Latest Posts by violetesensou - Page 9

SUMMARY. placing second in your year every single time can be tiresome, as childe will always snatch the first place and you will always be behind him. you hate his right answers and the winning smirk he directs at you whenever he gets a perfect score, while you, more often than not, end up with a minus one from his perfect 100. stalking his youtube channel is not exactly an ideal plan to start your mission of obtaining the #1 spot, but hey, apparently, childe gives out great content for super motivated students like so you couldn't really blame yourself for that.

(or, alternatively, you find yourself attracted to him the more you admire his channel from afar. but wait, hold up, aren't you supposed to be his academic rival?! it is even worse when you need to interview childe for the teyvat university's monthly issue too.)

PAIRING & GENRE. childe x fem!reader. social media au, modern au, college au, enemies to lovers au (academic rivals to lovers au), humour and fluff.

NOTES. here we go, everyone! a totally new smau series by @/genshinology (q: omg?!?!? it's happening??!?! a: yep!! not a clickbait.) this is a tribute to my 1k followers (yes, i am super late for this) BUT i am so excited to try my hands on a smau series for the very first time!! i hope you guys can stick around and check it out <3

DISCLAIMER. a) chapter layouts is inspired by miss naev @/aequha herself. b) timestamps does not really matter unless stated. c) may or may not update sporadically :[

— profiles :

y/n and friends

childe and friends

others

— chapters :

00. a huge milestone ☆ 01. the meme necklace

02. the most replayed part ☆ 03. our semester project

04. tba

— taglist :

🏷️ : @ajaxstar @sussydemon @kailluaken @covenantofthedeep @dawndelion-winery @miitchiji @lacy-lady @cocoxcola @nakurak @raideneiari @soleillunne @kunikuzushiit @salamiwrites @kitsuvil @liewastooshort @celestair @useless-potatho @cridtiins @wrrapedroundmyfingerlikearing @lady-elodie @anniejourn @goddessofself @tatiratty @shirmxie @dylthedumbass @zannivrs @lowotad @kittycasie @ani-st @izzyandviolins @b0bafl0wer @dearxiiao @blov3d @spiriteddreams @ruicantread @emmie5168 @baelloraa @dee-zbignuts @richxelle @shrslair @arizzu @sketcheeee @duckyyyx @lilactaro (send an ask or reply to this post if you want to be added/removed ! usernames in bold are the ones that couldn't be tagged.)

all rights reserved © genshinology 2022-2023 strictly on tumblr only. any form of wrongdoings under the copyright law is strictly prohibited.

Aight I decided that i will post the master list so i dont get lost💅

˜”*°•.˜”*°• A Diluc x Reader Modern SMAU! •°*”˜.•°*”˜

Synopsis: It’s your senior year of college– 4 years of slaving away during the summer heat in Mondstadt and practicing with the marching band, winning awards after awards, but never making it to championships. But this year was different! You were going to make Lead Majorette and bring your school to victory with…Diluc?! The Ragvindr recluse who’s been giving you the stink eye since freshman year? As fellow drum major? Just your luck!

Update Schedule: Whenever lol Warnings: Cursing, College Student Shenanigans (like angst, drama, etc), suggestive and explicit themes, reader is fem-bodied (will update more as I get through this series) Reader Ships: Al-Haithem x Reader (exes), Diluc x Reader (end-game) Note: I try to use photos that make Y/N’s race ambiguous so you can fit in, but I cannot guarantee that. Any pictures I choose that depict Y/N of a certain race are not to be taken as such. You are Y/N. The same goes for any pictures used to depict any of the genshin characters. If the hair/body/skin color does not match, it is not meant to be indicative of anything. It is simply there for story building.

Shoutout to @sugakookiessss​ for helping me brainstorm this shit. You a real one fr.

【Ｐｒｏｆｉｌｅｓ】

Mondstadt Knights

Liyue Dragons

Inazuma Samurai

Akademiya Owls

【Ｍａｙ】 0 - Finals Week Hell 0.5 - Finals Week Hell

【Ｊｕｎｅ／Ｊｕｌｙ】 1 - WHO’S OUR DRUM MAJOR? 2 - Leadership Camp 3 - Someone Hide Me 3.5 - Someone Hide Me 4 - Oh…You Remember? 5 - Grape Juice is NOT a Substitute for Water

【Ａｕｇｕｓｔ／Ｓｅｐｔｅｍｂｅｒ】 6 - Game On! 7 - Most Ambitious Crossover Event 7.5 - Most Ambitious Crossover Event 8 - Just This Once 9 - Green with Envy

【Ｏｃｔｏｂｅｒ】 10 - It Was a Mistake 11 - It’s On Me 12 - Quick, Throw Me! 13 - Thank You 14 - Late Night Run (nsfw)

【Ｎｏｖｅｍｂｅｒ／Ｄｅｃｅｍｂｅｒ】 15 - Making a Good Impression 16 - The Other Woman 17 - We are the Champions 18 - Communication is Crucial

【Ｇｒａｄｕａｔｉｏｎ】 (Time Skip) 19 - Walk that Walk… 20 - Talk that Talk

𝕋𝕒𝕘𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥 *＊✿❀○❀✿＊*

@sugakookiessss​ , @shayewrites , @lez-zuha , @baelloraa , @monaypo1 , @n-i-f-y , @aixaingela , @jiminscarmex, @giggles8899, @simp4bakuh03, @deartoru, @kadorinn, @deepinballs, @duhsies, @kennylovesberries, @simp4bakuh03, @mirifuna, @deffenferofjustice, @hadesaedes, @sharkiestory, @scaramouche-slut, @itsirk-is-tha-opposite

Open! Please reply/send an ask to be added to the taglist!

I FINALLY FOUND D MASTER LIST OML

your bestfriend’s twin brother 😱

pairing: Aether x fem!reader

genre: modern college au, fluff, crack, smau

summary: You have a pretty normal life, going to the same college as your bestfriend Lumine and your other friends, having average grades and having a good relationship with everyone you know. Well, everyone except your bestfriend’s twin brother, Aether. Even though you’ve known Lumine since your first year in highschool, he always seemed to be avoiding you. The only times you did get to see him was when he was around Lumine. Once he spots you, he always run off, but why does his face seem red? Who knows.

Now, it was your second year in college and you’ve decided enough is enough. You’ve made it your goal to become friends with your bestfriend’s twin brother before the year ends. It can’t be that hard, right? But wait.. why are you catching feelings 🤨

author’s note: my first smau so pls don’t judge 💀 mostly going to be fluff and crack, probably ooc, i doubt there will be angst, unless?? also i have not seen smaus about Aether so this might just be me trying to self-indulge 🫣

status: ongoing [17 Nov 22- ??]

Profiles: no bitches | short kings + child

Act 1: From strangers to friends

01: new year, new me

02: bad feeling

03: first day ♤

04: wikihow | 4.5: besto friendo

05: apologies

06: friendly “hangout” ♤

07: blossoming friendship

08: it’s quiet… too quiet

09: idiots, idiots everywhere

10: downpour ♤

11: are we friends? ♤ | 11.5: thank me ! !

Act 2: To thinking about you everyday

12: new hangout buddy

13: you’re never this nice to me :/

14: too nice for your own good

15: denial era

16: lumine the thirdwheel ♤

17: we need to talk | 17.5: please shut the fuck up

18: so it’s a “date” ?

19: just act normal ♤

20: separated shenanigans ♤

21: mixed feelings? can’t relate lol

22: she can’t hold you back

23: just make up your mind bro

24: everyone wants me fr

25: maybe i’m just a fool for you ♤ | 25.5: move your flat ass

Act 3: I think i’m in…. love?

26: questionable decisions….

27: GIRL WRONG ACCOUNT

28: how the turns have tabled

29: OPERATION AETHERYN STARTS NOW

30: W rizz

31: party night

32: how to stay sober challenge: failed ♤

33: drunk night confessions, am i right? ♤

34: you like me? ♤ | 34.5: first time? 🔞 ♤

35: #shipsailed, now don’t get caught ♤

Act 4: Can’t believe I’m yours now

36: down bad

37: you’re weird | 37.5: suspicious behaviour

38: don’t get caught challenge: failed ♤

39: fight! fight! fight!

40: maybe we need to think about this

41: stop moping around and apologise ffs

42: sorry. ♤

43: don’t be a pussy

44: i want you ♤

45: to my dear bestfriend

bonus: ??

