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Chapter Text

September 3rd

The strain that Scaramouche feels as he carries his last heavy box into his dorm is nothing compared to the strain that move-in day has on his already fragile relationship with his family. Scara places the last box by the foot of his bed, giving a contented sigh. It's not because the physical labor was too much for him, but now he can give the goodbyes he's been dying to give since the moving process started. He turns to face his sister, Raiden, who is setting down a bin filled with Scara's clothes on his dresser.

"Is that the last of it?" Scara asks tiredly, praying the answer would be yes so he can finally begin relaxing in his own space again.

"Yae Miko is still bringing in a few other items. You've asked this question twice already." Raiden answers with her usual cold and emotionless tone.

Even while knowing that she doesn't mean to be rude with the way she speaks, Scara can't help but be offended every time she opens her mouth.

"I'm just confused because every item she's carrying weighs less than the clothes on her back, but you'd assume she'd be bringing the whole moving truck with how long she's taking." Scara spits out in frustration.

"Grateful as usual, are we?" Yae Miko interrupts as she enters the room and places a few of Scara's books on a nearby table. "I actually didn't have to help at all, but still chose to do you the favor out of the kindness of my heart."

Scara scoffs and has to stop himself from laughing sarcastically. "The only favor you did was for yourself. You wanted me gone the second I came back for summer vacation."

"And get rid of a joy such as yourself? Why would I ever?" Yae Miko says with a fake smile and irritation written all over her face.

Before Scara can retort with something equally as passive aggressive and witty, his sister speaks up and breaks the tense atmosphere.

"We have finished unloading all of your stuff. We should leave now."

"Is my mother not coming up to say goodbye?" Scara points out her absence with a raised eyebrow, even though deep down he isn't all that surprised.

"Ei said she wanted to stay in the car so we can get to the airport as fast as possible, but she did send me to say her goodbyes on her behalf." Yae explains in a gentler tone than before, which bothers Scara even more for a reason that he's not currently able to pinpoint.

"Shouldn't have even asked." Scara sighs, unable to contain the bit of disappointment that he feels as he looks away.

"Will a farewell from your stepmom and sister be close enough to suffice?" Yae asks as she tilts her head to try and maintain eye contact with him.

"There's no point in saying it wouldn't." Scara crosses his arms waiting for this painfully awkward moment to pass.

"Well, goodbye then Scaramouche." Yae gives him a small nod, bidding him a farewell. "Enjoy your sophomore year, keep your grades up, and please try to make some friends."

"I got it." He dismisses her with a wave of his hand as she walks away.

"And call every once in a while. You know your mother will complain if you don't." Yae says as she slowly heads towards the exit.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll text." he grumbles when she finally makes it out of sight.

"I said call, Scaramouche!" she shouts letting him know she heard him.

"Goodbye, brother." Raiden nods as well as she follows behind Yae Miko, shutting the door behind her.

As the door finally closes shut Scara instantly feels ten pounds lighter and flops back onto his bed less than gracefully. He lies there for a moment staring at the ceiling and enjoying the silence that now fills his dorm. When he's done relishing in his solitude he comes to realize that he's back on campus and is about to suffer through another long school year in less than 24 hours. Wanting to make the most of his current freedom, he wonders if any of his friends were able to settle in as well. He pulls out his phone and decides to contact one of his closest friends, Kazuha.

Scaramouche:

I just made it to campus. Are you around?

...

After waiting a few minutes for a response, he gets nothing but crickets. He decides to text him one more time.

Scaramouche:

Let me know and maybe we can get food with Heizou.

Ten more minutes pass and Scara is no longer interested in waiting. He looks up from his phone noticing the monstrous amount of unpacking he has ahead of him, then decides he needs some form of nourishment to help him get started on this. He quickly puts on a hoodie, grabs his wallet, and heads straight out the door, but the second he exits he immediately collides with another person and falls flat on the floor.

"Ow! what the-??"

"Ough." The strange man also lands on the ground right across from him and is rubbing his head. The boxes on the floor surrounding them were likely blocking his view and is what led to them bumping into each other.

"I'm sorry, but are your eyes in your skull just for decoration or do you plan on using them any time soon?" Scara says sharply.

"H... huh?" the guy looks at him dumbfounded, not really processing what he just said and that clueless look on his face only pisses Scara off further.

"Watch where you're going!" Scara says loud and clear, so the guy is unable to miss the message this time.

"Sorry about that." he responds as he gets up and brushes himself off. Now that he's standing, Scara notices how tall he is and is able to get a better look at his features. He's an orange-haired boy that looks around the same age as him, maybe a little younger. He has deep blue eyes that were absent of any light in them, which was mildly off-putting, and yet mesmerizing at the same time. The last thing Scara was able to notice were those freckles lightly scattered all over his face. He would've thought he was an attractive guy if he didn't body slam him to the disgusting floor.

The man extends his hand offering to help Scara up. "If I had seen you there, I would've warned you I was coming."

Scara scowls at him and refuses his hand, getting up on his own. "Maybe be more wary of your surroundings, and don't block your vision."

"I'm the only one helping myself out here, alright? I already apologized so you can either take it or leave it. I'll be on my way now." he explains himself and quickly walks past Scara, not interested in entertaining the conversation any longer.

"Asshole." Scara mutters under his breath as he makes his way to the elevator.

He goes down to the lobby floor where he knows there's a vending machine. Scara scans his options of snacks, eventually coming to the conclusion that they all suck and he settles for a bag of chips. He puts his money in and as the snack begins to fall it immediately gets stuck.

He sighs. This was truly not his day.

Scara slowly starts by trying to gently shake the vending machine, but as his anger grows so does the scale of abuse that he inflicts onto this inanimate object. He goes from kicking it, to shoulder slamming it, to punching it, and even went as far as going outside to grab a stick to beat it with. He didn't get as far as he wished with the stick before getting yelled at by a Resident Assistant who scolded him for potentially damaging school property. All he can do now is groan and look longingly at the mediocre snack that he paid too much money for, taunting him from behind the thin glass that separates them. For a moment he considers reaching in there to grab it, but he would never let such a worthless item bring him to stoop to such a desperate and humiliating level.

His stomach growls, silencing all his thoughts. He's hungry. Very hungry. The school dining hall doesn't open until tomorrow either and he spent his hard earned money on these chips. He looks around, making sure nobody is near to witness this new low as he goes down on the floor and sticks his hand in the machine to grab it. He struggles and struggles, but as he just barely grazes the bag with his fingertips a voice brings him back to reality.

"Do my eyes deceive me or is that the Great Balladeer I see before me?"

Scara instantly recognizes the snarky feminine voice and he immediately rips his hand out of the machine and stands up straight to face her, pretending as if he wasn't caught in an embarrassing position seconds ago.

"Signora. Have you come just to make my day any harder?" he sneers.

"Ah yes, because the entire world revolves around you and all my actions are dependent on how I can make your life more miserable than it already is." she says as she approaches him, taking in the predicament that Scara has found himself in and finding it humorous. "I was simply returning to my room when I came across you in all your glory." she teases him with a smirk on her face.

"Well if you got your fill, then feel free to leave now." He glares at her, hoping this wouldn't drag on any longer so he can figure out his snack situation.

"Oh but can't we just chat for a moment? I'm sure you want to catch up after going all summer break without seeing me." Signora smiles after she finishes her sentence, already knowing how Scaramouche will answer.

"No."

"Hm, what a shame. I was looking forward to hearing about how your life has been going," as she speaks, she slowly begins to walk away, but looking at her body language it's clear she has more she intends to say. "And I was just itching to tell you about the new information I got from our Fatui program."

Scara snaps his head to now face her. "New information?" he raises his eyebrow curiously.

"That's what I said," she nods.

"What are you waiting for? Just tell me." Scara says, doing a poor job at hiding how eager he is to know. As much as he'd hate to admit it, Signora and him have a small bond that they share where they fill each other in on what goes on around campus. He's not quite sure when this silent agreement formed between them, but it's likely because she's the least unpleasant person to be around in the Fatui Program that they're both in. While the program is small, the amount of drama that goes down amongst the group is unreasonable for its size. Scara believes that the best way to avoid being involved in it is to know about it beforehand, but he'd be lying to himself if he didn't admit it was partially because he's nosey as well.

Signora's face looks smug now that she has Scara's undivided attention, she walks up to him and whispers "I heard we have a new member joining us."

"Psh, as if we need another pretentious wannabe to add to the wide collection we already have." Scara groans.

"I mean, this could be a good thing. A new face means that we can possibly mold them into something that will be a lot more tolerable for us." She nudges him trying to get him to see the good in the situation.

"Or it could just be another nuisance." He says flatly, showing no hope in changing his negative perspective on the situation.

"Maybe if you removed that stick that's lodged in your ass, you'll make some room for someone to get closer to your heart." Signora suggests, knowing it's most likely pointless. "I know I'm at least going to give them a fair chance."

"Were you always this corny or did something change in you over the summer?" Scara asks with disappointment laced in his tone.

"All I'm saying is that allowing new people into your life could make things easier for you." Signora shares her last piece of advice with him before she gently bumps the vending machine with the side of her hip, causing Scara's snack to fall. He quickly snatches it from the compartment, and suddenly feels a bit self-conscious at how he needed her help for something so simple.

"I'll see you around then." Scara says after he clears his throat.

"We'll stay in touch." Signora agrees before heading in the direction of her dorm.

Scara reflects on her words for a moment before he scoffs and walks back to his room. After he finishes his treat, he tackles the large task of unpacking. As he does this mindless task his thoughts seem to trail back to that information Signora had given him. Who could this new person be? The Fatui program is reserved for only the best applicants within the school. It's a large step above being an average honor student, so anyone who is accepted must be not only athletic but highly intelligent.

Not only that, but there's limited space and rankings for each member to ensure that everyone stays on top of their game and to keep it tight knit. The higher you are ranked the more opportunities and benefits are available to you in and outside the school. Scara was ranked at 6th, and most would assume that it's because of his grades, his profound knowledge in all of his subjects, and his incredible ability to learn things quickly, but he's also quite strong. He knows that most people don't look at him and instantly think "sporty" but his mother was sure to get him involved in every extracurricular imaginable, especially athletics. One of those sports that stuck with him was track. His speed got him a lot of recognition and praise throughout the years and is what made him stand out and place so high with the Fatui.

So, what could be so special about this person, and what will their rankings be? For a brief moment Scara can't help but feel a little threatened as he remembers the rankings are updated at the first meeting of every year. He might have to prove himself a bit more, so he's not outshined by some random newbie.

A hint of competitiveness builds up inside him but before he can think too hard about it, he realizes that he finished unpacking. It went by a lot faster than he assumed it would, but it's likely because he was so deep in thought. Scara checks the time and notices it's almost midnight and tomorrow his first class starts at nine in the morning. He decides now is a good time to prepare for bed and get some rest before he regrets staying up so late.

As he gets comfortable in his bed, he slowly drifts asleep hoping that this first day of school will go a lot smoother than his first day moving in.

September 4th 8:30am

As the seventh alarm for the morning goes off, Scara only now starts the process of waking up and beginning his day. He snatches his phone, turns off the screeching noise in his ear, and chucks his device across his bed.

He doesn't put a lot of effort into his outfit, he just makes sure that it's appropriate for the weather and grabs the essentials he needs for class before making his way there. Once he enters the room it's completely empty, not even the professor has arrived yet. Scara double checks the schedule to ensure that he's in the correct place, which he's able to confirm that he is. He then realizes that he is ten minutes earlier than he should be and that's likely why he's the only one here. He doesn't mind, he takes this moment to grab the seat he'll most likely be sitting in for the rest of the semester and then relaxes.

There's a buzz coming from his pocket. Scara takes out his phone and checks who it is.

Kazuha:

Ah, my apologies my friend. I haven't checked my phone all of yesterday.

Scara shakes his head. He knows Kazuha becomes a lot less active on his phone when the school year begins, but classes have only just started.

Scaramouche:

I was beginning to think you got bored of me.

Kazuha:

Yeah, right. "boring" isn't a word that exactly suits you -.-

Scaramouche:

I'll choose to believe you mean that positively.

Kazuha:

That works.

Kazuha:

Anyway, in response to your message before, Heizou and I were actually planning to go out for lunch today. Care to join us?

Right as Scara begins typing out his response, he notices some people trailing into the room. Class is about to start.

Scaramouche:

Sure. Just tell me where and what time. I'll talk to you later tho, my class is about to start.

Kazuha:

Alrighty then.

Scara quickly puts his phone away and starts rummaging in his backpack to pull out his computer and the other items he brought for class before the professor arrives.

"Hey." A familiar voice speaks up from behind him. It catches him off guard for a moment, so he jumps lightly from the unexpected greeting. He turns to face the individual.

"Do I know you?" Scara looks the guy up and down, taking in his appearance. He looks familiar but he can't really say that he recognizes this dude from anywhere.

"Not really, but we ran into each other the other day... literally." The guy awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, recalling the memory.

The moment instantly clicks in Scara's brain. He's the brute that knocked him to the floor just the day before. His confusion turns into annoyance.

"You're the box boy from yesterday, aren't you?" Scara gives him a slight look of disgust.

"I mean I have a name, but if that's how you remembered me then I guess you wouldn't be entirely wrong." The young man frowns.

"Is there something you need?" Scara questions him, wanting him to get to the point of why he's approaching him.

"Actually, yeah. I'm a freshman here so you're the only person I recognized in this class. I was hoping you'd be able to show me around the school since you clearly know your way around this place." He asks, obviously attempting to make things friendlier between them, but Scara's not all that interested.

"It's not that I know my way around this place, I just have a basic gathering of my surroundings. A quality I didn't expect to be scarce nowadays." Scara replies smartly, before turning his attention back to his book bag, signaling that he's done talking to him.

"Hm, I suppose you're right. Maybe with your help you could get me to improve on this lost art, while also getting me familiar with the area?" Childe responds back to the insult playfully in hopes of changing his mind.

Scara is getting increasingly frustrated at this man's persistence and the grin he has on his face as he asks him for his guidance doesn't help either.

"I think I'd rather you get lost." Scara responds coldly.

The man's face drops, and he stares at him blankly for a moment, unsure of how to respond. To Scara it seems that was able to get him to understand that he wants less than nothing to do with him, until he notices that this guy's smile returns. However, this time it feels less friendly and oddly more competitive.

"You're funny." He takes a seat next to Scara and extends his hand towards him. "My name is Childe."

Scara does everything in his power to not burst out laughing at his introduction. "I'm sorry?"

"It's not my real name, but it's what I typically go by. It's just child but with an 'E' at the end."

"Childe. Sounds fitting." Scara lets out an airy chuckle before staring at the hand before him, hesitant to make contact with it.

"And your name?" Childe asks, looking at him curiously.

"Will you find somewhere else to sit if I tell you?"

"Not likely, so might as well tell me anyway."

Scara lets out a defeated sigh. "Scaramouche." He takes Childe's hand for a brief handshake just so he can finally move it away from his vicinity.

"So, about that tour?" Childe asks again.

"Did this professor just forget that he has a class today?" Scara looks around the classroom trying to avoid having to talk to this guy again.

"C'mon, I'll cut you a deal to make this easier for you." He suggests.

Scara pauses and looks at him now mildly intrigued at where this is going. "And what would this deal be?”

"Those bags under your eyes are telling me you're pretty tired, am I right?"

"I could've lived without you pointing them out but, yes, I am pretty low on energy."

"If you bring me to my next class I'll buy you a coffee." Childe offers with a shrug.

He ponders the offer for a moment. He really doesn't want to be around this guy longer than he has to, but a coffee would really help him get through the day.

"A coffee just to bring you to your next class, huh?" Scara thinks out loud, considering his decision.

"Fine."

The professor finally walks through the door and settles down his stuff by his desk, which lets everyone know that the lecture is about to take place.

"Sounds like a plan after class then." Childe whispers to him with an accomplished grin.

"Yeah, just keep it quick. I don't feel like babysitting a child all day." Scara sighs.

"Ha, I see what you did there. You're hilarious, aren't you?" Childe is trying not to make it obvious, but the comment did peeve him a little and his smile feels forced now.

Something about his annoyance brings Scara a bit of joy. "So I've been told."

Chapter Text

September 4th, 11:25pm

Class ends early for the two of them after the professor finished reviewing their syllabus for the semester. Students immediately start pouring out into the hallway and leaving for their next class. Scara leads the way out of the building as Childe is still unfamiliar with the environment, and most would assume that this is his first time even walking on this planet by how clueless he looks. As they make it out of the building they stop to discuss where they should start walking to next.

"So what coffee shop were you thinking of taking me to?" Scara asks, eager to get some caffeine into his system.

"uhhh, actually I was hoping that you'd be able to name one in the area that we could visit?" Childe looks away as he speaks, ashamed at his inability to name a place for them.

Scara pauses for a moment, unsure how to feel about this. On one hand, he feels like he should've guessed that Childe wouldn't know of anything in the area considering he just got here, but on the other hand, what kind of lobotomite would insist on inviting someone for coffee if you don't even know where to get any? He chooses to just take a deep breath and move on. The pathetic look on Childe's face was enough to satisfy him in the moment, so throwing an insult at him didn't feel all that necessary.

"Just follow me." Scara gives him a hopeless look as he leads the way.

"With pleasure, captain" Childe salutes and follows along. Scara has to resist the urge to not gag at the nickname that was unwillingly placed on him.

They arrive at a small café, five minutes away from their campus. The minute they enter the building the smell of roasted coffee beans washes over them and it brings a sense of peace to Scaramouche. The place was pleasantly decorated and wasn't all that different from the last time Scara visited. It feels a bit nostalgic being here again. The line wasn't long and the service was fast so they were quickly able to receive their orders and take their seats.

"A double-shot americano? Something about that doesn't surprise me." Childe points out Scara's drink.

"Why, because of my strong personality?" Scara asks, guessing his reasoning.

"Nah, it's 'cause everything you say sounds so bitter." Childe explains simply.

"And you think you pointing that out will make me less bitter?" Scara gives him a sharp look.

"No, it's just an observation. In all fairness, I don't know you all that well so maybe I could be wrong. Who knows, you could be a sweet little angel deep down in there." Childe teases.

Scara rolls his eyes and takes a sip of his drink, "Those are not words I'd use to describe myself, nor do I believe anyone around me would."

"Shocking. Then how would you describe yourself? I'd honestly love it if you'd let me get to know you so that I have more than just 'bitter' to associate with you.

Something about the way Childe phrases it flusters him slightly. He doesn't feel like he has to prove anything to him, but it bothers him that this is how he currently views him. He knows he can be abrasive at times but that's not the only thing there is to him. The main reason why Childe has experienced that side of him so consistently is because he's really good at pissing him off. At the same time, Scara knows he's certainly far from perfect, so how would he describe himself?

"I'm... particular." Scara puts it plainly as he takes another sip.

"Particular, huh?" Childe thinks on it, trying to decipher what he could mean by that.

"I'm specific with what I like and don't like. Who I spend my time with, how I spend it, where I chose to be, these are all things I consider every day. I don't linger in spaces I have no interest in being. Like I said, I'm particular."

"I get it. So, does that imply you're spending time with me because you want to?" Childe grins from ear to ear as he points that out.

Scara nearly chokes on his drink, and he feels himself heat up slightly after hearing that. "Not too much now. I'm here because I wanted your offer of free coffee."

"But your coffee is already paid for, you have no reason to spend this extra time with me so that must mean you at least like my company a little, am I wrong?" Childe's smile only grows wider as if he feels like he's provided indisputable evidence that Scara must enjoy his presence.

"Maybe instead of walking you to your next class I'll just write down the directions and we'll just go our separate ways now." Scara suggests harshly.

Childe's smile instantly falls and he pouts a little. "C'monn don't be like that. I was only trying to get a rise out of you. I just wanted to know if you at least liked being around me."

"We shared one class together and got coffee. I think it's too soon to tell." Scara looks at him with confusion.

"I think you're perceiving this a lot more seriously than I mean it." Childe chuckles. "It's not like I'm claiming that we're best friends now. I'm just saying that I noticed that you don't hate me as much as I thought."

"Why does it even matter if I hate you or if I like being around you?" Scara asks, still not understanding.

"Well, 'cause I like being around you." Childe says bluntly.

"W... What?" Scara blinks not knowing if he heard him right.

"Don't get me wrong we certainly had a rough start yesterday, but I did feel a tad bit guilty after I bumped into you. That's part of the reason why I wanted to treat you to coffee, and now that I'm sitting here and talking to you, I think this isn't so bad. As bitter as you may be at times, I'd still like to do this again- if you'd let me, of course." Childe confesses to Scara, hoping it's not completely one sided.

Scara stays silent for a moment, taking in what Childe said. After a few seconds he speaks up, "I thought you bought me coffee because I agreed to show you where your class was?"

"oh. I mean yeah, but-"

"Then that means you still owe me for knocking me over." Scara says, hoping Childe knows what he's suggesting when he says this.

Childe is a little stunned at the response, not expecting him to be open to another meeting with him. He almost wants to relish this small victory, but he doesn't want to push his luck, so he takes it. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I should take a look at your schedule, so I know where to take you after this." Scara says, swiftly changing the subject so he doesn't think too much about what just transpired.

Childe shakes his head in agreement as he grabs his phone from his pocket "sure, sure. let me pull it up."

He hands Scara his phone and scoots closer to him to look at the schedule with him. Childe's face is pretty close to his which makes Scara feel a little awkward and unable to properly focus as he's trying to analyze what he's looking at.

"Back up a little, how am I supposed to focus on what I'm looking at with you breathing down my neck." Scara scolds the younger man.

"Ah, my bad." Childe chuckles nervously.

There's silence between them as Scara continues to look at the phone. He can't help but take note of the other details that he notices on the document. "It's in the same building that I'll be in for my next class. We should start heading there now if you want to be on time."

"Alrighty then," Childe stands from his seat. "Lead the way."

It's quiet for a moment as they walk together. Not necessarily an awkward silence but it's a noticeable one. It doesn't last long as Scara wants to ask Childe about what he saw on his schedule.

"I know you said your real name wasn't Childe, but are you intentionally hiding your name?"

The other boy stops in his tracks for a moment. "Why do you ask?"

"I noticed on your schedule the area where your name was supposed to be written was scribbled out. So, I'm just curious as to why that would be unless you're hiding your name?"

"We're you looking for my real name?" Childe raises an eyebrow.

"It's rude to answer a question with a question, and you've done so twice now." Scara glares at him with annoyance.

Childe starts walking again, wondering for a moment how he should respond. "My real name was given to me by my family and it's only for them to call me. That's all."

"I see. So, you're a family man?" Scara asks, even though the answer appears to be obvious with the way Childe answers his question.

"Most definitely." He nods proudly.

"And a business major?" Scara brings up another thing he noticed from his schedule. "It makes sense."

"I'm starting to think you were looking at my schedule just to conduct an investigation on me." Childe jokes.

"You don't have to make me sound like a creep. It was hard to ignore considering it was staring me in the face." Scara argues.

Childe sees an opportunity to tease Scara, so he takes it, "I'll just take it as you wanting to get to know me better, which I'm flattered by your attempt."

"Don't."

"I mean why else would you bring it up unless you had an interest in learning about me. It's sweet of you, really." Childe places a hand over his heart to express how touched he is.

"I was only curious." Scara shakes his head, now regretting his efforts to make conversation.

Childe sighs dramatically, "It's just a shame because now you know more about me than I know about you. You should share something else with me to make it even between us."

They stop walking, now standing in front of Childe's class. Scara thinks for a moment, pondering what he should tell Childe to make them even. "Is there something you want to ask me?"

"Well, you know my major, so can I ask what yours is?" Childe asks.

"I'd rather not say." Scara responds quickly.

"That's not fair." Childe frowns, but he knows Scara likely won't budge on that so he decides to settle on a different question. "Hm... are you also a family man?"

Scara freezes for a moment. He doesn't want to shut down another question from him but he's not exactly sure what he should say to this. He tries to search deep for an appropriate and simple response that could properly describe the complex relationship he has with them, but by the concerned look on Childe's face he can probably tell there's an internal war going on in Scara's brain. He didn't even realize until now how tense he must look from Childe's perspective for him to strike up that expression of worry. Scara takes a deep breath to calm himself down before he answers.

"I, uh... certainly have a family."

"Okayyyy. We'll just leave it at that. I don't want to cause you to have a stroke or anything by trying to elaborate."

"Thank you." Scara appreciates Childe taking the hint.

"Well, I should get to class now, but I'll see you!" he waves before entering the classroom.

"Bye." Scara says as he watches Childe exit his line of sight. He stands there, forgetting for a brief moment that he also has a class that he needs to attend soon. Scara quickly makes his way to where he needs to be, arriving just on time.

His second class goes by a lot faster than his first one, most likely because it's a lot shorter but Scara was just happy to be done with his first school day. It wasn't completely bad. The syllabuses were easy to understand, he didn't have any crazy homework to do, and he seems to be on better terms with that guy, Childe. He's still not entirely sure how he feels about him yet. He's definitely annoying but he didn't completely hate getting coffee with him. Scara shakes his head trying not to dwell on it any longer.

A buzz comes from his phone.

Heizou:

Kazu told me to text you to meet us at the dining hall in ten :P

Scaramouche:

The dining hall?? the food there is repulsive and we're all aware of it.

Heizou:

It's free tho. 

Scaramouche:

This was your suggestion, wasn't it?

Heizou:

For sure. :)

Scara lets out a deep sigh thinking about how much he hates the dining hall food, but he can't deny the truth in Heizou's statement. It is in fact cheaper. He sadly drags his feet there, praying that today's selection of food won't be too painful for him to stomach. It only takes him a few minutes to get to the building and spot his two friends.

"Scara!" Kazuha shouts out happily, waving to get his attention.

"Hey, Scara." Heizou greets him with a warm smile.

"Hello, you two." Scara says as he pulls up a seat so he can sit with the two of them. "I didn't keep you guys waiting, did I?"

"Nah, I already started eating." Heizou reassures.

"I just got done with grabbing myself a plate, oh, and I prepared one for you as well." Kazuha says as he hands Scara a plate of some stuff, he thought he'd enjoy.

"Oh, wow. You didn't have to do that." Scara says with appreciation in his tone.

"I know, I did it so you wouldn't be allowed to complain about the food because a dear friend of yours thoughtfully put it together for you." Kazuha jokes but there's some truth in there as well.

"Smart move, I can't lie. I'll just consider myself lucky to have a friend who remembers all the foods I enjoy and take what I can with it." Scara nods.

Heizou seems impressed, "Wow, someone must be having a good day. Usually, you'd still try and find something to grumble about."

"I'm going to have to agree, you actually said something positive right there. That's not very like you" Kazuha looks at Scara suspiciously.

"What, so just because I didn't immediately start moaning and groaning the second I sat down that means that there has to be something going on?" Scara squints at them.

"Pretty much." Heizou shrugs.

"It's only natural to assume so." Kazuha says as if it should be obvious.

"Nothing even happened today. I just went to class and came to see you guys." Scara explains.

"That was all?" Heizou says unconvinced. It's hard to lie to Heizou, not because of their friendship, but because he has a good read on people and can almost always tell when someone is lying. It's probably partially due to him being a criminal justice major and a detective in the making.

"I mean, I also got coffee with a classmate." Scara tries to mention it casually in hopes that they just leave it at that.

"There it is." Heizou snaps his fingers as if he figured it all out.

"Ooo, a classmate? Who is this mystery individual that you're hiding from us, Scara?" Kazuha asks, leaning in closer and giving him his full attention.

"He's nobody special. Just someone I met while I was moving in yesterday. We happened to share a class together so he invited me out." Scara explains as he picks at his food.

"Is he good looking?" Kazuha teases Scara with the question.

"Are you guys high schoolers?" Scara says getting flustered, now regretting the decision to meet up with these two.

"I'm just curious. Sometimes you have questionable taste in men." Kazuha tells him while trying to be gentle with his honesty.

"I can second that opinion." Heizou agrees.

"I'm not answering any of these questions." Scara refuses and glares at them both.

"Can I at least ask if this is just a classmate, or is this someone we're going to be hearing a lot more of?"

Scara hesitates for a moment before responding, "He's just a classmate."

"Since when do you go hanging out with just anyone? It took me weeks for you to even stomach the idea of hanging out with me." Heizou complains, crossing his arms.

"For me it was about five days." Kazuha says, relating to Heizou's claim.

"Enough with the whining, both of you. I only agreed because he offered to buy me coffee. When have I ever been above accepting anything free?"

"That is true. I had to offer you about 3 free meals before I was able to get you to be around me without expenses being made." Kazuha admits.

"You're one expensive ass friend." Heizou shakes his head.

"Are we done talking about this guy now?" Scara asks, hoping they can finally move on from this topic.

"For now, I'll drop it." Heizou scans at him with a sly look but lets his suspicions go.

"About time." Scara sighs in relief, but it’s short lived after he recognizes the sound of his notifications going off. He checks his phone to see that he's gotten an email from the Fatui to remind him that they will be having their first meeting of the year today. His face drops, he completely forgot about it. He's been dreading the idea of attending that meeting since they first informed him about it back in June.

"Is everything okay, Scara? You look upset." Kazuha points out the look on his face.

"I'm fine, I just have to go to one of my fatui meetings soon." Scara rolls his eyes at the thought of attending.

"Isn't that the club with all the pretentious assholes in it?" Heizou asks with a layer of resentfulness barely concealed in his question. He's dealt with a few of them in the past and it was certainly less than pleasant.

"Firstly, it's not a club, It's a program for gifted students. Secondly, I happen to be one of those pretentious assholes that you're referring to." Scara says taking slight offense.

"Yeah, I'm well aware." Heizou says poking fun at Scara. "Is there a reason why you don't want to go or are the meetings just boring."

"There's a few reasons why I wouldn't want to go." Scara confesses.

"Is one of them Dottore?" Kazuha guesses with genuine curiosity. Scara immediately feels nauseous the instant that name slipped past Kazuha's lips.

"Dottore? Wasn't that the guy you used to... Y'know..." Heizou does a few suggestive hand gestures to get his point across, causing the sickness in Scara's stomach to intensify greatly.

Kazuha takes notice of the look of illness on Scara's face and decides to do him the favor of answering for him "Yes, they used to have sex."

Scara groans and clutches his abdomen as if he had just been stabbed with Kazuha's confirmation on his behalf. He hates talking about any details of his romantic life and it feels even more repulsive when others talk about it for him. He lies his head flat on the table, avoiding eye contact as he tries to recover from his current embarrassment.

Kazuha pats Scara's back in order to comfort him. "There, there. It's ok. It's going to be a little awkward but at least you're not hooking up with him anymore."

More shame builds up inside of Scara as he's about to hit them with some unfortunate news. "I... I didn't break things off with him entirely."

"What?!" Kazuha looks at him with shock and a hint of disappointment.

"Ha, no wonder why you don't wanna go to that meeting." Heizou chuckles.

"I have needs!" Scara says defensively. "I'm not trying to find another person to fulfil them, it was hard enough trying to even warm up to him. It just feels weird since we're so off and on at times. I can't ever tell if we're cool or not, so I stopped talking to him over a month ago."

"Keep it off." Kazuha is straightforward with his response.

"Jeez, Kazu." Heizou can't help but laugh at Kazuha's blatant disapproval for the guy.

"I don't like him. He's not a nice person at all." Kazuha shakes his head.

"Trust me, I know. I probably won't even speak to him at the meeting, so don't even worry." Scara says, trying to take the heat off of him.

Kazuha gives him a deadpan stare, which Scara can deduce that that looks means he doesn't believe him in the slightest. Not wanting the topic to linger on any longer Scara brings up something else that's been on his mind.

"He's not even what I'm worried about. Yesterday, Signora told me that there's a new member who's joining us."

"A new member?" Heizou echoes back at him sounding confused. "Isn't it incredibly rare for someone to be accepted into your little program?"

"It is." Scara confirms. "Sometimes they go years without bringing anyone new in. It seems they've been taking in more people these past few years though."

"I would assume that means that they're either lowering their standards or that the competition is only getting better as time passes." Heizou theorizes the possibilities.

That last point sticks with Scara. He feels that competitive spirit boil back up within him, burning at him from the inside. It doesn't help that the new rankings will be announced in less than an hour. He refuses to believe that his spot could be taken by some random kid who probably doesn't even work half as hard as he does, but the chance of that happening is very real whether he likes it or not.

"I'm sure it won't be so bad. It's possible they could be someone you could relate to since you both are exceptional students. I'd recommend you make a friend out of this situation." Kazuha suggests.

Scara lets out a forced laugh, "Fatui members aren't the easiest people to get along with. The best I could hope for is that I don't make an enemy by the end of this. If they can recognize their place amongst us then it's possible things will turn out fine."

Scara takes his last few bites of his food before he grabs his bag and gets up from his chair. "I should be on my way now. I'll see you two around." He says as he walks away.

Heizou and Kazuha watch as Scara leaves, they then share a glance letting each other know they are on the same page with one another.

Heizou shakes his head, "Sometimes I forget that at the end of the day he is still in fact another one of those Fatui douchebags." he suddenly realizes that he just insulted one of their friends without knowing if Kazuha even agrees. He panics slightly wanting to fix what he said, "but he's still a great friend of mine of course." He gives a sheepish smile.

"No, No. It's fine. As much as I love the guy, he is a douchebag. Which is why it bothers me when he hangs around other guys who are just like that. It makes him worse." Kazuha says feeling defeated.

"You mean Dottore?" Heizou tilts his head curiously.

"I thought he finally got rid of that guy, but I guess one can only dream." Kazuha huffs in annoyance. "I just hope he knows what he's doing."

"As do I." Heizou nods in agreement. "But now that it's just us. Care to join me in my dorm to study?" he asks with a cheeky grin.

"To study, huh?" Kazuha returns the smile. "didn't think you'd have anything you'd need to study considering you didn't even have class today.

"You'd be surprised." Heizou shrugs "I think there's a lot I need to read up on before things get serious... with school I mean."

"Right. With school, of course." Kazuha chuckles.

"I think you'd make an excellent tutor as well. You are the smartest guy I know." Heizou says honestly.

"Well, in that case, how could I refuse?" Kazuha stands and looks back at Heizou, "shall we get going then?"

"We shall." Heizou is quick to stand up as well and follows right behind Kazuha as they leave the dining hall.

Scara takes his sweet time heading to his destination. For a passing second, he wonders if he should walk slower or take a detour before entering the building. He decides against it knowing how finicky these people are when it comes to punctuality and proper attendance. One slip up and he could fall in ranking, or worse, lose his spot as an official member. Eventually he arrives at the private meeting room that's specifically reserved for fatui members only. He pauses for a moment, unsure if he's mentally prepared to enter and face all of his fellow classmates. He simply takes a deep breath, turns the door handle, and steps in.

Chapter Text

September 4th, 4:50pm

Scara steps inside and to his surprise only Signora is there. He checks his phone; he didn't realize that he came 10 minutes earlier than necessary. Signora notices him from where she's sitting but she doesn't greet him, she simply looks at him then goes back to her phone. He doesn't feel offended by it, he would've done the same to her. After all they aren't that close of friends, so there's no need for small talk or anything of that sort. Scara chooses to not sit directly next to her but not too far either. He's not sure what to do to pass the time, he came here expecting the room to be full and everyone ready to get things started. He guesses that his anticipation made him think that time was going by a lot faster than it really was. He pulls out his phone and starts scrolling mindlessly through his apps until he notices Signora now standing in front of his desk.

He looks up from his device for a moment to acknowledge her before going back to his scrolling, "May I help you?"

"I was curious if you heard anything about the new member?" She asks to see if she can get any update from him.

"Nope." Scara answers simply, not bothering to even look up from his phone.

"Do have any theories on who this person might be?" she presses, still trying to get any kind of information out of him.

"Not in the slightest." Scara shrugs, remaining focused on his phone and not paying her any mind.

Signora sucks her teeth and is tired of being ignored. She snatches Scara's phone to demand his attention. "Could you be any ruder?" She scolds him.

"Hey!" he gets up from his seat and tries to snatch the phone back from her, but before he can she holds it directly above his head. As hard as he tries to grab it back from her he fails. Unfortunately for him he's just too short and Signora is unreasonably tall. He realizes how humiliating this is for him and thanks the universe for allowing nobody else to witness this shameful moment. He eventually gives up not wanting to prolong this embarrassing situation any longer.

"Signora. Give me my phone back." Scara demands, speaking through his teeth. He sounds slightly out of breath from his previous attempts to grab it.

"Then could you at least pretend like you're able to give a shit about what I'm saying?" She requests.

"No, because I really don't give a shit about anything you're saying. Consider me incapable of it even." Scara spews back at her, once again trying to swipe his phone from her but remains unsuccessful.

"Aren't you curious as to who it could be?"

"Obviously I'm curious, but we're about to find out who it is in less than 5 minutes, so who cares."

"I'm just wondering if you had any guesses." she shrugs.

"Do you have the patience of a toddler? We're seconds away from finding out, holding my phone hostage isn't going to expedite the process."

"Yeah, but it is fun to see you struggle. I find it to be an enjoyable pastime." She snickers as Scara scowls at her. "Plus, I already know who it is. I just wanted to see if you were able to figure it out yet."

Scara pauses, processing what she had just said, "What...?"

"I said, I know who the newbie is." She grins, loving how she was finally able to grab his attention.

"Why do you always torment me before telling me things? Why can't you ever just give it to me straight?"

"It wouldn't be as entertaining for me." Signora admits truthfully.

Scara rolls his eyes, "Well?"

"Well, what?" She plays dumb.

"Who is it?!" Scara asks, getting increasingly frustrated.

"Calm down and I'll tell you." Signora chuckles, but before she could speak again a few members walk into the room, one of them catching her attention. Scara recognizes who she's staring at and realizes that he immediately lost her. Arlecchino, a junior who is currently ranked at fourth place. He's noticed that they've been spending a lot of time together, or it'd be more fitting to say that Signora has been following her around every moment she can get.

"Later. I'll tell you later." Signora speaks quickly, not even looking in Scara's direction anymore. She tosses him his phone and swiftly makes her way towards Arlecchino.

Scara is able to catch his phone but is still annoyed that she left him in the dark. "How am I supposed to wait when the meeting starts in two minutes?!"

"Be patient!" She shouts back from a distance. Scara grumbles to himself feeling irritated but then hears the dreadful voice of someone he knows all too well coming from right behind him.

"Why is that Scaramouche I see there?" The sly voice rattles his brain, almost triggering Scara's flight or fight reflex, but he manages to keep himself together.

"Please God not him." Scara whispers to himself, praying that the man behind him won't be Dottore but knowing all too well that that voice belongs to no one other than the devil himself. He slowly turns around to face him and to his disappointment it is in fact Dottore, but he looks different from the last time he saw him. His blue hair grew longer and is actually styled instead of its usual messy look, he's wearing fashionable clothes rather than the uncoordinated rags he would just toss onto himself, and his sharp teeth seem to have gotten fixed, appearing to be a bit more flat except for his canines. It would be a bold face lie if he claimed that Dottore was still as unattractive as he was before, he was actually very handsome while still keeping that rugged appearance that Scara likes.

Once he's able to get a good look at him, Dottore smiles. Scara has a hard time believing it's a genuine smile of warmth or pleasure as it feels more mechanical, "I guess it is you."

"It hasn't been that long, there's no need to make a spectacle out of this." He looks away feeling embarrassed by the act that Dottore is putting on.

"I was just having the most difficult time trying to recognize that face of yours since the last time I saw it was around July." Dottore is sure to make mention of the fact that Scara stopped making an effort to reach out to him. He sounds like he means it playfully, but Scara's intuition tells him that it did somewhat bother him.

"I told you August was a busy month for me. You knew where I spent most of my time, so if you were really dying to see me then it wouldn't have been that difficult for you to do so. I believe you just weren't willing to try hard enough." Scara shrugs.

"Maybe I thought it would be worth it to wait for you instead." Dottore says as he inches closer to Scara, observing him as if he had just found a precious item. "They say distance makes the heart grow fonder."

Scara doesn't back up as Dottore approaches him, allowing him to enter his personal space. "Then by that logic, I was helping us grow fonder of one another by putting some distance between us." he says as he looks up at him, feeling his heart race a little.

"I can't say you're wrong." Dottore says while gently brushing a piece of Scara's hair behind his ear. He then flicks him in the forehead, "but I don't like being ignored."

"Ow!" Scara is snapped out of his trance and rubs his forehead. He watches Dottore walk away from him, he's reminded why he doesn't like being around him at times, "Prick."

Scara goes back to sit in his seat to wait the remainder of the time out, as more and more members walk in. Everyone else pretty much looks the same as he remembered, but then again he might not be a good reference as he tries to look at these people as little as possible. The final person to enter the room is the head of the program, Pierro. He rarely ever appears for these meetings, leaving the responsibility to organize and host them to his most trusted member, Capitano, the highest ranked of them all. Pierro only ever makes an appearance for the first meeting, special events, or emergencies, so any time he's around it builds a tense and serious atmosphere for everyone in the room. He makes his way to stand front and center grabbing the attention of all the members before his bold voice echoes throughout the room.

"Good afternoon, everyone." He speaks up, causing the room to go silent. "I'd like for you all to settle in and grab a seat as the meeting is about to take place."

Pierro gives them a moment to get comfortable and find their seats, when he sees that everyone has found their spots he speaks again, "I hope you all had a productive summer vacation and are ready to face the school year once more. I have faith that every single one of you will thrive in all your studies and extracurriculars as you always do as Fatui members. With that being said, I'm sure you all have received the email that was sent out regarding our new member. As you all know, every year we like to keep track of the progress or lack thereof with every one of you to ensure that the ranking amongst you all is accurate. With the arrival of new members added into the scenario your placements are not necessarily a reflection of your efforts but rather the individual who is brought in."

Scara feels a wave of unease wash over him as Pierro makes mention of the placements. What he basically just said was that if this person dethrones someone or ranks higher than him it's simply because they are better and there's nothing he can do about it. He feels an oncoming headache making its way into his head.

"Now, with your ranks, after taking the time this summer to observe and review every member's development from last year's school year, I'm proud to announce that all of you have deserved to keep your current placements." Pierro announces, but even while claiming to be proud he sounds unimpressed.

With him making that clear, Scara instantly feels like the weight of the world has been lifted from his shoulders. He lets out a breath he was unaware that he was holding and leans back into his seat. If nobody's rankings have changed then that means this person is taking an open placement. So that means they could either be eleventh, tenth, nineth, or... fifth.

"Fifth." Scara whispers to himself. The anxiety creeps back inside him as the realization embeds itself in his brain. This person could either place way below him or right above. He has to refrain from throwing up at the mere thought of the latter option.

"So I'd like everyone here to give a warm welcome to our newest member," Pierro turns to face the door then speaks again "If you would enter now, please."

Scara leans in close wanting to make sure he gets a good look at this person as they enter.

In walks a tall boy with long black hair, glasses, and an unsettling smile on his face. His entire demeanor instantly rubs Scara the wrong way. The rest of the class gives him a round of applause as he enters as they were told to provide him with a warm welcome, but Scara refrains from doing so as he hasn't done anything applaud worthy from his perspective.

The boy speaks up, "Hello, everyone. It's a pleasure to be part of this group, and I hope to make the acquaintance of all of you."

"Why don't you provide an introduction for everyone here. I'm sure they are interested in learning more about you." Pierro requests. "Be sure to use the name that has been given to you, we have a rule on not disclosing our government names."

"Ah, right, my name is Pantalone. I'm a first year and a finance major. I'm 19 years old, and was born and raised in Snezhnaya. I enjoy activities such as puzzles and chess. I think the last thing I'll make mention of is that I take great pleasure in managing finances so if any of you need help, I'd be glad to assist you with that." he finishes his introduction with that same smile that irks Scara deeply.

"It's a great pleasure to have you be part of our team, Pantalone." Pierro says, patting him on the back. "Before I have you take a seat, I must commend you on the impressive work you did during your high school years that earned you a spot with us. It's an incredibly difficult achievement to get in our program but I applaud you for the efforts that brought you here."

Scaramouche almost feels his eyes roll into the back of his skull with how hard he's rolling them. "If I knew this would be a competition of who can suck this guy off the hardest, I would've skipped this sorry meeting." he thinks to himself.

"Thank you, sir. It's an honor to be here." Pantalone nods.

"I'd like to once again express that we take a lot of time when considering the rankings of each of the students here. So feel pride in the fact that the founder of this program and I thought you'd be best suited for our ninth-place spot."

Scara can't help but grin when it's said that he's only ninth place. Any annoyance he previously had for this boy has now vanished as he no longer cares about him to any capacity. He hopes that this was the only announcement that needed to be made so he can return to his dorm and sleep like a baby tonight.

"I'm very appreciative of the amount of thought that went into my ranking. I will do everything in my power to maintain the standards and expectations you've set for me." Pantalone nods and goes to take his seat.

"Since we have now addressed this portion of our meeting, there is something I'd like to apologize to you all for." Pierro confesses and everyone in the room shares the same look of confusion. "For quite some time the founder and I have been discussing another very important decision that has only recently been made, so I must apologize for only sharing this news with you now and not including it in the email. We both thought it would be best if I shared this with you all in person."

There's a cloud of anxiety that looms over everyone in the room. There are some whispers that can be heard going around and Scara himself is trying to guess what this news can be. He leans back in his seat to look at Signora and she looks back at him just as confused and shrugs.

"There's no need to be anxious as this isn't bad news. It's just that our founder has taken an interest in another student and has made a special request for him to join our program as well. Normally I would've grouped the introductions together, but because we only came to this decision a week ago, it didn't feel appropriate to take away from Pantalone's moment. It worked out in our favor today anyway since this student happens to be running late." Pierro explains.

Scara is getting sick of the rollercoaster of emotions that this meeting has been putting him through. It's become extremely tempting to just get up and leave right in the middle of this, but his curiosity overrides that desire. At this point he's confident he could care less who this person is, as long as they're ranked lower than him then what does it matter? On top of that, he's sure this person is ranked lower because any high-ranking member would've been sure to show up on time, so he really does have nothing to stress about. It's not like anyone he knows is going to waltz on in.

"He should be here any moment now but-" Pierro gets interrupted by the sound of running and heavy breathing coming loudly from down the hall. Suddenly the door swings open and Childe enters the room confidently.

"I'm here!" he says trying not to sound as out of breath as he was a minute ago, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

Scara's jaw drops to the floor in disbelief and his stomach churns, "There's no way." He says out loud in pure shock, forgetting that people can hear him. He tries to regain his composure, but the overwhelming feeling of dread stops him from fully keeping a straight face.

"Ah, glad to see you were able to join us today." Pierro says, feeling a bit irritated by his tardiness. "With every meeting all members are expected to make an appearance in a timely manner, I must ask that you ensure that you don't make the same mistake again, as it reflects poorly on us and could negatively impact your position with the fatui."

"My sincerest of apologies, sir. My class went overtime, and I got lost on my way here, this campus is quite the maze." Childe jokes, trying to make light of the situation, but Pierro remains unentertained.

"The excuses are not necessary, you know what not to do now. The next time we meet, be sure to inform your professor. Fatui members are granted the privilege to be excused from class when meetings are being held, there's passes provided with every e-mail that can be printed out and shown as proof." Pierro informs him.

"Noted. It won't happen again." Childe salutes.

"That's better." Pierro nods in approval. "Go ahead and introduce yourself to everyone so we can move on to other matters. Be sure not to provide your government name and use the one we have given you."

"Gotcha." Childe gives him a thumbs up and then faces the class.

"What's up everyone, my name is Tartaglia, but you can also call me Childe. I'm a business major and I'm getting a minor in marketing. I just turned 19 back in July. I'm from Snezhnaya but I love traveling and hope to explore the world some day. hmm, what else?" Childe ponders for a moment. "I guess I'll wrap up by saying, I hope to grow amongst you guys as I improve and even increase in my rank." he finishes with a confident grin not realizing the audacity that came with that last statement.

"Interesting introduction, Tartaglia." Pierro says, mildly surprised by his bold statement. "Since you've brought up rank on your own, I think now is a valid time to let you and everyone else here know that the founder and I came to the unanimous decision that you'd fit best ranked at eleventh."

Scara nearly bursts a blood vessel from trying to keep from breaking out in hysterical laughter. Eleventh? After that bodacious claim? He thanks the universe for allowing him to witness such a beautiful humbling moment.

"Eleventh, huh?" Childe thinks to himself. "I love a good challenge. I give a special thanks to both you as well as the founder who has given me the opportunity to show my worth here. I hope to make you and all my fellow members proud to have invited me to be amongst the greats, as I'll only get better from here on out." Childe shakes the hand of Pierro as he goes to take a seat directly next to Scara.

Scara can't help but stare at Childe who is now a foot away from him, still feeling like this is all so unreal. "There's just no fucking way." He whispers to himself struggling to process this moment. He curses at himself for not realizing it sooner, this was why Childe was so secretive over his real name.

"Right, well, we're happy to have you Tartaglia." Pierro says wanting to conclude this portion of the meeting. He goes on to talk about other important issues such as what each member needs to improve on, what areas they are succeeding in, and upcoming events to keep an eye on.

While Pierro continues talking, Childe leans towards Scara and whispers softly, "I didn't expect you to be here. I would have never guessed you'd be part of this group."

"YOU didn't expect ME to be here?!" Scara accidentally speaks louder than he intended too, bringing attention to him again.

"May I continue, Scaramouche?" Pierro asks sharply, peeved at the interruption.

"I apologize." Scara tries to bring it down a notch before he chooses to respond to Childe again. "If you thought you were shocked then I'm sure you can only imagine how I felt. I don't even know what's so surprising about me being here."

"It's just that I thought you had to be really athletic to join this club?" he says, genuinely confused, not perceiving the insult he just unintentionally threw at Scara.

His eye twitches and he grumbles to himself "I can't believe they let a troglodyte go under their radar, this program really has lost its prestige."

"Huh?" Childe looks at him perplexed, unable to hear what he had just said.

"This isn't a club; this is a program for gifted students. Most people with a functioning brain would do some kind of research on the programs they plan on joining, but of course I shouldn't have expected that of you." Scara says venomously. "As for my athleticism, I happen to be very involved in track, and I work out daily."

"You do track? That's unexpected. I wonder which one of us is faster?" Childe contemplates the thought seriously.

"Me obviously!" Scara whispers loudly, trying to keep his voice down but it's getting increasingly harder with every second that he continues talking to this guy.

"Why obviously? I'd say that I'm pretty fast. We should race someday to see who's the better runner."

"It would be an insult to myself to even entertain the thought of allowing you to race against me. I'm practically going to this school for free because of my skills as a runner, I'm placed 6th in this group because of my athletic abilities. The nerve of you to even suggest you are anywhere near capable of competing against me astounds me." Scara rants, but Childe doesn't seem to take offense to any of the disses he's throwing at him. Instead, the competitive look on his face grows more intense.

"You're placed sixth?" There's a fire that ignites in Childe's eyes when he asks.

"Yes...?" Scara grows uncomfortable under Childe's fiery gaze.

"Another fact about you I'm surprised to hear. I'm learning so much about you today." He says, happy with his discovery.

Scara suddenly feels embarrassed at how much he's revealed about himself to Childe, "Don't get used to it."

"You're ranked much higher than I thought you'd be. I guess that means there's a lot I could learn from you. You should mentor me." Childe suggests with high hopes that Scara agrees.

"You assumed I'd be lower than sixth?" Scara says in genuine disbelief at his disrespect. "You know what- I'm done talking to you. There's no reason why I should be getting this worked up over someone who's considered to be the bottom of the barrel out of everyone here."

"We'll talk more after the meeting then." Childe leans back in his seat feeling determined.

"No, we- ugh." Scara gives up and focuses back on what Pierro is talking about.

After another 20 minutes go by Pierro dismisses everyone, encouraging all the veteran members to introduce them to the newer ones. Scara makes the choice of passing on the suggestion as he feels completely drained. He can't understand how a decent day can turn into an exhausting mess from a single 35 minute gathering. He grabs his bag and hopes that Childe doesn't try to interact with him further as he tries to leave.

"Hey, Scaramouche! Wait up!" Childe shouts, stopping Scara right by the door.

"What?" He says with exhaustion all in his tone.

"I was serious when I was asking you to mentor me. Would you be interested in it?" Childe asks again, trying to get an actual answer from him this time.

"Unpaid labor doesn't sound all that appealing. Strong pass." Scara says beginning to walk away again, but he feels a hand grab at his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"I'll pay you then." Childe's expression is more serious than Scara is used to seeing on his face.

"Tutor you on what exactly?! I don't know what it is that you expect me to teach you." Scara says getting more annoyed.

"You said you're really athletic, right? Have you ever done MMA before?"

"I used to when I was in high school. I dropped it my senior year to pursue track more seriously." He explains as he removes Childe's hand away from him by pinching the boy's sleeve and placing it back at his side.

"Train with me then." Childe asks. "One of the reasons why I was accepted into this program is because I'm a good fighter, but someone like you could make me an even better one."

Scara pretends to think then shakes his head. "Uhhhh... I'm good."

"Please."

"No."

"I can go on my knees. I'll beg if you'd like?" Childe offers.

Scara considers it for a moment, then snaps out of it, "Save us both the embarrassment."

"What will it take to convince you?" Childe pouts.

"You'll just have to figure it out for yourself." Scara shrugs.

"Perfect. You'll be seeing a lot more of me." Childe says rising up to the challenge.

"Oh, the horror." Scara groans.

"You're so dramatic." Childe laughs softly, but then his expression then turns into something a bit shyer, "Also, I wanted to ask you before, but I wanted to see if I could get your number- or just any way that I could reach out to you. Up to you."

Childe's hint of shyness does something to Scara that increases his confidence "You want my number?" He raises an intrigued eyebrow when he asks.

"We do share a class together so it would be nice to be able to contact you for homework or anything of that sort." Childe says trying to keep the question casual, but he can't help but push it a little further, "Plus, I was hoping to plan that second coffee trip with you sometime soon. Wouldn't want to stay in your debt forever."

"That is true." Scara agrees.

"So, what do you think-" Childe gets interrupted by a second party entering the conversation.

"Scaramouche entertaining the fresh meat? A sight I wouldn't have guessed I'd be seeing. He must be getting softer these days, am I right?" Dottore chimes in, nudging Childe in a manner that feels overly friendly.

"Who are you?" Childe asks, trying to figure out this guy's intentions.

"Ah, jeez. Where are my manners? The name is Dottore, I'm ranked 2nd here." He extends his hand to shake Childe's and flashes him a toothy grin. The high-ranking number doesn't threaten him but Dottore's soulless smile surely disturbs him. He hesitantly accepts his hand, and they share a firm handshake.

"Childe, I'm eleventh." He says maintaining eye contact.

"Oh, I know. We all know." Dottore chuckles hollowly. He lets go of Childe's hand and wipes his own on his jacket.

"What's that mean?" Childe challenges with glare.

"We speak the same language, don't we?" Dottore says flatly.

"If you want to insult me you can say it directly. No need to keep it cute." Childe says itching for a fight.

"I don't entertain those ranked in the double digits for longer than two minutes. If you don't mind, I'd like to speak to Scaramouche."

"Nah, I think I'll-" Childe is then shoved past like he's nothing and Dottore focuses his attention on Scaramouche now. Before Childe can escalate things further Scara gives him a deadly serious look and shakes his head. As much as he's dying to start something, he backs off on Scara's request and walks away feeling aggravated. Once Childe is gone Scara gives Dottore a peeved look.

"What?" Dottore asks innocently.

"Do you always have to have your quarrels right in front of me?" Scara sighs.

"It's not intentional, it's just that you tend to be there." Dottore shrugs.

"Do me a favor and keep it far away from me." Scara requests as he starts to walk away.

Dottore grabs him by the shoulder and gently pushes the shorter boy against the wall. Scara's eyes widen and he quietly lets out sharp gasps when he makes contact with the cold surface.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry? I didn't scare the little red head away just for fun, y'know?" Dottore asks scanning over Scara, taking in the sight of him.

Scara is stunned for a moment, he blinks away his initial shock and swallows, "My room, if that's alright with you?" his attempt to sound slick falls flat as his voice cracks briefly.

