𝑰 𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐏𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐘 𝐂𝐎-𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 [𝐙𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐈 𝐗 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐄]

-𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍-

•´¯'•. . .•´¯'•

IT HAD been decided that Childe would come over Friday night for dinner at eight-o-clock sharp. And Zhongli being the perfectionist he could be, was going over each little detail with careful precise and precision.

"...." Zhongli stood with arms crossed, a hand to his mouth as he stared at the dining room table.

"Mr. Zhongli."

The male broke out of thought finally and glanced over his shoulder. He blinked then loosened up.

"Yes, Xiao?" He asked, noticing the duffle bag hanging on Xiao's shoulder. To no surprise; Zhongli often only caught glimpses of other when it seemed he was running off somewhere. To where? He was never sure, but never asked. Only that Xiao was careful.

"Dinner will be ready soon. Why don't you stay and eat? I'm inviting over a co-worker. "

"I'm not hungry." Xiao answered quite quickly without any hesitation. He tried to make it a habit not to eat Zhongli's cooking. As talented as Zhongli was, regular basic life skills and chores were not his speciality.

But he never even noticed it. Much to Xiao's (who lived with him) dismay.

Zhongli was quiet but nodded slightly to himself. "Alright. Be careful." He reminded Xiao, reaching over and scooting over one of the plates ever so slightly to the right, seeming more safitifed afterward when he did it.

But once the front door shut, Zhongli sighed to himself.

"What is going through that boys head.. I'll never truly know.." he murmured before taking a glance of himself in a mirror that hung on the wall nearby. Ah, yes. His long hair pulled up in a now slightly messy bun, his plain long sleeve pale yellow shirt which looked slightly dirtied from the cooking and cleaning he attempted to do, did not look too flattering. Zhongli still needed to get dressed and ready, didn't he? He checked the time and his eyes widened realizing Childe was supposed to be here in less than an hour.

"My, I've lost track in time." He quickly went upstairs, showering and afterwards combing his hair after drying it. It was getting quite long and more and more difficult to take care of, but Zhongli would be fine. He had always been taking care of it alone.

After putting on a nice soft dark brown turtleneck, some black pants and socks, Zhongli accessorized with a silver watch and put on some cologne. To which, yes, he perhaps was getting quite fancy for just a co-worker over for dinner, but Zhongli always put effort in appearances and to him, this was nothing but a dinner with a ..

"We're just co-workers.. I never considered him a friend, but is it strange we're not friends by now..? Especially since he's coming over for dinner.." He wondered, taking a hair tie from between his teeth and putting his hair back in a causal ponytail.

Meanwhile, Childe had been pacing back and forth for awhile now, totally sweating bullets as he aggressively scratched his orange hair.

"Holy crap.. I'm actually at his house!"

He bit his thumbnail in thought, definitely panicking. But then again, Childe got here ten minutes early and had been doing this ever since. What could the guy do!? Give him a break. He was at his idols house– well, technically his apartment – invited for dinner and it was all quite nerve-wracking.