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Lumine cuts through the woods with expert ease having been through here time and time again. The only thing she isn't used to is the perpetual winter Dragonspine brings, causing her skin to blister blue. She holds herself close, rubbing her arms as she attempts to get at least a semblance of heat to her skin. She'll have to stop by a warm fire for a while before she freezes over completely.
Paimon, ever the enigma she is, follows behind her as if everything was fine. She has her hands tucked behind her, humming cheerfully as they pass through the woods. The only indication of the cold on her body is the dusting of pink at her cherub-like cheeks.
"Hold on!" she exclaims once Lumine dashes through the woods. The river is only a few paces away. "So you're just gonna stride over there without a plan? Paimon thinks that's a bit reckless!"
Even the snow at the foot of the mountain reaches above her ankles. She treads slowly as she approaches the lake, realising that someone had left behind a camp. Maybe there was something in there she could light on fire.
"I'm not being reckless," Lumine tells her, sniffing as she feels a sneeze coming up. "Think about it Paimon—"
She reaches the empty camp, sneezing as she picks up a small frying pan from the little firewood on the ground. It still feels a bit hot so whoever left it must've still been close by.
"There are hundreds of other fishing spots in Mondstatd alone, who in their right mind would go all the way to Dragonspine just to fish?"
Paimon crosses her arms as she watches Lumine trudge through the mostly empty camp. "Probably someone who isn't in their right mind," Paimon quips.
Lumine sits up from where she bent down, shooting a finger to Paimon as she says, "Exactly."
As if on cue, the sound of footsteps crossing through the powdery snow approaches them closer and closer.
"Well, well, if it isn't my favourite traveller."
Lumine sighs. The hot air that escapes her lips warms up her face a bit and she reminds herself to start a fire soon or leave Dragonspine all together.
She turns and the face she sees is exactly the one she expects.
"Childe," she says plainly, "Can't say I'm surprised to see you here."
The ginger laughs, the sound mockingly arrogant as he holds his stomach.
He looks up for a brief moment, making eye contact with Lumine.
"Can't say I'm surprised to see you here, either," he shoots right back.
Before Lumine can even begin to think up a response, she has to dodge a rapid-fire arrow coming straight at her forehead.
From the other side of the river, Childe hums amusedly.
"Not bad. I see you've been honing your skills."
"I see you haven't."
"Oh?" Childe chuckles. "Perhaps, I need to convince you otherwise."
Lumine almost rolls her eyes. She should honestly be used to this by now.
Childe shoots another arrow her way which she dodges again. As Lumine runs across the woods, arrows follow her way, each one getting closer to striking her than the last. She decides that she's tired of this and surges forward instead of away, advancing towards Childe with her sword. The moment she reaches him, however, she's stopped by his daggers. For a moment, their eyes meet in between the blades. From here, Childe's empty blue eyes glisten even as they reflect the clouded sky.
Lumine sees herself in them, too.
"It's nice to see you again, comrade," he says, impossibly honest. For some reason, Lumine can tell that he is.
Lumine retracts her sword, leaving it at her side.
"Why did you come here?" she asks.
Childe hides his daggers, straightening his back and shifting his weight to his other foot.
"Where I'm from we celebrate a winter festival at around this time of the year. For various reasons, I'm unable to go back to my homeland so I went to the second best thing. Why did you come here?"
Lumine tilts her head. "I think you already know."
"Oh?" Childe quips. "The hero of Liyue coming to see me? How flattering."A small, half-there, half-not, slightly sinister, slightly sweet grin that probably only Childe could produce appears on his lips. A smile that Lumine would recognise anywhere.
Lumine almost smiles back, readying a snarky retort at the back of her mind, but instead, she realises the mountains are much colder than Lumine remembers, and she lets out a small sneeze, stepping back and covering her nose.
Childe steps towards her, taking off this obnoxiously long red piece of fabric he always wore around his chest and throws it over Lumine's head. He pulls her towards him and wraps the garment around her neck like a scarf. She's about a head smaller than Childe so she looks up at him as he does this, growing silent even with all her previous bravado. Childe catches her stare again, sees starlight in her eyes even as it reflects the clouded sky, and in the winter cold of Dragonspine, a small blush begins to adorn the traveller's cheeks.
"Come on," he beckons her, fixing the makeshift scarf so that it covers her mouth. "I wanna give you something."
