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As a traveler of many worlds, there were many customs Lumine had come in contact with. Some more interesting then others. There were worlds in which every full moon was celebrated with song and dance, worlds where during the driest of summers there would be rituals followed to beg the gods for rain, and worlds with much more… mundane sorts of things, like worlds with yearly holidays. Lumine was used to learning and participating in these new things, as she and Aether had done so many a time.
Often, they would look for ways to bring traditions they enjoyed from other worlds with them as they went. Since it had always just been the two of them, they were always looking for new things to incorporate into their travels.
Now that Aether was missing, however, Lumine was stuck. This wasn't an uncommon feeling for her anymore. Since Aether had been ripped away from her, Lumine had felt completely lost in this strange world looking for him. With the time of year changing slowly, though, she found herself missing him a little more than normal. And with all the talk of an upcoming celebration, she longed for someone to share it with for the first time.
"You mean you've really never heard of Valentine's?" Barbara asked her, putting the finishing touches on the bandage. Lumine flexed her hand, testing the waters. Good as new, as usual. Barbara's healing was second to none in Mondstadt. "I'm surprised nobody mentioned it to you! I know you're not from here, but it's a very popular holiday."
Slowly, she shook her head. "Nope," she said, popping the p a little harder then necessary. If her friend noticed, she didn't say anything. "What's it for?" Trying to cheer herself up, she imagined surprising her twin when they inevitably reunited with all sorts of new traditions to follow. He would be glad for it, hopefully.
Barbara grinned at her widely, a small dusting of pink appearing on her cheeks. When she looked like that, it wasn't hard to imagine how she'd become Mondstadt's favorite. "It's a holiday to celebrate love!" She said, clasping her hands together excitedly. "It's for anyone, family or friends, but traditionally, people will make sweets to give to their lover. It's a lot of fun!"
At the talk about romantic love, Lumine flushed. That didn't go unnoticed by her friend. Lumine quickly began speaking, hoping to change the subject. "Am I good to go now?" She asked, hurriedly standing up.
It was a poor attempt at leaving the conversation, and they both knew it. Paimon snickered from beside her, to which Lumine shot her a glare. Traitor. To be fair, however, Lumine had gotten what she'd came there for. Her hand was all set, and there was no reason for her to loiter around the church if she didn't have to. Especially if Barbara - and Paimon - were going to tease her mercilessly about something they really shouldn't be.
Lumine knew it was the worst kept secret in Mondstadt. She most certainly didn't need their reminders.
Giggling, Barbara nodded. "If you need help making the sweets, I'd be happy to-"
"Have a good day, Barbara!" Lumine cut her off quickly, making her way to the entrance without waiting for a reply. Paimon's laugh grew louder the farther away from Barbara they got.
Honestly, her friends were the worst. Sometimes Lumine wished they'd stuck to hating Childe instead of… whatever it had turned into. When she'd first shown up to visit Mondstadt with the Eleventh in tow, the reaction had been exactly what she'd been expecting: anger, betrayal, more anger. It had taken a lot of talking and a lot of explaining why, exactly, she'd decided to travel together with a Harbinger.
It had taken even longer for certain people to get over it. Some days, Lumine wondered if Diluc or Amber would ever look at her the same way again. But Lumine was stubborn, unbearably so. She had to be if she had any hope at finding her missing brother, she'd reminded them what felt like a thousand times. And she did not give up without a fight.
And thus, slowly but surely over the past few months, her friends had begun to warm up to the idea of Childe being her travel companion. Of course, his snark and general disposition of always wanting a fight hadn't helped matters, but she managed. Everything was looking good as the two of them continued to brainstorm ways to get into Inazuma without being shot on sight.
Until, of course, Kaeya had started running his mouth about things he had no business talking about. Which was, unfortunately, to be expected of her friend - the Calvary captain was known for starting absurd rumors and, much like Childe, enjoyed to be the cause of chaos. Normally, Lumine was impartial to this. It wasn't anything she wasn't used to, and more so then that, it could be entertaining; though she would rather die then admit that to anyone. Not so much fun when the chaos he was spinning followed around her, however.
Childe didn't exactly help much with the stupid rumors that Kaeya had begun to spread. He had always been something of a flirt, with his honeyed words and nicknames, but now every time Lumine so much as flushed a little he'd grin wickedly, as if he'd uncovered a secret of the universe and it was only for him to know. And for some reason, no matter how many times she'd hissed at him to stop with her face beet red and eyebrows furrowed with fake anger, the Harbinger refused to take the hint.
What used to be just light touches, maybe his hand lingering for a moment too long, had become something of a regular occurrence, especially if they were out in public. What used to be something Lumine could chalk up to friendly teasing had become something that would so quickly spin completely out of her control; often ending with her a stuttering mess and totally unsure of how to deal with it. No matter what she did, no matter how she reacted, Childe always seemed to know exactly the buttons to press to get the reaction he wanted.
