"Hey Xiansheng, the weather is really nice today, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is actually quite nice outside. I suppose it was a good idea to take a walk instead of working all day. But remember, Childe, once we get back, you must finish writing that report I requested. Don't think that you can skip it just because I agreed to go on a walk with you."

"Right, right." Childe sighs. "You're no fun, Xiansheng. All you do all day is work and nag me about those reports. Are they really that important? They seemed rather useless to me."

"Honestly Childe, everything is useless to you except for battling. And for your information, that "useless" report is a list of clients for Wansheng Funeral Parlor." Zhongli says, glancing at Childe with an annoyed look.

"Okay, okay, I'll do it as soon as we get back. Jeez, you're so insistent, have some patience please!"

"Childe, you've pushed it off for 3 weeks!" Zhongli says, voice rising a bit.

"Okay, okay, calm down." Childe says, walking further ahead.

They walk up a hill and just a few meters away from them, there is a small pond with crystal clear water.

"Hey, look!" Childe says, running towards the pond. "The water's really clear, it's perfect for drinking and-" Childe stops, a mischievous grin forming on his face. "Hmm, I wonder how Zhongli would like it if his expensive coat got soaked." The evil thought crosses into Childe's mind.

"Childe?" Zhongli asks, noticing how the harbinger had gone quiet. "Is something wron-"

Before Zhongli could even finish his sentence, water splashed all over his face and body. He stumbled back and gasped as water dripped down his face and hair.

"Hahaha! Got you there, Xiansheng!" Childe says, not even trying to hold back his laughter.

"Childe! What is the meaning of this?!" Zhongli demands, eyes shining with anger.

But Childe was too busy laughing to pay attention to what Zhongli said.

"You should've seen your face!" He says between laughs. "It was priceless!"

"Childe, must I remind you that you are the 11th Harbinger, such behavior is not acceptable for someone like you. Act more like your age, please."

"Pffft, who cares?" Childe scoffs, "This is what I call fun!" He goes back to laughing.

Zhongli shakes his head and sighs, why did I agree to come on this walk? Now I have to go dry off my clothes, great.

While Zhongli was busy drying out his clothes (well, at least trying to), Childe decided to become an explorer and started wandering around the area to check out the different things there. After around 20 minutes, he got bored and decided to start bugging Zhongli again.

"Hey, Xiansheng, how much did your coat cost?" Childe asks, watching Zhongli try a pathetic attempt to dry the coat over a fire.

"About 2500 Mora."

"Woah, really? Where did you get that money?"

"I don't see how that is any of your concern." Zhongli snaps, starting to get annoyed with the never-running-out-of-energy harbinger.

"Okay, okay, I won't ask!" Childe says, backing away from Zhongli. "I'll just go look around over here then". He turns around and walks towards what looks like a cave.

"Hm? Okay, just don't bother me." Zhongli says, focused on his coat, but Childe was already out of view.

For the next 10 minutes or so, Zhongli was patiently trying to dry his coat out over a small fire. At first, the silence was pleasant, but as more time went on, Zhongli couldn't help but get a bit worried at why Childe didn't return yet.

"What is he doing? It's been 15 minutes already." Zhongli thought. "Wait, he wouldn't be in danger, would he? No way, he's Tartaglia, the fearsome warrior, practically nothing scares him. But then again, maybe I should go check on him."

Zhongli put on his semi-dry coat and started walking towards where Childe went.

"Childe?" Zhongli called, hoping there was an answer. "Childe? Where are you? It's been 20 minutes, what are you doing?"

No reply.

Zhongli started to actually get worried now. "Why isn't he answering me?"

"Childe?" Zhongli called, a bit louder this time. "Answer me! Where are you?"

"Xiansheng?"

"Childe, is that you?" Zhongli said, his worry dying down a bit.

"Yeah, it's me. Look towards your lower right."

Zhongli glanced right and saw Childe, sitting on the ground, staring at a weird mechanism embedded in the wall.

