Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Boxes were strewn about without much regard to where they needed to go and still covered the majority of the floor in almost every room of the large, mansion-esque house. Some of them had been unpacked, their contents scattered around in unorganized piles. The only room that had been somewhat organized with any sort of coherence was the kitchen. Appliances, cutlery, and dishes that were needed to cook simple meals had been laid out on the counters and in the cabinets.

The walls of the rooms had been freshly painted, the scent lingering in them along with sawdust and the artificial aroma of candles that had been lit to try and cover up the smell of recently completed construction. All of the furniture in the rooms were still covered in clear plastic, like they’d just been delivered from the warehouse of a furniture company. The few unpacked boxes had been stacked in a haphazard pile by the front door, ready to be broken down and taken out to the dumpster on the edge of the property the next morning.

All of the lights in the house were off except for one in one of the bedrooms on the top floor. From within, the sound of someone typing furiously on the keyboard could be heard clearly, accompanied by someone occasionally shouting and cursing.

That bedroom contained a bed that hadn’t been made, the sheets and blankets in a rumpled, wadded mess near the bottom. Several unpacked boxes were stacked beside a dresser, and a large desk sat in the corner, a complex computer setup on top of it that included: three curved monitors, a huge PC tower, keyboard, mouse, and a variety of smaller accessories. A comfortable (and expensive) looking gaming chair was pulled close to the desk with a young man sitting in it while he gestured angrily at the central monitor, like someone could see him.

They couldn’t, considering that his webcam wasn’t on.

–

Childe drummed his fingers against the surface of his desk, the muscles of his jaw flexing in annoyance as he tried to reign in his temper. He and his guild had just wiped for the third time in a row while trying to clear a raid in the world’s most popular massive multiplayer online (MMO) game, “Teyvat Ascending.” They’d been at it for the last two hours without even a bathroom or water break, and he was getting frustrated at the guild’s apparent incompetence and inability to follow the plan he’d carefully laid out.

“I said to save your mitigation skills until the healers’ cooldowns are ready!” His voice cracked from how loudly he’d shouted into his headset. “That’s why we wiped again !”

Muffled shouting could be heard through his headset, and he quickly used the volume slider on his headset cord to turn down the volume so he wouldn’t get a headache. Or well, wouldn’t get one any faster than he already was.

He counted to ten under his breath once and then did it again, and when he didn’t hear any more yelling through his headset, Childe turned the volume back up slowly, ready to quickly turn it down again if he needed to.

The first thing he heard was the familiar ping coming from the app that his guild used for voice chat and messaging as a way to keep everyone up to speed on everything. He glanced at the chat window that he had open on his second monitor and saw a message from one of the guild members who didn’t have a working headset - or just refused to speak - and always used direct messages instead.

Outl4nder: “Are you all through bickering like children?”

The comment, completely lacking any form of intonation, still came across as being sarcastic, and Childe was well aware that that was on purpose. It made him smile.

“Outl4nder” was one of the members who had been there from the beginning, just as Childe - or “Tartaglia,” the name his character used - had been. He was the first friend Childe had made in the game, when he’d just started playing.

The first time he’d ever played the game, Childe had vastly underestimated the strength of the monsters in an area meant for higher-leveled players and had gotten his ass handed to him, killed repeatedly every time he tried to get back to his body to retrieve his things, and he’d almost given up on the game out of frustration - until Outl4nder showed up and took all of the mobs’ aggro, trailing behind Childe’s character until he reached his body and retrieved his items.

Childe had sent him a friend request immediately.

He hadn’t expected this amazing, super overpowered, fully decked out player to accept this newbie’s friend request and yet, a few seconds later, Outl4nder had accepted and even messaged him, asking how he liked the game so far and if he needed any more help.

From there, their friendship had only blossomed. As Childe became more familiar with the game’s mechanics, he decided to start his own guild, and Outl4nder was one of the founding members, even attaining the second highest rank, “Vice Captain.” The other two founding members that signed the Guild Charter were people that Childe had gone to university with.

The rest of the members were random players that came and went as the guild grew in rank and prestige in their home server, until they became one of the skilled few on the leaderboard for first clearing new advanced content when it was released.

Childe was, of course, the Guild Captain, and Outl4nder never did step down from his position as Vice Captain, though the rest of the officers were replaced as time - and life - went on for the members. Some left to go back to school, some got more intensive workloads and career opportunities, and some just got burned out from playing and quit altogether.

Not Childe, though.

It had been almost three and a half years since he’d first started playing, and nothing anyone said could convince him to divulge just how much time and money he’d spent on the game in that time.

When he started playing, he’d been a university student, but now he’d graduated and started his career at a prestigious and influential accounting firm. Everything was going swimmingly in his life, and he still spent a lot of his freetime in the game.

He was brought out of reminiscing when the app chimed again, signaling that he’d gotten another message.

Outl4nder: “Hello? You there, Tortellini?”

The affectionate nickname Outl4nder called him made him smile to himself, and he switched his headset microphone back on, getting back into the game.

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry, had to mute for a second,” he lied. “Are we all good to do another run-through?”

They all agreed to go at least one more round and try to clear the trial after a few minutes of more grumbling and arguing about tactics. The reason the guild-wide raid party existed was so that the bosses’ item drops would be guaranteed to go to someone in the guild and not a random player added in the raid finder. This particular raid dropped a highly sought after weapon set, one that had not only extremely high stats but was also quite eye-catching and something to brag about.

Anyone that obtained an item from that set would immediately want to equip it and parade around the main town hub area of the server. It was only natural to want to gloat after getting such a prize, especially considering that, at the end of each run, there was only a 0.265% chance of one of the weapons even being in the list of loot they got.

That wasn’t to mention whether or not the dropped weapon could be equipped by the player and then if they even won the roll for it.

Childe had been trying to get the polearm variant for his character for what felt like an eternity - actually seven months of attempting the raid over and over, on and off, while he played.

In that time, he’d only seen one of the weapons drop once , and it had been a mage’s staff. He hadn’t even tried to roll for it, passing on it instead. Childe played a dual-type character that could either function as a DPS (damage per second) role or as a Tank. He couldn’t even use the mage’s staff if he even wanted to.

The items were player-bound, and as such, couldn’t be sold on the marketplace for in-game currency. If he had somehow gotten the item, all he’d have been able to do was salvage it into its base components to use in crafting.

It was an understatement to say that he wanted the weapon more than most anything else in his life at that point.

Shaking his head, Childe cracked his knuckles and got back to work. “Right, we’re gonna go again, and this time, we won’t wipe!”

They wiped again. And again. And again .

After wasting three more hours repeatedly failing to clear the raid, the guild gave up. Or well, they had to give up for the night because several members of their main party had obligations, like their careers or studies, their actual lives.

Before everyone logged off, however, Childe had something he wanted to say.

“Hey, guys? I have something I wanna run by you all if that’s alright. As many of you probably remember, I’ve mentioned several times that I wanted to have a big gettogether at my place once I moved out, and well, that’s happened.” He paused, letting his words sink in, hesitating when the call fell completely silent. “And… Well, my birthday’s coming up, so I wanna invite the regular raiding party members, all of you, to my place for a meet-up.”

There was chaos in the form of everyone in the call talking all at once.

“Hey, hey!” Shut the fuck up and let me finish!” Childe yelled into his headset, waiting until everyone quieted down. “Like I was saying , my birthday’s coming up in July, and I think it’d be the perfect time to schedule something while the weather’s warm and most school terms have just finished up. What do all of you think?”

It was an almost unanimous decision. Everyone wanted to make it happen, especially the members that lived close to Childe. They all agreed to get all of the information together and the timeline nailed down in another call, one where it wasn’t almost past midnight on a weekday.

Like many of the guild members, Childe had work the next morning, but he decided to continue playing for another hour or so, working on small tasks after he’d repaired the equipment that had deteriorated from the countless times his character had died. He chatted with the remaining members that stayed online as well, his frustration at not getting the item he so desperately wanted cooling down until it was replaced with excitement about the upcoming meet-up.

His buddy, Outl4nder, had already logged off, leaving when many of the other members had, sending a single goodbye message to everyone.

Outl4nder: “Good night, everyone! Get some good rest, and next time we’ll get it for sure! ^o^”

It wasn’t too long after that Childe excused himself as well, using the excuse that he still had reports to file for his office job, but that was a blatant lie. He had nothing to do that night, but that didn’t mean he wanted to spend the rest of the night talking to the guild members he only spoke to when raiding or clearing new content.

Instead, he decided to take a nice, hot shower was just the thing he needed to soothe his aching muscles after shrimping over his desk for several hours.

He pushed his computer chair back away from his desk and stretched, yawning widely. His back cracked loudly several times from where he’d been slouching in his chair, and one of his feet was asleep from where he’d been sitting on it. Childe slowly got up, staggering on his tingling foot through his bedroom towards the large master bathroom connected to it.

It only took a few seconds for the water to heat up thanks to the very new, very expensive water heater he’d had upgraded for just such a purpose, and he stepped into the shower after stripping out of his clothes, sighing contentedly as the hot water pelted his back and the room filled with steam.

“Nothing like a hot shower after sitting for so long,” he mumbled to no one in particular, talking to himself while he showered.

Once he was sufficiently clean and the water had made him feel boneless, Childe stepped out of the shower and dried off, roughly ruffling his towel until the strands stuck up in all directions before he put on some comfortable lounge pants, forgoing the shirt since it was so warm.

He was on his way downstairs to his kitchen when he heard his phone chime loudly, indicating he had a notification, from where it sat on his computer desk. He grabbed it before jogging down the stairs, taking them three at a time easily thanks to his long legs. Once in the kitchen, he poured himself a glass of water and popped a bagel in the toaster oven to warm up while he checked his phone, his back leaned against his kitchen island.

The notification was from the app the guild used for communication, though this was a direct message only to him rather than for any group chat he was a part of.

Childe smiled when he saw who had messaged him.

Outl4nder: Hope you’re not TOO down after that cluster fuck of a disaster!

His fingers were a blur as he typed his response.

Tartaglia: It wasn’t too bad.

 

Outl4nder: You coulda fooled me with the way you were yelling into the mic. Good thing I had my volume turned down low for the majority of the night or I’d damage my hearing. :P

 

Tartaglia: You’re so mean to me. :( We would have cleared it if half the party actually had their shit together and TRIED. You hard-carried us through a lot of the adds and the first few bosses, but you couldn’t do everything on your own, so I’m sorry.

Childe complimented Outl4nder often, and he always meant every word. He was one of the most talented players he’d ever seen in his three years of playing the game.

He flinched when the toaster oven dinged, the poor bagel already forgotten about as soon as Childe had seen Outl4nder’s message. While he waited for him to message back, he added cream cheese to his snack and drank the whole glass of water, refilling it at the sink.

Outl4nder: Thanks for the compliment, but everyone plays their part. If one person fucks up at this level of gameplay, then we’re ALL fucked. >.<;

 

Tartaglia: Yeah, yeah. You say that every time. So, what’re you up to tonight? I’m surprised you aren’t already asleep yet.

 

Outl4nder: Nosy!

That retort made Childe snort as he took a large bite of his bagel and began the trip back upstairs towards his bedroom.

Tartaglia: Guilty. …So?

He didn’t even bother denying it. Childe really did enjoy talking to Outl4nder, and it was a daily occurrence for the pair, even when neither of them were logged into the game at that time. He’d become one of Childe’s closest friends despite never meeting him, someone he confided in a lot.

Hell, he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t puzzled over his attachment to the mystery man behind the computer, going as far as to admit that he may have even developed something of a crush on Outl4nder, despite having never met him in person.

Childe hadn’t admitted that to anyone aside from himself, of course. It was the first time he’d ever felt feelings for another guy, but that wasn’t why he was bothered.

Instead, it was that he’d developed these feelings even though he hadn’t learned very much about the person behind Outl4nder. He’d tried on multiple attempts to get to know him on a more personal level, but he tended to be secretive about his home life. All Childe knew was that he was in college, spent a lot of time in-game, and he had a large white cat named Paimon that he was fond of sending photos of to him.

Childe may have tried to glean any information he could from the background of those cute cat photos, but he’d never learned much from doing so.

Outl4nder: Just watching some TV.

There was a picture of Paimon attached to the message. The cat was lying down in her large bed, her belly showing while she relaxed on her back, paws curled up cutely against her fluffy chest.

Tartaglia: Looks like you’re watching Paimon to me.

He couldn’t help but tease him playfully, a smile on his face as he used his foot to push open his bedroom door since his hands were occupied. Childe waited for Outl4nder to respond, finishing his bagel in a couple more bites before he flopped down onto his bed, tugging the blankets up to his chest.

Outl4nder: Ha ha , very funny.

There was a pause before Childe got another message, like Outl4nder had been contemplating what he was going to say.

 

Outl4nder: Did you mean it, btw? About the meet-up?

 

Tartaglia: I did. You didn’t say whether or not you wanted to come. Do you?

He hesitated, but feeling a sudden surge of courage, and sent another message.

Tartaglia: I wanna meet you. In person.

For a painfully long moment, there was no reply, and Childe worried that he’d finally scared him off for good. It wasn’t the first time he’d said something to that effect. He quickly began typing again, fingers flying across the screen, but the only thing he managed to do was to drop the phone on his face. His nose hit the audio call button, and the phone began playing the “connecting to user” jingle.

Childe wasn’t able to cancel the call before it went though, and it was immediately declined, making the room silent once more.

“Shit!” He quickly typed an apology, but before he could even hit “send,” Outl4nder had already sent him a message.

Outl4nder: Dropped your phone on your face again, butterfingers?

The bark of laughter Childe let out was filled with relief, and he rested his arm over his face, smiling up at the ceiling. When he looked at his phone again, he saw that Outl4nder kept typing, stopped, and then would start typing again. This repeated several times, and Childe began to feel anxious, wondering what he was going to say next.

Finally, the message appeared on the screen.

Outl4nder: Are you really sure about everyone visiting?

Childe couldn’t blame him for repeating his question or for being skeptical. It wasn’t often that an online-friend meet up actually happened, with the majority of them just wishful thinking or getting canceled somewhere along the way after being half-addedly planned.

Tartaglia: Of course! Are you interested?

He pushed the subject once more, wanting a definitive answer.

Outl4nder: I am, but…

 

Tartaglia: But?

There was another long pause while Outl4nder typed, deleted, and typed again.

Outl4nder: It’s a bit short notice for me. I’d have to find someone to cover my shifts at work, save up for a plane ticket and hotel room to stay at, not to mention a million other things, but… it does sound like it would be a lot of fun.

It wasn’t a no. Childe could work with that.

Feeling bold again, he quickly typed another message.

Tartaglia: Don’t worry about it, dude. It’s like three months away. I’ll pay for your plane ticket, the luggage to bring your desktop setup, and you can just crash in my guest room. I want my best friend here for my birthday.

 

Outl4nder: That’s a long way to go to visit for just a couple of days, and I’m sure my twin brother probably won’t like the idea.

Childe frowned, shifting his position on the bed until he was reclining on his side, still typing away.

Tartaglia: You can stay longer than everyone else, like for a week or something! That way you and I can get some quality bonding time alone. And about your twin? You’re a grown ass man in college. Why’s his opinion matter over your own?

There was another long pause before Outl4nder replied again.

Outl4nder: I can’t let you pay for all of that. It’s way too expensive! Round-trip flights, the luggage fees that would come with packing up my whole PC setup, gas money, the food I’d eat…

 

Tartaglia: Stop panicking and breathe . You’re spiraling.

He quickly sent another message before Outl4nder could get too overwhelmed, something he knew happened on occasion.

Tartaglia: You know I make an obscene amount of money at the job I started a while ago, so it’s nothing. If you really wanna make it up to me, then you can just owe me a favor or something. Does that sound good?

 

Outl4nder: …I’ll think about it.

Childe waited anxiously for another response, but when there wasn’t one, he typed a goodnight message, sent it, dropped his phone onto his nightstand, and then stared up at the ceiling, already regretting that he’d been so aggressively pushing towards Outl4nder visiting him.

What he didn’t know was that he’d successfully made “Outl4nder” shut down completely, the poor person hyperventilating about actually visiting him, his best friend for the past three years.

Outl4nder - Lumine - stared at her phone, her eyes wide, unable to believe what had just been offered to her. The movie that had been playing on the television in front of her had been forgotten, and she couldn’t help but squeal into one of the couch cushions, literally face planting against the upholstery. Her sudden excitement startled poor Paimon who’d just fallen asleep in her cat bed, and she took off towards Lumine’s bedroom like she was being chased by a demon, claws skittering across the tile floor.

“Paimon, I’m sorry! It’s just - AAAAAH!” She squealed again.

That time, her hysterics woke up her twin brother, and he stomped out of his room, hair down, looking like he’d been sleeping very deeply. They were in a timezone a few hours ahead of Childe, and it was far past midnight. “What are you screaming about in here, Lu?!”

“He said he wants me to visit!”

Evidently that had NOT been what her twin had expected, and Aether was immediately wide away, stepping towards Lumine with a confused expression on his face, his overprotective nature towards his younger twin kicking in.

“Who?”

Lumine’s words poured out of her mouth in a jumble. “Tartaglia, I mean Chi- Ajax !”

That made Aether’s face scrunch up in disgust. “No way! He has no idea who you are, does he? What’re you gonna do? Walk up to him with a sign like ‘oops, yeah, I forgot to say I’m actually a young woman, so I’ve been lying to you for the past three years?’”

“It’s not like that!”

Aether wasn’t convinced. “Isn’t it? Or have you told him you’re a girl? Why do you even wanna visit him?”

She didn’t say anything, and that was more than enough of an answer for Aether. He sighed, shaking his head. “I’m just worried, Lu, you know that, right?  You’ve never met him; he lives in a city you’ve never been that’s several hours away by plane , and you’d be gone for how long exactly? A few days? A week or more?”

Lumine knew everything Aether was saying was smart, the rational things she should be thinking of, but she wasn't, instead too excited to think logically.

“I know, but…” She looked away, down at her hands clenched into fists in her lap. “I like him.”

It was the first time she’d actually admitted the feelings she felt towards Childe-Tartaglia-Ajax out loud, but Aether had already known for several months that his twin had foolishly fallen for a stranger on the internet.

“Can we talk about this tomorrow? I have to go to work early, and you have classes in a few hours.” Aether attempted to smooth over their rough feelings, trying to placate his sister. “Sleep on it, please?”

With another sigh, Lumine nodded and watched as Aether walked back into his room. Once he was gone, Lumine got up, grabbed some cat treats to soothe Paimon’s irritability at the sudden shriek she’d let out, and then went back to her bedroom as well.

Back in her room, she looked around at all of the cute furniture scattered around the room: the matching pink dresser, bookshelves, and bed; the multitude of adorable stuffed animals (complete with a huge plush narwhal that Childe had sent her seemingly on a whim), and the humongous PC setup that took up most of the room.

That, too, had been a gift from Childe one PC part at  a time until she had a super computer that rivaled those at the forefront of the current market.

She hadn’t always let him be so generous with his money towards her. It had started slowly, when her ancient PC’s motherboard fried after a particularly violent lightning storm. He’d offered to send her a new one along with a couple of other parts, because, in his words “so that Outl4nder could actually get through new content without his computer catching on fire.”

So Lumine had let him and given him the address to her PO box so that she didn’t have to give her name and actual address to a stranger online. For her safety, of course.

Their relationship, if it could even be called that, based on half-truths and one very large lie, had begun when Lumine was wandering around a high-leveled area of Teyvat Ascending, looking for materials to craft some furniture for her in-game house. She’d stumbled upon a player getting their ass repeatedly handed to them by the basic monsters of the area, and feeling bad for the poor guy, saved him.

The character she played was male, with a masculine name, forged out of insecurity and past harassment directed at her by players in other games whenever she played as a girl or spoke in voice chat. That was also why she refused to use a mic, even if Childe had offered to buy her - Outl4nder - a microphone on several occasions.

It didn’t feel good to keep up the charade that she was actually a guy, but it did allow her to get closer to Childe, even if their bond was forged in misconceptions. One of the reasons she was so nervous about meeting him was because of the insecure fear that he would hate her for lying, for being a girl. She knew that he wouldn’t be creepy or anything of that sort at least.

Lumine couldn’t say as much for some of the other guild members though, what with how they responded to female players they encountered outside of their guild. So while the prospect of meeting Childe in person excited her, having to meet a lot of the other guild members… did not.

But he said she could stay with him, instead of sleeping at a random local hotel… to “bond” with each other when no one else was around. Whatever that meant.

Lumine flopped down on her bed, squealed into her pillow, and then rolled around until she almost fell off, further disturbing Paimon who had just emerged from her hiding spot. The poor cat was used to her crazy antics at this point, and she simply pinned her ears back before curling up on her bed next to Lumine’s. She knew better than to jump up onto Lumine’s bed while she was rolling around like that.

“What am I gonna do, Paimon?!” She sat up in bed, violently shaking the large narwhal plush that usually rested next to her pillow. “I actually have a chance to meet him!”

If it wasn’t evident before, Lumine had a small (huge) crush on Childe, one that had developed slowly over the past three years. It had started after he’d confided in her about his family and wanted some advice. His little sister, Tonia, had had a birthday coming up, and he was at a loss for what to get her, so he’d asked “Outl4nder” if he knew anything about a certain television show, one of Tonia’s favorites.

Luckily for Childe, Lumine had seen every episode and was a fan of the series herself, so recommending a gift related to the show was a simple matter, and when he’d thanked her so earnestly after Tonia loved it… it melted her heart.

There weren’t many that got to see that side of Childe, that were let in through his defenses to see the carrying older brother beneath his mischievous and guarded nature on the outside. So when she was let in, when she began to see that aloofness he showed everyone start to disappear, she fell for him even harder.

Sadly, she doubted he felt the same about “Outl4nder,” and even if he did, that would end when he learned the truth.

Lumine ended up staying up for several more hours until the run rose, carefully lining up the pros and cons of accepting his invitation.

Three days later, Lumine was meeting a few of her friends for lunch and coffee at a local casual restaurant, determined to get more opinions about the situation than just hers and Aether’s, more to make sure she wasn’t making an impulse decision.

She still hadn’t given her answer to the invitation, and she could tell that Childe was getting antsy about it from the way he acted, both in voice chat as well as through his text messaging.

