It is rare, but once in a blood-red Liyue moon, Zhongli feels old.
Ancient, husk-like, dried out like patchy scales that have lost their sheen, lifting under the edges, in need of picking off. He will sigh, head stuffed with cotton, his ears not quite working as words slip in one side and right out the other. He'll become a little lazy, his joints aching, bitter-cold pains settling between the bones.
Childe notices, eyes lingering as he watches Zhongli troll about, head hanging and shoulders uneven like a leaning mountain. He'll catch Zhongli by the elbow, tugging at him gently. He doesn't ask if Zhongli's okay, he'll just lean forward, kissing the corner of his mouth. Zhongli's elbow will be warmed by his gentle grasp. His heart will lurch at Childe's tenderness, thick in his throat, beating wildly.
And later, in their bed, Childe will spread Zhongli out in the soft silk sheets, fingers grazing every inch of his skin as he praises him with sweet words and kindness. Every moment with Childe means the world, but these are special, chips in Zhongli's stony shoulders that he'll wear until the end of time.
This night, Childe treats him gently—not like fragile glass, but solid Cor Lapis that deserves to be worshipped. He hangs over him, fingers warm against Zhongli's cool body, thick callouses catching slightly on smooth skin. Zhongli's breath hitches as he arches from the bed, head tipping back, a wanton sound slipping from his throat.
"Beautiful," murmurs Childe. His breath is hot against his neck and Zhongli shivers. He melts against the heat, a puddle in the silk, loose-limbed as Childe works his hands over him. Palms into throbbing joints, rolling the aches out with circular motions. Lips that kiss their way across his body, whisper praise after praise right into his skin.
Childe licks over his collarbone, nipping at the curve of it. Drags his tongue down his sternum. Over one nipple and then the next, dragging Zhongli's hips from the bed. There, Childe stays, lapping at the nub until it stiffens, pink and peaked.
"Mhm." Zhongli doesn't moan, he sighs, leaning into his mouth, tugging at Childe's hair for more.
"Absolutely divine," says Childe, swirling his tongue around that nipple, soft and swollen, just a little puffy. And then down, down, until Zhongli is squirming from Childe's warm breath ghosting his cock. Kisses and murmurs, teeth dragged over the length of him; Childe attends to him as though he is young and supple, not olden and cracked.
Still, Zhongli huffs, a little amused. "I'm not anymore."
"For me you are." Childe regards him with blue eyes that twinkle, their dullness polished away by the love that strikes through him. "Rex Lapis," says Childe, trailing his tongue down the crease of Zhongli's groin, tasting the salt and sweat. "Morax," he murmurs for good measure.
Zhongli loves the way the names churn his gut, how they make pressure rise, overfilling his chest until he's taut and wanton, gasping underneath Childe's wily touches. Childe kisses the tip of his cock, licks across the tip, tongue dipping into the slit, then he swallows it down whole until he's choking.
"Ajax," admonishes Zhongli, looking down and brushing Childe's bangs back. He looks obscene, lips stretched around his cock as he bobs up and down his length. Childe breathes through his nose and moans, tongue sliding over the underside, slick and wet.
It could kill him. Childe jokes about how his heart isn't the same and while Zhongli won't be done in by such silly mortal wiles, it's easy to think that his heart clenches so tight he might keel over. He cries out, fingers tugging at Childe's hair, guiding his head along as he suckles.
Childe is cruel when he pulls away, leaving Zhongli's cock stiff and aching. Precome leaks from the tip, dripping all over his stomach, and Childe smirks, kissing away from where Zhongli wants his mouth most. He nuzzles the smooth skin of Zhongli's inner thigh, just where it meets his groin.
"My loyalty is to you now," he says, nipping there, biting down to suck a purpling mark. It won't last more than the night, but they'll both see it. "I'm on my knees for you—only you."