"I was hoping you'd stay and chat with me. Just for a little while." Dottore softens his voice, he removes his hand from Scara's shoulder to lift his chin slightly.

"Chat about what?" Scara asks, keeping his responses short to lower the chances of a stutter slipping out.

"The fun we used to have. Don't you miss it?" he coos in Scara's ear.

"Miss it? I don't know if that's the proper word." Scara says, turning his head away, feeling a little bashful but also trying to see if anyone is watching. Everyone still seems to be socializing in the room for the most part, but it doesn't help this nervous feeling he's experiencing.

"Don't lie to me. I know you think about it from time to time, possibly during the late hours of the night, when you're alone with nothing but the thought of me to keep you restless." His voice sounds breathy now as he trails his finger from Scara's chin to his chest.

Scara grabs his wrist to make sure it doesn't travel any lower, "I also think about the vicious arguments we'd have where we'd curse each other out whenever it came to anything that wasn't sex."

"What if I changed during that one month that you left me without any warning?" Dottore playfully pouts.

"That answer alone gives me the impression that you didn't." Scara gives him a deadpan look.

"Fine, fine. I'm not perfect, sue me." Dottore puts his hands up in surrender, "But you can't say I wasn't fun." Scara remains silent, unable to confirm nor deny what Dottore is talking about.

"You had a good time with me, Scara. At least give me that." Dottore caresses his cheek gently.

"I guess it wasn't always bad." Scara feels himself lean into the touch. It's been a while since he's received any form of affection, he almost forgot what it could feel like.

"Is that a yes then?" Dottore grins.

Scara thinks, then looks back at him, "...Let me think about it."

There's a quick second where Scara notices Dottore's lip twitch, but it doesn't last long as he's quick to fix his face. He takes a few steps back from him. "Take all the time you need, just don't leave me hanging this time, alright? You have my number." Dottore winks at him and walks away.

Scara takes a deep breath and starts making his way to his dorm. Once he arrives, he drops his bag on the floor and collapses onto his bed.

"Oughhhhh." He groans. There's already too much to think about and the semester only just began. He lies there for a couple extra minutes before getting up and preparing for bed. After he showers and brushes his teeth, Scara goes to bed lying on his back staring at the ceiling. He can't sleep. His mind wanders and it unwillingly finds its way back to Dottore. He hated how often they'd argue with one another, but god was it good when they made up. It was almost worth it just for the reward at the end. Scara feels himself grow warmer as he recalls the explicit memories that are now preventing him from sleeping. He tosses and turns, then sighs in defeat.

He opens up his phone to stare at Dottore's contact, "Kazuha is going to kill me."

Chapter Text

September 11th, 1:35am

Scara wakes up in a cold sweat, gasping for air. He doesn't remember what his dream was, but it certainly wasn't a pleasant one. He puts his hand over his chest, feeling how fast his heart is beating as he tries to calm down. Scara closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths, gradually getting himself to be at ease.

He sighs, now able to think rationally. Scara looks around his room to see that he's engulfed in darkness. He grabs his phone to look at the time and groans as he realizes it's almost two in the morning. He glances to his side and recognizes Dottore's sleeping form right next to him. He almost wishes that he could wake him up for some type of comfort, but he knows that that isn't the type of relationship they have. The sudden shame and guilt hits Scara like a truck and he rubs his temples from the stress. They started meeting up again for the past five days and as much as it's been a real pleasure, he knows how disappointed his friends will be in him.

Scara's stomach growls. Maybe that's what's causing him to experience these terrible nightmares, he's just hungry. He gets up from his bed, puts some slippers on, and heads downstairs to the trusty vending machine. As he makes his way to the machine he feels how sore his body is from the exciting night he had, but his need for food gives him the strength to push through. He digs in his pockets for his wallet but finds nothing. He sighs. He only had one trip in him, he's not sure that he's coming back down here if he returns upstairs to retrieve his wallet. Right as he's ready to admit defeat and accept that he's going to bed famished he hears someone call out his name.

"Scaramouche?" Childe calls out as he approaches him, still unsure if he's correct.

"Box Boy?" Scara says confused.

Childe chuckles and leans against the vending machine "You're still calling me that? I thought we moved past that arc."

"I like it better than the name you told me, that's for sure." Scara shrugs.

"A nickname? Didn't know we were that close already." he teases him.

Scara scoffs, "Keep dreaming."

"What brought you out here at this early hour?" He asks, feeling nosey.

"Well, I'm not sure if you can tell, but I'm actually trying to get food from a vending machine." Scara says sarcastically.

"Would've never guessed considering how long it's taking. For most people it would only take about 2 minutes, but you must be trying to set a world record for how slow someone could take to press two buttons." Childe returns the same sarcastic energy.

"Unfortunately for me, I forgot my wallet. So, I guess this is where this interaction ends." Scara walks past him.

"Do you want me to spot you?"

Scara halts, taking in Childe's words then eventually turning back around, "Spot me?"

"Yeah. Like paying for your snack." Childe elaborates, not understanding what Scara isn't getting.

"Is this your attempt to get out of your current debt to me?" Scara tilts his head.

"What? Oh, are you talking about my offer of getting you another coffee? If so, no. I still am very much looking forward to that."

Scara is about to ask another question, but Childe cuts him off "It's called doing something nice, Scaramouche. Pick a snack."

"Salt and vinegar chips." Scara decides after some thinking. 

"Terrible choice, but sure, why not?" Childe inserts the cash and presses the proper buttons.

"What's your go-to then?" Scara questions, ready to judge.

"Trail mix." Childe answers confidently as he pays for his desired snack next.

"What kinda choice is that? Are you somebody’s granola mom? Weirdo." Scara rolls his eyes.

"It's got a good mix of everything. How could I not get it." He grabs their snacks from the compartment and hands Scara his chips. "Care to join me outside for some fresh air?"

"At this hour?" Scara sounds unsure.

"I mean you're going to be up eating anyway. Might as well enjoy the warm weather before it gets cold." Childe reasons.

Scara is about to refuse the offer, but he then remembers the state he woke up in and suddenly some company doesn't sound so bad.

"I could use some air." He nods, accepting the offer. 

"Follow me then." Childe begins heading for the door.

Childe brings him to a bench right outside their dorm building. They sit in silence as they enjoy their snacks together. Scara stares at the full moon and stars shining down on him, for some reason the sight brings a feeling of serenity to him. He closes his eyes to take in the moment and finally feels completely calm. After a while Scara turns his head to check on Childe but he catches him taking a glance at him.

"What are you looking at?" Scara asks, letting him know that he caught him staring.

"You." Childe admits honestly.

"Why?" He tilts his head, not understanding.

"For a moment, I could see in your face that there was nothing on your mind. Usually you have this expression that looks like you're being tormented by everything going on in that head of yours. But right there, it looked like it was quiet for once.

For some reason, it bothers him how Childe was able to accurately describe and recognize an experience he was going through without him having to tell him. It makes him feel odd. "I like stargazing I suppose."

"Y’know, for a guy who has a lot on the mind, you rarely ever share your thoughts. Maybe if you did, you'd have more moments like this." Childe suggests.

"You're telling me to share what's been on my mind? How do you even know if there is something bothering me?" Scara crosses his arms.

"You're currently up at two in the morning and we both have class at nine. Most okay people would be in bed right now." Childe provides his reasoning while giving Scara a look that tells him he can't hide from him.

He has a point, "Doesn't that imply that you're going through something as well?" Scara calls him out.

"Smart observation. I’ve been having trouble sleeping for my own reasons. I'll tell you my problem if you tell me yours first." he offers.

"Why do I have to go first?" Scara complains.

"'Cause I asked first." Childe says simply and gives him a smile feeling like he won.

Scara sighs and hesitates, thinking on whether he should open up to him or not. He doesn't know Childe all that well so he doesn't fully trust him, but if not him then who else can he talk to? "I woke up because I had a bad dream that I can't remember. Even though I forgot it, I have a feeling it happened because I've been overly stressed as of lately."

"What's been stressing you out?" Childe presses, trying to get him to talk more about his troubles.

Scara shoots him a side eye. He knows it’s a normal question to follow up with, but he's not used to doing this with people he's practically strangers with. "A few days ago, I made a decision that I know my friends wouldn't approve of." He chooses to keep it as vague as possible.

Childe recognizes that this is as much as he's going to get out of Scara, so he just works with what was given to him, "What made you do it?"

Scara thinks for a moment trying to find an answer "It felt good in the moment. It felt like something I needed."

"Does it still feel good now?" Childe asks.

"It does, but not as much. I just don't want them to look at me differently if I tell them." Scara admits.

"Obviously I don't know your friends, so I can't speak for them, but I know that friends are there to look out for us. I'm sure they just want the best for you, but at the end of the day they're supposed to stick by your side through your best and worst moments. So, while I'm sure they have their reasons for their disapproval, if they care about you, they'll continue to try and guide you while still giving you the support you need. Though if I were you, I’d ask myself why they're against what I'm doing and reflect on it." Childe shares his thoughts on Scara's situation.

He sits with that for a moment. With the way Childe explains it everything sounds so simple, but he can't blame him since Scara provided him only two sentences worth of context. Even with receiving the most basic and standard advice from him, he surprisingly doesn't feel as bad as he did before. He never realized that even the slightest bit of reassurance could go so far for him.

"I see." Scara nods. Although he doesn't say much to what Childe had said, there's still a noticeable positive shift in his demeanor, "And you?" 

"I think I'm just homesick." Childe confesses. "I haven't had the easiest time adjusting here so I've been thinking about my family a lot." There's a sadness in his eyes when he brings up his family.

"Why not visit them?" Scara asks, confused. He remembers from Childe's fatui introduction he mentioned that he's from Snezhnaya so they can't be that far.

"It's complicated." Childe says, deciding he also wants to keep it vague. Scara would like to ask more about it, but since he respected his choice to not talk too much about his predicament, he'll share the same courtesy.

"Understood." Scara leaves it at that.

Both of them remain silent, continuing to eat the rest of their snacks. While they are unable to fully help each other as they refuse to go in depth about their issues, they find some comfort in being next to each other in their shared struggle. When they finish their snacks, Childe is the first to stand and offers his hand to help him up from the bench. Scara looks up at him, noticing the moonlight gently lighting up the other’s face. He can't help but think that Childe looks beautiful like this. He ignores the thought and accepts his hand, which brings him to his feet. They enter the building, and Childe walks Scara back to his room.

"I'll see you for class in the morning?" Childe asks.

"If I don't sleep through my alarms." He shrugs.

Childe chuckles, "Goodnight, Scaramouche." He heads to his dorm, giving Scara his space.

Scara enters his room feeling a bit better than how did when he left it. He quickly brushes his teeth again and crawls back into bed with Dottore, sleeping without any nightmares this time.

September 11th, 8:30am

When he hears his alarm go off for the fifth time in a row he truly begins to regret sleeping at the late hour that he did. He shuts it off and sits up in his bed, feeling the lack of energy take over his body. He turns to check if Dottore is awake, but realizes that he's gone and the only sign of him ever being there was the small imprint he left on his bed. He's not surprised, in fact, he would've been more shocked if he stayed. He chooses not to dwell on it and gets ready for his class.

As usual, he arrives a few minutes earlier than the scheduled time. He takes out his laptop and revises the reading that was due today. Around two minutes later, he sees a few other students step into the room, one of them being Childe. He doesn't pay him much mind as he chooses to sit next to him again.

"Whatcha looking at?" Childe nosily takes a peek at Scara's laptop.

"The reading we were assigned." He gives him a glare and slightly scoots away from him.

Childe's face drains itself of all its color, "...We were assigned a reading?"

Scara lets out a laugh, "Don't tell me you forgot. The professor mentioned it multiple times last class."

"I thought it was optional!" Childe panics.

"Not at all. It’s written clearly in the syllabus that he starts every class with a three-question quiz based on the readings he assigns us. It's how he marks attendance."

"What kind of bullshit way of taking attendance?! What happened to the old-fashioned method of marking a person present after calling their name?" He whines, burying his head in his hands. 

"Clearly it has no place here, so you're either absent or your first grade for this class just may be a solid zero." Scara gives it to him straight.

Childe groans, but then a mischievous grin grows on his face, "Man... if only I had your number. I could've texted you to ask if we had anything due today. Might've even been able to prevent this terrible fate from happening to me." He now sighs dramatically.

"Paying attention in class could've also saved you, but hey, what do I know." Scara says, keeping his eyes glued to his laptop.

"C'mon Scara. What's so bad about giving me your number? Scared to admit you made a new friend." He jests

"We're not friends, and I didn't say you could call me Scara." He looks at him in his peripheral view and scowls.

"Can I call you Mouche then?" He rests his head on his hand as he asks.

"No.”

"Mouchie? Moo-Moo? Mocha?" Childe throws suggestion after suggestion.

"Why are they getting farther and farther away from my actual name?" He asks in confusion.

The last few people enter the classroom and the professor follows behind, ready to get the lesson started. Childe's playful energy is immediately zapped out of him when he realizes that he's about to bomb his first quiz. Scara can't help but let the smallest smile appear on his face at Childe's misery. The class takes up the entire three hours instead of ending early this time, allowing everyone to register that the school year is now in full drive. The professor is sure to write down the homework on the board, and let's them know that there will be an e-mail sent out as well to make sure everyone is informed of what will be required for next week's class.

Scara starts putting his stuff away, and as he's preparing to head to his next location, Childe speaks to him again, "Is it because of your boyfriend that you don't want to give me your number? I promise you my intentions are pure."

A chill goes down Scara's spine when hearing that word leave Childe's mouth, "Who the hell are you talking about?"

"The blue guy. The mean one who was a jerk to me after the Fatui meeting." Childe tries to remember his name but he's struggling to find it, "Do... Doris? No, that doesn't sound right. I don't know, I think his name was Donatello or something." He says, not putting a lot of effort into trying to figure it out.

"Dottore is not my boyfriend." Scara responds sharply, now starting to walk to his next class.

"Oh. He isn't?" Childe sounds surprised and decides to follow alongside Scara.

"God, no. I wouldn't punish myself that severely." Scara shakes his head.

"You can't blame me for believing so. You guys seem to be more than friendly with one another." Childe shrugs.

Scara's face burns at the mention of their behavior towards one another, "It's not like that and even if it was it's none of your business."

"I'm not judging. If anything, I'm happy for you." Childe gives him a proud look, as if it's an accomplishment to not be dating someone like Dottore. Scara rolls his eyes at his approval and keeps walking. It doesn't take long before he reaches his destination.

"So... does that mean I can get your number?" Childe asks one last time.

"Hmm not sure. If I give you my number, then you won't learn to pay attention in class by flunking quizzes.” Scara teases.

"For your information, I actually got two out of the three questions correct using my master intuition." Childe puts his hands on his hips with pride.

Scara is actually surprised that he didn't do too bad, but he can't let him know that he's even somewhat impressed, "Bravo. Then it seems like you don't even need my number, you're clearly thriving without it."

Childe gives him a frown and stares at him. He then squints his eyes while making a weird, scrunched face that brings a lot of concern to Scara.

"Wh- What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to force yourself to cry?" Scara looks at him horrified.

"Shh. I feel a tear coming." He shushes him as he continues his attempt. He even starts to force some whines and fake sobs before the embarrassment eats at Scara's soul.

"How pathetic are you? Don't you have any shame?" He says, dumbfounded by Childe’s desperation.

"Not at all. I could do this all day." Childe adds a little sniffle at the end of his sentence.

"Could you stop!? You're freaking me out!" Scara tries to avoid looking at him, but eventually he caves, "Alright, alright! Fine. Give me your phone."

Childe immediately stops the act and hands it to him, "Can I save you in my contacts as Scara?"

"If it prevents you from calling me any of those other stupid names you came up with then knock yourself out." He says as he types. When he's done, he goes to give Childe his phone back but immediately pulls it away again, "Also, you have to promise to never do whatever the hell that was ever again."

"I pinky swear." he offers Scara his pinky.

"Are you five?" Scara looks at him in disbelief.

"I take my promises seriously, so you have to seal the deal with me or else it won't count." He wiggles his pinky to insist on it.

Scara sighs and interlocks pinkies with him, "I have to get to class now." He says ready to exit the conversation.

"One more thing before we part ways." Childe quickly mentions before Scara leaves.

"What, Childe?" Scara groans, anxious to head into class on time.

"There's some party going on this Friday. I was wondering if you were interested in going. Apparently, one of our fellow fatui members is hosting it. I think her name was Signora?" 

"Of course." Scara scoffs. Signora always likes starting the year off strong and what other way to do it than having a party. He knows that most of the other Fatui members will be there which makes the idea of going even less appealing. He doesn't enjoy alcohol or weed all that much either so there's no other reason for him to go unless he got some sick masochistic joy in being overstimulated and surrounded by drunks.

"I'm not really a party person, so I think I'm good." Scara declines.

"Yeah, I assumed so, but I thought I'd still ask. I'll send you the details in case you change your mind." Childe insists.

"It likely won't." He responds honestly, "Goodbye, Childe." Scara gives him a nod before heading into the room.

"Bye, Scara." He waves as he starts heading to his own class now.

The lecture doesn't take too long to finish which is something Scara always appreciates, but now it's the middle of the day with nothing left for him to do. He tries to think of any solo activities he can partake in but he just settles on heading straight for his dorm to start his homework. When he makes it to his room he heads to his desk and opens his laptop to get started on his assignments. It only takes a few minutes for him to grow bored and start doodling mindlessly in one of his papers. As he draws he thinks of his friends that he's been avoiding. Kazuha and Heizou always loved ripping his doodles out from his notebook and keeping it for themselves. It was hard to explain when he'd hand in his work to his teachers, but it never impacted his grades so he didn't mind it. He wonders what they've been up to these past few days that he went without talking to them. Scara takes out his phone and decides it's time for him to man up and reach out to them.

Scaramouche:

Hey.

He waits anxiously for a few minutes, then sees a loading text bubble appear causing his heart to stop for a moment.

Heizou:

He lives!

Scara lets out a deep breath and chuckles to himself. At least things aren't tense between them. It’s likely that he was overthinking the whole thing and the issue was only on his end.

Kazuha:

Scara! It's been a while, my friend. ^.^

Scaramouche:

It has. I was wondering if you guys wanted to do homework together.

Heizou:

I'm down. What about u Kazu?

Kazuha:

Sounds good to me. :)

Scaramouche:

Come whenever you're ready. I'm not doing anything for the rest of the day.

Kazuha:

We'll probably be there in 10.

Scaramouche:

You guys are together rn?

Heizou:

Ya.

Kazuha:

We were getting textbooks from the school store together.

Scara can't help but feel a little excluded from his lack of invite, but to be fair he hasn't been talking to them either. He chooses to sweep that feeling under the rug and moves on.

Scaramouche:

Ok. See you guys soon then.

Scara puts his phone down and pushes it to the side. He continues doodling as he waits for the others to arrive. It doesn't take long for them to text him that they arrived. He goes to open the door and is greeted by the two friends that he's been longing to see.

"Glad you two could make it." Scara steps to the side to let them in.

"We're happy to be here." Kazuha says with a smile as he walks into the room.

"Your room is so bland. Where's the decorations?" Heizou scans his room while shaking his head.

"If you want to spend the money to make this place pretty, then by all means go crazy." Scara chuckles lightly as he returns to his desk.

Kazuha and Heizou leave their shoes by the door before making themselves comfortable on Scara's bed. They start getting their homework out, but they end up doing more talking than they do working.

"I really don't understand why textbooks are so expensive. It's not like I'll ever be using most of these books outside of this single class that's also adding onto my current debt" Heizou complains.

"My professors were nice enough to scan the pages we needed for the school year and uploaded them, so we didn't have to pay for anything." Kazuha gloats, not being able to relate to the struggle.

"Way to flex on me, Kazu." Heizou pouts and shoves Kazuha lightly.

"Don't be mad at me. I helped you pay for some of those textbooks. You have only yourself to blame for registering for classes so late and getting stuck with all the terrible professors that were left over." Kazuha shoves Heizou back playfully and giggles softly.

"If it makes you feel any better, Heizou, one of my professors is starting every class with a quiz that requires a 20-page reading to be able to pass it. It's his way of taking attendance." Scara says understanding Heizou's pain.

"Yeah, that's rough." Kazuha shakes his head at the thought.

"That does actually make me feel better. Thank you, Scara." Heizou nods with a content smile.

"You should've seen the face of this one guy who forgot to do the reading. It was priceless, I'm telling you." Scara smiles at the memory.

"Hmmm." Heizou hums, squinting at Scara as if he's peaking inside of his soul. Scara shifts uncomfortably under his intense gaze, Heizou even inches closer to his face to get a better read on him. "Does this guy happen to be the classmate you told us about before?" Heizou raises an eyebrow.

Shit. This guy doesn't forget a thing, does he?

"Maybe it is, but so what? What does it matter?" He feels the defensiveness pick up in his tone.

"If I recall correctly, you said that this guy was 'just a classmate' and we wouldn't be hearing about him again. So much for that, huh?" Heizou smiles, feeling like he caught Scara red-handed.

"Do you happen to be friends with this guy?" Kazuha asks, also curious to know more about this mystery boy.

"No! I can barely stand him. Any time we talk it takes years off of my life." Scara grimaces.

"So, you guys talk often?" Heizou makes note of what Scara had just mentioned.

"Barely."

A loud buzz comes from Scara's pocket. They all go silent. In the blink of an eye Heizou snatches Scara's phone and hides behind Kazuha as he looks at the text message Scara just got. Immediately Scara jumps up from his seat and starts chasing Heizou.

"Hey! Get back here!" Scara tries to grab him but Kazuha being in the way makes it difficult.

"I would appreciate it if you guys took this away from me." Kazuha says getting overwhelmed by the action going on around him.

"Ha, ha, I think I've seen enough." Heizou laughs as he tosses Scara his phone back.

Scara grabs it and punches Heizou in the arm, glaring at him as he goes to sit back in his seat.

"Owww." Heizou rubs his arm. "Don't be mad at me 'cause ‘Childe from psychology' wants to meet you for another coffee date." He continues to tease.

"His name is Child?" Kazuha asks, perplexed.

"It has an 'E' at the end, Kazu." Heizou informs him, to prevent future confusion.

"Childe." Kazuha repeats to himself, still confused by the name choice. "Why did his parents do that to him?"

"It's his own nickname. He chose it." Scara says as his eyes are glued to his phone, checking to see what Childe texted.

Unknown:

Heyyy.

Unknown:

It's Childe from psych. Lemme know when you're down to grab another coffee.

Unknown:

Also, in case you change your mind I'll send a link to the flyer for Signora's party. Hope to see you there :)

After Scara finishes reading that last message, he gets another text from Childe which includes the link that he was referring to. He puts his phone back in his pocket, choosing to respond to him later.

"Are you actually going to meet him for coffee again? That's so cute." Kazuha smiles, genuinely happy for his friend.

"Will just be for coffee or are you going to add some cream into the mix?" Heizou gives him a sly grin with the suggestive implication.

"Disgust. Both of you." Scara shakes his head in disappointment.

"And what's this party he's talking about? Are we invited?" Heizou jokes but shows genuine interest in the message.

"It's some lame fatui crap that Signora is probably doing with her sorority friends. I have no intention of showing up." Scara waves his hand dismissively at the mention of it.

"Now, now, let's not make decisions so hastily." Kazuha puts his hands up to stop Scara in his tracks, "My question is... will there be weed, and if so, are outsiders allowed?"

"Kazuha, for the love of God." Scara rubs his temples.

"Whatt? It's been ages since I let loose and enjoyed a roll. I think I've earned a little treat." Kazuha smiles at the thought.

"I'm down if Kazu is down. Plus, I've been dying for a drink since my first class started." Heizou chimes in.

"I'm also curious to meet this guy that you've been talking about. Gotta see if I approve of the boy who's warming my best friend's icy heart." Kazuha teases.

"He's not doing anything of the sort. I have no interest in getting involved with anyone else right now." Scara rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

"Anyone else?" Heizou echoes back at him, trying to understand what he means by that. “Who else is there?”

The room falls silent again. Scara realizes his slip up and an instant wave of regret washes over him. He can see Kazuha's face fall in disappointment as the positive atmosphere quickly dies and replaces itself with thick tension. He hates Heizou for his incapability of letting things get past him.

"I knew it." Kazuha says, completely unsurprised but the intense displeasure is there.

"Knew what?" Scara tries to play dumb.

"Don't do that. You know what." Kazuha gives him an exasperated look, not in the mood to play games. "Is that why you've been ignoring our texts? You're too busy fucking Dottore?" Kazuha says bitterly.

"My God, this is exactly why I didn't want to tell you. If I was looking to be judged I would've just had this conversation with my mom, not her substitute." Scara spits back.

"Yeah, what an asshole I am for looking out for one of my friends. I'm not trying to be your mom, I'm simply letting you know that maybe it's not a good idea to get involved with the man who used to make your life a living hell."

"I'm sorry, am I getting married to this guy? I don't know why we're pretending like I'm going to be moving into his house and having five of his kids by the end of the month. It's just sex, so what's the problem here? I can end it at any moment I feel like.” Scara asserts, with anger in his voice.

"But you won't, will you? You can, but you're going to wait until he brings you back to your lowest point and I'll have to be the one to help you back up again." Kazuha complains.

"Then don't! I never asked you for your help! I don't need you, Kazuha. I'm fine handling my personal relationships on my own." Scara says harshly.

"That's great, Scara. Then I don't ever want to hear any complaint about this when it inevitably backfires. You're a grown man, you made your bed, both you and Dottore can do whatever you want in it." Kazuha looks away, trying to hide the hurt in his face.

"Right, well, that got heated quickly." Heizou chimes in, feeling awkward now.

"No, it's fine. I shouldn't care so much. Whatever happens, happens. It's your life Scara." Kazuha sighs with obvious distress in his face. He gets up from the bed and starts grabbing his stuff, Heizou follows his lead.

"You're seriously leaving?" Scara grows upset at the realization.

"I don't want to be here right now. Heizou and I have dinner plans anyway." Kazuha walks toward the door to put his shoes on, making sure to avoid any eye contact with Scara.

"Whatever. Have fun." Scara goes back to working on his assignments.

Kazuha shakes his head then exits Scara's room with Heizou. Scara hears the door shut and instantly feels even more aggravated than he previously did. He can't even focus on his work right now so he slams his laptop shut. The stress and frustration builds in his body, driving him crazy. His need for relief clouds his judgement and he reaches for his phone.

Scaramouche:

Come over.

Scara barely thinks about what he's doing and just tosses his phone after he hits send. He just hopes that a night with Dottore will help him blow off some steam and clear his mind. He even starts to freshen up by fixing his hair, reapplying deodorant, spraying some cologne, and changing into only a robe. By the time he finishes up he hears a knock on his door. Scara can feel himself getting worked up already as he heads to the door, but once he opens it and all the blood drains from his face.

"Hey." Childe says with a smile.

Chapter Text

September 11th, 7:30pm

Heizou and Kazuha are sitting inside a dimly lit sushi spot not far from their campus. Heizou asked Kazuha to join him for dinner a few days ago and offered for it to be his treat as a ‘thanks’ for helping him study. He was hoping to make it a nice celebration meal to start the school year right, but the argument Kazuha had with Scaramouche spoiled the evening. He watches Kazuha pick at the food, looking lost in thought and distressed. Heizou can't stand seeing him in this state.

"You seem to be in high spirits. Does it have anything to do with what happened earlier?" Heizou asks, trying to keep the energy light but still showing concern.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I know you wanted this to be a fun outing but I just can't help but feel a little down with what happened." Kazuha frowns.

"Hey, there's no need to apologize. I understand. Wanna tell me what you're thinking?" Heizou hopes he can find some way to make him feel better.

"It's just- I know Scara is a dear friend of mine, but some of the choices he makes are... questionable." Kazuha shakes his head, "I don't understand why someone would choose to be with a person who's only going to make them miserable. It's almost like he's fine with making the same mistakes repeatedly and I'm not sure if I can handle seeing what this does to him."

"Is Dottore really all that bad? I've only seen them interact a few times, but it never seemed to be anything terrible." Heizou tries to get more context, still not understanding what happened with Dottore for someone like Kazuha to dislike him so much.

Kazuha pauses, not sure how much he can reveal to Heizou without violating Scaramouche's privacy, He chooses to tread lightly, "He's a cruel and selfish man. If he's choosing to be with Scara it's likely not because he wants him as a partner but as his guinea pig." Kazuha says pensively, as if trying to figure out what Dottore will be trying to subject Scara to next.

"His guinea pig?" Heizou questions.

Kazuha feels like he's sharing too much but continues anyway, "He toys with him. It's like he's studying Scara for his own twisted motives. I don't know what those intentions are but I'm honestly scared to find out. That's all I can really say." Kazuha ends it there, hoping that will be enough for Heizou to get where he's coming from.

"So, he's sadistic and it seems like our friend is a masochist." Heizou deduces.

"I believe so too." Kazuha agrees with sorrow in his tone. He looks down at his plate of food that remains untouched.

Heizou senses the sadness growing in Kazuha and he hates it, "Kaz, you've done everything you could to help him and it's up to him to want better for himself. You're a good friend for caring so much and if he can't appreciate that then he doesn't deserve you."

"I feel like I’m failing him by letting him do this again." Kazuha sighs.

"He's failing himself. You're not responsible for him so there's no need for you to feel this way." Heizou tries to reassure him. "It's ok, Kazuha. It's your big heart that is making you feel this way, but I want you to know that you did a perfect job handling this."

He reaches over and places his hand over Kazuha's "You're perfect."

Kazuha looks up at him and his face flushes before he quickly pulls his hand back.

"Oh- uh, sorry. " Heizou chuckles nervously, now feeling awkward.

"No, no, it's ok." Kazuha feels bad at his instant rejection to Heizou, "It's just been a while for me is all. I'm still trying to get used to something like this." he admits sadly.

"I get it. I'm patient." Heizou nods with a smile, trying to make Kazuha feel better. He knows how hard it was for Kazuha to move on from his previous relationship, so he'll do whatever it takes to help guide him back to where he needs to be again.

"I appreciate that." Kazuha smiles, feeling good now, "And thank you. For everything."

"It's my pleasure, Kazu. I'm sure Scara will eventually grow tired of that asshole, and who knows, maybe he'll go for someone new. Like that guy Childe possibly? " He tries to give Kazuha something to look forward to.

"One could only hope. Anyone would be better than Dottore." Kazuha laughs softly and shakes his head. Heizou laughs with him, and they finally begin to eat and enjoy each other's company like how they originally planned.

September 11th, 7:50pm

Scara instantly slams the door in Childe's face without even thinking. His brain is all scattered and he's breathing hard. What the hell is he doing here?

"Uh, Scara?" Childe speaks up from behind the door, "Is everything ok?"

"Wh- What are you doing here?!" He asks, holding his robe closed tight, feeling exposed now that he’s seen him in such a state.

"What do you mean? You asked me to come over?" he says, just as confused as Scara is.

The realization dawns on him. Scara opens up his messages and sees that instead of texting Dottore he sent it to Childe by accident. His deep frustration and horny state must've blinded him as to what he was doing. He feels so stupid for not double checking who he was talking to before hitting send. The voice from the other side of the door breaks him out of his self-deprecating frenzy.

"I tried texting you a few times after that first message, but you never responded. I got worried so I came here as soon as I could. Do you mind coming out and telling me what's going on?" Childe requests, sounding worried.

Scara sighs, knowing that he can't just let this confused man remain standing outside his room forever. He cracks the door open and peaks to see Childe still there looking concerned. Once he makes eye contact with him he looks a bit more relieved and gives him a soft smile.

"There you are. Is there a reason why you're hiding from me?" He raises an eyebrow trying to understand Scara. "You do realize you asked me to be here, right?"

"Listen, I-" Scara is about to explain the situation, but his entire being refuses to let him embarrass himself by admitting he invited the wrong guy to come over for a quickie. So, he opts to lie instead.

"I was just having the hardest time trying to get my homework done and I was wondering if you were able to figure out what to do for the assignment?" Scara pathetically attempts to put a lie together while on the spot.

"So, you invited me over to help you with your homework?" Childe sounds surprised, he never expected that Scara would be asking for his help especially so early in the semester, "Wow, I assumed that I'd be the first to ask for tutoring, but I'd be happy to help a fellow classmate."

Scara was hoping to send him away right after the lie but somehow, he found a way to invite himself in Scara's room, "That's not what I was-"

"I get it Scara, there's no need to be shy. It takes a lot for a person to humble themself and ask for help. I'm honestly impressed by your ability to do so." Childe says, taking pride in the fact that Scara specifically asked for his tutoring and nobody else's.

Every word that leaves Childe's mouth makes Scara want to punch him in the face, but at least he was dumb enough to believe his very obvious lie. Or maybe all it takes to convince Childe of anything is a slight stroke to his ego and some praise. Either way Scara will take what he can get out of this humiliating situation.

"Whatever. Come in, I guess." Scara concedes, accepting this frustrating turn of events. He opens the door in defeat, forgetting that he's only wearing a robe and it reveals more than what Childe is used to seeing. Childe immediately averts his eyes and turns red at the sight.

"I-is this what you wear to study?" Childe asks, feeling bashful at Scara’s unusual choice of attire.

Normally, Scara would feel just as awkward, but after being made to be humbled too many times in one conversation it feels good to see Childe get flustered. 

"Yup. Are you coming in or not?" Scara looks at him boredly, not caring what the answer is anymore.

"Sure, yeah." he steps inside the room, still trying to avoid looking at Scara as he enters.

They sit on Scara's bed, going over the assigned reading together. Childe is doing his best to break down information that Scara is already familiar with, while Scara throws a fake hum of interest at him every once in a while to keep up the act he's been putting on. He’s doing everything in his power to keep his mind from drifting as he is still worked up from earlier, he even decided to keep a pillow over his lap for safe measure. Yet, the harder he tries to not get distracted, the more distracted he becomes. He hears the words come out of Childe's mouth but he only really sees his lips, taking in how soft they look. His messy hair falls in his face while he looks down at his laptop, perfectly framing it. Childe's been avoiding looking at him all night, but Scara can't help but stare at those deep blue eyes that look so focused on the assignment in front of him. As much as he hates this guy, the only thing he can think about is how much he wants him right now.

"You haven't been listening to a thing I've been saying, have you?" Childe frowns.

"What are you talking about? Of course I have." Scara says defensively.

"I asked you two questions, and you answered both of them with a 'mhm' and a 'yeah that makes sense.'" he gives him a deadpan stare, "You didn't really invite me over to study, did you?"

Scara feels caught and he gets upset at the correct accusation, he begins to blush. "Obviously that's the only reason why I invited you here. What other reason would I need you to be here for?"

"I'm not an idiot, Scara. You're more on top of your studies than I am, so you don't need my help with any of this." Childe looks at him closely, trying to see what's going on in his head. Scara remains silent, not wanting to confirm or deny his claims.

"I have a good idea on why you brought me over." he gives him a knowing grin.

"Do you?" Scara raises an eyebrow, curious to see where this is going.

"I do." Childe nods, he shuts the laptop and scoots closer to Scara. Scara's heart picks up speed as he gets closer and he feels his breath get heavier. The excitement he feels grows but he refuses to be the first to make a move, he just waits for Childe to take things further.

"Then do share, why do you think I asked you to be here?" Scara looks up at him as he asks sensually. The anticipation is killing him as every second goes by.

"You just wanted to hang out with me but were too embarrassed to outright ask, weren't you?" Childe says confidently.

Scaramouche's head falls in immense disappointment at the sexual tension dying. He sighs, "Wow, you got me."

"What? Am I wrong?" he tilts his head, not knowing what other reason there could be. He was very wrong, but there was no way he'd be able to give a right answer because Scara didn't mean to invite him at all. So instead of finally admitting the truth, he settles for another lie.

"Slightly, but not entirely." Scara thinks for a moment and decides that if he's not going to get laid tonight then maybe he can use this moment to his advantage. "I invited you over because I wanted your input on something we spoke about before."

"Oh?" He raises an eyebrow, "I didn't think you'd ever care about my opinion on anything" Childe sounds surprised.

"And typically, you'd be right, but congrats. Today's a special day for you since I, once again, have nobody else to talk to." Scara applauds him.

"Lucky me." Childe fake cheers at the false celebration, "Well, lemme hear it. How can I be of service to the great Scaramouche?"

Scara gives him a quick glare at his sarcastic nickname but proceeds anyway, "I ended up telling my friends about that thing I was hiding from them... by accident."

"By accident?" Childe repeats back at him perplexed. "How does that happen?"

"It was a slip of the tongue but that's beside the point." Scara grazes past the question, not wanting to get into the details, "It led to me having an argument with one of them and it ended pretty badly."

"Okay." Childe nods, waiting to hear more.

Scara looks at him blankly, expecting him to follow up with something else.

"Wait, i- is that it?" he looks at him puzzled.

"What do you mean 'is that it?' What else do you need to know?" Scara says annoyed.

"Uh, everything? How the hell am I supposed to help with only that amount of context given to me?! You can't expect me to magically understand what you mean by just telling me that you had an argument that went bad. Most of them do. Maybe if I had more that I could go off of then I'd be of more use but right now I'm clueless." Childe shakes his head at Scara's inability to cooperate.

"Ughh, you're useless." Scara groans.

"Me!? How am I at fault here? That's like asking someone to bake bread with no flour. I'm sorry buddy, but unfortunately you gotta open up in order to get proper advice from someone."

Scara frowns, he hates that he's right, but he can't change the fact that he is.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll share something that's been on my mind after?" Childe offers.

He thinks on it then nods, accepting the offer. "Fine."

"Now, go ahead. The floor is yours." Childe grins, excited to finally get information on the matter.

"They're upset with me for getting... involved with someone recently."

"Involved? Meaning...?"

Scara looks away and flushes, not wanting to have to explain what he means by that. The redness on Scara's face gives Childe some kind of idea of what he's saying.

"Like sexually?" Childe guesses.

"It doesn't matter how, just know that I'm now involved with someone they aren't a fan of." Scara says, attempting to move on.

"Oh, my, Scara. I didn't know you got active like that." he playfully pokes fun at him, "I assumed you hated interacting with people too much to do anything of that sort."

"I do." Scara agrees, "He's just a special case."

"I gotcha. So, why don't they like this guy?" Childe asks, trying to understand the situation better.

"He's an asshole. We had something going on before and I can admit it wasn't the healthiest dynamic." Scara confesses.

"Is it Dottore?"

"Wh- what? how'd you know??" Scara sounds shocked at the correct guess.

"You said the person was an asshole and he was the first person that came to mind." Childe shrugs. "Plus, I mentioned before that I thought you guys had something going on."

Scara remembers that he did say that in the past. He groans and lies flat on his bed. He hates this whole process of opening up to someone.

"Ok, so if I understand correctly, you and Dottore have been hooking up again and your friends don't like him, so they got upset after you accidently told them?" Childe says trying to put the whole thing together.

"Yes, so what are your thoughts?" Scara asks again.

"Well, I can certainly understand their concern now," Childe admits honestly. "But you're your own person and you're allowed to be with who you want. I just don't understand why you'd be with him if you knew it wasn't a healthy relationship the first time."

"It's not like we were dating. I keep him around to satisfy me."

"I know, but you could do so much better than him. You're a good-looking guy, so I'm sure if you put yourself out there it wouldn't be hard for you to get another person to do that for you."

Scara feels weird hearing the compliment but chooses not to acknowledge it, "I like that it's easy with him. We're already familiar with what we both like and don't like, it'd be hard to find another person like that."

"So, you're used to him, is what you're saying?" Childe concludes.

"I wouldn't put it like that. It's just that the number of people who I keep in my life is few and I doubt any of them are up for the task."

"Sorry, but I can't help but agree with your friends on this. Even with the little interactions I've had with the guy, he seems like he's bad news. Like I said though, you're allowed to do whatever your heart desires. I'd just respectfully let your friends know and hope that they can accept that this is what you want." Childe shrugs, accepting that there's not much he can do to change his mind.

Scara pouts, disappointed at the turn out of this conversation, "It's just a casual relationship, I don't understand why people act like we're deeply in love. I can end it with him whenever I feel like it."

"Hm... maybe I just don't get it 'cause I've never been in one before?" Childe thinks out loud, "but if you say you can end it at any time then I guess that's not so bad."

"Wait- you've never had a casual relationship before?" Scara's eyes widened a bit in shock.

"Nope." he shakes his head.

"What about a one-night stand?" Scara asks.

"Nuh uh. I've only ever dated seriously." Childe explains.

"Didn't see that coming. I expected a pretty boy like you to be a real player." He says still surprised.

"I don't know whether to be flattered by the compliment or feel insulted by you assuming I've been giving it to anyone." He chuckles, unsure on how to feel.

"You can feel however you want." Scara shrugs.

"Sleeping around isn't my thing. I enjoy the thrill of trying to win someone's heart and putting all my energy into keeping them happy." Childe explains, smiling at the idea of being in a relationship.

"How adorable." Scara rolls his eyes and pretends to gag.

Childe's smile then turns a little pained, but he tries his best to make the shift not too obvious, "Ha, ha, yeah I guess."

"What? Did my comment bother you?" Scara senses the change in him and feels a pang of guilt but keeps a straight face. He starts feeling uncomfortable with the situation since he’s not familiar with how to comfort people.

"No, you've said way worse before." He shakes his head.

"Then what's with the sudden mopey look." Scara looks at him confused.

"It's nothing. I'm just being dramatic." Childe tries to brush it off.

"You said, you'd share something as well, so go ahead. Unless you plan on breaking your word?" Scara gives him a disappointed stare.

"You're right." He sighs, not wanting to break his promise. "Not long ago, I got into a serious argument with my boyfriend-"

"Your boyfriend?" Scara interrupts, not expecting to hear that.

"Yeah?" Childe looks at him confused.

"Should've guessed. Anyways, proceed." Scara gestures for him to continue.

Childe shoots him a glare but he's not all that offended by the comment, "Yeah, as I was saying, I got into a heated altercation with my boyfriend before I left for school. He was saying that he felt like the distance would put too much of a strain on our relationship and we both wanted different things out of life. I was willing to do everything I could to see him as much as possible, money wouldn't have been an issue. I didn't mind compromising on my life goals either, but he insisted that we weren't compatible and told me that I should find someone that suits me better, since he didn't want me to change myself for him. I appreciated the sentiment but... I miss him sometimes." Childe looks down, mourning the now lost relationship.

Scara takes in what he says, worried he might say the wrong thing as he's not used to this level of vulnerability from just anyone.

"I understand why you do casual relationships though. The less you care about someone then the less likely they are to hurt you." Childe reflects on that.

"Trust me, you can still hurt doing that. It just means less because it's not coming from someone you genuinely care about." Scara corrects him "but, I think your ex was fair in his reasoning for ending things off with you. Long distance is hard work that not everyone is willing to go through, he was most likely one of those people. Just because you're ready to put in that effort doesn't mean that he's able to or is even interested in that for himself. As for you trying to compromise on your long term goals, that was a disaster waiting to happen. You'd find yourself miserable and he'd be at the receiving end of that resentment for something you chose to do." Scara tells him honestly.

Childe remains upset at the situation, he understands what Scara means but he always thought that he and his boyfriend would be able to work through any obstacle. If he had known that it was only him that truly felt that way he wouldn't have invested so much into him.

Scara notices that Childe still looks just as miserable as before, and tries a different approach, "He's missing out though. Do you know how many people out there would be begging for a committed partner who would drop everything for them? It sounds like he made a really stupid decision if you ask me. You were practically asking to be his devoted follower for free. You'd have to be a fool to reject an offer like that."

Childe laughs a bit and decides to piggyback off of his joke, "Yeah, I'm a real catch. Almost impossible to resist. I guess, Zhongli was just an extremely rare case, pretty much unheard of even."

"Ah, so his name was Zhongli?" Scara takes note of that.

"Yeah." Childe nods.

"Well, Zhongli obviously couldn't tell that he had won the lottery there and lost out on a real investment." Scara shrugs, enjoying the banter going on between them.

"You sound like you're pitching me like a car salesman would." Childe snickers.

"Something I'm sure a business major could appreciate." Scara says.

"Someone certainly has a good memory, seems like you do care about me, don't you?" Childe nudges him playfully.

Scara looks away and shoves him lightly, "Not even close."

Childe falls back on the bed, then grabs one of Scara's pillows and throws it at his face with a competitive smile. Scara catches it before it makes contact and sticks his tongue out at him tauntingly.

"Seems like you're feeling better. You move on quickly." Scara points out, before chucking the pillow back at Childe.

He tries to dodge the pillow, but it hits him square in the face, "I could say the same for you. It seems like the right company serves as a good distraction." He says truthfully as he props himself up on his elbows.

"I guess so." Scara agrees.

The small bit of action that happened between them causes Scara's robe to slip off his shoulder, which Childe is quick to notice. His face flushes, he had almost forgotten the very little amount of clothes that Scara had on right now. Childe doesn't even know how he should let Scara know that he should fix his robe without making it sound like he's either disgusted with him or calling him a slut. Instead, he reaches over and fixes it for him, pulling the cloth back over him.

"Sorry, I just noticed it was slipping." He rubs his neck shyly.

Scara's face can't help but heat up, but he plays it cool, "You don't have to be so weird about it. You only did me a favor."

"Right, right. Exactly." Childe agrees, relieved that Scara wasn't uncomfortable with that. He still feels a little awkward so he checks the time on his phone then speaks up, "Ah, it's getting kinda late. I should head back now, but you should invite me over more. I liked this."

"Not too sure about that." Scara shakes his head, watching as Childe packs up his stuff and starts heading to the door.

"Sureee." Childe says with doubt in his tone. "See ya, Scara." He smiles and then leaves.

Scara keeps his eyes on the door as it closes. Once he knows that Childe has fully left the room, he lies back on his bed and thinks back to a few seconds ago. He starts remembering how Childe's fingers felt as they lightly grazed his shoulder. He needs something to get the thought out of his head. He decides to get ready for bed, changing into sleep wear and shutting off the lights, but the interaction replays in the back of his mind the entire time. It doesn't help that he's still pent up from not getting his relief from earlier.

As every second passes he gets warmer under all these sheets, he kicks them off in frustration and notices the tent in his pants. Why couldn't he have just texted the right guy to come over? He can't sleep in this state, it would be impossible, so he has no other choice but to take care of it himself. He carefully brings his hand over his clothed need, massaging it lightly. He lets out a soft sigh, as he feels himself get harder. His mind once again brings up that small interaction he had with Childe, he had no idea that something so simple could make him feel so hot. Once he feels like he's worked himself up enough, he pulls his boxers down just enough to take out his aching erection. Wanting to prevent his shirt from getting in the way he decides to put the hem of it in his mouth and holds onto it with his teeth. The cool air on his heated skin causes him to shiver.

He starts by gently teasing his tip with his thumb, letting out sharp gasps here and there. Precum starts to leak and get on his fingers as he starts to apply more pressure on the head of his dick. When he grows bored of the teasing, he realizes he isn't slick enough to take things farther, so he removes the shirt out his mouth and spits directly on his cock. Scara has to bite his lip to prevent any whines from escaping as he guides his hand slowly over his shaft.

Usually with Dottore he likes for things to be quick and rough, trying to get off as fast as possible, but right now he chooses to take his time. He finds himself wondering how different it would be if it was Childe who he was hooking up with. The way he talks about relationships it sounds like he'd be more into taking his time with his partners and making sure they get off first. The more Scara thinks about it, the faster he moves his hand. His legs start to shake slightly, and his head falls back.

"F- fuck." Scara whines, as he feels himself getting closer.

As good as it feels, his hand alone isn't doing enough to push him over the edge. It causes the frustration in him to grow as he feels himself throb in his fist. He's not sure what comes over him, but he imagines Childe's hand in place of his own, but it manages to get the job done swiftly.

All it takes are a few more pumps and Scara is squeezing his eyes shut and pressing his thighs together as he lets out loud needy moans. He covers his mouth using his free hand and he eventually cums, getting it all over his hand and dripping on his stomach. He strokes himself through it until the overstimulation starts to get to him. When he comes down from his high, he looks at the sticky mess he made on himself and frowns in disgust. He always hated the aftermath of this kind of stuff, so he's quick to get up and clean himself off.

As Scara washes his hands, he makes the uncomfortable realization that he just got off to the thought of that guy he hates. Why did he think of Childe though? Sure, he was an attractive guy, but so was Dottore and he's the one he’s been hooking up with. He just assumes that it was because he just recently saw Childe, so he was the first to be on his mind. After he comes to that conclusion, he’s quick to head to bed as he has an early morning ahead of him tomorrow.

September 13th, 6:55am

Running always helped Scaramouche clear his mind before making any important decisions. Indoor track season doesn't start for another few months but It doesn't stop him from using the Fatui's field to practice on his own. Waking up early, watching the sunrise as the air fills and exits his lungs from the exercise, it makes him feel human. He stops and tracks his time, forty-six seconds. Not bad for a 400m but he feels like he can do better. He doesn't have the time though as his next class starts in five minutes. As he jogs there he thinks about what he's going to say to Kazuha after his classes. He's hoping that he can stop by his room later today to talk and fix things. He's unsure of what he expects to happen with this conversation but he's hoping that things can go back to the way they were before.

His day goes by a lot slower than what he's been getting accustomed to. He can't tell if it's because the three lectures he had for the day were just really boring or if it's his anxiety that prolongs the day. When it's finally over the sun is already beginning to set and he's pretty exhausted. He decides to grab some food to hopefully bring his energy back up since he wants to feel his best for this talk.

As much as Scara hates the dining hall food it happens to be the most convenient option for him at the moment. He thinks back to the last time he was here, sitting with his two friends, enjoying their company. They sure can be annoying, but their presence helps him get by the day. Now he eats quietly by himself, and he can't help but be hyper aware of the silence. He notices some of the people from the Fatui are also here, grabbing food together. At first Scara is confused as to why so many of them are grouped together, but then he remembers that there's a party Signora is hosting later tonight. It's likely that they're meeting up before they make their way there. Once he finishes his food, he tries to sneak past the group, hoping they wouldn't notice him. Unfortunately for Scara, Signora has a sharp eye.

"You're not slick, Scaramouche. I see you over there." Signora calls out.

Scara sighs then turns to face her, "God forbid I try to go about my day without talking to you."

"Forbid it indeed. You better show your ass tonight." Signora crosses her arms and smiles.

"For what? Are you hosting a princess tea party or something?" Scara pretends to be in the dark.

"Oh, you." She fakes a laugh and punches his arm hard.

"Ow?" He rubs his arm.

"My friends and I are hosting a little something. You should come." Signora asks.

"I'm good." Scara says without hesitation.

"You need to loosen up. When's the last time you drank or had some fun? Y'know, Dottore is going to be there." She nudges him as she tries to put on a convincing tone.

"Are you trying to convince me or dissuade me because I genuinely can't tell." Scara raises an eyebrow.

"Sorry, I can never tell when you guys hate each other or are jerking each other off." Signora rolls her eyes.

"Would you keep it down!" Scara shushes her with a glare.

"All I'm saying is that you should go. I'm dying to know how you are when you're plastered." She grins.

"Don't get your hopes up." Scara says as he walks away. Signora shakes her head and sits back down with the others.

As Scara walks towards the dorms, he thinks about that party and how Signora mentions that Dottore will be there. He had a hunch that he would be, as he has a special interest in studying social settings. Scara hasn't seen him in the past few days, it's not that he's been purposely ignoring him like the last time but he's been thinking about him less. He doesn't know why that is but he feels like seeing him again might set him back.

Eventually he makes it to Kazuha's door. He doesn't even know if he should be here since he's coming here unannounced. Kazuha might not even want to see him right now. He pushes those thoughts to the side and knocks regardless. There's no answer. He knocks one more time and the silence let him know he should leave. He starts to turn around but suddenly the door opens.

"Oh, didn't expect to see you here." Heizou leans against the doorframe, surprised.

"I was thinking the same thing." He admits, not expecting Heizou to answer. "Is Kazuha here?"

"He sure is." He turns his head to look inside the room, "Kaz! You got a visitor!" Heizou waits for Kazuha to show up and they both stand there awkwardly. Scara can't help but notice that they've been spending a strange amount of time with one another.

"Do you live here now or something?" Scara asks, trying to see what the deal is.

"Might as well be." Heizou shrugs.

Before Scara can ask another question, Kazuha appears at the front door. When he sees Scara he tenses a little, looking uneasy.

"Hello, Scaramouche." He greets him.

"Do you really have to be so formal? I'm your friend, not some police officer here to question you." Scara crosses his arms.

"I'll be inside if you need me." Heizou says, wanting to swiftly exit this conversation. He affectionately pats Kazuha's shoulder and returns inside the room.

"Thank you." Kazuha gives him a genuine smile and briefly puts his hand on Heizou's to let him know he'll be ok.

"Aren't you two just the cutest? You guys are so perfect you make Hallmark couples look toxic." Scara says sarcastically.

"Did you come here only to be an asshole?" Kazuha glares at him, unamused. "If that's the case then I can always just leave."

"Relax, I'm just messing with you." Scara says, trying to break the tension. "I came here to talk things out and... apologize" he says that last part quietly.

"And what?" Kazuha leans in to hear better, "I’m sorry, I wasn't able to catch that last part."

"Apologize." Scara says through his teeth, almost looking pained.

"Did hell freeze over? Did pigs grow wings? Or did I actually hear you say that you intend to apologize to me?" Kazuha sounds baffled.

"At least your sense of humor is back." Scara sighs, "But yes, I admit that I've been acting unpleasant recently. I should've responded to your criticisms better since I know you're only concerned for me as my friend. I also shouldn't have been ignoring you while I was conflicted with figuring out how to break the news to you."

"I must say, it had to have taken a lot out of you to come here to say sorry. I'm impressed. I assumed you were incapable of that." Kazuha applauds him.

"Lovely." Scara says flatly. " Does that mean you're accepting it?" He asks, trying to see where Kazuha's head is.

"Hmmm. I guess I could forgive you." Kazuha nods.

"Perfect. Now that that's out of the way, I did also want to make it clear that this doesn't mean that I'm going to be breaking things off with him. As much as I appreciate you looking out for me, I'm a man with needs. Unfortunately, Dottore does a pretty good job at satisfying them. I'll do my best to keep you two separate though."

Kazuha has to refrain from groaning. He knew this wasn't going to have the most satisfying conclusion, but he gives Scara credit for putting his best foot forward and trying, "Alright. I can accept that."

"So, we're cool?" Scara scans his face trying to be sure.

"We're cool." Kazuha nods and smiles. "Would you like to come in?"

Scara wasn't expecting it to go this well, "Sure. Can I ask you something first? Friend to friend."

"Uh, sure. I suppose so." Kazuha looks at him curiously.

"Soooo, You and Heizou. What's that about?" Scara gestures to him and Heizou who is inside the room and unaware of the conversation.

"We're trying to figure that out as well." Kazuha shakes his head and smiles fondly looking back at him. "He's a good guy. It's just... I don't know if I'm ready."

"I see." he says, understanding the situation now. Kazuha hasn't been able to view relationships the same after he lost his one and only boyfriend. "Just know, I believe Tomo would be happy if he knew you were moving on."

"I appreciate that." Kazuha smiles weakly, getting a little emotional at the thought, "Anyways, get in here."

Scara nods and heads inside the room and sees Heizou lying on Kazuha's bed, scrolling on his phone. Heizou looks down and sees Scara in front of him and grins.

"Heyyy, seems like you guys made up. Thank god, I was worried I was going to have to celebrate two Christmases." Heizou jokes.

"Oh, please. You would love that wouldn't you?" Kazuha shakes his head.

"Maybeee." Heizou gives a mischievous smirk.

"Sadly, for you, the friendship lives another day." Scara playfully pushes Heizou causing him to make room for him on the bed.

"Next time." He sighs loudly and crosses his fingers. He puts his phone down and sits up now, "But since we're all buddy, buddy again, don't think I forgot about that party tonight. I still wanna go."

"Ah, right. I've been thinking about it as well. " Kazuha agrees and joins them on the bed.

