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Aether had been told to travel carefully with much reluctance from those around him and those he encountered. He knew that it was dangerous to be out so deep within Liyue with no companions and little familiarity of the lands. But those who wished him well and those who worried for him didn’t know what protection he actually had and had had since his dealing with Rex Lapis all those months ago.
They also don’t know that it was Rex Lapis that brought him back to the mountainous terrain.
The winds are not as cruel this time, Aether notices with much relief. His fingers don’t slip and slide along the rocks as he climbs them absent the rain. He doesn’t feel the need to power through the night as there is no pressing matter that requires urgency. The distance he makes throughout the day makes up for the rest he does allow himself to get. And he’s not starving by the time he reaches the barren den he had unknowingly spent four days in earlier this year.
Even now, his cheeks flush and he feels his heart flutter. He had been scared, reluctant, so worried that his life would come to an end — even if he had accepted it for the sake of a friend. He had seen the monstrous dragon and learned that his thoughts weren’t safe and assumed that he had met his end. Instead, the reality had turned out to be much different.
Aether jolted with every harsh thrust into his small body. He felt that he was going to burst at the seams. There was no way that he could manage to survive this ordeal. Even if it’s great pleasure that’s burning within his veins, there was no way that his body could endure when it wasn’t made for the assault.
‘Do not worry, little one. I won’t hurt you.’
The words were so soothing that Aether didn’t even realize that he arched his back and reached to tangle his fingers in the mane of gorgeous fire once again. He didn’t even know that he breathlessly smiled up at the dragon who licked along his jaw and neck so sensually. Every bit of his body was filthy, and yet the dragon continued to touch him, kiss him, and want him like he was still a virgin.
‘It is because you are now mine.’
The grumble had Aether crying out louder. It vibrated through his body and just added another layer of pleasure to what he was feeling. His mind felt overcome with pleasure, the intensity of sensations simply overwhelming in the greatest of ways. No sex should ever feel that good.
Aether continued to cry out, his pleasure hitting again and again with orgasms that were dry, that lacked substance and yet never became painful. He knew it was because of the dragon, and he thrived every minute under his influence.
The memories still feel so fresh. He still feels as if he left his dragon just that morning.
His dragon.
Aether moves further into the den, wondering what would bring Rex Lapis forth. What did Aether have to offer now? He no longer has his virginity, and although no one has touched him since this immortal being, he doubts his body would be a fair offer. If it were, Rex Lapis would have shown himself already, wouldn’t he?
He takes a seat in the place he remembers the bed being. It feels odd to be in the empty cavern without the warmth and safe feeling of the archon. He will do anything to have that feeling once more.
‘Anything, little one?’
Aether gasps and sits up straighter. There’s a blanket of warmth that settles over him and he can’t help how he smiles. He feels a shiver run down his spine as everything starts to fall into place once more. This is what he’s been missing from his life for the past five months.
“What is it that you want? I don’t know what I could give you that would be worthy… especially in comparison to what I had to give before.” Aether’s words are practiced. They’re spoken with ease.
It seems the archon notices based on the chuckle that echoes within the traveler’s mind.
‘You are right. Your virginity is and will always be mine. But you do have something else I want.’
The warmth dissipates for just a second. But a second is all Aether needs to decide that he will give anything. There is no question.
“What is it? What do I have? What do you want?”
Silence is his answer for only but a moment.
The warmth is no longer just blanketed over him. It fills the cavern as the objects of the archon’s home appear as if it had never disappeared. But now, Aether can focus on more than just the bed he finds himself perched upon.
Lining one of the walls are bookshelves that are filled to the brim; a chair nearby with small table that a steaming cup of what Aether assumes to be tea is settled upon; a rug lays beneath the small area; there’s a fire that lights the den; the bed area is actually surrounded by curtains that are nearly sheer but not quite and is what allows Aether to see the tall being approach.
The being that pushes the curtains aside is not the large dragon that Aether had become familiar with in the throes of heated pleasure. Instead, it’s the man he had seen in the final moments of their time together.