Fin

tag list - open |•| send an ask to be added to the tag list

RAHTFHJTFHYDCHYFV ACADEM RIVALS TO LOVERS ARE 🤌chefs 💋

marigold promises

pairing: albedo x gn!reader

genre: social media au, modern/college au, childhood friends to academic rivals to lovers, slow burn

summary: it was evident that you and albedo have changed in the five years you’ve spent apart, but you know better than to view him through the lens of nostalgia. with one goal on your mind – graduate valedictorian – who better to stand in your way than the studious, intelligent, ice-cold albedo? one thing’s for sure: he’s going down.

warnings: swearing, crack, light angst, unrealistic depictions of college, family issues, self-doubt, abandonment issues; will be updated as the series continues

status: ongoing

author’s notes:

my first smau hehe. i’ve been working on this for a while so i’m really excited! updates will be sporadic but i’ll do my best to update often.

the timestamps don’t matter unless i say they do!

apologies in advance if i miss any grammar mistakes, english isn’t my first language

pictures used are simply to add visual description and do not depict the reader’s skin color, height, etc.

written chapters are marked with (☕︎)

profiles:

coffee addicts ([name]’s friends)

donut disco (albedo’s friends)

year 1 — whether i like it or not || playlist

01. finally, a worthy opponent! || 02. why pay for netflix?

03. if looks could kill || 04. impromptu cramming session

05. enigma (☕︎) || bonus. i hate it here

06. temporary truce || bonus. crisis companion

07. crack theory || bonus. bread

08. twin pendants (☕︎) || 09. no harm in asking

10. the print shop by the mondmart || 11. #TCUClubFair

12. save me a slice || 13. miss you too

14. caffeinate me up || 15. u ok?

16. hell week (☕︎) || 17. dean’s lister

18. please send help || 19. 6/10 difficulty (☕︎)

20. #ynsweep || 21. equilibrium (☕︎)

22. look me in the eyes (☕︎) || 23. team effort

tba

year 2— we make a goodteam,partner || playlist

tba

year 3 — promise me this || playlist

tba

year 4 — these bonds that bind us || playlist

tba

taglist: @fvkkyu @mintreen @edreee @khyllynnn @xxmirrorballxx@aiikalvr @yaefics @ch35hir3 @aequha @alch3myy @lovely-althxa @nei-rinn @cridtiins @zestrya @skylions-den @moriiartt @theother-victoria @sunsethw4 @dazaisfavgf @serossidechick @koiir @lazy-sanns

— the taglist is currently open! if you’d like to be added feel free to reply or send in an ask! – if your blog isn’t highlighted it means i can’t tag you.

Therapy? Never heard of her. Is she a celebrity?

silence

[ wanderer!scaramouche x okami!reader ]

summary: completely lost after his defeat in becoming a god, he searches not only for a new purpose but also for a certain someone who brought him comfort greater than his own kin would.

notes: aka scara is a baby and comes crying to you because he's a sore loser /jk | m.list

words: 2933 | warnings: it's scaramouche /jk there's nothing bad here just comfort and shit, also the pacing is kinda shitty cause i wrote this at work lmao

you have always loved the silence.

the eerie silence that enveloped a battlefield after a fight, where one side mourns for the dead and the other celebrates their victory far away. the tranquil noises of nature in the forest, your abode—if you focus enough, you can hear the white noise of the wind rushing above the sky, the flight of birds, the footsteps of every animal within your vicinity, and the gushing waterfall hitting the surface below. the muted thoughts of people, all with voices to scream yet defiance against authority means death, so they choose to silence their cries for help. the stillness of the night, where you can faintly hear the howls of your kin from afar, reminding you of past battles won and lost.

but somewhere in the distant memory of your past, you miss the complaints of a certain boy whose voice never seemed to shut the hell up.

your words, not mine.

he used to be so loud, crying even whilst he slept. whining and complaining about how you imprisoned him in this otherworldly forest of yours, yet he shuts his mouth after being reminded of his reality of being a casualty to those he comes across.

a puppet gone mad, out of its master's control, strings tangled.

"you're not here to be tamed, brat."

"then why are you keeping me here?" kunikuzushi glares at you from the other side of the stone table, a hand gripping the knife you casually gave him so he could practice on his own.

you always seemed to be his dummy target though. not that he could hurt you in the slightest, the gap between your capabilities is that of the height you need to reach celestia. it's quite an exaggeration, but far from a lie.

"so you don't go around accidentally causing more unintentional problems. learn how to use your brain or something, you have one for a reason," was always your answer to his repeated question, laughing at the way his face contorted to apprehension. "i don't have the patience to shape you into whatever humane person or puppet your creator wants you to be. so i'm doing you a favor by letting you be whatever the fuck you want to be. kill whoever you want, destroy whatever you want, go pour your anger as much as you want. it matters little to me."

"doesn't that contradict your past obligation as inazuma's former defender?"

"exactly what the title says," you shrug your shoulders, throwing your hands up without energy, "that is in the past. inazuma's concerns do not matter to me now that my god is gone."

placing your chin on your palm, you send him a knowing smirk, a sight he realizes that he does not like, "you can destroy this nation all you want and i wouldn't mind one bit. it would be interesting to see you as a god and not just a little brat."

he would always grow silent after the nth time you had this conversation, pondering, imagining the imagery of what you just said. it's almost as if he's in a trance.

the silence of someone having an inner conflict in more ways than one, is something that you would say is better than the silence when someone is mourning.

because this kind of silence is always followed by chaos.

"oh? where do you think you're going, little doll?"

"stop calling me that," he hissed, turning his head to glare at you.

for some reason, the change in his personality these past few months was refreshing, so unlike the whiny little brat who used to cower away from you. the same brat who's always frustrated at himself.

but at the same time, it's such a shame that he didn't change his ways. still reckless and careless.

this recklessness will kill him someday, you thought.

"well, answer the question."

he falters, taking a few steps away from you when you tilt your head, urging—demanding for his answer. he still couldn't look you straight in the eyes when you become like this—when your voice goes a little deep, eyes staring him down and the authority in the way you poised yourself.

"to the fatui. i'm not going to let myself rot in here."

"you're a puppet, you're not supposed to rot."

he scoffs at the comment, vile irritation building up his throat at the way you remained unbothered, almost uncaring, indifferent and as if this means little to you. you act more like a puppet than he does, he realizes.

he hates that about you.

it's ironic. he's the same way, more venomous through his words—but with you, it's like talking to a stone cold wall.

"i'm leaving to snezhnaya."

"hm," you turn your head to the vast forest, shrouded with tall trees and thick fog—wait, when did the fog get so thick? kunikuzushi was so sure he could still see far and beyond the first few layers of those trees, why did the forest suddenly seem so eerie and… predatory.

"you can leave."

"huh?" he stares at you in disbelief, with a hint of sadness.

are you… really going to let him go that easily?

for some reason, despite the freedom given to him, he wanted you to stop him.

"find the exit yourself," your trademark grin appeared on your face, challenging and daring him to do so. it's infuriating, makes him feel like you're looking down at him and his capabilities. "if you successfully get out of this forest, then i trust that you can handle the world outside and beyond this nation."

i take back my words, he scoffs, i don't need their permission to leave. they can't stop me.

"i don't need another petty test of yours, i can take care of my own," he sharply turns away and into the direction he swore was the exit just a moment ago.

"oh, trust me, doll," your giggles echoed through the forest, ringing in his ears for the last time, way too close than from where you just stood a moment ago.

"the forest is a cruel place to get lost in."

and since then, your abode returned to the way it was.

placid, motionless, and isolated. just like how it should be.

yet you look forward to the day that he comes back crying—you stifle a laugh at how pitiful he would look—scrunched nose and furrowed eyebrows, grumbling curses to the world as he slumps down on the ground, hissing at you as you tease him for being a baby before he falls asleep on the sprawled blanket you have in the living room of your cabin. your spirit watches over his sleep, dispersing his nightmares before it can even take root in his mind and blanketing him with your tail despite his inability to feel the change in the temperature.

no, he's too deep in his sleep to ever catch you doing such things.

some days, you'd sense a feeling of fear crawling inside the back of your head. it takes a form of visions and voices. it would whisper using the boy's voice, show images using his face, speak in a way he does. it's times like this that you take pride in your strength. you know better than to crumble against fear and its illusions. such emotions are not strong enough to push through the height of your defenses that were built from piles upon piles of lost loved ones.

yet your heart clenches at the thought of this boy, robbed of the opportunity to grow properly, succumbing to the demons of this world.

it's a shame that even you can't be the person to guide him, for you are the same as he.

you can only hope that he finds himself in his journey.

"ah, it seems like it's that time of the year once again."

you stretch your limbs with a pur-like groan, your tail swinging in anticipation behind you. now that the weariness from sleep had faded, your sharp eyes admire the red and orange colors blending within the forest, the sound of leaves crunching beneath your feet every step you take music to your ears and the cold breeze wafting in the air.

the season of fall always brings out the playful side of your soul.

your attentiveness is sharper than usual, eyes turning to every little bit of movement in your surroundings despite knowing that no threat can occur in your abode. you carved its landscape with your very own hand, grew each and every tree rooted on the ground, wrote protective spells into every tree bark to form your very own barrier, opened ponds and breathed life into its very ground through the leylines. it's your safe haven, nothing can disturb your peace and it is a part of you to an extent.

that's way, when a familiar presence stepped inside your abode with no struggles whatsoever, your ears perked up and tail sways in anticipation.

fall is indeed a season for farewells and reunions.

