+ zhongli x reader long fic!
[ prologue + notes here! ] [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ]
+ general notes: happy holidays! i hope everyone who’s celebrating has a wonderful time. good luck on any holiday rolls. & i hope you’re also enjoying the new area in the game! happy reading!
11 on ice
It felt dream-like all until you heard the tell-tale voice. You’d been jostled a bit, moved, your eyelids as heavy as sheets of iron so you remained relaxed and weak. The grip on you had been strong and careful, and the more you came to, the more you realized who’s grip it had been. A groan slipped out of your lips when colder blankets fluttered over you and a draft of stark morning air disturbed your peace.
“No, no, my flower,” the whispers had followed the re-tucking of blankets over you, “give your petals a rest just a while longer.”
You’d opened your eyes to mere slits, but you’d seen the messy black locks, his ponytail falling over one shoulder as he watched you stir. Zhongli’s figure was highlighted by the break of dawn out the window behind him, and you obeyed his wishes, closing your eyes and falling back asleep. Faintly, the wonder crossed your mind of where he was headed so early, but you’d been lulled back to sleep by the blankets tucked to your chin. The smell of Zhongli still pervaded the bed, and you breathed it in until it put you under yet again.
The second time you awoke, you swore it a dream until silence, disturbingly empty silence, surrounded you. A few birds twittered out the window, but little else greeted you. No deep voice, no golden eyes, no gentle hand on the small of your back. Zhongli had gone somewhere without you, and for the briefest of moments, you felt… betrayed? Why would he do such a thing?
You threw the blankets back and decided that an investigation was in order. Zhongli didn’t just go anywhere with random purpose. He had some sort of reason, and it was best you saved your judgement for later once you could interrogate him on the nature of his abrupt disappearance. You made yourself presentable, sliding on a more casual dress Zhongli had still purchased for you with his mora, finding that Mondstadt’s sunlight and bright weather wouldn’t be hard to navigate with a dress. It was ruby red, meant to match the obsidian-and-ruby hairpin he’d bought you. Yet, with no Zhongli around, the hairpin wasn’t going anywhere into your hair. You felt even more put off as you’d been kind of looking forward to flaunting it, and you begrudgingly rolled it between two fingers before ditching the bedroom all together. Where would Zhongli be, and why?
Down the staircase, nothing but the soft footsteps and ruffling of feather dusters of the maids filled the morning air. The winery was as unassuming as it got, not even Master Diluc anywhere to be found. You felt even more frustration creep up inside of you, and you pushed on through the front door. You’d misjudged just how much land you’d have to cover to find Zhongli, and you swept your eyes over the tiled pathways and the vines curling along the fences. No first flash of tawny gold against inky black caught your eye, and you dug your heels into the ground fiercely, stalking further off. Apparently, you weren’t the one straying off the beaten path; you should have been more worried about Zhongli disappearing from your sight than you’d thought.
You were steaming, glaring the ground, wondering how he’d even had the audacity to desert you‒
Bam! Your forehead hit something hard, and the collision sent you reeling. Another voice hissed in displeasure from the accident, but strong hands on your arms steadied you. You half-expected to look up at amber eyes, and you wondered if maybe it’d been Diluc you’d run into, but you looked up into just one iris and at a ponytail a shade of ocean blue.
“Cool it. I don’t know who got you going, but maybe take a breather and consider sparing their life.”
When you were completely steady again, the hands let go, and you were too shocked by this new face to even form the beginning of a response. Thick turquoise locks framed the carved face of a rather handsome man, an eyepatch obscuring one of his equally vibrant blue eyes.
“So… what just got you all riled up, anyway? Care to let me in on it? The name’s Kaeya, by the way.”
“K-Kaeya…” you stumbled out, furrowing your eyebrows. “Have you seen, um, a tall man with a ponytail‒”
“Darling, I am a tall man with a ponytail,” Kaeya snickered, tilting his head down to prove his point with your height difference. “Was it me? Did I do something? Tsk… I sure don’t like making a pretty girl like you mad. How can I make it up to you?”
You were frozen. Where was Zhongli? Who was this Kaeya individual, and who had taught him such slick talk? “You really like the sound of your own voice, don’t you?”
Kaeya’s handsome features split with a wide grin, teeth glinting. “You don’t?”
/
“Morax?”
