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“Hey, wanna go for another round at the Golden House today?”
Childe snapped his head to Lumine in pleasant surprise. “Of course, girlie.”
“After lunch?”
“Sure,” he grinned, giddy. A wonderful day was set to get even better, it seemed.
The lunch that Childe had invited Lumine to was her supposed reward for besting him yet again in their weekly spars. But truly, he could cackle at the geniusness of his idea. This lunch was, in fact, a date . A date that Lumine had no clue she was going on.
Childe’s heart fluttered in his chest as he settled into the seat opposite Lumine’s at their usual table in Xinyue Kiosk. Her hair glowed as if woven from threads of purest gold, and her rich brown eyes shimmered in the gentle light that fell across her features.
Absolutely breathtaking.
Childe propped his elbows up on the table and let his chin settle in his hands. “Order away, girlie,” he winked.
Lumine rolled her eyes, but her lips were curved into a slight smile. “You’re lucky Paimon isn’t here, or your wallet would be milked dry.”
Childe chuckled. “The depths of my wallet know no bounds, but Paimon has to stop somewhere or she’d cease to float.”
Lumine’s eyes flashed in challenge. “We’ll see. Treat us to meals for the next week and we’ll show you what we can do.”
Yes. Perfect.
“Bring it on, pretty girl.”
Lumine blinked once, then put on an innocent smile. “Of course. I’ll start now.” She put up a hand to signal a nearby waiter that they were ready to put in their order.
The young man practically ran to her side, and Childe could see the stars in his eyes as he took Lumine in—beautiful and strong. He flush slightly and tripped over some of his words as he repeated Lumine’s order.
Lumine batted her eyelashes at the insignificant waiter as he shifted to better angle himself toward her.
Childe cut in. “Just put in an order for everything on the menu. That’s all,” he concluded. His tone left no room for question, and the waiter backed away with a hurried nod. Childe couldn’t keep the furrow between his brows from Lumine.
“What’s wrong?” She asked. Lumine was too pure, too lovely, innocent and blissfully unaware.
Childe shook his head. “That guy was too intrusive.” He wasn’t, actually. Not really.
Lumine let her head tip to the side. Distracted by the gesture, Childe didn’t sense her approach till her small, warm hand wrapped around his arm.
He froze. His mind, his blood, his lungs. They all stopped working.
“It’s alright. I know how to take care of myself if I feel that someone’s getting too close,” Lumine smiled.
Childe’s breath returned. Barely.
Then her thumb brushed over his arm in… reassurance?
Childe stopped breathing again. His face must’ve been completely red from all the attention. He allowed himself one second to lose himself in the wonderful girl in front of him before he gathered himself.
In the next second, he’d already turned away to feign a cough, withdrawing his arm in the process. “I know, girlie.”
Childe pulled his hands below the table so that Lumine wouldn’t see his fidgeting and prayed that something would break the tension between them. Ironically, it was the flustered waiter from before who delivered him from awkwardness.
The young man set down little plates of food, ranging from braised peanuts to porridge. Already, their small table for two was almost full, with the main dishes still yet to come. Childe grimaced as the waiter dragged another table over to accommodate their food.
“Girlie, you’d better be really hungry today.”
Unlike himself, Lumine was positively glowing. She didn’t bother to respond before digging in. With the girl of his dreams no longer burning holes into him with her eyes, Childe once again propped an elbow on the table and settled his cheek into his palm to watch her.
She paused to look up at him as she chewed on her sixth piece of roast pork. “You gonna eat?”
Childe grinned and winked. “Of course. I’m just giving you a head start.” It wasn’t as if they had agreed on an eating contest, but his ego was too fragile at this point to get caught red handed staring at Lumine.
His hand shot to the cutlery neatly arranged on a cotton napkin, and almost drove his face into his plate at what he picked up. The only thing worse than his skills at wielding a bow: chopsticks.
