Genshin Impact One-Shots

Scaramouche | Teacup Of Warmth

"We'll take the usual tea, please." You give a warm smile and a small nod to the waiter, watching him bow and quickly leave to prepare the tea set.

"You two seem awfully close," Scaramouche comments from across the table. His eyes narrow slightly as he continues to stare at the departing figure.

"What? Me and Hongru? What makes you say that?"

"I heard him talking up a storm earlier as I was walking in, and he was rather animated around you. Are you going to deny that?"

"Well... no. But you're reading into things too much. We recently became friends since he kept seeing me around here."

"Oh?" the violet-haired male flickers his eyes back to you. It seems like he wants to say something to you with the way his brows are furrowed slightly, but knowing him, he'll simply change the topic as always.

He rests his folded hands atop the table. "Why do you come to this place so often?"

You smile, breaking eye contact to scan the surroundings of Liuli Pavilion. The elegant, Chinese decor and the warmth from the sunlight permeating into the room creates a beautiful place of relaxation and hangout. To top everything off, their delicious dishes and aromatic tea are not a disappointment.

"I enjoy their tea a lot. It's all thanks to Childe for showing me this place. I could stay here forever..." you reply, sighing in contentment.

"Childe, huh... I almost forgot about your relationship with my... colleague." He clicks his tongue in annoyance, his lips parting to say something more, but approaching footsteps stops him from doing so.

"I'm back with your brewed tea. Please enjoy," Hongru says as he's carefully placing a teacup down in front of you. He also puts a steaming teapot down at the center.

Scaramouche leans toward him with a glare, causing the waiter to jump and drop a teacup. He rolls his eyes. "How incompetent. This place lacks proper staff members."

"I apologize, sir. I'll go get a new teacup for you." He bows and leaves.

"Scaramouche!" You reach over and twist his ear, an evident expression of disapproval is now present on your face. "What did you and me agree on? Do I need to remind you about it again?"

"Stop that! Who let you touch me?!" He pushes your hand away with a frown, moving farther away from you. "And no need to remind me of our agreement. I'm aware of it."

"Then why are you being so disrespectful to Hongru? I know you purposely did that to scare him. He hasn't even done anything to you!"

Upon learning about Scaramouche's role with the Fatui a few months ago, you were initially in disbelief. It didn't help that you haven't seen him in so long, so for him to suddenly drop such news was a complete shock.

To make matters worse, his treatment toward people was (and still is, it seems) awful. He's constantly finding any chance to berate and insult someone, no matter how small the mistake is.

Before he left to do his errands, you attempted to convince him to leave the Fatui, but of course, it was fruitless. So you offered an agreement: from now on, whenever he meets up with you, he must be respectful to those around him. It took a lot of persistent badgering for him to angrily nod and roll his eyes.

Clearly Scaramouche has no intention to uphold the agreement.

"Look, I was respectful to everybody else. Some stall vendors greeted me, and I acknowledged them back as opposed to ignoring them like usual. Is that not enough for you?"

"But we're talking about Hong—"

"Shut up already; why are you so persistent on talking about him?!" he shouts, slamming his hands down on the table, pushing himself up. "You don't have the right to order me around. I choose who I want to be respectful to, do you understand?"

Teary-eyed, you turn away from his intense gaze and pour yourself a cup of warm tea to soothe your emotions.

"I just wanted to know why you're treating my friend so poorly, but forget it," you say softly. You grip onto the handle tightly, staring down at the pale liquid.

Even the usual tea that you drink isn't giving you comfort and relief.

Scaramouche takes a deep breath, heaving a long and jaded sigh. He walks over to sit next to you, averting his gaze to the display case of porcelain plates and cups.

"Listen," he begins with a quiet sigh, "I'm not used to showing respect to people I perceive as outsiders who aren't worth my time. You're... different, so I find it simpler to communicate with you."

You turn to him as an indication for him to continue his thoughts. Despite knowing him for so long, it's rare for him to open up and be honest about his emotions.

"You're the only one I care—can tolerate. I'm unsure on my own feelings still and why I got so infuriated by that waiter, but I suppose I felt... uncertainty and anger when I saw how close you two are."

The warmth spreads as you're holding onto the teacup with your hands. You breathe in the calming aroma and allow the rising steam to greet your face.

"Scaramouche, are you afraid of losing me?" you murmur, taking a sip of the tea.

He slowly turns to you with widened, violet eyes. But almost immediately, a blank stare is present on his face. His hand lifts toward you a bit, but he drops it and resorts to looking at you instead.

You're so beautiful in his eyes, even more so in this moment. Such a simple image of you holding a tea cup as the sunlight shines on you. What truly is captivating is the way you're looking at him with a softened and kind expression.

"Scaramouche?" you call out gently.

Hearing your voice breaks his thoughts. He doesn't know how to reply back. All he can do is watch as you reach toward him and caress his face. Your slow and gentle touches are calming.

Unconsciously, he leans into your warm hand with closed eyes.

"You don't have to worry about losing me, you know. I won't leave you."

His eyes flutter open. Simply seeing the warm smile on your face and hearing those words is making him almost think about quitting the Fatui to go back to the person he calls home—the person he cherishes.

"(Y/N)," Scaramouche says softly, a faint smile gracing his face.

-♡-

I've always wanted to write a Scaramouche one-shot, but I just didn't know what to write about, so this was very much a type-whatever-comes-to-mind kind of one-shot. It's a calming one, and I thank the warm sunlight for helping me with that.