Stay Forever
Chapter 4
"Hey, Childe," The biggest of the three bruisers by the back door of the club nudged Ajax none too gently as the redhead headed past him. "You're late."
Ajax ignored the nickname he hated and smiled. "Sorry about that, Fellas. Teucer needed a little extra help with his homework today."
"Think you're being funny do you?" The man gave a grim chuckle. "The brat won't have any homework if he's dead…"
Ajax turned on the bastard and hammered his fist straight into the man's cheek. Instantly the idiot crumpled to his knees.
"They really call you a bouncer?" Ajax stepped over him with a smirk. "What a joke."
"Alright," One of the other bouncers said. "Get in there, the boss has some questions for you."
"Like what?" Ajax wondered.
"We don't know. But it's got something to do with the pretty boy you've been dating. Might want to give the boss a kiss so he doesn't think you've forgotten him. If you know what I mean."
Ajax shivered a little. No. There was no way he was going to touch that bastard ever again. Never again. Ajax wasn't a scared kid anymore- in fact, now he had his little brother to look after. And he was dating someone he really loved. He wasn't going to throw that away.
Of course Dante wasn't actually the boss's real name. The name of the club he owned was Dante's Inferno. Pantalone really just liked to pretend he was cool so he used Dante as a sort of code name. The guy could be kinda scary when he got mad. But he was no mob boss. He just owned one sleazy college dance club that was always being investigated for prostitution and drug distribution.
Pantalone could choke on a dick for all he cared. Actually, that was probably how Pantalone managed to keep his stupid club open. Sucking off the investigators who never found anything wrong here. Well, that and the bastard was devilishly good as a bookie.
That was actually how Pantalone claimed that he became the owner of the bar. Pantalone claims he used to be just a sleazy bartender. And then his former boss got into a drunken argument with him. He bet his bar that his horse was going to win the Breeders Cup Classic. The owner's horse lost and Pantalone's longshot choice won.
Thus, supposedly, the place was his and it underwent some serious renovations from a ratty old pool hall bar to an annoyingly loud and raucous rave club.
Horse racing was illegal in Liyue. But to some people the prospect of winning big on the track was worth taking the chance of getting caught in serious debt or in the occasional police raid. Ajax's dad was one of those people.
The first time Ajax met Pantalone, he was 17 and just out of High School with a basketball scholarship to college. It was not a good memory. Like their mom and the rest of his siblings, Ajax had been innocently unaware that their dad was gambling. None of them had any idea that they were about to lose their home because of it.
Dad couldn't pay back the money he had borrowed and lost from the arrogant jerk. So, Ajax had been grabbed on his way home from school and brought to the club to await his father's arrival.
His dad was terrified when he saw that Ajax was standing beside Pantalone's chair with one of the bouncers holding a knife to his throat. But he was too drunk to fight back and too broke to pay them back. So their dad started working for the club and so did Ajax- well, kind of.
Their dad was an accountant- and a very good one. He found all kinds of tax loopholes and breaks for the club and its owner for free. He was able to keep their house in exchange for arranging and covering up Panatalone's many money laundering schemes.
At the time, Ajax was still too young to be of any use around the club's official business, but he quickly became Pantalone's favorite plaything.
Stress here, at home, in the dorms and overworking himself in his studies and on the basketball court cost Ajax his scholarship even before their last game of his first season. He had never felt so alone. And to make matters worse, he had developed anger issues that kept him unable to keep a normal job.
So, over and over he went back to work for the jackass who had literally ruined his life. His anger proved pretty useful in his new line of work as a debt collector. After all, he was a smooth talker when he wanted to be and he was pretty strong too when being a nice guy didn't work.
He quickly proved himself to be one of the guys that Pantalone trusted the most with getting his money back when someone like his dad couldn't pay back what they had borrowed.
He hated himself for doing that asshole's dirty work. But at the same time, he and his dad had started working on a plan to expose Pantalone as the crook he is. Except that his dad got caught… and now both of their parents were dead.
Ajax still loved his father. But he would never forgive him for dragging him into a world he should never have learned about. Their family suddenly scraping to get by, was nothing compared to the loss of his innocence. And now that his parents were dead, Ajax had to protect Teucer from suffering the same fate.
Teucer was still a lot younger than Ajax had been when he was forced into that bastard's bed. But it frightened him that the day would eventually come when that bastard decided he wanted his little brother too. He had to get rid of Pantalone before that happened.
That was why Ajax had acted up at the restaurant a week ago. He needed to get fired to go back to scrounging for evidence that he could use to put away Pantalone and his sleazy bruisers too. And the best way to do that was hanging around right under Pantalone's nose.