"you're back quite earlier than expected, did the world outside the forest scare you?" you needn't look to know that he's standing right at the entrance of your favorite clearing, your figure sat near the pond with your feet dipped into the clear water.

"you're exaggerating," he grumbles, footsteps getting louder and closer until he's close enough, stopping just next to you.

"most certainly not," you hummed softly, tilting your head up to look at him after a few hundred years of not seeing him. your ears twitched.

instantly, you know something is different about him.

"you've changed."

"hmp, perhaps," he scoffs loudly, taking a seat beside you in a criss-cross position, slouching a little bit. he's barely looking at you, but that's not something new.

the way you imagined he would years ago.

"you're still grumpy though, might want to change that."

"you're still insufferable. i shouldn't have come back."

"yet you're here. i'm surprised you were able to enter without a problem. i was hoping the forest devoured you when you left. turns out you were able to get out, a shame," you sigh, "i should check on my barriers soon."

"you—" he hisses—the same way you adored, like an angry kitten—turning his head to glare at you, forehead scrunched in irritation, "so you don't even know if anyone gets caught in your shithole? did you assume i just up and died right before i got out?"

he can feel something warm in his chest at the way you laughed freely.

he hasn't heard that sound for a long time.

"you're alive though," he groaned at the familiar sly smile on your face. "besides, i wouldn't have let you go if i didn't know that you'd make it out alive."

"you would in a heartbeat."

"hm, if it were someone else, perhaps. but not you," you turn your head back to the pond, a contented smile on your face, voice unintentionally turning soft, "not my brat."

those words were the key to kunikuzushi's vulnerable state.

the silence that followed after your words was… unnerving, for some reason.

yet you felt as if you should give him the time he needs to gather himself, to give him a choice to talk or to keep things to himself. it stayed like that for a while, tuning into the sound of birds above and humming to make him more comfortable—or was it for your own comfort that you tried to fill in the silence? the feeling of being unsure is so… uneasy.

why am i doing so much for his comfort?

just when you're about to speak to change the topic, he opens his mouth—and he speaks.

piles and piles of words upon words, like a scroll being unravel down the flight of stairs to the narukami shrine. his voice, clumsy and blurry words as it may be, sings to you tragedies in a kabuki performance. he opens his doors to you and only you, almost breaking down on the spot if it wasn't for his ridiculous pride—you surmise that you may have influenced him in that case. it plays a theatrical scene that takes eternity to finish dialogues upon dialogues.

he's a puppet whose strings are cut short, but he picks himself up, tangling the fragile strings in the process.

and you are his only audience.

you're his standing ovation when no one bothers to stop and see him for what he is.

perhaps, you are more suited to be sat beside him, joining in his play instead of just a witness—because you are more than just some random bystander who happens to pass by a puppet show.

it took him a while to finish his story. just like any kabuki, time is crucial in the production, and kunikuzushi is a person who barely had the time to see the world in its purest form. yet time is also what brought him his demise.

the gods did not give him enough time to feel and learn.

when he finishes, the sun has already hid itself behind the ocean of trees and the sky is blanketed by a starry void.

a false sky, he said in one of his stories.

somehow, kunikuzushi's head ended up on your lap—he dares not to bring attention to this fact, he already feels embarrassed as it is.

"how did it felt?"

he stares at you with a grain of salt.

"to what? to almost die? quite the experience, i didn't enjoy falling head first though. would you like to try?"

"no, dumbass," he hisses when your finger flicks against his forehead. before he could even cover the assaulted area, you swat his hand away to replace it with yours. an uncharacteristic gentle touch on his skin, a caress. he resists the urge to melt towards your hand. "how did it feel like to almost have something within your reach but realize it won't do you any better? to learn how to decide for yourself, for the better, after experiencing bitter defeat?"

he purses his lips, turning away from your direction to stare at the pond reflecting the dark sky.

your hand slips across his forehead to his hair, gently caressing the familiar stresses—familiar stresses that reminded you so much of a former dear friend that you lost long ago. you didn't expect him to answer your question yet, to push forward for an answer would be adding salt to an open wound.

and the last thing you want to do is give him a reason to pull away.

"you know, if i was ei, i would have chosen you to rule with me."

"stop saying things to make me feel better, that's not like you," he scoffs—unbeknownst to the way his cheeks turn a little warmer.

such a human feature to have.

"i would love to see you be the god you wanted to be," you continued to mutter with a soft smile, brushing your fingers through his hair.

"stop it."

"i would watch you build yourself higher and have greater goals as a god."

"what is wrong with you!?" he quickly pushes himself off of you, whipping his head to look at you with a bewildered face. "are you out of your mind!?" he glares at the way your smile turns sly.

"i would have chosen you, someone with no human heart yet able to feel what it's like to be human," your hand pats his head playfully, snickering when he swats it away roughly.

"you," growling, he turns away from your direction.

"but alas, i'm not patient enough to baby you or anyone else," you shake your head shamefully, shrugging your shoulders. "go do whatever the fuck you want yourself, learn shit for yourself. but that does not mean you can do it alone, dumbass."

"why are you talking like this?" he mumbles, but you can see the way his shoulder trembled in the slightest, no doubt nibbling on his bottom lip to stop himself from something as 'pitiful' as crying. "shut up, i came here to rest, not to listen to your nonsense musings. i had enough of that already."

"well then," you reach out to his shoulder, gently directing him back on your lap. he faces you this time, eyes clenched tight to avoid looking at you, his only pillar in this world. he feels too light headed, whether if it's from your words or the feeling of finally resting after so many years of suffering, he's not too sure. he'd deny the former with everything he has though. but he cannot deny that he feels safe in your haven, here in the comfort of your arms.

"rest, you can think of the next step after you get some shuteye, don't make me knock you out myself."

he clicked his tongue, before it became quiet again.

this time, it's a comfortable silence. nothing like the tension from the first time you met him, nothing like the few times he spent quietly sobbing on your shoulder every time he awakes from a nightmare—nothing like the eerie quietude in the middle of the eye of the storm, waiting for the real disaster to come surging. soon, the boy falls asleep to the warm and loving touch on his head.

in the silence, you whisper words that you could not tell him.

"i would've gone through celestia and the abyss to give you a heart."

you, despite claiming that you will not baby him, held him in a way a parent would towards their child. with gentle hands and feathery touches, and a heart that you would give him if you could.

taglist: crossed out names mens i can't tag you oof

@thedianaclark @blockswon @thenyxsky @crazypriestess @someone-with-wild-imagination @koi-chairowo @shizunxie @smirpsmirp @brookeisqweer @mariataliya @saoiirsee @atsuki-mitsuri @camzpetite @fandangotales @genshinfinatic @chimsblogg @nette-yang @vienettacream @notyuki @shiragi2 @atsukawolfcat @frzenhans @kkazuyass @tartarsaucechi1de @nunontherun @a-simp-with-daddyissues @thetruepair

JUST GET MARRIED ALREADY

difficult.

pairing: kamisato ayato x reader

word count: 4.3k

synopsis: it’s no secret that kamisato ayato is a difficult man  — both to handle and to please. somehow, he only gets more difficult when sick, but you find that you don’t quite mind

a/n: sequel can be found here!

If someone were to ask you what it’s like serving under the esteemed Yashiro Commissioner himself, your answer would probably be that he is a difficult man.

You’re sure that the Kanjou Commissioner and Tenryou Commissioner would agree with you — both seem as though they have a rather pointy bone to pick with your lord, and knowing him, there is probably a wide variety of reasons with how often he muses about stepping on their toes. The Guuji of the Grand Narukami Shrine seems to think the same, referring to your master as ‘that Yashiro brat’ or ‘the Kamisato rascal’, whenever you’re sent to deliver missives or letters on his behalf. Although she’s never explicitly mentioned that she’s speaking about your master, it is quite obvious that the one she’s speaking about isn’t your lady Ayaka. Still, the most prominent of all his victims, however, would be poor Thoma — the savoury mizu manju your master had tried making really hadn’t sat well with his stomach, much to no one’s surprise.

For you, however, he’s difficult for a completely different reason.

“I know I’m considered to be quite the conventionally attractive looker,” the source of your current headache says, voice breathless yet still dripping slick with honeyed amusement that makes your irritation flare, “but this is just a little inappropriate, don’t you think, my dear?”

You make a lunge for him over his desk, but he manages to evade you far too skillfully for your liking. If someone were to walk in on the two of you right now, they would surely be stunned by the sight they’re greeted with: the ever composed Yashiro Commissioner with his clothes rumpled, face flushed and collar slipping down dangerously one shoulder, while his personal aide glares at him with an expression brimming over with ire.

“It wouldn’t have to be—” you say flatly, attempting a surprise grab for his sleeve that he dodges, silk fabric slipping between your fingers, “—if you would just sit still and let me take your temperature, milord. This is hardly how any self respecting adult should be acting, let alone the head of the Kamisato Clan.”

