Chapter Text
The cool air of the harbor tickles the nape of his neck as he bunches up his long hair in his hand. His eyes flicker downward, blinking twice in anticipation with a hint of nervousness. Zhongli’s presence behind him makes itself known as the man loops the black leathery material around Ajax’s neck, gloved fingers brushing along exposed skin giving rise to goosebumps. Ajax tries not to shiver while the ex-archon clasps the choker slowly, taking his time to brush away stray stands of hair that turn golden when hit by the sunlight flitting from the open window.
And finally, finally, with a loud ‘click’ resounding in the silent room, Ajax’s heartbeat slows a fraction. Only for it to start up again as Zhongli gently grabs his shoulders to turn him around.
“Um…How is it?” Ajax nervously asks, his bare hands reaching to touch the warm pendant hanging from his new accessory.
The ex-archon simply flourishes a heart-stopping smile before moving aside, allowing him to see his reflection in the polished mirror in the vanity table.
What he sees makes his blood rush to his head, colouring his fair skin in a shade of red. A shy smile graces his face, unbidden as he eyes the geo symbol made out of cor lapis at one side and noctilous jade on the other. The choker itself is made out of the finest leather he ever put his hands on, smooth and comfortable around his neck. If he looks closer and moves a little towards the right where the sunlight hits him, the black strip of leather is adorned with subtle golden swirls that resembles Rex Lapis’ vestige, scales glittering like nothing else in their lustrous sheen.
“Do you like it, Ajax?”
Zhongli holds his chin, redirecting his gaze to two amber orbs that resemble small crescent moons in the ex-archon’s smile, fangs out in a small lapse of control over his human form.
Ajax returns the smile before surging forward for a quick peck on those soft lips, arms looping around Zhongli’s neck. He burns like an ember, not exactly uncontrollable like the licking flames but just as hot because how could he ever be so lucky?
“I love it.”
He’s so in love.
It’s a usual afternoon in Liyue.
Bright.
Breezy.
In the company of none other than the respected funeral consultant as they talk over tea and food.
Yet, in the middle of his exposition about the Oolong tea they were currently drinking and how he has a special blend at home that he wants Childe to try, Zhongli stops mid-sentence as if remembering something. His hand is afloat, mouth open for a second before it turns into a soft smile.
“Xiansheng?” Childe leans in, curious.
Zhongli simply reaches for the inside pocket of his coat to retrieve a small box. He gently puts in the middle of the table, the small thud loud against the sudden silence. It was then that Childe’s brain starts short circuiting with his fantasies going wild like Oh my archons, is he going to propose!? Oh, my fucking—
“Please, open it.”
He has to blink out the shock, and hopes his face isn’t as red as he thinks it is with how unbearably hot it suddenly feels. Something he hasn’t felt for quite some time since he evidently adapted to Liyue’s normally temperate climate. Snezhnaya’s snowy mountains and snowy landscapes are no longer clear in his memory.
“Oh…uh, yeah.” Childe starts, slightly jumping from his seat before he settles the cup of tea he has down with shaky fingers. He then reaches for the box, the lacquered finish making it almost slip from his jittery fingers. Biting the inside of his cheek, he starts to open the box and promptly goes silent as his mind shuts down again.
Because, what else can a maide- man like him think when presented with such?
A shiny ring sits on top of a velvet red silk cushion. It’s made of what he can probably tell as high-quality jade, the surface smooth and cool to touch even through his gloves. And as much as Childe liked to fantasize about it being a proposal ring, it seems a little too thick and wide to be one.
“Xiansheng..?” He hesitantly asks, now more curious than flustered. “What’s this about?”
Zhongli flashes him a charming smile that makes his heart skip a beat—god, how can someone do this to him? The man holds out his own hand and removes the thick ring he has on his thumb. With his thumb and forefinger, he rolls it as he speaks, “This is an archer’s ring. I haven’t wielded a bow for centuries but I remembered how you’re always using your bow despite being a master of other weaponry.”
Oh.
Oh.
“I don’t know if it may help you with your style in archery but trying it out wouldn’t hurt.” With a flick if his hand, Zhongli tosses his own ring up before it lands straight down back to his thumb in one perfect motion. That was cool, Childe thinks for a while until the older man takes the box from his hands, gloved fingers brushing over his own like the slithering of snakes. It makes him shiver, goosebumps rising on his skin that doubles when Zhongli continues to hold his hand. The other hand apparently has the jade ring in between his forefinger and thumb, ready to slip them on Childe’s own thumb.
