genshin impact headcanons

little brother childe

child childe, gn reader, use of childe's real name, mm family fluff and childe embarrassment served hot and fresh, reader is implied to be significantly older than childe

generally all of my family/platonic works cover the other character being the more mature, role model-ish figure, but then I wondered about the reverse probably because I woke up with the worst stutter possible and here we are. childe isn't my first choice but something about hearing him say he wanted to team up against his siblings in a snowball fight made me think 'man what if he got punted into the sun with a snowball by his older sibling' and now we're here

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Something about Ajax's tendency to behave stronger than he is is cute, always trying to be the best for his younger siblings like he doesn't have older siblings who do that for him. he is always running off to get into trouble but when he was younger the trouble was at least manageable enough that you could go get him. There are many times that though he does not call on you, he secretly feels safer having an older figure to hide behind when you come to his rescue in the face of whatever trouble he got into.

At his age, he can barely believe it when you somehow find him every time he gets himself in danger and have no problem getting all up in the face of whoever he pissed off enough to put him in danger. Yes, he gets a stern talking to and a smack on the head for putting himself there in the first place, but the way you would endanger yourself for him...it makes him hug you on the way home every time and often lies as he promises he won't do it again.

He thinks you're just the coolest thing sometimes, but Ajax also likes when you care for him in other ways, like when he comes to you with a book well past his bedtime and begs you to read 'just that one' to him before bed. You grab a blanket for both you and him to hide under and tell him the story he picked, a simple pleasure, but he likes how warm it is when he snuggles up to your side, and you wrap your arm around him. he likes when he falls asleep there, head resting on your chest where he tries to watch the pictures as the pages turn.

He gets tingles up his spine when you stroke his hair as he listens to your voice speak softly next to his ear, calming yet memorising him. It's easy to fall asleep there, hard to wake up wrapped up, snug in a blanket but without you there anymore. He tends to drag himself out of bed with his blanket to see where you went and refrains from whining about it when he finds you tending to one of the younger ones at the request of your Mother. You always make room for him to curl up in your lap anyway and hand the baby off to someone else.

But that's not his favourite thing. His favourite thing and when you and your Father scoop him up and take him out to go ice fishing, carrying him along on your shoulders to the lake your Father must've picked out, thick with ice that he tries to help you chisel out though he provides little in the way of help, as you tell him some story you had heard about and even gossip of your own Father's adventures knowing he finds them exciting.

He wants to hear about 'what you do all day anyway' as he waits for his fish, and you usually tell him some story he thinks is boring and asks to hear about something better, but with little else to say, you have to laugh it off and smother him in your lap in his puffy coat to keep him warm. Until something bites, and he excitedly hops up to get it like the cold doesn't bother him, like the ice isn't slippery and like he won't slip and fall on his butt like he always does.

Something about your little trifles changes as he grows, and something about him becomes less and less like little Ajax, though you coddle him all the same. You always have, he feels so cold in your arms after going missing for three days, hugs you so tightly like you think he'll fall apart even though he says he's fine. He lets you carry him home and scrub him clean in a warm bath, fuss over him like you always do.

And again, you will run to him to protect him when he runs off to start fights far worse than before.

But a little Ajax has to grow into a big Tartaglia someday, doesn't he? Tartaglia doesn't need to call for your help, though the moment he does, you will find him—wherever he ventures.