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Mondays were drab, tiring, and just downright stressful. A lot of things happened on Mondays: students had to find the energy to power through the rest of the week, while teachers started new lessons and that meant more homework to be due on Friday. To Lumine, there were very few Mondays that stood out to her, and this was one of them.
Roses and chocolates were the first things that greeted her when she opened her locker. First of all, how did someone even get into her locker? Second, it wasn’t even Valentine’s Day yet. The bright pink and red hues were perfect for the holiday, not for random Mondays.
She cautiously took the bouquet into her hands, trying to find space for them and her actual school items. The chocolates were next, and the girl decided that both gifts would be stuffed in the extra space at the bottom of her locker. The poor roses would be squished, but it was better than carrying it around all day.
With all the extra things she had to do, it was no wonder that students began to crowd around her. Aether had finished organizing his own locker as well, giving him time to gape at hers.
“Lumi, what the heck,” he breathed, pushing past the others to grab the chocolates. He turned the box in his hands, trying to find a name or any indication of who it might be from. “I didn’t know you had a secret admirer.”
“I hope they don’t stay a ‘secret’ for too long,” she huffed, taking the box back. Lumine pushed the steel door, locking it even when it was threatening to burst. “I’m very flattered, but I’m also concerned.”
“Me too. Concerned for when I kick their ass,” Aether muttered, helping her push the door down. Most of their friends started to stream in, and Amber was the first one to notice the twins.
“Good morning, Aether, Lumi! Woah, your locker seems full. Projects?” the brunette asked, a worrying frown on her face. Lumine sighed, slightly opening the door to let her have a peek. Amber gasped, a smile blossoming on her face. “No way! Prom’s soon, too!”
Prom. All it took her was one word for everything to click in her head. Unfortunately, Aether was the first one to speak up. “Prom? So, like, this is all an elaborate promposal?”
“Ridiculous,” Lumine retorted, hooking the lock around the steel box again. “I don’t really know anyone who would do this, and they could just ask.”
“But it’s more romantic this way!” Amber insisted. The twins swore they could see sparkles in her eyes as her imagination came to life. “Didn’t you say there was this guy in Math class who —”
“Amber, no,” Lumine hissed, a furious blush on her cheeks. Aether crossed his arms, glancing between the two of them with suspicion. “He won’t like me, also he’s not my type.”
“Not your type?! Didn’t you say something about how his scarf looked cool or something—”
“Amber!”
“Okay, now I’m really curious,” Aether interjected. Both girls turned back to look at him with different expressions. Amber was being smug and playful, while Lumine looked like she would erupt anytime soon. “Who, exactly, is this guy in your Math class with a ‘cool scarf’?”
“No one,” Lumine answered, patting her cheeks as the first bell of the day rang. “He doesn’t exist.”
“Are you calling me a liar, Lumi?” Amber pouted, looping her arms around hers as she tugged them to their classroom. The two girls waved at her twin brother before the brunette giggled. “Aren’t you feeling a little bit hopeful that it’s Childe?”
“No,” she answered a little too quickly. Math was their third period of the day, and that meant plenty of time to calm herself until then. It didn’t mean she couldn’t start now, though. “What about… Kaeya? He seems like the type to do that.”
“Wasn’t he saying something about being ‘single’ to ‘not break any hearts’ before we graduated?” Amber raised an eyebrow, immediately refuting Lumine. She groaned, pleading for her friend to stop.
“Well, this person’s nice enough to do this for me,” she said. “I suppose I’ll talk to them first before turning them down?”
Amber only giggled, muttering something about ‘the lucky person.’
That was three hours ago, and the third period rolled in. The first two were uneventful, but Amber had to leave her (with Childe) and see her again for lunch. Lumine would face the next few periods on her own, vulnerable to any revelations along the way.
She still had to deal with her insufferable seatmate, though.
“Hey, ojou-chan,” Childe poked her, snapping her out of her thoughts. He had an amused grin plastered on his face, a question already on the tip of his tongue. “I heard you’ve got a secret admirer.”
