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It’s unusually cold in Liyue this evening as Childe makes his way home from the Northland Bank. Some new agents had arrived and he had to give them the talk since he’s the only Harbinger here in Liyue and also their superior.
He buries his stiff hands into his pockets; he only knows these kinds of temperatures from summer days in Snezhnaya. There, this kind of weather is considered warm and nice but here in Liyue it’s cold and unwelcomed. The moon is full high up in the sky and probably the reason why it’s so damn cold this night.
Zhongli had asked Childe to meet him at Liuli Pavillion after his work was done and Childe reluctantly agreed — he’s actually quite tired and would like to go home and immediately crash into bed but knowing Zhongli, he probably didn’t bring any Mora to pay anyway.
Childe can only shake his head at this — how can he, Morax , forget to bring Mora all the time?! He could’ve at least saved some amount before giving away his Gnosis but, of course, Zhongli, oh beautiful Zhongli didn’t think about it .
It’s a good thing that Childe has got as much money as he does.
When he arrives in Liuli Pavilion, he is immediately greeted by Francis whose face is a bit dismantled by concern.
That's new, Childe thinks. Francis is usually highly professional and quite friendly — which is probably due to the amount of Mora they tend to spend in here.
Childe raises his eyebrows. “Did something happen?”, he asks and Francis raises his hands defensively. “Master Childe, I really tried to stop him”, he says and Childe frowns. “But he was quite persistent!”
Childe sighs. “How much damned Mora did he spend?”
But Francis shakes his head in disagreement. “Oh no, the bill isn’t as high as usual… It’s… Uhm. Master Zhongli seems to be… drunk.” - “Ah?”
The surprise overtakes Childe like a shockwave. It takes him a couple of seconds to process what Francis just told him and then he starts to holler in laughter. There are even small tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.
“Drunk, you say?”, he laughs and Francis looks somewhat relieved — he must’ve thought that Childe was going to kill him. Francis nods furiously. “I have never seen Master Zhongli like this'', he adds and Childe only grins. Oh, this will be so entertaining.
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle this”, he tells Francis and dismisses him with the wave of his hands.
Childe knows that the only reason the people of Liyue don’t attack him on the open street after the entire Osial disaster is because of Zhongli. They may not know that the man was Rex Lapis but they know Zhongli . He is respected among the citizens and also well beloved. It’s almost ironic that the people haven’t figured it out yet.
Childe slides open the door to the room; it’s cozy inside, dim lights create a warm atmosphere and the smell of silk flowers is sweet in the air — but underneath, the heavy scent of Baijiu lingers in the room.
“Ajax!”
Childe gazes towards Zhongli whose eyes glow up when he sees him. His cheeks are flustered and his eyes slightly red. He took off his mantle and only sits there in his grey shirt, buttons half undone. Truly a sight to cherish, Childe decides. It’s not often that Zhongli lets go of his extravagant manners and just… relaxes.
Childe puts his hands on his hips and smiles softly at his lover. “So, Francis told me you’re drunk?”, he says and winks.
Zhongli looks back at him in shock. “I’m not drunk!”, he declares and then, to Childe’s absolute entertainment, hiccups . This may be the best day of his life.
“Right, right”, Childe grins. “Just exactly how much Baijiu did you have?”, he asks as he slowly crosses the room and sits down next to Zhongli, their shoulders slightly touching.
Zhongli seems to think. “Mhm… four, no, five, six glasses...” He raises his hand and starts to count his fingers but the numbers he tells Childe don’t exactly match the fingers he’s holding up. Childe almost pisses himself laughing.
He carefully wraps his hand around Zhongli’s fingers and stops him from counting more. “Did you drink this much before?”, he asks and Zhongli nods. “All the time”, he answers as if it was the most normal amount of Baijiu to drink without getting drunk out of one’s mind. Okay, so Zhongli didn’t get that hint. It seems like Childe has to become clearer. “ Before you gave up your Gnosis?”
At this, Zhongli seems to think again. Childe can almost see Zhongli’s brain working for a couple of seconds, silently, before the Archon looks back at Childe, his face suddenly drawn in displeasure.
“By Celestia”, he says plainly, “I am drunk.”
The realization must’ve hit him like lightning and Childe laughs again. “You will love the hangover in the morning”, he says, his arm wrapping tightly around Zhongli's waist. He can feel the Archon lean against him, like it was the most natural thing to do. Childe’s heart flutters just a little.
“I will love the what now?”, Zhongli asks.
Right. As Archon, he probably never had to deal with a hangover before.
“You will know tomorrow morning”, Childe grins and strokes away a loose strand of hair that somehow broke out of Zhongli’s otherwise perfect hairstyle and fell into his forehead.
“How about you stop for tonight and we continue this sometime next?”, Childe suggests. “Preferably with supervision before you get yourself alcohol-poisoned”, he adds then, his brows slightly narrowed.
Zhongli tilts his head in curiosity. “I was not aware that one can get poisoned by alcohol”, he states.
