Chapter Text
"Okay, so we’re done with discussing presents for your brothers, but you totally have to get something for your sister, too!"
"Yeah, I’ve already been thinking about it," Childe nodded at Yoimiya’s enthusiastic chatter. The amount of energy sealed in that small body of hers could seriously rival some of the biggest and fiercest Fatui soldiers he knew.
And this one truly could talk.
"Let’s see... I've heard Ogura Mio has just received a new batch of silk. She might have come up with some new kimono designs. But do you still remember what size your sister wears?"
"Lemme think for a second," the man scratched his chin, "I've bought clothes for her plenty of times before..."
The two once again found themselves in Chinju Forest, though the kids they played with were long since gone, scooped by their parents and taken home. It was a bit sad Ajax’s rare leisure time came to such an abrupt end, but on the other hand, it was a miracle he even had opportunities to relax and goof around given his occupation.
People like Yoimiya, who refused to judge him by the rumours alone were few and far in between, so he had to admit – it was lucky that out of all the residents of Inazuma "the scary Tartaglia" stumbled upon someone so open in particular.
And it helped him stumble upon someone else, too.
The pyro girl reached out and waved in front of Childe’s face, startling him.
"Hello, is anyone in there?"
"What?" He blinked, snapping out of his thoughts.
Yoimiya crossed her arms, however the blonde's expression was far from angry – rather she wore an annoyingly smug smile. One that spelt trouble. In capital letters.
"Aren’t you awfully distracted today."
"That’s—" Ajax reflexively wanted to deny, but stopped himself mid-sentence. There was no point defending such an obvious blunder. To let his mind wander like that in the middle of the conversation... Pulcinella would whack him across the head if he heard about it. "—Not entirely incorrect."
In Childe’s defence, the Harbinger could flawlessly repeat every word that left Yoimiya’s mouth for the last couple of minutes, it’s just that while listening his eyes tended to stray a bit to the right, intently watching if maybe possibly perhaps another person would emerge from behind the trees.
One dressed in white and with shiny golden hair sparkling even stronger than usual amidst the fairy lights of Chinju Forest.
"It’s a shame we didn’t really have that much time to talk with Lu when she dropped by."
"Yeah..." he agreed somewhat wistfully, not at all surprised Yoimiya figured him out so easily. This Inazuman girl was an exceptionally sharp fellow. "She’s always running somewhere."
Constantly stays in motion relentlessly chasing her goal and never looks back. It was something Childe admired in Lumine, albeit wouldn’t it be nice if she sometimes slowed down for a second?
Though... Am I really one to talk?
"What is the deal with you two, anyway?" Yoimiya probed resting her hands on her hips – a pose awfully similar to his mother’s and very effective in obtaining information.
Childe averted his eyes.
"Deal? There’s no deal."
Sometimes they were enemies, sometimes they were allies. Mostly rivals, rarely travelling companions, and more often than not, just— "Comrades. We’re just comrades."
"But what does that mean, exactly?"
That... He wasn’t entirely sure of, either.
She was someone who would watch his back in battle and then patch him up afterwards. A 'sister in arms' who fought for an entirely different cause, and maybe one day would end up pointing her glistening sword at his throat.
Maybe I’ll have to do that, too.
But for now, Lumine was his comrade. No more, no less, only as much and so much. And it had to be enough.
"Well," Yoimiya shrugged and craned her neck, glancing past the Harbinger’s shoulder, "I can always just ask Lumi."
"Yeah right, sis, there’s no way I’m gonna fall—"
But then a familiar presence tingled his senses. A warm soothing golden aura that was impossible to miss. The man whirled on his heel and there she was: the unsuspecting object of their conversation, waving at them while climbing up the hill.
"Hi, Lumine!" Yoimiya squeezed the blonde in a rib-crushing hug as soon as she approached and glanced at Childe. "Is this what it means to 'wywołać wilka z lasu?'" The girl struggled a bit with the foreign pronunciation but managed a pretty good accent.
"What?" Lumi blinked, stepping back from the enthusiastic embrace.
"It’s an old Snezhnayan saying," the Harbinger explained wryly, glaring at Yoimiya. "It means to 'call the wolf out of the forest.'"
The girl’s eyes narrowed.
"And I’m the wolf in this analogy?" She looked at the two archers and... Childe couldn’t help but notice there was something slightly off about the blonde. She almost appeared dissatisfied. Did their little joke get on her nerves that much? But Lumi never seemed like an overly stuck-up person. "If I’m interrupting anything, I can just go—"
"No no no!" Yoimiya clutched Lumine’s arm as if her life depended on it! Perhaps it did? You could notice she instantly regretted the tease that apparently missed its mark by miles and maybe that’s why she decided to throw the poor Fatuus a bone. Her maiden's heart and a stash of romance novels hidden under her futon demanded an intervention! "It means we were just talking about you, because we could really use a second opinion, right?"
