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1. Hint that you want a date by asking them to do a fun activity.
A simple and easy instruction to follow. Ajax could do this. He took a deep breath and practiced his lines in a mumble under his breath as he snuck a glance across the library where Zhongli sat. Zhongli seemed to sense his gaze and looked up from his book, sending Ajax a smile.
Ajax promptly fell off his chair.
He made a grave mistake. His plans did not account for Zhongli smiling at him before Ajax even got the chance to suavely start a conversation. In the second as he fell, multitudes of scenarios flashed through Ajax’s mind. If he sat back down and pretended nothing had happened, it would most definitely be too awkward to walk over later. He could pretend he dropped something on the floor and went to pick it up, but the only object he had on his desk at the moment was a book. It was too bulky to sneakily knock to the ground. Maybe he could pretend to be dead. Surely nobody would question that, since Zhongli’s smile was heart-attack inducing.
No, it was time for improvisation. Ajax smoothly stood up from his ungraceful heap on the floor and walked over to Zhongli. Mentally reviewing the key points of what he wanted to say, he opened his mouth and —
“Are you alright?” Zhongli asked.
“Wh- yep,” Ajax responded reflexively.
“That is good to hear. You took quite the tumble there,”
“Oh, that’s pretty normal. Just another day of falling for y—”
Shit.
“—’know, um, because of clumsiness. Bythewayareyoufreetomorrow?”
“I am,” Zhongli replied without missing a beat.
“Want to come to the Liyue Museum of Geology with me, 4pm?”
“I would love to,” Zhongli nodded.
“Great! See you!” Ajax grins.
Pumping his fist, he exits the library with an air of triumph. The mission was a success.
2. Be direct and ask for a date if you feel brave.
Ajax decisively skipped over that step.
3. Make them feel special on the date by showing them affection.
This wouldn’t be hard to complete. After all, Ajax had a hard time tearing his attention away from Zhongli in the first place.
“This is a fine piece of cor lapis here, a specimen from a time before Liyue Harbour even existed. The vivid ochre beneath the golden patterns are a sign of quality cor lapis. The semi-transparency of the cor lapis allows one to see the even color throughout the crystal,” Zhongli explained, closely examining the stone through the glass case. “Cor lapis is said to be made of pure geo, a fascinating connection to its name, which translates from Latin as ‘stone heart’,”
“You’re really knowledgeable about this, Zhongli,” Ajax laughed.
“Ah, my apologies, did I get carried away?”
“Nah, I could never get tired of listening to your stories. You’ve got a beautiful voice,” Ajax replied.
“Thank you, Ajax.”
Zhongli took Ajax’s hand in his. Ajax forced himself to remain calm. Stay chill, stay chill, it was happening, don’t ruin the moment! Ajax held on a little tighter as they strolled through the museum.
Zhongli explained the history and identification of various rocks and minerals as they walked and despite his normally short attention span, Ajax found himself enraptured with every word. Hearing Zhongli’s soothing and calm voice beside him was something Ajax had only dared to daydream about in the past.
Something about being with Zhongli, just the two of them hand in hand, felt different than usual. Before Ajax could ponder upon it for longer, he was distracted by another (another!) gentle smile from Zhongli. Ajax quickly found that Zhongli’s smile was one of his favorite things, and said as much in his haze of awe.
He was blessed with that smile again. Ajax could die happy.
4. Ask them for a second date at the end of the night.
He already asked for the first ‘date’, it couldn’t be that hard to ask again. Ajax could simply follow what he did last time to ensure success. All he needed to do was omit the parts that had gone decidedly less well than he had planned.
He could cut out the part where he fell out of a chair for sure. The accidental almost-confession could also be removed. He would also have to make sure he didn’t ask incoherently either.
Which left… practically nothing to go upon.
Ajax could barely remember how the first time had gone well in the first place.
“Thank you for today,” Zhongli said. “I enjoyed your company.”
“Likewise!” Ajax beamed. “I’m glad.”
Ajax mentally slapped himself. That was the perfect time to follow up by asking for a second date, and now the pause was too long. Ajax wracked his brain in an attempt to formulate the right words.
“Would you like to do this again sometime?”
Zhongli. Kind, gorgeous, intelligent Zhongli. Zhongli had asked Ajax on a second date.
“I would love to,” Ajax replied breathlessly.
5. Spend time on them to help your relationship grow.
“Zhongli!” Ajax called in a sing-song tone, sprinting across the plaza to launch himself at Zhongli.
Zhongli merely opened his arms and caught him with ease.
“Ajax,” Zhongli replied calmly.
“Did you wait long?” Ajax asked.
“Not at all, it was I who came early. It was not even long enough to brew a cup of tea.”
“Zhongli, it takes you six hours to make a cup of tea.”
“...”
“...”
6. Ask them to be your boyfriend when you’re ready.
The atmosphere was perfect. Snow fell gently outside, while the two of them sat around a table in a cozy diner. Ajax clasped Zhongli’s hand in his.
“Ajax?” Zhongli tilted his head slightly.
Ajax took a deep breath.
“Zhongli, would you give me the honor of being your boyfriend?”
Ajax had seen many of Zhongli’s smiles in the past month, but this one had to take first in the list of ‘smiles which made Ajax’s heart do fun loop de loops’.
“Only if you would give me the honor of being yours.” Zhongli replies, placing his other hand over Ajax’s.
“May I kiss you?”
Zhongli’s smiles were nice, but the feel of them on his were sweeter.