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How did Zhongli end up opening the door for a few of his seething friends? With that anger being directed at him? Well, apparently, everyone liked Miss Lumine a lot more than he thought.
An hour prior…
“Hello?” Zhongli answered his phone, continuing to type away for his essay with his right hand.
“Zhongli! How are you?” A cheerful voice came through the phone.
Ah. It was Miss Lumine. “I’m doing good, Miss Lumine. How about you?”
“It’s been a pretty nice day, but there’s been a tiny incident...oh! Which reminds me of why I’m calling you,” Lumine replied.
“And why is that, if I may ask?”
“Well...maybe it’d be easier to talk in person. If you’re not busy, of course.”
Zhongli looked at the essay he was typing up. He was almost done anyways, and the essay wasn’t due until Friday, so why not spare time for someone in need of help?
“I’m not. Where would you like to meet?”
“I’m at the Bird and Blossom Park right now, so how about here?”
“Alright. See you soon, Miss Lumine.”
The park in question was on the school campus, only a few blocks down from Zhongli’s dorm room. Zhongli shut off his laptop and changed into presentable clothes, then set off to go meet with Miss Lumine.
When Zhongli arrived at the park, he saw Miss Lumine wearing one of her signature white dresses. She was occupied with talking to another guy, presumably a classmate that she was helping. Zhongli waited for Miss Lumine to finish her chat with the other student, then approached her.
“Oh! Hey, Zhongli. How long have you been here? Did I keep you waiting with my chat?”
“No worries, Miss Lumine. I’ve just arrived. So, what is this incident that you’ve run into?”
“Haven’t I told you to call me Lumine? Are we not good friends?” Lumine teasingly smacked Zhongli’s arm.
“...Ah. Apologies, Lumine. I didn’t realize that we were friends.” If Zhongli was being honest, he had assumed Lumine just saw him as an acquaintance she knew from them being mutual friends with Childe, and her twin brother, Aether.
Lumine shrugged it off. “That’s okay. Come, sit down.” She lightly dragged Zhongli to sit down on the stone bench by the fountain with her. Lumine rubbed the nape of her neck, flushing a bit. “Well, it’s kind of embarrassing…”
“No worries. We all do embarrassing things sometimes,” Zhongli offered a small smile.
Lumine returned the smile. “Okay, so basically, I was out hiking with Aether the other day, but I must’ve gotten stung by something while we were out. He put some ointment on it, but then today, I accidentally scratched it, and now it’s super itchy again. I don’t know what ointment he used, and I don’t know what stung me, so I can’t find out what to use. I figured that since you’re one of my most knowledgeable friends on each and every subject, maybe you could help me find the right ointment?”
“Have you attempted asking Aether what ointment he used?”
Lumine let out a small huff. “Well I was going to ask, but I think he’s in the middle of a track meet right now, and I don’t want to bother him.”
“So you thought of asking me, instead.”
Mistaking Zhongli’s statement for annoyance, Lumine waved her hands in front of her. “I’m sorry if it’s too much of a bother, Zhongli. I would’ve asked Albedo or Sucrose, but they never answer their phones. I didn’t think Childe, Diluc, or Kaeya would have any knowledge on this, nor would they be free. Chongyun, Xingqiu-”
Zhongli cut her off, seeing Lumine fret too much. “No, no. It’s not a bother at all. I’m just a little surprised that you’d choose me.”
“Well, when you put it like that, it seems…” Lumine trailed off.
“Seems…?”
“Ah, n-nothing!” Lumine’s cheeks were tinted with a light pink.
“Alright. Well, for a bee’s sting, paracetamol would be quite useful and common in a household. A wasp’s sting could be treated with a skin cream. Ibuprofen is for quite a few insect bites, such as mosquitoes, hornets, common spiders, and more. These can all be found in drug or convenience stores. For lesser, uncommon insects, I’m not entirely sure but…”
Lumine couldn’t help but daze off a bite at Zhongli’s long monologue and miss all of the information he just spouted out.
“Mi- Lumine?” Zhongli’s passive voice brought her back.
“...Huh?”
“I asked, did you catch all of that?”
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry, Zhongli. I didn’t hear anything you said. Is there something...something less complex, that could be used for an itchy sting, like say, rubbing it?” Lumine sheepishly replied.
Placing his index finger and thumb on his chin and unconsciously stroking an imaginary beard, Zhongli thought about it. “Hm...yes, that could work. Though, depending on where this bite is, you might need the assistance of another to rub it for you.”