Those words. Zhongli jerks slightly as Childe mouths south, sealing his mouth around one of his balls, tongue sliding against the underside as he lavishes it with attention. He's gentle as he mouths around it, hot and wet. A hand finds Zhongli's cock, pumping it slowly, middling attention that builds pleasure but never breaks it.
It's so good. Zhongli is solid like stone, but when he's like this, prone to crumbling into dust, Childe worships him as a reminder that there isn't anyone else. That there doesn't need to be. Just what Zhongli needs. Childe's sweet caresses. The praise that tumbles from his mouth, a soothing balm that calms Zhongli's ancient heart, a mutual claim that leaves them both open and bare in these sheets.
Childe, prostrate before another god, heretical words rising from his throats— Zhongli, I'm yours; So utterly divine; You are everything to me.
Zhongli, writhes underneath him, fingers tugging at Childe's hair as he cries out his name in breathy moans. "Ajax," he murmurs, head tipping back into the pillows. " Ajax—I—"
"I could do this all day." More licking, more kissing, more teasing as Childe explores every inch of Zhongli's body. "I want to do this all day. I could drown in you." That devilish tongue trails south, pressing Zhongli's thighs up to lick across his hole.
Zhongli melts, losing himself to the heady pleasure. Childe takes him apart slowly, deftly, coaxing him into a haze. Opens Zhongli up on his fingers, one, two, then three, until Zhongli's bucking against his hand and beginning for more.
Childe watches as he settles between Zhongli's legs and slicks his cock. He presses in, slowly, leaning forward to press their foreheads together. "Fuck," he murmurs as he sinks into Zhongli's tight heat, stopping when he bottoms out to gather himself on trembling arms. "Gods, I love you."
Zhongli clings to Childe, holding him close. He's so full, stuffed to the brim, Childe's thick cock settled deep into his ass. There has never been another like Childe, this chaotic Harbinger who's made a bold choice to throw everything away. His, thinks Zhongli, his, his, his—
"Mate," he hisses, lifting his hips to grind against Childe.
"Yes." Childe pulls out until only the tip of his cock remains, dragging across Zhongli's insides. He thrusts back in slowly with a languid roll of his hips, measured and intentional. "Yes, yes—" Childe mutters it into Zhongli's ear, his breath hot against the shell of it.
Zhongli tugs his face back by his hair. They lock gazes, Childe's throat bobbing as he stares. "Only you," says Zhongli, petting through his unruly auburn curls. "Ajax, do you understand? Only you. "
He wonders if Childe does. Is it the same for him, the way that it is for Zhongli? Hopelessly intertwined, destined for each other, their love etched in stone, predetermined in the stars.
Childe doesn't answer with words, but he does in the way that he plasters himself over Zhongli, chests sliding together as he fucks into him faster. Clinging fingers, punched moans, and heated breaths—Zhongli keens with every thrust of Childe's cock as it carves its way into his soul.
It is a dance of ages and a love for the eons. Childe whispers praise into his ear, loving words that fill Zhongli's chest full. Childe's cock is heavy in his ass, and he groans, holding himself up on wobbling limbs. "So tight. Oh, gods, you're—"
Childe shifts, hiking Zhongli's legs up, pressing his thighs back for a better angle. The tip of his dick slides right across his prostate, battering the bundle with every glide in and out.
"Don't stop, don't, don't."
Childe won't. He never will, caught in Zhongli's grasp wholly. "I love you," he says again, tattooing the words into Zhongli's neck as he bites the skin. "More than anything, more than—"
Zhongli knows he loves Childe more than Liyue, more than stone itself, or the solid, hard-packed dirt he was born of. Nothing compares to this man in his arms. His comforting scent. Those calloused but gentle hands and the way that they hold him not like delicate glass, but something to be treasured.
Childe fucks him roughly, but sweetly, a heavy pounding as his thighs slap against Zhongli's ass. The room is filled with the wet slapping of their sweat-slicked skin. Panting and gasping, wanton, debaucherous sounds as Zhongli slips deeper and deeper losing himself.