Scara groans, he was hoping that they'd forgotten all about it, "Or we could not go. That sounds even more fun to me."

"Booo." Heizou shouts while giving him a thumbs down. He nudges Kazuha, "Boo him with me, Kazu."

"Booo." Kazuha joins in.

"Yeah, yeah, those boos are falling on deaf ears. Did you two forget that all of the fatui is expected to show up, including the one that you currently despise."

"I have no intention of interacting with him. I'm just there to have a good time and get a little high." Kazuha nods.

"Ditto." Heizou agrees.

"However, if you do plan on talking to him, just keep him away from me. I don't need him giving me a bad trip the minute I make eye contact with that demon." Kazuha grimaces at the thought.

At least they aren't totally against him talking to Dottore. That takes some pressure off of his back, but he's still unsure if he wants to attend.

"Won't your pal, Childe be there as well?" Heizou asks, trying to see how Scara will react to his question.

Scara pauses; he almost forgot that he'll be there. Something about that makes him a little nervous, "Yeah, so?"

"We want to meet him." Kazuha looks at him with excitement.

"Absolutely not." He refuses.

"C'mon, let us at least say hi. Once we say hi, we'll have gotten all our curiosity out of our system, and we can stop bothering you about him." Heizou explains.

Scara thinks about that. On one hand he would rather get hit with ten semi-trucks than ever have any of them cross paths, but on the other hand he would leap with pure joy if they stopped harassing him about this guy. As much as he does hate the idea of going to this party, he is curious as to why Childe wants him to go so bad. Does he have something planned for him or does he just want to see him? Both of those ideas make him feel weird inside, but he can't help but want to find out.

"You swear you guys will drop it after this party?" Scara squints at them, trying to make sure they mean it.

They both nod.

"...Alright. Fine." Scara sighs.

Chapter Text

September 13th, 11:50pm

Kazuha, Heizou, and Scara are quick to get dressed and be ready for the party. They don't wear anything insanely eye-catching, but Scara is sure to put more effort into his outfit than he usually does. Thanks to Childe sending the party's flyer, they were able to make it there without any trouble. When they arrive outside the house it's already pretty crowded with a bunch of people that none of them recognize.

"Does she really know this many people?" Kazuha asks surprised.

"No, I think most of them are friends of the people Signora is connected with." Scara answers him.

"Okay, so now that we're here, I think we should make some kind of agreement before we step inside." Heizou suggests.

"An agreement?" Kazuha repeats, sounding confused.

"What kind of agreement?" Scara asks, unsure of what he means.

"I don't think any of us want to leave here extremely late, or want to stay constantly attached at the hip the whole time. So, I was thinking that we should come up with a set time that we'd feel comfortable heading out at and decide on a spot for us to regroup." Heizou explains.

"Ah, smart thinking." Kazuha nods in approval.

"How does no later than 2am sound?" Heizou proposes, hoping that will be enough time for them to enjoy themselves.

"I'm okay with that." Kazuha agrees, giving him two thumbs up.

"That's fine." Scara gives him the okay.

"Perfectttt, then let's get in there already!" Heizou puts his arms around Scara and Kazuha as he leads the way inside.

The inside of the house was completely packed with people drinking, smoking, and having a good time. The blasting music and various different smells was overwhelming for Scara but he's able to push through for his friends. Kazuha and Heizou seem to be handling the wild environment way better than he is, which he envies them for. It doesn't take long for him to spot some people he's familiar with, but the first to approach him is the host herself, Signora.

"Ha, I knew you'd show your face! Good to see you, Scaramouche." Signora shouts over the music and greets him with a smile.

"Wish I could say it's good to be here, but I'm not sure how true that would be." Scara says back to her.

"That charming personality never leaves does it?" She giggles, most likely from being tipsy already, "Are these your friends?"

"That we are. Pleasure to meet you." Heizou offers his hand for a handshake.

"Thank you for allowing us over. You look stunning by the way." Kazuha compliments her, happy to make her acquaintance.

Signora shakes Heizou's hand, "Wow, they're so much nicer than you, Scara. I'm surprised they keep you around."

Scara scoffs, not dignifying the remark with a response.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both as well. I hope you guys enjoy your time here." Signora says, now ready to leave them to do their own thing.

"I'm sure we will, but before you go, I was wondering where we could get some drinks?" Kazuha asks, eager to get his night started.

"Ah, yes. We have beer and all that good stuff in the kitchen, it's right down the hall and to your left." Signora points while giving him direction. When she's sure they know where to go she regroups with her other friends..

"I'll grab 'em." Heizou quickly offers. "You want any, Scara?"

"I'm ok for now." He shakes his head.

"I'll be back soon then." Heizou pats their shoulders before sprinting off to get their drinks, leaving Kazuha and Scara by themselves.

"You think anyone here would share their blunt with me?" Kazuha thinks out loud, scanning around to see who looks friendly enough to ask.

"You're on a mission, aren't you?" Scara raises an eyebrow, taking note of how he's already asking for weed on top of heizou grabbing drinks for them.

"I'm just trying to make the most of my time here." Kazuha shrugs with a guilty smile, "I don't plan on doing this again any time soon so I wanna make it a good night."

"Well, let's see." Scara starts to look around the room to help Kazuha out. It's hard to see anything properly with all the movement going on, but one thing Scara is quick to see is Childe leaning on the wall talking to someone. Scara freezes up when he recognizes him and grabs Kazuha's wrist, speed walking in the opposite direction.

"Woah- uh, where are we going?" Kazuha asks, stunned by Scara's sudden urgency.

"I think I saw someone with a bong over here or something" He lies, making sure to lose sight of Childe. He stops and hides behind a wall to make sure they're not visible to him.

Kazuha pants, "Is there a reason why we're running though?"

"Just wanna make sure we take advantage of the short time we have here." Scara gives him a sheepish smile before peaking over the wall one last time. Once he's confident that Childe is no longer around, he turns back to face Kazuha, but when he does he realizes that Dottore is not far behind him. Dottore is too busy writing stuff down in his notepad to catch sight of them, so before he can notice, Scara grabs Kazuha again and races back to the other side of the house.

"Again?! Why??" Kazuha asks, feeling distressed from all the sudden movement.

"I was wrong, I think it was actually back over-" Scara is interrupted when he bumps into someone, knocking their drink all over them. He doesn't realize who it is at first, feeling a little disoriented from the collision.

"Scara, be careful! Oh, gosh. I'm so sorry about him. I don't know what's with him tonight." Kazuha apologizes on Scara's behalf. Scara rubs his head, trying to regain his groundings.

"We really have to stop meeting like this." The familiar voice chuckles. Scara snaps his head up to see Childe standing right in front of him.

"You're telling me." Scara sighs, feeling a bit bad about spilling Childe's drink on him. "Do you need a napkin or will you be ok?"

"Scara showing genuine concern for me? How sweet." Childe jokes and Scara can't help but roll his eyes, "I'm okay though. It was just water. I was saving the real partying for when you got here."

"Do you guys know each other?" Kazuha looks between the both of them, having a hunch on who this may be.

"Unfortunately." Scara says plainly. Childe shakes his head and smiles when he hears that.

"I'm Childe. Scara and I share a psychology class together." He grabs Kazuha's hand to shake it.

"Ahhh, so this is Childe. I've heard so much about you. All good things of course." Kazuha greets him with a friendly smile.

Childe's face lights up when he hears that, "Is that so? I mean it makes sense. I'd say we're solid friends at this point."

"I wouldn't. I'd say you're an asshole who has knocked me over twice now." Scara glares at him.

"Nuh uh. You can't blame this time on me. You were running without looking where you were going, that's all on you." Childe refuses, not willing to take the blame this time.

"He's right, Scara. That was completely your own fault." Kazuha agrees with him.

"What?!" Scara says in disbelief at his friend's betrayal.

"Thank you, Scara's friend. I'm glad that you're at least on my side with this." Childe pats Kazuha's shoulder in approval.

"Someone has to check him." he nods, "My name is Kazuha by the way."

Right as Kazuha finishes introducing himself, Heizou returns with the drinks that he was asked to bring.

"I'm back with the goods." Heizou hands Kazuha a cup of some alcoholic beverage that Scara doesn't know. "Who is this fella?"

"This handsome guy here happens to be Childe." Kazuha gestures at the now blushing man.

"Why, thank you." Childe laughs, feeling flattered.

"You mean to tell me that this is the famous Childe that we've been hearing non-stop about." Heizou says to purposely embarrass Scara.

"Would you cut that out! You bring him up more than I do!" Scara punches Heizou in the arm, feeling extremely flustered.

"I didn't know you were such a big fan of mine, Scara." Childe smiles, joining in on the teasing.

"You and I both know that is far from true. Ignore them. They're lying on my name because they're terrible friends and they hate me." Scara scowls at the two of them.

"So dramatic." Kazuha shakes his head.

"What happened there?" Heizou points to the wet stain on Childe's shirt, deciding to give Scara a break from the teasing.

"There was a little accident earlier and I spilled my drink. It's all good though." Childe dismisses it, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.

"That sucks. Would you like my drink? I can just grab another." Heizou offers, handing the cup over to him.

"Are you sure? I don't want to send you all the way back there again." Childe asks, feeling torn between not wanting to inconvenience the guy, but also not wanting to refuse the kind offer.

"It's cool. Kazuha will keep me company this time, right Kazu?" Heizou nudges Kazuha with a wink. Scara knows what Heizou is trying to do and he might have to strangle him after this party ends.

"Yeah, I don't mind." Kazuha nods. Before Scara can protest this plan, Heizou grabs Kazuha's hand and is quick to leave the scene.

"See ya guys! We'll meet up again later, Scara!" Heizou shouts from a distance.

Childe waves goodbye to the two of them and chuckles a bit as they run off. There's silence for a moment now that it's just them left on their own. Scara feels a bit awkward and out of place, not knowing if he should find something else to do or continue talking to him. He tries to think of ways to leave but Childe speaks up before he can come up with a solid plan.

"You have some decent friends there. I didn't catch the other one's name but thank him for me when you get the chance." Childe sounds disappointed that he didn't get to talk to them enough to get the second guy's name.

"They're ok. The one who gave you the drink was Heizou." Scara lets him know to save him the confusion.

"Heizou. I'll remember that." he responds feeling sure of himself, "Are they college friends?"

"Heizou is. Kazuha is a friend I've had since middle school." Scara corrects.

"That must be nice. Next time I'll be sure to repay Heizou the favor." he says, determined to return the same kindness to him.

"Next time?" Scara raises an eyebrow.

"Next time." Childe speaks with confidence, "Something tells me I'll be seeing them again soon."

Scara scoffs and leans against a nearby wall, "God, no. Not if I have a say in it."

Childe sighs and gives a small pout at the rejection, "Well if that's the way it is, then at least I got to meet them today. I'm surprised you even showed up."

"It was their idea. I had no say in the matter." He shifts the blame to them.

"Either way I'm glad you're here." Childe leans against the wall with him and gives him a small smile.

Scara's cheeks slowly begin to burn and he feels unsure of how to feel about that sentiment. However, it makes him curious about something, "Why did you want me to come?"

"I just wanted to see you." Childe admits genuinely.

Scara avoids eye contact hoping that Childe doesn't see his embarrassment at that statement, "You already see me in class. Shouldn't that be enough for you?"

"Class is different. I wanted to see you in an environment where you don't have to dedicate all your attention to a lecture." He explains, thinking that his reasoning should be obvious, "But now that you mention it there was something I wanted to ask you."

"And what would that be?" Scara observes him carefully.

"It's about this guy I've been kinda into recently." Childe's face turns a light shade of pink as he scratches the back of his head shyly.

"Oh no." Scara thinks to himself. The words get caught in his throat, anxious to even proceed forward with this conversation, "A guy?"

"Yeah. You probably know him." Childe nods.

"Who is it?" Scara skeptically asks, tensing as he awaits an answer. All he can think is just the repeated thought of "Please don't let it be me."

"Capitano." he answers

"Capitano!?" Scara is baffled and somewhat offended by his response. He's never even seen the two interact so how could it even be him. What annoys Scara even more is that Capitano is held in such high regard by everyone in the fatui, but to him he's just another try-hard with no personality. There's no reason why Childe of all people should like him, "You know he's way older than you right. He's also completely out of your league."

"I know. It only makes me want him more." Childe says, ready to take on the challenge.

"When did this even happen?" Scara crosses his arms, feeling irritated.

"Y'know how you said that you couldn't help mentor me? A few days ago, I caught Capitano training and the guy is an absolute beast. I wanted to see if he'd let me practice with him and he told me the days he'd be in the gym for me to watch instead. I just hope that one day I can get him to let me really train with him and I dunno... maybe after that I can get him on a date." Childe explains, contemplating all the different approaches he can try to make this happen.

"You’re hopeless." Scara squints at him scornfully.

"I know, but help a guy out. How should I go about this?" he sighs, feeling desperate.

"Just keep pestering him. That always works." Scara suggests sarcastically.

"It might've worn you down but I'm not sure it will in this case." Childe teases.

Scara shoots him a sharp stare, before deciding to give him real advice "Capitano is a mystery to us all. It's also likely you won't get far with him since he's like three grades above you. The best you can do is work hard enough to even be able to keep up with two seconds of a training session with him, and I promise you he'll probably graduate before you can manage that."

"You're saying that I should get stronger so I can be able to take things to the next level with him. I can do that." Childe ponders on it a bit longer before being sure of his strategy.

"Whatever works." Scara agrees, not caring much for this topic, "I should probably go find my friends now."

"Already? I haven't even seen you dance yet." Childe pouts.

"That was never going to happen." Scara says plainly.

"At a party? I can't let that slide. C'mon." Childe grabs Scara's wrist and pulls him from the wall closer to where the music is coming from.

"Hey! Let go of me!" Scara shouts, but Childe can't hear him over the music.

Childe finds a decent place for the two of them to fit and lets go of Scara, "Just follow my lead if you don't know how."

Scara looks at him unsure of what he's supposed to be doing, while Childe is quick to move his body intuitively to the music. His movements are energetic and coordinated and initially it was hard for Scaramouche to keep up with how Childe was moving, but eventually he starts to get it. The other boy recognizes the overwhelmed look on Scara's face and changes his pace to something easier for him. He gestures for Scara to come closer, and he hesitantly joins. Scara looks around to see if anyone is looking before he humors him with a slight match in energy. He starts moving from side to side a bit which makes Childe's day. Childe gradually gets more into the music and dancing, making Scara a bit more comfortable to let loose and put more effort into his movements. Childe decides to take a risk by asking for Scara's hand, which he accepts, and is given a small spin.

Scara surprisingly isn't hating the moment. He hasn't danced much before but it feels good knowing that he can do a solid little sway and bounce if he ever felt like it. Just as Scara was getting into it, the moment is cut short when Childe’s voice grabs his attention.

"I think I see Capitano over there!" Childe says with a smile as he stares in the man's direction, "If you want you can find your friends like you planned to before. I'm going to go talk to him."

Scara suddenly ceases all movement, "Oh. Okay."

"Come find me again before you leave, alright?" Childe makes that last request before he speeds off to talk to Capitano. Scara stands there aimlessly now. What was he even doing on the dancefloor, he hates dancing. The whole area becomes more overstimulating for him, and he starts to make his way back to a less crowded area, hoping to find Kazuha and Heizou. It doesn't take long for Scara to spot them, but to his surprise they're making out against a wall.

Usually, Scara wouldn't hesitate to break it up so he doesn't have to continue being by himself, but he feels genuinely happy for Kazuha. He was worried for a while that he would never move on from Tomo, since he went years without giving anyone else a chance. It's good to see that Heizou is getting him more comfortable to give love a fair shot again.

As happy as he is for his friends, he feels a pang of discomfort. He doesn't have anywhere to go or anyone who he can talk to at this moment. As he's trying to figure out what to do next he feels a hand rest on his shoulder, causing him to jump.

"Enjoying yourself, are we?" Dottore asks him.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack? What's your problem?" Scara brushes his hand off his shoulders.

"My problem? Shouldn't I be asking you that? I haven't heard from you in days." Dottore complains.

"Been busy." Scara answers simply.

"Yet you have the spare time to be here." he calls him out on his contradiction.

"Aren't you just as busy as I am? What are you here for?" Scara asks, wanting to figure out his intentions.

"Research never ends with me. You of all people should know that." Dottore vaguely explains.

"And that means what exactly?" Scara asks, still clueless as to what he's trying to say.

"Events like this are the perfect place to conduct experiments. Everyone here is so willing to be a subject without caring what they're getting into. Makes things easier for me." he clarifies.

"A subject to what?" Scara questions him suspiciously.

"There are a few purposes for me being here when it comes to my studies. Product testing and social research, being my two main focuses." Dottore begins to break it down in a way that should be easy for Scara to understand.

"Product testing? What products are you testing?" He asks, worried to find out what the answer is.

"That's for me to know and my customers to not give a shit about." Dottore says proudly, happy to be in the best environment for getting strangers to participate in his experiments. "Parties are the perfect place to test out whatever medical concoction I'm currently working on because everyone here will just grab whatever drug they can get their grubby hands on. Nobody cares what their taking, as long as they're getting fucked up, they're a happy customer."

Before Scara is able to criticise him on his methods, Dottore puts his arm around Scara and bends down to whisper at his level.

"You see that guy over there." Dottore points at an unconscious man on the floor "Two minutes ago I sold him a small baggie of white powder. I didn't even disclose what was in there, he just grabbed it and happily went on his way. The contents of that bag could have contained anything from coke to baby formula, or maybe even bleach powder. He has no idea, but he took it."

"Wh... what did you give him then?" Scara looks at him horrified.

"Calm down, I have no interest in becoming a wanted criminal. It was something I've been working on for quite some time. It's a mild drug to increase energy levels and all that fun stuff." Dottore glosses over the question and stands up straight again.

"He looks dead." he continues looking at the limp body on the floor.

"He's fine, he'll wake up either an hour from now or sometime within the week. With ups there will always be downs. Something I need to work on." Dottore jots something down on his notepad as he says that.

"And what about your social research?" Scara brings his other point back up, ready to figure out what that entails.

"That's more a personal case study I've been observing. A way to get a better understanding of the Fatui members I interact with on a day to day basis. Social events like this reveal a lot about ourselves. The influences around us and the way they affect our behavior is something that fascinates me." Dottore elaborates as he continues writing.

"What do you mean?" Scara rubs his chin.

"Take a look at Signora over there." Dottore takes a break from writing to gesture his head in the direction of the party host. "Notice how she's having the time of her life? Before Arlecchino got here she was bored out of her mind, but the second her little crush entered the picture she's all smiles. Now just wait for Arlecchino's girlfriend to get here and Signora will be throwing back bottles of liquor to soothe that aching heart of hers. She did the same exact thing last year."

"I do remember hearing that she got plastered." Scara recalls,

"That's likely the reason why. Which leads me to believe that in certain cases of distress she resorts to substances as a form of coping." Dottore hypothesises.

"So, you believe she's an alcoholic?" Scara looks at Signora, not sure if he can agree with that theory.

"No, but whenever she throws these parties and minor inconvenience pops up she heads straight for the booze. It's her vice, we all have one. Hers just lets me know that if I ever wanna get on her good side after pissing her off, all I have to do is invite her out for drinks." Dottore writes another thing down in his notepad when he finishes that thought.

"I see." Scara is sure to remember that information.

"And why are you here?" Dottore asks mindlessly.

"My friends dragged me to this." he repeats the same answer he's been giving out all night.

Dottore forces a single laugh out not even bothering to look up from his notepad, "Right. Now why are you really here?"

Scara feels annoyed that he's being asked the same question twice, but he thinks about it for a minute. He doesn't usually let peer pressure dictate what he does, so how was it that Heizou and Kazuha were able to convince him to come. It's not like he hasn't refused hang outs before. Sounds of laughter break his trance of deep thought and he looks behind him where the source is coming from. He sees Childe with a group of others, but he's sitting particularly close to Capitano. Scara gets caught up staring at the scene and answers, "I don't know."

Dottore takes his attention off of his notes to glance at Scara, he follows where his eyes are looking and he grins "I get it." He takes a bottle of liquor out from his pocket and offers it to Scara. "Care for a drink then?"

Scara notices the bottle being offered to him and looks up at Dottore, "What? Do you think this is my vice too?"

"No, not alcohol." Dottore shakes his head and brings the drink closer to Scara, insisting that he takes it.

"Am I going to grow an extra arm if I drink this or is this just normal beer?" He suspiciously asks, giving a skeptical look at the drink.

"The cap is still sealed so there's not much I could've done to it with the stuff I have on me." Dottore explains.

"How reassuring." Scara sighs.

He’s not much of a drinker but he could use something to make the time go by faster. The first sip causes him to cringe, but he pushes past the initial gross taste and finishes the beer rather quickly. To Dottore's surprise, he goes on to ask for another which he happily provides him with. It doesn't take long after that second beer for Scara to get tipsy, causing him to act a little out of character.

"Man, I'm starting to get bored with this place. Aren't you bored?" Scara complains, his speech slurring a little.

"I think you're doing too good of a job entertaining me for me to feel bored." Dottore admits, amused by how much of a light weight Scara is.

"That's great and all but you're not entertaining me. When's my turn?" Scara pouts, tracing Dottore's arm.

"How would you like me to entertain you, Scaramouche?" he looks down at Scara, curious as to what he wants from him.

Scara goes on his tippy toes and pulls Dottore closer so he can whisper in his ear, "I think you know how."

"Are you sure you're okay to be doing all that?" Dottore raises an eyebrow, unsure on whether he should proceed or not.

"I'm fine." Scara kisses on his neck lightly and nips at his ear, "I'll be even more okay if we took this somewhere else."

Dottore chuckles, "Yeah, like where?"

"Bathroom, maybe?" Scara suggests as he kisses his jaw.

"You wanna take this to the bathroom?" Dottore asks, mildly surprised at how fast this is escalating. "The one time I suggested that, you threatened to cut my balls off for choosing such a filthy location."

Scara pulls away to look back at him, he runs his hand through his hair as he speaks "The alcohol is making me extra frisky, so I don't care where we do it. Let's take advantage of it before I reconsider."

"As you wish." Dottore nods before guiding Scara to the bathroom.

Kazuha is about to take another rip from a kind stranger's bong but he sees from the corner of his eye that Dottore is entering the restroom with Scaramouche. He sighs in disappointment and continues on anyway.

Heizou looks at Kazuha, eyes slightly red from the weed, "You good, babe?"

"Yeahh, Scara's just making bad life choices like usual." Kazuha shakes his head.

"That sucks, babe. Mind if I get another hit off of that?" Heizou asks, not really processing what Kazuha is talking about.

The second the door closes, Dottore swiftly lift's Scara up and puts him on the bathroom sink, sliding between his legs. Scara wraps his arms around his neck and gives him a heated open mouth kiss. Dottore returns it as he brings his hands down to his waist, pulling him flush against him with no room to spare.

Scara whines at the friction and continues to grind harder against Dottore wanting more. In return, Dottore starts to thrust against him, causing them both to get harder. Scara begins to pant softly as he feels his pants get uncomfortably tight. Dottore places his hand over the front of Scara's jeans and rubs at him while simultaneously pressing against him. Scara moans into the kiss, which encourages Dottore to take things further and squeeze at his tent that's only becoming more prominent.

Dottore begins to unzip Scara's pants, noticing a small wet spot forming on his boxers, "Close already? You must've been dying for this moment." He says softly in his ear.

"I could last all day." Scara says in between huffs.

"Let's test that theory." he challenges as he applies more pressure to Scara's boner, causing him to groan loudly. Dottore instantly covers Scara's mouth, and shushes him. "You should keep quiet unless you want someone to find you like this."

Scara is unable to keep fully silent, every harsh thrust from him causes a few moans to slip through. He rests his head on Dottore's shoulder, feeling himself get weaker as they continue grinding on one another. Scara tries to fight another noise from coming out by biting his neck. Dottore winces slightly at the unexpected pain. He grins, not minding it but is concerned that he may get a bit vocal as well.

"I think there's better ways of keeping you quiet." He says as he backs up from Scara. Scara sighs at the loss of friction, missing it every second that he goes without it. Dottore takes Scara off the bathroom counter and pushes him down to his knees. Scara knows what he's suggesting and he's happy to take him up on that. He begins unbuckling Dottore's belt but as he's in the middle of the process he hears the door open. He snaps his head and makes hard eye contact with Childe who instantly tenses and blushes at the scene he's currently looking at.

"Oh, shit- uh..." Childe looks away and covers his eyes, feeling extremely embarrassed.

"Occupied, in case you couldn't tell." Dottore says annoyed then slams the door shut and locks it.

Scara glares at Dottore, "Why the hell didn't you lock the door when we got in here!?"

"Was probably too busy thinking of all the ways I could fuck you in this bathroom." Dottore responds honestly, "It's locked now, so do you want to continue or are you going to let little eleven kill the mood."

Scara rolls his eyes before going back to unbuckling Dottore's belt. He hopes that this doesn't make things weird the next time he sees Childe. He'd probably stress about this more if he wasn't still too tipsy and horny to care about the situation.

Once he pulls Dottore's pants down to his ankles, he grabs the outline of his dick through his briefs and licks at him through the cloth. Dottore’s breathing gets heavier and he runs his hand through Scara's hair, giving it a sharp tug when it feels overwhelmingly good at times. Scara proceeds to lap at him until he gets him fully hard, then pulls down on the edge of his underwear using his teeth.

He holds the thick length in his hand and gives it a few strokes before sucking at his tip. Scara takes his time swirling his tongue around him, but Dottore grows bored of the teasing fast.

"You can do better than that." He grabs Scara's hair tight and guides him further down. At first Scara struggles to adjust to the sudden change in pace, but it doesn't take long for him to follow his lead. He uses one hand to hold onto Dottore's thigh and uses the other to take out his own cock and jerks himself off.

Scara feels Dottore throb against his tongue, letting him know he's getting close. Wanting to bring him closer to the edge, Scara starts to hum and whine as he sucks him off. The vibrations manage to get a shaky sigh out of the man above him, which gives Scara a sense of pride considering how quiet Dottore usually is during sex.

Dottore starts to move his hips in sync with Scara. He pushes all the way and hits the back of his throat a few times, making him gag slightly. Scara let his jaw go slack to give him an easier time to go as far as he wants.

"You must love taking cock in your mouth with how good you're handling it. Do you like it when I fuck your throat like this?" Dottore pants as he asks his question.

Scara looks up at him and tries to nod as he bobs his head. His movements are a little sloppy thanks to the alcohol still in his system.

"Yeah, thought so." He grins as he watches him take all of his cock at once.

After a few more thrusts, Dottore yanks Scara off of his dick and starts to stroke himself. It takes a couple of pumps before he finishes on Scara's face with a soft groan. He leans back against the wall as he catches his breath.

Scara pants, mind still clouded as he feels himself get close as well. He holds on tight to Dottore's leg as he continues fucking his own fist faster. Dottore watches as Scara struggles to get off, finding it humorous how pathetic he looks in the moment. Eventually he's able to get himself over the edge, and busts his load all over his hand.

While he comes down from his high, Dottore is already pulling up his pants and straightening himself out as he prepares to leave the room. Scara sits and breathes heavily, but before he can fully try to process all that just went down, Dottore speaks up.

"I gotta go, but I had a great time as usual. Call me when you want to do this again." he says as he swiftly exits the room, leaving Scara on his own.

When Scara fully sobers up he feels the mess all over his face and hands and becomes grossed out by the state he's in. He gets up, fixes his clothes, and cleans himself up. When he feels like he looks appropriate again, he steps out of the bathroom.

Right as he leaves he spots Childe waiting outside the door.

"Uh..." Scara stands there awkwardly.

"Um, hey." Childe says feeling equally uncomfortable.

As Scara prepares to say something else Childe walks past him, "Sorry, I need to go." He says and shuts the bathroom door behind him.

Things are definitely going to be weird between them now aren't they.

Chapter Text

September 14th, 1:50am

Scara can hardly think with the blaring music blasting in his ears. The stress of embarrassing himself in front of Childe finally catches up to him and he begins to regret showing up to this party. He can't even find either of his friends, so the only thing he can think to do is head to the kitchen and have another drink to relax.

The kitchen is a bit quieter than the rest of the house since there's no speakers playing anything nearby. He feels like he can finally breathe and takes his time enjoying the experience.

"You look like shit." Signora approaches him, interrupting his peace. She looks just as worn out and tired as he does. The bags under her eyes are prominent, her hair is messy, and her make up is smudged.

"As do you." Scara looks her up and down before rubbing his face in exhaustion.

"I'll drink to that." She tosses Scara a can of some fruit flavored alcoholic beverage. He catches it and cracks it open. It's too sweet for his taste and yet it still doesn't do a good job covering up the flavor of the alcohol. In his opinion, it's still better than beer so he keeps drinking it.

Signora takes a sip of her own drink, then breaks the silence with a hollow chuckle, "I don't know why I keep doing this to myself."

"Doing what?" Scara asks.

"Bothering with these events to get the attention of someone who will never want me. Should've known it would never work, I have terrible luck when it comes to relationships." she lets out an exasperated sigh.

"Is that so?" Scara asks unsurprisingly as he takes another gulp of his drink.

"Yup. The one good relationship I had ended with the guy dying in a car accident." Signora explains sadly, looking down and swirling her drink.

"Happened to a friend of mine as well." Scara recalls softly, understanding what that kind of grief looks like.

"Really?" Signora looks at him with surprise.

"Except it wasn't a car crash. He was fatally injured during a sports event. My friend was devastated for years." he explains, remembering the pain that Kazuha suffered. He doesn't know how he was able to pick himself back up after everything, it's something he admires about him.

"Me and him have something in common then." Signora chuckles sadly, "Must relationships always end in heartbreak?"

"Just do what I do and don't even bother with them." Scara suggests.

Signora scoffs, "Not sure if I want to take advice from the most miserable guy I know. Thanks though."

"I'm not miserable." Scara furrows his brow and frowns when hearing that.

"You certainly look miserable. Actually, anyone who's fucking Dottore can't possibly be anything but miserable." Signora says with certainty.

"You got me there." He puts his hands up in defeat, "I was actually caught in the act by our newest member so I definitely have had better nights."

"Ha! Did you traumatize him" Signora grins, hoping for the answer to be yes.

"Sure looked like it." Scara thinks back on the mortified look on Childe's face.

"Good. Serves the little shit right." She crosses her arms, happy to know that.

"You don't like him? I thought you were going to give him a fair chance." Scara asks her, wondering where this change of heart came from.

"And best believe I tried. He's a jackass though. Too confident for his own good, and yet he's nothing but a child. He irritates me and I already know the feeling is mutual." She describes him with resentment in her tone.

"Don't have to tell me twice. I can't stand him either." Scara nods in agreement.

"Oh, please. There's no need to lie to me. You want him badly." Signora rolls her eyes.

"Excuse me?" he says, feeling insulted by the accusation.

She put her hand up to stop him from talking, "No need to deny it, it's actually extremely obvious. I will admit that it's a step up from Dottore, but that's not a high bar to raise."

"You're wrong. He's not even my type." Scara denies.

"It has nothing to do with types." Signora shakes her head, annoyed that she even has to explain this, "Scara, I've learned a lot about you since I first met you, and one thing I'm sure of is that not just anybody can get you to dance."

Scara stays silent, he had no idea that she saw that and now hates that he accepted Childe's offer to dance. It wasn't supposed to mean anything, he just didn't want him pestering him about it more than he already was.

"We're in the same boat though. He has a weird thing for Capitano and Arlecchino has a girlfriend she has no intention of leaving." She relates with him, "We're playing a losing game."

"I'm not one for losing." he shakes his head.

"Then drink. It'll help you forget all about it." Signora advises as she chugs the rest of her beverage.

Dottore was right. This is how she copes. However, he doesn't judge her for it, in fact, in this moment of weakness he chooses to join her. Scara brings the drink back up to his lips and chugs all of it alongside her.

September 14th, 2:05am

Kazuha and Heizou are laid up together on a couch, enjoying each other's company and the remaining high they feel. Kazuha yawns softly as he lies comfortably on Heizou's chest. The sound grabs his attention and he sits up slightly.

"You sleepy?" Heizou asks, noticing Kazuha's eyes are closed and he's barely been moving.

"Mhm." he hums softly.

"I checked the time earlier and it was getting close to two. We should probably start heading out now." Heizou kisses Kazuha's head before moving him enough to allow him to get up from the couch.

"Probably." Kazuha mumbles out as he slowly rises as well. "Have you seen Scara anywhere?"

"Nah, but I'm sure he remembers where to meet us." Heizou grabs his hand as he makes way out of the house.

September 14th, 2:20am

After around three more rounds of drinks, Scara has to tap out from having anymore. He can barely stand or think straight, but Signora boldly cracks one more open.

"Have one more with me, Scara!" Signora demands and pushes the drink against his chest, causing him to stumble a little.

"Ha! Y- You're crazy!" Scara stammers over his words. Even in his drunken state he can't believe how Signora is ready to have more.

"Don't leave me hanging. I like having you as my drinking buddy." Signora whines.

"Ahhh okay, I- I guess one more won't hurt." He yields to her demands.

"There we go!" She pats his back a little too hard, causing him to fall over. The minute Scara makes contact with the floor he knows it's over. He doesn't have the balance to be able to get up again.

"Ohh my God, Scara. I'm sooooo sorry. Let me help you up." Signora bends down to help him, but loses her grounding and falls on top of him. "Ough."

"Ow." Scara lets out a small groan when she lands on him.

Both of them remain on the floor, neither of them even bothering with any attempts to get back up on their feet. His eyes grow heavy as he lies there, accepting his defeat. The last thing he sees before he passes out is two shoes standing right in front of him.

Heizou and Kazuha are growing concerned as they wait for Scara at their agreed meet up spot.

"It's almost two-thirty. Where the hell is he?" Heizou asks anxiously as he scans the area.

"We should've looked for him before we left." Kazuha sighs. "He might still be with Dottore."

"Why would he be with Dottore?" Heizou looks back at him confused.

"Earlier I saw them go into the bathroom together." He explains.

"Yuck." Heizou cringes at the thought.

"No kidding." Kazuha agrees, as he keeps looking around for Scara. While he continues trying to spot him out, he finds a different familiar face. "Wait, I think that's Dottore right there."

"Where?" Heizou whips his head around trying to find him. Kazuha grabs him by the shoulder and turns him towards the right direction. "I'll ask if he's seen him."

"No, don't-!" Kazuha tries to stop him but Heizou is already waving his hand to get his attention.

"Hey! You, over there! Dottore!" Heizou shouts, grabbing the man's attention. Dottore stops in his tracks and turns to stare him down. He doesn't say anything, which makes both Heizou and Kazuha feel uneasy. It's been a long time since they last saw this guy, and seeing him up close makes them extra uncomfortable. He's different but his demeanor is just as intimidating as before.

"My friend here tells me that he last saw you with our buddy Scara. Have any idea where he is?" He asks, not knowing if he'll get any response from him.

Dottore remains silent for a moment, then turns his attention to Kazuha, "You should keep better track of your friend. You wouldn't want to lose him, would you?"

A chill runs down Kazuha's spine. He has no idea what Dottore means by that but he doesn't like it. He unconsciously grabs Heizou's arm, feeling threatened by what was just said.

"Good luck finding him." Dottore gives an icy smile before walking away. They wait until he's completely out of sight before Heizou looks at Kazuha who now appears to be extra anxious.

"I'll go find him, just hold on tight." Heizou tries to provide Kazuha some comfort, then makes his way back towards the house. He doesn't get far before someone stops him in his tracks.

"Hey! Scara's friends!" Childe shouts as he steps out the front door of the house. Both of them recognize Childe and realize that he's carrying Scara in his arms. In a moment of relief, they run up to him to make sure Scara is ok.

"Oh my God, is everything alright? Was he hurt? Did anything happen to him?" Kazuha shoots out question after question in a panic as he checks over Scara.

"The only thing that happened was that this goofball got completely wasted." Childe says in a playful manner. "I was going to help him back to his room but then I spotted you two here."

"Thank you so much for bringing our friend back to us." Heizou smiles at him.

"Yes, thank you." Kazuha nods, feeling extremely grateful.

"It was no biggie. I actually had to do the same for the host as well." Childe chuckles, "Do you need any help bringing him back to his room?"

"We appreciate that, but we'll take it from here." Heizou kindly denies as he and Kazuha take Scara from Childe and put his arms around their shoulders.

"Okay, then just make sure he goes to sleep on his side so if he vomits he doesn't choke on it." Childe advises.

"You're an angel." Kazuha compliments him once more, as they make their way back to their dorms.

"Have a nice night!" he waves goodbye and returns back into the house.

Heizou and Kazuha were able to bring Scara back into his room and they helped change him into more comfortable clothes for sleeping. When they're sure that he'll be fine on his own, the last thing they do is make sure he lies on his side like Childe advised them to do. Kazuha looks back at him one more time before they exit.

September 14th, 1:30pm

It takes longer than usual for Scara to wake up the next day. He slowly opens his eyes and the second light hits his face a pounding headache takes over, causing him to double over in intense pain and nausea.

"Oughhh." He groans in agony. His suffering reminds him as to why he hates alcohol.

He doesn't have any recollection on how he got back to his dorm or if he was ever able to regroup with his friends. The last memory he has was that he spoke to Signora, then they shared a few drinks that are now catching up with him. He rubs his head and goes to grab his phone wanting to check what time it is.

"1:30pm!?" Scara shouts to himself in shock, accidently making his headache worse. He still can believe he slept around eleven hours. How messed up was he last night?

As he stares at his phone screen, still feeling baffled at the time, he notices that he's received a few messages. He decides to go through them and most of them seem to be from Kazuha and Heizou, scolding him for his irresponsible drinking and nearly giving them a panic attack. He chooses to send his PR response to them later. However, there is some guilt he feels for bringing them more stress than he wanted to. He doesn't know what got into him last night but one thing he's sure of is that it'll likely never happen again.

He resumes checking his messages and his eyes widen in surprise when he realizes that he's gotten a few texts from Childe almost an hour ago.

Childe:

Heyy.

Childe:

Hope you're doing alright since you were pretty hammered last night.

Childe:

Was thinking free coffee might help you get your day started right.

Scara lies back in bed and thinks about the offer. If it was his typical Saturday, he would've been up at six in the morning and running on the Fatui's private track that he loves dearly. Since he's in no physical state to do so and could really use a boost of energy, it makes the proposal more enticing.

Scaramouche:

Did that offer expire or is it still on the table?

Scara waits for a response, doubting he'll get one since almost an hour went by without him giving him an answer. He's also surprised that Childe was interested in inviting him out since the last time he saw him he was on Scara was on his knees about to suck off Dottore. Embarrassment begins to haunt him as he reflects back at the moment, but the sound of a notification snaps him out of it.

Childe:

Why, Good morning! or should I say afternoon?

Scaramouche:

Hilarious.

Childe:

Wanna meet at the same cafe as last time? I can be there in 5 minutes.

Scara:

Sure.

He takes one last second to rub his face then finally gets up to prepare for the day. He does his usual routine but dresses a bit warmer since it's beginning to get colder. He makes sure to grab his phone, keycard, and wallet then heads out the door.

Scara takes a few minutes to get to the cafe, but when he enters he sees Childe sitting at the same spot as last time. It doesn't take long for Childe to notice him and he stands up to greet him.

"Hey, how are you?" Childe smiles and is about to go for a hug, but he reconsiders since he doesn't know if they're at that level of friendship yet. He retracts his arms and awkwardly crosses them instead, which leaves Scara looking him up and down in confusion.

"I've had better mornings." Scara answers honestly as he takes a seat.

"Ha, ha. I can imagine. I ordered your coffee by the way." Childe hands him a warm cup of his favorite drink as he sits right in front of him.

"My double-shot Americano?" Scara raises an eyebrow as he accepts the drink. He can't believe he was able to remember something he ordered over a week ago.

"Oh, good. I did get it right." Childe sighs in relief.

"That you did." Scara gives him the well deserved acknowledgement.

There's now an awkward silence that they're both aware of. Neither of them want to break it but they also don't want it to continue.

"About last night... I didn't mean for you to find me in that state. It shouldn't have ever happened." Scara feels uncomfortable when bringing up the situation, but he feels that it would be better to rip the bandaid off so they can move on from it.

"Oh, don't even worry about it. It happens to the best of us. I just wanted to make sure you got home safely." Childe brushes the whole thing off.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Scara squints at him not knowing what he's referencing.

"Uh, are we not talking about you passing out drunk?" He tilts his head, feeling confused.

"Wait. You're the one who took me back to my dorm?" Scara's eyes widen, not expecting him to have anything to do with him getting home.

"I mean, I was going to but I found your friends and they offered to do it instead. They seemed so worried for you." he explains what really went down that night, thinking about how panicked they were when they saw Scara knocked out.

"I understand now." he nods, "You didn't have to do that."

"I certainly did. It would've been cruel to leave you like that." Childe shakes his head "But, what was it that you were really referring to?"

Scara avoids looking him in the eyes as he still feels the shame tearing him apart, "The bathroom incident."

"The bathroom incident?" Childe repeats trying to figure out what he's talking about until it eventually clicks, "Ohhh, the bathroom incident."

"Yeah, that." Scara takes a sip of his drink to distract himself from this dreadful feeling.

"It's all good. I definitely was not prepared to see that, but I've also had my fair share of awkward walk-ins." he laughs it off.

"Are you sure? You looked really bothered after I came out of the bathroom." Scara asks, not fully believing his response.

"Yeah, 'cause I was. I had to pee but needed to wait for you and Dottore to finish getting it on first. I almost pissed myself." Childe sighs thinking about it.

"Ah, that makes more sense."

"Just know that I'm not going to judge you for what you do in your relationships. Do I think your choice of partner could use some work? Sure, but at the end of the day I've been in your shoes before." He clarifies, not wanting Scara to misunderstand how he feels about him.

Scara begins to relax now that he knows things aren't as awkward as he thought they'd be.

"Maybe not exactly in your shoes. The bathroom is kind of a gross setting." Childe teases.

"It wouldn't have been my first choice if I was sober." Scara shakes his head, hating that he really went through with that.

"I believe you." he nods. "How's your physical well being though? You looked completely out of commission when I last saw you."

"Still have a headache that's currently beating at my skull but aside from that I'll be fine." Scara rubs his head as he speaks.

"Hangover headaches are always a bitch." Childe agrees.

"You're telling me. I couldn't even go on my morning run." Scara complains, feeling frustrated at the way his day is going.

"You run in the mornings?" Childe perks up when hearing that.

"I do." Scara confirms as he finishes the rest of his drink.

"Well, if you couldn't run this morning, why not run in the afternoon? I can even join you." Childe eagerly suggests.

"Did you forget the part where I mentioned my debilitating headache?" he frowns, annoyed that he has to repeat himself.

"I'll give you advil. I have some in my dorm, I can grab it on our way there." he offers, really wanting Scara to agree to this.

Scara contemplates on what he wants to do. He hates going too long without doing any proper training, but he might not perform well while he feels like garbage. The advil would certainly help, but he doesn't want to make a fool out of himself in front of Childe. Especially considering that he has high expectations with how Scara previously boasted about how good of a runner he is.

"If I let you tag along, just watch. I don't need you getting in my way." Scara gives him the condition as he gets up to throw away his cup.

"Will do. Should we get going then?" Childe asks standing up with him.

"Aren't you going to order something?" Scara points out how he didn't get anything during his stay here. Now that he thinks about it Childe didn't get anything last time either.

"I already bought a bottle of water." he lifts up his empty bottle to show Scara and tosses it in the trash.

"Water?" Scara says with disappointment.

"I don't drink coffee. Too much caffeine isn't good for you." Childe explains.

Scara looks at him unimpressed, "Loser."

"What?? I'm a loser for not drinking coffee?" he chuckles, confused as to why he's being insulted.

"Yes, but you're also a loser for coming to a decent cafe only to get a bottle of water that you can buy from anywhere. Go get a smoothie or something." Scara demands as he shakes his head.

"Fine, whatever." Childe sighs and waits in line again.

Childe orders a banana smoothie and drinks it as they head to his room. "This is actually pretty good."

"See. Better than just ordering a boring bottle of water." Scara grins proudly as he continues walking.

The rest of the walk is silent since Childe is too busy enjoying his beverage and Scara is trying to recover from his head pain. They eventually arrive at Childe's dorm and he stops outside the door.

"I'll be back. Just wait right here, okay?" He says as he unlocks his door.

"You're not going to invite me into your room?" Scara looks at him, expecting an invite. 

"Uhhhh... nooo. No." Childe sounds unsure at first but sticks to his answer.

"Why not? You've been in mine." Scara frowns.

"Uhhhh." He tries to think of any excuse he can give and he settles for the easiest one, "It's dirty. Like real dirty."

Scara is about to say something else but Childe enters his room, "I'll be quick."

While waiting for Childe to return Scara decides to take advantage of this free time to head back to his room to quickly change into his workout clothes. He would hate for his current clothing to end up sweaty and gross, so he's sure that Childe would understand if ends up having to wait for him.

Luckily, it only takes a few minutes for both of them to return from their brief trips. Childe comes back with Advil and another water bottle in his hands. As the door shuts, Scara tries to take a peak inside the room, but it closes too fast.

"Oh. You changed. Nice." he appreciates Scara's workout outfit, wondering if he should’ve changed into his own.

"I figured I should if I'm going to be breaking a sweat out there." Scara reasons.

"I get ya. Well, here ya go." Childe hands him both the water and pills.

Scara gladly accepts the pill and washes it down with water. "Perfect. We can head out now."

He leads the way to the field and Childe excitedly follows behind him. When they make it to where they need to be, Scara begins to stretch, taking his time to make sure he doesn't risk any injuries. As he does this Childe stretches alongside him, mimicking his exact movements.

"What are you doing?" Scara examines him as he asks.

"The exact same thing you're doing. Stretching." His voice sounds strained as he responds.

"I know but why? You're only watching." Scara says as he raises an eyebrow.

"Just in case." Childe winks.

Scara rolls his eyes then finishes up preparing. When he feels ready he digs for the phone in his pocket and tosses it to Childe, "Time me."

He looks down at the phone, "Is there anything I should know before you get going or is it straight forward?"

"Just count down, then start the timer, and when I complete one lap end it." Scara breaks it down for him.

"Got it." Childe salutes.

Scara gets ready in his runner pose and waits for the countdown. His nerves are slowly getting to him. While his headache isn't throbbing as bad he's still aware that he isn't at his physical best. All he can do is try and not embarrass himself completely.

"Three... two... one... GO!" He shouts and watches Scara immediately take off. Childe can barely keep up with how fast he's going but tries his best to follow his progress. He's extremely impressed with Scara's ability to do this while he's still suffering from a terrible hangover, most people would've thrown up within the first five seconds of taking off, but he seems to be doing just fine. It's not that he ever underestimated him but he still wasn't expecting him to do this well. Before Childe knows it Scara is already done with his lap and he stops the timer.

Scara is slightly out of breath as he approaches Childe, "What's the time?"

"2:55pm" Childe answers, still recovering from his disbelief.

"That's great, genius. Now can I know the time for my sprint?" Scara asks, annoyed.

"Oh, my bad." He checks the timer, "48 seconds."

Scara sighs feeling dispirited and whispers to himself, "Terrible."

"Terrible!? I blinked and you were already at the finish line." Childe says bewildered at his disappointment.

"That's great and all but I usually am able to run under 45 seconds. Even the last time I ran I got 46 seconds. I don't know what's going on with me." Scara pinches the bridge of his nose, frustrated with himself.

"Those are still some impressive times, aren't they? Especially in your condition." Childe asks, but Scara still seems to remain disappointed. He thinks for a moment trying to see how he can make this situation better.

Suddenly a cheeky grin appears on Childe's face, "Maybe you need the right motivation?"

"What?" Scara looks at him perplexed.

"Race me." Childe starts running in place, warming up and ready to get things started.

"No."

"What? Are those weak times dissuading you? Worried I'll leave you in my dust?" he goads, hoping that it'll piss him off enough to get him to agree.

"I know what you're doing and it's tragically pathetic." Scara rolls his eyes.

"Not as pathetic as that time you just got. 48 seconds? There are nursing homes begging for your retired ass." He laughs at his own joke as Scara grits his teeth.

"How would you know? You don’t even know what a good time would be. I’m not letting the same dude who probably puts his shirts on backwards dictate how good I am at my sport. You're a clueless bystander."

"And yet you're shaking in your boots at the idea of racing against this clueless bystander. Seems like you're already well aware that you're washed up. Your glory days are simply a time of the past and a fading memory." He taunts, glad to be getting under his skin.

"What exactly do you have to show for? You have nothing but special connections that brought you here and still you remain at the bottom." Scara spews back, anger slowly rising in him.

"Ha! threatened by a new face? Clearly you're not ready to see what I'm made of. It's almost like you're scared to recognize my potential to surpass you in the very near future." Childe provokes him further, not backing down.

"Surpass me?" Scara repeats, his tone sounds baffled until it turns into offense and he can't help but go on a heated rant, "Surpass me!? You genuinely believe that you have even an ounce of talent to come anywhere near me!? You are nothing but the founder's dog who found itself off leash, clearly lost its way, and somehow got here. You will never come anywhere near to where I am at so get that thought out of your head."

"You claim I'm a dog, but I'm the same dog that made its way into the rankings that you're part of. A dog you're petrified to lose to." Childe crosses his arms and smiles.

"There is not a universe, timeline, or life that either of us will ever live where I lose you." Scara steps closer to him and gives him a sharp glare.

"Except this one." He responds plainly.

"Are you an idiot!? Is your ability to hear optional and you choose to never use it!? I am a track star. It's what I do. It's what I've spent all my life doing! I'm not going to let a feeble minded, weak bodied, incapable child try to get me to entertain his wildest fantasies for even a damn second." Scara now raises his voice, almost shouting at him.

"'Cause ya can't." Childe says firmly.

"Get on the track." Scara demands.

"You sure?" His eyes widened, surprised he was actually successful in convincing him.

"Get on the fucking track!" Scara yells and snatches the phone out of his hands.

"Aye, aye, captain." He salutes and makes his way to the track, choosing the first lane.

"We're only doing one lap, so be ready." Scara sets up his phone to record so not only can he track the time, but also have video evidence of him wiping the floor with this arrogant douchebag. He gets into the second lane and goes into his stance.

"Three..." Scara starts the count down, staring straight ahead and a burning passion bubbling up in his chest.

"Best of luck to you." Childe nods, trying to show good sportsmanship.

"Two..." Scara ignores him.

"’Cause I know you'll need it." Childe can't help but tease him a little bit as they're about to begin.

"One..." Scara says through his teeth, feeling mildly bothered by the comment. He lets all that frustration go as he says the final word before take off, "GO!"

They immediately take off, Childe having a brief head start and an immense wave of pride washes over him. He gives it everything's got and can't believe how well he's doing when they only just began. Gradually, he feels his lungs burn after every step and in the corner of his eye he sees the shorter male calmly pass him, not even breaking a sweat. They're not even half way and Childe is already beginning to feel exhaustion overcome him while the other boy is now a few feet ahead of him. When they get over the halfway point Scara now puts in all that he has and leaves Childe completely behind, getting smaller and smaller the farther he gets ahead of him.

Scara is the first to finish and when he turns back, all he sees is Childe barely holding it together as he takes a few more seconds to finish as well. The joy that Scara feels is indescribable, humbling this asshole feels better than any metal, trophy, or award he has ever received in his entire life. There's no hesitation when he jogs to his phone to check the time stamps. As he does that, Childe goes to lie on the floor, doing his best to recover from the intense exercise that he had just done.

"43 seconds. I got 43 seconds." He says to himself with a smile growing on his face while he looks down at his phone. Scara walks over to Childe who is still on the floor, panting heavily.

"To nobody's surprise, I won." Scara boasts confidently as he stands above him.

"I know." Childe speaks between deep breaths.

"You lost, getting 62 seconds. That's a 21 second difference." he points out, rubbing it in.

"I know. I can do math." Childe wipes sweat off of his forehead as he responds with mild annoyance.

"Just making sure you knew that in case you were unaware." Scara shrugs.

"I’m aware." He sits up on his elbows, "You're truly something else."

"...I know." Scara's stomach does a backflip at the acknowledgement, "I will say that your time was something I didn't expect an amateur like yourself to get. However, I want those 21 seconds to be a reminder to you of the miles that you are behind me in skill and always will be."

"I only compete against those who I eventually want to do just as good as or better. You're definitely one of them." He admits truthfully.

"You will never be better than me, but it's nothing to be ashamed about. Just be better than the rest of the average nobodies that go to this school, so you don't make the rest of us look bad." Scara advises him.

"Help me get better then. Let me train with you. Race against me till my greatness is undeniable." Childe sits up a bit and looks up at him as he begs. Something about the desperation in his tone as he asks for his help makes Scara feel warmer. The flattered feeling doesn't last long as he's reminded of something.

"Don't you have Capitano for that now?" He can't help but sound a little sour when he says that.

"I sense underlying bitterness in that tone. Don't tell me you were bothered by that." Childe tilts his head and gives a sly look.

"Your ego will be your untimely end." Scara snaps his attention to him and looks down at him sharply, "No, I wasn't bothered. I'm only pointing out something you mentioned to me previously."

"Rightt. As much as I like Capitano, it's not currently reciprocated." Childe sighs and now begins to stand up and brushes himself off.

"Can't imagine why." Scara says sarcastically.

He glares at him before speaking again, "Which means, I can only watch him train not join him. So, it'll take some time before I get to that phase with him. In the meantime, I want to focus on you."

"Basically, I'm a placeholder. Wonderful." Scara simplifies what Childe really means.

"What, you want to be more than that?" Childe raises an eyebrow as he teases him.

"I don't care what I am to you. I just know how persistent you are so there's no use in saying no." Scara says bluntly.

"Does that mean you're saying yes?" he asks, wanting to get a solid answer.

"I'm saying that I'll train with you this one time to get it out of your system and then after that you're on your own." Scara compromises with him.

"Really?" Childe’s attitude brightens at the agreement.

"It makes us both look bad if you're lacking in your athletics." he says, knowingly insulting the other.

"Hey, I'm not lacking in my athletics. I just don't do track, I do MMA." Childe frowns, feeling slightly offended.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember. Track helps you build strength and improves your balance, two things I'm sure a fighter could use." Scara lists the main benefits of the sport he’s well versed in, trying to get this eager fighter to see how it can also help him with his own sport.

"Nicee, you think that one day I can get you to fight with me though?" Childe asks, even though he knows it's likely he won't agree.

"The less physical contact between us the better." Scara tries not to think too much about what MMA fighting would be like with him and he moves on, "Anyway, let's get started. There's a lot to go over."

Scara directs Childe to the track, making him stand the same way he was when they were about to race.

"Your form disgraces the entire existence of track. Fix it immediately." Scara looks at him in disgust.

"I've never done this before! How am I supposed to know without some guidance?" Childe whines.

He sighs, not really knowing how to guide him, "Straighten your poster and relax your shoulders."

Childe attempts to fix himself but it's still slightly off, which bothers Scara, "No, not like that. How do you mess up standing?"

"I'm not trying to. Can you fix me then?" Childe requests, wanting to get this part over with.

"What do you mean?" Scara stares at him blankly.

"Like physically correct me. You can touch me if you'd like." He explains more specifically.

"You want me to touch you?" Scara sounds unsure when he says that.

"You're making it sound weirder than I mean it." Childe blushes slightly, feeling embarrassed.

"That's exactly how you said it." Scara shakes his head.

"Fine then yes. Touch me so I can get this form right and move on to the actual running."

"I hope you're aware that there were so many better ways for you to phrase that." Scara lets him know as he gets closer to him to fix his running form. He gently changes his posture, moves his arms, and alters the position of his legs. The soft demeanor is something that throws Childe off. He expected him to be a lot more aggressive with how he maneuvers him, but he takes his time as if he's genuinely trying to help him.

"There you go. Hold that for me." Scara backs up from him, giving him the approval.

"Gotcha." Childe says, trying to keep still.