And she couldn't even say she hated it, which was most certainly the worst part of it all.
Lumine sighed, forcing herself out of her thoughts. Despite what Barbara had hinted at, despite Paimon's attempts at coercion, Lumine would not participate in this silly little holiday. This was one she could afford to skip. Maybe once she had her brother back with her, she'd teach him the custom, as she had initially wanted to. For now, though, she was resolute on completely ignoring it.
Plus, she had thought to herself, Childe wasn't even from Mondstadt. There was hope that her… friend, she mentally stumbled over the word, would have no idea what holiday was fast approaching. Which, she decided on immediately, if anyone were to ask, would most definitely be the reason she gave as to her lack of participation.
Yes, Lumine nodded. She would make it through the holiday completely unscathed, both by her friend's awful penchant for causing trouble in her life, and also Childe. Who, she realized belated, easily fell into that category as well.
Of course, things were never that easy. Not on Teyvat, and not with the friends she had.
"Do you need me for anything today?" Childe asked, already dressed and ready to go before she was up. They were sharing a room at the Dawn Breeze Inn for mora reasons, and Lumine had long since gotten used to the fact that her friend was a despicably early riser.
She hummed, forcing herself to sit up in her own bed to think. "Not that I can think of," she told him, running through her plans for the day.
They were both currently waiting to hear back from the Tsaritsa about Childe's request to allow them into Inazuma, and in the meantime, had nothing important to do. Lumine mostly spent her days doing commissions and helping out her various friends in Mondstadt, allowing Childe free reign for the time being.
Paimon was still sound asleep; Lumine completely unable to feel her energy in the room. That was a good thing - she still didn't like the fact that they were sharing a room with a Harbinger, no matter how many times Lumine tried to explain that he wouldn't kill them in their sleep.
"Yeah, but he might kill us while we're awake!" Was always Paimon's response, to which Lumine shrugged, and the circle went on.
Childe ruffled her hair a bit and shot her a smile. "Then I will see you later, pretty girl." He didn't bother to tell her what he was up to that day, and that was just as well. She probably didn't want to know what kind of trouble he got into without her.
After a few minutes of zoning out, Lumine started to move herself. She had agreed to let Mona help with her commissions the other day, and her friend was also an early riser. She wasn't sure why she was cursed to befriend so many morning people, but it was what it was.
As she was straightening out her hair, it very suddenly occurred to her how… oddly domestic her whole morning had been. It was a fairly routine interaction, but after her conversation with Barbara the other night, Lumine couldn't help the way she blushed thinking about how casually he touched her hair. It was infuriating.
When Paimon finally awoke, popping into place next to her, she was already bright red. What a great indication for how the rest of the day was going to go.
Two more days, Lumine told herself. Just two more days, and then the holiday would be upon all on Mondstadt, and hopefully they could move on and never mention it ever again. Maybe, even, if she were lucky, the very act of not getting Childe any kind of special present or special item would prove to all of her friends once and for all there was nothing else going on between she and the Harbinger. Nothing romantic at all.
"Paimon thinks you have a very scary look on your face, Lumine," her friend said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Is everything okay? Are you thinking about the nasty Harbinger again?"
Lumine scowled, and she felt her blush burn brighter. "Absolutely not," she replied, slamming the inn door with a huff. "Mona is probably already waiting for us. Let's go." And if Paimon brought it up again, Lumine would not even indulge her. She wouldn't.
"Did you have breakfast?" Were the first words out of Lumine's mouth upon meeting up with her astrologist friend. Since moving permanently to Mondstadt - as permanently as their type of lives would allow, anyways - Mona had been a little better with her mora, but not by much. Most of her feeble savings from her astrologist columns were spent on rent, leaving not much for food.
Mona, predictably, blushed, turning away with a huff. "Of course I did," she said loudly, to cover the sound of her grumbling smile. Lumine smiled with a roll of her eyes. "Breakfast was had much earlier, since it takes you so long to arrive."
Though a bit eccentric, as really, all of her friends were, Lumine really liked being around Mona. While she didn't put as much stock in hydromancy as her friend, it was always interesting to talk to her about the stars and the potential futures that could be held. Plus, she was easy to spoil.
"Well, I haven't eaten," Lumine said, looking at Paimon for back up. "And I think Paimon needs something before we head out to Windrise to get rid of those hilichurl towers. Do you mind if we stop at Good Hunter?"
Paimon perked up immediately. "Oh, yes please! Paimon wants some fisherman's toast this morning!" She hovered over to Mona, expectant.
Mona sighed, knowing she'd been beaten. "Fine, if we must." They all purposefully ignored another sound from her stomach. "But first, Lumine, I was looking at your constellation last night. A few others, as well."
That instantly had her attention. It wasn't often that Mona had any news regarding her stars. "Anything interesting?" Lumine asked, full attention on the Hydro witch.
