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Ajax curses to the rhythm of his own footsteps as he rapidly climbs up the staircase from the subway. He told Teucer he was going to leave on time today, and he had, but the metro system had other plans.
Two unexpected transfers later and he is now 45 minutes late to pick up Teucer from daycare. Ms. Guizhong would make sure he would never hear the end of it.
He skids to a stop at the door of the building and hastily makes his way towards the front desk. However, instead of Ms. Guizhong, he sees a young man with dark brown hair tied into a loose, long ponytail sitting with Teucer on the waiting bench reading a picture book. They look up at the sound of Ajax’s footsteps.
“Big brother!” Teucer shouts as he leaps off the bench and runs to get his bag and coat. The young man sets the picture book down next to him and strides to meet Ajax by the desk.
“Hello,” he said with a more formal tone than any daycare instructor should have “You must be here for Teucer, am I correct?”
“Ah yeah, I’m sorry the train…” Ajax trails off trying to catch his breath after running 5 blocks (totally not due to the handsome stranger in front of him).
Wow, he has pretty eyes.
“Um, where’s Ms. Guizhong? I should probably apologize.”
“Ms. Guizhong began her leave today; I believe all parents and guardians received a notice about it a few weeks ago.”
The information feels familiar, but leave it to Ajax to forget something like that with the week he’s been having.
The man extends a hand “I am her substitute, Mr. Zhongli.”
Ajax must have spent too long staring at the hand because Mr.Zhongli gives it a slight wiggle as if to remind Ajax that it’s there. Ajax takes his hand with an awkward cough and gives it a firm shake.
“I’m-” he is quickly cut off by a loud rattling coming from the children’s cubby holes.
“Where is it!? Where is it!?” Teucer has dumped the entire contents of his backpack onto the floor and turned his coat inside out. “I need to find it!”
In an instant, Mr. Zhongli is kneeling next to Teucer with one hand on the little boy’s shoulder.
“First deep breathes, Teucer. Breathe with me: in” he takes an exaggerated inhale which Teucer mimics “and out.” They both exhale loudly.
They repeat the process a few more times before Mr. Zhongli asks “Now Teucer, what are you looking for?”
“My Mr.Cyclops toy! I lost it!”
Teucer appears to be getting worked up again, and Ajax is ready to intervene when Mr. Zhongli’s gaze meets his eyes.
He has known the man for merely 10 minutes, but he gets the sense of what the gaze means: Let me handle this.
“Okay, and what do we do when we lose things?”
Teucer’s face scrunches up in thought.
“We...retrace our steps!”
“Excellent! So let’s retrace our steps together.” Mr. Zhongli gestures for Ajax to join them.
Ajax dutifully follows the duo around the daycare as Teucer recounts what he has done for the past few hours.
“And then...Oh! I played blocks with Qiqi!”
Mr. Zhongli hums in understanding
“And then Klee and I were using Mr. Cyclops to knock them down!”
“And is that the last time you saw Mr. Cyclops?”
“Mmm-hmm”
“So where do you think Mr. Cyclops is?”
Teucer purses his lips in thought, eyes traveling back and forth over the play area.
Suddenly he makes a mad dash for a large plastic bin in the corner and starts loudly rustling through what Ajax can only assume to be the blocks.
Teucer re-emerges from the bin with a cry of victory holding his beloved Mr. Cyclops proudly above his head “I found it! I found it!”
“That’s wonderful Teucer!” Mr. Zhongli places a hand fondly on Teucer’s head.
“Yeah, you did great little buddy.” Ajax chimes in as he offers his hand for a high-five, which Teucer jumps up to accept. “Now why don’t you pack up again so we can head home, okay?”
“Okay!” Teucer heads toward the cubby holes in a jog while Ajax and Mr. Zhongli walk slowly behind.
“That was amazing.” Ajax breaks the silence “I’ve never seen anyone handle Teucer that well except...well…”
“You?” Mr. Zhongli supplies
“Yeah.”
Mr. Zhongli gives an amused chuckled “He is a very nice boy. He has a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but his heart is in the right place.” Ajax can hear the fondness in his voice.
This man clearly cares about these kids. Ajax was nervous about leaving Teucer in someone else’s hands when he started working full-time. After he heard about Ms. Guizhong’s plans to leave, he was wary of her replacement.
Now, he knows he can trust Mr. Zhongli to watch out for Teucer.
Maybe he wants to do more than trus-
“Big brother! I’m ready!” Teucer’s shouts interrupt his thoughts.
Ajax takes Teucer’s hand and turns back to face Mr. Zhongli “Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you here from now.”
Mr. Zhongli nods “And you as well...” Suddenly, his eyebrows rise up in realization “By the way, I never got your name.”
“Ah, it’s...” Ajax’s brain unexpectedly turns into mush. His own name becomes a foreign concept.
His eyes dart around in panic, looking at children’s art projects and stuffed animals, before they land on the Violet Grass Child Care sign.
“Childe!” he blurts out “Name’s Childe.”
Are you serious? “Childe?” That’s what you come up with you idio-
“Interesting.” Mr. Zhongli muses placing a hand on his chin thoughtfully, apparently not noticing the strangeness of the situation. Teucer is too busy making “nyoom” sounds while playing with his Mr. Cyclops to care.
(Ajax owes him a scoop of ice cream for that...and a scoop for being late. Two scoops it is.)
“Well, I’ll be seeing you soon Mr. Childe.” Mr. Zhongli says as a slight smile spreads across his face.
“Yeah,” Ajax replies with complete sincerity “I’m looking forward to it.”