Chapter Text
"Woah woah, what the heck?!" you panicked as your monitor flashed brightly.
All you had tried to do was Childes weekly boss fight. Instead your computer decided to have a stroke, no matter what button you pressed nothing helped. Not feeling like ripping out the power since you have heard enough times how it ruins your computer so you left it alone. And making your way to the kitchen.
Turning on the kettle, grabbing a cup from the cupboard along with a container of tea leaves.
A sudden crash in your living room scared you, almost dropping the cup you were holding. Rushing to the living room you saw a very familiar person laying flat on his stomach on the floor.
Ginger hair, a certain red mask on his head. Heart dropping to the pit of your stomach you took a few steps forward. Were you dreaming? Did you manage to hit your head somewhere?
You got ripped back into reality as the man laying on your living room floor groaned, dragging himself forward, his leg entangled in the office chair landing on the floor with a thud.
"Hey—" was all you managed today when Childe turned around on the floor summoning his hydro blades, readying himself for a fight.
You could feel his dull eyes pierce right through you, raising your hands up to show you mean no harm to him whatsoever.
"Calm now" was all you managed to choke out. Remaining glued to the floor.
"Calm?" he repeated, pushing himself further away from you. Until his back hit the couch.
"Yes, calm, I have tea?" you panicked. Grabbing the cup you had made for yourself, handing it to Childe.
He looked at it, and back at you. Before accepting the cup from your hands.
You could tell he was hesitant to drink it, eyeing it closely, smelling it and looking back at you. Sighing, you went into the kitchen and prepared a second cup of tea for yourself. Thinking about it you would probably be hesitant to drink something a stranger offered to you too.
Taking the cup with you, you walked right back to the living room. Sitting on the floor a bit from him you tried to think of something smart to say. Even if all this was a dream. You wanted to say something useful.
"I don't know how all of this happened but, the tea isn't poisoned."
Well that wasn't exactly what you tried to say that's for sure. Childe raised an eyebrow at your comment and chuckled "Mhm? Well now that you mentioned it, how can I trust you?"
"Well want to trade cups or something? All I am trying to do is to accommodate you falling off my desk in my home." you huffed.
The ginger raised an eyebrow at your comment "Your home?" he asked.
You nodded in reply "Yeah."
There was a moment of silence while Childe looked around your living room. It was similar in style to what he was used to, but yet so, different?
He brought the cup to his lips and took a sip of the tea. It was sweet.
"So uh, how did you end up here?" you asked, breaking the silence.
"I was in some domain with doors all over, like a maze." he explained to you.
It sounded a lot like the current event in Genshin, “Labyrinth Warriors.”
“And it’s crawling with monsters?” you asked him, you felt his eyes bore into you. Maybe you should not have mentioned it at all.
“How do you know about it then?” he pressed, yeah definitely not a good idea to mention. How were you going to explain to this man that he really doesn’t exist and that he belongs in a game?
“Oh, uh, I just guessed since you pulled your blades on me the second you woke up.” you lied.
Childe hummed in response, seemingly satisfied with your answer. He brought the cup of tea to his lips and took a careful sip of the hot liquid. You could see him study your computer, you could only imagine the thoughts running through his head at this given moment.
“So can you help me get back to the maze?” he asked, turning his head to face you.
You broke eye contact casting a quick glance at the computer that looked like it had just shut itself off. You wondered if it even would turn on. And how you could get him back to the game you had no idea.
“I am sorry but I have no clue how to do it, this has never happened to me before.” you sighed, setting the cup aside.
A chill ran down your spine, this is reality, and you are sitting on the floor within arms reach of a person who almost drowned an entire city, a person willingly seeking battles for the thrill of it. He could kill you in less than a minute if he felt like it.
“Mhm, that’s not good then.” Childe stated.
“Yeah, it isn’t.”
You sat on the floor for a moment longer before getting up from the floor. It was already getting quite late and there was no way you could get the ginger back into the game no matter how hard you pushed him against the monitor.
“It’s getting quite late” you stated.
Childe hummed and got up on his feet as well, taking a look outside the pitch black window. “I suppose I should get going then.”
“No!” you exclaimed, before realising your sudden outburst. Childe looked at you, looking quite taken aback.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to sound so rude but, this world isn’t the same as the one you’re used to.” you explained, gesturing to the window overlooking a small park and street lights, and apartment complexes.
“I can let you rest here for the time being, instead.” you offered, it had to be the safest option out there. You could only imagine the headlines of an unknown person who has the power to wield water to his will.
“Oh, well if you don’t mind that then I am very thankful” he said with a smile.
