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“Lumine! Paimon is hungry, give Paimon food!”
“Paimon, you just had a fisherman’s toast an hour ago!”
Lumine, the golden-haired traveler of Teyvat, strolls along the streets of Liyue, her tiny travelling companion flying beside her.
“It was so tiny, even tinier than usual! Paimon wants more food!” The small fairy whines, crossing her arms.
“I swear half of our mora goes to your stomach.” Lumine rolls her eyes, before sighing. “Fine, let’s go eat at Wanmin restaurant,” she reluctantly concedes, and Paimon joyfully shrieks, and starts going in the direction of the establishment.
However, when they’re only a few steps away from the entrance, an old woman hobbles towards them with her cane, dragging behind her a man with familiar ginger locks.
“Childe?!” Paimon and Lumine blurted out at the same time.
“Comrade, Paimon!” He looks equally surprised at running into them. “What are the odds?”
“Paimon bets you already knew Paimon and Lumi were in Liyue!” Paimon huffs. “Don’t pretend to be surprised, Paimon knows all about your crush on Lumi!”
Childe laughs, but his ears redden. The old woman in front of him hadn’t spoken a word throughout the entire exchange, only looking at Lumine appraisingly.
After another second of looking the blonde traveler up and down, the woman finally decides to introduce herself. “I am Huang Huiyin, owner of Liyue’s finest clothing store. It is a pleasure to meet you, traveler.”
Lumine slightly bows in greeting. “Hello, Madame Huang.” Inside, she was perplexed at why the old woman had greeted her, dragging behind a Fatui harbinger, no less! Her confusion must have showed on her face, because Madame Huang chuckles.
“I approached you, traveler, as I am need of some models for my clothing store.” She gently get firmly pushes the harbinger out in front as she speaks. “I saw you walking along the streets of Liyue, and thought that you would be perfect to model in my store’s new photoshoot.”
The harbinger grins, his eyes glimmering excitedly as he stares at Lumine, almost as if he was encouraging her to take the offer. “Doesn’t that sound fun?”
“Oooooo, Lumi! A photoshoot for Liyue’s best clothing store! That must bring in a lot of mora!” Madame Huang nods, and Paimon squeals in delight. “We accept!”
“Now wait just a moment, Paimon.” Lumine frowns, turning back to Madame Huang. “Madame, there are many others more suitable than me to advertise your store, I’m afraid I have quite a lot of commissions today.”
The old woman sighs. “That’s a shame. If you had accepted my offer, I would have given you 300,000 mora.”
Lumine and Paimon gape at the impressive figure, it was enough to pay for food for a month, maybe even more!
“I accept!” Lumine almost yells out, before flushing out of embarrassment. It felt shameless!
Childe noticeably perks up, cheeks seeming to redden with excitement. Lumine looks at him suspiciously. Why would he be so excited because she accepted a modelling offer?
“Wonderful!” Madame Huang chirps, interrupting Lumine’s thoughts. “My store is right around the corner, come along now!”
It’s an amusing sight, a short old lady leading along the Traveler, a small floating fairy, and a tall Fatui harbinger who awkwardly follows after them.
When they arrive at the store, Lumine‘a eyes widen at the luxurious interior and fabrics. Traditional Liyuean clothes line the racks and shelves and glittering jewellery and shimmering silks adorn the wrists and necks of mannequins.
Madame Huang takes them to a private floor three floors above, kameras and equipment already set up.
“Qiyun, Zhiruo!” She calls out, and two attendants rush to her. “I have found our models for the wedding photoshoot.”
“HUH?!” Lumine and Paimon scream.
Childe laughs as the two glare at him.
“You knew about this all long, didn’t you, Mister Moneybags?!” Paimon shrieks. “How could you fool Paimon and Lumine like this?!”
“Hey, Madame Huang asked me first.” Childe replies. “I was going to refuse until I saw who she would choose for my bride. You couldn’t imagine how pleased I was when she picked you, girlie.”
Lumine opens her mouth to protest when Madame Huang cuts in.
“Qiyun, this is our groom.” The old woman motions to Childe. “Please get him ready quickly. Zhiruo, please dress the traveler.” The two attendants whisk them away.
Zhiruo wastes no time preparing Lumine, zipping her up in the traditional wedding gown and other garments, painting her lips red and brushing rouge onto her cheeks. Finally, she ties Lumine’s hair into an elaborate updo and sets a golden headpiece on her head.
Just as she tucked a stray hair into place, Madame Huang glided in and gasped. “Traveler! You look simply divine! Even more beautiful than I imagined!” She looked at Lumine with approving eyes, nodding to Zhiruo in gratitude, before commenting slyly, “Your groom looks quite stunning as well.” She noticed how Lumine flushed red.
“Come now, your groom is waiting~!” Zhiruo also couldn’t resist making a teasing remark, and secretly enjoys Lumine‘s red face that she can’t even cover due to the fear of ruining Zhiruo’s hard work.