"Is something wrong?" Childe asks innocently, as if nothing was wrong.

"What were you doing? I was calling you for the past 10 minutes! Why didn't you answer? I thought something had happened to you! And what are you doing here..." Zhongli rambles on, oblivious of the smirk forming on Childe's face. When he finally stopped talking, Childe said the one thing that would annoy the hell out of anyone.

"Aww, was Xiansheng worried about me? You care about me that much?" Childe asks sweetly and in a childish voice, waiting for Zhongli's flustered reaction.

But instead, Zhongli answered with: "Well, of course I would be worried. You are a dear friend and comrade even though you can be intolerable sometimes."

...

...

"Childe?"

Looks like Childe's plan of making Zhongli embarrassed backfired as he was the one who's face was tinted with red.

"Childe, are you alright? Your face is a bit red." Zhongli asks.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine!" Childe quickly turned around to hide his embarrassment.

"Oh alright, but would you mind telling me what that thing is?" Zhongli asks, pointing to the weird mechanism on the wall.

"Huh? Oh that thing. I'm not too sure but I think it's some sort of mechanism that activates something. I mean, there is a button on it with some sort of design. I can't quite see clearly though, it's kinda rusty." Childe says, moving closer to inspect the object. "I wonder what'll happen if I press the button. Maybe we get to fight something? I am dying to battle someone." Childe reaches his hand forwards and his fingers brush against the top of the button; about to press down.

"Childe wait!" Zhongli suddenly yells out. "Don't press-"

Too late.

The button was pushed down and a weird wiring noise fills the atmosphere. As if on queue, several, no, tens of ruin guards start walking towards them from the entrance of the cave.

Childe's eyes shine as he sees the perfect opportunity to finally get to battle something. "This is going to be a nice warm-up."

As he charges towards the ruin guards, two pairs of hydro blades materialize in his hands. After a series of slashes, 7 ruin guards were down, their cores destroyed by the battle-loving harbinger.

Childe looked towards Zhongli and found that he also had his polearm in his hands and was effectively taking down ruin guards. Well, only 5 of them.

"Hey Xiansheng, you only got 5? Don't tell me you got weaker?" Childe teased, while at the same time dodging a spinning ruin guard.

"Childe, this is not a competition and for your information, I have not gotten weaker." It was almost as if Zhongli was bothered by Childe's statement because the next thing Childe knew, another 10 ruin guards were demolished and fell to the ground.

"Not bad, but I can do better." As soon as he finished the sentence, Childe jumped up, combined his two hydro blades into one, and dealt massive damage with a huge hydro slash across 4 different ruin guards, one-shotting them all. He stood up, showing off his skills but Zhongli paid no attention to him and finished off another 10 or so ruin guards.

After around 10 minutes, Childe and Zhongli stood side by side, looking at the obliterated 50 ruin guards.

"Whew, that was a nice exercise." Childe breathed out.

"Yes, but we must figure out where they came from. This can be dangerous for other adventurers if they activated it by accident. Like someone did." Zhongli says, eyeing Childe with an annoyed expression.

"I didn't do it on purpose! Well, maybe I did, but I was bored, Xiansheng!" Childe wines like a little child.

"Whatever the reason is, we have to make sure this mechanism is destroyed for good." Zhongli says, walking towards the object.

"Okay, okay, do whatever you want." Childe says, walking away from Zhongli and towards the disintegrated ruin guards.

As Childe walked towards the ruin guards, he noticed something weird. Their cores did not disintegrate like the rest of the machine.

Huh, that's weird. I was sure I destroyed the cores.

Childe took a step forward and observed the cores. Sure, they were destroyed, but they were still glowing inside.

As he wanted to take a closer look, his hand accidently brushed against the "destroyed" core. Suddenly, the ruin guard started to shakily stand up. Following that one, the other 49 started to slowly rise too.

What the!? How can they still move? That's impossible! Ruin guards can't regenerate!

Childe's eyes widen as the ruin guards start to move faster than usual.

"Zhongli!"