“Okay, so…” Lumine began to explain herself - her views on the situation and then Aether’s, but she didn’t get very far before one of her friends interrupted her.

“No, don’t start. I can already see where this is going!” Jean set down her iced tea, shaking her head. “It’s clear you like him - as in, more than a friend. Obviously.”

Mona seemed to agree with her. “Exactly! You’ve been crushing on that hot piece of ginger ass forever, it seems like!”

Lumine sputtered, taking a long drink of her soda. “I regret ever showing you his social media.”

I don’t,” Mona said smugly, unlocking her phone to pull up his profile. “He’s gorgeous.”

When she shoved her phone in Lumine’s face, Childe’s instagram feed was staring back at her, a collection of photos mainly dealing with his workout progress or his progress in whatever games he was playing. The workout photos featured him shirtless, a very delicious collection of shirtless shots, his muscular torso, covered in scars, on full display.

It was a very inviting sight, one Lumine would be lying if she admitted she hadn’t spent some… quality alone time imagining him there with her, hovering over her looking like that. Not that she’d admit that to anyone - other than Paimon at least, who had caught her on more than one occasion.

Shaking her head to clear her mind of those intimate thoughts, she pushed Mona’s phone out of her face. “I know what he looks like!”

“Oh, I know you do,” she winked, a smug smile on her face.

Lumine’s face turned bright red, and Jean snorted while taking a drink of her tea, unable to hide her smile behind the glass at Mona’s lighthearted teasing. She spoke then, to stop the conversation from devolving into an argument between those two.

“Okay, okay. Calm down. How does Aether feel about all of this? You told him first, right?”

Lumine pouted, her cheeks puffed out as she took a bite of her food. “Of course I told him, right after Childe invited me!”

“Right, tight. What’s his opinion?” Jean prodded, ever patient.

“He is just being his usual, worried self. It’s not that he likes Childe, more just that he thinks he might be a creep or weirdo offline compared to how he is when he’s talking to me. I told him that that would require an amazing amount of dedication to create a false like for three whole years . And considering I’ve been on call with him when he’s clearly drunk off his ass, I highly doubt that’s the case.”

She remembered that time vividly. She’d been in the middle of preparing for an exam when he’d called her, and they had a (one-sided, technically), very humorous discussion that ended with him he’d never had a “friend like him” and to keep it a secret, that they were best friends.

He remembered nothing of that conversation the next day, and Lumine never did tell him what he’d said.

“And what did Aether say in response?” Mona was leaning forward, clearly invested in whatever drama that happened between the twins.

“He said that I should know how the world in general treats women, and that if I go, he’ll want hourly check-ins. If I miss one, he’ll be calling the police and demanding like, they immediately go and “arrest that ginger pretty boy’s ass.”” Lumine said that with air quotes, rolling her eyes.

“Well, you can’t blame him for thinking that, because you know it’s true!” Mona waved down a waiter, requesting a refill of Lumine’s drink, like she wanted to get her drunk - on a nonalcoholic soda.

Lumine sighed, eating her anxiety by taking a huge bite of one of the breadsticks in the basket that had just been brought to the table along with that refill of her drink.

“I know that, but he’s not our mom!”

“Did you tell him that?” Mona’s eyes sparkled with amusement, already knowing the answer.

“I did! And then he was like, ‘We don’t even HAVE a mom!’” Another wide gesture with her hands illustrated her point as she shook her head. “He eventually agreed though, (((AFTER))) he got one of his friends to scour through Childe’s social media for anything sus. And no, before you ask, they didn’t find anything!”

Jean and Mona shared a smile as they glanced at each other. “And you trust him? Childe, I mean.”

“I do, fully!” Lumine answered immediately.

Jean crossed her arms, putting down the fork she’d just speared her salad with. “If you do go, and I know you likely will, you should invest in a kit.”

“A kit?”

“Yeah, you know. Pepper spray, a whistle, cute brass knuckles in the shape of a cat’s paw. Stuff like that.” Mona listed off several self-protection items, checking them off with her fingers. “I know you can protect yourself, Lumi, but you need to be prepared just in case!”

Lumine nodded, giving in to her friends’ demands. “Fine, I know you guys and Aether mean well. I’m just worried. Not about that though, I mean.”

“What’s bothering you?” Jean reached out and put a hand on Lumine’s arm, squeezing softly.

“I don’t want him to hate me - for deceiving him, I mean. It’ll break the dream of the big bro duo, and what if he just… leaves me at the airport? I’ll have to get an emergency flight back.” She didn’t say it, but they all knew she couldn’t easily afford to do that. Plane tickets with their flight on the same day as when they were purchased were incredibly expensive, and for a poor college student… she’d likely be stranded at the airport for a few days at the very least.

Ever the voice of reason, Jean pressed her further, trying to get Lumine to work through her thought process. “Has he ever given you reason to believe he’d do that?”

“No! But I can’t help but worry… I really, really want to meet him. I… like him,” she whispered, her hands clenched into fists in her lap.

That was only the second time she’d openly admitted it, and it was getting easier to say every time.

“I know you do, honey.” Jean gave Lumine a soft smile.

Before the conversation could continue, Lumine’s phone chimed softly, alerting all three women to it. Lumine frowned and reached into her purse to pull it out before checking the notification. Immediately, her face flushed bright red, and she looked up at Mona and Jean with a surprised look on her face.

Mona already knew who it was. “That’s Childe, isn’t it? Speak of the devil, and he shall appear, huh? What’s he want?”

Lumine unlocked her phone and opened her messages, curious as well.

Tartaglia: “Hey, man. Is everything okay? You haven’t logged into Teyvat Ascending in the last couple of days. If I said anything to upset you…”

Her gaze softened as she read the message, and she instantly felt guilty about unconsciously avoiding him. She didn’t see the glances exchanged between Mona and Jean.

“What’s it say?” Mona couldn’t contain her curiosity.

“He’s worried that he upset me somehow because I haven’t logged into the game we play together in a couple of days.”

Mona smirked. “That’s cute. I’d say he’s the one who has a crush on you . What if he does? Have you asked him?”

Lumine looked up at her, eyes wide. “How exactly would I ask him? Just message him like ‘Hey, do you like me? As in like-like?’ That’s a surefire way to creep him out and push him away!”

“You already know what you’re going to do, don’t you?” It wasn’t really a question that needed to be answered, not with the rhetorical way Jean voiced it. “Answer his invitation.”

Mona added her two Mora to the opinion as well. “Yeah, girl! Go to your man!”

That was just the nudge Lumine needed, though she did roll her eyes. “He’s not my man.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

Lumine just snorted and typed her reply to Childe.

 

Outl4nder: “No, you didn’t upset me, I promise. I was just busy getting a second opinion about the meet-up.”

His response came immediately, like he’d been waiting on her own, though she (((KNEW))) he was supposed to still be at work, even with their considerable time difference.

 

Tartaglia: “Oh, good! I’m flattered that you talk about me to your friends. What’re their opinions about me? Only positive things, I hope.”

She didn’t bother commenting on him being “flattered” that he crossed her mind when they weren’t talking. They knew each other well enough to know of each other’s friend groups, though Childe didn’t know they were mostly girls except for the friends she shared with Aether’s group.

 

Outl4nder: “They want me to get some pepper spray, just in case you’re a creep.”

 

Tartaglia: “Our. I wouldn’t blame you, though. I bet you could kick my ass if you wanted to.”

He wasn’t wrong. Lumine had taken several self-defense classes and was a pro at taking down people who were creeps to either her or her friends when she was around.

 

Outl4nder: “Yeah. I think I have my answer now, though.”

 

Tartaglia: “Out with it!”

 

Outl4nder: “I think… I’m going to take you up on that offer.”

Lumine hesitated before she sent the next message, knowing full well that it could bite her in the ass later.

 

Outl4nder: “And I’ll owe you that one favor. Cash it in at any time.”

 

Tartaglia: “I’ll hold you to that.”

As soon as she sent that message, Lumine could barely hold back the squeal that threatened to come out of her. She shook her head rapidly from side to side, her face bright red as she was filled with excitement.

“I did it! I said I’d go. Now what am I gonna do?! What am I gonna wear ?!”

Mona grinned, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Sounds like we’ve got a shopping trip ahead of us. I’ll make sure there’s no way he’ll be able to resist you when I’m through with you!”

Childe was on cloud nine. As soon as he’d read Outl4nder’s reply that he’d visit, he shouted out loud, startling his coworkers, forgetting that he was still in the office, that he was supposed to be working .

“Sorry, sorry!” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, still grinning from ear to ear.

Even if no one else came to his birthday meet-up, he would still be elated since his “best bro” would be there.

He had a lot of work ahead of him to make sure everything was perfect.

The time before the birthday party/guild meet-up went by extraordinarily quickly, and as the time neared, several people had RSVP’d to confirm they were going, and everything had been planned out. Hotels had been booked, flights planned, and Childe had even rented the equipment for several computers to be set up in a spare room he had for an old-fashioned LAN party. The ping was going to be nonexistent, and they were all thrilled at the prospect of finally clearing that content.

The weapon Childe wanted in game still eluded him, though a couple of guild members had gotten the weapon drops, not that that mattered since they were player-bound.

When Lumine arrived at the airport before her flight the morning of the first day of the meet-up, she felt like she was going to throw up because of how nervous - and excited - she was. Aether was with her, helping to carry some of the several bags of luggage she had, most of it containing her extensive PC setup. She’d offered to pay Childe to rent equipment, but he’d said that “he” should be comfortable with the setup he was familiar with, to make sure that he was playing up to the standards that Childe expected of his Vice-Captain.

The cost of that luggage almost made her eyes bug out of her head when all of them were weighed and ready to be sent off to the plane. Childe had paid ahead, luckily, so Lumine didn’t have to worry about anything except going through security and finding her gate. Aether looked like he was half-tempted to get his own ticket and go with her, but she wasn’t having any of that.

“I’ll call you as soon as I land, I promise!”

That didn’t seem to be good enough for her twin. “No, I’ll send you some money for the cost of the in-flight Wi-Fi! Keep me updated while you’re flying!”

“I swear, you’re more worried than a mom on her first child’s first day of kindergarten. I’ll be fine, but if it’ll make you feel better…”

His response was immediate. “It will!”

Once Aether had been placated and Lumine had hugged him no less than three times, she made her way to her gate to wait for time to board her flight, her stomach in knots as the time neared when she would meet Childe in person - and the time for her to reveal her little secret .

On the day everyone was supposed to arrive, Childe got up extremely early, made sure his house was ready for guests, and then drove to the airport. He’d planned on being there all day as the several flights landed and he collected everyone in one of the VIP lounges until everyone was assembled.

There was one person who he was more excited for than everyone else, and of course Outl4nder’s flight had been delayed, and he would be arriving last.

That meant Childe was going to have to spend the entire day filled with anticipation for the moment they would finally meet. He wouldn’t lie; he was a bit disappointed that they wouldn’t have any real alone time together since the rest of the guildmates would be arriving before him. Not to say that everyone was less important to him than Outl4nder was… but that was exactly the truth. In his mind, there was no one that compared.

Luckily, the day passed by fairly quickly, and he was easily caught up in the excitement of meeting everyone. Several hugs and a few cups of coffee later, Childe’s phone finally chimed with a unique tone, the one he’d assigned to Outl4nder alone, signaling that he must have arrived.

 

Outl4nder: “Plane touched down. We’re waiting on the runway for a couple of other planes to come through first, and then we’ll taxi to the gate. Where is everyone meeting?”

Childe couldn’t hide the smile that crossed his face, and he missed the way a couple of his guild-buddies whispered and elbowed each other when they saw his expression. What he didn’t know was that quite a few of them had made bets on how quickly the two of them - Childe and Outl4nder - would end up together as a couple.

He quickly answered his message, replying with their location. As soon as he was done, Childe was consumed by nervous energy, and he tapped his foot while he stood with his arms crossed, suddenly realizing that he wouldn’t be able to recognize Outl4nder.

Tartaglia: What are you wearing? To help me pick you out of the crowd.

There was a long moment where there was no reply, and he hoped that it was just because Outl4nder was leaving the plane and making his way towards baggage claim. Then, finally, there was a response.

Outl4nder: “Don’t worry about it. I know what you look like, so I’ll be able to spot you.”

 

Tartaglia: “What, are you feeling shy all of a sudden?”

What he didn’t know was that his harmless teasing had hit the nail on the head. That was exactly what was worrying Outl4nder - what was worrying Lumine .

Lumine had agonized over her predicament the entire flight, until she nearly had a nervous breakdown in one of the tiny, uncomfortable bathrooms on the way through the airport. The only reason she managed to hold it together was because she would have ruined the makeup that she spent so long painstakingly applying it. It would be just her luck to smear her mascara moments before meeting the guy she’d had a crush on for the past three years.

Instead, she had looked at the photo album on her phone that was dedicated to Paimon. Her adorable little face never failed to make her smile.

But as soon as the plane had begun its descent, Lumine’s worry multiplied. Worry that he’d hate her for lying and that she’d be trapped in an unknown city for who knows how long consumed her. She tried to tell herself that Tartaglia - Childe - Ajax wouldn’t do that, that he’d accept her no matter what she looked like or what her gender was.

She waited until she was officially off of the plane and standing by the gate before she messaged him back.

Outl4nder: Maybe I am! This is a big moment, you know!

Childe replied instantly.

 

Tartaglia: “Suuuuure it is. We’re all waiting by the main cafe by security right now, but since you’re the last person arriving, we’ll meet you by the baggage claim. What’s your luggage look like? I’ll grab it for you to save some time.”

Lumine’s eyes widened at his message, anxiety tripling in those few words. She knew he was being logical, but thought that him searching for some very… colorful luggage being the first glimpse he had of her true self… it filled her with fear. Still, she answered him.

Outl4nder: It’s yellow and has stickers all over it of characters from “Action!! Love Your Archon.”

That was one of the most popular dating sims on the market, where the protagonist tried to romance one of the several nations’ Archons. It featured the ability to dare whatever bachelor or bachelorette you wanted regardless of the player character’s - or the Archon’s - genders.

She knew that Tartaglia knew what the game was, mostly because his younger sister Tonia was a fan of it, and Lumine had helped him pick out a gift for her.

Most of the fandom was young women.

 

Tartaglia: “That’s certainly a choice, but at least it’ll be easily recognizable. See ya in a few, okay?”

Lumine steeled her resolve, shaking her head to clear it, mumbling to herself as she walked. “You’ve got this, Lu. Just think of it as a boss battle!”

Childe had no problem whatsoever locating Outl4nder’s luggage. His choice of bright color combined with the absolutely massive amount of stickers covering it made it very recognizable. As soon as he saw the bright yellow peeking through the conveyor belt, he stepped up to grab it all. There were several pieces of luggage, most of them consisting of pieces of Outl4nder’s PC setup.

Once they were all set down a little ways away from the conveyor belt, Childe crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, looking around for someone who looked like “Outl4nder,” or well, what he assumed he looked like. He’d gathered small details about his appearance over the past three years, though those were few and far between.

He knew that Outl4nder was short and blonde. That was about it.

The other guild members were chatting amongst themselves, talking about whatever came to mind: the upcoming Teyvat Ascending events, the upcoming raids, what they’d be playing later that night… There was no end to the rambling topics.

At first, he thought he’d spotted him, but the guy was too tall, almost the same height as Childe. Then there was another person he’d assumed could be Outl4nder, but when the guy turned and walked in the opposite direction, he knew he was wrong.

What he hadn’t expected was the very petite young woman who approached him timidly. He assumed she was lost and needed directions. People always came to him for help’ he just had one of those auras that made people let their guard down, he supposed.

The young woman glanced down at the luggage beside him when she’d gotten closer, her manicured fingers tapping against her thigh, like she was counting how many bags there were. When she looked up at him, there was the slightest blush on her cheeks that traveled up to the tips of her pierced ears.

“Tartaglia?” Her voice was soft and yet also firm, melodic. “I guess I have a few things to explain, huh.”

Short. Blonde. The pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

This was Outl4nder, and she was beautiful.

Chapter Text

“Outl4nder” was the most beautiful, drop dead gorgeous woman Childe had ever seen, and all of the feelings he’d been harboring for -HIM- her came flooding back, stronger than ever, until he was almost drowning.

The cute way she had her head cocked while she looked at him, the small flower clip in her hair, the way her comfortable traveling clothes were just a bit too large for her… he was enamored with everything about her.

Childe’s face struggled to keep up with the thoughts that faced through his mind, certain that he appeared just as flabbergasted as he felt. All he could do was stare at her with wide eyes and a dumbfounded look, like a deer staring into the headlights of an oncoming her. Her expression changed to one of concern, and she took a half step backwards, like she was unsure if he wanted her to be near him.

“Tar- …Childe?” She tried again, her brows furrowed, mouth pulled down into a small frown. All of a sudden, her words came out in a jumbled rush. “I’m sorry that I never told you that I’m a girl. I was just worried that you’d hate me, and if I need to, I can just go get a ticket back home and-“

She was rambling, and he could see the tears that had begun to gather in the corner of her eyes. And then it hit him: She thought he didn’t want her there because she’s a girl.

Before she could take another step away from him, Childe took two steps forward, reaching out towards her before he stopped himself, realizing that that movement might have seemed intimidating. “Wait, no! I’m just… surprised is all! Nothing has changed about you in my eyes,” he lied.

In truth, he was more attracted to her than ever before.

Childe gave her what he hoped was a disarming smile, desperate to calm her down and keep her near. “Please, don’t go, Out- …What should I call you now, Girlie?”

The sudden nickname he called her made her eyes widen and a blush color her cheeks, and she quickly looked away from him to the other people who’d slowly begun to tune into their conversation.

“My name is Lumine,” she answered shyly before she straightened up, her gaze catching Childe’s once more. “Is everyone else already here?”

“ Lumine ,” Childe mumbled, testing out her name. He didn’t miss the way her cheeks darkened further at the fervent way he’d whispered it.

It was clear though, that she wanted to change the subject and was shifting nervously under Childe’s intense gaze as he tried to memorize everything about her, to connect what he saw then with what he’d learned from their many conversations.

One of the many guild members approached them, hands relaxing behind his head, an easy grin on his face. He appeared to be staring down at the much shorter Lumine with a less than friendly look in his eyes that contrasted the cheerful smile he wore.

“You’re supposed to be Outl4nder? Is this a joke? He has a twin, right? There’s no way you’re Outl4nder,” he sneered. Before he could say anything else, Childe stepped in between them and physically blocked the man’s view of Lumine.

Lumine couldn’t see his face from her angle behind him, but if she could, she’d have seen the terrifying expression he wore, eyes narrow and dark, his jaw clenched with anger.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Just why can’t she be Outl4nder then, hm?” His tone was low, fully intent on threatening the man until he backed down even though he’d been on friendly terms with him only a few minutes prior.

Before either man could get more riled up and the situation escalated, Childe felt a feather-light touch on his arm as Lumine stepped in front of him , her neck craned to look up at the man. “Is this coming from the guy who couldn’t even manage to get his basic rotation right the last time we raided? If my memory is correct - and it is - then you’re the reason why our secondary healer had to work overtime, because you generated too much aggro in a short amount of time and pulled it from the tank.

Her words were like daggers that cut straight into the man’s ego, and he deflated instantly. There was no one else whose words could sting like that other than Outl4nder’s, who had never shied from telling it exactly how it was - extremely blunt in the messages they sent.

He had nothing else to say after that, at least out loud, scuffing his foot against the floor before he mumbled an excuse and walked away. By that time, several of the other guild members had approached her, though none of them had the blatant hostility that the first man had had. Childe watched protectively as every guild member introduced themselves to Lumine properly.

She was instantly welcomed by some of the members who playfully ruffled her hair or pushed against her shoulder, like they weren’t surprised by her identity at all. Childe began to suspect that they’d already known her little secret, and the fact that he somehow hadn’t picked up on it made him a bit jealous that they knew her so well.

A couple of them, namely two of the more popular girls in the guild, had moved closer to each other instead and began to whisper in hushed tones, speculating that Lumine had only posed as a guy to get in with the boys and was now going to use her feminine charms to seduce them and gain popularity. It was all baseless speculation, an outright lie, forged out of jealousy.

There were always going to be those sorts of people in every group no matter its size.

Childe shook his head and attempted to center her attention on him once more, feeling particularly needy despite being surrounded by friends. “Hey, Outl- Sorry, Lumine? Is this all of your luggage? I didn’t see any more pieces of the set, and I just wanna make sure that they’re all here and none got lost somewhere.”

It was going to take Childe a little while longer to get used to calling Lumine by her actual name and not her player character’s, but he was determined to get it right, and when she turned to look at him with those warm golden eyes of hers… oh .

He was in deep already, not even five minutes after meeting her in person.

“Oh, let me get a closer look and count them,” Lumine answered. When she walked by him to check her luggage, he caught a whiff of her perfume - windwheel asters mixed together with something sweet. He inhaled deeply to get more of that delicious scent.

Lumine quietly counted her luggage, frowning when she neared the end of the pile of suitcases. “I’m missing one…”

Childe immediately stepped closer to look at it all with her. “Are you sure? I grabbed all of the ones I saw. Do you know what was in the one that’s not here?”

He had no qualms about just replacing whatever PC parts had been in the luggage, as long as it wasn’t her hard drive with all of her data saved on it. That he couldn’t replace. It would definitely be faster than waiting for the airline to attempt to find the missing bag.

“Yes, it’s…” She froze when she realized which piece of luggage it had been: the one that contained most of her personal items and clothing for the duration of the trip. Her shoulders sagged at the thought that she only had a couple of pieces of clothing to last the entire week she’d be visiting.

“It’s the one with most of my clothes and makeup…” she sighed, more to herself than to answer Childe.

He still managed to hear her, though. “Do you have enough to get through the week?”

Yeah, if I wear the same thing almost every day… Lumine sighed softly and shook her head. “Not really. I’m going to go talk to someone at the service desk and see if they can locate it.”

Childe hesitated before taking a step in her direction, fully intent on following her, but she stopped him with a shake of her head. “You should make sure everyone else has all of their stuff. I’ll be right back.”

“Ah, alright. That’s a good idea.” He watched as she walked away, unaware that he was openly staring with a smile on his face.