He wears a long coat that falls to his calves that’s absent sleeves. Aether can’t help but gape as the glowing lines black biceps and leads down to solid golden forearms. His shoulders are rounded with muscles, strength oozing from each movement as he nears the bed but does not touch it. His eyes, nearly as gold as his flesh, but more like the yellow of a fire stare down at him with unspeakable and unimaginable thoughts and emotion. His jawline is fierce, enough to coax Aether to want to caress it and see if it’s as sharp as it looks. But moreover, there is the ghost — the smallest hint — of a smile that touches soft rouge lips.
“What… what is it you want, Zhongli?” Aether shivers once more. He remembers the name that he had been given in those few moments of the archon’s time in this form. He had repeated the name much to himself, especially during nights of unquenchable need that his hand could not satisfy.
“Your heart.”
Aether felt foolish for a moment. The blanket of arousal no longer felt as intense. He knew that the dragon still influenced the pleasure in which he felt, keeping him coherent and not overstimulated or overworked through the ordeal his body wasn’t made for.
His legs were spread so wide, wrapped around a body with scales that chafed and cut at his sensitive flesh of his inner thighs. The archon promised he wouldn’t hurt, and he didn’t. There was no pain that accompanied the pleasure of being so full of the dragon. One hand was settled on the soft underbelly of the dragon who rested his clawed hands on his hips for further stabilization. The other touched at his lower stomach, feeling the bulge of a cock that realistically shouldn’t have been able to fit within him.
‘Move, little one. I want you to move for me.’
Up until that point, the archon had been doing all of the work and Aether had been lost in the throes of pleasure he hadn’t thought possible. But then the archon changed their position and lifted the heavy fog from his mind just enough to make this round more memorable, with more clarity.
“I… I can’t. I don’t… don’t know how. Oh, please… please, Rex Lapis… move. I need you— I— I need you to move. You’re so deep. So deep. I can’t… ca— can’t breathe!” The desperation was clear, sharp in his voice. He knew there were tears streaming down his cheeks and yet he couldn’t care. His body was entirely flushed, heated, and even without the blanket of arousal, he wanted nothing more than to be fucked by the archon who was making him feel so good that he didn’t think he ever needed to intake air again — just the dragon’s cock.
‘You can. Move for me, little one.’
The struggle was more than Aether had ever endured before. He moved both hands to rest on the body between his thighs and used that for leverage to lift his hips. It was harder to get the friction that he needed, but became easier when those clawed hands gripped him — cut into his flesh slightly — and guided him through the rocking movements with alternating bouncing ones.
And once again, he was lost to the pleasure.
“My— What do you—? My heart? What does that mean?” Aether can’t help but feel the fear once again that maybe he had made a mistake. Maybe he had misunderstood the archon. Did… does this visit mark his end?
“After all I did the last time we were together, how I cared for you, provided for you, healed you while making sure you didn’t feel a lick of pain— you still think I would kill you?” Zhongli moves forward while simultaneously soothing Aether with that warmth he had missed so dearly.
Being told like that, Aether feels foolish that he had even considered it. “No… no I don’t.” Aether looks up to the archon when he nears further. The traveler sits on his knees, his hands folded together to twist in his nervousness. His long braid rests over his shoulder and wide, honey eyes are looking nowhere but up at the being who looms above him. He can’t even mind that he so easily leans into the touch that settles upon his cheek. “So what do you mean then? What… how can I give you my heart?”
There’s that chuckle again. This time, it swirls around him. It makes him feel hot in a much different way. He wants to drown in the huskiness of that timbre.
“I can show you. I will show you, little one. You simply have to trust me. Can you do that?”
Honey eyes are falling shut. He doesn’t even notice that he turns just enough to drag his lips across Zhongli’s palm in an almost kiss. His answer comes entwined in a sweet breath.
“Yes.”
