「 𝐉𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐑? 𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐓,
𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐀 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐍? 」
Scaramouche was known to have a foul mouth that spat haughtily and eyes full of judgment. Now take someone like Y/n, and you'll have another sharp mouth, shrouded in mock submiss...
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a/n: highly recommend listening to "Lover's Oath" as you read this chapter!
♥
"You seem troubled, dear friend." Zhongli approached her from behind. Y/n propped her arm on the balcony railing, a soft sigh leaving her lips as she stared at the active afternoon streets of Liyue. The elegant man stood next to her, watching fellow merchants promoting their goods as customers flocked from one booth to another.
"Have you ever fallen in love?"
Zhongli chuckled at the sudden question before humming. "It's embarrassing to admit but you are asking the wrong person. Love...is a complicated sentiment that even I cannot point out. I suppose it comes down to what type of love you mean."
Y/n bit her bottom lip and decided to confide in him. "The type in which a certain someone constantly appears in your mind. Even from afar, the person still manages to make you feel something, anything. And you start to miss their presence..."
She trailed off and lightly gasped at what she said. With a hand over her mouth, she quickly looked at the man next to her.
"That is a feeling that is all too familiar to me." His voice cracked near the end. Only his mourning eyes were enough to silence Y/n as she cursed herself within.
Zhongli should've been the last person you could talk about this to. Idiot Y/n!
He was once, after all, Rex Lapis and with great powers came great consequences, one that involved war and bloodshed. Loss and grief were no exception as friends and allies left his side due to corruption or through the course of life. Even his closest companion, the one goddess that had changed him as a person, had left his side to join the souls of the dead.
"My condolences...I should've known," Y/n said in a low voice, feeling a pang of guilt. "Would you mind hearing a tune as my apology?"
"It is unlike you to be so serious as a Joker, but I shall accept your apology and offer." Zhongli seemed genuinely surprised. His first impression of you was that of a foolish little girl who bore a mask full of lies and deception. Turns out you held some humane in you.
"I am not one to disregard one's loss. Rather, if I do, the heavens will surely jeer at me for doing so in the future." Y/n smiled.
Her words implied something but Zhongli couldn't get his head around it. However, he could sense the maturity and pain she had hidden all along.
A low hum came from her chest and Zhongli silently listened, gazing at his people from above. The melody was one he had never heard of yet it struck him with familiarity and nostalgia. It was the first time in ages that he felt like crying and releasing all the grief and sadness pent up in his chest.