Childe flicked his eyes to Lumine to gauge her reaction, to see if she’d caught onto his realisation. Thankfully, she’d been too distracted by the custard buns. He carefully set the chopsticks back down and picked up the porcelain soup spoon instead.
With as much dignity as he could, Childe pulled the bowl of porridge to himself. He wasn’t a picky eater, but missing out on all the other food was a pity regardless.
He took one bite. It was nice.
Then another.
And another.
Lumine stared at him as he finished three quarters of the bowl. “Can I have some? Or is it really that good?”
Childe blinked. His mouth locked up, but his hands didn’t. He promptly picked up the bowl of porridge and passed it to Lumine, belatedly realising that he’d left his spoon in the bowl.
Now he’d truly messed up.
He took a sip of water. Pretended to inspect the food in front of him. Took another sip of water.
“Mm, this porridge is amazing,” Lumine commented. “Can I finish the rest?”
Childe nodded stiffly and flashed a strained smile. Then he turned to the chopsticks and picked them up. They were probably a better option than looking like a barbarian as he ate with his fingers.
He adjusted the chopsticks to look sort of correctly held—it didn’t appear anything like that—and did an experimental grab with it. Only one piece of roast pork was left from Lumine’s raid, it would be his first target.
Childe extended his hand and let the chopsticks land on either side of the piece of meat, then clamped them together. The thing felt a little lopsided and off-balance with his grip on it, but hopefully , it’d pull through.
Childe pulled the pork off the plate. He held onto it for an entire one and three quarters of a second before the piece of meat twisted out of his grip and landed back on the plate.
Cold sweat began to gather at the nape of his neck. Childe glanced at Lumine and found her picking off whatever last drops of porridge that was still left in the bowl.
Better to fail when she wasn’t watching. Childe made a second attempt at the pork.
He lost his grip on it after half a second.
Lumine set her bowl aside.
Childe cursed internally and stabbed the piece of meat on the ends of his chopsticks before stuffing it into his mouth.
Lumine smiled at him and picked up a crystal shrimp ball with ease. “Want any?” She offered once she’d finished her own crystal shrimp. She held the small, circular bamboo container containing the remaining crystal shrimp to him.
Childe plastered a smile to his face and shook his head. “I’ll let you have the honours, girlie.”
Her eyes narrowed infinitesimally. “This is really good. I’m not kidding. You should at least have one before I finish it all.”
“I’m fine, there’s a lot of other food. Besides, this is supposed to be a treat for you.”
Lumine hummed, but wasn’t, unfortunately, fooled. “One piece, and I won’t bother you anymore.”
Childe let out a breathy chuckle. “Come on, girlie, I’m really ok-”
“Take one,” Lumine commanded. “Take one and I’ll spar with you for fifteen minutes longer next round.”
Ah, she really knew how to bargain. There was no way he was going to slip under her radar anyway; Childe poised his chopsticks to pick up a crystal shrimp ball.
Lumine stared expectantly as he picked up the thing, then dropped it again. And repeated it five times. Her smile grew wider with each successive failed attempt, and was giggling behind her free hand by the time he surrendered and stabbed the crystal shrimp ball instead.
Childe flashed a too-wide grin. “Had your fun, girlie?”
She shook as she nodded and at him to get him to extend his hand to her. “Get your chopsticks.”
Childe did. Lumine leaned forward and adjusted his grip on them, moving his fingers one by one until she was satisfied. “Okay, now try to grab something.”
He aimed for a piece of fried yam cake, and managed to hold it up for three seconds this time before it tumbled back onto its plate.
Childe grimaced.
Lumine laughed.
Childe tried again, only to fail—as expected.
“You’re adorable,” Lumine sighed as she dragged her chair over to sit next to him, moving her plate and cutlery at the same time. “Here,” she placed her hand over his and tried to guide his movements.
Childe’s throat had long since gone dry, Lumine was so close to him, and she was voluntarily holding his hand! His breathing turned ragged as she moved his hand to the yam cake again. Childe watched Lumine watch his hand. This girl was too beautiful for this world.