Childe rarely called Zhongli by his real name and if he did, it must've meant that there was an emergency. Zhongli immediately looked towards the harbinger's direction, but the sight even made the god himself quiver.

The ruin guards were moving about 2x the speed they were earlier, all 50 of them were attacking at the same time, and they could regenerate.

"This must have been the Abyss's doing, are they somehow controlling the ruin guards? But even then, how could they control 50 at a time? Where did their regenerative powers come from? Did the Abyss do that too? How? There is no way me and Childe can hold off all of them. Can we escape? But if we do that, the ruin guards will follow us into Liyue and there will be a huge massacre. No way, we can not even think about doing that. We must hold them off, but how wi-"

Zhongli promptly snapped out of his daze when he heard a loud gasp from Childe's direction. He whipped his head around; only to see a ruin guard's arm smack into Childe at an alarming force, knocking the harbinger back multiple feet and onto the side of the cave. An audible crack was heard and the harbinger did not move one inch. He lay there, still as death and Zhongli could only fear the worst.

"CHILDE!" Zhongli screamed, while running full speed towards the mortal laying on the ground.

But before he could quite reach him, a few ruin guards stood in his way. Oh boy were they destroyed in a matter of seconds. You do not want to anger a god, that experience alone would be worse than soloing the entire Abyss.

As Zhongli ran towards Childe, an uneasy feeling began to form in his stomach. He had to keep telling himself "Childe is not dead, Childe is not dead, he is just unconscious, that is all. He will be fine, he will be fin-"

Childe was not fine.

His beautiful blue eyes were shut tightly with pain as he tried to suck air into his fragile lungs. Blood slowly dripped from his head and Zhongli could tell that he had a concussion. From the look on his face alone, Zhongli was sure that the harbinger was in a lot of pain. The geo archon immediately felt for a pulse and let out a sigh of relief when he felt Childe's heart faintly beating underneath his fingertips. At least he wasn't dead. But, he wasn't too sure about that fact when he took a closer look at Childe's injuries. From the way he was struggling to breathe, Zhongli could tell that he had a few broken ribs and one of them might've punctured his lung. That was not a light injury. He needed to get Childe medical attention right away or else he might actually die. Zhongli shuddered at that thought; there is no way he is letting the harbinger die, he would swear on his life.

Zhongli picked Childe up and moved him to a safe place where the ruin guards could not touch him.

Then, Zhongli materialized his polearm and charged into battle. If he wanted to get Childe to safety, he would have to defeat these machines first.

At first, he was taking them down quite easily, a few slashes and they were down.

However, after around 30 seconds, each ruin guard that was supposed to be dead, started to rise again.

Zhongli figured that normal slashes can not kill them for good, they need to be hit with a highly powerful attack to stay dead forever.

Without a second thought, Zhongli summoned a huge meteor from the sky and crashed it onto the battle machines.

Fortunately, it did lots of damage to all 50 of them, but only 10 of them were actually destroyed. That was not good. There was no way Zhongli could keep summoning meteors as each attack takes time to charge up. Plus, he needed to finish them off quickly or else Childe would be in serious danger. Zhongli spared a quick glance towards the area where he left Childe to make sure he was still okay, but to his surprise, the harbinger was not there!

But before Zhongli could make his way towards where Childe was supposed to be, he heard a sizzling energy from behind him.

He whipped his head around and saw the worst thing that could possibly happen in this moment.

Childe was in his Foul Legacy Transformation, a transformation that completely drains all the energy from the user. Last time Childe used it, and he was in top shape, he was on strict bed rest for a whole week. Now, with the huge number of injuries on the poor harbinger's body, there was no telling what could happen. He could even die from his own power if he used it for too long. That power is way to risky to use in battle.

And that is what Childe was doing right now. Using up his last energy to slash the ruin guards. Without any concern for his own well-being.

Finally, as Zhongli and Childe worked together to finish off the last few ruin guards, the harbinger transformed back and dangerously swayed when he tried to walk even a few steps. But before he could take a second step, his energy ran out and he collapsed onto the ground with a thud.