Whatever she was expecting, it certainly wasn't the sly grin that spread out over her face. "I heard that Barbara had offered to teach you how to make chocolate for Valentine's," Mona said. Though Lumine had previously held the upper hand with the food situation, she had quickly stolen it back. Lumine looked at her, completely aghast. "While I didn't gather too much of note from your constellation, a certain Monoceros Caeli showed me something interesting for the next few days. I'm not the best chef by any means, but even I know how to-"
"Let's get breakfast to go and start on those hilichurl towers!" Lumine interrupted, turning around swiftly as to not let Mona see her face. "We don't have all day, you know!"
It was ridiculous, really. Not one person could go without mentioning it to her, huh? It felt like all of Mondstadt, at this point, was out to get her. When originally, they'd all been wary of Childe, now it seemed they were overly invested in their love live. Or lack there of.
Lumine wasn't sure which she preferred. Honestly. She huffed all the way to Good Hunter, Mona chuckling with Paimon the whole way there.
With a sigh, Lumine fell into her normal seat at the counter of Angel's Share. It had been a long day - too long, really, since Mona didn't know how to let things go once she got an idea in her head - and she was tired. Knowing Venti and Diluc would be there was reason enough for her to not go straight home, however. While Venti may enjoy teasing her mercilessly, as was common for best friends on all worlds, it seemed, Diluc still wasn't the biggest fan of Childe. Normally, that would be a bit of a deterrent. But he wasn't with her at the moment and she could use the reprieve from people butting into her nonexistent feelings for the Harbinger.
Nonexistent. Really. Really. She would keep telling herself that like her life depended on it.
"Long day, pretty girl?"
Without thinking about whose voice that was, Lumine nodded from where her head rest against the counter. "You don't even know," she said, weary and drained. "Nobody will shut up about-"
It was then, of course, that her brain decided to work. There was nobody else in Mondstadt that called her pretty girl on the regular. There was really nobody else who called her that ever.
She sat up abruptly, only to see him sitting in the chair next to hers with a cheeky smile on his lips. "What are you doing here?" She asked, trying not to sound as flustered as she was. She really had to get control of herself again. This was really getting ridiculous. This stupid holiday was causing her far, far too much grief.
Childe shrugged, sipping on a glass of dandelion wine. It wasn't his favorite, he'd told her once, but Diluc didn't offer any of Snezhnaya's specialties, so he would take what he could get. "Figured you might be here. Can't I want to check on you without an ulterior motive?"
Lumine rolled her eyes at that. "Yes, but it's you. There's usually cause for suspicion." Not really, anymore, and they both knew it. But that was besides the point. "What have you been up to today?" She changed the subject, hoping she would stop whatever dramatic, joking speech about trust he so liked to go on.
"Evil Harbinger things," Childe said with an easy smile. They both knew that was a lie, too. "Mostly just checking in to see if we'd gotten any response from the Tsaritsa about our request, and then I went and killed a few ruin guards for fun." Yeah, that sounded like him alright. "What's got you so tired? Commissions with Mona not go so well?"
Diluc silently handed her a glass of wine as well, and she thanked him for it before returning her attention back to her companion. It was nice that finally, finally, Mondstadt had accepted that she was of age. Mostly thanks to both Venti and Childe vouching for her.
She took a long, long sip to avoid answering the question. Lumine had never been the best liar when it came to those she cared about. She always overthought it, thinking they'd be able to snuff out everything that came out of her mouth.
"No, not that at all. Mona's gotten a lot stronger. You should learn her little…" she paused, trying to think of the proper way to say it. "The puddle trick," she settled on, nodding to herself before continuing. "It's really very helpful. But no, commissions were routine as always, and I had no problem splitting the mora with her. She needs it more then we do." Especially lately, with Childe's seemingly unending pockets.
Raising an eyebrow, he looked pointedly between his own mostly full glass and her already half empty one. "And I'm supposed to believe that nothing in particular caused that?" Childe shook his head, bringing a hand to his heart. Before she could defend herself, he was already moving on. "Well, no matter. I actually did have a question for you."
It was rare that Childe let something go; whether it be an answer he was seeking or a fight. Lumine's alarm bells were already going off at the flippancy of his response, but she nodded for him to go ahead. Her curiosity was already getting the better of her.
His smile turned a little cruel. Lumine felt her heart stutter at the sight of it. "There's a particular holiday coming up that you might have heard about. Do you have any plans for it, yet?"
Instantly, Lumine was up out of her seat at the bar. "Well, I think I should be getting back to the inn," she said, moving quickly and clumsily. She pretended she didn't wince when her chair hit the counter a little too roughly. Diluc would forgive her, she was sure. "I'll see you at home, Childe!" Without waiting for a response, she was out the door, ignoring his laughter from behind her.
When Paimon popped in next to her with a smug expression on her face, Lumine was already glaring at her small companion. "Don't say a word," she hissed, pointedly ignoring her laughter, as well.