The dawn crept on every so slowly, Mondstadt winds tousling the ochre end of the ponytail. It hung just a hand’s width above the gold vision chained the back of the elaborate jacket that fluttered, too, with the winds.
“Even at the break of dawn,” Zhongli sighed tiredly, arms crossed, “you still find a way to reek of wine… Barbatos.”
A high giggle responded, and the bard leapt from the tree overlooking the Windrise Statue of the Seven. Green ombre hair was a mimic of Zhongli’s own auburn ombre, and for a moment, he wasn’t Zhongli. He was Morax, Rex Lapis, consulting with the last other remaining member of the Seven.
“What are you doing in Mondstadt?”
“I’m courting someone, Barbatos. And, I need your assistance with a certain matter regarding this.”
“Ehe, you can always count on me!”
“Count on you to smell like alcohol?” Zhongli disdainfully peered down upon the fellow ex-archon. “Please take this a bit more seriously. I implore you.”
“Okay, okay. You must really be serious about this. Are you sure this is what you want, Morax?”
“I have only been this certain a handful of times in my life…” even through all six thousand years of divinity.
“So, what is it you need to me to do?”
Zhongli cleared his throat, “Do listen carefully, alright, Barbatos?”
“Yes, Morax.”
/
“Wait‒you have a vision?” you noticed.
So, maybe you’d been talking circles with the blue-haired, cryo-vision-holding man who’d named himself as Kaeya.
“You really aren’t from Mondstadt at all, are you?” Kaeya’s voice held the most truthful tone to it you’d heard as long as you two had been talking outside the winery. “I’m Kaeya, Calvary Captain Kaeya of the Knights of Favonius.” The cryo visionary manifested a sleek sword, running a gloved finger along the edge of his blade. His uncovered blue eye followed the motion before flicking back onto you, and he tossed the sword away in a dazzle of dematerializing stars.
The sword brought forth a surge of memories of holding familiar pommels in your own palms. You relaxed your guard a little, trying to decide how you would loop him into seeking out Zhongli with you.
“So, stranger, care to share your own origin story? I’m dying to know just what made fate bring us together,” Kaeya crossed his arms, finger and thumb pinching his chin. His white, fluffy cloak was so obnoxious you wanted to hate it, but every other part of his outfit was finely woven and so purposely lavish. As a Captain of the Knights, perhaps he deserved a little bit more respect.
“I’m getting married,” you started, blurting out in a blunt fashion.
“You’re getting married? To who?” Kaeya glanced around at the very distinctly not-your-fiance winery employees. “Diluc doesn’t date, and marriage…” Kaeya just laughed, shoulders heaving from the sounds. “Now…”
Kaeya took a step forward, and you took a step back. You’d gone through this dance with the Fatui back at the guild hall, but you felt less threatened. Instead, there was a tension between the two of you, and you felt your backwards steps run your shoulder blades into the winery’s wall. The blue hair shifted on his shoulder, tickling his cheeks, his palm resting against the wall behind you as his face lowered to meet yours in a tight space. “Tell me the truth, and I’ll tell you how I got my vision. Hell… I’ll show you my sword, up close.”
You had to stop running into strange men without your own vision and your own sword, you really did. But‒
“If you value your life, you’ll leave her be… right… this… instant.”
Kaeya jerked his head back, whirling around, and his body no longer blocked out the third presence that had joined the both of you. Zhongli was standing, arms crossed, with a menacing fire in his eyes, the wind tugging at the tail ends of his jacket and his lengthy bangs of muddy color.
“Who are‒”
“Zhongli!” you gasped in relief, cutting the Calvary Captain off and rushing to Zhongli’s side. “I couldn’t find you…”
Zhongli was as still as stone. His eyebrows weren’t even knit by any large margin, but the aura pouring off him was enough all on its own. His eyes were deadset on the cryo visionary who’d just had you pinned to a wall not so innocently, and even when you glanced between the two, placing a hand on Zhongli’s elbow, your soon-to-be husband didn’t even bat an eyelash.
“What are you still doing here? Did I not make myself clear?”
Dare you even say it… but, Zhongli sounded angry.
“I’m here on business,” Kaeya simply returned, unperturbed. His shaken expression was no longer anywhere to be found, just his eye combing over you and Zhongli and back again.