“Will I end up pregnant?” Aether slurred out after another bout of cum started to fill him. It burned his insides in the best of ways. It leaked from his body around the thick length of the dragon’s cock and he hated every drop that escaped from him. He wanted it deep within him forever — even if it made his stomach feel too full, almost uncomfortably so (which would likely be uncomfortable if not for Rex Lapis’ influence.)
‘Is that something you want, little one?’
The consideration with which Rex Lapis asked made Aether’s lips spread into a smile. He’s warm, heated from his last few orgasms in this round and filled to the brim with cum that felt as if it belonged.
“I mean… I’m a boy. Is that even possible?”
‘Do not wish for things you do not want, little one.’
The laughter surrounded him and soothed him into a content rest. He knew he would not sleep. He has no idea how much time had passed since he had last slept, but it didn’t matter when Rex Lapis took such great care of him, gave him such intense pleasure that would be ruined for anyone else.
The laughter disappeared into a low growl. It was the first sound of danger that Aether had heard in all his time there. The blanket of comfort and protection lifted somewhat and Aether’s eyes opened wide to look up at him with confusion and a brush of fear.
‘Do not think of another, little one. There will never be another.’
The cock inside of him started its movements again. There was no chance for Aether to reply as pleasure burst behind his eyelids. He couldn’t tell if he came again or if the intensity of movement was blinding and deafening his senses. It was likely both.
‘Think only of me.’
At some point, they had moved from the bed and over to the lounge chair that the somehow still steaming cup of tea was placed in front of. A second cup had appeared as well. Zhongli had taken a seat, and without any urging Aether placed himself right into his lap to lean against his chest. He’s small enough that he can rest his head just under the archon’s chin.
His fingers hold the warm cup and he watches the steam rise from it. He’s lost in thought and yet so comfortable with his position that he never wants to leave it. He can’t recall the last time that he felt this relaxed, this… safe.
“Will I be staying here forever?” Aether finally asks. He tips his head up to look at the archon with those wide, honey eyes. The smile from the gorgeous being is enough to make his cheeks flush even though there is nothing inherently sexual or seductive about it.
“Only if you wish. I would never want for you to leave.” Zhongli’s voice is calming. The archon takes a sip of his tea and looks to the fire that burns continuously at the same height without being tended to.
“I have a request then… if that’s okay.” It isn’t really a question of whether Aether will stay or not. He wants to stay. Everything inside of him told him he should stay. Something tells him that this is where he belongs.
“What is it, little one? I will do my best to grant it.”
“Can you help me find my sister? She’s been missing and I… I’ve been looking for her.”
Maybe Zhongli had already known what he was going to ask, because he doesn’t hesitate with his response. “I will do what I can for you.”
Aether smiles gratefully, his shoulders relaxing, and he turns to press his face into the god’s neck once again. He feels a blanket of contentment. It isn’t his own, he knows. Perhaps Aether should feel more worried about how easily he’s accepting this, or how readily he is giving up anything else he knows. He doesn’t even know the full stipulations of this deal — then again, he didn’t know them before and he hadn’t come to regret any of it. It really is very easy to trust the archon.
“You have my heart, but I think you knew that already, didn’t you?”
That low rumble of a laugh vibrates through his entire body. Aether can’t help but smile more. “I did, little one. I just wanted you to choose to give it.”
Aether feels breathless when his back settles on the bed. He feels so weightless once Zhongli’s hands are on him. At some point, his clothes had come off and he can’t care that the god’s are still on. His thighs spread of their own accord to allow the other to press flush against him. The weight of him is different from the warmth that surrounded him when the dragon lay between his legs. It’s different, but… still so good.
The fire that flickers off to the side is enough to light the gorgeous features of the man above him. Aether can’t help as he reaches up to run his fingertips along the sharp jaw. The smile he receives is breathtaking and urges him to touch more, feeling the soft flesh of parting lips that curve into a gentle kiss at the tip of each one.
“Will it be like before? Where… where I won’t remember much?” Aether asks, not sure when his voice got to be so breathless nor when his body became so hot. There’s little shock that he’s laying out beneath the archon yet again. He knows that this is where he belongs.
