author's note: just some childe brainrot lol requests are open btw
"my beloved warrior," you whisper softly, crouching down in front of the sofa. tentatively, you reach out to the sleeping man's face, tracing the curve of his face with your fingertips. "i hope you're resting well."
seeing him smile in his sleep, you lower your palm against his cheek. your thumb gently caresses his cheekbone as you press your lips on his forehead to give him a kiss.
from your spot, you silently admire your beloved's sleeping face. though he always had a boyish glow to him, it was rare to see him this peaceful — to see him void of any worry or stress. the sight of him sleeping peacefully with a smile as you continue to caress his cheek brings a smile on your lips.
you kiss him again, this time on the lips, and carefully stand up. wanting to cook a meal for him once he wakes up, you turn around only to be held into place. you look down, gasping at the sight of his fingers wrapped around your wrist.
"don't go," he says softly yet huskily, still not fully awake. "...missed you."
"but i need to make dinner, darling," you say but you crouch back down nonetheless. "just go back to sleep."
he shakes his head and you can see his lips curve into a pout. how cute — you think, giggling softly. before you could convince him to continue his slumber, he sits up and pats the space beside him, an expectant look on his face.
with a sigh, you give in to his demands and sit down on the spot. he lets out a happy hum and lays back down, face pressed against your stomach and arms holding onto yours. he nuzzles against you, causing you to let out a laugh.
"i'll stay. so go back to sleep, okay?" you run your fingers through his hair. "i love you, my beloved warrior."
his breathing evens out as he falls asleep again, but you could hear the tiny "i love you too" that escaped his lips before it did.
synopsis: childe’s family seems to know about his feelings for you... maybe he shouldn’t have taken you to meet them; 2.9k
tags: roommates, friends to lovers if you squint, fluff
notes: ib @/test-tube! this is crossposted to my AO3 but no other reposts are allowed :)
Childe wrote about you a lot. At first, he told himself that it was just because he needed to tell his siblings about something other than his “job”.
However, soon every letter back home had a mention of you. His older siblings smiled fondly at the letters, clearly seeing that Childe had developed feelings for you — it just seemed that he hadn’t noticed.
It wasn’t until he got a particular letter back that he started to think about his relationship — rather, friendship — with you. The words were written at the bottom of the page, in a handwriting akin to scribbling, and in clear contrast to the neater handwriting at the top:
“are you and y/n married? —teucer :)”
Childe felt his cheeks burn as he read it, failing to hide the smile spreading across his face. As much as he hated to admit it, maybe Teucer was onto something. He had been staring at you an awful lot lately, and maybe that weird feeling he got in his chest around was him getting flustered, so what? It wasn’t like his feelings were anything more than—
He heard you giggle from across the room and almost forgot what he was thinking about, the warm smile never leaving his face when his eyes landed on you.
“What do you look so flustered about, huh?” You asked, rising from your chair. He held the letter close to his chest. “Don’t tell me Teucer’s gotten into writing romance novels.”
“It’s nothing,” He assured you, and then a few moments later, “I have some free time in a week or so, how would you like to come back to Snezhnaya with me?”
Your eyebrows shot up your forehead, eyes growing wide and lips parting slightly. It took you another few moments to process that he’d really asked you that. Of course you would love to, but you didn’t completely understand why he was asking you; sure, you were friends, but you also know how much Childe values his family.
“Oh- uhm, yeah. I’ll have to make some arrangements so things don’t fall apart here, but that sounds fun.”
“Great,” He smiled. “I’ll tell them you’re coming then. I’m sure Tonia wants to meet you.”
“Oh yeah? Do you write about me a lot then?” It was meant to be a teasing question, but you didn’t miss the way his cheeks burned red.
“Whatever,” He stood, shoving the now folded letter in his pocket. “I have stuff to do, I’ll be back later.”
You hummed in acknowledgement and watched him leave. Then, your gaze shifted to his bedroom door. The two of you’d been staying together for the past three or so months; he said something about it being more efficient money-wise, since the two of you often lost track of time and stayed some nights with each other anyway. He wasn’t wrong, and it got oddly quiet living by yourself — what was the harm?
Stepping into his bedroom, you began looking for his family’s letters. The room was clean and the bed was still made. No doubt, it was a product of his late nights and extended stays away from “home”.
(Childe has a few definitions of home, although he wishes you could see that you’re one too.)
The only thing that looked vaguely messy in his room were the papers on his nightstand. A paperweight rested atop them, although most of the papers were riddled with folds and stood no chance of staying neatly stacked.
They were the letters from his family. Most were written by all of them, but a few came from his parents and others from specific siblings. On more than one occasion, you’d found him rereading them alone in his room, especially after long days. He treasured those letters.
So why had he taken that one with him?
You got your answer about a week later. It was cold, worse than that of the sub-zero climate in Dragonspine, but what was worse was your nerves. From what Childe said, they’d love you, but you weren’t so sure.
“Still cold?” He asked, noticing the trembling in your hands. Your hands were certainly shaking, but not because of the temperature.
“Yeah. I’m okay though, how much farther?”
