𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙀𝙮𝙚𝙨 [ 𝘼𝙐 𝙕𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙘𝙝𝙞 ]

3: Ancient stories

"Good evening," Childe almost fell to the ground when he felt his legs fail him, the blood flowed from his entire body and he felt his soul leave his body, was he seeing the light? "I am Zhongli."

The redhead was silent, holding his breath as he felt his heart pound again. This time it was Zhongli, he would not have needed to introduce himself, just by hearing his greeting he recognized him from his voice.

"Sorry I couldn't get to you when you called earlier, I was ending a meeting. I hope you excuse me," his voice was soft, Childe could almost feel as if he was really apologizing, as if he was really asking for forgiveness.

He cleared his throat a little, clearing his voice.

"Don't worry, no... I called recently," he didn't know what to say. Childe looked at the bottle on top of the marble, thinking of the right words.

"What the heck... I'm on the phone with the most powerful man in all of Liyue..."

He remembered that he hadn't told him his name yet, so he tried to speak.

"I imagine he called to continue the talk we left in the middle," Zhongli spoke before Childe could say anything. "Right now I've finished all my homework for today, so if you feel like it we could go to dinner."

Childe opened his mouth to say something, however he closed it. Go to dinner? He hadn't had much time to do the shopping that week, he cursed himself for lazing around all day today. The offer sounded tempting, but if he went with Zhongli he couldn't wait to go to a cheap restaurant, and it's not like he has enough money to afford such luxuries, not even one night. He also didn't believe that Zhongli was going to pay the bill for the two of them.

"Of course I would love to."

"No, why do you accept?!"

It made him want to bang his head against the wall, how could he be so stupid?

"Think, fast!"

"You... It would be good if I..." he was really going to say something stupid. "Could I choose the site?" Childe held his breath once more, and closed his eyes tightly. His hands were sweating.

"Of course," he breathed again.

"Thank you..."

"Well, a magnificent plan. And where do we go?"

He knew he had put all the responsibility for the exit on his shoulders, and normally he would not have cared, but this was not a normal situation. Childe thought about the options his pocket could afford, and the only thing that crossed his mind were fast food restaurants.

"I hope he's not a picky eater."

"I huh..." his stomach from him was killing him with nerves, he was going to make a fool of himself. "You'll be fine with going to... To McDonald's...?"

Childe felt Celestia rise, Archons, what stupidity had he just said? He prayed to each of the divinities that Zhongli did not say something that made him feel even worse, he did not care if he thought it, only that he did not say it.

"Sounds good to me, I have no problem,'' Childe detected no trace of a lie in his voice, but this man should be used to maintaining his composure in any situation, so he had little illusions. ''What time?''

"Is ten o'clock okay with you?'' his voice sounded strange, he felt small and ridiculous. This was not sitting well with his pride.

"Perfect."

Luckily for him, there was only one McDonald's in all of Liyue, so it was impossible to go wrong, and it was not necessary to specify the address.

Zhongli advised him that a bodyguard would accompany him, but that he would not interfere in their conversation. He wouldn't even notice.