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Dear Scaramouche,
When we first met, I was taken aback by your harsh manner. Yet, it charmed and captivated me since. The way your eyes glisten like the lightning in a storm holds my own gaze prisoner. I finally got the courage to tell you that, so I thought you should know.
Sincerely,
-M
That was what Scaramouche found in his locker that morning. A little letter written on a torn piece of paper the same size of an index card. It had been wrapped up and sealed in a proper envelope though.
It was fucking weird, that was what Scaramouche thought about it. To him it kind of seemed like a creepy stalker, though that was really only because he had no idea who the hell this other person was. Secret admirers sounded like some shitty thing Kazuha would talk about.
Speaking of the other, Scaramouche had been left to hang out with Childe this morning. Kazuha always went to poetry club on Wednesday mornings, though at least they had their first period with each other, so Scaramouche could see his best friend then.
Scaramouche slipped into his seat right as the bell rang, the letter was still somewhat on his mind, but he kind of pushed it into the back of his mind.
Unfortunately for Scaramouche, Kazuha was sick that day apparently since he didn’t come into first period and Kazuha didn’t ditch classes unless it was with Scaramouche. Even then, whenever they skipped class Kazuha would always try to convince Scaramouche not to, but he still ended up going along with the other.
Originally the two of them had met in their first year of highschool. By chance they had been assigned as partners for some dumbass history project. Kazuha had done all of the work, and Scaramouche got an easy 100 off of it, but also he got to know the eccentric blond haired boy.
For being such a smart person, Kazuha rambled about a bunch of stupid shit half the time. But, that was what Scaramouche kind of liked about him. In every class they sat next to each other and Scaramouche spent hours just listening to Kazuha’s rambles while occasionally making a snarky comment. It helped pass the time, and whatever Kazuha was talking about was usually somewhat related to the class, so teachers didn’t mind it too much. It probably helped that Kazuha was that kid that got perfect scores on all his assignments and teachers trusted him. They didn’t think the same about Scaramouche, but he honestly didn’t care.
The day had been boring without Kazuha, but it wasn’t completely unbearable. That was mostly because Zhongli was also there and Scaramouche convinced him to ditch class with him.
“Hey! What’s that?” Childe asked as an envelope dropped out of his friend’s locker.
“A letter dumbass, what else would it be?” Scaramouche annoyedly retorted, he forgot why he didn’t hang out with Childe and was already regretting doing so.
“Well, I know that obviously. I’m not that dumb!”
“I wouldn’t put it past you…”
Childe chose to ignore the insults. If he didn’t Scaramouche and him wouldn’t get along as much as they did now.
“What’s it about?”
“How about you read it yourself?” Scaramouche slammed the letter into the other’s hands.
Childe undid the seal and pulled out the letter. “Aww this is so cute, Scara! You have a secret admirer, and here I was thinking you’d be single forever! It looks like some people do like assholes like you!” Childe half exclaimed.
“Shut up, dumbass!” Scaramouche yelled back.
“Do you know who wrote it?” Childe asked.
“Obviously some bitch whose name starts with M” Scaramouche rolled his eyes.
“So it’s Mona then, right?” Childe suggested.
“Isn’t she that ‘astrology is my only personality trait’ girl?”
“Yeah…she’s not that bad, I think you two would be cute!” Childe replied.
“Yeah, no. She hates my guts and probably thinks our signs aren’t compatible or some shit. Plus she annoys the hell out of me.”
“Well then who else could it be?” Childe asked, he was more invested in this than the actual receiver of the letter was.
“Frankly, I don’t care, also I’m leaving now.” Scaramouche slammed his locker shut.
The next morning Scaramouche found another letter in his locker.
Dear Scaramouche,
Out of all the years of knowing you, I’ve always appreciated the way your sharp tongue comes up with the most creative insults.
Sincerely,
-A
“You got another one!” Childe said as he walked up to his friends locker.
Scaramouche still tolerated him because Kazuha was still sick today. He had a cold or something like that.