It isn’t a proposal.
It really isn’t, but it feels like one with how the world suddenly slows down. Childe can’t feel the breeze anymore. He can’t see the way the leaves fall nor the people that pass by when all he can focus on is the feel of Zhongli’s firm, yet gentle grip on his hand, slowly slipping the cool jade ring on his thumb like they’re about to get engaged.
When the fuck is the wedding, someone tell him please.
The spell is broken when his hand is softly let go, his new ring making a small clacking sound on the table. It makes him frantically check on it, worried if he somehow made a crack on it the moment he just received it. And yet, it remains as pristine as ever, the sheen on the jade looking as perfect as it was. Now that he finally redirects his focus on the ring, he can see Liyuen characters discreetly etched around it, over the flowing design of what looked like a flying dragon over…some clouds?
“It’s made to be sturdy, and it should be a perfect fit,” Zhongli looks at him, the charming smile still etched on his face, “…unless it isn’t? Please do tell if there are alterations that needs to be done. It’s meant to be comfortable and shouldn’t easily slip because that’d defeat the purpose of being an archer’s ring.”
Right. It’s an archer’s ring.
Childe flexes his hand. He does the motions of nocking an arrow over an imaginary bow and it stays. It actually feels pretty good, like he somehow got stronger by just wearing the accessory. Did Zhongli enchant this or what?
“It fits perfectly, Xiansheng.” Childe chuckles, joy bubbling over and out his throat. Receiving a gift that he didn’t pay for sure was a pleasant surprise. Wait—
“Wait, wait, wait!”
“Hmm?” Zhongli raises a brow over his teacup.
Childe hands itch to reach for his mora pouch and pay for the ring immediately before the Milileth comes and arrests them in the middle of the bustling city of Liyue. That wasn’t on his schedule of the day.
“How did you pay for this, Xiansheng?” He feels breathless, panic and exasperated joy making him want to laugh.
But the ex-archon grins at him and it admittedly makes Childe die a little inside. Because holy fuck, are those fangs? How are they so hot on Zhongli? It makes the man looks so dangerous that it makes his once dead heart go beat like the uncontrollable waves over Liyue’s many cliffsides.
What the fuck Mr. Zhongli, you really are a dragon.
“—ilde? Tartaglia?”
Childe blinks and the dangerous man before him reverts to the wise scholar everyone knows. Nothing dangerous about this man except when you know he’s really the Geo archon, the fucking martial god that won in the archon war like it’s nothing.
“Oh, um yeah.” He clears his throat. It somehow felt dry even though he just had his cup of tea. “What were you saying again?”
Zhongli shakes his head fondly, “I said that there’s no need to worry about payment.”
“No, really, Xiansheng. You know we need to pay for the things we buy.”
“The value of that ring comes from being made by my own hands. We don’t need to pay for something that is freely made ang given.” There’s a proud air surrounding the man as his face scrunches up in weird ways. The corner of his mouth curls up a bit before it goes back into a straight line.
He’s so smugly proud about it, Childe realizes with a laugh.
“I see, I see.” Childe gasps in between his laugh, “I’ll definitely treasure this by using it every day!”
Wide amber eyes sparkle like cor lapis at the statement.
“Every day?”
“Mmm. Every single day.”
Ah, what a lovely day, he thinks as the warm feeling in his chest blooms like the unfurling of a glaze lily under the moonlight.
Childe grins so much that it makes him close his teary eyes.
He doesn’t catch the way those eyes look at him possessively, an uncharacteristic smile gracing those perfect lips with fangs shown like a predator.
The gifts don’t stop there.
Honestly, Childe doesn’t even know where it truly started. Maybe it was when he bought those damned chopsticks that were somehow ‘gifted’ back to him. Or perhaps it’s when the older man randomly gave him trinkets he supposedly found on his walks that ranged from the occasional silk flower to the rare translucent starconch that Childe treasures in his discreetly small abode by the docks where the sailors’ early rounds wake him in the mornings.
But he keeps on getting gifts that get more lavish and expensive looking.