The two of you sat in your living room with another cup of tea brewed along with a sandwich each. The tension had almost disappeared completely, you still felt unsure of how all of this was going to play out.
“Hey, you know I never got to know your name,” Childe said.
You tell him your name and ask for his, even though you very well know his name and the titles he goes by.
“Oh! I’m Childe!” he said with a smile, leaving out the fatui title completely.
You smiled, taking another bite of the sandwich. You felt Childes eyes on you and looked up to meet his gaze. He blinked and focused his gaze somewhere else behind you.
You showed Childe your sofa and how you could grab the handle and turn it into a bed. And to make things even better the storage underneath the seat.
For once you felt a little proud of your sofa and the full guest set up you had in the storage compartment. Just in case someone ever needs to crash at your place, and well now you get to put it to use.
After you had made the sofa more sleep ready you turned back to Childe “I will go and freshen up in the bathroom before going to sleep myself, you can follow me so you know where it is.” you mentioned.
He nodded and followed you to the bathroom after turning back leaving you to brush your teeth and readying himself. There was a small candle burning on the living room table lighting up your living room, it wasn’t much but something.
You heard him shuffle with the sheets while you dried your face in your towel. Turning off the light in the bathroom you made your way through the corridor stopping by the living room “Good night,” you said to him. He shuffled around some more, lifting his head up “Good night.”
Laying in bed the thoughts came all back, so many of them it felt like you had your head filled with ants running around in there. Still you were quite exhausted so you focused on your breathing. Slowly feeling your body get heavier and heavier and thus drifting off to sleep.
It was early morning, the sun had barely risen and Childe had woken up. He did have a good sleep in the terms of a bed, sheets and pillow compared to the short naps he had had in the maze. But he felt unsure of what today would bring with it. He got up quietly from bed and took his time to look around your apartment. In the living room you had a few bookcases with books, and mostly ornaments of sorts.
He made his way in the corridor opposite to where you had shown him the bathroom, he stood still at the entrance of your room watching you sleep. He felt confused, why would you let him, a stranger just rest in your home, he could literally kill you right at this given second.
Shaking his head to get rid of the intrusive thoughts he backed away from your room, heading for the bathroom.
You woke up to a loud crash coming from the kitchen. You sprung up from your bed scared, thinking someone had broken into your apartment. Rushing to the kitchen you remembered you weren’t exactly alone. You stood frozen watching Childe pick up the frying pan from the floor. He looked ashamed.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to wake you up nor throw this thing on the floor” he explained, pointing at the frying pan.
You smiled “Don’t worry about it, I suppose you are hungry?” you continued, a humorous grin on your face. Childe hummed in agreement.
“What would you like to have for breakfast?” you asked him, you did have some ingredients in your fridge luckily.
“I am not picky.” Childe replied almost at an instant.
You nodded and opened the fridge taking a peek inside, you could make some omelettes, with tomatoes and some spinach. Taking out a handful of tomatoes, the bag of spinach and a container with cream you closed the door. You chuckled at the sight, Childe stood frozen in place, eyes like saucers looking at your fridge.
“It’s a refrigerator, it keeps things cool so they don’t spoil” you hum.
“Oh” was all that the ginger could answer you. He turned his gaze back to you and at the ingredients you had picked.
“I’m making omelettes, eggs, some cream, and the veggies are for colour.” You explained. You were silent for a moment, you knew that this man could cook. But would it be weird if you asked him to help you out?
Deciding against the idea you begin preparing. You felt his gaze on you again, you waited for him to speak his mind and after a moment he opened his mouth “Is there something I could do?”
“Well you can take some plates and glasses, and put them on the kitchen table.” you hummed “Plates are in the second cupboard to the right from where you are right now” you continued. The ginger happily obliges and sets the table for you two while you make the omelettes.
“Oh! Drinks, what do you want? There is apple juice in the fridge and I have tea and coffee too!” you exclaimed, suddenly remembering that you hadn’t picked anything to drink with your breakfast.
“The juice sounds good” Childe replied, making his way to your fridge. He grabbed the handle and yanked a little but it didn’t budge. He looked confused, how did you manage to open it with such ease?
“Sorry but how exactly do I open this? Do I need some kind of elemental energy for it or?” he asked you.
You couldn’t help but let out a little laugh, he huffed at your reaction. “No no, there is a small pedal at the bottom of it. You need to press it down to open the door” you told him.
He did just as you told him and the door opened in fact with ease, he grabbed the cool glass flask with juice and closed the door.
Both of you are sitting down at your little kitchen table, enjoying the breakfast in silence. Childe swallowed what he was chewing before stating
“So how do I get back?”