Chapter Text
Normally, Tartaglia was up for any kind of challenge. On any other day, he would be the one to jump in first and give it his all. After all, he was named after the hero Ajax the Great. He was a Survivor of the Abyss. The youngest to ever enter the Fatui. The youngest to be appointed a Harbinger. The Vanguard of the Tsaritsa, 11th Harbinger of the Fatui of Snezhnaya. It was he who had fought against the traveler of another world. It was he who had liberated an ancient deity to lure out the Geo Archon. And he was the husband of that very Geo Archon. And that was what ultimately led to his downfall.
The challenge that he could never win. The debilitating, exhausting task of... trying to bathe his child.
"Yanochka, please. It's only water," Ajax whined as he tried to undress his daughter.
Which, to be honest, was already a difficult procedure. His little Yana, while clearly resembling himself, had taken on the adeptus nature of her other parent. For example, there were two small Cor Lapis antlers sticking out on her head between her ginger hair. The other thing was the chubby, brown-scaled tail with golden fuzz at the end. The latter was the main reason for the girl’s clothing dilemma and the never-ending drama about finding clothes that she did not shred to pieces whenever they sat too tight around the said tail. His little princess was truly a diva when it came to her chubby sensitive tail. Alas, another trait she definitely got from Zhongli and not from him!
But that was only a minor problem compared to Yana's aversion to water. Her big amber eyes gazed at him, her eyebrows were furrowed, and she made a big pout. She even had the gall to cross her chubby little arms in front of her chest. As adorable as that was, Ajax couldn't enjoy it. He sighed and avoided sending a prayer to any of the gods he was close to. After all, one of them was the mother of this little beast and the other was the self-proclaimed godmother. He was alone, and he hated that this fight was his.
"Yanochka, please. You stink and you're dirty," he tried to explain again. Hope dies last, or something like that. "It's for your mama, it's his birthday today you know?"
The smaller redhead turned her back to her father, her chubby tail hitting the ground behind her. Probably to emphasize her displeasure. The young father let out another loud sigh. His little girl had chosen war.
"This is not a battle you can win, little lady," the vanguard promised her. It was the very last warning.
Yana tilted her head to look him straight in the eyes, and her amber eyes flickered gold. Even the cute amber tips of her ginger hair flared with Geo energy. This was definitely the daughter of the legendary Lord of Geo—Only that Zhongli was not stubborn, hot-headed, and ready for any battle at the same time. She had clearly inherited the last two things from her other parent: Snezhnaya's most feared war machine, the 11th Fatui Harbinger.
But exactly that Harbinger was what would make the little girl bow to his will. He was the father. He decided that smelly little dragons were not allowed in his household. Additionally, he wanted everything to be perfect today, it was Zhongli's birthday after all.
"Here we go!" he exclaimed, shooting forward to grab her, intent on giving this sassy little half-Adeptus a bath. No matter the cost—but his daughter was fast. She could only walk for a little less than a month but was already so fast on her little chubby feet. With a squealing sound, she ran outside the bath and toward the kitchen, where she hoped her mama would save her. She made it into the hallway—hah, she was really fast.
Although she hadn't factored her father's vision into her calculations. Ajax wrapped himself in his element, gaining the speed necessary to sprint past her. With one swift movement, he reappeared in a splash of Hydro, raising both arms to catch the little monster. This time there was no escape—
She screamed and whirled around so fast he almost missed it because he blinked. This little dragon's tail must surely help her control her movements. But little Yana didn't notice the other parent blocking her way. This time it was too late to stop her gallop, so she crashed into the wide-spread arms of Zhongli.
"What is this tumult? I heard her scream," asked Zhongli, tilting his head slightly.
Ajax loved this man so much. How could one be so adorable? Sadly for the Harbinger though, it was not the right time or place for Zhongli to be here. Originally the plan was to hide the plan from his husband, but this stinky little dragon was damn fast on her chubby little legs.
"Yes, uh… Yanochka and I wanted to take a bath but she decided otherwise as soon as it was time to undress. I guess our little daughter decided she would live like a dirty smelly reptile instead of a rose-scented princess!" Ajax huffed, crossing his arms before his chest.
Slowly Zhongli looked to said smelly daughter in his arms, "A-Yana, if you don't regularly take a bath, the skin underneath your scales will start to itch and over time it might also inflame. Additionally, your hair will grow so badly that we have to cut it off. As a result, you cannot have your aunt braid your hair anymore. I bet Aunt Tonia will be very sad."
Ajax was able to see the exact moment in which his daughter realized the consequences of her unwillingness. The amber eyes flew wide and big crocodile (dragon) tears started to drip from her long lashes. It was just unfair that Tonia was on a much higher rank in his daughter’s priority list than himself, Ajax thought and a big frown formed upon his lips.
"Psst," cooed Zhongli and rocked her gently in his arms, "It's not too late yet. If you go with your papa and take a bath, nothing bad will happen."
Teary amber eyes slid from her mama to her papa. Slowly she nodded, causing her ginger locks to flow in the movement. Yana stretched her little arms out towards Ajax, now willing to be picked up.
Maybe he should ask Tonia next time to bathe her in his stead. Ajax’s heart hurt at the realization that this would probably be the best choice. Carefully he picked his daughter out of Zhongli’s arms to carry her back into the bathroom.