When Lumine woke up the next morning, an overwhelming sense of dread overtook her. Tomorrow. Tomorrow was the forsaken holiday that had been haunting her for the past few days, and all of Mondstadt was starting to show it.
Unsurprisingly, Childe had already left by the time she awoke, a note left in his stead:
Pretty girl, his stupidly neat handwriting read, I'm off to do more evil Harbinger things today. Meet me by the gate when you're done with your commissions, will you? Signed with his real name, Ajax, which was the only surprising part about any of it. They'd fallen into a neat routine over the past while of traveling together, and of course, it hadn't been long until they realized they both trusted each other with things like their given names and actual birthplaces and all that. But Ajax was rarely used between the two of them. Lumine couldn't help but wonder what the usage there was for, or what it could mean.
Oh, well, she thought to herself, not wanting to dwell on it. She would do as he asked and meet him by the Mondstadt gate when she was finished with whatever activities the Adventurer's Guild needed her to accomplish that day. It was a good source of mora, after all, and it at least kept her occupied while they waited from a letter back from the Cryo Archon.
Going out into Mondstadt brought a whole other slew of problems with it, however. Seemingly overnight - or maybe she just hadn't noticed on her way home from Angel's Share the night before - the entire city had put up banners in pinks and reds and whites and all sorts of advertisements for places to buy chocolates and flowers and the like. Some of the fliers even had Barbara on them, which at least gave Lumine a good laugh. It was always so interesting to her how popular her friend was.
But the rest of it made her almost want to shiver in fear. There was clearly no escaping this holiday, and she wasn't sure why she expected anything less. The Rite of Parting back in Liyue had been a humongous affair, spanning weeks. Teyvat seemed to take their holidays, however frivolous they were, extremely seriously.
Sometimes, that was nice. Lumine was sure she'd find another holiday that she could appreciate and would very much enjoy the efforts and lengths the citizens of wherever she was went to for it. Right now, however, was most certainly not that time.
"Oh, good morning Lumine!" Amber called out, waving to her from her seat at Good Hunter. Lumine waved back, slightly dazed from all of the pink everywhere. "Off to do your commissions?"
She nodded. "I am. Then I'm heading over to the gate to meet Childe for something, though he didn't tell me what."
Amber scowled for a split second - she still wasn't particularly fond of the Harbinger, for obvious reasons - before melting into a grin. "Getting ready for Valentine's tomorrow, yeah? That's cute. We were all wondering-"
Frantically, Lumine waved her arms in front of her, begging Amber to shut up. "No, no, no, it's not like that," she said, wishing she at least had one single person who believed her. "Why does everyone think there's something going on between us?" She kicked at the nonexistent dust on the ground, scuffing her shoe against the stone.
At first, Amber looked at her as if she'd grown three heads. Then she burst out into laughter. "Do you really want an answer to that question?" She asked, and that told Lumine everything she needed to know about the Outrider's thoughts on her relationship with Childe.
All Lumine could do was groan.
It wasn't that she wasn't interested in Childe romantically. She would have to be an idiot to deny that the Harbinger was attractive. More so then that, he could actively keep up with her; whether on the battlefield or off of it. There had been few people that she'd met who were willing to go toe to toe with her quite like he was, and more importantly there weren't many who were willing to do it quite so often. Lumine didn't consider herself a bloodthirsty person, but she couldn't deny the way her veins thrummed when she was fighting. There was a certain electricity to it that was incredibly addicting. It was something she and Aether had always found enjoyable, and even without the full extent of her powers, that hadn't changed.
More so then that, however, underneath everything else, Childe was… actually quite a nice person. He deeply cared for his family, willing to do anything and everything for them. She'd caught a couple of lines by accident once or twice, and the kindness and care that always seeped out of them was heartwarming. But even besides his dedication to his family, he'd proven to be an excellent companion.
There weren't very many people Lumine felt comfortable opening up to. In fact, it was rare for her to want to talk about her own fears and issues with anyone. Not because she didn't love or trust her friends, but because she didn't know how to talk to anyone who wasn't her brother - and at that point, Paimon. Childe, however, made it easy. He'd somehow wormed his way into her heart, and in doing so, given her a place to be comfortable with herself. When they were together, late in the evening on the road, or spending a comfortable night at the inn together after a long day of commissions, Lumine finally felt like she had found a home.
She never thought she would have that outside of Aether. For once, she was glad to be proven wrong.
And in that realization, especially with the added loss of subtly from Childe himself, Lumine became scared. She wasn't scared of much, but after Aether, she was terrified of losing people. And with as close as she'd become to Childe, losing him was off the table.
The unknowns of moving their relationship into something new terrified her. The idea that something could happen that she couldn't prevent was harrowing, and of course there was the added bonus of him still being part of the Fatui. For now, he was allowed to travel with her. For now, they were allowed to be friends. But at any given moment in time, the Tsaritsa could decide she was too dangerous to her cause and order him to kill her.