He gave you a worried look, and you half expected him to offer up another one of his coats, but he finally looked away from you. Something about his eyes looked dull as he stared down at the snow.
“Not too much farther, don’t—”
“Ajax!”
You both looked up to find a handful of people beaming at the two of you, and you looked over to find Childe smiling back. His hand grabbed yours and he pulled you through the snow.
“Hello, my lady,” Childe leaned down and picked up one of his younger siblings, — Tonia, you think — setting her on his hip after giving her a nose kiss. “How have you been?”
You were about to ask to go inside, the cold biting through your clothes, when someone who you presumed was his mother started towards the door. Everyone followed her.
Childe placed a gentle hand on the small of your back and nodded for you to follow his family. You did so, somehow feeling safer with him only a step or two behind you.
The door was heavy and made a loud noise when it closed behind him. It was much warmer inside though, a familiar crackling coming from the logs in the fireplace, and you watched as Childe moved towards a blanket thrown over the back of a couch.
You didn’t pay much attention to him, assuming that he was going to use it or hand it to one of his little siblings. What you didn’t expect was for him to walk over to you and place it over your shoulders.
“Warmer now?”
You just stared at him for a moment, before nodding and smiling.
“Good,” The woman you’d decided was his mother spoke. “You both looked like you were freezing, dear. Ajax is used to the cold but it seems he’s been away for too long, hm?”
The look she gave him was something like scolding him, but there was a smile working at her lips. He just smiled sheepishly and rubbed at the back of his neck.
“You know I try to visit when I can, Mama.”
“Then that’s not enough,” She said, motioning towards the couch. “and sit down. I’ll make some tea.”
With that, she disappeared into a room that you assumed to be the kitchen. You didn’t follow this time and instead sat down beside Childe on the couch.
“Big brother!”
A kid who could only be Teucer (very ungracefully) climbed onto his lap. The kid’s knee dug into Childe’s thigh but he put on a good poker face — that or his pain tolerance was high. Or maybe he was just too excited to see his family to care. You knew that there was nothing that could wipe the smile off of his face.
“Are you and Y/n married yet?”
Except for maybe that. You watched his face fall, before he quickly recovered and the tips of his ears turned red. You didn’t think it was because of the cold this time.
“No, no, we aren’t,” He finally said, subtly moving Teucer’s knee. “Why, do you plan on being my best man?”
Teucer just laughed and collapsed onto Childe’s chest. You swear you can see his heart swell as he holds his younger brother just a little tighter, planting a kiss on the top of his head.
“Ajax, come give me a hand?” The voice belonged to his mother, coming from the doorway to the kitchen.
“Coming!” He called. He pressed another kiss against Teucer’s temple and then set him down on the couch.
After Childe had disappeared into the other room, Teucer giggled and plopped himself down on your lap this time.
“Teucer!” It was one of his older siblings, although you didn’t remember her name. “Sorry, Y/n, he apparently was never taught boundaries.”
“It’s alright.” You said with a smile, letting him grab one of your hands and begin playing with your fingers.
The room was quiet now and it was obvious that everyone was straining to hear the conversation going on in the kitchen. You made out a few mentions of your name, and Childe laughed a few times, but you couldn’t hear much else.
After a few minutes, his older sister moved to sit beside you on the couch. Her eyes slipped towards the door Childe had gone through, before flickering back over to you and Teucer. Her lips quirked up into a mischievous smile.
“Y’know, he’s not so different from Childe,” She said, looking at the kid that had now claimed your lap as a seat. “That’s what you call him, right? Childe?” You nodded. “When he was little he would whine and cry til he was held. And trust me, if he wasn’t fronting for you, right now he’d be cuddled up to one of parents. If—”
“I see you’ve met the dramatic one of the family, Y/n,” Childe came back into the room with what he hoped was a confident aura. He didn’t know you noticed the flustered look on his face.
“Oh, I don’t know, I’d believe it.” At your words, he gave a nervous smile and his siblings laughed. “You’re the one that sleeps in my room all the time because you’re ‘too tired’ to walk down the hallway.”
“You guys live together!?” Teucer asked. His eyes lit up and he looked from you to Childe.
“Yeah, but it’s not—”
“So you guys are married!”
You laughed, looking up at Childe who was now frozen. His eyes were wide with something between embarrassment and horror. Eventually, he laughed nervously and rubbed his nape. He was about to move towards the couch and sit next to you again when you spoke.
“Sure, why not,” You said. “We’re married, right, love?”
“Y- Well, uhm,” Childe made a few more indignant noises, then his eyes landed on Teucer. The excited look on his face shifted into something mischievous; Teucer knew full well what he was doing. “something like that, yeah.”
“What?!”
He looked up to find his mother walking into the room. She had a tray in her hands, a few mugs sitting atop it. Almost everyone in the room was surprised that she didn’t drop it.
“I’m kidding, Mama,” Childe said. He still had that nervous, almost flustered tone in his voice.
“You better be.” She warned. Then she turned to you with a warm, genuine smile. “But you are a sweet thing, I’d be happy if he married you. He better invite me to the wedding though.”
“Oh! No, no, it’s not that. Childe and I are roommates? Something along those lines, anyway. We aren’t involved… like that.”
