𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒆 𝑿 𝒁𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒊 𝑶𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒔!

𝐙𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢'𝐬 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 - 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏

It felt like almost a thousand years ago since Zhongli has had a real enjoyable birthday. It seemed as if only the first 50 years of his life were utmost important. As years went by with his immortality he had almost forgotten about it. Though, the past year had been more exciting and strange compared to the rest.

He had given up Liyue to the Qixing and retired as an Archon, giving his no longer needed gnosis to the Fatui; a diplomatic party from Snezhnaya. He had started working at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and met the man of his dreams which he thought would never come.

He would often find himself daydreaming about him during work but Hu Tao would always snap him out of these. Every feature of this boy was perfect to Zhongli. His soft smiles and his daring personality. It was all perfect.

It was early morning, waking up to the sun barely over the horizon. The vendors of Liyue were going back to their daily lives of selling products on the streets. Smells of restaurants picked up again setting the ideal smell of street food.

Zhongli sat up in his king-size bed with his long brown and gold hair draped over his shoulders. He looked out the big window that shone golden rays into the bedroom. Seeing Liyue busy as always was a comforting sight to him. The Qixing have always done a good job since he retired.

There was a shuffling beside him and a yawn that was over exaggerating. "Good morning my love~" the figure spoke and gave Zhongli a hug from behind then nuzzled his face in the crook of Zhongli's neck. "Ah, Childe. How did you sleep?" The brunette said, reaching his hand up to play with the ginger's hair. "Hm, it was pretty good other than the fact you knocked me off the bed at about 4 am." Childe laughed to himself while Zhongli covered his face with embarrassment.

"What would you like to do today? I told Hu Tao that you aren't going to work for certain reasons~" Childe shuffled out of bed and went to find a towel. "We didn't even do that last night? Plus you didn't tell me that I wasn't going to work tomorrow so I didn't plan anything." Zhongli sat there with a confused look on his face. "Woah there calm down, no need to be so schedule driven did you want to do it last night?" Childe snorted and put his hand on Zhonglis head. "Relax today I thought we should do some things together. Just the two of us." He gave one of his soft smiles. "Anyways I'm getting in the shower. Think of some things you want to do today!"

Zhongli was confused but he decided to go with it.

About an hour later they were finally out of the house and walking along the streets of Liyue. "I was thinking breakfast?" Zhongli asked and Childe gave him an enthusiastic nod and a thumbs up. They walked to the Wanmin Restaurant which was currently serving Breakfast. They picked a table and sat down at it, looking at the organized menu. "Nice to see you two back!" an enthusiastic voice said. It was Xiangling, The daughter of Chef Mao who was the owner of the Wanmin Restaurant.

Childe and Zhongli were regulars when they were both available just because Xiangling's cooking was so exceptional. They both dug into their rice and egg. The egg yolk spilt over the rice evenly making it a smooth texture. Though it was a traditional breakfast, it was still seasoned to restaurant perfection.

Childe paid as usual and the both thanked Xiangling for the good meal and headed out. "Where to next?" Childe said smiling with both of his hands on his hips while Zhongli thought. "Could we go take a walk in Yaoguang Shoal?" "Of course!"

The two made their way down to Yaoguang shoal and started to take a nice relaxing walk. The ocean waves crashed into the sandy beaches and the salty air was not faint. "this smells like the actual ocean" Childe led on. "It doesn't have that hint of dead fish like the harbor" he laughed. "You're right" Zhongli found Childe's hand and held it tightly.