Childe nods slowly. “Mhm'', he hums, growing more and more distracted by Zhongli’s half-bare chest. His skin is glowing like gold in this kind of light.
“Ugh”, Zhongli growns and buries his head in Childe’s shoulder. He mutters something under his breath that sounds pretty much like humans are so weak .
Childe only grins and puts his hands in Zhongli’s soft hair. “Regretting mortality, Master Zhongli?”, he asks and presses a kiss against Zhongli’s temple.
Zhongli shifts his head so he can look up to Childe. A faint smile covers his lips, the corners of his mouth turned upwards just a little, his amber eyes glowing. “Not one bit”, he replies and Childe just can’t help himself but to fall a little bit more in love.
Even like this, drunk out of his mind, Zhongli manages to remain so perfect: everything about him is always so extravagant, so elegant. His cheeks are flustered red but his eyes are still as sharp as always, cutting right through Childe’s defensives and Childe, as so often, simply gives in .
He leans forward and gives Zhongli a soft kiss; he can still taste the Baijiu on Zhongli’s lips, a heavy and bitter aftertaste. Zhongli kisses him back, somewhat sloppy, less restrained than usual and Childe melts . His chest feels like it will combust. He gives him another kiss and then another and another but then Childe breaks the kiss between them before it turns into more. Zhongli’s eyes falter open slowly, his breath ragged a little, his lips now as red as his cheeks. Childe almost starts to kiss him again — at this point, he is barely holding it together.
“Let’s go home, mh?”, he suggests, and then asks, smugly, “Did you bring Mora?”
Zhongli halts at this and sighs deeply. “Mora”, he repeats, almost annoyed with himself.
Of course. As if Childe had known it.
He only laughs. “You are so lucky I love you, Master Zhongli”, he tells him and gets up. “I’ll get the bill. Get your mantle.” He helps Zhongli up and goes to find Francis.
He finishes up the bill, which is actually way less than usual, and finds his way back to Zhongli. The Archon is putting his mantle on; it’s still straight and flawless, there is not even one single wrinkle in the material but Zhongli didn’t button up his shirt. Childe comes to stand in front of him and closes the buttons carefully, his fingertips digging maybe a little bit too long into Zhongli’s skin.
“You will be cold outside like this”, he tells Zhongli distractedly. “Mhm”, Zhongli replies, leaning into the touch just slightly but it’s enough for Childe to notice. “Let’s get you home.”
Growing up in Snezhnaya and therefore in glacial temperatures, Childe knows exactly what the cold does to drunk people. And as he expected, Zhongli only gets worse once they step out into fresh air.
In the pale moonlight he looks magnificent, Childe thinks. Everything about him is perfect in every way, even when his steps stumble a little and he holds tightly onto Childe, his fingers digging into Childe’s arms. Zhongli is trying so hard to keep his shit together, his eyes firmly narrowed. It’s almost cute.
“You know, we can walk slower”, Childe tells him. He’s honestly more amused than worried.
“I’m fine”, Zhongli says, stubborn as a rock, and Childe just shakes his head. “Okay”, he grins. “I want to go home”, Zhongli says then. “I feel tired and … drowsy”, he adds, sounding a bit confused. Childe has to suppress his laughter. “First time’s a charmer, eh?”, he grins and he swears he sees Zhongli rolling his eyes but he does it so fast that Childe would have missed it had he blinked.
“I built this house”, Zhongli suddenly says and he points at a random building Childe never really paid attention to. “You did?”, he asks, genuinely curious, and Zhongli nods. “It was a pain in the ass”, he says then and Childe almost chokes on his saliva upon hearing his so well reserved lover curse like this. He laughs. “Now, now, what’s up with the foul language, Master Zhongli? I never heard you curse before!”
Zhongli shakes his head, as if to say no, you don’t understand .
“The layers of the terrace around and the different altitudes made it rather difficult to arrange the house accordingly to guarantee the best elemental flow. For houses, it is best when they face southwards. Due to the other buildings around that already existed at that time, I had to tear it down and rebuilt it quite a few times. By the time it was finally completed I felt a handful of decades older.”
Childe stares at him in absolute disbelief. “Please curse again”, he says, a little breathless.
“I will not”, Zhongli replies and Childe knows he’s lost that fight. This one time is all he gets.
It isn’t until sometime later, after they arrived home and Childe helped Zhongli out of his insanely complicated clothes and into the pyjamas (which are evenly complicated to wear and to take off ), and they laid down in the bed, that Childe props up and rests his head on his palms.
Zhongli seems to feel Childe’s intense stare on him because he cracks one amber eye open and stares back, almost demanding, what do you want a clear question in his firm stare.
“I would pay you if you curse again”, Childe grins and Zhongli takes a deep breath.
“I will spend all of your Mora”, he threatens, his eye falling back shut and Childe laughs. He leans forward and presses a kiss on Zhongli’s nose.
“That’s so sweet!”