Chapter Text
*.*.*.*.*.*
Mona was smart as hell. She graduated cum laude for her bachelor’s and was able to finish her Master’s degree in two years despite working far too hard on her job. Her horoscope often said she was destined for big things.
She believed it despite her first job being a rank and file employee.
She believed it despite her research being plagiarized by a senior researcher.
She even believed it when she was laid off in Mondstandt’s research facility due to ‘budget cuts’.
She still believing it now, as she moved to Fontaine and under a new mentor.
A mentor who insists on putting his name in the research paper she had written on her own because apparently, ‘no one would find a research under an unknown astronomer’, so her senior says.
Little by little, her hopes were crashing. And she can see the pieces floating in the air waiting for her to pick it up and throw them back at the sky. And because of that, lately she’s been crying herself to sleep.
She was so tired and overworked, and she was still studying for her PhD. Her salary was the one thing keeping her there (and her best friend of course). Thank the gods Fontaine was an absurdly wealthy nation and every field was very well funded.
So, during a girls’ night after a year, she moved into Fontaine and shortly before Lumine’s wedding, she had cried just a teensy bit.
“You don’t look so good honey.” Lumine tells her as she handed her a second glass of wine. Mona shouldn’t be drinking so much, since she knows they were going through Wriothesley’s personal collection and the man himself was in the bedroom since he had nowhere else to be, but she chugs it down nonetheless.
“So sad Navia isn’t here. She’s a pretty funny girl, I like her stories.” She ignores Lumine’s concerns, swishing the wine in her glass.
“Mona.” Lumine frowns at her. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”
“…” She looks down. “Scara’s flying in early. He’s here in two days.”
“I thought you said he was coming here on the day of the wedding?”
“He booked an earlier flight.”
“I thought you’d be thrilled.” Lumine caresses her hair in comfort. “You haven’t seen him in like what, a year?”
“Last time I saw him was before I moved here.” Mona drinks the drinks the remaining wine, handing back the glass to the blonde.
“So what’s wrong? Did you two fight again?”
Again. Mona laughs internally. That was her reputation among her friends. That she and Scaramouche never stop with the fighting.
It was barely true. Scaramouche, as sarcastic and sly as he was, had some good traits.
Who was she kidding, her boyfriend was an asshole to literally everyone else aside from her and his boss, who he claimed keeps him on a leash, but Mona knows if he wanted to leave he could just up and get.
But he was different with her. Argue all he liked and mocked her astrology hobbies, he took care of her even with the distance between them. Dare she say, he could actually be affectionate with her at times. She knows he has his own way of showing his love.
But he never fails to piss her off with that snarky mouth of his.
But no, she wasn’t upset because of him. Surprisingly enough, he’d been very civil the past few weeks.
“So why are you so sad?” Lumine asks her, and Mona only shrugs, not sure what to answer.
“I don’t know exactly what to answer.”
“I’ll listen.” Lumine smiles. “We have all night.”
Gods bless her best friend with everything good in Teyvat.
“It’s just work.”
“What about work?”
“Some… superiors are flexing their authority.” Mona rolls her eyes, but Lumine can see the small clench in her jaw from anger.
“I thought you had great reviews with your current paper?” The blonde pours another glass for her. “But it is weird that we’re not celebrating it and it’s been weeks.”
“The head researcher told me to put his name on my paper because apparently, no one would even give it a second look because I’m not that established yet.” Mona’s eyes turned glassy, and Lumine immediately reaches out to her.
“That’s horrible!” She hugs her. “Oh if I ever get my hands on him-!” Lumine pauses when she hears the bedroom door open and hears Wriothesley walk behind on his way to the kitchen. “I’d… I’d tell him to go to hell.”
“No need to hide it, sweetheart, we both know you’d wanna murder someone if they pissed you off.” Wriothesley says, shuffling around the kitchen. “Don’t mind me, I’m just brewing some tea.”
Lumine waves him off. “Did you report him?”
“Report him? No. I didn’t even get to flip him off.”
“Fucking ass.” Lumine curses under her breath. “I hope he chokes on his food and die.” She ignores Wriothesley’s laughs behind her.
“It’s not just that.” Mona sighs. “Scara’s coming and you know him, he’s gonna be able to tell something’s wrong and I don’t know what to say to him.”
“He’d be mad too of course!” The blonde says.
“Yes, he’d be mad. He’d also threaten to get my senior thrown out and what does mean to me? That I had my boyfriend pull strings so I could get what I want?”
“Mona, he’s leeching off your work. It’s ethically wrong. I wouldn’t blame Scaramouche if he clocked the guy.”
“I know!” Mona grunts and runs a hand through her face. “But I don’t want him to know.” She bites her lip as she starts to feel snot filling up her nose and her eyes welling up with tears. “I don’t…. Gods why couldn’t he just fly on the wedding itself?”
“Did… did Scara do something?” Lumine asks. “Like, did he say or do something to make you feel this way?”