"Now, when I say ‘go’ you're going to run but make sure you're breathing right, keep your arms in while keeping them relaxed, maintain that posture, make sure you don't land on your heels, and lastly-"

"Have fun?" Childe interrupts.

"No, I was going to say don't start too strong. Gradually get faster." Scara corrects him, "Don't ever interrupt me to say something corny ever again."

"Okay, sorry." Childe apologizes.

"You ready?" Scara asks as he gets the timer prepared.

"Ready as I'll ever be." he gives him a certain nod.

"On your mark... get set... GO!" Scara shouts, and Childe takes off. From what it looks like it was certainly a big improvement from the first run. Scara notices that he is pretty fast and he has good stamina for a beginner, he's just way too eager when he starts. Once he finishes his lap, Scara stops the timer and slowly applauds him.

"Did I do better this time?" Childe pants out and looks at him expectantly.

"You sure did. By two seconds." Scara shows him the timer on his phone.

"Exactly a minute. That's pretty good, right?" Childe asks, hoping to get some form of reassurance.

"For a beginner, yes," he confirms. "You can always do better though. One example being, starting off slowly instead of charging forward like you're heading into war."

"That's true. I just got really into this I guess." Childe comes up with some sort of reasoning.

"Well, try again and take it down a notch when starting." Scara gestures for him to get back on the field.

Childe goes on to do another lap and they go on to practice for a long time. Scara ends up showing him a few examples on how he runs and provides him with some advice as he does so. Childe follows along and also tries out a few other exercises that Scara recommended for him to do. They take their time training, until they eventually decide to take a break.

They sit on a bench together and they drink water, catching their breath.

"That was pretty fun, don't ya think?" Childe speaks after he finishes his sip of water.

"It was necessary if either of us wanted to get better." Scara says, avoiding answering his question.

"Always so cold." He dramatically sighs.

"I'm helping you become a better runner and you're making this sound like we're out here playing hopscotch and double dutch." Scara sounds embarrassed when he explains this.

"This may come as a surprise to you but you can have fun with someone while also doing serious work with them." Childe's sarcastic tone irritates Scara but he ignores it.

"...It was decent work. I can see you making real progress after some time." He gives him an honest compliment.

"Hopefully soon enough for me to be able to get Capitano to notice me." Childe can't help but think about him at this moment.

"Not likely, but keep chasing after the horizon, I guess." Scara says, irritated at the mention of Capitano.

"I will. It's nice to have far-fetched goals. Makes them all the more satisfying when I achieve them." Childe admits honestly.

"You'll never achieve them while training in these clothes by the way. You need to dress properly next time." Scara insults him but he's genuine with his advice.

"Next time? See, I knew you had fun. You want to train with me again!" excitement is all over the boy's face when he says this.

"I meant the next time you train at all. It doesn't necessarily have to include me." Scara looks away feeling mildly flustered.

"Aw, I was sure I got you that time. Y'know, if this really is the only time I'm training with you, I can go change right now. I wanna make the most out of this." Childe suggests.

"The sun is already setting." He points out, surprised that he has enough energy to keep going.

"So run with me until it's too dark for us to even see our own feet." Childe requests, really wanting to continue this with him.

Scara thinks about it. It doesn't sound like a bad idea since he wants to make the most of this time he has. Childe is also a lot easier to teach than he thought. His readiness to improve makes him a fast learner, which is easier for Scara to work with. As he's about to make his decision he gets stopped by someone else chiming in.

"Look what we have here. Did I interrupt a playdate?" Dottore speaks up as he approaches the two. Childe instantly glares at him when he notices him.

"Dottore?" Scara says, surprised to see him here.

"Scara." He says his name back to him.

"What are you doing here?" Scara asks.

"And when are you leaving" Childe adds, wanting him to go away already.

"I was looking for you. I went to check for you at your dorm, but you weren't answering, so I went to the second-best place to find you." Dottore informs him on how he ended up here.

"What did you need me for?" Scara raises an eyebrow.

"And will you be leaving soon now that you found him?" Childe adds again, insisting that he should go.

"Notice how I said that I was looking for Scara and not the fatui's newly formed tumor." Dottore sounds irritated and doesn't even look in his direction.

"Well, while looking for him you found me anyway." Childe scowls.

"Unfortunate, I know. It's almost as if you're malignant and rapidly spreading." Dottore continues to describe him as the tumor he views him as.

"Go ahead and tell me what it is you want." Scara disrupts their bickering to stay on point.

"I've been needing you. I was hoping you'd be free so we could spend some quality time together." Dottore invites him, wanting him to accept.

"Gross." Childe says under his breath and Scara elbows him in his side.

"You mean right now?" Scara asks, thrown off by the suddenness of the request.

"Time is of the essence." Dottore states, wanting to get a move on.

"The way he talks makes it sounds like you two will be signing contracts and doing paperwork with one another." Childe grumbles.

"It'd be more productive than staring at someone and praying that they'd give you the time of day, when you know that they never will." Dottore casually references Childe's current struggle, causing his blood to boil.

"You don't know a damn thing about my situation." Childe says defensively.

"It's not something that's hard to figure out. Your pathetic display is impossible to miss and always an eye sore." Dottore puts it simply for him.

"What the hell is your-" He begins to raise his voice but is cut off.

"Your two minutes are up. Come along now, Scara." Dottore beckons him over. Scara hesitates, not knowing what to do. Childe looks at him, silently asking for him to stay.

Scara sighs and gets up, "I'll meet you here again and we'll have one more training session. Just be sure to bring the proper clothes next time."

Childe is disappointed, but the promise of another meet up lifts his spirits slightly, "Okay, then."

Scara gives Childe a small nod before following Dottore, disappearing from his line of sight. There's no conversation between them as they leisurely make their way to the front of Scara's dorm. His mind is too occupied with the sprint he did today, and how well he performed when going against Childe in comparison to doing it on his own. Briefly, Scara considers the benefits of inviting him to train with him regularly, thinking that he could be a good motivator for him. He chooses to focus on that a different time as he finally reaches his door and starts to unlock it.

They step inside and Scara turns to face Dottore, "What did you need me for-"

He's cut off by Dottore grabbing his face and pulling him for an intense kiss. At first Scara is stunned by the unexpected makeout session, but it's not unwelcomed. It takes a couple of seconds before he leans into it and returns the kiss. Dottore brings his hands down to Scara's waist then leads him to lie back against the wall. They break apart to catch their breath, then Dottore starts to suck and bite on Scara's neck.

Scara softly gasps as he tries to get a hold of the situation "Wh- what's going on with you? This is completely out of nowhere."

"I told you I needed you." Dottore explains as he leaves small hickeys on his neck.

"Since when do you need me? Usually you'll wait for me to ask for you." Scara questions him while letting out soft groans.

"My patience runs thin with you. I don't want to wait another month for you to reach out to me when I can have you now." he brings his hand underneath Scara's shirt and pushes it up, causing a shiver to go through him.

"Your hands are cold." He complains as Dottore glides his hand over his chest.

"They're always cold. I spend most of my time in a fridged lab." He then lifts the shirt over Scara's head, taking it off, "I'm hoping you could warm me up."

Dottore then lifts Scara up, carrying him to the bed, and crawls over him. He trails his hand slowly over Scara's body, examining him thoroughly. Scara lies back letting Dottore touch him, he's wondering why he's taking his time with this since he tends to be more of a fast paced kind of man. Dottore's fingers trail down to his shorts, tugging on them while Scara lifts his hips to help him slide them off. He tosses them to the floor and parts Scara's legs. Dottore carefully runs his hands over Scara's thighs and grazes the edge of his boxers.

"You have strong legs." Dottore squeezes his thigh as he admires him.

"Of course I do. All I do is run." Scara states as if it should be obvious.

"I've noticed." He gives his leg one last firm squeeze and looks at him seriously, "How was your practice with number eleven?"

"Great. Are we going to have sex now or do you get off on talking about other guys?" Scara impatiently asks.

"Easy now. I'm just wondering how your day went." Dottore says as he plays with Scara's waistband.

"Nice lie. Care to try again?" Scara squints at him, trying to figure out what he wants.

"I'll be more specific. I'm curious as to how you've been doing with track." he elaborates while lightly teasing him through his underwear.

"Spectaculor. Why are you asking me this?" he looks at him boredly.

"I wanted to see if I could do you a favor." Dottore offers.

"Are you not doing me one right now?" Scara lets out a breathy sigh as his light touches cause him to get more worked up.

"A different one. One that could benefit us both." He pauses his touches to focus more on the conversation.

"And what would that be?" Scara questions him.

"I've been working on something. Something that could help improve your performance." Dottore provides a small bit of context to open up the idea to him.

"I'm not taking your street steroids." he responds flatly.

"It's not steroids." Dottore reassures him.

"Doesn't matter. Performance enhancers are strictly prohibited, you know that." Scara sits up now, getting mildly irritated.

"These aren't some illicit drugs I'd be giving you. Think of it as a pharmaceutical remedy that's in the works of being approved." he tries to explain it in a different way that doesn't sound so intimidating.

"What a fancy way of describing your underground mystery concoctions." Scara says, not buying anything he's telling him.

"That's not how I described it." Dottore's calm demeanor starts to slip as he's getting more frustrated, but he keeps his cool.

A memory flashes in the back of Scara's mind, "I saw what you did to that one guy at the party. Who even knows if he survived what you gave him."

"He did. I do follow up check ups on all my subjects." He clarifies.

"From my perspective, it didn't seem like you cared whether he lived or died." Scara glowers at him, assuming he'd be treated the same way.

"Obviously you'd be different." Dottore softens his voice.

"How would I be any different?" Scara scoffs in disbelief.

"Because believe it or not I actually do care about you." Dottore puts his hand on Scara’s leg and strokes it as he is trying to get him to understand where he's coming from.

Scara is momentarily silenced with that claim, "Yeah right."

"I've noticed you've been off your game recently. Have you been having any health issues?" he asks, sounding concerned for him.

"I'm fine." Scara answers dismissively.

"You have heart problems. Don't think I forgot that." Dottore brings up his medical history, which immediately puts Scara on edge.

"I have no doubt that your back alley substances won't make it any better. I've only ever had serious complications with that when I was younger." he now speaks with defensiveness and frustration in his tone.

"With track season coming up do you really want to take that risk? I remember last year you had a hospital visit after one of your meets." Dottore puts a hand on his shoulder trying to soothe him.

"Don't bring that up." Scara says strictly and pushes his hand away.

"That tells me you don't want it to happen again." He insists, wanting to convince him.

"My doctors said I was fine. Just overexerting myself." Scara looks away from him as he gets progressively more annoyed the longer they talk about this.

"Your doctors don't care the way that I do, Scara." Dottore grabs his face wanting him to maintain eye contact with him as he says this. "Let me help you."

The look on Dottore's face tells him that he really wants to do this for him. As much as Scara wants to believe that this will only help him, there's something in his gut that tells him that this isn't a good idea. He doesn't even know what he'll be required to take if he agrees to this. At the same time he can't help but agree with Dottore and hopes that he means it when he claims that he cares about him.

"If I agree to this, will you let me know what you're giving me?" Scara skeptically asks.

"I'll do you one better and let you know all the little details on how it will affect you, and if you don't like it you can stop at any time." Dottore suggests.

"I can?" He begins to warm up to the idea.

"Of course. I'll even give you something to sign that will hold me accountable for everything that happens to you. An official agreement between us." Dottore confidently offers as well.

"I don't know about that." He sounds doubtful of this dubious contract he brings up.

"Trust me." He holds Scara's hands.

Scara hesitates, then lets out a breath he's been holding, "You swear this will help me?"

"You have my word." Dottore nods with a smile.

"Hm... fine." Scara reluctantly agrees.

Chapter Text

September 18th, 8:55am

Usually when Scara arrives to class, he makes it about fifteen to ten minutes before the scheduled time, but today he's only able to get there five minutes early. He woke up a little later than intended since he slept through all of his alarms but still managed to make it before anyone else did.

He's extremely tired. It's rare for Scara to ever feel completely well rested, but this is a whole new level of fatigue. It's likely because of how much training he's been doing recently with Dottore. For the past four days, Scara has been meeting up with him to practice his sprints now that he's been taking Dottore's medication.

There are some major improvements he's been seeing with his health since his first dosage. In the past, there were some cases where after running for a while Scara's heartbeat would become irregular and cause him to experience severe chest pain. It's one of the main reasons why he's not able to practice too many days in a row. Now that he's been using this new medication, he's noticed that his breathing has improved, his heart rate has been consistently normal, and his stamina is better than it's ever been.

Dottore has spent every day tracking his symptoms and ensuring that Scara has been handling everything okay, so he assumes that this exhaustion is from the consistent exercise. He's confident that if it was anything serious Dottore would be quick to intervene, but he can't help but feel frustrated by this tired feeling.

Childe enters the class as well as a few other people. He takes his seat next to Scara like he normally does and places a cup in front of him.

"Your usual." Childe says with a smile.

Scara is shocked by the kind gesture, "What's this for?"

"I thought you could use the energy boost, and I was already nearby the cafe."

"You assumed correctly. I must've slept terribly with how I'm feeling." Scara complains as he begins to chug the drink.

"Woah, take it easy. Don't wanna choke, do ya?" Childe chuckles as he watches Scara down his coffee, "Are you okay though? You look a little off. You're not getting sick, are ya?"

"I've probably just been working too hard." Scara brushes his concern off.

"You sure? Your nose is also running." he looks at him closely.

Scara doesn't even realize it until Childe points it out. He quickly goes to wipe his nose with one of the napkins he brought, "I'm fine." Scara answers firmly.

"If you say so." He shrugs and they both wait for class to begin.

Scara has to fight sleep the whole time this long boring lecture goes on. He is barely able to keep his eyes open as every second passes. Childe notices but decides to not point it out since Scara seems to be in a mood. He doesn't even realize class is over until people start to leave the room.

Childe taps Scara's shoulder to get his attention, "Wanna head to the track to do some training like we talked about?"

"We both have class." Scara says as he packs his stuff.

"I know. I mean later in the day." Childe clarifies.

"No, I've been practicing too frequently. I need a break." he declines a bit harshly.

"Oh. I had no idea." Childe is put off by his tone, "Since when do you practice so often?"

"Recent development. I've been doing much better with my times and have been wanting to maintain that." Scara explains as he throws his backpack over his shoulder.

"Is that so? Last, I remember, you weren't satisfied with any of your sprints." he asks, feeling suspicious of this sudden shift in improvement.

"I've been receiving some coaching from Dottore, and it seems to be helping. I've now got a consistent time range of 43-44 seconds."

"Dottore?! Why him? What does he know about track?" Childe sounds baffled at the idea of Scara training with Dottore, especially when he promised to do so with him.

"Way more than you'd think. I'm feeling good with how things are playing out for me, and I have him to thank for that."

"You say that, but you definitely don't look good. I mean, what kind of coach works their players to the bone like this?"

"I told you, there’s nothing wrong with me. Even if there was, I don't understand how that concerns you." The annoyance builds up inside Scara, causing him to be snippy.

"Maybe because I'm concerned for you. Is that such a bad thing?" A small frown appears on his face, not understanding why Scara is acting this way.

"I have to get to class now." He gives a curt response then walks past him.

"I'll walk you there." Childe begins to walk with him but Scara whips around to face him which causes him to remain in place.

"God, have you always been this clingy? I don't need an escort, so quit following me." Scara snaps then storms off before Childe can say anything back.

Childe watches him exit the room and is left feeling bothered by Scara's behavior. He knows that they share a dynamic where they can be rude to each other at times, but this felt different. As much as he wants to confront him on his weird attitude, he chooses to let it go and allows Scara to have his space.

While heading toward his class Scara gets progressively more lethargic, and it begins to anger him. How is he supposed to focus when he feels like he can't even keep his head up? Scara takes his seat and rests his forehead in his hands, trying to keep it together. He almost falls asleep until he feels a vibration come from his pocket.

Kazuha:
Hey. It's been a while, but I know we've both been busy.

Kazuha:
Wanna grab some food with Heizou and I later?

Scara feels a bit guilty since the last time he had spoken to either of them it was to let them know he survived the aftermath of the party. They weren't happy with how he handled himself that night but they were both too relieved to stay upset with him. As much as he would love to make it up to them today, he just isn't fit to hang out right now.

Scaramouche:
I can't. I haven't been sleeping well, so I need to rest.

Kazuha:
Oh... alrighty. :<

There's also his scheduled evaluation with Dottore he has to go to after class, but he chooses to keep that information to himself. He puts his phone away and lies on his desk, waiting for class to start, but ends up drifting away to sleep.

It takes over an hour for him to wake up and by the time he's fully conscious again the classroom is just as empty as he entered it. He looks around and notices that there's writing on the whiteboard with the homework on it. That means that the lecture took place, but he really did sleep through the entirety of it. Typically, something like that would embarrass him but with how he's feeling in the moment, he doesn't care.

Scara drags his feet to Dottore's lab, located in the basement of the Fatui building. It's always so cold in this area so he hates being there for too long. Since he's been visiting his office for frequent checkups Dottore has allowed him access to the lab during school hours. He uses his ID to enter the room and heads inside.

Dottore is by his computer and focused on the screen, not paying any mind to Scaramouche who had just entered. His lab looks just like any professional one would, but only a little smaller. There's a bunch of test tubes that have clearly been used, a microscope with petri dishes nearby, and a bunch of other equipment that he's unable to recognize. Something about being in this environment feels odd to him, it feels like he shouldn't be here even though he knows that he’s supposed to be.

Scara slowly approaches Dottore and looks over his shoulder. His desk is a complete disorganized mess, but it always is. He can't fathom how such a highly respected Fatui member could maintain his work in a state of chaos and disarray.

"Are you too busy to even acknowledge guests now?" Scara asks, upset at the fact that he was ignored upon entering.

"Unless you're an intruder or a person of great importance, then I'm not all that inclined to greet you with urgency." Dottore explains as he continues to focus on his screen.

"You asked me to be here." The frustration continues to grow inside him the longer he waits.

"I sure did. That memory of yours never fails you, huh." There's sarcasm in Dottore's voice that's prominent but it's hard to notice with the unbothered tone he keeps up with.

"I'd like to get this moving then. I don't exactly enjoy being in your glorified doctor's office." Scara demands, insisting that they get on with it.

Dottore whips around in his chair to now face him, the sudden movement startles Scara, "Pushy today, are we? Try relaxing for once."

Scara takes his advice and calms down before speaking again, "I'll relax once we get this done."

"Take a seat and I'll be right with you." Dottore dismisses him as he gets up from his seat and walks past Scara to grab a few things.

He rolls his eyes and plops himself in the chair he has been sitting in for these checkups. Surprisingly, it's more comfortable than he remembers and he begins dozing off.

"Lift that head of yours, doll." Dottore lightly smacks Scara's cheek to wake him up, "You're the one who was rushing me and now you want to nap on my time?"

Scara scowls at him "A simple tap on the shoulder would've been fine."

"Yeah, yeah." Dottore grabs a clipboard and sits across from him.

They go through the examination quickly. Dottore takes Scara's temperature, flashes light in his eyes to check his pupil dilation, looks into his ears, measures his weight, and draws his blood, all while jotting down notes. The last thing he checks is his heart rate and blood pressure, but as he checks his he lets out an intrigued hum.

"What? What was that for?" Scara takes note of the noise he just made.

"Nothing to be alarmed of. It's just surprising for someone with a diseased heart to have such good results." Dottore reassures him as he puts away his medical equipment.

"Do you think that it's because of the medication?" He tilts his head when he asks.

"Very likely possibility. I might keep you on this for a while as I make more adjustments." Dottore takes a few more notes and nods his head.

"I have a hard time seeing that because I've been feeling like absolute garbage as of lately." Scara complains, giving him a suspicious glare.

"Is that so?" The disinterest in Dottore's voice makes Scara feel like he doesn't believe him.

"Yes. All day I've been in and out of sleep and my nose has been running excessively." while Scara describes what he's been going through he tries to gauge any reaction he could get from Dottore but there is none.

"That sounds like a cold, Scaramouche." He ignores his concerns, "Flu season is also right around the corner.

"I know what a cold feels like, Dottore. This doesn't feel like a cold." Scara insists.

"Whatever you're feeling has nothing to do with what I'm giving you. I already disclosed to you what side effects you may experience." Dottore argues, trying to get Scara off this topic but his refusal agitates him.

"You must've missed one." Scara squints at him, refusing to back down.

"You should be more wary of aggravating me than that little cold of yours." Dottore says sharply, fed up with Scara's attitude.

The seriousness in his voice tells Scara that he's not playing when he tells him that. "Fine, but if I get worse, I won't continue to participate in this."

"I'm going to discuss things with a partner of mine and I'll let you know when we will have enough information to comfortably let you go." his previous tone fades and he returns to his notes.

"Partner...?" Scara stares at him blankly before frowning. "I thought you preferred to work alone."

"I do, but even I sometimes need an extra set of hands to assist me." He rolls his chair back over to his computer to do more work.

Something about that bothers Scara. Dottore has never been the type of person to accept help so what's so special about this new partner of his? He's also curious as to what kind of relationship he has with this person. It's not like he's dating Dottore, but he's not particularly interested in sharing him either.

"I've been meaning to ask you something." Scara revives the conversation again

"Then ask it." Dottore states bluntly.

"I want to be exclusive with you. Would you agree to that?" He asks confidently, trying to hide how nervous he truly is to ask him this.

Dottore lets out one solid laugh as he continues his work, "Exclusive? What even is that, are you asking me to be your boyfriend? I thought we both knew we were better than that relationship bullshit."

"Believe me, that's far from what I mean." Scara cringes at the idea of seriously dating him, "I'm just saying I want us to only be involved with each other."

Dottore pauses then slowly turns from his seat with a smile, "Are you perhaps jealous, Scara? Did you feel threatened by me mentioning my partner?"

"How about I just don't want an STD on top of whatever illness is currently coursing through me." Scara rolls his eyes.

"And get rid of the large roster of people I like to get busy with. I can't bear to part with all zero of them." He sarcastically whines.

"Is that a yes or a no because we can easily stop hooking up with each other if that's what you want." Scara remains unamused, wanting a clear answer.

Dottore gets up from his seat and approaches Scara, "Be calm, would you? Don't fret, I'm all yours."

He rubs Scara's legs trailing up to his thighs. Dottore then lifts Scara's chin and brings his face closer to his "Is that what you want? To have me all to yourself?"

"Something like that." Scara confesses, warming inside.

"You know what I want?" He rubs Scara's bottom lip as he asks.

"What?" Scara looks up at him with hooded eyes as he asks.

"For you to open wide." Dottore pushes his fingers into his mouth, pressing down on his tongue. Scara gags a little from the intrusion but doesn't push him away. Using his other hand, Dottore takes a pill and places it in the center of his tongue. He closes Scara's jaw and watches him swallow before letting him go.

"You may leave now." He walks back to his desk.

When the fingers leave Scara's mouth he's left with the weird taste of those latex gloves on his taste buds. As he gets up from his seat, he thinks about how he's more annoyed with being made to dry swallow a pill than the fact that it was forcefully shoved down his throat. He's honestly glad that things didn't escalate further since he's too out of it to participate in anything sexual, but he doubts that it would've ever gotten that far in this setting since Dottore has a thing about not contaminating his lab.

Even with plenty of time left in his day, Scara goes to his room to call it a night. The minute he enters his dorm he drops his bookbag to the floor, kicks his shoes off, strips from most of his clothes, and falls face first into his bed, instantly knocking out.

September 18th, 7:45pm

There's a sudden knock on his door that startles Scara out of his sleep. He peels himself off of his bed and realizes how much he was sweating during his nap. It's odd because something like that has never happened to him before. He quickly throws on a shirt and some pants as he stumbles over to the front of his room.

Scara looks through the peephole and sees Kazuha standing from outside his door, "What?" He asks, feeling extremely irritated.

"Scaramouche? Can you come out? I want to talk to you." Kazuha requests, hoping, Scara won't ignore him.

He sighs before opening up and poking his head out his door, "What is it, Kazuha? It's late."

"It's not even 8pm yet." Kazuha raises an eyebrow.

"It's not...?" Scara says in disbelief and rubs his face, to him it feels like it could be 2am, "Doesn't matter. What are you here for?"

"I was concerned. I've barely heard from you since the party and I wanted to come see you, so do you mind coming out a bit more so we can have a proper conversation?" Kazuha tries to peer into his room to get a better look at him.

Scara sighs then steps out into the hall and leans on the door so it doesn't close and lock him out.

"My goodness, Scara. Are you ok? You look paler than usual and you're dripping sweat." Kazuha approaches him and goes to put his hand on his forehead.

Kazuha's cold hand causes Scara to flinch and he pushes it away, "I'm doing fine. I've just been busy."

The unprompted harsh rejection and venomous tone from Scara shocks Kazuha, "You certainly don't look like you're doing just fine, Scara. Is there something you're not telling me? You can be honest with me if you're going through something. I'll always be here for you."

"How many times do you want to hear it!? The answer isn't going to change! I'm okay. If that's all you're worried about then you can leave now." Scara raises his voice and crosses his arms.

"Most people who are okay don't sweat bullets and look like they've lost all the blood in their body. At least let me stay the night with you, I want to take care of you if you aren't feeling well." Kazuha pleads with Scara, praying he accepts his help.

"Jesus Christ, since when has everyone been so obsessed with me!? You're all like hemorrhoids I can't fucking get rid of!" Scara turns back into his room and slams the door in Kazuha's face.

Kazuha is hurt but his concern for his friend overrides his frustration with him. Something is going on, he can feel it. Scara is known to be an asshole at times but it's rare for it to get to this extent, especially without any reason. There's nothing he can do about it right now, so he decides to leave it be for now.

September 19th, 10:30am

There's a consistent vibration on Scara's bed that wakes him up in an anxious panic. He frantically flips around until he realizes it's coming from his phone ringing. Once he knows where the source of the noise is coming from, he calms down and picks it up to see who's calling. He looks at the caller's name and sees that it's Signora.

"Hello?" He realizes that his voice sounds raspier than it typically is so he clears it.

"Scara, darling, you sound like my grandmother. Don't tell me you're just waking up?" Signora chuckles.

"What do you need, Signora?" He rubs his eyes as he asks.

"Did you get the email about the upcoming fatui meeting tomorrow?" Signora checks her nails while she brings up the topic.

"No. I haven't been checking my emails." Scara sighs in frustration at his new obligation to show up at another meeting.

"Well, we're having one." she confirms.

"Are you my calendar now? Why are you telling me this?" he's getting tired of being on the phone and wants her to get to the point.

"If I was, I'd be doing a better job at reminding you of your responsibilities than your actual calendar." Signora says proudly, "I'm telling you this because I want you to join me on a midday lunch with Arlecchino before the meeting."

"No."

"Wrong answer. You owe me for saving your ass from missing a meeting which would've given you serious problems with Pierro." Signora states, pleased with her gotcha-moment that she hits Scaramouche with.

"Wow. My hero." Scara responds sarcastically, "Why do you want me to go anyway? Don't you want private time with your girl crush?"

"I would love to, but I think her girlfriend is catching on to my feelings for her. I need to spend time with her in a group setting to avoid suspicion. If it helps, you can bring Dottore or Childe or whoever you're currently swapping spit with." Signora offers, hoping to sweeten the deal.

"None of that, thank you. Neither will be getting an invite. I can bring my friend Kazuha though." He suggests.

"Kazuha...? Oh, Kazuha!" When she remembers who he's referring to she lights up, "The blonde boy with the red streak in his hair? The one that called me pretty?"

"Of course that's how you remember him. Yes, that's Kazuha." Scara says, annoyed at how she recalls the memory of his friend.

"He's more than welcome to join us. I'll send you the location when we decide where we want to go. Bye, bye." Signora hangs up.

Scara lies back in his bed. Now that he's alone with his thoughts he realizes how disgusting he feels. His breathing is off, his head is pounding, his heart is racing, and his skin is hot to the touch. He can't deny it any longer, he may be getting sick. Now that his state is worsening, he feels like he probably should've accepted Kazuha's help. Even while knowing this, he refuses to feel bad about the situation and decides a better way to make it up to him is to invite him to this lunch. Scara returns to his phone and begins typing.

Scaramouche:
Are you doing anything tomorrow afternoon?

Kazuha:
Oh... hey.

Kazuha:
I should be free. Why?

Scaramouche:
Were you not just complaining that I've been absent? This is me attempting to make an effort. Do you want to hang out or not?

Kazuha:
Okay then. I'd be fine with going out.

Scaramouche:
I'll send you the details later.

He puts his phone away and looks for any medication he could take to make this pain die down. To his misfortune he can't find any that could bring him any relief, so he crawls back into bed and closes his eyes once more.

Chapter Text

September 20th, 1:15pm

"You're seriously still going to hang out with that asshole?" Heizou confronts Kazuha, feeling both confused and frustrated.

The two of them are having a heated discussion in Kazuha's room as he prepares to head out to the midday lunch that he agreed to last night. Since Kazuha has been bothered by Scaramouche's recent change in attitude, Heizou is upset and feels that he is enabling his behavior by continuing to see Scara.

"Of course, I am. That asshole is still my friend at the end of the day, and he clearly needs me." Kazuha argues as he gets dressed.

"He needs you? He's stated numerous times that he doesn't even want you!" Heizou laughs in disbelief at Kazuha's ridiculous claim. "He's blatantly disrespectful to you and has no consideration for any of your feelings."

"This one bad moment doesn't define our entire relationship, Heizou." Kazuha brushes his comment off, now quickly combing his hair and putting it in his signature ponytail.

"But it isn't just this one moment. Literally last week he was lying to your face, purposely ignoring you, and said verbatim that he didn't need you." Heizou names the most recent incident that he can think of.

"I ignore him all the time when the school year picks up, and I'm not going to pretend and act like I haven't told a lie or two before. If I tried to claim that I haven't that would be a lie itself. As for the mean comment, we both are capable of saying some harsh stuff to each other in the heat of the moment. I don't hold grudges." Kazuha admits honestly, not having any negative judgements toward his friend.

"There's a difference between not holding a grudge and letting Scaramouche use you as his own personal doormat." he crosses his arms in disapproval of Kazuha's perspective on the situation.

"I'm not his doormat. Sure, things have been a bit more intense lately, but I genuinely believe that there's something serious going on with him, and if there is I want to help him." Kazuha sounds mildly offended at Heizou's statement.

"Or maybe, just maybe... this is the type of person he is." Heizou tries to gently introduce this concept to him, knowing it's a controversial take.

"You don't know him the way I know him. I've spent years being this boy's best friend and I know when he's having some kind of issue." He shakes his head in denial and refutes the idea.

"Time isn't everything Kazuha. Sure you've known him since middle school, but just because a few years have passed doesn't mean that they've been good ones." Heizou sighs, knowing his efforts to convince him will probably go nowhere.

"You don't know anything about us. You haven't even been around him that long to really know him. I didn't introduce you guys until last year, you don't get to criticise our friendship when you still haven't gotten past the surface level of seeing it." Kazuha turns to face Heizou and puts his hands on his hips, "I think you're just biased because you've never liked Scara."

"I think you're biased because you like Scara too much." He says back at him.

"Is it so wrong to care about my friend? Just because you hate him doesn't mean that I have to." Kazuha frowns.

"It's not even like I hate Scara, I am friends with the guy. I just don't like how he treats the person that I care about most. I see how much effort and love that you put into him and it angers me that it's rarely ever returned." Heizou elaborates on his issue with Scara, trying to clear up the misunderstanding. "Are you sure that he'd even care about you enough to do this for you?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course he would! Do you honestly believe that I'd be friends with him if I wasn't sure of that?" The anger rises in Kazuha and he starts to raise his voice, "You have no idea what he's done for me and you think that you have any right to act like you know better than me?"

"I don't know better than you, but I have eyes and they can clearly see that you aren't in a healthy relationship with your friend. This is practically the same argument you had with him about Dottore." Heizou tries to offer an example to make his perspective clearer but it only frustrates Kazuha more.

"Except Scara isn't Dottore and is actually capable of experiencing compassion for others. That's not even comparable." He rolls his eyes and goes to put his shoes on, not wanting to be late for his lunch meeting because of this argument.

"Fine. He's not the antichrist.” Heizou puts his hands up in surrender, admitting it wasn't a fair example, but sticks to his point, “But you should still want better for yourself, Kazu."

"Better like what? Like you? Is this one big ego boost for you or some crap like that? Where you try to get me to believe that you're so much better than Scara, so I should stop hanging around him to spend more time with you?" Kazuha goes on a heated rant.

"You're just jumping to conclusions now. Can you just think about what I'm saying for a second." Heizou softens his tone, attempting to pacify Kazuha's rage, which works to some extent.

"No, I'm not because what you're saying is ridiculous." Kazuha furrows his brow and glares at him.

"It's really not. I'm just looking out for you." Heizou looks at him sympathetically.

"There's no need to. I can look out for myself." He grabs his wallet and keys, preparing to leave.

"I see why you guys are friends now." Heizou frowns.

"If you don't like it then we don't have to keep seeing each other." The way Kazuha bluntly tells him this makes Heizou’s heart sink.

"Is that what you want? Is this you trying to look for a way out? Are you really that scared to love again?" He asks, knowing he's overstepping his bounds but still wanting a genuine response.

Kazuha shoots him a sharp look, "Don't go there. You're entering territory that not even Scara would dare to go near. If you care about what we have, you'll stop while you can, and we're dropping this conversation."

"Fine." Heizou folds, not wanting to do permanent damage to their relationship.

"I'm leaving now. I'll be back before it gets dark." He heads to the door but stops when he hears Heizou call out for him.

"Kazuha." Heizou approaches him at the door and stands in front of him.

"What?" Kazuha maintains his sour look at him.

He kisses Kazuha's cheek, "I'll miss you."

Kazuha gradually loosens up and his cheeks flush, "I'm still mad at you... but I'll miss you too."

Heizou nods and waves goodbye and Kazuha leaves the room, waving back at him. He rushes his way down the stairs and crosses his fingers, hoping that he's not too late and keeping Scara waiting. Kazuha exits and scans the area outside the building, expecting to see him, but there's no one else around.

"That's weird. When have I ever gotten somewhere before Scara?" He sits on a nearby bench and decides to give him some time to come down.

It takes around five more minutes until he sees a frail ghostly appearing boy stand before him, giving him a small fright.

"Oh, good heavens!" Kazuha clutches his chest feeling his heart race, "Is that you, Scaramouche?"

"Who else would it be?" Scara says quietly, unable to speak at a louder volume. His eyes look sunken, his mouth is dry, and he lightly shakes as he stands. Anyone could easily confuse him for a walking corpse.

"Sorry. I just didn't recognize you with your uh... radiant healthy glow." Kazuha looks him up and down as he gets up from the bench.

"You don't have to lie, I know I look terrible. I'm probably coming down with something now that it's flu season." He wipes his nose as he talks.

"The plague, perhaps?" Kazuha jokes but he is genuinely scared for his friend's well being and keeps his distance.

"Whatever. Let's just get moving." Scara starts walking and Kazuha follows along.

Scara drags his feet to the location of a diner that Signora sent him yesterday. It's a painfully slow walk for the both of them because Scaramouche has to take a two minute break every few steps. Eventually they arrive at the place and Kazuha opens the door for him while Scara catches his breath.

They spot Signora sitting pretty close to Arlecchino and when she notices the two of them, she waves to let them know where to sit. Scara slides into the opposite side of the booth, sitting across from the women and Kazuha joins him. Before any of them could give a proper greeting to each other, Arlecchino gives Scara a strange look and speaks up.

"Signora. Why would you invite this diseased friend of yours out with us? He shouldn't be here in this state." Arlecchino looks at him in disgust at his sickly appearance.

"Love to hear that. Thanks." Scara says sarcastically and annoyed.

"Would you not prefer to be resting right now?" Arlecchino bluntly asks.

"Fair enough." he sighs in defeat.

"Arlecchino, my dear, doesn't he look like he could greatly benefit from getting some vitamin D in his system?" Signora gestures to Scara as she mentions his pale skin.

"Possibly." Arlecchino considers her point.

"So there you go. I'm being a considerate friend by encouraging him to make healthy life choices." She smiles, feeling good about herself.

"How thoughtful." Scara rolls his eyes.

"I am, aren't I?" Signora says proudly.

"Who's the other one?" Arlecchino looks at Kazuha curiously.

"Arlecchino, this is Kazuha. He's a good friend of Scaramouche that was at the party. He called me pretty." She gives him a fond smile as she introduces them to each other and Kazuha returns it.

"I remember now. You were making out with the red haired boy." Arlecchino recalls the memory.

Kazuha blushes in embarrassment and averts his gaze, "Oh my. I apologize if that's your only memory of me."

"It is, but I don't need an apology. It was a party, I don't care what you do at it." She dismisses his embarrassment not wanting to dwell on it. 

"Ah, alrighty then." Kazuha feels less awkward now that he knows she couldn’t care less.

"She wouldn't be able to judge anyway. She knows how to let loose when she wants to." Signora teases her and nudges Arlecchino's side.

"False. You get more out of hand than I do. During that same party, you passed out drunk, and you have that new kid to thank for returning you to me." Arlecchino says with a sly smirk as she sips her water.

"I don't have to thank that pest for anything." Signora scoffs.

"New kid?" Kazuha asks, oblivious to who they are referring to.

"They're talking about Childe." Scara answers for them.

"Ah, Childe! Your friend." Kazuha nods.

"He's not my friend." Scara denies with disgust.

"So I assume you guys finally went official? Congrats." Signora rests her chin on her hand while she teases him.

"You guys are giving me a headache." He pinches the bridge of his nose, feeling the pounding start up again.

"We should stop then. We don't need to add another symptom on top of all fifty others you already have." Signora chuckles as she continues to poke fun at him.

Scara wants to say something back that's just as snarky, but he doesn't have the energy to continue to engage with her. He sits there with a frown on his face, and a waiter comes up to take their orders. Once they’ve been placed the waiter returns after twenty minutes with everyone's meals.

"So, what is going with you Scara? Did you lick a public toilet seat to get to this condition?" Signora asks but is really curious to know since it is rare for him to ever get sick.

"It's probably just the flu." He rubs his temples, feeling distressed.

"I don't think this is the flu." Kazuha looks at him unbelieving.

"What else would it be then, Kazuha?" Scara grits his teeth, not in the mood to argue.

"Not sure, but it's definitely not the flu." He shakes his head.

"How helpful." Scara complains sarcastically.

"I agree with your friend. I've dealt with enough sick kids in my life to know what the flu looks like. What you have is certainly not that." Arlecchino gives her thoughts as she eats her food.

"Arlecchino, is right. Maybe you contracted something from being around Dottore so often. Who knows what diseases he's harbouring in that lab of his." Signora suggests.

"Dottore?" Arlecchino raises an eyebrow, "It's unwise to keep company like that."

"That's what I've been trying to tell him." Kazuha sighs in relief, no longer having to feel crazy now that he knows someone else shares the same opinion as him.

"He's a man with no soul. There's not an animal, man, woman, or child that he would spare from his selfishness, using all of them for his own personal gain. I would know since he's tried to get me involved with his cruelty." Arlecchino explains with resentment embedded in her tone.

"Oh right. You're referring to when he requested to experiment on some of your kids." Signora adds.

"Are you serious?" Kazuha sounds completely flabbergasted at this information.

"What she says is true. I have children that I look after. I'm working on becoming an educator, so I frequently spend my time with them. When Dottore found that out, he came to me to ask if he could get one of them to participate in some research he was doing. I asked him what this research would require of them and he essentially wanted them as a lab rat. The way he described what would happen to them disgusted me. It was like he had no regard for them as human beings whatsoever, so I of course refused." Arlecchino elaborates on what took place back then.

"That's just awful." Kazuha has a mortified expression stuck on his face.

"What is he, an urban legend? You're all talking about him like he's the boogeyman when he's just some asshole with a med degree in the works." Scara speaks up aggressively, immediately getting defensive.

"Did you not hear what she just said? He's a sociopath!" Kazuha shouts, baffled at Scaramouche's refusal to accept that Dottore may not be as trustworthy as he believes.

"He's definitely a weirdo, that's for sure." Signora throws in her opinion into the mix, which triggers Scara more.

"What is this? an intervention? I don't need to hear any of this right now." Scara brushes them all off, not in the mood to hear any of their thoughts.

"I don't care enough about you to intervene in your endeavors. Do as you please. I was only sharing my thoughts on your poor taste in associates." Arlecchino says simply as she takes a bite out of her food.

"Noted." Scara rolls his eyes and picks up his fork to focus on his meal.

There's an uncomfortable silence that remains for a few minutes as they eat. Signora and Arlecchino eventually begin to have their own pleasant conversation with Kazuha joining in, all of them  wanting to move on from the awkward interaction. Scaramouche just sits quietly and picks at his food, not eating a single bite.

"You haven't touched your meal, Scara." Kazuha whispers, not wanting to embarrass him in front of the others.

"I'm not hungry." Scara answers him plainly.

"Have you eaten at all today?" Kazuha gives him a troubled look. Scara tends to be very particular with his food portions since he's not the biggest eater, so It's very unusual for him to waste food like this.

"I'll just eat later." he glosses over the question.

"If you're not going to eat that I'll take it off your hands." Arlecchino offers, while eyeing his plate.

"Sounds good." Scara carelessly pushes his meal towards her, which she happily accepts.

Kazuha wants to disprove of this transaction but it happens too fast and it becomes too late. He can only sit back and watch as his best friend makes poor decisions for himself.

After Arlecchino quickly eats the entirety of Scaramouche's meal, they receive the check and the bill finds them. Signora is quick to snatch the check before anyone else could grab it.

"I've got it." Signora says with a confident grin.

"There's no need for that." Arlecchino wags her finger.

"I asked for these two to join us. I want to at least treat them for keeping us company." Signora pouts with disappointment.

"The check, Signora." She speaks firmly and holds out her hand to receive it.

Signora sighs in defeat and gives it to her, "You're so unfair." She lies back in the booth and crosses her arms.

"Thank you." Arlecchino shows a small smile from her triumph as she puts cash inside, "A sweet gesture I expected from you, but it wouldn't feel right to let you spend your hard earned money on me."

Signora feels her face get warm from the compliment, "How gentlemanly of you."

"I appreciate you for covering our meals. We're both very grateful for the kind gesture." Kazuha thanks the two of them, happy to have spent some time getting to know them both.

"It's only fair since I ate Scaramouche's food and it's not like you ordered anything absurdly expensive." Arlecchino explains.

Signora looks over at Arlecchino's watch, "We should probably get going now. The meeting will start in 15 minutes."

They all exit the booth and Arlecchino holds the door open for them as they exit the building. Signora and Arlecchino end up a little further ahead than the other two, having their own talk and interlocking arms with each other as they walk side by side. Kazuha trails behind to stay with Scara, not wanting to have him walk completely alone. Scara's movements are extremely sluggish and it takes them a bit longer to get to the Fatui building. Since outsiders aren't allowed, when they arrive Kazuha has to stop in front of the door to bid them farewell.

"It was a pleasure to grab food with you all. Have a wonderful day and take care." Kazuha shakes the hand of the two women then turns to Scaramouche, "Please text me when you make it back to your room, okay?"

Scara doesn't respond, he just lets out a hum of acknowledgement and heads inside. Arlecchino and Signora share their goodbyes with Kazuha and follow behind Scara. They all get to the room, and the women go their separate ways from Scaramouche, Arlecchino sits with her girlfriend Colombina and Signora joins the couple.

Now that Scaramouche is alone, he thinks this is the best moment to talk to Dottore to see if he may have any clue on how to help him. He examines the room full of people, and he spots Childe sitting by himself. Scara stares in his direction until Childe turns his head and they make brief eye contact. He quickly looks away and sucks his teeth, still not wanting to talk to him and then continues on with his original task.

He notices Dottore leaning against the wall and talking to one of the new members, Pantalone. Scara takes the first few steps towards them but before he gets to speak to him, Capitano gathers everyone's attention to start the meeting.

"I would like for you all to take your seats so we can begin." Capitano says and he organizes some papers he's holding.

Scara groans as he goes to take a seat. Capitano proceeds with the meeting once everyone is in their spots, but he can barely process a thing he is saying. His eyes are slowly closing, his body feels heavy, and the talking becomes background noise for him. Scara puts up a strong fight against his drowsiness but unfortunately succumbs to it. He leans on his desk and instantly knocks out.

In his state of unconscious Scara feels a prodding at his shoulder which pulls him out of his slumber. He lifts up his head and looks around to see that the room has nobody in it except for the person standing right in front of him. Scara looks up but can't make out who it is with the ceiling light shining in his eyes, so he just drops his head back down and sleeps again.

When Scara returns to his rest, Childe sighs and is unsure how to handle this situation. He doesn’t want to leave him by himself with the building closing soon, but they haven't been on the best terms with each other since the last time they spoke. Childe decides to put aside his pride and tries to wake him one last time.

"C'mon, Scaramouche. Wake up. The meeting ended like 10 minutes ago." He continues to poke him lightly.

There's no response and Childe stands there conflicted. It's becoming apparent to him that Scara won't be waking up anytime soon. When Childe first approached him, he was almost convinced he was dead upon seeing his unwell appearance and noticing how heavy he was sleeping. He was extremely relieved when he realized that wasn't the case.

Childe shakes his head, "You leave me no other choice, bud. You gotta get home somehow."

"Up we go." He reaches over and grabs the sickly boy, carrying him on his back. Scara feels even lighter than the last time he had to pick him up, but because he's completely limp Childe struggles when trying to properly hold him up on his back.

Childe starts walking with him to their dorm building and when he gets to Scara's front door, he realizes he has no idea how to get in there. He can't exactly just leave him on the floor, so he tries waking him up again.

"Pst. Scara. Where's your keycard?" he attempts to gently wake him by shimmying him on his back, hoping the slight movement will work. Unfortunately, as expected, there's no response.

"Okay then. I guess we’re off to my room." Left with no other option, Childe heads to his dorm, takes his keycard out, and they enter inside.

He gently places Scara in his bed, making sure he's able to ease himself into the new environment. Childe's pretty sure Scara would be greatly uncomfortable if he changed him out of his clothes, so the only thing he removes is his shoes so he can relax better.

Scara curls himself up into a fetal position, now getting more cozy on the soft mattress. The sight is rather cute, which feels weird for Childe because of how different he looks compared to his constant state of displeasure. This isn't the first time he saw him like this, but he wishes he could see this version of him more often. For now, he can only try his best to get him to warm up to him.

Childe pulls a blanket over him and then sets up his own spot to sleep on the floor. There's still time left in his day, so he spends it by doing his assignments and unwinding until he gets tired. He eventually showers and crawls into his makeshift bed to fall asleep.

As Childe dozes off, he thinks about how Scara might react to this in the morning. He can only hope that things go smoothly after some explaining and Scara doesn't wake up in an aggressive mood like the last time he saw him.

Chapter Text

September 21st, 9:20am

Sunlight hits Scara's eyes causing him to uncomfortably groan as he wakes up. He sits up in bed and rubs his face, trying to grasp back onto reality. When he removes his hands, he's immediately alarmed by this unfamiliar location that he found himself in.

He looks around to search for any clues of what person could've kidnapped him and brought him back to their dorm. He sees a bunch of family photos displayed on the walls and picture frames on the person's desk. Most of the pictures are of a young boy and girl, but there's a few photos with some adults that could either be parents or older siblings. All of the family members have orange hair, blue eyes, and freckles, which gives him his first major hint as to who this could be.

He continues looking around and sees medals and awards for all kinds of sports and activities. There's also a pair of used boxing gloves hanging up on the wall next to posters of popular MMA fighters. His second major hint as to who this person could be, and he's not liking the answer as to who the culprit most likely is.

The last thing he takes notice of is a few scattered papers on the desk. Scara crawls over and tries to glance at them and they look like handwritten letters. He squints trying to see what name was signed off, but he can't completely make it out. He’s only able to recognize that the first letter is an "A", which confuses him since he doesn't know anyone whose name starts with an A other than Arlecchino, and he strongly doubts that this could be her room.

Just when he was feeling confident in who his captor may be, he's back at ground zero. He figures that the best course of action is to leave before this mystery individual comes back. He's still feeling incredibly weak and unwell, so he musters up all his strength to jump down from the bed, but accidently steps on someone.

"AH! Fuck!" Childe shoots up from his sleep from the sudden pain that goes through him, He clutches his balls that were just brutally crushed.

Scara gets so startled that he falls on the floor right across from Childe, "Holy shit! What the hell are you doing sleeping on the floor!?"

"I doubt you wanted to wake up to my face one inch away from you!" Childe shouts as he still tries to recover from the intense agony he had just experienced.

"I didn't want to wake up to you at all! How the hell did I end up here?" Scara demands for an explanation.

"It was either my room or the Fatui building that you refused to leave. I don't know what kinda coma you fell into, but you should get that checked." Childe sits up now, facing him.

"You know that my room is two doors away. Why would you bring me here instead of there?" Scara asks suspiciously.

"I didn't know where your keycard was. I wasn't going to do a full body search to find it." Childe looks uncomfortable at the thought.

Scara pats himself down to check for his keycard and he finds it in the back pocket of his pants. Yeah, that definitely would've been weird if he did end up grabbing it. "Fine. I see what you mean."

"Trust me I also wasn't happy with this turn of events. It just didn't feel right leaving you out there like that." He looks away, feeling weird about Scara being here.

Scara thinks about what he just said and remembers how Childe didn't want to let him in his room the one time he went to get him advil. He thoroughly examines his environment and takes in how well kept his room is. "It’s real tidy in here."

Childe gives him a skeptical look, finding the random change in topic strange, "It usually always is. I try to keep it that way. I hate being in a messy room."

"So you lied to me. Your room wasn't dirty that day was it?" Scara glares at him.

He looks at Scara confused until he remembers what he's talking about. "We all have our boundaries. I'm sure you can understand that."

"Yours was keeping me out of your room?"

"It's not just you, ya know. It's just very personal for me. I don't like people getting a glimpse in here." Childe answers honestly.

Scara understands what he means but he's still annoyed that he was lied to. He can see how this is very new for Childe and it's weird to see more into his life in this way. Scara chooses to not make any mention of it at all since he knows Childe is already unhappy with his presence here.

"How are you feeling though? You don't look one hundred percent" Childe crawls over to Scara and reaches over to touch his forehead.

Immediately when they make physical contact Scara quickly smacks his hand away, "Don't touch me. I'm fine."

"Ow... Well, as fine as think you are, you may have a fever." Childe rubs his hand. "You don't have to be an asshole though. I'm only trying to help."

"In what world would I ever need your help?" Scara snaps at him.

"Uh, this one? If it wasn't for me, who knows what would've happened to you if I left you all alone in this state." Childe raises an eyebrow.

"My knight in shining armor. You saved me from the horrors of an empty private building. Do we dub you king now or tomorrow morning?" Scara sarcastically insults him.

"Are you actually being serious right now?" Childe squints his eyes at him, completely puzzled as to why he's so mad at him for giving him a place to sleep.

"I didn't need your help. I don't need any favors from you. We're not friends and we're never going to be friends, so stop trying so hard." He responds even harsher this time.

Childe's confusion turns into frustration, "What the hell is going on with you recently? Where is this coming from? It used to be fun being around you and now you're just genuinely awful."

"I'm so tired of being asked that question all the damn time. It's none of your business what's going on in my life. It's nobody's really." Scara says bitterly, but even he isn't sure where this anger is coming from. He just knows that he's been completely bothered by everyone as of recently and this has been his breaking point.

"No." Childe shakes his head and Scara can hear the hurt in his voice, " You don't get to all of a sudden switch up on me with no explanation. Just a week ago, we were out getting coffee and working out together, now I'm just some guy who's intruding in on your life?"

"You have always just been some guy who's intruding in on my life." Scara says coldly.

"Bullshit." Childe calls him out, "There have been times where you've reached out to me, opened up to me, because you had nobody else to go to. That doesn't sound much like an intruder in my eyes. You've only started acting like a jackass after Dottore asked to see you a few days ago, so is that it?"

"This is what I mean when I say you do too much!" Scara raises his voice, fed up with his conversation, "Did you think you were special because I told you some information about annoying ass friends that I barely even like? I can tell you right now you've never been more wrong. I see why you do this though. Since you have no whiny snot-nosed sibling to take care of, you feel the need to project that protectiveness over me. It’s pathetic."

Childe is stunned by Scara's audacity, but that initial shock is quick to turn into boiling rage. He has to force himself to take a deep breath before speaking again, "Get out."

"Psh, gladly." Scara gets up and heads to the door, putting his shoes on, with Childe following behind him. The second he exits the room, Childe is quick to slam the door behind him, which causes Scara to jump.

He gives a solid kick to the door in an angry response before walking towards his room, "So dramatic."

When he gets to his room, he checks his phone to see what time it is and notices that it's Saturday morning. He's been losing track of the days with how often he's been sleeping, so he's surprised at how fast the weekend came. Since it's Saturday that also means it's one of his running days, so he decides to get dressed in his track suit and heads to the field.

Even in his poor condition, he still feels confident that he'll perform well since he's been on his A-game while being on Dottore’s medication. He sets up his stopwatch, gets into his running form, and takes off. Right when he starts his lungs instantly begin to burn and his chest becomes tight, making it hard to breathe. He assumes that he started off too strong and tries to slow down to make it easier on himself, but it still hurts. His sprint turns into a light jog, then ends up as a walk to the finish line.

He checks his time and can't help but do a double take. 73 seconds. He has to rub his eyes and check again, but the numbers remain the same. Impossible. Immediately he makes his way back to the track and restarts his sprint, but this one is even worse than the last. The burning in his chest gets even worse and his heart starts beating way too fast causing him sharp pain. He ends up tripping on his own foot and falls to the floor.

Scara is hunched over, trying to catch his breath. His vision is blurry, his ears are pounding, and the entire world is spinning. Even in this delirious state, he lifts himself up and shakily stands on his feet to continue going. He practically has to speed walk to finish his lap. He doesn't even dare check the time, he's well aware that it took him over three minutes.

There's no way he can go on like this. Not only for his damaged pride, but this could be detrimental to his scholarship and his standing with the Fatui. He has to find Dottore and see if he can fix this.

Scaramouche:

Dottore. Where are you? We need to talk.

He gets no response from him, and he has to send him another text.

Scaramouche:

Helloooo??? Are you Amish now?

Still, there's no response. Scara even tries calling him a few times and it goes to voicemail. He decides that the best thing he can do is check for him in his lab.

Scara moves as fast as he possibly can to get to the lab and uses his keycard to barge inside. When he steps into the room he's shocked to find Dottore talking with someone else. Dottore is working on the computer and the other man is next to him, standing awfully close. The scene makes Scara's blood boil.

"Ahem." He loudly clears his throat to get both of their attention, causing them to turn around. He recognizes the other person as the new Fatui member, Pantalone.

"Scaramouche. I wasn't expecting to see you here." Dottore says, not having much of a reaction to his sudden appearance.

"Well, I'm here." Scara stares down Pantalone who's still in the room with them.

"I should probably be on my way. We'll meet again soon." Pantalone gives Dottore a smile as he departs from the area.

There's a moment of silence as Scara watches Pantalone leave. Once he's out of the room he snaps his head to look back at Dottore.

Scara crosses his arms and gives him a serious scowl, "Here I was thinking that you weren't answering the phone due to some tragic lab accident. Little did I know that there were other experiments taking place in here."

"That imagination you have fascinates me." Dottore smiles as he leans against the arm of his chair, entertained by Scara's anger with him.

"Then what the hell was he here for?" Scara asks with an accusatory tone.

"Maybe if you didn't pass out last meeting you would've known that Pantalone is the person that I'm currently partnered up with for my research." Dottore explains, blaming Scara's confusion on himself.

"You have your drugs to thank for my chronic fatigue." Scara argues back.

"That wouldn't be any of my doing." He denies innocently.

"There are Porta Potties full of less shit than you." Scara insults him, getting progressively more irritated, "These past few days I've been feeling terrible. All I do is sleep, I can't run, I can't breathe, I profusely sweat, and I'm always angry. You need to do something about this."

Dottore is quick to grab his notepad and writes as Scara lists his symptoms, "Your test results always say otherwise. Maybe it's all just in your head."

