Chapter Text
“Guess what everyone!!”
It was 6 am, and of course Venti would be yelling already. What could be so exciting this early in the morning? Kazuha got up from his hotel room bed.
“What?” he asked, not wanting to participate in Venti’s guessing games.
“I wanted you to guess..” Venti fake pouted and looked down sadly.
“Just spit it out already.” Xiao hissed. Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
“Xiao, don’t be mean.” Aether sighed. Being the peacekeeper must be hard.
“Ugh fine, wait Heizou hasn’t even woken up yet?!” Venti frowned looking at his sleeping bandmate.
Kazuha went over to Heizou’s bed and pushed his knee lightly trying to wake him up, succeeding after the third try.
“What time is it…” Heizou mumbled while slowly opening his eyes.
“Time for you to wake up!” exclaimed Venti, “Anyways now I can finally make my announcement!”
“It’s 6 am, just get up so Venti can stop yelling at us.” Kazuha said to Heizou with a soft smile. Heizou smiled back, still fighting the remnants of sleep.
“Ok so what I’m trying to say is that Scaramouche finally agreed to collaborate with us! He’s even joining us on our next tour stop!” Venti said excitedly, looking around at his group members to catch their reactions
Kazuha froze. Scaramouche? The artist they had been wanting to collaborate with ever since they started their band? The artist who had inspired Kazuha to start making music? That Scaramouche? And he’s joining them on tour? Kazuha was as speechless as everyone else.
Heizou was the first one to speak up.
“NO WAY!” he yelled. It was hard to believe he just woke up with the way he jumped up.
Kazuha covered his ears, frowning. “Are we all just gonna yell this early in the morning?”
Heizou’s face turned white as he sat back down on his bed and quietly apologized. Venti looked at Heizou’s defeated face and laughed.
“I know we’re all excited and Zhongli’s meeting with us soon to discuss the details!” Venti said, this time however controlling his volume.
A meeting with their manager. Kazuha sighed. Every time they went out with their manager, Zhongli, they ended up paying for all the food. The group took turns paying for their outings, and today was Kazuha’s turn.
“Why don’t we go to McDonalds! I heard they just opened one down the street!” Kazuha said, faking cheerfulness , hoping to convince them so he wouldn’t have to spend a lot of money.
“Good one Kazuha, but I’m hungry for some fancy food. I heard there’s a place in Inazuma that has some of the best omakase sushi in the world!” Aether said with a grin. Last time Aether paid they had gone to an expensive place, so he wasn’t going to let Kazuha get away with not spending as much as he had.
Kazuha’s jaw dropped when he searched up the place. $180 per person for a meal? This had to be some sort of joke. Looks like Kazuha was going to have a long day.
--
“Rise and shine comrade!” said a voice as the curtains flew open making the room bright enough to blind someone.
“Let me sleep!” Scaramouche yelled as he put a pillow over his face to protect his eyes from the light.
“It’s already 10 am, you should've been up hours ago so you’re lucky I let you sleep until now.” said the voice with a sassy attitude.
“Ugh.” Scaramouche groaned as he slowly sat up and opened his eyes. His manager, Childe, had to ruin his day already. At least he let me get a few more hours.. Scara considered, while thinking about all the ways he could get away with murdering the ginger.
“The chef already made breakfast, come down and eat!” Childe said with a grin on his face. Scaramouche wondered why his manager was so happy this morning, before remembering that he didn’t care.
He dragged himself out of bed to start another - probably shitty - day.
Scaramouche walked down the stairs wearing sweatpants and an oversized hoodie. To top it off, his hair was still wet.
“Scara! You made it!” said Childe. Again, why is he smiling so much today?
Scaramouche grimaced as he sat down in the seat across from Childe. His manager seemed to be radiating happiness, and he didn’t like it.
“Oh ya I have an announcement, guess what!” said Childe.
“I’m not going to guess. Just tell me.” Scara said, looking annoyed as he started eating his breakfast.
“Spoiling the mood as always.”
Childe rolled his eyes before quickly getting back to his cheerful mood. “You’re going to be collaborating with 5wirl and joining them on tour!”
Scaramouche dropped his spoon. “What did you just say?” He said with disbelief.
“You know what I said,” Childe answered as he put his phone down. “Anyway, you’re meeting them tomorrow! You got lucky that we’re all in Inazuma at the same time.” Childe exclaimed before going back to his food.
“WHAT??” Scaramouche had never heard of this before. He was going to collaborate with a band he never heard of? With people he’s never met? He’d already been struggling with songwriting on his own, now he had to do it with other people? Why did Childe agree to this without asking him?
“You got lucky, the Tsaritsa called me this morning and told me about this. You can finally end your hiatus and be back in the spotlight!” Childe said, still smiling brightly.
At least Childe was safe now that Scaramouche knew that it was the Tsaritsa’s doing. It looked like the young singer had no choice but to do it.
“I guess.. this could be a good opportunity…” Scaramouche said as he faked a smile.
“I’m so happy you’re on board! I for one am excited to travel, I think they’re going to Sumeru next!” Childe said cheerfully. Finally Scaramouche got it.
“So.. why are you so happy this morning, Childe?” The singer asked with a smirk on his face.
His manager blushed. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m always happy..!” Childe stuttered, forcing a smile before quickly stuffing food in his mouth.
“Mhmm..” Scara muttered, giving Childe a knowing look before he got back to his breakfast.
It would’ve been impossible to not notice the purple bruises on his manager’s neck.