Chapter Text
Every now and then y/n was able to drag Zhongli outside of the city. The man rarely ever agreed to leave, he always had work to do. But sometimes he would take a break, just for the sake of appeasing y/n. The two of them had met about 5 months prior, and Zhongli had become very attached. It was easier and easier for y/n to convince Zhongli to go with them.
They were waking outside of Liyue, just past Mt. Tiangheng. It was a fairly pleasant day, cool and cloudy. The walks they took were stress relievers for both of them, that stress being relieved through stabbing slimes and hillichurls. Zhongli was always somewhat stressed, and though he wouldn’t admit it, he did rely on this occasional free time with y/n.
It was a good thing they never ran into anything more dangerous than a small group of hillichurls, because every encounter they ran into Zhongli would find himself staring at his companion. It wasn’t a conscious decision, he just liked to watch them. The way they moved, and how easily they handled their sword. They were mesmerizing. Y/n was always completely unaware of this, entirely focused on the scuffle at hand. Without moving his gaze from y/n, Zhongli sent his spear through the final slime and the two of them continued.
Y/n smiled at Zhongli and he blushed a little bit, taken aback by being the recipient of what he thought was a gorgeous smile. Y/n noticed and squinted at him a little, but said nothing.
Y/n moved closer to Zhongli and linked their arm through his. This was not abnormal, both of them found comfort in physical touch. But every time they did something like that, Zhongli’s heart jumped in his chest. Most of his relationships were formed over hundreds of years, he didn’t quite understand how he could feel so attached to someone after only a few months.
Y/n smiled and looked up at Zhongli, voicing what had been on their mind since they left Liyue. “You barely even bothered to resist taking a day off today”
“Did I?”
“Normally it takes a lot longer for me to get you out”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Oh, no, not at all. I was just wondering why, I guess”
Zhongli thought for a second before answering “I simply enjoy spending time with you” he unlinked his arm from theirs, and intertwined their fingers.
Now y/n was the one blushing.
They didn’t question it though, just smiled and leaned into the tall man. Zhongli tended to move into these things slowly, becoming more and more open to affection.
Y/n stepped up onto a rock that was by the side of the path they were on, making themselves just a little bit taller than Zhongli. They had been wanting to do this for a while, but hadn’t quite built up the courage.
They wrapped their arms around Zhongli’s neck, and kissed him.
Zhongli was shocked, but he didn’t resist. As he returned the kiss, he could feel y/n relax a little bit. He closed his eyes and let y/n pull him closer. He didn’t realized how much he had been wanting this.
When they finally broke apart, y/n was smiling like crazy and Zhongli’s cheeks were bright red. Zhongli wrapped his arms around their waist and lifted them down off the rock they had been standing on, then planted a kiss on the top of their head.
“I’m very glad you did that, y/n”
Y/n really had no idea how to respond to that, they just laughed a little bit and looked away.
That’s when the Fatui agents appeared in front of them. At first it was just three, but then three more behind them. Y/n drew their sword, and Zhongli cautiously went for his spear. Both of them knew what the Fatui were here for. Zhongli’s gnosis.
Y/n had known that Zhongli was actually Rex Lapis for about two months, and although it was a shock, they had found that they were not deterred at all in trying to form a relationship with him.
“Hand it over now, and you can avoid being slaughtered” growled one of the agents.
Zhongli didn’t bother to respond, merely thrusting his spear at the agent.
The agent chuckled. “The hard way then! Alright.”
Y/n whipped around just in time to block a sword coming right at their neck, parrying and striking back. They moved into the fight easily, darting around and effectively keeping three of the agents busy.
There was a reason Zhongli liked watching y/n fight so much, they were beautiful on the battle field. Zhongli was more of a stationary fighter. Being the Lord of Geo, he preferred to keep himself solid on the ground. But when y/n fought it was like they were dancing, floating almost. No one else looked so graceful killing things. At least, that’s what Zhongli thought.
They took out multiple Fatui agents, but more kept appearing. They had spared no expense preparing for this ambush.
The fight went on And on And on And on. How do the Fatui have so many agents. This was no problem for Zhongli. He could do this for days on end. But he was starting to worry about y/n. They were mortal, they got tired. And indeed, y/n’s movements had started to falter.
They were busy fending off a Fatui swordsman, and failed to notice the spearman who had moved behind them. But they did notice as that spear went straight through their stomach.
The scream they let out was a horrible sound.
Zhongli whipped around at the gut wrenching noise and he saw the human he had started to love standing there. The tip of a spear protruding from their stomach, covered in their blood. Y/n was just standing their, mouth wide open in shock. The pain indescribable, blood starting to drip from the corners of their mouth.
