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They didn’t speak. At least, not yet. Childe didn’t want to speak for once, he just wanted to bask in the feeling of his fiancé’s arms around him.
They hadn’t seen each other in 11 months, nearly a year. The cryo archon sent Tartaglia on a mission that was only scheduled for two months, but then things got out of hand. He had moved from Liyue to Inazuma and then to Fontaine and Sumeru within the past 8 months. After Scaramouche messed things up and practically caused a civil war in Liyue because he thought mimicking Inazuma would be funny. Childe had gotten stuck with handling the abyss who was trying to reach the Chasm. He was then forced to chase an abyss herald through several continents. It turned out that it wasn’t even an abyss herald in the first place.
He attempted to send Diluc letters but he wasn’t sure if he got them, he never got any in return but he was probably moving around too much to be there to receive them. He wished he could read the words Diluc was writing back to him, he was always better with words on paper. He envied whoever was receiving them on his behalf.
Signora, who was stationed in Liyue, would travel between Mondstadt and Inazuma occasionally. She would inform Childe of a ‘brash redhead with far too heavy clothing.’ that was looking for him. That was three months ago. Signora died two weeks ago and he had told her before then to tell Diluc to go back to Mondstadt on his behalf but now he doesn’t know if that message got to Diluc cause the wench went and died on him.
Clearly, that wasn’t the case as he had a face full of big red curls currently.
He was just recently back in Inazuma to help Scaramouche with delusion distribution since he had never handled a trade before; that was Signora's job. Plus, he had also offered to join up with Scaramouche, as he knew the male had trouble being in Inazuma. He had never asked why, but the shorter man was clearly uneasy when he was stationed in Inazuma.
Walking into one of their bases that had been set up for said trade, Scaramouche motioned to a room used for ‘problems”, “Someone’s here for you.”
He could have expected a million people, fuck. He could’ve expected Dottore! But instead, asleep and leaning against a wall was Diluc. The man he proposed to nearly a year and a half ago.
Tartaglia almost fucking tripped. Taking a second to not just fucking cry.
On any other occasion, this sight would make Childe laugh. Diluc, the dark knight hero, casually sitting in a Fatui owned building. Sleeping soundly while a harbinger was in the other room. It made him wonder how tired the male really was. How long had he been here? How did he find this place?
Now, Childe knew Diluc would never hurt someone he worked with, Diluc was smart enough to know the Tsaritsa would likely murder Childe as a retaliation against Diluc, even if he was the favorite. Though, it was still funny.
When she got wind of their engagement she practically forced Diluc to establish a trade with Snezhnaya to keep things ‘civil.’
Diluc was particularly agitated that week.
“‘Luc?” He mumbled, walking up to him, almost hesitant as he touched his shoulder. Once his hand came in contact with his shoulder, he flinched back. He was barely processing that Diluc was in fact in front of him because it truly felt like some dream, the overwhelming fear of being alone again clinging to him.
Maybe Childe hadn’t released just how much he missed his lover, he drowned himself in his work; he’d rather not think.
Diluc let out a small groan and slowly blinked up at Childe once he opened his eyes. He expected Diluc to hit him, half expected him to start yelling.
What he got was Diluc shooting up, wrapping his arms around Childe’s neck and consequently causing Childe to fall back onto the floor with a small thud. Childe blinked, it took him a second to notice what just happened. His brain was not catching up with reality. Though all too quickly he shot his arms around Diluc. He could feel his partner's high body heat even through his thick jacket.
The door to the room flung open, “what happe-“ it was Scaramouche, Childe didn’t bother to look up or even acknowledge him, Diluc having buried his face into Childe’s neck and Ajax taking the opportunity to hide his face in Diluc’s hair.
He heard Scaramouche shuffle out of the room and shut the door. Thankful the male didn’t make any comments
They were chest to chest, Diluc having fallen between Childe’s legs.
He almost wondered who would let go first, let alone talk first.
He could feel Diluc breathing fast, he probably wasn’t any better, he wondered if Diluc could feel his racing pulse.
Diluc released one hand off Childe and half-heartedly smacked his back. Ajax just squeezed him more, Diluc hit him again. It didn’t hurt, Diluc always had a habit of lightly hitting things, or him, to get some kind of sensory relief. Especially when his emotions were everywhere. He assumed it was some form of emotional stimulation that Diluc didn’t know how to deal with. Childe alway found it endearing.
When they got engaged he very vividly remembered Diluc hitting his shoulder over and over again while Childe laughed.
One night, after Diluc had a particularly difficult day, they just laid together. Childe was on his back in Diluc’s bed, arm over his eyes cause the light was on and god was he tired, having just gotten back from a weekend assignment and having barely slept. Diluc had taken it upon himself to wordlessly lay himself across Childe and shove his face into his chest. Diluc was shirtless at that time and Childe had started running his fingers up and down his back, counting each curve of his spine as he did so, lightly outlining his shoulder blades, tracing the curve of his neck until he met his shoulder, then leading back down until he started the pattern over.