In an instant, Zhongli rushed forward and just barely caught him.

As he lowered the exhausted harbinger onto the ground, he noticed how all the injuries had worsened.

Childe's face was deathly pale and blood still continued to drip from his head. He struggled to even suck in a few breathes of air. Zhongli lifted his shirt and what was underneath made him freeze. Childe's entire torso was covered in dark bruises and cuts. He had a really dark one on his chest, where his ribs were likely broken and crushed.

"Childe?" Zhongli called, hoping for an answer. "Childe, please answer me. You need to wake up now. Y-You can not die like this." Zhongli was surprised to hear his own voice tremble. Not once has the god of war ever shown weakness like that, especially in front of someone. But Zhongli quickly brushed away that thought, Childe's safety was more important than anything.

"Childe, Childe!" Zhongli called, a little louder this time.

Finally, he heard a small whimper from Childe.

"X-Xian...sheng?"

"Yes, I'm here Childe. Don't worry, you're going to be fine. Just stay awake for me, okay?"

"I-It hurts." Childe mumbled.

"I know it hurts, but it'll be all over soon. You're going to be fine." Zhongli repeated, trying everything he possibly can to comfort the injured harbinger.

...

"Childe? Can you still hear me?"

Childe let out a small groan as a response.

"Okay good. Just don't go to sleep, alright? I'm going to pick you up, it might hurt a bit but I need to get you medical attention."

Zhongli slowly lifted Childe from the ground and tried to position him so that it doesn't hurt a lot. He ended up carrying Childe in a piggy-back style.

Zhongli internally winced as he heard Childe let out a small yelp of pain when he was lifted.

He decided that it was probably best to walk back to Liyue Harbor because there is no telling what will happen if an injured person teleports. He didn't want to take the risk. Childe looked so fragile that even the slightest squeeze of the hand could shatter his frail body.

The Geo Archon then began to make his way back to Bubu Pharmacy where they could hopefully treat Childe.

As Zhongli was halfway back to the pharmacy, Childe passed out. He didn't make any noise when he lost consciousness; his body just suddenly going limp in Zhongli's arms.

It was then that Zhongli realized how much he cherished Childe. He acted like he was annoyed when Childe bugged him, but deep inside, he actually enjoyed it. It reminded him of what it means to have fun, to live like a human. He liked it when the harbinger acted like a child, and definitely did not wish for Childe to act like himself, a serious and cold geo god. But he obviously couldn't say that out loud, he had to keep up his Geo Archon profile.

Zhongli finally realized that silence is not always good. The silence he was experiencing right now was eerie, and it had the word "death" written all over it. He didn't want to admit it, but he actually feared silence. To him, silence meant death and grief.

Zhongli missed Childe's sweet voice that was always laughing and teasing people. He desperately wanted Childe to live and continue behaving like a joyful child. It was one of the few things that made Zhongli happy.

Finally, after a long and agonizing 30 minutes, Zhongli arrived at Bubu Pharmacy and knocked loudly on the door.

Dr. Baizhu opened the door and almost dropped the papers he was holding at the sight of Zhongli carrying the unconscious 11th Harbinger.

"D-Dr. Baizhu, please help Childe." Zhongli gasped out, noticing how his voice was strained, probably because of carrying a grown man's weight for half an hour, after fighting 50 ruin guards, while traversing uneasy land. Even for a god, this was pushing it a bit too far.

"O-Of course, Mr. Zhongli." Dr. Baizhu said, stuttering a bit as he quickly escorted Zhongli and Childe into a room.

"What are the extent of his injuries?" The doctor asked Zhongli, while setting up an IV bag and preparing an oxygen mask.

"The medical field is not my field of expertise, but from what I noticed, he appears to have a concussion and a few broken ribs. One of the ribs might have punctured his lung because he was having difficulty breathing." Zhongli replied, watching closely as Dr. Baizhu inserted the IV needle into Childe's arm.

