Xiao hunts Childe for sport

12

Xiao stares at the child tugging on Zhongli's coat. He's not fond of this situation - why does he have to babysit one more Snezhnayan?

"Big brother said you know a lot!" Teucer's cheery voice echoes around the room. "Tell me something smart!"

Xiao watches as Zhongli tries to entertain the child with his trivia and it seems to be somewhat working - but Teucer keeps getting interested in something else, leaving Zhongli not enough room to breathe as he struggles to keep up.

It's hilarious. Xiao doesn't mind Teucer anymore - this is great actually. He watches in amusement as Teucer drags Zhongli around the house, pointing out various things and demanding a story.

Ah yes, sweet sweet revenge.

While Xiao is watching in poorly disguised delight Paimon decides to leave the house, mumbling something about finding more food or whatever. Xiao isn't sure how she manages to still be hungry after everything she ate today, but whatever. Not like he cares that much.

After a couple of more minutes of watching Zhongli struggle, Xiao decides to intervene. He walks up to the pair and crosses his arms.

Teucer instantly snaps to attention without Xiao having to say anything. "Hmm? What do you want, mister?"

"Aren't you getting bored in this stuffy house?" Xiao asks nonchalantly, ignoring the grateful look Zhongli shoots him. "We can go explore the forest outside instead."

Xiao expected Teucer to jump up in joy and say yes immediately - He didn't expect Teucer to become hesitant instead. "Mommy said that exploring forests alone is bad! You'll get lost for days! That's what happened to my brother."

Oh. Hm. Xiao notes that Zhongli is perking up with interest and Xiao is curious as well but- something is telling him Childe wouldn't want Zhongli to find out this way. Much like Xiao, Childe would probably prefer to tell the tale himself.

Ugh, the bastard owes him for this. "You're not alone, I'll come with you."

"Really!? But you don't look that strong... What if something attacks us? I don't wanna go missing..." Oh wow, Xiao's gonna pretend his ego didn't take a huge hit there.

"Hmpf, let that be my worry." Xiao meets Zhongli's gaze and says, "You will watch the house."

His eyes shimmering gratefully, Zhongli nods. "Of course." He then turns to Teucer, "The woods are dangerous, please stay close to Xiao. If you get hurt your brother would get very mad at us."

"I don't want him to get mad!" Teucer squeaks out. "I'll be super careful! Promise! I'll stay super close to mister funny eyebrows!"

Mister funny what now.

Teucer grabs Xiao's hands and drags him out of the house before he can react, which is quite the feat for a small boy. "C'mon! C'mon! I wanna explore!"

Maybe this was a bad idea after all. "Slow down, you'll trip."

Teucer does not slow down one bit.

"What did you want to talk about?" Aether asks as they sit down on their bed in their room. Their room is decorated differently than Childe's is - a lot more books, that's for sure. There are also multiple flowers in the room - and a corner full of colorful looking materials. Childe briefly wonders when  Aether had the time to set this all up before shrugging. Not that important.

Childe looks around and spots a nearby chair. He sits down on it with a quiet sigh. Aether is probably curious about what happened at lunch but unfortunately for them, Childe will not talk about it. Nope.