Chapter Text
A cool, gentle breeze drifts through Wolvendom’s pine and cedar trees. Beneath the hillside, calm lake waters lap at the shores of Mondstadt, the elevated city resting under the cover of yet another starry night. Not a single sound beyond the crackling of recently-lit torches and shifting footsteps disrupt the illusion of peace.
“That’s everything, sir,” the last footsoldier states, his comrades having left just before with the targeted trespassers in hand.
Childe doesn’t look back to address the man. Ripples in the lake far below and remnants of abandoned Fatui camps occupy his attention. Besides, Diluc should be able to handle some interaction with a knight on his own.
“I see,” a tired but calm voice confirms the ginger’s intuition. There’s no edge of discomfort or irritation like there might have been all those months ago, when they first teamed up with the Knights of Favonius for this mission. “Thank you for your assistance and your time, Huffman.”
Silence followed by clinking armor growing less and less audible signals the coast is finally clear.
“You can stop staring off into the distance now, Childe. There will be plenty of time to do that when we return home.”
The Snezhnayan sighs, quickly rising to his feet. “I thought we moved past codenames and all that when it’s just the two of us,” he remarks. He turns to the redhead, prepared for the earful Mondstadt’s revered nobleman is undoubtedly ready to serve. “What seems to be the problem, Master Diluc ?”
“Well, to start, move away from the edge of that cliff. I’m not inclined to clean up your mangled remains.”
“Aw, we both know you care about me, firefly.” Childe quickly closes the gap between the two of them. There’s an apparent pep in his step despite the hellish battle they’d just wrapped up only a brief while ago.
“I’m not finished ,” the shorter man snaps before any arms, hands, or fingers can touch or wrap themselves around him.
Normally that ruby red glare would make even the strongest people sweat, their intuition telling them they may have taken on more than they can handle.
But one fighter’s not afraid of a little challenge.
“If this is about me almost using my Delusion on you, once again, I apologize.”
The Glare grows even more intense. “You almost put me out of commission twice . And there wasn’t even a need for you to try to bring it out in the first place!”
“Well I don’t know about you but I was trained to protect gorgeous assets such as yourself using any means necessary. I just followed my logic and intuition.”
“No, you followed that thing between your legs and pure bravado. And stop trying to flirt. This is serious.”
“I am being serious!” The ginger laughs through the words, but it feels off. The lightheartedness doesn’t reach his eyes when they look into Diluc’s. Instead a thundering storm of concern lingers, having yet to give way to relief even though the fight’s already over.
The two stand in silence, the gap between them oh so small but filled with a tension just waiting to snap.
Words seem to be on the tip of Diluc’s tongue, but the other man acts faster. A gloved hand reaches for Diluc’s cheek. It’s easy to miss behind stray locks of bright red hair, but a fresh cut hides beneath. Childe shifts stray hairs out of the way, gently running his thumb under the small wound.
“Did the Fatui do this to you?” he whispers.
“The one in front of me did.”
A small pang of guilt fills the ginger’s chest. Maybe he was a bit hasty with teasing his Delusion…
“Ajax .”
Childe snaps to attention. His eyes landing on the base of the redhead’s neck hint that he’s been unconsciously searching for more, potentially worse wounds this whole time.
“I got carried away taking you in,” he deflects, meeting Diluc’s gaze. “Somehow you come back more stunning each time I see you.”
“You’re a terrible flirt.” The shorter man brushes off the hand caressing his face. Taking a step back, he silently turns on his boot heel. It takes him making it nearly halfway down the hill for the tall, oblivious archer to think maybe his partner wanted him to follow along.
“If you’re set on lingering and enjoying the scenery you can walk home alone,” the redhead calls out from the distance.
His blue-eyed partner scoffs. Gods, when was the last time I followed him around like a dog? he wonders. “You don’t want an apology?!” he shouts back. Volume doesn’t matter much when the nearest homes are quite a long distance away.
“Make it up to me when we get home!”
The Fatui member grins. Sprinting to where Diluc waits - crossed arms and half-serious glare fixed on Childe’s frame - he does some quick guesswork about veering off to a nice spot on the long walk back to Dawn Winery.
“Actually… I have a better idea.”
✧✧✧
“I’m never trusting you with leading us back again.”
“I told you we have to stop somewhere first!” the man under verbal fire defends himself. “It wouldn’t be a surprise location if I told you where we were going!”
“WE’RE ONLY A FEW METERS DOWN AND TO THE RIGHT FROM WHERE WE STARTED!” the pissed-off, pyro-wielding aristocrat spits back at him.
Ruby red eyes glow with a dangerous fire. Well, shit, Childe panics internally, trying to prevent the flames from spreading to the rest of the walking firecracker’s body.
“Okay, hold on, hold on for just one more minute,” the ginger requests, barely avoiding a begging tone. He’s got this all under control.
Mostly.
After some initial reluctance on Diluc’s part, gloved hands intertwine. The pair slowly weave through shrubs, rocks, and small puddles under the cover of trees and fallen tree trunks alike. An occasional crystalfly cuts in through the greenery, fluttering towards the spot the taller man’s just so eager they get to.
They stop just where the path ends and intersects with a small dirt clearing. Calm waters circling Mondstadt’s inner city ebb and flow just a short distance away.