And while they would battle each other head on, no holds barred just like at the Golden House, things would be different. That thought honestly didn't scare her as much as just simply losing him did. If they could come back from one fight to the death and still manage to be friends afterwards, they could do it again. Especially when Lumine knew that he wouldn't want to kill her - he, too, would just enjoy the battle and go from there.
She sighed as she made her way to the gate of Mondstadt after picking up her commission rewards. Yes, in the privacy of her own mind, she could admit it: she was, indeed, in love with Childe.
If only things were that simple.
"Hey, girlie," Childe greeted with a wave. He was off to the side, closer to where that clump of dandelions grew by the water. The sun had just finished setting, and Lumine took a moment to commit the image to memory: the way the dandelions had just begun to glow, the way the light reflected off of his hair, how his eyes were the exact same color as the water behind him.
Paimon, always hopping in between wanting for them to get on with it or for her to never talk to him again, gave her a disappointed look before popping back into her part of reality. She paid her no mind. Later on, she'd make up for it with some sticky honey roast, she was sure.
There was already a small smile on her face as she made her way over to where he sat. "What did you want to meet here for?" She asked, cutting straight to the point. They'd have plenty of time later in the night to discuss their days on their way back to the inn. Frankly, she was too curious to want to dally with small talk.
A slow smile crept up onto his face. This was not his usual smile, full of mirth or the knowledge that he was just placating those around him. This wasn't his battle smile, either; the one he wore before their spars or during a fight that really got him moving.
No, this was none of those. This particular smile Lumine was very familiar with. Childe often wore that particular expression when he was pushing her boundaries in that certain way of his, when his touches lingered too long and his face tended to be too close to hers. Without realizing it, she was already growing warm.
She was already starting to sit down next to him by the time she realized her predicament, however. Childe grinned at her like a predator who had finally caught his prey. He gripped her wrist and tugged. Lumine tried to pull back, but since she was halfway to sitting, she ended up tripping and falling right onto his lap.
He had to have planned for that. She scowled at him, and he laughed in earnest. "I tried to ask you last night, but you ran out of the bar before I got the chance," he told her, grip on her wrist like iron.
Though she desperately wanted to fidget, she instead tried to keep as still as possible. Childe was too close, much too close, and she was completely and totally trapped on top of him. Much as she didn't want to admit it, Lumine found she fit quite nicely in the space of his legs. He was cross legged when he'd pulled her onto him, and she'd landed perfectly in the gap. It was definitely planned.
"And what is that?" She asked through grit teeth. Part of her longed to relax into him, and it was growing more and more difficult to not let herself slump against his chest.
"Do you know what tomorrow is?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious.
Lumine narrowed her eyes at him, though she refused to turn around so he could see it. She didn't want to think about what would happen if she moved. "Of course I do." Because really, even if he knew she wasn't from Teyvat at all, she wasn't stupid. And like her friends all over the city would let go without informing her of all the current events, holidays included.
She could feel him nod, his hair brushing up against her. She had to grip her palms tight, nails digging into her skin to keep from shifting on him. "I figured you had at least heard of it," he admitted. "In that case, skip commissions tomorrow."
Of all the things she expected him to say, it certainly hadn't been that. "What?" Lumine finally broke her self imposed restriction, and twisted in his lap to get a good look at him.
That instantly proved to be a mistake. From that angle, she had to look up at him, and found their faces were closer then they'd ever been. She could practically feel his nose on hers, and she could definitely feel his breathing.
She squeaked.
Childe kindly didn't comment on that. "Aw, don't make me repeat myself, pretty girl. I want you to skip out on commissions and spend the day with me. Is that so much to ask?"
Though she tried to look irritated, Lumine knew she was failing completely. "And why can't we spend the day doing commissions? That's what we usually do," she said, matter of fact. And, okay, maybe she was being a little purposefully obtuse. But the alternative was admit that she understood that Childe was asking her to spend Mondstadt's romantic holiday with him and him alone. Neither was an appealing option, but this was the lesser of two evils.
He moved closer then before - closer than he'd ever been to her outside a battle. His lips were practically touching hers now, and Lumine was entirely frozen.
"Lumine," he said, and she could practically feel her own name on her skin as he spoke. "I'm tired of dancing around this. You don't seem to want to take any of my hints." He said he was tired, but his eyes told a different story. "Please just say you'll spend tomorrow with me."
Her heart was beating so hard it felt like it was going to fall right out of her chest. She wouldn't have been surprised if Childe could hear every thump, with how close he was. "Okay," she whispered, the word falling out of her lips before she could even think about taking it back. "Okay."
Childe's smile then was much less Childe and much more of Ajax. It was as bright as the summer sun, and just as blinding from up close. Lumine felt like she was going to drown.
It would be a welcome death.
They'd stayed like that, in each other's space, for awhile longer afterwards. It was much more comfortable then Lumine had expected it to be, once she'd gotten used to it. Childe was actually quite comfortable.