Keep reading

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Some fav genshin girls as bunny~ i need to do something to tribute before Xiao come~

DOTTOREVERSE ILMAO

Meet the Segments

part 2 of my Fatui Harbingers Social Media AU. If you have several clones of yourself, chaos is destined to follow you.

ELY AT THE LAST PIC HELP

call it what you want — at last.

a genshin impact smau | xiao x gn!reader

PREVIOUS | MASTERLIST

SUMMARY as part of the student council, you’ve been tasked to recruit the local band playing in your university’s bar. xiao, who’s the band’s bassist, seems to be the only one refusing your offer to join the foundation day. you have two weeks to make him agree to perform on stage in front of the whole university or you’re off the council for good.

NOTES and that's it! call it what you want has finally ended <3 i want to thank all of you for being here with me! thank you so much for all the asks, replies, notes, and brainrots hehe. it has been such a wild ride, especially with my sporadic updates. i really hope that you enjoyed the story:D i'd love to really thank all of you for being here with me, this has been such a long smau hshshha but i'm glad you all stayed despite my inconsistencies! 🫶

TAGLIST @ceylestia @ecselisse @x-xxiaos @sugxqts @ljinghe @yaefics @astreankitsune @trashcanweeb @blackrabb1t @imtoodumbforaname @alatusorrow @xoxotheaxoxo @cottonkendi @thelost-in-time @miss-lovesick @dazaiscum @rrinsluvr @dayleng @ghostiedolly @berryqueue @queenaveryrules @faeriemixx @xingqiusliegee @kiyowoir @sunflower3216 @cotton-eee @one-offmind @lunavixia @starryeyedkoko @kazeniya @mikctp @snowggvk

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thank you so much to all of you! 🫶

FINALLY I FOUND YOU OMG I FORGIR TO LIKE THE POST

The Last Padisarah Pudding, Your Last Straw (Alhaitham x Reader)

An Alhaitham x Reader Enemies to Lovers One-shot

Word count: 4.9k

Summary: You and Alhaitham have been rivals ever since your first year at the Akademiya. But when things go wrong during a mission given to you by the Sages, you start to realize it's more than just a rivalry...

Finally, you’d be able to beat him. For the very first time, you would be able to break your stalemate – you had the upper hand in your personal competition.

For years, you and Alhaitham were pitted against each other by the Akademiya. The two of you were separately tasked with the retrieval of forbidden knowledge, the sages knowingly exploiting the deep rivalry that was first founded during your student years at the Akademiya. They, of course, were always right. Their choice of disciple for this mission was carefully curated from several different options, knowing the rivalry between you and Alhaitham would produce results faster than anything else.

~7 years Ago~

“Sage Salazar’s tests are notorious for the abysmal pass rate, don’t worry.” One of your classmates consoled another, their words mixing in with several disappointed and distressed conversations.

“What am I going to do, I’ll be expelled if I fail one more time!” Another upset student lamented.

“You can always switch to another Darshan, it’s only our first year so there’s still time.” Someone behind you murmured to a fellow classmate. “I’ve heard that Amurta has better professors.”

You sat back in your chair, smug. Of course, you were the best student in the class. You looked down at the tome before you. As a part of the test, you had to fill the entire book with thorough analysis on the professor’s chosen topic. You flipped the front cover open, admiring what was written in large red letters on the front page.

‘99’.

You were so close to perfection, you could nearly taste it. One more point and you’d have a perfect score. All your sleepless nights in the library were well worth the feeling of euphoria that overcame you today. You were such a rising star that you were certain you’d become a Sage in the future.

“I take it you did well?” A voice came from beside you. It was your classmate, and you recognzied him during some of the lengthy lectures when you would spot him in the back of the class, feet propped up on a bench, his nose in a book. There was no way he could pass Salazar’s rigorous exams if he couldn’t even pay attention in class. You smirked, turning towards your classmate – you recalled his name was Alhaitham.

“Yeah,” You nodded, giving him a nod as a smug expression began to grow across your face. "I got a 99.”

“That’s good,” Alhaitham nodded. “It means at least I’ll see you next year in the top class.”

“Oh, really?” You questioned, surprised that he even managed to pass, let alone gain a score that would allow him to join the top class. “What did you get?”

“100.”

You gawked. “W-woah, that’s great!” You sputtered, unsure how to react to someone who managed to get a perfect score on the most difficult test in a class he didn’t even pay attention to. “We basically got the same score, well done!”

“No,” Alhaitham responded bluntly, his curt tone taking you aback. “You got a 99 because that was all you could get. I got 100 because that was all there was to get.

“You…” your brows pinched together as your sentence trailed off. You were in complete shock that he could say something so rude when you had worked so hard for what you had.

Crossing your arms over your chest, you turned in your seat away from him. You didn’t know what hurt more – his tone, or the truth to what he was saying – but you knew for a fact you immediately despised him.

~~~

Ever since your first encounter with your overly-rational classmate, you were stern rivals – if anyone so much as mentioned the name ‘Alhaitham’ in your presence, you would bristle with anger and resentment. Somehow, the silver-haired student knew exactly what to do in order to push your buttons.

You stood in line at the busy food stall inside the Akademiya. You had just spent several hours in the library studying, and were absolutely famished. You always ordered the same thing from this place, and enjoyed your mid-afternoon snack that kept you going through hours of pushing your brain to its limits.

“What do you mean, there’s no more Padisarah Pudding?” You questioned, your brows furrowed and eyes wide in disbelief. 

“I’m sorry, we just sold our last one a couple of minutes ago.” The attendant behind the counter responded apologetically, “Is there anything else you might like?”

“N-no, i’ll just have some tea, thanks.”

The attendant handed you the cup of tea, and you mumbled your thanks as you turned away dejectedly. You supposed you could go down to the city for some of your favorite snack, but that would take up precious time you could be studying instead.

Resigning yourself to sit and drink your tea, you walked over to the dining area only to spot Alhaitham at one of the tables – and in front of him sat not one, but two Padisarah Puddings.

“Why, you!” Brimming with anger, you narrowed your eyes at the silver-haired classmate.

“Hm?” Alhaitham mumbled, not even bothering to look up from the book he was reading.

“Why do you have two puddings?”

“I was feeling particularly hungry today.”

Your eye twitched from his sheer audacity. Both of you were well aware that this was your snack of choice, and Alhaitham bought two merely to get on your nerves. Knowing his intention, you decided to bite back with your own remarks.

“Oh, I forgot how much you need to fuel those ridiculous man muscles.” You scoffed, “But make sure you count your macros correctly, because I have a feeling the extra Padisarah Pudding might throw them off a little.”

Out of the corner of your eye you spotted Alhaitham’s eyebrow twitching. He finally looked up from his book, narrowing his eyes at you.

“Perhaps you should watch yours too.” Alhaitham spoke poignantly. “They shouldn’t be an everyday snack, after all. Perhaps that’s why your fitness scores are the worst out of all your grades?”

Despite wanting to wrap your hands around his neck and throttle him right then and there, you turned around and began to calmly walk away – it was the best you could do to still seem like the better person. It took all your restraint in order to not snap and say something stupid and hateful. You made it all the way back to the library, to your seat at your desk, and immediately slammed your forehead into your open book.

“Damn you Alhaitham!” You groaned, wishing you could live your life peacefully without him.

~1 year ago~

There was nothing you hated more than the day you finally graduated from the Akademiya. Students from all six Darshans were gathered in the main hall, dressed in formal robes. You, as the Salutorian of your graduating class, were offered the chance to give a small speech. Of course, you were delighted to – if only Alhaitham weren’t the Valedictorian.

He followed up your speech with one that would haunt your dreams for years.

“Firstly, I would like to thank the Akademiya for allowing me to learn and thrive here.” He spoke, his overly courteous tone obviously fake to you, forcing you to roll your eyes. “It has been a delightful six years of study, where I’ve been able to research subjects I could only dream of beforehand. My success in my studies aren’t solely down to my own effort... I would like to thank Y/N Y/L/N for always being there to encourage me and motivate me to do better.”

You gawked at the classmate you hated – both of you hated each other. As Alhaitham continued his speech, you could hear whispers among the other students from where you sat in the crowd.

‘I do see them together quite often’

‘Are they in a relationship?’

‘That’s so sweet,’

‘I thought they were always fighting?’

‘Sounds like couples fights’

Your body began to shake with anger, and your face turned bright red as you stared daggers into your most dreaded rival. The whispers among the people surrounding you only fueled your hatred for the silver-haired student even more. Alhaitham met your gaze as he continued his speech, his expression completely unreadable while you glared at him in return.

“Hey, Y/N, I thought you hated Alhaitham?” A classmate sitting next to you leaned over and whispered into your ear.

“I hate him more than anything.” You muttered, despite the ferocious blush that stained your face. “I wish I could murder him right now.”

~Current Day~

Alhaitham thought this would simply be another boring mission given to him by the sages. Although the prospect of being able to use the knowledge capsule he retrieved for the Akedemiya, he would much rather be deep in the pages of another book while enjoying the seabreeze by Port Ormos. As scribe for Haravatat, he was often given boring missions that he could complete quickly, spending the rest of his allocated time relaxing and reading.

That was, until he spotted you walking around talking to locals. If this were any other occasion, he would probably approach you with something embarassing and humiliating in order to entertain himself, but this time you were dressed in student’s robes.

He immediately knew something was off – you, an Alchemist for the Akedemiya, who had graduated years ago, were walking around pretending to be a student on break. It was often that students would come to Port Ormos around this time of year to relax and unwind, and you were most certainly using this fact as some sort of ruse or disguise.

He decided to get up and move to a different location to read his book, picking one that was within earshot of you but out of your sight, trying to figure out just what you were up to.

“Dori, you say?”

“Most certainly. If you give her the right price and earn her trust, she’ll deliver anything.”

“Even information on a certain Knowledge Capsule?”

“Yes.”

Immediately, Alhaitham stiffened, realizing you were also here for a knowledge capsule, undoubtedly also sent by the Akademiya. He smirked, realizing this was yet another chance to beat you.