✧
Childe leads them to a quaint little camp close to the river. As Lumine examines the tent, she notices the haphazard way it's set up, barely being pinned into the powder snow and loosely tied down. Miraculously, it stays upright, as if hanging on by a very strong and very stubborn thread, holding its own against the harsh winter wind of the Dragonspine terrain. Childe takes a seat in the center of it, offering a contrastingly carefree smile as he pats the space next to him.
Lumine and Paimon share a look of confusion before they turn back towards the Fatui harbinger.
"Come sit, comrade," he calls, beginning to rummage into his satchel that lies at his side. "You feeling hungry?"
"Paimon is starving!" Lumine's companion exclaims truthfully.
Paimon floats towards the redhead and peers closer into his satchel. Childe lets out a low giggle as he presents a plastic bag.
"That smells amazing," Paimon tells him, "But… what is it?"
"I'll tell you," Childe says, turning to Lumine with a glint in his eyes, "If your owner sits down."
"Hey!" Paimon stomps her feet in the air, "Lumine is not Paimon's owner!"
Lumine tilts her head in amusement as she catches Childe's stare, unmoved by Paimon's outburst.
"My apologies, comrade," Childe says, not even looking at Paimon, "But, the request still stands."
Lumine crosses her arms. What is he up to?
"C'mon, Lumine!" Paimon calls, "Paimon wants to know what's in the bag!"
Wordlessly, Lumine takes a seat next to Childe, feeling the snow crunch underneath the weight of both her and the thick blanket Childe has laid down for them to sit on. She brings her knees up to her chin, leaning against it as she turns to Childe again.
"Well?" she calls, "What's in the bag?"
Childe flashes a grin and reaches into the bag, taking out what looks to be a steaming piece of bread held in parchment paper.
"We call it pirozhki," Childe informs them, handing the first one over to Paimon who all but eagerly grabs the piece of bread, biting into it immediately. "They are quick and easy to eat. Perfect for adventuring."
"And delicious too!" Paimon exclaims, pieces of crumbs scattered around her lips. "Lumine, eat some!"
Childe offers her a pirozhki with an unexplainable smile on his face. Waringly, Lumine accepts the food.
She bites into it as she maintains eye contact, an eyebrow raised as she slowly chews. To her delight, it tastes amazing. It's filled with a mix of ground beef and vegetables, nice and hot, perfect for the Dragonspine chill. Lumine imagines a younger Childe running up to the dinner table and reaching over to snag a pirozhki from behind his parents' backs, biting into it with a mischievous grin of satisfaction. She imagines it tastes a lot like home for him.
"That good?" Childe asks.
It's then that Lumine realises she's been stunned into silence, staring with wide eyes as she swallows the food, speechless.
Lumine huffs, biting into the pirozhki as she looks away.
"You made these yourself?" Paimon asks.
"Of course!" Childe replies, "Maybe sometime I can teach your companion how to make them for yourselves."
"I bet Lumine could make them even better!" Paimon brags.
Childe smiles. "We'll have to see."
Lumine squints her eyes at him as she takes another bite. "I bet pinecones would make it better."
Paimon tilts her head. "Uh—I don't think—"
"Paimon," Lumine turns to her, "Would you mind collecting some for me?"
"Wha—"
"What an interesting addition," Childe comments, "Your ideas rival that of Wanmin's head chef."
"Now that's an exaggeration," Paimon interjects, "Paimon's sure no one could outclass Xiangling's, uh, creativity," she scratches her head, "But if you really think so… Paimon will be right back!"
Lumine watches as Paimon gobbles up the rest of her pirozhki, dusts off her hands, and sets off to look for some pinecones.
Then, it's just the two of them.
"Wanted me alone that bad, huh?"
Childe's shit-eating grin irks Lumine but she doesn't let it show. At least, she tries not to let it show. She narrows her eyes at him as she grumbles into her food and says, "What I want is to know what you're up to."
Childe finishes the rest of his pirozhki, crosses his arms on his knees and rests his chin on top of them, turning to Lumine as he says, "To borrow your words from earlier, I think you already know."
The stare he wears is far too direct and personal, eyes gazing upon Lumine with a certain glint that she can hardly understand, voice low and quiet, as if he wanted Lumine to be the only one that could hear him, afraid that someone might be around to listen in.
