Chapter Text
A promise of love.
At that moment, for Mona, it seemed like the saying 'promises are meant to be broken' was truly right after all. Well, of course the promise of endless love that her boyfriend had made to her was too good to be true, since the man who made the promise was currently in bed with another woman while his girlfriend stood in the doorway, mouth open in shock.
Even though the music was booming loudly outside of the room, Mona felt as if the world went silent. At that moment, all she wanted to do was walk away, but it was as if her body was frozen and had gotten stuck to the ground. She was simply too in shock to move.
After the immobilizing shock wore off, she blinked a few times before opening her mouth. "We're over. Fuck you," she said before she stormed out of the room.
As she hurriedly made her way to the exit of the apartment where the party was being held at, some of her friends attempted to stop her to ask what had happened, but if Mona was being honest with them, she would rather not talk about it. And so she exited the building without explaining the situation to any of her friends.
It's not like they wouldn't eventually find out.
As the cold air hit her skin, Mona shivered and for the second time that night, she felt like her body froze.
Shit.
That asshole was her ride.
And of course, she had no money to call a taxi.
With a sigh, Mona began walking.
One hour into her walk, Mona looked up to the night sky and let out another sigh. One of the things she didn't like about living in a city was the light pollution that blocked the stars from being seen.
As she looked back to the mostly empty street, she yawned and watched as the steam disappeared into the cold air. It was currently four in the morning and Mona obviously hadn't slept at all and her feet ached from walking.
Sighing once again, Mona decided to rest a bit outside a closed bar before she would collapse from exhaustion. As much as she had wanted to just get home as fast as possible, she would rather not risk passing out in the middle of a random street.
Maybe she should have thought out the night better. Maybe if she hadn't accepted the invitation to the party, she could have already been in her warm bed and fast asleep for at least two hours – blissfully unaware of the cheating.
She really hated her ex at that moment. How could he do that to her after three years of dating? How long had he been cheating on her?
Mona shuddered at both the coldness of the night and at the thought of the possibility that her ex had been cheating on her for months, if not years.
Thinking back to him in bed with the other woman made her sick to her stomach. He was truly a bold asshole for cheating on her while she was present at the party.
Suddenly, the sound of a car horn brought her back from the thoughts about her asshole of an ex.
Looking in the direction of the sound, she saw a silhouetto of a man.
For some reason Mona couldn't even begin to understand, the man was standing in the middle of the road while the cars that drove by tried to avoid hitting him. City folk were truly weird sometimes.
Feeling her eyes on him, he turned to her and began walking in her direction.
"What are you doing?" the man asked.
"What are you doing?" she asked back. She really didn't feel like getting into a fight with a probably homeless guy.
Taking another look at him, this man was probably not homeless, as he was dressed in rather nice, expensive-looking clothing and looked rather neat, hair washed and brushed.
"Why were you staring at me?"
"Well, you were standing in the middle of a street at four in the morning while a car nearly hit you. I'd say that's pretty stare-worthy."
"What are you even doing sitting outside the bar? It's closed. Oh wait, let me guess, you're a hooker looking for drunk men to have as clients. Why else would you be dressed like that?"
She looked down at her clothes and pouted. Were her short black dress and heels a bit too resembling of the attire of a lady of the night?
"I went to a party and I was just walking home, sorry for being too tired and wanting to rest," she said following a humorless chuckle.
He stayed silent for a minute before opening his mouth again. "I'm Scaramouche." He extended his hand.
"Mona." She shook his hand. "So, what brings you to randomly standing in the middle of the street at ungodly hours?"
Her curiosity was too much for her to not ask. She felt like she needed answers or she would never be able to sleep peacefully at night.
"My girlfriend cheated on me so I broke up with her. Felt like taking a breath of fresh air. Or as fresh as city air can get."
Well, that was something she was able to relate to.
"In the middle of a street?"
"I was hoping a car would hit me," he half-joked and she laughed.
"Well... our meeting must be fate's work because I also broke up with a cheater tonight. He was my ride. Hence why I'm walking home."
"Sounds like an asshole."
"Yeah, I thought he was nice but turns out he was a two-timing bastard... But it's whatever, I guess. Better alone than in bad company."
He nodded and looked down at her once again.
Beneath the streetlamp, her face looked rather sad as much as she tried to mask it.
As he was studying her face, he noticed a droplet falling on her cheek, which was followed by more droplets until the rain was pouring hard from the sky, beginning to drench them.
"Shit. Do you wanna go inside? I have no idea how far your building is but you'll probably get sick if you keep walking while it's raining this hard," he suggested and she nodded.
Once they were inside his apartment, Mona let out a sigh as relief of being sheltered from the rain took over.
"Do you think the rain will stop anytime soon?"
"Not likely, I think it's gonna rain for a while. Do you want me to grab a towel so you can dry yourself?"
"Sure."
After Scaramouche excused himself to the bathroom, Mona decided to take a look at his apartment. It was larger than hers, that's for sure, and way less cluttered if she really was to compare their apartments. The decorations were minimalist but it was still nice to look at.
While she was scanning the room, her eyes fell on a portrait frame sitting on the coffee table. The picture in it was of Scaramouche and a pretty woman. One she recognized from hours earlier.
Oh fuck.
"I would give you a ride home but my ex took the car to go to a part-" Scaramouche's voice sounded out as he walked from the bathroom into his living room.
She cleared her throat. "Scaramouche?"
"Yes?"
"I think our exes cheated on us with each other."
