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Childe unlocks and opens the door to his apartment and beckons Zhongli inside. "Come in. I don't think you've been here before."
Zhongli looks around curiously. "No, I don't believe I have. You have a very nice apartment. Thank you for inviting me over."
Scratching his head, Childe chuckles. "It's really nothing special. I just want to do something for you. I hear you've had a stressful day."
Zhongli sighs, and suddenly a surprising amount of age shows in his face. It's as if he isn't just a 30-something year old funeral parlour consultant, but instead someone who has lived to see a lot of death and destruction and is always affected by the cruelty of it.
"Unfortunately it was. While working at the funeral parlour is never the happiest of jobs, sometimes I find myself unduly affected by it. Especially if it's..." he sighs again before continuing in a much quieter voice. "Especially if I have to bury children."
Childe grimaces in sympathy. While he is often the one increasing the other's workload, he would never hurt a child. Even the thought of it makes him wonder what would happen if one of his dear younger siblings was in the child's place. In fact, he takes every measure to ensure no children are hurt by any of his plans.
Of course it is very different when the child is already dead. That he can't do anything about.
However what he can do is offer Zhongli comfort, a place to destress and hopefully a way to stop him from looking so exhausted.
A nice warm cup of tea would be a good place to start.
"Would you like a cup of tea? I recently bought some jasmine tea from that shop you recommended to me."
Zhongli nods before sinking wearily into Childe's couch. After patting the other's shoulder in comfort, he goes to the kitchen and starts preparing the tea. Hopefully it will make Zhongli feel a bit better.
After the tea is made, Childe puts the teapot and two cups on a tray and brings it through to the living room. What he sees when he returns makes him feel a strange throbbing from his chest. He ignores it.
Zhongli seems to have fallen sideways from where he was sitting. Now he is lying on his side with his head on the armrest and his legs still on the floor. Breathing slow and steady, he doesn't even stir as Childe places the tray on the table. The throbbing sensation only intensifies when Childe spots how his face seems to carry an air of sadness even in his sleep.
Childe shakes the sleeping man's shoulder. "Zhongli, you shouldn't sleep here. It's uncomfortable." But the other man still doesn't stir.
Today must really have taken a lot out of him.
Well then, the least Childe can do is make sure he gets a proper rest. After removing Zhongli's shoes, he carefully arranges the other on the couch so he is laid out a lot more comfortably. He retrieves a blanket from his room and puts it on top of the consultant.
Taking a book from the shelf, Childe settles on the armchair and pours himself a cup of tea. After taking a sip, he opens the book and begins to read.
-ZC-
Zhongli wakes up to a warm fuzzy feeling that threatens to pull him straight back to sleep again. The thing that keeps him awake is the fact that he is lying on an unfamiliar surface that is definitely not his bed.
He tiredly blinks his eyes open to survey the room. This isn't his house. Where is he?
His eyes fall upon a ginger haired man slumped in an armchair nearby. An open book is in his hand and an almost empty cup of tea sits in front of him. That's right. Childe invited him to his house after dinner because he thought that Zhongli looked "like the world rests on his shoulders alone and is far too heavy for him to lift". He must have fallen asleep on the other's couch.
Normally he would now start thinking of a way to make up for falling asleep at the other's house, but this time he doesn't get the chance. The knowledge that he is somewhere safe, and the only person nearby is someone he trusts is enough for the fuzzy feeling to increase tenfold, and pull him back into a dreamless sleep.