Geo swirls as his mortal guise cracks right down the middle. Pleasure curls, tightening, overcoming him as his power stretches long and thin. His horns get caught in the sheets. Childe curses, smoothing a hand over his glittering scales, charcoal and brown, reflecting the earth.
"Like no one else," he says. " Divine, fuck, you're—"
Zhongli comes first, Childe's cock bullying itself until he's bursting at the seams. Spills wet-hot and white all over his stomach, untouched, dick twitching.
Childe fucks him through it, praising the way his ass tightens, peeling back to watch the way his cock slips in and out. And Zhongli is drowning, spent and overstimulated, tongue lolling out of his mouth as he just drowns and drowns in the heat of it all.
The thrusts become staggered and uneven as Childe's thighs tense. He rocks into Zhongli, arms hooked underneath the backs of Zhongli's knees. "I'm going to—"
"Breed me." Hushed, hissed words that make Childe pause. His eyes are wide as Zhongli watches back.
Zhongli moves this time, flipping them over, pressing Childe into the bed until his head is nestled by too-soft pillows. Childe's cock twitches in interest, which makes Zhongli purr. The air swirls gold around them. He drags sharp, pointed claws down the breadth of Childe's sternum.
"Breed me," he says again, pressing his palm against Childe's chest for better leverage. Zhongli lifts his hips and slams back down, pulling a choked moan right from Childe's throat.
"Oh, oh fuck."
Zhongli rides him then, ass squeezing his dick so tightly that Childe nearly goes cross-eyed. Up and down, the thick length searing hot as it drags through him. Zhongli moans, a guttural, inhuman sound as he rolls his hips feverishly. Instincts pull at him, begging to be bred full until his stomach is distended and come is leaking from his loosened, abused rim.
It wouldn't take—not this time; that sort of thing takes time and preparation, but the fantasy is enough to fulfill the instincts that overcome him.
Childe fucks into him, holding Zhongli tight around the waist, guiding his movements against him. He moans, face sweaty as they just stare at each other. All that Zhongli sees is love; pure, unfiltered love that threatens to consume him.
"I'm close," warns Childe. "Zhongli, I'm—"
"Come for me," says Zhongli. "Be a good boy and come for me."
A few more thrusts has Childe spilling into him, tumbling over the edge as he comes. Wet warmth floods through Zhongli's core, sating the deep-seated hunger that pulls at him. He rides Childe through it, his mate scrabbling against him as he cries out, raspy with want.
The moments after always seem sluggish. Zhongli stills, Childe's cock thick and plugging him. He hangs over, fingers skittering over Childe's sweaty skin, soaking up the hazy high of their orgasms. Zhongli dips close, kissing Childe's forehead, petting his hair as he leans against him, unwilling to separate.
Childe too, wrapping his arms around Zhongli to hold him there, smothering himself in Zhongli's chest. "We should clean up," he eventually murmurs, voice muffled.
Zhongli's hand pauses, those deadly claws scratching over his scalp. He considers Childe's words. While satisfied, he isn't solely sated—not yet. He clucks his tongue gently. "Already done for the night? You said that you could do this all day."
Childe's brow furrows. "I said— hey."
Zhongli slides off of him, hissing slightly at the hefty loss of his cock. Semen seeps out of him, slicking his thighs, making a mess of their sheets. Zhongli doesn't care. He rolls over until his chest is pressed into the bed, moaning softly as his sensitive nipples brush against silk. A hand pulls at an asscheek, spreading it as he presents himself.
"Zhongli."
What a delicious-sounding plea. One quick look and Zhongli finds that Childe's dick is already twitching with the promise of another round. "I do think that I asked for you to breed me. And you said that you loved me—and I love you too, so—"
"Right, yes, okay." Childe is quick to press against him, grinding his cock against the back of Zhongli's thigh. Takes little effort for him to fully harden, slick at the tip. When he slides in again, it's like coming home as they lose themselves to passion once more, the sort that the stars dream of.