Childe looks down at the ring on his thumb, running a gloved thumb over its smooth surface despite the having over a year of constant use over it. He somehow really went with the everyday kind of promise he made with the ex-archon. And, sure, this proves that Zhongli’s quite the craftsman who has no shortage of rare minerals and gems at his disposal with him still having all of geo under his beck and call. Baffling as it is, the man still manages to appreciate the craftsmen of Liyue’s work like he wasn’t an amazing one. Of course, he still makes Childe, as usual, purchase those that he thought had value and fine artistry.
And yet, here he is, wearing one of the softest robes he’s ever had in his whole life. The drag of silk on his bare skin feels so comfortable that, despite his earlier protests, he feels kind of, dare he say it, beautiful in this outfit.
He’s pretty sure this one wasn’t tailored and embroidered by Zhongli. He honestly doubts the man knows how to sew clothes. Zhongli seems to spend his every free time with Childe. Other than when he’s at the funeral parlor, the man sticks to him like a leech.
Not that it makes Childe any better with how much he skips work at the bank to join Zhongli and his whims.
Back to the outfit though, it makes him a little suspicious that maybe, just maybe, Zhongli’s been procuring his own mora when it suits him. Specifically, when he buys and commissions stuff for Childe because other than the ring, he recognizes the work of the master craftsmen and seamstresses in the city with how Zhongli keeps on buying the best ones (as well as the most expensive ones) in their small trips around the stalls.
Huh. He thought the man couldn’t do such after giving away his gnosis. Dragon man sure is as powerful as the tales Iron Tongue Tian goes about.
Childe groans, hiding his face in his hands as they heat up.
He might seriously die if he keeps on fantasizing about the lengths Zhongli would go for him as it keeps on making his heart skip. We’re talking about the mortal Zhongli who always forgets to have mora on his pockets and yet he’s willing to make or get some just to buy this silly Childe a gift?
If only the man could hurry up with his courting. Childe would’ve said yes as soon as they made up after the whole betrayal fiasco around the contract and geo gnosis.
“Red suits you.”
Childe jumps slightly in surprise. He then turns towards the familiar and deep voice he’s come to hear on a daily basis. Despite hearing over a thousand compliments from that beautiful mouth, Childe can’t help but blush like the colour of his hanfu. Even so, he makes sure to let their eyes meet as he dons a shy smile.
“Does it?”
Zhongli eyes his figure with a relaxed smile, hands crossed over each other while he leans against the door jamb. Without being prompted, Childe gives a small twirl, letting the flowy fabric move along his motions making him feel like an elegant dancer. Oh, how he misses performing.
“The outfit itself serves to simply enhance your already beautiful features. Not to mention the figure you cut.”
A warm and large hand encircles Childe’s waist before he can make a full circle, pulling him flush against Zhongli’s muscled chest. His heart beats faster than it ever did, anticipation and worry coiling in his gut because this has to be the closest they’ve ever been. To make things harder, the man’s dark silk robe is hardly making itself a barrier with how Childe unintentionally cups the older man’s pectorals.
Holy shit.
Childe knows the man is packed, but touching it is an entirely different endeavor. Good thing he has the decency to stop himself from squeezing it because, damn, blessed be Liyue and its archon—err ex-archon.
Childe coughs awkwardly as he lowers his hand. Looking up at Zhongli who seems to be content at studying his reddening face, he tries to make the conversation go to another tangent. “So, Xiansheng, what’s the outfit for, anyway? Is there some kind of festival happening tonight?”
The ex-archon somehow takes pity on him—just a tiny bit—by moving an inch away and instead opts to take his right hand in his left, sun-kissed hands swallowing his own pale one like they’re meant to be together. Zhongli doesn’t make him think about their connected hands anymore as he leads Childe to sit down on the nearby chair.
“Nothing special, really.” The man starts as he rummages through the drawers for a small circular container made from fine baby blue china that’s engraved with blooming silk flowers. He settles the cold container on Childe’s hand as he takes hold of a small brush. “Tell me, how long has it been since you’ve been in Liyue?”
Not really knowing where the conversation is going, yet curious enough to ponder on the answer, he hums for a bit before blinking in surprise.
“Two years?”
Time sure flew by, and he hadn’t even noticed the passing of the seasons. He really had been living like a normal mortal, working and spending his days with Zhongli. Like a couple that wasn't quite so.
