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The first instance was one after a few first meetings together. A brand new friendship was blossoming between the two and they seemed to have clicked very quickly.
Childe and Zhongli stand by one of the stalls in Liyue Harbor, the latter staring down a seemingly old antique. He begins to go on a lengthy talk about its history and his knowledge of it. He sounded like a man from ancient times giving a story despite being in his 20s, Childe thought.
As the storekeeper listened to Zhongli's rant about the antique, Childe found himself staring at him. What caught his eye first was his eyes. He never really took notice of them until now.
From what he could see from Zhongli's side profile, his eyes were a piercing type of amber, similar to those Cor Lapis rocks scattered across Liyue. His pupils were like slits of yellow diamonds within the sharp, orange eyes.
Childe couldn't help but stare a little more, watching as Zhongli peered down at the antique with a narrow, focused gaze. His eyes would blink, then look up and flicker towards the shopkeeper, who smiled and nodded to whatever he was saying.
His amber eyes would glance back down and Childe could see his arms move from his peripheral vision, but he was busy letting himself drown in Zhongli's beautifully colored eyes. He silently blesses whoever this man's parents were for giving him such wonderful genes.
What snaps him out of his little trance is when Zhongli looks up at him to meet his stare. His expression doesn't look too changed, but Childe could read the slight worry on his face. He quickly makes himself break eye contact for a split second, obviously not prepared for such a look being thrown at him.
"Uhm, what's wrong, Mr. Zhongli?" Childe's face shows visible worry as well, fearing that he was staring for too long. Their bond was newly formed and he would hate to have ruined it so quickly on his first week of staying in a foreign land.
"I seemed to have misplaced my wallet... Would you be willing to pay just this once, Childe? I will make sure to pay you back when we meet again."
And how could he say no to Zhongli like that? He had plenty of mora to spare and he trusts him, just by his looks, that he will pay him back later. Plus, it was just a one time thing, he said.
"No problem! Here you go, ma'am." He pulls out a hefty pouch of mora and gladly hands it over to the shopkeeper, who takes it with a smile and a small bow of thanks.
Childe's eyes flicker back to Zhongli, whose already taken up his new antique in a thin bag. Zhongli gives him his own smile of appreciation and his eyes crinkle ever so slightly by the curve. His diamond pupils shine through and Childe feels hypnotised once again.
They both walk leisurely around the plaza, searching for another stall or booth of antiques. Childe breaks the silence between them, "You know, Mr. Zhongli, your eyes are nice."
"Hm, is that why you were staring at me? I thought I must've had something on my face at the time." Zhongli gives him a light chuckle.
"Oh.. Yeah, no, it wasn't like that." Childe waves a hand to brush it off, "now that I think about it, your eyes kinda remind me of something." Zhongli stops his pace, facing him entirely. "Of what?"
Childe comes to a halt with him too, staring back into his amber eyes. He doesn't let himself get absorbed in how beautiful they were, nor does he blurt out how he could spend hours just staring at him and his attractive features.
He instead puts a finger to his chin, deep in thought as he tries to piece together what Zhongli's eyes also reminded him of.
Childe's face lights up with the idea, "Oh! Your eyes remind me of a lizard's eyes!"
Zhongli tilts his head at his words. "How interesting. I'm guessing it is my pupils, yes? I can see the resemblance."
"Yes, yes! But you don't seem like a small lizard kind of guy." Childe furrows his eyebrows.
"Honestly, you seem like a dragon kind of guy."
Zhongli's eyes are blown wide open, his pupils dilating to a sharper, skinnier shape as he almost drops his bag out of shock.
Childe takes this as an obvious wrong turn, "I-I mean, maybe not! I think you can be a small lizard guy too! Everyone loves little lizards!" He waves his hands frantically, searching in Zhongli's somewhat petrified eyes for a hint of assurance. Now he really ruined their bond.
Zhongli slowly blinks.
Childe gulps, his hands sweating underneath his gloves.
