For her project in her History of Liyue class, Lumine has to partner with Childe. Modern College AU.
hey friends im not dead sorry for the delayed upload LIFE JUST HITS YA SOMETIMES YOU KNOW???? anyways love you all. thanks for the all the patience and love that you all have been giving <3
i love @majunju ’s modern au that childe is just. bandages. so many bandages
[Fic Masterlist] // [AO3 Link]
* * *
“groceries”
Lumine never imagined the day Aether would betray her like this.
She bit her tongue to stop herself from relentlessly pestering her twin as to why he didn’t pick her for the partner project. So what if Paimon had already asked him first? We’re twins, Aether.
She sighed, looking around the classroom, seeing if anyone else needed a partner. This is what I get for not making friends…
Right before she was about to ask Professor Zhongli for help, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to face the person in the seat behind her.
Lumine recognized him as the tall ginger guy who would always come into class with a different bandage wrapped around his head, hands, arms. Lumine once asked Aether if he thought the ginger guy was in a gang; Aether laughed and said she was too paranoid.
“Need a partner?” Bandages asked. His blue eyes had a mischievous glint to them.
Unfortunately. “Yes, I do,” she responded. She held out her hand. “Lumine.”
He offered a smile then held out his own hand—white gauze looped from his fingers up his wrist—and shook hers. “Childe.”
The Professor cleared his throat. “Once you have chosen your partner,” Zhongli announced, then pointed at the board, “you will select one of these topics to present on Liyue. They will be due in two weeks time.”
Lumine glanced over the list, which ranged from religion of the Seven to local cuisine. She turned to her partner. “Do you have a topic you want to do?” Please don’t pick war tactics.
His eyes roamed the board, calculating. “How about…cuisine?”
She raised a brow. “Okay, sure.” She was just thankful he wasn’t going to murder her for their presentation. “So how do you want to do the project? A powerpoint, video, or…?”
He leaned back in his chair, hands laced behind his head, thinking. “We could cook up some dishes and bring them in to share.”
Huh. She had expected him to choose something relating to the various wars and battles that ravaged the land at the country’s beginnings, but she was…pleasantly surprised. And, thankfully, Lumine was somewhat decent at cooking; her and Aether cooked many of their own meals since they were young and living on their own.
She smiled slightly. “Sure, sounds fun.”
Childe fished something out of the pocket of his sweatpants, handing it to Lumine. It was his cellphone.
Taking in her startled reaction, he laughed. “Don’t worry, girlie, I’m not hitting on you; we need to be able to communicate for this project, no?”
Lumine felt her cheeks warm up. “Right,” she mumbled, taking his phone and typing in her number. She had her fair share of men vying for her attention, and quite honestly, she couldn’t care less. She had never been in a relationship before, and she didn’t plan on dating any time soon.
She handed the phone back. “I guess we can research Liyue’s cuisine at the library, and plan to prepare the foods like the night before the presentation?”
He nodded. “Straight to business, I see. I like it.”
Around them, students began shuffling out of the room, signifying the end of class. The two of them packed their bags, standing up as well.
Only then did Lumine truly notice how tall he was—she was only about to the level of his chest, which, by the expression on his face, Childe found amusing.
“See you tomorrow,” he said, waving before heading out of the room.
“You’re partners with the gang member?” Aether said behind her.
“He looks pretty scary…,” Paimon added.
“His name is Childe,” Lumine said. “He actually doesn’t seem too bad. He wants to present on Liyue’s cuisine.”
Paimon pouted. “Aw man, that would’ve been a good topic! We could’ve just eaten Liyue food the whole time!”
Aether laughed. “Paimon and I are presenting on the country’s Golden House. You know Paimon and money.”
“Well, good luck on trying to stop Paimon from planning a full-on heist of the Golden House,” Lumine said.
Aether nodded. “And good luck to you too; let us know when you find out if Childe’s in a gang or not.”
“Don’t die, Lumine!” Paimon chirped.
Lumine scoffed. Childe isn’t a bad guy…right?
* * *
Lumine sighed, opening her phone and texting Childe: “yo. where are you? im at the store.” She put her phone away, glancing around again for a familiar ginger head.
After many days and hours of research (they had spent nearly everyday together for the past two weeks), they decided on multiple dishes—Qingce Stir Fry, Jueyun Chili Chicken—with the most complex recipe being the Adeptus’ Temptation.
She had been doubtful about the last dish (it was a very difficult dish to make) but Childe had assured her that he was good at cooking. Hopefully he didn’t lie.
