Two hearts reunited

Midnight

It was actually way too late to show up at anyone's house, but Childe didn't care. Grimly, he walked through the streets, which he would probably never be able to associate with positive memories again if Zhongli rejected him. For a moment, he wished he had never gone back to Liyue. Maybe he would have forgotten him by now already. It was all so surreal - that Pulcinella wanted to help him and he was only here because of him, while he was having a better time with him than with the addressee of his discarded letter, with whom he was supposed to be reconciling.

Hesitantly, he approached Zhongli's front door. Taking another deep breath, he knocked. While he waited, he almost went crazy. Of course, he also had to knock several times. When he finally heard noises in the house, he tensed up. A few seconds later, the door opened and Zhongli peered out. From the looks of it, he had already gotten ready for bed. He was wearing a strange bathrobe. Childe probably would have smiled if he hadn't been so pissed off.

"Hey. I need to talk to you," he therefore said simply.

"This late? ... ", Zhongli replied, calm but slightly confused.

"Yes. I honestly imagined our reunion in Liyue differently," Childe reproached him.

"You're not the only one," Zhongli murmured with a sad undertone, "and actually, I didn't think I'd ever see you again..."

"Pulcinella sent me here, there's work to be done," Childe retorted in a huff. He didn't want to embarrass himself by saying that he was only here for seeing him.

"I see..." muttered Zhongli, sighing, "so you're only here on official business..."

"No, I wanted to see you again too - but you decided to just replace me with some boring average guy you can talk about rocks with!!!" raged Childe. Zhongli just stared at him with wide eyes. He probably hadn't expected that he would see those two together, the young Harbinger thought to himself. The next moment, he immediately noticed that Zhongli became sad, averted his eyes, and remained silent. Yes, he probably couldn't think of anything to say now. Even if he would explain to him now that it was nothing serious, he felt infinitely fooled. Now he was curious of his reply.

"It's not what you think," Zhongli muttered haltingly.

"Oh no!?? I saw how familiar you were. Honestly, I don't trust you. Not one bit," he hissed at him.

"Hmmm... that's a shame. After all, that's what relationships should be built on... Were you trying to make me jealous with your work colleague?" asked Zhongli after a moment.

"Huh?" replied Childe, completely confused, "No, I was on a tour with him just like that..."

"Is he by any chance the guy you used to have a crush on?", Zhongli finally wanted to know. Childe's features derailed and flushes of red settled on his cheeks.

"What makes you think that?!!" he asked, horrified. He had told him about being in love with some person once, but it shocked him how Zhongli knew that now and how right he was.

"It's not hard to see. Actually, I just thought you found him unpleasant by now and didn't want anything to do with him anymore," Zhongli said bitterly.

"He's not unpleasant! Actually, he's a nice guy... I think.... and at least I can trust him, not like you!" hissed Childe, who was just overwhelmed by all the insinuations. No one - and absolutely no one, was allowed to say anything bad about Pulcinella, except himself.

"All right. If that's the case... then I guess you should let him feed you in the future, since you still can't eat with chopsticks," Zhongli replied calmly and emotionlessly.

"Why? Uh yeah... sorry that I still can't," Childe said in confusion, and it took him a few seconds to remember that Pulcinella had given him some of his food and how that might have affected Zhongli. Was that why he had been so dismissive of him?

"Well, he can teach you. He's probably a better match for you than me anyway," Zhongli said motionlessly.

"Wait what? Nooo no ...please!!! He only did it to help me, didn't he, like you did back then? A-so I don't think that..." stammered Childe, completely overwhelmed. Still, he couldn't help but laugh sheepishly. Or had Zhongli had ulterior motives that day?

Zhongli sighed heavily. Then he came out of the door a little. Childe wondered what just happened, when the next moment Zhongli put his hand on his shoulder and looked at him sadly. On impulse, he just wanted to pull him into his arms. However, before he could, Zhongli had already backed away.

"Go and be happy with him, Ajax," was the only thing he heard before the door slammed shut.

... - "Wait, what!!!?"