+ zhongli x reader long fic!
[ prologue + notes here! ] [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ]
+ general notes: are you guys enjoying the tension and irony? this chapter only brings more! also, yaoyao is only a mentioned character as of the time of writing this, and her backstory is entirely made up for the purpose of the fic.
+ warnings: physical assault, some violence
8 a fighter
You’d calmed a bit after one day from the panic the dinner with the Tianquan had brought you. You’d easily been distracted by seeing Yaoyao as her face lit up at your arrival at the guild hall that morning, and if that had not been enough, you had enjoyed a rather interactive evening with the man pouring tea before you. You watched the grace of his fingers, the slight tilt of his wrist, veins shifting under smooth skin. His palms were wide, the perfect place for you to slip your own hands into, but you’d kept to yourself.
“Why don’t you drink coffee or water?”
“I did not think my affinity for tea would be such an issue to you,” Zhongli set the teapot down steadily so that it didn’t clatter. “However, if you would like, I can start drinking more coffee or water.”
“No, no‒it’s just… interesting, that’s all,” you observed of him.
“Tea is very versatile. It can be of a multitude of flavors from rich to sweet to earthy, and it can be enhanced by many things: sugar, honey, milk. There is a tea for every moment of the day, and so, I do not find myself needing anything else. Does that suffice?” Zhongli was smiling subtly, more amused by your blatant comments than anything else.
“Okay,” you nodded. “Why don’t you cut your hair?”
Zhongli paused in bringing the teacup to his lips. Steam wafted before his face, and he offered, “Would you like me to?”
“No,” you blinked. “I’m just curious.”
“The ends only tend to change color when I let it grow rather long in length,” Zhongli explained simply.
“Zhongli, how did you get your vision?”
That seemed to make him surprised for the first time, his eyes flicking back to you from where he’d been paying attention to his tea. “It is a tiresome story,” Zhongli dismissed, “that would put you to sleep rather quickly.”
You could read between the lines enough to get his meaning. He wasn’t ready to tell you yet, but you wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d just been such an honest individual that alone had obtained him a vision. “Rex Lapis blessed you before his death. You are very lucky.”
“Yes,” Zhongli hummed, “I suppose I am.”
It was time you backtracked from the subject of a vision before you spilled your guts. So, you pulled away from the counter a hair, and Zhongli was about to take his leave to his chair when you realized that there was one last thing you needed to discuss. You caught the wrist of his relaxed hand, pulling him to a stop before he could go too far. Immediately, Zhongli turned back to you with a flash of concern in his eyes.
“Zhongli… I think it’s okay if you slept in the bed with me from now on,” you whispered.
Zhongli blinked. “Are you positive?”
“Yes.” You’d had it with the feelings, the stubbornness of your stupid personality, and everything pulling you back and forth. You did trust Zhongli, and even more so, you didn’t mind letting things progress further between you two.
You didn’t know how much time you had before everything you’d strung together came crashing down around you.
“I will be there shortly,” Zhongli assured you. “Just allow me to put out the fire and the lights.”
“Okay.” You wandered to the bedroom, but you peered from the doorway and watched the next room go completely dark for the first time ever. No fireplace burning, no candles lit, no lanterns aglow. It was just the sound of Zhongli shuffling, the glint of his gold eyes all you could see through the darkness, and you stepped back as he entered the shrouded bedroom with you.
You crawled onto the side of the bed that had become yours, but you couldn’t take your eyes off him. The thick black hair was almost like dark smoke, shining in the right light, hanging across his face. You knew he was tired and stressed when it hung a little more in his eyes. His ponytail had always been tied back no matter what, and that night was no different. He sat on his side of the bed, but his golden eyes met your unmoving ones. You’d been staring at him without any subtlety, but Zhongli just seemed curious.
“Are you sure this is alright?”
“Yes,” you agreed again, turning back on him, “are you sure this alright with you?”
“I do not wish to disturb you with my rising each morning… but I cannot sleep in that chair forever… my body has honestly never pained me so,” Zhongli murmured, eyes falling shut in dismay.