"Opinion?" Lumi questioned, not entirely convinced.
"On what Tartaglia should buy for his sister, of course!" The pyro girl good-naturedly smacked him on the back.
Ooof!
...and definitely forgot to measure her strength.
"Oh." The blonde’s face immediately transformed. Gone was the earlier pout replaced with a look of unexpected nostalgia; a layer of sadness lurking underneath. "So you’re going back to Snezhnaya?"
"Yeah, my... work here is almost done. The ship I’ll be leaving on will arrive in just a few days and it’ll be finally my turn to go home."
Now that Ajax thought about it, it truly was a while since he last saw the shores of Morepesok.
He will be able to check how dad was doing, taste mom’s cooking again, get a big hug from Tonia and his brothers might even—
Ah. Brother.
Childe's expression softened.
You’re waiting for that moment too, aren’t you? When you will find your beloved twin and return home... wherever that is.
Probably way outside anyone’s reach.
"So~!" Yoimiya clapped her hands, snapping the two out of the awkward mood. "I suggested a kimono. It’s an Inazuman speciality so it should work perfectly as a souvenir, don’t you think?"
"That’s true," Lumine nodded with a small smile. "It’s such a unique type of clothing, any girl would love it. Though," she hummed crossing her arms, "putting it on is more complicated than you might think."
"Have you tried it on?" Childe asked, surprised. Lumi rarely replaced her white dress with... anything for that matter. The only time he saw her in something else was when he randomly dropped by her teapot and she was already in her nightclothes – some comfortable shorts and a slightly oversized shirt.
The Harbinger swallowed. That was a sight he didn’t need to remember at this particular moment, life was already challenging enough.
"Yeah, Ayaka once talked me into it," Lumine admitted, sheepishly scratching her cheek.
"What?! Awwww I can’t believe she didn’t invite me over!" Yoimiya complained visibly disappointed. "But well, since you already have some experience, how about you help Tartaglia choose the pattern?"
"Me?!"
Lumine took an involuntary half-step back, like a startled animal ready to bolt.
"I just remembered I promised Iwao to help him with his homework tonight, and I somehow don’t trust this guy’s"—Yoi pointed at Childe—"fashion sense. We can’t have the little girl cry, can we?"
"That’s true—"
"Hey!" The Harbinger huffed, slightly offended. His fashion sense was impeccable, thank you very much!
"—but it’s not like I know a lot about these things either."
Not that Childe cared, in all honesty. He glanced at Yoimiya. If this was her way of apologising, he was more than willing to let all the previous teasing slide, at least for today.
The man flicked Lumi on the forehead.
"Stop doing that!" She puffed her cheeks rubbing the sore spot and Ajax grinned.
"Mean comment aside, comrade, Tonia would love it if you were to choose her gift. She constantly asks about 'the Golden Traveller' in her letters so you would absolutely make her day with this."
"But... Argghhh what did you write about me in these letters exactly? And why?" The pressure of potentially disappointing a pure sweet child was hard to withstand, yes. And Lumine was slowly caving.
"Only the truth, I’m sure," the fireworks maker snorted. "Come on, girl! Saving the world starts with little good deeds."
"But I’m not trying to save the world," Lumi muttered grumpily, yet eventually sighed like a martyr and tuned back to Childe. Refrained from meeting his eyes, though. "I still have some photo commissions to do, but... We can maybe go look around the stores after I’m done? If you’re okay with waiting, I mean." She finally shyly glanced up.
And just a moment. Were the mystical lights of Chinju Forest playing tricks on Ajax or was Lumine blushing?
Shit.
Shit shit shit!
He felt blood rushing to his own cheeks and like an idiot couldn’t do anything to stop it.
Yoimiya only shook her head. Awkward teenagers and an old married couple – she was right on her money with that assessment, wasn’t she? And they thought they were so sneaky. For Archons' sake, even a child would see through their prideful façade and notice the fondness lying underneath!
Though being a third wheel wasn't actually that fun.
"Okay you two, I better not keep Iwao waiting. And you Lumi – don't be a stranger next time you visit Inazuma, okay? Be sure to drop by the Naganohara Fireworks whenever you’re around. I’m looking forward to hearing aaaaall about your newest adventures!" The pyro girl grinned and glanced at Tartaglia. “Though I have to say... It’s amazing you have so many friends from all over the world. I’m a bit jealous."
Lumine snorted.