One of the guild members that lived nearly and often spent time with Childe, Thoma, walked up to him and put an arm around his shoulder, leaning in close to whisper to him, making sure that his voice was low enough that Lumine couldn’t hear him as she walked away.

“You’re already whipped, my man.”

That startled Childe out of his stupor, and he pushed Thoma away, a blush spreading over his face. “I am not! I’m just… worried about her missing luggage,” he lied.

Thoma wasn’t convinced. “Mmhmm, whatever you say. Hopefully they can locate her bag. Otherwise you’ll have to lend her some of your clothes.”

If there was ever a way to shut down Childe’s brain, it was the mental image of Lumine wearing his shirt, the hem only reaching to her mid-thigh, the way her chest would stret-

He shook his head, cursing quietly under his breath. Those were not the thoughts to be having in public.

“Let’s gather everyone around so we can get the ball rolling when Lumine comes back,” he said loudly, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand and not on Lumine in his clothes.

--

It didn’t take long for Lumine to finish talking to the receptionist behind the service desk, and by the time she’d returned to where the group was located, everyone was gathered around Childe. He couldn’t go over to her because of how swamped he was with the guild members, but they did make eye contact, and he cocked his head in a silent question.

Lumine just gave a noncommittal wave of her hand, signaling that it would take a bit more than a simple nod or shake of her head to explain.

“Alright, so everyone’s here now! I hope everyone had a good flight. Now - the first thing we need to do is make sure that everyone has their transportation to my house all sorted out. I know some of you are planning on renting cars and others are going to carpool, but if a couple of people don’t have a way to get there, I have two spaces in my car available. Does anyone need them?”

His eyes automatically found Lumine, and upon seeing that she’d already been looking at him, his heart fluttered traitorously against his ribs, and he gave her a handsome smile. The truth was that he technically had three seats in his car that could hold other people, but he’d automatically given Lumine the spot beside him, though she didn’t know it yet. A couple of people spoke up, and the other two spots were quickly filled.

“Once everyone’s at my house, the game plan is to get the guest rooms and hotel reservations sorted out so everyone has a place to sleep. By then, the catering company should have our food read, and we’ll be able to eat before putting together the media room setup for our raids this evening. Does anyone have any questions?”

Lumine couldn’t help but smile while watching Childe, giddy with excitement about being a part of a real guild meeting offline. That’s exactly what it felt like while Childe organized and took charge, just like he did every time they were playing the game together.

When he was finished speaking, everyone broke apart into groups to carpool, and when most of the guild members had gone off to rent the cars or call a taxi for themselves, Childe was left with only Lumine and the two other guild members.

“So, what’s the story with your bag? Could they find it?” Childe asked.

Lumine sighed, shaking her head. “They said it’s somewhere in the airport, that it somehow got put on the wrong baggage claim belt. They’re supposed to call me when they find it.”

She looked much like a kicked puppy, with how her shoulders lowered and with the sad expression on her face. Lumine was looking at the taxi app she’d downloaded on the flight, scrolling to find a ride to Childe’s house, unaware that she already had a ride.

Her downtrodden look wrenched Childe’s heart painfully, and he couldn’t help but offer his help. “Well, I can drive back here and grab it when they eventually do find it, so you don’t have to worry, alright?”

“I don’t wanna trouble you like that!” Still the alternative was for her to wear the same clothes for a week, and that didn’t appeal to her either. “But… thank you, Childe.”

He gave her another charming smile. “No worries, Girlie. I don’t mind.”

There was that casual nickname again, the one that made her stomach twist and her cheeks heat up.

She was about to walk away when he suddenly threw his arm around her shoulder, tucking her in close to his side. “And just where do you think you’re going?”

Being so close to him made Lumine flustered, her face bright red as she breathed in the scent of his cologne. She was so small against him that her head didn’t even come to the top of his shoulder. The way she fit in against his side was perfect, like they’d been made for each other. That was a thought that she knew was going to repeat in her head later.

“T-to take a taxi?” She answered, looking up at him. Damn, he’s even more gorgeous up close…

She could see the light dusting of freckles along the bridge of his nose and over his cheeks. There were scars peeking out of the collar of his shirt, and Lumine already knew exactly what they looked like from having studied his shirtless photos on social media very closely.

Childe clicked his tongue, shaking his head at her like he was disappointed. “I don’t think so~” He sang, his eyes filled with mischief. “You’re riding with me.”

Lumine immediately started to protest, but he wasn’t having any of it and put his index finger to her lips, shushing her. If she’d been flustered before, she completely short circuited then. No thoughts, head empty. Only the sensation of his finger against her lips.

The small group began the walk towards the parking deck then, Childe pulling Lumine along, her hand in his as he led the way.

Her eyes were locked on their intertwined fingers, how much larger his hand was than hers. It was a very… intimate feeling.

It didn’t take them very long to reach where his car had been parked, and when Lumine saw it, her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She could have sold every item she’d ever owned and wouldn’t have been able to pay for much more than the tires and maybe a month’s worth of insurance on it. It was bright red, sleek, low to the ground, and had a top that could retract and make it into a convertible. The car screamed “money.”

Childe unlocked the doors with his key fob and slid into the driver’s seat, beckoning for Lumine and the two others to get in as well. Lumine was a bit too shy to jump for the spot in the passenger seat beside him, but even if she had been, she couldn’t because one of the other guild members did first. He slipped into the seat with ease and turned to grin at Lumine and the other person who had to get into the back.

“Shotgun is mine!”

They couldn’t see Childe’s annoyed expression as he scowled into the rear view mirror.

Lumine was content where she was though, looking out of the window at the passing city scape while Childe drove them to his home. He engaged everyone with polite conversation, asking how everyone’s flight was, but his mind was far away, thinking only of his companion in the back seat. He desperately wanted to talk to her alone, to really get to know her more.

He never got the chance, thanks to the other people in the car, and before long, they pulled into the long driveway that weaved up through his yard to the gigantic house at the top of the hill.

“You live here?” That was the first time Lumine had spoken since leaving the airport, and her voice was filled with wonder.

That made him smile. “Yep! Quite the house, isn’t it?”

He didn’t admit it to them, but he thought that it was too much house , and that it was lonely living there all on his own.

Instead, he changed the subject as he drove to park in the huge garage on the bottom level. “Looks like we beat everyone else.”

That was no surprise to him. He was the only one really familiar with the drive to his home from the airport. The next to arrive were Thoma and another of Childe’s close friends, just a few minutes behind them. They also parked in the garage.

“Damn, thought we might have gotten here before you for once, man,” Thoma complained, jogging over to Childe’s group clustered around his car.

“No such luck,” Childe grinned, leaning casually against the side of his car. “No one knows these roads like I do.”

Lumine looked around her in the large garage that was mostly empty other than a small workbench with power tools sitting on it. There were several more spaces for cars, but she wasn’t interested in that, more curious to see the rest of the house. Over the last few weeks, Childe had sent her a few photos of his place, and most of it had been when he still had boxes piled everywhere, still unpacked from where he’d just moved.

A couple of other cars piled up into the wide driveway. Everyone that had been in the garage went out to greet them, and Childe used the remote on his key ring to close the garage door leaving them all outside once again. It didn’t take long for everyone else to arrive as well, and they all congregated to the front door.

“Alright, is everyone ready?” After a loud combined shout of confirmation, Childe led the way through the front door, pausing in the entryway. “Okay, time for a quick tour. Everyone stay close, or you’ll probably get lost.”

Childe did his best impression of a real estate agent at a house showing as he led everyone through the many rooms. They started in the main living area, a large open space with the biggest sofa Lumine had ever seen. It was one of the ones shaped like an “L” and could easily fit ten people without squishing them together. A large television took up a lot of the wall space in front of that sofa, and all of the furniture matched, like something that would be seen staged by a professional.

The kitchen was next, and Lumine was filled with awe. Every type of appliance imaginable was placed up on top of the wide row of cabinets, and there was a large open pantry stocked with food. The room looked like it had been used recently, with a couple of mixing bowls and measuring cups still on one of the counters.

A few bedrooms took up a majority of the third floor, including guest rooms and the master bedroom that Childe used. There were two bathrooms on the floor for guests to use, as well as the master bathroom attached to Childe’s. The rest of the space on that floor consisted of an office, a media room, and a room just for storage.

Back on the ground floor, Childe led everyone out through the door at the back of the kitchen and onto the large deck that wrapped around its house. It had a giant swimming pool set into it as well as a hot tub to one side under a covered awning. A grill and a fire pit took up the rest of the space.

Lumine had known that Childe was wealthy, but to see just how much space he owned - alone - and all of the obviously expensive furnishings, it left her awestruck. He was so down to earth and humble that it was almost unbelievable. Still, everything seemed just a bit too neat, too clean to really seem lived in, like it was just a display in a furniture store.

In comparison, her own small apartment she shared with Aether was a mess, with knickknacks and cat supplies strewn throughout, and with large piles of plush animals taking over most of her bedroom. She was embarrassed that he’d been able to see some of the clutter in the background of her photos of Paimon.

Once the tour was over, everyone settled down in the main living area, piled up on the comfortable couches. Childe was happily chatting with a few of the guild members, but when Lumine’s phone suddenly started ringing, playing a cute jingle from one of her favorite video games, his eyes went to her immediately, watching as she walked out of the room to answer it. He was instantly distracted by it, wondering who it was that was calling her - not that it was any of his business.

Still, he desperately wanted to know. Childe was almost drowning in the feelings that had resurfaced when he met Lumine, like it was love at first sight. He was a mess.

Lumine was only gone for a minute or so, and when she came back into the room, her eyes found him instantly, and he was caught staring at her. Again. She beckoned him over with a curl of her finger, not expecting him to immediately drop everything and come over to her, but that’s just what he did, even cutting off the person who’d been talking to him.

“Hang on,” he interrupted. “I’ll be right back.”

Childe weaved through the people until he was standing in front of Lumine. “What’s up? Who was that on the phone?”

She smiled up at him, clearly excited. “They found my bag! It’s safe and sound at the information office at the airport!”

Fuck, she’s so cute ... “That’s great news! I’ll head back later and grab it, if you can wait that long. If not, I can run and get it really quickly since the airport isn’t too far away.”

Lumine’s eyes widened, and she quickly shook her head. “No, you don’t have to do that! I can wait until this evening.”

It was true that she needed her clothes, but there was no way she was going to ask him to take the time and go get it right then.

“Are you sure?” Childe leaned closer, studying her face intently.

He’d noticed that she glanced to the side and her eyebrows dropped ever so slightly when she was lying.

She gave him what she hoped was a wide smile. “Yeah! It’s just some clothes, so we don’t have to go until… Maybe tonight? Just so I can have my pajamas.”

She didn’t seem to be lying then, so he dropped it. “Alright, sounds good to me.”

Childe straightened back up and got everyone’s attention by whistling loudly. “Okay, now that everyone’s had the tour, I think it’s time to have something to eat. What does everyone say?”

The loud cheer he got in response was enough of an answer for him, and he pulled out his phone to call the catering company he’d booked just for this get-together.

“I hope you’re all hungry, because we’re gonna have a ton of food.”

While Childe was focused on his phone call, he missed the way a couple of guild members were glancing at Lumine and whispering amongst themselves, too low to be heard over the din of everyone else talking at the same time.

Chapter Text

All it took was one simple phone call from Childe to the catering company for them to arrive almost immediately with a large truck packed to the brim with food, like they’d been waiting just for him. Because they had. He’d bought out the company’s schedule for the whole week just to make sure he’d have enough food for everyone whenever someone was hungry. Employees of the company brought in a couple of long folding tables to set up in the dining room, one for the food to set on and the other for everyone to sit at. They even brought chairs for everyone to sit on.

It didn’t take long until the table had been filled up with dish after dish of delicious-smelling food. Childe had made sure to order just about every variety of food imaginable, just to cover his bases, instead of writing down everyone's’ particular preferences - unless they were sensitivities or allergies, of course.

There was one person that he’d made sure to include all of their favorites, though, amongst the numerous dishes, and that was Lumine. And only Lumine.

Childe knew she was fond of crab, and while seafood was rather expensive, he knew it’d be worth it just to see her light up when she saw what he’d ordered. He couldn’t wait to sit beside her and engage her in more conversation, looking forward to getting to know the person behind the player.

While he’d been talking to the manager of the catering company on duty, she must have taken the time to change out of her traveling clothes and into some that she’d packed into her carry-on luggage, because when he saw her again, she was wearing something completely different.

She had been beautiful before, even in her extremely baggy and comfortable-looking clothes, but now she was absolutely breathtaking.

Lumine wore a light blue sundress, one that brought out the color in the small flower hairpin she had that kept her bangs out of her eyes, and they were paired with wedge heels that made her taller - though not by much. Her new outfit accented her features and curves very well, much more than what she’d been wearing before, giving Childe a much better idea of her general body shape.

She reminded him of a ray of sunshine on a clear day, and he couldn’t help but stare. And yet again, he was caught when her eyes met his, and Childe quickly looked away, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks.

Luckily, he didn’t have to explain himself because one of the caterers conveniently approached him with a question and demanded his attention.

When all of the plates of food had been placed on the folding table, Childe got everyone’s attention, and their dinner began. His dining room looked more like a large wedding reception with how many dishes were piled high with various types of food. There were small sandwiches for those who were more picky eaters, as well as pasta, several varieties of meat dishes (ranging from simple baked chicken to the more extravagant racks of lamb). Freshwater fish, scallops, and crab rounded out the seafood section. Vegetarian and vegan rice dishes and soups were also present on the table for anyone that needed them. A smaller table was off to the side, covered in pastries and other sweet desserts.

The first things that caught Lumine’s eyes were, of course, the crab cakes, and she darted over there immediately to snag some before they were all gone, much to Childe’s amusement when he saw her do so.

She tried to restrain herself, only taking three of the large cakes, before she meekly filled the rest of her plate with vegetables. There was no way she was going to be a glutton in front of the guild!! - No matter how much she wanted to just have the crab cakes and then go straight to the dessert table that she’d only just noticed in the corner.

If the main table had food piled high on top of it, then the dessert one was absolutely overflowing. Tarts, scones, cookies, pies, cakes; it had a little bit of everything. There was even a chocolate fountain, complete with a small assortment of treats to spear with a toothpick and then dip into the chocolate. The only thing missing were treats that would have needed to be refrigerated or frozen until right before being served, which made sense given that the hot summer heat would have melted them immediately.

Childe had wanted to sit beside Lumine, but he didn’t reach her in time because two of the other guild members had sat down beside them immediately, engaging her in conversation. Even the spot across from her had been taken as well as several of the nearby seats, so he was forced to sit almost too far away to hear the conversation she was having.

Almost.

The talk started off as nothing too personal, the girl sitting beside her - someone Childe vaguely knew as one of the guild’s more casual-playing members - asking about Lumine’s flight and how she was doing, but their conversation quickly took a turn when the girl asked her a very pointed question.

“What do you think of Childe?” She’d said it loud enough for him to hear, a knowing smile on her face.

Childe immediately choked on his drink, and it made him cough and attract the attention of some of the people around him. He waved them off and continued the conversation that had been started around him, though he was barely listening, still focused on what Lumine was going to say.

“What do you mean? I think he’s a fine guild leader,” Lumine answered, her head tilted inquisitively, the longer portion of her hair falling over her shoulder.

Childe wanted to sweep the strands back, to gently nuzzle in close to the crook of her neck and- … He needed to go jump in a Snezhnayan lake when it’s winter. That’s what he needed.

The girl elbowed Lumine in the side and shook her head. “That’s not what I mean, and you know it! What do you think of him ?”

Was he mistaking it, or was that a blush on Lumine’s face?!

When her eyes met his, he quickly looked down, caught staring at her again . If that kept happening, she was going to think he was a creep for sure.

“I think…” Lumine tore her eyes away from Childe and leaned in close to the girl to whisper in her ear, making sure that she was speaking too softly for him to hear her.

Whatever she said, it must have been what the girl expected, because she gasped and grinned at Lumine, nodding like she agreed with her. Before Childe could even start to wonder what she’d said about him, someone sitting near him nudged him in the arm, almost making him drop his fork - the fork he’d accidentally had hovering over his plate with the same piece of food on it for the last minute and a half.

“Huh?” He said intelligently, turning to the man sitting beside him.

There were a couple of chuckles at his expense. “You okay, man? You’ve been staring off into space for like, forever. Did you not get enough sleep last night?”

Childe hadn’t slept well the night before, actually. He was too excited about meeting Lumine - and he guessed the rest of the guild as well. But it wasn’t exactly like he could just tell them that. Instead, he lied.

“Oh, yeah. I’m great. It just feels like a shock you know? Getting to meet everyone.” He gave a large, easy-going grin, unconsciously slipping back into the persona he often wore in public, the one that made people let their guards down around him, one that didn’t let them get too close to him.

“Truuuuuue.” The man smiled back and then took a big bite of his sandwich as the conversation moved on around them once again.

While Childe had been distracted, he hadn’t noticed that the person across from Lumine had started talking to her.

“So, Lumi ~,” he teased her, a charming smile on his face. “What other games do you play?”

Childe’s attention was immediately drawn back in her direction when he heard her being called that.

Lumi? Lumi ? He should have been the one to call her that!

Childe gripped his fork just a bit too tight, actually accidentally bending the metal slightly as he watched Lumine’s cheeks turn pink with a soft blush.

“Well, I’ve been playing a couple of different things recently.” It was an ambiguous answer if Childe had ever heard one, like Lumine wasn’t too willing to divulge any further information.

The persistent guy didn’t seem to notice. “Like what?”

“The prequel to ‘Action!! Love your Archon,’ where you can choose between people from the older civilizations such as Enkinomiya, Khaenri’ah, and Remuria - just to name a few.”

Childe recalled that Tonia had been looking forward to that one and had put it on her birthday list for later that year. He made the mental note to ask Lumine about it later, happy that he already had something he could talk to her about.

Evidently, that game had been something the guy had been anticipating. “Oh, I should have known you’d play a game like that!” He laughed, shaking his head, like he was pitying her. “You’d get along with my daughter. That looks like a game she’d wanna play, if I remember the cover art correctly.”

Lumine frowned, her eyes narrowed. “How old is your daughter?” Her tone was clipped short, like she was annoyed.

“Oh, she’s six!”

Even Childe knew that that game was not for six-year-olds. He’d even been wary of letting Tonia play it, and she was already fourteen!

“Yeah, you shouldn’t buy her that game - or any dating sim, really.”

She must have struck a nerve with him, because he crossed his arms and frowned. “Why’s that? I think I know what my daughter can play better than y-”

“It’s meant for older teens at the least . Not only is the language used in the dialogue and the descriptions complex enough than an in-game glossary had to be included, but the game also contains adult elements that aren’t appropriate for someone so young if she even knew what was going on.” Lumine was much more patient than Childe would have been if the guy had spoken to him that way.

He wanted to move Lumine far away from that man, but he didn’t move. She was a big girl, and he knew she could fight her own battles.

She kept speaking, not giving the annoyed guy the chance to respond. “Plus, if you really wanted a game that would be good for your daughter, then you should have just said so instead of asking without actually being interested in my answer and not belittling me for playing a ‘game for girls.’” She gave air quotes for that, rolling her eyes. “I recommend ‘Hello Seelie!’ for children her age. It’s a point and click hidden object game with very little dialogue, perfect for little developing minds.”

Only Lumine could have taken an insult and made it into something positive.

The guy sputtered, backpedaling. “I wasn’t asking for games for my daughter!”

“Then what were you doing? I’ve already spoken about what games I’m always playing, in the guild’s group chat. Or were you really hoping to stroke your own overcompensating ego now that you know I’m a woman?”

Lumine was on the attack. It was clear that she’d had to deal with this before - if not several times.

A guilty look crossed the man’s face, and he quietly mumbled under his breath. “ I knew you play games like that , bitch. ” He got up then, presumably to get another plate of food. Or to go drown himself in the pool out of embarrassment.

She hoped it was the latter.

Lumine had an annoyed look on her face, and she looked down at her plate of food, starting to push around one of the empty crab shells with her fork, like she suddenly wasn’t hungry. The girl beside her had been listening in on the conversation like Childe had been.

“Oh, ignore him, Lumine.” She patted her on the arm with a smile. “Can you tell me more about that dating sim game? I’ve heard of it and was thinking about buying it but was waiting to see the reviews of it. I really loved the first one!”

Her question made Lumine’s face light up, and Childe felt his heart lurch in his chest. She was so beautiful, so full of life, and he wanted to hog all of her attention for himself.

He listened in to their conversation for a few more seconds, and after judging that there wasn’t anything interesting happening, turned back to converse with the people around him and actually listen this time . It didn’t take long for him to be absorbed in a conversation about the latest e-sports tournament, debating different teams and what champions would be best for whatever imaginary scenario someone came up with.

Everyone ate their fill, and before long, it was time to set up the media room and all of the equipment that Childe had rented for the LAN party.

The “media room” was one of the huge rooms on the second floor that Childe had no particular use for, so he’d left it empty until just a week ago, when he had several long foldaway tables delivered for it as well as having rented a large supply of gaming PCs and all of the accessories anyone would need to have a full setup - for almost twenty people. It had cost quite a hefty sum of Mora, to most people at least. For him though? It was just a drop in the bucket.

Several people were working on their setups, including Lumine. But instead of using a rented set of electronics, she’d had her own personal one flown in with her, all thanks to Childe. She sat on the floor and started to pull out all of the pieces, starting with her large PC case and two monitors, double-checking that all of the components hadn’t been damaged by the people who’d taken her luggage from the plane.

Everything appeared to be in order, and it didn’t take her too long to get everything put together on one of the tables, making sure to leave enough room for another person to sit beside her. While she was plugging everything in, she could feel a couple of pairs of eyes on her, and she self-consciously sped up, eager to get out of the room.

She wanted to find Childe and spend some time with him, hoping to catch him before too many people stole his attention away. It was selfish, and she knew that, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Or that’s what Mona liked to tell her, at least.

The house was so large that she got lost a couple of times, somehow winding up in the kitchen, in two different bathrooms, and even in what she assumed to be Childe’s laundry room. She quickly became frustrated and gave up on finding him by herself, instead seeking out Thoma, the only person whose real name she knew besides Childe, when she spotted him walking by.