"Was he coughing any blood?" The doctor asked.

"No, not blood, but he was coughing."

"Was he slurring his words?"

"Yes, but just slightly." Zhongli watched as Dr. Baizhu put an oxygen mask over Childe to help with his breathing.

"Alright, that is good news. From what I can see now, the concussion that Mr. Childe has is just mild, meaning that around a week's worth of rest should be enough to cure it."

"Good, that is good news." Zhongli says, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding in.

"But," Dr. Baizhu added, his tone sounding more grim. "He is severely exhausted and that could lead to serious outcomes. Also, one of his ribs has pierced his lung so we are going to have to perform surgery on him. Is that alright with you? Normally we have to ask permission from family members, but there is no way to contact Mr. Childe's family in this situation. "

"Yes, of course." Zhongli immediately answered. "Please do everything you can."

"Of course, Mr. Zhongli, we will do our best. Please do not worry." Dr. Baizhu smiled as he called a few other doctors over and wheeled Childe's bed to the surgery room.

For the next hour or so, Zhongli sat in the waiting room, waiting for news about Childe's condition.

Finally, Dr. Baizhu stepped out of the surgery room and Zhongli practically jumped out of his seat and raced over.

"How is he?"

Dr. Baizhu smiled, "Don't worry, Mr. Zhongli, Mr. Childe is fine now. We have put him in an induced coma to recover faster but he will probably wake up tomorrow or the day after."

Zhongli let out a sigh of relief. Childe was fine now. He will be okay. "Thank you so much, doctor."

"No problem, just remember, Mr. Childe needs to rest a lot so make sure he does not participate in any hard or strenuous activities."

"Yes, I understand. I will make sure he does not do any of that." Zhongli says.

"You can go visit him now but he will be unconscious." Dr. Baizhu says, while leading Zhongli to Childe's room. "I will leave you two alone for now but if you need anything, please do not hesitate to call me."

"Very well, thank you again for treating him." Zhongli says, bowing his head to express his gratitude.

Dr. Baizhu nodded and walked out of the room.

Zhongli made his way over to Childe's bed but was not prepared for the sight that he was about to see.

Childe was as pale as the hospital sheets he lay under and Zhongli would've thought he was dead if not for the slight rising and falling of his chest. Zhongli took a seat next to the bed and looked at Childe uneasily. A series of thoughts flooded into Zhongli's mind.

Why?

Why did it have to be Childe?

Why did he have to be the one who was injured?

Childe looked so... dead.

Zhongli immediately shook that thought away. If he wanted Childe to recover, he would have to stay optimistic, even at a time like this.

Slowly and cautiously, Zhongli reached his hand forward and held Childe's hand in his own, careful of the wires and tubes that were attached to the harbinger's arm.

His hand is so cold.

Zhongli lightly squeezed it, hoping that Childe could tell he was there, waiting for him to wake up.

Zhongli held onto Childe's hand and after listening to Childe's heart beat healthily, he slowly fell asleep.


Zhongli groggily blinked his eyes open, only to be met with a pair of shining blue ones staring back at him.

The geo archon let out a gasp of surprise as he saw that it was Childe, his Childe, alive and okay.

"Childe. It's really you, right? I-I'm not dreaming or anything, right?" Zhongli asked.

The harbinger let out a chuckle and smiled brightly.

"Yes, it's me Xiansheng, you're not dreaming!" Childe said in his usual playful tone.

Oh boy did Zhongli miss that melodious sound of Childe's voice.

The next thing Zhongli did was completely unthinkable for a god.

He leaned forward and hugged Childe.

Hugged.

The geo archon just hugged someone.

Never in his many millennia life span has Zhongli ever done something like this. He was a god, he was the mighty Rex Lapis! He couldn't just show affection like that, especially to a mortal.

But Zhongli couldn't care less about something like that now.

All that mattered was that Childe was alive.

"X-Xiansheng?" Childe said, completely astounded by the act of affection from Zhongli.

