s only just come to face his feelings and you’re already moving on? no. no. albedos the only one fit for you. the one who deserves you.

aether saw albedos deathly glare to aether. even though it was a just a look it sent a weird feeling into his gut. this didn’t seem like a ‘back off’ glare it was more like a, ‘you’re fucking dead’ glare. aether pushed you away, telling you to look at albedo but when you did, he wasn’t there. where did he go?

aether moved to the other side of the table, not liking this ‘simple plan’ anymore. you teased at him for moving away, jokingly mocking him for being scared of nothing. you were about to move over to aether next to him until you felt a sharp pain in your neck.

you felt dizzy, your vision was slowly turning black and you couldn’t focus on anything. aethers eyes opened wide and he shouted for you, you could just barely see as he looked up and glared behind you, swiftly getting up and pulling out his sword.

“a— aether?” you muttered before you blacked out, the last thing you remembered was chaos around you and paimons shouts for the traveller.

you finally woke up, the atmosphere around you was cold but your body was warm. you could feel a weight on top of you and when you looked to see what it was, you saw a familiar blonde hair man on you. “albedo? is— is that you?” you whispered out groggily.

albedo quickly looked up at you, a small smile appearing on his face when he saw you awake. “y/n.. my dear you’re finally awake.” you flushed at the endearment.

“where am i? and what happened?” you asked, trying to remember something, but nothing came to mind. the only thing you could really remember was being shot in the neck by something.

“there was an attack at mondstadt by someone dangerous. there was chaos everywhere in the city.. many people were severely injured and 6 people died, but i saved you before you could get caught up into it and brought you to my camp in dragonspine.”

you froze at the sudden news. “albedo.. do you— do you know who died?” he questioned looking at him with anxious eyes.

he stayed silent for a bit and then answered, “the acting grandmaster, traveller, his little friend and a few citizens.” you choked and felt your heart sink, your sister? jean? no, no.. it can’t be real, he’s lying. he has to be.

“show me! it can’t be true. there’s no way.” you could feel tears start to pour out. albedo sighed and shook his head, “i apologise but i cannot bring you to the city, it is dangerous and a threat to you but.. hold on.” he pulled you out of the camp and over to a ledge that looked over the city.

it was true, the city was in chaos. you could see people running out of the city, knights running in and people hiding in their homes.

you broke down and turned to cry into albedos chest. he wrapped one arm around your waist and the other rubbing your back, he mumbled sweet words into your shoulder as you sobbed speaking incoherently.

albedo was glad you didn’t see the bloody clothes in the corner of the camp, or the way your oblivious sight didn’t catch the smirk he gave when speaking about mondstadt.

he finally had you, and you finally had him. albedo would never tell you he was the cause of the deaths or chaos, it would ruin what you two now have.

when ayato was finally back in inazuma your plan had began. you and thoma were waiting in an alleyway anticipating for ayato to walk near. when you finally saw him you dragged thoma out by the hand and acted casual.

you made sure to almost shout, just so your lover could hear you speak to thoma. “so, what shall we do today?” you asked him.

ayato overheard and saw you two together, he frowned at the sight. you two only hung out when ayato was around, never alone. though, it didn’t matter, ayato started making his way over to you two which you noticed nudging thomas shoulder.

“hm, i don’t know my lady.. maybe we should get boba?” thoma said giving a sweet smile to you which you nodded. ayato stopped in his tracks, only he calls you that. why is thoma calling you such an endearment? and boba? you hate boba, why would you get it with him?

“here’s the stall, i’ll pay for us.” you said getting mora out of your pocket which thoma held your wrist down. “there’s no need! i’ll pay for us.” he smiled.

“really? you’re such a gentleman…” you said hanging off of thomas shoulder. he could feel ayatos burning glare in the back of his head because he started shaking you off instantly with a nervous laugh. “an— anything for you my lady! you totally owe me a big one for this…” he said whispering the last bit making you laugh a bit.

ayato just watched from afar with jealousy and anger bubbling up inside him. how badly he just wanted to confront you guys, but he had pride, so he wouldn’t dare.

you noticed how he was about to just walk away making your reflexes take over you. you turned thoma around swiftly so his back was faced towards ayato and you brought his face right up to yours, covering his mouth with your hand and pressing your lips against it to make it look like you two kissed.

ayato froze when he saw what just happened. his heart dropped and he could feel his face fall, if he was holding anything it would’ve dropped to the ground. his fists clenched and he ran off instantly, only feeling betrayal and heartbreak.

you instantly pushed him away afterwards realising what you did. thoma stared at you anxiously. “uhh, you know we’re meant to make him jealous, not make it look like you’re cheating…”

“oh my fucking god what did i just do? he’s gonna think i kissed you!” you angrily whispering at him. thoma wasn’t even paying attention, he was totally getting fired…

when you saw ayato walk off, you instantly pushed thoma away from you running after him. thoma was quick to run with you and hopefully help explain what happened to ayato. you were able to catch up with him at the centre of ritou. you shouted out his name and ayato stopped in his tracks, his hands loosening. “what?” he mustered out, venom dripping from his tone.

