agaaain! it’s Childe x Lumine fanfiction, but no angst this time. it will be two chapters, and this is the first one. I need to divide it to two chapters because it’s getting too long. XD anyway, enjoy!
***
It is a nice, crisp morning in Liyue. A perfect day for a stroll at the town, enjoying the spring that has already come a few weeks ago. And maybe to play pirate with little Lulu, Fei and Meng. Or, just sit back and relax at Wanmin restaurant while luxuriating the beauty of Liyue. Today is just perfect and “Mao’s kiss” (if you know what I mean). Everyone in the town seems to be in a good mood. Even Xingxi gives out a couple of discounts when you stop by and buy some supplies.
Though, not everyone is in a good mood.
Lumine is one of them.
Paimon is looking at her travel companion and wonders why Lumine is not in the mood for doing anything. Paimon has already tried several suggestions, like blowing up Hilichurls camp, fighting the Geo Hypostasis, or even doing one of her companion’s favorite things, which is collecting pretty Artifacts. But Lumine doesn’t want to do any of that. She’s just keep sitting by the window where they stayed at Liyue and stare right towards it as if she wants to burn down the whole Inn. That’s kinda terrified Paimon a little bit.
“Lumine, Paimon thinks you can fight the window later when the owner is not here,” Paimon is now currently sitting on the edge of the table and looking carefully at her. “You know… Paimon also thinks that you’ve already been staring at that window for… probably ten minutes or more.”
“I. Don’t. Care.” She said with pressure in every word.
“Oh, come on, Lumine. Today is a nice day! We can take a walk and…” she stops for a few seconds and her eyes go bright with excitement. “And! Collecting starconches for Childe, maaaybe?”
When Paimon mentioned that name, Lumine turned her head to Paimon with annoyance as clear as today’s skies pictured on her face. “I should’ve eaten you when I starved last week.”
Paimon gasped and flew with her translucent wings to hide behind the wardrobe partition. “So rude! Paimon said repeatedly that Paimon is not an emergency food!” She frowned and huffed. “Besides, what did Paimon do wrong? Paimon’s just suggesting that we should do something in this nice day rather than sitting here doing nothing!”
Lumine rolled her eyes and continued staring at the window, still with the same expression. A few moments pass by, and none of them are speaking. Paimon is still hiding behind the partition while sometimes looking at Lumine to see if her travel companion is changing her mind. But no. She stays where she is.
“Childe.” Paimon squeaks.
Lumine looks towards Paimon and gives her a death glare.
“Childe.” Again. The glare soon enough was replaced by a movement from Lumine. As soon as Paimon sees that Lumine is moving from her chair and tries to catch her, she flies higher and looks down. “Childe.”
“I’m sure I really want to eat you now, Paimon.”
“So it’s Childe that made you like this,” she puts her index finger on her cheek. “WhyㅡOh! Paimon thinks Paimon knows…” She raised her eyebrows up and down several times, making Lumine more determined to eat her when she got the chance.
“Come down here you littleㅡ”
“Childe has not visited you for almost a whole week and now you’re waiting for him to come and explain but he didn’t,” Said Paimon. When Lumine didn’t give any other response, she exclaimed and spun in the air. “Right, right? Paimon is right!”
She sits back on her chair, bending her body and lets out a long sigh. “Well, okay, you’re right. Am I weird? Because neither he or I haven’t clarified our relationship yet.”
“But both of you are already going out together very often, right?”
Lumine nodded. “Yeah.”
“He hasn’t said ‘i love you’?”
“He’s isn’t introducing me as his ‘partner’,” she quoted ‘partner’ with her fingers. “Let alone say that he loves me.”
“You could ask…?” Paimon now is flying back down towards Lumine as soon as she feels safe and Lumine is no longer threatening to eat her. “Paimon thinks it’s the modern era, after all.”
Lumine looks at Paimon with disbelief. “There’s no chance that I’ll do that, no. Never.” She emphasized the word ‘never’. “I’m embarrassed and I can’t imagine myself asking that. No. That’s horrible.”
“Well, looks like it’ll end up like this, forever.” Paimon shrugged her shoulder.
“Ugh,” she bends her body even lower. “I don’t know anymore.” Her relationship with this Fatui man she met at The Rite of Descension somehow leads into something bigger than she can imagine. She never thought that their relationship would develop faster, deeper, and also very confusing. Childe is a man who’s very good with words and the way he treats her… it’s very confusing till she can feel her muscles tense everytime he does something. That’s his charm. For example, that time they were teamed up to fight a bunch of treasure hoarders, out of nowhere, Childe grabbed her body and pulled her, like a one hand hug, and then shot one of the treasure hoarders who carried a shovel and was currently running to hit her with the metal. Then he said, “Don’t you think you can hurt her while I’m around, filthy bastard.”
