Chapter Text
The first time Childe told Lumine was when she was straddling his waist, sword shoved into his shoulder.
“I don’t have the gnosis, you prick,” she hissed as she dug her sword a little deeper. He felt blood trickle down his arm, settling on his fingertips.
Her eyes blazed above him as they panted in tandem, drops of sweat pooling on the tip of her nose. She was covered in nicks and bruises, and behind his mask, he was even worse for wear. Childe clenched his fist, feeling electricity pulse through the two of them, yet she persisted, keeping him pinned to the ground, like paper under a pushpin.
She was close, he noted.
“Join the Fatui?” he offered, his delusion now fully engulfing them in purple sparks.
“No!”
“Shame,” he sighed and brought his hand up to cup her cheek, blood staining her pale skin. “I really really like you.”
Lumine scoffed, not even entertaining the idea that the man had fallen for her over a few short days. Childe never thought she gave herself enough credit. “Yeah fucking right.”
Childe laughed. “Right,” he agreed before a flash of purple light and a bang opened up the floor beneath them.
“You already got a ticket to Inazuma?” Childe asked casually as the two sat in the harbor. Lumine absentmindedly flipped through a book of the commission listings.
“Yup. Lady Ningguang is going for some diplomacy thing and got a couple of extra tickets. She offered them to me and Paimon in return for the whole ‘saving-Liyue-from-an-awakened-god’ thing.”
He had been looking for tickets for months. He had hoped he would have been able to get three.
“Sounds like good news, Lu, but…” he trailed off as Lumine shot him a quizzical look. “You don’t seem very excited.”
She closed her book and trained her eyes on a ship sailing by in the distance. “It’s just a bit short-notice. I have some unfinished business that I’m worried I won’t be able to get to in the next few days.”
Childe reached over to pull on her bangs. “Like what?”
“Not the Fatui’s business,” she said as she turned to glare at him and take his hand in hers before moving it away from her hair.
“Hmm…” Childe trailed off in sarcastic contemplation. “Beating up more of our recruits?”
“Nope.”
“Running more errands for Zhongli?”
“...Yes, but not exactly what I was referring to…”
“Oh!” Childe’s metaphorical lightbulb lit up. “A boy?”
Had Childe not been so tuned in with Lumine’s reactions, he would have missed the slight tightening of her muscles and dilation of her pupils. “Sure, Childe,” she replied sarcastically, with intent to convince him that her remaining business in Liyue lied within other topics. She stood up abruptly, brushing her dress out. “I gotta get going.”
“Huh?” Childe stood up and jogged in front of her as she started to walk away. “Why?”
“To do commissions?”
“Can I come with you?”
Lumine huffed. “Do you really just want to follow me around and help me beat up some hilichurls?”
“Um… Yes?” Sounds like the perfect afternoon to him.
Lumine pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to come up with a reason to make him leave. “I lied. I’m having lady problems.”
Childe’s expression softened. “You poor thing. My older sister used to have me make her tea whenever she was dealing with that. I’ll check you into an inn and boil some water-”
“Uh, thanks, but-” Lumine stuttered as Childe put an arm comfortingly around her shoulders. “I-I’m good, I think I just want to be alone right now.”
Childe’s arms felt empty as he watched the girl scurry off.
“Chongyun!” Lumine shouted, getting the attention of a boy dressed in all white sitting calmly by the gates to Liyue. “Ready to go?” He responded with a nod as he pulled out his map, pointing to wherever the two were headed.
Lumine, Childe noted, was most definitely not alone.
He hadn’t meant to follow her. He had only wanted to ensure that she got to her room safely since she was feeling under the weather, but after she walked past the local inn without even a glance at the front door, he let his curiosity get the better of him.
He gripped the corner of the building he was hiding behind. Was this the boy she was so hellbent on not mentioning?
He wouldn’t have pegged the other man for her type. He was younger, shorter, and more soft spoken than Lumine. All good qualities in a partner for another woman, perhaps, but he had noted the shine in Lumine’s eyes when she went up against an opponent equally matched to her, both on and off the battlefield.
He didn’t think Lumine had feelings for this ‘Chongyun,’ but just to be safe, he followed them to Wuwang Hill, watched them sign up for a test of courage and knock back some strange drink, and walked behind them as they explored the test area. Simply for the sake of being sure, and not because he was jealous, he rationalized.
“I feel weird…” Chongyun said, face turning greener by the minute.
“Ah, shit,” Lumine stopped in her tracks before running back to hold up the boy. “Sorry for making you drink that. Let’s sit down for a bit.” She led him over to a rotting wooden bench before feeling his forehead gently. “You’re burning up!”