“You… wanted to come here?” Diluc murmurs not in rage or confusion, but what sounds like curiosity.
Warning bells ringing in Childe’s head die down once he realizes he hasn’t completely screwed up in taking them here.
He watches the shorter man turning his head. Those red eyes take in practically everything around them. A deserted hillichurl camp to their right, the elevated windmills and buildings on the other side of the lake, pairs of small lamp grass nestled under cedar trees.
The redhead’s face looks lost in another time. His eyes stay glued to the tree and lamp grass underneath, just as the ginger had expected. Still, the softness that stills over those ruby irises suggest Diluc’s a lot more fond of the plants glowing light blue under the leafy canopy than he knew.
“How ‘bout we move a bit closer?” Childe suggests.
Diluc nods absentmindedly, still fixed on the lamp grass.
Gently pulling his hand, the man still in pleasant surprise of what he’s witnessing guides his dazed partner closer to the largest tree. They climb up onto the rocky platform it’s situated on. The nostalgic haze seemingly fades from the Mondstadt local’s mind, as Diluc gives a small huff to being led along by the Fatui member.
He turns his attention to his “guide” once they’ve both settled down at the tree’s trunk, ignoring the lamp grass less than an arm’s distance away.
“How’d you find this place?” he questions. His hand slips out of Childe’s, but it lingers close by.
“Just took a walk through the woods and found it by chance, as one does,” Childe casually responds.
Admitting he was chased off the cliff above and crashed in the very tree they’re sitting in front of a few weeks ago doesn’t sound as romantic.
“The details aren’t important,” he continues. “You seem a lot more familiar with the area than an out-of-towner like me. So come on, spill it.” He shifts to face the redhead more directly. “What is it about this place that has the prestigious Ragnvindr so adorably wistful?”
“Don’t patronize me.” Diluc gives the ginger a good whack to the chest with his fist for emphasis.
“OW! I WAS JUST TRYING TO GIVE A COMPLIMENT!” The Glare’s return shifts the man’s next words into a more hushed volume. “Also you’re avoiding the question. Got something to hide?”
Diluc sighs. “This place you ‘found by chance...’ it holds a fair share of memories.”
“Such as?”
“Well to start, I didn’t discover the spot as casually as you claim you did.”
The storyteller looks behind him, gesturing up towards the cliff edge the listener’s all too familiar with from personal experience.
“Kaeya and I used to train up there back when joining the Knights of Favonius seemed like a high honor. One day, Kaeya used anger rather than logic to try to work his way around being blocked again and again. A running start paired with me dodging at the last second sent him careening into the lake below. Before I could process what happened or offer any help, he’d already paddled to shore. We took a closer look at this place, and the rest is history.”
Childe whistles in awe. “Quite the story! Can’t help but feel like you left me on a cliffhanger, though.”
Another sigh, this one more annoyed. “There’s nothing else to say. It’s just an old sparring ground between me and the nuisance, and Jean whenever she got dragged along into our schemes.”
The ginger nods, sensing he’s struck an area not stable enough to dig through just yet.
“I see. Well, I guess that means I’m the first to know about the built-in hiding spots here.” He grins at the questioning look on the other man’s face. “Allow me to demonstrate.”
Rising to his feet, the tall man hops onto the thick tree trunk. He wastes no time climbing towards a hollowed out hole tucked neatly below a vacant bird’s nest.
“If this is a game, I’ll pass on playing,” Diluc states. The redhead tilts his head back, trying to find where his seemingly-childish partner roosts in the canopy.
Childe’s face burns at the sight of those eyes looking curiously up at him. Whatever higher being in Celestia decided to perfectly light practically every detail of the man watching him will be receiving endless gratitude and flustered complaints.
C’mon, focus, Ajax .
“Don’t worry,” he reassures the man below - and somewhat himself - while moving the nest. “All this will be worth the…”
Wait.
This isn’t right.
Childe’s voice falters. Exactly where he thought he’d nestled a nice bottle of grape juice, some calla lilies and lamp grass neatly tied together, and - most importantly - a pretty important object meant to go around a certain someone’s finger…
Well…
Nothing’s there.
“Ajax .”
It’s already a concerning sight to spot Diluc standing at attention down below, claymore drawn and eyes fixed above. Once a twig snapping and chattering finally reaches the bow user’s ears, his muscles tense.
Instinct motivates him to prepare his weapons. A quick glance over his shoulder reveals a horde of hillichurls armed with bows and flame-engulfed clubs peering down from the cliff above. Upon another glance over, he notes that not only are some axe-handling mitachurls coming to get in on the action…
The little shits are wearing the calla lilies and lamp grass he’s pretty sure he’d meant to give to the pyro-wielding powerhouse still stationed under the tree.
And is that broken bottle the…?
No.
Oh fuck no .
One of the club-wielding hillichurls is wearing the ring around its finger.
“Remember how I said this was gonna be worth the wait?” Childe calls out to Diluc, readying his arrows and the strongest hydro daggers he can manifest at such short notice.
“What the hell have you dragged us into?” the other man groans in response.
“That” - the ginger aims an arrow directly towards the hillichurl tauntingly waving around its ring-adorned hand - “is something we’ll have to figure out together.”