My Archaic Jewel [Childe X Zhongli] (Fanfic)

Chapter V: Contract of Execution

A few weeks have gone by.

Childe and Zhongli having spent a considerable amount of time together formed an intimate relationship with each other. Lunches, dinners, they were all fully enjoyable-of course generously sponsored by the esteemed Harbinger. Not once had they quarrelled and all seemed swell. Up until this day when an unwarranted discovery occurred...

"You know Zhongli...no one usually gets friendly with a member of the Fatui. They're always so cautious and passive-aggressive, it kinda makes me feel a little lonely inside."

Their eyes pointed up to the sky while they rested their backs against the serene land of Liyue. Yellow streaks of light that gleamed upon Teyvat coupled with the tranquil breeze that swept over their skins were signs of the day's gentle weather. An ideal day to rest from all the current events that had the two of them excessively busy. Zhongli closed his eyes before he opened his mouth to speak.

"In general, the overall mannerisms of Fatui representatives are distastefully rash and impolite. Some even assuming higher authority when they are among the lowest ranks. However, you have been oddly obliging, accomodating and compassionate towards me; a stark contrast from default members. I find that peculiar."

The mahogany-haired gentleman made an unforeseen action that left Tartaglia immobilized from shock. He rolled over and rested his left leg as well as his left arm on Childe, gently stroking his chest. His stomach rubbed against Childe's stiff obliques; he nuzzled against Childe's left cheek, the frozen Harbinger's skin felt the warm sensation of every soft breath his companion took. He then felt his companion's left leg slide in between his legs and caressed his sensitive concealed nether region with his knee. This was more elaborately enacted than accidental. It felt like a proclamation of his true feelings towards Childe. But he withheld himself from assuming any further.

"I feel safe and comfortable around you."

Tartaglia loosened up and chuckled boyishly, letting his laughter escape with his suppressed trepidation.

A sound came from him, the sound of something falling out of his pocket. A pair of eyes darted to the source of the sound like a motion detector and noticed the object that slipped out: a note. The breeze blew the note away in the wind but was abruptly snatched out of the air by Zhongli with such godlike reaction. He landed on the ground with elegance and grace while his eyes scanned the document pinched between his fingers.

Childe got up to grab the note from him, but instinct warned him not to get closer. Zhongli released the note back into the wind that morphed into an enraged gale. It was a mystery as to what came upon him, as well as the face he made at the moment, seeing that his back faced Tartaglia. When Zhongli spoke, the venom he spat out was imbued with resentment.

"I don't believe it. You're foul- nay, I'm a fool. A damned fool who fell for the charade that a lowly Harbinger...I never knew I interacted with a simulacrum of a nobleman that hid his malice behind a curtain before it made itself known. All the favours done for me were but staged, I was just a puppet to our little performance; a halfwit marionette. In all my six millenniums of experience, I finally had my...emotions taken advantage of and nearly compromised the safety of all of Liyue, even all of Teyvat. Barbatos must've been swindled too, granted that the note states that his Gnosis was robbed off of him. So now you've come to manipulate me and steal it off of me. You came to me, not as an ally, but a cunning purloiner of sacred objects; sacrilegious.
So be it, repulsive Harbinger."

Silence.

The man with the pair of pearly, ocean blue eyes only gaped, motionless and speechless. Words tried to make their way through his throat but a lumped feeling obstructed them while the agonizing, excruciating and stinging despair eliminated his will to reason.

A glistening tear leaked from his right eye socket, saturated with sorrow, descending his face. His wobbling legs were on the verge of buckling and his knees almost gave in out of dejection.

The first time that Zhongli ever addressed him as a Harbinger rather than his name.

Childe's dignity was misplaced after the man he adored so dearly, looked upon him as nothing more than a filthy member of the Fatui.

That's not true! I would never do that to you! I despise the Fatui's underhanded techniques too! Would you really believe that I would do something like that?! Zhongli, I lo...

These were the strings of letters that never escaped his lips. With that, flurries of air blew furiously at his direction and Tartaglia collapsed to the ground. The rattling of the well-honed polearm against the dry land reverberated ominously, footsteps of the mystifying man garbed in his signature umber-dyed outfit grew softer and his silhouette gradually faded from Childe's dwindling vision.

Soon, not a trace of Zhongli's existence was left on the terrain-the wind brushed away the shoe prints and the elemental traces disappeared over time.

"Hahahahahaaa!"

He cackled maniacally in defeat. It had been a long while since the boy felt this.