But it’s just that. Their relationship is somehow just limited by words and actions. Nothing more than that. Lumine just stares at the blank wood floor until there’s a knock on the door. She gets up with a moan and dragged her feet to the door, even though she is not in the mood to meet anybody right now except the man that has been haunting her mind for the past few hours.
“Hi there. I think of all the people that are here, you and I are the only person that didn’t have things planned in this nice weather, am I right?” A tall man with deep dark blue eyes and ginger hair stood in front of her while leaning to the side of the doorway with arms folded. “So shall we spend today by sticking to each other?” He gives her a playful smile.
“Childe!” Her eyes widened.
“Hi there, girlie. What are you doing inside? Usually at this time you’d already be in an open field fighting some monsters.”
“Uh, j-just preparing myself, I guess?” She tried to laugh and scratch her neck.
“So, you already have plans for today, I assume?” He asks.
“No!” She answered too quickly, and that made Childe smile. “I mean, no. I don’t have plans. At least for today.” She clears her throat. What is this, Lumine? Control yourself! She speaks to herself.
“Then what have you been preparing for?” Childe raised one of his eyebrows and gave her a playful look.
“Uh… it’s…” she tried to find the right answer. She heard Childe laughing and says, “I’ve been preparing for… your arrival…?” Instead of smiling, she sticks out her tongue.
“Clever,” He said. “Shall we go outside and take a walk?”
“Should I accept your offer or shouldn’t I?”
“I gave you no choice earlier.” As he was saying that, his hand grabbed Lumine’s wrist and took her outside, leaving Paimon alone in the room. Lumine even forgot about her tiny friend inside because of the sudden appearance of Childe. Poor little Paimon. Soon after Lumine’s leaving, Paimon comes back from their bedroom, after a few minutes trying to find something interesting from Lumine’s bag to make her travel companion feel at ease just to find that she’s no longer there.
“…Lumine?” she asks in the empty room.
***
Qingce Village is one of the most beautiful places in Liyue. It has everything; the waterfall, river which is as clear as crystal, long bridge and most importantly a flower field that has been the characteristic of Qingce Village. This place is just the perfect spot for anyone who wants to spend their day just to relax and enjoy mother nature’s beauty. And, if you’re lucky enough, you may find glaze lily flowers which are the local specialities in Liyue.
“I was thinking you will take me to Yaoguang Shoal but turns out it’s way better,” Lumine smiles as she prevents the hair covering her face. The gentle wind brushed their skin, reflection of the water dazzling their eyes but they don’t bother because the scenery was worth more attention.
“I’m sure all girls like flowers,” he grinned. “That’s why I brought you here.”
“To be honest, I like starconches more,” she turned her head to face Childe and returned his grin. “But this is also preferable. I like it. Thank you.”
“Let me set this up, I brought something for you.” Childe quickly emptied his bag. There are some fabrics, food containers, and drinking bottles. Soon enough, their picnic area is set and ready to use. While watching all of these things happen, Lumine can’t help but smile the entire time. She didn’t bother to hide her smile because now her heart is full of joy.
“Come, sit here,” Childe holds her hand and lead her to that place. Before she sits, Childe takes some flowers from his bag and gives it to her. “For you.” He smiles.
She takes the flowers. “You brought me to the flower village yet you still give me flowers.” As she was saying that, she sat.
Childe followed and sat across from her. His hands are now rummaging through the food containers and taking out various food; almond tofu, matsutake meat roll and even jade parcel. He also bought some apples and sunsettias for them to enjoy. “Well, I didn’t recommend picking out flowers here, so instead I brought you some.”
“And… you cook all of this?”
“No. My big sister is helping.”
“I see. Tell her I say thank you.” She smiles. “These smell so good. I bet Paimon will be very jealous later when I tell her.” The food tastes really good. Lumine knows that Childe is a good cook because he often brings her food to taste.
They eat while having light conversations, Childe tells her that he had just encountered some electro slimes on his way to meet Lumine earlier. He also tells her that his siblings are dying to meet her because it’s been so long since he brought a girl to his house. He sometimes laughs and seems to be enjoying himself, didn’t notice Lumine is staring at him for quite a few moments.
