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“Lumine, listen to this! Venti snuck wine-“
Ah, she’s staring again.
Aether followed her sister’s gaze, finding it locked into a certain red-headed upperclassman. She was barely moving, right hand moving at a turtle’s pace to feed herself the sunsettia. Aether knows it will never be finished, with the way she’s taking small nibbles out of it. Her golden eyes conveyed a silent longing, softening at the sight of what he guesses is a smile from Tartaglia. Aether doubts his sister can still hear the ruckus and chaos of the cafeteria judging by the way a hint of a smile formed on her lips at the sound of Childe’s loud laughter.
Truth be told, out of all the attractive people in this school, she never guessed Childe, Tartaglia, Ajax - or whatever name he prefers to be called that day and that moment - would be the object of Lumine’s affection.
Of course, he knew something like this was coming. After all, they are teenagers. Lumine is strong, resilient, stubborn, often times dishonest with herself, but even her twin can tell if a man is attractive. She was bound to form a crush on someone even if she vehemently ran away from romance.
Aether used to think that her type would be somebody like the senior Diluc. Passionate, brave, good-hearted - the definition of a knight in shining armour. At one point, he even thought it would be someone like Venti, someone who may as well be a bird. Venti whose eyes spoke of freedom and life. Or maybe somebody like Xiao, mysterious, yet loyal and caring to the ones he care about. He even entertained the thought of her sister being into older men like Mr. Zhongli, the intelligent, handsome, yet scatter-brained World History teacher.
Aether never considered her type would be villainous, rich bastards with too much time on their hands in all of the 16 years they’ve spent together.
And yet, here she sits, her eyes glued on the man who in the first period asked her for a sparring match. Aether wonders if she realizes she’s staring.
“He’s annoying,” she would often claim. Her brows furrow, her cheeks would puff up slightly as she rants about Childe. She’d ramble on about how he only cares about sparring matches. Childe is always looking for a fight, never once considering the fact that sometimes Lumine just wants to sit and rest. She would complain about his mischievous nature and about the way he teases her relentlessly.
“Ah, that guy is so annoying!” She would grumble. “I hate him so much.”
Her words don’t match her actions, Aether has come to realize. For as much as she complains, at least once a week, she would show up at the gym after school, carrying her practice sword. She then goes home, chest puffed up in pride, a mellow smile playing on her lips. She would talk about how she managed to beat Ajax, go on for hours about how she cannot wait to beat him again next week.
“Ah, you should have seen his face when I knocked him down,” his sister would be uncharacteristically giddy. “The hit to his ego must be immense.”
Those nights, Lumine doesn’t sleep.
And there’s the way she looks at him, like he was a warming seelie and she was trapped in Dragonspine stripped out of her winter clothes. Lumine looks at him like he’s home and she’s been lost for five centuries. Like she’s spent all her last lives looking for him.
Tartaglia’s eyes flicker to meet hers. He waves excitedly at her, his grin widening. He calls out to Lumine using the nickname only he used. “Princess!”
As if on cue, red blossomed on her sister’s cheek and she quickly looks away in embarrassment.
“Simp,” Aether chuckles under his breath.
Her sister reddened even more, the tip of her ears now taking a rosy hue. She looked offended, as if he just told her the most insulting words she could have ever heard.
“He’s annoying!” she claims as she takes a big bite out of her Sunsettia. “I would never go for a guy like that. Whatever you’re thinking of, Aether, it’s not like that.”
She turns away, grabs her lunch bag. “Come on, Aether. The Fatui has spotted us, let’s eat with Miss Lisa.”
Aether looked at the table at the other end of the cafeteria. He already knows what he’ll find, of course. He’s been forced to watch this silly game they’ve been playing for months now.
Sitting there transfixed was Childe. Cerulean eyes watched his sister as if she was everything he ever wished the stars for.
Aether is sure his sister wished for him too.