"It’s only because I’m always travelling."
At least that was partially correct. This girl having absolutely no awareness of her own charm was another matter.
However, Ajax didn’t have the time or mind to dwell on that particular sentiment.
Did she just confirm we’re... friends?
And so openly too.
Taken aback, the man couldn’t at all focus on the conversation and Yoimiya’s chattiness was by no means helping.
Friends.
Actually, why didn’t he answer just that when Yoi asked him her question earlier? And why was it making him feel as if he both won and lost something at the same time?
Friends.
He didn’t know a lot of people deserving to be called that, but Lumine... It suddenly hit Childe that if anything, she was the most important friend in his life. Someone who saw him at his craziest, at his lowest and at his weakest and still agreed to go shopping with him as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Friends.
No... It was more of a win, after all.
"You’re so lucky. I would travel all across Teyvat too if I had the chance," Yoimiya mused dreamily, but quickly regained her spirits in a very Yoimiya-like fashion. "Anyway! Now I really gotta run. Have fun you two! I hope you’ll find the most amazing kimono in all of Inazuma." And proving that wasn’t a figure of speech, the girl sprinted away disappearing from their sight in mere seconds.
A bundle of energy, that one was.
Not able to withstand the sudden silence Childe nudged Lumine, not taking his eyes off the horizon.
"So that's what we are? Friends?"
She crossed her arms.
"It pains me to admit it but... aren't we?"
"You're asking me? I asked you first."
"But you're the one being all weird about it."
"Well..." He chuckled. "But I’m not gonna stop calling you comrade, you know that right?"
"And I’m not gonna stop calling you a slimy Fatui, don’t worry."
"Ah~!" Ajax put his hand on his chest. "The affection hidden behind your words fills my heart with joy~"
The girl stomped the Harbinger's foot in retaliation, "Shut up," though you could see how her lips twitched as she fought to suppress a smile.
"So..." Lumine trailed off, feeling slightly self-conscious, "how did you two meet?"
"Aren’t you a curious one~! Or maybe... jealous?"
"W-W-What?!" Lumi spluttered, taking a step back. "I am not! You can do whatever you like with whoever you like, I don’t care—"
"Okay okay, stop." Laughing, Childe caught her hand preventing the blonde from angrily tramping away. "And to answer your question: I was trying to catch an Onikabuto for Teucer, saved a kid in trouble and he led me to Yoimiya."
"So it was a fateful encounter?"
"Hmmm more like a lucky coincidence."
What he would consider fate, a once-in-a-million chance made up of the countless tiny decisions that could have easily led him to a different place was a scene in Liyue, not Inazuma. When a dead god fell from the sky and a certain blonde got caught in the middle of this mess.
"Let’s say I will believe you. And"—Lumi tried to shake off his hand—"you can let go now, I’m not gonna run."
But Childe had another idea.
"Nope~!"
He intertwined their fingers and as if nothing had happened started walking down the road, dragging the girl with him.
"H-Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!"
"I’m fairly new to Inazuma, so obviously you need to make sure I don’t get lost. And this," he lifted their joined hands and waved them, "seems like the perfect solution to prevent it from happening."
Lumine remained quiet for a moment, but then:
"Fine." She begrudgingly returned his squeeze and Ajax’s heart almost jumped out of his chest. "It’s only because I need to keep an eye on you."
"Sure, whatever you say, comrade."
"And just so you know, you’re going in the wrong direction," she deadpanned.
The Harbinger stumbled, redness already colouring his ears "What?!"
"We need to go that way." Lumi pointed north. "Paimon should have already scouted our next photo spot. After we’re done, we can go look at the kimonos so better prepare your wallet, they’re not a cheap thing," the girl teased.
Yet his reaction was far from the man’s usual boasting.
"Ahh, yeah... The snacks, the toys, and now a kimono – I have to make sure I have enough Mora for all of this."
Lumine blinked.
"Since when does the great Tartaglia have to count his money? What happened to your ultimate Fatui funding?"
"Let’s say Pantalone got pissed after he got the bills from Sumeru." He side-eyed Lumi. "Not that you know anything about that, hmm?"
"Me? Nooo~" The blonde laughed and Childe could only shake his head.
That cheeky smug girl..! Why exactly did he like her so much?
But that was the truth: he did like her. A lot. Even though they stood on opposing sides of a much bigger conflict. Seeing Lumi so relaxed and carefree, walking together hand in hand, bickering like idiots – it simply made him happy. More than he ever expected. Who could have thought that the company of another person, the right person, could be so pleasant? Enchanting like magic.
Ahhh wouldn’t it be nice if I could just kidnap you home?