A Yokai, Yaksha, Oni, and a Reincarnated Dragon Lord walk into a shrine.

7

"What is that?" Ajax pointed at whatever it was Itto was holding. 

"Miss Hina," Itto proudly proclaimed, holding his body-sized pillow of the popular columnist. 

"You were supposed to get food!" Ajax snapped, about ready to tear Itto's horns off of his head and shove them up his-

"Oh...right..." Itto laughed awkwardly. "I'll be right back..." he placed his pillow down and ran back toward the town. 

"Ajax..." Zhongli opened his mouth and then closed it. He glanced away and then held his chin, closing his eyes for a moment before opening his mouth again and then shaking his head. He rubbed his temple and opened his eyes but was still unable to find the words he was looking for. 

"Morax help me," Ajax inhaled a long breath and exhaled as he continued to watch Zhongli attempt to say something. Eventually, his patience wore out. "Would you just spit it out already?!" his tail bristled. 

"I'm sorry," Zhongli said.

"You're- what?" 

"I'm sorry, truly," he placed his hand over his chest. "You wanted nothing to do with me and now it is impossible for me to leave your side. I apologize for how this situation has ended up and I'm sorry for taking advantage of it and requiring that you sit in the same spot for a period of time...even though I did find it a bit amusing..." 

"Hmm..." Ajax's eyebrow twitched and he tapped his foot against the stone path. 

"I shall stay out of your way and remain in the side room of the shrine if that is what you would prefer," Zhongli offered. "I will also allow you to do whatever you wish to me in order to make it even between u-" Ajax cut him off and grabbed his shoulders, guiding him to the nearest tree and pushing him up against the trunk. He left one hand by his head and leaned his face close to Zhongli's. 

"You'll let me do anything? Anything at all?" his ear twitched and he ran his hand down Zhongli's chest, watching his face as his hand moved closer and closer to his crotch. Zhongli maintained eye contact, fully expecting this to be another tease as Ajax had done before. "Whatever I want? And you won't tell me to stop no matter what I do?" Ajax muttered by Zhongli's ear as the tips of his fingers crept into Zhongli's pants. 

"Is it rut time already for you, kitsune?" Xiao appeared beside them, hand on his chin, staring intensely at Ajax. 

"Excuse me?" Ajax backed away from Zhongli, throwing his hands in the air and scoffing. "As if I would ever be serious about someone so much younger than me, let alone a mortal!" 

"Ah, mm, right..." Zhongli felt a pang of pain in his chest. 

"I see," Xiao grabbed Zhongli's chin and turned his face toward him. "Then you shouldn't care at all if I make my move then?" 

Zhongli blinked and Ajax appeared behind Xiao. He glared down at him and grabbed his wrist, forcing his hand off of Zhongli's chin. "You take your filthy little hands off of him." 

"I don't understand you," Xiao snatched his wrist away from Ajax's grasp. "If you don't want him but you don't want other people to try and woo him either then what is it that you want?" Xiao pressed his finger into Ajax's chest. "If you wait too long he is going to die, you know?" 

Vivid images of Morax's death flashed in Ajax's mind. He swatted Xiao's finger away and turned pale. He took a step back, staggering, and shook his head. "Morax..." he muttered, voice barely audible. "Morax..." he repeated but the images turned into a scene which turned into a movie all inside his mind. He wasn't seeing Xiao anymore. 

"You shouldn't have said that," Zhongli walked in front of Xiao and waved his hand in front of Ajax's face. 

"Don't leave me...don't leave me..." Ajax continued to speak in his quiet tone. 

"Ajax?" Zhongli reached out to touch him but stopped. He didn't want to startle him so he continued trying to speak. "Ajax?" 

Ajax? Ajax's memory shifted from a negative one to a positive one but he still couldn't distinguish between what he was seeing in his mind and what he was seeing directly in front of him. The two melded together and his image of Morax projected itself onto Zhongli as if he was wearing a hologram of Morax. Ajax closed his eyes and grabbed Zhongli's face, pulling him toward himself for a kiss. He shed tears, feeling ecstatic that Morax was finally there until he opened his eyes. Confusion. Pain. Realization. He stopped kissing Zhongli but he didn't separate their faces far. His hands fell by his sides and his eyes returned to that hollow state Zhongli had seen before. 

"My god is dead," Ajax stared into Zhongli's eyes, appearing to lose even more of the light in them despite them already being so hollow. "Allow me my death." 

"No," Zhongli replied firmly. "You can touch me, you can hit me, you can ask anything of me, you can imagine I am Morax as many times as you wish but I will never grant you that request." 

Ajax turned and left. Xiao opened his mouth to call after him but Zhongli stopped him. "I don't understand," Xiao stared at Zhongli. "I don't...I didn't mean to..." Zhongli smiled slightly at him to reassure him. "But, you know, don't you?" Xiao grabbed Zhongli's arms and stared up into his face. "You're- so why?" Xiao glanced in the direction Ajax went. 

"I'm not," Zhongli replied, sitting down and leaning his back against the tree's trunk. He looked up at the leaves. "I really wish I was. There is a very small piece of someone else inside me whispering things to me off and on that I don't understand. I see images. I'll feel certain feelings that aren't mine but those fragments...that's all they are," Zhongli held his face in his hands. "I'm not the person Ajax wants and I don't even know enough to pretend I am. It's better if he doesn't notice because then I can't dishearten him more than he already is." 

"That's not fair! I don't understand!" Xiao's voice cracked. "Why does it have to be this way?" 

"Do you think I hold all the answers, Xiao?" Zhongli lowered his hands and stared up. His eyes watered and tears escaped one eye. "Do you not realize you also wish me to be someone I am not? I'm not Morax. I wish I was. I wish I could be. I am not. I am Zhongli."