Of Calm Calamities

Of Calm Calamities (15)

Over the next few days, they settled into a sort of routine. They would wake up by one another's side, usually tangled in some odd position that would take them forever to get out of, and would greet each other with a good morning kiss, followed by a  whispered 'I love you', spoken just loud enough for the other to hear but soft enough to not break the peaceful silence of the morning. Then, they'd bask in each other's presence, simply enjoying the comfort for sometimes hours straight. Those precious moments either remained beautifully silent or were filled with Zhongli's voice as he told story after story, legend after legend, until all Ajax was sure that he'd be able to retell them word for word.

They didn't speak about his breakdown. They didn't need to.  It was the kind of topic that was obvious without even discussing, so neither Ajax nor Zhongli spoke of it. It wasn't a secret that Ajax felt broken, but at least he'd gotten it out now. At least it was now out in the open, and he and Zhongli were both perfectly aware of it. All he could do was be thankful that Zhongli's attitude towards him didn't change in the slightest - he'd been scared that Zhongli would treat him as if he were some ruined good, as if he needed to be handled with care and would fall apart at any minute. Technically, that wouldn't be wrong, but Ajax was relieved that the constant reminder wasn't there. 

Another unspoken agreement was for Zhongli to finally let Ajax be of some help. Where Zhongli used to take on the responsibility of the relationship all onto himself, performing all the house duties and studies on his own, Ajax was allowed to step in to help on occasion, so long as Zhongli gave him the all-clear that his injuries were still without any problems. After cooking a few meals together, they came to the realization that their highly different cooking styles made preparing dishes all the more interesting - Zhongli's more traditional approach was contradictory t o Ajax's experimental one, though neither one complained, especially not when the results would grace them with creations such as Snezhnayan-styled jade parcels or almond tofu with a more traditional twist. There was, of course, the fact that cooking together gave them yet another excuse to not leave the other's side, though neither one said it out loud.

Ajax wasn't able to be quite as helpful with the research as he'd hoped to be. He found that staring at books for hours on end made his head spin, and every time he tried to focus on a page of text, it made dull pain shoot through his skull, as if someone had slammed a club against the back of his head. He should've probably told Zhongli the first time he noticed his problem, but he decided against it - he'd just received some freedom to help out, and telling Zhongli about the issue would only send him into a panic and force Ajax right back into bed rest. Besides, it's not like he wasn't used to pushing through some pain, though usually the pain he dealt with was on a more... physical level than just repeated headaches whenever he read for more than five minutes straight. He wasn't too sure as to why that was, but he decided to blame it on the whole 'running out of elemental power' thing for now. He found that the excuse could be used for pretty much any and all of his problems.

Much to his satisfaction, he was of more help when it came to coming up with theories. Oftentimes, he'd ask Zhongli to retell him everything that he'd read, and they'd spend hours trying to decipher what, exactly, was it that made machines be able to survive off of elemental power and how it could help them find the culprit. Their discussions would often get off-topic and they'd end up laughing over old encounters instead, but they let it be - it wasn't an urgent matter, anyway. Neither he nor Zhongli had received news of other occurrences such as his happening, so it must've settled down a little. As far as Ajax was concerned, they had all the time in the world. Spending some of it every day to enjoy his life beside Zhongli only seemed right. 

Though he felt much better with each day and he no longer felt the fatigue that Baizhu had promised him, Ajax knew better than to pester Zhongli about letting him get back to his training routine. As per Baizhu's decree, they continued to apply the salve, which Ajax was completely sure was meant for adepti rather than humans, what with how much stronger its effect was than that of normal medicine, every evening. It was time consuming and annoying beyond belief, but it gave Zhongli another reason to care for Ajax, and Ajax, in return, would play with Zhongli's hair as the ex-archon focused all of his attention into making sure that the wound was treated properly. Ajax once again found himself fascinated with just how much effort Zhongli was putting into making sure that Ajax remained alive and healthy. He was almost starting to get used to it, and he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.