Huh.
“Try again.” Zhongli encourages as he opens the fine china that seems to contain a flowery smelling rouge. He brushes over it.
“What?” Childe scrunches his brows in confusion.
A finger smooths over the crease in between Childe’s brows as Zhongli lightly chides, “Stay still and don’t do that.”
“But Xiansheng…” Childe stubbornly whines, but he ultimately decides to obey. With a low hum of approval, Zhongli moves to paint underneath his eyes not unlike the style the man himself dons every day. “I’m pretty sure it’s been two long years! Unless it’s been just one or so?”
Zhongli chuckles as he continues to paint under Childe’s left eye, “Did you honestly think your hair grew that long in a span of two years?”
His hair had been especially hard to tame for quite some time until Zhongli helped him with taking care of it. Once unruly, now it flowed up to his back, rivaling Zhongli’s own that now reaches the back of his knees. He never thought much about it since then.
“Ummm…” The question does make him second guess though. It still doesn’t feel like it should be more than three years or so, but his hair isn’t one to grow that fast, that much he knows. He amends with a small, “Four years?
The man nods approvingly, not at Childe’s answer but at his own handiwork. Zhongli sets to pick up the intricate hairpin with cor lapis stone that shines like a dragon’s eye and neatly arranges Childe’s hair in the following moments of silence. Childe bathes in the sense of being cared for, the conversation almost drifting away from his mind until the ex-archon continues with the correct answer.
“It’s been five years, my dearest Ajax.”
The hairpin is slotted into the intricate half bun of his hair, the hanging ornaments chime like a song as they sway from the movement. Warm fingers brush the stray strands of coppery hair that looks a little more golden with each passing day.
“It’s about time.”
Has it really been five years already? Ajax merely purrs, unconsciously seeking the warmth of Zhongli’s hands. To more years of being together then, he silently cheers as the ex-archon leads him out of his abode, hands intertwined like a couple on their first date.
They kiss for the first time in their sixth year, shortly after they officially announced their relationship. The citizens of Liyue happily throw out their congratulations in a way that they do when someone gets married. Safe to say, for the first few weeks after their official get together, Ajax had been the colour of a silk flower’s leaf.
So, today is laundry Sunday.
Busy as he was catching up with the pending documents at the bank after having indulged in his lover’s wishes to travel to Mondstadt over the week for the Windblume Festival, Ajax realizes that all his Liyuen garbs were hanging out to dry. All that he has left is his old clothes which are tucked at the back of his closet.
With a sigh, Ajax surrenders himself to wearing his maroon-colored button up and gray pants. He certainly didn't miss the way his old clothes felt constricting, having gotten used to the silky robes that hug his body like second skin.
“Hmm…”
He bunches his brows together as he looks at his feet where the hem of his pants pooled over. He tilts his head to the side in confusion.
Knock, knock, knock.
He jumps, startling out of his reverie.
“Ajax?” Zhongli calls out from the closed door of his room.
Ajax hurriedly drops to his knees to roll up his pants up to his ankles, “Let me just finish dressing and we’ll be on our way out for lunch!”
“Do you need help?”
His hands stop from folding his pants further, and with a resigned sigh he says, “Actually, I do. Can you come inside?”
The door squeaks as it opens to reveal the regal as ever figure of his lover wearing his new usual attire of a traditional hanfu, having forgone the formal three-piece suit by the time Ajax starts wearing traditional robes.
Amber eyes look questioningly at Ajax on the floor along with his chosen attire, an elegant and thick brow raised.
“Yeah, yeah. I seem to have used up all of the clothes you gave me,” Ajax dramatically melts onto the floorboards with a loud sigh, “It’s your fault that I don’t like wearing my old clothes anymore! Take responsibility you overgrown lizard.”
Zhongli chuckles as he crouches over Ajax’s fallen figure, his long ponytail mimicking a dark waterfall. He then maneuvers his arms over and under Ajax’s back to carry him like a maiden in distress. The man lifts him up like he weighs nothing despite all the lean muscle he has from their sparring sessions.
With a smirk, the ex-archon speaks in a light mocking voice, “Oh, whatever shall I do to remedy this?”
Ajax playfully knocks his fist onto Zhongli’s hard chest with a whine. “Please don’t tease me.”