"W-What are you-"

Zhongli held Childe closer.

"Childe, I-I thought I had lost you." Zhongli said, his voice shaking as he kept talking. "Back then, you looked so... dead, lying on the ground like that. I-I was so scared, I didn't know what to do. You were dying in my arms and I couldn't do anything! I'm so sorry, I almost let you die. I-I almost killed you. I-"

"Zhongli!" The harbinger interrupted, snapping the geo god out of his daze.

"It's okay now, I'm here." He said softly, comforting Zhongli by interlacing his fingers with his. "You don't have to worry about me anymore."

"Thank you Childe." Zhongli whispered.

"I should be the one thanking you, Xiansheng. You're always so grateful for everything." Childe says, letting out a small chuckle.

Zhongli let himself sink into Childe's warm embrace.


When Childe was finally discharged, Zhongli did everything he can to make sure Childe was not doing anything tiring or strenuous. But of course, the harbinger always found excuses to go outside and even tried to fight a camp of hilichurls; only to be stopped by Zhongli's meteor who crashed on them before Childe could even pull out his weapon. And of course, Childe would be scolded by Zhongli for trying to do something dangerous like that.

But, since Childe is Childe, and no one can make him listen, Zhongli was forced to take things one step forward.

Childe literally dropped his glass of water when Zhongli told him the news that morning.

"Y-Y-You want me to move into your apartment?" Childe asked, stuttering his words.

"Correct."

"But i-isn't that kinda inappropriate?" The harbinger blurted out.

Now it was Zhongli's turn to be surprised.

"I'm sorry, I do not understand what you mean by "inappropriate". I see no problem with inviting a friend who is still recovering to my home to help them get well sooner. It will just be for the time being; until you recover." Zhongli simply stated.

"The main reason that I am doing this is to keep an eye on you, Childe. The doctor said that you are not allowed any strenuous physical activity, yet you decided to walk up to a hilichurl camp and fight them."

"I was bored, Xiansheng!" Childe wined. "What do you expect me to do, sit around all day and stare at clouds?"

"Yes, however, you do not need to stare at clouds all day. You are allowed to go on short walks around town, but only if I accompany you." Zhongli said, obviously not getting the sarcasm.

"Also, regarding our previous topic, you should begin to start packing. Come, let's go to your apartment." Zhongli says, standing up and walking towards the door.

Childe sighed, "Fine, fine, you're the boss."


Once Childe has successfully "moved" in, and they have finished moving all the boxes, it was already dinner time.

"Childe, would you like to go to a restaurant?" Zhongli asked.

"What do you mean; what other choice do we have?"

"I could cook something, if you do not wish to eat outside." Zhongli stated, almost offended that Childe did not consider the fact that he could cook.

"You know how to cook, Xiansheng?" The harbinger asked, surprised.

"Yes, I may not be a star chef, but I do know how to cook relatively good dishes."

"Wow, you really do know everything." Childe said.

"You flatter me." Zhongli says, walking towards the kitchen. "What would you like to eat?"

"Anything's fine really, as long as you can prove to me you can cook." Childe says with a smirk.

Zhongli sighs, remind him why he's cooking for this idiot again?

After a while of debating on which dish to cook, Zhongli decided on Bamboo Shoot Soup.

As Zhongli chopped vegetables, boiled water, and added different spices, Childe wandered around the room, looking at the different things the geo archon owned.


Zhongli placed two bowls of steaming hot Bamboo Shoot Soup on the table and called Childe over.

"Ooh, looks like Xiansheng really does know how to cook." The harbinger teased. "Well, can't be too sure yet, I wonder how good it'll taste.." Childe says, taking a spoonful of soup and putting it in his mouth.

"How is it?" Zhongli asked, while Childe took another spoonful.

"It's actually really good!" Childe says, swallowing a spoonful of soup. "Where did you learn to make this?"

"I believe it was at Wanmin Restaurant. I obtained the recipe there." Zhongli replied.