Zhongli crosses his arms at what Childe thinks is an excruciating slow pace. The man then clears his throat. "My apologies. I... was not expecting that type of comparison. I think both lizards and dragons are an acceptable resemblance for my eyes. I'll take it as a compliment."
Childe lets out a relieved breath that he was unconsciously holding. He picks himself up quickly with a smile plastered on his face. "Well, I'm glad! You really do have nice eyes, Mr. Zhongli!"
The second instance is after a few months of Childe living in Liyue. The two have now established a schedule for their lunch meetups and so on.
They both are seated at the Wanmin restaurant, already munching down on their delicious usual of meals.
Well. Zhongli is. Childe is still stuck on his first pieces of dumpling with his fumbling chopsticks. It irks him slightly at how Zhongli got rid of the forks on their table, but he still persists nonetheless with his shaky chopsticks.
When he finally gets a small piece of his food between the sticks, he slowly lifts it up, cursing his hands for being so fidgety with them.
Just as he was about to get it face-level, the food drops with a sad plop, back onto the plate and back to square one.
Childe huffs and practically whines in his misery. He's been trying and trying ever since his second week in Liyue as Zhongli insisted it was necessary for him.
He looks up from his basically untouched plate of food and towards Zhongli. He watches Zhongli's chopsticks pick up his food with ease, raising it to his opening mouth and chewing it quietly. His eyes are closed to appreciate and savor the entire bite of flavor in his mouth.
Childe looks down at his hand, gripping onto the chopsticks with newfound confidence.
He's changed his grip on the sticks, aiming it towards the food with a hard stare at the food as if it were going to jump and run away.
And it almost does. It almost does as he stabs a dumpling, the plate clinking from the force as the other pieces bounce.
Hunger got the best of him as he stopped trying for today, popping the dumpling into his mouth and taking his own time to savor the deliciousness of the dish.
As he gulps it down, he goes in to stab another dumpling, ignoring the quick looks of a few passersby.
He feels another gaze on him, and he takes his eyes off of his sadly stabbed dumpling.
Zhongli's looking at Childe's poor dumpling in faint disappointment with his mouth slightly ajar. His own movements were stopped as his chopsticks were midway to his mouth.
Childe lets his eyes wander down to his mouth, looking at the peering teeth that peeked out. That's when he notices something most people wouldn't have at a meer glance.
"Xiansheng..."
"I guess learning the proper use of chopsticks can be put on hold for another day." Zhongli gives him an amused smile, and Childe can almost see his teeth in it. But it's not enough, he needs to see it all.
"Xiansheng," He repeats, and Zhongli hums in reply. "Can you open your mouth again?"
Zhongli complies with no argument, opening his mouth into an oval shape. Childe can see four strange points stick out from beneath his lips, two on top and two on the bottom.
"Now, smile for me? No, no, wait... Bare your teeth at me."
It's an awkward sort of grin for Zhongli, and Childe almost snickers at his expression. It's enough to confirm his suspicions though and he waves his hand, showing Zhongli that it was enough for him.
"... If I may ask, did I have something in my teeth? What was that for?"
Childe shakes his head, "Your teeth... you have fangs."
Zhongli opens his mouth again, reaching and touching the tips of his fanged teeth as if it were completely new. "Indeed I do. A lot of people have fangs, just like every other animal."
Childe puts his elbow onto the table, free hand serving as a resting spot for his cheek. His gaze is on his food, messing with his stabbed dumpling absentmindedly. "Mhm. Speaking of animals, you seem like you were a dragon in your past life with all your features."
Zhongli's grip on his chopsticks loosen and one of them falls unceremoniously onto the table. There is a blank expression on his face now, but Childe doesn't seem notice this time.
"You really do seem like a dragon reincarnated or something. I've noticed that your coat has little scale-like designs at the bottom too. Do you like dragons, Xiansheng?"
When all he gets in reply is silence, Childe turns his head, seeing Zhongli's stunned state. "... Zhongli?"
