Trials of the Heart

Chapter 1

"Y/N, it's time to wake up."

he looked at his girlfriend who was basically passed out. despite his attempts at waking her up earlier, she still fell back asleep while he was getting ready to go on their trip.

"Y/N," he tried again, shaking her sleeping figure. "come on dumbass, you're the one who wanted to go to fontaine, so hurry and get ready so we can get there at a reasonable hour."

"so... tired..."

he sighed, knowing that this was going to lead to nowhere. after disappearing into the kitchen for 10 minutes, he came back holding your favorite food in hand. this will surely wake her up.

then finally, like a zombie from the dead, you sat up from your bed slowly and rubbed your eyes, yawning.

scaramouche laughed, "did it really take me to make one of your favorite foods to wake you up?"

"i guess so," you chuckled. "let me get ready first, i have a few extra things i need to pack."

he nodded, "if you don't hurry up, i'm finishing all of this and leaving none for you."

it was almost like his words were a shot of adrenaline because you finished getting ready and packing your last-minute items in record time. the reason for your lethargy this morning was that you had only gotten 4 hours of sleep due to the blueprints.

ah right, i have to pack these.

you rushed to your office, gathering the blueprints and packing them away neatly in a bag after rolling them up. after double checking that you had every last one, you made your way out with the bag wrapped around you. the bag was similar to a quiver, except your blueprints were inside rather than arrows and there was a secure lid.

after you got to the main room, you noticed that he made his own breakfast and reheated yours, already beginning to eat while waiting. you smiled at this, i knew he wouldn't do that.

"come eat," he said, without sparing you a glance. "we have to leave in 20 minutes."

you sat down and began eating, "thanks for the food!"

he nodded, then looked at everything you had packed. "you're only taking that quiver bag?"

"yeah," you said. "i was going to go buy some outfits while i'm there, saves me some space since i don't know what to expect when we arrive."

he nodded once more, then he giggled.

"what's so funny, kuni?"

"well... it's just that fontaine doesn't exactly favor the fatui. their archon is insufferable, in my opinion. it's another reason why i'm thankful for the fact that i no longer exist as a harbinger."

"that saves us some trouble then," you smiled.

both of you wrapped up your meals, and you washed the dishes while scaramouche planned out your trip using a map. it was quite the walk, but luckily with his anemo abilities and your upgraded skillset, it would be a lot easier.

"are you sure you can control your vision for that long," he asked you.

"yeah, i think so. why?"

"i don't want you falling on your face and looking like an idiot."

you laughed, knowing that he was just concerned for your well-being. for the past few months, scaramouche had begun training you to use your vision to try and fly. since your ability allowed you to heat selective parts of your body, you began training it so you could basically heat your palms and legs to a temperature so hot that you became like a mini rocket. after drilling it, you could hover quite easily.

scaramouche still had his doubts, so he decided to fly next to you in case anything happened.

after stepping outside and locking the door, he began hovering and flying up, waiting for you. you began to use your vision to heat up your body, also beginning to float. after some experimental movement, you deemed yourself to be "okay" and both of you began to set off.

even though scaramouche could fly very fast, he still wanted to make sure you were doing okay. this was going to be a test of endurance, so there was no way he would leave your side.

"you know you can fly ahead, right?"

"tch, no. as soon as i leave, you'll get lost."

"h-hey, my sense of direction isn't that bad, is it?"

he gave you a blank stare, not responding to your question, and flew a little ahead.

"HEY! you're so mean to me," you whined.

"we're 40 minutes away," scaramouche said, ignoring you. "oh, and Y/N?"

"what?"

he flew underneath you, still keeping his pace, and leaned up to kiss your lips in a small peck. afterwards, he kept flying normally, staying next to you.

"what was that for," you mumbled, cheeks a little red from the surprise while your heart was beating a mile a minute.

"i never got one this morning," he said simply. "now that i did, let's focus and keep moving."

so you're telling me you were distracted because you needed a kiss? how adorable!

after around another 20 minutes of flying, scaramouche had told you to take a break, even though you were confident you could go further.

"i think i'll have to carry you for the next length of our trip," he said.

"why's that?"

"we'll be gliding over water, and there can be... difficulties if you're using a pyro vision."

you nodded, understanding what he meant. "ah, okay. i hope i'm not too heavy."

"you're light," he said, picking you up experimentally, then twirling you around. you giggled as he did this. "this will be easy."

"thanks," you said with another laugh, pressing a kiss to his nose. he closed the distance between your lips, holding your chin in place with his thumb. after the kiss finished he snickered.

"if you're going to kiss me, at least do it right."