Chapter Text
“the president and the troublemaker” (part 1)
“Childe, for the last time, earrings are against the school uniform code,” Lumine said to him, eyes narrowing at the red jewelry dangling from his ear. He may have towered over her, but she was the student council president—she had to enforce the rules no matter what.
Childe tilted his head, fingers grazing over his earring. “A tiny thing like this? Surely you can let me off the hook, Madame President?”
“No exceptions. Remove it now or I will forcibly confiscate it from you.”
He scoffed, turning away. “I’d like to see you try.”
Lumine clenched her jaw, watching his back retreat down the hallway. Oh, she could easily take it from him. But this wasn’t the place to use brute force. As much as he boiled her blood, she wouldn’t dare reveal her secret here.
Childe, the school’s number one troublemaker: always getting into fights, never listening to authorities, doing whatever he pleased. And the worst part? He always got away with it.
The girls of the school fawned over his good looks, the boys envied his strength, and the elders fell victim to his charisma.
Not Lumine though. She refused to be influenced by him. Maybe that’s why he always seemed so annoyed by her. Good.
She ripped out a page of her student council notebook, scribbling out Childe’s name and dress code violation, pocketing it to turn in later.
She practically stomped her way into the student council room, earning a glance from the Vice President—her twin brother Aether.
“Childe?” he asked, going back to typing on his laptop.
Lumine slumped in her chair. “Yes,” she nearly growled. “How did you know?”
“Because he always puts you in the worst of moods,” her brother answered. “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to put him in his place.”
“And get kicked out of school for murder? No thank you; I’m not ruining an absolutely clean record for the likes of someone like Childe.” She flipped through her notebook, seeing all her citations on said troublemaker. “Soon enough, that boy is going to get expelled, mark my words.”
Suddenly, the door burst open, and the student council reporter—a student named Bennett—dashed in, holding the side of his face.
“Madame President!” he announced. “There’s a fight breaking out in the hallway!”
Both Aether and Lumine stood. “What happened to your face, Bennett?” Aether asked.
The reporter let out a sheepish laugh. “I, uh, tried to break up the fight but ended up getting punched in the face.”
“Okay, c’mon, let’s get you to the nurse,” Aether said, walking Bennett out the door.
Lumine quickly walked out after them, hearing the commotion down the hallway. As she turned the corner, there was a crowd of students circled around the tussle.
“Out of the way!” Lumine shouted.
At the sound of her voice, many students scattered back to their classrooms, leaving only the perpetrators still fighting: a short boy with cropped blue hair and—Childe.
“Hey!” she yelled. “Break. It. Up! Or it’s suspension for the both of you!”
The short boy gave Childe a harsh shove, adjusting his odd cap with tassels on the sides. “You don’t have to fight me every time you see me, you brute,” the boy hissed.
Childe laughed. “C’mon, Scaramouche, don’t be like that,” the ginger said. “We were just having some fun, Madame President; no need to make a big fuss out of it.”
Lumine glared at him. “Why are you always at the center of trouble?”
Childe shrugged. “Life’s too boring.”
Taking out her notebook, she scoffed. “Well, it’s about to get a whole lot more boring for you. Detention. After school. Both of you.”
“It was just some play fighting between friends, Pres,” Childe insisted. “Don’t be so stuck-up.”
“Not play fighting when one of my council members gets hit in the face,” she retorted angrily.
“Can I at least be let off the hook?” Scaramouche interjected. “He was the one who attacked me.”
The blonde sighed. “Fine. This was your first offense anyways.”
“Today’s his first day after all,” Childe supplied.
“It’s his first day and you welcomed him by attacking him?” Lumine asked, crossing her arms.
He smiled. “What can I say? We know each other.”
I want to punch that smile off his face. “Scaramouche, go back to class. Childe, you’re coming with me to in-school suspension.”
Scaramouche muttered something under his breath and walked away, while Childe cheerfully waved goodbye to him.
Lumine started walking down the other way, towards the ISS room, Childe’s footsteps falling in behind her. Most of the way was done in silence. Until—
“Say, Pres, why are you so stuck-up?” Childe asked.
Lumine grit her teeth. “Have you ever thought maybe I’m not stuck-up, and maybe you’re just a troublemaker?”
“Hey, at least I make your life a little more interesting, don’t I?”
“Not interesting. So much more unbearable.”
“Maybe you should loosen up. Being like this won’t make you many friends.”
“And fighting people will?”
“Fighting is fun. You’re telling me you’ve never watched a fight and found it entertaining?”
Lumine stopped in her tracks. “Of course not. You only do it when something’s seriously on the line. Not for fun.”
“Uh-uhm, excuse me,” a timid voice said.
Lumine turned to find a girl, she looked young, probably a freshman, clutching a card. “Can I help you?” the president asked.
“A-actually,” the girl responded, “can I t-talk to Ch-Childe? A-Alone?”
The blonde glanced at Childe, who shrugged back at her. Letting out a sigh, she said, “Yes, go ahead.” She was doing this for the girl. Not Childe.
She walked ahead and turned the corner until she was out of sight and unable to hear. After a minute or so, the freshman girl ran past her, hysterically crying. Brows furrowed, she went back to Childe.
“So, where are we going?” he asked nonchalantly.
Asshole. “What the hell did you do to her?” Lumine asked. “Do I really need to write you up again?”
“What? All I did was reject her confession.”
A glare at him. “Be nicer. Don’t make girls cry.” She continued walking.
“Or maybe she should just be stronger.”
“Don’t you dare insult a girl’s strength in front of me.”