His chopsticks latched onto the yam cake and lifted off the plate, and with Lumine’s hand there to adjust his fingers, his grip was firm, sure.
“See? Not too bad,” Lumine nodded to herself.
“Thanks,” Childe murmured. His entire body was warm.
After finally, finally , eating something with chopsticks properly, he returned for seconds. Of course, he lost all ability to use chopsticks without Lumine’s aid—he hadn’t quite focused on her instructions and adjustment to his grip just now since he had been too busy staring…
Lumine rolled her eyes. “You continue trying. I’ll feed you stuff.”
Before Childe could properly process her words, Lumine already had a piece of vegetable dumpling held to his mouth.
“Gir-”
She stuffed the dumpling into his mouth.
Childe had no choice but to accept the bite.
Lumine had angled her body towards him and had her knee brushing against his. Combined with her feeding him, his heart had been forced to do weird and sporadic palpitations.
It was going to be a long meal.
Lumine waited.
One day.
Two days.
Three days.
Childe still didn’t do anything special after their meal together. No confession, no talk about how she’d taken initiative to get close to him.
Had she not been obvious enough? She even called him adorable.
Childe had to have a brick for a brain at this point.
Lumine sighed and did a quick sweep of her teapot mansion. Time to up her game.
Childe was bent over his desk, staring but not seeing the papers set in front of him. They were reports on some cargo transport, nothing too important, so he could leave them to next year, perhaps.
He drummed his fingers on the desk and let his leg bounce. His subordinates had told him that Lumine was spending a lot of time in the woods these days just hacking at trees.
Maybe it was because Childe had scared her off after their date. He must’ve done something wrong, though he didn’t know what. At least one strand of his hair must be grey by now.
Childe was in a slump. He knew it, his subordinates knew it, the dogs in the street knew it. Nothing was getting done, and work was piling up. He had to do something, and only one thing made the cut.
Childe summoned his bow, made sure it was fine, then got up, ready to hop out the window and invade some hilichurl camps.
He slid the glass open, only to nearly run into Lumine.
“Girlie? What are you doing here? You do know there’s a front door right?”
She hauled herself up and through his office window with a huff. “Says the person who was about to hop out the window.”
Guilty as charged. It was a lot cooler that way, though.
“Anyway,” Lumine continued, “I wanted to invite you to explore some ruins with me.”
“Oh? You want to spend time with me? Do you like me, girlie?”
Lumine winked. “So? Are you coming or not?”
What. Did she just… agree with him? Did Lumine actually like him? And… what?
Childe blinked. That couldn’t be the case, no. Lumine must’ve just picked up the winking from him, she-
“Hey,” she waved a hand in front of his face. “Are you coming with me?”
Childe stood to attention and nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”
Lumine took his hand.
Huh?
But Childe didn’t get the opportunity to lose his mind before the ground beneath his feet disappeared.
He opened his eyes to see a relatively nice ruin, though it was a little dank. Seagrass poked out every now and then, and a colourful array of marine plants lined the floor.
“Where are we, girlie?” An old waypoint bobbed beside them, its weak blue light struggling to fill the dimly lit space.
“Somewhere in Inazuma. Come on,” she gave his hand a light squeeze and pulled him deeper into the ruins.
Lumine led him through small crevices and large hallways, easily solving the puzzles blocking their path with that cute, smart head of hers. The only time she released his hand was when they engaged in battle with ruin sentinels lying dormant throughout the area, after which she quickly seized his hand again.
Childe wasn’t sure whether the lightheadedness was because of all the fighting or because of Lumine.
At the end of it all, she claimed the spoils of her adventure: three luxurious chests that popped out of nowhere.
“So,” Lumine said as she picked up the loot and let them vanish into her inventory, “it’s pretty late now. Time to go to sleep.”
Somehow, she got even more excited.