He liked the restaurant. Serving food and busing tables wasn't a bad job. It just didn't pay very well. He got the job so that he could take Teucer with him to Zhongli's. Their aunt and uncle had been taking care of his brother for nearly a year. But now Aunt Gurdy was sick and couldn't take care of herself much less her husband and Teucer.
Really, Ajax and Zhongli hadn't been dating for very long so other people might not approve of them living together with a ten year old kid. But no one else in their extended family had been willing to take Teucer in. And when he heard what happened to Aunt Gurdy, Zhongli promptly invited them and their dog, Gorou, to stay with him.
But there was a lot that Ajax hadn't told Zhongli. He had said that their parents were dead because a fire burned their house down. He just hadn't mentioned that Pantalone's guys started the fire or that he and their dad were stuck working for the creepy bastard to pay off his gambling debts.
Ajax took a deep breath as he stepped inside the club. The loud music was blaring and the lights on the dancefloor were a whirling mess. Drunk college kids were a dime a dozen here and most of them would end up flirting with him if he stayed around the dancefloor.
But he was heading for the office in the basement. It would be painfully quiet down there and that could be pretty unnerving because he really wasn't sure why he had been called in today.
"Ah, my favorite minion," Pantalone said from the chair behind his oversized mahogany desk with his tiny fake smile.
"Whatever," Ajax sighed. "What's up?"
"I'm a little disappointed that you didn't tell me you were seeing the most eligible bachelor in Liyue."
Ajax froze but tried to keep his expression calm. "You never said you wanted to know what I'm doing."
"True, but you aren't dating just anyone, right? How did you manage to get him?"
"I'm not here to talk about that."
Pantalone grinned impishly. "You're here so that I can ask you whatever I want. Now then, exactly how rich is he?"
"I have no idea. Look if that's all you want to tlk about I'm outta here."
"No," A different, much lower voice growled. Ajax's attention snapped to the darkened corner of the room behind him. A massive figure stood there like a marble statue, dressed in a white coat lined in fur.
How had he not noticed him? He couldn't see the person's face but he could feel the man's dark aura. "I'm not here to talk about your sex life. How much do you know about your boyfriend's job?"
Ajax laughed. "Are you kidding? What's that stuffy old museum got to do with me? I've never even been there."
"About a thousand years ago magic died in Teyvat when the Skyfrost Nail was destroyed. Vision wielders, magical creatures from across the map and even the remains of the dead gods like Orobashi all but vanished almost overnight. One of the few things to survive this magical extinction was a small group of Liyue's adepti and I am going to find out why."
"Dude, you are crazy. You know that, right? Magic isn't real. The vision wielders? The adepti? That's all bedtime stories and TV special effects. It would be cool if it was real, but it isn't."
The man in the shadows chuckled softly. "Most of Teyvat would agree with you, Brat. But I know you're wrong. Because I'm the one who destroyed the Skyfrost Nail."
Ajax laughed. "Wow, you've got a pretty wild imagination, buddy."
"You would do well to remember that I am not here to convince you of anything I say, young one. I just want the Heart Stones that will be brought to the museum before they go on display."
"I've never even heard of them," Ajax rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. "Zhongli never brings his work home with him so I have no idea what he does at work all day. And what the fuck is a heart stone?"
With a graceful snap of his fingers the man in the shadows fired a burst of ice cold energy at him. The fast moving cold burst sliced his cheek as it whistled past his head. "The next one will go through your forehead."
"What the fuck?" Ajax touched his cheek gingerly, noting that it was bleeding slightly and an icicle was sticking out of the wall behind him. "W-Who are you?"
"I am Pierro. And you are going to bring me the Heart Stones or I will kill you and take them from your boyfriend myself."
"Hey!" Pantalone hissed, sulking in his chair. "I told you Ajax is mine! You can't threa-"
Another icicle shot forth from Pierro's fingers. This time it whistled toward Pantalone and hit him in the center of his forehead. The man's body jolted, flopping awkwardly in the chair as he died, his eyes rolled back into his head for a moment before he collapsed like a ragdoll.
"I'll be in touch, Brat." Pierro wrapped one large hand around the bastard's throat and lifted his limp body out of the chair with disturbing ease. The wound in Pantalone's forehead was barely bleeding because the icicle was still in there and yet Ajax felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "Oh, and I wouldn't involve the police if I were you. This useless carcass suddenly turning up in your boyfriend's living room might be difficult to explain. Am I right?"
Even more unbelievable, Pierro hadn't even left the room's unnaturally thick shadows to do any of this. He simply backed away through what looked like an eerie, almost black portal filled with bright stars. The huge man lazily dragged Pantalone's body with him without another word and then even the portal was gone. Leaving Ajax with no idea what even the man's face looked like!
Ajax almost threw up as he realized he was all by himself in Pantalone's office. He still had no idea what had just happened. But he knew that Pierro wasn't from this world- he had just seen the bastard use magic- real, actual magic!