“it’s— it’s not what you think…” you tried catching your breath as you bent down, holding you knees. thoma finally made his way to the sight just quick enough to agree. “what y/n said, my lord…” he panted out.

ayato gave a mocking laugh, turning his head to look at you two with back still faced to you. “what do you mean by y/n? don’t you mean ‘my lady?’” he quoted from earlier.

“no he doesn’t. look please just let me explain, love. it’s not what you think at all.” you tried putting your hand on his shoulder but he flicked it off. ayato finally turned around looking down at you two. sighing to himself. “explain, it better be good.”

“well you were always busy with work so-”

“so you went off to thoma because i was never there?” he glared. n— no my lord. please just let them explain.” you felt so guilty dragging thoma into this mess but you had to shake the thought from your head as you continued,

“... so i came up with a plan that would make you finally pay attention to me rather than work, it was to make you jealous. thoma and i were just meant to do stuff you and i did but when i saw it wasn’t working, i turned thoma to me and made it look like we kissed. which we didn’t! i covered his mouth with my hand and kissed that.” thoma nodded, refusing to look at you in case that somehow raised suspicion.

ayatos eyes darkened as he turned away. “you think i would believe that? how pathetic.” you stood there confused, giving a weird look to him. “what do you mean? i promise it’s the truth, i wouldn’t do that to you. i love you.” you went to grab his hand but he brought it to his chest and crossed his arms instead.

“do you seriously think i didn’t see the pictures?” ayatos voice sent shivers down your spine. “what? pardon? what pictures?” you looked confused. “oh don’t act stupid. i saw the pictures of you and thoma hanging out and kissing while i was away for work. i didn't believe them, of course, but with what happened just then i seriously don't know anymore." your eyes widened and you backed away from him, what the hell did he mean? you and thoma did none of the sort.

“what are you on? me and thoma barely spoke while you were gone.”

“is that true? then explain these.” spoke ayato turning around, handing pictures to the two of you. thomas heart dropped as his eyes widened. you just looked at them and scoffed. “do you honestly believe these are real? i would never cheat on you.”

“right.” he snatched the pictures back from you and put them in his coat pocket. “just please, stop lying. it already hurts me enough that the person i love is cheating on me.” ayato whispered, trying hard to not let his voice break.

“ayato, can’t you see it? these pictures are obviously edited. someone’s trying to set me and thoma up.” your boyfriends eyes squinted as he looked at you weirdly. “why would someone do that? and who would do that?” he gave a laugh.

“we would.” said a familiar voice.

now, ayato has a lot of pride in himself. he’ll make you come to him just so he has a chance to tease you about how much you had missed him.

so when he came home unexpectedly and just layed on your lap hugging your waist, you were surprised. not that you minded though, you knew teasing him would just make him moody causing him to back away from you, so all you could do was just kiss his forehead and run your hands through his hair.

he was muffling his words into your lap but you could understand the three words he was saying that made you chuckle. “love you too ayato.”

— thoma

with his duties as housekeeper he is always busy either cleaning, delivering messages or just helping out around inazuma.

you loved that about him, how he would always help people out even if he had something to do, it was sweet. though, you also hated it. you envied the people he would make time for just to help them, why couldn’t he do that with you? it’s obvious there’s no ill intentions but you can’t help but feel selfish which puts you in a bad mood.

when thoma saw you at one of the drink stalls, he came up to you and greeted you, but all you did was turn away and ignore him causing confusion towards the poor boy.

your plan was for him to follow you and ask what’s wrong, then you’d tell him how you were feeling — which was what he was going to do but a man had pulled him aside for help so he had to leave you once again.

you sighed frustrated and ran home, curling up into the bed blankets and sat there doing nothing. you probably sat there for ages, you didn’t know how long had gone past but you were starting to drift off to sleep. though before you could rest, you heard the front door open.

you quickly gained awareness assuming it was your boyfriend and changed positions into looking like you were asleep. thoma walked into the bedroom and spotted you. “hey baby, i’m sorry for today. why are you ignoring me? did i do something wrong?” he said sitting beside you on the bed.

you didn’t respond. “y/n i know you’re not sleeping, you snore when you do.” he sighed. you turned around to shoot a glare at him. “i don’t snore... do i?" you questioned, mostly to yourself.

thoma chuckled at you. “no you don’t snore, i just needed an excuse to grab your attention. talk to me baby.” he placed a hand on yours. you mumbled under your breath quietly, “you’re just always so busy and you never have time for me. you spend it all on others…”

he smiled softly rubbing circles on your knuckles. “i know, i know. i just like helping people out and i have to keep up the reputation of the commission. plus works hefty now, i don’t know why.” he shrugged.

“it’s just me being selfish, don’t bother with it.” you frowned. thoma dragged onto his lap, making you face him. “you’re not selfish okay?” he used his hands to direct your face to look at him. “you have every right to feel the way you do, it’s my fault.”

you leaned into his touch and moved your lips closer to him, joining yours with his. it was a soft kiss but it was enough to reassure the both of you. “it’s nobody’s fault. now let’s take a nap together?” you smiled small.

thoma laughed, dragging you both to lay down, pulling the covers on over you two.