"Don't try to make me feel crazy. You said that this would make me feel better and I don't." Scara says, feeling offended by the suggestion.

"You felt fine in the beginning and I did warn you there would be mild side effects." Dottore shrugs his shoulders.

"I felt good only for about four days and these side effects are nowhere near mild. Regardless, you are obligated to take care of me when I'm being negatively impacted by your experiment. We agreed on that." Scara fights with him, refusing to be in the wrong.

Dottore shakes his head and lets out a small chuckle, "Sure we did. Go ahead and take a seat. I've been meaning to give you something else that should help anyway."

Scara is already skeptical of this new remedy that he's about to be given, but he's getting desperate. He'll take anything as long as it means he can go back to normal. Dottore approaches him with a large syringe that intimidates Scaramouche.

"What? Now you're nervous? Just a few seconds ago you were talking my ear off about how you needed my help and all of a sudden you're scared of it." Dottore complains.

Scara's helplessness starts to get to him and he feels vulnerable, "I just don't want to be in pain anymore. Everything hurts. My body... my mind... all of it no longer feels like my own. I just want to feel familiar with my own being again."

"Then why don't you just let me do what I have to do?" Dottore grabs Scara's arm and cleans a small area with an alcohol pad, "Your life is in my hands afterall." He unsympathetically injects him with the syringe, causing Scara to wince from the intense discomfort.

"Come again in a few days if you feel just as bad or worse. If you're still unsatisfied with my medication's results by then, we can make that your last visit." Dottore informs him before going back to his computer.

"That's it?" Scara asks in disbelief.

"If that's all you came for then yes. I have work to do now." Dottore shoos him away without even looking back at him.

Scara doesn't even know what to think about this. He doesn't know where to go, who to talk to, or how to soothe himself from this suffering. He gets up from the chair and exits Dottore’s lab, now heading back to his room.

Scara enters his dorm and sits on his bed to reflect on everything. He assumed Dottore would be able to fix everything, but it doesn't even seem like he has any interest in trying. What was the point in convincing him to do this if the medication is clearly not making him any better. Scara now regrets not listening to the numerous warnings he was given. Deep down he knew it wouldn't end in his favor, but some part of him thought that maybe Dottore meant it when he said he cared about him.

As complicated as their relationship is, Scara never hated Dottore and has always had some form of affection for the guy. It's likely why he's been so defensive over him, or maybe he just doesn't want to admit that he had a moment of weakness with trusting him. Either way, he always thought it was mutual. Now as he sits in his bedroom shaking and barely able to breathe, he's not sure anymore. Scara still can't tell if this was intentional or not and that uncertainty is what allows him to cling on to the possibility that Dottore had no idea how badly this would affect him.

Maybe Dottore is focusing so hard in his lab to figure out how to make him better. He did just give him that syringe that he himself claimed he was working on with him in mind.

That slight possibility is all he can hold onto to ease his mind, because if it's true that means that everyone was wrong about his relationship with him. It would mean that there's still a chance that Dottore didn't lie to him, only for him to participate in his own experiments. That there's still a chance that he may view him differently than all his other subjects.

The idea that he was wrong is something that Scara just can't bear to think about. All that he risked, lost, and damaged; it would have all been one cruel joke that he played on himself.

He wishes he could have more comfort in this moment but who can he turn to when there's no one left around? He picks up his phone and stares at it, then his fingers move without him thinking. He puts it up to his ear as he waits for the ringing to end, then suddenly there's an answer.

"Kunikazushi? What a rare occurrence it is for you to call." Ei says, sounding surprised.

"Hello, mother." His voice is a little shaky, but it's not like he can help it.

"What's the special occasion? My calendar says you don't have any races any time soon." Scara can hear her flipping through papers as she asks her question, she's most likely working.

"There is no special occasion. Is it so surprising for your son to call you?" Scara asks casually, not wanting to make it sound like he only wanted something from her.

"I'm sure you can answer that one for yourself." Ei says plainly.

"Well, you partially have your wife to thank for the call. She was sure to verbally harass me to make sure I do so, so here I am." He informs her of the last interaction he had with Yae Miko when she dropped him off.

"My heart's flame. Of course she did." She chuckles to herself over the phone, "So, how have your studies been? Starting the school year with all A's, I assume?"

"I have." He confirms.

"What about your Fatui requirements? Have they been pleased with what you've been doing?"

Scara nods, "Yes. Every meeting I've been early to."

She gives a hum of approval, "How early?"

He thinks back to the last Fatui meeting that he completely slept through, "Most recently it's been five minutes."

"Aim for ten." Ei sets the goal for him.

Scara sighs at the new expectation, "Sure. I'll give it a go."

"And how has your sprinting been?" She asks her last question, one that Scara has been dreading.

"That's why I wanted to call you. I... I haven't been feeling well." he answers honestly.

"You haven't been feeling well?" She repeats, sounding perplexed.

"No. I haven't." Scara looks down at the floor feeling lost.

"So drink some ginger-honey tea. Have you been up late again? You always sleep too late and then you wonder why you feel so bad all the time." Ei criticises his poor sleeping habits that she remembers he had over the summer.

"All I've been doing is sleeping, mother. If I slept any longer, I might as well be hibernating." Scara corrects her assumption.

"Tell me then, how has this illness affected your running?" She requests to hear some details.

"I can hardly breath and I get extremely faint whenever I try." Scara describes his recent struggles.

"I meant your times, Kunikazushi. What have your times been like?" She rephrases her question.

He hesitates to answer, knowing she won't like what he’s about to say, "My most recent time was 3 minutes."

"Three whole minutes?" She's astonished at how horrible he's been doing, "Did you die half way there? What is this illness that you have?"

"I don't know." He says confused, "I have no idea what I should do. It only seems to be getting worse."

She drops her pen to focus on the conversation, "This is unacceptable, Kuni. You could lose everything if you don't improve."

"I know that. That's why I'm worried about this." Ei can sense the fear in Scara's voice, but she remains strong.

"Stop worrying and do something about it." She firmly advises him. "Have you been to the doctors yet?"

"No- I mean... kind of." he fumbles over his words, not knowing how to respond to that. Dottore is kind of a doctor but he's nothing official yet.

"Kuni, what does that even mean? It's either a yes or a no." She asks again, wanting a better answer.

"I went to someone qualified." He changes his response to something equally vague.

"I'm going to pretend that's a real answer and assume that's a yes. Were they able to treat you?" Ei questions him further.

"I was given a shot to help me feel better."

"That's a start. Anything else?"

"Just that." Scara shakes his head.

"Then continue to monitor yourself, rest, and drink your ginger-honey tea. I'll mail you some and I want you to drink all of it, but that's all I can offer you." She suggests, not knowing how else to help.

"I'll take it." Scara shrugs and accepts the offering, appreciating the small show of support.

"You will have to because I will not be paying for your tuition or your dorm if you lose that scholarship." Ei states coldly.

"Please tell me you're joking." His eyes widened in shock.

"I'm sure we both wish this was a joking manner, but it's not. I need to focus on supporting your sister's education as she's attending college next year." She elaborates on her reasoning, but it doesn't help Scara with how he's feeling.

"What about your son who is currently in college and needs you!?" Scara shouts, unable to conceal his anger.

"Lower your voice. I already told you how I'd be willing to help you." Ei speaks to him frigidly, not liking the volume he is talking to her at.

"Do you honestly believe ginger tea is going to solve every problem in my life right now?" He's bewildered at her idea of help.

"What would you like me to do? I have two kids that I have to support. Do you know how expensive your school is?" She asks him, not fond of his attitude.

"You sent me here! You chose this college for me! I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to go to college and you basically forced me to attend one that is countries away from you!" Scara raises his voice again, trying to contain his frustration but can barely hold it together.

"I was hoping you'd figure things out by your sophomore year, but if you think I'm going to waste a single penny on the college education of someone who hasn't even decided their major yet, then you are greatly mistaken. Your sister actually knows what she wants and has a real future." Ei goes on to compare the two of them, something that he has always hated.

"And I don't? She only has all of that because you planned and picked it all out for her!" Scara can't hide how wounded he feels at this moment.

"She's at least doing something with it. What are you doing, Kunikazushi, other than wasting time? I tried with you, I truly did, and you refused the life I was offering you. Now you have to learn to live it on your own." She stands her ground, unable to fully sympathize with him.

"I've always been living it on my own! There has never been a moment where I wasn't living life on my own. It's almost like the concept of a mother was put in front of me but was never promised. Trust me when I say I'll come out of this fine, but once again it'll be thanks to me, and never with the help of the person who put me here. Goodbye." Scara hangs up and has to refrain from throwing his phone against the wall. He's reminded as to why he never calls her.

Scara slowly lies back in his bed and curls up into a ball. He forces his eyes shut and fights back tears. Even though he knows that most of this is his own doing, he can't help but wish that he could rewind time and try again. However, deep down he believes that even if he did have a chance to redo all this, he knows that would be sentenced to the same terrible fate or worse. He falls asleep softly crying and dreaming for something better to come.

Chapter Text

September 25th, 8:55am

Childe has been dreading going to this class since his last big argument with Scaramouche. He hasn't heard from Scara at all, but he also hasn't made any effort to reach out to him either, nor does he want to. Last night, Childe had already made the decision that he was going to sit somewhere far away from him today, but he finds himself hesitant to even enter the room.

He's sick of the blatant disrespect from him but he can't help but be really worried for him at the same time. This entire month Childe has spent getting closer to Scara and he's been enjoying it for the most part. Seeing him fall apart hasn't been easy for him and he's been trying his best to help, but the line has been crossed too many times. Childe convinces himself to stay strong and push through to get this day over with.

When he steps inside, the first thing he notices is that Scara isn't in his usual seat. It takes only a few glances around the class for him to realize that he actually isn't in the room at all. It's weird for him to not be early but it's even more alarming that he might be late.

Childe comes to the conclusion that if Scara isn't here yet then maybe it's fine for him to sit in his typical spot. He doubts that Scara would want to be anywhere near him anyway. As he waits for the class to begin, he can't take his eyes off the door to see if he will eventually enter, but he never does.

Eventually, the professor starts the lecture, but Childe continues to take a look every once in a while, to check for him. When the class comes to an end Childe feels a bit weird knowing that the most punctual person he knows just missed an entire lesson. Normally, he would go to Scara's room to check on him, but he decides that it's not his business. However, the thought is constantly in the back of his mind.

The day goes on, and Childe finishes with all of his classes so chooses to head back to his room. As he walks, he thinks about his family, mainly his siblings. He's been lonely and if he was back at home, he'd just spend time with them to brighten his mood. There're not many people here for him to connect with to that same degree. So, he opts to return to his dorm, sit at his desk, and write them a letter.

It's been awhile since his family received any letters from him, but it's only because there hasn't been anything all that interesting going on in his life. They're usually meant to go to his younger brother and sister, so he tries to find exciting things to tell them so he doesn't bore them. The last thing he remembers telling them was about how he went to a party, danced with his friend, and practiced running with that same friend the day after.

They wrote back wanting to know more about the cool people he befriended and asked to visit him so they could meet them, but he's too embarrassed to tell them he only made 3 other friends and just lost one recently. He still feels like he should write them something, so he starts with stuff that's been on his mind recently.

Unfortunately for him, when he begins the first few sentences, he instantly ends up being dissatisfied and crumples up the paper. He tries again but once more he feels unhappy with his letter and throws it out. This endless loop of writing and wasting paper goes on a few more times before he eventually gives up, not wanting to fill his trash to the brim.

Childe doesn't want to burden these kids with his problems, especially since they'd be too young to understand. He has no desire to write to his parents either, he rarely ever does. Most of the time he'll just ask his siblings to tell them that he says hi and that he loves them, but that's just about it. It’s no lie when he says that he loves them, however, the relationship he has with them is definitely less than perfect. So he’s afraid they won't understand him. Deep down he does wish that he could have a proper talk with them since he misses them dearly. He’ll arrange to visit them soon to make up for the lack of letters.

Stuck with his inability to write, he becomes restless. There's plenty of other things he could work on instead, such as his assignments, but he knows he can't focus at the moment. Childe smacks his lips, craving something sweet and he thinks back to the banana smoothie that Scara made him get. He's been frequenting the cafe with the sole intention to buy it, so he decides to pay it another visit to clear his mind. He grabs his bookbag just in case he ends up wanting to do some work during his stay.

He exits the dorm building, puts his headphones on, and starts the walk there. As he gets lost in his own thoughts, he ends up pulled out of his focus by the sound of muffled shouting. He removes the speaker from his left ear and looks behind him to see where the noise is coming from.

"Childe! Hey!" Heizou runs in his direction and stops once he reaches him. He puts his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.

"Oh, hey." Childe turns to fully face him now, "Heizou, right?"

"That's me." He looks up at him and flashes him a smile, before he stands up straight again. "I'm lucky I found you. You're just the guy I was looking for."

"I am? What would you need me for?" Childe tilts his head, not understanding what he could even offer to Heizou for him to want him specifically.

"A small favor, but before I get into that, where are you heading?" Heizou puts his hands on his hips as he asks.

"I was just going to some coffee shop to grab a smoothie. Why?" Childe answers, still confused as to what's going on. He doesn't mind helping him since he remembers how he kindly gifted him his drink at the party, but he doesn't know what he can even do for him.

"Sounds like a grand time. I think I'll join you if you're okay with that." Heizou suggests.

Childe thinks on it. He wasn't expecting to have any company join him on his trip but he's not opposed to it.

"Yeah, why not. The more the merrier." Childe gestures for him to tag along.

"You're a real one. Just for that, that smoothie of yours will be on me." Heizou walks to his side with a pep in his step.

"Oh, wow, you don't have to do all that." Childe is flattered by the gesture but he feels bad letting him spend his money on him.

"I insist. C'mon now, let's get going." Heizou makes a motion for him to lead the way.

Childe shrugs and walks ahead, bringing him to the cafe. When they arrive, Heizou stops in front of the establishment and gives a pleasant hum.

"Ah, I've been here before." he smiles at the fond memory he had here.

"You have?" Childe asks as he holds the door open for him.

Heizou steps inside and they wait in line together, "I don't know if you remember Kazuha, but he brought Scara and I here once. It was a pretty pleasant time. Scara liked it so much he applied to work here."

"He never told me he worked at this place." Childe raises his eyebrows in shock.

"That doesn't surprise me. He's a pretty private person. There's a lot we don't know about him." Heizou explains.

"Yeah, you're telling me." Childe rolls his eyes and they go up to the cashier to place their orders. After a few minutes of waiting they get their drinks and take a seat, sitting right across from one another.

"So, what was that favor you wanted to ask me for?" Childe brings up the previous topic, still curious from before.

"I want to ask you a few questions regarding our mutual friend, Scaramouche. Do you think you could do that for me?" Heizou gets out a notepad and clicks his pen, preparing to begin.

"Friend is a strong word, but I guess I wouldn't mind." he says with some underlying hostility in his voice.

"Interesting. I'll start by asking if you noticed anything off about his appearance recently?" Heizou awaits his answer.

"His appearance?" an image of Scaramouche flashes into Childe's mind, "He's been extremely pale and sweaty, His eye bags have gotten worse, and he looks skinner."

"Skinner, pale, and sweaty. Got it." Heizou jots all of that down, trying to keep up with every word that he's told, "I haven't seen him since the party so this is a drastically different description than how I remember him."

Childe didn't expect to hear that, "I thought you guys hung out all the time?"

"These days not so much. Okay, next question, does his behavior seem to be a little more unpredictable?" He moves on, eager to learn more.

"If by unpredictable you mean a real piece of work then, yeah, for sure." Childe leans back in his seat, crossing his arms.

"I get the sense you aren’t fond of him anymore. Did you guys have a falling out recently? I could've sworn you two used to be the best of friends." Heizou asks, but he doesn't sound surprised by this turnout.

The question brings a feeling of somberness to Childe, "You could say that, but according to him we were never all that close to begin with."

Heizou nods, "Yup, that sounds like something he'd say. You guys must've been in the early stages of friendship where he's too shy to claim the people he actually likes. Either way, can you tell me any details about what happened between you two?"

"I tried helping him out but instead of understanding my concern he insulted me and the people I care about. Something I couldn't just accept. We haven't spoken since." He sips his smoothie, trying to distract himself from their damaged relationship that still wounds him.

Heizou looks up from the notepad, "The people you care about?"

"My younger siblings." Childe responds, providing more context.

"That's a pretty low blow, even for him. Especially considering that he likes kids." Heizou reflects.

"I have a hard time believing that." He admits frankly.

"I can see why you feel that way." Heizou recognizes how Scara's abrasiveness might influence this perspective of him, "Do you know when you started to see these changes in him and do you have any clue on what could’ve triggered this?"

"Things were fine between us until about a week ago. At first I thought he was overworking himself to the point where he got sick, but I'm not so sure about that anymore." There's skepticism in Childe's voice as he talks to Heizou.

"Why's that?" he pushes for more.

"When I asked him about it, he claimed that he was doing great, thriving even. I was told that he was doing better with his sprint times, his stamina improved, and he felt better than he ever has. It was hard to believe when the image of him didn't match the description, but he didn't want to hear any of my concerns." The exasperated sigh that leaves Childe tells Heizou that he tried too many times to look out for him and failed. It's the same exact sigh he's heard from Kazuha more times than he can count.

"Is there a reason for that?" Heizou questions further.

"I'm not one hundred percent certain, but if I were to guess it's because I was hyper critical of his training buddy Dottore. He gets extremely defensive over him." He speculates.

"Dottore. There's that name again." Heizou says to himself, taking notice of a pattern.

"What do you mean? Is it okay if I know what this is about?" Childe requests, interested in figuring out what's going on.

Heizou puts down the notepad and pen as he prepares to break down the situation to him, "These past few days Kazuha has been driving himself crazy because he swears up and down that there's something going on with Scaramouche. At first I assumed that it was Scara just being a bad friend, but the more details I got I began to understand where this suspicion was coming from. I wanted to ask around and see if any of the information I got lined up or could help with my investigation, which it has. I just want to find out what's going on for the sake of my friend."

Childe feels reassured that he's not the only one who noticed the shift from Scara, he was starting to think it was only directed towards him.

"What has Kazuha been saying?"

"Pretty much the same things you've been saying. He brought up the harsh mood swings, the poor health, and the consistent denial of it all. That and both of your timings aligned with each other." Heizou compares the two perspectives' similarities.

"Did he mention Dottore too?" Childe leans in closer, intrigued on what he meant earlier.

Heizou rubs his chin and goes deep into thought, "Not recently, but there was something he said awhile ago that stuck out to me."

"What did he say?" he asks, anxious to hear more.

"We had a conversation before where he mentioned that Dottore was likely only with Scara to toy with him and use him as his own 'guinea pig'. From what I was told, I think it was initially a psychological thing where he would test his boundaries and do things to purposely antagonize him, just to see how far he can go while still keeping Scara attached. My fear is that this psychological testing has escalated into something more dangerous." Heizou explains the worst-case scenario, but also the most likely one.

The possibility that Scaramouche may have found himself in that kind of relationship causes Childe's heart to sink. He always knew there was something wrong with Dottore, but he didn't expect him to be that disgusting and cruel. There's a burning hatred that grows inside him and a quiet anger that rises as he continues to listen to Heizou's thoughts.

"I'm not entirely sure since I haven't seen much of their interactions when they first got together, but I vaguely remember Kazuha ranting to me a few times about them back then. He always tried to keep it vague to respect Scara's privacy, but with the details that I remember, I can confidently say that's my theory." Heizou nods as he finishes up his explanation.

Childe hesitates before asking his next question, unsure of whether he wants the answer or not, "What did you mean by dangerous? You don't think that he's beating him or... worse?"

"No, I don't think that's the case since neither of you guys mentioned anything about bruising, cuts, newly formed scars, or any other signs of that would lead me to believe that."

He feels a little more at ease when he knows that his friend hasn't been beaten senseless or something equally horrible. Childe can't help but let out a small exhale of relief.

Heizou senses that feeling of ease that washes over him but still wants Childe to keep up with the severity of the problem, "However, I do think that maybe there could be something just as serious going on. I need to figure out more about the situation before I can come up with another solid theory. So, tell me, have you noticed any weird interactions between them? Anything at all."

Childe thinks back to the last time he saw the two of them together, "Dottore has always been weirdly possessive over Scara, and he would always follow along with it. The last time I saw them interact, Dottore was showing that same possessive behavior, but that time he mentioned that he needed him for something. He never specified what for, so I assumed it was for sex or something of that nature, but maybe it could've been something else?"

Heizou finishes up the last of his notes, "I see. Thank you for telling me this."

Childe pauses and is still in a bit of denial, "What makes you so sure it's that serious? Isn't it possible that maybe Dottore gave him an STD and that's why he's been so sick and moody."

"I highly doubt Scaramouche would be defensive over a guy who gave him something like that. He may have some odd fixation on him but even he has his limits." Heizou dismisses the idea, knowing Scara all too well to at least be sure of that.

"That makes sense, I guess." He stays silent now, taking another sip of his smoothie as he reflects on all that he had just learned. Scara's safety is still in the back of Childe's mind, making him a little anxious, "Do you think he'll be ok?"

Heizou recognizes the look of distress in him and tries to keep a positive outlook on the events even though he's equally in the dark, "He's a tough guy. Whatever he's going through, I'm sure he'll stand strong through it all."

"You're right." Childe agrees then takes a deep breath.

Heizou gives them both a well-needed break from the heavy conversation. Once they both are done with their drinks Heizou gets a notification from his phone. He digs in his pocket and pulls out the device to see what's going on.

"Looks like that's my cue. My darling needs me." Heizou says as he returns his phone back to his pocket, "But before I go, I want to ask for one more favor from you."

Childe puts down his empty cup and wipes his mouth with a napkin, "What's up?"

"Would you be willing to help me with figuring out what's going on here?" Heizou invites him to join him on his journey of unraveling this mystery, but Childe's expression looks reluctant.

"Uh, that sounds like a big task. Something that's bigger than what I can currently manage." Childe responds, rubbing the back of his neck.

Heizou sighs, expecting the reply but still feeling a little dispirited, "Trust me I get it. I just thought to ask since you're one of Scara's only friends aside from Kazuha and I. You guys spent a lot of time with each other recently so I know you could help greatly with this. Especially since you're also connected with the Fatui and more importantly, Dottore."

The mention of Dottore dissuades him further. He already has a terrible standing with him and he doesn't want to get any more involved with him than he already has. "There's also Signora. I think she could be of use."

"Trust me, she's next on my list of people to question, so I'll be sure to definitely ask her as well." Heizou gets up from his seat, preparing to leave, "If you are firm with your no, then I'll request this instead. Please check on Scaramouche for me."

Childe is about to speak again but Heizou is quick to cut him off, "I know his colorful personality has been showing itself to the extreme these past few days, but he needs somebody. I've got my hands tied with this investigation and this whole thing has been doing a number on Kazuha's mental well-being. Something tells me you're the best person to ask for this."

"I don't know... what if he isn't even in his room?" Childe asks, feeling on the fence about it.

"I'm being so honest with you when I say that I'm willing to bet my own life that he is." Heizou claims confidently.

"He may not even open the door for me." He gives another excuse, taking their strained relationship into consideration.

"All I need you to do is check if he's still alive. That's all. If he opens the door, amazing. If he makes an annoyed grunt, that's a sign of life and good enough for me. Even if he makes any slight sound of movement from the other side, spectacular, that's all I need. Just please... help a guy out. I even bought you a smoothie in advance for compensation." Heizou pleads with him.

"Man, you gave me a free smoothie, and I still have to pay the price? Not cool." Childe shakes his head playfully.

"Visiting an old pal of yours sounds way cheaper than eight dollars, doesn't it?" Heizou jokes with him.

He taps his fingers on the table, thinking for a bit, then answers, "Fine. I'll do it."

"Atta boy. I really gotta skedaddle now, but here's my number so we can stay in contact." Heizou snatches a napkin from the table and quickly scribbles his number on it, "See you!"

Heizou makes a swift exit out of the cafe, leaving Childe to himself. He had plans of attempting to do some work during his stay here, but he's no longer in the mood to do so. He grabs the empty smoothie cup, tosses it in the trash, and leaves.

On his walk back to the dorms, he thinks about how he's going to have to confront Scara sometime today. Childe doesn't know how he should go about it since he has no interest in getting into another fight with him, but he doesn't want to go back on the commitment he made. In this moment of conflict, he chooses to contact one of the few friends he made on campus, Kaeya.

They shared an English class together and their personalities instantly clicked. Sadly, they don't spend much time with each other outside of it since they both have pretty busy lives. Kaeya has a bunch of clubs he's part of, so when he's free he'll dedicate most of his time to his boyfriend, Albedo. If he remembers correctly Kaeya should be getting out of one of his club meetings right now, so if he texts him, it shouldn't take too long for him to respond.

Childe:

Kaeya! Emergency! I need your big brain to help me out!!

Kaeya:

Big brain at your service. What's the issue?

Childe is filled with joy with how fast Kaeya responds to the text. He knew he could count on him.

Childe:

I'm having a dilemma with a friend. We got into a bad argument and aren't on speaking terms, but one of his buddies is asking me to check on him since he's sick and might be dying.

Kaeya:

How does someone argue with you? You're a sweetie pie.

Childe:

Why, thank you.

Kaeya:

Does this individual have nobody else that could check on him?

Childe:

Nah, he's kinda got this lone wolf thing going on.

Kaeya:

Odd. Very odd.

Childe:

Is it? What should I do then? I don't want to abandon ship when I already made a promise.

Kaeya:

You and your promises.

Childe chuckles at the text. He's aware that his need to keep his word gets taken to the extreme sometimes, but it's who he is.

Kaeya:

Since there's no one else able to check on him, I'd recommend that you make the visit as quick as possible. If he seems fine then just leave, make no small talk. If he's dying like you say he is, then take him to the hospital. Honestly, it's strange that he hasn't already paid a visit there with how bad you're making it sound. Very sketchy.

Childe:

Yeah, the whole situation is crazy, but I'll definitely take what you said into consideration.

Kaeya:

You should. Be safe out there, my friend. Try not to catch anything either. I need my chatting buddy to show up to class.

Childe:

Lol! Will do. Thank you for the words of wisdom.

Kaeya:

My pleasure.

By the time they wrap up their conversation, Childe is back on campus and right outside the dorm building. He puts his phone away and makes his way up the stairs.

He's now outside of Scara's door, anxiously standing there as he lifts his hand up, and knocks on the door. It's quiet. There's not a single sign of life coming from the other side of the door. Not a creak, a grunt, a shift in movement, there's nothing but the sound of the walls humming and Childe's heart picking up in speed.

He knocks again, harder this time, "Scara. Do you think you could open up? I don't want any trouble, I just want to see if you're okay."

There's silence again, which makes him panic and he begins to frantically bang against the door.

"Scara, please come out!" He begs desperately.

A few more minutes go by until the door finally cracks open. Childe takes a step back, panting slightly from how much energy he put into his constant knocking. He waits for Scara to come out from the pitch black room.

"Scaramouche?" Childe tries to peek inside, but before he can the door slowly opens up and Scara stands at the entrance of his room. At least Childe thinks it's Scara. He can't really tell since he's completely cloaked in blankets, and his face is slightly covered by them. Scara doesn't say anything, he just stands there.

"Heyyy... uh, how’s it going there, buddy?" Childe asks, having not the slightest clue what to say or do.

There's no response. Instead, he falls forward and Childe has to catch him to stop him from landing on his face. He ends up falling onto Childe's chest, which puts him in an awkward position.

"Oh!" Childe exclaims, embarrassed at the predicament he finds himself in. He holds Scara up and removes the blanket from his face to see that he had passed out while standing. It's likely that he mustered up all his energy to even answer the door.

Obviously, Scaramouche is still alive, but Childe doesn't think it's a good idea to leave him alone in this state. He knows Kaeya recommended taking him to a hospital, but he needs to figure out where one is since he still doesn't know anything about this area.

For now, he carries Scaramouche back into the room and places him back into the bed so he can decide what to do from here.

Chapter Text

September 25th, 3:15pm

Upon entering Scaramouche's room, Childe can smell the fermenting illness that has been seeping and embedding itself in every corner. He opens the blinds, and it looks just as miserable as it smells. It's obvious that he's been living in this squalor because he's not fit to take care of himself, but he didn't expect it to be this bad.

Scaramouche is lightly twitching as he rests on the bed, reminding Childe to shift his focus back to finding a hospital. He quickly searches on his phone to try and locate the closest one, but then he remembers that he doesn't have a car, so the distance wouldn't matter if he has no way of getting there. He thinks of any other possible solutions, then he recalls that during his freshman orientation someone mentioned that there's an on-campus health center that would be available to treat injured or ill students.

That's the best shot he has at helping Scaramouche. Childe isn't completely sure where it is, but he's sure he can figure it out by using the signs on campus for guidance. He makes his way back over to Scara and gently tries to pick him up again.

Scara instantly jumps up from his sleep, startled by the sudden touch and he reflexively punches Childe in the face, "Wah! Wh- What?!"

Childe cries out in pain and rubs his cheek, "Ow! Damn it, Scara! What the hell!?"

"Why are you in my room!? How'd you get in here??" He asks, genuinely freaked out.

"You opened the door and let me in. I'm here to make sure you didn't die ‘cause you disappeared off the face of the earth without giving any warning. Which from what it looks like, you were one more nap away from waking up at the pearly gates." Childe gestures to Scara as he finishes explaining himself.

"I know I don't look good. You don't have to rub it in." Scara says, now self-conscious at the condition he found him in.

"I'm not trying to rub it in, Scara. I'm saying you should take this seriously and go get checked out by a professional." Childe strongly advises him. "Which is why I was just about to take you to the campus health center."

"No, I can't go..." Scara shifts away from him.

Childe is bewildered at Scara's constant refusal to do something that would clearly benefit him, "Are you kidding me? You have to go. You're only going to get worse."

"I'm not going, Childe. That's that." He shakes his head, firm in his resistance.

"Fine. I tried. Whatever happens to you is up for you to decide." He gives up on trying and heads to the door.

"Where are you going?" Scara asks quickly, a little panicked at his departure.

"Anywhere else." Childe answers bluntly.

"...Do you mind staying with me for a little?" he softly requests.

He pauses in his tracks, unprepared to hear that. He turns around to face him, "Why should I? We're not friends. It's not like you ever wanted my company, so why would I overstay my welcome?" Childe responds bitterly.

"If you don't want to because of everything I said to you in the past, I don't blame you and I understand, but I'm asking you because it's all I can do for myself. You don't owe me your company and I'm not deserving of it, but if there's anything I want right now... it's just that." Scara looks down as he speaks, humbling himself to Childe.

The vulnerability in Scara's voice tells him that he's being honest when asks him for this. It wouldn't be far-fetched to guess that Childe is the first guest he's had in a few days, so he can see why he feels so lonely. Seeing this side of him tugs at his heart strings, the initial coldness he had fades slightly, "I'll stay. Just for a few minutes."

"That's perfectly fine." He slightly relaxes at the agreed compromise.

Childe takes a seat with him on the bed, but still keeps his distance, "What have you been doing these past few days?"

"I've only been here." Scara rests his chin on his knees and wraps his arms around himself.

"You haven't shown up to any of your classes?" He's not that surprised since Scara can barely stand on his two feet for more than two minutes.

Scara shakes his head, "I emailed my professors letting them know that I won't be attending class until I'm fully recovered. I told Pierro as well."

"Have you been able to take care of yourself at all?" The concern in his voice grows.

Scara stays silent, not wanting to admit that he hasn't. He's the type of person to take pride in appearance and his pristine living conditions, so to be caught like this is incredibly shameful for him.

"Have you at least been eating?" Childe asks, hoping he can at least confirm that.

"Kazuha came over a few times to leave food at the door, but he hasn't shown up in two days." Scara answers vaguely.

He looks at him horrified, "I can't in good faith let you keep living like this. Let me make you something."

"No, you don't have to." Scara lifts his head up, not wanting him to be responsible for him.

"I don't, but I'm still going to. I have ingredients that I need to use up in my fridge anyway. I'll be quick." Childe insists as he gets up from the bed.

Scara picks up his keycard from his bed and places it into the palm of Childe's hand, "Here. I won't be able to keep getting up to let you in, so take this. If you lose it I'll use whatever energy I have left to kill you."

He nods and puts the keycard in his pocket, "Got ya."

Childe swiftly departs from the room and heads to his own to dig through his mini fridge. He takes out a variety of veggies, a container of beef bone broth, pickles, olives, and three different meats, then places all his ingredients on a cutting board along with some seasonings.

He grabs his rice cooker from on top of his fridge and plugs it into a wall that's nearby his kitchen area. It doesn't take long to heat up, but in the meantime he brings out his knife set and begins skillfully chopping up his ingredients.

After some time passes, Childe finishes cooking up a hot soup that should help Scara get some life back into him. He grabs a bowl and pours a single serving in it, then adds a slice of lemon, a dollop of sour cream, and garnishes the dish with some dill. The last thing he does is wash the rest of his dishes and pack away the leftovers, but it's a short task since he was cleaning as he cooked.

Eventually he returns back to Scara's room, using the keycard to get in. Scara is resting on the bed but sits up when he smells the food.

Childe hands him the bowl and a spoon, "Let me know if you want more. I have plenty more servings for you."

Scara immediately begins digging in, clearly enjoying the food that was prepared for him, "What is this?"

"Solyanka. It's a dish my mom made for me as a kid." Childe takes a seat on the bed with him.

"I didn't expect you to be a good cook." Scara says in between bites, "I thought you'd be the type of guy who burns microwavable mac and cheese."

"Wow... were the expectations for me that low?" Childe chuckles a little as he watches him eat.

"You proved me wrong. I applaud you." Scara gives him his approval, which feels weird for Childe since he's not used to hearing him talk about him in a positive manner.

"I'm just glad you're able to eat. I was worried you completely lost your appetite."

"It was gone for a little bit but it's making its way back." Scara admits.

Childe thinks back to his conversation with Heizou, when he was told his theory that Dottore might have something to do with Scara's current condition. He doesn't want to outright ask him but he tests the waters with some questions.

"You seem to be really sick. Do you have any idea what might have happened?"

"I have a pretty good idea, but I don't want to talk about it." Scara swirls his spoon in his soup.

"Why not?" Childe raises his eyebrow. If this was just some ordinary illness, he's sure that he would've just said so. Instead, Scara is choosing to be really secretive about this, which makes his suspicion grow.

"If I'm being honest... it's more that I can't talk about it, rather than me not wanting to talk about it." His confession isn't all that detailed, but it tells Childe all that he needs to know. He would like to ask more about it but doesn't want to push his luck with him.

Scara continues to eat and when he finishes up, Childe takes the empty bowl from him and sets it to the side.

"Do you think you have enough energy for a shower?" He asks gently, not wanting to shame him, but with the intention of getting him back into the habit of his usual routine.

"I think I can manage that." Scara nods.

"Take a nice long one and while you do that I'll tidy up around here." Childe offers.

"You've done enough. There's no need for-"

Childe cuts him off, not wanting to hear it, "Scara it's fine. Go take a shower and I'll be right here when you come out."

Scara sighs in defeat and slowly removes himself from the bed to grab a change of clothes. Once he has all that he needs, he makes his way to the bathroom and shuts the door behind him. Childe is glad that Scara is no longer resisting the help that everyone has been trying to give him for days now, but it saddens him that he had to get to this point to finally accept it.

The room isn't an unsalvageable mess, but it's going to take plenty of elbow grease to get it back to its once clean state. Childe rolls up his sleeves, cracks his knuckles, and prepares to take on the challenge of getting this place spotless again.

He starts by cleaning off Scara's bed that has some dirty clothes and crumbs on it. He takes a small hand held vacuum from the closet, as well a pair of cleaning gloves, and starts clearing everything off of it. When he gets that over with, he makes the bed and throws the clothes into a hamper.

Next he clears off the desk, nightside table, and dresser of any garbage that's been sitting on there for God knows how long. Childe notices that there's half-eaten food lying around, and he assumes it was from when Kazuha was sending Scara meals to prevent him from starving to death. He sympathizes with him, knowing that Scaramouche must've been miserable living in this mess, on top of being totally helpless to do anything about it.

When all the junk and old food is thrown away, he wipes down all the furniture and takes out the trash into the building’s garbage room. There's not much else to do but to remove the rest of the dirty clothes from the floor and he takes them to the laundry room. As he waits for the clothes to finish washing, he sweeps and mops, leaving the floor sparkling with how clean it is.

The last thing he does is light a few candles to get rid of the sickly stench that's taken over the room. Childe stands proudly in the center of the place, admiring the work he's done here. He hopes that this will put Scara in better spirits when he sees it. The soup definitely improved his mood, so a clean room could have him back to his usual snarky but loveable self.

Thinking about his possible reaction reminds Childe why he's here in the first place. Heizou wanted to know if Scara was ok, and it was his job to let him know. He should probably inform him that his friend didn't kick the bucket, since he's likely anxiously waiting for his update.

Childe:

Hey, Heizou! It's me, Childe.

Childe:

I went to check on Scaramouche like you had asked, and he's very much alive and doing a little better.

Right after Childe sends that last text he hears a thud and a loud shout coming from the bathroom. He sprints over and knocks on the door.

"Is everything alright in there?" Childe asks nervously.

"Yeah, I- I'm fine." Scara answers a bit unsure.

Childe can hear him attempting to get up from behind the door, but the action is followed up with a sharp cry in pain.

"Scara, are you sure you're fine? Should I come in?" He tries asking again, really worried that something might be wrong.

Scara hesitates but speaks up quietly, barely audible from the other side, "...Yeah."

The door creaks open and Childe steps inside the steamy room to see Scara sitting on the floor in only his underwear. Scara turns away from his direction, not wanting to look him in the eyes.

He rushes to his side and crouches down to his level, "What happened?"

"I was getting dressed and I'm pretty sure the steam made me faint. Now my back hurts." Scara explains, annoyed with himself.

"Where are your clothes? I'll get you dressed in no time." Childe looks around the bathroom until Scara points behind him at the sink counter.

He grabs the rest of his attire and starts with putting his shirt on him, being gentle in case his back is sensitive from the fall. It's even more obvious how much weight he lost now that he sees him without most of his clothes. It's clear that he's extremely bothered by these circumstances.

"There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to do this myself." Scara speaks his thoughts out loud, his voice trembling slightly, "I've spent every second of my life caring for myself, thriving by my own accord, and being highly respected for it. My independence and self-reliance are all that I am, but here I am sitting on my bathroom floor unable to even put a shirt over my head. What has happened to me? How did I become this?”

Childe frowns, not wanting to hear him talk about himself in such a way, "You're allowed to not feel well, Scara. You're also allowed to rely on other people, like how everyone else does. I know you think you're above all of that ‘cause of your many accomplishments, but at the end of the day you're not immune to having a fall from grace."

When he finishes getting the shirt on him, he notices that Scara is completely silent and looks like he's on the verge of tears. Seeing him this dejected hurts Childe's to his core. This is the first time Scara has willingly shown him any real emotion, he doesn't want to let this opportunity pass without him using it to connect with him on a more serious and deeper level.

Before speaking again, Childe places a hand on Scara's shoulder and makes direct eye contact with him, "But when you get back up on your feet, which I know you will soon, you'll be running miles ahead of all of us once again.

Childe makes one last request from him, "Just do me a favor and don't forget these moments. It sucks when you fall down, but hold on to the memory of being picked back up. It'll remind you that you're still human while giving you the humility you need."

Scara nods, not wanting to say much more.

"Great. Now lift your hips so I can put your shorts on." Childe says as he slips his shorts onto him.

When he has all his clothes on, Childe slings Scara's arm around his shoulder and slowly brings him up from the floor. He carries him out the bathroom and into the bedroom.

Scara's eyes widen when he notices what Childe did to the room, "Woah. When you said you were going to tidy up I didn't expect you to do a full blown maid service."

"I had the time to do it so I thought why not. Your laundry is still in the wash but it should be just about done." He places Scara on his bed and joins him on it.

"You did my laundry too!?" Scara stares at him in complete shock.

"I mean, it's not like it was hard." Childe shrugs, not getting what's so fascinating about it.

"It's not about it being hard. I'm just surprised you went out of your way to do that."

"It's not a big deal at all. This is nothing compared to my chores back at home. Plus, it never feels like work when I know it’s for someone who genuinely needs it."

It's hard for Scara to accept it but he's not wrong when he refers to him this way, "Yeah... I did. Thank you."

That's the first time Childe ever heard Scaramouche ever say anything genuinely appreciative to him, which made this whole thing worth it. "Of course, Scara. It's no problem at all."

Scara lies back in his bed and closes his eyes, looking so much more comfortable and content, almost forgetting all about how terrible he physically feels. Something about it brings a small smile to Childe's face.

A timer goes off on Childe's phone, disturbing the resting boy’s peace, "Sorry about that. It was the alarm for the laundry."

He stops the alarm and makes his way to the front door, "Once I've finished with your laundry I'll get out of your hair and let you have your space, okay?"

"Oh. Okay." Scara says, not expecting their time together to conclude so fast.

"I'll be back." Childe exits and travels down the stairs to make his way to the laundry room. He quickly switches out the clothes from the washer to the dryer, sets his timer again, and heads back to Scara's room. When he sets the timer again he sees that it's already 6:10pm. So much for only spending a few minutes there.

He enters Scara's room again and gives him an update on his clothes, "It should take a little less than an hour for everything to finish up. Is that alright?"

"That's fine." Scara agrees, but he follows that up with a question, "I know you said you were going to leave after that, but would you mind staying longer?"

"What, like another two hours?" Childe guesses.

"I want you to spend the night with me." He corrects him bluntly.

Childe's brain glitches, having a difficult time trying to process the question. Just four days ago, Scara was disgusted at the idea of sharing the same air as him, but now he wants him to sleep over. How does that work?

"Uhh... wow, um, you really want me to stay over? I was under the impression that you weren't a big fan of me." He scratches his head, confused.

"If I didn't I wouldn't have asked." Scara responds honestly.

"That's true, but I'm not sure I want to get stepped on again." Childe jokes, referencing how the last time they slept over Scara woke up and instantly stomped on his balls.

"If you're worried about that then let's share the bed." He suggests.

Childe's cheeks burn at the suggestion, "...What?"

"Would you prefer to share a bed?" Scara repeats himself. "Whatever I have it's not contagious so you don't have to worry about getting sick."

"I- I mean if you're cool with it I, uh, wouldn't mind." He stumbles over his words, still flabbergasted at what he just agreed to.

"Then that's settled." Scara finalizes it.

"If I'm sleeping over I should probably get my homework and change into my sleep clothes." Childe backs up as he speaks.

"Okay."

"Okay... yeah." Childe says mindlessly, still trying to figure out how this just happened.

He goes to his room and showers, not wanting to stink when sharing a bed with Scara. While he's in there he thinks more about the sleepover he agreed to. As much as he feels bad for Scara he was still a jerk to him too many times in the past.

It wasn't an issue for him to clean his room and feed him, but maybe staying over might give him the wrong impression. There's no way he's going to let Scara continue to treat him like some pushover that he can just spit on whenever he's feeling a little cranky. He respects himself too much for that.

When he finishes up his shower, changes into his pajamas, and grabs his bookbag, he walks to Scara's room with a different mentality. He's going to confront him, put his foot down, and demand that he shows him proper respect from now on.

Childe steps through the door but is thrown off when he’s hit with the smell of something sweet. It can't be the candles he lit earlier either, considering that none of the smells were anything similar this. He notices Scara in the corner of his room, standing and stirring something in a cup.

"What are ya up to?" Childe asks as he approaches behind him.

Scara turns to face him, offering the cup in his hand, "Here."

"For me? What's this?" he accepts the cup, and looks at him curiously.

"You made me food, so I made you tea." Scara grabs his own cup of tea to drink as well. "It only felt right that I give you something in return."

The frustration he entered the room with melts into fondness at the thoughtful gesture, "But you're not feeling well. You shouldn't be exerting yourself for me."

"I felt well enough to make you the tea, and that was only because of you. So don't offend me by not drinking it." Scara insists.

"Alright, fine. What's in it? Rat poison?" Childe jokes teasingly but is still a little cautious since this is the one-time Scara has ever done something for him.

"It's just ginger honey tea for now. I'm saving the rat poison for when I feel better. Can't poison the hand that feeds me." Scara says, returning the playful energy.

"How thoughtful of you." Childe chuckles while taking a sip and makes a pleased sound, "This is some high-quality tea. Where did you get this? My mom would love something like this."

"It was a gift from my mother." Scara answers softly, but the look on his face shows feelings of resentment.

"Well, she has good taste in tea. Would you wanna drink this as we do work? I can tell you what you missed in class today." he offers, with a warm smile.

"Please do. I do not want to open my nightmare of emails to try and find the lecture notes." Scara groans as he makes his way back to his bed.

They continue to study and work together for a few hours. Scara is quick to catch up with what he missed which impresses Childe, but he had no doubt that he'd be fine even with this one absence. Honestly, he'd probably be fine even if he never showed up to another class again and just taught himself. Which Childe can only hope he doesn't ever decide to do, because the single class he went without him was extremely boring.

"I'm getting deja vu to that one time where you asked me over to 'study'. Do you remember that?" Childe reminisces back to that day.

"It wasn't that long ago. I'd have to be a goldfish to forget something so recent." Scara shakes his head as he types.

"Well, you did forget that you texted me to come over, so I have no idea how that memory of yours works." He shrugs.

"I didn't forget I just-" Scara stops himself before he says too much. His eyes widen at his own stupidity and he prays that Childe doesn't ask any questions.

"Just what?" Childe raises an eyebrow.

Even after two weeks Scara isn't ready to reveal the truth about that incident so he has to quickly come up with another excuse "I just was nervous to have you over."

"Nervous? About me? What for?" he tilts his head, not getting what could be so nerve-wracking about him.

"Nervous because... it was the first time you were coming over." Scara says, not even believing his own lie.

"Why would that make you nervous? Aw, did you just want to impress me?" Childe gives him a cheeky grin.

Scara hates where this is going and doesn't know if this storyline is worse or if what actually happened is. He gives up, his brain is too foggy to even come up with any more lies anyway.

"Fine. You got me. I give up." Scara groans.

"Oh... So, you did want to impress me?" Childe blushes slightly, not expecting him to agree.

"To your disappointment, no. That day I didn't have the slightest care in the world about what impression I left on you." Scara debunks his ridiculous theory.

"Bummer." Childe pouts. "Alright then let's hear the real reason."

Scara feels like strangling himself for having to reveal this to him, "That day I was... very pent-up. Which led to me making some rash decisions without thinking twice about it."

"Pent-up as in horny?" he asks for clarification.

Scara sighs, "yes."

"S... so you texted me? You wanted to... have sex with me?" Childe's face is beet red as he hesitantly asks.

"No!" Scara shakes his head rapidly. "I accidently texted you when I meant to text Dottore. I should've specified that."

"Oh. Yeah, that makes more sense." Childe's blush dies down, but is replaced by a frown. "So, you didn't mean to see me at all that day?"

"No." Scara confirms.

The confirmation only further disappoints Childe. He thinks about the argument he had with Scara days ago, remembering how he used that instance as proof that he did care about him, but now he's left feeling stupid knowing it was all an accident.

Scara notices the shift in his mood and doesn't know how to fix it, but he tries anyway, "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"It was better that it was you than Dottore. If it wasn't you I probably would've lost some people I truly do care about. A blessing in disguise really." Scara explains his view on what happened. "In all honesty, I had the right company to serve as a better distraction than sex."

The way Scara puts it makes him feel lighter. He can tell that it was a considerate explanation that was probably uncomfortable for him to admit, so he decides to make the conversation less serious with some teasing, "You're saying hanging out with me was better than sex?"

"Better than sex with Dottore." Scara specifies.

"I thought you said he was good at it?" Childe asks, wondering what changed.

Scara thinks about a proper way to describe his feelings about it, "He can be, but there are times where it's the equivalent to when you're really hungry so anything tastes good."

"Gotcha." he nods, not wanting to hear any more details about his sexual encounters with Dottore.

Scara yawns and shuts his laptop, "I'm done for the night. If I study any longer I'll start dreaming of dropping out again, and I'm getting closer to doing it everyday."

"Right. I'm getting sleepy too." He checks his phone seeing that it's almost 11pm, but he realizes that he never took Scara's clothes out the dryer.

"Dang it, I forgot about your laundry. Lemme go grab it."

"Better hope nobody stole anything. Otherwise, I'm stealing from your closet as compensation." Scara turns over in his bed.

"Sounds like a fair exchange." Childe laughs and heads back into the laundry room. Thankfully everything seems to be in its rightful place, but he wouldn't have minded letting Scara keep something of his if it came down to it. He takes the clothes, brings the hamper back up to the room, and sets it in a corner close by the bed.

From what it looks like, Scara seems to already be fast asleep. Not wanting to disturb his sleep, he shuts off the lights and tries to find a comfortable spot to lie down. He sits at the edge of the bed, not knowing how to go about this since he has no clue what Scaramouche is okay with.

"What are you doing?" Scara speaks up, noticing his dilemma.

"Uhhh... trying to figure out where to sleep." Childe gives a sheepish smile.

"Are you my dog? Why are you trying to sleep by the end of my bed? Just lie next to me." Scara looks at him like he’s an idiot.

"Okay, okay. Just wanna make sure you're fine with that." He lifts his hands up in surrender, before he lifts the blanket and goes under the covers next to him.

He lies on his back, ready to knock out, but from the corner of his eyes he sees Scara turn to his side to face him.

"Childe?" Scara whispers.

"Yeah?" Childe whispers back.

He pauses before he speaks again, "...I'm sorry."

The apology comes as a surprise for Childe. It feels foreign for him to hear those words leave his mouth. "For what?"

"All that I said to you. I was an asshole." Scara admits sincerely. “Especially about your siblings. I’m sure they’re great kids.”

"Yeah, you were. What was that about?" He asks, still a little bothered but the question comes from genuine curiosity.

"I didn't think I needed anyone and it upset me the more I realized I did. The sickness made that frustration worse. It wasn't just you who received that hostility, but you certainly got the worst of it, and for that I'm sorry." Scara explains, cringing at his past behavior.

"I appreciate that, Scara. We're all good, so don't worry about it. I'm not one to hold grudges." Childe happily accepts the apology, relieved to be back on good terms with him.

"That's good to hear." he nods, showing that the feeling is mutual.

"So, does that make us friends now?" Childe asks, wanting to see where they stand.

"Well, we sure aren't strangers." Scara ponders on it, "I suppose it wouldn't be the most absurd thing to call us."

"Then that's what I'll call us." He declares, proudly.

"Do whatever you please." Scara turns back around to sleep. "Goodnight, Childe."

"Night, Scara." Childe goes back to staring at the ceiling, until his eyes get heavy. He eventually shuts them, ready to drift off into a peaceful slumber but it's once again disrupted by the sound of a notification coming from his phone. He's getting tired of the intrusions on his sleep.

Heizou:

I'm glad that he's ok. I hope it wasn't too bad of a visit.

Childe's surprised at how late Heizou got back to him. He knows he's a busy guy, but for how insistent he was to get him to check on Scara you'd assume that he'd be quick to make sure he was ok.

Childe:

It actually went way better than I thought.

Heizou:

Did it now?

Childe:

Yeah, I actually ended up staying the night.

Heizou:

You must be a real smooth talker to have him go from hating your guts to being in his guts. ;)

Rereading the text he sent causes his face to heat up. That's not what he meant by that at all, and he hopes that Heizou doesn't think he was trying to boast about sleeping with one of his friends.

Childe:

WAIT!

Childe:

I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!

Heizou:

I'm pulling your leg. :p

Heizou:

But since you spent the rest of the day with him, did he mention anything that I should know about?

He tries to jog his memory since a lot happened today, but one instance stands out to him.

Childe:

He said something about knowing what might be going on with him but not being able to talk about it. That's just about it.

Heizou:

Got it.

Heizou:

Does he know that I asked you to visit him?

Childe:

Never mentioned it. Why?

Heizou:

Keep it that way. I don't want him to figure out what I'm doing.

Childe:

Alrighty then. I'll keep that in mind.

Heizou:

You're a real pal. Have a nice night. :)

Childe:

Goodnight!

He puts his phone down and falls asleep wondering what Heizou could've been doing all day, now that he has this investigation going on. All he can do is hope that it’ll help his friend recover and get him the justice he deserves.

Chapter Text

September 25, 4:30pm

Heizou is on top of Kazuha, his tongue pushing into his mouth causing a soft moan to come out of him. He runs his hand through Kazuha's hair as he continues to feverishly kiss him. Kazuha wraps his arms around his neck and pulls him closer, yearning for more.

They've been dating for over two months now, but they still haven't gone all the way with each other. Although they may not have had sex, they've certainly done almost everything outside of it and things seem to only be getting more intense between them.

Earlier in their relationship, Kazuha wasn't ready to do anything more than hold hands and give him a peck on the cheek, but more recently he's been ready to jump his bones. Heizou hasn't been in a rush to do anything, he has always been fine with letting Kazuha take control of the pace, but he won't lie and say he hasn't been enjoying his spike in sexual interest.

If Heizou had to guess, it's likely his way of relieving himself from the stress he's been feeling over Scaramouche. He feels bad for Kazuha, and he's been trying to get him to think about anything else as he does his best to fix the situation himself. So if Kazuha wants to take his mind off it this way, he's more than happy to oblige.

Kazuha begins to unbuckle Heizou's pants, "Do you have a condom?"

Heizou's stunned that he’s ready to get down to business when they only just started, "I don't really carry those on my person. Do you have any in your room?"

"No, I haven't bought those in quite some time." Kazuha huffs, annoyed with himself for not having any, "It doesn't matter, let's do it anyway."

Heizou lets out a flustered laugh, "Jeez, Kazuha. What's with the urgency? We could do something else that's equally fun."

"What if I don't want to do something else?" He gives him a hungry stare as he tugs on Heizou's pants, "Do you want to do something else?"

"I want to do whatever you want me to do." Sweat drips down Heizou’s forehead as he gives his honest answer.

"Then I want you to make love to me. Can you do that?" Kazuha’s sultry voice whispers in his ear. He slides his hand into Heizou's briefs and starts slowly stroking his cock.

"Y-yeah, I can do that." Heizou stutters from the pleasure now getting to him, and his hands trail down to remove Kazuha's pants.

As he strips him from the bottom half of his clothes, he feels a buzz coming from somewhere on the bed.

"Was that my phone?" Heizou sits up and asks, wondering where it could be.

"I don't know and I'm not really worried about it." Kazuha turns Heizou’s head back to face him then goes back to tongue fucking his mouth. Without breaking the kiss he crawls on to his lap and begins grinding on his lap, rubbing their dicks together..

Heizou chooses to ignore it, and shifts his focus back to Kazuha, who's really getting into this. He puts his hands on the other’s waist to keep him stable on his lap. Kazuha grabs the both of them into his hand and avidly pumps his fist, causing Heizou’s breathing to get heavy and some breathy groans slip out of him.

Another buzz occurs, grabbing Heizou's attention again, "I- I should probably check if that's my phone."

Kazuha sighs and slides himself off of Heizou, "Unbelievable."

Heizou searches the bed and finds his phone under a pillow, "There it is!"

He checks his messages and sees that the texts are from Childe, telling him that Scara is alive and well, which gives him a great sense of relief. He's about to text back but notices that it's getting close to five. Kazuha is going to hate him but he's got an important meeting he's supposed to go to in a few minutes.

"So, who was it? Did God himself text you to let you know he was in dire need of a response?" Kazuha asks sarcastically, bothered by the interruption.

"Nah, it was the Pope actually." Heizou jokes back with him, but he realizes Kazuha isn't amused.

"Can we resume where we left off now?" He gently trails his finger over his thigh and a shiver goes through Heizou’s entire body.

"About that..." Heizou gives him a sheepish look.

Kazuha sighs and begins putting his clothes back on, "I should've known."

Heizou frowns and begins dressing himself  as well, "You don't even know what I was about to say."