Yet, even as Aether feels this way, he watches as Zhongli pulls back, his handsome features morphing into surprise and worry. There’s something about the vulnerability in that gaze that churns Aether’s stomach.
“Do you… not want to remember?” The tone of his words is more guarded. It draws confusion from Aether as he reaches up to brush some of the longer strands of black hair back so he could cup his face.
“I do want to remember… that’s what I was hoping… I was hoping this time could be different.”
That smile returns and Aether blushes under those sparkling gold eyes. He felt so small and powerless beneath this gaze and in these arms; how could he ever return to live among the mortals of this world when he feels insignificant compared to them.
“I should admonish you for those thoughts, little one. Think only of me now, yes?”
Aether’s back can’t arch any further. His hands sink into the tangled mess of Zhongli’s two toned hair. Sweat glistens over his form and there is a significant lack of oxygen as he’s brought to yet another orgasm. It’s so easy to get lost in the pleasure that only Zhongli can bring to him. He hasn’t even considered the possibility there could be another, because as far as either of the immortals are considered, there never will be one.
The traveler’s whines reach another peak as that tongue drags across the head of his cock again and again. It’s over stimulating and yet no matter how much he pushes at Zhongli’s head, the archon won’t stop.
He’s sure that he’s pleading now even as his thighs are being parted and a delicately long finger is sliding into him with no resistance. The saliva that dripped along the length of his shaft is what slicks the way for Zhongli to start stretching him. He feels more than hears the god’s pleasure when it vibrates through him in the form of a growl. He tries not to delight too openly in the fact that he can still be something that Zhongli finds satisfaction with.
“Ah, little one…” Zhongli finally breaks from his cock and Aether gasps desperately for air that doesn’t fill his lungs before another punched out sound is leaving him. Zhongli’s finger found his prostate and there’s no way he could keep himself composed — as if he had ever held a chance. “You sound so beautiful…” The words are essentially meaningless as Aether grips at the bed. His movements mirror any escape from the act, yet all he wants to do is bask in the pleasure again and again. There’s no way any one person should feel this good.
Despite trying to crawl away with Zhongli’s hand situated on his hip to keep him still, Aether is reaching to grab at the strong, colored shoulders. He’s trying to bring him down against him and rocking continuously as a third finger is inserted. He can’t breathe and can’t think, and yet is doing his best to mouth at Zhongli’s jaw and lips, doing anything he can to take in more of the man above him. Aether thought he had been out of his mind with pleasure before, but that pales in comparison to what burns within his core right now.
“Zhongli, Zhongli, Zhongli.” He picks up a mantra as he moans into the archon’s ear. His arms have wrapped around his shoulders and he’s doing what he can to arch up against him. They have to stay close.
Moments pass agonizingly slow, and yet they do pass.
Zhongli’s cock slides into his more than ready body and Aether sees stars. His thighs are up on either side of Zhongli’s hips and his body welcomes him close as if he was made for this. It’s incredible. It’s breathtaking. And Aether is once again surprised that he can be made to feel more pleasure.
“You must breathe, little one.”
Aether tries to get himself together, though hearing how Zhongli is panting, his eyes fluttering when Aether’s hips shift, definitely urges him to become more coherent. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen anything so attractive.
Aether wakes from his daze of pleasure surrounded by body heat that reminds him of lying in the sun on a warm spring day. He feels the dragon around him breathing evenly and a long tongue caress along his flesh to clean him of the cum and sweat that he knew he was a mess of.
Golden eyes watched that long muscle slide over his skin before he raised them to look at the gorgeous orbs the dragon had never stopped looking at him with. He felt entirely seen by those eyes. Every moment since stepping into the dragon’s dead, he had felt that nothing of him was hidden, everything was out in the open for Rex Lapis to know.
Soft fingers touched at the soft mane that he’d sunk his hands in over and over again in his throes of exorbitant pleasure.
‘Speak your thoughts, little one. You have questions for me.’
