Modern Family (Childe x Zhongli + Baby Xiao)

1

Zhongli was tired.

He was struggling to keep his eyes open while sipping his osmanthus wine. He was so tired that he wasn't even enjoying the rich flavour of his favourite beverage. He was just nonchalantly sipping it, bringing the glass close to his mouth and then down with methodical, careless movements. He brought his hand on his forehead and removed a lock of hair that was in front of his eyes. He leant his head on his hand and decided to close his eyes just for a few minutes. He took some deep breaths trying to focus on his body, trying to reconnect with the world around him. Just five more minutes. Just a few more.

"Sir? Sir? Sir, I'm sorry to bother you but we're closing" said a voice shaking him back to reality. He opened his eyes quickly and his head fell from the unstable position waking him up completely. Since the day he had managed to adopt Xiao his life had become more stressful. Fuller, of course, but dealing with a five years old child who was abused by his former foster family was not an easy task.

"I'm sorry. I'll leave immediately. Can I pay here?" he asked getting up from the chair.

"Oh, it has already been taken care of. That guy over there covered your wine" the server pointed at a redhead man who was smiling at him. The man raised a hand and Zhongli nodded with his head to acknowledge and thank him.

The man approached him as soon as he put his foot outside of the restaurant "I'm Ajax, but everyone calls me Childe. I also have another name, you know? At work I'm Tartaglia but it's a long story. I'm sorry but you really looked like you could use some kindness".

Ajax was beautiful Zhongli noticed. His hair was a warm shade of orange that contrasted perfectly with his cold blue eyes. His cheeks were covered in orange and tiny freckles that spread across his nose and forehead as well creating an interesting pattern. He was tall and was wearing clothes that revealed his figure underneath them.

"I'm Zhongli. I'd like to thank you better but my son is with the babysitter right now and I'm already late. I really need to go home" he apologised.

"You have a son! I have two brothers and one sister. I'm the oldest so they look up at me a lot. I sadly don't get to see them often because they live in Snezhnaya with my mom and dad. How old is your son? Do you have a wife?" Childe asked without realising how much inappropriate those questions sounded. It was just like he was: very straightforward and talkative. And Zhongli definitely wasn't in the right mood for that.

"He's five. He's adopted so mom's not around. Thank you for the wine but I really need to go" he said sharply quickening his pace.

"Wait, wait. Can I get your number? I could share some useful advice with you! And maybe we can get a coffee sometimes" Ajax said running a bit to keep up with him.

"Sorry, the babysitter is going to kill me. I already said thank you, so goodbye" Zhongli cut off the conversation right there. Ajax seemed nice but he had so many things to do with Xiao that he had little time to do anything else. And he was also sincerely afraid of Hu Tao. His friend was kind and loved Xiao, and the boy was fond of her as well, but she could be scary, and he didn't want to go home to a pissed-off Hu Tao. And one hour late was more than enough to piss her off.

"At least take this!" Childe screamed throwing Zhongli a rectangular piece of paper. Zhongli looked at it without turning. He pondered the idea of throwing the card in the trash but decided against it and instead he put it in a pocket in his jacket.

He was never going to call that man anyway.

-

Zhongli reached the tiny apartment that he rented from Xingqiu. The boy was the second son of Guild Manager of the Feiyun Commerce Guild. And one of his best friends. With the power he had, he had managed to give him that house letting him pay a really small rent. Xingqiu knew that Zhongli was struggling with money. With his job at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour he could live well on his own. But Xiao had many needs and those needs costed mora that he didn't have. And he also had had the necessity to ask Hu Tao to change his working hours from full time to part time since Xiao needed his presence right now.