“It’s on my back, so I don’t think I can reach it. Here, let me show you.” Lumine turned her back towards Zhongli, and pulled down the back of her dress a bit, so Zhongli could see the sting.
Zhongli’s face turned a little red, and he looked away. “Ah...are you sure that this is appropriate, Lumine?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not flashing you or anything. What’s a little bit of skin? We’re not in the 17th-century anymore, you old soul!” Lumine giggled, but turned back to face Zhongli.
“Right. Of course.”
“I have an idea! Since you’re already here with me, why don’t you do it for me? If it isn’t too much trouble, of course.”
Zhongli scrunched his eyebrows. “Do what?”
“Rub it! I can go to sleep, and it’ll be like a free massa- oops, hehe.” Lumine covered her mouth, hiding a scheming smile that told she wanted a massage.
Zhongli shifted a bit, glancing around. Rumors would start floating around if he helped her out at the park. Lumine mistook it for unwillingness. “Please don’t feel like I’m trying to force you to do something!”
“Oh, no. I’ll be willing to help you. But, others may get the wrong idea.”
“That’s why we do it in my dorm!” Lumine smiled, the reflection of the sun in her eyes seeming like twinkles. She rolled her shoulders a bit. “Oh, now that I’ve exposed the sting to fresh air, it’s getting itchy again.”
Zhongli flinched a bit, feeling surprised at Lumine’s boldness and trust in him. And here he was, thinking they were acquaintances a mere five minutes ago.
“Then let us be on our way.”
The pair got up from the bench, and Lumine took the lead towards her dorm. It was apparently in the Starling building, as Lumine told Zhongli, which was quite a-ways from Zhongli’s own dormitory building, the Sandpiper building.
On the way to Lumine’s dorm, Lumine pausd Zhongli in front of a fruit tea fundraiser for the animal shelter.
“Let’s get fruit teas!” Lumine said, grabbing onto Zhongli’s arm excitedly and pulling him forwards.
“Hello, what would you two like? We have dragon fruit tea, star fruit tea, passion fruit tea, papaya tea, lychee tea, and mango tea!” the lady running the stand said, smiling. “We also have a deal where if you buy three drinks in one order, your amount charged will be reduced by ten percent.”
“Can we get a mango tea, a star fruit tea, and...Zhongli, what would you like?”
“Ah, Lumine. My apologies, but I haven’t brought my wallet, as I wasn’t expecting to make a purchase whilst meeting up with you.”
“No, that’s alright! This one can be on me, and the next time, you can pay for us,” Lumine said, still clinging to Zhongli’s arm.
Zhongli hesitantly nodded, looking over the menu. “I’ll remember our deal. Then, could I get a dragon fruit tea?”
The lady nodded. “Alright, the total for your order would have been twelve dollars, but with the ten percent discount for three drinks, that brings your total down to ten dollars and eighty cents. Cash or card?”
Lumine pulled out a card. “Card, please.”
They finished the transaction and collected the fruit teas. Lumine gave the mango and dragon fruit teas to Zhongli and asked him to hold them as she poked her straw into her tea.
Taking a sip, Lumine’s eyes widened. Zhongli watched her, noting how enamored with the drink she seemed. Definitely not focusing on her plush lips around the straw. Maybe he should’ve gotten the star fruit one, as well.
Lumine shoved the tea towards Zhongli. “Zhongli! This tastes amazing, you should try some as well.”
Zhongli looked down at his hands carrying the other two teas, and then at the straw that Lumine’s lips were around just moments earlier.
“Come on! I promise you it’s like nothing you’ve ever tasted before. Just go ahhh,” Lumine stopped walking, pausing in front of Zhongli.
Well, Zhongli wasn’t about to let these claims go unproved. He leaned forwards and took a tiny sip of the drink. It was quite refreshing, especially on a sunny day like this one. The drink tasted exceptionally sweet, or maybe it was just him imagining it. But, it didn’t exactly stand out amongst all the unique tastes he had tried over the years.
Still, as to not upset Lumine, he agreed. “You’re right.”
Lumine smiled triumphantly and returned to Zhongli’s side, resuming their walk. “We should hurry back so the mango tea won’t go bad. I want to give it to Aether later.”
When the pair reached Lumine’s dorm, Zhongli couldn’t help but look around. It was his first time seeing her dorm, and it was so...Lumine. The walls were a sunny pastel yellow, and there were photos all over the walls of her and her friends hanging out. Lumine pulled out a mini-refrigerator. “Here, put the mango tea in here. And your dragon fruit tea, if you’re not going to drink it immediately.”