— xiao

your boyfriend isn’t too busy, he fights a lot but not all day. which is good right? more time for you two to be together? nope. in this situation it’s you who’s always busy. your job is a big one which causes you to work all day giving you a short hour sleeping schedule.

you don’t really care, i mean, you get good money. though a con to it is you neglect your poor boyfriend. he’s lonely already as it is so you barely being there makes it worse.

you always feel really bad when you tell him you have to go to work, seeing that look of disappointment on him just makes your heartbreak. so, you decided that you’ll get off early, well, as early as they’ll let you.

they ended up letting you off at 9 pm which was only two hours before you usually left to go home but it’s whatever. when you entered the room of the inn you didn’t spot xiao anywhere. he usually stands on the balcony and just looks onto the view but he wasn’t there.

thinking he was out fighting you frowned, so much for spending time with your boyfriend. you walked out the back of the room and climbed up to the roof to sit in your usual spot. as you got closer to the edge of it, you spotted xiao.

you felt a smile claim your face and you walked closer, sitting down next to him. you saw from the corner of your eye that he slightly jumped from your unexpected presence, guess you took him by surprise.

no words were spoke, no actions either. you two just sat there and looked at the view in comfortable silence. xiao slowly scooted closer to you, close enough that your legs touched and he put his head on your shoulder.

“miss me?” you asked caressing his thigh. all you could hear was a little grumble of approval making another smile appear on your face. no words had to be spoken, all you two needed was each other’s presence to feel loved. but... you still wanted him to know.

“you know i love you right?” you said turning your head to him. he slightly nodded and just kept staring into the beyond, trying to hide the small blush on his cheeks.

though, later that night when you were starting to fall asleep in bed you could hear a faint, “i love you too.”

everyone knew what he did, but they were all so foolish and fell into his trap thinking they were different then everyone else. you would blame them, but you went through it once too. he was so believable. it felt so real, like an actual relationship. it felt like he truly loved you, until the next day you would come to school and see everyone laughing at you.

after that you had promised yourself to not get into a relationship in highschool at all… and let’s just say that promise didn’t last very long.

a year later you had met the new kid, his name was kunikuzushi. you were very interested in him. his style was interesting to say the least, he had purple hair and the way he was able to pull off a bowl cut? truly amazing.

at lunch you went over to him to introduce yourself, but you were greeted with a glare. you didn’t care a bit though, he seemed super cool and you didn’t wanna miss out on an opportunity to be friends with someone like him.

so everyday at lunch, it had become an unspoken rule that you’d visit him and have small talk. which turned into normal chats, which turned into long conversations, which turned into hanging out on weekends and having late night calls.

it had probably been at least four months since you both became friends. you had developed feelings for him very early into the friendship but with the way kunikuzushi had acted, you didn’t know if the feelings were reciprocated.

having enough of waiting to get any signs you basically said fuck it and went to go find where he was at. kuni was at the usual spot, under a tree. you sat next to him, both were silent but it was comfortable silence.

as your rested your head back against the tree you breathed in the cool air and turned your head to look at him. “i like you, kuni. romantically.”

you could see his breathing stop and his eyes slightly open, turning his head slightly towards you, “what?” was all he could say. already feeling like this was a bad idea, you shook off the thoughts knowing you were this deep in now, why not go further? “i said i like you.”

his face flushed and he quickly looked away, clearing his throat. “you’re not fucking with my feelings right?” laughing at him you shook your head, “no, i promise.” putting out your pinky finger.

kunikuzushi looked back at you intertwining his finger with yours. “i uh- i like you too..” his face was so red.

and that was how you two became a couple.

not gonna lie, you had lost all your ‘friends’ because of that. they all thought he was a freak with an ego so big that he thought he could be mean to anyone. but you didn’t care, you loved your boyfriend and you only needed him.

one day you had been looking for your books in your locker when, he, came up to you.

you gripped your locker and tried to look and see if your partner was around but he was nowhere to be found. “what the fuck do you want ajax?” glaring at him.

he chuckled at you, “i mean no harm! i just wanted to ask if you were free this saturday?” you earned a smirk from him. you scoffed at him, “no, why would i want to go out with you?”

had he not recognised you? he’s done this to you before, you know his dumb tricks. i mean you had glowed up since last year, you dyed your hair and it grew in thickness, grew taller and changed your clothes style. can’t blame him for not recognising you.

but maybe you could take this chance? you could get payback for the humiliation and trust issues he had caused you. oh how thankful you were to the archons for giving you this opportunity.

when you zoned out of your thoughts, you could already see him walking away. running up to him, you pulled him back by his shoulder. “actually, yes. i will go out with you! i- i don’t know what came over me just before..” you faked a laugh which ajax returned with a small smile. “i’ll text you the details later.”

oh how wonderful this is gonna be. now, to find your boyfriend.

as you walked around the school, you couldn’t find him anywhere. where the hell was he? he’s nowhere to be found and you’ve gone through all the classrooms…

— was what you thought before you see a familiar person in one of the empty ones.

as you walked in you could see your lover sitting on one of the desks looking sad. “what’s wrong kuni?” you asked walking up to him. he glared at you, “why the fuck would you care? shouldn't you be off with your new boyfriend?”

you stopped in your tracks. what?

oh.

he must’ve seen you agree to the date with ajax. “oh kun.. that was a misunderstanding. just please, let me explain.” you walked in front of him to which he pushed you away with his legs and gave you an expecting look. “explain then.”

