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“Zhongli,” Childe gasped. Time felt slow and syrupy in this domain of a former archon. All he could register was the intense gaze of Zhongli, the press of his lips on his collarbones. Childe’s hands reached forward, grasping, greedy for anything he could get.
“Shh, baobei,” Zhongli’s voice rumbled through his bones. Childe whimpered at the weight of him - all 6,000 years of him - pressed upon him, as immovable as the mountains of Liyue. “I’ll take care of you.”
Childe never quite knew how they got here, how he was able to receive this - for this was a gift, the feel of Zhongli so close when he used to be just beyond his reach. Even now, he wasn’t quite sure of it, if this was another dream he’ll wake up from, the kind that was not the usual blood haze but made his teeth ache anyway.
It was a little bit devastating to have all of Zhongli’s attention upon him. It was not the clinical gaze that he used to ascertain the value of antique objects - there was a sort of burn to it, the kind that felt like molten lava bubbling underneath acres of solid rock.
“Zhongli,” Childe said again, as if to make sure that he was here, with him.
“Yes, baobei?” Zhongli looked up from where he was lavishing his attention on his collarbones as if they were a delicate feast. Ah, that nickname… Childe was burning up and only his shirt collar was open. Honestly…
“You haven’t kissed me yet,” Childe said, as demanding as a toddler. If Zhongli was going to lay waste upon him, at least he should do it properly.
“Mm,” Zhongli said. “Apologies. I have been remiss in my duties.”
Before Childe could retort back, Zhongli raised himself up, emphasizing the flex of his biceps as he did. Really, he only had his jacket off but somehow the cut of his shirt just showed his figure more. Childe barely had a moment to admire the view before Zhongli swooped in.
The heat of his mouth felt incongruous to the cool image that Zhongli held in public. Childe gasped into his kiss, letting Zhongli’s tongue in. It felt indecent beyond compare, the press of his tongue inside a place where not many others have been, the slow exploration of it - as if Zhongli had all the time in the world and yet none of it at the same time.
Zhongli’s arms had come up around him at one point, and it made Childe feel like he was being cradled. He felt like he was a priceless treasure found in the deepest caverns where no being had been before, even though he knew well enough that he was nothing of the sort. He was false gold, flashy in the moment - once you delved deeper, all he was was a fabrication. He was deeply terrified of the day Zhongli would see that and would understand that he was being scammed all along.
For now, Childe would take all he could get. One day, he will get his heart broken but that day was not today.
(Oh, if he could dissolve into Zhongli, turn into water itself to evaporate into him, he would).
Childe wound his arms around Zhongli, tangling his fingers with the strands of Zhongli’s long hair. He was already shaking from the intensity of it all, and all they did was kiss so far. Zhongli always had that effect on him (and always will).
Zhongli let their mouths disconnect, graciously letting Childe get in his much needed oxygen. Zhongli’s eyes were half-lidded, the self-satisfaction of a well fed dragon reflected in his expression.
“What do you want?” Zhongli asked.
Childe dug his fingers into Zhongli’s back. “You know what I want,” he said.
“Yes, but I want to hear you say it,” Zhongli said. He took Childe’s right hand and pressed a kiss into the center of his palm. Childe shuddered. He felt flayed open.
Childe held Zhongli’s hand and moved it down, down, and down. “I want you… in here,” he said softly.
Zhongli’s iron-clad composure cracked. His hand in Childe’s grasp tensed against where Childe had pressed him to, and Childe helplessly arched into the pressure.
“Baobei, I would give you the world should you ask for it,” Zhongli said, his teeth descending to Childe’s neck, gnawing at him like a madman.
Childe didn’t care for the world at this moment. He only wanted Zhongli, his careful attention, his demanding greediness, his love, for as long as he could get it. He was a greedy, selfish man, but then again, so was Zhongli.
“Right now, I want you,” Childe said. “So get on with it.”
Zhongli pressed a bruising kiss upon where he had been setting his teeth on, before starting to unwrap him like a present. His hands were voracious, running through each part of skin that was exposed, before his mouth followed. Childe jerked under his attention, trying to get Zhongli’s clothes off as well before giving it up as a futile effort. Whatever Zhongli set his one-track mind on, he followed through without a thought to anything else.
The press of Zhongli’s fingers inside him burned at first. Zhongli’s other hand was pressed upon his hip, holding him down, while Zhongli looked into his eyes. By now, Childe’s hands had completely messed up his hair, and had taken away the hairband that usually held it together. It was the look of him, his hair unbound and the way that Childe felt like he had invited a barely domesticated beast into his bed - that Childe inwardly mused that perhaps Morax had been more like this, in his younger days.