The walk back to the inn was uneventful, with Paimon filling the space with her chatter. It was much like it had always been - natural, as easy as breathing. If anything, it was relieving. Almost like a giant weight had been lifted from her chest.
There had been a shift in their relationship then. It would be impossible to ignore that, the way the light brushes against her hand as they walked felt more deliberate, more charged. The way Lumine would remember for the rest of her potentially eternal life the way he smiled at her when she'd agreed to his request. But while things had obviously changed, they had also stayed the same. They were still them, and suddenly, the changes that she was entirely powerless to stop didn't seem so terrifying.
For the first time in months, when Lumine fell asleep that night, it was utterly dreamless.
The next morning when she awoke, Paimon was already awake, which was unusual enough. More unusual was that Childe was still there, sitting at the small table in the corner of the inn room.
"You want Paimon to what?" Lumine could hear her friend say, voice indignant. "Paimon isn't sure that's a good idea… You may have deep pockets, but you're still Fatui!"
It was tempting to just sit up and ask what was going on, but Lumine was tired. And she couldn't deny that she was curious if they'd even continue with her awake. She didn't think she'd ever once heard Childe and Paimon have a conversation on their own.
Well. That was a little bit self explanatory, but still. The three of them had done quite a bit of traveling together. It was a little odd that they didn't talk much, unless it was Paimon insulting him and Childe buying her food or handing her mora.
She could hear Childe chuckle, and tried to keep herself from smiling at the sound. "You wouldn't do it even for this bag of mora?" He asked, and Lumine could hear the jangle of the coins. "You won't even have to split this one with Lumine. It'll be all yours."
Fatui Harbinger, master of weapons, and certified briber. What else could she possibly want in a man? Though Lumine couldn't deny his strategy was effective. There were two ways to get Paimon to do your bidding: mora, and food. A combination of both was a surefire way to get whatever task you wanted accomplished. He'd likely already promised her food, based on her hesitance about accepting.
Paimon sighed, and Lumine could tell the second she gave in by the swish of the coin bag. "Fine!" Paimon exclaimed, and then apologized for her loudness at Childe's shush. "Paimon will accept your bribe this time, nasty Harbinger! Paimon will be with Amber for the day." And with that, Lumine heard the telltale pop of her friend disappearing, likely to go fulfill her part of the bargain.
At Childe's sigh of relief, Lumine decided to make her presence known. "What are you getting rid of Paimon for?" She asked, pushing herself up on the bed with one hand and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with another.
If her roommate was started, he didn't show it. Instead, he gave her a grin. "I asked for you all to myself today, didn't I?"
Oh. Lumine had almost forgotten about that; too distracted by his conversation with Paimon. It was Valentine's.
She looked away from him pointedly. "Without Paimon, too?" Was all she could think of to say.
"Indeed." His confirmation did nothing to help her pounding heart. "Breakfast at Good Hunter first sound good? My treat."
Normally, that wouldn't have been suspicious at all. It seemed like the Fatui never ran out of funding. Lumine had asked about it once, curious, and all he had said was that the Tsaritsa paid them generously and didn't care where the money went so long as her tasks were completed. Today, however, she couldn't help but wonder what he had up his sleeve.
When she'd agreed the night before, he'd been… more straightforward about things then before. But it wasn't quite enough - she still had too many questions about what he had meant. What he wanted.
"Yeah, I'm hungry," she replied after a moment, finally getting out of the bed completely. She guessed she'd find out today, hopefully.
Though they weren't approached by Jean and Diluc, who were also eating outside when they arrived, Jean's knowing smile made Lumine dizzy. Even Sara at Good Hunter told Childe congratulations! extremely enthusiastically after he'd finished ordering. He hadn't said anything in response, just given her a blinding smile that left Lumine a little dazzled.
When they finally sat down with her food, Lumine wasn't sure what to think. It hadn't exactly left a lot of room for her imagination to figure out what I'm tired of dancing around this mean, but at the same time, this was Childe. Childe, who enjoyed playing around at all times. Childe, who only seemed to take approximately four things seriously:
His work, his family, fighting, and…
Oh. He had once told her that she had become that fourth thing.
That left Lumine feeling even more dizzy. "What did you want to do today, since you insisted on stealing me away," she asked, picking at her fisherman's toast a little too aggressively.
If he noticed, he didn't comment on it. Instead, just shrugged. "Didn't have much planned, really. I just wanted to make sure you spent the day with me."
Her eyes narrowed. "You took me away from my commissions with nothing in mind?" How rude.
Childe, however, just leaned back in his chair, completely content. "Girlie, if mora's the issue, I'm happy to compensate you for today's losses." He didn't even sound jokingly torn up over it, like he usually would. Oh, you only want me for my mora, huh? She'd heard it so many times, she couldn't help but blink at him. "I'm happy to pay for more things. You're the one that won't let me."