“I’m not insulting the strength of a woman. I’m just saying people in general could do better if only they were stronger.” His strides quickened, and soon he was in front of her. He flicked the earring dangling from his ear. “For instance, if you had the strength, you could easily rip this from my ear, and you could stop stacking up those useless dress code citations for me.”
Lumine had to clench her teeth to stop herself from murdering him on the spot. “I’m your student council president. I don’t solve things through violence. Which is why you and I are different.” Lie, her gut hissed.
She stopped, throwing open the door to her left, gesturing into the room. “You’ll spend the rest of the school day here.” She turned in, looking at the teacher. “Mr. Diluc, you have a student here for in-school suspension for the rest of the day.”
Mr. Diluc glanced up from his book, expressionless. “Childe. Back so soon?”
Childe sauntered in, taking a seat. “You know our Pres. Always working on cleaning up the school from scum like me.”
“Good for her,” Diluc said. “Thank you, Lumine.”
Lumine nodded and closed the door behind her. Finally.
At least Childe wouldn’t be causing anymore trouble today.
* * *
Lumine shivered as the chilling locker room hit her bare skin. Shedding her hoodie, she donned a simple black sports tank top and shorts.
“Are they ever going to get heaters for these locker rooms?” she muttered.
“It’s an underground fighting ring,” Aether said, “You think they can afford state-of-the-art locker rooms?” He tossed her a roll of hand wraps.
She caught it, unraveling it, and started to wrap them around her knuckles. “You’re right. As long as they pay me, I shouldn’t be complaining.”
Aether nodded, taking her gloves out from her gym bag. “Are you ever going to tell Mom how you get all this cash?”
“Never. She’d probably die of a heart attack.”
“And your injuries?”
“I try not to get any,” she said with a smirk. “If I do, then, hey, the restaurant business can be dangerous…and I can be clumsy.”
And that was her big secret.
In the night, Lumine was a top tier fighter in Teyvat’s underground fighting ring. She was known as “The Outlander.”
After their father had walked out on them years ago, Lumine, Aether, and their mother were left with a huge amount of his debt to pay off. Their mother took on two jobs to support them, leaving her exhausted, sickly, and barely home. Lumine and Aether couldn’t find decent paying jobs at their age, so Lumine took matters into her own hands.
Through her tenacity, she trained hard and started showing up to the underground fights, learning her way through the system, and eventually began fighting herself. Sure, it was illegal due to the violence and betting system, but it made good money—fast. Enough money to support their family, pay off the debt, and save some aside for her and Aether’s future.
Aether of course still worked as a cashier at a local grocery store (next to the restaurant Lumine claimed she worked at); Lumine would never let her dear brother participate in her line of work. He was only allowed to come along to cheer her on.
She was also good at it. After some training, her instructors all praised her natural fighting instincts. In a matter of months, she had become one of the top fighters in her area.
It was out of necessity. They needed the money.
Of course, no one knew who she really was. She always fought with a mask on—she couldn’t let her identity be compromised. A high school student beating up all these grown adults? A chance she could be recognized and reported to authorities? No. Way. Plus, people liked the mysterious Outlander figure. Might as well milk it.
The cheers above her swelled, and Lumine did her final stretches and prepped to go out on stage.
“You ready to fight tonight?” Aether asked.
Lumine slipped her mask on. “Always.”
She made her way up the staircase, and the buzzing crowd grew louder and louder, until she entered the arena, and the cheers became deafening.
The arena was probably around the size of her school gym, maybe smaller, but packed to the brim with cheering fans and a boxing cage in the middle.
She made her way up to the cage, chants of “Outlander” swirling around her, and took her walk around the area, getting a feel for the night. Eventually, her mind blurred out the crowd, focusing on becoming in tune with her body.
Tonight, her opponent was another member of the Hilichurl gang: a gang notorious for entering lots of members into these types of fights, even if they weren’t good, as a way to try and earn any kind of money for their gang. It was an easy win. Lumine barely got hit. (The Hilichurl on the other hand ended the night sobbing his heart out on stage. Lumine felt kind of bad. Kind of.)
Soon enough, she and Aether were on their way home with a fresh wad of cash in their bag, practically skipping their way past the dim street lights. As they made their way towards their bus home, Lumine rifled through her bag, realizing she had left one of her textbooks in the locker room from when she had been studying before the fight.
She cursed. Now she had to go all the way back to the arena. “Aether, you need to get home—the next bus won’t be here for another hour.”
“Lumine, I am not leaving you alone in this sketchy part of town.”
“And you have to be there when Mom gets back, otherwise she’ll get suspicious.” Lumine was already turning around. “Tell her I had to stay behind at the restaurant to help clean up.”
Her brother pursed his lips.
“Aether. I’ll be fine. Did you seriously forget what I did to get that stack of cash?” she reassured.
He sighed. “Fine, fine. You’re right.” He hugged his sister. “Still. Be careful, please.”
She held up her fist which was still wrapped in the fighter’s tape. “Of course. See you back home.”
With that, the twins went separate ways.
Now maskless, Lumine went the back ways to the arena, entering through a side door, avoiding the still rowdy crowd of spectators gathered for the late night fights. She successfully grabbed her textbook, and walked back out the side door. Straight into somebody.
Shit. “Excuse me,” she mumbled, keeping her head down, hoping they wouldn’t ask why some little high school girl was sneaking around the underground fighting arena.
But then the person spoke.
“Wow,” a familiar voice said.
Lumine looked up, wide eyed. Shitshitshitshit—
“This is a surprise,” Childe said, “Madame President.”