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“Sir Pouncelot is very handsome.”
Childe’s eyes twitched as he forced himself to smile at the nth time Lumine brought up whoever this Sir Pouncelot was. Yesterday, she called Sir Pouncelot cute. Earlier this day, she said he was smart. Now, he was handsome.
He took a big gulp of the water before saying, “You seem to be very interested in this Sir Pouncelot, aibou.”
“I like him,” she said with a giggle, making him freeze. “Yesterday, he helped me hunting some boars. I didn’t know that he’s so skilled in hunting, but I guess it’s to be expected since he used to live in the wilderness.”
The glass cup in his hand would have cracked if he had not released it in time. One gloved hand retracted to cradle his jaw as he feigned interest in more of Lumine’s chatters of Sir Pouncelot.
So, this guy used to live in the wild, was taken in by Favonius Knight, and now lived in her serenitea pot?
Live, living there.
Together with Lumine.
That meant waking up to her homemade breakfast, using the same bathroom, lounging together in the living room…
The mere idea made his blood pressure rise.
Childe never met him, but he hated him already, whoever this guy was.
“—de? Childe?”
“Huh?”
Lumine frowned at him. “You’re not listening, are you?”
“No, no, I’m listening,” he lied. He was giving a good beating to Sir Pouncelot and Lumine fawned over his victory and strength in his mind.
Still, Lumine stared at him in doubt. “I was asking if you want to come and meet him.”
“Who?”
“Sir Pouncelot. Who else?”
No, he did not want to meet him. Childe did not need to see him, but at the same time, he needed to know what kind of guy who made Lumine act this way and shower him with tons of compliments.
“Okay, let’s meet him,” Childe replied reluctantly.
“Alright,” she rose from her seat, “I think you’ll get along with him well. From the first time I saw him, I thought he was the spitting image of you.”
No, he would not get along with him, even more so with what she said right after. Lumine did not need another ‘Childe’ with the real Childe around.
“You think I can spar with him?”
She shot him a look. “What for?”
“Oh, you know. Us gentlemen understand each other better using our fist—or weapon, whichever works,” Childe made that up. He just wanted an excuse to wipe the floor with him.
“Well,” Lumine hesitated, “I’m not sure. I don’t think he’s used to fighting.”
A vein popped on Childe’s forehead. So not only was he a freeloader on her serenitea pot, but also a weakling that could not fight?
Childe would have a good time teaching him a lesson or two.
"Anyway, let's go," Lumine offered her hand. "Sparring or not, I'm sure you'll like him as much as I do."
Doubt it.
But Childe only smiled and grasped her hand, and before he knew it, the scenery changed. It was still the same layout, if not for some new addition of decoration or the change of plants in the garden, with sunlight pouring warmth and cool wind sweeping his hair. Lumine walked in front of him, still holding his hand, and looked around.
"He’s usually somewhere in the garden," she murmured, making him scan their surroundings to find anyone in an otherwise empty garden. He was the spitting image of him, so he got to have ginger to brown hair and with tall stature. Maybe with the same blue eyes too, much to his irritation. Cute, smart, and handsome, but not used to fighting, although he used to live in the wild. So, the scholar type, then? Did Lumine prefer that type?
"Lumine, you're back!" A shrill voice called from a distance. Paimon floated to them before looking at him. "You're here too."
"What? Can't I be here, chibi?" he teased, making the fairy puff her cheeks and stomp her foot.
"Paimon, where's Sir Pouncelot?" Lumine asked.
"Ah, Sir Pouncelot!" she suddenly screamed. "Lumine, quick! Paimon doesn't know what happened, but he threw up earlier!"
"Huh?! Where's he now? Is he okay?!"
Whoa, Childe blinked. He had never seen her so panicked before.
"Childe, wait here, I'll go and check on him first!"
All he could do was nod and watch her running inside the house with Paimon flying behind her. Left alone, he now had nothing to do but to look around the garden before finding a stone bench near a fountain and making his seat there. A sigh escaped him as he felt a pang ringing in his chest. Childe wondered if she would react the same way if he was the one who got sick.
Fat chance.
Sure, he called her his aibou, his partner, but at the end of the day, they were not standing on the same side of the page. His fondness for her was just a selfish part of him that should not be there in the first place. Lumine had journeyed around Teyvat, meeting new people and making friends here and there, so it was normal for her to be concerned with them.
"Childe, here you are," he heard her voice after minutes passed. "Sir Pouncelot is okay. It's normal to throw up, apparently."
This confused him even more. Nothing was normal for someone to throw up all of a sudden, at least for a healthy person. Her footsteps drew near, but he kept his eyes on the ground as if not noticing her. Her shoes appeared in his field of vision, then.
"Here, say hello to Sir Pouncelot."
"Meow!"
Childe looked up in surprise and found himself facing Sir Pouncelot, who was in Lumine's arm as he pawed on him. Wide blue eyes met each other’s and Childe failed to form anything to say.
"Don't play with his hair!" Lumine shielded his face from the cat's paw. "Childe?"
"Sir Pouncelot," he muttered slowly, half in surprise, half in relief, "is a cat?"
"Yes, a cat," Lumine repeated in confusion. "What? Did you think he's a person?"
"You told me that he's handsome. How can I associate handsome with a cat's features?"
"Well, take a look yourself!" she held out the orange-furred cat. "For a cat, I think he's handsome."
Childe took Sir Pouncelot from her and studied him. Orange fur, though not as bright as his hair, but Lumine was not wrong when she said the feline was a spitting image of him. There's a scar running across his eyes, with blue eyes and somewhat a masculine face for a feline. He… kind of saw it now.
A heavy breath of relief escaped his lips, startling the cat who immediately jumped out of his hold. He ran to Paimon with paws stretched out to catch her cape, leaving him and Lumine alone. Lumine looked at him and tilted her head.
"You don't like Sir Pouncelot?"
"Huh? No, no, it's just..."
"Just?"
For the first time, it was hard to look at her in the eyes. Heat crept to his face faster than he could realize, making him feel more conscious of what he had been feeling from the one-sided misunderstanding. Childe reached for her hand, holding it.
"I thought he was a guy," he confessed quietly. "I thought you liked him as a guy."
She laughed, not that he did not expect it, but it only added more to his embarrassment. Childe pulled her by the waist and let himself be buried in her stomach, inhaling her scent and relaxed.
"Silly," she said after her laugh subsided, placing both hands on his shoulders, tapping it lightly. "Are you jealous?"
Childe could hear her smile at the question she asked and felt his face heated up even more.
"How can I not? You've been talking about him since we met again."
"Okay, I'm sorry, it's my fault," she said, brushing his hair as he looked up at her. "Didn't know you're the jealous type."
"I can be possessive too."
"That, I know," she laughed and kissed his forehead. "Now that you know Sir Pouncelot, let's play with him!"