Work Text:
"Chongyun!"
Xingqiu calling out prompted the exorcist to whip around to look at him. The sight of his friend made him smile a little despite being highly focused on the clues he've been given to try and find another evil spirit.
"Oh, Xingqiu. What do you need?" Chongyun put away the clues he has away, turning his full attention to the young heir.
"I was just wondering if you could spare some of your time to do a little something." Xingqiu said, his interest piqued.
"And that is?"
"I recently heard that you haven't played hide and seek at all in your childhood. And I would like to fix that."
"Huh? You mean, right now?"
Chongyun never gotten the chance to play this hide and seek game everyone apparently played once in their childhood. He was more often than not busy with his training to have the time to play the game. As a result, he never gotten the chance to experience it for himself.
It's no wonder that Xingqiu wanted to get him to play it.
"Why of course!" Xingqiu smiled.
"I apologize, but I'm currently trying to track down an evil spirit-"
"That can wait." Xingqiu shook his head as he grabbed onto Chongyun's wrist, dragging him away from the harbor and his current task.
"Xingqiu!"
"Oh come on, you're gonna love it!"
-
-
-
-
-
-
Coming to a stop in the outskirts of Liyue Harbor, Xingqiu and a reluctant Chongyun arrived at the back of a small group. There were a few people he could recognize, but there were some he couldn't.
"We're not late are we?" Xingqiu asked as they slowed to a walk.
"Xingqiu! Chongyun!" Paimon waved at the two. "You're not late, far from it in fact!"
"Ah, that is a relief."
"Excuse me for asking this, but why are there other people here as well? Not that I mind or anything." Chongyun asked, referring to the other two boys.
"Chongyun, did you really think you're the only one who hasn't played hide and seek before?" The young heir smiled.
"I'm afraid I don't get what you mean, Xingqiu."
"When I first heard that you have no idea what hide and seek is, me and the Traveler decided to gather other people who're like you. That way, everyone who never had a chance to play this game has that chance."
"Oh, I see..."
"Now that everyone's here, allow Paimon to explain the rules! One player will be chosen to be the seeker, while the rest are to go and hide, and are called hiders. The seeker's job is to of course go out to find all the hiders. If the seeker does just that, they win. If they can't however, the hiders all win! Now then, any questions?"
The boy with goggles raised his hand. "How do we decide who's the seeker?"
"Ah ha! Now that's a good question! We'll decide with...uh...rock paper scissors!" Paimon hastily said, clearly improvising.
"Is that the best method you can think of?" The Traveler deadpanned.
"Hey! What do you want a duel?"
"So...rock paper scissors?" Yun Jin questioned.
"Rock paper scissors!"
-
-
-
-
-
-
After about 3 rounds of rock paper scissors, a few ties and Paimon getting impatient, the Traveler is ultimately chosen as the seeker. Everyone is soon sent out to find a hiding place before the Traveler goes to find them.
Chongyun looked around the area, trying to find a suitable hiding place. He sees a few thick trees packed together, they look like they could be a good way to conceal himself. He goes over there, going behind the trees.
He soon hears the sound of someone stepping on grass, indicating that the Traveler has finished with the countdown. The exorcist crouched down, thinking that they wouldn't be able to find him and would simply pass by.
But with how open his hiding spot is, it didn't take long for the Traveler to discover him.
"Found you."
Chongyun glanced up at the Traveler, surprised. "You found me so quickly?"
They shrug. "I mean, your choice of a hiding place isn't really a good one."
"But...how?"
"There's nothing to cover you from the other side, and besides I can see you through the gaps of the trees."
"You can?" Chongyun turned to take a closer look at the trees, and there were some gaps between them. "Oh." He sighs, hanging his head in disappointment. "Looks like I'm out."
"Actually, I have an idea." The Traveler said. "How about you accompany me to find the others?"
"Wait, I can do that?" The exorcist wasn't expecting that that was a thing in hide and seek.
"It's actually pretty common with many games of hide and seek, and it's not against the rules so..."
"Well...sure." To get with the whole vibe the game has, mind as well.
"Alright, let's get going then."
They walked around the area, looking around for any sign of activity from the other hiders. A rustle, a little giggle, anything to allow them to find any of the rest of the players.
Chongyun's keen eye eventually landed on a fleeing figure with white hair and goggles. "Isn't that one of the hiders?"
The Traveler turned to look at the direction he's facing. "Yeah, that's Bennett alright."
"Let's go catch him before he gets away!" Chongyun ran off to catch up with the unlucky adventurer, with the Traveler following suit.
Thanks to the boy tripping on a rather conveniently placed rock, they were able to catch him.
"Awww...you found me..." Bennett sighed, seemingly disappointed, both by being caught and tripping.
"Why weren't you in hiding? Were you still trying to find a hiding spot this whole time?" The Traveler asked, both them and Chongyun helping him to his feet. "Are you hurt?"
"No, don't worry. And yeah I was...but every time I found one I would get chased away by some noisy birds that would give away my location." Bennett scratched the back of his neck.
"That's pretty bad luck." Chongyun commented, recieving a side glance from the Traveler.
