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“I win again.”
The tip of Lumine’s sharp blade is aimed right at Childe’s neck, hovering just below his chin. The Harbinger’s own weapon is abandoned on the floor several feet away, having been knocked out of his hands just moments ago from the force of a well-placed geo construct.
Both their chests heave from exertion as sweat continues to pour down their flushed faces. Though her muscles scream in agony from sheer exhaustion, Lumine keeps her sword nice and steady, waiting for the moment her opponent slowly raises his hands in surrender.
“You got me good, ojou-chan,” Childe says in a low voice. “I yield.”
Lumine instantly lowers her arm and lets out a sigh of relief as her weapon clatters to the ground. She hunches over to better catch her breath while wiping the sweat off her face with one of her dirtied sleeves.
“I hope you’re not going easy on me, Childe,” she taunts him with an amused huff. “That’s the sixth time in a row I beat you. Don’t tell me you’re losing your touc—”
The words die on Lumine’s tongue when she notices an odd expression on Childe’s face. There’s a warm, soft look in his dark blue eyes, a stark difference to the wild glint of battle she is so accustomed to seeing during their spars.
It makes her chest flutter in the weirdest fashion.
On instinct, she reaches a hand out to brush the messy strands of hair out of his eyes to get a better look at his captivating gaze, but he intercepts her hand with his own and laces their fingers together.
Lumine feels a tiny spark of electricity shoot through her body from the touch of his leather gloves against her flushed skin, leaving her heart thumping wildly in her chest. She wonders if the small shock is a side effect from the prior activation of his delusion.
Childe gives her hand a gentle squeeze. She looks back up at him, cheeks tinged with a deep blush she desperately wills to die down. He licks his lips like he’s preparing to say something important, and Lumine finds herself unable to look away, holding her breath in anticipation.
Just when he opens his mouth to utter his first word, the door of the Golden House opens with a loud slam.
“Lumine!” Paimon screeches. “What’s taking so long? Don’t forget we have a lunch reservation in 15 minutes!”
She leaps away from Childe, pulling her hand out of his grasp at the shout of her little flying companion. “Oh,” she gasps softly before turning towards the doorway with a small, apologetic smile. “Sorry, Paimon! I lost track of time.”
The two of them had made plans to meet Zhongli and Hu Tao for lunch at noon. Since she was already in the area, Lumine thought she would drop by the Golden House in the morning and sneak in a quick workout with Childe, but their fight lasted longer than she had anticipated.
“Hurry up and get clean! Paimon’s gonna go read the menu again so we know what to order beforehand!” She lets out an excited giggle before floating back out the door.
At the mention of food, Lumine’s stomach begins to rumble loudly. She hadn’t eaten breakfast in anticipation of a large lunch, so now the only thing on her mind is a giant, hot plate of tender Tianshu Meat.
Her mouth waters at the thought of it.
“Alright, goodbye Childe,” she says quickly, barely thinking in her distracted state. “See you next week.” Lumine reaches up on her tippy toes and presses a chaste kiss to his lips before jogging out the building and back to her rented room for the week.
With a happy hum, she waltzes past Paimon who is scrutinizing the menu on their bed and steps foot into their small bathroom. It isn’t until she’s almost done shimmying out of her sweaty dress that a sudden mortifying realization finally crosses her mind—one that almost causes her to lose balance and fall face-first into the tub.
She had accidentally kissed Childe goodbye.
Childe hasn’t moved an inch since Lumine left the Golden House in a hurried rush.
His lips still tingle from the softness of her lips, that gentle pressure which sent a spark down his back, leaving him aching for more.
He can scarcely believe it happened. Lumine had kissed him, just like that. The woman of his secret affection casually pecking him on the lips like it was a normal occurrence between them.
Surely this isn’t a dream, right?
For weeks on end, Childe had agonized over how best to reveal his feelings towards Lumine. He considered inviting her to his Liyue apartment for a nice home-cooked dinner or asking her out on a moonlit walk along the shores of Yaoguang Shoal where he would openly admit his fondness for her and beg that she give him a chance to prove his worthiness as her partner.
Never did he imagine that Lumine would be the one to reveal her affections first and especially with a kiss!
Childe would be lying if he said he had never pictured their first kiss together. He always figured it would happen after he escorted her home from a well-planned, romantic evening full of laughter and shy glances. Definitely not after a brutal fight that left them both gross, sweaty, and barely able to catch their breaths.
But with the memory of Lumine’s sweet lips still burning in his mind, Childe realizes he doesn’t mind that their first kiss was nothing like he had imagined. In fact, it was better than anything he could have dreamed of.
After all, what is more perfect than the woman of his dreams kissing him after soundly kicking his butt in battle?