“Hey, Thoma!” Lumine jogged to catch up with him, almost running into his back when he stopped suddenly and turned to face her, an inquisitive look on his face.

“Yes?” He grinned at her, putting a hand on his hip as he patiently waited for her to speak.

“Do you know where Childe is? I was hoping I could talk to him for a bit.” That was a simple enough request that it shouldn’t seem like she was overly interested in him, right?

The smile Thoma gave her seemed to indicate that he knew exactly why she was asking. “I think he’s outside on the deck.”

“Oh, okay.” Lumine hesitated, frowning. “Can you tell me how to get there? I’m not… sure which way it is.”

That made him laugh good-naturedly, and he nodded. “Sure! Do you know how to get to the kitchen? There’s a sliding door there that’ll take you right out back.”

Of course it was somewhere where she’d just been.

“Yeah, I think I can get there. Thank you!” She did a little flourish in her sundress, a cute curtsy that made him chuckle.

“Tell him hi for me!” Thoma called after her, still chuckling. When she was out of earshot, he mumbled to himself, shaking his head. “They’re both so obvious.”

It only took Lumine three times to finally find the kitchen again. A few people were chilling in there, talking amongst themselves. They didn’t stop when Lumine walked in, though a couple of them did wave at her. After waving back, she stepped outside into the warm summer sun. As soon as she stepped outside, the sun reflecting off of the large pool in the middle of the deck blinded her, and she had to shield her eyes while she looked around.

Even more people were gathered on the deck, most of them hanging out by the pool or the hot tub. Lumine looked around, and she spotted Childe leaning against the railing of the deck, talking with a couple of guys that Lumine didn’t know the names of. But before she could make her way over to him, a couple of girls walked up to her.

She didn’t know their names, either.

“Hey, Outl4nder , that IS you, right?” One of them sneered, her hands on her hips as she blocked Lumine’s path.

Lumine frowned, already filled with dread. “I am. Excuse me.”

She tried to side step them and keep walking, but she only made it a couple of steps before one of them grabbed her shoulder, and she was turned around just a step away from the edge of the pool.

“I’m not through talking to you!” The first woman snapped, her manicured nails digging into Lumine’s bare shoulder.

“What do you want?” She tried to be civil, to not let the exasperation that she felt color her voice.

The woman let go of her shoulder, crossing her arms. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”

Lumine sighed. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb! You only posed as a guy to get in close with Childe and monopolize his attention. We know what you’re about!”

The ridiculousness of that statement made Lumine laugh out loud despite her best efforts to stop herself. That was the wrong thing to do, evidently, because the woman’s fact contorted into a snarl, and she shoved Lumine hard. Lumine instinctively flailed as she stepped backwards to try and catch herself, accidentally stepping off the side of the deck… and falling straight back into the pool with a loud splash. It was a good thing she was an excellent swimmer because the pool was several feet deep, and she wasn’t able to touch the bottom even on her tiptoes.

She broke the surface with a gasp, shivering in the cold water despite how warm it was outside.

It instantly attracted everyones’ attention as she swam to the edge of the pool to get out. A hand protruded into her view as she climbed the ladder, and Lumine looked up to see who it was. Childe stared down at her, worry written all over his face. She gratefully took his hand, and he pulled her up almost effortlessly, like she weighed nothing.

“Are you okay?!” His brows were furrowed as he looked over her for any sign of injury.

Lumine was soaked, and her makeup was smeared, making her look more like a drowned raccoon than anything else, her mascara and eyeliner running down her cheeks. Worse than that, her very cute, very thin sundress was soaked through as well, her brightly colored underclothes clearly visible. It had been a mistake to wear something so vibrant underneath her dress despite how cute it made her feel (even though no one else was supposed to see it).

Despite her best efforts, Lumine began to tear up as she covered her chest with her arms, a sob threatening to break through her chattering teeth. She wanted to disappear and never go out into the light of day again.,

“Y-yes,” she lied.

Childe’s face was bright red as he looked at her, his eyes glued to her face like he was afraid of looking any lower, and he quickly pulled his shirt off of his back and shoved it over her, making her squeak any lower.

“Here,” he explained as she pulled her head through it to look at him with wide eyes.

Before she could say or do anything other than finish putting her arms through his shirt, he grabbed her by the hand and led her back inside with one cold look over his shoulder at everyone gathered around them.

“I’ll have words with you two, later.” His words were harsh, his anger barely contained enough to get Lumine out of there before exploding.

Childe said nothing else as he led Lumine inside, his grip almost tight enough to bruise her hand, the searing warmth of his skin a stark contrast to the chill she felt. The air conditioning blew through her soaked clothes despite the (now damp) shirt that Childe had thrown over her. It at least gave her a very good view of his bare upper body as he led her up the stairs, his muscles tense, scars littering his skin.

Tears still blurred Lumine’s vision, though, and she hastily used her free hand to wipe them away, further smearing her makeup.

She was ashamed of how she looked, of how helpless she seemed, and she was suddenly filled with an irrational panic, wrenching her hand free of Childe’s. She ran away from him, blindly going through the rooms until she reached her goal: one of the bathrooms she’d stumbled upon before when looking for him. She could hear Childe running after her, could hear him shouting for her to calm down, but she didn’t, instead turning around to slam the bathroom door in his face, narrowly avoiding hitting him with it.

“Lumine, wait!” Childe called after her, pressing his hands to the door. “Are you okay? I’m sorry if I scared you!”

He hadn’t done anything wrong, and yet here he was apologizing to her. That only made her more distraught, and a large sob escaped her as she collapsed onto the floor in a crying mess.

It took her several tries to even choke out a single sentence. “I-I’m sorry!”

Childe tried to open the door, but it was useless since she’d locked it behind her. He rested his head against the door, his eyes closed as he listened to her cry on the other side. “Please don’t be sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

After a moment’s hesitation, he continued speaking. “Hey, I’m gonna get you some dry clothes, alright? Are there any in your carry-on left? If you don’t, you can use some of mine. I don’t mind.”

“I should have my pajamas at least…” Her voice was tiny, and Childe had to be completely quiet to hear her.

“Alright! I’ll be right back with them, if you don’t mind me going through your luggage, I mean. You take all the time you need. I’ll leave the clothes right outside of the door.”

After he heard her soft sound of acknowledgement, Childe left to go do as he’d said he would, going to the room he’d given her and one of the other girls to stay in to grab her some clothes. When he reached the guest room, he froze in the doorway, looking at the chaos in front of him. Lumine’s luggage had been strewn about, her belongings scattered and at least partially destroyed. The other girl’s belongings were untouched.

Someone had gotten into her room that hadn’t apparently been locked and trashed everything Lumine had brought in her carry-on. Nothing had been spared, not even the clothes she’d worn while flying. Childe saw red, and it took several seconds of him breathing deeply with his eyes closed before he calmed down enough to think rationally. He wanted nothing more than to just go outside and immediately deal with the people that had done this.

But first, he needed to make sure that Lumine was alright. Knowing that she was still waiting on him - waiting on her clothes - he had little choice but to instead grab some of his own, and he quickly left the guest room, locking it to make sure nothing else happened to her stuff, and made his way to his own room.

Childe knew that anything he’d pick for her from his clothes would be too big, and he tried to find something that would at least be comfortable, finally deciding on one of his favorite pairs of lounge pants and a soft t-shirt. It would provide enough coverage, and the drawstrings on the pants would ensure that they didn’t fall off of her.

He was silent while he gathered things for her, pure and unbridled anger surging through him every time he thought of what those girls had done. People he’d trusted and let into his own home did that to Lumine and made her cry. The way her face had looked, how small she seemed, trembling in the cold, water dripping off of her soaked form, wouldn’t leave his mind.

Oh, he was going to have some words for those girls as soon as he made sure Lumine was okay and taken care of.

Childe quickly made his way back to the bathroom that Lumine had holed herself up in, and he gently knocked on the door, listening for a response. Once he heard a soft sound from within, he spoke softly to her.

“Hey, I’m back. I have the clothes here. They’ll be a bit big, but they should be comfortable. Feel free to take as long as you need to get ready. There should be some soap at the sink and a washcloth in the linen cabinet in there you can use to clean up. I’ll be back in a few minutes. I have something to take care of .”

----

Lumine waited until she heard Childe’s footsteps disappear before she slowly opened the door just barely enough to snake her hand out and grab the clothes he’d left right by the door, pulling them inside before she closed the door and locked it again. She’d already found the washcloths, and though she felt a bit guilty for digging through the closet before she’d been given permission, she had cleaned herself off. No longer looking like a raccoon, she felt much better. Still distraught and a mess, but at least she was makeup-free.

Her eyes were still red and puffy, but there wasn’t much she could do about that until she could go get her makeup bag from her carry-on. She still didn’t know that her belongings had been trashed.

A part of her wondered why Childe had brought her his clothes, but he’d left before she could ask him. Assuming there was a good reason, she shrugged and examined them. They were soft, like they’d been worn several times, and she belatedly hoped that they weren’t anything he’d been planning on wearing soon or going to miss. Almost unconsciously, Lumine held the clothes up to her face and nuzzled into them, sighing as the soft fabric soothed her raw skin from where she’d been crying. They smelled like him, like some sort of fancy cologne.

She slowly and carefully stripped out of her soaked sundress, bra, and underwear, until she stood naked in front of the mirror, shivering from how cold the air conditioning had made the room. After she stole a towel from the linen closet as well, Lumine finished drying herself off and slipped into the clothes. Since they were borrowed from Childe, she didn’t have panties or a bra to put on, and she still felt vulnerable, trembling ever so slightly.

That was when she first noticed the shouting.

----

Childe had taken the steps down the stairs three at a time as he made his way back to the deck. He was seeing red, so angry that he was shaking. The fact that someone could have been cruel enough to push Lumine into the pool was one thing, but when her belongings had been trashed as well? That was personal, and someone was going to pay.

Everyone had congregated on the deck after word spread of what had happened, so Childe had a full audience when he threw the door open, his face contorted with anger.

“You two!” He yelled towards the two girls that had moved from poolside to one side of the deck, like they were trying to be inconspicuous. “What the fuck is wrong with both of you?! What did Lumine ever do to you?!”

One of them dropped their drink in surprise, the can of soda splattering across the wooden deck, further attracting everyone’s attention. It wasn’t the girl who had actually pushed Lumine, and she seemed to almost be cowering behind the other one that had thrown the accusations. That one also seemed started, though she held her ground, looking up into Childe’s eyes.

“Don’t you get it? She’s playing you!” Her voice wavered slightly as Childe’s dark azure eyes narrowed. The look was terrifying, like he could - and might even would - do whatever it took to deal with them.

Childe inhaled deeply, willing himself to calm down. “What are you talking about?”

Even he was surprised at how flat his tone sounded. He didn’t particularly care either way what they said. Nothing could justify their actions in his eyes.

“Are you two the ones who trashed the guest room she was given to stay in?” He continued questioning, his tone accusatory.

When they both looked down at the deck self-consciously, he had his answer.

“It was obvious that she just wanted attention! That’s gotta be why she hid her identity, so she could steal all of the attention!” The girl who had pushed Lumine into the pool had started shouting too, her face red.

“ What attention? You’re jealous of something that she never had nor even wanted! Did you even ask why she never revealed that she is a woman? Or did you just assume the worst and trash a fellow guild member, one that has only ever had everyone’s back!?”

There was a soft mumble from the other people that were watching everything unfold as they talked amongst themselves. It was true. Lumine - “Outl4nder” - had always been there for every raid, had been there to help every new member, without fell. She’d never started drama and never brought any unwanted attention to the guild.

“Yeah, but-” The girl tried to speak, but Childe wouldn’t let her.

“No.” His voice was cold. “Get out. You two can pack your things and go back to wherever you came from. I’ll give you enough Mora for an uber back to the airport.”

They stared at him wide-eyed, like they couldn’t believe that he was kicking THEM out and not Lumine.

Childe turned to everyone else. “You can stop staring and go back to partying. The show’s over. I’m sorry that I ever allowed such events to happen at my home, but it won’t happen again.” He gave one last look at the two girls. “You two are out of the guild, too. I’ll kick you as soon as I log on tonight.”

After he pulled out his wallet and handed them a 1000 Mora bill, more than enough for an uber as well as any basic necessities they’d need while camping out at the airport, he left them without another word or a look back.

Childe needed to go check on Lumine again. He didn’t hear the few comments from other people about how he was trying to be a “white knight” for Lumine, but even if he had heard them, he probably wouldn’t have done anything. He’d been called much worse.

----

Lumine had heard the shouting through the cracked window in the bathroom, and she’d stood on the toilet so she could peer out to watch the events unfold below her on the deck. Hearing that her belongings had been trashed made the reason why Childe had brought her his own clothes clear, and she wasn’t looking forward to going through the mess that awaited her in her room.

The way he’d stood up for her only cemented the feelings she’d developed for him even further. She’d give anything for him to feel the same way.

She stepped down off of the toilet and carefully checked her clothes again. She’d hung them up over the shower curtain rod for the time being, until she could ask Childe to dry them for her. She’d just finished wringing out more water when there was a hesitant knock at the door.

“Lumine?” Speak of the devil. “Are you alright? Did the clothes fit well enough?”

They were too big, and the hem of the shirt fell to her mid-thigh, but they were comfortable.

“Yes!” She called through the door, glad that her voice no longer wavered. “Thank you for letting me borrow them, Childe.”

What she didn’t know was that he’d rested his weight on the door, his forehead pressed to the wood, his eyes closed as he willed his fluttering heart to calm after the shouting match had filled it with adrenaline. Lumine opened the door, and Childe fell forward towards her, unable to catch himself as they both fell back onto the floor with a loud thud.

Lumine didn’t have time to really react, only to yelp as Childe fell heavily on top of her with his full weight. She landed on her ass, hands splayed behind her so she didn’t fall back completely and crack her head open on the hard tile floor. Childe was on top of her, but he’d at least had enough time to throw his hands out to catch himself, though not very successfully. He was in between her legs, his arms to either side of her hips, and his face was dangerously close to her breasts after he’d initially collided with them.

At least his head had been cushioned.

“Fuck, I’m sorry!” He yelped, pushing himself off of her to scramble backwards, his face bright red, matching hers.

Lumine laughed. She couldn’t help it. His reaction had been so honest, so pure, that it was adorable and caught her off guard. Childe had never heard a sound so sweet as that laughter. He collected himself and sat down cross-legged in front of her, carefully looking over her. She looked cute in his clothes and much happier than she had been before.

He was about to apologize again for what had happened, but she spoke first.

“Thank you, Childe. I mean it.” Lumine smiled at him sweetly, a soft blush covering her cheeks.

“I don’t know what you’re thanking me for. I didn’t do anything,” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

She shook her head, scooting closer to him almost unconsciously. “I heard what you said out there, through the open window. It means a lot that you have my back.”

Her earnest compliment made Childe’s face grow hotter, the blush that was on his cheeks and up to the tips of his ears almost dark enough to make his freckles invisible.

“Y-you heard that, huh…” He cleared his throat. “Of course I have your back. You’re my Vice Captain, after all! Do the clothes feel alright? If not, I can get you something else to wear.”

He was eager to please her, willing to do almost anything to see that smile again and hear her laugh more, especially if he was the cause.

Lumine shook her head. “They’re fine. Very comfy, even.”

“Good, good.” Childe finally stood up, extending his hand towards her. “Do you… want something sweet to eat? I have some stuff in the fridge that I was gonna bring out later, but we can be sneaky and get some of it early if you want.”

They had just eaten not that long ago, but truth be told, he’d been looking for an excuse to give her some of the desserts that he may have made just for her. Sure, there were a few tubs of ice cream and prepackaged pastries he had purchased for snacking on, but Childe had spent a long time the night before making one of Lumine’s favorites: flan. She’d told him about that a couple of months prior, when he’d been looking for food recommendations he could buy as a gift for his family.

That had been a lie. He had just wanted to know Outl4nder’s favorite dessert just for such an occasion like the one currently presented to him.

When her eyes lit up, his heart soared. “I think I may have some room left for dessert, sure!”

She took the hand he offered her and let him pull her to her feet, marveling at how warm - and much larger than hers - his hands were. Little did she know that he was ALSO thinking of that size difference. Childe led her down to the kitchen, peering around the corner to make sure no one was there. Luckily, everyone was scattered elsewhere, most likely in the room reserved for the LAN party, still setting up their PCs, or they were out on the deck and in the pool.

Lumine sat down at the bar that faced the interior area of the kitchen, swinging her legs back and forth since they were too short to touch the floor, while she watched Childe poke around in his refrigerator. With a flourish, he pulled out a covered dish and set it in front of her, nearly bursting with excitement and anticipation for her reaction once she saw what it was.

When she leaned closer, he pulled the lid off, grinning at the way she gasped in delight. On the plate was a perfect flan, the layer of caramel on top of it like a work of art.

If he was honest, he’d admit to her how many tries it took to get it right. But he wasn’t. Thoma had been there for part of the taste-testing, though Childe refused to tell him WHY he had over a dozen plates of flans in various stages of creation and consistencies. He’d take that secret to the grave.

“That looks - and smells - amazing! Flan is my favorite,” she grinning, closing her eyes as she breathed in the delicious, sweet scent of the pudding.

Oh, I know . He didn’t remind her that she’d already told him that.

“Great! Do you want anything to drink? I have my own espresso machine as well as some cold brew coffee all ready to go if you want that instead of something hot.”

Lumine tapped her chin and hummed, contemplating her answer. “It’s probably a big ask, but do you know how to make a latte? I’m feeling a bit like a basic bitch today after everything that’s happened.”

Childe flashed his most charming smile at her, not missing the way she blushed. “As a matter of fact, I do! Any particular syrups or flavorings you want? I have an extensive coffee collection.”

“Oh, what about caramel syrup? I’m always in the mood for even more sweets,” she said as she finally took a bite of the flan, her eyes lighting up. “Childe, this tastes amazing ! I wish I could tell whoever the chef was just how good this tastes.”

She quickly dug into the flan, humming happily as she rocked from side to side slightly, perfectly content in that moment. Childe couldn’t help but grin as well.

“I’m sure he’d be happy to hear you like it so much.” He did. “One caramel latte coming up!”

Childe got to show off his latte-making skills, something ELSE that he may have practiced in abundance the past month or so. He really owed Thoma for trying more of his creations. It only took him a couple of minutes to make the perfect latte for her (as well as a normal cup of coffee for himself), and he set it down in front of Lumine expectantly. He’d even done a bit of latte art on the top. Nothing too fancy, just the normal leaf-like pattern.

She seemed impressed, and that’s all that mattered to him.

“Childe, you’re amazing!” She took the coffee mug from him, missing the way his fingers twitched with the unconscious urge to keep her hands in his. Taking a sip of her drink, Lumine sighed happily. “Thank you for cheering me up. It means a lot to me, even if I probably do look like a mess in your clothes and without makeup on.”

She hadn’t meant to, but that left a very inappropriate thought in Childe’s mind of other reasons she could be in his clothes without makeup… like right after waking up after a night of-

He needed to calm down before he got too excited.

“Don’t mention it, and I think you look cu- fine. You look fine.” He’d barely caught himself before he called her cute. He was walking into dangerous territory.

Lumine smiled as she continued eating the treats he made for her, engaging in meaningless idle chatter with him about their guild, until a few people began to wander back inside, making Childe turn his attention towards them instead.

“Looks like it’s about time to get the LAN party underway.” He felt a bit reluctant even though he’d originally been looking forward to it. All Childe wanted to do was spend more time with Lumine. Alone.

Chapter Text

The time it took for Childe to gather everyone in the media room for the LAN Party was much longer than he’d anticipated, and the sun was setting when he’d managed to corral everyone together. And despite the fact that he’d told everyone at the airport multiple times that they needed to prepare their PCs for the LAN Party when they first arrived, there were still several people who hadn’t even downloaded or installed the game. That left him with nothing to do besides sit at the desk he’d chosen, twiddle his thumbs, and watch while everyone bustled about to try and quickly finish setting up.

He couldn’t help but keep glancing over at one desk in particular: the one Lumine had chosen to sit at. He’d wanted to sit by her, but both seats were taken before he’d seen which one she set her stuff down on. She seemed to be in a better mood after they’d relaxed in the kitchen, smiling as she spoke with a couple of the guild members from where she sat in her seat. Her PC was completely set up, and it stuck out like a sore thumb in comparison to everyone else’s equipment except for Childe’s own PC, which was just as decked out in the best hardware like hers was.

Her tower was custom-made, in a pristine white case, with every single part within it containing RGB lights that she must have programmed to only switch between a few certain colors: from blue, to purple, to pink, and back again. It reminded Childe of cotton candy, sweet, just like her. The mechanical keyboard she’d brought had had custom keys made for it as well: featuring various flowers in colors that complimented the lights. Even her mouse was custom-made and glowed bright pink, with twelve buttons on its side as well as a switch that allowed her to click them with a different action paired with it, giving her a total of 24 options so that she could easily spam as many of the abilities that would help deal the massive damage in the raids that she needed, something she was known for in the guild.

Big damage and a sharp attitude. Professional.

No one had made a comment on her change of clothing, that she was wearing Childe’s clothing , or at least hadn’t yet to her face. Childe did notice that a few people had been eying her up and down, and it made him want to physically block their view of her with his body. He couldn’t stop looking at her himself, either, at the way his shirt was much too long for her and ended around her thighs like a very short dress and how the fabric stretched across her in a chest that gave no illusion as to her ample bust size. The pants he’d lent her were also extremely long for her petite frame, so she’d had to roll them up several times.

Childe wanted to steal her away and hide her from everyone’s eyes, feeling that no one should be able to look upon her in such a vulnerable state - besides himself, of course.

Lumine seemed to feel his gaze upon her because she turned her head to look at him, a smile still on her face from whatever she’d been saying to one of the guild members clustered around her. When their eyes met, that smile only widened as she raised her hand to wave her fingers at him playfully in greeting before she turned back to continue her conversation. He could feel his heart fluttering in his chest at how beautiful she looked when she smiled like that at him . It made him want to do nothing more than to make her smile always and forever, to make sure she was happy.

