𝓘𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓾𝓼𝓮𝓭 (Zhongli x reader)

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝓌𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝓇

His lips landed on yours for a brief moment, but in that moment the whole world seemed to stop.

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"Ayato." You breathed. He spoke for a moment, but all you could hear was the pulsing in your ears from your rapid heart rate. "Give me a moment." You said, tearing yourself away from him. Why did you think it was a good idea to wear this dress. More importantly, why did you think it was a good idea to come to Inazuma again? Oh, that's right, because your best friend wanted you to come visit her. Maybe she had this planned out the entire time. To be honest, you wouldn't put it past her. She would always joke about how you would be her 'future sister in law' and that she 'couldn't wait to be sisters for real'. Now you had started to feel angry.

"Y/N, are you alright? I'm sorry if that was too much." Ayato said, walking closer to you as and placing a hand on your shoulder. You quickly brushed his hand off, not wanting to be touched suddenly. "Y/N." Ayato said again, more softly this time. "I just wanted to tell you my feelings. I understand that you might be having confused feelings now, but just know that if you would like to pursue a relationship with me, I'd be more than happy to do that." With that, Ayato left you alone for a while so you could gather your thoughts.

After all that had happened, you walked up to Ayaka and the two blondes to let them know that you'd suddenly fell a bit faint.

"Oh, are you alright?" Amaya asked, tilting her head to the side. You nodded while feeling a bit antsy to leave. Everything suddenly felt overwhelming. You've wanted to get out of here before Ayato grouped back up with the rest of them.

"I'm just going to head back to the estate and lay down. I think the boat ride is finally catching up to me." You forced a smile. They all seemed to buy it and waved you off after saying their goodbyes. A small part of you is worried that Ayato would tell them what happened, but this was something between the two of you so he wouldn't talk to them about it, right?

The walk to the Kamisato estate was quiet, but it gave you time to think. What would life be like if you perused Ayato? You don't think that he would want you to stay home and be a good little house wife, but would he be home at all? Ayato would be a great lover, amazing even but it felt like you always had to be prim and proper around him.

Before you even knew it, you had arrived at the estate safe and sound. The guards silently greeted you with a nod, letting you pass without any question.

You quickly walked to your room and fell down onto the soft cot. At the moment you missed Liyue, it felt like you had to be a whole different person when you were with the kamisato siblings. When you were with Childe and Zhongli it felt as if you could be yourself.

Flipping over on the cot, you looked at the painted ceiling. The purple paint was slowly peeling off, leaving shadows that made the trees that were illustrated on the ceiling look more realistic. If you weren't so into artifacts, you'd like to think that painting would of been your second option. While examining the top of the room, you noticed a small white and blue flower peeking out from behind the painted grass. A glaze Lilly. Great, even here you can't seem to get away from her either.

After glaring at the ceiling a bit more, you heard the voices of your friends come pouring through the hallways.

"Y/N!" Ayaka yelled. You never realized that she was right in front of your door. "Dinner is ready!" Pulling yourself up from the bed, you walked to the door and opened it.

Ayaka was patiently waiting there with a smile on her face, it immediately faltered when she saw yours. "Y/N... Are you okay?" Meeting her eyes, you smiled sheepishly.

"Is it really that obvious?" She nodded, gently pushing you aside and coming into the room while closing the door.

You both stood there awkwardly for a moment until she spoke. "What happened?" Part of you didn't really want to tell her because it was her brother, but she was your closest friend and you would think that she would understand.

"Ayato kissed me." You admitted, crossing your arms and holding the sides. "But to be honest, I feel a little unhappy after him kissing me actually. I really thought when it would happen it would feel like fireworks going on but nothing happened." Ayaka's gaze softened as you spoke, listening to everything that you had to say. You explained that you honestly don't have anymore feelings left for him, you thought that you did but the kiss confirmed it. Now you just feel uncomfortable whenever you're around him.

Ayaka brought you in for a hug, wrapping her arms around you. "I understand Y/N. I'm happy that you told me this." You felt a wave of relief wash over you. She pulled away and gave you a smile. "Now let's go eat some dinner, okay?" You nodded. She grabbed your hand and lead you out of your room and into the dining hall where everyone including Thoma and Aether sat. The boys were all laughing at something Paimon said. The floating figure crossed her arms and pouted, her face turning slightly red.

Everyone greeted you two as you sat down. As you and your friends put food on your plates, Thoma perked up with a question.

"So Y/N, what are you doing nowadays?" As you ate some of your food, you told him that you did artifact hunting and that you sold them at the local adventurers guild. You had also mentioned that they had raised your prices pretty high, which made you extremely happy. "That's great Y/N! I'm glad that you are making more money!"

"Y/N is truly a great woman, maybe even the best." Ayato shot you a charming smile which made your stomach churn. Aether and Thoma nodded at his remark while Ayaka glanced at the two of you.

"Brother, compliments like that at the dinner table makes me uncomfortable." You shot Ayaka a look that said 'thank you!' And she smiled back.

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I've been dead for a hot minute! Recently I was just in Arizona for a vacation and had Covid 🧍‍♂️ so that wasn't fun.

I do apologize for not updating at all though, recently writing has been a bit hard and I've been going through a bad case of writers block but I do plan on getting this book finished :)

I sincerely hope that everyone enjoys the story ❤️