you told him everything that had happened in the past, what had just happened a few minutes ago, and the reason you accepted to ajax's stupid 'prank'. he stayed silent the entire time, only his expressions reacting.

he finally broke his emotionless facade and let out a sigh when you finished speaking. “oh thank god. i thought— just—... nothing, nevermind. you already know."

you gave a soft laugh towards him and walked between his legs, moving his head up to look at you. “look i have a plan already okay? i'm not actually going to go with him.”

your plan was to stand him up, take pictures of him leaving by himself and try edit it so he genuinely looked sad. then you’d show his friends and the entire school. hopefully it's enough to break his player act and embarrass him. your lover liked it and suggested for him to be there just in case, to which you agreed.

before you could continue the conversation, the bell had rang suddenly. you groaned and rolled your eyes frustrated at the short lunch time.

your boyfriend was about to get off the desk and leave but you held him still. “kuni, i love you okay? i would never hurt you.” you gave a sweet smile and kissed his neck. “i’ll see you at the gates this afternoon, alright?” you reassured him before rushing out of the classroom, leaving a very embarrassed boy behind.

as the day finally rolled over, you waited at the gates for kunikuzushi just like you said you would.

unfortunately while you waited, ajax had come up to you. “remember the date tomorrow, yeah? but i’ll need your number for texting the details about the time and place..” he trailed off nervously.

you sighed internally. you despised the idea of giving him your personal details but to carry on this revenge, you had to.

when you both had put in each others numbers in your phones, he started leaning in close. what the fuck was he doing? was he going to kiss you? you can’t do anything your hands are full with your phone and your books. you started freaking out, about to fully just drop everything until somebody had pulled him back, your boyfriend.

“now, what exactly do you think you're doing?” he asked, glaring daggers at ajax.

ajax chuckled at kuni and scruffed his head earning a slap from the indigo haired man. “is this your little brother y/n? he really puts up a fight sheesh..”

you tried to hold in your laugh, looking at your boyfriend who gave you a, ‘get it over with’ look. “yes, that’s my brother actually!” you pulled kunikuzushi into a side hug, feeling uncomfortable calling someone you've done many things with, your 'brother'.

ajax gave an excited smile. “i have siblings too! maybe we could meet up with them one time?” he eyed as you swiftly moved kuni away from the side of you.

you slowly nodded, quickly telling ajax that you and your ‘brother’ had to leave to go home quickly. he gave you a sweet goodbye, unfortunately he didn't forget to wink.

you walked to your house, hearing your lover sigh beside you. “do you really have to do this? i mean he almost kissed you..” kuni groaned, harshly biting the inside of his cheek. “i know, i know. but i really have to do this. i need to get back at him for the humiliation he costed me a year ago.”

“i understand, i guess. if it means that much to you. just try to be on guard. i don’t want someone kissing you, thinking of it makes my blood boil.” he frowned.

you got to the front door of your house. “look i’ll see you tomorrow okay? ajax messaged saying around.. 5pm.” you pulled your phone out to double check. kuni nodded slowly, eyeing down the number in his phone.

“okay, see you tomorrow.” he said nodding along with his words. right as you were about to enter your house fully, kuni mumbled something under his breath before rushing off. but you already knew what he said, making your heart feel warm.

it was finally 5pm the next day and your boyfriend had picked you up in his car, parking in the restaurant parking space.

you both chatted about random things waiting for ajax to show up. he came about 5 minutes late with a worried expression written on his face, but as he came in and didn’t see you, it washed away and he just sat down.

you and your boyfriend went back to talking after eyeing down ajax. god knows how long you two sat there speaking while averting to stare at the ginger ever so often. during the conversations, you could see your lover grow visibly frustrated that ajax was staying there waiting for you. “shit, it’s already been 30 minutes and he’s still here.” the boy next to you spoke, muttering other things under his breath.

“i know. when is he gonna leave?” you deadpanned at the awaiting player in your view, chewing on your lip as you wondered.

probably about another 30 minutes later, ajax had finally started to leave the place with a solemn look on his face. “quick, quick! get the camera kuni!” you shouted for him as he was already getting it out, starting to take pictures as ajax walked out shameful.

you could faintly see a teddy bear and one rose in his furthest hand away from you guys, the negative expression never leaving his body. wow, he’s really trying his best to pretend. you thought, snickering out loud.

“okay baby, send them to me and i’ll send them to kaeya!” you gave an excited look to your boyfriend. “how do you have kaeyas number?”he asked, raising an eyebrow at you suspiciously.

“oh, one of my ex-friends had given it to me to try start something with him after the whole ajax thing, but... it never worked out and we’ve only said hi to each other.” you replied, shrugging.

kunikuzushi mumbled something snarky under his breath that didn't entirely make its way to your ears as he sent the pictures to you. you quickly saved them and sent them all to kaeya with a message underneath:

you: LOL this your bsf getting stood up on a date 🤭 not that he should care though since it’s just a bet..

kaeya: bro what lmfao wym 💀 we didn’t give him any bet? he already done one this month.