Lumine took hold of his wrist and opened his hand so that he had his palm facing upwards. “It’s not that convenient to find somewhere to stay now, so let’s go to my teapot instead.”
A statement, not a question.
“Here’s a realm dispatch,” Lumine placed a slim object in his open hand, covering it with her own after that. “It allows you to enter my teapot at any time you wish.” She smiled at him, so bright and radiant that Childe could’ve gone blind, not that he had anything against it since it was Lumine.
“Thank you,” he breathed. Lumine still had her hand on top of his as he stared into her warm golden eyes. Maybe it was the lighting, but a dusting of pink was scattered across her cheeks, but it was probably nothing compared to the burning that heated his own face.
Lumine removed her hand to summon her little teapot. It floated lazily, small trails of glitter falling off from its base.
“Just think of my teapot and tap the dispatch twice to enter if you’re on your own. For now,” she wove her fingers through his, and Childe almost giggled in crazed delight, “I’ll bring you with me.”
Lumine brushed her fingers over the cover of the teapot, and his vision swirled. Literally. It somehow swirled .
Childe opened his mouth to comment on the absurdity of this experience, but was quickly shut up by the sound of gentle, lapping waves. A breeze ruffled his hair, and the scent of the sea calmed his tense body.
“Wow,” he murmured. Childe turned in his spot to take in the serene island. The sea stretched on and on in all directions, while a grand mansion stood proud at his back. “This is your place?”
“Mhm,” Lumine leaned into his arm.
Childe froze, unable to think properly.
What? She’s- Hahaha, I must be kidding myself, why- HUH?! Lumine!
His mind had most certainly been turned into mush.
“This is Tubby,” Lumine pointed at some bird in a teapot.
“Huh, uh, okay,” he responded dumbly. The space she put between them as she pulled him to the teapot spirit was just enough to give his brain some much needed oxygen to gather his thoughts.
Lumine waved to the bird and skipped straight to her mansion, dragging him along through their intertwined hands. This had to be the grand reveal she’d been so excited about.
Lumine carefully pushed the door open. Just one little crack, and sidestepped into the building. “Careful,” she warned, “there’s a lot of stuff behind the door.”
Childe followed her footsteps, carefully stepping into the mansion behind her. He found himself at a loss for words at what he saw.
Rows upon rows of folding screens. That was the entire mansion, the only furniture in sight.
“Girlie, it’s… It’s amazing! Hahah,” he laughed awkwardly.
Lumine either ignored the tension or genuinely didn’t sense anything wrong. “Glad you like it. Come on, let’s go to my room, it’s the only place without too many screens, since I’ve yet to decide what to do with the other rooms.”
Oh, archons save him. They were staying the night here where there was only one room available.
Her room.
His mother would beat him with a slipper if she ever got wind of this. Sleeping in the same room as a girl who he wasn’t even in a relationship with? A grievous crime. Probably even worse than murder. Childe was better than this!
“Hey. Girlie. Are you sure that you don’t have any other available rooms? I don’t want to invade your space, and it is your place after all.”
Lumine paused in her careful tiptoe through the screens. “I’m sure, Childe. And I’m really okay with you staying with me. I promise I won’t bite,” she grinned.
Childe knew he was whipped. He knew he wanted Lumine. But it felt wrong to do this with her. He was fully intent on getting into her room through the old fashioned style of simply seducing her before becoming her boyfriend, and finally, marrying her. Not this . His mother raised him to be better than that.
“I can sleep outside,” he suggested.
Lumine frowned. “No. There are too many mosquitoes out there. Bats too, I think. You’ll die. Seriously, just stay in my room.” She gave his hand another tug and continued through the screens.
Nonononono. He was not ready for this. Not at all. Perhaps never. He’d never even liked anyone before Lumine. His heart, mind and breathing raced as Lumine pushed into her room.
More folding screens, but definitely not as many as outside. And at the centre of the room sat one solitary bed. Childe didn’t know whether this was the best or worst day of his life.