“So it’s not you?” Lumine perked up, causing the guy to snicker.
“Why? Did you hope it was me?” he snickered. She rolled her eyes at him, turning back to the lesson at hand. As if that wasn’t a strong enough signal, he continued. “Do you want to know who it is? I could tell you right now.”
Oh, right. Childe was a person of information within their school. Lumine’s heart thrummed in her chest, feeling a tad bit disappointed for some reason, but also nervous.
“It’s fine,” she dismissed. Revealing the mystery person would ruin the surprise they had worked so hard to keep. She didn’t want to do that to them. “They deserve to be the one to tell me.”
He hummed in acknowledgment, nodding his head. “That’s right. Wouldn’t be fun if I spoiled you now, huh?”
The gifts went on for the whole week.
On Tuesday, they gave her a whale plush. Attached to one of its fins was a starconch, as well as a printed card telling her not to worry. About what, she didn’t know.
On Wednesday, her locker was left alone, but one of the nicer lunch ladies presented her with one of her favorite dishes. The matsutake meat rolls filled her with warmth for the whole day.
On Thursday, Lumine was given a necklace with her first-name initial engraved on a heart. It was simple and cute, perfect for everyday-wear. The box it came in had another printed letter, telling her to meet with them on the rooftop after dismissal tomorrow. She kept wearing the necklace under her uniform after that.
On Friday, she was ready to meet the secret benefactor and mastermind behind all this.
There weren’t any gifts or surprise meals for her that day, but Childe could feel the joy radiating off her in waves. He poked her cheek with a pen, grinning when she turned to him with a pout.
“Happy today, ojou-chan?” he asked. Lumine huffed, but she relented and turned her head in his direction.
“Yes,” she admitted, giggling in her seat like a lovestruck schoolgirl. Wait, she was one. “Turns out I didn’t need your help to find out who it is.”
“Ooh, she already knows who it is then,” Childe said in a sing-song voice. She gently hit him with the back of her hand, keeping her voice down so their teacher wouldn’t notice.
“I don’t know why I’m telling you this but,” she paused. He leaned in closer, humoring her stance. They looked so shady, all hunched over like this, but Lumine was too giddy to care. “I’m gonna meet them later! Don’t barge in, okay?”
“You wound me, ojou-chan,” he smiled, patting her shoulder. “What makes you think I’ll barge in?”
“It just sounds like something you’d do,” she pouted. “I’ll tell you about it next week if you keep it a secret. Only If it goes well.”
“Very well, ojou-chan. I look forward to your story.” And with that, both of them focused their attention on class again. The Math teacher was frowning at them, but they still continued with the lesson.
Even at lunch, Amber could sense the giddiness her friend was trying to keep under the wraps. “Lumiii, I know you’re secretly excited to meet them. Don’t you have any guesses?”
“I don’t want to,” Lumine smiled, playing with the necklace she was wearing. The heart was flat, which meant she could pinch it between her thumb and forefinger easily. It was already starting to become a habit, too.
“Aww, you really wanna keep yourself on your toes until the reveal, don’t you?” Amber teased. Aether could only scowl, shoving another bite of his chicken-mushroom skewers in his mouth. “Look, your brother is excited too!”
“Like hell I am,” he muttered. The twin brother raised his hand before Lumine could scold him about speaking with his mouth full. “Amber said you were gonna accept the proposal.”
“Um, I’d at least hear them out,” Lumine offered. “They’ve done a lot of nice things, you know.”
“They’re probably just some rich guy who’s only doing this for clout,” he argued. “The whole school’s talking, and not just the people in our year.”
“Hey! That’s not very nice,” Amber reprimanded Aether as he rolled his eyes. The brunette turned to Lumine with puppy-eyes. “You will tell us who it is, right? I mean, if it’s okay.”
“Yes, Amber. I’ll tell you, but you have to restrain Aeth if he becomes too much.” Lumine placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, softly laughing at her expression. Her cheeks were colored pink. She had been trying to imagine who it was while her friends were bickering, but nothing truly came to mind except for one person…
Aether grunted in response. He hadn’t really done anything that needed actual restraining yet, but she wasn’t going to take any chances.