“what.” you said out loud, moving the screen away from you to see if you saw that message properly, making kuni look at the messages himself with you.

you: huh? 😭

kaeya: thanks for the pics anyways, it'll do good in school.

he left you confused and anxious staring at the screen. kuni noticed and snatched your phone away to stop it from distracting you. “don’t think much of it, hes probably trying to save the embarrassment of his stupid friend.” he spoke next to you making you laugh a bit.

“you’re probably right, let’s see if it’s up on the socials yet." you did a grabbing motion to your phone he was holding and he passed it back to you. as soon as you opened up your instagram, you could see on the student school made account, the pictures were put up with the caption as:

‘bro was played for his first time ever. medicine taste sweet doesn't it lil aj?’

that made kunikuzushi laugh. he should've just put it up on his own personal account, everyone knows this school account was made by kaeya.” you laughed with him and shrugged. "i mean, it's still fun though. i'd love to run this account."

you were glad you’d finally gotten revenge on what he did to you and how easy it actually was, now he’s going to experience exactly how you felt. though, you still couldn't help but feel uneasy about his sad expression. whatever. as kuni said, don't think too much of it.

when you got to school monday morning, you had mixed emotions on what to feel. maybe nobody even was talking about it, maybe its okay.

you could see your boyfriend just up ahead of you, and you ran up to catch up with him. he gave you a nudge, making you judge him back. you guys went back and forth like six year olds until you got to god forbidden doors. you opened the doors up, seeing a crowd in there making you guys exchange suspicious looks.

as you and kunikuzushi walked in there, you saw exactly what you were expecting. everyone was laughing at ajax and whispering about him as he avoided the looks, humiliated.

when the doors behind you and your boyfriend shut, it made a loud noise making everyone turn to it. ajax spotted you almost instantly, quickly shoving past people to come up to you. “you took these photos, didn't you?” he put the phone in your face.

“woah there buddy, back up a bit will ya?” kuni spoke out, pushing him back away from you. “shut up man. you’re just their little brother, don’t tell me what to do.”

“boyfriend, actually.” he scoffed at the man in front of him, trying not to burst out laughing along with the people behind watching. ajax instantly looked at you, expecting you to deny what was just said.

“it’s true what he said. me and kuni are dating, have been for ages. we just needed to pretend he was my brother to carry on with the plan.” you gave a small laugh.

he looked heartbroken. why was he still acting? he was already caught. “what? what plan?” he asked you.

“the plan where i get back at you. one year ago you made a bet on me, you made me 'fall in love with you', you toyed with me. it’s your fault i felt like i couldn’t trust anyone. though, lets not forget the humiliation you made me feel, god it was out of this world. i never knew someone so heartless could be so good at acting like they cared.”

ajax was shocked. he was played, wasn’t he? not like he didn’t deserve it. he deserved the humiliation and karma. all of it.

“looks like the player got played..” someone spoke out in the crowd making everyone laugh and agree. ajax just gave you a betrayed look and walked out of the school.

he didn’t mean to hurt you. he fell in love with you back then, you were the different one to everyone else, the one everyone wanted to be. the only reason he followed along with it is because he was stupid, naïve and only cared about money.

he thought he could really have another chance to change with you, but you’re in love with someone else now. he was too late and it’s all his fault.

what a shame.

it broke his heart to see you move on, to see you happy with another, to see you with someone else. if he were to choose to either end his painful duties or to go back to you, he’d suffer just to go with you once again.

but, he knew he doesn’t deserve you. it was his fault your relationship ended after all. he took advantage of your love and your feelings towards him.

xiao had cheated on you with ganyu, and oh how foolish he was. he had taught ganyu one day, how he usually does, but ganyu was bored of that and couldn't help but drive into her desires.

ganyu had pounced onto him, trying to kiss him. xiao was confused what was going on but he liked it. xiao had kissed back, pulling ganyu onto his lap and got too carried away, caressing her back and kissing her neck. you and xiao never had intimate sessions, so the fact he was finally feeling pleasure had made him do what he did.

but it’s not your fault you never touched. knowing xiao, he hated physical affection, so you never initiated anything unless he did first.

on that day, you decided to do something nice for xiao. you had collected his favourite flowers and had packed almond tofu in a small basket. as you headed towards where he would usually teach ganyu, you could hear ruffling and weird noises.

it made you anxious, thinking something bad had happened. you started running over, clenching the basket to your side so the sweets didn't fall everywhere. “xiao? ganyu? are you okay, has something happened??” you shouted.

the two had both obviously heard your shouts because as you neared the scene, they both were looking in your direction alread, frozen in shock.

xiao could remember the scene play like the back of his hand. the look of betrayal, disgust and sadness written over your face. the way the tears would start clumping in your eyes and fall down your face. the way your body tensed, making the flowers and food drop by your feet. the way you swiftly ran away and when he had come back to the inn, he saw none of your belongings there.

instantly he had cut off all ties with ganyu, blaming it on her.though, deep down he knew it was truly his fault, not hers. he was just shameful and would never admit that he would do such things to you out of everyone.

how stupid was he? letting pleasure get the best of him? the way he was doing stuff with another person other than you? the way you guys had only kissed minor times and he skipped all those stages with someone new?

he hated himself, how useless was he and how stupid he was. you were the only person who had ever loved him truly, the only person he had loved truly.

