Chapter Text
Death, destruction and corruption…
Archon war was a catastrophe that came down upon teyvat before the 8 seats were chosen.
Gods left and right would slaughter each other without a second thought, unleashing their powers and destroying the terrains as well as the mortals that were unfortunate enough to be around during that time.
Peace was nowhere to be found, each region altered due to the weapons and corpses scattered around the lands, corruption seeping through each crack of the earth.
The vengeful wrath of the slain gods cursed the world: miasmas, monsters and mutation plagued the lands.
Once the battle was over, the gods claimed their seats as well as their Gnosis’s.
Cryo, Pyro, Dendro, Hydro, Geo, Anemo, Electro and Astro.
Each archon claimed their land and started their own way of ruling.
The lands were secure and the new gods gathered around to meet each other.
They all celebrated their victory and congratulated each other. Some of the gods even proposed trading goods among the regions.
Amongst the gods, only two of them were familiar with each other : the geo god and the Hydro god.
They became comrades before the war even ended so they had some history together.
The hydro god was quite the peculiar one, after finishing his own battle and securing his region, he went looking for the land that had the strongest opponents...once he located liyue, he helped slay everything that came his way for one thing and one thing alone...for the geo god to become his sparring partner.
Rex lapis, as everyone knew, is a god of contracts...so once he was offered one from the lunatic - he found himself not being able to decline, feeling somewhat fascinated by the gods behavior.
Both of them were seated next to each other, one sipping calmly on the wine while the other laughed way too loudly for comfort and excitedly talked about the creatures he and ‘’Rexy’’ slain together.
Let’s just say that none of the archons were amused or wanted to interact with the weirdo of the bunch...aside from one, that is.
The Astro god stares at the two with interest, half paying attention to the other gods as they speak to him. Soon enough he excuses himself and swaps seats with the one next to the hydro god...who happily accepts and moves away from the loud archon.
Upon settling down, the two look over at the beautiful archon with flowing blue hair and the eyes of stars that glitter even in the shine even in the sunlight.
Even the stoic geo god was captivated by his beauty, although he quietly went back to his wine since his companion is the one that does most of the talking.
The astro archon leans his elbow against the table and rests his chin on the palm of his hand with a relaxed smile.
‘’Hope you two don’t mind if i join in the conversation,hm?~ ‘’
Hydro god simply lets out a chuckle and raises his shot of strong snezhnayan alcohol which the cryo archon bought as a gift to the others.
‘’Not at all, the more the merrier eh, rexy?~’’
The geo archon looks over at his companion with an unamused expression, huffing out a small breath before returning to his drink without saying anything.
The astro archon hides his giggles behind their hand.
‘’Awhh come on no need to be so cold xiangshen~ ’’ He said before turning to the bluenette.
‘’Names ajax, pleasure to meet you fellow archon~’’ He stretches out his hand with a friendly smile.
The astro archon hums and grips the others hand ‘’Orion...the pleasure is all mine’’ thought the moment he tried to pull his hand back- ajax grabbed him with his other hand and pulled him in closer, lips close to his ears with a playful smile.
‘’Hope we could fight some day, bluebird~’’
Ajax pulls back and goes back to his drink as if nothing happened.
Orion sat there with a confused expression, cheeks slightly flushed.
‘’???????????....what the fuck?....’’ He mumbles under his breath...he looks over at Rex lapis with a raised eyebrow, seeing a small smirk on the man before he turns his head towards the food - indulging in the local specialities of the other gods regions.
Orion is even more confused now.
Most of the gods got back to their regions and the others were preparing to leave.
Orion stood up and stretched with a satisfied sigh, ready to go back to khaenri’ah, but before he could disappear- his elbow was grabbed by a certain someone.
He turns and sees the ginger locks paired with blue eyes, smiling at him as a friend would.
‘’Leaving so soon? Won’t you hang out with us for a while longer?~ haha we could even visit rexys region and spar~’’ He winks.
‘’...’’ Orion coughs into his hand ‘’...i guess staying for a bit longer wouldn’t hurt.’’
‘’:D!!!!’’
