Chapter Text
Bennett trotted through the woods with his sword in hand, grinning ear to ear. It was his first birthday of the year, which only made sense because his dads couldn’t decide whether to celebrate February 28th or March 1st.
How lucky he was to get two celebrations in one year!
Fischl had postponed hanging out to the second birthday and Razor… Razor couldn’t read a calendar (and he didn’t really want to spend his birthday watching his friend eat raw meat), so Bennett had the morning to himself. He could do whatever he wanted so long as he was home by nightfall for the adventurer’s guild dinner party.
Today, what he wanted was to find the Traveler. She always had something interesting going on and more than that, she had promised something special for his birthdays! He didn’t really expect her to remember, but he’d try to find her anyway. Spending time with her was present enough.
At length, he heard voices.
Bennett skidded to a stop, rolled his ankle and took a dive shoulder-first, managing to fall with grace. He flipped back upright and craned his head every which way, listening for the source.
“I’ll behave!” a man said in the distance, above him.
Bennett followed them and frowned on hearing familiar swearing.
“Like hell you will. Last time you saw Diluc, you choked him with his own ponytail.”
“Yeah, well, maybe he should cut his hair. It’s a tactical disadvantage.”
“I am not dragging you off of my friends anymore! Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was?! Do you not realize that choking my friends is not a normal thing to do?”
Bennett scrambled up the steep incline and peeked over the edge, a few wolfhook berries embedding in his hair as he did. The Traveler stood chest to chest with a lanky ginger decked out in red and gray, currently holding both hands out in an exasperated gesture. “He owes me a rematch!”
“No! You! You owe him a restraining order! And now I have to go run errands with him to make up for it!”
The man flinched back. “Wait, you’re going out with him?”
“Oh you don’t get to be even a little bit jealous, tart. And don’t say it like that! He’s one of my best friends and, like, twenty four! He’s way too young.”
“...Lumine, I’m younger than him.”
“Don’t remind me.”
This was deeply uncomfortable to watch. Bennett drummed his fingers on the sod and debated whether to barge in like he would whenever his dads were having an argument or just let them be.
The man crossed his arms and looked away, his voice muffled. “I thought I was the only handsome redhead that gets to kill things with you.”
The Traveler stepped forward and smiled, but in that creepy way she did when she was really, really mad. Thankfully it had never been directed at Bennett before. “Oh, Ajax, you would be! I’d love to have you by my side every waking second, but you do realize that associating with you hurts my reputation, right? You’re not a rockstar here. You. Are. A. Terrorist.”
She punctuated each word with a finger in his stomach. “And you know it’s not good for you, either. One day this is going to come back and bite you in the–”
He bit his lip and looked away, and in doing so, happened to look directly at Bennett. He interrupted her with a hand on her mouth and a finger in his direction. “Uh. Who’s the kid?”
“Don’t defle–” the Traveler began, then also made eye contact. She instantly dropped into a friendlier pose with a forced smile. “Oh, Bennett! When’d you get there?”
He shrank down. “Uhhhh…. Heh, a few minutes ago?”
Please don’t be mad. She was one of his precious few friends and he really, really couldn’t afford to lose her. He went to haul himself up, put his weight on a rock and shrieked as it gave way, sending him tumbling back down the embankment.
“Benny!”
He tucked his head down and rolled, though it didn’t matter as thunder roared and lightning flashed. Two hands crossed the distance and grabbed him simultaneously, one on his arm and the other tangled in the back of his vest, then yanked him upright.
The Traveler checked him for injuries while his head spun with the manhandling slash saving. “Are you alright?”
“I am because of you! Thanks for that, Traveler. And, um. You,” he added lamely, craning his neck back to look at the man currently smoothing his electrified hair back. Barbatos’s buttcheeks this guy was tall. And his eyes… Bennett shuddered when they turned to him.
“You sure you’re alright, kiddo? That was a nasty fall.”
He was no kiddo, but the stranger seemed nice enough despite the dead, blue-gray stare. And the subject of their argument. Bennett unconsciously sidled behind the Traveler and nodded.
She gave him a rough side hug and a clap on the shoulder, also giving him an excuse to look at her instead of her friend. “What’re you doing all the way out here? Aren’t you supposed to be celebrating your birth…days…”
She remembered!
Her eyes widened and she rubbed his shoulder. “Oh, Benny, I’m so sorry but I have a small emergency to take care of. Can we reschedule? I promise I’ll take you to do something fun later.”
“I can come with and help you! That’d be the best birthday present!” he said, then realized that was a bit pressuring. “Uh, you know, if you want.”
“So can I,” the ginger muttered.
She just pointed at the man and glared, then turned back to Bennett. “I’d love to, but it’s unpleasant. It’s really not something that I should take you for.”
He deflated. “But, I don’t mind unpleasant? You know I can handle it! Especially with you there! We can do anything together!”
“It’s not a question of whether you can handle it. I know you can,” she said and squeezed his arm. “I’m worried about messing you up in the head.”
“Eh?”
The stranger also cocked his head at her.
She sighed. “Look, I don’t think it’s a good idea to bring you to interrogate Fatui. It can get a lil’ messy.”
“Oh.” That was decidedly less fun than what she normally did. Bennett blinked a couple times, suddenly faced with the realization that he knew a lot less about the Traveler than he thought he did. “I understand! I… I think that’s a good idea too.”
“Thank you.” She smiled and ruffled his hair.
The stranger made a face. “You know, you could’ve led with that and I wouldn’t have argued.”
