Chapter Text
"YOU ARE THE WISDOM SEELIE; STOP DENYING IT!" Wanderer yelled.
"How did you possibly come to that conclusion? I can barely even do my own papers in time!" Layla explained much quieter, her voice filled with slight desperation.
Wanderer's hand curved slightly into fists. She still wasn’t willing to admit it. "Look, I saw you sneaking out of the library with that theoretical astrology or whatever book," he continued to accuse. "Look, I have a lot more evidence that it's you, but you're not listening, and now I sound like a madman!" he exclaimed in frustration before sitting down on the chair of their table outside of Pusba cafe.
“Are you sure it was me? Cause I don’t remember leaving my house last night—" she was interrupted by a soft yawn, “...I was up finishing my thesis. I didn’t even go out to look at the stars.”
“Alright, alright, you're not the Wisdom Seelie. It's a useless waste of my time arguing with a mere human like this,” Wanderer scoffed, leaning back in his chair.
“Technically, I'm not—" Layla started before a waitress came to the table, staring at them tentatively.
“So, what would you two lovebirds like to order?” she said, clasping her hands together over her heart, making a wild assumption in the process.
“Oh, we're not—" Layla started calmly, albeit her face was reddened. She turned to Wanderer.
“She isn't my—" he began before being interrupted by the waitress.
“Oh, so you're single? Would you like to finish this lunch with me instead?” Her face was covered in a cruel smile as she tried pushing Layla gently off her seat.
“Layla is my girlfriend. I’m taken. By her. This is a date. Please leave,” Wanderer spat out quickly after the waitress's attempt. Layla’s gold eyes widened as she stared at him. She mouthed ‘what’ in his direction.
“Hmph,” the waitress said, brushing her blonde hair out of the way of her face and began marching off.
“She didn’t even take our order,” Wanderer complained before getting up out of his seat. It was a merry waste of his time. He’d much rather go beat up Fatui than continue to inquire of a sleepless girl whether she was or wasn’t the Wisdom Seelie.
He was only a few steps out of his chair before a gloved hand grabbed the back of his collar, causing him to trip up. “Mr. Hat Guy, I'm not your girlfriend,” Layla voiced into his ear much more sternly than anything Wanderer had heard her say before.
Wanderer begrudgingly turned around to face the blue-haired girl. Actually, now that he had focused on her hair, did it always frame her face that well? Was she always that—
“Look, I didn’t know what to tell her. I'm sorry,” he apologized. He had inconvenienced Layla even if it wasn’t that big of a deal. “It’ll probably blow over quickly. I'm just tired of the amount of love confessions from humans who can't handle my personality. And to be precise, I DON'T have a crush on you,” Wanderer was never one to gloat about the number of people who were interested in him as they were all merely an inconvenience to him, though he didn’t want Layla to get any ideas.
“Good, I was worried that the one guy who chose to have a crush on me was the worst possible….” Broken by a yawn, “…person in the entire academy,” she laughed softly as she said that. It wasn’t as if she meant it entirely, at least Wanderer hoped so. “Well… Hat Guy, I would say deep down you are a little soft,” Layla continued with an even softer giggle.
“Like everyone else, you are mistaken,” he confirmed, watching as she walked away, her heels clacking on the ground beneath.
Another day where Wanderer walked into the House of Deana to continue his unfortunate studies as 'ordered' from Lesser Lord Kusanali. As he walked through the echoing busy hall, he, as usual, looked for the desk Layla would choose to sit alone at.
As Wanderer scanned the desks, there was an alarming eyesore of students huddling around a desk, chattering about something probably not related to their studies.
“No Layla today,” he sighed as he found an empty desk to sit at. Just as Wanderer opened his book, the clutter of students came huddling around him, a confused Layla following desperately behind.
“Hat Guy, are you single or not?” “I think you and Layla are cute together.” “Are you seriously lying about dating someone?”
The barrage of questions hit Wanderer like a truck. He didn’t know what to think. “Shhh, this is a library. Everyone keep it down and get back to work!” the loud voice of Madam Faruzan interrupted the questions. Just as quickly as the crowd arrived, they had scurried off, leaving a very confused Wanderer and an angry-looking Layla.
“What did you do, Hat Guy? What did you do?” she sighed, her voice sounding more energetic than he's ever heard before. Was this even the same Layla that he knew? Layla sat herself down across from Wanderer, her many papers still in her hands.
“Suddenly Layla faints, and I am here suddenly bombarded with the news and questions that I am your girlfriend! Or that I'm not your girlfriend? What did you say about Layla?” she started talking, threatening Wanderer.
“Hang on, why are you talking in the third person? And I—well, you were there; you remember what happened!” Wanderer said, panicking ever so slightly. Who possessed Layla?
“Oh dear… well, you and daytime Layla are close, so I suppose I should introduce myself,” she began a lot more calmly than before. “But first, promise you won’t tell Layla about me, not yet at least,” she held out her hand, and the blue-eyed man took it begrudgingly.
“Alright, so I'm Layla’s Blessing of the Stars. I come out when she faints… and as you deduced, I am the Wisdom Seelie,” she explained. “Now tell me why people are saying I'm your girlfriend? Is that true? If so, why do so many people know?”
Wanderer sat there, bombarded with the questions of a girl he had technically just met. God, what mess has he gotten himself into? He should have never dared to step into the endless pool that is human dating.