Yeah, not much else.
“Miss Lumine, are you feeling alright?”
Lumine blinks several times, realizing she had been spacing out yet again. She pushes her thoughts of a certain tall, orange-haired hydro bow user to the back of her mind and gives the man sitting across from her a polite yet strained smile.
“Yes, of course.”
Zhongli gives her a stern look which causes her to inwardly wince. He isn’t fooled by her weak attempt at hiding her distress, especially with those sharp eyes of his.
“Yeah, Lumine. You’ve been acting kind of strangely.” Paimon points at her plate which is still filled to the brim with untouched food. “You’ve barely eaten anything!”
Normally, the two of them could polish off the entire menu at a restaurant without a hitch, but this time around, only Paimon has been the one stuffing her face until she can barely speak. Lumine found herself half-heartedly stabbing at her cold food with her chopsticks, rolling things around her plate with no intention of eating them whatsoever. Her once voracious appetite had disappeared, replaced with a giant pit of nerves deep inside her stomach.
Hu Tao crosses her arms against her chest and frowns in her seat next to Zhongli. “While I’m all for getting new customers, I don’t want you to be the next one, Lumine! At least, not for a very very long time. Now come on, eat up before the food gets cold!”
Lumine squeezes her hands into tiny fists underneath the table. She’s ashamed of herself for causing her friends to worry, ruining what was supposed to be a fun lunch for everyone to catch up with one another. “I’m sorry. I’m just not feeling particularly hungry at the moment.”
Paimon sets down her chopsticks and flutters over to Lumine’s head, pressing one of her tiny hands against her forehead as if checking to see if she had a fever. “That gross Fatui man didn’t do anything to you this morning, did he?”
Lumine stiffens in alarm.
Well, not exactly.
It was more like what she had done to him.
Zhongli presses a polite fist to his mouth and clears his throat loudly, causing everyone’s attention to shift to him. “Miss Lumine, may I speak with you outside for a moment, please?”
Eager to avoid any further questions from Paimon about a certain Harbinger, Lumine nods and scoots out of her chair. She stands up and nervously smoothes out the nonexistent wrinkles in her dress. “Sorry Paimon, Hu Tao. We’ll be right back.”
The concerned looks from her two friends burn into her back as Zhongli escorts her out of the restaurant. Once they exit through the front door, Lumine appreciates the fresh air and lets out a deep breath. It makes her feel a little better, though the uneasiness in her stomach still persists.
“I apologize for disrupting our lunch,” Zhongli says, hands clasped behind his back. “But I wanted to inquire about the unknown matter that is troubling you.”
Lumine bites her lips. “Ah, yes. That.” Though she is hesitant to reveal the truth to Paimon, she feels more inclined to openly discuss her little mishap with Zhongli. Considering he is a former Archon with thousands of years of life experience, he could offer some advice or at least a comforting hand, right?
She looks down at the ground, shuffling back and forth on her feet as she tries to come up with the right words to explain the situation as elegantly as possible.
I kissed Childe by accident.
No, too direct.
While distracted by the thought of Tianshu Meat, I accidentally kissed Childe goodbye because I often imagine us dating and forgot that it wasn't real.
No, way too honest.
Hypothetically speaking, let’s say I know someone who has a massive crush on a person but is too afraid to reveal their feelings in case it ruins their friendship…
Zhongli grows tired of waiting.
“So, this is about Childe, I gather.”
Lumine inhales sharply as her cheeks burn in embarrassment. “No.”
“Are you trying to deceive a former Archon?”
“Maybe.”
Zhongli lets out a soft chuckle and Lumine follows suit, albeit nervously. He presses a gentle hand to the top of her head in a comforting fashion. “I believe I’m already aware of the situation involving the two of you.”
A cold sweat starts to break out on the back of Lumine’s neck as she stiffens underneath his touch. “O-oh, really?” Her mind races as she tries to understand how Zhongli could possibly know about the kiss. Did someone spy on them in the Golden House? Did he happen to speak with Childe right before lunch? Is it possible that the God of Contracts also has the power to read minds?
Oblivious to her sudden panic, Zhongli removes his hand to cross his arms over his chest and nods to himself in a definitive manner. “Yes. I can only assume Childe’s confession did not go well.”
Lumine pauses, her mind drawing a blank. “What? A confession?”
Zhongli stares at her bewildered face for several seconds before looking away rather awkwardly. “Ah, I see.” He seems very intent on studying a bush outside the restaurant, pointedly avoiding her now suspicious gaze. “It appears I was wrong. Please disregard my previous statement.”
Lumine’s eyebrow twitches in irritation. This man has already kept far too many secrets from her and like hell is she going to let him keep one more.