That was… not at all what she was expecting. There had been a few times over their travels that Childe had expressed interest in pulling a little more weight mora-wise, but Lumine had never thought much of it and always waved him off. He did enough with helping with their commissions, and he was currently paying for their room at the inn on his own insistence. She wasn't sure how much more she'd be comfortable letting him cover. Yet here he was, asking her point blank to rely on him a little more.
She flushed. She really, really needed to clear her head. "How about we spar after this, and go from there?" She asked, purposefully changing the subject.
It worked just as intended. Childe perked up immediately. "Truly, you are the only one that speaks my language," he told her. The expression on his face had morphed into something a little more feral, and Lumine felt herself getting excited. There was no one on Teyvat - that she'd met so far, anyways - who thirsted for fighting the same way she did.
Sparring him was exactly what she needed. A good battle would clear her head of all this confusion, and would also get them out of the city and away from watchful eyes. If another person gave them a friendly wave or anything else, really, Lumine was going to scream.
Oh, yes, a good spar was exactly what Lumine needed. There was nothing quite like the way she felt as she propelled herself at Childe; the Anemo boost sending her hair flying behind her. As she flung into him, she could see his grin - likely as wide as her own. The splash of one of his Hydro short swords did nothing to kill her momentum, and she marveled at how solid he could make such a fluid element as her own sword crashed into them.
It was an unwritten rule between them: unless they were at the Golden House, they were limited to one element. Childe was one of the few people that even knew Lumine had access to others, despite the whole of Teyvat seemingly noticing immediately upon meeting her that she held no Vision. Even so, there was no use in causing unrest among the general public of Teyvat. Especially when she didn't even know why she was able to harness the various powers of the elements simply by praying at the Archon statues.
Childe, on the other hand, simply didn't like using his Delusion unless necessary. He felt it gave him too much of an edge in a fight, and also felt that most people weren't deserving enough of its power. Lumine remained an exception to that, of course, but that was why once a week at the Golden House they both went all out against the other.
"Feeling a little better?" Childe called, combining the Hydro weapons into a spear. Lumine watched his every move carefully, grinning ear to ear.
Pushing her sword into her off hand, she summoned a gust of wind to kick up some dirt as cover as she moved. "I will be once I win!"
At his laughter, she went in for the final blow. Sending a tornado towards him as a distraction, Lumine quickly dashed, knocking his spear out of the way and pouncing onto him.
He didn't even fight her, but that was all as well. Her knee held him down to the ground, and he smiled wide. "Well?" He asked, letting his Hydro spear disintegrate into nothingness. "Got a clear head now?"
The giddiness of a win hadn't worn off quite yet, but her brain quickly supplied what the problem was in the first place. Lumine scrambled off of him in an instant, trying to pretend that it was no different then usual. With the way Childe's eyes tracked her movements, though, she had a feeling she was not a convincing actress.
"Yeah," she said, already mourning the loss of clarity sparring had given her. It was so easy not to worry when she had other things to focus on. "Thank you. You always know what I need."
The words came out without a second thought, as they were true. It was something she'd said to him plenty of times throughout their friendship. Today, the words seemed to hit them both differently.
He sat up, not bothering to stand quite yet, and just… looked at her. "Lumine," he said slowly, softly, and she felt all the air leave her lungs in an instant. "Lumine, I need to tell you something." Childe, for all his usual confidence, looked unusually nervous.
She forced herself to swallow. Everything felt dry, all of a sudden, with the change in the air. It was not dissimilar to the night before, right outside of the gate, when he'd asked to spend the day with her. He had never been that close to her before, and she still remembered the way it felt to have his lips so close to her own.
It took too long for Lumine to realize he was waiting for her to reply. "What is it?" She was honestly surprised that she was able to form words at all.
Her grabbed at her wrist, tugging her closer to him. She tripped a little over herself, but ultimately allowed him the move. His glove felt cold against her skin, despite the heat of the sun.
"Lumine," Childe repeated, his eyes never once leaving hers. She really felt like she was drowning, now. "I am not sure how else to get you to understand besides just saying it." If he took a deep breathe, then, she barely registered it. "I'm in love with you."
Lumine blinked. Once, twice, then three times. I'm in love with you. It was the subject they'd been teetering towards for months, it felt like. It was the word she'd been terrified of, all this time. It was an emotion she'd never had the chance to truly experience. And yet here it was, and here she was, completely helpless to it.
"Oh." Her own words were soft, her heart dropping into her stomach. Oh.
He was in love with her. Really, actually, in love with her. He wanted… well, she wasn't sure what exactly he wanted, but likely to be with her romantically.
And, really, she wondered in the back of her mind, is that not what they had been moving towards for the past few months together? They shared a room at an inn. In separate beds, yes, but they still spent most of their days together. There was no one else she was more comfortable with, besides her literal family and Paimon, who was practically her family at that point. He flirted with her, often, though Lumine had never realized how seriously he meant it up until recently.