‘’...i did not invite you tw-’’ Rex lapis tries to say, but his hand was grabbed with ajax’s free hand and he was dragged along with the two.
He could not protest since he was technically going home and those two would follow either way. Oh well.
Orion soon learns that this dumbass literally meant sparring as in fighting and now something…...cough.
Whos the dumbass now-
The three of them (mostly the two and rex lapis just acted as their guide) walked around liyue harbor, indulging themselves more into the liyuenese traditions as well as food.
Ajax definitely makes fun of rex lapis and says that he's a walking encyclopedia to Orion when they trail behind him.
They both giggle like idiots while Rex laps just shoots them with a confused look- to which they look away from and whistle innocently at.
They didn’t think they would be staying in Morax’s region for this long, but before they left - they had a sparring match.
Rex lapis sat to the side and observed while orion and ajax Threw hands stood far from each other.
They summoned their weapon of choice, Orion with a sword and Ajax with a box.
Orion raises his brow ‘’a bow?...’’
‘’Hes terrible at it.’’ Morax spoke with an unimpressed look.
‘’HEY- >:( i'm getting pretty good at it since the last time’’ ajax defended himself, summoning up a hydro arrow and aiming. He shoots it off at Orion….Orion didn’t even have to move away to avoid the said arrow.
‘’........’’ Orion covers his mouth and turns around, shoulders trembling.
Ajax’s cheeks flush bright red from embarrassment ‘’t….that was just a practice shot…’’
Orion turns around with a smirk ‘’oh? Was it now? Then go ahead, try again’’
Ajax huffs and summons up another hydro arrow, aiming yet again and shooting at the other archon.
The arrow just brushes past orions shoulder...he is looking so smugly at him now, barely able to contain the amusement.
‘’Practice shot.’’
Ajax covers his face with his hand and groans ‘’fuck offff,,,’’
Before he removes his hand from his face, he is knocked down onto the ground with a cold blade pressing up against his throat, cold blue eye staring at him along with a void star eye that was hiding behind the gods bangs.
Orion smirks dangerously, straddling onto the others lap and speaking with an alluring tone ‘’here i thought i’d be going up against the god of slaughter...i'm quite disappointed, ajax. Ahh so easy to take dow-’’
A blade came close to his throat,but he dashed back in time to avoid it. Eyes wide open with shock, he stares at the other god that now wields two hydro blades with an excited grin.
‘’Oh well...i can hone my bow skills later...i can put away my training for a delicious battle haha~’’
Orion takes a more of a fighting stance and stares at the other ‘’ohoo? So you could have done that from the start? You didn’t have to disappoint me and then amuse me there, friend~’’
Ajax shrugs and stands up, dusting himself off before preparing to charge ‘’i did enjoy the surprise on your face so it was all worth it~’’
And so they both battled, The battle had to end in a draw due to them taking too long to knock each other down.
Ajax seemed very happy with that and offered kaeya to be his sparring partner as well, to which he agreed to.
Now the hydro archon would have someone to battle with when the other one was busy, but hey- both of them didn’t mind it so he will not take any of this for granted.
Years passed and the three of them hung out more and more, they became closer than any other archons as they would spend most of their free time with each other.
Sometimes the two would visit the third for special days of the years such as holidays, birthdays or any other special occasions.
They all found great company in each other, teaching one another new things as well as sharing new or old news about themselves and their regions.
One of the funniest memories Rex lapis and orion had was of ajax trying desperately to learn how to use chopsticks...but to no avail. The poor guy struggled and complained about how he was gonna die due to starvation. The other two assured him that he did not, in fact, need to eat to stay alive.
The other memory being- orion and ajax getting frustrated with each other and calling one another by very...inappropriate words...which soon became a norm for them. At this point the name calling became their favorite thing to do- they tried to bring in rex lapis along but he did not look very pleased at being called ‘dick horns’ so they opted to calling him ‘grandpa’ since he was the oldest out of the three…
Still, he hated that but oh well- better than being called inappropriate words in public.
There's also the time when orion found glaze lilies and heard that they opened up if you sang to them. So he did, without knowing that the other two were captivated by the sight and sound not too far away from him. The glaze lilies bloomed and relished in the beautiful melody that was from his own region.