“What do you mean?” she presses, resting her hands on her hips. “And don’t tell me it’s under contract again.”
Zhongli doesn’t respond right away. He takes a deep breath and releases it slowly before turning back to face her once again. “I shall set up a reservation for dinner tonight. You will find your answers then. Now, let us rejoin our companions for lunch. It would be rude to step out for too long.”
Lumine scrunches her nose, not exactly pleased that he had dodged her question by deflecting it until later, but she agrees anyway to avoid making a scene in front of the restaurant. As she follows him back inside, she lets out a silent sigh of relief knowing that her kiss with Childe had not been publicized to all of Liyue, but the apprehension eating away at her stomach has yet to disappear.
What did Childe want to confess to her?
“Childe, are you even listening?”
Signora is in the midst of giving a mandatory brief to all the Fatui agents stationed in Liyue when she notices a certain orange-haired man who doesn’t appear to be paying any attention. Childe sits alone in the back corner of the large Northland Bank conference room, content to let his mind wander instead of helping his fellow Harbinger run the meeting.
With a reluctant sigh, he looks up to see Signora’s uncovered eye sharply narrowed at him. The temperature in the room drops several degrees, a subtle warning for him to listen or face her wrath. The other Fatui agents in the room know better than to get involved or even acknowledge the tension between the two. They remain stiff and quiet in their seats, holding their breaths to avoid setting off either of the two feared Harbingers.
Childe cocks his head to the side, a bored expression on his face. “Yeah, yeah. I got it,” he drawls. “New trainees arriving next week, new debts for me to collect, and new contacts I need to establish in Inazuma. Anything else?”
With a flick of her wrist, Signora ignites the paper agenda in her hand. Several of the Fatui agents violently flinch at the small fireball which extinguishes itself in seconds, spreading ashes throughout the air. “No, that’s it. You are all dismissed.”
No one dares move a muscle until Signora exits the room. Then, it is a mad dash to leave with no one wanting to be left alone with the Eleventh Harbinger who still sits quietly in the back, a menacing aura emanating from him that could strike fear into anyone’s heart.
“Um, sir.”
Childe looks to his left to find a Fatui messenger saluting at him, hand quivering nervously against his forehead. He almost takes pity on the poor man. “Yes?”
The messenger shakily hands him a small piece of folded paper. When Childe opens it up, he immediately recognizes the familiar handwriting.
“You received an invitation for dinner with Zhongli tonight at 6 pm.”
“Oh?” Childe reacts with an interested hum. “I wonder what the old man wants this time.” He frowns as he finishes reading the rest of the note. “Hopefully more than my Mora.” With a shrug, he stuffs the paper in his pocket and dismisses the messenger who is more than happy to take his leave, scurrying out of the room after a polite farewell.
Childe leans back in his seat, now alone in the empty conference room. Zhongli’s unexpected invitation does throw a wrench in his plans to ask Lumine out to dinner tonight, but perhaps he could settle with grabbing some dessert with the her afterward.
He licks his lips.
Dessert sounds perfect.
Lumine hurries into the restaurant fifteen minutes late after getting sucked into a conversation with Xiangling and Chef Mao when dropping off Paimon at their place. Not wanting her noisy companion to eavesdrop on her meeting with Zhongli, she had managed to convince Paimon to spend the night with the two Liyuen cooks with the promise of free leftovers from Wanmin Restaurant.
Thankfully, it didn’t take more than that to appease her.
Lumine steps into the small reserved room in the back of the restaurant. “Sorry Zhongli,” she apologizes. “I got caught up with something and—oh. ” She freezes in place at the sight of the unexpected figure seated at the table. A small blush begins to creep into her cheeks. “Childe?!”
To her relief, he looks just as surprised to see her as she does to see him. His chopsticks clumsily fall out of his hand, clattering against the table as his eyes widen in shock. The two of them stare at each other in complete silence for several seconds before Lumine is the first to look away.
Her face burns as she is suddenly reminded of his soft lips against hers. She instinctively starts to retreat, slowly backing out of the room, desperate to escape from whatever situation she now finds herself in.
“Um, sorry. I don’t mean to interrupt,” she manages to squeak out. “I probably have the wrong room. I was supposed to meet with—”
“Zhongli?”
Lumine stiffens. “Wait. How did you know that?”
Childe lets out a weary sigh. He leans back in his seat and stares up at the ceiling, arms crossed over his chest with a deep frown on his face. “Well, that’s because I was also supposed to meet with him here tonight.”
The realization hits Lumine hard.
“Oh.”
Zhongli had set them up. He had no intention of joining either of them for dinner tonight, instead tricking them into meeting one another instead.
