Childe does not think about the years, all he thinks about is the warm bliss that he has found in his life.
He wakes up in the morning with hair in his face. Zhongli will roll over and smile, and then lean forward to kiss his nose with a sweet, lingering touch. Sometimes, the children are home and the kitchen is a little too full as everyone tries to make and eat breakfast. Other times, they have their home to themselves, and an opportunity to just bask in each other's presence uninterrupted.
He is mostly retired. His title has been passed on and being called The Eleventh is mostly a joke nowadays. Childe is only called upon when all others have failed, much to Zhongli's relief.
This night, they watch the sunset from the porch of their home at the edge of the Harbor. Usually, they retire to the teapot and laze about in their bed, but Zhongli said that he wanted to enjoy the scent of the ocean and watch the real horizon.
The tea is perfect, not that Childe would expect any less. He still can't tell the difference even after all these years. Zhongli still drinks whatever sludge he offers when he gives brewing a try.
It is nice. The night is the perfect sort of calm and Childe relaxes entirely as he just watches Zhongli's face. Both handsome and beautiful, the sunset washes over his skin. When Zhongli notices him staring, his mouth curls into a gentle grin.
"Let's take a vacation," says Childe, feeling suddenly inspired.
Zhongli blinks, his head angled to the side. "Oh? Whatever for?"
"No reason. Just—I mean, I have some free time. And I'm sure that Hu Tao isn't cranky enough to deny you some rest, either."
"Ah." Zhongli smiles fully, amused. "Miss Hu Tao owes me some days off, I would think. I'll ask." He pauses to lean forward, his shoulder nudging Childe's. "Are you alright?"
Childe chuckles softly and reaches out to brush a lock of Zhongli's hair behind his ear. "The kids are gone for a while. We should make the most of that time."
At that, Zhongli's mouth twists into something a little more teasing. He takes Childe's hand into his and smooths a thumb across his knuckles before kissing them.
#
The agreed-upon itinerary is simple—there is none. It is the one hard and fast rule that Childe insists upon as they pack up. Zhongli huffs, but agrees, despite the fact that it irks him. He is a planner and he likes to have things scheduled down to the very last detail. Just in case.
"Ajax—"
"It defeats the purpose," says Childe, cutting in. "That's the whole thing of it, the spontaneity. We don't get many moments like this, Zhongli. Let's just get out there and go."
Zhongli's brow crinkles adorably. "Ajax," he starts again, his voice curling around the name. Childe is a thing of the past, left behind so long ago that sometimes the title is forgotten entirely. Zhongli never finishes his thought, though, sighing softly instead as he folds his socks before laying the pair out alongside his clothes in a perfect row.
Then he looks at Childe's bag where his clothing lies in a crumpled mess. Whatever his argument was is lost as he meets Childe's face, gaze bursting with affection.
#
They travel to the corners of Liyue and then back, their days spent soaking up the presence of each other.
Picnics near Nantianmen, sprawled out across the warm grass, the sun shining on their faces. Trading for books in Qingce Village, and picking fresh chilies to take to Xiangling later. They roll up their trouser legs and kick the ocean at each other near Sal Terrae; and later, at the Yaoguang Shoal, they walk underneath the stars, holding hands and collecting Starconches.
It's disgustingly sweet. Childe's heart swells with love and every other emotion that's known to man. There is no end to his feelings and the way that they brew so easily at the sight of Zhongli.
"Hey, does that cloud look a little like Paimon to you?"
"Ajax," says Zhongli in a soft reprimand, "are you going to listen to the story or not?"
Childe lays in his lap, the back of his head cradled by Zhongli's thighs. "I have Rex Incognito memorized by now. The clouds, though—those are new every day."
"It is your favorite."
Childe laughs loud enough that it sounds almost like a bark. "It's my favorite because it's your favorite."
Zhongli pulls the book aside to look down at him, nose crinkled slightly. But when his gaze falls on Childe's face it softens, his mouth curling into a gentle grin. "Are you done?"
"Never," says Childe with a rapscallion grin.
There's soft huff as Zhongli turns back to the book, his voice quiet as he begins to read again. "One night, a woman came to his workshop. She was dressed in a long, slender black gown and her eyes shone a brilliant amber…"
Childe is lulled by the warm lilt of his tone. His eyes slip closed as he lays in Zhongli's lap and listens. Zhongli reads for what feels like hours, his fingers petting through Childe's hair and combing across his scalp.
It is peaceful. Indescribable bliss. A thousand different things that Childe never thought he'd have the chance to enjoy. When he was young and stupid, there was so little he considered beyond his drive to find godhood and curb the way that the Abyss tainted his being.
The Abyss barely whispers in his ears now. Childe just sinks into the comfort of his husband.
And then he has a thought, a kernel of a truth that he's never quite considered. He cracks open an eye and watches Zhongli from where he lies on his lap, gaze raking over his face. Zhongli looks as he always does, youthful and handsome, the only signs of aging are the laugh lines around his mouth and eyes.
Childe's bones creak with age. His joints groan with every step that he takes and just the other day their oldest son poked fun at the silver strands that now salt his hair. He doesn't feel old, but he certainly isn't young.
It has never quite hit him, how long he and Zhongli have been together. Childe has steeped for so long in their happiness that the years have passed without much thought, blending together like the paint in a portrait. Their wedding, their children, the way that they laze about in bed, how they do the most mundane of chores for each other. Even the bad days, where there are arguments that end with one of them couched—all of it has led to this moment where Childe lays there, his face cradled by Zhongli's lap as he listens to him read.
