Work Text:
He’s busy sorting papers for Zhongli when he suddenly feels another body slump over on his back. He knows who it is before he even turns to look.
“Hello, Childe,” he sighs, slightly exasperated. Childe’s forearms are resting on his shoulder, with his chin on top of his arms.
“Hey, comrade!” Childesays, and he already knows what’s about to be asked. “You don’t look too happy.”
Aether quirks an eyebrow and gestures at his papers. “I’m working,” he says, “and you’re interrupting me. Do you mind?”
“Sounds boring,” Childe replies, very obviously dodging the question. “I’m bored too. Wanna head outside the city for a spar, my dearest comrade?”
There it is. It’s not like he wasn’t expecting it. The Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers has been pestering him for fights every time he comes by Liyue, and he’s been annoyed enough to indulge him a few times before. But if you give Childe an inch, he’ll take a mile, or whatever else he can get.
“Not right now,” Aether answers firmly, and he turns back to his papers. He’s decent at reading Liyue’s alphabet, decent enough for Zhongli to give him some funeral parlor paperwork to sort through while he’s out doing….whatever he does when he’s out.
“Aeee-theeeer!” Childe whines, leaning against him harder, “Come on! I’ve got nothing else to do!”
“Well, I do,” Aether says, “and I’m busy right now, Childe. Maybe later.” Though, it is strange. He’s not usually this persistent.
Childe pouts, huffing through his nose. But he doesn’t sit up or get off of Aether. Aether doesn’t try to make him. He’s got other things to do right now.
After Childe left Liyue, post-Osial incident, he had just assumed that Childe had gone home to Snezhnaya, and he would disappear like Signora has after she took Venti’s Gnosis in Mondstadt.
But the next week, he’d arrived back in Liyue after some commissions, only to find a whole Fatui Harbinger, walking around the harbor like nothing had ever happened. Even though he received no shortage of sideways looks from the citizens. From what he knows, the Fatui were never a favorite of Liyue Harbor’s people, but they’re….less than welcome now, due to one of their members summoning an ancient and malevolent god on a city full of innocents.
He’d found Childe hanging out with Zhongli at the Third-Round Knockout, Childe still paying out of his pocket, and both of them had been more than happy to see Aether.
He really has no idea why Zhongli still allows Childe’s presence. Does he really still trust Childe, even after all he did? For Aether, the betrayal still stings.
Or maybe he was just stupid to have trusted an enemy in the first place.
But since then, Childe’s come to challenge him to spars nearly every other day. He turns him down almost every time, but sometimes he gets too persistent and he has to oblige.
Actually…
Aether frowns as he turns a paper. The journey from Snezhnaya to Liyue takes weeks, or so he’s heard. Childe likely shaved that down to a week and a half. But it’s only been about three weeks since he came back, and Aether’s seen him almost every night and day that he’s been here….
He looks up from his papers. With the Qixing beating down on the Fatui for proper reparations and damage compensation, they doubtless needed a Harbinger’s assistance—especially the very Harbinger who’s the culprit of the crime. He thinks back to every time he’s seen Childe in the past three weeks, and back to the near constant humming of his Vision, which had increased since he met him.
Suddenly, Childe shifts his full weight onto Aether’s back, pushing him into the desk. “Hey!” He says, “get off, don’t put your full—“
But he stops as he swivels his head around to complain at Childe, because he didn’t ever expect what he’s seeing.
Childe is dead asleep.
It’s….kind of astonishing.
Childe’s face, which is usually twisted into a smug smile, is calm and serene, slightly squished against his shoulder. His orange hair is messy and falling around his face in waves, with the red crests of his Delusion poking up and under his hair. His shoulders rise slowly in a rhythm as he breathes. He really is asleep.
Aether blinks. Childe must’ve been….really, really tired, to fall asleep mid conversation. He chuckles, a smile forming on the edges of his lips. It’s….kind of funny to look at. Childe makes a small noise in his sleep as Aether’s shoulders shake.
Honestly, he can’t believe he’s thinking this, but….it’s kind of cute.
It’s just then that he notices how pale Childe is, and the dark circles rimming his eyes. He must have been really tired. Knowing Childe, he likely hasn’t slept at all since he came back to Liyue to clean up his messes.
Well, it’d be a shame to wake him up now, since he’s already in such a deep sleep. And despite how much he distrusts the Harbinger, he does feel kind of bad for him, if he’s really been working nonstop for the past few weeks.
Aether shifts slightly, then stops, listening for any changes in Childe’s breathing. When he doesn’t hear anything, he slowly pulls one of Childe’s arm over the shoulder that’s not supporting Childe’s head. He stands up very gradually. Childe is surprisingly light, for a person whose profession requires them to be so good at fighting. You’d think he’d have more body mass.
He supports Childe’s body on his back, hunched over as he stumbles to the couch nearby. This is Zhongli’s apartment, after all. Though, he does wonder if Childe is paying for it.
Aether smiles. Yeah, he could envision that. Even if it’s more likely that Hu Tao is the one supporting Zhongli.
He lays Childe down on the couch soundlessly. Childe makes a groaning noise, but he doesn’t move off the couch.
Aether breathes a sigh of relief, though he doesn’t know why.
He still doesn’t trust Childe. He doesn’t think that he considers him a friend. But he’ll let him stick around and take a break for a while longer.
It doesn’t mean that they’re friends.