He's mentioned dragons before and it wasn't nice. He'd thought that maybe it would be different this time, but he guesses not. Maybe Zhongli's had too many comparisons to dragons at this point and the poor man is tired of them.
For a guy who strikes a crazy resemblance to dragons, he sure doesn't like being related to one, Childe thinks.
His thoughts are soon changed when the other finally speaks up, fixing his chopsticks into his hand carefully.
"I suppose so. I have never thought too strongly on the topic of dragons though." It's a little bit of a stranger answer for Childe to recieve, but he doesn't push it any further.
"To add on, in my opinion, I think you would have been a fox in your past life, Childe." Zhongli resumes his eating with a small grin.
"You think so? That's cute." Childe returns the grin, lifting up his chopsticks and pulling the dumpling off with his mouth.
The third instance is a few more months in, the two coming as close as best friends during Childe's stay. Zhongli proposes the idea of cooking at his own place when the two both have a day off from their work.
Of course, Childe accepted in a heartbeat, who wouldn't want a homemade meal made by such a handsome man like Zhongli?
And now, Childe sits at Zhongli's doorstep.
Almost a whole hour early.
That wasn't such a bad thing, right? He doesn't know why he rushed to get here so early, but he can't bring himself to knock on the door. He doesn't want to bother Zhongli in his own home, so he resorts to pacing back and forth near the front door.
The mentioned front door creaks open and Childe whips his head to the sound.
Zhongli is standing there with an apron tied around him, his outfit being a button down with slack pants. Childe wonders how he can make the most simplest outfits look so stunning on him.
His thoughts are interrupted as Zhongli opens his mouth. "I thought I heard feet shuffling from the front. My assumption was not wrong. Please, make yourself at home, Childe."
He moves to the side, holding the door open with one arm and gesturing for the other to come in with the other.
"Ah, you're not worried about me being here too early? I don't want to disturb you." Childe sheepishly asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Not at all, I was only preparing the ingredients for our meal just now. I enjoy every second your company, so do not fret over it." Childe lets out a sigh of relief, finally letting himself into Zhongli's home with no more worries.
As he's slid on an extra pair of slippers Zhongli had lended him, he can hear the water and fire simmering from the kitchen.
"The living room is just up ahead. Again, make yourself at home. The food will be done in an hour." Zhongli estimates, leaving Childe to tend to his cooking in the kitchen.
Childe settles on going to the living room, deciding that he could watch Zhongli cook (if he'd let him) later.
He walks down the hall, peeking a head around to look around the room.
It's filled with trinkets, books, old antiques, and so much more of the variety. They range from being newly bought and made, some of the items Childe can recognise as he'd bought them with his own mora.
Turns out, that one-time paying from his first month in Liyue was a tiny bit of a lie. He didn't mind though because when he'd walk over to the shelves and walls of trinkets, he'd notice little to no dust was left on them.
Zhongli must really cherish the thought of each and every item he's collected, and Childe smiles at the thought.
He backs up from the sight just a smidge to really take in the sight of it all.
Of course, most of the items were neatly arranged and placed tightly together. Some items were piled on top of one another, but not in any messy sort. If it weren't for the tons of shelves keeping everything in order, the floor would probably be drowned in the amount of antiques gathered here. Childe wonders if Zhongli has another room full of history like this.
Rex Lapis surely would be jealous of such a sight. He snickers at the thought.
"Say, Zhongli..."
Zhongli hums, too focused on perfecting every little bit of his cooking to look at Childe.
"You've got lots of stuff in your home. It's surprising how you keep it from feeling so cramped and small." He watches Zhongli swiftly chops up some matsutake on the cutting board, tossing them into a bowl on the side and moving on to a group of vegetables.
"I enjoy collecting those items. Every novelty has its own backstory and I relish every bit of them no matter the price."
"And the ones that catch your eye just happen to be incredibly expensive, huh? You always make my pockets run dry." Childe comments playfully, tracing his finger around in a circle on the counter he sat at.
