"Come on, is that the best you can do?", he taunted.
That cheeky expression...
"I could do my best if you just shut your damn mouth!", the blonde man cursed and continued his attacks.
"Sure, sure. Whatever floats your boat", he chuckled.
That amused chuckle...
"Oh! Almost but not enough", he flipped the blonde man by kicking his defenseless leg. He chuckled again, "Where's your mind at, Aether?" and held out his hand to laying blonde man.
Those long limbs...
"Argh. I think Amber's mad at me", Aether replied and took his hand.
"Amber? Why would she?" he asked and then gasped comically, "don't tell me you forgot her pet bunny's birthday".
That fake gasped expression...
"What the fuck! How did you remember that?" Aether asked him while wearing tired expression.
"Dude, she had been skipping around and preparing balloons with 'happy birthday' printed on yesterday", he chuckled with amusement lighten up in his eyes.
Those deep-sea blue eyes...
"Arrr, great. Even YOU know", Aether said while pinching his nose.
"Hey! I'm just better observer than you are, you dumbass", he retorted.
"Oh, really? Then, predict this!" Aether yelled and held him in playful headlock.
That messy ginger hair... She sighed dreamily.
"Lumi? Lumine!" her wine-coloured friend called at her.
"Wha? What?" Lumine woke up from her daydream.
"Ugh, not Childe again!" Rosaria complained.
"No! I am not!" Lumine tried to deny but Rosaria gave her unconvinced expression.
Her another friend, Keqing sighed and said, "well, that's not new. Anyway, we accept your invitation to go on a trip before we jumped into our career lives. Since you haven't chosen where, we are debating where to go."
"Yeah, where do you two choose?", Lumine smiled and focused back to her friends. She and her friends are currently sitting on the gym floor, having a break after a kickboxing training session.
"I'm thinking of trekking Dragonspine and Keqing here wants to visit seaside", Rosaria told her.
"I'm tired of mountains, my hometown is in Liyue, my college is in Liyue. I want some sea,too", Keqing explained and pleaded to Lumine, "you understand, right?"
"Well... Aether and I haven't been to seaside for at least 3 years so why not?", Lumine answered while giving Rosaria a puppy face. Keqing also gave a puppy face to her.
"Urgh, I didn't want sunburn. Fine, fine. We'll go seaside", Rosaria complied.
"Yes!" Lumine and Keqing high-fived each other.
"Hey! What're you girls doing?" the man with ginger hair asked and sat beside Lumine that caused her heart skipped a beat.
"The twins are planning one last trip before our careers separate us", Keqing said and tossed Aether a water bottle which he caught and thanked her.
"Trip? Without me? Oujo-chan, how dare you?!" he gasped.
"Relax, I can't go anywhere without you tagging along, Childe", Lumine said while looking into his deep-sea blue eyes.
"Damn right, you aren't", he chuckled while grabbing her under his right arm.
"Ewww! Childe, you're sweaty and smelly! Get off!", Lumine complained while trying to keep her heartbeat under control.
"All the more reasons to hug you", Childe laughed and kept hugging her.
"You know, if you were straight, I would have ripped you off of my sister with all that skin-ship", Aether said with bored eyes.
"Then, I'm lucky that I'm not", Childe snorted.
Lumine felt a little down. Even if she already knew that. Even after he already explained that he's into guys. Even after 4 years of friendship with him. It still dampens her mood a bit. Let's rewind a bit.
~Freshman year~
Aether and Lumine moved there to attend Liyue college. Even though they were used to travelling around because of their family habit, it was their first time moving around without their parents. Their parents are well off enough to let them have an apartment near the campus. Needless to say, they were exciting to monopolize their own apartment. Since they were new to the area, they were always curious to new experiences and open to make new friendships.
It was one of the first parties they went in their freshman year. The twins were invited to a party of girl named Hu Tao.
"Whoa!", they both exclaimed after seeing all those people drinking and dancing around.
"Hey! You two made it!", Hu tao greeted them with a grin and handing out red plastic cups.
