Chapter Text
Kaeya poked Childe's cheek, retracting his finger back when the ginger sent him a glare. Childe kept his face rested in his palm with his elbow resting atop the dark tabletop, eyes glaring into the blue haired man who proceeded to twirl the shorter curled clumps of his blue side ponytail with his pointer finger.
"What's got you so worked up? You aren't usually so on edge like this." Kaeya asked, also leaning closer into the table, chin in palm. "Don't bother him too much," Diluc cuts in. Kaeya turns to him, leaning back into the luxurious wooden chair. His arms going backwards to support the back of his head. Diluc's leather shoes clap satisfying against the marble floors, stepping closer to the table the other two rested at. "I hear the last lay he had didn't satisfy him enough."
"What?-" Childe pops up in surprise. "How did you know?" The ginger turns back to Diluc. The eye-patched male chuckles out in a loud sardonic manner, then after slowing down in his festive of laugher he bounded up again loudly. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA."
"What?! Why are you laughing now?" Childe turns to Kaeya. "It's just ridiculous." Kaeya clears up the tears out of his eyes.
"I can give you one of mine if you want," Kaeya teased, sending the ginger male a wink as Childe winced threw up his male finger in response, but this only elicited a bout of laughter from the navy ponytailed male.
"Fuck you." Childe groaned, embarrassed.
"Enough with this shit," Diluc scolded. "The auction's about to start, hurry up." He adjusted the base of his gloves, awaiting for Kaeya to take his arm other arm, hooking it under the other and walking away without another look to the former embarrassed male.
Ever since Lumine had broken up with him last week, it had been a swirl of downhill emotions.
"If you don't hurry Childe, it's going to start without you!" Kaeya called out as the large wooden door shut.
Childe broke out of his haze and made way to the door, following after the other two who had begun to what he knew as, USTFCS.
Unresolved sexual tension flirting, couple style. Also a word he just made up five seconds ago.
~*~
Childe was seated besides Diluc, with Kaeya Diluc's left. They were sitting in the middle of the main body within the auditorium. A vastly large wooden stage set in front of them with a fancy podium to the right atop of the stage, mic and everything. Red velvet curtains were fastened to the side of the frame of the stage with golden rope holding said curtains together.
"Is there a catalogue?" Kaeya asked, blue-lilac eyes sifting through the area.
"Here," Diluc offered the piece of paper to Kaeya.
With a sneer Kaeya passed the paper to Childe who had taken it without another thought, quickly going through the folded sheet, tiny black print listing out items, and several things out of his interest.
"I knew we should've never came." Diluc commented offhandedly, taking a glass of wine offered to him by a waiter walking past through the aisle.
Kaeya let out a chilled exhale. "Oh well, we're here, better not to waste our money by leaving."
"Our?" Diluc questions, eyebrows scrunching. "I paid for your ticket."
"I'm technically dating you so it's technically our money." Said blue haired male, sending the long haired red head a look of triumph.
Diluc didn't say anything but a bunch of incomprehensible flurry of mutters escaped him right before he sipped his drink that Childe didn't care to listen too closely at.
Soon the lights dimmed, and the curtains pulled apart from the luxurious stage, revealing the auctioneer with his ivory mask and red markings.
"Welcome to the market!" His voice called out from the mic, melodically spreading from the speakers to the stage of people throughout the audience. There were a flurry of murmurs among the people when two people carrying a large, very expensive looking antique vase stepped into the stage, walking slowly and placing it on the table. Base color being white, with designs of gold and brown flowers painted onto the main body, with a dragon's body curling from one end of the base and making it's way to the other side. Childe found no interest in the vase, but he couldn't deny, it certainly was beautiful.
"Well well, look at what we have here folks," He called out joyously. "A one of a kind Liyuen vase. Said to be made from a master potter long ago, said to be a friend of Morax's by the detail and fine extremities of this pot."
"We'll start at 200,000." He commented after. People began raising their bidding pads and numbers shouted from across the room.
"240,000!"
"300,000!"
"350,000!"
"500,000!"
"Sold!" A loud boom from the speakers caused Childe to cringe in his seat, pressing his right ear into his shoulder. "To bidder number 32!"
"Let me know when something interesting comes up," Childe mutters to Diluc who doesn't respond to said comment but Childe knows he heard him.
The vase is moved off stage as another object comes in. Another vase, a painting, more vases, more paintings, a jewel, jewelry, clothing--objects with impossibly high prices, and even more so boringness. This continues for some time and Childe is laid back, eyes fluttering half awake and half asleep. But something catches his ears, the rolling of the wheels might have been a dead give away but two burly males come in tolling with them a medium sized glass tank, filled with water pooling in half way. His eyes stay from the top of the tank and trail down to the contents inside the water.
A mermaid.
Childe fixes his position from his seat, one from carelessness and disinterest to intense focus.
This movement catches Diluc and Kaeya's eyes as they watch Childe with curiosity, awaiting his next actions.
"This is the last item of tonight's auction ladies and gentlemen," The auctioneer calls out, voice full and excited. "This one is a rare catch, found in Luhua pool. Do whatever you wish with this fine specimen!"
The auctioneer continues to talk but Childe pays no attention to the next words that come out of the auctioneers mouth, and only focuses on the creature within the dirty meddled water.
The mermaid doesn't make a move to do anything. Childe can see a short, silver rusted chain that leads to the mermaid's pale neck, locking him in. His eyes move from the chain to the mermaid's face who's eyes wander among the crowd but stays huddles in the far corner of the tank defenseless to all the eyes that stare. Childe can't see what color it's eyes are but his eyes move from his eyes to the flurry of beautiful, ash brown hair that lifts in the water and moves gracefully along his subtle movements. The amber brown at the ends of his hair are beautiful, absolutely exquisite as the long strands of his hair and bangs lift to and from his slim face.
Then his tail, that is the color of the earth. Not an ugly brown color, but the scales of his tale all range from an ombre beautiful amber to a dark earthy tone at the ends of his fins. Childe finds himself fascinated with said creature. He must have him.
I can look at him all day long. Childe thinks dazed.
"We'll start the bidding at 600,000!" The auctioneers boom of a voice splits Childe out of his haze as he lifts up his paddle into the air and shouting the first number he thinks this beautiful specimen is worth.
"1,000,000."