The two stood opposing one another, and you just found the side of Zhongli’s jacket to clutch, nervously watching Kaeya hold his stare. The tension was incredible, bound to split in an explosion at any second, until Zhongli finally unfolded his arms. You’d been hiding halfway behind him, but he turned on his heel, pushing firmly in the middle of your shoulder blades to guide you in the exact opposite direction of Kaeya.
“Come now, my flower. There is no need for this any longer.”
/
Zhongli didn’t say a word more about the Calvary Captain, but not once since then had his fingers not trailed your spine in some way or form. You could feel the surges of energy within him, his eyes looking through every direction to make sure you were surrounded by no danger at all, and that was how you’d spent your afternoon with him and Diluc discussing the most boring numbers and paperwork in regards to your wedding. It was mostly Zhongli and Diluc murmuring to each other, and Zhongli consulted you whenever it had to do with the little details. You’d walked the vineyards and surveyed the area, planning out where each event of the ceremony would take place, where decorations would go, where guests would gather, where food would be served.
“Liyue cuisine, Mr. Zhongli?”
Zhongli’s fingers were creeping dangerously close to simply settling on your far hip, holding you at his side. You were trying to listen and add your opinion, something Zhongli was more than happy for you to do, but the blush dusting your cheeks and the weak feeling in your knees was growing the further Zhongli’s grasp walked around the small of your back. Diluc, thankfully, had a pen nib and a piece of parchment, scrawling with his gaze down.
“We shall serve both region’s cuisines. It would only be proper to fully prepare an event of this scale.” He sounded so much more composed than you felt, and you wondered if he even realized what he was doing to you.
Diluc nodded, pen nib scratching on parchment again.
Finally, as you all finished walking the vineyards, Zhongli’s hand cupped your side, thumb brushing your lower ribs. You glanced up at him warily, knowing it was dangerous move, and Zhongli had just caught sight of you out of the corner of his eye when a fourth presence joined you all.
“Dilu‒Zhongli? I haven’t seen you around in ages!” a high, young voice punctured the night air, deflating the tension between you and Zhongli like a popped balloon.
Zhongli’s gaze left you and moved onto another unfamiliar face to you. It wasn’t even the brazen Calvary Captain; it was a short guy with braids in his hair and an outfit that could only mean one thing‒he was a bard.
“Back again?” Diluc piped up. “I can’t believe you didn’t simply keel over and die after the last time you ran up your tab with… how many was it? Fifty wine bottles and counting?”
“Ehe…” the bard sheepishly laughed. “I have a good resistance.”
“It certainly has been a while since I have last seen your performances, Venti. How does the wine taste these days? Like water?”
You couldn’t help but laugh under your breath at Zhongli’s sly comment.
“Uh, well, no… not yet!” the bard, Venti, took it all in good stride, grin still covering his face.
“Venti, allow me to introduce you to my fiancé. Kita, this is Venti.”
You shyly waved, trying not to look Zhongli in the eye in fear of how it would paralyze you with the way his arm around your waist was making you feel. Venti waved back, cheery cheeks growing wide with his smile.
“Fiance, huh? I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“Yes, well… no one thought you could stomach alcohol like you do, either,” Zhongli sighed. “Kita, why don’t you and Venti get to know each other while I discuss the mora with Master Diluc? Trust me, it’s nothing exciting in the least, and Venti will keep you in good company.”
“Oh…” Zhongli’s hand was slipping away, and you itched with every burning fiber to grab it and pull it back, “I guess.” Disappointment overcame you in one crashing tidal wave as Zhongli and Diluc departed back into the manor, leaving you with the bard on the patio outside.
“So… what’d you get in return for marrying that blockhead?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, have you tried the dandelion wine? I’m not allowed to uncork anything on Diluc’s winery property after, ehe, well, you know, a total accident. We can head up to Angel’s Share or the Cat’s Tail and find some there, though!” Venti offered, stretching a hand in the direction of one the roads splitting off from the winery. “It’s a pretty safe walk through Springvale to the city, and the bloc‒er, Zhongli, won’t totally kill me for taking you along it!”
You were just longingly glancing at the door to the winery. You’d thought you were getting somewhere, and Mondstadt had seemed the perfect place to put all your worries behind you just long enough that you could savor pure days at Zhongli’s side. Instead, you kept being pushed and pulled in a frustrating manner, and just one day had passed. You rubbed your forehead, but you gave in, “Alright, I guess.”
-
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