Everyone had seemed to know before her. The knowing looks, the refusal to listen to her when she said she didn't have feelings for the Harbinger, the insistence yesterday on him spending the day with her alone. It all made sense, now, and she felt like a fool.
Emotions were complicated. Sometimes, she wished desperately that she hadn't been abandoned on this planet and left to fend for herself. Never had she ever had to navigate loving someone besides Aether before. Never had she ever had to navigate loving anyone like this.
"You're in love with me," she repeated, and Childe nodded at her. It was kind of him, to allow her time to process this revelation. Though to him, it must seem ridiculous. Everything was snapping into place in her head, and he had not exactly been subtle. She was just a complete and total fool.
She blinked at him again, and he just watched her. His expression wasn't pained, or tense. Though he was obviously a bit nervous, by the way the hand that wasn't still holding her wrist twitched at his side.
Lumine took a deep breath. "I'm an idiot," she told him, and he once again nodded at her, this time with an added smile.
She huffed out a laugh, scooting herself a little closer to him. They were on the grass, not too far from the entrance to the city, and the sun still hung high up above them. The hand that wasn't still holding her wrist was drumming lightly on his upright knee, and Lumine took another deep breath. She moved closer again, this time so their noses were touching.
Quickly, before she could think too hard about what she was doing and how she had absolutely no clue how to do any of this, she kissed him.
Her eyes fluttered closed, and right as she went to pull away fast again, his hand left her wrist to pull her closer to him. His lips were soft. Far, far softer than she'd expected, and Lumine found she quite liked the way his hand felt on her hair. The touch was soft, as if he didn't want to scare her, even as he pushed her to his lips.
When they finally did break apart, neither of them moved far. Childe rested his forehead on her own to keep close. It was sort of strange, being so close to someone outside of a fight, but she couldn't say she hated it.
"I love you," Childe told her, his voice more honest then she'd ever heard it.
With her eyes still closed, she smiled. She knew her answer, and while she was still scared, that was okay. She'd meant it earlier when she'd said that he always knew what to do for her. This was someone, crazy as it was - they were still, quite literally, on opposite factions in the world - that Lumine would trust with her life. Without hesitation.
"I love you, too," she said. Though it was spoken quietly, and though everyone already seemed to know, it felt good to say out loud. Even the wind seemed happy with this turn of events; a gentle breeze moving across the two of them.
Childe laughed a little. The sound was light, as if his own lungs had skipped town for the day and he could barely hold anything in. "I know," he said, mirth in his words. "I know. I love you." And then he kissed her again.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Lumine had never held hands with someone other than Aether before, but she found she quite liked the feeling. Childe was a lot bigger then her, hands included, but she never felt small in his presence. He always had a way of making her feel equal, even as his hands could cover hers with ease.
They went around Mondstadt to various different stalls, running into various people. It seemed like everyone in the city had been waiting for them to be more open about their relationship; the majority of people that only knew her as the Traveler or as the Honorary Knight having apparently thought they'd been together since they came to the city from Liyue.
And, truthfully, maybe they were sort of right. Despite the new update to their relationship, and the added bonus of being a little more openly touchy with each other, nothing seemed to have changed. Childe still liked to tease her, they still bantered as naturally as walking. They were still comfortable with the other, even if the grin Childe wore couldn't seem to be taken off by anything or anyone.
It really did feel as if Lumine had just been delaying the inevitable for a long, long time.
But that was alright. She wasn't one to believe everything happened for a reason, but she wasn't terribly upset with the time some may think they'd wasted. None of it had been bad - every moment getting to this point, in her mind, was time well spent.
At the end of the day, when they were heading back towards the inn, Childe stopped her, tugging on her hand. "Girlie," he said, and she looked at him curiously. "Can we stop sleeping in separate beds now?" When she sputtered, he quickly backtracked. "Not like that," he groused, cheeks red with embarrassment. "I just meant, since, you know. It might be nice."
Lumine was beginning to realize he was a very clingy person. She wondered why she hadn't noticed that earlier.
Though her first instinct was to deny him, simply on principle, she stopped herself. Throughout they day, she'd noticed she'd felt a little calmer with her hand in his. A little less skittish, a little less afraid. She wasn't completely oblivious to her own feelings. She knew that she was still terrified of losing anyone else close to her, and she had a feeling the constant physical contact was a nice way of getting her brain to shut up about it for a few minutes.
Besides, she also thought, it did feel nice to be close to him. The few times throughout the day they'd hugged, or had kissed each other lightly had sent her heart straight to the clouds above them. Would it really be that different then when they were camping out and sleeping next to each other, anyways? While they'd never woken up in each other's arms, she'd had a feeling they'd come close quite a few times.
And maybe, it would help keep her nightmares at bay, too. That would be nice.
She realized, once again, that he was waiting patiently for her to answer, despite his embarrassment at the question. Lumine smiled. "Yeah, I think I would like that."
When Lumine awoke the next morning, she woke up smiling for the first time since landing on Teyvat.