~~~

You had finally found the location where Dori, a merchant dealing in knowledge capsules, would meet prospective customers – a quiet courtyard outside a sleepy tavern at the edge of the city. You were there just before sunset, at your agreed meeting time, but there was no sign of the financially-motivated merchant.

You checked the small timepiece before tucking it back into your pocket, anxious to find leads and produce results for the Sages. The air was also beginning to get chilly; you were eager to get back indoors and eat a hot meal.

However, the last thing you expected was to hear a voice that haunted your studies at the Akademiya and your early years of your professional career.

“You won’t be able to find leads on the auspicious knowledge capsule this easily,” Your stomach twisted into a knot at the words you heard.

Of course, it was Alhaitham you came face-to-face with once you turned around. Your lips pulled into a terse frown, your eyebrow twitching with anger as the pieces fell together.

“You’re the reason why Dori is a no-show.” You growled, pointing a finger accusatively at your rival.

“She seems to not be very fond of me,” Alhaitham deadpanned, giving a nonchalant shrug. “I propose you find a proxy, or simply think of a more creative way of finding it before me. Although, I doubt you will.”

“Watch it, asshole.” You spat, “One way or another, I will beat you.”

Your face burning hot with anger, you stormed away from the courtyard. You no longer felt the chill of the evening – the fury pumping in your veins was more than enough to keep you warm.

~~~

After years of agonizing rivalry, when you discovered the scribe Alhaitham was searching for the same forbidden knowledge capsule as you were, you thought you must have done something to anger the gods in a previous life. The mere concept of him retrieving the knowledge capsule before you made your blood boil – there was no way you would ever let that happen.

Once you discovered you both were vying for the same mysterious object, you immediately threw your effort into overtime. Thus, you worked endlessly, even resorting to underhanded methods to obtain such an item. You even contacted a certain suspicious doctor, one who had been expelled from the Akedemiya, and was associated with the shady Snezhnayan organization known as the Fatui – one who was once known as Zandik.

“It’s about time for me to return to my Alma Mater.” Il Dottore sneered, his tone sending chills down your spine. “I’ll supplement your search for this knowledge capsule, in return for aid in bartering for my ownership of it once you return it to the sages.”

Those words echoed in your head, and despite knowing the Doctor was far too dangerous and underhanded, you still took his advice and used the device he had given you. It was a knowledge compass, a small metallic clock whose hands oriented to point towards high concentrations of knowledge. According to the Doctor, it was one of his latest inventions, and he was willing to lend it out to you if he could have the knowledge capsule you found using it.

And thus you found yourself at Port Ormos, wandering the streets disguised as a young child. The cloak around you hid your adult features, and you walked with light steps to mimic children in the street and avoid the attention of townsfolk who passed by.

Staring down at the compass, you watched as the handle flickered from left to right. In the back of your head, you had uneasy thoughts that you’d pay for taking the easy way out later.

Suddenly, the handle snapped towards one direction, firmly focused on some sort of mysterious power. You came to a  complete stop, realizing you were right before a small alley. You were about to enter it when you heard hushed voices prickle at the tips of your ears.

“One million mora. Take it or leave it.”

“No way, this isn’t even guaranteed to be the real thing. I would much rather go through a more reliable channel, like Dori.”

“It’s your loss, then. I can guarantee you, this is the real auspicious knowledge capsule. You have no clue how many people are trying to get their hands on it.”

At those words, you knew it was the right knowledge capsule. You tucked the compass away, shrugging your shoulders as you tried to put on your best childlike impression.

“Have you seen my mom?” You stepped into the alley and asked in a baby-like voice, your head facing the ground.

“What the hell?” One of the people in the alley exclaimed at your sudden appearance in front of them. 

You flashed forwards, snatching the glowing capsule before scaling the wall and disappearing over the rooftops. You jumped across several houses before disappearing into a knoll in the giant tree trunk that towered over the city. You might have mediocre strength compared to most of the skilled Academics, but you could move fast for short periods of time.

The three men you had just stolen the knowledge capsule from were hot on your tail, but you quickly ditched the disguise and returned to your normal appearance. With the capsule carefully tucked away in your pocket, you walked nonchalantly through the port. The men rushed past you, racing through the streets in search of a small child – not a lazy student who looked like they wanted to kick back and relax after their final exams.

“Where the hell is that kid?!” You heard one of them shout. You did your best to hide your smirk, slowly making your way towards the city gates to head back to Dottore’s lab.

What you didn’t notice, however, was the glint of silver hair that poked out from behind a stack of crates – Alhaitham looked up from his book at your retreating figure, realizing you had finally gotten your hands on what he wanted.

He knew reporting your collaboration with the Fatui to the sages would only result in you reporting his shady actions in return, so instead of following the rules, he chose to shut the book he was in the middle of reading and see where exactly you were headed. After all, it seemed like you had made progress – and Alhaitham couldn’t stand to see you pulling ahead in the game.

He always loved to piss you off. He could tell by the look on your face when when you were cursing at him internally. He loved how satisfying it was to beat you; you were always someone who did everything in their power to be the best, and it felt so much better to beat you when compared to beating any other academic he had the displeasure of getitng to know.

Relishing the idea of spying on you to figure out how he can outsmart you once again, Alhaitham began to slowly walk towards your direction. 

~~~

“Doctor, I’ve brought back the compass.” You bowed in front of the green-haired man, extending one arm as you held out the intricate device.

“Thank you,” Dottore reached out, his gloved fingers tracing along your forearm before reaching the palm of your hand where the compass rested.

You shivered at the way he unnecessarily touched you, wondering why he felt the need to do that.

“I presume you’ve already found the auspicious knowledge capsule,” Dottore smirked, although you couldn’t read his expression through the mask he wore.

“Y-yes, I’ve brought it to the sages already. We can-”

“Ah- ah- ah,” Dottore cut you off, shaking his head as he spoke. “I believe you still have it on yourself.”

Unbeknownst to either of you, Alhaitham was hidden away behind some of Dottore’s strange machinery that he had strewn aside from one of his projects he had abandoned. He listened in on your conversation, realizing exactly who you had made a deal with – and just how deep you had gotten yourself into trouble.

Your eyes widened with fear, realizing Dottore could see through your facade. He was correct – you had gone straight from Port Ormos to Dottore’s laboratory, with no intention of giving it back to the Sages just yet. This knowledge capsule seemed different – it glowed white instead of green. The contents of the capsule were kept vague, nobody seeming to have any idea as to what could be inside of it. You actually wanted to study the capsule more than anything, hoping that you could make some sort of incredible discovery that Alhaitham could never beat.

“I’m sorry,” You immediately shifted gears, understanding what kind of person you were talking to – if the rumors were anything to go by, he was one of the most terrifying people in the world – if he was still a person at all. You should have known that he would have incredible senses, and would be able to tell you still had the capsule on you.

“That’s okay,” Dottore stepped closer to you, his shadow completely swallowing you as he towered above your height. “After all, you’ve done everything I’ve asked for. How could I complain about a little lie?”

You began to cower with fear, realizing that nobody knew where you were right now. If Dottore ended up doing something to you, nobody would ever know. With a cold gloved hand, the Doctor reached out and cupped your cheek. With the other, he slid his hand down your side, his fingers slipping into your pocket to pull out the glowing capsule. 

Your lips quivered as you watched Dottore marvel at the knowledge capsule you had essentially delivered to him on a silver platter.

“After all, you’ll be my first subject to test its contents on.”