Aether let out a soft chuckle. “What? You aren’t going to read my mind this time?” The words were slightly slurred, but otherwise clear. The only response that he received was a deadpan look that glittered with adoration. It made him shiver delightfully. “I just… would it be wrong of me to ask… if you’re enjoying this? Enjoying me?”
The dragon didn’t respond and Aether feared he had caused offense. Yet, the continued strokes of Rex Lapis’ tongue had him falling into a drowsy state despite the worry.
‘Are you worried that you aren’t pleasing me?’
Aether hummed quietly before nodding; he couldn’t be bothered with self consciousness. “Yeah… yeah, I am worried. After all this, I’d hope you were enjoying… even just a little.”
‘Little one,’ Aether had to lift his head and open his eyes before Rex Lapis would continue speaking. If Aether didn’t know better, he would have thought that Rex Lapis was smirking. ‘I am very much enjoying our time together.’
Something warm blossomed in Aether’s chest. He was too tired to think on what that could mean.
Zhongli’s hips roll with precision that takes Aether’s breath away again and again. His head is tipped back, baring his neck enough that another mark is being sucked into the delicate flesh. He’s covered with sweat, his muscles tense and shaking as he’s filled in the perfect way again and again. Pleasure is the only coherent sensation he knows.
Nails score down Zhongli’s back while the archon’s press into Aether’s hips, grasping at the flesh while using him as leverage to continue his movements that cause the traveler to cry out incoherently. He’s hardly able to do much but lay there, though it doesn’t seem as if Zhongli minds all that much.
“Little one…” Zhongli’s husky whisper makes Aether whimper. “You’re mine… for the rest of time.” His wet lips trail up to the blond’s ear and he is already nodding his head. Aether doesn’t need any convincing. Ever since he’d first lay with the dragon, he’s known that this is where he’s meant to be. “Come for me, my darling.”
Aether doesn’t even notice how the pleasure soars to unimaginable heights — due to Zhongli imploring, he’s sure — when he’s overcome by it. Colors burst and sound dulls into a low roar. He’s sure he’s crying out, but can’t hear himself. He can’t grip Zhongli any tighter as he will swear he ends up in another dimension throughout the shockwave of pleasure. (He doesn’t know that Zhongli’s mouth grows and teeth sharpen into deadly points to allow him to bite into Aether’s flesh with ease. It slides through flesh with ease, tearing into muscle and yet Aether feels not a smidge of pain. Everything is pure pleasure.)
Breaths are hard to come by in the moments that Aether comes back to a conscious state. He is conscious of Zhongli holding him, no longer pressed deeply inside of him. The sensation of the god’s cum seeping from his body is noticeable and yet he doesn’t care. Aether is more focused on how warm he feels with his back pressed to the archon. Long, colored arms are around his waist, holding him securely. He feels safe.
‘You are safe, my little one. From now until the end of time.’
Something feels different about the thoughts that flood into his mind. It’s no longer a blanket of emotions but instead something — love, longing, contentment, happiness — and Aether realizes…
“We’re… that’s… that’s you, Zhongli… isn’t it? But how? Why?” Aether’s voice is rough, raspy from the overuse. His golden eyes are still glossy as he turns his head to look back at the man he never wants to be without.
“I asked for your heart.” Zhongli speaks aloud, fingers gently caressing the part of Aether’s chest that beats just for the dragon now. “And I will give you mine. Will you accept it?”
The gravity of the situation is not missed. Aether feels nothing but pure awe as he realizes what it means. And then a smile spreads across his features. He doesn’t need to contemplate in the slightest.
“I will cherish it. I will cherish you , Zhongli.”
Zhongli’s smile is Aether’s favorite thing, he decides in this moment. Nothing… no one could be as beautiful. He can do this, stare at that and bathe in the warmth that surrounds him for the rest of time. With the knowledge that he won’t wake without the dragon this time, he settles into a much needed rest. He’s safe and unafraid. It’s all he’s ever wanted.