Back to the surface

Unexpected

The next morning, the doorbell suddenly rang unexpectedly. Childe was in the middle of making breakfast for Zhongli - that was the only reason he had put something on. He had confidently thrown Pulcinella's instruction not to stay out overnight to the wind. He didn't care, as long as he hid himself well, no one would find him.... probably. But now a situation was brewing that Childe would have preferred to avoid.

"Will you answer the door? I'm naked," Zhongli called to him from the bed.

"Well... if it's necessary," Childe mumbled sheepishly, running a hand through his hair.... the fewer people who saw him at all, the better....

"It's probably just the mailman anyway, there's nothing to it," Zhongli said, turning around. Childe sighed. He could hardly refuse this favor to his new friend. What might he then think of him? So he just hoped that the letter carrier wouldn't look him in the face or think anything of it. Forced to open the door, he half-held his hand to his face as if covering a yawn.

"Morning," he muttered, then regretfully realized that his counterpart was probably not the mailman....

"Who are you? Where's Zhongli?" he asked gruffly. Childe waved it off and quickly turned away.

"Hold on," he said, slamming the door again. This was really awkward now. Unsatisfied, he went back to his boyfriend and sat down on the bed.

"There's some little guy with green streaks outside, he really wants to talk to you," Childe said, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh no, Xiao... yes, I'll go... ", Zhongli mumbled sleepily and put on some clothes.

"You could also put him off until later, there's actually breakfast coming up...", Childe suggested and sighed.

"Xiao? Put him off?", Zhongli retorted and laughed, "better not. I'm sure it's something important, I'll hurry though..."

Childe nodded discontentedly and went back to the kitchen. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to have a relationship with someone else who didn't live in the underground. Zhongli had a normal environment and normal friends, after all....

#

Zhongli walked to the door and opened it, then greeted Xiao, who, however, looked clearly pissed off.

"Is that your date? He slammed the door in my face..." he complained.

"Yeah... that's Childe," Zhongli replied, smiling slightly. "What did you want?"

"I came to pick up that one piece of furniture you said I could have," Xiao said, "I didn't expect you to be so busy..."

"Oh yeah...I forgot about that. No, no problem at all. Come on in for a minute," Zhongli said, walking into the apartment with Xiao. He didn't want him to get the impression that his new boyfriend was rude. It was bad enough anyway that Xiao hardly liked anyone. So he decided to introduce him to his Childe again and brought him into the kitchen with him.

"So... So you guys can get to know each other properly too.... This is Xiao, a good friend from childhood... and this is my new boyfriend, Childe. I've already told Xiao quite a bit about you," Zhongli said, smiling sheepishly. Childe seemed visibly surprised that they were now suddenly standing in the kitchen and ran his hand through his hair.

"Good morning," he said, smiling slightly. Xiao looked at him urgently.

"So this is Childe...hmhm..." he just said and then looked back at Zhongli, "and so he's your boyfriend now? So soon?"

"Well...he asked me if we wanted to be together and I said yes, I guess that makes him my boyfriend. Why?" asked Zhongli, laughing sheepishly.

"No reason," Xiao mumbled and sighed, "so where's the piece now?"

"Xiao came to pick up a piece of furniture," Zhongli explained, taking Xiao into the living room. However, he was quite surprised when Xiao locked the door and pulled him closer to whisper something to him.

"Tell me, are you completely insane?" hissed Xiao, gripping Zhongli's arm tightly.

"What is it? What do you mean?" asked Zhongli in irritation, but remained as calm as possible.

"I told you to stay out of the underground. This... this guy... he's... he's a criminal!" replied Xiao, stunned.

"And you know this because?" asked Zhongli, not knowing whether to believe what Xiao was claiming. He hadn't hidden the fact that the relationship was a thorn in his side, and it probably bothered him that he was now so head over heels with Childe. So possibly he was just exaggerating.

"Come with me to the station on Monday and I'll show you. And for today... send him away. You think I'm going to leave you alone with him?" asked Xiao, visibly overwhelmed.

"Hey, why would he hurt me, he hasn't all this time either...", Zhongli tried to reassure him, but slowly the feeling spread inside him that Xiao was telling the truth and not playing that kind of fear.

#

Childe stayed behind in the kitchen, wondering what the two of them were doing in the other room for so long. He didn't like the fact that this Xiao was also in the apartment now. The way his gaze had scanned him...it had been so unpleasant. But if he wasn't sympathetic to him, then the feeling was probably mutual. How this guy just burst into their date like that.... unbelievable. He should have just closed the door earlier and told Zhongli that the visitor had made a mistake in the door.

After what felt like an eternity, the two came back into the kitchen and he didn't like what Zhongli said at all.

"I have to help Xiao at the transport after all, would you mind leaving already? I'm sorry, we can meet again another time soon," Zhongli suggested.

"All right. Well... what can I say... if there's no other way," Childe said, visibly disappointed. Something was not right. He could sense that. And yet, he didn't know what to do differently now.

"Thank you. That's kind of you," Zhongli said, smiling gently. Childe nodded, and packed up his things. Eventually, he headed for the door.

Zhongli had come with him to say goodbye. Then he walked up to Childe and hugged him tightly. When he kissed him, Childe felt something moist. Could it be that Zhongli was crying? But before he could ask him if everything was all right, the door had closed behind him....