Neither of the two had the guts to approach him, fearing that the god would stop singing if he were to see them...so the two kept this as a secret among themselves.
This other time was ajax’s turn...a child was lost and far away from home- ajax immediately put on the friendliest smile and crouched down in front of the girl, speaking to her with such a caring tone that it caught the two off guard.
To think the god of slaughter would have such a soft side to him when it came to children. It made something swirl in the geo and astro god hearts.
He introduced himself as ‘’childe’’ to the kid, to which the girl giggled at since it was a silly nickname. The god later on gave the girl a small toy of a fox and took her back to her parents with ease - disappearing before the girls parents saw him.
That's when they found out that ajax has a soft side whenever it comes to children.
The fifth most memorable moment is when morax had to exterminate octopus like creatures from liyue harbor from door to door. The other two laughed their asses off at this from the distance, watching how the fearless morax got traumatized by the harmless sea creatures. After that, rex lapis started dreading any kind of seafood - one of the exceptions being the Adepus temptation which was pretty delicious and did not make him think of the traumatic experience.
Of course, ajax was a little shit and prepared his signature dish for both Orion and morax...if the two of them weren’t archons then they would have never survived the meteor that the geo archon crashed down on the dish.
With each and every small moment like that, the three of them grew more fond of each other - feelings starting to manifest and yearning was all they could feel.
One day they all decided to spend some time in khaenri’ah and stargaze since stars were the brightest and most beautiful in the astro archons region. They all laid comfortably on the grass with orion in the middle, humming a tune that the two were unfamiliar with.
One silence fell between the three, ajax was the first one to speak
‘’...have you two ever had someone close?’’
They glance over at their friend with a confused expression, Orion answering first ‘’well yes, i do have many friends who are mortal and immortal alike. Why do you ask?’’
Ajax shakes his head ‘’no, no. i meant like….hmm’’ He scrunches his nose, thinking ‘’how mortals would call a significant other, i guess?’’
Ah, that was unexpected.
‘’Oh….hm...well not really, no. you can’t really find time for that when you’re trying to survive the world and the war. A crush, maybe...but not a partner. How about you morax?..’’
Morax hums and closes his eyes ‘’....i don’t know.’’
The other two raise their eyebrows ‘’you don’t know?’’
‘’I do not.’’
‘’You don’t know if you dated someone??? H...how does one just...not know if they dated or not?’’ ajax sat up, looking at the geo archon with a questionable look.
Morax could only let out a slight hum, thinking. ‘’There was someone...but’’ He sighs ‘’it does not matter. I did not understand anything back then.’’
Ajax pouts ‘’awh, how about now?’’
Morax looks unsure ‘’....i still don’t understand.’’
‘’Awhh big guy, it’s okay we’ll help you understand your feelings…..if you want that is-’’
Morax smiles a little and looks over at orion ‘’that would be much appreciated’’
‘’Well, big guy, it’s time for you to learn how to understand your feelings haha- this is gonna be easy’’
Spoiler alert, it was not.
Both of them had different ways of explaining how feelings worked and how they should feel if they were to ever fall in love.
Neither of them were helpful, really- so they opted for human books instead...which were much weirdest because one dumbass decided to choose the raunchiest human fic that was available in the book shop.
They burnt the book...well ajax complained that it was good material to keep for later but the other two looked at him dead in the eyes and threw the book in the fire without a single remorse.
So instead of a book, they decided to discover the answer amongst the mortals, in which case they disguised themselves as one of them
The gods decided to change their names to not bring suspicions upon themselves… Rex lapis decided on the name Zhongli, Orion decided on the name Kaeya and Ajax decided on the name Childe...which was weird but the other two did not question him.
All three of them started observing the humans from afar at first, once they got down the basics of their behavior as well as human norm - they started to blend in with the crowd first.
At first it was quite annoying to adjust. The sleeping habits of the humans were quite a waste of time, but they needed it nonetheless...then there came food which was not bad, they did enjoy tasting new things every day...then there was also interacting with annoying people every single day. The only one that had the nerves to deal with them was kaeya and thank god for him or else childe would have killed people on sight just for the insults they threw for literally the weirdest reasons.
