A Tinker's Job

Chapter 14 - Finale

"stay with me."

your eyes opened wide, seeing him look at you with his violet hues. he was dead serious. "w-what?"

"you heard me. stay with me. for the rest of eternity." he looked down, trying to hide his face. "don't... don't leave me."

"i never planned to."

the next day, nahida gave scaramouche a makeover after you informed her that scaramouche was awake. he came back to your office, knocking on your door. when you opened it, you saw his new attire, and to finish it off: a new anemo vision with the electro archon's feather.

"whoah," you said breathlessly. "wow you look... you look really different."

"stop gaping at me like a fish," he scoffed, making his way inside and setting his hat down on your table. you closed the door behind him, following with the roll of your eyes. "when do you leave for fontaine?"

"i leave in a week," you said, lifting his hat so you could grab some extra parts that he covered and adding them to the kamera that was in front of your chair. "my kamera is almost done, there's a few glitches in there... there we go! time to test it."

"i'll test it."

you looked at him incredulously, "do you even know how it works?"

"i do," he said simply. "i haven't been living under a rock for my whole life, you know."

"alright old timer, go take it for a spin."

he glared at you, making you giggle. then, he turned the camera around so the lens faced towards himself, and pulled you close to his side. you looked at him with surprise, his eyes were focused on the lens and you heard a small click!

"sc-scaramouche!"

then, he looked at you, and leaned in, pressing a kiss to your lips. your eyes were wide with shock, eventually you closed them. click!

"had to get that on kamera," he said after he broke away from you. "well? how did they turn out?"

he laughed when he saw how flushed your face was, eyes looking at anywhere but him while your cheeks heated up. "haha, who knew you'd get so flustered. cute."

you grabbed the kamera from his hands, looking at the film that came out of it. "i-it turned out-"

your tongue turned into putty in your mouth, seeing the kiss in very high quality and in color. there was no way you could finish the sentence. he laughed again, catching his breath in between words, "oh my goodness, you really need to see your face right now!"

he grabbed the kamera, taking a photo of you and showing you, laughing deviously. "hahaha, look at you!"

"scaramouche!"

he took one more photo of himself sticking his tongue out before you grabbed the kamera from his hands, placing it on the table and sitting down, face flushed. then, a knock on your door interrupted scaramouche's everlasting laughter.

"{name}?"

you opened the door, seeing al haitham and kaveh at the door. "oh! you two! what brings you here?"

al haitham gave you a small box, "it's a gift. from me."

"and me!" slap.

you stifled a laugh while you grabbed the box, "t-thank you."

"who is it?" the ex-harbinger walked over to you, seeing al haitham and kaveh standing in the doorway. "oh. you."

"oh, the balladeer. i'm surprised that you're awake now."

"better than never," he spat back, eyes piercing into his.

both of them glared at each other while kaveh came running to hug you, smiling happily. "oh {name}! it's so nice to see such a warm and welcoming face in sumeru city again! i left your tools in your mailbox at your house!"

"thank you kaveh," you said.

all of a sudden, you could feel a menacing aura, both you and kaveh looking over to seeing al haitham and scaramouche glaring at the blonde man. "h-how can i help you both," kaveh stuttered.

"oh it's nothing," al haitham said, forcing a smile.

"get. off," scaramouche spat.

kaveh released you, hands held in a surrender position, "jeez! okay! i was just happy to see her again."

"what's all the commotion?" all four of you looked and saw cyno standing in the doorway, hands crossed over his chest while he glared at all of you. "are you all bothering {name}?"

"don't worry cyno," you said. "al haitham and kaveh just came by to drop off a gift."

cyno paused, looking at scaramouche with narrowed red eyes. "and who's he?"

"hmph, you don't need to know my name," scaramouche spat, then looked at you. "who's this kid?"

"kid? me? hah," cyno laughed. "yeah sure, as if you don't look like one yourself."

"guys let's not fight please," you said. "not in my office. you're all free to do that on your own time."

al haitham scoffed, "i wanted to ask something in private," then looked over at scaramouche, "but it seems we won't be alone. actually, i wouldn't mind if he listened in."

"hmph."

"stop 'hmph'ing," you said to scaramouche, then turned to everyone. "i'll see everyone later. thank you for the gift kaveh, and thanks for the drop in, cyno."

they both nodded, then said their 'farewells' and left.

"so, al haitham, what is it?"

"i wanted to know if you'd be okay with going to dinner with me next week," he said. "just to catch up."

"ah sorry, i'll actually be leaving for fontaine. sorry."

"it's alright," he assured you. "i'll wait for you. how long is the trip?"

from the corner of your eye, you could see scaramouche getting more and more pissed off. he was practically death staring at al haitham, looking at him up and down. you could practically hear his thinking. who is he? why is he ignoring me? what the hell is his problem? this lowly mortal can never amount to me.

"that i don't know," you said. "i'll keep you updated."

no! no she won't keep you updated.

"stay safe on your trip."

"she'll be with me," scaramouche interjected, walking to you and wrapping a hand around your waist and pulling you flush towards him. "she won't need to worry."

al haitham went quiet, then looked at you, "alright. i won't keep you any longer. have a safe journey."

"bye!"

he left, closing the door behind him, making scaramouche drop his other hand – that wasn't wrapped around your waist – as soon as you looked at him.

"scaramouche."

"what?"

"... did you just give him the middle finger?"

"he had it coming." he let go of you, walking to the back of your office and sat down on the couch making you scoff in disbelief.

"i can't believe i'll have to deal with you flipping off all my friends."

you began to tinker once again, fine tuning the kamera's overall aesthetic.

"let me remind you," he said from his couch, lying down. "you're stuck with me for the rest of our lives, so get used to it."

~*~

a/n: well... this story has finally come to an end. holy cow i wrote this so quickly because i got so engrossed in my work. this was truly one of my most fav series of fics i've ever written. tbh, i don't want it to end because i'm so attached to it. i have another part planned, somewhat of a timeskip. but, i'll leave that to you all :)

thank you all for reading "A Tinker's Job"!