but deep down inside, he was glad you found someone better, someone who deserved you and treated you better than he, himself, ever could.

having enough of the scene thrown in front of him, he gave his one last goodbye to you, and vanished away.

besides all the other karma he had got, this is what he truly deserved.

as he walked into the front door of your estate, you greeted him with a warm smile. “hey baby, how was your walk?”

kunikuzushi looked up instantly and started walking to you, wrapping his arms around your body and placed his head in the crook of your neck muttering. “it was fine…”

you laughed at his clinginess and pushed him away softly, earning a grumble from your action. “how about you have a shower and then we can rest in bed, hm?” you suggested playing with the clothing that rested on his shoulder. he perked up at the idea and nodded, walking off quickly to the bathroom.

as you waited for him, already of had a shower, you got changed into a t-shirt and a pair of pants. you walked towards the bedroom door, dimming the lights and then walking to the bed to place yourself into the plushiness of the mattress. you rested your head up against the headboard, making sure to neaten out the blanket.

kunikuzushi came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist, walking into the closet and picking out his clothes too. he picked the towel up from the ground, drying his hair messily only to throw it back on the floor.

you rolled your eyes and told him to come and sit in front of you. you spread your legs as he sat in between them with his legs crossed and back facing you.

you tried to pull him closer but he turned around and glared. “what exactly are you trying to do here?” he asked suspiciously making you laugh at him. “kuni, i’m not trying to fuck tonight. maybe tomorrow. now, move closer i wanna try and do something."

he deadpanned at your words and hesitantly complied, scooting closer. you moved your hand to play with his hair. one of your many favourite bonuses that came with your lover.

it was very long, straight with small waves at the ends, soft and very silky. you always loved playing with it, his hair felt so nice between your fingers.

you made braids, plats, ponytails. basically any hairstyle you could think of. you could feel his muscles loosen and he gave a soft sigh, “can you… can you rub the top of my head?”

smiling softly you complied, moving your hands around the area giving a massage and roaming your hands in all the places you could reach. your boyfriends body fell against you, thinking he fell asleep you were about to remove your hands until you heard a faint “don’t stop please..”

trying to bite back a laugh from how vulnerable he was being, you continued. using your pointer and middle finger to rub the sides above his ears, using your thumb to massage the middle of his neck and brushing your fingers through the now unknotted head.

when you were about to massage his shoulders he whispered a small, “i love you.”

surprised at what he said, you turned your lovers body towards you, lying him down across your lap as his head rested in the middle of your arm, all you could see was an asleep kunikuzushi.

you gave a soft laugh, lying down in your bed and placing him next to you. moving his hair out of the way of his face and turning towards him.

“i love you too.”

earning a chuckle from ayato, he removed his hands from you. “how about you meet me at the docks around… 5 pm today? i would hate to leave a lovely person like you alone during whatever’s going on, maybe you can tell me?”

how very smooth. you bit the inside of your cheek so you didn't burst right then and there. again, not listening that much but you still incoherently nodded gaining another smile from ayato as he walked off. “see you later then, my lady.”

seconding you should go too, not wanting to seem like a loser just standing in the middle of the streets looking like your entire family died. your brain was a mess, so many thoughts and so much confusion. were you just asked out by ayato? the commissioner? what?

you just had to bite back a huge smile just thinking about it. maybe he was just curious about what happened. after all, he did say he wanted to know…

walking to wherever your feet were taking you, you just kept your thoughts to yourself. maybe this was a chance to flip a new page of your life and move on from thoma. you knew your mood was instantly boosted from ayato, so you were sure he could help.

as you were internally thanking the archons for giving you another chance, you remembered something. where in the world would you stay? you couldn’t go back to the house because that’s where thoma was, so, where?

when you kept thinking, an energetic person popped up into your mind, you were sure they’d take you in for a while. smiling inside, you ran over to their place.

as you walked up to the small hut, you could see exactly who you were looking for. “yoimiya! hey!” the blonde haired girl turned towards you with a smile, “y/n! hello, how have you been?”

“i’ve been very-…” you instantly stopped as you saw someone following behind her. ayaka. you swallowed the sudden lump in your throat, and gave an obvious fake smile. “greetings... my lady.” the name made you think of ayato, but you shook your thoughts away since you had something else to deal with.

“hello y/n!” she gave you a genuine smile. “how are you going? has thoma spoken to you yet?” your ‘smile’ instantly dropped as you gave a small chuckle. “you mean the talk where he said that he never loved me and was leaving me for you since you loved him back? yeah. he most definitely has spoken to me.”

ayaka frowned at that, yoimiya seconding her. “pardon me? i can assure you that never happened.” ayaka replied in confusion, getting a nod of agreement from yoimiya. “look, ayaka, you don’t need to lie. i already know. lying makes me feel even worse so just, don’t.”

“no y/n i-” you interrupted her quickly before she could speak, “no just please stop.”

“you see-” she tried saying as you groaned to yourself, “ayaka, i said stop, please-”

“y/n i’m not into men!” she shouted.

what? what did she just say? you weren’t against it or anything it’s just, if she was saying the truth, does that mean thoma was lying to you? “oh my god..”

yoimiya laughed, “yeah, actually me and ayaka just started dating!”

