Sun & Earth ( Zhongli x male!OC )

1

Nimias' POV (Angel's Share, Mondstadt)

"Hey! Dilluc!" I call out as I swing the door to Dilluc's tavern open. "What?" I hear a confused and clearly tired voice reply. Looking up, I see the place to be weirdly empty. Although I had to admit that it was very late at night and no sane person would actually be up at this time. The tavern had that home-sie feel to it that I loved and the warm lights caressed the wooden furniture that decorated the place. Finally looking up to greet Dilluc, I'm greeted by a drunk Barbatos... "oh" I sigh.

"I was actually going to ask you if you've seen Venti, and maybe have a couple of shots with you, but I see you've already found him," I say, giving Barbatos a little glare before moving my gaze back to Dilluc, "How long do you think he'll be out for?"

The fellow redhead gives me an exasperated sigh. "An hour or two maybe, he had over five bottles of wine. Will he even pay?" I heard him whisper the last part.

I give an awkward laugh while combing my hand through my messy head of hair before moving towards the bar stools to sit next to the wasted Archon. "Don't worry about it. I'll pay for his drinks and mine before we leave!" I give him a reassuring smile. He narrowed his eyes at me in a skeptical look but then dropped the suspicion and turned away from me since I have proven to be a reliable customer in the past. Despite my messy hair and lazy looks, I work hard to earn mora. I often do commissions and jobs from the knights and adventurers guild. It pays surprisingly well. Sadly though, this usually ends in me having to pay for the deadbeat Archons *cough* Morax and Barbatos *cough* who either refuse to pay for themselves, forgot their mora, or don't have any mora to speak of. Knowing his drinking habits, it wasn't too surprising that I had to pay for Barbatos today. I let out a small sigh in defeat.

hearing a click on the table in front of me I look up to see a glass of apple cider...a non-alcoholic drink. Even though part of me wants to get offended by the gesture, I'm sure he just doesn't want me to get too drunk to pay, then again, I love anything that's sweet and this drink is delicious so I thank him anyway. "By the way, where's Charles? I usually see him around here" I ask, taking a sip from my apple cider, it tastes amazing as always. "I gave him a day off. He wasn't feeling well" came the reply.

We continued talking about God knows what...actually Barbatos has no idea what we're talking about. We suddenly heard the door to the tavern open, I thought it was going to be Bruce from the Knight of Favonius or some other person who frequents here but then.

"Ah, Mr. Zhongli. Sorry, but Venti's already passed out" ...what? Did Dilluc just say Zhongli?

"That's not a problem," I hear a deep voice reach my ears. Sh*t. I'm pretty sure I'm blushing. No. Bad Nimias, bad. "Hm? Well, it's nice to see you again, Taiyo"

I turn around and see Morax. "Hey, Mo- Zhongli! nice to see you too!" I smile at him and felt a sweatdrop roll down my forehead. If you couldn't tell, I'm can't seem to remember his human name properly yet and, because of my slip-up, Morax is now staring into my soul because I almost got his name wrong in front of a mortal. 'I'm so sorry Morax' I mouth before he turned away from me, slightly shaking his head.

Desperate to move on from this awkward situation I turn to look at Dilluc, who was casually drinking a glass of grape juice.

"So, Dilluc. How do you know Zhongli?" I see him glance at me from the corner of my eyes as I finish what's left of my drink.

"He came by a few days ago. He had business with Venti." He said, taking my empty glass from me and filling it up with more apple cider. "And you?" "Huh?" "Taiyo, how do you know Mr. Zhongli?" He asked in return, giving me my newly filled glass which I gratefully took.

I stole a glance at Morax who was now sitting to my left (since a passed-out Barbatos sat on my right). We made eye contact for a few seconds before I turned to look away, feeling my face slightly heat up into a blush. "I- I know him from a while back, I guess you could say we're good friends" I looked away taking a sip of my drink.

"Yes, Taiyo and I have been acquainted for quite a while now" Morax finally spoke up. "He often helps me with paying for my- I mean with jobs and item searches around Liyue" ...did he almost admit to using me for Mora?!

"I see..." wait, Dilluc, don't just ignore that! "Can I get you a drink?" He knows it's going on my tab, doesn't he? "I would like that"

Dilluc walks to the back of the bar to get Zhongli a drink.

An awkward silence fills the tavern.

...

"So, Taiyo. What have you been doing recently? I haven't seen you at the Wangsheng parlor lately." Morax starts up a conversation.

"Oh yeah. I've been doing the regular," I say as I swirl my drink around and take a sip before continuing, "I recently had a big job at Dragonspine. Collecting materials that can only be found in Dragonspine pays well since the path is too dangerous and/or too cold for most humans." I finished.

"Does that mean-" "Yes." I gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes, I have enough mora to pay for all of us." Morax gave me a small smile, happy that I knew what he wanted. At this, I couldn't help but look down towards my drink and blush.

Zhongli's POV

I was happily surprised when I found Nimias at the tavern. I had not seen him in a while and wanted to thank him for helping me back in Liyue with both work and Mora.

I was expecting to pay him back, but it seems like I must rely on him once again.

I smile at him, but he quickly looked back down towards his drink with a pink tint on his cheeks. I wonder if he is feeling well? Is there a possibility he is overworking himself?

Before I could ask him if he was well, sir Dilluc came back with my drink and we continued our previous conversation from where we had left it. I will have to ask him later.