Run, Little Rat - Genshin Impact Wriothesley X Reader

6 - Patience

With a slight groan you woke up. The ceiling wasn't familiar to you, and your body felt achey all over.

"Ah, you're awake" you jolted upright at the sound of his voice, immediently hissing at the pain "glad I don't need to warn you not to do that again" he sighed.

"Where am I?" you muttered, slowly sitting up this time.

"My office" Wriothesley stated plainly, watching you from the seat at the corner, a cup of tea in one hand and papers in the other "to answer your next quesiton, you're here because you clearly can't be trusted not to run out of the infirmary"

You scoffed "I only ran because-" you paused, why did you run again? you moved your hand to your chest, feeling your heartbeat beneath your palm. It was normal, no longer frantic.

"Because?" Wriothesley prompted after you didn't finish your sentence.

"Well, because I didn't want you to catch me, obviously"

"But I did catch you-"

"That doesn't count!" you argued.

"Oh?" he moved the document out of his line of sight to focus on you "and why not?"

You scrambled for a good excuse, you weren't going to admit he caught you, you were sick so it definitely didn't count! "because I let you catch me, so clearly it doesn't count"

"Ohh you let me catch you, riight, riiight" he nodded, though clearly was amused by your cover up.

"It's true!" you yelled, your voice cracking slightly as you coughed quickly to hide it, repeating "its true"

He shrugged, smirking "if you say so, rat"

You shook your head "anyway, care to explain-" you pulled your hand forward, feeling the weight of the metal giving some resistance to the movement "-this?"

He shrugged, unconcerned "I'm keeping an eye on you, personally. Figured that should keep you in place"

"By cuffing me? didn't realise you were into such kinky shit" you joked flatly.

"There's a lot you dont realise" he shrugged "but, don't worry, the chain is long enough to give you more or less free movement of my office, but destroy anything and I'll shorten it, attempt to escape it and I'll add an extra one, do anything to cause further injury to yourself and you won't be able to leave that bed, am I clear?"

You glared at him "seems a bit extreme to me"

Wriothesley returned the glare, before he slowly set down his cup, standing up and making his way over to you, cracking his knuckles. You scrambled backwards on the bed "alright, alright, I get it!"

He stopped his approached and smiled at you "good. Now, I have some work to finish outside. Sigewinne will be around to check up on you" he informed, walking passed you towards the stairs "get some more rest"

You gave a salute and he descended the stairs out of view.

It was a few hours before Wriothesley returned. You had rested, as instructed, and Sigewinne had paid a visit, checking you over and changing your dressing and bandages.

Since her visit you had left the bed, wandering around the office for a while to stretch your legs before climbing and settling yourself on top of one of the bookcases.

You preferred to be high up, especially when it came to being around Wriothesley. You felt out of his reach higher up.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he came up the stairs, unbothered by your new perch.

"I'm fine" you nodded.

"Dougier has been dealt with" he said, a darkness to his tone "your little freak out the other night seems to have been his doing"

"My little freak out?" you repeated.

He nodded "you don't remember?" you didn't respond. Of course, you remembered, how could you not? the sudden fear that seemed to encapsulate you felt awful, you wish you didn' remember it. A shiver washed over you at the thought, Wriothesley noticing your discomfort as he continued "it's over now, though"

"You killed him?"

He frowned at you "why would I kill him?"

You shrugged "news travels fast in the fortress, your grace. Just because you've locked me in here doesn't mean I don't get information"

He was a little unnerved by that statement, the implication being you had either managed to find a way out or that someone else came in to his office other than Sigewinne. 

"I didn't kill him- I thought about it, oh I definitely thought about it"

"What about the other one? the one who stabbed me?"

"Sounds like you need better informants if you couldn't get that information right either"

You frowned, muttering "never said my information was solid, just that I better watch incase the Duke decides he wants me dead"

He let out a laugh "I wouldn't worry about that, rat" he moved towards his desk "if I wanted you dead, you wouldn't have woken up here"

You shivered again but didn't question him further. It wasn't like you hadn't been told by other inmates how strange it was he hadn't taken up any kind of serious action against you, you hadn't even received confinement. Extra manual labour, credit coupon cuts or a bare minimum welfare meal was as far as his punishment towards you went.

Wriothesley didn't speak as he focused on his paperwork at his desk, his back was to you and he seemed to be paying you no attention whatsoever. His ears didn't even prick when you carefully climbed down from the top of the bookshelf, retriving a waste paper bin and taking it with you back to your bookshelf perch.

You reached into the bin, take out the already screwed up paper and pressing it more firmly into a ball shape.

The paper ball hit Wriothesleys shoulder before bouncing to the floor. He paused his writing only briefly before resuming, having no further reaction.

Another hit his mid back. Another landed on his desk. One hit the back of his head. And another hit the top of his head.

He suddenly stood up, turning around only to get hit square in the face by another paper ball. You stifled a laugh.

The potential of him killing you returned as he glared at you, an unimpressed grunt coming from his throat before he looked away from you. He walked towards where your makeshift bed had been set up, finding the end of the chain that anchored you to his office.

You yelped as you were suddenly pulled from your perch, managing to land clumsily on your feet as Wriothesley continued yanking on your chain.

"There" he muttered, admiring his handiwork that was the complicated knot tied in the chain that was encased in a ball of cryo formed ice, effectively making the chain shorter, preventing you from even reaching the bookshelf let along the top of it, or your paper ammo. "As I said, destroy anything and I'll shorten it" he reminded.

"But I didn't destroy anything!" you protested, truthfully.

"You destroyed my fucking patience" he grunted before he returned to his desk, suddenly thinking that the idea of having you -an inmate notorious for causing him trouble- in his office was maybe a bad idea.

You huffed, sitting down on the top stair as you sulked.