Two deadly icicle daggers and a portal? It should be too hard to believe.
But the first dart was still stuck in the wall, melting very slowly! Ajax knew he was lucky to be alive and now he was even more worried about what was going to happen to him and his little brother! And did Zhongli know what Pierro was talking about? Should he ask him if these Heart Stones were real?
Ajax stumbled out of Pantalone's office and out the front door before any of the bouncers realized he was leaving.
How could that have been real? It was impossible. Wasn't it? No one was going to believe what he had just seen. He hated that idiot Pantalone. But to see his lifeless body dragged like a toy ragdoll through a portal and disappear?
And yet Ajax could see his reflection in the front window of the shop to his right. His cheek was still sliced where Pierro's magic had grazed him.
Xiao sighed watching Teucer sorting through his backpack so he could do his homework. He hadn't done it earlier but for the moment there was nothing else to do. So Xiao hopped up onto the kitchen island and sat down to watch.
"Zhongli?" Teucer asked. "How did you know you wanted to work in a museum when you grew up?"
"I don't really know. I mean, I have always liked old things but it wasn't until I got into college that I decided to major in Ancient History. And even then I thought maybe I would keep studying and become an archaeologist. But I got a job working at the Museum over one summer and I never wanted to leave."
Teucer nodded. "I guess that makes sense. I always wanted to be a rockstar. But then I tried to join the school chorus and I was terrible at it."
"I'm not much of a singer myself. But from what I understand, singing is one of those things you can only get good at if you practice."
"Yeah, but I was really embarrassed at my old school when one of the other kids in class said I sounded like a dying rat. And the teacher didn't even scold him, he was too busy laughing too."
"I'm sorry, that is pretty rough," Zhongli nodded.
"I bet you never got teased in school…"
"My parents died when I was still a baby. I stayed at home with my nanny while they were in a car accident. After that I was in the care of my grandfather. But I went to expensive private schools and lived in their dormitories from the age of 6 onwards. My grandfather didn't want to see me, and of course I never had any parents or other family to go home to visit on holidays. Most of the other kids thought that was pretty hilarious."
"You couldn't ever go home? But, why didn't your grandfather want to see you?"
"He disapproved of my mother marrying my father. He saw me as a mistake. And when I turned twenty he wanted nothing more to do with me. My inheritance from my parents kicked in so I was provided for. So he went to Fontaine with his sixth teenage bride."
Teucer's eyes widened. "Six? All at once?"
Zhongli grinned, shaking his head. "No. Once his wives turned twenty one he would look for another girl and then quietly divorce the current one."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I don't think we ever spoke more than a dozen words to each other while he was alive."
"Oh, you mean he's gone now?"
"Yes. It galled him to no end that he had no one but me to inherit his fortune. Because he didn't want to leave his money to some greedy lawyer, foundation or a charity either. He wanted to keep it in the family. So, naturally I donated all of his money and property to charity. I knew that would drive the man crazy because he really was a cantankerous old miser."
"Yeah, he sounds really mean."
"Not really. I know he loved my mother very much which is why he made sure that I got an elite education and made sure that I inherited her and my father's estate. But when he looked at me he saw only my father, so we never spent any time together."
"Well, that still sounds pretty awful to me."
Zhongli nodded. "At the time I didn't understand why seemed to hate me so deeply. But as I've grown older I was able to see things from his perspective a bit better."
"It still doesn't make any sense to me. I think you're pretty awesome. And, I'm really happy that you brought Xiao home. I think it feels more like home here again. Everything seemed so quiet after Gorou died. I was really sad."
"I'm glad you think so," Zhongli nodded. " And I agree. I had my doubts about accepting any animal into the house. But after I got used to him, I decided it was nice having your dog around. But more importantly, I like having you and your brother around too, Teucer."
"Thanks," Teucer said in a small voice.
"So, what shall we have for dinner tonight?"
"Can we order pizza?" Teucer asked.
"Well, if that's what you want I suppose we can do that. But I was going to offer baked salmon to Xiao. To make up for the cat food he didn't like. Is it silly to cook a whole salmon steak for a cat?"
Teucer shook his head. "No. Or at least not to me…"
"You don't think that would spoil him too much?"
"I think pizza probably would sound pretty weird to a cat though, don't you? A bunch of bread with tomato sauce, pepperoni, black olives and cheese on it?"
Zhongli laughed. "Alright then. We shall order a pizza and cook a salmon steak for Xiao while we wait. Hopefully, Xiao will like the fish as much as he liked it last night."
"Ajax and I love Pepperoni, black olives and lots of extra cheese! What kind do you like?"
"We'll just have them leave the olives off of part of the pizza, okay?"
"Okay!" Teucer said. "I better get back to my homework if I want to get done in time for pizza!"
