Look Me in the Eyes (and tell me that it's me) [Zhongchili]

Chapter 11 - The Best Big Brother Ever!

Chapter CWs: Discussion of verbal sexual harassment. Not shown in the scene, but Ajax and Tonia discuss some badly behaving boys at Tonia's school.

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Zhongli is Zhongli. Zhongli is the Zhongli.

Come the morning, Ajax does a good job of hiding his newfound revelation. After waking, he spends hours in bed with Zhongli, where they lay entwined with each other, softly mapping out the lines of each other's bodies, stealing sweet kisses pressed to waiting lips. At nearly midday, they drag themselves up to sit and eat breakfast, talking about nothing of substance, yet hanging onto every word the other speaks nonetheless.

Ajax doesn't bring up silk flowers. Ajax doesn't bring up past lives. Ajax doesn't bring up Tartaglia. Instead, he tells Zhongli about the new action film his classmates have been raving about, and invites Zhongli to see it with him sometime.

Zhongli heartily agrees.

Now, as Ajax stands at the door to his family's apartment, digging for his keys in his jacket pocket, he's still not worked out what to do with his newfound revelation.

What does Zhongli want from all of this? What was the true nature of his and Tartaglia's relationship?

Who does Zhongli want him to be now?

He opens the door and steps inside. Teucer and Anthon's voices carry through from the living room as they smash their action figures together, and Tonia's bedroom door is closed, as usual. He hangs up his jacket and is in the middle of taking off his trainers when Mother appears in the kitchen doorway.

"Ajax." Her voice lowered, she tilts her head toward the kitchen. "A moment, please?"

Oh no, he's in trouble, isn't he? But he hasn't done anything bad lately. Did he forget to flush the toilet before he went out or something? No, he's never forgotten that before. Maybe he was supposed to take the bins out? No, Tonia was the next one on the rota; he's doing them next week.

He follows Mother into the kitchen, still racking his brain for the source of his transgression, and she closes the door behind them.

Leaning against the counter, she picks up a long, wooden spoon, tapping it absentmindedly against her palm. "Have you spoken to Tonia recently?"

"Well, yeah? She's my sister." The wooden spoon makes swift contact with Ajax's thigh. It doesn't hurt, but he makes his protest known nonetheless. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Less of the cheek." Mother folds her arms, the spoon dangling in his direction acting as a less than subtle warning. "You know what I meant."

"I don't, I swear!" Ajax rubs his thigh for good measure. "Why? Is something wrong? Is she mad at me?"

Mother sighs and shakes her head, placing the spoon down on the counter. "No, unless you know something that we don't. But she's been in a terrible mood ever since she got back from town yesterday. She didn't touch her dinner, she hasn't come out for breakfast, and she won't tell your father or I anything."

"Huh. You usually can't stop her once she gets going."

"Yes. I was hoping you might be able to try to talk to her about it. It's different from your father or I asking. She might be a bit more willing to talk to you."

"You have a point," Ajax replies. This is odd. Usually Tonia is all too happy to complain when a friend uses her gel pens without asking, or tries to copy from her test answers. It can't be a good sign that she's unwilling to talk at all. "Alright, I'll see what I can get out of her."