warnings: 1.1 questline spoilers, implied past half-dragon!zhongli
Zhongli is familiar with the feeling of sand slipping through his fingers and trying to catch smoke only to open his weathered palms to nothing within them. Time brings all things to pass, and Zhongli knows this as well as the back of his hands. You are special to him on a level you might never even comprehend yourself…
- Zhongli is respectful above all else. He will do his absolute best to ask permission to touch you, ask you if he can kiss you, and ask you if you might need some time to just be on your own. Sometimes, only silence and isolation can soothe a harried mind, and he understands this well.
- Still, this ex-archon has been without someone to touch and hold and just feel for who knows how long, perhaps for up to thousands of years. He is as ancient as some texts that line his walls, and you are as fresh as a newly bloomed rose. Zhongli wants nothing more than to feel you close and safe with him, and slowly, as your relationship unfolds, he’ll let it become more and more evident.
- Zhongli’s inner dragon is no help in this regard. Just as he picks up and keeps anything that piques his interest, you, too, belong among the frayed bindings of novels who’ve spoken their words too many times to count. You are as eye-catching as the shimmer of his prized Cor Lapis and Noctilucous Jade, as full of emotion and life as the tales etched into every scroll bound with thin rope. He can’t help but watch you and want to covet you all for himself.
- You can guarantee Zhongli will always be welcome to any physical contact you want. Should it be a hand in your own or a lap to sit in or a hand to stroke your hair or a smile to reassure you everything is going to be okay, he will more than gladly give you anything you ask for.
- When Zhongli is fighting not to cling to you, he’ll trail you and offer you help with whatever you’re doing at home. If you’re about to head out, consider him a guide offering you an arm to hold or a gentleman who will hold an umbrella when the rain threatens to disturb your peace. He’ll buy you whatever you want when you stop and look with a hand on your chin, even if you’re not sure how much you really want the item. There’s the question, too, of where he’s even getting the mora.
- At dinner, when you two are not engaged in eating, fingers will find their way into your own. Zhongli’s hands will grip yours firmly because he wants to be sure there is a connection establishing that you are never where he can’t see you. Whenever you turn a corner out of his sight, his heart instinctively skips a beat in worry, although you will never see his expression indicate the sudden jolt of emotion.
- In the morning, should you awake before the ex-archon, he will have you pressed to him and wrapped in his arms. He is not easy, either, to pry off of you, and these moments when you’re trying to make it to work on time will be the very rare instances he’ll sigh in discontent and hold you even tighter. He’s half-asleep, unaware of your need to be anywhere but in his arms. You are the other half of his heart, and it is never easy letting it rip in half in those moments when you must be apart.