The Fatui spearman was about to try and pull his spear free from y/n’s stomach, but he never got the chance.
Zhongli’s eyes were glowing yellow.
A tremor ran through the earth beneath them. Zhongli clenched his fist, and spears of rock shot from the ground. They skewered the Fatui who had stabbed y/n. His body went limp, hung on bloody and jagged points of rock.
It was a terrifying sight. The tremors continued, becoming more and more powerful each time. There were now permanent cracks in the ground. Every time the Fatui tried to get up they were knocked down by a wave of rock.
This was the anger of Morax.
He could feel their every step through the earth, so he didn’t even need to look at most of them before sending jagged points of rock through their bodies. Not a single one of them was able to escape.
Zhongli had been alive for thousands of years, he had done many things he regretted. This was not one of them.
He rushed over to y/n, who at this point was lying on the ground. Still breathing, but not well. There was so much blood.
He quickly unclasped his jacked and wrapped it around the wound, careful not to disturb the spear. He needed to get them back to Liyue. That was it.
He picked up their limp body, grimacing as they groaned in pain. By some miracle, they were still conscious.
“Z—Zhong…”
Their face was devoid of all color, and their lips barely even moved.
“I’m here darling, I’ve got you” he muttered as he pressed a kiss to their forehead. That was when y/n finally lost consciousness, their almost lifeless body slumped in Zhongli’s arms.
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Zhongli had taken y/n to a healer, who had been able to remove the spear and patch up the wound as best she could.
It took y/n two days to regain consciousness.
When y/n did come around, they were in Zhongli’s bed. Not just in Zhongli’s bed, but propped up against Zhongli. He had refused to move. Two days were nothing for a god, and he had stayed with them every second.
Y/n’s head was resting on Zhongli’s chest, their legs in between his. One of his arms was around them, and with the other he was running his fingers through their hair.
Zhongli felt y/n shift “y/n?”
“I’m okay” y/n groaned
“You most definitely are not” he said as he pressed a kiss to the top of their head
“H-How long was I out?”
“About two days”
“What.. what happened?”
“I took care of it”
Y/n was too tired and in too much pain to question the events that had taken place two days ago.
They moved their hand to grab Zhonglis, and he intertwined their fingers.
“Are you in pain, my love?”
Y/n started and blushed at hearing Zhongli call them that. “U-um, well.. yeah”
“I have something for that, if I can get up”
Y/n nodded, and Zhongli lifted them off of him and placed them back on the bed. Before he could leave though, y/n grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down into a kiss.
Zhongli muttered against y/n’s lips “darling, we can do this all you would like later. Let me take care of you”
Y/n let go of him, and he left the room.
They laid down on the bed and sighed. Their stomach hurt. A lot. Reaching up to grab Zhonglis shirt had been excruciatingly painful, although completely worth it. Y/n didn’t really know how this had happened, how they had fallen for a god. Or perhaps more confusing, how a god had fallen for them. Especially a god like Rex Lapis, who seemed to never show emotion.
Zhongli came back with a jar of a salve and a glass of water. He sat down on the bed, and propped y/n up against him again.
“Can I take off your shirt?” He asked gently, handing them the glass of water.
Y/n nodded and took a sip, just now realizing how dehydrated they were. They emptied the glass and put it down on a table by the bed.
Zhongli couldn’t remember the last time he had tried to be this gentle with something. He removed their shirt, and started on the bandages around y/n’s stomach.
Y/n loved Zhongli for how clearly he was trying to be careful. Even still, it hurt like hell. Y/n tried not to but they couldn’t help whimpering and grabbing onto Zhongli.
“I’m sorry, darling. This won’t take long”
He took some of the salve and started applying it onto the giant scar forming on y/n’s stomach.
Y/n was clutching onto Zhonglis leg as tightly as they could, their eyes shut tight and tears escaping.
Zhongli applied fresh bandages, apologizing profusely.
The pain had started to go down, but tears were still streaming down y/n’s face.
Zhongli leaned back against the headboard of his bed, and with one arm on y/n’s back and the other under their legs he pulled them across his lap.
He pressed another kiss against their forehead, wiping the tears off their face.
Y/n rested their face on the crook of his neck, and put one hand on his chest; slowly starting to calm down.
“Get some rest y/n” whispered Zhongli.
Y/n looked up at him, at his soft face and yellow eyes. “I love you” they whispered.
Zhongli chuckled as he resumed running their hair through his fingers.
He lowered his head, and pressed his lips onto theirs.
“I love you too, darling”
Y/n put their hand on the back of his neck and pulled his head down for another kiss.
This one lasted for a while, until y/n succumbed to the exhaustion and passed out against Zhongli’s chest.
Zhongli just sighed, and held them there. He could have stayed like that for eons.