Scaramouche eye’s widened in shock and froze in place as he processed what Mona had told him. He had no reason to believe a sudden stranger that he had met just less than an hour before, but he knew that she too had no reason to lie. So he believed her and let out a tired breath. "Well shit. I think I need a drink."
"Me too."
As Mona nervously gulped, she thought about the chances of meeting the now ex-boyfriend of the woman that slept with her now ex-boyfriend. Mondstadt City wasn't small, there was no doubt in that, so how come she had found shelter from the rain in this random man's house? It was fate's doing, there was no other logical answer.
Receiving the cup, Mona downed the content in it as fast as she could, and it burned her throat in the process. "Good whiskey," she commented.
"I was saving it for a special occasion. Guess this huge coincidence is special enough of an occasion. More?" He motioned the bottle of whiskey towards Mona.
"Yes please," she said and he poured them both another cup.
"Bottoms up."
Quickly, two cups turned into more than initially planned. Since Mona already had some alcohol back at the party, it had affected her way more than it affected Scaramouche. While he ended up tipsy, she ended up drunk. And with drunkenness, came the dumb ideas.
Looking over at Scaramouche, Mona thought about how attractive he was.
"You're hotter than my ex." She reached over to his face and brought it closer to take a better look. Scaramouche's pretty dark eyes looked into her light ones that, in turn, were looking at his soft-looking lips.
"Is that so?"
She hummed. "We should get back at both of them."
"Are you sure it's not a bad idea?"
Their lips were getting closer by the second.
"Maybe. But fuck it, I don't care."
She was very drunk. And very attracted to him.
As their lips locked, their hands began roaming each other's bodies, desperately clinging onto the fabrics of their clothes and skin, until they finally found a place to stay.
Mona's hands flatly pressed onto Scaramouche's abdominal area, making her gasp into the kiss at the surprising firmness. She really hadn't expected anything other than a boney physique considering how small he looked compared to other men.
While she felt his front, he felt her lower back, holding her into his arms. As his hand began going lower he broke the kiss to ask for permission. "Can I?"
"Yes, please," she answered before quickly nodding and crashing her lips back to his, smudging her lipstick even more in the process.
She didn't know it was possible to crave the lips of someone she had just met. But here she was, quickly becoming addicted to how his lips felt on hers.
Catching the woman by surprise, he picked her up with ease and without breaking the kiss took her to his room…
As the sun finally appeared from behind the clouds, its bright rays peeked from the blinds on the windows in Scaramouche's room, waking both the room owner and his guest up.
"Hey," she greeted him, her eyelids still heavy from having just woken up.
"Hey," he greeted back.
"What time is it?" she asked him.
Taking a quick look at his phone, he looked at the time. "One fifteen pm."
"Shit, I need to go home. Let me go call my friend so she can come pick me up."
Remembering she left her phone in the living room, Mona quickly ran to grab it. Scrolling down through her contact list, she landed on the L section and clicked on Lumine's name.
"Mona?! Are you okay?" came Lumine's voice from the other side of the line.
"Yes, can you please come pick me up? I didn't make it home yesterday so I crashed in someone's… couch and I need a ride home."
"What's the address?" the blonde asked.
"I don't know the name of the street but you know that one bar your co-workers like to go to? I'm on that street."
"Alright, wait a few minutes, I'll be right there."
"Thank you, you're a life-saver. Talk to you later."
"Talk to you later too!" She hung up the call.
As she tossed her phone back to the couch, she realized she was still naked so she went back to Scaramouche's room. When she entered it, the man was already dressed and scrolling through his phone while sitting on his bed.
"My friend is coming to pick me up. I need to get dressed," she said as she started picking up her dress and underwear from the floor, putting them back on.
"You should probably go wash your face, your makeup is all smudged."
Looking in the mirror that decorated one of his bedroom walls, she could see how what he had said was indeed true so she entered his on-suite and quickly washed her face, making sure no remnants of smudged makeup remained.
"Do I look better now? I don't want my friend to ask any… questions."
"You look fine. Do you want me to walk you out?" he suggested
"Yeah sure."
Once he got up, she followed him into the living room and grabbed her phone and purse, stuffing the cellular device into it. Then they walked to the door.
"Goodbye Mona," he said as she now stood on the outside of his apartment.
A goodbye. Not a see you soon. An intention of not keeping contact.
It kinda freaked Mona out how nonchalant he looked as he bid her goodbye. She could understand why, but it was still a bit weird to her. He was acting as if nothing happened between them.
"Goodbye Scaramouche."
And so she left the building and waited for her friend.
Soon enough, she saw the familiar white car with the even more familiar blonde in the driver's seat.
The moment Mona got inside, the urge to remain silent intensified as her best friend looked at her with a worried look. Maybe even pitiful.
"Lumi, please don't give me that look, I'm fine."
"If you must know, I punched him in the face. That jerk had it coming," Lumine informed as she began driving away.
Mona chuckled. "Thank you."
As Scaramouche's building left her line of sight, Mona frowned. She understood that all that happened between them was just revenge sex, but she couldn't help but want to know him better.
"So," Lumine started. "Aren't you gonna tell me what happened after you left the party and whose house it is you stayed at?"
"I just began walking home but got caught in the rain and a guy let me… sleep at his house." She wouldn't add any more details. Just the thought of what happened last night was enough to make her cheeks rosy.
"You just stayed at a random guy's house?! Do you know how dangerous that is? Did he try anything?"
Mona shook her head and remained silent for the rest of the ride. She really didn't want her friend to know she had sex with a complete stranger that was somehow connected to her through mutual… people.
She wondered if she would ever meet him again.