"Hey. Nice party, though I didn't expect a fresher's party would be this popular", Lumine smiled and accepted the cup.
"Oh-oh. Who do you think I am? Of course, this is to be expected", Hu tao exclaimed and continued, "well, that and my cousin being a popular young professor helps."
"Wait. Professor Zhongli is here, too?", Aether asked with wide eyes.
"Duh. It's his place anyway", Hu Tao replied with a smug face.
"Arr. Are you sure that this is ok to him?", Lumine asked.
"He's actually away with his girlfriend, Guizhong, for a weekend short trip. What he doesn't know won't hurt him. Though don't tell other girls that he's not here, half of the female population would leave so", Hu Tao said with her signature wink.
"Well, if you say so", Lumine gave amused smile to her twin.
"Great! Now, you two need to make way to the stage for comedy double act", Hu Tao pushed them a bit into the inner part of the living room.
"WAIT! WAIT! We didn't hear any of this!", the twin stopped their footsteps and looked back at Hu Tao with pale faces.
"Hahaha. You two should have seen your faces. Even your words are the same", Hu Tao laughed and said, "relax, it was just a joke. Anyway, enjoy the party. I'm gonna go tease other people. Cheers!", and left the twin with a skip in her steps.
The twin exhaled deeply and smiled to each other.
"I knew that accepting her invitation is a good choice even though she tends to prank around. Look at all these people, it's time we make new friends here", Aether said to his twin with smug face.
"Yeah, yeah. You were right", Lumine said with a smile.
Then, the twins met some of the classmates and chatted around. Until Lumine realized her twin isn't coming back from getting them drinks. 'That's odd. He's supposed to be back by now', Lumine thought.
"Hey, I wanna go look for Aether. See you in class", Lumine bid goodbye to her friends, Venti and Barbara.
"Ok, see ya! Take care!", Barbara replied to her. And, Lumine made way to the drinks.
Before she reached the drinks, she found Aether with Amber, the girl who showed them around the campus on their first day, on the dance floor. She was going to join them until Aether noticed and sent her 'don't come here. I wanna flirt with her more' plea look.
Lumine immediately noticed that and smiled mischievously while giving him 'rock on' sign. She turned away from them and walked towards the drinks.
'Now, what should I do?', Lumine thought while getting her a new drink. She looked around people until she noticed a man with ginger hair and blue eyes joking around with his friends. 'Ohhh~ Look at that eye candy', Lumine checked him out. He was surrounded with a girl with platinum-blonde hair and a guy with dark-blue hair. She was checking their body language and concluded that they are just friends. She was checking him out with no shame until she noticed that he was staring back at her with an amused smile.
'Archon. That smile', Lumine smiled back at him. The twins were raised to be open with their feelings so they aren't shy to let others know what they are thinking. Their parents taught them that 'if you want to do something, do it, cuz regret of not doing it is even more stressful later'. Of course, it used to lead them to some fight when they were younger.
The ginger hair man made an excuse to his friends and made way to her. He flashed a charming smile to her, "hey, care to tell me why are you so intensively looking at my way?"
"I'm just appreciating the physical stature of a certain handsome guy. If you don't like the attention, you should shave your hair to reduce attraction", Lumine replied while keeping an eye contact with him.
He looked surprised for a moment before smirking, "ohh. You just earned full points. You don't shy away from confrontation and you somehow insult and compliment me at the same time."
He continued, "call me, Childe. Freshman. Pleasure to make you friend", while handing out his hand.
"Lumine, also a freshman. And, just friend? Am I already in friendzone?", she retorted while giving him a firm handshake.
He chuckled, "it's not like that. I am just into older guys."
"Oh no. Damn, why all hot guys aren't available?", she grumbled while taking a gulp of her drink.
"That's offensive to all those straight guys here", he said with an amused tone.
"Uh-huh, don't tell me you're here for Professor Zhongli", she asked.
"What do you think?", he replied with a question.
