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“Doesn’t it hurt after a while?” Your question is unprompted. Like always, nothing you say or ask can surprise the Geo Archon. Zhongli merely closes his eyes as he continues to organize the papers on his desk. You raise your voice slightly from across the room, bringing a hand up to cup your mouth. “I said --”
“What do you mean?” Your hand drops back to your lap as you rack your brain to come up with an excuse to avoid work. “Like always, the files you gave me are missing your signature.” You wince and walk over to his desk to grab the sheets.
“I mean, living for so long. Making friends only for them to die.” Approaching him methodically, you take the papers and also the empty seat next to his desk. He makes a face and sighs. Children these days…
In all honesty, he had never wanted to reveal his true nature as the Geo Archon to anyone -- much less you . By far, in his most recent thousand years, you were one of the most childish people he had met. Naively optimistic with a trickster streak; he wondered how you had maintained this attitude despite working at a funeral parlor. “Sorry. Was that a bad question?”
The long-haired man shrugs.
“Yes, a bit.” You visibly deflate at his deadpan words and look away from him. To think that he had spent millennia next to humans and he still didn’t quite understand some of their certain reactions. “It gets lonely, but you learn to live with it.” Zhongli supposes he should soothe your wounded ego; just a bit.
Nodding at him in shallow understanding, the spark returns to your eyes. “Well, how about we have some fun tonight?” You cringe at your phrasing but ultimately press on, staring at him with a blush creeping up your neck. To tell the truth, you had had a little crush on your superior for a while. It first started when you began to take extra shifts during the later hours and always ran into him in the office; alone.
“Fun?” He tilts his head and in the back of your mind, you want to coo at how much he resembles a puzzled puppy.
“I’ll treat you to dinner!” You had noticed early on that he often went out to eat or ate alone during the lunch breaks and such. He seemed quite lonely and you couldn’t help but approach him. At first, he was surprised that someone as young as you -- which was, to say, in their mid-twenties -- was taking an interest in him. Immediately, he had dumped a book’s worth of information about where the dish you were eating had originated and you listened intently. It was surprising in a good way.
He figures that he could just take your offer this once and then bore you to death during the dinner. It was best for him that he didn’t get too attached to someone that lived such a short life.
“Dinner? That sounds nice. Where do you want to eat?”
“Well, because, I think -- oh wait. You accepted my invitation?” Zhongli once again gives you the deadpan puppy look and you reconsider your image of him a little. “I think that… I think that Liuyu’s Golden Nest is good. Not a lot of people in the upper district know about it. You might, though.” Your wallet had been… lacking, recently. You felt apologetic for the rather meager suggestion.
The consultant gives you a warm smile. It feels as though flowers are blooming across your vision as you widely grin back.
“Sure. Their golden shrimp balls are delicious.” He finishes with that and goes back to sorting the papers.
“Then it’s decided! Does tonight work for you?” He hums gently. You smile one last time at him and head back to your own seat with a giddy feeling about you. Perhaps this was just the pity of your superior (who was also an Archon-knows-how old dragon) -- either way, you didn’t mind. You liked the stories he told and you felt as though any time spent with him you were content with.
You stroll down to the small restaurant together after locking the doors to the parlor. Being the gentleman he is, he offers his arm to you. Of course, you take it with a shaking hand.
Night has begun to fall onto Liyue. The sky is painted a blur of hazy oranges and purples that reflect on the harbor’s waters. Street-lanterns have been lit and Zhongli points out a myriad of details about the architecture of the city you wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. You listen as intently as you can and try not to be distracted by the way his amber eyes reflect the candlelight. (It’s not easy.)
Once you arrive at the restaurant, the two of you take a seat outside. The wind is warm as of now. You chat and banter over the course of the night. Turns out, Zhongli’s just as interested in your personal stories as you are about his history lessons. When you first hear him laugh, you are in shock at the sheer musicality of the sound. Of course, it was no song, but you find yourself aiming to make him laugh once more. It is a beautiful noise. Even had you not known he was Rex Lapis, you knew that a sound so ethereal could not have been emitted by a mere human.
A chill descends upon the harbor. He offers you his jacket and a walk back home. Although the night air is softly nipping at your form, you feel warm next to him. You feel safe beside him.
“Ah, this one here.” You were renting out the area above Wanmin restaurant since you knew the chef’s family personally. “Thank you for walking me home.” The whole night, you had multiple opportunities to engage in romantic actions with him yet you never took them. Whether it be shyness or otherwise, you just felt as if they were not in your right. Well, there’s always next time, right? If there even was a next time.
“It’s no problem.” His deep voice is practically making the air around you hum. “Tonight was enjoyable. I hope we can have another date sometime.” Oh -- he really considered it to be a date?! You had dismissed the thought as him merely giving into your expectations and that he was more taking this as a babysitting job than anything.
“Yes! Of course!” His jacket sits on your shoulders with less weight as you pull it tighter around yourself. “Oh- here’s your jacket back.” The cloth slips off of your body as you throw it around his own shoulders. Zhongli gives you another one of those heart-wrenching smiles that makes your face explode in heat again.
He tugs his arms through the fabric and looks down at you. This part was always a bit awkward.
“See you tomorrow.” You nod at him with your own smile stretched from ear-to-ear. He gives a polite wave and begins to walk back to the parlor. You stand at the front of the restaurant with a bright smile, staring at his retreating form for a moment before heading upstairs.
On his way back, he ponders his next decision. Much of his life was spent without planning the next day. He supposed that caring came with brevity. It wasn’t that he wanted to close off his heart -- well, actually, it was. To answer your first question of the night with more depth, he hated losing the people around him. Every time their soul left Teyvat, it took a piece of his along with him. Perhaps the war-hardened God from before had become soft, letting someone such as you wiggle past the barrier with exceeding ease.
He sighs softly -- he will worry about that when the time comes.
Countless loves and losses of it had made him sedentary. Change, on the scale it was for him, often hurt and was hard to adjust to. Except, when you listened to his stories with furrowed brows and nods of understanding, the pain of existence for millennia was lifted off of his shoulders for just a bit.
He really
had
grown soft.