Of course they’ve been dying to meet me. You treated me like we’re in a relationship but we don’t. What are we, exactly? She speaks to herself while seeing Childe chew one of the jade parcels while speaking with a muffled voice. Everyone thinks we have something special, whereas we don’t. She let out a sigh.
“What is it? Is something bothering you?” He asks. “You can tell me if you want.”
Suddenly, she got an idea. It’s the most cliche idea she’s ever been having but she doesn’t care. “Uh, speaking of which, I have this one friend,” she is now fidgeting her fingers. “Few days ago she told me about this one guy that has been around her since they first met. They look like a couple, act like a couple, and that guy seems to like her more than a friend. But until today, he hasn’t said anything about their relationship.”
This one friend, huh? Childe locked her eyes to her, listening to her story.
“She asks me for advice, but I don’t know,” she is now looking down to her hands. “H-how about you? From your perspective… should my friend wait or…?” her heart beating fast. It’s already out, there’s nothing she can do to take back what she already said to him.
“So you’re saying that your friend needs to clarify their relationship status?” He was rephrasing Lumine’s story. If someone’s telling you that they have that one friend who’s in help for something, most of the time they’re talking about themselves. He thinks to himself and now tries to prevent his lips from making an obvious smile, showing that he knows. “Don’t you think it’s already obvious that the guy is also falling in love with your friend?”
“Well, he didn’t say anything so she thinks that their relationship is somehow confusing.” She looks at him.
“Tell your friend to think again. Encourage her to remember those times they’ve spent together. From that, I’m sure she can feel that the guy also loves her,” He said with a smile. “From a guy’s perception, maybe he prefers to act right away rather than say that he loves her. Actions speak louder than words, though.”
“But don’t you think he needs to say that too? Well, as an explanatory.”
“If she needs it only to clarify so that it pleases her heart, why don’t she say that first to him?” suddenly the air between them feels tense. “Because from what you tell me earlier, they act like a couple. So it should be fine.”
“I don’t think so?” She snaps. “Why don’t they sit and talk about their relationship rather than just go with the flow in the midst of uncertainties?”
“What’s the point? They already feel comfortable and it’s all fine.”
“Who said it is fine? It’s not!” She raised her voice. She’s sure by this time Childe already knows that it’s her. That one friend. It’s herself.
“I can’t see why is it become such a big problem to you,” Childe breathes a sigh and look away. “I thought we already had something special between us even though I never said ‘i love you’.”
“Yes is it. We already had something special between us, but it’s just that,” She said, now looking at Childe with disappointment. “We have something special. That’s it. Period.”
There’s tense in the air. Both Childe and Lumine are now looking away from each other, deep in their own thoughts. None of them want to start another conversation or enjoy the scenery anymore. They both feel upset.
“I think I should go back.” Lumine finally said.
“Yeah, okay.” Childe gives her a small nod.
***
And then just that. Few days later, there’s no news heard from Childe, and Lumine is just trying to not bother with it. They don’t have a real relationship, after all. It’s what she thinks. For her, their relationship is just friends. But friends who act like a couple. So it’s fair if none of them try to communicate.
Even though she misses him like crazy.
Even though she wants to meet him.
Even though she no longer wants to hear him saying ‘i love you’ to her. She just wants to meet him. But her dignity prevents her from doing so.
“Paimon thinks you can’t love someone if your dignity prevents you from doing things that you should do,” says Paimon. “From your story, Paimon somehow agrees with Childe too.”
Lumine is going to open her mouth to say something but she closes it again as she sees a little boy with a sling bag running towards her. He hands her a package. “I was told to deliver this to you.” He said.
“From whom?”
“Tartaglia.” He said. “You are Lumine, right?”
She nodded. “I am. Thank you for delivering this, little boy. What’s your name?”
“Ming.”
“Okay, noted. Thank you, Ming.” She smiles and sees the boy walk past her to deliver more letters and packages to other people.
She observed the package. It’s light and not too heavy. Paimon flies to her back and tries to look at it. “What’s that, Lumine?” She asks. “Tartaglia? Who?”
“It’s Childe.”
She tore off the paper package and found a bunch of folded paper. She unfolds one of the papers and reads it. It is a letter. Handwritten by Childe himself. Before she continues, she closes it again and keeps it for herself, not wanting Paimon to read it too.
“Paimon wants to know!”
“No. It’s personal, shoo.”
“Rudeeeee!” Paimon shouts and flies away from Lumine so that her travel companion can have private time reading those love letters from Childe. Paimon rolled her eyes as she thought that.
As soon as Paimon leaves, Lumine opens it again and reads it.
(to be continued)