Zhongli placed both teas into the fridge. “So, how will we do this?”
Lumine plopped onto her bed. “I can just lay on my stomach like this and--oh, you can pull over the desk chair to sit on.”
Zhongli did as he was told, dragging the chair over to her bedside. “Lumine, do you place this much trust in every person you meet?”
Lumine looked over her shoulder, pouting. “No, of course not!”
“That’s relieving to hear.”
“I’m not that naive, Zhongli. You don’t have to worry for me!” Lumine gave a thumbs up, smiling.
Zhongli gave a small nod. She kind of reminded him of a childhood friend.
“Now, start massa- rubbing!” Lumine said, resting her head in her arms and closing her eyes.
Letting out a low hum of acknowledgement, Zhongli tentatively pulled back the top of Lumine’s dress a bit, just enough to see the redness of the sting. That must itch a lot. Did Lumine say massage? Zhongli decided that he’d give Lumine a massage after the redness of the sting went away a bit.
First, Zhongli used the pad of his thumb to gently rub over the sting, not sure how much pressure he should put down. To his surprise, Lumine rolled her shoulders up, trying to create friction between the itchy spot and Zhongli’s finger.
“C’mon, do it harder,” Lumine whined.
Zhongli’s breath hitched in his throat. Lumine sounded really cute like that. He was glad Lumine couldn’t see his face, or he’d have felt really shameless. Zhongli wasn’t really sure of a good position for his hand, so he just gripped the side of Lumine’s body, stroking her with his thumb. His four other fingers were unintentionally sinking into the soft flesh on her side, so he tried to loosen his grip.
Zhongli pulled out his phone and opened a reading app, deciding to read whilst he stroked Lumine’s sting. His thumb moved in a downwards pattern, sometimes pausing for a moment, then switching to a circular motion and back.
Zhongli could hear Lumine let out a faint sigh, so he assumed she thought the pattern was soothing enough. Suddenly, Zhongli felt something rubbing against his legs, so he looked down. A cat? The cat was white, with a few black patches on its back.
“I wasn’t aware you had a cat.”
“Oh yeah! Her name’s Paimon, and Aether and I take turns taking care of her.”
“I thought pets weren’t allowed on campus.”
Lumine whipped her head around to look at Zhongli. “Please don’t tell anyone. It’s just that Paimon is too cute to be left at home.”
At the mention of her name, Paimon leapt onto the bed beside Lumine’s legs, staring at Zhongli with her eyes narrowed. Between Lumine’s pleading gaze and Paimon’s accusatory stare, Zhongli could only sigh and agree. He supposed he could pretend he never saw Paimon, later.
Lumine turned back around and laid her head back down. Zhongli resumed his stroking, but put his phone down. Paimon padded a bit closer to him, seeming to want pets. Zhongli allowed Paimon to jump onto his lap, and started petting her back. The cat purred, curling up into a ball.
Soon enough, both Lumine and Paimon had fallen asleep, leaving Zhongli in a room where the only noise was quiet breathing. Giving Paimon one last scratch between the ears, his hand left the cat and went to the area between Lumine’s shoulder and neck. Zhongli had to lean over Lumine to be able to properly massage her without waking Paimon up. She’d probably start ‘gifting’ him with a bunch of high-pitched meows if he did, which would subsequently wake Lumine up.
And so, Zhongli massaged Lumine in peace for the next ten minutes. Until the phone call came.
Zhongli’s phone started vibrating from Lumine’s desk, so he reached over and answered it.
“Hello?” Zhongli greeted in a quiet voice.
“Hey, Zhongli! You wanna hang out later? I’m planning to invite a bunch of our friends to go to the arcade,” Aether’s voice came through the phone. Wasn’t he at a track meet?
“Ah, my apologies. But I’m currently rubbing Miss Lumine’s-”
“You’re with my meimei!? Doing what!?” Aether cut Zhongli off, his voice blasting through the phone. Zhongli winced and held it a bit further away from his ear. “Where. Are. You. Two.” Paimon’s ear twitched, and Zhongli froze. Hopefully she was still asleep.
“We are currently in her dorm room. Could you please quiet down? You might wake Miss Lumine up.”
