If I Can't Take Your Pokémon, Can I Have Your Heart Instead?

Whirlpool

Without fail, Zhongli meets Childe every day. They go out to eat, on walks, and visit the pokemon in his lab. Dating Zhongli is quite the educational experience, he's learned more from being in his presence than he ever did going to school for the brief amount of time that he did, before he eventually dropped out to support his siblings. 

It feels very pleasant, unlike anything Childe has ever experienced before. He only had his siblings with him, and he loved them dearly, but Zhongli got him.  

Childe was never the best with words. Zhongli was. It didn't matter that Childe had trouble expressing how he felt, because Zhongli understood it all the same. Childe was never very good at handling his emotions well, but Zhongli was used to frustration. Whenever Childe was stressing about the gym or his family, Zhongli helped him feel his emotions in a healthy way. Childe was never quite good at remembering things, either, but Zhongli's memory was good enough for the both of them. 

They were in Zhongli's living room snuggled against each other, watching a collection of some of the most intense pokemon battles of all time. 

Then on the screen came the battle between Morax and Red, which Morax ultimately won, crowning him the World Champion. Both Zhongli and Childe tensed as Morax's face came onto the screen. Then Morax released his first pokemon. 

"Go, Flygon!"

There was no denying how similar Morax's voice was to Zhongli's. Childe fidgeted. No, Zhongli was not Morax. He was not going to believe it. Not that there was anything to believe, because there was no way that Zhongli was Morax. 

Then Morax started trash-talking. Meaning that he started spitting trivial details about each of his pokemon and pointing out all of Red's faults and the mistakes in his strategy, not unlike the way Zhongli corrected the way Childe held his chopsticks. 

Then he brought out the golden Onix. 

That was the last straw, there was no beating around the bush now. There was simply no way this could be a coincidence.

"Childe," Zhongli spoke before he could, "you may have figured this out already, but I have something I need to tell you." 

"What is it, Morax?"

There was a pause. 

"I ask that you do not call me that, as I have left that life behind. That is a past me."

"Alright."

Another pause. Zhongli examined Childe's face, unsure of his response.

"Are you... angry with me?"

"No, I don't have a reason to be."

Childe didn't know how to feel, but whatever he was feeling at the moment was not very pleasant at all. 

"Alright... then." 

An awkward silence, neither of them knowing what to say. 

"I am sorry if you felt that I was keeping something from you, that was not my intention."

Childe suddenly broke out into hysterical laughter. If only he knew.  

"Zhongli! You have nothing to apologize for! Why would I be angry that my boyfriend who I once thought was just one of the greatest researchers in the world also happened to also be one of the greatest trainers of all time?!" he practically shrieked.

Zhongli pursed his lips and said, "I don't know, but you seem unhappy so I assumed it was something I did."

"No, you did nothing wrong and I am very fond of you."

That was exactly the problem. Zhongli was just a person trying to live out his days in peace and here Childe was on a mission to take what was most precious to him. To steal from the horribly kind, devastatingly handsome professor, how in the world was Childe supposed to do that? 

But his siblings needed money, the siblings that he loved very much. But he also loved Zhongli very much, and he really didn't want to screw up the one good thing that had ever happened to him. But his job was also something good that happened to him, since it gave him money to provide for his family. But Zhongli was the only thing that made him happy. But he loved his siblings very much and would never be happy that he had the opportunity to give them a better life but instead threw all that away because of his stupid feelings for Zhongli. But he would also never forgive himself for letting himself do this to Zhongli. 

This was all giving Childe a massive headache.

"Childe, are you alright?" Zhongli asked. 

Childe wanted to very aggressively vomit out all his organs with the way that Zhongli was looking at him with such melting concern. Team Rocket wanted him to steal from this man?!?

He had trouble believing that anybody was able to resist falling head-over-heels in love with him after a single glance at that gorgeous face, let alone steal from him. 

"I'm alright, just feeling a little dizzy, that's all."

Actually, he was feeling like his head was about to go into another Big Bang, but he didn't feel like telling Zhongli that. 

"Ah, okay. Do you want to go home?" 

What could he do? He couldn't just tell Zhongli that he was a member of Team Rocket, could he? What if he reported him to the police? He couldn't afford that. Zhongli wasn't just going to give up his pokemon to someone he just started dating either, and he wouldn't have accepted that. Could he just go running back to Team Rocket headquarters with his tail between his legs and give up? He couldn't risk losing his job, his siblings needed him. Team Rocket needed him. Fucking Arceus' ass, why did everyone need him? Why couldn't he be the one to rely on someone else instead? 

"You know you can always rely on me, right? I'll be here for you. Don't push yourself for me, put yourself first." 

He wanted to laugh and cry and die and punch Zhongli in the face and hug him at the same time. Of course the only good thing that ever happened to him had to be the victim of the worst thing he'd ever have to do. 

Choosing himself was not a choice. It was his siblings or Zhongli. He tried to think more clearly. His siblings needed him, Zhongli had made it without him. He sat up straighter. 

"May I take a look at your team?" 

Zhongli grinned, and Childe's heart shattered. 

But how was Childe supposed to make it without Zhongli? 

His emotions were a storm at sea, and in his thoughts he drowned. 

Peace was never an option for Childe. 

"Of course, Childe. You have no idea how big of a weight this is off my chest. I was so scared you would be angry at me for hiding this from you. I just know my pokemon will adore you just as much as I do, Childe."

Fuck, the man was beaming. 

Zhongli happily leads him to where his pokemon are kept, and Childe has never hated himself more.