The Traveler turned to him and put her fist on her hip. “No, that’s not why I’m not bringing you. I’m not bringing you because I’m mad at you.”
“Well are you gonna give me a chance to make it up to you? Or are you just gonna stay mad?”
Bennett wanted to jump in that the Traveler didn’t exactly hold grudges for no reason, but she didn’t need his help and also he did not want her to possibly turn that furious glare at him, too.
“You’re saying that like you think I’m overreacting over not taking the trash out, not you assaulting my friends.”
“He started it!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“He did!”
“Well if you mess with him again, I’m gonna finish it!”
Bennett wrung his hands and watched them fight. The ginger balked at the threat and crossed his arms, going for a new tactic. “I took a week off work to spend time with you! You know it’s hard to put time aside.”
“And you did it for me, not your siblings?” Her voice dropped to a growl. “You’re gonna let the Doctor watch them while you prance across the continent?”
He recoiled at that, actually, legitimately angry for the first time since Bennett had been watching. “Hey.”
Electricity thrummed in the air. Bennett worried that the ground between them would burst into flames with the sheer force of the fury radiating off of them. He had absolutely no idea what was going on and tiptoed out of the line of fire.
Eventually, thankfully and surprisingly, the Traveler broke first. She looked down and rubbed the back of her head. “...Sorry, you’re right. That was mean. You know I worry about them, though.”
He sighed and uncrossed his arms, all the tension bleeding away into a tired resignation. “No, no, it’s alright. You make a good point. I’ll… I’ll think about it, okay? I gotta get some stuff figured out, but I am going to do something.”
A second passed.
“I promise,” the man insisted.
The Traveler hummed while they simmered down for a few moments. Eventually he glanced over, one eyebrow raised with half a smile. “So does that mean–”
“No.”
“Damn.” He chewed on his lip and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well… alright then. I guess I’ll leave you to it. See you later?”
“Actually…” the Traveler said. “Hey Benny?”
He flinched when she turned to him, too busy being part of the background to have a better response. “Oh! Uh, yeah?”
She had an evil glint in her eyes as she put her hands behind her back. “I still want to reschedule our plans, but I have another idea to make it up to you.”
“You don't have to make anything up! I’m just happy you agree to hang out with me at all!” he said, hands up.
“...Yeah that’s the thing that worries me about you,” she muttered. She put a hand on his back and steered him to face her tall companion. “Can I count on you for an important mission?”
“Yes,” both boys responded.
“I want you to babysit him.”
Bennett frowned as hurt stabbed through his chest. He’d rather just be by himself at that point. Was she just being nice all the times she’d taken him seriously before? The wind shifted and conveniently sent some grit in his eyes to mask the burning.
“Can do,” the tall man said.
“No,” the Traveler interrupted. “Bennett, I want you to babysit Childe here.”
“What?!”
“What?” Bennett echoed.
She ignored them both. “Childe, this is Benny, one of my good friends, accomplished adventurer and concerningly skilled field medic.”
His heart swelled with pride. He felt silly for ever doubting her, even if tears were streaming down his face. She turned back to him and paused. “Bennett, this– woah, are you okay?”
“Yeah. Just got some sand in my eye.”
She handed him a tissue from her pocket and continued. “Okay… Bennett, this is Childe, my… uh… partner, and eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers.”
And now his heart swelled right up into his throat, choking him. He took a better look at the man, this time noticing the blood caked to his books, the patchwork scars littering his arms and the general aura of A Problem.
“Partner?” Childe asked. His voice and face did not match the rest of him, way too friendly and open even if he was annoyed.
“Yes, partner.”
“Not boyfriend?”
“Uhhh…” Bennett whimpered. He wanted to be literally anywhere else.
“You’re my boyfriend when you quit the Fatui. We’ve been over this.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am completely serious.” She looked back to Bennett. “I need you to keep him out of trouble. Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you, but it’s best for everyone if you can just… keep him occupied, I guess? Get him some exercise and plenty of monsters to fight.”
“Uhhhhhhh,” he repeated.
She turned back to her complicated relationship. “And you are tasked with keeping him in one piece.”
“...An escort mission? Really?”
“Trust me, it’s not nearly as easy as it sounds,” she said sweetly. She turned back to the birthday boy. “Bennett, are you comfortable with this? You don’t have to watch him if you don’t want to.”
He looked at her expectant face, then over to the Harbinger. He was definitely not comfortable with being in charge of one of the most dangerous men in the world who was also one of his best friend’s sorta boyfriend thing.
So obviously he nodded. Life was all about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, right?
She smiled and pulled them both into a hug. “Great! Thank you so much, Bennett. He’s ridiculously strong, so you can go to any domain you want. He’ll protect you as well as I can.”
“I didn’t agree to this!” Childe contested. He reeked of metal and snow so close.
“You will if you want me to stop being mad at you,” she purred, then released them.
Childe rolled his eyes, though the breaking smile ruined the facade as the Traveler stood on tiptoes to give him a small peck. She tousled Bennett’s hair again and jogged off deeper into the woods.
“I’ll catch up with you guys later tonight, okay? Be safe!”
“Bye Traveler!”
“See you.”
She left the two men alone, in the woods, barely knowing each others’ names, with the teenager in charge of the 20-something. They stared at each other until Childe popped his lips. “So…”
“Heh, hi.”
“Hey.”
He swallowed down the awkwardness and put his fist to his chest, flicking off a clinging wolfhook before he ruined what remained of his image. “I’m Bennett, leader of Benny’s Adventure Team! Do you want to go on an adventure with me?”
“...Sure, why not.”