Nevertheless, childe and kaeya picked up on the routines and human behavior way quicker than zhongli, but that was fine - they stuck together most of the time so it was fine.
They decided that it would be more efficient to live together in a single house in case they needed each other's help.
Few years pass and honestly...they get into quite the routine.
All of them decide on which days they cook, although childe did enjoy it the most so he volunteered to make breakfast each morning. Fortunately, he only made seafood dishes only when it was him and kaeya around.
Cleaning the house was pretty easy as well since they only used the bedroom and the kitchen, occasionally they would rest in the living room but the other two still had to return back to their homelands to make sure that everything was going smoothly.
The more time passed, the less they started thinking about why they did this in the first place - opting to enjoy life instead.
They got closer to the point that the locals would always question why one of them wasn't with them at that time. It was funny, really, but the more they spend time without one of them being around it started to feel like they were missing something.
The day was an occasion where all three of them had no duty to look after, nor did they wish to deal with humans- so they all decided to stay in and relax on the couch. It was winter time in liyue and it was getting pretty chilly (although not as chilly as, let say, snezhnayan winter or khaneri’ahn winter - but it was cold nonetheless.
Childe was leaning against zhongli with a blanket covering both of their laps.
Kaeya comes in with three cups of tea on a tray and sets it down on the table in front of the couch.
Childe moves his blanket to the side and opens up his arms, inviting the bluenette to join in the cuddle pile.
Kaeya chuckles,delighted and sets himself between childes legs. He leans on his chest and stretches his arms under the gingers to reach the other.
Zhongli smiles and wraps his arms around the two of them...basically at this point, Childe is sandwiched between the two- which isn’t a bad thing…more warmth for him.
Although physical warmth isn’t the only thing he’s feeling now. He leans back on the older god and nuzzles his face onto the others head.
‘’Mmm...this feels nice...we should do this more often.’’ Childe says as he pulls up the blanket on kaeya and plays around with a strand of his hair.
Kaeya chuckles ‘’Haha~to think that you of all the people would like this’’
‘’Hey- i do enjoy battles, but sometimes relaxing can be just as good. Right, zhongli?’’
The brunette nods and reaches out for his cup, taking a sip with a satisfied sigh ‘’i do admit that i enjoy this more than dealing with some of the mortals...it’s refreshing’’
They both smile.
Childe tilts his head back to look at him with a purr ‘’awh, you don’t mind dealing with us?’’
Zhongli shakes his head, tilting his head to the side with a genuinely confused expression ‘’ i am not ‘dealing’ with you two if i'm enjoying my time, no? I find the two of you to quite the nice company.’’
‘’You don’t get bored with spending most, if not all, of your time with us?’’ kaeya asks,reaching for his own tea and cradling it in his hands to warm up.
‘’No, not really...is that strange?’’
The ginger and bluenette shake their heads before the former speaks ‘’not really. Same goes for me’’
‘’As well as me’’ kaeya agrees, which makes the eldest smile warmly.
‘’Good.’’
It was another free day to do whatever they wished to do...which is laying on a single king size bed in a cuddle pile...this time, the one in the middle being sandwiched was zhongli.
Kaeya and childe had their cheeks resting on zhonglis chest from each side. One of them was barely awake with unruly ginger locks and the other enjoyed the sunlight seeping in through the window.
After much needed silence and time to brush the sleepiness off, kaeya was the first one to speak.
‘’...hey...i’ve been wondering for a while now…’’
Childe hums to notify him that he was indeed listening even if his eyes were closed.
Zhongli just simply looks down at him,averting his attention from the window.
‘’I’ve never seen you guys in your dragon forms...i’m pretty curious...but you don’t have to indulge me if you don’t want to’’
Childe opens his eyes and smiles playfully ‘’mmm only if you show us yours, bluebird~’’
Zhongli nods ‘’it’s only fair...a contract, if you will’’
Kaeya giggles at that and pats the brunettes chest ‘’no need for a contract, big guy~ i’d show if you two just asked~’’
Childe grins and sits up, stretching out his limbs and popping his joints back in their places ‘’hmm how about half forms? I don’t think we can shift inside the house without doing damage to it- and frankly, i do not feel like getting out of the bed today. Mortals really have dangerous weapons on their hands-’’
‘’Pff, are you calling the bed a dangerous weapon?’’