“Dude, you’re smiling like an idiot. I hope you know that.” Thoma’s cool voice at his left made Childe suddenly snap out of the daze he’d been in, his face heating up as it turned bright red all the way up to the tips of his ears.

Childe turned to look at him, frowning. “I am not!” His voice came out just a bit higher than he’d meant it to, doing the exact opposite of helping discredit Thoma’s comment.

“Mmhm, sure you aren’t.” Thoma wasn’t convinced, not with how often Childe’s attention was focused solely on Lumine. “When are you gonna confess?”

Thoma had conveniently waited until the exact moment Childe had taken a drink from his water bottle to ask that, and the poor man choked on his drink and began coughing loudly, drawing everyone’s attention, including Lumine’s. She stood up, a worried expression on her face. Childe waved them all off, shaking his head as he finally managed to clear his lungs of the mouthful of water he’d tried to inhale.

He grabbed Thoma by his shirt and pulled him close to whisper to him in a threatening tone. “ I don’t have anything to confess , and you’d do well to stop mentioning it,” Childe lied.

“Well, if you don’t, then someone else will. She’s cute and a wicked good gamer. If you aren’t careful, you’ll lose her. And then what, you’ll wait until she’s single again, or will you purposely try to make her break up with whoever she chooses to go out with?” Thoma dared to ask, knowing that that would be exactly what he’d do.

They both knew that once Childe set his mind on something, then he wouldn’t give it up until he achieved or obtained whatever he was after. In this case: Lumine’s heart. It had been clear to Thoma that Childe had had feelings for Outl4nder - with Lumine - for a while now, but that he wouldn’t make a move because he didn’t want to jeopardize their friendship.

Childe’s shoulders sagged slightly as he sighed and let go of Thoma’s shirt, defeated. “I… wouldn’t ever do anything to make her unhappy.”

One of the guild members interrupted their conversation when they needed help setting something up for the LAN party. There were only a couple of people who still needed help, and before long, everyone had finally finished setting up for their evening raiding. The PCs and monitors were all connected, their wires all taped down across the floor towards the router and power strips. Each desk sported two monitors, a large external hard drive, desk mats and separate mouse pads, mechanical keyboards, and a mouse at each one with 12 buttons, along with their towers that sat underneath the desks to one side. Childe was the only one that had three monitors.

Once everyone had their PCs set up and had successfully connected to the wifi, their LAN party was ready to begin. Childe had even paid for an extremely high premium upload and download speed from his ISP for the week, making use of the fiber optic cables he’d paid extra to have placed when the house was being built.

He clapped his hands together, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “Alright, everyone get settled down and log into Teyvat Ascending. We’ll begin as soon as we make sure the connection is stable. I hope you’re all ready to kick some ass and get some sweet loot!”

Childe sat down at his desk and double checked that everything looked good with their connection speed one last time after everyone had logged in. While everyone began to meet up in game for the raid, he reached beside his monitor and grabbed the blue-light reading glasses he often wore while gaming to put on, pushing his hair out of his way. The science behind the glasses might have been a bit exaggerated, but he liked to think it made his eyes less tired after staring at the screen for several hours.

It was time for the raids to begin.

Lumine was going absolutely insane. As soon as she’d looked up from her PC towards Childe when he’d begun to talk strategy and saw those glasses?? She was absolutely, horrendously down bad. He was attractive without them, but with them, it somehow gave him more of a “scholarly” look, and her eyes tracked how he pushed them up higher on his nose while he remained focused on his screen.

The way his soft ginger locks fell around the frames… she wanted to gently move them out of the way and pepper kisses on his cheeks and forehead. It took all of her willpower to turn back around and attempt to focus on what he was saying and not where her imagination wanted to take her.

They wiped three times in her row, and it was completely her fault for two of those.

She had made stupid mistakes, lost in her NSFW thoughts as she missed several AoE markers in a row which caused her to take major damage. A few of those times, she’d accidentally caused some of the other guild members to take damage as well, making their healers’ jobs even harder and hurting their DPS numbers. Both wipes that she caused came from when she hadn’t properly stacked or correctly completed one of the many mechanics.

Lumine had never performed so badly in all of her time in the Guild. A few of the guild members, the ones with rather bad temperaments, had apparently decided that she needed to be reprimanded by yelling at her loudly.

“What the fuck was that?!” One of the men a couple of desks away cursed as he pushed his chair backwards so he could twist around and jab a finger menacingly at Lumine. “Get your head outta your ass and do the fucking mechanics! How hard is it to dodge the giant, flowing red circles in the middle of the screen?!”

Lumine had nothing to say in her own defense. She knew that she’d messed up, and no one was harder on her than herself. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes, and she blinked them away, gritting her teeth as the man kept berating her, joined in by a couple of other people. He even stood up and began making his way over to her, but before he could make it even a few steps, his path was blocked by a very angry Childe.

“Check yourself.” There was no room for interpretation from his tone or his words. The way his intense, dark blue eyes bored into the man made him take a step back, but he didn’t give in just yet.

“You’re only saying that because she’s a gi-“

Lumine interrupted them before things could get more heated, already knowing what the man was about to say. When it came to defending herself, she was passive, but if it was said to Childe… There was no way she’d let him take the accusation that he was only being nice to her because he wanted to fuck her and that was it.

“It’s fine. I know I fucked up. I didn’t have my head in the game, but now I’m ready. Warm up’s over.” Her voice only wavered slightly before she doubled down. “Let’s win this thing.”

She had turned back to her PC and stayed facing in that direction, even when she could feel Childe’s eyes on her. Lumine could just imagine the expression on his face, and she wanted to see that glasses-covered gaze upon her, but that was exactly why she couldn’t look, only able to hope that he’d settle down when the other man had backed off. Which luckily, they both did. When everyone had finished taking the break to get any drinks they needed or had gone to the restroom, they started another run of the raid.

And this time, Lumine focused on the game - and ONLY on the game.

They did much better the next time, blazing through the first set of bosses until they finally reached the final area of the raid. The last boss was the one that dropped the items several members of the guild wanted, including Childe and Lumine. If they party-wiped then, they’d have to run all the way back through the raid’s areas where a lot of the trash mobs had been avoided and that would kill anyone that strayed off the path alone even a little.

It came close when a couple of the guild members didn’t optimally pop their cooldowns, but in the end, they won, and Lumine was the one who dealt the last blow, using the party’s ultimate attack gauge to claim a decisive victory. A loud cheer went around the room. Everyone’s excitement was magnified several times its normal amount thanks to being in such close proximity.

And then the loot table popped up, and there it was in the loot list: the double-bladed pole-arm that Childe had been trying to obtain for so, so long.

Another cheer went through the room upon everyone seeing it, followed by an impromptu singing of “Happy Birthday” to Childe. Everyone but him automatically passed on the weapon so they’d be ineligible to get it, knowing just how much he wanted it and how long he’d been doing this raid for a chance that it would drop.

 

…Tartaglia rolls (Need): 11!

…Tartaglia obtains “Riptide: Dual Waves”

Of course he’d roll so low, but it didn't matter with no one else in the pool.

Childe just sat at his desk while everyone continued to sing, only one thought repeating in his mind: that he’d finally gotten the item he’d wanted for so long. He was filled with a sense, and it took him a second to realize that everyone was waiting and looking at him. He stood up, clearing his throat.

“I’d like to dedicate this victory to my adoring guild members,” he teased, a grin on his face. There were a couple of “boo’s” from around the room. He ignored their good-natured teasing. “I couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you.”

His gaze drifted to Lumine as he continued speaking. “I’m really happy that you all could be here to witness this win for our guild. Tonight, victory was made, and now we can move onto bigger and better things.”

Lumine grinned at him, crossing her legs as she turned in her chair to face him. “I hope you don’t think that we’re done with this raid just because you got your weapon. Lest you forget, we’re still trying to get mine as well. You’ve got a lot more suffering in your future, pretty boy.”

Instantly the room was filled with cheers for her with shouts of “Get his ass, Outl4nder!” and “Show him who’s the real reason we won!” But neither of them were paying attention to what anyone else was staying, focused completely on each other. At Lumine’s nickname for him, Childe’s grin had grown, and his eyes had flashed. He was filled with the sudden urge to tug her close, to see just how far that competitive streak could go. His fingers twitched at his sides, but he didn’t move closer.

What he didn’t know was that she also felt the same, and had the intense urge to grab him by the shirt collar, pull him to her level, and wipe that shit-eating grin off of his face - either by grabbing his face and shoving him backwards or kissing him. She’d be good with either.

Before either of them could succumb to those urges, Thoma pulled them back to reality. “How about those desserts that I spied in the fridge earlier? I’d say we all deserve a sweet treat after crushing that run. Especially Lumi, for coming in clutch and cementing the win. Don’t you think so, Childe?”

It took a couple of seconds for Childe to respond, but he finally broke the eye contact he’d been stubbornly keeping with Lumine. “O-oh, yeah. We do have a lot of stuff packed in the fridge that was supposed to be for after our LAN part wraps up - as well as a fair variety of alcohol. What say we wrap up and mend our equipment, divvy out our other drops, and sell what we don’t need so that we’ll be ready for the next time we raid. Then I’ll bust out the sweets and drinks.”

If Lumine had thought that the flan from before was amazing, then she was absolutely floored by the expanse of desserts that had been laid out on the long folding tables where their previous entrées and appetizers from the catering company had been. Most of the foods consisted of cupcakes, tarts, scones, muffins, brownies, and other unrefrigerated pastries. There were also two coolers set on the ends of each table that contained the desserts that needed to stay cool so they didn’t melt: several flavors of ice cream, chilled pies, puddings, and even mousse were all kept inside, ready to be eaten.

Still, she couldn’t help but notice that there was no flan even though there was so much of everything else. Curious, Lumine made a mental note to ask Childe about that later.

Speaking of Childe… she looked through the window in the kitchen out towards the deck, where Childe sat on one of the low benches, reclining with a drink in hand. The glasses were still on his face. He was surrounded by some of the guild members who appeared to be animatedly telling some sort of story, but that wasn’t what caught Lumine’s attention. Instead, it was how a couple of the guild’s members were clearly trying to capture his attention and were leaning all over him. He didn’t seem to mind.

She didn’t realize it, but she was holding her can of soda so tightly that it began to cave under the pressure, and she only stopped when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Blinking, she looked at who had bothered her, smiling when she saw it was Thoma.

“Oh, hi,” she said a bit sheepishly before turning back to look at Childe some more. “What’s up, Thoma?”

His gaze followed hers, though he didn’t need to look to know what had captured her attention. “Just moving things along.”

Confused, Lumine was about to turn and ask him what he meant, but he put his hands on her shoulders and unceremoniously pushed her out of the kitchen via the patio door and onto the deck outside before she could. She squeaked and glared at him, but all he did was give her a thumbs up before motioning for her to move along.

“I’m going to kill him…” Lumine mumbled under her breath before she looked for somewhere to sit.

There were no open seats anywhere near Childe, so she slowly walked to a clear spot in the shade under a tree whose branches grew over the deck and gave her a place to cool off. It may have been night time, but the summer heat still lingered. She definitely didn’t pick a place where she could keep an eye on Childe. That’d be ridiculous and mean that she was jealous that he was receiving so much attention.

And that certainly couldn’t be the case.

Lumine had only just sat down and looked up towards where Childe was sitting when a couple of people stepped into her line of sight so that she couldn’t see him anymore. Huffing softly under her breath, she pulled out her phone and began idly scrolling the gossip on the various social media profiles she kept, trying to pass the time.

That was when she received a text message, the notification sound startling her into almost dropping her phone onto the deck. It was from Childe in a DM from the software they used for group-chatting, one that used their in-game names instead of their legal ones.

 

Tartaglia: Hey, are you OK? Where are you?

She couldn’t help but look up to see what he was doing. The people who were in the way had only moved slightly, but she could see that he was focused on his phone screen, a slight frown on his face. Her heart fluttered slightly at the realization that he had taken his focus off the people around him to check up on her. As if she wasn’t already falling for him harder… Lumine shook her head and typed her reply.

Outl4nder: I’m alright. Are you having a good time? Grats on the weapon drop again!! :3

 

Tartaglia: Yes, thank you. Where are you? :(

 

Outl4nder: Look up, dummy.

She was looking at him when he looked up, a confused look on his face. Lumine didn’t know if he’d be able to see her, but she waved her arm around as wildly as she could, inadvertently attracting the attention of several other people. Almost immediately, she jerked her hand back close and shrank against the back of the railing in embarrassment, but the motion had been enough. Childe saw her, his face instantly brightening as he shrugged off the people clinging to him before he made his way over to her without delay.

He plopped down beside her on the bench, a grin still on his face. “Hey, girlie! I was looking for you!”

Sitting so close, Lumine could see the faint dusting of freckles on his cheeks and how his eyes were such a deep blue… she wanted to drown in them and never come back up for air. Instead, she just folded her hands in her lap after putting her phone back into her pocket.

“Why?” She asked, her voice smaller than she’d meant it to be. Clearing her throat, she asked again. “Why? There’s a lot of people who I’m sure want your attention. You can’t give it to me the whole time.”

Oh, but that was exactly what she wanted.

What she hadn’t expected was for Childe to flash her a heart-stopping grin as he cocked his head. “Because you’re my Vice Captain. Who else deserves my attention if not you?”

Lumine could feel her face heat up at his words, and she quickly looked down at her lap, a long lock of her hair falling over her face to hide it. All that succeeded in doing was to make Childe want to tuck it behind her ear, an urge that he only barely resisted acting upon. Instead, he leaned back and positioned his head so that it looked like he was looking up at the tree branches above him. His eyes were fixated upon her still, eyes focused on the small glimpse of skin of her shoulder that peeked out from the collar of his shirt that had begun to slip down her arm.

She looked good in his clothes, and probably even better without, he wagered.

“Do you want something to drink?” His question came a few seconds later, when she didn’t answer his previous question, not realizing that she already had a drink. “I know you only rarely drink alcohol, but…”

She looked back up at him, and he only JUST managed to look back up at the tree branches to not get caught staring at her. Again. “No thanks. I’m good. I’ll get something nonalcoholic after I’ve finished my soda.”

Childe just hummed in response as he took a sip of his own drink. Lumine could smell the sharp scent of alcohol from it, and she wrinkled her nose. Judging from past conversations with him, Childe could hold his drink fairly well. She’d only caught him actually drunk on a couple of occasions, one of them being when he’d basically confessed to her.

“Where’s the flan?” She asked suddenly, her question throwing him off guard.

“Huh?” Childe blinked, and then her words sank in. “Oh, I uh…”

Think, Childe, think! “I ran out,” he lied.

Lumine called him on his bluff. “You ran out… when I was the only one that ate some?” She arched an eyebrow at him, incredulous.

“Haha, ah… Nothing gets past you, huh.” Childe’s cheeks had turned red, and he looked away, focusing on anything else. Lumine could still see that the tips of his ears were red, though, so it was futile.

“Mmhmm.”

“…I made them just for you,” he mumbled under his breath, too low for her to really hear what he had said.

“What did you say?” Lumine leaned closer so that she could see his face, but just then, the sound of a commotion drew both of their attention.

A small group of people had started some sort of argument with each other, and two of them had begun grappling one another. Words were thrown back and forth as their voices grew louder and louder, and one of them even succeeded in bloodying the other’s nose. Childe cursed and jumped up, sending an apologetic smile over his shoulder.

“Sorry, we’ll have to continue this in a minute!” Phew, saved by the dumbasses , he thought to himself before he jogged over to intervene, leaving Lumine sitting by herself again.

She smiled after him watching quietly as he pulled one man off of the other before knocking their heads together. “Sure we will…”

It didn’t take him too long to break up the fight, especially when Thoma came out onto the deck to lend a hand, and before long, Childe had kicked out the entire group of people that had been fighting, paying for their ubers to the nearest decent motel for them to sleep it off. There was no way he’d let them stay when they’d caused so much trouble already.

When the excitement died down, everyone began to settle their sleeping arrangements. Most of the people that had traveled via plane for their visit had other places to stay in nearby hotels, all of them splitting their costs, though a few did intend to stay in Childe’s guest rooms. Lumine was one of those people, and she made her way back towards the room where she’d left her things, not looking forward to seeing how damaged everything was.

She’d slipped out of Childe’s surveillance to go back on her own, and when she saw the state of the room - and the fact that the other peoples’ things hadn’t been touched, she stood in the doorway with drooping shoulders, biting her lip hard enough that she tasted the coppery tang of blood in her mouth to try and keep from crying.

It was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

As Lumine stood in the doorway of the bedroom she’d been assigned to stay in for the duration of her stay at Childe’s house, she was filled with despair at the mess spread around the room. Her luggage had been ransacked, her clothes spread out across the floor and caked in her makeup that had all been scraped out of their compacts and bottles until everything was stained with their pigment. Books she’d packed to read in her downtime had been scribbled in with a permanent marker, damaged so badly that there would be no saving them.

“Why are people so cruel…? I didn’t do anything to anyone.” Her words came out as a whisper, not loud enough for anyone to be able to hear her, even if someone had been right beside her.

Sighing, she steeled her resolve, stepped into the room, and began cleaning everything up, first picking up the clothes scattered around and sorting them into piles based on their color and how much makeup had been rubbed into them. The only garments that hadn’t been completely destroyed were a couple of her pairs of panties that had been tucked away in a hidden side pocket. Lumine was thankful she’d stuffed them there at the last minute while frantically packing before hurrying to the airport.

She was going to have to ask Childe if she could borrow his washing machine… and even more of his clothes. THAT train of thought was dangerous, and she unconsciously tucked her chin into his shirt and breathed in deeply, the smell of clean fabric with a slight hint of something underneath - Sandalwood? Cedar? - filling her nose.

It was a comforting scent.

Once all of the clothes had been sorted, she picked up the scattered makeup brushes and the ruined bottles and containers of pigment. Basically all of it was beyond saving, and dejected, Lumine tossed them into the trash bin in the corner of the room. She’d be going makeup-less for the duration of her stay, and that thought distressed her more than anything else. If there was anything that she didn’t want Childe to see, it was the bags under her eyes that appeared when she first woke up and any acne that might pop up, which given how stressed she was, had a high probability of happening.

A voice behind her made her look up suddenly, quickly blinking away the tears that had begun to spill over and down her cheeks. “So this is where you went. I was wondering.

Childe leaned against the door frame, not so coincidentally blocking the view from any prying eyes that wandered by, before he closed the door, walked over, and knelt down to help Lumine pick up the remainder of her belongings. He still wore his glasses, peering over the frames at her. It was still an attractive look. They were silent as they worked, until Lumine couldn’t help but speak up.

“…Thank you for helping me.” Her voice wavered more than she wanted it to, and Childe must have noticed because he lightly bumped shoulders with her as he crouched beside her.

“Don’t mention it. I’m just sorry this happened. You were supposed to have a great time here. Not… this,” he frowned.

“It’s not your fault, so you don’t have to apologize.”

Childe shook his head. “No, it is. Is  there anything I can do to make your stay more pleasant?”

Lumine paused, thinking that over. “There wouldn’t happen to be another room I can stay in, is there? If possible, one with no one else in it. I’m worried that this’ll happen again. If there isn’t, that’s fine though! I don’t want to make anything inconvenient for you.”

“I’m sure I can find you another place to sleep, yeah!” Childe seemed to latch onto anything that’d make her feel better, desperately wanting to make it up to her after this had happened in his house, on his watch.

After all of Lumine’s belongings had been picked up, Childe led her to the utility room where his washer and dryer were located. He politely turned his back while she applied some stain remover to her more intimate articles of clothing, standing in the doorway and looking outward, like he was guarding her from anyone trying to peek in. When everything had been tossed into the washer, he had to excuse himself.

“I’ll go check-in on everyone that’s staying overnight and see if there’s an open room we can put you in. If not, I’m sure I can think of something.” With that, he left her alone in the laundry room.

With nothing else to do, Lumine busied herself by checking her phone, noticing that she’d gotten a text from Mona.

>>Mona: How is the trip? Have you spent any alone time with your lover boy?~

Lumine glared at her phone, and she could just imagine Mona suddenly feeling her disapproval even though they were miles and miles away. She quickly typed her reply, her manicured nails flying across the on-screen keyboard.

>>Lumine: He’s not my lover boy! And the trip has been… fine, so far.

Mona’s reply was instantaneous, like she’d been waiting with her phone in hand. Knowing her, she had been.

>>Mona: Uh oh. Tell me what happened. Who do I have to call a hitman for?

>>Lumine: Well…

>>Lumine: I think some of the girls in the guild are mad that I’m ALSO a girl. Or well… they were before Childe kicked them out of the party and guild both.

>>Mona: Good man. I’d have done *MORE*, but that’s at least acceptable punishment. Are you OK?

>>Lumine: Yeah. I was also pushed into the pool, but Childe let me borrow some of his clothes.

>>Mona: GIRL, are you serious?! Never mind the pool (glad you’re okay), but you’re wearing his CLOTHES? ;)

>>Lumine: Shhh, I can hear you screaming from here! He’s just being nice!!

She couldn’t help but smile like an idiot at her and Mona’s banter.

“Having fun?” Lumine looked up, startled to see Childe leaning in the doorway, one of his eyebrows arched high with curiosity. He motioned to her phone with a tilt of his head. “Boyfriend?”

Childe desperately hoped that he didn’t sound nosy - OR too desperate. Lumine didn’t seem to notice the hot streak of jealousy that had run through him at seeing her smiling so widely at her phone, knowing that he hadn’t been the cause of her happiness. The snort she let out instantly acted like a balm to his jealousy, soothing him.

“No, just one of my best friends back home. She’s ready to go to bat for me.”

He grinned, even further relieved. “Good. It’s important to have friends that have your back.”

Lumine smiled at him. “How did the room search go?”

“Ah…” Childe hesitated, and Lumine’s shoulders drooped. She already guessed what his answer was before he could say it.

“That’s alright,” she lied. “I’ll be alright in the room I was in. There’s no need to make things difficult on my behalf.”

“No, no!” He suddenly grasped her hands in his, and it made her gasp in surprise. His hands were so much larger than hers, and she couldn’t stop the lewd thoughts that flooded her mind, which made her face turn bright red. Luckily, Childe didn’t seem to notice.

“I have a solution, if you’re willing to hear it.” When Lumine didn’t object, he continued. “You’re going to take my room, and I’ll just sleep on one of the large sofas in the nearby media room.”