"That is merely coincidence..." Whether Zhongli has the true intent of making Childe go broke, he doesn't know, but doesn't care either.
"I think it's kinda fascinating how you cherish each item. I would've lost count if I were you." Childe ponders on the thought for a second. Maybe Zhongli secretly has powers, allowing him to hold so much information in one brain. It wouldn't be too insane of an idea.
"I do not have such powers, but thank you." Childe makes somewhat of a confused sound, making Zhongli chuckle in reply.
He must've said that part out loud and he shrugs it off.
"Well, anyways, I was thinking earlier about how Rex Lapis would be jealous of your collection." Childe swings his legs back and forth gently.
And there it is again. Childe expects it this time and he sees Zhongli halt in his movements.
It's suspicious, really. He furrows his eyebrows at how suspiciously suspicious it is. He's visibly connecting it together in his mind and Zhongli slowly turns to him with a solemn line of a mouth on his face.
"Oh!" Childe snaps his fingers, matching the serious tone that was now set between them. "I know who you are."
Zhongli audibly gulps. His face doesn't contort into any nervousness, but he can feel it in his body.
"You're..." Childe narrows his eyes, his lips turning down into a frown as he stares down Zhongli.
"... You're related to Rex Lapis, aren't you?! You're related to like his great, great, greatgreatgreat, great grandson, right? That's where you're getting all your knowledge and dragonic features from!" Childe's usually dead blue eyes almost sparkle in pride.
"Don't worry, Zhongli, relative of Rex Lapis, I won't tell a soul." Childe puts up a thumbs up for reassurance, faltering as Zhongli remained unmoving.
The food on the stove simmered and bubbled between their silence.
"I'm... not related to Rex Lapis in any way." Childe practically shatters on the spot, his thumbs up falling and his face filling with red and embarrassment.
"Although, I take it as a compliment to be seen as a relative to Rex Lapis." Zhongli smiles as if he didn't just crush Childe's pride right then and there.
Childe huffs, still looking at Zhongli's now turned back where he tended to the food, finishing and tidying up the dishes.
Maybe Zhongli was just an ordinary guy who had a strong resemblance to dragons afterall.
bonus of zhongli's mini internal monologue during like the second time childe mentions dragons :D
"Mhm. Speaking of animals, you seem like you were a dragon in your past life with all your features."
That statement hits him hard, but he doesn't budge, his face turning blank instead. One of his chopsticks fall onto the table from his limp grip, but that could be the least of his worries right now.
"You really do seem like a dragon reincarnated or something. I've noticed that your coat has little scale-like designs at the bottom too. Do you like dragons, Xiansheng?"
A dragon in his past life. After all his time of being a mortal, was he really about to get called out so easily? Childe was far too observant for his liking, but there wasn't much he could do about it.
No, he couldn't do anything now that Childe's found out about the truth. But how? Zhongli hid his dragonic features the best he could and there were only so many things he could conceal, and his eyes and fangs weren't one of them. Was he really this bad at passing as a mortal?
What seems to be hours pass through his mind as he contemplated on staging his death yet again. Zhongli despises the idea of restarting, only wanting to live a simple, mortal lifestyle. Perhaps Hu Tao will give him an employee discount for his funeral, that's one thing he would look forward to.
He'd now have to form a new mortal vessel, fabricate a new life, and hope for the best. He's already mourning his Wangsheng funeral parlor consultant life. Oh, how he'll miss it dearly.
"... Zhongli?"
No, perhaps he was just... overreacting. Childe had shown no signs of real suspicion towards him being an Archon in disguise. For now, he must weave their conversation away from the topic of dragons.
"I suppose so. I have never thought too strongly on the topic of dragons though." Zhongli goes to fix the chopsticks back into his hand with no issue.
"To add on, in my opinion, I think you would have been a fox in your past life, Childe."
"You think so? That's cute."