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“No, Zhongli,” Childe hopelessly sighs, as if the couple has had this discussion too many times to count, “we won't be leaving Liyue any time soon- at least not until you'll have laid our clutch.”
“Ajax, as much as it pains me to say this…” Zhongli's gaze sweetens in a bitter smile, caressing his beloved's cheek, “I know my body better than you do,” he pauses for a second, debating whether or not to add another few words.
And then he does.
“I know our eggs better than you do,” he gently takes Childe's hand and places it on his abdomen.
“As much as you can feel from the outside,” Zhongli's belly grows warmer, “it will, unfortunately, never compare to what my body feels, what I feel and how I feel it.”
He hesitantly removes Childe's hand from where it so comfortably sat, its touch still inevitably lingering on the spot.
“So please, Ajax,” and then he intertwines his fingers with Childe's, taking both hands to his lips and planting a gentle kiss on top of the latter's, “will you trust me on this one?”
Zhongli's gaze grows hopeful for a split second as Childe lets out a small smile, but then it is quickly replaced by a frown, and the hope in the consultant’s eyes slowly vanishes.
“I know how hard and taxing it is to carry a child, and I can't imagine three at once,” the Harbinger says, his tone soft as a feather, “I just want you to be fine- you and the eggs, all of you,” he then switches to a more desperate tone, in the hopes of convincing his lover.
“And I can see and feel how big of a toll all of this is for your body,” his gaze grows worried, “as much as you try and hide it, baobei,” he employs the use of what he knows is Zhongli's favourite pet name, so that perhaps it'll make it all the more sweet…
“I see it in the bigger things, such as how you can't bring yourself to wake up at sunrise anymore,” Zhongli instantly breaks eye contact because he knows that Ajax is right, “or how your back often aches due to the weight our eggs put on it,” Childe continues.
“But I see it in the small things as well- no, please, look me in the eyes,” and Zhongli instantly does, because how could he possibly resist the endless abyss that are Childe's ocean-blue pupils?
They're hypnotizing. He could drown in them and he would be happy.
“Ah, the small things, Zhongli…” Childe lets out a deep breath, “you may think I don't notice them, but you do know I have an extremely fine eye for detail, and so I do notice them. More often than you think, actually.”
He fondly cups his beloved's cheeks, thumbs caressing his cheekbones.
Zhongli instinctively closes his eyes, reveling in such a gentle sensation, and Childe takes the occasion to slightly move his hands, thumbs now even more delicately running over his eyelids.
“Your eyeliner isn't as perfect as it used to be,” the younger breaks the comfortable silence that had temporarily settled between the two, “and it takes you longer to apply. You have been struggling with it for the last few days.”
Zhongli's peaceful expression turns into a slight frown, something barely perceivable but this close Childe can see how the wrinkles on the sides of his lips fade in a subtle expression change.
“When pouring tea, your posture is flawed- yours, of all people's? When I know how big of an importance you give it?” He pauses for a moment.
“Ajax, I-” “But all of this is not meant to be insulting, Zhongli, no,” Childe interrupts him, “I just need you to understand,” he adds.
“You know, ever since we first met…” he reminisces, “you've always felt warm. You, in your entirety. Your personality, your emotions, your body- all of you.”
Zhongli's smile returns for a moment.
“You've always, somehow, emanated sheer warmth,” he continues, “but ever since the eggs have settled in your body, it has been awfully cold- unusually cold,” and then Zhongli's smile fades again.
“And I don't like it, Zhongli,” Childe's tone shifts to a slightly more agitated one, “not only because, when we embrace each other, it's as if I were surrounded by snow and not by sunlight,” he shakes his head, “no, that's the least of my worries.”
Childe removes his hands from Zhongli's cheeks and suddenly takes him in a tight embrace, to which the consultant can't help but melt into, and also wraps his arms around his beloved's torso.
Suddenly, a flash in his mind.
He knows what's going on. He knows it because it has already happened in the close past, though for a completely different reason.
“Ajax, you don't need to worry,” Zhongli smiles against Childe's skin, “it's nothing-”
“Zhongli, I have the right to worry about you,” the younger interrupts, too preoccupied to listen to even his lover, the one who's carrying their offspring.
“I fear the eggs may be draining you of your life force, and-” “Ajax…”
“And so you might be in danger, because such a thing has never happened, so-” “Ajax.”
“So we don't know what to do and nobody knows what to do-” “Ajax,” Zhongli repeats, for the third time. He finally manages to stop Childe's ramblings dead in their tracks.
“I said it's nothing because it actually is nothing,” the former Archon continues, “I am merely struggling in regulating my body temperature, that is all.”
Childe blinks, multiple times.
“You could have told me right away!” He jokingly protests, “I was genuinely thinking that something might have happened to you in the future, and now you're telling me that your body is simply…”
He pauses, unable to find the correct word, slipping off his tongue as if on purpose, to give Zhongli his turn to talk.
“Adapting, yes,” the consultant says, “it's simply trying to adapt to this new… state, let's call it so,” he explains.
“So yes , while the eggs may require me to increase my food intake and lessen the strain on my body,” he continues, “they're not draining me of my life force, or anything similar.”
Zhongli lovingly bumps his forehead against Childe's as a gesture of reassurance, to which the latter deeply sighs in relief.
“And my body is more than willing to adapt to this wonderful change, Ajax,” and now it's Zhongli who tenderly cups his lover's face between his hands, “but since such an event has been unprecedented, it's not an easy task.”
His fond smile grows into a more neutral expression, “and until I lay our clutch I may not gain back the warmth you love so much so for this I truly do apologize, my dear,” he closes his eyes, a loving smile now donning his gorgeous face, “but just know i will do my best, alright?”
“I love you, baobei,” Childe sighs out, “you have no idea of how much I love you, Zhongli.”
He opens his eyes again just to meet his lover's fierce gaze.
“Perhaps I do have an idea of how much you love me, Ajax,” he giggles, “since you gave me three eggs, getting me quite pregnant.”
“I couldn't possibly pass the opportunity, now, couldn't I?” The younger keeps the bit going, “after all, three is the perfect number.”
Childe's lips fall on Zhongli's and so time inevitably slips out of their control as they melt and mold against one another, bodies flush against each other.
Zhongli's is starting to slightly warm up.
And the bed has never felt this comfortable.