Chapter Text
They told him to look for the young knight with a golden long braided ponytail.
And he finds him, gracefully moving through the multitude with light steps, as if carried by the wind.
The fly misses the spider as it steps into his parlour.
“Are you leaving?”
The traveler stops his attempt to chomp in a juicy stick of meat, looking at Childe from below, on a comfortable spot in one of the gardens near the terrace.
“The Adventurers' Guild asked me to do a series of tasks along the way from Liyue to Mondstadt. One after another.”
“We are used to doing a couple of tasks a day but we fond out is faster if we just go through all of them!” Paimon adds, floating next to the traveler. “We are getting a huge amount of Moras for this once we are done!”
“Oh.” Childe laughs nervously, scratching the back of his head. "So you're leaving for real..." The order was to keep an eye on the knight and act when it was the time; for that to happen he couldn’t be apart from the traveler. However, forcing his presence into him would definitely raise suspicions. “You will return, right?”
“Of course!” the traveler looks at the sky with determination, “We aren’t leaving until we find out what happened to Rex Lapis.” he then looks back at Childe, his gaze softer as he continues. “But we won’t be around for at least two weeks.”
“So long?!”
Paimon looks at the traveler and then to Childe, whose face quickly becomes redder as he realizes his reaction was a bit over the top.
“I see, Childe is going to miss us, right?” she laughs, then crossing her arms, “I see, I see. Well, you could come with us!”
A hand flies to grab Paimon's arm and pulling her away, “Paimon!” the traveler rushes to cut, whispering on her ear. “Do you really want to be alone with a Fatui agent?” he knits his eyebrows together, "You know I don't completely trust this guy."
“But he has been kind to us and is helping us a lot since Rex Lapis was attacked! It’s thanks to him that we even meet Mister Zhongli.” Paimon reminds him, then adds in a lower voice “And don’t forget we own him a lot of money. All we have been doing since we arrive is take and not giving at all, do you really want to owe him something?”
The traveler pales, suddenly remembering how kind the Northland Bank had been with them, and by association, how kind Childe had been with them as well. He couldn’t trust him in the slightlest, being a Fatui, but couldn’t deny they owed him enough money to buy a land in liyue. And at the end of the day, it was safer to keep his friends close and his enemies closer.
“We can split the reward!” Aether offers quickly with a spark on his eyes. “We can give you the 30%! What do you say?”
Childe looks into his eyes, surprised by the offer, not because it was a good one (it wasn’t), but by the fact he agreed to take him with them. He remembers of the Fatuit, his mission and the titillation in his fingers every time Aether is near to him. Such a dangerous cocktail.
A smile pulls from his lips. “Alright.”
Zhongli stares at him, settling his cup of tea down. “Are you going together?”
“I have free time now and if I give him a hand he can finish faster.” Childe picks up his bag, throwing it over his shoulder; he looks around, trying to remember if he is forgetting something. “Once we are done we'll be back, we still need to finish our investigation of what happened with Rex Lapis.”
“Sure.” Zhongli offers a hand. “Take care of each other.”
Childe smiles and takes it, noticing the strength on the man’s grip; almost as if he wanted to let go. He chuckles and tilts his head, “What’s wrong, sensei?”
“It’s nothing.” Zhongli loosens his grip as a smile spread on his face. “I hope you both come back soon; we can all have dinner together once again.”
“Of course! I still need to learn how to use chopsticks though.” he waves a hand and turns on his heels, walking towards the door. Zhongli's last words barely reach his ears as he pronounces them once he is out of the restaurant.
“Be gentle.”
To their misfortune: It starts raining as soon as they leave the Liyue's harbor.
Of course, they intent to continue moving, avoiding hilichurls camps to save time, but the heavy rain makes harder for them to move, their feet sticking in the mud and the weight of their own clothes being a trouble. Climbing up the mountains to save time becomes imposible with the rain as Childe slips, almost falling down a cliff; they stick to walking after that, but a few hours later decide they couldn't keep going with that weather.
“Why did it have to rain as soon as we left?” Paimon asks to the sky, shaking her small fists. “Now we need to find where to hide...”
Child finds amusing how quickly they find the perfect hollow tree to shelter from the rain: tall and spacious enough to fit the three of them inside.
“You are good at this.”
“We are used to finding places to shelter.” Aether sighs heavily, soaking from head to toes as he steps inside. “Ugh, I’m wet.”
“Why don’t we try looking for a cave?” Childe suggests, watching the traveler squeeze his long hair, getting rid of the excess of water.
“Enemies are always waiting for travelers who hide in those kinds of places. It's too obvious at this point.” He realizes Childe barely bothered by the water and suposses it's because of his own vision. “We wouldn’t be able to properly rest if we need to look out for enemies all the time.”
“As expected of the honorary knight.” Childe is honestly amused by the experience those two have; just how much he has traveled? he always gave this young vibe but seemed to have experience.
“Don’t you travel a lot?”
“The fatui aren't allowed to travel this way, we usually stay under a roof. Most of the time by renting a room in an inn or hotel.” Childe picks a lock of his own hair, noticing his hair was wet as well. “But I guess there is no point in going back to the harbor now, we should only wait for the rain to pass, right?”
Both Aether and Paimon glare at Childe, burning with envy, “He is loaded .” they muther under their breaths.
Childe laughs at their gazes and rests his chin in the palm of his hand, studying their companions as they try to dry themselves as much as they could. Paimon trembles because of the cold weather but Aether doesn’t really seem bothered at all depsite his lack of clothing. “Your are really wet.”
“Nothing I can do. I don’t have a change of clothes right now.” Aether takes off his cape and rests his back on the crust of the three, with Paimon floating next to him. “Let’s hope tomorrow is a sunny day and we can dry them.”