“No. He didn’t.” She shakes her head. “I…” Mona sighs. “I didn’t get to tell you this, but I turned down a job in Sumeru.”
“Sumeru?!” Lumine’s eyes widened. “Why’d you turn down a job that would let you be closer to him?”
“Because Sumeru’s full of scholars and that meant a lot of them had heads bigger than the universe itself.” She grit her teeth. “Astronomy is at the bottom of their academic pursuits, it’s the least funded and researchers always leave, that’s why a position’s always open.”
“Does Scara know you turned it down?”
“Of course he does, I stayed with him when I went to check it out. He… wasn’t happy about my decision to turn it down.”
“He wanted to be closer to you too he just wouldn’t say it?”
“Yeah.” Mona nods, her shoulders slumping. “When I told him why, he said I should’ve told him earlier, and he could’ve done something about it. Brought it up to Nahida, increased the funding and I could’ve gotten the position.”
“He was going to open doors for you.” Lumine stated. “That would actually be really sweet.”
“I can open doors for you too you know.” They hear Wriothesley comment.
“But that would hit different for an independent such as yourself Mona.” Lumine says, then looking over her shoulder to glare at the man. “Isn’t your tea finished? Go away. It’s girl’s talk!”
He only chuckles and raises his glass at them, walking back to the bedroom.
“It’s not just that.” Mona says when she hears the bedroom door close. “It’s… I don’t want to rely on Scaramouche when it comes to my job. I rely on him for so much already! Do you know he paid months’ worth of my rent when I got laid off in Monstandt? I was joking when I called him a sugar daddy but it actually affects me! If I wasn’t absurdly overpaid with my job right now, he’d probably be paying here too!”
Lumine wraps an arm around her shoulder. “So what’s really making you upset?”
Mona sighs. “Scara’s… he’s a diplomat working directly under the leader of Sumeru. That means he’s well established in his field. He’s doing amazing at his work, he gets to travel the world, he gets to make a difference, he makes so much money, and me? We graduated around the same time and the best I could do is being a junior researcher in Fontaine, with my boss stealing my work. You know Kaeya made detective in the Favonius Police? Albedo’s a doctor, Venti’s career is setting off, and you just got promoted to team manager and getting married and you’ve only been here a year. I’m…”
“Mona, you’re not a failure.” Lumine comforts. “I know you’re thinking it, but you’re not. You’re the smartest of all of us, and you’re on your way to be a scientist! It’s just a small roadblock.”
“I know. But how much more will I have to run into before I actually succeed?” Mona sobs. “How the hell can I face Scaramouche when I can’t even keep up with him? When he told me he was coming early, I told him to eat shit because I don’t want to face him and see me like this!”
Lumine rubs circles on the girl’s back. “Honey, he’d look down on everyone but you. You know that.”
“I don’t feel equal to him anymore. One day he’s gonna look at me and think, he can do better than the mess called Mona.” Mona cries into her hands.
Lumine disagrees wholeheartedly. Scaramouche was a piece of work, that was for sure, but what Mona didn’t see was how he looked at her when she wasn’t looking.
Scaramouche looked and treated her, as if she was the only one that mattered.
Lumine had gotten the privilege to see it one night when he visited Monstandt back then. While Mona was continuously chattering about the stars with Scaramouche beside her, his eyes were only on her. And despite him often disagreeing with her, he listened to her nonstop. Lumine knew he reads her research papers even when it wasn’t his field (he’d asked Lumine to email it to him without her knowing), and on the times Mona was strapped for cash and wouldn’t tell him, he’d send her mora on the guise of an apology for an argument they had and to buy herself something nice to feel better.
While other’s thought they were borderline toxic to each other, no one cared more about Mona than Scaramouche.
But the blonde doesn’t tell her best friend that. She knew she wouldn’t believe her and tell her that she was only saying it to make her feel better.
So they drink the night away. At least until twelve in the morning, when Mona was already too drunk two bottles later and had very impaired vision.
Mona’s head was spinning, and Lumine nearly laughs. She was a lightweight compared to her.
“You can crash here if you’re too drunk.” Lumine says, taking away the glasses and putting them on the sink. Mona only groans, laying her head on a pillow on the sofa. She whines when she hears her phone ring in the distance. “I got it, you lay down.”
“Sorry…” Mona groans, closing her eyes and covering half her face with her arm. Everything was muddled and muffled, she could barely hear Lumine walk near her with her phone in hand and answering. She was already in dreamland when Lumine answers the phone.
“Oh, hey Scara…”
*.*.*.*.*.*
Mona’s head was throbbing when she woke up. Her throat felt as dry as a desert, and she had to urge to throw up. But she doesn’t yet.
It took her the hard way to learn that when you’re drunk as hell, you eat something so that when you hurl your guts out on the toilet, it hurts less. It’d taken her half her college life before she learned it.
She doesn’t question it when a water bottle enters her field of vision along with an aspirin.
“Oh gods,” She groaned. “Sorry Lu, please don’t tell me I threw up on your couch.”