“Girlie, you don’t happen to have an extra bed or mattress, do you?”
“Nope,” she replied nonchalantly.
Of course.
“Uh, I don’t think we can both fit into your bed, so I’ll sleep on the floor,” Childe grasped for something, anything to get out of this immensely awkward situation.
“I just moved in, so everything’s dusty. Especially the floor.” Lumine turned and looked him dead in the eye. “We can sleep in the same bed, I really don’t mind.”
Yes. But no. But yes . Childe wanted this so bad that it hurt. Yet he couldn’t help but wonder whether this was normal. Was he supposed to accept or insist on the floor? Did Lumine actually like him? Or was she just excessively oblivious?
“Well-”
“The shower’s there,” Lumine cut in to point the room out. “Now go,” she nudged him, a cue to get his ass moving.
As it turned out, she had to push him all the way to the bathroom and close the door behind him as he babbled about the impropriety of their entire situation, his lack of extra clothes, and overall reluctance to go along with her plan.
Of course, Childe couldn’t help but give in to Lumine’s cute, pleading face. He would just have to apologise to his dear mother sometime in the future, preferably once he married Lumine.
Perhaps after today, he would start to really think of ways to get Lumine to fall in love with him, and put them into action.
Step one of that plan: Get through tonight.
The small, single bed meant that they had to sleep on their sides to reduce the risk of falling off. Childe was grateful that he was given the opportunity to hide his face from Lumine as he slept facing away from her. He made faces at the wall, a combination of excitement, anxiety and fear.
Lumine and himself in the same bed. A wonderful thought and experience. But what if he kicked her off while he was asleep? What if he confessed his undying love for her in his sleep while Lumine remained awake? What if he accidentally crushed and hurt her? Or insulted her with his sleeping habits?
There was no telling whether his sleeping habits were normal, since he was never awake enough to notice anything unusual. Childe’s heart beat loud against his ribcage the sound amplified by the silence in the dark room.
“Childe?”
“Hmm?” He’d thought that Lumine was already asleep.
“Are you okay? You feel a little tense.”
Right. Lumine’s back brushed against his every now and then, and maybe his thoughts were too loud as well.
“I’m fine,” he murmured.
“Mmm. Okay then. Relax and sleep.” The sheets shifted as she turned to rub a soothing hand down his arm.
Oh, how he curled into that touch. Childe couldn’t wait till Lumine was finally his.
The next morning was a warm one. Sunlight filtered into the room through glazed windows to illuminate the quaint room. Wooden walls, beautiful paintings and the inescapable folding screens. But even those were elegant, with depictions of great ships and the ocean telling their own story.
Childe tightened his arms around his bolster. Weird. He didn’t sleep with one last night.
But then again, bolsters didn’t have hair. They didn’t feel soft, or contained bones in some places. And they weren’t usually warm and pretty.
Childe went into full panic mode. Every Snezhnayan curse he’d ever learned raced to his mind like a roller coaster on loop while he thought of his action plan.
He was sure that most girls didn’t usually enjoy cuddles from men who weren’t their significant other. Lumine wouldn’t be any different. Childe scrambled to get his mind to think and process things properly.
First question: Should he pretend to be asleep and let Lumine wake up first? Then he could plan his next move based on her reaction to their current position.
Childe let his eyes dip to Lumine. Maybe the better idea would be to watch her first and deal with reality later. That sounded like a solid plan.
So Childe stared. He watched the way the sunlight struck her hair and set it aglow, watched the cute squishing of her cheek against the pillow, and watched the steady rise and fall of her body.
Her arms were wrapped around him and their legs weaved together. Everything felt surreal, it was as if they were actually a couple.
Childe breathed in deep, took in the scent of raspberries that clung to the body molded to his. The hand he held to her back slowly crept to her hair. He picked up a golden lock and let a finger run over the strands.
“Childe?”