Now, with the presentation date set for tomorrow, the two were meeting up at a local grocery store to buy ingredients, and planned to head to Childe’s apartment afterwards to start cooking.
Lumine was somewhat glad they weren’t cooking at her apartment. First, Aether was there and she would’ve felt bad about bothering him, and second, her and Aether weren’t the richest college students around. And after spending the recent days with Childe, she was confident he had a state-of-the-art kitchen at his place.
He was rich. Lumine figured after their fifth meeting in the library: he always bought them coffee from the expensive cafe around the corner; he had the newest, high-tech laptop; and when she noticed his bookbag had a luxury brand’s symbol on it, she searched it up to find the backpack would have cost her many months rent. For one backpack. Not to mention, he always pulled up to the library in a luxury brand car; a sleek, black, gray, and red sports car.
If Lumine didn’t think he was in a gang before, she definitely thought he was in some gang now, beating people up for loads of money. Either that or rich parents. But he didn’t act like a spoiled brat. The gang route seemed more likely.
Given that, she was more wary of him than before. However, it was hard to be distant when Childe always offered to buy them dinner from some gourmet restaurant if their study sessions went too late. And picking up the tab for any expenses that came from their project (including all the groceries they were about to buy, which was not going to be cheap to feed a whole classroom of hungry, broke college students).
After multiple nights of not coming home for dinner, Aether started teasing Lumine about her and Childe “unofficially dating.” Lumine obviously denied it, but she cursed Aether for putting the thought in her head. Now every once in a while, she’d catch herself staring at Childe, her stomach fluttering.
Childe was handsome. She had to admit that. He was also nice. He was confident, sure of himself. She liked that. And sure, maybe he would get on her nerves sometimes, but who didn’t? He always brought her back in with his charming demeanor.
When they would study in the library, or go out for dinner, many people would stare their way, a few bold enough to ask for his number. He would always politely decline.
She had asked him about it once. To which he said, “Oh? Are you interested in my love life now?” She told him that she was just curious, as people kept interrupting their work time, and he told her he just wasn’t interested. Lumine wouldn’t have admitted it, but she felt a little relief every time he rejected someone. Though it made her wonder, was he interested in her?
Whenever those thoughts bubbled up, she shook her head, trying to get them out; they were only partners for this one project, and once it was over, it was over, right? Why would he be interested in her anyways?
Lumine sighed, looking up and down the street again. This time, she saw Childe’s lanky form walking towards her, a new band-aid taped across his nose, gauze wrapped around his head. He also looked like he was hunched a bit, like his side hurt.
Every few days, just like in class, he’d show up with some new bandage. She started getting worried, and finally asked him about it. He laughed, touched that she was worried, but assured her he was safe, and that the injuries were from work. No further elaboration. Another checkmark for gang member.
As Childe walked up to her, he gave her a smile. “Sorry, Lumi,” he said. “Work ran longer than expected.”
Lumine rolled her eyes at the nickname. “Alright, c’mon, bandages, the sun is setting.”
They ventured into the grocery store, winding up and down all the aisles, piling every single ingredient needed, until their shopping cart was nearly filled to the brim. When they finally exited the store, after what seemed like hours of shopping, the sun had set, and the nighttime dark had settled around them.
“Hold on,” Childe said, looking over the receipt and the bags. “Looks like we forgot a bag of groceries.” He wheeled the cart to Lumine. “Wait here, I’ll go grab it.”
Lumine nodded, placing her hand on the cart as she watched him recede back into the store. She pulled out her phone to pass the time.
“Hey, little lady.”
Lumine looked up to see two men stumbling their way to her, brown paper bags in their hands, reeking of alcohol.
She rolled her eyes and started wheeling the cart back into the store, when a third man came up behind her. “Woah, woah, woah, where are you going?”
Great. She could’ve taken on one, maybe two guys from what she learned in her self-defense classes. Definitely not three. Childe, hurry up!
“Can I help you?” she asked, trying to remain calm.
“Of course you can,” the man said, hand reaching out to touch her shoulder. “Come with us.”
Before Lumine could grab the man’s arm to teach him a lesson, a flying kick came from behind, foot slamming into the side of the man’s face with a resounding CRACK! As the man crumpled, Childe was standing behind him, breathing heavily.
His blue eyes looked like they were on fire. He was angry—very angry—his face fixated in a disgusted glare towards the two other men. “Step aside, Lumi,” he said lowly, gripping his side.
