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~☆~
Zhongli’s eyes cracked open upon the sun seeping through his gold curtains. Glancing over, it was clear it was time to get up. Normally, he would have gotten up by now and would be preparing to do whatever needs to be done for the day, but today he felt oddly exhausted. Although Adepti do not necessarily require rest, it is still a benefiting factor to help keep the energy up. So, with no plans for the day, he made the executive decision to not do a single thing. Simply existing in his bed seemed enough for today.
Could you imagine? The Geo Archon, Rex Lapis himself being about as active as a rock (quite literally) for an entire day and feeling so lazy as to not leave his bed? Well, people tend to think Archons are creatures that despise sleeping, when that is not the case at all.
Nevertheless, Zhongli closed his eyes again, draping an arm over his eyes and slowly drifting back off into a dreamless sleep. He could hear some faint chatter from down the corridor, likely being Cloud Retainer scolding Mountain Shaper again. A slight smile crossed his lips at the thought before quickly disappearing again.
The man found himself asleep within be next few minutes. But an hour later, his door was opened as a familiar green figure stepped in. Approaching the large, silk covered bed, the green figure crawled up onto the bed, scooting over closer to the slumbering Archon on his knees. And once he was close enough, he let his full body weight slam down onto the firm and muscular body beneath him.
Zhongli awoke but not with a start, still too tired to fully process what was on him. He looked down, narrowing his gold eyes just enough before speaking.
“Xiao?”
The Yaksha lifted his head from where it had landed on Zhongli’s chest, staring back at Zhongli with eyes and a face that made it seem like he didn’t just body slam Zhongli in the middle of his nap. Zhongli blinked once. Then twice.
“Is there something you need?” Xiao shook his head with a simple reply.
“No, I’m just bored.” Ah, boredom. A wonderful social construct we have, the God thought.
Zhongli hummed. “Is that so. And you’ve decided to come jump on me to cure your boredom?”
Xiao shrugged innocently. “Yeah. It worked, though, didn’t it?”
Zhongli appreciated Xiao’s casual playfulness, something that took a painfully long time for him to be comfortable enough to do around him. But he was also still feeling incredibly exhausted.
”I suppose so. Have you eaten breakfast yet?” Xiao nodded. He knew that even though food, like sleep, just a mere energizer for Adepti, his father still wants him to be full and healthy. He didn’t understand it at first and thought such resources were being wasted on him but was eventually convinced otherwise. He’ll still never eat the meat wraps Cloud Retainer makes, though. Those can rot in the pit of the Abyss. Meat being wrapped up and then eaten? Humans truly do come up with the most strangest (and sometimes disgusting) creations.
Xiao mindlessly fidgeted with Zhongli’s silk robe while speaking absently.
”Cloud Retainer said we were invited to some sort of gathering.”
”That’s nice.”
”I don’t wanna go. It looks annoyingly fancy.”
”You don’t have to.”
”She wants me to wear a suit. I’m not going.”
”As you’ve said before.”
”Apparently it’s really formal. I doubt Ganyu would want to go either.”
”Mhm.”
”..I’m still not going, by the way.”
”So I’ve heard.”
”Are you going? Because I’m not.”
Every day, Zhongli found himself more and more in awe of the parents of the world. While he had one child, there were numerous folks who had dozens.
He sighed. He loved Xiao, truly. He was everything to him and more— his entire world. And yet sometimes he made the man question his own sanity. A perfectly balanced combination that Xiao was likely aware of but simply didn’t care due to the fact that he knew his father was the epitome of patience. A fact Xiao was definitely willing to take advantage of. If you had told him a few centuries back that this is what he would be doing in his spare time, pushing his Archon’s patience on a daily basis, he would be heavily insulted and would likely attack you on the spot.
A moment of silence passed when Xiao’s voice sounded again.
“Can I stay here?” Zhongli didn’t see how that was even a question.
”Of course. Though, I will warn you, I won’t be awake for however long you will be staying.” Xiao hummed, not minding. He knew Zhongli would wake up anyways every hour to make sure Xiao wasn’t bored out of his mind. His dad was just like that, and words cannot describe how loved he felt knowing this.
Zhongli gazed at Xiao for another moment before shifting to maneuver the blanket, pulling it over Xiao as well, who still laid on top of him. Xiao quietly rested his head back on his chest, a silent understanding between both of them. Once they were cuddled up, with Xiao moving his head a bit more upwards, Zhongli leaned down slightly to plant a tender kiss on Xiao’s forehead.
Xiao slowly closed his eyes while Zhongli placed another kiss on the top of his head before dark, obsidian-like fingers came up to comb through Xiao’s sea-green hair. Xiao knew there was a slight difference between when Zhongli touched him with gloves and without gloves. The thin, black gloves he wore luckily didn’t seem artificial, he could still feel the warmth of his hand and the love in his touch. But without the gloves was just doubling the feeling. It was more warm, more loving, more tender. He would choose this over the gloves any day.
Although Xiao was not exactly tired in the beginning, he was quickly starting to feel drowsy from the gentle ministrations being done to his head. Sleeping next to (or more accurately, on top of) his father for the day, a content silence between them, no tasks to worry about, seemed like too good of an opportunity to discard.
So, as the sun shone through the curtains, bleeding into the room in a beautiful gold ray, signifying that one would typically be up and about for the day, the father-son duo laid in bed cuddled up with each other, ready to nap until the sun went down once again.