“Ah,” They pass through the threshold of Ajax’s quaint house, “But my lover says he no longer has any suitable clothing for the day, oh, what a terrible thing to happen. This requires an immediate solution.”
Maybe Ajax hadn't really thought this through by the time he noticed that they’re already outside. People watch and occasionally giggle as they see him being carried by their respected consultant. Though Ajax never shied away from small public displays of affections like holding hands and a quick peck on the cheek, there’s something monumental about being carried like a bride out in broad daylight where everyone can see them.
“Xiansheng!” Ajax squeaks, covering his face with his hands like it’d do him any good. “Where are we going?”
The children point at them as they pause from playing with each other, some of the elderly laugh fondly while the businessmen call out to them with couple discounts they surely just made up. They are, after all, unofficially dubbed as the rich couple who buys anything they fancy.
A recent development, Ajax pouts.
“We’re going to have you fitted for new clothes, of course.”
The sun sets with Ajax fitting himself into a temporary warm-coloured hanfu embroidered with geometric designs after Zhongli commissions the best tailor in Liyue for more with so many specifications. It makes Ajax’s head spin and ache from the suggestions and bouncing back and forth between Zhongli’s impeccable taste and the expert seamstress’ expertise.
There’s no stopping his lover when he becomes like this, especially when it concerns what Ajax can use and wear. With his ever-growing collection of jewelry and clothes, he might as well have something different to use every day of the year at this rate.
Ajax hums, feeling content with everything. He never knew domesticity suited him until Zhongli showed him it did with his presence as a retired archon. Honestly, Ajax doesn’t even know if he himself had long retired from the Fatui since his presence was no longer called for by the Tsaritsa.
He wonders if that fact saddens him or not.
“What are you thinking about, love?”
Ajax snuggles into the warmth of his lover, the thick overcoat on his shoulders slipping off and inviting the chill of the early winter winds. He burrows himself further, nuzzling his face into the crook of Zhongli’s neck as he breathes a sigh.
“Maybe I should retire from the Fatui? It feels like I haven’t been part of it for quite some time anyway.”
Ajax can feel Zhongli’s chest vibrate as he speaks in his usual low baritone. “Do you really want to?”
The question makes him pull away to look up at his lover, amber eyes already on his. Ajax smiles assuredly, wondering if Zhongli still worries that he might leave him for the Tsaritsa’s orders.
“I do.” He says as his cold fingers played with dark strands of hair, “I don’t think I can even leave Liyue unless it’s with you.”
Ajax’s hands are caught by Zhongli’s large ones, sandwiching them in their warmth. “I’m glad to hear that…honestly. It’s been on my mind for quite some time, brewing like an over steeped tea that tastes so bitter. Yet the thought was something I couldn’t throw away—" Zhongli breathes in sharply, eyes shining brighter in the darkness of the night, "Not until your words just now.”
A pause blankets them before Zhongli stands and shushes him before he can speak, a calloused finger on top of Ajax's red lips.
“I’ll be back with your tea.” The man smiles, dark robes swaying with each movement. “You feel like you need some.”
It makes him chuckle, “You know what I need before I even know it.”
“Of course.”
And Zhongli walks inside their humble abode, his steps light yet firm against the floorboards. Ajax counts the steps Zhongli makes as the man surely makes his way down the stairs.
“Twenty-one…twenty-two.” Ajax whispers under his breath. If someone asks him, whatever is he doing, counting the steps and seconds till Zhongli comes back, he’d tell them to fuck off. It feels like whenever they’re far from each other, it takes everything in him not to run and embrace his lover like he just got home from a far, far venture outside of Teyvat itself.
Work hours became agonizing slow to the point that it felt painful. As if a part of him was being torn away.
He hesitantly told Zhongli about it after he was caught overworking for weeks after he felt shame in feeling like a clingy lover. With dark bags underneath his eyes, he shed his first tears in a long while in front of Zhongli as the man assured him there was nothing wrong about wanting to be together.
“I don’t mind it.” He remembers the man saying, his fingers carding through Ajax’s hair, untangling knots here and there, “In fact, I’m quite honored that you seek my presence so much. It makes me feel loved like I have never been, Ajax.”
And the solution they came to was to spend their lunchbreaks together, Zhongli always having a container of the tea that Ajax fell in love with the moment he got a taste of it. It’s kept warm through the layer of geo the man enchanted the bottle with which became a staple in his afternoons as he signed away the never-ending documents the bank gave him.