“i’m so sorry my lady i-” you squirmed around, “i didn’t mean it. i was just, told and yeah..” you looked down ashamed. “it’s fine, no worries! but.. could you please enlighten me about what has happened? i’m still confused.” you nodded to the request and told her everything from the very start.

“hm.. it seems he has lied to you. i said we should just stick to being friends.” ayaka sighed, yoimiya putting her hand on her shoulder. you groaned to yourself. god this made you even more frustrated at him.. why would he do that? you shook your head, “it- it’s fine. it doesn’t matter. me and him are officially done but..”

yoimiya raised her eyebrow, “but?..”

“but… because of that, i have nowhere to stay so i thought it would be okay for me to stay here for a bit until i get back on my feet?” giving a guilty look to the girls in front of you. “of course you can stay here! as long as you want.” yoimiya smiled at you, ayaka nodded. along with her but then realised something.

“y/n, if you don’t mind me asking, you seem to be a bit over this thoma situation already. may i ask why?” you blushed at the question thinking if you should lie or say the truth. “well actually, i bumped into ayato on accident when i was crying. it’s a bit embarrassing but we had a small chat which lifted my mood. i was also asked to meet up with him this afternoon.”

ayaka gave a small cheeky smile, “i see, so he finally chose to make the move now..” she whispered quietly. “pardon?” you asked her, not hearing what she said. “it doesn’t matter, please, come inside.” she smiled.

as hours passed, you rested in yoimiyas house alone. the two girls had gone out for a date, leaving you alone which you were more than perfectly fine with. not knowing what to do, you checked the time.

4:30 pm it read. cool…

wait, what? 4:30? shit shit shit, you weren’t even ready yet. hairs still messy, face not washed yet and you haven’t showered since yesterday. you groaned, quickly rushing up to get ready.

you showered and changed into nice casual clothes yoimiya had lent to you. should you put on makeup? nah. it would look too heavy. but maybe you should, you’d look more appealing. but then you’d look like a try hard.. but then maybe you might look like you might not have tried hard enough.

sighing frustrated, you decided to go with clear mascara and lip balm. you brushed your hair, and left the home, making your walk to the docks.

spotting ayato there already, you quickened your pace. you were stressing out so much about this you didn’t even notice your were beside ayato already.

“hello my lady, how are you doing this evening?” he asked you, making you embarrassed for the millionth time today. you tried to cool yourself down. “i’m doing better, very well.” you smiled at him.

ayato swore his heart fluttered a bit at the sight, “that’s swell, may we go now?” he put his arm out. what? what’s he doing? is this really some date?

quick to try not hesitate, you hooked your arm in his and you started walking. looking around you could spot some women and even some men looking at you with envious eyes. you tried to avoid the looks and instead try pay attention to him talking.

“so, may you tell me why i saw you in such distress this morning?” ayato smiled softly along with his words to try soften up the distressing question. you coughed a bit, “it’s just some stuff with thoma, nothing big.”

he scoffed, “and that’s why you were balling your eyes out and running away from your home?” raising his eyebrow. “i know i might seem like a weirdo and you might feel uncomfortable, but trust me when i say i’ll try my best to make you feel better. i’m a very good speaker, as you can see.” he laughed, you second along with him.

you felt an unfamiliar comfort that you’ve never felt before. “i guess i’ll tell you. but it’s long so be warned.”

“oh trust me, i have all the time in the world for you, patience too."

as you explained everything to him, he kept silent. but you could feel him tense whenever you mentioned how you cried over thoma and what he did.

“and that’s basically what happened. you don’t have to believe me because i know you and thoma are close.” you gave a small smile.

“no, i believe you. i used to see how much you loved him and it’s hard to believe you’d make up a lie out of nowhere about him.” you nodded not knowing what to say next, so you were about to mention the scenery when he spoke. “you deserve better, you know.”

“i do?” you muttered. “yes” he smiled, “you deserve so much better than him.” your cheeks tinted red and you smiled. “i also hate how he used my sister as an excuse for his foolish actions. i’ll get rid of him as soon as i can.”

your face turned to shock.

“what? do you not think he deserves it?” ayato asked looking at you. “no i do, it’s just.. you guys were close were you not?”

“exactly, were, until he started acting different… and now that i know what’s he done to you and my sister, i no longer need him.” you smiled a bit nodding. you liked how he actually cared for your feelings, it felt good to feel this happiness again.

after a bit of walking around inazuma you found yourselves back at the docks. “have a good night my lady.” ayato gave a sweet look towards you.