Your heart dropped like a rock into your stomach at the realization that Dottore had no intention of letting you leave. You immediately tried to escape, but his hand on your cheek instantly slipped around your neck, lifting you off of the ground as you flailed. Your hands immediately went up to wrench at his unyielding grip. It was like a ring of metal was locked around your neck – his hand simply wouldn’t budge. Your feet swung beneath you, your toes pointing as you tried desperately to find any solid ground to stand on.

“I’ll feed you the knowledge bit by bit, and see how much you can tolerate before you go insane.”

Alhaitham peered around the side of the machinery that hid his presence, witnessing the Doctor engrossed with you as he vocalized how he wanted to experiment on you. His sickening words settled uncomfortably in Alhaitham’s stomach, making the Scribe feel anger and fear that he hadn’t ever felt before.

‘What?’ Your mind reeled at Dottore’s announcement, somehow able to make logical connections despite the stress of the situation. ‘Knowledge capsules should be easily digestible instant knowledge! Could it be, that it’s this highly prioritized by the Sages for a reason, and it’s because humans can’t tolerate it?’

Let’s start with… two percent.” Dottore sneered, and you couldn’t say anything in protest as he cut off your airway.

You writhed more and more desperately as he raised the capsule towards your face, its colorless luminance enveloping your entire vision.

This just might be it. Your rivalry with Alhaitham might have finally gone too far.

You began to close your eyes, your body falling still as you gave up on trying to escape.

Alhaitham couldn’t stand it anymore, he couldn’t bear to watch you get hurt; Dottore was going to drive you mad with his experiments, or worse – kill you. He moved with breakneck speed as he slashed the inhuman Doctor’s arm clean off, rescuing you from certain doom.

A loud crash resounded through the laboratory as you found yourself flying across the room, landing in the arms of someone strong and warm. The white light was gone, and you blinked as your eyes adjusted to see Alhaitham hovering above you.

“WHAT!” The doctor exclaimed, and you realized his voice was now suddenly far away. You glanced in the direction of the voice to see Dottore standing on the other side of the room, missing one arm. Sparks were coming out of the stump that his arm once was, a telling sign that his body was actually part robot. Dottore’s other arm was frozen in the air, still holding onto the glowing capsule, and it seemed like he had some sort of process malfunction.

Alhaitham had carried you across the room to set you down. You felt his warm hands around your neck, and watched as his arms flexed and his shoulders strained. Suddenly you heard a snap and you could breathe again, the metallic fingers of Dottore’s robotic arm finally broken away from your throat. You gasped for air, sitting up on your own as you were finally free from the Doctor’s clutches.

“When will you realize I’m just better?” He smirked, helping you up.

“Shut up,” you rolled your eyes. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Not without the capsule.” Alhaitham spoke, running back towards Il Dottore. The robot seemed to still be malfunctioning as it didn’t react in any way to the scribe’s approach.

Alhaitham snatched the capsule from its hand, quickly returning to where you were still sitting recovering from nearly being strangled and illegal-knowledged to death.

You tried to scramble to your feet, but you stumbled. You were caught by an arm roughly hooking around your waist, lifting you off of the ground and racing out of the laboratory.

“Hey! Put me down!” You exclaimed, kicking in protest to the uncomfortable and embarrassing way you were being carried.

“Fine, fine.” Alhaitham relented, “I suppose we’ve fled far enough away now.”

He set you down on the ground gently, and you were finally able to find your balance and climb to your feet.

“That was incredibly dangerous.” Alhaitham warned. “Both of us aren’t afraid of underhanded methods of achieving our goals… but the Doctor is simply far too dangerous. You were incredibly lucky I happened to be nearby, otherwise you might have become a test subject for a mad scientist.”

“I did what I had to.” You crossed your arms as you turned away, scoffing.

“There were several far less dangerous methods you could have used… but thankfully we won’t be returning to the sages empty-handed, since I managed to get the knowledge capsule in the end.”

He withdrew the glowing capsule from his pocket, holding it in the air to examine it. It was at that point that you realized he had won yet again. Not only did he save you from certain doom at the hands of a mad scientist, but he also had possession of the capsule that you nearly died in order to obtain.

“Why, you!” Anger suddenly filled you to the brim once again – but this time it overflowed freely. You lunged towards your rival, hands wrapping around his throat as you tackled him to the ground.

Alhaitham was so taken aback by your sudden violence that you had actually caught him off-guard. His balance faltered and you managed to knock him backwards. He fell onto the soft grass, but his reflexes were far better than yours as he quickly rolled so that you were now beneath him. You looked furious – but he always loved it when you looked that way.

“Damn you, bastard!” You writhed beneath him, unable to escape the cage he had made around you with his arms. Tears prickled at the corners of your eyes; this was the last straw. Time and time again, he had bested you while barely breaking a sweat, and you couldn’t take it anymore.

“Why does beating you feel better than anything else in the world?” Alhaitham smirked as he stared down at you, his face hovering mere inches above yours.

You wriggled your arm free, about to land a punch on his smug face, when you felt something soft pressing harshly down on your lips. It was warm, soft – you suddenly realized Alhaitham was kissing you.

Despite how much he pressed your buttons and made you curse his existence, something drew you to kiss back – and it ignited a fire in your stomach. Instead of throwing a punch at Alhaitham, your free arm began to snake behind his neck, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. He began to lower his body, pressing his chest flush with yours to the point where you could feel the heat radiating off of him.

You let out a soft groan as he slid one knee between your thighs, hooking your legs down and trapping you in the kiss. His fingers raked through your hair, and Alhaitham knew your hair always looked nice but he didn’t realize just how soft it was now that he could finally touch it.

Alhaitham pulled away, watching you pant as your face burned bright red. Your lips were slightly swollen from the kiss, drawing his gaze to them, and making him want to kiss you even more.

Your eyes raked down Alhaitham’s body as he hovered above you, and you burned with humiliation inside. You hated the way he made you feel – he always got on your nerves as if he knew exactly what to do and say in order to piss you off.

“Why is it always like this?” You sighed, gazing into his jade green eyes. Your silver-haired rival merely smirked.

“Even in the Akademiya, you were always too reckless.” Alhaitham responded. “Always too eager to be the best, as if you’d ever be able to beat me.”

“I hate you.” You mumbled, “The way you always beat me at everything so effortlessly, the look in your eyes when you put on that impudent smirk, how you know exactly what pisses me off the most. Why do you hate me so much?”

Alhaitham’s breath fell still at your accusations; he never realized the things he did made you think he hated you.

“I never hated you.” He responded bluntly, causing you to freeze beneath him.

“Y-you… what?” You stuttered, your blush deepening at the realization your hatred was one-sided. You were at a loss for words, and only managed to stare back up at Alhaitham.

“You’re redder than a tomato.” Alhaitham stated bluntly.

“Hey!” You quickly became angry again, embarrassed at how flustered he had easily made you – and how he had effortlessly kissed you, something that nobody before ever had the privilege of doing. You were always far too invested in your academic career to ever focus on romance or relationships. The kiss gave you a realization, awakening feelings for him that you had no clue ever even existed before this. However, the way Alhaitham immediately switched back to teasing you made you forget all of these feelings temporarily.

“First you stole my knowledge capsule, and now you’ve stolen my first kiss too! I can’t deal with this anymore!” 

“You’re just trying to deny you liked it.”

Once again, he was completely right.

