Chapter Text
“Oh, come on, don’t look at me like that,” Childe says lightly with a laugh. “No ulterior motives, I promise. I just want to see how I can hold up against an Adeptus. That’s all.”
Aether just looks at him flatly, lips pressed in a hard line. He does not look reassured and Childe doesn’t blame him one bit. He hasn’t given him a good reason to, after all.
“That is a bad idea. A very bad idea,” the blonde warns. He leans forward, intense golden eyes glaring into Childe’s. “Xiao is not going to fight you just because you want him to, and even if he does, he’s going to win.”
“If you’re trying to discourage me, you’re not doing a very good job. I happen to like being the underdog.”
The blonde sighs, shoulders bunched up and tense. “Childe, you have to take this seriously and let it go. Xiao is really not someone you can just pick a fight with and expect to get out of it unscathed. You can get hurt very badly and I’m not going to be a part of that.”
Childe leans back thoughtfully, noting the way Aether’s shoulders are bunched up and tense and how he never once took his golden eyes away from Childe’s.
“Maybe Zhongli didn’t forget. Maybe he hasn’t told you anything because of this exact reason,” Aether adds pointedly.
(There is no way for either of them to know that, while there is some truth to what Aether said, Zhongli really did forget, having been… distracted the last few days. But that’s a story for another time.)
Childe can clearly see that Aether will not cooperate. He blows a wayward lock of hair from his face in resignation. “Alright, alright,” he sighs. “I understand what you’re saying.”
Aether, who is prepared to convince him some more, freezes. Blinking, he closes his mouth with an audible clack. “I-uh, wow,” he blurts out, still blinking. “Oh, okay, then,” he says with a growing smile on his lips. “Good talk.”
“Good talk,” Childe repeats with a smile that he thinks would come off as genuine but based on the way Aether’s eyes suddenly narrow, it didn’t appear quite as convincing as he thought.
Before Aether could say anything else though, Paimon slips back into the room, precariously balancing a tray too large for her with three bowls of sweet green jelly.
“Paimon’s back with snacks!” she exclaims and Aether is suitably distracted when the tray tilts sideways and the bowls begin to slide to one side.
O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O
“No, please, stop –“
While talking with Aether could have made his life a bit easier, Childe knows he doesn’t really need his help.
“Mercy! Please, sir, mercy!”
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how not to lure the Adeptus out, Childe thinks. Simply observing the people coming and going to the inn yesterday told him some of what he needs to know.
"AAAAHHH!!!"
The little chests of Mora, the precious jewels and trinkets brought to the highest balcony of the inn – those offerings were taken by the inn’s staff and stored somewhere else, long after the people who brought them left in disappointment. So, obviously, the Adeptus is not interested in those.
"My leg!"
The question of what to use as bait is still there but Childe knows it’s only a matter of time. The inn staff know and Aether certainly does, too, but he knows they won’t tell.
Asking the locals is out, too. They’re unsurprisingly protective of their Adepti and don’t like sharing their knowledge with foreigners.
“Stand down, everyone, stand down!”
“We’ll pay, sir, we’ll pay! Please, we’ll pay our debt!”
Childe stops in the middle of nearly dislocating his client’s shoulder. The man, one of the Treasure Hoarders’ leaders, is on his knees with Childe behind him, one hand planted between the man’s shoulder blades, the other gripping the man’s wrist up in a rather uncomfortable twist.
“Well,” he starts, “I’m happy we’re finally on the same page, gentlemen.”
Around them, the man’s lackeys are in various states of beaten up, after mistakenly thinking that they could take him.
He lets go and claps his hands a few times to remove imaginary dust off his gloves, smiling pleasantly. Without skipping a beat, he summons his hydro daggers and tilts one sharp edge just under his client’s chin, close enough to the man’s neck to nick him a little.
“I suggest you don’t move, or this is gonna be messier than it should be,” says Childe to his hostage who freezes with a choked-out whimper. “So, about your payment?”
Several of the men scramble around in their makeshift tents, taking purses and pouches of Mora.
“Get counting,” Childe commands. “Payment in full, including interest and damages comes to about…”
The amount it comes to makes every single one of the Treasure Hoarders pale, but he doesn’t hear a single complaint.
Good. Wisest decision they made today, honestly.
After securing the money in his bag, he leaves them lined up in the camp, broke as hell and beaten up but still alive.
Whistling a tune, he heads back to Wangshu Inn.
He arrives a couple of hours after noon, just in time for some lunch. Unlike yesterday, he decides to have his meal near the kitchen where Aether currently is (cooking something, it looks like) with the excuse of having him and his floating friend join him. Boss lady doesn’t seem happy to have him there, but she doesn’t really have a good reason to have him go away, so too bad for her.
From the sour look on her face, Childe can almost imagine her wishing he’d choke on a bone.
Childe calls Aether the moment he steps into view. The blonde who is holding a plate appears surprised to have seen him and comes close enough for Childe to see what exactly he’s holding. On the plate is a little stack of white cubes, covered in a transparent syrup and sprinkled with little orange bits. It smells faintly of apricots and weirdly enough, the Osmanthus wine that Zhongli likes so much.
“Hi, Childe,” Aether greets. “I didn’t see you this morning. Where’ve you been?”
Childe waves a hand dismissively. “Here and there. Got to do my work every once in a while.” He eyes the plate. “You doing some food delivery this time?”
“Hm? Oh, no, this is for a friend,” Aether answers guilelessly.
“Anyone I know?”
There’s no outward or visible indication of it, but he just knows that the blonde is suddenly on his guard. “Not really, no,” he answers casually.
The way his eyes suddenly look up betrays him.
Hm.