Childe pressed down onto Zhongli’s fingers, letting out a soft moan that he knew drove Zhongli crazy.
“Come inside,” Childe said. He clenched down, emphasizing his point, and felt Zhongli’s hardness that was pressed against him jerk.
Zhongli did not hesitate, both of them working to open his pants to let his cock out. Childe felt half-starved at the hot silk feel of him, and opened his thighs to let him in.
Zhongli groaned when he sunk into him, as if he had gotten a taste of the most expensive dish Liyue had to offer. Childe tossed his head back, overwhelmed by the pressure of him molding his insides, much like how he occupied Childe’s emotional space already.
“Ahhh, Zhongli!” Childe always found himself making the strangest sounds when they were together like this, and Zhongli found the utmost pleasure in wringing it out of him. Already, Zhongli’s hand was torturously pinching at his nipple as he started to move inside of him.
It felt like Zhongli was trying to brand him with his cock, the way he drove in as if with enough effort, Childe will have a lasting sigil inside of him that signified that he belonged to him and him only. It was an entirely unnecessary effort though, for Childe had already belonged to him in the ways that mattered.
Childe could not claim that Zhongli belonged to him though, for Zhongli belonged to the land he created and guided for centuries. What Zhongli and Childe shared right now was a temporary stopping point for Zhongli. A meaningful one, perhaps. But a temporary one nevertheless.
It made Childe want to cry.
“Baobei,” Zhongli paused. “What’s wrong?”
Ah, did something show in his expression? Childe smiled tenderly, and found that he meant it. “You feel too good,” he said.
Zhongli did not respond to that. Instead, he leaned forward to press his lips on Childe’s cheekbone, where his tears would sit if Childe still knew how to cry.
“I adore you,” Zhongli said with all the devastation of his divinity behind it. “Wherever you go, let me follow you.”
Childe held Zhongli close so that Zhongli could not see his expression cracking open. “I’m here with you right now, Zhongli. Fuck me.”
Zhongli, his ever faithful partner, obeyed.
After - being held in the warm caverns of Zhongli’s arms, Childe was half dozing off when he felt the tentative pressure of Zhongli’s fingers upon his cheek.
“Mm, what is it?” Childe asked, reveling in how soft he felt. He could melt away at this moment and not even notice.
Zhongli’s fingers paused. He pressed a kiss upon the top of Childe’s head, where Childe was doing his best to burrow into his warmth.
“I would like to have this,” Zhongli said, “every night.”
Childe chuckled. “I’m not sure if I’d be up for that every night.”
Zhongli paused for a moment. “Let me clarify. I meant that I would like to have you, Childe, here with me everyday. If we could share this space or whatever space you would like to be in. I would like to cohabitate together.”
Childe was suddenly wide awake. “Wait, xiansheng. Are you asking me to move in with you?”
Zhongli’s hand moved down his back, as if he was soothing a skittish animal. “If you would be amenable to that, yes.”
Childe pulled away to look at Zhongli’s face, confirming for himself that Zhongli was 100% serious about this. “I mean - I’m not the best roommate, you know I wake up half the time with nightmares and-”
Zhongli might not even want him in the future. Wasn’t it easier to break things off with him if they did not intertwine their lives together even more?
Zhongli cupped his cheek. “That was not a no. And I’m not asking to be roommates. I thought we were partners?”
Childe looked down.
Zhongli nudged him so that Childe looked him in the eyes again. “Baobei, tell me.”
Childe folded like a piece of used tissue. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea,” he whispered into the space between the two of them. “If you tire of me, then I will only cling tighter and tighter, Zhongli.”
Zhongli made an injured sound. “How could I ever tire of you? In fact, it should be me worrying about that - I am an old man with his habits set into stone, after all.”
Childe looked incredulously at him. Zhongli was Zhongli. He couldn’t imagine not wanting to be in his presence, to want to climb into his lap and stay there.
Zhongli moved forward, placing sweet kisses upon the corners of Childe’s lips. Childe never had a defence against him to begin with.
“Now you’re playing unfair,” Childe breathed.
A chuckle. “All’s fair in love and war.”
“I bet you made that phrase up a long time ago just so you can use it now,” Childe grumbled.
“Baobei. Will you move in with me? I’ll prove it to you, with time, that I will never tire of you,” Zhongli asked. It was the closest Childe had ever seen him to begging.
Childe held him closer (wishing they were closer still, even though they had been the closest two beings could be to each other physically just now). “Okay, Zhongli. I’ll hold you to that.”
Zhongli leaned in, and the rest of the night was lost to them.