Chapter Text
He'd been a fool, now that Zhongli looks back on it, for thinking that Childe would stick around after everything went down.
They'd nearly completely stopped speaking to one another, after. Zhongli had approached him once, only to be shot down with a frigid smile and an impenetrable wall shoved between them. He’d backed off, thinking Childe was mad, and that he only needed space. He was right about the first. Not the second.
Zhongli hadn't even known that Childe had left for Snezhnaya, a couple weeks after the storm, not until the Traveler had made a casual remark about it over lunch. He'd slipped into his usual polite smile, made the usual courteous comments.
He goes home. Slips down to the floor. Buries his head in his arms.
(He tries to ignore how Childe hadn't told him. How he hadn't even been able to say goodbye.)
---
He closes his eyes and he dreams.
He dreams of a past long gone, of a woman dancing in a field of glaze lilies, of two gods and their companions sitting down for tea and a chat.
He dreams of times more recent, but just as far away. Of eyes blue like the ocean and the sky. Of a smiling face, a laughing voice, bright orange hair.
He watches it all slip away. Some to time. Some to his own mistakes.
The goddess fades to dust. The god is corrupted, and his partner falls to the hands of her own people. He watches warm smiles and bright laughter morph into a mask of cold indifference.
And when he wakes, he is cold. So, so cold. He is alone. The bed is frigid and empty. There is a space beside him he longs to be filled but knows will remain a void for the rest of time.
He closes his eyes again, tries to go back to sleep, at least let him have those fantasies- of a world where his old friends are still alive and whole, of a world where Childe still stands by his side, where he still allows Zhongli to drag him around Liyue, still listens and indulges him and laughs and-
And Zhongli curls up in the center of his bed, throat closing up, eyes filling with what suspiciously feels like tears.
He dreams. He wishes.
But he knows he can never have.
Not anymore. He'd torn it all down with his own two hands.
---
If Hu Tao had noticed his change in mood ever since the storm, she makes no remark of it. Zhongli is perfectly fine with it as well. It makes it easier to ignore all his problems, at least while it's during his shift.
Afterwards, he finds himself turning to a man who is not there. Starting conversations with empty space. Expecting him to be next to him, smiling or indulging in his purchases when in reality, the Snezhnayan is on the other side of the continent.
"You're lonely." Aether remarks one day, as they sit with Paimon at Wanmin. The traveler is blunt, as usual, and Zhongli doesn't know how to respond to that. He settles on simply humming, and pokes at his food with his chopsticks. It is unmannerly, he is aware, but he can't seem to find his appetite.
Aether sighs. "Do you want to go adventuring, some time? Take your mind off things?"
Zhongli simply hums. The words pass over his head, and he picks up a small piece of food, nibbling at it.
Aether draws his lips into a thin line, then sets his chopsticks down and stands up. He says something to Paimon, then walks off, leaving the two behind.
---
'A break' by Aether's definition was apparently teleporting across the continent to slaughter abyss mages and hilichurls. Not that Zhongli is complaining. He has to admit despite the peace, Liyue does occasionally get stuffy.
"I don't know what happened with the two of you," The traveler speaks. "But I'm willing to bet fifty bucks it's all just miscommunication between idiots."
"Bucks? I do not see how male deer fit into-"
Aether waves it off. "It's slang from another world. Roughly means- uh- maybe around a thousand mora here?" He shrugs. "Anyway, when you see him again, I think you guys should talk."
Zhongli doesn't ask who 'him' is. He doesn't need to. "I don't think I should. He had made it explicitly clear that he did not want any relation to me the last time. I'd only be bothering him." He can hear his voice waver, but the traveler takes no note of it.
"You'd be amazed." Aether turns to stare off into the snowy woods. "How many things can be cleared up with the simple exchange of words."
---
"Are you sure they won't mind?"
"They're a friend. And they owe me a favor." Aether grumbles, raising a fist to rap on the wooden door. "It's fine."
Zhongli hears the scrambling of small feet, and the door opens to reveal a small boy, perhaps only eight or nine.
"Gege-" The child breaks out into a grin. "Ajax-" He whips around immediately and screams into the house. "Traveler gege is here!"
Ajax, Zhongli hears, and he freezes.
A ginger-haired man walks towards the door, running a hand through his hair. "Teucer," He sighs, "What did I say about-"
His gaze meets Zhongli's, and something indiscernible flashes by.
"Ah, hello, Childe."
---
The guest room is tucked towards the back of the house. There is a simple wooden dresser pushed against the wall by the window, and an old painting hangs above the bed.
Aether had flatly stated he was taking the couch before collapsing face-first onto the cushions and passing out. Tonia, the sweet child she was, had guided Zhongli to the guest room while Childe had disappeared into the corners of the house.
He falls into the bed; it smells like pine, like Ajax, and sleep takes him swiftly.
He dreams, warm dreams, dreams of the past that was, of dining with friends, laughing at jokes, sharing stories and hidden moments. Dreams of a future that might be.
For once, the dreams don't shift. He wakes up, and he is alone again, but the house feels so much warmer than his apartment back in Liyue, even though they are in Snezhnaya in the dead of winter. Perhaps it is because, at least, he wasn't chased out, even if it was because of the Traveler.
He closes his eyes again, breathes in the scent of pine and winter, and wishes.