“you too, my lord.” giving a smirk. ayato laughed at the name, “say, would you want to join me when i send thoma off?”

you raised an eyebrow at him but slowly nodded when you saw the hopeful look he was giving you. “see you soon.” ayato said walking away. you raise a happy sigh. what an eventful day..

when you leaned against the dock rails, you kept thinking about ayato. you thought he wouldn’t contact you again, that this would be a one time thing. oh how you were so wrong.

you found yourself hanging out with him almost everyday after the dock hangout. always going for walks or little food outings. making you try these exotic foods and teasing you when you have a negative reaction or staring at you in awe if you had a positive reaction.

when one of you guys couldn’t find time to hang out with each other, you had a messenger that went between ayato and you delivering letters to each other. talking about your day, what to do when you next hang out with each other or just random things. the poor messenger probably went back and forth between you two more than 30 times.

it had been six months since you had met ayato and you could already feel these emotions bubbling up inside you for him. they were different from your feelings with thoma when you’d first met him, yes, these were way different. if you couldn’t make any contact with him for even a day you’d be devastated and when you were in contact with him you felt so warm inside, it was a lovely feeling.

thoma had yet to be fired. ayato never had time to do so, and when he did have time, it would be used on you or ayaka.

but the day had finally came, ayato came over to yoimiyas place and invited you out with you instantly agreeing. you two walked to the kamisato estate, making silly bets in what his reaction would be or playing charades as you two acted out a stupid character and it always ending up as thoma. it was a long walk but you two being with each other made it feel like a minute.

when you walked into the estate you sucked in your breath, this was the first time you were gonna see thoma since the fight. ayato seeing that you’re nervous told you to remember the bet you two made about theheared someone enter and turned around, “greetings my lord-" he paused seeing you, his reaction going from shocked to annoyed. "and, company..." he gave a fake smile.

“hello thoma. we need to talk.” ayato said. thoma stood still worried you might’ve snitched, which he was correct, he just didn't know yet. “thoma, y/n has told me of your inappropriate behaviour towards them and ayaka.”

his heart dropped, you little snitch. why would you say something? he was doing so good so far and you’ve ruined his progress. “i may have to ask what behaviour? as far as i know i haven’t done anything.” he lied. lied. straight to both of your faces.

ayato sighed, explaining everything you told him. not leaving out a single detail. thoma was shocked, you told him everything? and talked to ayaka? is that why she had been avoiding him for months?

you’ve totally done it now, he grit his teeth. “my lord, i have done none of the sort. it seems y/n was lying, i barely know them.”

thoma smirked inside. he never told ayato about you. he had never asked so he was sure the commissioner would have no clue about your past relationship. though, thoma may have forgotten that ayato was very observant, especially for you.

ayato scoffed, “are you trying to lie to me? i’m very aware of your ex relationship. i’ve watched from afar.” what the hell? he did know? thoma was starting to get worried, maybe he should stall. “my lord i-”

“no, thoma, i am letting you go. i don’t want someone who is messing with my sister and is a jerk to a lovely person, working inside my estate.”

thoma dropped everything he had in his hand, he was fired? how could ayato do that to him? they’ve been friends forever and now he’s throwing it away for you? ayato barely knows you. this is all your fault.

“what? so you’re leaving me behind for them? you guys don’t even know each other. are you in love with them or something?” he gave a glare, making you feel humiliated.

“maybe i am.” ayato said boldly, no hesitation at all. you snapped your head towards him, but he denied your gaze, keeping it strictly towards thoma.

thoma sighed. “how ironic that you’re getting mad at me when you’re the one stealing your best friends ex.”

ayato shook his head, “ex-friend. plus, i’ve been paying attention to them before you two even met. i just didn’t know when to make the first move. but when i saw you guys meet, i left you and them alone. clearly it was the wrong choice.”

thoma eyes widened. “whatever, i didn't need this job.” he walked out of the kamisato estate swiftly, leaving you and ayato alone there. “well we got rid of him finally.” he chuckled looking at you, frozen in shock and blushing.

you slowly looked towards him, “is it true?” ayato hummed. “is what true?” he asked back. “do you- did you really fall in love with me? or were you just saying it to prove him wrong…” looking down.

ayato smiled, “no, it was true.” he moved your head to look up at him again. “i truly do love you, my lady.”

your jaw dropped. he loved you back? is this good or bad? no of course it’s good, your wish has come true! you shook your head out its thoughts and gave him a smile back. “i love you too..”

ayato pulled you closer to him, wrapping his arms around you. as he pulled away an idea popped up into his head. “how about you move in with me? i’ll buy a new estate for us and ayaka and yoimiya can stay here.” your jaw dropped once again. “i would love too.” you smiled, melting in joy as ayato gave another smile.

as you looked out the window you could see it was pitch black, you cursed to yourself. “how about we talk about everything tomorrow? it’s night and i’ve got to go…” you’d said sadly.

“stay with me tonight.” ayato suggested making you stare towards him. “is that fine with you?” you asked a bit cautious. “of course it is love, otherwise i wouldn’t of suggested it.” he chuckled.

and that’s how you ended up facing each other in bed.

“hey ‘yato?” you asked him as his eyes were closed. “mmm?” he hummed out. “did you mean that you loved me before me and thoma met or was that just a lie?” you breathed out. “oh, that was most definitely not a lie..” he said disappointed.

“wait. me and thoma were together for two year.. you waited for me that long?” your eyes widened slightly. “of course i would.” he said pulling you closer to him, giving a kiss to your cheek.

you sighed disappointed in yourself. “hey don’t feel bad. i have you now so it’s okay.” ayato spoke softly. “okay. just promise you won’t leave me.” you said putting your pinky out for him and he wrapped his around it.

“now goodnight my love, i love you.” ayato chuckled. “love you too, ‘yato.” you whispered as you tucked yourself into his chest, arms wrapped around you.