All while this was happening, Diluc had taken Ajax’s arm from over his face, who was pleased to find out the light had been turned off. At first they held hands and then Diluc started squeezing his hand until he let go, beginning to lightly hit the center of his palm with his fist. Occasionally he would stop to do something that was akin to a massage. At other times he would take one of his fingers and push his thumb onto Childe’s nail.
Diluc was clearly not hitting him very hard because Childe fell asleep within minutes of this happening. When he woke up, they had managed to tangled themselves up in eachother, Childe practically laying on top of Diluc. If Childe didn’t know any better he would have thought he was suffocating him. Their legs messed up together and although Childe’s head was on the pillow, Diluc’s head definitely was not. He was a bit below Childe’s bicep; which he was just under and Childe almost had his head covered with his chest. Childe moved off the pillow to meet Diluc where he was at, so he could sleep peacefully knowing he wasn’t going to suffocate his lover.
Now, he wasn’t sure he would be able to let go of Diluc even if he was suffocating him.
Ajax deeply inhaled when he felt Diluc’s breathing turn into short rapid movements and the hits on his back become harsher but more spread out. Quiet sobs leaving the love of his life and all Childe could do was squeeze him tighter. Burying his face deeper in Diluc’s hair to hide his own tears.
He heard Diluc mumble something but he couldn’t make it out from his face being shoved in his neck. Not that he would bother asking him currently.
Diluc almost never cried, Ajax had known him for so many years yet he could count the amount of times on his hand he had seen him cry. Ajax, on the other hand, would cry if he got frustrated over paperwork and Diluc never, not once, treated him like he was less than because of it.
He always sat with him or stayed by him, brought him coffee, tea or alcohol sometimes, even if he hated it.
Diluc always refused to kiss him when he drank so he stopped drinking as much, but on days like those, Diluc never complained.
He would make meals for him when he was stressed even though Childe preferred to be the cook between them. He never offered to help, probably knowing Childe would never let him.
Though, now knowing Diluc was full on sobbing and it was his fault, it was because he couldn’t make time between the Tsaritsa’s plans, because he couldn’t find a way to get to his lover. Although he wanted to blame himself, he wished her a harsh death for that. A prayer he hoped she heard through his bitter thoughts.
Diluc pulled away and grabbed at Childe’s face, hands on both of his cheeks as he stared at him. He looked awful, puffy eyes and his face still wet, some of his hair stuck to his face from being plastered by his tears.
“I thought you were dead or missing.” Diluc said, voice steady for a moment before it cut into cries as he tried to not slur his words: once again ducking in to kiss Childe. He happily returned the kiss but kept it short, the words causing confusion in him. Had he not gotten his letters this entire time?
“What?” He asked, putting his hands on Diluc’s waist.
Childe watched the red head take a moment to steady his breathing as Ajax gently rubbed patterns into his side. “I heard you were in Liyue when the fighting broke out and then the fatui with the obnoxious head-dress said you never made it back to Inazuma.”
He wished Signora was alive so he could kill her again.
“Then Scaramouche finally told me you weren’t so when I found him in Snezhnaya, he brought me here a week ago saying you’d be back soon.”
“You went all the way to Snezhnaya!?”
“I was in Fontaine trying to fucking find you a month and a half ago!”
“Did none of my letters reach you? I never made it back to Inazuma then because I was requested in Sumeru by the Tsaritsa.” Childe didn’t miss the slight furrow of Diluc’s brows at her name being mentioned.
Diluc was always vocal about his hatred for her but at some point he stopped, he wasn’t sure if it was for Childe or because he found wasting his breath on her a terrible use of his energy.
Diluc stared, “You sent letters?” Childe’s stomach churned, the sight of Diluc’s tears still falling, more calm or not, it was causing him pain.
“I always send letters.” He mumbled, leaning forward to kiss at Diluc’s face.
Diluc moved his arms to drape over Ajax’s shoulders. “I've never gotten a letter from you while you were away.”
Childe blinked, pulling away. Wondering if they were intercepted or if there was simply a problem and they were lost.
Another hit to his shoulder and Childe blinked back to reality, to return his attention to partner.
“If you ever pull this shit again,” he inhaled. “I will personally bring down your entire organization.”
Childe snorted, “How did that go last time, beloved?”
Diluc hit his shoulder again but another sob wretched through him and Childe’s smile fell, about to apologize before-
“God just shut the fuck up Ajax.” Diluc said through a cry that was probably meant to come out as a laugh. He took one of his arms off Ajax to aggressively wipe his face with his arm. Ajax started to lean back slightly onto one of elbows.
When he removed his face Childe wanted to laugh slightly because the roughness of his jacket against his skin made his face look even more red but he spared Diluc that.
Diluc leaned his forehead against Childe’s. “I missed you.”
Once Childe leaned back entirely on the floor, Diluc lay on top of him, ignoring how his weight made it difficult for him to breathe. He wrapped his arms around him again.
“I missed you too.”