She stared at him with wide eyes, but she didn’t pull her hands from his. “I can’t take your room and make you sleep on a sofa!”

“Please. It’s my fault that your stuff got ruined, so it’s only fair that I take responsibility. So please, let me help you. I promise it’s no trouble.”

Childe was so adamant that Lumine couldn’t disagree with him about it anymore. Instead, she just huffed softly, nodding. “Alright, fine. Where’s your room?”

Satisfied, he finally let go of her hands, and she immediately missed their warmth. They had been covered in calluses, his finger pads rough from repeated use. Childe led her through the house, up a flight of stairs, and down a hallway until he finally stopped at one of the rooms and pushed open the door.

A large television screen that was mounted on the wall took up most of the room as well as two large sofas placed perpendicular to each other. They looked extremely comfortable, and once Lumine had poked her head in and looked around the room, she cocked her head at Childe ever so slightly in a silent question.

“This is where I’ll be staying, right down the hall just in case you need me. My room’s just a bit this way, though!” He waited outside of the media room until she followed him.

They made their way just two doors down, and Childe stopped them at one of them across the hall. He paused before opening the door, humming the tune of a popular game’s music for when a treasure chest was opened, like she had just found a surprise. Which technically, she had. Lumine had never seen his room before.

His little song made her laugh, and his heart fluttered against his ribs as he gazed once more at the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He wanted nothing more than to make her happy and laugh like that again for the rest of her life.

Thoma was right. I am whipped.

After Childe opened the door slowly, he stepped back to give Lumine room to walk in, suddenly feeling shy that he was showing a young woman his BEDROOM. ALONE. She didn’t seem to notice as she walked in and looked around.

“So this is your room… Did you rush to clean up here?” Lumine teased, playfully swiping her index finger across the surface of the bookshelf that was located immediately to her left. Her digit came back clean, with no dust in sight. “If you did, it looks like you were very thorough.”

“What do you take me for? Some slob?” Childe played along, stepping into the room behind her.

His bedroom was tidy, his floor clear of any discarded clothing or belongings. His bed was made, the blankets tucked in firmly at the corners, like it had been made up by a professional. There were trophies from various sporting competitions he’d aced, as well as several knick knacks from his favorite pieces of media. He even had a replica sword from one of the games they both played.

“You got one of these?” Lumine looked from the replica back at him, her eyes bright with interest and admiration. “I heard they were impossible to get! One of my brother’s friends tried and failed horribly. Several times. They were only given out to those who made it to the top of the leaderboard of the game at one of the conventions for it, right?”

Childe preened, his chest warming with pride at the fact that she had noticed. “Yep! I must have been at their booth for hours on end trying to win it. I’m glad you noticed how awesome I am,” he teased right back.

She stuck out her tongue before sitting down on the edge of the large bed. “Mmhmm, just inflating that ego of yours some more. Thank you, though… for being so nice to me.”

A soft blush had spread across her face, and she suddenly found herself unable to look him in the eyes. If she had, she’d have seen how intensely they’d been observing her, memorizing how she looked sitting on his bed, even if the image wasn’t provocative at all.

“Of course. You’re my best friend. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I’ll leave you to it now, okay? I’m right down the hall if you need me.” With that, he slowly backed up before hesitating at the door. “Do you want this open or closed?”

“Closed, please.”

“Good night, Girlie. Sweet dreams.” Childe’s words were only barely audible right as he closed the door, resting his head against the cool wood as he thought over the day’s events.

Lumine stared at the door for several long seconds just to make sure that Childe had truly gone before she could comfortably exhale and look around at the room in more detail. There were small touches in her surroundings that let him get to know him even more without him having to say a word.

On one wall, a cork board had been set up, and it was covered in several photos of what she could only assume were his many siblings, all seven - including him - sporting nearly identical ginger hair and bright blue eyes. Their genetics were truly powerful, and Lumine shoved down the thought of him spawning equally ginger children, ones who’d smile and laugh and act just as adventurous as he did.

Calm down, Lumine. You’re too young for baby fever!

The cork board also sported a couple of children’s drawings, and she got up to get a better look at them. The one in the center was a large piece of blue construction paper and had two people on it, a short and a tall one, with a large… ruinguard beside them? It was labeled “Mr. Cyclops and big brother Ajax!” She couldn’t help but smile at the messily scribbled, sweet note. She’d already known Childe’s legal name, yet another gift from him when he’d been too drunk to remember he’d told her, but she’d never used it in front of him before.

Maybe she would use it to catch him off guard some time.

Her eyes swept over the room, but she decided to not pry further into his belongings or decorations, and she walked back to the bed to sit on its edge. The mattress was huge and incredibly comfortable, the blankets tucked into the corners of the bedsprings so well that it took her several tries to pull them free. Lumine was a fan of sleeping like a makeshift burrito, completely wrapped in her blankets rather than just having them cover her flatly. Once she’d managed to rearrange them to her liking, she stood up, looked around self-consciously, and then discarded the pants Childe had lent her in favor of going without pants and just wearing his shirt and a pair of panties she’d taken from the hidden compartment in her luggage.

When she laid down on the bed and pulled the blankets up over herself all the way to her chin, Lumine was immediately hit with the same scent she’d noticed when she first pulled his shirt on over her head: cedar or pine with possibly some hints of sandalwood, as well as a hint of whatever cologne he wore. It scrambled her brain in a calming, pleasant way, and she inhaled deeply as her head hit the pillow, the scent of his shampoo joining the fray. It was comforting, lulling her into a familiar calm.

Lumine already knew that she was helplessly in love with him, with the man she’d met online, despite the fact that he probably didn’t feel the same way about her. Not when she’d hidden her identity, and especially with how out of her league he was. He was talented, handsome, funny, smart, and super successful. Compared to that, Lumine was… nothing.

It didn’t help that it would be a long distance relationship (no matter how much she could daydream of moving. She couldn’t leave Aether alone), and those rarely worked out, at least in her experience. He probably already had a girlfriend, one that wouldn’t be happy knowing another girl slept in his bed. Lumine began to worry that she was ruining a relationship that she didn’t even know was real or not.

Suddenly depressed, she curled into a ball on her side, pulling the blankets closer as she drifted off to sleep, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up to her.

Childe couldn’t sleep. He’d wasted some time after leaving Lumine alone in his room by going around and making sure that everyone was settled in for the night before he went to one of the many linen closets and fetched a couple of blankets and a spare pillow for himself. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable night of sleep, but that was nothing when he considered that the alternative meant that Lumine would be uncomfortable. He’d slept on much worse than an expensive, high quality, and soft sofa.

After he tossed his pillow down on the cushions and flopped down on the sofa with his feet stretched out as much as they could, Childe stared up at the ceiling for the longest time, silently going over what had happened that day.

First, he’d met the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen - who just happened to be someone he’d known online for over three years as well as someone who he had a very strong bond with, despite not knowing her real gender or name before earlier that very day. Childe couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face when he thought of how she smiled, how her eyes shined when she talked about something she was passionate about, how her laugh warmed his chest, and how she was perfect in literally every way…

And then she’d been pushed into the pool, and while that DID give him an awfully risqué glance at her underwear through her soaked, white outfit, he’d rather that had never happened. The way her makeup had been running and how she’d cried… it still made his heart ache at how sad it made him. He’d thrown out the people who’d done that as well as the ones who’d trashed her belongings, but it still happened in his home, under his water.

If Lumine never wanted to talk to him after this, he wouldn’t blame her.

Childe then realized that there was no reason he had to wait until she left for him to know, and he fished his phone out of his pocket. He had to twist awkwardly in order to get it out without sitting up, but he finally succeeded and held it above his face as he checked his DMs. There wasn’t one from her, not that he’d expected there to be. There was no way she’d be as obsessed with him as much as he was with her. Lumine was much too put together and cool to fall for a loser like him.

He began typing a message, though he deleted it several times and reworded it before he finally sent it.

>>Tartaglia: Hey, are you asleep?

When he didn’t receive a reply after a couple of minutes had passed, he assumed that she was indeed asleep. Or perhaps that she didn’t want to speak to him, though the message hadn’t even been marked as ready, so that was unlikely, a small balm to soothe his irrational worry of rejection. That was when he noticed that his phone battery was nearly drained, sitting at a low 17% power remaining.

“Shit,” he mumbled under his breath, realizing then that he hadn’t remembered to grab his charger from his room before he’d relinquished it to Lumine for the night. He sent one more message, this time out of necessity.

>>Tartaglia: So, uh… I left my charger in there. Is it OK if I come to get it?

He waited another couple minutes, but when his phone battery dipped below 12% and he hadn’t heard back from her, Childe made the decision to get up and just go grab it. He’d be in and out in a second without disturbing her if she was asleep. And if she was awake… maybe he’d hang around and chat with her with no danger of anyone overhearing them.

Childe made the few steps to his bedroom door, and he raised his hand to knock in it but hesitated. Come on, Childe. It’s your bedroom. You can do this! She’s not mad.

He knocked very softly, leaning forward to place his ear against the door to listen for a reply, but one never came. Sighing, he tried again, this time a bit louder. Still no reply. Instead of knocking a third time, he slowly opened the door and peeked inside through the small crack of light that the hallway bulb cast on the floor.

“Lumine, are you awake?” Childe whispered softly.

The only response he received was a soft sigh and the sound of the mattress moving and the blankets shifting.

His heart hammered against his chest as he silently stepped into the room, using his memory of the location of everything to move through the dark as he made his way to the nightstand beside his bed. When Childe was close enough to get a good look, he noticed Lumine’s phone on the table there, and there was another soft sigh from the bed as well as the sound of a soft voice mumbling incoherently. It made him look towards the bed even though he’d intended to not even look in Lumine’s direction out of respect for her privacy.

Sleep was the most intimate time to see someone, free of their conscious worries and without any of their walls built up.

Lumine laid in the bed and must have kicked the blankets away from her because they only came up to her knees while the rest of her body was uncovered. It was then that his gaze slowly traveled up her legs until he realized that she wasn’t wearing the pants he’d given her. She wasn’t wearing any pants at ALL, instead just clad in lace panties along with his shirt. Childe tried to look away quickly, but before he had, he ended up seeing the soft skin of her stomach and even up towards her ribs with how his shirt twisted around her torso, barely covering her at all.

His face bright red, Childe quickly grabbed his phone charger as silently as he could before he backed out of the room and closed the door, turning around to lean his back against it. He couldn’t think straight, his mind completely shut down after the intimate view of Lumine he’d accidentally stumbled upon.

Childe couldn’t help but feel like he’d betrayed her somehow, though his body seemed to have other priorities. Cursing under his breath, he quickly went back down to the media room, shut the door behind him, and sat down on the couch with a deep sigh. He growled under his breath as he looked down at the erection that seemed determined to happen no matter what he thought of.

“Not now ,” he hissed to himself, hoping that his body would behave. Unfortunately, it didn’t.

Swallowing thickly, Childe closed his eyes and put his head in his hands, determined to ignore what his body wanted as he tried to erase the image of Lumine half-naked from his mind, but it was no use. Instead, he began to imagine other things, such as his hands running up her legs, how soft her skin would be as his fingers gripped into the meat of her thighs and how he’d settle in between them as he moved up her body.

He knew he’d only continue to suffer unless he took care of his little “problem,” so he gave in, determined that he’d just get off once and then forget it ever happened. She never had to know.

His cock strained against the confines of his pants, painfully hard, as he continued to think of the lewd things he’d do with her. In the moment, Childe’s mind was completely overwhelmed by lust, his body acting on its own accord. With another growl, he unbuttoned his pants and shoved his hand into his boxers before freeing his cock. Sure enough, the tip was red and angry, leaking pre-cum as he circled his hand around his shaft, inhaling through his teeth as he gave an experimental tug.

The white hot flash of pleasure burned through him, and he leaned back in his seat, the back of his head resting against the cushion as he slowly began pumping his hand up and down as his mind wandered, his imagination coming to life.

The way Lumine would look up at him as he slowly trapped her between his body and the mattress, one of his hands carding through her blonde hair that he knew would be oh so soft and smell of floral accents from whatever shampoo she used. The way her eyes would flutter closed as he kissed her for the first time, how he’d deepen the kiss and make her whimper and gasp and moan against his lips while one hand trailed down her body to the swell of her breasts. Her lovely, large, impressive breasts that had strained against the fabric of his t-shirt, the outline of her nipples faintly visible.

She’d laugh as his breath tickled the skin over her neck as he made his way down to latch onto her nipple, using his tongue to stimulate her and make her feel pleasure so intense that she’d never want to leave. Her breasts would be firm against his hand, and he’d make sure to give detail to both equally, before his lips trailed lower, over her navel and the small, sparkling piercing he’d seen there.

He’d nip at her skin when he finally reached his destination: the apex of her thighs, leaving his mark on the inner part of her legs, somewhere where she could hide them if she wanted to remain secretive, though he hoped she’d want to show off that she belonged to HIM and no one else.

His cock twitched in his grasp as his imagination continued feeding him provocative images, moving his hand up and down more quickly, thumbing the head of his shaft to smear the pre-cum down its length to lubricate further. Childe had to bite his lip to keep from audibly moaning as he continued to think of pleasuring Lumine, making sure to imagine how she’d react while he ate her out, peeking up at her from his position between her legs to catch every lewd expression she had.

And then he’d take her, being as sweet and gentle as she needed. Childe took more pleasure in making sure that his lovers were taken care of rather than prioritizing his own pleasure, lost in the feeling that he was doing well by her. He imagined how he’d fit perfectly inside her, like they were made for each other, her walls gripping him tightly as he pulled almost all of the way out before snapping his hips forward and burying himself to the hilt inside of her over and over.

She’d arch her back and wrap her legs around him, her breasts pressed against his chest as she held him close, her fingernails scratching along his back to leave her mark on him as well. When he imagined how he’d cum inside of her, his pleasure hit its peak, and he cursed under his breath as he came, moaning her name, his cock twitching as he continued stroking himself until he was spent.

He had quite the mess to clean up, but he first he had to deal with the post-nut clarity fact that he’d just gotten off to the thought of fucking his best friend that he’d only met in person earlier that same day. Childe wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He felt guilty and had no idea how he was going to look her in the face the next day. There was one thing he know, though, of which there was no doubt: He wanted her. Her mind, her body, and her heart. His and no one else’s. It was a selfish thought, but he didn’t particularly care.

After he cleaned up, he turned off the light and laid down again, resting his arm over his eyes, ready to melt into the floor. Maybe he’d have a heart attack in his sleep and wouldn’t have to face her at all.

Chapter Text

Lumine woke up bright and early the next morning, with the sunlight beaming down on her face from the opening in the curtains of the nearby window. She stretched languidly and yawned, letting her joints pop as they pleased while she became more and more lucid, still snuggled against Childe’s pillow. The blankets had pooled down near her knees.

“Mmm, must have been too warm last night,” she mumbled to herself, rubbing her eyes as she sat up in bed.

———

It had been the best night of sleep she’d had in a long time, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of the high-quality mattress or because she’d been thinking of Childe, surrounded by his scent, as she’d drifted off to sleep. That made her remember the dream she’d had and that he’d been in it. She absentmindedly reached for her phone to check the messages she’d received over the night as she tried to recall what had happened in the dream.

When it started, she’d been at her apartment, working on some sort of mundane task that she couldn’t remember, when the doorbell had rung. Lumine had walked to the door, and with the blind confidence that could only be found in dreams, didn’t even bother to check through the peephole before she’d opened it. Childe had been standing there, a smile on his face as he greeted her.

She’d let him into the apartment, stepping aside to grant him entry and watch as he walked inside only to immediately go to her, grinning at her with his head cocked slightly, ginger locks swept over his eyes just enough to slightly obscure the intense ocean blue of his eyes. Lumine had just looked up at him, frozen and unable to speak as he’d leaned down to close the distance between them, his lips hovering so close to her own that she’d been afraid to even breathe.

Before anything had happened, her phone had suddenly started ringing. And stupid, stupid dream!Lumine had immediately stepped back and patted herself down to try and find the phone she assumed was in her pocket, the spell Childe had cast over her broken. He’d stepped back and offered to help her look, and they turned her apartment upside down looking for it, but it just continued ringing loudly, far longer than any phone would have in the waking world.

As a last ditch effort, Lumine had gone to her bedroom to check there, and that’s where she’d found the two girls who’d pushed her into the pool trashing her room. They’d thrown her belongings everywhere and had even ripped into the extremely large narwhal plush Childe had given her for her birthday only the year before. Her PC was in shambles, and a lot of her collectibles had been smashed. One of them held her phone in her hands.

Just when Lumine had thought that everything was going to be irreparably destroyed, Childe had swooped in and saved her. He’d walked into the room and quite literally threw the girls out of the window - just defenestrated them without hesitation, earning even more trust and admiration from Lumine at his actions. She’d walked up to him, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and pulled him down for a quick kiss.

She’d woken up right before her lips touched his.

———

That thought made her grumble under her breath as she unlocked her phone. She had two messages from Childe and several from her friends back home thanks to the time difference.

>>Tartaglia: Hey, are you awake?

>>MESSAGE DELETED<<

Lumine frowned, wondering what Childe had sent her before apparently thinking better of it and deleting the message. She must have slept through the notification on her phone when he’d sent it, and she hoped it hadn’t been anything important. After another satisfying stretch, Lumine slipped back into the pants Childe had given her, silently apologizing for not sleeping them and instead just leaving them rumpled in a pile on the floor. Once she was fully dressed once more, Lumine left the room and walked down the hall towards the media room where Childe had supposedly slept.

The door was still closed, and she hesitated before knocking but eventually worked up the courage to. There was the sound of rustling fabric behind the door and footsteps, and after a few seconds, the door opened slightly to reveal a very sleepy Childe. His hair was even messier than it had been the day before, and he yawned loudly, rubbing his eyes.

“’Morning, Lumi,” he greeted sleepily, blinking slowly. She didn’t seem to notice that he wouldn’t meet her gaze. “D-did you sleep alright?” He suddenly asked.

She gave him a radiant smile, one that made his heart ache with longing, and he hesitantly gave her a charming one in return though he quickly broke eye contact before fully opening the door to reveal the rest of his body. He still wore his sleep clothes, a similar t-shirt to the one that Lumine sported as well as a pair of shorts that exposed the lower part of his legs.

“I did! Your bed is very comfy,” Lumine laughed. “You’ll have to give me the name of the store you got your mattress from.”

Childe latched onto the conversation, desperate for any chance to talk to her and cover up the awkwardness he found himself filled with from his previous night’s actions. “I can get you one as a gift if you want. I don’t mind.”

Neither of them needed to mention that Lumine wouldn’t ever have been able to afford the brand on her own unless she spent several months of her income on. They both knew that from previous conversations.

“No, that’s way too much!” Lumine shook her head violently, refusing his blatant and doting gift-giving. Based on the several other gifts he’d given her, she knew that he would be good on his word and buy her whatever he said he would - and more.

He was about to double down and insist that she accept his doting on her, but before he could, Lumine’s stomach growled loudly, making a soft blush spread across her features. It made Childe chuckle softly. “Hungry? Let’s get breakfast and see how the rest of the guild members are doing, shall we?”

“Okay, sure!”

The morning had only just begun, and the pair didn’t find anyone else lounging around outside of the guest bedrooms where they’d slept, so they had the kitchen all to themselves. Lumine sat down on one of the tall bar stools at the breakfast nook while Childe busied himself by grabbing whatever cooking implements he needed to make breakfast before he turned to her with a gleam in his eyes.

“So, what’re you in the mood for, Girlie? Omelets, sausage, fruit parfaits, oatmeal, pancakes or waffles, or something more substantial? I can make pretty much anything you throw at me.” He said it like it was a challenge, fully devoting himself into his goofy act to avoid thinking about how attractive Lumine looked in his clothes right in front of him and what he’d done the night before.

If she noticed his self-consciousness, Lumine didn’t say anything about it. Instead, she leaned forward, an eager smile on her face. “What about… pancakes? Oh, with fruit!”

The fruit had been an afterthought in an attempt to at least seem a little bit healthy even if she did want to just stuff her face full of carbs.

“Oh, yeah. That’ll be no problem whatsoever. I hope you’re ready for the best-tasting, fluffiest pancakes you’ve ever had.” Childe winked at her as he tossed a spatula in the air, spun around in a circle, and caught it behind his back. That made Lumine laugh and applaud, encouraging his show-off behavior to continue.

Childe set to work making their breakfast, his back turned to Lumine as he stood at the stove, humming to himself as he worked. It gave her the chance to focus on him without him noticing, studying how his back muscles moved under his shirt and how at ease and confident he seemed. She even began to daydream about what it would be like to wake up to this every morning: sharing breakfast with someone she loved.

“Happy birthday, Ajax,” she said softly when there was a lull in the noise he was making while cooking, dropping the knowledge on him that she knew his birth name.

He froze in place and then slowly turned to look at Lumine, his eyes widened in surprise. “What… Did you say?”

The pancakes on the stove were forgotten as the pair stared at each other. The smile didn’t leave Lumine’s face as she began to explain how she knew.

“You told me your name when you were drunk once, and it’s your birthday… So I congratulated you?” She had begun to think he was mad, stricken with sudden anxiety, and she sat up straighter on the stool. “If you don’t want me to call you that, then I won’t! I should have asked first!”

Childe was busy trying to think back to the last time he’d been very drunk, but honestly, he couldn’t even remember any time he’d messaged her. Surely there would have been message receipts. Why didn’t he remember seeing those?!

His expression must have let on what he was thinking. “You called,” Lumine further explained.

That seemed to surprise him even more. “I voice-called you? And you answered? When was this?!”

“You did, but I didn’t really talk much, though. It was mostly you rambling about anything that crossed your mind, to be honest. And I think the first time was probably a couple of years ago? You didn’t tell me your name until a few months ago, though.”

Childe nodded, annoyed with himself that he’d been able to hear her voice before and hadn’t even been able to remember. “Did I say anything else that was weird?”

Or if I admitted that I have feelings for you?

“Nope,” Lumine lied. “Are you mad? I won’t call you it again, I promise.”

“No, no!” Childe stepped around the table and closed the gab between them until he hovered right beside her.