Lumine fights the urge to materialize her sword in her hand and go looking for the funeral consultant. She wonders if it’s possible to curse an Archon.
Childe shifts in his seat, looking disgruntled. Clearly, she isn’t the only one bothered by Zhongli’s rather underhanded methods. “That’s the second time he’s fooled me,” the Harbinger mutters bitterly. “And he even convinced me to drop off a bag of Mora at the restaurant beforehand to reserve the room and pay for dinner in advance.” He covers his face with his gloved hands and groans in frustration. “I’m such an idiot.”
Lumine can’t suppress the round of giggles that overtakes her. She immediately presses a hand to her mouth, concerned that Childe would not appreciate her amusement at his misfortune, but he doesn’t appear bothered, instead echoing her laughter with his own.
“Well, since the forces of fate have brought us here together, how about we enjoy some dinner?” He winks at her. “It’s on me.”
Lumine hesitates.
On the one hand, she would rather not be alone in a room with Childe after the morning incident. But on the other hand, she is starving after skipping lunch and it would be wrong to turn down a free meal, no?
In the end, her stomach wins out. Perhaps Paimon has been influencing her a bit too much.
As soon as she sits down, the waiter enters the room and takes their order. They choose several dishes to share before the server exits, leaving behind a tense silence in the room.
Lumine stares at the chopsticks on the table, too nervous to look up at Childe as she fiddles with her hands in her lap. Every second that passes feels painfully slow, and she begins to regret listening to her stomach instead of the tiny voice in her head that screamed at her to run away.
She waits for him to berate her, to tell her not to touch him ever again, to say how inappropriate it was to kiss him without his permission, and that he doesn’t like her that way, not now, not ever—
“So, where is Paimon?”
“I’m sorry about the kiss.”
Lumine winces when she realizes he hadn’t even asked about it. The apology just blurted out the moment he opened his mouth, uncaring of what he was actually saying.
When she steals a quick glance at his face, she is stunned to see the mixture of shock and hurt in his eyes. It causes her heart to clench painfully in her chest.
“You’re…sorry?”
“Yes,” she explains quickly, her voice a little shaky. “I wasn’t thinking. I don’t want you to hate me over this.”
Lumine squeezes her eyes shut when Childe doesn’t respond right away. She prepares herself to hear the worst and face the consequences of her actions, but then he says something that eases the fear she had been holding onto ever since their morning spar.
“Lumine, I could never hate you.”
A pressure lifts off her chest and suddenly it’s much easier to breathe again.
“You just caught me off guard,” he explains with a soft chuckle, one hand rubbing the back of his head. “I always thought I would be the one to confess first.”
Her eyes widen.
It’s just like what Zhongli had said. Childe wanted to confess something to her.
“Confess what?” she asks, a little breathless.
Childe raises an eyebrow. “Oh, you don’t know?” He grins at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes that leaves her half-nervous and half-excited at the same time. “How about I just show you instead?”
He leans over the table and kisses her.
It’s short and chaste like the one she gave him earlier that morning, but it feels just as electric, leaving her heart pounding and body craving for more. When Childe begins to pull away, Lumine stands up in her seat and grabs the collar of his shirt to pull him closer against her before pressing her lips to his once again, a little rougher this time.
He lets out a surprised noise in the back of his throat but reciprocates when she starts to deepen the kiss. They melt against one another, hands wandering as small sighs and little moans fill the room when a figure appears in the doorway.
“Your food has arriv—err , I’ll come back later.”
The waiter scurries away without another word.
Lumine jerks away from Childe and covers her reddening face with her hands. She wonders how long it will take before all of Liyue knows that the Eleventh Harbinger who summoned an ancient god to destroy their lands was caught kissing one of the many saviors of Liyue Harbor that fateful day.
Maybe she should consider switching her daily commissions back to Mondstadt to avoid the shame.
Unlike her, Childe doesn’t appear to be embarrassed at all about being caught by their unsuspecting waiter. He has a dreamy, goofy look on his face that makes her want to punch and kiss him at the same time.
“So,” Childe says, pushing his hair back with one of his gloved hands while Lumine tries to ignore how infuriatingly handsome he looks while doing so. “How about we skip dinner and go right to dessert?”
Lumine raises her eyebrows at his suggestive words. She cocks her head to the side and taps a finger on her lips. “Hmm, while that does sound tempting, you already paid for all this food. It would be a shame if we let it all go to waste.”
And as if on command, her stomach growls loudly.
Childe instantly bursts into bright laughter while Lumine slinks back into her seat with a hint of embarrassment. She clears her throat and props her elbows on the table, resting her head in her hands.
“But I still expect dessert later.”
A wide grin grows on Childe’s face. “I’ll be more than happy to provide.”