“Just be quiet when you get up for work,” you uttered as if it were the simplest fix in the world.
“As you wish, my flower,” he chuckled heartily, completely unperturbed by such a blunt response.
With it being established to be okay with the both of you, you made yourself comfortable under the satin and silk layers, one heavy earthy-colored blanket layering over the very top. The bed shifted with Zhongli’s presence, something you weren’t used to, and the dead silence of the bedroom was filled with the wisp of his slow breathing. He lied much more simply on his back, eyelids already three-quarters closed when you curled onto your side. You watched the moonlight trace the outline of his face, the perk of his nose, the rise of his lips, the glow of his eyes cut off by his eyelids falling entirely shut. He was more tired than you realized, asleep far faster than you, and you studied him as you felt sleep encroaching over you, too. You didn’t feel strange or unsettled. In fact, you felt like this was more right. Zhongli had told you he’d do anything and everything to cherish you and protect you, so having him by your side that night simply felt like it was the way it was meant to be.
The next morning, you were brought to consciousness by the bed creaking and weight shifting. There were long breaths, a sigh interjecting them, and you groaned, turning your face into the pillow. There were footsteps, too, and rustling, and you blearily pulled your eyes open. Stark sunlight had replaced the moonlight, blasting in through the window, and you groaned more, closing your eyes again. You’d faintly made out the outline blocking it out, Zhongli’s messy hair unmistakable.
“My apologies. I did not mean to wake you,” Zhongli’s voice sounded far away, ethereal. He’d been only speaking just loud enough that you would hear him, voice as gentle as cotton.
The unfortunate truth was that you didn’t have long before you would have to get up and get ready, too. Zhongli’s footsteps departed from the bedroom, and you found yourself lying in warm sunlight, drinking in the smell of him. It was a cross of many things faintly interwoven from soap to woodfire smoke to fresh linen to the floral fragrance of tea. You pulled the blankets tight around you, feeling the warmth from where he’d been lying. You were going to have to fight to pry yourself away from the bed that morning, and you felt like a cat curled up in sunlight, perfectly content. You didn’t know how long you’d dozed off in the dead middle of the bed, but you were awoken again by the pressure of a hand on your shoulder.
“Don’t be late for work. I must go now, so it’s best you wake up.”
You opened your eyes just enough to blearily regard Zhongli where he’d leaned down to awaken you. He smiled a sheepish smile full of regret.
“I did not want to have to wake you. You looked very content, but you do have work today, yes? It’s time you got prepared. Now, I really have to be off. Have a wonderful day.” The pressure of his hand on your shoulder relieved, and Zhongli pulled away and left with that.
It had been a battle all the way from that moment to the moment you’d stepped into the guild hall. You yawned, hand over your mouth, feeling much more lackluster than usual. You hadn’t had Zhongli available that morning to pin up your hair, and it sat limp on your shoulders, but you’d casually been wearing his shirts as if they were your own. Zhongli hadn’t said a word about it, either, so you carried on wearing the black dress-shirts. It made you look like a scholar somewhat when you threw your hair up in a sloppy bun that paled in comparison to the elegant knot Zhongli could create, and you’d even slipped a pencil behind your ear. You had been awaiting Yaoyao’s arrival in the main hall, high ceilings catching voices that echoed dully along the corridors.
Footsteps behind you as you perused a bookshelf were more than purposely approaching you. You were in a far corner of the library, trying to find a specific novel on a story you’d been using to teach Yaoyao not only vocabulary but literary knowledge all while reading her ancient Inazuman histories. She was always thrilled by the fantastical nature of the tales, and you’d taken her interest as a good sign you were doing something right.
“Miss… Kita, is that right?” a light voice inquired beside you.
You turned your eyes to pools of blue so shocking they almost could’ve rivaled Zhongli’s molten circles of gold. A rather tall man stood before you, a shock of orange hair on his head, and a grey, chained uniform on his body. “Yes, that’s me. Are you here about Yaoyao?”
“Yaoyao? No. You can call me Childe; I’m a Fatui diplomat. Your fiancé didn’t mention me?” Childe clicked his tongue, arms crossing.