The trio walk out of the dressing room and Lumine sees Childe, dressed up in the traditional Liyuean robes for a groom. His hair is neatly combed instead of his usual tousled waves, and he looks a little uncomfortable in the restrictive clothing, but then he looks at her and his face looks like he’s seen snow for the first time, mouth agape. It’s of childlike wonder, and he’s looking at her like she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.
Her cheeks heat up, and she’s pretty sure she looks like an actual tomato now that’s she’s in the red wedding garb.
“Lumine… you’re breathtaking.” Childe says quietly, something that was uncharacteristic for him.
“Uh- uhm- urgh… you too?”
Paimon face-palmed. “Before this gets any more awkward, Paimon wants to get on with the photoshoot! Paimon doesn’t want you to flirt in front of her.”
“We’re not flirting!” Lumine is quick to clarify, but her voice cracking gives her away. She ducks her head down in embarrassment, and in a flash, moves to the photoshoot background.
Childe follows after, pace slower and it seemed his legs were shaking. He stiffly positions himself next to the star-kissed traveler, who shines even more in all the gold and silver embroidery and jewellery.
“Closer!” Qiyun calls out. The two scoot closer a distance no more than a few centimetres, still leaving a sizeable gap in the middle. “I said, closer!”
Childe seems to snap out his trance, and instantly returns to his cheery and playful persona, wrapping his arms around Lumine.
Lumine squeaks when strong and muscular arms embrace her.
“Embarrassed, girlie?” The ginger chuckles, but his voice is a tone higher than usual. “Come on, cuddle close.”
“You are so dead when this is over and I’m out of this thing.” Lumine mutters under her breath, and her shoulders relax just a bit when they slip into their familiar and comforting banter.
Qiyun quickly calls out positions one after another, each more intimate than the other. He has Childe hold Lumine in his lap for the last one, and Lumine wants to close her eyes shut as she feels Childe’s hot breath on her neck, but she’s forced to keep them open as the kamera pictures the scene.
When Qiyun finally signals that they finished Lumine silently breathes a sigh of relief, and tries to not-awkwardly get off Childe’s lap. She tries to ignore the smirk on his face as she quickly hops off.
“So eager to go, princess? I’m hurt.” He mocks a hurt expression on his face, and Lumine grits her teeth angrily.
“You-!” Clenching her fists, she makes a move to wipe the infuriating smirk on his face, but is stopped when Madame Huang calls her name.
“Traveler! Before you go punching him, could we get one last shot of you two?” Zhiruo bobs her head at the side, eyes looking strangely excited.
“I… I guess I can take one more.” Lumine answers hesitantly. Childe nods enthusiastically, and she wants to rescind her answer.
“It would be nice if we get a shot of you guys kissing.” Qiyun remarks. Zhiruo’s eyes start to sparkle, and she starts to nod frantically.
“I-! K-kissing?!” Lumine screams. Childe looks frozen, his face on fire.
“Paimon can’t believe a photographer is going to be your matchmaker.” On the side, Paimon rolls her eyes, and Lumine has never wanted more than to smack the little pixie.
Childe clears his throat, his fingers fiddling with a stray thread hanging from the hem of his shirt. “Well, should we get on with it?” His voice is shaky, yet eager.
“Just one photo!” Lumine concedes, and rigidly places herself next to Childe. She shuts her eyes tightly, and her companion scoffs amusedly.
“You know you have to look at me so that I’ll be able to kiss you, right, girlie?” Childe whispered. and she shivered from his cool breath.
“I, I know that!” She huffs. Cheeks still warm, she tentatively turned her head toward him as he slowly lowered his own. Her eyes fluttered shut as he swooped towards her, meeting her lips.
His lips were soft and tasted of mint (somewhat suspiciously? She would interrogate him about this later). Warmth blossomed in her chest as she slowly relaxed, leaning into the kiss. Her lips parted slightly, allowing Childe to slip his tongue inside. She could smell his fancy expensive perfume that he called cologne, and she could feel his warm hands that moved to hold her waist.
The butterflies in her stomach slowly quieted as she moved closer to his chest, fingers carding through his hair.
When they finally parted because of the lack of oxygen, his face was flushed, but he looked blissful, eyes gentle as he gazed at her affectionately. Distantly, she could hear Qiyun yell out “Perfect!” as he looked through the photos and Madame Huang chuckle “Oh, to be young.”
Lumine would have probably continued to stare dazedly at Childe if it wasn’t for an annoying pixie.
“LUMINE! PAIMON’S HUNGRY!”
The golden-haired traveler quickly clears her throat and scrambles off Childe’s chest, fixing her mussed-up hair. Paimon could be seen happily collecting mora from Madame Huang.
“So, traveler.” She turns back to Childe, who’s sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “How about a picnic tomorrow?”
Lumine smiles back, and opens her mouth to give a response.
(She says yes, and they have a very very nice picnic the next day, in which they may or may have not had their second kiss. Their photographs also may or may have not been advertised to the whole of Liyue and Mondstadt, leading Lumine to be paid a visit from many, many friends).