She quickly moved out of the way, as the two other men started yelling. She wanted to stop Childe; he looked like he was exhausted already.
“Looks like pretty boy wants to fight!”
“You’ll pay for that!”
Childe nonchalantly stretched his arms. “Bring it on.”
The two men charged. Childe easily sidestepped one of their punches, countering with a powerful uppercut, effectively knocking him out. But the other one raised his bag, revealing a heavy beer bottle, slamming it on top of Childe’s head. Childe grunted, falling to one knee.
“Childe!” Lumine shouted.
As the man raised his fists to strike a dazed Childe, Lumine rushed him, tackling his side. With her arms wrapped around his midriff, she swept her feet under his, judo-flipping him onto the ground. Once the attacker was on the ground, Lumine followed through with a deadly choke hold.
The man gasped for air, Lumine leaned close to his ear. “You and your buddies are going to leave here. Now. And nothing else will happen to you.” She felt the man nod against her arm, and she released him.
As soon as the three men recovered, they all ran out of the parking lot, disappearing into the night.
“Wow,” Childe said, struggling to stand up. A trail of blood ran down the side of his face. He laughed weakly. “Look at you, a little fighter.”
She came to his side, sliding his arm over her shoulders. “We need to get you to a hospital.”
He shook his head. “No hospital. Trust me, these injuries I can treat at my place.”
“Are you sure?!”
“Yes.” He pulled out his car keys, to which Lumine snatched them from his hands.
“Fine. We’ll go to your place to check out your injuries, but there is no way I am letting you drive.”
He held up his hands in defeat. “Okay, okay.” He tilted his head. “Are you going to judo-flip me into submission as well?”
“Don’t tempt me.”
* * *
Walking into Childe’s apartment, she immediately noticed it was very cold. His furniture was sparse, minimalistic, and everything looked like it would cost Lumine her organs to buy. Most of the furniture was all white and glass, and it reminded her of winter. Rich.
The apartment itself was large, and on the wall facing outwards, there were large windows that gave a sparkling view of the city lights. Very rich.
She went to set down the groceries in the kitchen while Childe went to find his first-aid kit.
Lumine was definitely right about his kitchen. It was very spacious, with marble countertops and stainless steel appliances; there was a kitchen island in the middle, fitted with a stovetop, and multiple ovens lined the walls. Mega rich. She was starting to sound like Paimon.
She glanced at the clock. It was already 10pm and they hadn’t even started their first dish. At this rate, we’ll be cooking all night. She started preheating the oven, then exploring the cabinets and pulling out cookware and utensils.
She heard shuffling in the next room, and she walked back into the living room to find Childe on the sofa, digging around in a first-aid kit. She remembered patching up all of Aether’s bumps, bruises and scratches as kids, all his scraped knees and bloody noses.
Lumine went and sat next to Childe, grabbing a towel he had set out on the table, and started wiping away the blood on his face. He froze up, seemingly in surprise.
“It’s going to be hard to patch yourself up,” she told him, ignoring the heat rising to her face from their proximity. “And it’s the least I can do. This is all because of me anyways.”
“Not your fault,” he said. “There are some bad people in the world.”
She started unwrapping the gauze around his head, ready to redress it. “Are you one of them?”
“You’re seriously asking me if I’m like one of those guys?”
“No, of course not.” She set the old gauze on the table. She saw what it was covering: a tiny gash by his temple. Not from that beer bottle? Maybe the fight reopened that gash… “But you do show up with a lot of unexplained wounds, ‘for work.’ You’re mega-rich somehow, despite being a college student. There’s plenty of room for suspicion.”
“What, you think I’m part of some underground crime ring?”
“Maybe…,” she mumbled.
Childe burst out laughing. “Is that why you’ve always seemed so wary of me? Because you thought I was in some gang?”
She put some hydrogen peroxide on a cotton ball, pressing it to his temple. He took a sharp breath in. “Sorry,” she said. “And it’s a perfectly reasonable assumption, I think.”
“Let me reassure you, I’m not in some crime gang. I’m not a criminal.”
“Then what are you?”
“You won’t believe me if I tell you.”
“Try me.” She unwrapped new gauze, waiting for his answer.
He took a breath in, then let it out. “I’m a MMA fighter. I fight for The Harbingers.”
Lumine stopped what she was doing.
She didn’t watch sports; she wasn’t well-versed in anything sports related at all.