“Well obviously” Scaramouche waved the letter and rolled his eyes.
“Can I see?”
Scaramouche handed over the letter to the ginger.
“Wow! This person actually likes you, like likes you, like they actually like assholes like you who just insult everyone” Childe remarked as he sealed it back up again.
“How many times can you fucking say like in a sentence?”
“Sheesh! What’s wrong with you today? Is it because Kazuha isn’t here again today?” Childe asked.
“No, it’s because I have to deal with your dumbass,” Scaramouche replied.
“Such a grumpy person, I really don’t understand how this person likes you. Anyway today they left an ‘A’ so that leaves, Aether, Albedo, Aloy, Amber, Ayaka, or Ayato.”
Scaramouche instantly began speed firing off about how they all didn’t like him and how he didn’t like them, “Aether is basic as hell and I’m pretty sure he hates me after I almost killed him when we got assigned as chem partners. Albedo’s fine I guess, we don’t really talk, but I’m pretty sure he also hates me because I told him I hated little kids and he has a little sister or some shit like that. Who the fuck is Aloy, never heard of them? They probably hate me though. Amber is already dating Eula, I think and I’m pretty sure I’ve never talked to either of them. Ayaka and Ayato both hate my guts because they think I’m a bad friend to Kazuha, also they’re preppy as hell. Fucking rich kids.”
“Yeah…rich kids…” Childe trailed off.
“Shut the fuck up! You don’t have any right to comment on that” Scaramouche complained.
The bell rang signaling it was time for first period, Scaramouche was probably going to ditch again today.
Dear Scaramouche,
I admire your boldness, the way you can just say what’s on your mind at any given moment without any fear of what people might think. You don’t try to let people down nicely if you don’t think that way. I’ve always liked the way your bluntness comes naturally.
Sincerely,
-P
A faint blush spread itself across Scaramouche’s face as he read it. He couldn’t help it. Stupid fucking feelings for some random nobody.
Unlike the other days, Kazuha was actually here today and he was perfectly well again.
“What’s that, Scara?” Kazuha approached the other at his locker.
“It’s nothing” Scaramouche muttered as he tried to shove the letter back into his locker. For some reason, he felt the need to hide it from Kazuha.
“Is that a letter?” Kazuha held a quizzical expression on his face.
Scaramouche decided that he had to come clean now, “Yeah…some secret admirer or some shit like that…”
“Oh! Do you know who it is?”
“No, they keep leaving a letter at the bottom of each one though…the last two had an M and an A” Scaramouche replied.
“What letter did they leave today?” Kazuha asked as he began organizing Scaramouche’s locker. He’d been gone for only two days and it looked like a raccoon had worked its way through it already.
“P” Scaramouche simply replied.
“Well no one’s name starts with P in our grade, have you considered that the letters are trying to spell something out?” Kazuha hummed as he placed a little box of noodles he had made earlier that morning in the other’s locker. He always made extra for Scaramouche.
“Ok well no one’s name starts with ‘map’ either so…” Scaramouche asked.
“It was just a thought” Kazuha shrugged as the bell rang, “I suppose it’s time for class now. I’ll need the notes from the past two days. Do you have them?”
“I ditched” Scaramouche shamelessly admitted.
Kazuha sighed disappointingly and shook his head disapprovingly; it wasn’t unexpected though, “I assumed so”
“I really don’t want to go to first period. Can we ditch?”
“I suppose it won’t hurt to miss another day,” Kazuha sighed, he missed Scaramouche and he knew there was no convincing him otherwise so he didn’t bother trying.
They ended up going to the playground a few blocks away because that was just so much fun. Honestly Scaramouche ditched for the sake of ditching most of the time.
They sat under one of the trees together, maple leaves falling around them as autumn approached.