Bennett shrugged. "That's just my life, should've seen it coming."
"Don't be like that, I'm sure you'll do better next game." Chongyun shook his head, though he only just met him, he doesn't want him to feel bad about himself, especially since his life seems to be terrible.
The unlucky adventurer's eyes widened. "You really think so?"
Chongyun nodded, wearing a small smile. "I do."
"Heh...thanks." Bennett mirrored his smile.
The Traveler looked really happy at their interaction, and they would've wanted it to last, but they have a game of hide and seek to complete first. "Would you like to tag along with us Bennett? To find the rest?"
Bennett was taken aback by the offer. "What? You want me to accompany you both?"
"Yeah." The Traveler nodded, and looked to Chongyun to see that he nodded along. He felt that this kid could use some sense of enthusiasm with how his life seems to be.
"Wow, thanks, both of you!" Bennett does a pose of some sorts, happy to have been included in something. "Alright, I'm in! Let's get going to finding the others!" He ran off soon after, intending on seeking out everyone else.
"He's quite... eccentric." Chongyun commented.
"It's honestly impressive he managed to stay so positive after all this time." The Traveler said.
"You mean his...bad luck?"
"Yeah, he's had bad luck for his whole life."
"Perhaps it's some kind of spirit. I can exorcise it for him."
"I don't think it's a spirit, Chongyun. Now then, let's get back to finding the others."
"Right."
Resuming in their search, the three went around the area, looking up and down to find the other three participants.
They did eventually discover someone else, but in a different way.
"Boo!" Yun Jin popped out, seemingly out of nowhere, managing to take all three of them off guard.
"Ah! Ms. Yun? What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be hiding?" Chongyun asked, having no idea why she would do that, both in scaring them, and also exposing herself.
"Where's the fun in that when you walked by my hiding place five times now?" Yun Jin asked. "What I'm saying is that I didn't want you all to be so clueless in finding me."
"Wait we did?" The Traveler blinked their eyes, dumbfounded by the realization.
"I counted." The opera singer stated.
"Where were you even hiding?" Bennett asked, looking around to find where she was hiding.
"Over there." Yun Jin pointed towards a few trees with many leaves to cover anyone who climbs up. "I climbed up the tree to conceal myself."
"Wow..." The Traveler smacked a hand to thier face, feeling like an idiot for not checking the top of the trees.
"So you wanted to be caught and not win?" Chongyun asked.
"I just thought that finding people was a bit more fun." Yun Jin smiled.
"So, you wanna join us?" The Traveler inquired.
"Of course."
With Yun Jin on their team, the group once again covered the area to track down everyone else playing. After a while of walking and running around, they found someone...or rather two people in some bushes.
"Wow, two for the price of one." The Traveler commented, looking at the young heir and the wolf boy.
"How come you both were hiding together?" Bennett and Chongyun asked together.
"Razor didn't want to leave this place, and since I was out of options, I decided to crash in with him. He doesn't seem to mind." Xingqiu explained, smiling.
"Xingqiu now friend." Razor spoke.
"I'm glad you're making some more friends Razor! I'm proud of you buddy!" Bennett grinned as he wrapped his arms around the wolf boy.
"Now then, we should go and find Paimon now." The Traveler reminded them, and to that everyone nodded.
The group searched the area about two to three more times, but Paimon was nowhere to be found.
Eventually, the Traveler sighed. "Alright Paimon, you've won now can you come on out?"
Their call didn't seem to do anything, no one came out and no witty comments.
"Try again?" Chongyun suggested.
The Traveler nodded and held their hands to their mouth to amplify their voice. "Paimon? Hello? You're the winner, come on out!"
Again nothing happened.
The Traveler turned back to the group. "She's not answering." Concern was clear on their face.
"Do you think that she could be in danger?" Yun Jin muttered.
"Now before we get that far, we better think about other possibilities." Xingqiu said, trying to drown out the panic.
"Maybe she fell asleep?" Bennett suggested.
"Did she cheat?" Chongyun added.
"Actually now that I think about it, Paimon cheating isn't out of the realm of possibility." The Traveler sighed, though their concern didn't fade away with this.
"Where she go?" Razor looked around in vain to find the fairy.
"Let's start with the harbor. It's the nearest place." Xingqiu suggested.
Before everyone could go over there to investigate, a voice came along.
"Oh hey guys!"
Accompanied with that voice, the floating fairy came flying into the scene, looking cheerful as ever.
"Paimon! Where were you all this time?" The Traveler went up to her, scolding her for making them worry.
"Well, Xiangling came up to me and asked if I wanted to try out some new recipes, and I of course agreed. Then halfway through, I realized I was supposed to be playing hide and seek, so I flew back here, and now I see that the game's over and I won!"
In varying degrees, everyone had a deadpan at the floating fairy for getting distracted during the game.
The Traveler summed up their thoughts the best. "Paimon, you really need to stop getting distracted with food."
Despite this incident, Chongyun found that hide and seek is actually a fun game. If he was honest, he was happy that Xingqiu dragged him away from his job to experience it.