But even she knew The Harbingers were a famous, elite team of professional fighters who were always feared for their immense skill in any competition they were in. From the Olympics to the UFC, their eleven champions were absolute powerhouses, dominating each and every one of their fields: judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, MMA.
She suddenly remembered a few years ago, when there was a huge buzz about The Harbingers accepting their youngest fighter yet. Someone with a familiar orange mop of hair.
“You’re Tartaglia,” she realized. She turned to him, eyes wide. “You’re the youngest of the Harbingers.”
He smiled. “You got me.”
She laughed in disbelief. “You’re one of the world’s greatest fighters. And you almost got beat up in a parking lot for me.”
“Hey, obviously, I wasn’t in top shape.” He pointed to the tiny gash on his head and his side. “I was training and sparring earlier. Believe me, on any other day, those guys would’ve been a piece of cake.”
“Okay, whatever you say, Mr. Big Harbinger,” she joked, wrapping new gauze around his head. “Thank you though,” she said, softer, her face feeling warm again. “Thank you for helping me.”
“Looks like you’re pretty capable on your own. I ought to thank you for helping me as well.” He straightened up, a smirk appearing on his lips. “What do you say we have a sparring match?”
“Seriously? As I’m treating your injuries?”
“Okay, another day then. Promise?”
“Our project is due tomorrow,” she reminded him. Her heart felt a little heavier. “Then we won’t be partners anymore.”
He scoffed. “So what? I’m not going to stop talking to you just because our project is over; you’re too interesting for that,” he told her, his eyes locking with hers. “Especially not after tonight.”
Relief found its way back to her, flooding her limbs with unexpected warmth. “You find me interesting. I’m flattered,” she said sarcastically, secretly giddy with happiness.
“And what about you? Are you only going to be interested in me now that you know I’m a big hot shot champion?”
He was trying to play it off like he was a smug, cocky bastard, but Lumine saw right through it. There was a reason he had hid what he did for a living. People probably used him for his fame and riches one too many times.
She shrugged, unwrapping the bandages from his hand. “I liked you even before knowing that.”
…
Lumine froze, her hands still holding the bandages from Childe’s hands.
…Did I just say that out loud?
Childe didn’t move either, and Lumine thought (and hoped) time was standing still somehow.
After a few moments, she slowly started moving again, taking all of the gauze off his hands. Maybe he didn’t even hear me.
“What did you say?” Childe asked.
Damn it. “Nothing.”
He took her hands into his. “You like me.” A statement. Not a question.
The skin on skin contact felt like live wires buzzing through her hands. She refused to look into his eyes, her own eyes burning holes into the couch. “I—Do I?”
“Do you?” His voice was dropping lower and lower. Lumine felt his head move closer to hers. “You can look me in the eyes and tell me,” he whispered, breath brushing against her forehead.
She was sure she was as red as a tomato at this point. She didn’t answer him. She would’ve been a stumbling mess.
“Because I like you. Very much, Lumi.”
Her head shot up, eyes wide. His face was inches from hers. “You do?”
Instead of answering, he started leaning in. Lumine closed her eyes.
DING!
Just as their lips were about to touch, the timer on the oven went off.
Lumine opened her eyes to find Childe in a look of bewilderment.
“Oh, uhm, the oven is done preheating,” she told him.
“Right. Our project,” he said, his voice sounding robotic.
They sat there on the couch, staring at each other, waiting for the other to get up. When neither of them moved, there was a second for a sharp intake of breath before they found their way back to each other, lips locking and hands tangling hair.
Eventually, they found the will to pry apart and actually get started on their project, staying up until the sunrise peeked through the window. The kitchen was a mess, but the project was done, and glistening dishes sat on trays, ready to be fed to their classmates. (She also happily found that Chlide did not lie about his culinary skills, and in fact, it was probably the best home cooking she had ever tasted.)
As the two of them laid down for a power nap before class, Lumine glanced at her phone to see a text from Aether, hours ago: “ohhoho is Lumine still with Childe?? ;)”
Rolling her eyes, she texted back a simple, “yes.”
She silenced her phone as she received a flood of texts from Aether (“WAIT SERIOUSLY?!”, “lumine i literally just woke up”, “ND UR STILL THERE?!?!?!”).
She curled up next to Childe on the couch, who was already passed out.
And to think I didn’t even want to be partnered with him at first.
She smiled.
Thank you, Paimon and Aether.
* * *
so now I have an itch for an MMA sports fic about Lumine and Childe and the rest of the Genshin cast owo