“You know Zhongli?” What happened to him not knowing anyone? Maybe he didn’t go out with friends at all, but it seemed Zhongli knew more people than he’d let on.
“I do, and I’m hurt he’d not even spare me a single mention to you,” Childe closed his eyes, shaking his head. You could feel the sarcasm pouring off him in waves. “But, enough about Zhongli. I don’t truly care about your marriage; I’m here because I was told you’re a scholar of Inazuma.”
“I know a bit about Inazuma, yes,” you warily answered, suddenly feeling like you were caged in by a purring lion. Two bookshelves were on either side of you, a wall behind you, and smack in your way of getting away, the bright blue eyes were boring into you.
“Good,” Childe nodded, “because I need to know how to get to Inazuma and how to get to Baal.”
“What?” you gasped. “Why would you want that? What would the Fatui be doing Inazuma, anyway? Snezhnaya is where their operations are concerned, isn’t it?”
“Just tell me what I want to know,” Childe hissed, stepping forward and making you take a step back.
“And, what if I don’t?” you narrowed your eyes. You weren’t scared of him. You could already read his posture, his weight leaning forward on his toes so as to stare down at you ominously. One quick dodge, and you could send him toppling to the floor. You held his gaze for a long moment, and Childe made to pin you against the wall, so you moved exactly as anticipated, sidestepping him before slamming between his shoulder blades with all your might. He was just so tall, he still took only half the impact, thrown off but not defeated so easily. He stumbled, and you tried to lurch by him, but hands wrapped like vice and pulled you back. Your back hit the wall, and Childe had you completely pinned and cornered.
“Good try,” he offered, almost sounding kind, even. “But, it’ll hardly be that easy slipping away. Too bad you don’t have Zhongli here to protect you.”
You drove your knee between his legs, but Childe was tall enough to simply step back out of range. You tried to use the distraction to slip your wrists out of his grasp, but he held strong, fingernails almost about to leave imprints in your skin.
“I didn’t think he’d picked such a fighter,” Childe laughed over you. “How interesting… Now, tell me what I want to know.”
“Get off me,” you seethed. If you’d had your sword and your vision, you’d long have at least given him a harder fight. You hadn’t expected being assaulted in the guild hall, but it was an early morning hour, and the travelers didn’t usually filter in until sunset to turn in their day’s commissions.
“You know, Zhongli isn’t who you think he is.”
That caught you off guard. “What?” It was supposed to be the other way around. Wasn’t it? You were the one who’d made up lie after lie since you’d stepped off the boat into Liyue Harbor. What could Zhongli be hiding from you? “Oh. I get it. You’re just trying to play with me now.”
“You don’t believe me?” Childe raised an eyebrow. “Ask him yourself, or maybe, if you’re good, and you tell me what I want to know, I’ll give you a little hint.”
“Fine,” you spat. “You want to get to Inazuma? You want to get to Baal? Find yourself an electro vision, and she’ll come to you. Dumbass,” you spat into his face, jerking forward as much as your pinned hand would allow you.
“You absolute genius,” Childe breathed with an incredulous laugh. “Where did Zhongli find you? Now, I can’t help but be intrigued; do you have an extra invitation to the wedding?” Childe let go of your wrists, and you rubbed them while glaring him down.
“Come within ten feet of me and my wedding, and I’ll kill you on the spot.”
“Is that a promise?” Childe returned, a fire lighting in his eyes.
“What you said about Zhongli…” you changed focus, curiosity too peaked, “what did you mean?”
Childe shrugged, the metal pieces on his jacket clinking. “If you’re really going to marry him, I assume in time, you’ll find out. It would ruin it if I spoiled it here and now.”
You know, Zhongli isn’t who you think he is.
Well, you thought, watching the Fatui turn and leave after causing you so much strife, I’m not who he thinks I am, either.
Just what was going on anymore?
-
tagged readers: @petitefeu @numwoon44 @xiien @phantom-jade @hecatve @xiaos-wife @kawaiiloverpieclam @queenvking @bentofox @just-a-sad-donut @just-some-stars @beebubss @wistfultears