i think at this point in the story saying just friend is a bit too simple? i think "mutual respect" is the better term. 100% i think childe sees the traveler as his friend bc he's lonely and sort of hyper-attaches to anyone who is slightly nice to him but i think the traveler is slowly letting go of their initial biases of him and it's gotten to a point of "okay if we see him we can't assume he's doing bad shit he might just be vibing but we gotta be ready. just in case." bc childe is a wildcard. like that's why he's so dangerous bc he's an attack dog that's ready to go at all times even when he's just hanging out. and i think the traveler is becoming aware of those multiple sides of his. we went from "the fatui is pure evil!!!" and seeing childe go to extremes to achieve his goals to seeing him be kicked around bc he really is the underdog among the harbingers. watching him put himself in harm's way to protect his brother (without taking any credit for it) but also seeing him attack Neuvillette as his version of 'solving problems'. alongside getting to know more members of the Fatui like Lyney and Lynette (and while i do get why the traveler was distrustful of them when they found out they were fatui it still bugs me that they didn't even hesitate to get angry at them even after all we did and how we got to know them :( . especially considering they were acting so friendly with a harbinger that they initially never trusted right beforehand.) and even getting to see arlecchino, another harbinger, act cruel when her end goal always had the children's best interest in mind.

i think a big part of fontaine's story has been the traveler seeing that the Fatui are not purely evil. they definitely are not good they do bad things and take extreme measures to achieve their goals but they are not monsters. and that's one of the things i've always appreciated abt the stories of like childe and scara and arlecchino. i don't think they ever took the route of "omg look see!!! they are a good guy they are misunderstood they are angels!!!" it's been more "they are people. they have multiple facets. they have their reasons for what they do, even the seemingly evil actions may be for good causes" which i ADORE bc i don't necessarily want my villains ~redeemed~ just so they can be playable/side with the protagonist i like the amount of grey morality they display and the fact it is literally written all over them that they are morally grey (both arlecchino and childe wear primarily grey attire or at least have a mixed balance of black/white on them. and scara's design has gone from primarily black to much more balanced-- which fits him considering he used to do a lot of shitty things when he was hurting from trauma and being used and now that he's healing he's getting better at being kind) and i hope as more harbingers come out and become playable we get to see different levels of it. i want playable capitano who is a complete sweetheart who might be a bit emotionally distant, and playable dottore who has no redeeming qualities whatsoever

i am one of the people that was a bit thrown off when we got to fontaine and the traveler was so buddy-buddy with childe suddenly not bc i want the traveler to hate him but like... the last time we saw him we were literally trying to convince yoimiya to distrust him. he was just hanging out in the woods talking about his family and he traveler tried to convince yoimiya not to hang out with him. that's not a thing friends do.... and i think i could've come to accept "okay maybe the traveler and him learned to get along.. like.... off screen....?" if they hadn't dumped his ass in the end of the story like ur telling me paimon was stoked to see him after our last meeting entailed us shit-talking him, then we don't even have the decency to be worried about him when he passed out after saving the courthouse ?? i was waiting for literally anyone to go "omg we have to check on childe!!!" after he saved the courthouse and fought off the whale but not even a peep 😭 my boy deserves better than just being a punching bag for the plot i'm glad he at least got to come back for arlecchino's AQ to have a very down-to-earth moment (somebody please drag him back to the hospital and handcuff him to the bed)

when i think of the traveler and childe now the way i see it is. childe does see us as his friend, a very good friend. probably one of his closest friends bc we've seen him at some of his lowest points and his teapot dialogue makes it sound like he considers us borderline family now. but when it comes to the traveler i think we're like... in the late stages of warming up to him. it's no longer "he's a fatui harbinger he's pure evil!!! he's done horrible dangerous things!!!" it feels more like.. "... u aren't. a bad person. but also not a good person. and you are kind of a sad loser (/affectionate)..... if you need a place to stay you can crash on the couch ig" like he's a lost puppy that we're starting to accept is gonna keep following us around and while we haven't gotten him a collar and a bed inside yet we started putting food out for him and made him a little makeshift doghouse with a blanket and he seems really excited about that

i hope things keep developing bc i want him to be our tour guide in snezhnaya. i want him to meet us at the docks as he excitedly shows us around and the traveler is his friend at that point when we get to meet his family and see where he grew up . i want the affection to be mutual but i want it to be earned bc childe is such a good character and i love getting to see him develop from this Terrifying Force of Nature who lurks in the shadows doing evil things to just.. a guy doing his best. he loves his family and has hobbies he enjoys. he just also has a job to do and he intends to do it well. and i wanna see every part of that story because i adore him but also it's been so nice getting to see it develop that's one of the things i love in genshin is how often we get to see relationships slowly grow like with childe and xiao. things were rough at first but now they are getting better and one day i want the traveler to be able to call childe his friend without hesitation. where as rn i think if someone asked the traveler they might hesitate and go "uh... i guess....?"

i say all this with the mindset of like. "when you pull and play a character that's not actually canon to the story" like even though i keep childe in my teapot at all times and i've had him at lvl10 friendship for like 2 years now that doesn't mean the traveler is actually his bestie in the main-plot. in my little fanfiction world he's a permanent resident in my house and him and zhongli are roommates who make good use of the privacy