With worry in his eyes, Zhongli looked after his husband. The drop in the other’s shoulders did not slip his attention. He knew about Ajax's fear and knew it was only conjured up by his mind. Their daughter adored her papa with all her little heart.
Zhongli did not resent his husband for this, it was only natural that he was worried. Ajax had a hard childhood and he wanted to do everything right. He pampered Yana with everything she wanted, as he did with Zhongli. Maybe it was time to repay him for the kindness he shared with Zhongli and their daughter.
The former Archon smiled to himself, his mind set on an idea that he was sure would make his husband happy. He returned to the living room to prepare everything and waited for the rest of his family to return to him.
Around an hour later the two fresh-smelling and clean gingers entered the living room. It had taken Ajax some time to find that cute gold and red dress the Tsaritsa gifted his little daughter for her naming ceremony two weeks earlier. It came with some pretty golden hairband and a cute huge red bow with a little bell for the end of her tail. She looked truly adorable and he couldn't thank Her Majesty enough for this gracious gift. The best part was that his little Yanochka loved the dress too since it did not restrain her tail in any way.
To Ajax's surprise, he saw that Zhongli opted to wear his draconic features, a thing he mostly did not do on random occasions.
Yana squealed in delight the moment she saw her mama with horns and tail and ran up to his tail to wrap her little arms around the fluff, wagging her cute little tail with its bow and bell.
"I see A-Yana had decided to be a rose-scented princess today," cooed Zhongli while wrapping his tail around his daughter to tease her with his fluffy end, which made her laugh in delight, "Papa made your hair look so pretty. I hope you thanked him for that?"
In response to Zhongli's question, Yana nodded and smiled.
It was true. Ajax was not only able to bathe her but also allowed to attempt to tame the little one's mane. And a mane it was—wild just like his own unruly hair. Unlike him, though, Yana persisted in keeping it long, which only made brushing and styling the hair harder. It already was quite a challenge to do so with the two little nubby horns sprouting from her head.
It was good that he was a fighter and didn't want to give up so easily. The result was quite something to behold: Yana's hair was tied into two braided pigtails, each on one side of her head. Small bows prevented the ends from coming loose, and as a finishing touch, he somehow got that hairband around her head—which had been quite the task due to the sensitivity of her little horns.
His little girl seemed to be satisfied with the result though—she even had given him a kiss (!!) as payment. Something he truly did not get enough of, since she usually
only gave them for special occasions. Yanochka was truly a hard-to-please princess.
Well, that was one thing that only seemed to apply to him though, seeing his daughter pressing another kiss on her mama's cheek as he heaved her up into his arms. Why did Mama get all the kisses for free while he had to work for them?!
Speaking of Mama—why did Zhongli take this form?
"Is everything okay, love?" the Snezhnayan asked, concerned.
It was unusual for Zhongli to display himself like this, even though Ajax knew this was the form the god was most comfortable with. It was not something he did without good reason.
It was also Zhongli's turn to cook dinner today, which Ajax wanted to take as an opportunity to prepare a little surprise for his husband's birthday. The only explanation Ajax could think of was that the other ran into some kind of problem.
Relief washed over him as he saw his pretty and handsome husband shaking his head and smiling.
"Everything is alright. I just felt it would be a good idea for us to switch our plans for tonight's dinner."
The ever-so-stoic Zhongli was proposing a change of routine. This was certainly new. Normally it was Ajax who thought of weird ideas to color their daily life. Ever since the Tsaritsa forcefully suspended him from his Harbinger duties and every fight, it was much needed. Ajax was not the person to sit still and indulge in domestic life—Well not yet at least.
He understood that it was important for him to stay home to spend time with his family. It was his mission so to say. After all, little Yana Ajaxovna Rybak had the Tsaritsa's blessings and was guaranteed full protection (in the form of the 11th Harbinger, who coincidentally was also her father). The Tsaritsa was very strict about this, she adored her godchild more so than the Tsaritsa adored him… Ajax was starting to see a pattern. His cute little daughter slowly took over and enchanted all the entities in his life. Everyone loved her and she loved everyone openly—except him. Once again he reminded himself that Snezhnaya does not believe in tears, this was just another test of his endurance. Ajax had just to try even harder to get into the good graces of his princess.
"Eh—", Ajax uttered, not really knowing how to handle this situation. Of course, he'd love to cook together with Zhongli… but he needed to prepare—
"That's great. I guess it's time to make dumplings then," Zhongli said and walked towards the kitchen with his daughter in his arms.
This was not exactly according to Ajax's plan, originally he wanted to dress Yana up and then prepare some things for his big surprise, before returning to have a nice evening with his family. Shortly before midnight, he planned on taking them to see the fireworks he had imported from Inazuma for the occasion.
He had even invited his other family members to attend the viewing and celebrate Zhongli's birthday and the end of the calendar year. It was just best to combine both with some nice fireworks and the little additional gift he had planned as a birthday present: Six thousand and two lanterns.
Why six-thousand and two?
A homage to Zhongli’s hometown in which soon lantern rite would start.
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As Ajax moved to follow his husband and daughter into the kitchen, he couldn't help but smile. His plan might have changed, but seeing Zhongli and Yana so happy was worth any adjustment. After all, the most important thing was to celebrate this special day together as a family. And with the love and warmth they shared, he was certain that tonight would be a night to remember.