"Sorry to disappoint you but he's straight as a pole and taken", she answered with a teasing tone.
"Well, I can still appreciate his handsomeness", he replied after drinking all of the contents of his cup.
"Can't deny that statement", she said while looking back at her twin.
"Anyway, I like you. Friends?", he asked again while drawing her eyes towards him.
"Sure, but I'll be a friend that checks you out unconditionally. Are you ok with that?", she asked for confirmation.
"Haha. Guess I'll appreciate your attention from now on", he replied and nodded towards the dance floor, "your twin?"
"Yep, that's Aether. And the girl is Amber, who's he currently flirting if you haven't noticed", she answered after finishing her cup as well.
"Cool. Now, let's hit the floor to commemorate our beginning of friendship", he held up his hand for her to take.
Lumine accepted his hand and together they danced. It wasn't sexual or anything. It was just two friends enjoying the party together.
And, it was the beginning of their friendship. They didn't have many classes together but whenever they had together, they sat together to make jokes at other students or eating snacks in secret. They even entered the same club, kickboxing. Childe said that his father taught him how to fight because he's one of the military officials in his hometown. The twins have learnt self-defense and other basics because their parents would never let them travel without knowing how to protect and fight. There, Lumine met Keqing and Rosaria, both of them weren't friendly at first but she found a way to their hearts. And now, three girls hung out even after the club ended.
Aether finally confessed to Amber in their junior year and started dating meanwhile Lumine and Childe didn't enter any romantic relationship. They just enjoyed their friendship. They would go on a friendly date on beach once a week without anyone involved. They would have an occasional sleepover whether Aether is available or not. They would have a cooking contest on Sunday. They would introduce each other to their families. They would pretend each other's girlfriend/boyfriend if someone is too much for them to handle alone. He would protect her if she had too much drinks. She would let him copy her notes. He would give her a piggyback whenever she's whining about walking with sore legs after club. She would cut his hair cuz he doesn't like how hairdressers demolish his hairstyle. He would lend her his hoodies whenever she feels necessary. She would eat his strange-looking yet delicious signature dish when others refuse to do so. What started as a small crush becomes an unrequited love for Lumine. Since she knows he's not into girls, she doesn't want to tell him her feelings that would put him off.
~Present~
"So, Lumi, what do you think?", Childe's voice woke her from remembering their past.
"Huh? Oops. Can you repeat again?", Lumine smiled apologetically at her friends.
Rosaria gave her 'really?' look and Aether explained, "we're thinking of 'Golden Apple Archipelago' VS 'Guyun Stone Forest' ."
"Oh! I love GAA. I vote for it", she replied and raised her hand.
"Well, if Oujo-chan wants it, she shall get it. I vote for it, too", Childe answered and held up his hand to hold her smaller raising hand.
"Ahhh~ I knew you love me", she teased him.
"I have to agree with you or else you might poison my food again", he teased her back.
"Why you-", she jumped onto him to play fight.
Rosaria ignored them and asked Aether, "that's 3-2. You haven't asked your girlfriend, right?"
"Yeah, I will ask her after I have apologized to her", he sighed.
"Whom are you guys inviting as well? Cuz we know we're not the only people you guys are inviting", Keqing asked him.
"Well, there're five of us, Amber, Venti, Albedo, Hu Tao and Barbara for now", he answered.
"For now? I knew you two would invite the whole class", Rosaria snorted.
"Nah. We're not. Just a few more", he laughed before throwing his water bottle to fighting duo, "hey! Knock it off. We only have less than 3 minutes before next session."
"Saved by the bottle, Oujo-chan?", Childe smirked down at Lumine while holding her down under him.
She quickly used this moment to flip him and sit on his thighs while using her hips to lock him in place, "oh please, I don't need handicap to keep you under me". She kept eye contact and smirked before getting up to join her twin and friends on training floor.
No one noticed that a certain emotion flashed in Childe's eyes or the way he gulped while staring at a certain short blonde girl who was on his thighs a moment ago.