"You're going to say something like 'Sorry, Kazu. I gotta take care of something' or 'My bad Kazu, I forgot that I had somewhere to be.' or the most recent one, 'Kazu, I made a mistake and double booked, but I'll be leaving you because for some unknown reason I can't reschedule with this random person I made last minute plans with.'" Kazuha mocks his voice with every example, and his frustration makes itself known with that last sentence.

"I don't think I've ever said that last one." Heizou knows that Kazuha is referencing his unexpected meeting with Childe with the last instance, and he regrets leaving him hanging so abruptly like that.

"You've said the other ones though." Kazuha argues and puts his hands on his hips in disappointment.

Heizou approaches the fuming boy carefully and wraps his arms around him to rest his chin on his shoulder, "C'mon, Kazu. Don't be like that."

Kazuha doesn't push him away but he's still annoyed with him, "You promised you'd spend the day with me and that we'd watch a movie together, but you showed up late and now you're leaving early? What could be so important for you to keep bailing on me like this?"

Heizou knows he definitely can't tell him what's really going on so he brushes past the question and gives a simple excuse, "I promise you it's nothing you need to worry about, it's just that I've got an interview for an internship. It shouldn't be too long. I'll be right back, we'll watch whatever movie your heart desires, and I promise we'll even have some fun after that. Or maybe even during."

"If you even make it back on time." Kazuha doubts him.

Heizou places some gentle pecks on his neck as he tries to win his affection back, "I'll even buy the condoms, so you have something to look forward to. How does that sound?"

He loosens up more and more with each kiss, "Fine. Extra thin. Buy lube too."

"My goodness. Anything else to add to your horny grocery list?" Heizou giggles at the requested items.

"That should be fine, but if you want to surprise me with something I wouldn't mind." Kazuha gives him a seductive smile.

"I'll see what I can do." Heizou shoots him a wink, "Does that mean you're fine with me leaving?"

"I suppose so, but if you're leaving me I'm going to check on Scaramouche." He mentions it casually, even though he knows he’ll get some backlash for it.

Heizou's expression turns into something more serious. Just recently he was able to get him to stop obsessing over Scaramouche's well being. When it first began, he thought it was harmless and sweet how much he cared about his friend, but then it quickly turned into something concerning when he started skipping classes and losing sleep over him.

"Kazuha, we talked about this. You guys need your space right now. Rest assured he's being well taken care of." Heizou put his foot down.

"That's completely not right." Kazuha shakes his head, "You're telling me that I'm not allowed to see my friend and I can't hang out with my boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?" He can't help the large grin that forms on his face, "Was that just from the heat of the moment or do I get to keep the title?"

"Depends on whether I can see Scara or not." Kazuha gives him a mischievous smile.

He pretends to think about it, "Nope."

Kazuha pouts, "You can still be my boyfriend, but you're a pain. What do you expect me to do while you're gone?"

"The assignments you need to catch up on with all the classes you skipped." Heizou punctuates his sentence by giving Kazuha a big kiss, then grabs his bag and heads to the door. "Bye, my love."

When the door shuts, Heizou immediately sprints to the school library since he's running late to a planned meeting he set up with Signora. If he hadn't run into Childe he probably would've been right on schedule and still might've had enough time to give Kazuha the attention he needs, but it was just too good of an opportunity to pass on.

He's been meaning to question him for a while now. It only took him this long because had no way of contacting him and didn't have the time to conduct a search party, so bumping into him was quite lucky. Unfortunately, the interrogation went on for way longer than he had intended, but he still ended up getting some solid information out of him.

Signora was much easier to come across since she's constantly moving around campus. Heizou was able to organize a sit down with her a few days ago at the school library. It was the most convenient place for them to meet since Signora said she'd be studying here for most of the day.

Heizou enters the quiet building, looking around for where she might be. He goes to the second floor where all the books are and starts scouting the area. It's been a minute since he's been to the school's library, but it's very peaceful here. He considers visiting more often.

There's not many people here, so it's easy to spot Signora sitting at a table reading a book. He sits down across from her.

"My bad for being late. I got caught up with some personal matters." Heizou apologizes as he digs in his bag, pulling out his notepad and pen.

"I'm not bothered, but I prefer not to be kept waiting." Signora responds, closing her book and pushing it to the side.

"Totally, understandable." He nods his head, getting where she's coming from, "Let's get things rolling then, shall we?"

"What would you like to know? You said this was about Scaramouche, yes? There's plenty I could share with you." Signora leans forward giving him her full attention.

"I'm glad to hear that. Let's start with something simple though. Have you noticed anything different with Scaramouche's appearance?" Heizou clicks his pen, ready to write.

"One glance at the boy and anyone should be able to tell he's dancing on the line of death. It's a strange sight to see since he's not one to get sick." Signora is very hard to read but even she is struggling to hide her concern as she describes Scara.

With the way she puts it, Heizou feels a pit form in his stomach even though he knows Signora is not wrong, "I can agree with you on that. I don't think I've seen him have anything more than a slight cough. Can you provide any more details on what he looks like?"

"Like a biological hazard.” She answers bluntly but still goes into more depth, “He's got sticky pale skin, he looks like he can barely breathe, he definitely lost some weight, and he looks tired, but he always looks tired so I'm not sure how helpful that is for you."

He takes notice of the consistencies with every retelling he's told, "Alright, and how's he been acting recently? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"I would say it's ordinary for him to be an asshole, but not to the extent he's been showing as of lately." She taps her chin as she goes deep into thought, "Scaramouche is known to act out when provoked but it's usually passive aggressive and witty. Nothing like the unprovoked, blatant, and overly aggressive attitude he's been showing."

"Do you know when these changes started to occur?" The routine of questioning flows out of him quickly now, not wanting to keep her long.

"The last time I remember seeing Scara healthy was September 14th. I remember because I had some important business to attend to in the Fatui building that day and I came across him and Dottore going into his lab." Signora responds with certainty.

Heizou's head lifts up from his notes, "His lab...?"

"Yeah, Dottore will occasionally have people visit his laboratory. I wouldn't be surprised if they went in there to have freaky lab sex or something." She rolls her eyes at the thought.

"So, he's a man of science. Good to know. What kind of work does he do?" His interest increases as he learns more details.

"He dabbles in all kinds of stuff but his main focus has been pharmaceuticals."

"Pharmaceuticals..." Heizou pauses his writing for a brief second to think, "Do you know if he does his early testing only on animals or has he ever attempted to experiment on people?"

"Animals?" she laughs. "I don't think he's ever tested on anything other than people."

"So he doesn't do animal testing at all? How does he get people to participate?" Heziou asks, sounding puzzled.

"He'll usually go to parties and hand out his drugs to people who are too wasted or too ready to get wasted to think about what they are taking." Signora recalls a conversation she had days ago, "Actually, I was just talking with Arlecchino and she mentioned that he tried asking to use one of her students for testing."

"Did he say anything about what he's been trying to give them?" He hopes to get any kind of lead, so he can at least find a way to properly treat Scara.

"He's never given any specific name for it, but I know it's a project he's been working on for ages now. He told me some information about it when he invited me out for drinks. If I remember that night correctly, he tried asking me to be a participant. Even slid me a contract to sign, probably hoping that I'd be too drunk to know what I was doing. An insult to my alcohol tolerance, really." She shakes her head, annoyed with Dottore's efforts to deceive her.

Heizou begins furiously writing, hanging on to her every word. He knew Signora would have something of use to say, but she's giving way more than he expected, "Has Dottore asked any other Fatui members to engage with this testing?"

"Not that I've seen. He's sure to be careful with who he asks, so he either has to know something special about you or you have to know nothing about him." She puts it simply for him, but it leaves him wanting to know more.

"What do you mean by that?" He requests for her to elaborate.

She leans in closer to whisper, not wanting others to hear this sensitive information, "Dottore pays close attention to everyone in the Fatui. Always searching for a weakness to exploit or someone who's naive enough to trust him. It's not like he can ask any of the veteran Fatui members, they'd catch on too quickly, but someone who's new would be the perfect person to ask. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if that's why he's been spending more time with Pantalone."

"What about Scaramouche?" Heizou asks, eager to know her thoughts.

Signora brushes the idea off, "Scara is far too smart to agree to something like that. I'm sure Dottore has tried, but don't you think that something would've happened sooner? They've been together for a while now, haven't they?"

"On and off." He provides her with more context, "It could be that Dottore wore him down after asking him enough times or maybe... he figured out a weakness of his."

"What would that weakness be?" She inquires curiously.

"I think I have a good idea." Heizou's answer doesn't tell her much, since he doesn't want to put too much focus on it.

She decides to not push him on the matter, "I'll trust that you know what you're talking about."

"Do you have access to that lab?" He looks at her with readiness in his eyes.

"No, only Dottore should have access to it, but he can grant people permission to enter. If I had to guess, I'd say that Scaramouche is probably one of those people." Signora suggests.

"Damn. I need a way in there." He curses under his breath, but he moves on quickly, "Would you be willing to help me with this investigation? I don't think I could do this by myself and I'm getting worried that as more time passes the less likely I'll be able to figure this out."

She leans back in her chair to consider the offer, "Hm... I could give it a shot. It would be a shame to let Scaramouche waste away like this without finding out what’s going on."

Heizou sighs in relief, "Thank you. I know a way I could get Scaramouche's key card. I could help you break into Dottore's lab if you need it."

"Love your ambition, but you couldn't even if you wanted to. The security for the Fatui's building is top notch and outsiders are not permitted inside. However, I could manage with the help of Arlecchino." Signora proposes instead.

"It doesn't matter who you do it with, as long as you know you can go through with it." He smiles, pleased that things are working out in his favor.

"I can try and sneak my way in there tomorrow before the building closes. Just be sure to get me the card before five." Signora sounds strict with that last statement, not wanting him to be late again.

"Will do. You've been a great help, for that I'm extremely grateful." He rises from his seat and offers her his hand.

She accepts it and gives it a firm shake, "Save that gratefulness for when everything is done and over with. I'll be sure to find a way for you to return the favor after all this."

"Don't worry. I'll be sure to give you a proper reward." Heizou nods and lets go of her hand.

"Pleased to hear that. We'll meet again." She gives him a smile, grabs her stuff, and walks away.

Heizou leaves right after her, rushing his way back to his room so he can look over all the findings he gathered today. It was a lot, more than he ever expected to get from her. He should've known that she would have more information than anyone else, she seems like the observant type. The fact that she's willing to get involved in this was also a blessing, but that favor that he owes her may come back to bite him.

He chooses not to worry about it for now, wanting to stay present in this situation. It doesn't take long for him to enter his dorm, which looks a mess with how much he's been keeping track of everything going on. There's papers all over his desk and by the floor, he's got a whiteboard scribbled with writing that only he can understand, and there's pictures of different types of medications pinned up on the wall.

To anyone walking in it would look like he's working intensely on a thesis project, and to him it might as well be. He hasn't allowed Kazuha into his room in days so he doesn't get involved or try to interfere with his work here. There's no way he would approve of this, since it could get everyone involved into trouble, and making an enemy out of the Fatui is never favorable.

So for now, it remains his secret. Heizou sits at his desk, pulls out his laptop, and spends his time doing more research on what it is that Dottore could be giving Scaramouche. He spends hours coming up with his own theories on what could be going on between them.

Originally, he believed that Dottore could be manipulating Scara into doing things bad for his health, under the impression that he's trying to help him do better with his training. It was possible that he was convincing him to eat less or overwork himself like Childe had said, with the intention to get him removed from the Fatui or at least keep him down.

After his talk with Signora, he believes his intentions are much more sinister. He did consider the possibility that Dottore could be giving him steroids that could be ruining Scara's body, but now he's sure it goes much deeper than that. It's likely that he saw Scaramouche as the perfect victim to be subjected to his testing, knowing the relationship he has with him, but one thing he can’t understand is what would this all be for?

Heizou partially feels at fault for this. Scaramouche tends to fall back into Dottore's arms whenever he feels lonely, and Heizou knows that he's been taking up a lot of Kazuha's attention. Is it possible that all of this could've been avoided if they weren't together?

That's no longer relevant, so he shoves the thought aside. All he can do now is do his best to figure this mess out. He owes it to him.

The clock ticks and his eyes grow heavy as he knows that it's getting to the later hours of the night. He gets snapped out of his sleepiness by his phone buzzing.

Kazuha:

Where have you gone? It's getting late ;-;

Guilt washes over Heizou's conscience. He completely forgot about spending time with Kazuha.

Heizou:

I'm so sorry, my love! I'll be over right now!

Right as he's about to be on his way, he realizes that he never got to respond to Childe from this morning. It'd be rude to let him wait any longer, so he decides to shoot him a text. He keeps the conversation short between him, but Childe tells him some interesting things that could help him get a better understanding of his predicament with Dottore. He leaves a further discussion for a different day.

He snatches his keycard from his desk and starts making his way to Kazuha's dorm building. He's been running around all day so it's harder for him to speed walk his way there.

Kazuha waits for him at the entrance wanting to greet him since he's been missing him. Once they see each other, Kazuha gives him a smile that Heizou is quick to return. At least he doesn't look mad at him.

"Once again, I deeply apologize, my love. I lost track of time." Heizou gives him a big hug.

Kazuha returns the hug with a tight squeeze but sighs, "At least you're here now. How did your interview go?"

Heizou freezes in confusion, thinking he's referring to his meeting with Signora that he should have no knowledge of. Then it hits him that earlier he lied and said he had something going on for an internship.

"Oh, I'm sure I did just fine. They took up enough of my day so let's forget about all that. I only want to focus on you." He pulls back and holds his hand, bringing him inside the building.

"I like the sound of that." Kazuha chuckles and they go up to his room.

When they enter his dorm, Kazuha removes Heizou's tie and gives him a soft kiss on the lips, which slowly turns into something more heated.

Kazuha pulls away to give them a breather, "I set up the projector and the movie is ready to go. Do you still wanna watch?"

"Yeah, of course." Heizou agrees, fighting back a yawn.

Kazuha guides him to the bed and gets his laptop out to start it. Heizou struggles to keep his eyes open, the soft memory foam mattress makes it almost impossible. Once Kazuha is finished with getting the movie going, he's quick to crawl next to Heizou and wraps his arms around his torso, making himself cozy.

"What movie is this?" Heizou asks, unable to recognize the film.

"Not sure. It's something that just came out that I thought would serve as good background noise." Kazuha shrugs, now running his hand over Heizou's chest.

The motion of Kazuha's hand causes him to become drowsier than he already was, "Oh, alright."

He leans in closer to quietly ask him a question, "While you were gone, I prepped myself. Were you able to buy any of the stuff you said you'd get?"

He feels like giving himself a face palm from how much he's been screwing up, "Shit... sorry, Kazuha. I didn't get the chance."

The let down look on Kazuha’s face is clear but he tries his best to hide it, "I guess we don't really need it... Would you still be interested?"

"I'm pretty beat, Kazu." Heizou admits honestly.

"Don't tell me you're already going to sleep? We don't have to do anything sexual, but I was at least hoping to have your company. I barely got to talk to you today." Kazuha whines, missing his partner.

"I can try to stay up if you'd like?" Heizou offers, knowing it probably won't be enough to satisfy him.

"I'd like for you to be present, Heizou. That's all I want from you." He says sadly, pulling away from him, and shifting his focus back to the movie.

"Come back, Kazuha." he scoots closer to him, resting his head on his lap "Can't I still be close with you?"

"Sure." He places his hand on Heizou's head. Although he accepts the affection, he still feels dissatisfied with their time together.

Heizou falls asleep and Kazuha quietly watches the movie until he grows bored and eventually calls it a night. He wants things to get better between them, but he fears that Heizou will only grow more distant.

September 26th 2:30am

Scara shoots up from his sleep screaming which startles Childe awake.

"What?! What?! Are you ok!? What's happening!?" Childe shouts in a panic.

Scara clutches his head and pants, "I- I don't know. I c- can't remember. I should get something to drink."

He starts to move from his place but Childe is quick to stop him, "There's no way I'm letting you get up. I'll get you some water, alright? Just take some deep breaths."

Childe jumps off the bed to grab a bottle of water from Scara's mini fridge. He notices there's some sleep-aid medication on top of it and decides to grab that as well.

"Here ya go." He opens the water bottle and hands it to Scaramouche.

Scara gives him a nod of appreciation and drinks. He's shaking from the scare but slightly calms down when he consumes some of the medication syrup. It's not that it works instantly, it just makes him feel like he'll be ok.

"Much better?" Childe asks.

"Somewhat." Scara says a little out of breath. "I didn’t mean to scare you, it’s just that I had a night terror. They've been happening more frequently."

"Do you think you'll be able to sleep again?" He looks at him wanting to rub his back comfortingly, but decides against it.

"No, it's likely that I won't." Scara shakes his head.

Childe sits back into the bed with him, "Ya know... I used to have night terrors too. I had them for the longest time."

"Is that true?" Scara gives him a skeptical look.

"Very." Childe confirms, "I started having them after a traumatic incident I had as a kid. I know how bad it feels, I hated what they did to me."

"How did you make it stop?" he asks him with a desperate look in his eyes.

"Well, it took awhile for them to fade away, but there were things I'd do to help me sleep again." Childe admits, but he's not sure he wants to say anymore than that.

"What were they?" Scara pries for more.

"It's kind of embarrassing, I'm not sure you'd want me to do that for you." He rubs the back of his neck, shyly.

"I'm exhausted, Childe. I don't care anymore, I just want to be able to sleep." Scara insists, wanting nothing more but to get some rest.

"Okay, lie down with me then." He lays back down on the bed, facing Scaramouche.

Scara follows his lead, wondering where this is going.

"Is it alright if I hold you?" Childe asks for permission, wanting to give him a warning before he touches him.

He glares at him suspiciously, but he's aware that this was his own request so he accepts, "Just... don't do anything weird."

"I have no plans on it." Childe reassures, then slowly wraps his arms around Scara's waist, pulling him closer to his chest.

Being this close in proximity to him feels weird for Scara, so he’s tense at first. It takes a few seconds for him to loosen up, but the warmth coming from Childe is comforting enough to encourage him to relax more. He also smells really nice, so it makes it easier for him to be in his space.

Scara curls up closer, getting himself more adjusted to the position he's in. He hopes that Childe doesn't feel his heart racing and thinks that he's the reason for it. The night terror he had is still affecting him and his adrenaline has yet to stop coursing through him.

When the both of them are comfortable, Childe starts softly humming a tune that Scara isn't familiar with. He can now see why he said this would be embarrassing. It feels odd that this is happening with a person he's not the closest with, but he's thankful that it's actually making some progress.

"Is this helping?" Childe asks quietly.

"As peculiar as it is, yes." Scara confirms.

"My mom used to do this for me when I first had them. She would stay holding me for however long I needed until I was able to sleep again. At least until things changed between us." He explains, his voice sounding a little melancholy.

Scara takes notice of his sadness, familiar with what it’s like to have a distant relationship with his mother, but he still remains curious on how he got the terrors to disappear, "How were you able to sleep after she stopped?"

"It's silly, but I would hum to myself as I clung on to this little narwhal plush, I've had since I was a baby. Don't tell anyone I told you that though." Childe quietly laughs at his own confession.

"After this day, I think you have more dirt on me than I do on you." He admits truthfully.

"Then I guess we'll just have to keep each other's secrets." Childe shrugs with a smile.

"How long did you have to soothe yourself?" Scara continues questioning him, seeking a possible solution for himself.

"Until the age of fourteen." He answers as it all comes back to him, "It was around that time that I was sent to military school. I wasn't permitted to bring anything other than clothes and some essentials."

Military school was not on Scara's radar. The way that Childe brings it up gives him the impression that he doesn't have fond memories of the place. He chooses to stay on topic rather than try to learn more about it, "Did they go away after that?"

"Nope. It got worse for a while, so they had to prescribe me medication for it. It would suck when I ran out because they were inconsistent with giving me my refills. When I would run out I'd have terrible sleep, and when I'd have terrible sleep I'd get aggressive... and the rest is a story for a different day." Childe stops before he says too much about his time there. It's not something he takes pride in.

His curiosity is peaked when Childe talks about the aggression he used to feel. There's still plenty that Scara doesn't know about the man who he's currently in the arms of. Maybe after some time, he'll figure him out.

"Do you still have your night terrors then?"

Childe shakes his head, "Nah, they went away when I was seventeen. It took awhile but eventually it died down until I ended up no longer having them."

"I can't help but believe that these night terrors of mine will never go away." Scara says, sounding tired, but Childe can't tell if it’s physical or emotionally.

"Just don't be ashamed to do whatever you have to do to feel better. As long as you keep doing what's right for you, you'll get through it." He tries to reassure him since there's not much else he can do for him.

"One can only hope." he lets out a large yawn and closes his eyes.

Scara naturally brings his arms around Childe's neck and buries his face into the crook of it. His breathing tickles the other boy slightly, but he chooses to ignore it since Scara seems to finally be able to fall asleep again.

Childe strokes his hair softly, trying to make his rest more calming for him. He's a rather affectionate person so he doesn't mind the contact at all, in fact he's liking it a lot. Holding Scara like this brings him back to those days that he was just talking about. Where he was just a kid trying his best to get a good night's sleep.

As affectionate as he is, usually only his siblings would get this treatment from him after having a bad nightmare. The only other person he's done this with was Zhongli. He remembers the last night they spent together, the night that Childe got his college acceptance letter, they were cuddled up just like this. It was right after Zhongli broke up with him and it was the only thing he could offer to do to make it up to him.

Normally he'd feel depressed after thinking about that night, but he doesn't feel much about it anymore.

Against his chest he can feel Scara's heart gradually slowing down. Childe was waiting for that before he could comfortably join him in sleep. He shuts his eyes and rests his head on top of Scara's.

Chapter Text

September 26th, 11:45am

It takes a little longer for Scara to wake up, likely trying to catch up on the hours that he missed out on. Luckily for him he's able to wake up peacefully instead of in an anxious fit of screaming like how he has been for the past couple of days.

Scara sits up and looks around, realizing that he's alone in the room. Childe must've left sometime during the night. He should've expected it since that's how it'd always go with Dottore, but he feels upset with himself for assuming it'd be any different with Childe. He shouldn't feel bothered at all. It's not like he had to stay the entire night. If anything he did more than enough by even giving him any company, so why should Scara feel disappointed?

For the past few days, Scara has felt incredibly anxious and being alone only makes it worse for him. He has no idea where this came from since all his life he had always felt better off alone, but it’s clear that whatever's wrong with him makes him feel otherwise.

Since he has no other choice than to be by himself, he accepts the reality and decides that he never needed Childe to begin with. He inches his way to the edge of the bed but is startled by his front door swinging open.

"Oh. You're awake." Childe's surprised to find him up. He approaches him with a cup of hot tea and something wrapped in tin foil.

Scara tries to hide how relieved he is by his presence but it's still pretty obvious, "Where did you go?"

"Aw, did ya miss me?" he smirks as he hands Scara the tea and food, "I went to make you some breakfast and got you a drink."

He ignores his first comment and takes the items, "I just wasn't sure if you left for good or not."

"I would never leave without saying goodbye. That would be plain rude." Childe raises an eyebrow, almost insulted that he'd think that of him.

"Hm. Good to know." Scara hums in approval.

"Now eat up. I gotta make sure you're well fed before I head to class." Childe points at the food, letting him know he won't be leaving until he's sure he at least got a few bites in.

Scara forgot that he has class today. The thought of being alone again makes him feel uneasy, "Will you be coming back?"

"Only if I'm invited." Childe shrugs, trying to play it cool.

"Why don't you hold on to my keycard for a while. I won't be using it any time soon anyway." Scara's indirect answer is clear enough for him to get what he's trying to say.

"I'll be sure to keep it safe," he nods.

“Be sure to do so. I’ll never forgive you if you lose it. Those things are expensive to replace.” Scara gives him a stern look.

The food in his hands is beginning to make Scara's stomach growl, so he unravels the tin foil and finds a toasted breakfast bagel underneath it. From what it looks like, the sandwich comes with avocado, cream cheese, smoked salmon and some chives, all things that he doesn't mind eating. Childe has been doing a decent job with guessing his food preferences, something he was worried he'd get completely wrong. He feels fortunate to have him around after everything that's happened.

Scara speaks up after taking a few bites, "Childe?"

"Yeah?" Childe responds curiously.

"I don't know how long it'll take for me to recover, but not being alone may speed up the process." He brings it up to him in passing, trying to keep it casual.

Childe has a good idea what he's trying to do and he decides to play along with him, "I guess that means that I should stay by your side until you get better then, huh?"

Scara pretends to consider it and then gives him confirmation, "Now that you mention it, I think that's a good idea."

He shakes his head and chuckles at Scara's roundabout way of asking him to spend time with him, "Would you also like me to keep sleeping over as well?"

"Since you insisted I suppose it'd be alright." Scara is a little too quick with his answer so he awkwardly clears his throat.

"Sure thing then. Would you be okay if I left some of my things here then?" Childe asks, not wanting to do more trips back and forth than necessary.

"That'd be fine." Scara gives him the okay.

"Alright I'll grab everything I need when I come back." He gives him a thumbs up, "I should get going now, just make sure you finish that whole thing. I don't wanna see even a crumb left when I come back."

"Don't take too long. I might fall asleep and I don't like being startled from my rest when you walk in." Scara gives him a warning, not wanting to accidently give him a black eye like how he nearly did last time.

"Gotcha." Childe gives him a salute before exiting his room and jogging to class.

Luckily enough he has only one class for the day and a few other small responsibilities to take care of, so his time out should be brief. Although he doesn't want to be long, he is looking forward to attending this lecture since this is the only class he has with his buddy Kaeya. Childe has been meaning to give him an update on his predicament since he hasn't had any opportunity to text him.

The building is about a six minute walk away so Childe manages to arrive with some time to spare. He can see Kaeya sitting in his typical seat in the back corner of the room and gives him a happy wave. Kaeya gestures for him to come over with a pleased grin.

"Childe! I can't believe you kept me waiting a whole 3 minutes without you." Kaeya puts his hand on his chest like his heart was aching for every minute he spent without him.

"I barely survived the wait to see you, buddy. Was counting down the seconds." Childe responds just as dramatically as he takes his seat next to him. "I would've shown up earlier if I wasn't caught up with something."

"Something or someone?" Kaeya nudges him with his elbow playfully and wiggles his eyebrows.

Childe laughs, "Oh, c'mon now. I'm a good boy, I swear. However, I will admit that I was with a friend."

Kaeya jokingly gasps and pouts, "I'm being replaced? Childe, how could you? I thought I was your one and only on-campus friend."

"Hey, I have a few others! But if it makes you feel any better you're still my favorite one." Childe puts his arm around his friend and pats his shoulder, to give him the comfort he's acting like he needs.

"My heart swells." Kaeya says in appreciation. "Go ahead and spill though, I'm dying to know who's this mistress that you're cheating on me with."

"It's a mister and he's my someone from psychology class." he clarifies.

"Mister? Here I thought you were a ladies man. I should've known." Kaeya teases him.

"What does that mean?! For your information, I still like ladies, I'm just a big hit with the men." Childe shrugs, "Regardless, this guy is just a friend."

"I'll take your word for it. Well, what were you guys up to so early in the day?" Kaeya inquires, wondering what daytime activities they could've participated in.

"It's not that I was hanging out with him in the early morning. I just ended up sleeping over at his place and I wanted to at least make him breakfast before I left for class." He provides him with a simple explanation, not thinking much of it.

Kaeya stares at him blankly.

"What?" Childe cocks his head.

"So when you say friend did you mean like friends with benefits orrr...?" He tries to decipher what's the real story between the two of them.

"No! No, it's not like that I swear. I was just doing my buddy a favor." Childe attempts to clear up the misunderstanding but Kaeya remains unconvinced.

"If that's what you consider a friend, I think it'd be more appropriate to say that Albedo and I are real good friends. Some would even call us the bestest of friends even." Kaeya pokes fun at his definition of what a friend is.

"Nuh uh, that's different. You guys do way more than having innocent sleepovers. We didn't even do anything close to that." Childe folds his arms, standing firm on his argument.

"You make it sound like you two still ended up doing something." He references the last statement he made.

The image of how they slept wrapped in each other's arms flashes into Childe's mind and his brain instantly feels a little fuzzy, "You can still be friends if you fall asleep holding each other, right?"

"Uh, I'm going to have to say that the only friend I've ever done that with turned into my boyfriend not long after, sooooo... take what you want from that knowledge." Kaeya allows him to figure it out for himself.

"Aw, man." he groans feeling lost, "I was only trying to help him out."

"You're not leading him on are you?" Kaeya squints at him and rubs his chin, trying to understand what Childe is looking to accomplish with this guy.

"I'm not trying to! I don't know what's going on between us, I just know that we're finally on the same page so I don't want to mess things up. My only intention right now is to get my sick friend back on his feet." Childe answers as genuine as he possibly can, not wanting Kaeya to think of him as some player.

His eyes widened in realization, "Wait... this isn't the friend that you told me about, was it? The one that was allegedly dying?"

"That's the guy." Childe snaps his finger and points at him to let him know he's right.

"I thought you guys weren't on speaking terms? How'd you end up cuddling it up in his bed?" Kaeya finds himself only getting more and more puzzled with everything he learns from Childe.

"I wouldn't call it cuddling. It was more like ensuring that he felt secure through physical contact." He denies, wanting to rephrase it to something more digestible for himself.

Kaeya scoffs, "Wow, do you plan on adding that to your resume?"

"Ha, ha, very funny." Childe rolls his eyes, "I just don't think it was that serious. We ended up speaking again 'cause I saw how bad he was doing and he refused to go to the hospital, so I just helped him out myself. He ended up apologizing and now we're cool."

"Just like that? Seems a little off to me. Why'd you guys even argue in the first place?" Kaeya gets increasingly more suspicious.

"He was in a really bad mood and took his frustration out on me by saying some messed up stuff. It wasn't completely unforgivable, but it did hurt to hear. You know me though, I'm not one to hold a grudge." Childe sweeps the incident under the rug, fully moving on from it.

"I know that but I'd still recommend you keep your distance. He could be taking advantage of your kindness. I'd hate for a dear friend of mine to get his heart broken." Kaeya advises him.

"You don't have to worry about that. We've been doing much better and I don't know what I'd have to do to convince you that I'm not into him like that, but the best I do is say it outright." Childe does his best to persuade him, yet he can't help but be uncertain.

Kaeya decides to put something to the test to really see if Childe is telling the honest truth, "You promise you're not lying to me?"

Childe hesitates, struggling to give a confident answer, "Uhhhh... I'm pretty sure?

Kaeya raises an eyebrow and stares at him plainly once again.

"I feel like that's not a fair thing for me to promise 'cause I don't have 100% guaranteed certainty over my feelings." Childe reasons with Kaeya.

"Fine, I'll let it be. If you guys are as cool as you say you are maybe we could schedule something where we all hang out? I'd love to meet him, when he's feeling better of course. I'll even invite Albedo." He suggests, wanting to get an in person perspective on this friend of his.

"That could be fun. I'll pitch the idea to him and see what he says." Childe grins, liking the thought of Kaeya getting to know Scaramouche. He feels like Kaeya has a good read on people so it’s possible that if they met, he could tell him something he never noticed about Scara.

"Sounds like a double date." Kaeya jests.

Childe shoves him lightly, "You're so annoying."

They both laugh at their own banter and the lecture begins soon after. The class is only an hour and thirty minutes long and it goes by even faster with them whispering and having their own conversation through it. By the end of the class Kaeya has to rush out so he can arrive at a club meeting on time, leaving Childe to himself.

Today is one of his training days so he heads to the Fatui's gym to do a quick workout. It's bigger than any gym he's ever been in, so he likes to take advantage of it and come any chance he gets. Thursdays are the days where he prioritizes his cardio, something that shouldn't take that long.

He begins doing some light stretches, then starts really doing some work with some jump roping. After spending some time doing that he moves on to the treadmill. Sweat starts to drip down his face, the faster he runs. After thirty minutes of consistent running, he stops and takes a well-needed break.

There's a water fountain nearby and he takes a few sips. The cold water on his tongue cools him down from the heat he was building up from all the exercising. He wipes the water from his lips and takes a deep breath.

Sometimes if he's feeling extra energized he'll go for a short swim in the pool, but he chooses to pass on that for now. He feels satisfied with the work he's done for the day so he makes his way to the exit, but stops in his tracks when an alarm goes off on his phone.

Around this time, Capitano will come to do some boxing and he invited Childe to spend some time watching him. If he's being real with himself, it'd be more accurate to say that he stumbled across Capitano and asked for his training schedule so he can study his techniques and maybe get closer to him.

It's already been a few hours, and he'd rather not leave Scara alone for too long. He can see Capitano any other time, so he's not all that disappointed.

Childe returns to the dorms and goes to his room to grab a few items that he might need during his stay with Scara. He also brings over some of the soup he made the other day, so Scara can heat up any leftovers whenever he's hungry.

When he enters Scara's room, he finds him cozied up in bed sleeping on his side. Childe moves carefully around the room, not wanting to accidentally wake him. On the nightside table he notices the crumpled up tin foil from earlier. Scara must've eaten the entire sandwich he made like how he asked. He feels proud of him for being able to completely finish a meal, there's a chance he's getting better.

Childe places his clothes on top of the dresser, puts the food in the fridge, and decides that he should probably clean himself off after that sweaty workout.

He wants to ensure that Scara is okay with him showering in his room so he lightly taps his shoulder, "Scara, I'm back. Are you cool with me taking a shower here?"

Scara groans in annoyance, barely even conscious, "hmm... do whatever..." He swats him away and turns over more.

"Alright then." Childe chuckles and ruffles Scara's hair, which bothers the sleeping boy causing him to pull the blanket over his head.

A cold shower feels refreshing, and gives him the boost of energy he needs. He never understood how people could enjoy a hot shower when a nice freezing one can make anyone feel so alive. Unexpectedly, Childe has to cut it short when he hears a knock on the door. He doesn't want Scara to have to get up so he quickly shakes off the water, throws on a towel, and rushes to answer the door.

Childe opens up and finds Heizou standing before him, who was definitely not expecting to be greeting a half-naked dripping wet man.

"Woah." Heizou backs up from the door frame a little, since he ended up being eye-to-eye with Childe's bare chest.

"Sorry for the indecency, I just came out of the shower and didn't wanna keep you waiting." He apologizes, aware of how awkward it might be for him.

"No, yeah, it's cool. Just caught me off guard." He tries his best to keep his eyes anywhere else, but it's a little distracting.

"If you're looking for Scara he's asleep right now. I have no problem passing over a message though." Childe offers.

"I was actually looking for you. It's funny that you're still here since I remember telling you that you only needed to do a quick check on him." Heizou gives him a cheeky smile.

He blushes slightly at the observation, "I agreed to stay over until he gets better, so here I am."

"Cute. I remember those days between Kazuha and I. Spending countless nights together, practically inseparable. Enjoy it while you still have it." He reminisces at the earlier stages of his relationship.

Childe sighs, accepting that there's not much he can do to convince anyone that they aren't dating, "How can I help ya, Heizou?"

"Since you've been spending a lot of time with Scara, do you happen to know where he keeps his keycard?" Heizou asks.

"I have it. He's been letting me use it so he doesn't have to keep getting up to let me in." He answers simply.

"Can I use it?" He makes the request rather quickly, feeling like he struck gold knowing that Childe has it on him as they speak.

Childe rubs the back of his neck, not convinced that it's a good idea, "Uhhh... I don't know about that. I promised him I'd keep it safe, so I don't think he'd be comfortable with me giving it away at random."

"Who safer to give it to than one of his closest friends? I swear this is only to help him and I'll be sure to bring it right back." Heizou reassures him.

"It's not about you bringing it back. I just don't think he'd want me to hand it to anyone. What do you need it for anyway?" Childe tries to get more context as to why he would have to have it in the first place.

"There's not a lot of time to explain myself but it's really important for what I'm trying to do here. So can I please just have it?" He pleads.

"I’m gonna need you to be a bit more specific than that." Childe sympathizes with him but it still doesn't feel right to do this without knowing what's going on.

Heizou furrows his brows, growing increasingly frustrated, "Childe, I appreciate the protectiveness over my friend here, but this is a time sensitive situation. Every second that I don't have that keycard is a second closer to the progress that I made for this entire investigation being all for nothing."

Childe crosses his arms and leans against the door frame, "Better keep it short and simple then."

"You're killing me here." He pinches the bridge of his nose and caves in, "Congrats, you wore me down. Scara's keycard has access to Dottore's lab and I need it to get in and find out more about what's going on. It's even possible that I may find some way to get him better. Is that good enough of an explanation for you?"

"Can't Scara get in trouble for letting people use his card? There's a lot of prohibited areas for certain people, especially when it comes to the Fatui building." Childe argues, still hesitant to give it up.

"Would you rather take the chance of him getting in trouble or him dying? I mean with that keycard, his life is literally in your hands. So, tell me what's it going to be?" He raises his voice slightly, getting sick of the back and forth.

Heizou feels himself losing his cool and dials it back, "Listen, I really do believe I'm on to something big here and I'm still not entirely sure how severe of a problem this is for Scara. I want to be able to do this before I'm too late, so I beg of you, work with me and not against me."

"Please, Heizou... make sure it gets back to me. I just got back on his good side." Childe takes Scara's keycard out from his phonecase and hands it to him.

"I swear on my life I will. Thank you." He takes the keycard and sprints off.

Childe remains a little uneasy about what he's just done and can only pray that it doesn't come back to haunt him. He shuts the door and lets out a small huff, he has to be careful not to leave the room anymore until he gets the card back. Good thing he grabbed everything he needed beforehand.

"Is everything alright?" Scara sits up from his bed and rubs his eyes.

"Yeah, just Heizou checking in on you. I told him you were asleep."

When Scara's eyes focus again he takes notice of Childe's appearance and raises an eyebrow "...Why are you naked?"

"I told you I was going to shower. I just got out." Childe explains.

He looks him up and down, "Go put a shirt on."

"What, are you not enjoying the free show?" He gestures to himself, proud of his physic.

Scara shakes his head, "If I wanted to see a wet noodle, I would've asked you to boil some pasta."

The insult damages his pride and he pouts, "Wet noodle?"

Childe lets out a theatrical sigh, wanting Scara to know that he's wounded as he heads to the bathroom to change.

September 26th, 4:10pm

Heizou doesn't stop running until he makes it to the Fatui building. Signora said to bring her the card before five, but he's worried that he's cutting it too close. Hopefully, there's enough time for her to check before the place closes.

Signora is seen impatiently sitting on a bench by the main entrance. She's wearing shades and a complete set of black clothing, probably intending to not draw attention to herself while in the building. Heizou would've found the attire funny if he wasn't cramping up from the running he's been doing.

He stops in front of her, barely able to breath but holding up the card "I...ha, I'm here...!"

"Christ, Heizou. When I said get it to me before five I didn't think you'd bring it minutes before it." Signora complains and snatches the card from him.

"Can you still do it?" Heizou asks, desperately needing the answer to be yes.

"Can I still do it? Of course I can. Your poor timing just makes things more inconvenient, but I'll be fine. Now wait here, I'll be back." She stands up and confidently strides her way into the building.

"Best of luck!" Heizou shouts as he watches her leave.

Signora approaches Arlecchino who was inside the building the whole time, "Do you know if the room is empty?"

Arlecchino walks side-by-side with her as they head to Dottore's lab, "For now it is, but we have to be quick. He's having a meeting with Pantalone somewhere else and I'm not sure how long it will last."

"How were you able to find that out?"

"Earlier this morning, I lied and told Pantalone that I needed help with my finances. I requested to meet with him but he said he'd be unavailable for the day. When I asked why, he mentioned that he was having a meeting with Dottore that'll take up most of his day." Arlecchino describes the encounter she had with him as they go to enter the elevator.

She continues her recollection of the events as she presses the buttons and the doors shut, "I said that I'd be in the building until it closes if he's available some time after, but he informed me that his meeting won't be held here. So, we compromised and I was able to get his schedule off of him and it includes the days he meets with Dottore in and outside his lab."

"Do you have a physical copy of it?" Signora sounds impressed with how much information she got from Pantalone just from one conversation.

Arlecchino shakes her head, "He showed me on his phone and I took a picture of it."

"Why didn't you just have him text you the photo?" Signora gives her a puzzled look.

"I didn't want his number." Arlecchino responds plainly.

"Understandable. You did more than enough anyway. You never cease to amaze me." She says, still dazzled by her efforts.

"Can I ask you something now?" Arlecchino glances at her from her peripheral vision.

"Go on." Signora looks at her, ready to hear what's on her mind.

"Why are you wearing that?" Arlecchino's question sounds blunt but she only means it curiously.

"What, my break-in outfit? To be discreet. Do you not like it?" Signora strikes a small pose, feeling cute.

"I didn't say that. I just didn't know this called for an outfit change." She shrugs.

"Does it not look good? You can tell me if it doesn't look good." Signora checks her appearance and tries to fix herself up a little bit.

"Signora, it'd be an impossible task to find something that looks bad on you." Arlecchino admits genuinely. She's always been a fan of her sense of fashion.

"Hm. I like that." Signora's cheeks flush and she stands proud now.

The elevator door opens with a ding, and both ladies step out into the hallway. There's not a single soul other than themselves in this area so it's unsettlingly quiet. Not many people come down to this floor, but since the building is closing in a few minutes there's certainly no chance of finding any signs of life here.

Dottore's lab is all the way at the end of the hall. They stop in front of the door and Signora pulls the keycard out from her pocket and stares at it. Right as she's about to bring it up to the scanner, she stops when Arlecchino speaks up.

"Do you have a plan I should know about?"

"I want you to wait outside in case he returns. I'm going to do a quick search of the room to see if I can find anything that stands out. If I do find something, I'll do my best to not move anything around, but I want to get pictures as evidence. Hopefully I can leave with something of importance, so Heizou has something he can work with. I'll call for you if I need any help." Signora gives her a rough breakdown of what she's going to do.

Arlecchino follows what she's saying but then informs Signora of her own additions to her side of the plan, "All of that is fine, but just know that if I see Dottore or anything else that should be of concern, I'll knock on the door twice. When you hear that knock, I want you to hide and do not come out until you get a text from me saying that you can. Do I make myself clear?"

"Very. I'll be back." Signora nods.

"Be careful." Arlecchino says, now leaning with her back against the wall.

Signora now places the card onto the scanner and a green dot flashes at her, letting her know she's able to enter. She pushes the door and the first thing she notices is the temperature difference between the hallway and the chilly lab.

The environment is strange for her. The closest she's ever been to being in a room that remotely resembles this was when she visited the doctors, but this is a little bigger than that. At first she doesn't know where to start, but she still takes a pair of black gloves from her pocket and generally looks for anything of use.

One of the first things she gravitates to is the computer, it's probably the one thing she can make sense of in this complicated mess of a room. Signora takes a seat directly in front of it and looks around for any clues on what the password could be. There's a lot of papers she tries not to mess with the placement of, but she sees post-it notes stuck to the side of the computer that catches her attention.

Signora pulls one off to get a better look, "KR#46 update needed. What the hell does that mean?"

It's possible that KR#46 is what he calls his computer and he's reminding himself to give it an update. She has nothing to lose so she types it into the password section and gives it a shot.

Incorrect password.

As expected. She doubted that Dottore would be dumb enough to leave a password out in the open like that. She carefully places the post-it back to its original spot, then takes a peak at the other one right below it.

"File additions needed by Friday. Interesting." Signora notes.

This must be how Dottore keeps track of his responsibilities. The mention of files intrigues her. She assumes that one of the cabinets may have a bunch of files of information he's been keeping track of. All it takes is one glimpse towards the floor and she notices a cabinet barely closed properly with a bunch of papers sticking out.

There it is. Signora is a little hesitant to open it since it looks like it's about to explode with the amount of stuff that’s shoved inside, but she decides to put a brave face on and goes for it. She reaches over and the filing cabinet flies open, giving her a scare. How is his laboratory just as unnerving as him?

She's a little overwhelmed with the amount of material she has in front of her, but she still leans in to take a closer look. There are four different colored sections of files, the first three are separated by the years, but the ones all the way in the back are apparently contracts. From what it looks like, whatever he's been keeping track of goes as far back as almost four years ago, and the most recent stuff is from five days ago. The files from this current year are stored in the yellow section, so that's where she focuses her attention.

All of them are titled in a similar fashion to the post-it she saw before. Two letters and two numbers but with the date written next to it.

Signora looks for the file with the date September 14th, the day that she saw Scara head into the lab, and there's three files that match. Some of them are thicker than the others, but she recognizes that one of the files is titled the same way as the cryptic message on the post-it, KR#46. She opens that one first.

Inside there are tons of documents and writings she's never seen before, and she skims over each one to find any mention of Scara's name. It seems like he makes consistent updates on the people he experiments on and carefully stores his findings in a file for each subject.

The details are very specific to the person's health, activities, and behavioral patterns, but it doesn't say much about the person themself. It makes it incredibly difficult to figure out who this might be. She ends up taking pictures of the descriptions, feeling like this still may come in handy.

She checks the other two files and they all have similar experiences in response to something they've been given, yet she doesn't know what it is. Eventually she finds that they all contain a paper that seems to be a basic information sheet. It has their names, sexes, ages, weights, heights, races, birthdays and there's an empty spot for each one for their date of passing. Something about that detail makes her uncomfortable. The chance of someone in this sea of papers having a date filled out there freaks her out, so she quickly moves on.

Still nothing with the name Scaramouche. Now that she thinks about it, Scaramouche is an alias that was given to him by the Fatui, so of course it wouldn't be on these papers. Who would know his real name?

Signora heads to the door to ask Arlecchino a question, "Pst. Arlecchino."

Arlecchino turns to face her, "Is everything ok?"

"Yes, but I was just wondering if you have any idea of what Scaramouche's real name is?" She asks, even though she knows they barely interact.

"I barely even remember what he looks like. I assumed if anyone would know it would be either you or his friend that’s playing detective." Arlecchino gives her an honest response.

"It was worth a shot." Signora shrugs and returns back to the filing cabinet.

Two of the three individuals have information that could align with who Scara is, but there is still too much that Signora doesn't know about him to be completely sure. It doesn't help that one of the files is missing some crucial information that could make the process of elimination easier. To save herself some time she takes as many pictures as she can of both subjects files.

Another interesting thing she found was that the same document of all three subjects had a section labeled "RX" and under it was Dottore's illegible handwriting. Even though she was unable to read it, it looks like he wrote the same thing for each person.

Signora puts everything she took out back into its rightful spot and looks at the contract section of the cabinet. She pulls a random one out and her eyes widen in shock when she looks at it.

This is the exact same contract that Dottore offered her months ago. Although she was a little drunk she has a clear memory of this exact document being given to her that night.

Just to be sure she takes another one out and it's all the same. The only difference is who signed it and when. She takes more pictures.

There's other things she wants to look at so she puts it all away and slams the overfilled cabinet shut, hoping it doesn't open back up again.

Above her she spots shelves that are holding a bunch of pill bottles and tiny liquid containers. They don't have any professional labels on them, but there's paper taped on to it with Dottore's terrible handwriting scribbled on there. One of the pills' labels look similar to the writing she saw on the basic information sheet. Heizou would probably be able to decipher what this means so she takes another picture.

Signora opens up the cabinet doors to take a closer look, and she notices a piece of paper is inside. She reaches in and takes it out. It's a spreadsheet of purchases.

It looks like it could be important, so she goes to snap a photo of that as well, but stops in place when she hears the sound of two firm knocks on the door.

Her heart starts to beat out of her chest and she moves fast.

The first thing Signora does is put the spreadsheet back where she found it and looks all over the laboratory for a spot to hide. Right by the desk area is a locker full of lab coats. She opens it and scoots her way in.

Outside the lab, Arlecchino saw a small figure down the hall that slightly resembled Dottore's appearance. She didn't want to take any chances so she gave Signora the signal to make sure she hides.

She takes a look into the window of the laboratory's door and sees that Signora is nowhere in sight. Arlecchino feels relieved to know that she got the message and followed her instructions. When she turns back around she sees Dottore hovering over her. He moves fast.

"A rare sight to see you down here. Do you have a reason for guarding my door?" Dottore asks, bothered to have someone in his way.

"I was checking to see if you were inside." Arlecchino says plainly.

Dottore raises an eyebrow, "What for? I don't remember having any business with you."

"I was going to ask if you knew where the Fatui cafeteria was." The way she asks her question makes it sounds like she's new here, which is incredibly odd for Dottore to hear.

"You're telling me that for the three years you've been on campus, you've never once been to our cafe?" He is getting impatient as he questions her.

"I don't go where I'm not needed. I only have to find it because your partner suggested we meet there for business." Arlecchino crosses her arms, matching his annoyance.

"He did make that known to me." Dottore contemplates his next move, "Since there's no reason for me not to believe you, I'll bring you there. I don't need you taking up more of his time by getting lost on your way to him."

"We should get going then. The building closes in a few minutes." She gets ready to walk, but he pushes her back to her spot.

He wags his finger in front of her face, "Ah, ah, ah. I have something to take care of first."

She notices that he's carrying a briefcase in his other hand and she scowls at him, "Did you not hear me? If the building closes then we will be forced to leave."

"You will be forced to leave. Not we." He corrects her, "Those ranked in the top three were given the privilege to stay here after hours. Now, I advise you not to keep me any longer."

Dottore moves past her and uses his own keycard to enter his lab.

Signora hears the door open and immediately holds her breath, scared that even the sound of her breathing could alert him. She can see through the gaps in the locker at what Dottore is doing.

Dottore heads to his filing cabinet and swings it open, the intensity of his movements causes her to jump slightly. He takes a seat and swiftly goes through the documents in his briefcase. Once he pulls everything he needs out, he brutally crams it into the cabinet, and stands to kick it closed. It takes a few solid kicks for it to fully shut, but he eventually gets it done.

Signora is confused as to why everything this man does has to be so uncaring. It doesn't even look like he's upset at anything, this is just his natural state of being when he's alone.

After packing up his files, he leans over his desk and snatches one of the post-it notes from his computer. He quickly rips it in half and disposes of the torn paper into the trash, but as he does so the other note falls off the computer, landing directly in front of his locker.

"Hm." Dottore frowns.

It takes everything in Signora's power to not instantly start panicking. She covers her mouth and calmly waits for this moment to pass.

Dottore bends down in front of the locker to pick up the post-it and examines it. He wrote this some time last week, so reading it reminds him that he's going to eventually have to set up another meeting with subject KR#46.

He flips the paper to the other side and rubs his thumb over the adhesive. His thumb presses down on it repeatedly. It barely sticks at all.

"That's not right... " Dottore grumbles to himself. He placed that post-it a couple of days ago, there should be no reason why it's already falling off.

Signora can only pray that he doesn't take this as a sign of her being here. She now regrets entering and curses herself for agreeing to this entire thing.

"Cheap ass post-its." Dottore scoffs and grabs a piece of tape to place it back to the side of his computer. He tosses his briefcase under his desk and exits the area.

Once the door shuts, Signora lets out the loudest sigh she's ever had to huff out. She still remains in the locker, waiting for Arlecchino to give her the text that she said she would.

Arlecchino sees Dottore return from the lab and feels a weight lift from her shoulders, "Did you handle everything you needed to?"

"That I did." Dottore confirms. "Do you happen to feel a slight breeze?"

Arlecchino pauses, trying to feel for anything, "...No. I can't say that I do."

"I wouldn't recommend buying supplies from the Dollar store then. Useless products." He complains, then leads the way.

Arlecchino follows behind, not knowing what he means by that. She chooses not to question him since she wants him out of the area as soon as possible.

A few minutes later, Signora finally gets a notification from Arlecchino.

Arlecchino:

Get out of there. Now.

That's all she needs to hear. Signora bursts out the locker, slams it shut, and sprints out of the room. The stairs are closer than the elevator, so she chooses to run up them and makes it to the main entrance.

Signora doesn't stop running until she makes it to her dorm. She starts chuckling from the rush of adrenaline she feels from all this excitement. It would be a lie to say that she didn't find enjoyment out of this, and she's certain Heizou is going to have a field day with the evidence that was obtained.

Chapter Text

September 27th, 2:00am

Childe is unable to sleep.

For the entire day he hasn't been able to stop thinking about how he gave Heizou Scaramouche's keycard. It's been stressing him out and the longer he goes without getting it back only makes his anxiety worse.

He texted Heizou hours before to see when he's going to be able to get it back and there's still been no response. It's likely that he won't be able to rest until he gets an answer. The more tired he gets the more he regrets listening to him.

Finally, after waiting for an unfortunate amount of time he gets a buzz from his phone.

Heizou:

Just saw your text. I'm not sure when I can get the card back to you.

The rage that Childe feels when seeing that message is something that words wouldn't be able to properly describe.

Childe:

There's no way in hell you made me wait till this ungodly hour just to give me that bullshit response.

Heizou:

I get the sense that you're not happy with me.

Childe:

You promised you'd give it back. I want the card.

Heizou:

And you will get it back. I never promised anything about when tho. :p

Childe:

I have class in a few hours, Heizou. How do you expect me to get back into the room without it?

Heizou:

Alright, how about this.

Heizou:

Meet me for lunch after your class, we'll talk for a little, and then you'll get his card back.

Childe:

Why are you trying to get me to go get lunch with you? Why can't I just get the card?

Heizou:

Those are my terms.

Childe:

You're a real pain. Just let me know where and I'll be there.

Heizou:

Appreciate you! :D

He tosses his phone to the side, relaxing now that he knows he's going to have the card by tomorrow. His eyes begin to feel heavy and he closes them.

It's a little difficult to rest with Scara sleeping with his face buried into the crook of his neck again. He's been fine with them holding each other as they sleep, especially since it seems to be helping with his night terrors, but his warm breath is making him feel some type of way.

Their position shifts, Childe moves to lie on his side, and he gently brings Scara's face to rest more on his shoulder rather than snug in his neck. Scara pulls him in closer and presses flush against him, his breath now hits his ear. He can't tell if this is better or worse than their previous position.

"Are you hard?" Scara sensually mumbles into his ear, his voice still sounding sleepy.

Childe barely registers the question since he was under the impression that Scara was unconscious. That was the last thing he expected to hear from him, and it completely catches him off guard.

"W- What?" Childe mutters.

"You're not going to make me repeat myself, are you?" He pouts.

"Uhh... no. I don't think I am." He lies, sounding insecure with his answer.

"You could tell me the truth. I can feel your hard-on against my leg as we speak." Scara presses his lower half against his crotch, letting him know that he can't hide it from him.

There's certainly no denying it now. Childe has to hold back a groan from the friction, and he attempts to sit up, "I-I'm sorry about that. I don't know what's gotten into me. We should probably separate until it dies down-"

He's suddenly interrupted when Scaramouche shoves him flat on his back and straddles his waist, placing himself directly over his throbbing erection. Everything happens so fast, Childe can barely grasp what's going on.

"I can help you take care of it." Scara gives a straightforward offer.

"Scara, you're not feeling well. This isn't a good idea." Childe shakes his head, worried that this could do him harm in this state.

"It's sweet how much you care." Scara runs his hand under his shirt, lifting it past his naval, "You're right though, I am unwell. I'm unwell and in dire need of some tender loving care. It looks like you're in need of it too.

Childe feels himself get more and more turned on the longer they talk, "Maybe a little bit."

"Then we could both benefit from this... so I'll ask again. Do you want me to take care of it?"

Childe is hesitant to answer. As much as he wants to do this, he's still worried that he could hurt Scara in this condition. Yet, the other boy doesn't seem to care in the slightest. It's possible that if he's careful things will be fine.

"More than anything." he nods.

The confirmation was the last thing Scara was waiting for before continuing further with this. He puts all his weight onto Childe's clothed cock and rocks back and forth, slowly riding him through his pants.

Childe lets out a sharp gasp at the pleasure, "Shit, Scara."

Scara rolls his hips on him a bit faster, "Feels good, doesn't it?"

"Y-yeah. It does." He agrees as he runs his hands over Scara’s legs.

As they continue grinding on each other, Childe craves even more friction and bucks his hips up into him. The action causes Scara to let out a breathy sigh. That faint noise is enough to drive Childe crazy. He needs to hear more out of him.