“Fuck you, Alhaitham!” You lunged forwards, wrapping your hands around his neck once again. This time, however, Alhaitham let you push him backwards into the grass. The faintest smile was on his lips as he fell, staring up at your face. Your anger somehow faded into laughter as you tackled him to the ground. You were still angry with him, of course, but for some reason he had become slightly more tolerable.

~~~

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

REINCARNATION AU WITH LI LI MU BELOVED

amor vincit mortem

pairing: zhongli x gn!reader

summary: there’s a fragility to each moment spent with you, finite and fleeting as all mortal lives are. but you always find your way back to him, even when you return missing fragments of yourself. he has loved you ever since he was naught but a mere hatchling you’d dug from the earth, and he will continue to do so through war and peace and retirement. (reincarnation au)

note: writing for one of my favorite tropes again, zhongli my beloved i will always give u happy endings, might be a bit inaccurate in some lore and timeline aspects but i tried my best to stick close, multiple character death/s (reader), depictions of blood and death

word count: 4.1k

“Hello again.”

Morax—back in the days when he was just a little dragon incapable of much thought, back when the name Morax hadn’t even been granted to him—nuzzled his little snout against your hand.

You smoothed your fingers over his soft scales, an indication of youth in dragons, and smiled as he melted at the simple affection.

There had been a softness to that moment, a memory untouched by the grimness of war, in a time when peace reigned and the three sisters ruled over the skies, not a floating celestial castle to be seen.

He remembers your voice and your touch, the way your eyes brightened when you smiled and the way the corners of your mouth quirked when telling a story. He didn’t know your name then, only that you were a local in the nearby village who ounce unburied a small dragon from the earth as a child and had taken care of it since.

That dragon was, of course, him.

-

“Here for another meal, little dragon?”

You brought a small piece of meat to his snout, cooing when he took it from your fingers and delicately chewed on the meat.

He doesn’t remember what it tasted, only that it had a soft, chewy texture that made it easier to eat for his soft teeth that were still in the process of hardening as he aged.

A hand ran over the scales on his head.

“You’ll need a name, won’t you? Something to be remembered for all ages.” The sun had hit his eyes then, making him incapable of seeing what kind of expression you’d had. “I just know my little dragon will grow to be a fearsome one.”

-

“Morax!” You laughed, running as the dragon that was now at the same height as your hips chased you across the clearing. “I told you, no more meat or else you’ll become overweight!”

It wasn’t about the meat, he remembers, it was how you always seemed to shine brightest when you were running about without a care for the world around you. He’d only wanted to keep that smile on your face.

You leaned on your knees, gasping for breath, and still, you shone as radiant as the sun to his eyes.

-

You struggled with carting a box full of all sorts of fruit and cooked meat. He used his hardened snout to help you push the cart near the entrance of the cave he usually dwelled in.

“Thank you.” You softly patted the scales beneath his chin. “I’m not as young and spritely as I used to be.”

He huffed an indignant snort as if to disagree with you. A soft exhale left your mouth, fondness evident in the quirk of your lips.

“You understand me, don’t you? You always have, my smart little dragon.”

-

He sat beside you, quiet and solemn as you hummed a tune beneath your breath.

“Morax,” you started, something different in the inflection of your voice. It never returned back to its normal cadence after you caught an illness that had lasted a year and nearly took your life. “I’m not long for this world—”

He shifted in protest, a snarl in his throat that you wave away with a wrinkled hand.

“Don’t be so upset,” you soothed, “It’s simply the way of life.”

You ran a hand through the underside of his chin, feeling the hardened scales that will continue to grow stronger until it can withstand the force of steel—or a meteor.

“You’ll live for a long, long time, and by the time you reach your prime, I will be nothing but a distant memory to you.”

He remembers disagreeing but never outright conveying it to you. He had thought you understood what his silence meant. If only he’d been able to speak back then, he would have spent hours upon hours telling you how much you meant to the little dragon you had dug up from the earth.

-

You laid down for a nap beside him, still managing to look at him with those bright eyes of yours amidst a face weathered by time.

“My little Morax, you’re as big as a house now, aren’t you?” You had softly pet the side of his head as he curled around you. “Wake me up when the sun rises, okay? I want to hand feed you meat like I used to...”

He closed his eyes and let dreams sweep him away once he felt you fall into a deep sleep.

In the morning, he would awake to the sun casting light over him and the stillness by his side.

You never woke up again.

-

He took to guarding your small village from petty thieves and the occasional mercenaries sent by neighboring villages. It’s what you would’ve wanted, he thought then. You had no family, but the elders and the children and the workers you’d made friends with were dear to you, and so, they were dear to him as well.

Word spread of a village being granted the protection of a mighty dragon. More people came asking for shelter and to settle in, he never showed protest to it.

Years passed, the village grew, and he continued to wonder what it would have been like to watch over these people with you by his side.

He remembers days spent lounging in the clearing he buried your body in, an era where peace still reigned and rest was not yet a luxury he couldn’t afford.

-

You appeared on the second century after your passing, wide-eyed and mouth parted in awe as you stared at the large town that used to be your homely little village.

“Morax?”

He had thought it a dream then, a mirage his mind consumed. There was simply no fathomable way you were here in the flesh, alive and whole and young—so much younger than he remembered you being.

But your eyes were still the same, still as bright and resplendent as the sun. You were here. You were real.

He doesn’t know how he ever managed not to squish you beneath his weight back when he’d been young and excited with less restraint to his actions. It is a memory he remembers fondly, stored tightly within his chest, a moment of peace amidst the war looming on the horizon.

It was a comical sight, a human holding their arms out to their side yet still not managing to encompass the entirety of a dragon’s snout. He used to fit so snugly at the palm of your hand.

“Look how big you’ve grown.” You press your lips to a single scale, already as large as your head. “I have missed you, old friend.”

-

It was a worry that niggled at the back of his head amidst questions of how you came back and why you remember him.

Morax, for all his years alive that would seem many to mortals, was still but a young dragon then. Even when he was roughly the size of five houses.

He didn’t want to see you grow old, to watch as time eroded your spirit and left nothing but a husk of what you once were. The thought of having to relive those days when you could barely stand up to meet him at the clearing outside your village made him want to curl up and burrow deep into the earth.

He didn’t want to sleep beside you only to awake to the sight of your chest still and your breaths nonexistent.

He didn’t want to watch you die again.

-

The choice was taken out of his hands when he returned to his town—your town, just as much as it is his—and found it burning.

“There’s a nearby village that needs your help. Go, Morax, lend your hand to those who need it,” you had told him as you caressed his scales, and he had obeyed, because while the elders and the people come to him with their pleas and their wishes, he will only ever answer to you.

It had been a trick to place his attention away from your town.

He learned what anger meant that day, learned what it felt to crush a house beneath his claws and how to move the earth to his will and what it meant to take a life.

He was young and furious and mourning. It is a dark memory he doesn’t like to dwell on, full of pain and regret and the vicious sense of satisfaction that came with killing. It was the first time he had ever shed blood. It wouldn’t be the last.

As he watched the village be buried beneath the earth and the stone he’d called upon, he turned his back and made the long trek back to a home that was now nothing but ash and dust.

And as he rooted through the rubble in the vain hope of finding your body to bury, Morax learned what it meant to be an unwilling participant in a war.

-

It was as if fate was paying back the abundance of time you’d spent with him in your first life with short moments that were always cut too soon.

In your third life, you found him sleeping on the remains of what was once your town. You had wept and embraced him as much as you could, and he, in turn, tried to convey how much he had missed you.

The two of you traveled together for a while, and that life was where you rode on his back for the first time as he soared the skies.

“They’re like your eyes,” you once said, holding onto his scales as he flew above the clouds, the light of the setting sun casting the two of you in molten gold, “Golden. It’s been my favorite color ever since I first saw you open your eyes. They always shine so bright.”

You died that same day, having encountered a vengeful deity after he set foot on the ground. He had won that fight, but he wasn’t able to protect you.

-

It was in a battlefield that he saw you again.

He remembers how the small deity’s blood had felt upon his tongue, dripping down sharp teeth and soaking the battle happening in the ground below with blood. It had been sunny then, he remembers, when he descended from the skies in triumph and looked down the masses gazing at him with fear.

And then there was you.

Blood and dirt and other unnamable things clung to you like a second skin as you clumsily held a spear close to your chest, but you had beamed at the sight of him and yelled out his name.

“Morax!”

It was short-lived.

It had been a stray arrow, they would later plead with tears and mud streaking through their terror-filled faces. But all he cared about at that time was that one moment you dropped your spear to run to him, and the next you were falling to the ground, an arrow lodged right where your heart lay.

He left that field bloodied with corpses, your body strewn on his back as he flew to the clearing in your first life. There, he buried you beside your other incarnations.

-

“I’d like to settle one day, once all the fighting and killing has stopped. Maybe in a house overlooking the sea. Somewhere surrounded by mountains. Just a place where there’d be lots of space for you too.”

You leaned against the bulk of his frame, burrowed in a cliffside to wait out the fight between two gods happening on the other side of the lake.

-

“That was never there before,” you said, squinting at the castle in the sky as you laid on his back.

He rumbled his agreement.

You sighed, hearing the war going on below and wondering when it was all going to end.

“The stars don’t shine as bright as they used to.”

-

“Are you alright?!” You yelled as you frantically helped the woman—a deity—up from the ground.

Morax’s thundering roars echoed in the air as he summoned pillars from the earth and shattered the feeble ice that the opposing god put up.