He grabbed her hands and gently squeezed them, pulling them close to his chest and almost pulling her right off of the stool. He never wanted to let go. “I don’t mind. I was just surprised.”

Childe glanced away, a blush creeping up his face as he whispered. “Can… Can you say it again?”

His request was full of desperation, and with her hands still trapped against his chest, Lumine could feel his rapid, fluttering heartbeat. She was about to do as he asked, but before she could, the stove demanded their attention. The pancakes that had started to burn had finally charred enough that both of them could smell it, as smoke began to rise upwards towards the ceiling.

“Shit!” Childe let go of Lumine’s hands and raced back to the stove, quickly turning off the eye and pulling the skillet from it.

The pancakes were completely ruined, and Childe’s shoulders drooped at the disaster. Lumine tried to peer around him from her seat at the nook, but she couldn’t. “Are you okay? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. The pancakes aren’t, though.”

As if it had been waiting for their little moment to end, the smoke alarm started blaring loudly, screeching out its warning along with a blinding, flashing red light. Childe cursed again and started fanning a dish cloth below the alarm, trying to clear out the sensors. He glanced at Lumine over his shoulder.

“Can you open the patio door? We need to air this out.” Lumine did as she was asked.

The remaining people that had stayed the night slowly began trailing into the kitchen, all of them rubbing their eyes and grumbling at the fire alarm wailing. Childe’s moment with Lumine was well and truly over, and it left him in a sour mood. With everyone milling around beginning to mumble about being hungry, it was up to him to schedule a breakfast delivery from one of the local diners. Once it had arrived, everyone began eating.

He kept his eyes on Lumine the whole time, even more desperate for her attention than he ever had been before. Determined, he waited for the first chance he had to catch her alone: when everyone had settled down to eat. Childe walked up to her from behind and leaned down to whisper into her ear.

“Hey, can I talk to you? In private.” His voice had been low, his hot breath tickling the shell of Lumine’s ear.

It startled her, and a chill went up her spine as she turned to look at him. “You scared me!” she whispered before nodding. “Yeah, let me go get something first, okay?”

Curious to what she wanted to grab, Childe cocked his head and nodded, making his way out to the patio to wait for her as well as to escape the small crowd that was still in the kitchen. Lumine dashed up the stairs and back to Childe’s room, proud that she only got lost once before she successfully retrieved what she’d been looking for: a small package that had somehow escaped destruction from the plane ride as well as from when her belongings had been trashed. It had only been through a miracle that she’d thought to tuck it under the bed in the room she’d originally had.

She turned the slightly crumpled box over in her hands before she fixed the ribbon that had come loose. “I hope he likes this… he’s kind of hard to shop for.”

Lumine went back downstairs and then outside, looking around for Childe. He was leaning against one of the railings of the deck and staring down at whatever scenery that could be seen from there. As she approached him, he didn’t turn around though he seemed to know she was there.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He asked when she stepped to his side.

She looked in the direction he had and gasped softly. Below them was an open view of the sea, with a white and sandy beach sprawled out over the ground just a couple of hills down from where Childe’s house was located. With the way the morning sun glinted off of the water, Lumine had her breath taken away, and when she looked at Childe to respond to his question, her words died on her lips. The sun illuminated his profile in such a way that it looked like his hair was made of tire, and it highlighted each and every freckle on his cheeks.

“Breathtaking…” She said, still looking at him.

When he turned to look at her, Lumine quickly looked away, the blush on her face as bright red as his hair. Thankfully, he didn’t notice, instead distracted by the box in her hands. “What have you got there?”

“It’s a gift for you. I wasn’t really sure what to get you, but I was recommended this brand by someone from the Dawn Winery when I visited with my twin, so…” Lumine explained as he opened the box to reveal a bottle of wine. It had been poured into an expensive-looking bottle and had cost her a fair share of her paycheck to afford, but it was completely worth it to see the smile that spread across his face.

He whistled when he read the label. “This is a really good brand, actually. A great one, and to think you got it from THE Dawn Winery. I’m touched. I’ll have to open it later and share a drink with you.”

Lumine was about to remind him that she didn’t drink, but he continued speaking before she could.

“I’ll make you a mocktail, don’t worry. And maybe I’ll pair it with the pancakes I promised you earlier. I have to redeem myself, after all.” He grinned at her, comically putting his hands on his hips in an attempt to make her laugh.

It worked, and the sound warmed his heart.

“Seems like you can do everything! Quite the talented man, you are,” Lumine teased as she played along, smiling at him in the warm morning sunlight.

He bowed, looking at her with an unreadable expression. “How would you feel like taking a little walk along the beach with me?”

Childe would do anything to get more alone time with her, even if it meant ditching all of his guests for a while in the process.

Lumine’s eyes widened at his bold invitation, and she stared at his outstretched hand before nodding firmly and taking it so he could lead her down the steps of the deck and onto the path to the beach. They were quiet as they walked, the sound of the birds singing filling the comfortable silence they found themselves in.

“What about everyone else?” She couldn’t help but ask.

Childe just continued smiling. “What about them?”

The fact that he seemed completely serious made Lumine shake her head and laugh. “You’re a horrible host,” she teased. “Neglecting everyone for one guest. For shame on you.”

“Well, you’re more important than everyone else,” he admitted honestly.

Lumine could feel her face heat up, and she looked down at where she was stepping so that she didn’t have to meet his intense gaze. It didn’t take long for the well-worn path to transition from packed earth to soft sand, and Childe held his arm out for Lumine to steady herself on as they stepped onto the beach. He didn’t press her to comment on his admission of affection, knowing very well that he was toeing a dangerous line between friendship and… something more.

The seagulls cried as the sounds of the sea enveloped them, and Lumine breathed in the salty air, sighing contentedly.

“You know, I’m not really all that,” Childe said suddenly, making her turn towards him with an inquisitive glance. “I may seem that I can do everything, but I have my own fears, hopes, dreams, and worries. I just… I want to thank you, Lumine. For always being there for me.”

The conversation had taken a turn from lighthearted banter into something serious as they both watched the waves. Lumine took a couple of steps forward and bent down to pick up a starconch, turning the bright blue shell over in her hands as she contemplated how to answer him.

Would it be too much to admit that he meant the same to her? Maybe, but she wanted him to know either way.

“I know it may seem that I’ve been… untruthful about my gender, but I was afraid to admit I’m a girl at first because of past bad interactions with people online, and as time went on, it just became more and more difficult to be honest. I’m sorry, Aj- …Childe.” She was too afraid to call him by his birth name after how he’d reacted to it before.

Her words came out in a rush. Once she started speaking, she couldn’t stop. “I want to say that you mean a lot to me too. You’re closer to me than anyone else in my lift other than my literal twin. You’re… pretty cool.”

Somehow, that wasn’t what she wanted to say ***AT ALL***.

“Pretty cool, huh…” Childe crouched down and picked up a starconch as well, dipping it into the sea to rinse the loose sand off of it. It was much larger than the one Lumine had picked up. “I have a proposal, if you’re willing to hear it.”

Lumine’s heart lurched at his words. Not that kind of proposal, heart. Calm yourself.

He turned to face her and held out the large starconch for her to take. When she reached for it, Childe suddenly grabbed her hand with his free one, twisting them until his pinkie finger was wrapped around hers.

“It may be corny, but I want to make a promise to you… with you. That we’ll always be there for each other.” Childe seemed to suddenly realize how he sounded, and he sheepishly let go of her hand. “S-sorry. You probably think I’m insane. Just forg-“

Lumine snatched his hand back and relooped their fingers together again. “Promise.” She smiled ,a faint blush on her cheeks as she looked away.

“Do you know the Snezhnayan saying about promises?” He asked.

His question caught her off guard, but she looked back to him and nodded. “I do. You told me a long time ago, when I first promised to help you in Teyvat Ascending. It was kinda intense for someone you’d just met, you know.”

He couldn’t help but laugh and offered the conch to her again, and they traded them with each other. “This reminds me of a cutscene in a certain game. Do you know which I’m talking about?”

“I think so, yeah. Was it the one where the lore said that if two people shared a star-shaped fruit, their destinies would be intertwined?”

“That’s the one!” He grinned at her as they started walking along the water’s edge again, chatting about nothing in particular and enjoying each other’s company.

———

“Do you think he’s asked her out yet?”

The young man who’d asked leaned forward against the railing of the deck, watching the pair talk to each other on the beach. He looked bored, yawning as he glanced at the person beside him who just so happened to be Thoma.

“Hm?” He responded noncommittally, also watching the pair. “Why, do you think he should or something?”

Thoma was of the mind that he definitely should and start dating her already.

“Well, if he doesn’t, someone else is going to snatch her up. She’s cute, funny, and one hell of a gamer. Hell, I might do it myself.”

Thoma let out a hum. “I wouldn’t if I was you.”

“Why not?” Someone else had asked the question: another young man who had just approached with a couple of the other guild members alongside him.

“Childe tends to get… rather territorial over things he thinks belong to him,” Thoma answered, looking back towards the beach.

One of the guild members there, a young woman, crossed her arms. “Well, I’ve got Mora riding on the bet that he WILL confess, so he needs to hurry up!”

Thoma sighed, exasperated. “Did… did you really gamble on whether or not he was going to ask her out?” This is a mess .

They all just looked at him, confirming his suspicions. “We might have started a group chat with everyone but them and made guesses as to when Tartaglia would finally grow a pair and ask Outl4nder out.”

“Never guessed she was a girl, though,” one of them added. “Not that I think it’d have mattered. He definitely fell for her personality first, but the fact that she’s smokin’ hot certainly helps.”

Thoma sighed again and turned back to watch the pair again who had finally begun the walk back up the path. He turned back towards those assembled.

“I’ll put 10,000 Mora down, then. Towards Childe confessing to her.” He knew Childe, and that man was not going to last much longer before he inevitably gave in to his feelings.

Everyone cheered.

Chapter Text

No one that had witnessed Childe and Luming sneaking off to the beach alone said anything about it when the pair had finally made their way back up onto the deck. Lumine had clutched the starconch close to her chest, like it was the most precious thing she’d ever been given, while Childe kept his in the chest pocket of his shirt, as close to his heart as it could be. Both of them kept glancing at each other while they were hanging out with everyone when they thought the other wasn’t looking, often meeting each other’s gazes with soft blushes on their faces.

It was sickeningly sweet.

Not long after that, Lumine went off on her own to shower and finally change into her own clothes since they’d been obtained from the airport (to Childe’s sadness), leaving him alone with the several guild members who had all congregated on the deck, enjoying the cool morning before the heat of the day set in.

“So,” Thoma began after he cornered Childe when he was grabbing a drink from one of the coolers.

Childe stood back up, opening the soda he’d picked out. “So?”

“When are you gonna do it?”

He played dumb, though he was painfully aware of what Thoma meant. “Do what?”

“Fine. Do what you wish, but don’t come running to me when you lose your chance at happiness.” Thoma was through playing games. He walked away, leaving Childe standing alone with a stormy look on his face.

———

The rest of that morning and the majority of the afternoon were spent with everyone lounging around in the media room, on the deck, and in the various other rooms. Food was delivered yet again, and before long, evening had settled in over the large house. Lumine had changed into her swimsuit, glad that she’d packed it, and chose to spend her evening by settling down in the hot tub with a (nonalcoholic) drink in hand.

With a soft sigh, she stepped into the hot water and slid down against one of the molded seats, the high-pressured stream of water from the jets pleasant against her skin. Her muscles weren’t really sore, but if they had been, they’d have been massaged by the water until she felt boneless, like her limbs that turned into jelly. The water went all the way up to her chin thanks to her short stature, and she leaned her head back against the side of the hot tub and closed her eyes, thankful that it was peaceful around that part of the deck while everyone else was partying across the way.

The music was turned up loud enough that each drop of the bass could be felt through the wooden boards of the deck, and the alcohol flowed freely from an assortment of drinks in the coolers. Lumine had no doubt that there would be very many regrets the next morning because there was no telling what everyone would do in their drunken states.

Her peace was shattered when she heard someone step into the hot tub, the water sloshing against the sides as whoever it was sat down in one of the other seats. A familiar-sounding sigh came from across her, and Lumine opened one eye to confirm its owner. And sure enough, Childe sat across from her, and she began to mumble a greeting when her brain caught up with her eyes and shut itself down.

He was shirtless, and her poor brain tried to tell her that that was normal in a hot tub, that he was in a swimsuit for Archon’s sake. Why shouldn’t he be shirtless? Especially with a body like that…  She was certain that she was staring, but she couldn’t look away.

Childe definitely worked out. Lumine knew that already from all of the gym photos he posted on his social media feeds, but seeing it in the flesh… His torso was defined with must: prominent pecs, six-pack abs, and obliques that disappeared under the swim trunks he wore. His shoulders were colored by freckles that no doubt continued over his back and up the sides of his neck.

Lumine desperately wanted to run her hands up his stomach and trace constellations in his freckles, but she managed to control herself. Barely.

If he noticed her looking at him like a piece of meat, he didn’t say anything - immediately, at least. “These jets work wonders for sore muscles and joints,” he commented cheerfully before he continued. “Helps lanky people like me, considering I’m always bending and crouching much more than someone as small as you,” he teased.

Lumine huffed and jabbed a finger at his chest, her fingertips lingering against his collarbone for a second too long. His skin was so warm that she was overcome with the desire to press her skin against his even though she was already warm from the water. His eyes followed hers as she looked over his bare chest.

“Do you want to know how I got them?” When her head snapped up to look at him with a bright red glow to her cheeks at being caught that he knew didn’t come from the hot water, he elaborated. “My scars, I mean.”

She hesitated. “Is that okay?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t it be?”

Lumine frowned, her brows furrowed. “Isn’t that too personal? I don’t want to pry.”

“You’re my best friend, Lumi. I don’t think there’s anything on this planet I’d want to keep from you, so feel free to ask about any of them. If you’re curious, that is.”

His blunt admission of affection made her cheeks darken further, but she nodded, eyes scanning over his chest once more. He took the opportunity while she was distracted to take a look at HER body. She was wearing a cute, flowery bikini, and it only covered what it had to, tied with little ribbons that he desperately wanted to untie to reveal the prize underneath. He’d seen her legs and lower torso when she was asleep the night before, but this was the first time he’d really been able to see her upper torso, to see just how ample Lumine’s bosom was.

He idly wondered how she’d react if he palmed one of her breasts, his expert touch making her gasp before he-  Childe shook the thought from his mind, focusing back on Lumine’s face.

“Well, if you say so…” Her eyes flitted over his scars, focusing in on one of the long ones that angled over his collar down to the middle of his chest. “What about that one?”

Childe was ecstatic and could barely contain himself. Finally! She’d fallen for his ingenious, impromptu plan: to get her to keep all of her attention on him and nothing else.

“Which one?”

She frowned. “The one across your collarbone.”

He repeated himself. “Yeah, but which one ? I have many. Point it out to me.”

Lumine did as he told her to, scooting closer as she slowly reached out her hand to trail her fingertips across the long scar the whole way across it, failing to suppress the unconscious shiver that went through her at how GOOD his skin felt against her fingers. He noticed, smirking to himself.

“Well, there was this kid getting picked on by some bullies in an alleyway near where I had been walking to get something from a store, so I bravely stepped in to defend him, and the bullies had knives…” Childe trailed off, letting her guess the rest of that story.

She didn’t seem impressed, though her fingers did trace back up the scar, lingering. “Mmhmm, sure.”

“What about this one?” Lumine traced over another scar, this one over his bicep, conveniently feeling the firm muscle there.

“Oh, that one? Well, there was…”

This back-and-forth continued for a few minutes, with Lumine getting more and more bold with her touches after every story Childe told, until she eventually picked the one that went down his jaw. Her fingers reached out to brush against the mark, but when she reached the end and went to move her hand away, he pressed his hand against hers, trapping her fingers against the side of his face as he leaned into her touch. They had moved closer and closer to each other, until Lumine’s knees were brushing the sides of his that were on either side of her legs, their faces only a few inches apart.

“And this one?” She whispered, her voice barely audible above the sound that the water jets made.

Childe leaned closer, his gaze locked onto her lips as his free hand gently tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear. “That one…”

Before he could kiss her like he desperately wanted to, something suddenly hit him in the back of his head and violently knocked it forward, making him smack his forehead against Lumine’s. Both of them instinctively recoiled from each other, with Lumine rubbing the spot where she’d no doubt have a bruise later. Childe growled and turned to see who - or what- had hit him.

A basketball bounced a couple of times right beside the hot tub as someone ran up to retrieve it. “Sorry, man!” the guy apologized, sheepishly smiling.

Childe wanted to kill him, but before he could get out of the water, Lumine suddenly stood up.

“I-I think I’m done soaking for now. Getting a bit too warm, so I’m going to change!” She escaped before Childe could stop her, leaving him alone and angry in the hot tub.

He sighed, shoulders sagging. “I was so close…”

Lumine stood in the same bathroom that she’d first sheltered in after she’d been pushed in the pool, and she leaned against the back of the door.

Her heart was pounding so hard and so quickly that she imagined she could physically feel it with her hand pressed over her chest. She kept going over what had just happened: how close they had gotten, the low timbre of his voice, the darkened eyes, and how he’d leaned into her touch. Had he been about to kiss her? She was afraid to hope that that was the case, too scared of having those hopes crushed.

The water still dripped off of her and slowly expanded the puddle that formed around her feet, but that wasn’t the only way in which she was wet. Her body had betrayed her, and she desperately wanted MORE.

Her brain was cruel, though. She couldn’t stop the thoughts that trickled in, telling her that she’d just imagined the chemistry between them, that he wasn’t interested in pursuing her, and that SHE had been too forward. There was no way he’d want a relationship with her.

Convinced that she had been mistaken, Lumine very slowly opened the bathroom door and sneaked her way through the house to grab her clothes and change into something more proper. Once she’d changed into her pajamas despite the fact that it wasn’t nearly time to retire for the night, she kept to herself, scrolling on her phone. She had no idea where Childe was, but she wasn’t particularly ready to discuss what had happened, either.

As soon as it was an acceptable time for her to go to sleep, Lumine went back into Childe’s room for the night and closed the door behind her, sighing to herself.

“You really fucked this up, Lu,” she whispered softly to herself.

After several minutes of quietly warring with herself, she didn’t end up locking the door and instead just went to sit on Childe’s bed, her knees pulled up to her chest. For a long while, she was alone with her thoughts, repeatedly going over the events of the previous few hours in her head. Lumine desperately wanted to believe that there was something between them, but she just wasn’t sure.

Her spiraling thoughts were interrupted by a tentative knock at the door. Then there was a pause and another knock, more confident the second time as she heard someone speak.

“Lumine?” Childe’s tone was soft, hesitant. “Can I come in?”

Lumine froze, her heart that had just calmed down started racing again, and in her haste to stand up, dropped her phone on the floor with a loud thud. She snatched it up clumsily and carefully arranged herself on the bed, her hands folded into her lap.

“Y-yes, of course! It’s your room after all.” Her voice was much shakier than she’d like it to be, and she cleared her throat, willing herself to inhale deeply and to steel her nerves for the rejection that was no doubt coming.

The door opened slowly, and Childe poked his head in, looking around like he was afraid of being caught there by someone. In his own bedroom. The ridiculousness of the action made Lumine smile, which had been his whole intent. He stepped into the room and softly closed the door behind him.

Lumine only barely kept her mouth from popping open in surprise at what he was wearing. Childe looked like he had just stepped out of the hot tub and thrown on whatever clothes he’d grabbed first, which might have been exactly what had happened. He wore shorts and an unbuttoned shirt that exposed his torso and the middle of his chest as it loosely billowed around him because of the ceiling fan’s air flow. She couldn’t help but stare at the planes of muscle that she could finally see clearly and not through the distortion underwater when he’d been in the hot tub.

“Sorry I took so long. I… I waited until everyone was asleep to come to you,” he said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck, tangling his hair into making it even more disheveled than usual as he nervously fidgeted. “I feel like we need to talk, but if you want me to leave you alone instead, just say the word. I will, no questions asked.”

Instantly, Lumine jumped to the conclusion that he wanted to clarify what had happened between them, that he intended to push her away from him and hold her at arm’s length from that moment forward, and that made her heart ache with sadness and despair.

“O-oh, okay.” She motioned for him to come over to her, scooting to give him room to sit down beside her on his own bed.

He carefully sat down beside her, the blanket acting like a physical wall between them while her legs were tucked under it and his cross-legged on top of them to one side. Neither of them spoke at first, and the awkward silence stretched between them, both of them too afraid to speak first.

“S-so…” Lumine finally began, but Childe beat her to it before she could continue.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly and then repeated himself with more confidence. “I’m sorry that I made you uncomfortable earlier. That wasn’t my intention at all, and I have a confession to make to you, Lumine.”

Lumine bit down on her lip to stifle the sob that already threatened to escape her, unaware that the movement drew his gaze there immediately. “Okay… what is it?” She said with the last tiny sliver of courage she had.

Just get it over with…

Childe turned to her and grabbed both of her hands to hold them tightly in his, making her freeze in place as she stared at them and then up at his face. “I’m in love with you. I have been for a long time now, but it all just became so much more real after meeting you in person,” he confessed.

She stared at him uncomprehendingly, unable to accept that he was actually confessing his love to her . “But I concealed my gender from you and lied to you for years!”

“No, I don’t think you did. I just didn’t ask for clarification, and even if I had and you’d double down, I would understand. It’s a scary world out there for women, especially when dealing with weirdos online.” He gave her a soft smile, his thumbs tracing small circles on the backs of her hands.

Lumine looked down at her hands in his and then up shyly at him through her long eyelashes. “I…”

Her words caught in her throat, and it gave him the wrong idea. Childe gave her a sad smile, nodding once. “I understand that you don’t feel the same way. I just wanted you to know how I felt, and I’d never force you into anything you don’t want. If you want me to leave you alone…”

He slowly dropped her hands and moved back, but before he could get off of the bed and stand back up to leave, Lumine threw caution and her dignity to the wind as she literally launched herself at him, colliding with his chest and knocking him onto his back on the mattress with her straddling him.

“Girlie?!” His voice was strained, and Childe didn’t know where to put his hands after he’d accidentally grabbed her by the hips when he fell backwards. He finally decided on awkwardly holding her near her ribcage, afraid to inappropriately touch her without her consent.