"Oh cool." Childe says, while finishing up the last few spoonful's of his soup. "Hey, Xiansheng?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think you can maybe teach me how to make this?" Childe asks, looking down in embarrassment. He wanted to thank Zhongli with something but just the words "Thank you" was not nearly enough for all that Zhongli had done for him. Maybe he could surprise Zhongli by cooking him dinner.

"Of course, Childe. I would love to." Zhongli says with a smile.

"Thank you, Zhongli, really. You've done so much for me and I don't even know how to pay you back for it." Childe says, nervously. This was the first time he had ever sincerely thanked someone. Normally, he would have just teased them and joked a "Thanks" instead.

"Childe..." Zhongli says, at a loss for words. "I-I should be the one thanking you, not the other way around."

"Huh?"

Now Childe was confused, what did he do to make Zhongli thank him? If anything, he should be the one thanking Zhongli. After all, it was Zhongli who saved him and brought him back to Liyue.

"What do you mean, Xiansheng? I didn't do anything, it was you who helped me all along."

"No, Childe... you're the one who showed me how to live." Zhongli says, glancing down to avoid contact with Childe's sea blue eyes.

"Before I met you, the only thing that I did in my life was killing. Non-stop killing. I was the god of war; I had no choice but to do it. I've been killing people for thousands of years with no emotion at all. It was like I was a slave, bound by my duties of killing. My whole existence was revolved around the art of taking one's life. I always acted without hesitation when I killed a human. They were only mortals, weak beings who did not know how to fight back, weak beings who did not have any emotions. That's what I thought back then. But then I realized that I was the one who had no emotions, I was the weak one." Zhongli says, with a hint of sadness.

"After that realization, I stopped killing the innocent mortals. I only killed the ones who were truly evil. But still, even though I no longer killed the innocent, there was always this feeling of sadness in my heart. It continued on for a couple thousand years until I met you, Childe."

Childe blinked. Was he really that special? He's just the 11th Harbinger, a person who serves directly under her highness the Tsaritsa.

He must have said that out loud because Zhongli let out a small laugh. "Childe, you may not think that you are special, but to me, you are everything."

Childe couldn't help but feel his cheeks heat up. He was blushing. Blushing.

Zhongli smiles at him with a smile that is warmer than the sun.

"U-Um, I'll go wash the dishes!" Childe blurts out, hoping to break the awkward silence and find an excuse to not let Zhongli see his blushing cheeks.

But instead, Zhongli just laughs and says, "That was quite the change of topic. Here, let me handle the dishes, Childe."

"No, no, no! Let me do them, it's the least I can do!" Childe says, grabbing the dishes and running over to the sink.

"Childe, you've done enough already but if you really want to do them, then I guess I cannot stop you." Zhongli sighs as Childe starts scrubbing the bowls.

The geo archon makes his way over to the bedroom and prepares the sheets.

Zhongli specifically made sure that he prepared an extra bed for Childe.

After all, it would be a bit - no, very - awkward if they slept in the same bed.

Once Childe stubbornly finished the dishes, he walked over towards the beds and slipped into the one on the left while Zhongli took the one to the right.

Just before Zhongli flicked the lights off, he heard Childe whisper a quiet "Good night, Xiansheng."

He smiled and said, "Good night, Childe. Sleep well."


At around midnight, Childe quietly climbed into Zhongli's bed, saying that he was having a nightmare.

"Xiansheng, is it okay if I stay here tonight?" Childe asks, voice wavering.

"Of course, Childe. You can stay here for as long as you want." Zhongli says in a soothing voice.

Childe buries his face into Zhongli's arms.

"Please don't leave me..."

"Don't worry, Childe, I'm right here. I'll never leave you alone." Zhongli says, embracing Childe.

"Call me Ajax..."

"Huh? Ajax? Since when was Childe called Ajax?" Zhongli wondered.

"That's what my family calls me." Ajax says softly.

Ah.

That's it.

He wants to be called his real name.

"Xiansheng?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, Ajax."