There's nothing he wants more than to get those sweet-sounding moans from him. He's ready to make it his entire mission and devote as much time as he needs to hear even the softest gasp leave his lips.

Scara tugs at Childe's pants silently suggesting removing them, which he doesn't hesitate to help him do so. The bottom half of his clothes are now bunched up at his ankles, freeing his dripping cock.

Childe lifts himself up, causing Scara's lie back against the bed. He now hovers over him, beginning to glide his shorts off of his slender legs. Scara looks up at him, staring into his eyes the whole time he does so. Childe can't recall a time where a person made him this nervous about sex.

Now that they are both half naked, Childe pulls him closer by his waist. He pushes his thighs close together and slips his hard dick in between, making Scara gasp. Before he proceeds, he takes a breather. Not even five minutes in and he's already worried he's going to finish prematurely.

"Childe..." Scara pants out, grabbing his attention. "Haven't you made me wait long enough? Fuck me, already."

So, he's been wanting this too?

His needy demands nearly sent Childe over the edge. With that he can't help but snap his hips forward, desperately wanting to get him off. He continuously pushes in and out of the gap in between Scara's silky thighs, rubbing his aching length against his.

"Don't stop. God, don't you dare stop." Scara lets out quiet whines, clearly enjoying himself which encourages Childe to increase his speed.

Both of them are getting close to finishing. Scara's thighs are now slick with precum, making it easier for Childe to slide quicker than he previously was. Childe has to bite back his moans, but a few loud ones escape from him with how heavenly this feels. As badly as he needs to cum, he's determined to make Scara finish first. He refuses to let it go any other way.

It seems like the feeling is mutual when Scara yanks him down by the collar of his shirt and kisses him. Childe nearly falls over with the sudden pull, but he manages to keep up with the kiss. He doesn't know if he can last like this.

"Scara... I'm... I'm close." Childe tries to warn him in between kisses.

"I know." He bites on Childe's lip. "What do you think I'm trying to do?"

Damn it. He's trying to beat him to it and he's succeeding. Childe can't last much longer like this. The way Scara takes his time relentlessly tonguing him down, heats him up and he can't stop fucking into those plush thighs. He moans into his mouth and eventually busts his load all over Scara's legs and stomach.

Childe's eyes widen and he wakes up sweating and panting. He looks to his side and sees Scara holding onto him like before, face buried into his neck. What the hell just happened?

He reaches over and grabs his phone to look at the time. It's seven in the morning.

It takes a few moments for him to process that none of that had just happened, but he confirms it when he lifts the blanket to reveal that he made a mess in his pants.

Embarrassment overwhelms him. How did this happen? It's been years since he last had a wet dream. It doesn't help knowing that it included his innocently sleeping friend. The guilt eats at him, making him feel like a disgusting pervert.

Ever since Zhongli broke up with him he hasn't gotten any action, and it's been 2 weeks since he last jerked off with the school year picking up. It seems that neglecting his needs has now caught up with him.

He grows increasingly uncomfortable now that he's aware of the stickiness clinging to his skin. He carefully moves Scara off of him so he can head to the bathroom to change. He was going to have to wake up soon anyways with his class starting in an hour, but he didn't appreciate his hormones acting as an alarm.

"Hmm... where are you going?" Scara groans out, barely awake. He's a little irritated by the movement slightly disrupting his sleep.

Childe pauses, frustrated with himself for waking Scara up, "I got class soon. I should get ready."

"I thought you were planning on waking up later." He complains, wanting his human body pillow to return to him.

"My body seemed to have other plans." It's a truthful response, but it's vague enough for Scara to assume he just had trouble staying asleep.

"Lame." He turns away and sleeps holding one of Childe's pillows instead.

Childe relaxes once Scara returns to his slumber then rushes to the bathroom to clean himself off. He decides to take a brisk early morning shower, then dresses into a loose white t-shirt, a cozy dark red sweater, a baggy pair of faded jeans, with some comfortable sneakers. When Childe is all dressed and ready to go, he blow dries his hair and creeps out the bathroom, hoping to not wake Scara again.

He grabs his bookbag by the foot of Scara's bed, slips his shoes on, and heads out the door.

September 27th, 1:10pm

While in class, Childe got a message from Heizou telling him to meet him at the school's dining hall around one in the afternoon. When he arrives, he sees Heizou sitting alone in the back area of the cafeteria. Seeing him reignites the anger that was taking over him last night. He pulls out a seat and sits in front of him.

"Do you have the card?" Childe starts, setting the tone for this conversation to be more hostile than Heizou intended.

"Good afternoon, Childe. Why must we engage so intensely? Can I ask how your class was? Did you get a nice lesson in? Learn anything interesting?" Heizou playfully tries to change the tense atmosphere, but Childe isn't receptive to it.

"That's not what we're here for. Do you mind answering my question?" he insists.

"Fear not. Scara's card is in safe hands-" Heizou goes to say more but Childe interrupts him

"May I have it then." Childe puts his hand out to receive it.

Heizou rolls his eyes and pushes his hand away from him, "Give it a rest, would you? We should talk first."

"Talk about what?" His patience runs thin.

"Scara for starters. How is he? Last I heard he was alive but not much improvement has been made."

Childe softens up when he asks about his friend, understanding that he probably is very worried about him, "You'll be happy to know that he's not getting any worse but it's difficult to tell if he's getting any better. The only thing I can say for sure is that his appetite is back."

"That's a big relief." Heizou wipes sweat off of his forehead. "I genuinely am thankful for all the work you've been putting into helping Scara recover. You're doing a great job."

"That's nice. Is there anything else to discuss?" Childe asks, trying to keep it short.

"Yes, actually. Before I can give you this card we need to have an important conversation." He scoots his chair up closer, making sure that Childe can hear him for this discussion.

Childe senses the energy change from him and gets more serious, "What is it?"

"As promised, I will be giving it to you today. However, I need to be sure that I can get it back from you with complete cooperation in the future." Heizou states boldly.

"Give it back to you?" Childe scoffs.

"Yes. It was a great help, and it got us plenty of stuff to work with but it's likely that I'll need it again." He says firmly, letting him know that he's not kidding.

"How exactly? I wanna know what you were able to learn from this." Childe crosses his arms, prepared to hear what major discoveries were made.

"I can't reveal any information until I go over everything with a friend." Heizou shakes his head.

He gives him a deadpan stare, "Are you serious? How do you expect me to trust or believe what you're claiming when you can't even tell me anything to back it up?"

"Listen, if you just wait a few minutes my friend will be here to clear things up and verify everything that I'm saying." Although Heizou is attempting to soothe his worries it doesn't work in the slightest.

"Who is this friend?" Childe tilts his head.

"She should be joining us any moment now." Heizou now looks past the other boy then stands up from his seat, "Ah, here she is."

Childe turns to look behind him and is extremely disappointed to be faced with the sight of Signora approaching them. Earlier in the month they didn't get the best first impression of each other and since then they haven't been able to find common ground.

He gives Heizou a look of disbelief, "Signora!? What the hell does she have to do with anything?"

Signora ignores the comment and focuses on what was asked of her, "Heizou, I printed out the pictures like you had requested."

She digs through her purse and pulls out a handful of photos that she took yesterday. Childe watches the transaction still confused on what those photos are of and how they are important to Scaramouche.

"Ah, you're a life saver." Heizou accepts the pictures and begins flipping through them.

"What are those?" Childe chimes in trying to lean in to take a peek.

Heizou is too deep in concentration to realize that he's being spoken to, "Wow... This is great, Signora. I couldn't have asked for someone to do a better job."

"What's so good about it?" Childe asks, trying to get involved again but his efforts are useless.

Signora continues to pay the curious boy no mind, "It's good to know that you're satisfied, but I can't stay for long. I'd be fine to dissect this information with you on Tuesday afternoon though."

"Tuesday works fine." Heizou solidifies the plan as he continues looking over everything, clearly entranced.

"I'd appreciate it if I wasn't kept in the dark." Childe complains, not liking the fact that he's being deliberately left out.

"Oh, would you quit your whining? If you weren't such a baby, I'd have no problem filling you in." Signora sharply scolds him.

Childe mopes, torn between wanting to get an explanation and having the intense urge to tell Signora off for being rude to him. He chooses to remain silent.

She feels pride in being able to shut him up and chooses to reward him with an explanation, "Yesterday evening I was able to sneak into Dottore's lab to collect evidence for Scara's case. From what it looks like, there's countless victims to Dottore's lab testing. With that being said, I'm not so sure that Scara can be considered one of them since I was unable to find any trace of his existence anywhere in that room."

"How were you able to get into his lab?" Childe glares at her, having too good of an idea on how she managed that.

"Why, with this of course." She holds up Scaramouche's key card in between her fingers.

In an instant Childe reaches over to snatch it from her but she's too fast. He whips his head towards Heizou, feeling incredibly angry and bothered that he gave the card away to someone else without his approval first.

"Why the hell would you give her Scara's keycard when I gave it to you and only you specifically." He raises his voice as he questions Heizou.

"There was no possible way for me to even step near the Fatui's building without someone's help. I'm not quite sure if you can recall, but I did attempt to get you involved and you refused."

Heizou's reasoning isn't enough for Childe to sympathize with him, "I get that and all but how am I supposed to trust you when you're doing this behind my back?"

"I wasn't trying to, Childe. I just didn't want to waste time and risk you refusing to give me the card." He can see that this conversation is going to go nowhere and it only exhausts him.

"Do you not see how-"

Signora gets sick of the back and forth and interrupts, "For the love of God, you are a grown man. There is no reason for either of us to have to sit here and listen to you cry about how you didn't get your way. This isn't about you. This is about Scaramouche and the countless number of people who have been impacted by Dottore's heinous acts. If you want anything to be done about it, you're going to have to suck it up and stop giving Heizou a hard time."

As much as it pains Childe, Signora has a point. Even with how annoyed he feels right now, this situation is way bigger than him. This is for Scara. He has to keep reminding himself that.

"Ok... I understand ya. I'm sorry for my outburst." he sits back in his seat.

Heizou waves his hand, dismissing the matter, "It's fine, I truly do get your anger towards me, but keep in mind that everything I do is only to help Scara and every other person who has been wronged in this situation. For this to progress I need your cooperation, and I'll definitely need that card. Not now, but soon."

"Alright, I guess." Childe reluctantly agrees.

He lets out a deep breath, "Thank you."

He nods to Signora, signaling for her to pass Childe the card, which she does so. Although he calmly accepts the card from her, he's sure to give her a heated glare the entire time.

"I'll be on my way now, Heizou." Signora says her farewells, ensuring to purposely ignore Childe once more as her final act. In response Childe sucks his teeth and rolls his eyes.

"Goodbye, Signora." Heizou gives her a warm smile.

Once Signora exits the building Heizou resumes his conversation with Childe but the warmth he once had on his face is gone and is replaced with something more solemn.

"After today you won't hear from me for a while. The next time we talk, I'll be letting you know I need the keycard from you." 

"Oh ok." he's a little unsure if he should feel worried or not.

"In the meantime, please keep me updated on my friend. Even though I'll be too busy to respond, it's still important to me." Heizou politely requests.

Childe nods, "I will. I'm sure he's only going to get better."

"No doubts there. He's fortunate enough to have a good friend like you that cares so much about him."

"I'm only doing the right thing, and it's been my pleasure to. I know I haven't known him for that long, but he is someone that I genuinely do care greatly about." Childe confesses. Considering the dream he had this morning he's worried that he may be starting to care about him too much.

"I've noticed." Heizou chuckles, "I should get going now. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to chat with me."

"Ah, I see. Off to visit Kazuha?" Childe teases, giving him a knowing look.

"If only." He shakes his head as he packs his things, "Sadly for me we haven't been doing so well. I'm currently in the doghouse for being too distracted."

Childe empathizes with him, "Dang, man. I know how it feels. Just remember to make time for what's really important."

Heizou sighs as he rests his backpack on his shoulder, "Trust me, I sure am trying."

He gives Childe a friendly pat on his back then leaves the area. Now that he's alone he decides that he's not really interested in getting any food here so he might as well just return to the dorms. Before he exits, he wonders if there's anything Scara would want while he's out. There's a vending machine nearby his table, so he decides to buy him some salt and vinegar chips as a treat for him.

When he enters the room, he's surprised to find Scara sitting at his desk rather than lying in his bed. He must be feeling well enough to sit upright and walk around a little, which is a big jump from him constantly needing to lie down. There's still not a lot of color in his face and he looks very tired, but there was still a noticeable positive change.

Childe also realizes that Scara is wearing one of his favorite shirts. His hair appears to be a little damp, so he must've come out of the shower not too long ago. It's a bit too big on him but he looks good. He might have to let him keep it. 

"Look who's up and about. Any reason why you're not in bed?" Childe asks as he places his bag down.

"I'm more productive when at my desk, so I thought I'd work here for a little bit." Scara shrugs as he types away at his computer.

"Nice, nice." Childe nods as he takes off his shoes at the front entrance. "Sorry, I can't help but point it out, but is that my shirt you're wearing?"

Scara looks down at his attire, forgetting he had it on, "It is. I took a shower and accidently grabbed one of yours to change into, but I didn't feel like searching for a different shirt. I probably should've asked though."

"I don't mind at all. I was just curious." He reassures with a smile, "Did you manage to take a shower without fainting this time?"

"Sure did." Scara confirms.

"Good for you. Love that you've been able to stretch those legs. Seems to me that you'll be better in no time." He approaches him and ruffles his hair.

Scara scowls as he tries to fix his appearance, "I sure hope so. I miss being able to run."

Childe rests his hands on his seat and looks down at Scara with a challenging grin, "Speaking of, you still owe me that training session."

Scara looks up at him, "That memory of yours is something else, huh. If you want me to run laps around you again, that's fine by me."

"You may have me beat in running, but I'm more than certain that you couldn't take me in a fight." Childe suggests confidently.

"I could take you just fine." Scara states plainly.

Something about the way that Scara says that while looking into his eyes causes him to heat up. Childe chooses to back up from the chair and rest his hands on his hips.

"Yeah? Well, if you're so sure then I'd love to get you in the ring when you're back up on your feet." He goes to lean casually on Scara's desk.

"If you're looking for an excuse to put your hands on me then just say so." Scara shrugs, feeling like he knows what he's truly trying to accomplish here.

Childe nearly chokes on his own spit. Is he flirting with him right now? It's hard to tell if he's only seriously talking about fighting him or if he's purposely teasing him to fluster him. If it's the latter, he's doing an excellent job at it. Childe chooses to act normal about it.

"I'm simply trying to see what you're made of."

Scara lets out a single empty laugh, "Or maybe you're really into the idea of getting your ass beat."

"I'm actually just really into the idea of winning." Childe corrects him.

Scara scoffs, "I'd be more inclined to believe that if you weren't always losing."

"That's an assumption. If you truly want to know you'll need to find out for yourself." He feels his competitiveness build inside him, itching to get Scara to fight him.

"Then we could arrange for that to happen. I'd be elated to put you in your place as my first healthy act." Scara agrees, finally giving Childe the promise of a friendly spar.

"Of course you would." Childe softly chuckles to himself. He then leans over towards Scara, getting in the way of his computer to hand him the bag of chips he bought. "For you, by the way."

At first Scara is annoyed by the interruption of his work but he slightly perks up when he notices the snack, "Salt and vinegar chips? I haven't had these so long."

"Thought I'd give you a little treat to get you feeling better. How ya holding up by the way?"

"My mood has now improved, that's for sure." He pops open the bag and starts snacking on his chips, "Physically, I'm not as faint as before but I'm still too weak to stand for long periods of time. Other than that, I'm not perfect but I'm doing alright."

"That definitely sounds better than before." Childe thinks out loud.

"And how have you been?" Scara eats a few more chips before casting the bag to the side, to focus on the conversation.

He's thrown off by the question, unsure why Scara would be concerned about his well-being, "Feeling pretty good. Why?"

"You didn't sleep well, did you? I noticed that when you woke up you were out of breath and sweating. Almost as if you had a night terror." Scara faces him, his expression is unreadable but if Childe had to guess it would somewhat resemble concern.

Childe burns up with shame. He can't believe that Scara remembered his appearance during the aftermath of his erotic dream. If only he hadn't disturbed this poor guy's sleep, maybe he could've avoided this terribly humiliating moment.

"Nah, not a night terror. Just a regular nightmare. Nothing to be worried about." Childe brushes it off, hoping that his panic isn't obvious to Scara.

"If staying here to care for me has been overwhelming for you or stressing you out, you don't have to do this." Some would assume that Scara means that harshly, but he can tell that this is his way of looking out for him.

"No, no. It's not that at all, I pinky promise." Childe shakes his hands. "I want you to get better, Scara, and taking care of you has been nice. In all honesty, I like it. It reminds me of my life at home. Plus, I've been enjoying this time with you. Even if the circumstances weren't what I expected them to be."

"I didn't expect it either. However, I want you to know that if at any point this becomes too much of a burden on you, I can try to take it from here." Scara offers.

"Absolutely not." Childe says firmly. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, there's no way you could take care of yourself like this. I'm staying by your side until I can be sure that you're going to be fine on your own."

For a second, Childe believes that a slight shade of pink appears on Scara's cheeks, but he turns back to his work too fast for him to get a proper look.

"If that's what you want to do then I won't stop you, but don't overwork yourself on my behalf. If you'd like to spend time with me, you could simply just ask instead of making yourself my personal nurse."

The suggestion brings a smile to Childe's face. When they first met, Childe had to pull teeth and bribe Scara to hang out with him, but now he's permitting him to take him out whenever he wants to, "I don't know, I think I'm doing a pretty decent job at being both your nurse and your friend. Who am I to refuse even more quality time with you though? I'm always interested."

"Not too much now. We already made plans together for when my illness passes. Training, remember? Wouldn't want to get greedy now, would you?" Scara warns him, telling him not to overindulge.

Childe turns Scara's seat to face him, "It's a sin I can't help but partake in."

Scara huffs, bothered that he's pulling his attention away from his work, but he continues their chat, "I've noticed that you're always persistent for more, but to me, it only looks like you've been cursed to never feel fulfilled."

"Well, I wouldn't go as far as saying that. I've yet to be disappointment with any of my time with you." Childe says sweetly, making Scara feel sick to his stomach.

"Either you're a liar, or you just never learn your lesson." Scara crosses his arms, not believing him in the slightest.

Childe thinks before giving him a genuine response, "I'm not one for lying and I've been told too many times that I'm a fast learner for me to agree with that."

"So, even after everything you're telling me that I'm still able to leave you feeling satisfied?" Scara leans forward, trying to gauge his reaction.

If he wasn't convinced that he was flirting before, he's convinced now. What else is he supposed to take from that statement? The second it left his mouth it made him tingly all over. The question is, does he reciprocate or does he leave it be? Childe decides to take the risk and return the energy.

"It'd be hard for you not to, that's for sure." he shifts his tone to something softer.

"You may not be as greedy as I thought then." Scara scans over him up and down, trying to get a read on him.

"Buy you're not completely wrong. I can get greedy at times. There's plenty I want from you, but I'd love to start with some more of your time." Childe puts his hand on the top of the chair, caging him in.

Scara gives him a blank expression, "Childe, you practically take up all of my time."

"And could you believe that I crave even more? Maybe we have to switch things up. Perhaps an ordinary hangout and some training isn't enough for me?" He leans in closer to him, entering his personal space, not too close but more than he normally would.

"What do you mean?" Scara gazes at him, feeling puzzled.

"I think we should have dinner together sometime. How does that sound?" The question comes out of Childe straightforward and confident.

He somewhat has an idea of what Childe is attempting to do, but Scara can't fathom the idea of him being serious about it. "It sounds like something we already do. We've had dinner together before, so I don't get why you're making a whole ordeal out of it now."

Alright, so maybe he wasn't flirting. It's getting hard to tell and he doesn't know what to do about it. He wasn't completely opposed to the idea of Scara being into him, but since Childe must've misunderstood him, he feels it's probably better that they remain platonic for now. Afterall, Scara is in a vulnerable place with this sickness he has. It wouldn't feel right to him to try and get with him when he's already got so much on his plate.

He stands up straight now, giving Scara his space. "I know, but I was thinking about cooking up something special just for you. To celebrate the small steps in recovery that you're making." Childe attempts to save himself from the failed date set up, which seems to have flown over Scara's head.

"Something special? Like what?" Scara asks, intrigued.

"Tell me anything you want and I'll make it for you." He gives Scara a thumbs up.

"Anything?"

Childe considers it for a minute, then decides some limitations should be established, "As long as it's within reason. The best I got on me is a rice cooker and the dorm kitchen on the above floor. So, unfortunately beef wellington isn't on the table."

"Could you make unagi chazuke?" Scara asks with a pleased glimmer in his eyes.

Childe nods, "After I do a quick google search, sure. I can get you the finest serving of unagi chazuke you've ever had."

"Forget using google. Nobody makes it the way I make it." Scara takes out a notepad and begins quickly scribbling a recipe with a list of ingredients. "There's an Inazuman market not far from here. Any ingredients you don't have, you should be able to find it there."

Scara rips out the paper and hands it to him.

"Got it." He accepts the paper and looks over the handwritten recipe. "Cute handwriting by the way."

Scara flushes at the compliment, "Please get out of my room now."

"Just when I was starting to think we were getting along." Childe deeply sighs and shakes his head, "Maybe I'll take my sweet time getting back, if that's how it's going to be."

Scara's face shifts into a troubled expression, genuinely bothered by the thought of him purposely staying out for too long to avoid him, "Don't do that..."

"And stay away from this face? How could I?" Childe pinches his cheek to let him know he was only teasing, which Scara quickly whacks him away in response. "I'll be back before you know it."

Childe gives him a solid pat on the back then heads out the door. Scara watches him leave before returning back to his work.

October 1st, 3:25pm

Tuesday finally arrives and just as Signora promised, she returns to the same spot to meet with Heizou. It takes a little longer for him to show up than he had agreed to, but when he arrives, she clearly understands why.

At first glance it's obvious that Heizou hasn't gotten a wink of proper sleep in days. It seems that his attempts to juggle his schooling, a relationship, and a personal investigation is finally taking a toll on him.

He takes a seat with her and starts taking out his papers, "Sorry I'm late. I overslept."

"What a relief. I was convinced that you didn't sleep at all. Is everything alright?" She asks, sounding disturbed by his appearance.

"Just have been focused is all." He shrugs it off and moves on, "Now that we're both here, I'm curious to know if you have any idea on what Scaramouche's real name might be."

"Not a clue. I expected you to know since you've been friends with him for a while." She answers, shaking her head.

"We have, but unfortunately I didn’t properly meet Scaramouche until college when he was already going by his new name. I only loosely knew of him in high school, but back then I was mainly just a friend of Kazuha's." Heizou provides him with some background on their relationships.

"So, wouldn't Kazuha know then?" Signora asks as if he should've known that was the obvious solution.

"He would, but I can't ask him. It would only make him suspicious of what I'm doing, and I don't need him getting involved in this. I highly doubt he'd tell me anyway since he's not all that happy with me." He explains as best as he can.

"What a terrible shame. Don't tell me there's trouble in paradise?" Signora frowns for him. They were the most tolerable couple she's ever found herself being around.

"To my displeasure, yes. I can't blame him though, I have been a neglectful partner." Heizou looks away feeling ashamed.

"Sorry to hear that, but how do you expect us to figure this out without asking him?" She shifts the conversation back to the topic at hand.

"I'm so glad you asked." Heizou grins and pushes one of the pictures she took towards her. "Take a look at that document for me."

Signora grabs the paper and examines it, "Is there something I should be seeing?"

"This is one of Dottore's updated descriptions on the health of subject KR#46 written on September 18th. If you read through it, you'll notice that Dottore logged that this particular individual's heart rate was elevated to unusual levels, and he specifically mentions that it's likely from caffeine since he smelled it on his breath."

She looks up from the paper to glance at him like he's crazy, "So this person had coffee. Wonderful. How does that get us anywhere?"

"Patience, my dear." Heizou takes out another photo, "If you look at the other person's file, the reason why they have a lot of information missing is because they stopped participating in the experiment on the 18th."

"Then it's possible that Scaramouche either had coffee, or he decided to stop getting involved with Dottore's project that day." Signora simplifies his point in her own words.

"Correct. Now keep in mind that September 18th was a Wednesday. Scara always has psychology class on Wednesdays, and he shares that class with a special guy that we both know." Heizou leads her to his next point.

"Who may that be?" Signora dreads the answer she's expecting to hear.

"Childe."

"The vermin. Great." She groans internally.

"That vermin you speak of may be the key to figuring out if one of these people are Scaramouche." Heizou defends him lightly, not wanting any more hard feelings to remain between the two.

"Explain." Signora requests, not feeling convinced that he could be of any use.

"I don't know anything about Scaramouche's relationship with Dottore or how often they meet, so I can't surely say if he stopped seeing him or not." Heizou admits

"But you believe that Childe can confirm whether Scara is still meeting with him?" She attempts to finish his thought.

"Rather that I believe that Childe could confirm if Scara had that coffee or not."

Signora is skeptical of his thought process, "I'm not so sure about that. There's only so much time that they could spend together. I mean what if Scara got coffee after they parted ways. How would Childe be able to confirm that?"

"I know that they've been visiting a coffee shop together from time-to-time, so I can say I'm sure that he has some idea if he had one that day." Heizou elaborates his reasoning.

"Alright so, let's say that he does confirm that Scara did have coffee that day. Isn't it still possible that he could've gotten coffee and still left Dottore's experiment." She challenges his theory.

Heizou feels himself wake up the longer he talks to her. It's as if the passion he feels about this topic is giving him a rush of life, "It is, but in Dottore's contract, it states that if you want to leave, he still is promised one last meeting to do a checkup. For the other person, all that was noted was that he left that day. If there was anything concerning, such as heart rate elevation due to caffeine, he likely would have written it down. Not to mention, I know Scara's coffee order has an insane amount of espresso. It would probably be something that Dottore would've noticed affecting this person's body."

"That makes sense." Signora begins to see where he's coming from

He goes on to share another thought that he's had about this whole thing, "I will say, I have a strong feeling that the individual that had an early departure isn't Scara. Simply because I feel like Dottore has spent enough time with him to probably know what the missing information would be. Even if he didn't it should be easy to get it from him considering Scara trusts him enough to sleep with him. There would be no reason for him to leave it blank."

Signora holds her hand up to stop him, "I'm going to have to disagree. Dottore is the type of person who wouldn't care to remember the name of his own mother if he didn't have a use for her. From what it looks like only his birthday and race is missing. I'm not sure that it would be all that important to him, or he could be putting off figuring it out."

Heizou has no doubt that what she's saying could be true but he's still hesitant to agree. Regardless, he takes her words seriously, "I'll keep that in consideration."

"I'm curious though. Have you tried looking these people's names up? There's both a first and last name on the basic information sheet." She rests her chin on her palm.

"Believe me I tried. Funny enough I found nothing. It was like these people never existed. Something tells me that because Scara is connected to the Fatui, they were able to get his private information wiped from the internet. The fact that Dottore is highly ranked and closely associated with those powerful figures in the program has me thinking he has the ability to do that as well, but with anyone he wants." He looks frustrated, but he expected it to be a bit harder than that.

Signora goes deep into thought for a minute, "Now that you mention it, I'm sure they do. They establish right when you're accepted that they want all your success to be connected with them and solely associated with the names they've given us. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a way of doing that."

That information stands out to him, so he quickly takes out his pen and writes it down on the back of the printed paper.

Signora watches him scribble away and decides to ask him another question, "Were you able to figure out what Dottore is giving these subjects of his?"

Heizou sighs in annoyance with himself, "Not yet. I tried doing some research on what prescription drugs could match the handwriting but nothing looked close to it."

"What about the spreadsheets, was it of any use to you?" She wonders, hoping that the evidence she brought him would be helpful.

"It could've been if the picture wasn't blurry, but from what I was able to gather it looked like it was a bunch of purchases he had made. Not sure of what, but it could be ingredients he needed to make his drugs." Heizou shakes his head.

"I see... then there's still a lot we need to learn."

"Just a few things." He clarifies.

"Which leads me to our next topic of discussion. When do you need me to go back into the lab?" Signora moves on to something that relates to her involvement.

"First let me figure out if one of these files is connected to Scaramouche. After I do that, I'll give you a solid answer." Heizou suggests feeling a bit bad since he doesn't want to drag this on for too long.

"That's fine but I'm giving you until friday to give me a day. After that I need to dedicate my time to my studies now that we're in the month of midterms." She provides him with a strict deadline, and from the face she gives Heizou, it's obvious she means it.

Heizou checks the date on his phone, "It's October already?"

"Indeed, it is." Signora nods in confirmation.

"Shit..." Another thing Heizou has to add onto his long list of worries. "Alright, I'll see what I can do."

"Then I'll leave you to it." Signora stands up from her seat. "Until we meet again, Heizou."

She walks past him, smiling and exits the building. Heizou looks at the papers scattered all over the table. He's tired. This entire investigation has been draining him, yet he's never felt so alive. There's something in his spirit telling him that he's close to solving this whole case. He's already sacrificed a lot to get to this point, and he's willing to give up far more for it. Inside of him, there's a part that wonders if he really is doing this all for Scara.

Chapter Text

October 2nd, 12:35pm

Another boring psychology class without Scara passes by, but Childe isn't too disappointed by it since he's going straight to his room to see him right after. This week's lecture was a little more work intensive, so Childe is going to have to try his best explaining all that he missed when he sees him. He doesn't mind doing so since it makes him feel like a mini professor while he happily spends his time trying to educate Scara, even though he's well aware that he's way better at the subject than he is.

As he gets closer to their dorm building, he spots a burgundy haired boy sitting close to the front entrance. The shorter the distance gets between them; he finally realizes that it's Heizou who must've been waiting for his return for who knows how long.

"Heizou?" Childe questions his unexpected arrival.

He stands up to greet him, "Good to see you Childe. Do you have the spare time to chat?"

"You do realize that if you wanted the keycard, you could've just texted me. I wouldn't have made you wait outside in the cold like this ya know." Childe says feeling bad for unknowingly keeping him waiting.

"This isn't about the keycard. We should talk more inside your room." Heizou gestures his head towards the building and then walks in its direction.

"Uh, sure. Yeah." Childe is thrown off by the strictness in his voice, but his commanding tone makes him listen with no questions asked.

Childe leads Heizou into his room, but it feels strange with how long it's been since he's slept here. Even though he likes his dorm he hasn't found himself missing it in the slightest.

He pulls out his desk chair for Heizou to sit in, but he stops him, "I'm fine with standing. This shouldn't take too long."

Childe shrugs and decides to use the seat for himself, "So, what's going on?"

"Nothing much. Just wondering if you've been getting coffee with Scara." Heizou brings it up as if he's trying to make simple conversation.

Childe shakes his head, "Hm, not as of lately. That was something we did a bit earlier in the semester, especially since he's been sick and unable to leave the room. I stopped going as well because I've been so busy taking care of him, plus it's more enjoyable with him tagging along." 

"You said that you guys used to go earlier in the semester. How early?" Heizou continues to question him, hoping to get more from this talk.

"Sorry my memory is failing me, but I know we went a few times in the beginning and middle of September." Childe rubs the back of his head trying hard to figure how often they used to go.

"How about September 18th? Do you remember if you guys went that day?"

Childe furrows his brow in deep concentration, and he shakes his head, "No, I don't believe we went together that day. Why?"

"Damn it." Heizou says under his breath, he was so sure that he was right about this. "It had something to do with the case but don't worry about it anymore. Thank you again."

Before he can make his way to the door, Childe adds something to his original thought, "Actually, I don't know if it helps but if I was to be more accurate it was just me that went that day. I woke up early that day to get his favorite drink, a double-shot americano."

Heizou immediately beams with hope when he hears that, "Do you know if he drank it?"

"Drank it would be an understatement. He practically was licking the sides of the empty cup after gulping it all down." Childe chuckles at the memory.

The smile that forms on Heizou's face almost hurts with how intense it is. He'd be jumping for joy right now if it was socially acceptable, "Do you know if he was already feeling ill by then?"

"I think that's just about when he started to look and act weird. I know for sure that he was very mean that day." he verifies what he's thinking.

The weight that lifts off of Heizou's shoulder causes him to nearly pass out. He hasn't felt this relieved since this investigation began and his exhaustion is catching up with him, causing him to fall over.

Childe quickly catches him before he lands on the floor, "Oh my gosh, are you ok!?"

"Never been better." He stands up straight and pats Childe's shoulder, "Do you know if he's been in contact with Dottore?"

"Not that I know of. I've been with him for days and he hasn't mentioned him or left the room to see him."

"Hm... okay." Heizou rubs his chin. That complicates things for him since that could imply that Scara did in fact stop seeing Dottore within the same day. Either way, Childe helped him enough with this. Just as he's about to give his thanks and say his goodbyes, he gets a text from Kazuha.

Kazuha:

We need to talk.

Something about that message causes his heart to beat out of his chest. He knows he's been on thin ice with Kazuha, but he's hoping that he could convince him to be patient with him during this time without revealing too much.

"Seems I got to get out of here. It was a pleasure talking with you." Heizou grabs his hand and shakes it firmly.

"Yeah, of course. Ya know where to reach me if there's anything else you need, ok?" Childe smiles and returns the handshake.

"We'll speak again soon." Heizou says as he walks out of the room.

Childe waits for him to leave before he heads back to Scara's dorm. When he steps inside, Scara can be seen taking his midday nap cozied up in the bed. He approaches the sleeping boy and admires him for a moment, feeling proud of him for all the progress he's made in his recovery process.

He's been able to move around a lot more and has been slowly attempting to get back into his usual routine of things, by doing his own chores and taking care of himself in small ways. All things Childe is happy to see.

On the bed, Scara's phone lights up and grabs Childe's attention. He's tempted to reach over and check who it is but a knock on the door snaps him out of the thought.

At first, he's not sure who it could be, but he comes to the conclusion that Heizou must've forgotten to ask him something. He approaches the door and opens it.

"Hello, there..." Dottore says charmingly with a smile, almost as if the greeting was meant for someone else. When he fully processes who's really answered the door his face becomes completely expressionless and unreadable. "Childe."

"What do you want?" Childe asks assertively.

"Ask yourself who's door did I knock on, then take an educated guess if you're capable." Dottore answers plainly.

He glares at him intensely, "Hate to break it to you but Scara is currently fast asleep." 

Dottore begins to take a step towards the door, "It shouldn't be hard to wake him up."

Childe swiftly grabs the handle of the door and steps outside the room to sharply slam it shut, preventing Dottore from getting anywhere near Scara. He stands an inch away from his face and stares him down, "It'd be rude to disturb him, don't you agree?"

Dottore stares back at him with his jaw clenched, but a smile returns to his face, "Ah yes, what was I thinking? My manners must've flown right out the window. You see, I was only concerned for Scara's health since I heard that he's been under the weather as of recently."

"Couldn't have been that concerned if you're only just finding out about it." Childe crosses his arms, "Now that I think about it, you were at that Fatui meeting when he passed out on his desk and I could've sworn that right before you left the meeting you were examining him."

"Forgive me, I don't spend every second that I breath obsessing over him. I got busy and that was the best that I could do then and there. Now that I have the time, I'd like to check on him, thank you." Dottore shoos him away, so he could enter.

"Luckily for you, because I spent all my time 'obsessing over him' I can inform you on whatever you want to know about him. So feel free to ask me anything that you're curious about." Childe gives him a fake smile, happily fighting him every step of the way.

Dottore is trying hard to keep his cool, but Childe is making it incredibly difficult to remain calm, "How thoughtful, but I didn't come here to speak to Scara's unpaid lawyer. I came here to talk to Scara. Now move."

"Nah, l'm good. Hate to break it to you but if you want any information this is the best you're going to get."

Dottore gives him a deadpan stare before he harshly forces out a laugh, "I see what this is. It's wholesome seeing you so strongly believe that you're anything important to Scara, but he doesn't like you. You're merely a distraction that's invaded its way into his life ever since I found myself occupied with other things."

Childe feels anger bubbling up inside him as he listens to this asshole go on his own tangent.

"I recommend that you remain prepared because when the time comes where I really need to reach him, I will be meeting with him. There will be a moment where you have to leave for class, go to practice, or attend to the many other responsibilities that you have, and Scara will be all by his lonesome, right where I need him." Dottore advises him while sizing him up.

He backs up from the door, "I'm giving you too much credit though. All I'd really have to do is send him a single text and he'd return back to his rightful spot, eating out of the palm of my hand. Be thankful that this isn't anything dire."

When Dottore wraps up his rant, Childe opens his mouth to speak but Dottore already begins walking away, clearly not interested in hearing anything he has to say, "Your time with me is up. I can only hope you know what you're doing, since he seems to be in a rather delicate stage. It would be a shame if something tragic happened due to your negligence."

That last statement sticks with Childe. He can't let him get in his head but the idea of Scara getting worse because of his own actions, causes him to feel a sharp pain in his chest. When Dottore disappears down the hall, Childe quickly heads back inside to check on Scara.

He's still peacefully resting, but Childe can't help but feel Dottore's words repeat in his brain over and over again. He brings his hand to Scara's forehead to check his temperature, just to be sure.

Scara is warm, or it's possible that he's overthinking it since the heat is on and he's all wrapped up in blankets. He chooses not to stress about it too much so he doesn't end up bringing panic to Scaramouche as well.

Right as he's about to pull his hand away, Scara ends up leaning into his touch, seemingly enjoying it even in his unconscious state. It's cute how much he longs for someone's touch even though he refuses to ever ask for it.

Childe instinctively caresses his cheek, caught up with the wave of affection he's grown to feel for this boy. He never expected to get to this point. There was a time where he believed that they'd never be able to properly get along, but now he finds himself enjoying the parts of his day he spends with him the most.

He can't risk losing the person who made his stay at this University worth it. Childe takes out his phone to contact Heizou.

Childe:

Heizou. I need you to answer.

Childe:

Dottore showed up to Scaramouche's dorm.

Heizou:

Tell me everything he said and spare no details.

This is probably the fastest Heizou has ever gotten back to him with any of his texts. He takes advantage of his current availability and provides him with a detailed run down of the interaction he just had.

Childe:

I can't tell if he's being serious when he says that he hasn't talked with Scara at all since he's been unwell. On top of that, I don't know if he was trying to intimidate me by telling me that Scara could end up getting worse soon or if he was actually telling the truth.

Heizou:

I'm going to be honest and admit I'm not entirely sure either, but I promise I'll figure this all out. I appreciate you telling me this.

Heizou puts his phone back in his pocket, frustrated with his uncertainty with this situation. He's going to have to suck it up and ask Kazuha for Scaramouche's real name.

He now heads to Kazuha's room with more urgency than how he was moving before and eventually makes it. Heizou knocks on the door quickly, but it feels like Kazuha is taking his sweet time answering.

Eventually, Kazuha gets to the door. "Heizou... hey. I'm glad you were finally able to make it on time."

He hugs him and gives him a kiss on the cheek, "I'm happy to see you too, love. Can I come in?"

"Please do." Kazuha lets him go and steps to the side to let him enter.

"Y'know I've been meaning to talk with you too." Heizou mentions as he takes a seat on Kazuha's plush bed. He pats on it to silently request that Kazuha sits with him as well, which he does. Kazuha wasn't really expecting Heizou to take the lead on the conversation but he's curious enough to let it slide.

"What do you have to talk to me about?" Kazuha asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I was actually wondering how you met Scara." Heizou asks causally.

His confusion only grows when Heizou starts with that question, "We met in middle school. We shared a class together and the teacher assigned us to work on a project together."

"He must've been a really different person back then. He seems to always be changing." Heizou tries to steer the conversation in the right direction.

"I mean he was certainly softer back then, but still skeptical of new faces. It took me buying him food a few times for me to actually befriend him. I believe it was worth it." Kazuha reflects back positively on the friendship he has with Scaramouche.

"That's sweet of you." He finds their origin story cute but wants to stay on topic, "Do you know if Scara always went by that name or was that just a nickname you gave him?"

"It's what he prefers to be referred to now. Why are you asking so many questions about Scara? We should be discussing our relationship like how I intended to when I asked you over." Kazuha squints at him suspiciously.

"I'm only trying to get to know Scara better while I take care of him. I think it could make things easier for the both of us." Heizou explains but Kazuha doesn't look like he's buying it. "Do you know if Scaramouche goes by anything other than that name?"

"I don't get how I could help you by telling you that. It's not really my place to share that information anyway." He refuses to give him any more than that.

"Maybe I'm just curious and could really use the help of my boyfriend to share this information with me." Heizou frowns, practically begging him for his cooperation.

"If you're really that interested then why don't you ask him yourself? You're the one spending all that time with him." Kazuha suggests not wanting to be involved with whatever he's doing.

"I don't want to stress him out during this difficult phase he's going through. Could you please just tell me?" He's demanding him at this point and it's making Kazuha feel weird.

"You're freaking me out with all these questions about him. I don't want to talk about this." Kazuha scoots away from him, feeling uncomfortable.

Heizou changes his attitude, feeling bad that he's making him feel this way "Sorry, my love. I'm not trying to bother you with these questions. It's just... you're the only one who could help me."

He starts to relax a bit more when Heizou calms down but still doesn't feel okay with sharing that piece of knowledge with him, "Scara would have my head if I told you."

"I'm good with keeping secrets. C'mon Kazu. I need you." Heizou grabs his hands as he pleads with him.

"Why is this so important? I don't understand." Kazuha looks away, feeling strange about this behavior.

"Because it is Kazuha. It shouldn't be this hard, but you're making this so damn impossible for no good reason." The aggravation starts to take over his tired mind.

"I don't like the way you're speaking to me. If you want me to continue participating in this conversation, I'm going to need you to take it down a notch. You have no right to get upset with me when I was the one who initiated this and not once have I been allowed the opportunity to share my thoughts." Kazuha argues with him firmly.

Heizou can already guess what his problem is, "Kazu, I know I've been distant lately, and I'll completely admit that that's on me. It's only because I've been doing important stuff lately."

"More important than me?" He asks, feeling sick and tired of his lack of balance between his work and relationship.

"Not even close, but it's still something that I should prioritize." Heizou admits genuinely.

"When will I be prioritized, Heizou? I believe that I'm the one person in your life who gets the least of you and the concept of that is bizarre to me since I'm supposed to be your lover." Kazuha gets sadder the more he thinks about it, "You've gone out and spent time with both Childe and Signora, but it seems that you never have the time for me anymore. It's not even like I'm coming in second place with you, I feel like I'm dead last."

He's stunned to find out that Kazuha knows about his meeting, "How'd you know I've been out with Childe and Signora? Have you been spying on me?"

Kazuha is offended by the accusation, "Obviously, I have not. If you wanted it to be a secret, then maybe don't meet up with them in our very public dining hall that I consistently eat at."

"Kaz, I swear it's not what it looks like-"

Kazuha stops him while he's ahead, he refuses to hear whatever lie or excuse Heizou is going to try to spit at him on the spot, "There is no other scenario in existence that it could be anything other than what I saw with my own eyes. I can't comprehend how you happen to have all the time in the world with everyone else but me." 

"We're all just working on something together. I swear it's not like I'm hanging out with them just for fun. It's all serious work that's been eating up a lot of my attention." Heizou promises him, but it doesn't satisfy him.

"I'm not asking for all of your attention, but could you at least humor me with a sliver every once in a while? How insane is this workload that it requires you to go days without talking to me?"

"It's complicated."

"Complicated is an excuse people use when they don't feel like giving a real answer." Kazuha responds, not letting him off the hook with that response.

"That's not the case here." He tries to convince him, but his efforts fall flat.

"Then at least have the decency to tell me the honest truth." Kazuha attempts to reason with him.

It hurts to lie to him, but he's already too deep into his own mess to let it crumble apart now, "Childe and Signora asked me to be part of some Fatui related business that I can't go too into detail about. It's a private matter and if I told you anything about it, it could cost them their positions with the Fatui."

"What service could you possibly provide to the Fatui?" The look Kazuha gives Heizou lets him know that he's doubtful.

"I'm good at finding information." Heizou clarifies.

"Information such as Scaramouche's real name?" He suddenly gets extremely suspicious of Heizou's previous intentions. Kazuha is now even more unsure if he should tell him since it could end up with the wrong people.

He's good. Heizou groans internally, cursing himself out for finding such a smart man to fall in love with. In all honesty it was always Kazuha's intelligence that attracted him most and now it's coming to bite him in the ass.

"The Fatui already has that kind of information, that's exactly why they choose to keep it private to outsiders. So, there's no need for them to find Scaramouche's name." Heizou tells a half lie, banking on the possibility that Kazuha doesn't know much about the Fatui's rules.

He chooses to believe him but still needs to learn more, "Tell me the reason why you need to know and I'll consider it. Don't lie to me either."

"I can't, Kazuha, I truly wish I could, but I can't tell you. I need you to trust me though. This is something I need to know, not just for me but for Scara's sake. I only want to do the right thing, so please." Heizou holds his cheek and stares in his eyes with distress, needing him to cooperate.

Kazuha sights and bites his lip anxiously. His soft spot for his lover kicks in, "...His name is Kunikazushi. Kunikazushi Raiden."

That's the exact same name on KR#46's file. He just confirmed all of his suspicions. Heizou is so overcome with joy that he gives him a bunch of kisses as a thank you. It's the most affection Kazuha has gotten from him in a long time, so he eagerly accepts it. Before things could proceed further, Heizou gives him one last big kiss then pulls away.

"You don't understand how appreciative I am of your help. I'll be sure to repay you when I come back." Heizou says as he starts to head for the door. He's stopped in his tracks when Kazuha grabs his arm, not wanting him to leave yet.

"Are you serious? That was the first time I've gotten anything from you in days and you're now leaving after I gave you what you came for." Kazuha gripes with him.

"I would love to stay longer but I have to go and take care of a few things. I swear I'll be back." He quickly vows, still urgent to exit.

"Take care of what, Heizou?" Kazuha asks, exhaustion all in his tone. "It's starting to feel like you're purposely avoiding me, and I don't know why. Do you even want this anymore? Have you just gotten me all out of your system?"

Heizou's heart breaks when he hears that. He steps closer to Kazuha, giving him all his focus. "Of course I want this, Kazuha. What are you saying?"

"As of recently, it's getting hard to tell. I mean... you're never around." Kazuha feels his throat tighten as he talks, "I miss those days when we'd grab meals together and when we'd have study dates in cafes. I miss when you'd walk me to my class, and when we'd have movie marathons all day long. I miss when you'd spend more time in my room than your own... Heizou, I miss you."

The look on his face tells Heizou that he's on the verge of tears. Hurting Kazuha like this was the last thing he intended to do and now that he's faced with the consequence of his absence, he never wants to leave his side again.

He gives him a solid hug, "Kazuha... I miss you more than you could ever imagine. When this is all over, I'm going to treat you to a nice dinner, we'll go back to your place to watch movies until our eyes hurt, and I'll even end the night with a sleepover. Would that be ok?"

Kazuha hugs him back and he rests his cheek on his shoulder, "I'd be more ok with it if I was sure it would happen."

"I swear on my beating heart that it will." Heizou gives him another kiss, then makes his way towards the door to leave. Once he leaves, he beelines straight to his room but takes out his phone to call Signora. After two rings she picks up.

"Hello?" Signora answers casually. She holds the phone in between her shoulder and face, since her hands are occupied with typing out an essay on her computer.

"Scaramouche is file KR#46." Heizou breathily as he jogs to his dorm building.

"What!?" Her phone nearly falls onto the floor with her shock. Luckily, she catches it in time and holds the phone back to her ear, "How'd you find out? Are you 100% sure it's him?"

"Not only did Childe confirm that he had coffee on the exact day that the report said he did, but I was able to get Kazuha to tell me his real name." Heizou explains with a slight smile, feeling more than accomplished.

Signora hums in approval, "Color me impressed. Alright, so what's the next move."

"I need you to get Dottore's contract with Scaramouche, and we have to figure out what he's been giving him. Even the mildest clue will suffice." Heizou stresses, hoping she understands the severity of the situation now.

"You're asking me to steal from Dottore?" Signora asks, humored by the insanity of his request.

"No, no. Not necessarily stealing but think of it as borrowing. I want to examine all the details, and I don't want to risk any of your pictures coming out as blurry." He rephrases it to sound less criminal than it really is.

Signora pouts at the criticism of her photography skills, "My apologies, maybe those pictures would've come out clearer if I wasn't breaking into Satan's office."

"Signora please stay on topic." Heizou asks as kindly as he can. "I'll edit the picture that you sent me to have Scaramouche's signature on it and print out a copy for you to replace it with. Hopefully that will be enough for him to not notice any difference."

"I can try to do all that tomorrow. Remember to get me the card before five." Signora tells him rigidly, well aware of his habit to arrive fashionably late.

"Yes ma'am." Heizou nods and hangs up the phone.

He stops in front of his room door and lets out a heavy sigh. Soon enough he'll be free from this time-consuming case and will have the time to focus on what's really important to him, his relationship with Kazuha.

Chapter Text

October 3rd, 3:30pm

Heizou is patiently sitting outside of Scaramouche's dorm, waiting for Childe to come back from practice. He told him to meet him around this time so he could grab it right when he returns to the room.

Childe ends up showing up the exact minute he said he would with the card in hand. He's a little sweaty and smells like an intensive workout.

"Here ya go. Hope you weren't waiting here for too long." He delivers it to Heizou after he unlocks Scara's door.

"It's all good. It was only a couple of minutes. I'll see you around though, okay?" Heizou happily accepts the keycard.

"Good luck, buddy." Childe pats his back before he enters Scara's room.

Once that's taken care of, he rushes to the Fatui building to meet with Signora.

October 3rd 3:45pm

"If everything goes according to plan, the last time I'll need you to go into his lab is to return back the original contract. After that, your involvement will no longer be needed, and we'll go about our regular lives. Sounds good?" Heizou hands Signora Scara's keycard which she's quick to put into her pocket.

Something about this moment feels melancholic for the both of them. As glad as they are to practically have this done and dealt with, it's been an exhilarating experience for them to participate in. It formed a small bond between the two.

"It's been a pleasure working with you." She extends her hand to shake his.

He grabs hers and they shake, "The feeling is mutual."

"Signora. Let's get moving." Arlecchino calls from a distance, not wanting to waste time.

On that note, Signora speed walks into the building with Arlecchino by her side and they fade away from his view. Heizou smiles at the sight, knowing that this will all be over soon. As strange as it may be, he'll remember these days fondly.

He turns around and follows a path to his dorm. During the stroll, he spots Kazuha in the distance, chatting with a guy he's never seen before. Something about the scene rubs him the wrong way so he follows behind them at a distance, keeping a close eye.

They enter the dining hall and Heizou can't help but notice that Kazuha chooses to take a seat in the spot that he'd normally sit in if he was hanging out with Scara and him. Once seated, they begin laughing and chatting it up, making Heizou feel the tiniest bit irritated. He feels his feet moving before his mind could process what he's about to do.

Heizou stops in front of the table and speaks up loudly to make his presence known, "Well, look who I found."

"Heizou?" Kazuha turns around and his face lights up when he sees him. "I didn't expect to see you today."

"Here I am." Heizou rubs his shoulder and smiles at him warmly.

"Would you like to take a seat with us? We were just about to grab some food." Kazuha tugs on his sleeve to insist he join them. Heizou doesn't argue and pulls out a chair directly next to Kazuha.

When he takes his seat, he's faced directly in front of the other boy that Kazuha was acting extra friendly with. The stranger has short light brown hair with white patches, shiny turquoise eyes, sharp canines, and he looks to be the same height as him. It takes a moment for him to shift his gaze upwards and notice the fluffy dog ears he has on the top of his head. A peculiar looking guy, but he's definitely not ugly.

"Who's your friend here?" Heizou scans him over, trying to keep his expression neutral since he knows that he hasn't done anything wrong for him to dislike him... yet. He tries his best to keep an open mind, but he knows that he has some inclination to butt heads with him.

"This is my good friend, Gorou. We met in my creative writing course, but apparently, he went to the same high school as us. Isn't that neat?"

"Nice to meet you!" Gorou cheerfully waves at him.

"It's definitely a shock. I don't remember ever seeing you around." Heizou tries to find any familiar detail about him but there's nothing he can pinpoint. He feels like if he had seen him before he surely wouldn't have forgotten.

"I was a pretty quiet kid in high school. Not many people really got to know me back then, so no need to feel bad about it." Gorou provides him some form of context on why he may come off as a little mysterious.

Although Gorou offers him reassurance, Heizou wasn't feeling the slightest morsel of guilt for not knowing who he was. He tries to maintain the friendly atmosphere by introducing himself, "Understood. Well, my name is-"

"Heizou, right? You're Kazuha's boyfriend." Gorou finishes his sentence for him.

Heizou feels a bit better about them hanging out now that he knows that Kazuha established that he was taken. He smiles confidently and wraps his arm around Kazuha lovingly, "Proudly. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Heizou gives Kazuha a few kisses on his cheek, flustering him with the PDA "You're too much." he laughs and pushes his face away.

"I haven't seen you two hang around though. Is this a recently developed friendship?" Heizou asks Kazuha, wondering when this started.

Kazuha shakes his head, "Not at all. We've hung out plenty of times since the start of the school year. I've just been hanging out with him more this past week."

"I've honestly felt bad seeing Kazuha all by himself these past few days, so I had no problem keeping him company. It's been nice staying by his side." Gorou admits, giving Kazuha a soft smile, which he gratefully returns.

There it is. The comment that would trigger Heizou's unreasonable disdain for this guy, "Kazuha is actually an independent person, so I have no doubt that he'd be fine with or without you. Now that I'm here though, there's not much reason for you to stick around, is there? In all honesty I've always believed that three was a crowd."

Kazuha looks at him bewildered by his rude outburst, "Heizou, relax."

"Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by my comment. I was only just pointing out the situation for how I saw it." Gorou tries to shift the energy back to how it was before, but Heizou only feels more insulted the more he talks.

"Maybe you need your eyes checked." he can't help but frown.

"Would you take it easy? He was only being a good friend, is all." Kazuha gets annoyed by his attitude.

Heizou chooses to take Kazuha's advice and chills out a little, not wanting to appear irrational, "Sorry, sorry. The lack of sleep is getting to me and making me moody. I appreciate what you've done for Kazu, here."

"It's alright. It was honestly my pleasure." Gorou's tail wags, glad that they're all fine now. His last comment nearly gives Heizou an instant headache. The amount of effort it's taking for him not to hate him is going to give him an aneurism.

"Now, as enjoyable as this meeting has been, I should get going. Care to join me in the dorms, love?" Heizou stands up from his seat and looks down at Kazuha, trying to tempt him with his charm.

As alluring as Heizou is trying to be, Kazuha's principles are stronger than his desires, "It'd be rude of me to leave my friend here. We had just sat down."

"How about we reschedule for us to have a proper hang out as a trio sometime soon? Would that make things better?" He suggests to Kazuha.

"I'd be down for that. Sounds like fun." Gorou adds his input, which Heizou wasn't looking for, but he does appreciate his easy-going response.

"But..." Kazuha tries to argue some more, but Gorou chimes in again.

"Don't worry about me, Kaz. I can just meet up with Itto a bit earlier than planned. You two enjoy the rest of your day." Gorou gestures for him to go off with his boyfriend.

The urge to lunge at the innocent boy when he calls Kazuha by a nickname is intense, but Heizou resists it with all his might. His headache turns into a migraine almost instantly.

"If you say so. We'll see you around then- woah!" Kazuha isn't able to finish giving his goodbye before Heizou grabs his hand and charges out the dining hall.

"Bye, Kazuha's friend." Heizou says, rushing out so he can have a talk with him.

With the speed that Heizou is walking at it doesn't take long for them to exit the building as they head to Kazuha's room. Both boys are still irritated with each other, and it becomes even more apparent during their walk.

"I can't believe how immature you acted back there. That was unbelievably embarrassing!" Kazuha starts by voicing his complaints.

"Kazuha, he wants to get into your pants." Heizou breaks the news to him bluntly. "Sorry for not being fond of that."