“I quite like the maple tree,” Kazuha began. Scaramouche already knew he was going to go on a rant. “The leaves are so beautifully red all year round. Although sometimes they do turn a slight green in the summer if it gets hot enough. They always return back to their brilliant red again though when the fall comes as a final sign before they fall to the ground in a carpet of leaves. Aren’t they beautiful? They truly are unique in their color, whereas other trees only turn red in the fall, the maple’s leaves naturally are the dazzling crimson. I think the color compliments the indigo skies and lightning of Inazuma quite nicely. What do you think, Scara?”
“I think they’re leaves and they’re red,” Scaramouche deadpanned, but Kazuha was used to his half assed comments. “I guess they are pretty and red and purple are nice together.”
“I’m glad you think the same, Scara. They’re beauty together truly is admirable.”
Dear Scaramouche,
I love the way you listen. Like the changing seasons, I think I know you, but there’s always something else to uncover. I truly did mean it in the first letter when I said you captivated me from the start, but it wasn’t just your eyes that did that.
Sincerely,
-L
It was Saturday and Scaramouche wasn’t expecting to receive a letter by mail. The mailman had walked straight up to him and given him the letter. Whoever this person was, was someone close to him. That was also apparent by the letters.
Today’s letter had an L which could be either Lisa or Lumine. Scaramouche doubted it was either of them and rather thought about Kazuha’s theory of putting all the letters together. It spelled out ‘mapl.’ Scaramouche didn’t know what it could be. Did he have to rearrange the letters somehow? Was it like lamp or some shit like that?
Scaramouche texted Kazuha about it and he didn’t have anything to say about it really. It did slightly hurt the way Kazuha didn’t really care about the letters. Then again Scaramouche didn’t really either, but he was expecting Kazuha to or at least he was hoping Kazuha would…
The following monday, Kazuha was once again organizing Scaramouche’s locker again in the morning and he also insisted that they couldn't ditch again today.
To Scaramouche, Kazuha seemed a bit antsy and nervous today for some unknown reason. He didn’t go off on any tangents like he usually did during class but instead remained rather quiet. Scaramouche just supposed he was probably trying to make up what he had missed.
Though it came as a surprise when during lunch while Scaramouche was eating the grilled fish Kazuha had prepared, the other asked if he wanted to go to Ritou this weekend. Just the two of them. Scaramouche agreed because he had no other reason to disagree. Though what struck him as odd was that Kazuha gave no reason as to why.
Scaramouche hadn’t received another letter since the one delivered to his house on Saturday. Honestly, he had kind of forgotten about the whole matter until Childe asked him about it again. He’d been busy going out to small cafes with Kazuha after school all week to remember the letters.
Scaramouche found it odd how much his life revolved around the other sometimes.
He hadn’t made any progress on finding out who it was nor did he really care. Scaramouche was more preoccupied with the trip to Ritou Kazuha wanted to do this weekend.
Kazuha was coming to pick him up right now actually. Ei had decided that Scaramouche needed some more vitamin D or some shit like that so she forced him to wait outside even though it was fucking cloudy out. He never understood her logic.
A maple leaf blew through the wind as the gentle breeze rolled through the neighborhood street.
Scaramouche spent his time lazily scrolling through his phone while waiting for Kazuha’s arrival until something interrupted him. A piece of paper had blown straight into his face. Angry, he was ready to crumple the litter, but took a second glance.
It wasn’t litter but a letter.
A letter for him.
Dear Scaramouche,
I’ve loved you since we first met, since we were first paired together in class. I loved the way your eyes rivaled the storm’s lightning bolts as your courage does. I love the way you’re not afraid to speak your mind, but also listen to what I have to say even if you never follow it. I love your confidence, the way you don’t care about what other people say about you. I love the way you let your layers unfold for me. I love the way that everytime I see you it’s like the first time I set my eyes on you. I love the way everything feels like a summer seaside adventure with you. Even if you don’t love me back, I love you, Scaramouche.
Love,
-Maple
Scaramouche looked up from the paper after reading it a few times over to see Kazuha nervously standing there a few feet away from him.
He knew who his ‘secret admirer’ was and was sure he loved them back in the same way.