“You threw up on your couch.”
Her eyes shot up when she hears a male voice, her head still throbbing but now as conscious as ever. Scaramouche was sitting on the side of her bed.
“W-What the hell are you doing here?!” She screeches.
“Fuckin’ hell woman, you don’t ever tone it down do you?” He glares at her.
“You said I had two days!” She feels her face heat up. “I-!”
“You don’t think I already know that you’re a slob? Please.” He rolls his eyes, and pushed the bottle and aspirin to her. “What are you doing? Hurry up and take it before my arm gets tired.”
Mona glares at him, and gulps down the water and medicine. “How did even get in my house?”
“You’re not gonna ask on how you got home?”
“I assumed Wriothesley drove me home considering Lumine also had her fair share of alcohol.” She crossed her arms. “Now answer my question, what are you doing here so early?”
Scaramouche sighs. “I finished my work earlier than expected so I took an earlier flight. I got here last night, you weren’t answering, so I called Viatrix and she told me where you were.”
“That… that-! You should’ve told me earlier then! I could’ve canceled and picked you up from the airport.”
“I hopped on the plane right after I finished work.” He glares at her. “Stop screaming. Your hangover’s gonna get worse and you’re gonna give me a headache too.” He lays himself down on the bed. “Take a damn shower, you smell like a liquor shop.”
“I had two bottles!” Mona throws a pillow at him before running to the bathroom.
*.*.*.*.*.*
“So? Are you gonna tell me why you were deadass drunk last night?” He asks her after she freshens up. She finds him sitting up on her bed, his back against the headboard.
“I’m always deadass drunk on girls night.”
“You were crying.” Scaramouche crosses his arms. “Don’t fucking lie, you haven’t looked at your ugly mug in the mirror when you were in the bathroom?”
Mona flips him off. “I was emotional. Lumine’s finally getting married.”
“Really?” He asks her, his voice laden with heavy sarcasm. His hand flies to her shoulder forcing her to face him. “You’re a shit liar Mona.”
“And you’re shit.” She grits her teeth.
“So what’s wrong with you today?” Despite the insult, Scaramouche keeps a calm demeanor because this was how they were for the past six years.
“Nothing’s wrong with me.” Mona knows how pointless it was to lie. Scaramouche knew her inside out. He’d know if she was the one who farted even if they were in a room full of people.
The man gave her an expectant look. “You always thin my patience whenever I see you.”
“Well it’s thing we rarely ever see each other now do we?” The words leave Mona’s lips before she faster than she can process it. Her eyes go wide and she shuts her mouth immediately.
“Is that what this is about?” Scaramouche raised a brow at her. “I thought we were past arguing about this long distance thing a year after I started?”
“No.” Mona shakes her head. “It’s not what it’s about. I don’t even know why I said that.”
“Then what?” He sighs again. “Just spit it out Mona. I don’t want to spend the rest of our in Fontaine arguing with you about this.”
Mona sighs as well, sitting down beside him. “You have to promise you won’t do anything.”
“Depends on what it is.” He mutters and she swats his arm hard. She begins to tell him exactly what she told Lumine last night. She can see his face” contort from confusion, to anger, and now fury.
“What?” He grits his teeth when she finished.
“It’s fine. It happens all the time to newbies so-“
“Mona.” She freezes when her name slips past his lips.
“It’s really okay.” She looks down on her fingers. “I… It’s good work and I’m well paid compared to before. I… I’m really okay.”
“It’s not.” Scaramouche tells her, leaning against her but keeping his hands to himself, one of his rare shows of affection. “You keep this up, everyone’s gonna take advantage of you.”
“I know.” Mona exasperates. “I’m trying okay? I’m just… I need my head clear so I can figure out what to do and… fuck.” She runs a hand through her wet hair. “Stop judging me Scara, I’m your girlfriend not your subordinate. I’ll pluck your eyes out I swear.” She continues when he doesn’t answer. “I’m asking you to stay out of it. It’s my job. I should figure it out on my own, not with you pulling strings without me knowing.”
He only looks at her, but she knows that look. There was always a condition when she’s given that kind of look.
“Fine.” He says.
“And?”
“And just fine. You handle it.”
“I’m serious.”
“Me too.”
“Scara-“
“I’m hungry,” He cuts her off. “I had to wait for you to wake up so I couldn’t eat yet. Let’s go.” He stands up from the bed, glancing at her across his shoulder.
“Are you offended?”
“Why the fuck would I be offended?”
“Because you’re avoiding it now.” Mona points out, pouting at him. “You’re surprisingly calm about it, I wasn’t expecting it.”
He wasn’t expecting it either, but Mona was already having a hard time about it and he couldn’t bring himself to give her more grief when she was barely holding it together, and he hasn’t seen her for nearly a year.
Though, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t send a threatening note or two to her supervisor along with a pile of dead flowers (it was going to be rats, but he’ll think about it).
Because for the past six years together, anyone who screws Mona over, Scaramouche destroys them twice as hard.