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Childe learned from a young age that you can't trust everybody.
Not everyone approaches you with the best intentions. Everyone has a motive for approaching you, whether it's for the best or the worst.
Trusting people is hard.
To trust someone, he needs to have built a bond with them, known them for some time, and also have them share something with him—an eye for an eye.
Once he trusts someone, he trusts them wholeheartedly. He knows he shouldn't, but trusting people is part of learning and growing.
When he trusts someone, he tells them everything. He shares stories about himself, stories he's never mentioned before.
Childe knows when to keep his mouth shut. One thing he will never tell anyone about is his family.
Saying anything about his family and the issues that happen in their daily lives is something he will take to the grave.
He knows that sharing information about the issues revolving around him won't affect him; those are his problems. However, sharing issues that do not concern him, he knows that will affect him.
People can know everything about him, and he doesn't mind. People knowing about things they shouldn't be concerned about? That's a hard pass.
Telling his best friends about his issues comes easily. He knows he can confide in them, and they'll be there for him. They won't judge him, and they certainly won't betray him.
He trusts his best friends with every fiber of his body. He loves them to pieces, and they love him just as much. They've been through everything together; that's what makes them trustworthy.
What he didn't expect was for one of his best friends to betray his trust in such a cruel way.
Kaeya was one of his best friends.
They knew each other their whole life but didn't become close until sophomore year.
They clicked, and Kaeya became part of his daily routine. They went everywhere together. They walked to class together, sat together at lunch, and would pick each other up from their separate classes.
Everywhere they went, they were inseparable. If you saw them by themselves, it would be weird. If they were alone, it was because one of them was absent. No one had ever heard them fight. Everyone knew they were extremely close and seemed perfect.
That was until Kaeya and Zhongli, who happened to be his ex-boyfriend, started becoming friends.
One thing everyone knew about Childe, which didn't bother him, was the fact that he still loved Zhongli.
Everyone knew that. Zhongli was Childe's first love, and he loved him to the moon and Saturn.
They would call Childe pathetic for not being able to move on from Zhongli. He had already moved on and forgotten about Childe, but he couldn't do the same.
He didn't care about what people thought. Why should he? It's his feelings, not theirs. If people were so bored with their lives that they had to criticize him, then that's pathetic.
One thing everyone knew about Zhongli was the fact that he hated Childe.
Everyone knew Zhongli hated Childe with every fiber of his being. Why wouldn't he? That's his ex-boyfriend.
Childe loved Zhongli.
Zhongli hated him.
Kaeya knew that.
Kaeya had the reputation of having friends everywhere and anywhere, and he had a big crush on one of his classmates. Childe didn't think anything of it.
Why second-guess one of his best friend's motives?
Well, he should have started doubting the trust he had with Kaeya. He understood that Kaeya could be friends with Zhongli, but why would they start being friends out of nowhere?
Why would Kaeya want to be friends with Zhongli after knowing everything Childe had been through because of Zhongli?
It was extremely weird since he thought if your best friend didn't like someone, then you shouldn't associate with them either, but that was just his opinion. If Kaeya didn't share the same opinion, then that's him.
The conversations were innocent. Kaeya made sure to show him what they would talk about, and that eased his worries.
They were just friends. Kaeya could have friends, and so could Zhongli.
Then there was a shift.
Kaeya and Zhongli had started getting a tad too comfortable with each other, especially Kaeya.
From what he was shown, Kaeya decided to start flirting with Zhongli. From what he had seen, Kaeya only meant it as a joke.
"It’s a joke," that's what Kaeya would say.
Why shouldn't Childe believe him? Kaeya has a crush on a guy in his English class. Not to mention, Kaeya is his best friend.
Why would Kaeya like Zhongli?
Kaeya had said multiple times how dumb Childe was for liking Zhongli. Kaeya had said so many bad things about Zhongli as well.
Kaeya knew everything Zhongli had done to him. Kaeya was his best friend, not Zhongli's. He had known Kaeya far longer than Zhongli had known Kaeya.
He told himself all of these excuses. He knew deep down they didn't justify what Kaeya had done.
It was extremely weird.
Kaeya shouldn't flirt with his ex-boyfriend, the guy he claims to hate, the guy he uses to make fun of Childe for, the guy he knows his best friend still loves.
Kaeya should have thought before he acted.
Then, Kaeya stopped liking the guy from his English class, he said that "He was a bad person."
The flirting between Kaeya and Zhongli became constant.
Kaeya started asking questions. "What class does Zhongli have?" "Does Zhongli have siblings?" "Did Zhongli ever do this with you?"
They were innocent questions.
The motives weren't.
Kaeya had the brilliant idea to show him everything they had been saying. Every time they would flirt, he would show him.
Every minute of every hour of every day, he would be shown flirty messages between his best friend and his ex-boyfriend.
It was suffocating.
How couldn't his best friend realize that it was messed up for him to flirt with his ex-boyfriend?
He didn't know what was worse, his best friend flirting with his boyfriend and not telling him, or flirting with his ex-boyfriend and showing him.
He couldn't speak up about how this was extremely uncomfortable for him. How could he? He didn't want to seem jealous.
It wasn't that he wasn't jealous. He was. He was extremely jealous. It sucked to see his best friend have such a relationship with his ex-boyfriend.
He wanted that type of relationship with Zhongli. He desperately wanted that with him. Kaeya could achieve that relationship in under a month. Why couldn't he achieve the same type of relationship in almost a year?
Third period.
AP History.
That's when Kaeya told him that Zhongli said he liked him.
That's when he also told him that he liked him back.
Kaeya knew how badly Zhongli had hurt him.
He would cry to Kaeya about everything Zhongli and his friends put him through.
He would cry to Kaeya about how much he missed Zhongli.
Kaeya heard all the rants he would say about Zhongli and how much he loved him.
Kaeya heard everything he had to say about Zhongli and how much he hated him.
Kaeya was the first person he would go to for advice.
Kaeya was the first person he’d share his secrets with.
Kaeya heard everything. Kaeya knew everything. Kaeya was his best friend.
How could he tell him he likes his best friend's ex-boyfriend?
Kaeya knew what he was doing, yet he acted like he didn't think anything through.
Kaeya knew his actions had consequences, yet he acted as if they wouldn't ruin their friendship.
Kaeya knew he had control of the situation, yet he said he couldn't do much about it anymore.
Kaeya said he promised to never judge him and that he was going back on his word. Yet he didn't know that Kaeya would get involved with his ex-boyfriend.
Kaeya said he had to understand all the bad things Zhongli had said about him, yet that didn't stop him from liking him.
Kaeya said he couldn't control his feelings, and neither could Zhongli. Yet if Kaeya hadn't flirted with Zhongli, they both wouldn't have caught feelings.
Kaeya was aware of what he was doing. He knew that his actions would affect him. Yet, that didn't stop him from flirting with his ex-boyfriend.
It's crazy how people can act as if they didn't just break your heart into a million pieces.
It's crazy how you can't trust people, even your own best friend.