‘’Yes.’’ childe said with the most serious expression.
‘’Wow, alright-’’ Kaeya sits up as well while zhongli scoots up and leans against the bed frame.
Childe is the first one to show off, getting on his knees to stretch his upper body forward like a cat. The horns on his head and forehead slowly emerge along with the tail that grows out from his tail bones, beautiful blue swirls and scales appear on his body along with sharp nails.
He looks more like an aquatic dragon than aerial - the tip of his tail resembles more of a fish like fins along with shark like fins to the sides on the upper part of the tail. The horn on his forehead resembled that of a narwhal and the horns on his head were more akin to a dragon, no wings were visible on his back...either he didn’t bother to take them out or did not have them at all.
He gives them a toothy smile ‘’ta-daa~’’
Kaeya smiles widely and scoots closer, running his hand on the hydro archons smooth tail ‘’wow...really pretty and shiny...oh you even have three horns- pff show off-’’
Childe sticks his tongue out playfully, it looks to be forked on the ends and much longer than a normal human tongue ‘’you’re just jealous-’’
Kaeya smirks ‘’suure i am’’ He looks over at zhongli ‘’your turn, big guy~’’
Zhongli stares at childes form for a while longer before he nods, sitting up with his arms and legs crossed - he closes his eyes and his dragon parts start appearing. The skin around his arm and back completely turn black with only a few lines of yellow glows adorning them. Same goes for the legs but the black skin only reaches slightly above the knees. Dark amber scales appear in patches, claws grow out and his horns grow out of his head before swirling up into a beautiful pattern - taking on a healthy yellow glow at the tips. His tail swirls around him, much longer than childes, with a tip of amber curly tuft sticking out.
Both of them stare at him with awe...neither of them could resist touching the fur on his tail, that's for sure.
Zhongli and childe now look over at kaeya, who gets a little flustered at the attention...but a deal is a deal.
He takes a deep breath, taking off his top before he transforms.
Star and feather-like scales start glittering his body, beautiful periwinkle patches surrounding them. One crystal-like horn grows out of the left side of his head, the right one having but a nub of what was once there.
The tail is thin compared to the two, but it's as long as zhongli’s. Feathers growing up from the bottom side and reaching the end, giving it a peacock look.
Wings sprout out from his back and he gives them a light flap and a stretch -The surface of his feathers bounced light differently from every direction, making it look like jewelry. Beautiful pale marks appear around his body, making him look even more ethereal than he already does.
Once he was done, he opened his eyes to look at the two...who were staring at him with such an awestruck expression as if he was the prettiest thing they have ever laid their eyes upon, which technically- he was.
Kaeya finds himself getting more flustered, looking away and fiddling with his wings nervously ‘’c...come on, you guys are too quiet,,,’’
Childe crawls over and grabs kaeyas face by the cheeks ‘’....what the fuck. What the //FUCK//’’
Now the bluenette is even more confused ‘’w...what? J-jeeze if it's that ugly you could just say it,,’’
The ginger puts his hands on the others shoulders with a little offended expression ‘’are you fucking kidding me??? You’re gorgeous and you’ve been hiding this shit from us??? Un-fucking-acceptable.’’
kaeyas face is now entirely red...he is feeling so flustered...he cannot for the love of god look at childes face, so he looks over at the other to see the others expression.
Zhongli was, so to say, captivated and could not tear his eyes away just like childe. This is the closest he has come to feeling like he needs to hoard him like the gems he sees in the markets.
Ah,the astro archon gets so much more flustered now. He hides his face behind his wings and the other two complain- he was forced to unshield his face and after that he was absolutely adored by the two of them.
They decided that they felt much more comfortable in those forms so they stayed like that (additionally kaeya made his wings disappear since they were a hassle to lay down with)
They spend the rest of the day comfortably snuggled up on the bed, now with their tails tangled together for comfort.
From this day on, they kept getting closer and closer relationship wise.