WAIT, DON'T GO ! ||? Genshin x Reader Oneshots ;)

GET BACK HERE, FATUI RAT

through zhongli, you met aether.
he was very kind, and you wished nothing but the best for him and his small travelling companion, paimon.

"are these two with you ?"

"yep !"

you waited for aether and zhongli to also respond. paimon quietly complained about the ginger, but ultimately agreed once he mentioned he was paying for all the food. once they nodded, you led all 4 of them to sit at the table tartaglia had reserved.

you left them alone for most of their stay, only coming over once they requested your assistance. zhongli was the first to leave, aether and paimon following shortly after.
tartaglia stayed behind though. you checked up on him after a while only to find the poor man struggling to use chopsticks.
he was intensely concentrated, his tongue slightly sticking out the side of his mouth. by now, his hair was messy due to a long day of .. whatever he did.

was he .. sweating ? was using chopsticks really that stressful for him ?

"we do offer chopsticks for children. they're a good choice for people who cannot yet use the big boy chopsticks"
you switched out his current chopsticks with the child(e) variant. the ginger awkwardly laughed as he was still struggling.

"would you like some help ?"

".. yes please."

you leaned over childe, helping him hold them correctly. he visibly stiffened and you didn't understand why until you realised what you were doing.

"oh- i'm sorry .."

".. it's fine"

childe tried to laugh off the embarrassment, but the red tint to his cheeks gave everything away.

~

over the next few days you saw childe around the harbour a lot. with nothing else to do, you spoke to him every time you saw him.
speaking to childe put your mind at ease. he loved joking around and was genuinely fun to be around.

you felt safe whenever you saw him.

childe also made an effort to see you more while you were working, often making reservations or just simply .. showing up. he'd either help you with tricky guests or visit just to annoy you.

"(name), do you consider us friends ?"

"of course ! i enjoy talking to you and i consider you one of my very close friends."

"haha .. i'm honoured. can i uh .. tell you a secret ..?"

"of course ! you can tell me anything if it makes you feel better"

'you won't be saying that once you know who i am ..' childe thought to himself, silently debating if he actually should tell you about the whole fatui thing ..
it was better if he told you himself than if you found out on your own.

"you alright, tart ?"

the young man jumped, still not used to the nickname you had started to use for him recently.

"yeah .. fine. uh .."

he struggled to find the words. he so desperately wanted to tell you the truth because that's what you deserved, but he didn't want to lose a friend.
childe took a shaky breath
'fuck it' he thought, deciding to be completely honest with you.

"i'm .. part of the fatui. more specifically, i'm a harbinger. usually i'm not that secretive about my involvement in the fatui, but i wanted to be your friend. after finding out about how much you hate them ... i wanted to keep it from you for as long as possible. but you deserve the truth."

you stood there, shocked. you didn't know what to say. you felt hurt, betrayed, angry.
you were also happy that he actually told you though.

"i think it's best that i distance myself from you for a while, tartaglia."

it stung that you used his full name instead of the nickname you gave him. but he understood. he wanted to respect your wishes, but he also didn't want to leave your side. he became quite attached to you.
childe was willing to go to extreme lengths for the people he cared about, and now he was being shut out.

~

the week went by rather slowly. childe didn't visit you at work anymore, nor did he smile and wave from across the street. he wouldn't visit your house to have stupid conversations about nothing but also everything at 4am.
even though you asked to put distance between the two of you, your life still felt empty without him.
you did this to yourself though.

childe also struggled through the week. he missed talking to you more than he'd like to admit.
making you laugh was the best parts of his day. visiting you at work to either help out or annoy you made childes stay in liyue all the more enjoyable.
he was so upset that he stopped talking to his other friends too.

zhongli began to worry about you and the ginger, neither of you had ever been so quiet or distant.

you had to admit, you fucked up

you had gotten over your hatred for the fatui sort of.
more specifically, you had gotten over your hatred for childe being in the fatui. you missed him too much to hold a grudge.

you had a plan, all you had to do was put it into action.
you were gonna hunt for childe, then when you find him, either:

1. break down, cry and beg for forgiveness
2. hug him aggressively and sob into his arms
3. punch him, kiss him then punch him again and apologise for being stupid
4. all of the above

you got changed, making sure you looked nice. you took extra care of your looks this morning. you practically sprinted out of your house, and you spotted a familiar ginger head of hair walking towards .. northland bank.
quickly you ran up to him, and as for your plan ? you went with option 4. it was a mess.

childe was shocked but extremely happy to see you.
"i'm sorry for being stupid- my hatred for fatui was completely unjustified and i made stupid decisions based on what i had been raised to believe- i shouldn't judge you based on your background and for that i'm-"

"hey hey it's okay. i completely understand why you hate the fatui. they are kinda .. forceful with their methods. you have nothing to apologise for either, i should've been honest with you from the beginning."

childe hugged you tightly and ran his hands through your hair in a desperate attempt to comfort both you and himself.
he knew he had developed feelings for you but he had tried to deny and belittle them. he didn't want to start something serious with you because he knew he couldn't stay in liyue forever. plus, he had just earned your trust again, or at least he hoped.
it would be a risky move to confess to you right now.

his feelings would have to wait a while.

for now he was just glad to be able to see you again.

—

i didn't proofread this one at all, if you spot mistakes then lmk
not sure how i feel abt this chap tbh
i'll leave it for now but it could change in the future.
i'm also gonna go to sleep n work on more chapters tmrw.
it's 3am rn bye i'm so tired