“We just have to cuddle together to keep each other warm and we will be okay.” Paimon gets comfortable on her spot, right next to the traveler. Childe realizes they probably slept together all the time to keep each other warm. “If we weren’t inside a tree we could light up a bonfire. That's the only good thing about caves!”
“It’s fine~ We are okay like this.” Aether crosses his arms and throws a gaze to Childe. “Aren’t you cold?”
“Nope! I’m just fine!” Childe says, then sneezes; he rubs his nose with the back of his hand, face getting warmer. “Haha, I spoke too soon.”
Paimon whispers something to Aether, who nods his head and then stares at childe before getting on four and crawling towards him. Childe blinks several times as he halves the minimum distance between them and stops right in front of him.
"What's wrong?"
“Open your legs.”
Color rises to his cheeks. “...Pardon me?” Childe stutters, "My--My legs?"
The traveler pushes his hair behind his shoulder, rolling his eyes. “So I can sit in the middle and we can keep each other warm.” he puts a hand on his knee. “Open up now.”
“Uh .”
As Aether takes a sit between his legs, pressing his back against his chest, Childe remembers his home, a country cold and covered in snow; he thinks of the mountains, the ice, the lack of sunlight, everything that made his teeth chatter and bones tremble in order to keep his mind sane as he feels the body of Aether against him. It really, really, rises his body temperature.
“Is it better?” Aether asks, looking up at Childe through thick eyelashes; there is a smile on his face, his own cheeks a bit redder. “See? You have warmed up already.”
Ears burning red, Childe barely can jerk his head in affirmation. His mouth runs dry just after meeting those golden eyes of the color of the sun.
It doesn’t take long for the traveler and his little friend to fall asleep, enjoying the body heat of his much larger companion. Childe, on the other hand, stays up, restless as he isn’t sure of what to do with himself, specially where to put his hands. The last time he slept with someone it was his little brother back at home. They would cuddle all the time in their bed, watching the snow fall. Now it feels so different, much less innocent.
“...Aether?” he calls at some point, just to make sure he is asleep. When an answer doesn’t come to him, he rests a hand over his shoulder, slowly going up to his neck, barely touching.
And stares at him.
That’s all he has been doing since they met; since he saw him for the first time the day of the Rite of Descension. His hair flying on the wind, his steps light but firm, the sun bathing his figure, the tinkle of his earrings. Aether gave such an etheral vibe, of someone who has seen too much and at the same time knows too little about the world. Maybe it was his humble nature but, didn't he realize that appearance could attract dangerous people? Or that having such a free soul could awake the possesive side of someone who longed to keep his light for himself? That happened to him, making his stomach flip and fingers ache, his mind filling with his image. Then he found out Aether was more than a mere desire, but his prey.
“I could take your life right now.” Childe whispers, his fingers slowly wrapping around his neck. Of course, Aether doesn't wae up. His breath quickens the more he looks at Aether’s sleepy face; the blonde curled eyelashes, cheeks slightly flushed and thin lips. He unconsciously licks his own as he imagines the taste; just what sounds would come out of those peach colored lips if the hand around his neck squeezed tightly? When the air left his lungs, would his pink lips turned blue? He would love to drink from the sounds coming from that mouth, and taking in his last breath all for himself.
“This is bad.” he whispers to himself, letting go and throwing his head back, squeezing his eyes close. After a moment he gently wraps his arms around him, careful not to wake him up, and sinks his nose in the blonde’s hair. He takes a deep breath, the smell going right through his spine. “God .” How incredibly hard it had been not to show any emotion, any honest reaction; his mind was always full with Aether, of his body, of his soul and the unspeakable things he wanted to do to him.
“Oh, Tsaritsa, forgive me.” he pleads in silence, the heat of the body between his arms making his muscles melt, the strength leaving his body. “For wanting him so badly.”
The next day, Childe wakes up with empty arms.
“Aether?” he rushes to get up and hits his head, only then remembering he is still inside of a hollow three. “Ouch .”
He gets out and rubs his head, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. The sunlight caresses his face and he smiles, noticing the sky is clear, not a single cloud. “He was right, it's a sunny day.”
Following the steps on the dirt he arrives to a small lagoon with clear waters where he quickly spots the traveler, staring at the calm waters.
“Aether!” he calls and strolls to the shore to meet him. “Good morning!”
“Ah, good morning.” The traveler greets as he brings his hand to his top and slowly pulls it over head.
That manages to make Childe stop his tracks.
“W-What are you doing?” he asks, feeling his face getting warmer.
“Taking off my clothes.” Aether says, dropping his top to the floor, hands then going to his pants and pulling down.
Childe turns on his soles immediately, giving his back to him. “ Why are you doing that?!”
“To take a bath and let my clothes dry in the sun." he explains, finishing taking everything off and leaving it over a patch of dry grass. “You should do the same.
“What? No!” Childe quickly cuts, looking at his feet. “I’m fine! I didn’t get too wet.”
“Are you sure? You should at least take a bath. The water is nice and clean here!”
The splash of the water comes to Childe, making it even harder for him to concentrate as he pictures the slim figure getting inside the lagoon. He saw too much skin in the few seconds Aether took his top off, the mental image of his pink nipples burning his retina.
“I’m fine, I’m fine~” he shyly looks over his shoulder, finding Aether already inside the water, washing his face.
“If you say so.” The traveler untangles his long braid, letting his hair cascade over his naked back. “But let me tell you,” he looks at him over his shoulder with playfully eyes, the edges of his lips curving up. “You stink a little.” he finishes, wrinkling his nose before turning his back to him again.
Childe’s knees tremble and he crouches on the floor, hiding his burning face on his crossed arms.
It is just their first day traveling together.