So Lumine stares back, just a step away from Childe's intimacy, still hesitant to walk into step with him. The thing about Childe is that Lumine, no matter how hard she tries, can never really decipher him. His eyes are too empty, too closed-off most of the time, that these moments of familiarity come to Lumine as a surprise. But they aren't entirely unwelcome.
"You terrorized a local Dragonspine family's supply of fish just to get me to come here?" Lumine summarizes easily. "Why would you do that?"
"You haven't been responding to my letters," Childe tells her, straightforward this time.
"You couldn't have done something more, I don't know, normal?" she asks.
"Well, how would you have known it was me?" he grins.
Lumine tries not to laugh, raising an arm to try to cover her mouth, but a giggle escapes her lips before she can stop it, her shoulders erupting with laughter as her head rolls back, in awe of the ridiculousness of it all. Next to her, Childe follows, a hand coming to hold his stomach as he laughs at himself, eyes still on Lumine even as she closes her eyes. She doesn't see it, but his smile turns soft, laugh quieting down to let Lumine's giggles fill the air instead. Childe reaches over, catching Lumine off-guard as he tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.
Then, Lumine blinks her eyes open, smile slowly fading as she sees Childe's stare again. There is an apparent sincerity in his eyes that makes Lumine feel smaller than she is, face heating up at the direct attention. Her heart stutters in her chest, the telltale signs of a fall coming up ahead but she can't find herself to stop walking.
Childe retracts his head, never breaking eye contact with the traveller as he looks away, turning to his feet.
"Around this time of year, I would help Mama make pirozhkis for my siblings. They'd play around in the snow all day and come home with tired knees and whine for something to eat. It's been quite a while since I've been able to come home but… I can't help but miss it."
Lumine tilts her head. "So why don't you?"
Childe turns his head, chuckling, "What do you mean?"
"Come home," she says, "Have you even tried?"
Childe pats her head and laughs, "That is very funny, comrade!"
Lumine bites her cheek, unamused at his too-familiar gesture and shakes him off.
"Then why did you even want me here?" she asks instead, "Am I some sort of consolation?"
Childe brings his hands back to his lap.
"It's been years since I've last been home," he repeats, "Years where I've experienced many, many things."
Then he levels with her, eyes turning soft and once again, Lumine can't bring herself to look away.
"But none of those things felt as much like home as you do."
Lumine hides her face into the makeshift scarf Childe gave her, fruitlessly hoping that he wouldn't be able to see the blush adorning her cheeks. Instead she is faced with a scent that is just so Childe that all of her senses override with the man beside her.
And it is a bit ridiculous that she still tries to evade his stare, because she realises that no matter where she goes, she never really escapes Childe. Not in the letters she receives, not in the rumours that spread around, not in her thoughts, or in her dreams.
So she tilts her head up, lips emerging from the red strip of fabric, face moving before she can even register what she's doing.
But Childe knows what she's doing, knows it well enough that he's one step ahead of her and raises a hand to cup her cheek, surprisingly warm and soft, she eases into it.
When their lips touch, it feels just as soft.
"Paimon found them!"
They break away quickly. Lumine jumps to leave a space in between them for good measure. Paimon floats towards them with a confused expression.
"What's with you two?" Paimon asks, "What were you up to while Paimon was gathering pinecones?"
Lumine almost lets out a sigh of relief as she realises Paimon hadn't seen them. Instead she chuckles incredulously, raising her arm to try to stop herself from guffawing entirely.
"Comrade, you're back!" Childe exclaims, "Your companion and I were just going over the pirozhki recipe to make sure she has it down."
At that, Paimon huffs indignantly. "Lumine's more than capable of making it, Paimon's certain."
Childe turns to her with a grin, "Is that so?"
Lumine mirrors his smile. "I don't know," she says, "I might have to come back some time to know for sure."
They stare at each other in silent understanding, somehow in their own little world, surrounded by the tall mountains of the Dragonspine terrain. Paimon goes on to try to pry their secret out of them but they don't budge, answering only by snickering and vague not-answers.
Paimon takes the space in between them and glares at Lumine, feeling betrayed by her companion. Lumine promises to tell her about it later. Childe offers her another pirozhki to distract her. When Paimon relents, she eats her pirozhki in silence, holding Lumine to her promise.
Lumine looks away from Childe then, burying her face in the makeshift scarf, unsure if the heat she feels is from her cheeks or the fabric hugging her skin. All she knows is that, even in the winter cold, someone can still make her feel unexplainably warm.