“I’ll be okay,” Chongyun tried to get out evenly, despite obviously not, contrary to what he said, being okay. “Can you continue to look for evidence of paranormal activity while I recover?”
“Chongyun...” Lumine sighed, starting to break the news to him, that tests of courage typically weren’t actually based on paranormal activity but instead the antics of the employees trying to scare couples.
Childe allowed himself to relax, dropping his guard for a moment as he watched the two from behind a tree. Finally, Lumine’s quasi-date would be over (and would end on a somewhat sour note), and she can come back to him to complain about it in Liyue. Then, he could take her to Liuli Pavilion and show her what a real date-
In both his fantasy and in the real-world, her gold eyes pierced through his blue ones. What came next was much more romantic in Childe’s imaginary situation.
“Actually, hold on, I think I might see something,” real-Lumine’s voice echoed through his imagination as pretend-Lumine stood up on her tiptoes…
Before their pretend-lips could meet, a sharp kick to his back brought him back to reality.
“What,” she hissed, grabbing the front of his shirt, “are you doing here?”
“Ghost hunting?” he offered.
“Did you follow me here?” Lumine was incredulous.
“Only to make sure that you’re alright!” Childe put his hands up. “You told me you weren’t feeling well, remember?” She rolled her eyes, and Childe continued. “Why did you lie about this, anyways? Is Chongyun the boy you have a thing for?” Childe wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“There isn’t any- You know what, never mind…” Lumine let go of his shirt. “I lied because I didn’t think you should come with us. Aren’t you terrified of ghosts?”
True, he had told her about all of the Snezhnayan superstitions he held onto one night where they were stuck in a cave after it had started to storm while they were sparring near Cuijue Slope. She had rubbed circles on his back as he recounted the ghost stories his mother had told him, not telling her some of them were actually encounters he had had while in the Abyss…
Still, he had appreciated the consolation and waking up in her arms the next day.
“There aren’t any ghosts here,” is what he landed on.
Lumine’s eyes grew wide. “Childe?”
“You know as well as I do that these types of things are just orchestrated by whoever is making money off of it,” he explained.
“Childe, turn around.”
“Hmm?”
He did as she asked and found himself toe-to-toe with a translucent girl.
“Wow!” he exclaimed. “This is pretty realistic. Do they have someone with a hydro vision orchestrating this whole thing?
“I don’t think so,” Lumine grabbed his arm, pulling it back and holding it close to herself.
“You don’t?” he asked, reaching out his hand to the small girl. “It’s probably just mist-” he explained as he stuck his arm through the girl’s head.
His arm came back dry, and he looked down at Lumine.
“CHONGYUN!” they screamed as they clung to each other, both terrified of the preteen girl that stood in front of them.
Childe adjusted a knocked out Chongyun higher onto his back. “He was even too out cold to take care of the reason he even came all the way out here. You really shouldn’t have forced him to drink that potion, Lumine.”
“I know, I know,” she dismissed with a wave of her hand.
After regaining their composure, the two scooped up the unconscious Chongyun and booked it out of Wuwang Hill. The sun was now setting, and they were still a good distance from Liyue.
“We should probably stay at the Wangshu Inn tonight. Paimon is still in Liyue, right?” Childe suggested, and Lumine responded with a nod. “...And sorry for following you out here. I was just curious.”
Lumine shrugged. “If you hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have been able to get Chongyun out of there.” The two walked in silence for a moment. “I don’t have a crush on him or anything. I was just trying to help out.”
Childe felt himself grow flush at the implication that he followed her out there because he was making assumptions about her love life. It was true, of course, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Well, I was worried about you. You don’t exactly seem like the experienced type. I thought I’d need to give you hints throughout your date,” he joked.
Lumine bit her tongue. “How about when one of us likes someone, we can be a wingman for that person,” she suggested before quickly adding, “Just so one of us doesn’t accidentally crash the other’s date.”
Childe was silent.
“I’m a really good wingman!” Lumine promised. “I used to help out Aether all the time!”
Lumine was planning on giving him love advice like she did her brother?
“There was one time-”
Archons, he couldn’t take another second of her talking about it. “Sounds good! Let’s do it!” he managed to get out.
“Oh!” Lumine said, almost surprised. “Okay! Did you have someone in mind?”
“Yes,” he said simply. If only she knew (or realized he wasn’t lying the first few times he’s confessed).
But she didn’t know, didn’t realize, and they both stayed up thinking about who they were competing with for the other’s affection that night.