It was a long four hours until dismissal, and Amber had to wish her good luck. Lumine stopped herself from bounding up the stairs, toying with the necklace as she calmly walked up the stairs.
She was grinning when she opened the doors to the rooftop, but it easily fell from her face when she recognized Childe’s form. He had his back turned to her, watching the city below. Betrayal pooled in her gut, and before she could think, she angrily marched to him.
“Childe!” Lumine seethed. He turned around, beaming at her, but he was only met with small blows to his chest. “You said you wouldn’t come up and ruin the surprise! Where’s the person now?”
“I didn’t promise you that,” he said, earning even more punches from the girl. They were starting to hurt, too. Childe winced and raised his hands in surrender. “Calm down! Lumine, it’s me. It’s always been me.”
“I —What? This just sounds like one of your very elaborate pranks,” Lumine grumbled. Her punches had receded, but she was still pinning him to place with one of her glares. “Tell me the truth, or else I’ll ask to be moved away from you during Math!”
His eyes widened. “You don’t need to do that. Wait, look here,” Childe pulled a card from one of his jacket pockets. It was small, but she could still see the words printed onto them. No, not printed. Handwritten.
On the pale pink card were the words, ‘Would you go to prom with me?’ and a miniature drawing of a whale with two starconches that formed a heart. The animal looked out of place, but it made a lot more sense if it was from him.
“Did—” The words were stuck in her throat, but she still tried her best. “Did you draw the whale?”
“Yeah. I made the plushie, too.”
“You can sew?” she asked, her cheeks reddening with every admission Childe made. “Don’t tell me you can make jewelry now, too.”
“Hah, that one was a commission,” he laughed, petting her head fondly. “What else do you wish to ask, ojou-chan? Maybe that’ll help you with deciding.”
Lumine paused, coming back to her senses as she remembered why they were there. She squirmed in her spot, letting him pat her while her face was contorted into a pout. “Did you really have to ask me like this? Is this… ah, what was Aether’s term? For clout?”
“For clout ?” Childe repeated in indignation. His face was scrunched up in distaste. Something about it was cute, not that she’d ever let him know that. “What makes you think I want fame or anything else?”
“Nothing. He just warned me about it,” she confessed. “Do you mean this? Everything?”
Lumine did say she would hear him out, and so she would. But first, she’d like an explanation for why her , of all people, and why with extravagant gifts like that. Maybe not extravagant, but still a little too much for a simple promposal.
“Yes, Lumine,” he answered, already sounding a little exasperated, but the smile was still present. “You’re such a good Math partner, too, letting me copy off your homework—”
“If that’s it, I’m leaving,” she hit him with one of her own jokes, amused with how quick Childe faltered. She would’ve liked it if she could watch it a little longer, but he was always one to keep his cool.
“If you’re leaving, I’ll be very broken-hearted,” he told her. “Honestly? You really are a good friend. Especially when you actually respond to my invitations for coffee dates.”
“Those are actually study dates,” Lumine corrected. The mistake in her wording wasn’t apparent to her until Childe snickered, looking away from her briefly.
“See, they are dates,” he replied, narrowly avoiding another hit from her. “What do you say, ojou-chan? Would you humour me and go with me to the prom?”
“Yes, you dork,” she said, taking the card from his hand. There wasn’t a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on it, but she pressed a kiss on the whale and handed it back to him. She relished in watching him blush. It was so rare to see that familiar pink hue on his own face instead of his conversation partner, so Lumine took pride in making him flustered like that.
“Why’d you have to go and do that?” he asked, but he still pulled her to his side as he pressed a kiss to her head. “Great. Now we’re equal.”
“That’s—that’s not—”
Childe laughed, not at all minding her soft hits on his arm. Lumine was flustered, and she acted all annoyed, but nothing could have wiped the bright smile off her face at that moment.