“Sure,” One of his older brothers laughed. “he just proclaims his love for you in his letters because he finds it funny.”
Your heart seemed too big for your chest for a moment and when you looked at Childe, he seemed absolutely horrified. He wiped at his mouth with the back of his sleeve and coughed, the words apparently surprising him enough to make him drink his tea the wrong way. If he were able, you’re sure he would have dug a whole and buried himself in it. It took a moment for him to recover. He smiled and laughed nervously, eyes darting down to the ground.
“Right, sure. Because telling you about my annoying roommate is proclaiming my love.” He finally says, a teasing tone dripping off his words.
“Oh, annoying?” You tease. “I’m not the one that comes home at ungodly hours, raids the kitchen, and then falls asleep on the couch so my dear roommate can get scared when they see a strange man sleeping on the couch.”
Neither of you noticed his older sister reach for a stack of papers on the table beside the couch. However, you do notice when she begins shuffling through them. Childe’s eyes widen and he reaches to grab the stack out of her hand, but she quickly moves.
“Hey, hey, stop!” He whines and reaches for the letter.
You grab him by the waist, pulling him back towards you. He doesn’t put up much of a fight before he relents and lays down, setting his head down on your lap. The dramatic pout on his face shifts into a smile when you lose your fingers in his hair.
“‘Y/n is doing well, I think.’” His sister reads one of the letters after clearing her throat. “’I’ve been gone for a few days and I’m honestly surprised at how much I miss them. It feels odd to be apart for so long, like someone tore out some pages from a book. ’Incomplete’ I guess is a better word. Anyway, I—“
“That’s enough!” He said, quickly grabbing the letter and shoving it into his pocket. He swatted at Teucer’s hand when he tried to grab it. (You swear you can almost see him relent when Teucer pouts, but he holds his ground.)
“Oh, come now,” His mother shooed him off of your lap. He sat up and ran his fingers through his hair in a poor attempt to straighten it. “Don’t act like that conversation didn’t just happen.”
Again, his face burned red. Nervous eyes flicked over to you, to the ground, and then to his mother. They seemed to be dull now.
“Conversation?”
She smiled. “I think it’s best if the two of you discussed that later.”
You looked over to Childe, who was now chewing the inside of his cheek. Though you opened your mouth to say something, no sound came out. He cleared his throat and stood, careful to step over his younger siblings’ toys that were scattered across the floor. He offered his hand to you, which you took as you navigated through the mess as well.
“No kissing!” Teucer called as you two disappeared down the hallway. Childe just made a noise somewhere between clearing his throat and coughing.
He hesitated for a moment before opening a door. “This is my childhood bedroom so just… don’t pay attention to it. Especially not while I’m about to have this conversation with you.”
Despite his words, you did not ignore the room. For the most part, it was clean just like his one at your shared home, although a few trinkets littered his desk and posters were taped to his wall.
“What's so bad that we had to leave for you to tell me?”
“It’s not bad!” He said quickly. “It’s— well I suppose it could either be really really good, or I’m moving out.”
At this point, you were worried. A part of you was wondering if this was about what Teucer and the rest of his family had said, but another part of you feared that it was just the opposite.
“Childe, whatever it—”
“I like you.” A few beats of silence followed. Then, he swallowed thickly, ran a hand through his hair, and continued. “I like you more than an ‘annoying roommate that scares you senseless at eight in the morning because i didn’t tell you i was coming home and passing out on the couch’ kind of way.”
You blinked. It took you a moment to register what he’d just said, and once you did it took you another few moments to come up with something to say. He was already speaking before you could.
“I get it, that’s okay. It’s not safe here though, at least let someone make sure you get home alright, and I can come get my—”
You didn’t really know what to say, but you knew that you should say something to make him stop talking, to stop overthinking, to show him you had feelings for him too.
Before you realized you’d even done it, you held his face and pulled him towards you, pressing your lips against his. It was a sorry excuse for a kiss, being that he was frozen and you were processing what you’d just done. You stepped back with an apologetic look on your face.
He blinked a few times before smirking. “I take it that I get to stay?”
“I guess I’ll keep you around,” You said, sending him a playful glare. It was a contrast to how fast your heart was beating in your chest. “by the way though, what did you and your mom talk about in the kitchen?”
He cleared his throat and looked down at his hands, like he was trying to decide whether to tell the truth or not. Then he took a deep breath and spoke.
“She- ah, she says I look at you the same way Papa looks at her. And she kept asking if we were an item, and I said no, but I wanted that to be a lie.”
“It can be a lie. If you still want, I mean.”
Childe’s eyes grew wide. A few beats passed before he recovered and he smiled; a hand came up to the back of your neck, pulling you towards him.
This time, when your lips met his, it was more coordinated. His lips were soft and tasted faintly of the tea he’d drank earlier, moving against your own in a way that was so gentle compared to his usual demeanor. The kiss was cut short when he smiled; you could feel his breath against your skin when he laughed. He pressed another quick kiss to the corner of your mouth before pulling away.
Like this post if you wanna see me and my friend make a Nerd and Jock undertale comic. My friend would be doing the drawing and I would do everything else.