"You're being completely ridiculous. He's just a friend of mine." He rolls his eyes, knowing in his gut that Heizou was going to take it there.

Heizou looks back at him as he continues dragging him, "I believe that you believe that, but my sharp eye tells me that he's clearly into you."

"Absolutely not. It's strictly platonic on both ends, I would know if he liked me." Kazuha breaks out of his grasp and stands with his arms crossed.

"Kazuha, my dear, no you wouldn't. I was in love with you since sophomore year of high school and it took me groveling at your feet this summer for you to finally realize." He faces him now, giving him an unconvinced stare.

"That's different. High school was a strange era for me." Kazuha frowns, feeling a little defensive. Not only was he seriously dating the only other person he's ever been in love with, but on top of that he also had to watch him die.

Heizou sighs, knowing that it's true and can't blame him for it, "Completely understand that, but just know that my first step to winning over your heart was to get you to spend as much time with me as possible."

"It's not like I've only been spending time with him. I've been trying to get out more and make time for the other people in my life, such as Beidou and Ningguang. The only reason why I've been around him more is because he goes to the same campus as me and they don't." He tries to give more information to possibly make him feel better about this.

"I still don't know how to feel about this guy's sudden appearance in your life." Heizou pouts and he continues walking.

Kazuha starts following behind him again, they enter the dorm building and head into the elevator "It was never a secret, Heizou. Maybe if you were paying attention, you would've seen that you're not the only person I have in my life."

They get out the elevator and enter Kazuha's room. Heizou shuts the door behind them, "You're completely right, Kazu, I won't deny it. I've been neglectful and inattentive to you and your needs."

Kazuha is thrown off by the sudden agreement from him, "Yeah... that's right. I appreciate you owning up to it though."

Heizou takes a step closer to him and holds both of his hands, "I truly am sorry, Kazuha. I care about you too much to let you continue to be hurt by the error of my ways."

He blushes, not expecting the sincere apology from him to feel this intense, "It's fine, really. I admire the hard work that you do, it's genuinely impressive. I only wish it didn't require you to shut me out."

"It's not going to happen again, I can promise you that. I still believe that I should make this up to you."

"Make it up to me? How so?" Kazuha tilts his head, unsure of what that means.

Heizou doesn't follow up with anything else, he just gives him a smile.

October 3rd, 4:10pm

Signora is searching through Dottore's filing cabinet that seems to somehow have gotten more disorganized and has more papers crammed into it than before. It's unbelievable that he manages through this mess. If she was to be one of his partners, she would've spent however long she needed making this disaster somewhat tame. Thank God she's not.

It takes her longer than she’d like to find Scaramouche's contract but when she does, she carefully slips it into a folder of hers and places it into her backpack.

She digs through the backpack, making sure to take out the fake contract that Heizou printed out for her so it can be properly replaced. With the insane amount of clutter, Signora forgets where the contract was specifically put. She highly doubts that Dottore would remember either, so she guesses and places it somewhere from the area she grabbed it from.

Now that that's been handled, Signora goes to check the medicine cabinets since she didn't get to do a thorough look before. She opens it up and sees the spreadsheet from last time.

When she first found the paper, she assumed that this was how Dottore kept track of the purchases he made. Now that she's able to examine it better, it seems to be a record of purchases people have made off of him.

There's a staple in the corner of the paper that she never realized was there before. She runs her thumb over it, before flipping it over to see a smaller paper attached. How did she not see this before? She knew she was in a rush and panicking but the answer was literally in the palm of her hands.

It's the drug’s formula and a list of pharmaceutical ingredients to make something that Dottore has named "D.A.E. pills." It’s not said what it stands for but it’s probably nothing good. 

None of the items listed here are things that she could recognize. Everything in here seems to be out of her range of knowledge so she doesn't even try to decipher it. Signora doesn't want to risk taking anything else out of Dottore's lab, so she decides that she's better off taking a picture of this, then heading back.

Signora steps out of the room feeling free from the stress of being in that disturbing environment and is now face-to-face with Arlecchino. Maybe there's a chance that she could know what these things are. It doesn't hurt to ask either, so she gives it a shot.

She pulls up the picture on her phone and hands it to Arlecchino, "Do you recognize anything listed here?"

"No. Am I supposed to?" She observes the image carefully before she asks and returns her phone to her.

"I was just curious. I'll talk about it with Heizou later." Signora shrugs and starts walking towards the elevators.

At the end of the hall, the two women see Dottore step out of one of the elevators and make his way towards their direction. The knowledge that Signora has something of his sitting in her backpack causes her to freak out a little. Arlecchino notices the look of fear in Signora's face and holds her hand to give her a sense of security. They lock eyes and Arlecchino gives her a squeeze, letting her know it will be alright.

It temporarily brings Signora a sense of ease, but when Dottore stands right in front of them that unnerving feeling returns.

"What brings you back down here this time, Arlecchino?" Dottore looks at her bothered, not understanding what purpose she has down here. "And it seems you brought a friend too. Adorable."

"We had scheduled to meet in the building, but I ended up getting lost while looking for the room we said we would reconvene at. Silly me, am I right?" Signora fakes a giggle in hopes of selling the act.

"She ended up calling me to retrieve her so here I am." Arlecchino adds, validating her story.

Dottore's disappointed face tells them that he's ashamed to be associated with the two, "I cannot fathom how neither of you are freshman, yet you still struggle with navigating around the building you spend most of your time in."

"One day we'll learn. We'll be leaving now." Signora tries to walk forward but is blocked when Dottore takes a single step in front of her, preventing them from their escape.

"Not so fast. There's a question I have to ask you. Both of you." He states.

The tension in the atmosphere thickens, and the anticipation may cause Signora’s heart to burst out of her chest. Even Arlecchino looks a little on edge and she's the most nonchalant person she's ever come to know.

"How could we help you?" Signora tries to keep her voice steady, not wanting him to see how nervous she is.

"Number eleven. What does his schedule look like?" Dottore inquires.

"Number eleven?" Arlecchino repeats, not knowing what he's talking about.

"Are you talking about Tartaglia?" Signora asks, completely in the dark as to where this could be going.

"The one who just got here, yes." Dottore nods, "I'd like to know when he's busiest."

"I try to associate with him as little as possible, so I have no clue." Even if Signora knew the answer, she's not sure if she would tell him. As much as she doesn't like the guy, she would never willingly subject anyone to Dottore's foul plans.

"Fair enough. How about you, Arlecchino? Any ideas?" Dottore turns to face the other woman.

"I don't know, but I saw him in the gym today with Capitano. He'll likely be of more help than me." Arlecchino advises, not wanting to get involved.

"I'll be sure to ask." Dottore makes a mental note of that then begins walking past them.

"Any particular reason why you wanted to know?" Signora eyes follow him with every step he takes.

"Just curious." he answers, then swiftly exits the conversation.

He makes it into his lab, moving pretty fast. Leaving the girls in the hallway by themselves.

"Do you think he's plotting on making Tartaglia his next victim?" Arlecchino stares at the direction of his lab.

"He could just be trying to reach his current victim without interruption." Signora makes her way to the elevator, not interested in spending another second in his basement.

October 3rd, 4:55pm

Heizou is on the bed, laying on his side as he guides his cock in and out of Kazuha. He remains wearing most of his clothes since he was too desperate to do anything other than pull his dick out of his pants and slip inside of him.

Kazuha shared the same sentiment since he was barely able to get his jeans and briefs down to his knees. The minute things escalated into what they are now, he tried his best to remove whatever was getting in the way of their intimacy. Lord knows how long he's been waiting for this, and it's better than he could've ever imagined.

At first it felt a little strange since the last time he had sex was four years ago, but Heizou was sure to take his time and make him feel as comfortable as possible. He almost completely forgot how good this could feel.

"R-right there, Heizou! Oh, God that feels s-so good." Kazuha cries out when Heizou hits a particularly sensitive spot.

Heizou continues pushing into him, carefully sinking in as deep as he possibly can. He's yet to pick up the pace, afraid that he might cause Kazuha any pain if he goes too fast. Considering that this is the first time they're doing this together he only wants to take it easy. With more moments like this to come they'll progressively grow more comfortable trying new things.

"You're so perfect like this Kazu." He whispers breathily and lifts up one of Kazuha's legs wanting to get even further, "Keep making those cute sounds for me."

"Hngh... Heizou." He whines, needing more from him. "Faster please. Just a little bit."

Who is he to deny him? Heizou picks up the pace slightly but still attempts to be as gentle as he possibly can. Kazuha grips the sheets with one hand and brings the other down to touch himself.

Heizou stops him from making contact with his leaking cock, causing him to let out a whimper, "I want you to finish only using me, alright?"

Kazuha nods and tries to move his hips with him to help him get closer to finishing "Hah! Heizou please... I-I'm so close!"

"You're almost there. Keep moving for me." Heizou kisses his neck as he starts to thrust his hips harder. The bed starts to creak and shake with every movement.

Once Heizou finds his sweet spot, he continues focusing on hitting it until Kazuha ends up cumming all over his stomach with a loud moan. He quickly pulls out of him to finish on his back.

They lie there panting and exhausted from the physical activity. When the heavy breathing calms, Heizou sits up and kisses Kazuha gently on his lips.

"Are you feeling okay? That wasn't too much was it?” Heizou asks, wanting to be sure that he’s okay.

"No, I'm feeling alright." Kazuha looks up at him and weakly smiles.

He sits up and sighs in relief, "Phew, good. I was worried I might've done some damage to you.”

Kazuha sits up to remove his shirt, but at the same time he can’t help but think about certain fears playing around in his head, "...Hey, Heizou?"

"Yeah, Kazu?" Heizou glances at him, not expecting Kazuha’s tone to be so glum.

He hesitates, anxious to even ask but he still wants to know, "You didn't do this just to stop me from complaining… did you?"

Heizou tilts his head, not understanding what he means by that, "Huh, what are you talking about?"

"Earlier you were feeling jealous because of Gorou and I hanging out, and this was the first time I've gotten your undivided attention in a while. As much as I enjoyed this... I hope you initiated it because you wanted to and not to just satisfy me for the time being until you disappear again." Kazuha voices his thoughts and it hurts him to even think about them at all. 

Heizou shifts his way closer to him and wraps his arms around his neck to give him a hug. "Kazuha, my love, no. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment. If I had the time and energy, I would've done so way sooner but... things didn't seem to work out that way. That's over now. You'll be seeing so much of me you're going to get sick and tired of my face being around every corner."

"Will I?" Kazuha asks with hope in his voice.

"May the lord himself strike me down if I'm lying!" He loudly proclaims.

Kazuha chuckles, "Okay, okay... I trust you."

"Now, I'd like to wash off in the shower. Care to join?" Heizou pitches the idea, craving more of him.

"I thought you'd never ask." Kazuha smiles and gives him a peck.

Heizou gets up and heads toward the bathroom to set up the shower while Kazuha continues undressing. As he's walking, he notices his phone on the dresser lighting up. It seems he's received a message.

There are notifications for three missed calls and one text, all from Signora.

Signora:

Meet me in the dining hall ASAP. It's important.

Fuck. Not now.

Heizou was just getting back to fixing things with Kazuha, but he knows this is probably something really important to the case. He quickly grabs a small towel, wets it in the bathroom sink, and rushes back to Kazuha who was only able to get his pants off with the time he was gone.

"Back so soon?" Kazuha asks surprised. He lets out a little yelp when he feels Heizou swipe the cold rag against his back.

"I was thinking, maybe instead of a shower together I could get us some food. I don't know about you but I certainly worked up an appetite." Heizou offers.

"Some food sounds delightful." Kazuha agrees and smiles at Heizou, "There's a place right outside of campus that sells these delicious fish tacos. Do you think you could buy me three?"

Heizou nods and he finishes wiping off the mess they made, "Of course I can. I'll even buy you some of that iced cherry blossom tea you like as well."

Kazuha looks up at him and gives him a kiss on the cheek, "I love you."

Heizou's whole body heats up, and his cheeks turn bright red. He wanted to be the one to say it first, but it feels good knowing that Kazuha beat him to it. He was worried that he was beginning to dislike him, with the way that they've been arguing recently. Sometimes he forgets how forgiving Kazuha can be, or maybe he really does love him that much. They have been friends for years now.

"I love you too." Heizou looks away, embarrassed at how shy he feels. "I should get going now. I'll try and be as quick as possible."

"I guess I'll shower without you. What a shame... I was really looking forward to round two." Kazuha rubs Heizou's cheek as he makes his way to the bathroom.

A shiver travels down his spine. Kazuha may be the death of him.

He's almost tempted to forget everything and jump in that bathroom with him, but he suppresses the lust that’s pumping through him. Heizou fixes up his clothes and goes to the dining hall.

Signora waits for Heizou at their usual spot and it seems like she's mildly annoyed with him for keeping her waiting, as usual.

"Have you ever showed up on time for anything or is this behavior reserved for me?"

"Cut me some slack, this meeting wasn't exactly planned." Heizou sighs and fixes himself as he takes a seat.

She gives him an unimpressed glance, "Did you get hit by a bus on your way here? You look like a mess."

"If by a bus you mean Kazuha then yeah, I got hit pretty badly." Heizou confesses, feeling pleased with himself.

Signora snorts out a laugh, "My god, did you guys have sex or did he snatch your soul."

"I'd say it was a mix of both." He shrugs.

"Well, congrats on getting laid." Signora slides him a folder, "This is for you."

Heizou snatches it up from the table and opens it up to see Scara's contract, "Holy shit you actually got it."

"Of course I did. Not only that but take a look at this." Signora hands her phone to him.

"Is this..." Heizou's eyes widen with how stunned he currently is.

"His drug formula. There's a list of active and nonactive pharmaceutical ingredients that he kept written down. It should be able to tell you all that you need to know." She leans back and observes his reaction, confident that he'll be happy with her discoveries.

He takes out a pen and paper and writes down all the listed items in the screenshot but pauses after recognizing a particular one, "No way."

"What?" Signora raises an eyebrow.

He holds her phone up closer to his face to see if what he's perceiving is accurate, "I mean I briefly went over the possibility, but it seemed so far-fetched. I didn't actually think he'd go through with something like this."

Signora pouts, "Quit being vague and tell me what it is that you see."

Heizou looks up at her and makes some intense eye contact, "Ephedrine is one of the ingredients that was listed."

"Which means...?" She raises her eyebrow, not following what he means.

Heizou puts his hand on his forehead in distress, "Ephedrine is widely banned for being misused as a dangerous performance enhancer and a major ingredient for making methamphetamine. With these other listed items, Dottore could have been giving Scaramouche something somewhat similar to meth."

Chapter Text

October 4th, 9:00am

Scara's alarm wakes him up for the first time in ages.

Usually, the blaring noise would aggravate him but today it's never felt so comforting to hear the maddening sound. It's a sign that he's just about fully recovered and almost ready to return to the regular life that he once lived. Those days he spent yearning to be healthy and back to his normal routine are just about over.

He stretches and lets out a large yawn. When his eyes open again, he notices a plate of wrapped up food on his desk. Childe must've made him something before he ran off to class. It doesn't surprise him though; he's been making him meals since the start of this whole ordeal.

Scara picks up the sandwich and there's a note stuck to the side of it.

Enjoy your breakfast and text me if you need anything! I'll be back soon :)

Childe must've left for class. He could've easily just texted Scara, but he probably left him a note to prevent the notification from disrupting his sleep. It's a thoughtful act for him to do and Scara appreciates it. He removes the note and puts it in his desk drawer, not wanting to dispose of it, then takes a seat to eat his breakfast.

After finishing up his food, he goes on to do a light workout to get him back into the swing of exercising. He started incorporating small bits of physical activity into his day, so he doesn't fall too behind in his athletics as well as to keep himself sane.

Those days he spent in his bed doing nothing but feeling gross and miserable were pure torture. Being able to do some real activity has certainly put him in a better place both physically and mentally. He's also gained most of his weight back and looks to be in good health so he's going about everything as he'd typically would.

The only issue is that his energy levels are still slightly off, and his heart rate acts up every now and then, so maybe he hasn't completely recovered.

Childe suggested that they head to the track tomorrow for Scara to attempt a sprint. He said that if he performs decent enough, he'd feel comfortable letting him handle things on his own and would recommend he'd start attending lectures again. However, if Scara were to perform terribly like how he did during his last training session, then Childe would likely stick around for a little longer.

Something about it feels bittersweet to Scara. Although he's more than happy to have gained his independence back bit by bit, he was starting to grow accustomed to the feeling of being taken care of. It's something he never got the chance to truly experience until recently, and it was a nice change of pace compared to his solitude life.

Even though Childe has been doing his best taking care of him, he's also trying to ensure that Scara doesn't become overly reliant on him. Not because he lost interest in helping Scara but rather to make sure that he doesn't develop a form of separation anxiety. Childe knows how much Scara's self-sufficiency means to him, so he's been trying to encourage more space between them during the day. They still spend a good amount of time with each other and Scara's a lot less anxious about being alone now.

Thinking about how fast he recovered certainly makes him feel like it was nothing short from a miracle. A miracle that couldn't have been close to being performed without Childe. There was a point where Scara thought that it could've been the end for him but thanks to his care, he made it out almost perfectly fine.

He'll have to figure out some way to repay him. It wouldn't be right to go on without giving him a proper thanks.

Scara finishes his mini-workout, then proceeds to do some homework at his desk for a few hours to kill time before Childe comes back. He's not far behind in his classes at all since he's been doing well keeping up with all of the lectures he wasn't present for. There's only two more essays he'd have to catch up on and it'd almost be like he hasn't missed a single course. However, Scara has been missing the classroom setting. Not because he actually finds joy being in there but because he’s tired of being in his stuffy room. He's not even sure when was the last time he got fresh air.

After a couple of hours working, Scara hears a hard knock on the door. It's a little earlier than he expected for Childe to be returning, but it could be that his class ended early or he decided to skip out on training.

Something in his gut tells him to look into the peephole just to be sure if it really was him. Afterall, Childe wouldn't need to knock since he has his keycard.

He goes on his tippy toes and is greeted by no other than Dottore. It's been a long time since they last spoke, so Scara is slightly confused as to why he could be here. Suddenly, he's hit with the memory of getting a text from him yesterday as he was half asleep. It slipped his mind to eventually get back to him and one thing about Dottore is that he hates being ignored. This must be his way of demanding his attention.

Scara is conflicted on whether to answer or not. They aren't on bad terms or anything, but he's slowly begun to realize the farther away he is from Dottore the more his entire life improves. He comes to the conclusion that he's better off not answering.

"I know you're in there." Dottore speaks up from behind the door, "I can hear your breathing. At least do me the favor of giving me a response, would you?"

"What do you want, Dottore?" Scara responds.

"It's not about what I want. It's about what I need, and what I need is you." Dottore drags his finger over the door and even gives it a tap as if he's pointing at Scara through it.

"It's been ages since we last saw one another. What could you possibly need me for?" He asks, suspicious of his intentions.

"It's because I haven't seen you in so long that I need to see you now. Don't you miss me? I hope I haven't been casted to the side and replaced." Dottore pouts and whines.

"I just haven't been feeling well, you knew that. I didn't have the time or energy to contact you." Scara explains.

"I could've done more to help you if you had asked. It's not too late though, if you open the door, I can still check on you and see if everything is really okay. Perhaps I could even provide you with some... extensive care?" He offers with that bewitching voice of his.

Scara thinks about it for a moment. There's only one thing Dottore could be suggesting when saying that, and it's been some time since he's had his other needs met. As amazing of a job Childe has been doing when nursing Scara back to health, there's just one single way Dottore attends to him that he doesn't do.

"Fine." Scara unlocks the door and opens it for him.

The second Scara slightly cracks it open, Dottore forces it all the way and slams it shut when he steps inside. He looks at Scara from his head to his toes and grabs his face, almost as if he's inspecting him, "You look healthy as a horse."

Scara frowns at him, remembering how he practically abandoned him. "No thanks to you." He whacks his hand away.

"I know, I know. My work consumed all my time and left you with the scraps. I'm terribly sorry, I didn't expect to get so caught up with it and lose my way from you." He rests his hands on Scara’s arms and gives him a troubled look.

"Well, you did." Scara says still sounding unhappy with him.

"And now I've returned, here to provide you with the attention you've been searching for." Dottore smiles and brings his hand to his cheek, brushing his thumb over his lips.

As Scara is about to argue with him more, Dottore silences him with a kiss and jams his tongue into his mouth. He reciprocates the kiss but it's hard to keep up with him with how much time has passed. Scara is liking the affection from him though, it feels good receiving it after going weeks without it.

Dottore doesn't intend to wait to take things farther, He trails his hands down to Scara's ass and gives it a solid squeeze, causing him to softly moan into his mouth. Scara can feel the heat rising in him and he can hardly breathe with how hot he's feeling from all of this sudden action. Dottore leads him towards the bed and lifts Scara for him to sit on top of it.

Scara lies on his back as Dottore slides over him to suck on his neck. Before any serious hickeys can form, he pushes Dottore away, "Don't leave any in places that are obvious."

Dottore pauses. There's never been an issue before, so there's only one reason as to why he has a problem with it now, "Oh brother, is it because of Tartaglia? He's already well aware of us."

"It doesn't matter the reason; I said not to leave any in obvious places." He glares at him strictly.

"Suit yourself." Dottore says, trying to hide how irritated he is by the rejection. He moves on to tearing Scara's shorts off of him. "Has he been satisfying you the way I do now? Is that it?" 

Scara rolls his eyes, "It's not like that between us, we're just friends. Plus, I already agreed to be exclusive with you."

"Right. Of course." Dottore agrees, now pulling Scara's shirt off. "It would've complicated things if you were hooking up with him. I rather we keep it simple."

The conversation is annoying him, so he chooses not to respond in hopes of it stopping there. Once his shirt is fully off, Dottore runs his hand from his stomach to his chest, right over his heart, which causes him to tingle, "Did you lose any weight?"

"I did but thanks to Childe I pretty much gained it all back." Scara answers honestly.

Hearing that idiot's name again only makes Dottore more irritated. He brings his hand to one of Scara's nipples and starts toying with it, making Scara squirm.

"Hm. Maybe I should've come sooner. You must've been bored out of your mind without me keeping you the company you needed."

Scara's mind is too clouded for him to even remotely care about Dottore's pathetic desire for him to boost his ego. The more Childe is brought up the more he thinks about him and he's already struggling to keep him out of his brain as he's about to have sex. "Quit bringing him up, it’s pissing me off. I was fine during his stay. Could you stop talking and do me now?"

For a moment Dottore doesn't know what to say. He almost can't comprehend that Scara is talking to him of all people this way. Had he lost his mind during the decline of his health, or does he no longer have the same respect for him? Either way Dottore has to refrain from acting the way he wants and tries to laugh it off.

"Oh, you." Dottore grips his face a little hard and wiggles him playfully, "I guess I'll leave it alone."

He proceeds to shove his two fingers in Scara's mouth to get it coated in spit. The sudden force hitting the back of his throat gets him to gag. Once the digits are completely wet, he sticks his hand into Scara's boxers to prod at his hole. He takes a few minutes stretching him out until he feels him gradually loosen up. Scara's legs twitch at the intrusion and his head falls back when he curls his fingers. For some reason feelings of guilt weighs on Scara's conscience. Unable to pinpoint where it stems from, he does his best to push it to the back of his mind, but he can't help question if he should be doing this.

The question fades away when Dottore removes his fingers to pull off Scara's underwear. He tends to get impatient when prepping Scara, so it never lasts that long before he unzips his pants to take his dick out.

"I... I don't have a condom here. I ran out the last time you came over. " Scara warns, slightly out of breath.

"I'm clean and if you're telling the truth about not fucking the ginger then you should be too." Dottore dismisses the warning.

"Why would I lie?" Scara glares at him, bothered by the implication of that statement.

"See? Everything is fine then." Dottore assures him, "Now go ahead and spit on it so we can get things moving."

They've never done it without protection before, so Scara is a little hesitant to agree. He's had enough health classes to know how nasty STDs can be and the thought of possibly contracting one has always petrified him. If it wasn't for their agreement to be exclusive, he would've told Dottore to leave his room for even suggesting the idea, but since they are he decides that it'll probably be fine.

"Just this once. Then after that we're never doing this again." Scara establishes before sitting up to grab his cock and spit on it. He strokes him trying to slather him with his saliva but eventually just takes him into his mouth to speed up the process. He drags his tongue over him repeatedly, not wanting to waste any more time. Dottore looks down at him, happily enjoying the view as he sucks him off. It's not until drool starts to dribble down his chin before he decides to pull off of him.

Before he can catch his breath Dottore already pushes him flat against the bed and pulls his thighs apart so he can line himself up. Scara clings onto his back tight, bracing himself as he rams his dick into him. It hurts a little since Dottore didn't put enough effort into preparing him, but that’s usually how it goes. He never minded the pain, he’s grown accustomed to it.

Dottore puts one hand on the wall as he begins slamming his hips against his. Scara's head falls back, and he opens his legs more for Dottore to go deeper into him. He takes notice of his flexibility that he forgot Scara had and pushes his knees all the way back to the sides of his head. With this position he's able to fit all of cock in with every thrust.

"Fuck, you're tight." Dottore now grips his neck and squeezes it as he snaps his hips sharply.

Scara grabs on to his wrist as he tries to not pass out from the lack of oxygen. All he can do is softly whine as he gets pounded into, "M-more."

As insane as it sounds, this still isn't enough for Scara. This is nothing compared to the many things they've tried together. He can't tell if Dottore has conditioned him to be kinkier or if it's something else, but he's having a hard time fully getting into this.

Dottore does exactly what Scara asks and presses into him harder. He's getting closer to finishing and his grip on his neck becomes stronger. Scara groans as the intensity picks up but he still needs something more from him. He doesn't bother asking this time because he's not even sure what it is he needs.

Scara finds himself slowly becoming disillusioned from the previous beliefs he once had. Dottore is actually not that good at sex. In fact, he kind of sucks at it.

Just as Dottore’s about to reach his peak, he grabs Scara's waist and pushes in as far as he possibly can to cum inside him. The warm feeling that fills him is certainly strange to feel but he doesn't hate it. What does bother him is that he's left with a boner that he's going to have to take care of later or let die down since Dottore was unable to get him off. He doesn't seem to even notice or concern himself either, he just rests his head on him as he pants and comes down from his high.

"You alright there?" Scara asks boredly as he pats on his back to signal for him to get off.

"Just fine." Dottore pulls out of him and fixes his pants.

"Great, well, it was absolutely stellar seeing you again. You know where the door is." He says sarcastically with a fake smile.

Dottore stares at him expressionlessly, he wasn't expecting him to have this attitude after they were finished here. Typically, he'd be just as content or even more satisfied than him, but right now he looks irritated that he even showed his face at all. That makes things tricky for him.

"Ushering me out already? Wouldn't you like to spend more time together?" Dottore runs his hands up and down his leg.

Scara thinks long and hard about it, "Hmm... No."

"That's a shame. I was hoping to at least get you into the lab for a brief moment so we could do your final check-up." Dottore hints that he still wants for him to join him, his tone sounding mildly insistent.

"Yeah, like I said I've had my fill of you for the day. I'm too tired now anyway." He sticks to his answer, not budging.

"I need to do that last examination if you want to back out of the experiment. It shouldn't take anything over ten minutes. If you're really that exhausted then I'll even carry you there. Maybe we could even have some fun after." Dottore suggests, not willing to accept Scara's refusal.

"I thought sex in the lab was strictly prohibited?" Scara squints at him, confused.

"It's my room, Scara. I make the rules and if I'm willing to have your disgusting germs contaminate my lab then that should show how serious I am. Now get dressed and let's go." Dottore tightly grabs Scara's arm, but he immediately rips it away from him.

"Don't ever touch me like that. Do you hear me? I said no and that's that." Scara scolds him, baffled by his audacity to try and force him to do something he already refused, "I can meet you tomorrow if anything, but you're not getting me today."

The meeting doesn't necessarily have to be today, but Dottore is extremely annoyed with his inability to convince Scara to join him. It used to be so easy and now they're just pissing each other off.

"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow then." Dottore makes his way out the door and slams it closed when he exits, letting Scara know that he's aggravated with him. If it was anyone else, he could've just easily knocked them out and taken them to his lab himself, but because Scara is a ranked Fatui member he doubts he could get away with that.

He's losing that grip he once had on Scara and it's starting to waste more of his time. Something he always hates doing. His anger boils up inside him and he slams his fist against Scara's metal door, the loud noise echoing through the hall. The action causes his hair to fall out of place. When finishes fixing it back to how it was, he spots the ginger making his way towards him.

Just what he needed on top of everything else. The hatred he has for him only brings his rage back ten times stronger than before. This is all his fault. He's what's messing everything up, but Dottore can't let him know that.

Childe approaches him carrying the same amount of venom, "What are you doing here?"

"Leaving." Dottore straightens out his lab coat and shoulder checks him as he exits the area, "I'd give him a minute since he's a little spent."

"Asshole!" Childe shouts at him as walks down the hall. Every time they interact he feels himself getting closer to beating the shit out of him. He doesn't even mind if he'd lose, just one solid punch to his menacing face is all he'd need to satisfy him for a lifetime.

Once his initial frustration dies down, he thinks about what Dottore had just said. Did he manage to get into the room, or is he just trying to mess with him? There's only one real way to find out.

Childe steps into the room and is instantly hit with the smell of sex upon entering. Not only that but the bed was also left looking disheveled even though Scara has been making it every morning.

He looks around for Scara but he's not anywhere to be found. It takes a minute for him to hear the shower running but eventually it catches his attention. While Scara cleans up in there, Childe decides that it'd be best to light a candle in the meantime and he unloads his stuff.

It doesn't take long for Scara to finish up and exit the bathroom with only his towel hanging on his waist, not expecting Childe to return so soon, "Oh. You're here. I would've gotten changed in the bathroom if I knew."

"It's all good. I should've made myself known if anything." He isn't bothered by Scara's half-naked appearance since he's seen him wearing less at this point. Childe does take notice that he's not as scrawny as the last saw him without most of his clothes. "You're looking good by the way."

Scara stops in his tracks, "Pardon?"

"Sorry, I just meant that you're looking healthy. Not that you aren't a pretty looking guy though." Childe jokingly clarifies.

He chooses to pay no mind to his compliment and heads towards the dresser to grab some clothes, "I can confidently say I'm feeling better as well."

Although Childe is trying to be respectful and keep his eyes off him, he's still able to notice a small hickey on the side of Scara's neck, "Was Dottore here?"

"Does it matter?" Scara asks as he slips a clean shirt over his head.

Childe covers his eyes now so Scara can comfortably change into the rest of his attire, "Nah, but I am curious. It is none of my business though so if you don't want to answer there's no pressure to."

"He was in fact here." He confirms.

"I guess I should wash those sheets then." Childe suggests playfully but he has every intention of doing so if he's going to sleep in that bed tonight.

"That'd be a good idea." Scara agrees, with a pensive look on his face.

It's definitely not the type of expression someone should typically have after having a good lay, so Childe worries for him, "You look bothered, what's that about?"

He holds the rest of his clothes in his hand and looks down at the floor, "I think... I think I'm finally growing out of my relationship with Dottore, but I have no clue as to what I'm going to do if I end it. He has a way of making me feel like there's no one else out there for me that'd be willing to tolerate me the way that he does, and what bothers me is that he isn't even wrong."

"What are you saying, Scara? There's plenty of people who appreciate you." He frowns, trying to remind him of the many people who value him in their life. Childe wonders if he knew how hard they were fighting for him right now, would he feel otherwise?

Scara sighs and continues finishing up getting dressed, "That's different. I have some solid friends, but... Dottore is the only person that cares about me in a particular way that a friend can't, but it's starting to dawn on me that not even he cares about me in the way I thought he did. I've been trying for far too long and way too hard to ignore the possibility, but even he's doing less and less to hide it."

Childe stands there listening to everything he's saying. The more Scara talks about his struggles, the more he wishes that he did punch the shit out of Dottore when they were in the hallway.

"And even while knowing all this... I still don't know if I have the strength to part ways with him. I still crave what little he gives me. I'm chained to him by my carnal desires. It's my own prison sentence." Scara moves his soiled sheets so he can sit on his bed, looking more conflicted than before. He doesn't love Dottore, but he's scared that this is the closest he'll ever get to being loved, all for it to be nothing close to it.

"I understand what you mean." he finally speaks up, wanting to relate to Scara so he doesn't feel like he's weird for feeling this way, "My ex and I had a complicated relationship that I tried to deny for so long was failing. We had enough good moments for me to try and convince myself that we'd be together for the rest of our lives, but we weren't able to give each other what we needed. Yet I still fought for it, even after he left me."

Childe joins Scara on the bed, sitting close to him so he can explain more of his past predicament, "I fought because I was convinced that we loved each other in the same way but he was just scared to fully commit to it. That wasn't the case though. I believe there was a time where he did love me, but it wasn't to the capacity that I felt it. It was hard longing for someone who couldn’t love me the way I need to be loved, but it was even worse when I was begging for the universe to change its mind and at least allow him to give me a fraction of it. Anything would've been better than the loneliness I was feeling without him."

"We share more similarities than I thought." Scara glances at Childe, feeling slightly comforted by the fact that his struggles aren't limited to just him.

"That we do." Childe gives him a warm smile and nods, "The difference is that I had to eventually let Zhongli go. I had to face the hard truth and admit that he wasn't the one for me, and that's okay. Now I think it's your turn to follow that example."

"You're not wrong. I just... I don't know." He sighs and lies flat on the bed in defeat, his legs dangling off the edge.

Childe leans over to look at him, "Have you ever wanted a boyfriend? Or any serious relationship?"

"No, but if casual relationships are already this bothersome, I think I'm ok with staying away from any serious ones." Scara grimaces at the idea of doing anything even remotely similar to this experience again.

“Have you ever been in a serious relationship before?" He raises an eyebrow, wondering if Scara is judging from experience or is just making assumptions.

"No." Scara shakes his head, "They're too much work and I don't think I'd be any good at them. It's just more convenient this way."

"Is that really true? How many casual relationships have you been in aside from Dottore?" Childe asks as he decides to lay on the bed next to him.

"...Only him." Scara confesses hesitantly.

"Seriously?!" he exclaims in shock, his head now turned to face him.

Scara stares at the ceiling, embarrassed to admit it, "Listen, it's not like I was completely inexperienced, but I was a virgin until I met him."

Hearing that makes Childe feel sad for him. No wonder why he has these weird complexes about relationships, Dottore was his only example of what love is. He has no doubt that he's been a terrible one too with how manipulative and detached he is. Hearing this gives Childe the idea of how new Scara truly is to these types of things and he sympathizes with him.

It's not like Childe has a plethora of relationships under his belt but he's certainly had his fair share. Deep down he wants to help him learn all there is to be properly loved but he knows it's not his place to do so, so he sticks to giving him advice.

"I think you shouldn't knock it until ya try it, but if there's anything I'd recommend you take away from this conversation it's to leave Dottore. After he's gone you can start fresh with whoever you want, but be sure that you're even ready for another relationship first before you dive head-first into the next one."

"I don’t know who I'd even give a shot like that. I'm not the most sociable person." Scara groans, feeling lost.

"It doesn't have to be a complete stranger ya know. It could be someone you're close with." Childe suggests.

Scara turns to look at him, their faces are a little close, "Like who?"

Childe stares at him blankly, unsure if he should answer that question. The more he thinks about it, the more his face reddens. He doesn't get why he's having these thoughts. Their relationship is supposed to be platonic. The awkward silence makes things worse for him, and he turns his head away from Scara.

To Scara, it seems like not even Childe could figure out a person for him, he's completely hopeless. He sits up on the bed and rests his chin on his knees, "Maybe there really is no one... I guess I'll figure it out once I break things off with Dottore. I'll do it tomorrow after training."

"There definitely is, Scara, but I think that's a good idea." He sits up as well and puts a hand on his shoulder.

October 4th, 2:00pm

Dottore barges into his lab feeling angry after his interaction with Scaramouche.

His abrupt entrance alerts Pantalone who was doing some work while he was gone, "I'm guessing you weren't able to get him to come."

The double meaning behind that statement only enrages him more, even though he knows Pantalone didn't intend for it to come out that way, "No. I wasn't."

"I told you that he was losing interest, but you never listen to me." Pantalone says a little smugly, pleased to know that his hypothesis was correct.

"I can't even spend a few days focusing on my work without everything turning into a catasrophe. It was never an issue before. It's that dumb fuck ginger that's getting in my way. First it was his pathetic friends, now it's this douche bag. I'm getting sick of having to work around this shit."

"Poor you." Pantalone responds condescendingly, "Well what are you going to do about it?"

Dottore ignores the patronizing tone and takes out a sheet of paper to write his update on Scara. "It's fine for now since I was able to get enough physical information from seeing him to add more to my notes. I was hoping to convince him to stick around longer so he can try the newly developed version of my pills, but I guess that will have to wait."

Pantalone turns around in his seat to shoot him a glare, "How were you able to get that kind of information from him?"

"I was convincing enough for him to let me get an up close and personal look." Dottore shrugs as he continues scribbling.

"How far did you take it, Dottore?" he demands an answer from him.

Dottore puts his pen down so he can give Pantalone his full attention, "I took it as far as I needed to but you know it doesn't mean anything to me, right? There's no need to get pissy about it."

"Do you plan to continue seeing him after all this?" Pantalone crosses his arms, not wanting to remain involved with him if this relationship between the two is going to continue.

He gets frustrated at the interrogation, not interested in engaging in this topic until the time arrives, "No. What reason would I have to continue seeing him? Stop asking me stupid questions, you know how I feel about you and I've already established the relationship we have."

"My apologies for not wanting the person I'm dating to screw other people." Pantalone grumbles under his breath. It shouldn't be so difficult to ask for clarification from him.

Even while knowing relationships would be this irritating, he still somehow found himself here. Dottore feels like he's losing his edge and it's Pantalone's fault. He'd kill him if he wasn't growing on him. Plus, he's too useful to get rid of.

When he finishes jotting down the discoveries he made during his time with Scara, he opens up his filing cabinet but stops the second his eyes scan what's going on inside.

Something's wrong. Dottore can tell that there's a slight change from the last time he was here. To anyone else it would have appeared to be exactly the same, but him? He's too particular as to how he leaves his mess. He's always been anal about the placements of everything so even the tiniest disturbance in his work won't go unnoticed.

"Did you touch my files?" Dottore's voice isn't loud but the strictness in it gets the message to Pantalone just as clear as shouting would.

"I have no interest in losing my life so why would I, Dottie?"

Dottore wants to believe him, but he knows that there's something off here. He looks at the contract section of the files since that's the area that caught his attention first. He runs his finger through each of the papers but stops at file number forty-five. It looks overfilled compared to the others. Once he takes a closer look, he realizes that it's because two contracts have been shoved into one file. He grabs one of them and flips to the last page to see whose signature is on it and he finds that it's Scaramouche's, number forty-six. His contract was put in the wrong spot.

He looks up from the paper to stare at Pantalone, "If you touched my files, it'd be better for you if you fessed up to it rather than lie to me."

Pantalone glances at him as if he's crazy, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind if I ever decide to, but since I haven't, I have nothing to say. Now, I'd appreciate it if you kept your accusations far away from me."

"Someone touched them. They're out of the correct order." Dottore states.

"That someone certainly wasn't me. Are you sure you didn't make a mistake or something?" He suggests.

"I DON'T-" Dottore feels himself on the verge of snapping, but he stops himself. His tone still remains sharp, "I don't make mistakes, Pantalone. Not like this."

"There's a first for everything." Pantalone rolls his eyes, unmoved by his fury.

Dottore turns his attention to the contract to find more clues. He runs his hand over the paper. It's quality is cheap like printer paper, nothing close to what he uses. He flips through the papers to be greeted by the biggest insult that this perpetrator could've ever hit him with.

Most of the pages are the same. Whoever did this, had only about two pictures of his entire six-page contract, and reused what was available to them to make the same number of pages. They must've been banking on the possibility that Dottore doesn't check all of his files as regularly to notice something is missing. They couldn't have been more wrong.

Dottore rips the fake contract in half and kicks the file cabinet hard, causing it to slam close but it opens again slightly from the brute force.

The loud noise startles Pantalone, causing him to stand from his seat and back up, "Christ's sake!"

His anger doesn't stop there. Dottore shoves a bunch of papers onto the floor and grabs a boiling flask to throw at the wall, causing it to shatter all over the floor.

"Dottore cut it out! What the hell is your problem!?" He yells at him, wanting him to stop.

"Nothing, darling. Nothing other the fact that someone broke into my lab and fucking stole my stuff!" Dottore gradually raises his voice and kicks his chair over.

"You're doing nothing but making a mess! I can help you figure it out, just stop with the temper tantrum!" Pantalone demands.

Dottore has to repress the urge to throw something at him as well, but if he has any idea as to who could've done this, he wants to hear it.

"Tell me what was stolen. Depending on what it is, it's possible that one of the janitors could've taken it by accident." He tries to reason with him.

"What would a janitor want with Scaramouche's contract?" Dottore gets even more upset with his unhelpful theory.

Pantalone's eyes widened, that's a lot more specific than he assumed it would be, "Scaramouche's contract? If it's his contract couldn't Scara take it for himself? He does have access to this lab."

"If it is him, he's a fucking idiot since he already has his own copy. I doubt it though since he's been bed-ridden for days." He explains, bitter at the thought of him.

"Nobody else has access here. Who else would want Scara's information?" Pantalone mentions not understanding what this could be about.

"I don't know!" Dottore puts his hand on his head, but his brain flashes the memory of the strange interactions he's been having with Arlecchino and Signora recently. "Hold on..."

"What?"

He whips around to face Pantalone, "Did you ever get to meet with Arlecchino at the Fatui's cafe."

"We had a scheduled meeting, but she canceled on me last minute." Pantalone shakes his head.

"Those idiots." Dottore starts grabbing some of his things to prepare to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" He slowly approaches him.

"I'm going to look into this." Dottore finishes collecting his things, but Pantalone grabs his shoulder before he exits the lab.

"I'll come with you." Pantalone offers.

"Hurry up and let's get going then." He grabs his hand and leads him out of the lab.

Chapter Text

October 5th, 10:15am

The instant that Scara exits the dorm building, he's greeted with the warm sun hitting his face. Although it's blinding, it's one of the best feelings he's ever felt. He gets lost in the moment, standing there and soaking it all in until Childe snaps him out of it.

"C'mon, Scara! The track isn't going to run itself!" He shouts and waves for him. Childe was too excited when leaving the building and ended up getting farther ahead of him.

He speedwalks to catch up with him and they eventually make it to the field.

How Scara missed being here. They would've gone for his usual 7am run but Childe insisted he slept in for today so he can feel his best in the morning. Which he wasn't wrong for suggesting, Scara does feel a bit more energized with the extra sleep.

"You ready?" Childe asks as he sets their stuff on the floor.

As embarrassing as it is for him to admit, Scara feels nervous. The last time he ran he felt like his heart was going to explode out of his chest. What if he feels just as bad or worse this time? Track season will begin soon enough and if he isn't up to par, he'll lose his scholarship and will be burdened with the responsibility of paying for his schooling himself. In reality, if it ever came down to that, he'd drop out and never look back.

Childe can see the internal war taking place in Scara's mind and puts a hand on his shoulder to snap him out of it, "Hey. You're gonna do fine, okay? Even if you're still not feeling well, I'll take care of you some more and we'll try all over again until you're back to running at the speed of light. Just start easy, alright?"

"Alright." Scara nods.

Childe gives him a firm pat on the back, nearly knocking him over, "Show me what ya got then."

Scara gives him an irritated stare as he makes his way to one of the lanes. He gets into his runners form and waits for the countdown. Childe gives him a thumbs up to make sure he's good to go and Scara returns it.

"Ready... set... GO!" Childe yells, and he starts the timer.

For the initial takeoff he begins with a light jog, worried that it might be too much to start off the way he normally would. Surprisingly, it doesn't feel so bad. He feels good enough to take it a step up and start doing an average run. It's going way better than he thought it would, he almost has a hard time grasping it.

An disbelieving smile forms on his face and he's not the only one happy with this development. Scara hears Childe cheering him on in the distance, but he tries to tune it out to not let it distract him. Before he can break out into a full sprint, he's already at the finish line.

Scara stops to put his hands on his knees and he breathes heavily. He did it. It wasn't his best run but the fact that he was able to run at all is a blessing. He laughs a little with how relieved he's feeling.

Just as he's about to stand up straight Childe tackles him with a gigantic hug, "You did it! I told you, you'd be fine! You were even more than fine, you were amazing! You did better than me during my first run ever and I was perfectly healthy!"

"Ahh... You're crushing me." Scara says, barely able to utter out a word with how tight Childe is holding him.

He lets him go and holds both his shoulders instead, "Sorry, sorry. I'm just so happy for you."

"It's okay. I'll admit I'm pretty happy too." Scara tries to hide the smile on his face but it's almost impossible to, "What was my time anyway?"

Childe checks his phone, "56 seconds, but keep in mind you started off jogging for most of it."

"I can do better than that." He declares confidently.

"You sure?" Childe looks at him, shocked by his sudden burst of self-assurance.

"Yeah. I want to try." Scara eagerly insists.

"Do you want some extra motivation?" Childe offers, hinting at another race between them.

Scara ponders the offer, then agrees, "Honestly, I think making a fool out of you is just what I need. Get on the track."

"Yes sir." Childe salutes and makes his way there.

Scara places his phone down just like last time to record this monumental moment for him. Childe is already waiting in the lane that he was in for the first time they ran, and Scara stands right beside him.

"Care to countdown?" He requests with a grin.

Childe shrugs and goes for it, "Ready..."

"Good luck, Childe." Scara's voice is playful yet challenging.

"Set..." He continues with the count, trying to ignore him but the way he says his name makes brain feel full static.

"You'll need it." Scara teases, full of pride.

He sees what he did there, and it gets a chuckle out of him. Childe must've really gotten under his skin that day if he still remembers that interaction. If that's the case, he'll have to find other ways to piss Scara off so he can remain in his memory for as long as he has it.

"GO!" Childe shouts and they run off. He tries to remember some of the advice Scara gave him all those weeks ago to help him perform better, but of course Scara has him beat. He doesn't mind it though. If there was ever a time he'd want to lose it'd be right now. It just wouldn't feel right to race against Scara if he wasn't at his peak. Not only in a moral sense but also because he only wants to win against him in a fair race. He wants it to be because he got better, not because Scara got worse.

At the end of the race, Childe takes a seat on the floor and Scara goes to grab the phone.

"So, how'd we do?" He pats the floor next to him, suggesting for Scara to join him.

Scara takes a seat by his side, "I got 44 seconds, and you got 61. Not bad."

"For you maybe. I want to get faster." Childe sighs.

"Yeah, you're still in the sixty range." he notes, then comes up with an offer, "It's never too late for me to shape you into a better runner. You're wearing your proper athletic clothing like I asked too, so now's a perfect time."

"Don't you wanna run some more first? This was supposed to be about you." Childe asks, feeling a little bad and not wanting to take away from his moment.

"My heart rate is a little too fast for my liking right now, so I need a break anyway." Scara brushes it off casually, then stands up again.

"Oh! Uhhh, okay then." He doesn't know if he should address that or not, but Scara is already rushing him over to the track for him to ask about it.

Scara spends the next couple of hours coaching Childe and instructing him on how he can improve in various ways. He even does some breathing exercises with him since it seems to be a major area of struggle for him.

After a good amount of progress has been made, they wrap up their training session and take a rest on a nearby bench.

"I'm glad you're doing better, Scara. You're a real fighter ya know. I can't help but be proud of you." Childe admits with admiration.

Scara gives him a puzzled stare, "I mean, I don't know what you're proud of me for. I didn't do anything more than be sick and unpleasant to be around. Most days I was just asleep. If there's anyone you should feel proud of it’s yourself. It was those sleepovers that got me back on my feet."

"Yeah, it's a shame last night was our last one." He's a little disappointed that it's already over, but he rather that than for Scara continue to be unwell.

"It was, wasn't it?" Scara forgot about that. Something about that fact causes him to feel a bit somber. It's not like he wants Childe to live with him but maybe one last night would get him out of his system.

All of a sudden Scara hunches over and breaks out into a violent coughing fit, causing Childe to jump.

"Oh my God!? Are you okay? What happened?" He rubs Scara's back, unsure on how to help him.

Scara clutches his chest, "I... I don't know... I still might be a little sick. I think you might have to stay one last night." He glances at Childe from the corner of his eyes, waiting for his answer.

Childe's concern vanishes as he sees what Scara is doing here. Now that he thinks about it, coughing was probably the only symptom he didn't have when he was ill, "Uh huh. Is that so?"

He lets out another few fake coughs, "Yes."

"You could've just asked me instead scaring me like that ya know." Childe lets out a small laugh and shakes his head.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Scara's cough disappears as he plays dumb.

"Well, wether it was real or not, I'm down to spend another night with you." Childe settles it, also wanting more time with him.

"I'm going to have to repay you for all of this. You've done a lot. More than most would, especially given our history." Scara offers.

"You really don't have to worry about it. I did it because I wanted to. I liked taking care of you, cooking for you, talking to you... I liked being with you. Even with all our previous troubles." Childe bumps his shoulder with Scara's as a friendly display of affection.

Scara has a hard time understanding him. He's way too self-aware to believe him. Almost everyone who's met him would agree that he's terrible at holding a conversation and he's not the most enjoyable company to keep around. Yet somehow Childe doesn't agree. He can't comprehend why and for some reason it only makes him want to punch him in face.

"I'm repaying you whether you like it or not. It's only fair."

"Alright, well, how would you like to repay me?" Childe curiously inquires, dying to know how he'll be rewarded for his kindness.

There's a thought that has been playing out in his head ever since Childe suggested it a few days ago. At first, he was intimidated by the offer, but after the conversation they had yesterday, he's starting to open up to it. "...Maybe your dinner idea wasn't so bad."

"You want to take me out to dinner?" He repeats, not conviced he heard him right.

"There's a high quality Inazuman resturant that I've been to before, I think you'd appreciate the food there. It's a little far but I'd say it's worth the trip. It'll be my treat." Scara gives him a rundown of what he's planning.

"Dinner at a nice resturant?" The idea of Scara spending even a single dollar on him makes him gross inside, especially if this is the kind of dinner he thinks is going to be. He wants to refuse for that reason alone but he's also curious if his suspicions are correct, "What kind of outing is this...?"

"The dinner is my way of repaying you, but... whatever we want the outing to be, it's up to us." Scara looks down at his feet. He can't believe he's genuinely contemplating this, but he doesn't want to suggest it out loud, so he leaves it up to Childe.

His heart flutters at the suggestion but he has to nip it in the bud, "I like the idea, but it can't be a date though."

Scara didn't expect to be shut down like that. He feels like an idiot for even making the effort. It's not like he wasn't aware of the possible rejection, but he didn't expect it to sting like this, "That's fine... it didn't have to be."

Childe notices the dejected demeanor from the other boy, and it makes him feel guilty. "Don't look like that. I'm only saying that because if we're going on a date, I'd want to be the one to treat you."

"Asshole." Scara punches him in the arm, "Just say that next time. If anything, we can split the bill, or you can cover the dessert."

"Ow. Forgive me, but I was raised to be a gentleman." He smirks as he rubs the spot that Scara hit, "So, I assume you want this to be a date then?"

Scara doesn't feel like addressing the question so he changes the topic, "Would you look at the time. I should probably head to Dottore's lab before he gets all whiny about me taking too long."

"I can tag along if you'd like." Childe stands up and gives Scara his hand to help him off the bench.

Scara takes his hand and rises from his seat, "Not sure Dottore would be pleased with the extra company."

The idea of ruining Dottore's day with his presence delights him, "I think I'll come anyway."

"Suit yourself." Scara shrugs and leads the way.

Childe grabs their things and carries it all while they make their way to the basement of the Fatui building. It's starting to get a little cloudy, so they try to put a little hustle into their walk in case it begins to rain. Where they're heading is really close to the track, so it only takes a few minutes for them to arrive at the front of Dottore's lab.

"You have my keycard, right?" Scara does a grabbing motion with his hand to request for it.

"Right here." Childe takes it out of his phonecase and places it into his palm.

"Wait here, okay?" Scara says as he goes to place the card onto the scanner, but when he tries to push it open it doesn't budge. "That's weird."

He tries again but notices that the scanner blinks red instead of its usual green, "What the hell?"

"Is everything alright?" Childe asks, expecting Scara to have opened the door by now.

"This scanner must be broken or something since it's not letting me in. Worthless thing." Scara insults the inanimate object as if it has any capability to take offense to his comment. He chooses to knock on the door instead to wait for Dottore to let him in.

It takes a couple of seconds for him to open up, but when he does, he gives Scara a glower full of hatred, "What do you want?"

Being greeted with such hostility immediately puts him on guard. They may have had a little scuffle yesterday, but he didn't expect it to warrant this type of reaction to him being here, "Are you dying of dementia? You asked me to be here for my final check up. Also, there seems to be an issue with your scanner. My card doesn't work on it anymore."

Scara tries to make his way into the room, but Dottore grabs the back of his shirt and guides him right back to outside the lab. "There is no issue with the scanner. I'm no longer in need of your last examination and you're prohibited from ever entering this lab again. You're being dismissed from the experiment, and we are to have no further contact with each other outside of Fatui related business."

"Excuse me? There's no way you're being serious." Scara scoffs, "What exactly did I do? We were just fine the other day so what's the problem now? Don't tell me it's because I didn't want to be here yesterday."

Dottore scowls at him coldly, "You know that's not the reason. Don't try to play all innocent with me, it'll never work."

"I'm not playing anything right now. Tell me what the hell is going on." he crosses his arms, demanding some kind of answer.

"I knew you were never all that bright, Scara, but to send your friends to break into my laboratory to steal from me reaches levels of stupidity that I couldn't even comprehend existed."

Scara is left silenced by the disrespect, but Childe feels an enormous pit form in the bottom of his stomach when he overhears the conversation from a distance. How did he figure out that Signora had been in his laboratory and what does he mean when he says that she stole from him? He takes a few steps closer to listen in better and to make sure Dottore doesn't step out of line.

"I mean, is your brain just as weak as that useless heart? You'd have to be a complete imbecile to believe that you could accomplish this right under my nose without me eventually figuring this out. For starters, you should've found better allies than that drunk who is too cognitively impaired to be able to form a proper lie. If you thought sending her into my private area without my permission would fly without consequences, you're just as hopeless as her."

"Fix the way you're talking to him if you know what's good for you." Childe speaks up, getting sick of his blatant verbal abuse.

Dottore didn't even realize he was here until he speaks up and it only makes him madder, "Shut the fuck up and stay in a child's place before I remind you where you belong and why you should stay there." he spits out venomously.

Scara shoves him to get his attention back on him,"Watch your tongue. If your issue is with me then keep it that way."

Full of disgust he brushes off the area Scara touched him, "Don't put your filthy hands on me. I'm repulsed with myself for even trying to associate with a pathetic excuse of a human like you, if I should even call you that. I could’ve made you so much more than whatever it is that you are. I can't believe I gave you the privilege to step into my office, the privilege to be part of something bigger than yourself, the privilege to fuck me. It's a good thing I met Pantalone when I did. Now I don't have to worry about someone using too much teeth when I'm getting-"

Dottore is cut off when Scara takes a swing at him that he quickly dodges. He quickly shuts the lab door before Scara can go for another attack.

"Open the door." Scara demands as he grabs the door handle and shakes it.

Dottore speaks up from behind it, "I'll be sure to make a report to Pierro about this. You and everyone else involved will be held accountable so be ready."

He disappears but Scara is still trying to force his way in, "Open the damn door you piece of shit!"

"Scara..." Childe tries to get his attention back, but it's not working. He carefully approaches him and tries to remove Scara's hand from the handle.

"Get off of me!" He snaps at him, not wanting to be stopped.

It's clear that Scara is lost in a fit of rage right now and he can't blame him. If he did manage to land that punch on Dottore, Childe would've gladly turned a blind eye but watching him like this is just depressing.

"Scara, we're leaving." Childe is giving him a small warning before he has to force him out of this place.