Lumine just laughed at his response as she leaned forward and pressed her face against his chest to listen to his heart. It beat strong and much faster than it should have been, giving away the anxiety and fear he’d felt. “Me too,” she mumbled against his skin, her hot breath against his chest making him shiver, though not from the cold.

“Y-you too, what?” He asked, confused.

Her words were still muffled. “I developed feelings for you, too.”

Childe still wasn’t sure if he’d heard her correctly or not, and he gently grasped her chin to lift her head so that she could repeat herself. “W-what did you say?”

“It’s probably a bit too early to say it in this… relationship, but I don’t really care. I love you too, Ajax.” Lumine’s arms encircled his neck and pulled him close as she tucked her chin against the crook between his neck and shoulder, her face bright red at her confession.

He had to be dreaming. “Can you say that again?”

“How many times do you want me to repeat myself? I love you, Ajax,” Lumine said teasingly, shaking her head at his nonsense.

Childe didn’t want to let go of her when she sat up and pulled herself from his arms and moved away. He never wanted to be separated from her again, and he intended to let her know that in the best way he could: through his actions. As soon as he’d sat up, he grabbed her by the arms carefully and yanked her forward into his lap, throwing her off balance and making her gasp out loud.

“Sorry, but I’m not ready to let you go yet,” he murmured lowly as he nuzzled close to her, breathing in the scent of the shampoo she must have brought with her before he looked back up at her face, their lips just inches apart. “I’ve got to be honest, Lumine. I really, really want to kiss you right now. Can I?”

Lumine sharply inhaled at his request and then took her time to get comfortable on his lap, settling her knees to either side of his legs to straddle them. She was very aware of the hardness that pressed against her clothed core, but she didn’t comment on that little detail, instead focusing on looking at his expression of pure adoration.

“Yes, you can,” she said softly with a smile.

Childe wasted no time and pulled her even closer, pressing his lips against hers insistently. Lumine sighed and melted against him instantly, her hands roaming underneath his open shirt to finally feel his muscles. He seemed hesitant at first, like he was still afraid of scaring her away, but soon enough, he became more confident and cocked his head to deepen the kiss, hungry for more. His fingers tangled into her hair to keep her where he wanted, and they both didn’t separate until he felt her run out of air.

He watched as she panted to catch her breath, his chest warmed with pride at the fact that HE was the reason she was coming undone with her messy hair and dazed expression.

“Can I kiss you again?” His lips already brushed hers again, but he was well-disciplined, making sure that she fully consented before he did anything.

Lumine laughed and nodded. “You don’t have to ask every time.”

He took the initiative and readjusted them until Lumine was under him on the bed on top of the blankets, careful to not jostle her too much as he settled on top of her, one hand braced against the bed so he didn’t put ALL of his weight on her. His kiss was more heated, more urgent, and Childe moved his lips slowly from hers to her jaw and then down her neck until he hovered over her pulse point. He bit down sharply, and the way she let out a shuddered gasp and breathless cry made a hot wave of pleasure roll over his body, his pants becoming increasingly tight as he became more aroused.

“I love you so much,” he whispered into her ear as he nuzzled her, his free hand trailing down over Lumine’s body to rest at her hips.

Lumine smiled, her heart full to bursting as she began to discard her clothing, pulling her shirt over and off to drop it onto the floor beside the bed. Childe’s eyes soaked in the view, frozen as his gaze roved over her torso until she self-consciously went to cover her chest with her arms, her face bright red with the blush that had spread across her skin.

“No, don’t hide yourself from me,” he rasped, trailing his fingers down from her collarbone to her chest before he palmed one of her breasts gently, kneading the flesh. “You’re the most beautiful, utterly gorgeous person I’ve ever seen, and I want to see everything . I’m the luckiest man on the planet because I have you.”

Childe ducked his head to press kisses down her collarbone and then over the swell of her breasts, hovering just above her nipple before he looked up at her, the question clear in his eyes. “May I?”

Lumine simply nodded and gasped as he took her nipple into his mouth as he kneaded her other breast, coaxing soft gasps and moans from her. She tried to cover her mouth to stifle the noises, but he wasn’t having any of that.

“I want to hear every sound you make,” he murmured after finally releasing her nipple with a pop, a smirk on his face as he looked up at her.

“F-fine, but you need to take this off,” she countered with a whimper and a whine as he gave a particularly hard squeeze to her breast while she pushed his open shirt down his shoulders. Her voice was breathless as she teased him. “I want to see you, too.”

His shirt immediately joined hers on the floor.

Childe nuzzled closer to her once he was free of the fabric before he hesitated once again, his hands resting on her thighs, not quite pushing them apart but instead leaving his fingers slightly digging into the soft flesh there. “Are you sure you want this?”

“Yes,” Lumine said instantly, cupping his face with her hands before she pulled him down to kiss her, taking the initiative that time.

He let out a muffled sound of surprise but quickly reciprocated the action, slotting himself in between her legs after he pushed them apart, lightly squeezing the inside of her thighs with his hands. Lumine was still covered by her shorts (and presumably by underwear beneath that as well), but Childe quickly remedied that, pulling the top layer of garments down as much as he could with her flat on the bed before Lumine helped by raising her hips to let him pull the clothes completely off. Sure enough, she was wearing lacy underwear, an even more revealing pair than she’d had on the night before when he accidentally got a good look at them while she slept.

At the memory of the night before, Childe’s face suddenly turned beet red, and he froze in place. Lumine was instantly worried that she’d done something wrong.

“What is it?” Her brows were furrowed, eyes trailing back and forth over his face as she tried to scan his emotions in concern.

Childe cleared his throat before he pressed his head down against her chest, unable to look her in the eyes as he made his admission. “I uh… I came in here last night to get my phone, and I saw you lying in bed…” He trailed off, tracing abstract patterns onto her skin as he was unable to finish his sentence.

“…And?” Lumine gently ran her hands through his soft hair, waiting for him to continue.

His words came out in a rush. “I kind of left the room in a hurry and then when I was lying back down in the media room… I kind of got off to the mental image of… of doing this with you.”

Lumine couldn’t help her immediate response. A soft laugh escaped her, and it made Childe lift his head to fix her with an embarrassed and also confused expression. It took her several seconds to control the giggles enough to properly respond.

“Don’t be embarrassed! I’ve done the same to the thought of you doing this, especially after I snooped on all of your social media posts.”

“You did?” It was almost as if he didn’t comprehend the fact that she found him attractive and desirable enough to do that. “Why?”

She arched an eyebrow. “ Why? Chi- Ajax, you’re really attractive. Surely you know that.”

He was about to object to that statement when Lumine decided that they were done talking about it, suddenly reaching between them to trail her fingers down his abdomen to where his shorts started, instantly shushing him. Childe sucked in a breath, stilling as she began unfastening his remaining clothes methodically, like she was moving as slow as possible on purpose. When several seconds passed and she hadn’t really gotten anywhere in her task, Childe took matters into his own hands, impatient as he leaned back on his heels, still nestled in between her legs.

When he saw that her eyes closely followed the downwards path his hands took as they moved over his sculpted muscles down to his shorts, he smirked, giving her a bit of a show. When he was satisfied that she was as impatient as he was, he unbuttoned them and pushed his shorts and boxers down, finally freeing his cock from its confines. Childe didn’t think he could get any harder than he already was, the tip of his member red and slowly leaking as it twitched with interest when he saw Lumine’s expression.

“Are you ready, Girlie?” His voice was full of affection and desire, his body trembling with the unconscious urge to take her and make her irrevocably his in every way possible.

In response to his question, Lumine nodded and readjusted herself on the bed, spreading her legs a bit wider to either side of his, beckoning him back to her with a very sensual curl of her fingers. Grinning, he did as she wanted, carefully pinning her down again after she’d finally discarded her panties onto the floor, fully exposing herself to him. Childe whistled lowly at the sight, his hands roaming over her curves and soft skin like he wanted to memorize what the touch felt like as he peppered kissed to Lumine’s jaw and neck as he hovered over her.

He moved slowly, paying attention to how her breath would hitch or her body would twitch at certain sensations, making sure to repeat those actions to make her putty in his hands. One of his hands trailed down her torso until it reached the apex of her thighs, his digits brushing against her soaked folds gently. Childe groaned against the crook of her neck at the knowledge that he was the reason why she was so wet, and he took the time to press her open with two fingers, careful to listen for any sounds of discomfort.

When he curled his fingers and successfully found her most sensitive spot, making her throw her head back and moan sinfully, Childe nearly came then and there just from the sound alone.

“You’re beautiful,” he crooned, kissing her once more as he began to move his fingers more forcefully as he learned her favorite spots and motions, committing the information to memory while he pleasured her. “Beautiful and all mine . Do you think you’re ready to continue?”

“Yes,” Lumine said breathlessly, her eyes widening as she felt his cock drag through her folds to gather her wetness along its head and length, and Childe smirked when her breath hitched.

Childe slowly, carefully began to push inside of her, watching her closely for any sign of discomfort. When he didn’t see any, he kept moving until he was fully inside of her, his cockhead touching her cervix. His forehead rested against hers, waiting until she was completely comfortable to continue moving.

“You okay?” He asked, kissing her again.

Lumine answered him by wrapping her legs around his waist to pull him impossibly closer, her silent way of telling him to get on with it. She even rocked her hips against his, making him inhale in a hiss at the pleasure that coursed through him at the movement.

“I’m not a porcelain doll. You don’t have to worry about breaking me and can be a bit… rougher, if you’d like.”

“Well, if you’re sure…” Childe murmured as he slowly pulled out of her until only the tip was inside of her before he pushed back inside of her more quickly, gradually increasing the force and speed behind his thrusts.

Lumine moaned sweetly for him, her head through back while her fingers scrabbled over his back, leaving scratch marks in their wake. That only made him more excited as he continued to thrust inside of her, whispering sweet nothings interjected with filth into her ears. After a particularly sharp thrust and a love bite on her neck done at the same time, she nearly came, her walls clenching down on his length.

“Is my pretty girl close, hm?” Childe purred, grinding his hips against hers when she whimpered and nodded. “Tell me what you need.”

She trembled as she moved one hand from clinging onto his back to in-between them, intending on giving herself just the tiniest bit more stimulation to push her over the edge, but as soon as Childe notice, he trapped that arm above her head and replaced it with his own, making her hips jump and her eyes snap open wide in surprise.

“A-ah, I’ll take care of that, love. All you need to do is let me know how to please you,” he smiled as he kissed her deeply, totally devoted to giving her as much pleasure as possible.

Not that he wasn’t enjoying this, himself. He definitely was - and he never wanted to stop. Childe was close as well, but he was determined to hold out until he made Lumine come first.

“Come for me, Lumine. Let me hear you sing,” he commanded, his hot breath tickling her skin as he thrust deeply.

His demand, combined with the strum of his fingers on her clit, was enough to push her over, and her nails dug into the skin of his back as she came, holding him as close as possible while her walls rippled around his length. Her face was full of bliss, and Childe committed it to memory, and the knowledge that he was responsible for it made his thrusts stutter as he approached his climax as well. He slotted himself inside her as far as he could, his cockhead kissing her womb again, as he came, filling her with warmth. After finishing with a few more sluggish thrusts until he was spent, he nestled down against her while staying coupled to her, pressing kisses everywhere his lips could reach, his fingers trailing over her skin that was damp from sweat just like his.

They were quiet at first, the only sound being their breathing as they came down from their high. Childe had rolled them over until Lumine was resting on top of him. Both basked in the calm company of each other in their afterglow, until Lumine finally interrupted the silence.

“So…” She sighed, yawning. “We… have a few things to work out, don’t we? About this, I mean.”

Despite being phrased like one, it wasn’t a question.

“Not tonight. I just want to hold you close,” Childe murmured as he placed a playful line of kisses up her neck, his hands grasping her hips to keep her pulled flush against him. “Or if you want to go another round…” he trailed off.

Lumine giggled and pressed kisses over his collarbone and chest in response, smiling against his skin when she felt him shiver and the unmistakable feeling of him hardening again within her. “I think that sounds like a wonderful plan.”

———

If anyone else had been on the third floor where Childe’s bedroom was located, they would have been very aware of what had been happening in that room. But luckily, no one had decided to sleep on that floor, though it was going to be impossible for anyone to ignore the love marks, the hickeys and bites, that both of them had acquired the night before.

Childe woke up first, his eyelids slowly fluttering open as the early morning sun streamed in on his face from the small opening in his window’s curtain. He instinctively went to stretch before he realized that Lumine was still curled up against him, using one of his arms as a pillow, one of her legs slotted in-between his. He smiled, moving closer to press gentle kisses to her lips and to brush the hair out of her face. She looked utterly peaceful in his arms, and he was happier than he’d been in a very, very long time.

Never had he imagined the chain of events that had happened over the last couple of days. He’d met Outl4nder, fallen even more in love with her, and now she was lying in his arms, blissfully unaware of just how strong his attachment to her had grown. Childe had already begun thinking towards the future and how he could make sure that this wouldn’t just be a one-time occurrence.

It couldn’t end just like that. She’d admitted she had feelings for him, too, so she must feel the same!

Lumine stirred, and he watched as those molten gold eyes of hers slowly opened and she yawned, making him smile. “Good morning, moya zvezda,” he said warmly, nuzzling his nose against her neck to pull her even closer to him. “How did you sleep?”

She seemed confused at first, like she was still mostly asleep, but she smiled widely at him. “I slept very well, though I’m not going to lie. I’m very… sore.” She gave him a pointed look that was clear in its message: that that was HIS fault.

“Well, they say that the best way to get rid of soreness is to work through it, so we could always-“

Lumine covered his mouth and didn’t let him finish that sentence. “Down, boy. I want to be able to walk down to the kitchen for breakfast later.”

“I could always carry you~” Her sour look made him laugh, and he gave in. “Okay, okay. I’ll stop. For now.”

“Mmhmm.” She didn’t believe him.

Lumine sat up, reluctantly pulling herself from Childe’s arms before she reached for her phone that laid on the nightstand to check her messages. She had several from Mona, it that fact made her sigh heavily. Childe sat up as well, but he immediately pulled her back into his arms to pepper her with even more kisses, like he was trying to distract her from whatever had made her sigh. Or he just didn’t want to let her go yet.

Likely both.

“Is someone bothering you? Do you need me to knock them off their perch?” He pressed his head down against her shoulder, politely not peering over her at her phone, instead content to just sit with her against him in silence.

Lumine started typing her reply, saying that she was alright and hadn’t somehow gone missing or gotten murdered since last messaging her paranoid friend. She explained briefly that she’d gotten… intimate with Childe, and that she’d text her again later. Mona’s reply came almost instantaneously, like she’d been waiting by her phone.

>>Mona: GIRL, YOU /WHAT/?! I need details, NOW! Pronto! You’d better answer this message right now! Send me a pic of you two so I know you’re not lying! You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?

She laughed and reached up to run her hand through Childe’s hair lightly, her fingers brushing through his wild locks to draw his attention. “My friend wants me to take a picture with you for proof that I’m not like. Kidnapped or murdered or anything.”

“Do your friends think that I’m that creepy?” Despite his sulking comment, Childe stood up and fumbled around for their clothes, tossing Lumine’s on the bed while he quickly began to slip his back on. “I guess I’d be worried too, though. Do you need me to leave while you change?”

“Childe, you saw me naked already,” she teased, shaking her head. Lumine stood up too, feeling Childe’s eyes rake over her naked body with a hungry stare, and she suddenly felt shy as she opened her luggage and pulled out some clothes. “I think I’m going to take a shower first, if that’s alright. You… can join me if you want.”

Childe had never agreed and stripped again so quickly in his life.

———

After their very long and very intimate shower, Lumine stepped back into the bedroom from the master bathroom, shaking her head at something Childe had said. “I do think I should cover up at least SOME of these marks…”

Childe followed her, toweling his hair dry, a smirk on his face. “Why? I want everyone to see them. That way they’ll know you’re mine .”

He was only halfway joking about his possessiveness, and Lumine seemed to know that with the sharp glance she gave him. She couldn’t hide the soft blush that spread over her skin at the thought of being only his.

She huffed. “Fine, fine. I’ll let you have your fun. Come over here so I can take a picture of us.”

Lumine handed Childe the phone to hold since he was taller than her and wouldn’t have to bend down that much to get a good angle. He held it up to take their picture, but at the last second, he turned his head and pressed a kiss to Lumine’s cheek, surprising her as he took the photo. Then, before he gave the device back, he looked at the photo, and sent it before Lumine could demand they take another.

He’d made sure to capture her wide-eyed blush, his smirk, and the myriad of markings that covered both their necks and down past where their clothes started.

“ Childe Ajax Tartaglia !” Lumine shouted the strange combination of his nickname, birth name, and username as she beat on his chest with her slender fists. “You’re an awful, awful person!”

Mona had immediately sent several messages one after another even in just those few seconds later, and Lumine was left to sulk as she ignored all of them for the time being. “I can’t believe you.”

“Can’t you?” He suddenly bent down, hooked his arms around her thighs, and lifted her up so she was closer to his height as he held her against his chest. “I’m sorry. I just wanted her to know…”

“Yes, yes. That I’m yours.” Lumine sighed and pressed his face between her palms, moving his head and ruining his carefully fluffed hair. “You don’t have anything to be jealous of, you know. I’m not going to go running away as soon as your back’s turned. I’m… I’m committed to you. For as long as you’ll have me.”

Childe couldn’t help himself. He suddenly spun her around, which made her squeal, before he put her down to immediately capture her lips with his in a deep and passionate kiss, her back hitting the back of the bedroom door as he caged her in with his body.

“Forever,” he said seriously. “I want to be with you forever. Beyond life, beyond death, until the end of the universe and eternity.”

Her words, spoken so earnestly and without even a shred of dishonesty, made Lumine’s heart soar with emotion. After they shared a few more heated kisses, Lumine was finally able to convince Childe to stop long enough for them to make their way to the kitchen. Her stomach growling loudly definitely helped in that endeavor.

No one was in the kitchen or the dining area when they came down the stairs, so they were able to enjoy a bit more time with just each other as Childe redeemed himself from the day before by making the fluffiest pancakes Lumine had ever had the pleasure of eating. He even dusted them with powdered sugar and cut a strawberry into a heart shape to place it on a small dollop of whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

He was still clingy even as they ate breakfast together, sitting right next to her at the bar with his leg touching hers, occasionally playfully bumping shoulders with her. Lumine had no doubt that he’d have been holding her hand if he didn’t need it to eat. Just as they were finishing breakfast, they heard the sound of someone coming up the stairs from the bottom floor where most of the guests had been staying.

Thoma emerged from the staircase, took one look at Lumine with all of her colorful marks, and whistled loudly, shaking his head. “Took you long enough, Childe. I was wondering how long it’d take you to make a move, but did you have to make it look like she got into a fight with a rabid wolf?”

He leaned against the bar and grabbed a plate and one of the extra pancakes that Childe had made, pouring syrup on it before he started eating nonchalantly, like the development into the couple AS a couple wasn’t surprising at all.

And to him, it wasn’t.

“Everyone else should be getting up soon, too. I can’t wait to see their reactions to you two, too,” he said cheerfully through a bite of pancake.

Lumine blushed, self-consciously leaning into Childe’s side for comfort. “Why does it sound like everyone was expecting this to happen?”

Thoma answered her. “Because everyone DID expect it. You two are hella obvious.”

They were joined by a couple of the other guild members, and as soon as they entered the kitchen and saw the trio there, one of them whooped loudly and elbowed his companion in the side. “Hah! I told you they wouldn’t last the whole trip without hooking up! You owe me!”

Childe stiffened, and he wrapped his arm around Lumine’s middle, pulling her closer. “This isn’t just a hookup, you asshat. I’m never letting her go. Also… why does it sound like there was some sort of bet going on between you two?” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Thoma answered for them as they busied themselves by grabbing food from the fridge. “Oh, because there was. I think at least half the guild had made bets about it.”

“…Did you?” Childe glared at Thoma.

He just smiled. “Yep.”

Lumine had gone quiet, her mind occupied by thoughts of the future. She needed to talk with Childe about what their next steps were going to be, but she was afraid. Afraid that, despite his repeated statements that he’d be with her forever, that they wouldn’t be able to continue their relationship because of the large physical distance between where they lived.

As if sensing where her thoughts were headed, CHilde gently took her hand and kissed each of her knuckles softly before he leaned in close to whisper into her ear. “Do you want to go somewhere and talk?”

She was filled with dread, but knowing that it was imperative that they talk this out, nodded and got up from the bar to follow him outside. They stood on the edge of the deck, overlooking the path down to the beach, and neither of them spoke for a long moment, just silently leaning against each other and enjoying the company. Finally though, Lumine spoke first.

“So, about the future, I…”

Childe interrupted her. “I’m not letting you go. Ever. I wasn’t kissing when I said that I wanted to be with you forever. I’ve never felt the same way about anyone like how I feel about you. When I think of you, my chest gets tight, and it’s like I can barely breathe. My heart starts racing, and all I can think of is your smile, your laugh…”

He pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on top of her head. They were the perfect height together, like they’d been made for each other and no one else.

“But we live so far away from each other… I don’t want to shackle you down,” Lumine whispered, the fear and anxiety plain in her voice.

“I think you’ve forgotten something, Girlie.” Childe took her chin in his fingers and lifted her face up so he could give her a sweet little kiss on the nose. “I’m rich and spending money on a plane ticket every so often is nothing for me. I’m selfish, and I want you all to myself.”

Lumine HAD forgotten how rich he was. “I’m going to feel like you’re my sugar daddy or something. I can’t afford anything so extravagant as plane tickets or anything that often.” She was barely getting by as it was.

He made a face. “As long as you never call me that ever again, I will buy everything you ever wanted,” he teased. “Plus, how else are you going to meet my family? I want to visit your home, too. I have to meet your brother and your friends, to convince them that I’m not some weirdo.”

His words made Lumine blush deeply at the thought of meeting his family. They were moving quickly, but then again, that was Childe. He’d rush headlong into anything if his heart was set on it.

“Okay,” she said confidently, a determined look on her face. “I’ll be with you forever. You’d better not regret that decision, Ajax!” She teased.

“Never. I’ll never regret you.”