The woman stared at you with wide eyes, noticing how labored your breathing was but otherwise looking unbothered by the fight happening in front of you.

“Are you not worried…?” She asked, her voice sounding as delicate as she looked.

You turned to her with a grin you’d hoped was encouraging. “There’s nothing to fear, Morax is strong!” Then, you offered her your hand. “Here, you can hold my hand if you’re afraid.”

She accepted it, feeling the tremors in her fingers calm at the warmth emanating from your palm.

“Guizhong,” she suddenly said, looking up at you, her heart racing. “Forgive my rudeness but… my name is Guizhong.”

You smiled, as bright and lovely as Morax would have described had he been there to see it. “Allow us to lend you and your people a hand, Guizhong!”

And for the first time since the war began, she felt hope blossom in her chest.

-

“Which life is this now?” Guizhong asked him.

“Nineteenth,” he answered, more of a growl that resembled a word. Morax, in his newly obtained form, was still not used to the ways of mortals, namely, the fact that he can now speak his thoughts out loud.

You were conversing with Cloud Retainer, something regarding a weapon that could be used to help the war. The mechanics were lost to him. For all that he could now be considered a deity, for all that the people have started calling him Rex Lapis, he was still so oblivious to the ways of the world.

Guizhong placed a hand on his shoulder, a reassuring smile on her deceptively gentle face. On that day, she promised to help him protect you.

And that life was one of the few where he got to watch you grow old.

-

“You don’t know how to read?” Guizhong asked you, surprise coloring her face.

You sheepishly laughed, “I’ve never been taught in all the lives I’ve lived. And most of my time with Morax was spent fighting and running from the war.”

You looked down your hands, feeling the smooth, unblemished skin of them. Young and unscarred. There had been a large gash that ran across your back in your previous life, and when the night got too cold and you were left alone with your thoughts, you felt the ache of thousands upon thousands of wounds you’d collected throughout your lives.

A dainty hand covered your own. You looked up to see Guizhong watching you with a fond smile.

“Let me teach you, then.”

-

Guizhong always invited you to sing to the glaze lilies scattered around the Assembly. She claimed your voice was like a melody that soothed the flowers to bloom.

In truth, she only wanted to hear you sing.

-

“No, that’s not how you hold chopsticks, Morax!” You laughed, taking hold of his hand and rearranging the chopsticks haphazardly held in his fingers. “There, much better.”

His fingers remained clumsy, unused to such sensations, but you promised him that he’ll get used to it in no time.

-

You slowly guided him through each step, gently correcting a mistake in his footwork and adjusting the spear in his hand when needed.

Morax was a fast learner.

Soon, he would develop his own way of wielding the spear, but for now, you coached him through the right techniques and laughed whenever he dropped the spear in a spin.

-

“The moon,” he suddenly said, looking at you with wide, earnest eyes.

“Yes, what about it?”

He seemed to struggle with finding the right words to convey what he wanted to say. You patiently sat and waited for him to gather himself.

“It’s beautiful tonight.” Then, as an afterthought, he added, “Isn’t it?”

You tilted your head to the sky, a nostalgic smile on your lips, lost in memories of days spent lazing about in that old clearing and staring at the starry sky. “It is.”

His hand felt warm around yours.

-

“I don’t want to die anymore.”

He held you as your blood seeped from your clothes and painted the grass a dark shade of red. It was a slow process, bleeding out, to wait for your blood to drain until your heart stopped beating and your eyes lost the light in them.

“Morax.”

You were crying, clutching your side where a god had pierced their blade clean through. You were dying so slowly, yet there was no time to get a healer.

“Please.”

Your eyes begged for an end to this pain.

His tears fell and mixed with your blood.

On your twenty-ninth life, he cradled your head to his chest and wept as he gave you a quick, painless death.

-

When he saw you again, he held you until the sun disappeared and his arms felt numb before reluctantly pulling away.

You held his face between the palm of your hands and kissed his forehead, your eyes red and smile brittle at the edges.

“I’ve missed you,” was all you said before you leaned close.

Your lips felt impossibly soft against his.

-

“Morax,” you whispered against his skin, on your thirty-first life when he finally found the courage to show you what being loved by him meant. “I love you.”

It was the first time you spoke those words to him.

It wouldn’t be the last.

He kept you awake all night, ignoring the war happening around him and pretending, just for a moment, that the world only consisted of you and him.

-

During your forty-second life, an anomaly happened.

He and the rest of the adepti were unable to gauge how it happened. Guizhong, for all her smarts, was not able to discern the reason for it either.

And then there was no time to ponder upon it anymore, because Osial attacks the Guili Assembly, and not only does he lose you, he also loses a friend.

Her last words to him consisted of a riddle and a memento in the form of a lock. “I never stopped searching for a reason. I think… this may be it.”

And in her eyes, he saw a confession — she had loved you too.

Thousands of years later and he is still no closer to opening it, and thus, no closer to figuring out what caused the loss of your memories.

-

On some lives, you remember, eyes lighting up with recognition as you abandoned everything you’d been doing to run into his arms.

“Morax,” you would whisper as he nuzzled his head into the crook of your neck.

On some lives, you would pass by him with blank eyes, the same lilt to your voice but without the fondness that came with it.

“Hello again,” he’d say.

You would smile awkwardly. “Hello?”

And he would mourn you all over again.

-

“He’s suffered enough, hasn’t he?”

Your words were enough to still Morax’s spear.

You knelt in front of the young-looking deity, offering your palm to him. “We will not shackle you, and neither will we force you to serve.”

His eyes were wary, yet so incredibly full of disbelief and hidden hope.

You gave him a smile you hoped was as gentle as it seemed.

Rough, battle-hardened hands clasped onto yours like a salvation.

“Please,” he whispered, something so undeniably broken in his tone as looked up at you the same way one might look up at the stars.

Later on, Morax would name that young deity Xiao.

-

There were tales and poems written about you. Rex Lapis and his undying lover.

It was widely romanticized and highly inaccurate. For one, he didn’t meet you in your first life as a large and intimidating dragon. He was naught but a hatchling you used to feed fruits and meat with a childish laugh. The two of you had grown up together, but where you had grown old, he remained young, a dragon who hadn’t even reached a fourth of his lifespan.

You always laughed as you read to him some of the more outlandish ones, in those lives where you remembered enough to love him as deeply as you used to.

“‘And they fornicated upon the moonlit night, a dragon and a mortal—’ I’m sorry, I can’t take this seriously.” You burst into a fit of giggles, leaning against him on your shared bed as the book you’d been holding fell to the side, forgotten.

“Shall I have a word with the authors of such books?”

“No, no!” You were quick to refuse, placing both palms on his cheeks and grinning. “They’re amusing to read. Perhaps I should commission a play, that would be so entertaining…”

He gazed at you fondly, cherishing each precious, limited time the two of you have.

-

When he ascended the throne of Celestia, you were the first person to greet him upon returning to Liyue.

There was a nervous edge to your smile, but still, it came as naturally as breathing to you. You often questioned it, how everything just seemed to come easily for you.

“I think I know you,” you once told him a week after you met in this life, “I just can’t remember where.”

And you would always come across the numerous retellings of your lives, hands shaking and so full of regret and grief for a life you could never quite recall.

You never failed to apologize to him after.

I’m sorry I forgot.

I’m sorry I can’t remember.

I’m sorry I don’t love you.

-

It became increasingly frequent with each century that passed. Only one incarnation of you every six lives remembered your past.

He made you love him in each one. Even if he had to start from the bottom, even when you looked at him without a spark of familiarity, even when it hurt—he never failed to capture your heart again and again.

-

The Cataclysm happened in a lifetime where you remembered.

Morax, to this day, wishes it hadn’t been the case. Perhaps then, you wouldn’t have insisted on fighting alongside him.

Perhaps then, you wouldn’t have died so early.

Your body was left beneath the rubble and ruins of Khaenri’ah’s Royal Palace. The only thing that stopped him from upturning it to search for you was the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.

-

In the twentieth year after the destruction of Khaenri’ah, he made a contract with a golden haired traveler who carried the aura of the stars.

Five years after the contract was signed, your body was returned to Liyue in a casket covered with Inteyvat flowers.

-

He remembers waiting, and waiting, and waiting a little more until he looked up and realized that four hundred years had passed without you.

He searched each nation, visiting village upon village, hoping to hear news of you or a past life of yours having lived there, but there was nothing.

It was as if you had simply ceased to exist.

He refused to believe it.

-

Mountain Shaper advised him to rest.

It was strange to walk the streets of Liyue again after a hundred years of absence. He never failed to appear during the Rite of Descension, but taking on his draconic form and parading as a mortal man were two different things. And the latter, he found in all the years he’d been ruling Liyue, was much more preferable than the former.

Conversations flowed around him, and he wondered what you would have been doing had you been here with him.

He stared into the Harbor, smiling as he remembered your quiet musings during the early days of the Archon War.

I’d like to settle one day, once all the fighting and killing has stopped. Maybe in a house overlooking the sea. Somewhere surrounded by mountains. Just a place where there’d be lots of space for you too.

Settle.

It was a wishful thought, but…

He turned on his heel, mind made up.

If he couldn’t look for you, then he would have to wait for you to come to him. In the meantime, he would arrange the finest house for you to live in peace after five hundred years of being apart and a lifetime of war and bloodshed.

-

Morax—Zhongli sits at a table at Third-Round Knockout, leisurely sipping tea as he listens to the story teller regale the tragic tale of your second life. A little inaccurate, on a few accounts, but for the most part, it was as he remembers it.

The tea tastes exceptionally sweet today. A good omen, perhaps.

He feels the vibrations from the ground, telling of a person approaching him from behind. He lets whoever it is get close, unable to detect any malicious intent.

“That’s completely false. I, for one, never ‘wept in delight as I was reunited with my dragon lover’.”

He nearly drops his tea in shock.

He turns his head to the right, his heart in his throat as he hopes and begs that his ears did not deceive him. He sucks in a breath—

And meets the loveliest pair of eyes gazing down at him with mirth.

You smile.

“Hello again.”