Actor and the Idol | Childe x Zhongli

Ch. 5: Arriving in Liyue

         Zhongli smiled slightly from the airport gate as he saw a certain red head glance around. He waved gently, and Ajax sprinted over to the actor, giving him a hug. (This prompted a few individuals to take photos of them. They are public figures after all.) Childe quickly let go, and blushed a little.
         "S-sorry..."
         Zhongli smiled, "I suppose we know eachother well enough for it to be alright." He led Ajax to a a black car with tinted windows and a personal chauffeur. The brunette took Childe's luggage, putting in the trunk then got in the back seat of the car. Childe joined him before closing the door.

         "I much prefer not to drive, so I always select the best driver available in the area. I apologize it's not more personal." Zhongli smiled still, happy to have the idol over nonetheless.
         "No worries!" Childe grinned happily, and looked out the window at the harbor city. "It's so pretty, and warm here. You were probably cold in Sneznhaya, weren't you?" He laughed softly, recalling the brunette in very warm attire.

         Zhongli nodded, "I have no clue how you enjoy it."
         "You get used to it, but it seems very nice here." Tartaglia admired the many ships going in and out of the shipyard in the distance, and noticed a floating animal in the harbor. "What are they taking down over there, Zhongli?"

          Zhongli looked over, "Oh, that's the Mingxiao lantern leftover from the lantern rite. People come from all over Liyue to see it released on the final night." A small smile covered his lips, and Childe nodded excitedly.

         The ginger had never been to Liyue before, so he was very interested in cultural things like that. Ajax watched the glistening waters of the harbor disappear as they went over a hilltop. This caused him to frown just a little, but he assumed the two would go see the city sometime soon.

         "You live outside the city I guess?" Tartaglia asked.
         Zhongli nodded, "Not very far out. I love the city with all my heart, but I am not the biggest fan of paparazzi. In fact, I love Liyue so much I studied history and anthropology in coll-..."

         Childe began to feel his eyelids become heavier than bricks as Zhongli talked his ear off about some history of Liyue. While he was interested, Zhongli's voice was so smooth and nice to listen to, it made the ginger feel so tired.

▩▩▩

         The next thing Ajax knew, he was being carried bridal style. He blinked very quickly, panickedly looking at his surroundings. He saw the car in front of him, and a large lavish house behind it. The ginger looked up, only to see the person carrying him was the one and only Zhongli. This obviously caused Childe's cheeks to turn bright pink as he struggled to be let down.

         "Y-you really don't need to do that. You could've just tapped me on the shoulder or something..." Childe looked away, and Zhongli set the ginger down on the ground again.
          "You looked very peaceful and I didn't want to wake you, my deepest apologies." Zhongli gave Ajax a little smile, scratching his head just a bit and adjusting his ponytail. "I was only going to put you on your bed. I suppose I overstepped my boundaries." The actor let out a dry laugh, "Did you want to hear more about Liyue?"

         Childe got his bag out of the car, then walked a bit up to the large home. "Maybe we can talk about it later? I'm a bit hungry if I'm being honest."
         Zhongli smiled, "I was planning on getting right to making dinner. I've ordered the best gourmet Springvale boar and I found the freshest bamboo shoots available in the market. I'll be making my favorite soup."

         Childe nodded, and Zhongli showed the Harbinger to a room. Once Zhongli showed it to him, the ginger smiled then went inside and closed the door, leaving the brunette outside. He figured that he could maybe take a nap.