But, by the time Zhongli finished speaking, Aether had already hung up. A few minutes later, rapid knocks came from the door. Zhongli lifted Paimon into his arms, and started walking to open the door. He could see Paimon’s cross look on her little face, and just hoped she wouldn’t attack him.
When Zhongli opened the door, he felt a twinge of surprise and amazement. Lumine shared quite a lot of mutual male friends with him. There was Kaeya and Childe leaning against the opposite wall, glaring at him. Diluc and Albedo to the side, though Albedo was on his phone and neither of them exactly seemed like they cared. Never checked his phone, huh. And in front of the four boys, leading the gang was Aether.
For a moment, everyone was silent. Then Aether’s eyes landed on Paimon in Zhongli’s arms, and stepped towards him to take the cat. Paimon hissed and batted away Aether’s hands, and hurt clouded the boy’s face at his cat’s rejection. He glared at Zhongli.
“You need to be punched,” he said.
“...Pardon?”
“I said, you need the audacity punched out of you. You’re with my meimei, alone. You’re carrying my cat. You hung up on me.”
Zhongli was fairly certain that it was the other way around, but he stayed silent.
“Where is she? Lumine,” Kaeya asked.
“Miss Lumine is currently asleep,” Zhongli said, referring to Lumine formally again.
Childe looked like he had enough of standing by the wall. “Let us in. You’re in our way.”
Zhongli continued standing at the doorway.
“You can’t stop me from entering my meimei’s--meimei!” Aether rushed past Zhongli. “Are you hurt? What did he do to you?”
Zhongli turned around. There Lumine was, rubbing sleep from her eyes. He felt a bit irritated. The others had woken her up with their loud voices. Childe tried rushing past Zhongli like Aether did, but Paimon unsheathed her claws and scratched him, making him back away.
“What...what are you guys all doing here?” Lumine asked, stretching her arms above her head.
“Well, Aether told us that Zhongli was touching you, so we all rushed over,” Kaeya explained. For some reason, he sounded insincere.
Lumine turned to Aether, looking offended. “Is this true?”
Aether shifted from one foot to the other. That was all the answer Lumine needed. Lumine marched over to the door, and before slamming it shut, she apologized. “Sorry for wasting your time, but my brother, though he is the best, he is also an idiot sometimes.”
Now, Lumine, Aether, Zhongli, and Paimon were the only ones in the dorm room.
“Why would you say that?” Lumine asked Aether, walking back to her bed. Aether and Zhongli trailed behind her.
“Well, why would you be with Zhongli in the first place?” Aether asked, crossing his arms.
“Because we’re friends? And that’s what friends do--hang out,” Lumine huffed.
“Hang out?” Aether used his fingers to make air-quotations. “I called Zhongli asking if he wanted to hangout, and he said that he was rubbing you!”
“That is not the truth. I had said rubbing Lumine’s back, but you had cut me off,” Zhongli replied.
“Oh--well, still!” Aether said, not having a good comeback. “Um…” He seemed to tense himself, but for what?
“You need to stop being so overprotective of me, I know how to stay safe! And stop trying to drive every guy I know away, I have a life too. Let me hang out with my friends. I’m not your little meimei anymore, you know?” Lumine rushed out, hitting Aether on the arm.
Zhongli could only watch while Aether rubbed his arm and started blurting out words just as fast as Lumine. “Well every guy is a wolf who is waiting to gobble you up! You need to be less trusting or else you’re gonna get hurt! You don’t understand the way guys think, and to be with a guy in your dorm, alone? As your gege, I’m supposed to protect you from that!”
“You’re literally two minutes older than me! Plus, who’s the one who took taekwondo classes? Me. Can’t you trust me?” Lumine ranted.
“I can trust you, but not those hungry wolves that you call friends,” Aether pouted.
Lumine put her hand on her forehead. “And to think that I got mango fruit tea for you.”
“You got mango fruit tea for me? Wait, meimei! I’m sorry! Please forgive me,” Aether clasped both of Lumine’s hands with his own.
Zhongli watched in amazement. He was an only child, so he didn’t really understand sibling dynamics yet.
Lumine sighed. “Fine,” she said, dragging out the word. She pulled the mini-fridge back out, and gave Aether the mango tea. “Oh! Here, Zhongli. You still haven’t drank your dragon fruit tea.”
Zhongli let Paimon down onto the ground and took the drink from Lumine. “Thank you.”
Aether’s eyes were wide open. “Meimei! The betrayal! I thought I was special, but you also got him a fruit tea?” he wailed.
And so, another small argument ensued.