Tʜᴇ ᴇsᴄᴏʀᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛs ᴘᴇᴀᴄᴇ『ᶻʰᵒⁿᵍˡⁱ ˣ ᵐ/ⁿ ˣ ᵗᵃʳᵗᵃᵍˡⁱᵃ』

IV

ᴄʰⁱˡᵈᵉ/ᴛᵃʳᵗᵃᵍˡⁱᵃ

It became a daily routine of Zhongli to visit M/n at the brothel, and M/n doesn't mind it anymore. If anything he grew used to it and knew what days the tall man would come over for tea in the sitting room. However, after a month of this, the harassment has doubled, and usually, M/n doesn't mind it but he was still very worried about the consultant's reputation and abuse from others. This leads to M/n only walking around at night with the consultant instead of in the morning or afternoon.

Today was a usual meet-up day but... Zhongli had yet to show up, which was rare. M/n started to worry but it was quickly put to an end when the sliding door opens.
"Li-"

"Sorry I was late, I...I have a friend."

"Hello~"M/n felt pale when seeing Tartaglia trail in behind the Geo Archon and take a seat on the couch across from the one he was sitting on.
"Uh...Hi..."

"Aw, you greeted Mister Zhongli with such vigor just a moment ago, what about me? I'm a good friend too!"

"...." M/n didn't reply to this and plops down on the couch, unsettled by this new encounter with another lead/main character of the story.
His eyes are so... lifeless in person, I thought they were pretty at one point but to have them on me at this moment makes me a bit fearful of him.
Tartaglia tilts his head while gazing at the beautiful turning pale in his company. It was completely different from how Zhongli told him.
Mister Zhongli didn't say he was a shy man, so what's wrong?
The atmosphere was heavy and it made it hard for M/n to think rationally.
"M/n?"

"Y-yes Li?"

"I'm sorry for bringing him without notice, I thought it would be fine since you have a limited amount of friends outside of the brothel. I didn't mean any harm by this."Zhongli bows lightly as he said his apology to the male.
"It's fine Li, I should also apologize. I've been a bad host today. Mister Tartaglia, it's an honor to meet you and to have you here as a guest. I shall bring tea for us."M/n bows before turning to leave the hosting room and when the door slides closed, Zhongli sits down next to the ginger.
"You really should have told me it was a brothel. It's a frightening thing for the workers to be suddenly bombarded with a new person."

"Huh?"

"I'm not an innocent man, I've had my fair share of brothels in Snezhnaya. They're not good with new faces, I didn't realize what was going on until I looked around the room and then heard you say brothel. People abuse their power quite often with sex workers, so his immediate distrust of me is valid. He'll be distant with me at first but I feel like we'll be great comrades in the future."The ginger smirks, eyes glazing over with lust, he wanted to have fun with M/n. Zhongli could sense this change in the ginger and suddenly felt on guard around the Fatui man.
"Tartaglia-"

"Sorry, it took so long. I didn't know what sir Tartaglia would like so I brought some Mooncake and Tang Yuan I made earlier. Please enjoy."M/n places the sweet treats in front of the taller men and takes his seat across from them. Tartaglia says his thanks quite brightly and takes a bite of the Mooncake first.
"Ooh hoo~ it's sweeter than the ones I had a third-round knock-out!"

"Hehe, everyone here has a sweet tooth. So I sweeten accordingly."

"Now that's a beautiful smile you have~"M/n didn't realize he even smiled. Thinking about his makeshift family within the brothel walls made his heart swell. A blush strikes across the male's cheeks and he quickly hides it with his sleeve.
"Ahem, please try the Tang Yuan next." After a few hours of hosting, M/n saw the two men off after they were out of sight the poor male sinks to his knees with a deep sigh and was clearly in shock from the encounter.
"Oh no, I fear for my future being involved with those two.."