He dropped Lumine’s hair and froze, pretending to be asleep.
Lumine tightened her arms around his torso and sighed into his chest. “Childe, I know you’re awake.”
Well, shit.
“Mmm?” Maybe she could tell because his arm was still stuck in the air where he’d held her hair.
Lumine peeked up at him, eyes still half open and cheeks looking more puffy than should be possible. Surely she could hear the mad racing of his heart now.
She raised a hand to run through his hair. “You have a terrible case of bed head,” she mumbled. “It’s cute.” She yawned once, then buried her face into his chest again while her arms went around him.
Empty, blank silence filled his mind.
Childe stared at the opposite wall, then let his eyes stray back to Lumine. His hand was still stuck up in the air.
“Childe?”
“Yeah?” He breathed.
“Just hug me already, it’s getting cold.”
He scrambled to obey. His arm fell into place around her upper back, and to say it felt good was an understatement.
So… Lumine actually liked him?
He’d learned from watching his parents that couples liked to cuddle, especially in bed. And if Lumine was doing just that with him, did that mean she wanted him in that way?
Maybe… Maybe now was the time to tell her.
He braced himself and set his mind on the girl in his arms.
“Lumine.” It was one of the few times he addressed her by name. Childe bent down so that his mouth hovered right beside her ear. “I like you,” he murmured. “I really, really like you.”
His stomach did flips as the confession slipped past his lips. His heart beat faster and his fingers turned a little numb with cold.
Lumine’s arms tightened around him.
Was that a good sign?
Her head popped up from where it’d been buried in his chest. A pretty flush had made its way to her cheeks. “ Finally ,” she smiled. Lumine was so beautiful then, that Childe’s stomach cramped. But-
“Finally?”
Small hands found their way to either side of his face and squeezed.
“You know,” Lumine said instead, “that in the previous world I went to, people would call you an idiot sandwich.”
Huh?
“But I really do like you too,” she whispered.
Childe pulled her closer to himself, at least, he tried to—they were already pressed together. Only the squishing of his cheeks prevented a full smile from taking form on his face.
Lumine’s eyes traveled across his features, analyzing. “It took a really long time to get you to confess. I thought that going on that date with you would’ve been sufficient, yet I was proven wrong. Then I practically said ‘yes’ when you asked whether I liked you, and still nothing.”
Her eyes paused on his lips for one second too long, then flicked to his eyes. “I’m so glad you didn’t bring up teleporting back to Liyue last night, my cute idiot sandwich.”
She called him hers!
Childe felt his lips part and his breaths turn shallow. Subconsciously, he leaned in.
“Oh, now?” Lumine perked up. “At least you take initiative in this aspect,” she giggled, and closed the gap between their lips.
Tasting her was like heaven in Teyvat. This was the eternity he wanted, to be lost in her lips, her body. Childe would never yield to any challenge set before him, yet for Lumine, he would set the world at her feet. He would surrender everything for her, the only woman to see him as he was and choose him.
Lumine was the only person he could ever really be with. He’d known it from the second she delivered the final blow to his foul legacy—a glorious moment that should have been recorded and preserved in the most revered forms.
Childe kissed her and kissed her and kissed her. He didn’t know how long they kept at it, but by the time they parted for good, the bedroom had brightened significantly. He held Lumine in his arms as if she were a precious jewel and delighted himself in trailing more kisses over any exposed bits of skin that he could reach.
“Childe?”
He grunted against her skin.
“Don’t you have work today?”
Childe paused. He did, actually. And Scaramouche didn’t like to be stood up. He groaned and extricated himself from Lumine.
“Yes,” he pouted. “And there’s still all those screens to get through,” he added as an afterthought.
But Lumine laughed from where she still lay on the bed. “Nah, I’ve just kept them all. This place should be less claustrophobic now.”
Childe glanced at the corners of the room where at least ten folding screens had been set up last night.
It was clean and empty all around.
Wha-