"Ajax?" Childe is pulled from his thoughts by his name. Zhongli watches him with golden eyes that glint in the midafternoon sun, unerringly patient.
Childe's heart skips a beat as he falls in love all over again. He fumbles around to tug one of Zhongli's hands to his mouth, pressing a kiss to each knuckle. "I love you," says Childe, finally. "That's what I was thinking about."
It isn't a lie, but it's a truth that holds more weight than he originally thought.
#
Zhongli requests a detour to Guili Plains.
This isn't their first visit, nor their second, or third; the place where Guizhong passed is known to Childe like the back of his hand. Despite the Assembly's violent and bloody end, it is calm here. Childe understands why it brings Zhongli comfort.
Zhongli stands away from him, watching the horizon, hands tucked behind his back. Childe always leaves him be when they come here, well acquainted with the occasional need for a moment alone.
"It's easy to imagine a sea of glaze lilies," says Childe from where he sits in the shade of some ruins, back against a wall of crumbling stone. "If you were still around, you'd probably yell at me for stomping on them, or something."
Childe isn't sure why, but talking to Guizhong helps him sort out his thoughts. He's done it for years, grousing about his husband because if there was ever another person who'd understand, it's her, even if she cannot answer back.
"I think that he needed a vacation. Zhongli spends so much time wound tightly. Even now, he only worries about others, never himself. He should be more selfish." The only answer is the quiet breeze that blows across Childe's skin like a balm. "Yeah, yeah, I know. He's a hard man to read."
He sighs, soaking up the warmth of the day. When he looks at Zhongli, all that well-known warmth floods through him again.
"Can you believe that he and I have been married for thirty years?"
It's easy to think that the breeze is Guizhong's laughter, which makes Childe smile.
#
Childe finds a sort of peace at Jueyun Karst that would have been impossible decades prior.
Here, Zhongli always seems to be in his element, sipping his tea quietly as they sit at the stone table underneath the blooming ginkgo tree. He is effortlessly at ease, long fingers curled around an ancient and chipped tea set that he insists upon using.
"It feels appropriate," Zhongli always says as he pulls it from wherever he stores it in the ether. "I made this set eons ago when Guizhong was still alive, forming it from the very clay which the Guili Plains sits upon."
Weirdly romantic, thinks Childe. Zhongli never seems to notice that those small little quirks endear him, settling deep in Childe's heart and warming it.
Today, Zhongli sets about brewing something that is simpler than Childe expects. They are on vacation and Zhongli is picky with his tea. Childe expects the nicest cake of Pu'erh that Zhongli can muster, but instead, it's the plainest black tea he's ever seen.
Childe watches as Zhongli brews it, quietly thinking. Everything that Zhongli does is with intent. When he reaches out to hand Childe his teacup, their fingers brush, Zhongli's knuckles lingering against his. "Ajax," he says with mirth, his mouth curling into a soft smile.
Celestia above, Childe loves him, more so now in their late life than ever before. He reaches out to grasp Zhongli's wrist. "Hey," he starts in a gentle tone, but the next words don't come easily.
Zhongli pauses, his head tilted to the side. "What is it?"
Childe's lips part. His mouth is suddenly dry, tongue cracked with the foreign feeling of hesitation. "Do you realize just how long we've been married?" He says it kindly with amusement. There is no judgment in his question.
"I…" Zhongli's brow furrows slightly and he chuckles. "I will admit that I don't think much about time. Certainly not in the way that you do." He pauses, pulling his hand back, moving to cup his mug between his fingers. "Does that bother you?" he asks.
"Zhongli—" Childe laughs then, the skin around his eyes crinkling with age. "Of course not," he says. "It's part of your charm, the way that you never quite grasp mortality."
"When you say it like that…"
Childe sighs with contentment, not worry or annoyance. "I didn't know what I was getting into when I fell in love with you, but—" He reaches out for Zhongli's hand, tugging it back towards him. It's warm, even through the worn leather of Zhongli's favorite gloves.
"Thirty years," says Childe then, his heart bursting with fondness. "That's how long we've been married. More than half of my life. There isn't a moment of regret or worry that I made the wrong choice. Zhongli, I'm sitting here with you, under this beautiful tree, and all I can think of is how happy I am. I'm proud of what we've built together."
Zhongli is quiet, his cheeks tinted the barest hint of pink, mildly embarrassed. Childe is passionate in many ways, but so rarely does he express it with words.
"I—You—Ajax."
"Speechless?" Childe grins, kissing his knuckles.
Zhongli hides a grin behind his other hand, elbow resting against the stone table. "A lot of words of flattery."
Childe nuzzles the back of Zhongli's hand, inhaling that well-known scent of sage and earth. He feels the gentle pulse of Geo, Zhongli resonating with the stone around them, flustered enough that his form slips slightly.
"I wish that I had a gift for you. Something that could express it," says Childe finally. "Thank you for loving me, even as old as I am. I swear there's a new silver hair every day."
"Oh, Ajax," says Zhongli quietly. He pulls away to wrap his fingers around Childe's wrist, pressing his face into the indent of his palm. "All these years and you still do not see that you are the gift. Every day, I wake up beside you. It is an honor, one that I am unsure I deserve."
Childe stands then, thumbing across Zhongli's chin as he leans across the table. The kiss is simple and sweet. "You deserve more," says Childe, his mouth lingering as they share breaths.
Zhongli laughs as the tea is left forgotten, chilling more and more with every kiss that they share.