It may not compare with having Zhongli by his side, but it makes reuniting feel so much better as the man comes to the bank to escort him to their newly shared home by the cliffside where they can see the sea and port seamlessly blend.
A soft clack of the dark tray pulls him out of his thoughts as Zhongli moves to settle the pot and teacups on the table. The smell of milk and the special earthen smell of what he dubbed as the dragon’s tea fills his senses and it makes him take a deep breath.
Zhongli then sits down beside him in the loveseat of their balcony, shoulder brushing against shoulder as he hands Ajax his cup of steaming tea.
“Careful, it’s still hot.”
Ajax softly nudges his lover’s shoulder, “I know, you dumb dragon.”
“And yet, you always burn your tongue on the first sip by being impatient.”
“What,” Ajax grumbles in return, a blush coloring his cheeks, “I can’t help it. You got me addicted to this tea like it’s some sort of drug.”
The peaceful night is broken by a hearty laugh from Zhongli. Ajax yelps as he burns his tongue just as his lover laughs like he's never had in their long years together. The burning sensation soon tucks itself at the back of his mind as he tries to memorize the way Zhongli sounds so free with an undertone of something Ajax can’t name. It’s like the strength of the earth itself is with each rumble of laugh tumbling out of Zhongli’s mouth, as short as it had been.
The man shakes his head as he ends with a deep chuckle.
“Who knows? Maybe it is.”
Ajax responds by playing along with a smirk, “Oh yeah. Now, I’m certain it is drugged.”
“Pray tell, what do you think I could’ve mixed in your tea to make it so addicting?” Amber eyes shine as they look at Ajax with mirth dancing in them. “Take a guess again, love.”
With a huff, Ajax smugly answers after successfully taking a sip of the creamy tea without burning his tongue again, “This big old dragon’s love and the best milk there is in Teyvat, of course!”
“My Ajax is so smart.” Zhongli ruffles Ajax’s unbound hair with a grin, “You got it in one go.”
Oh, if only Ajax knows.
Their seventh year comes and goes and would probably continue its pace until Zhongli sweeps him off the ground with a proposal.
Which isn’t quite right seeing how the man previously proposed to Ajax using the chopsticks etched with dragon and phoenix patterns years ago. He just didn’t know it at that time and the man simply let it pass, understanding how the cultural differences are in their respective regions.
On top of the floating platform with an ornate gazebo that gives them a perfect view of Liyue and a part of Mondstadt, Zhongli kneels on one knee and holds out a box in front of Ajax’s frozen figure. The man opens the box to reveal a delicate ring made of the darkest and shiniest metal Childe’s ever seen. In the middle, amongst the intricate swirling designs is the brightest cor lapis in Teyvat that it almost resembles Zhongli’s eyes when they glow in the night.
“Will you marry me, Ajax?”
Ah, the man doesn’t even have to ask.
They get married on their eighth year, on a bright spring day where the flowers bloom endlessly. An auspicious year for the couple who brought nothing but prosperity in the land of Liyue, people cheer as gifts come decorating their living room. Ajax truly is thankful his husband—husband!—is such a hoarder that they have had no problems moving some of the things out to the ex-archon’s abode inside a beautiful teapot that opened up to a whole entire realm.
It’s perfect.
It really was, Ajax thinks in hindsight as tears stream down his face, crumpling down the floor inside the mansion of the said abode. He curls into himself as his shaky hands clutch his stomach.
“Why!” Ajax gasps in pain. “Zhongli!”
The archon towers over him, cor lapis horns protruding over his head like the dragon the man truly is. Darkened arms lined with golden markings pick Ajax up by his throat, effectively cutting off his breath until he’s unceremoniously thrown on top of the bed.
“You could’ve just stayed.” Zhongli—no, this can’t be Ajax’s kind husband—disapprovingly frowns, “Why did you have to leave, love?”
Ajax grits his teeth and angrily whips his head to meet the archon’s, “And be blissfully unaware of what you just did?! Fuck! I’m actually glad I left and saw how much of a bastard you really are!”
“You don’t have the right to say that.”
“I do! I fucki—!” A harsh slap resounds loudly in their bedroom, blood staining the silken sheets of their bed. Ajax screams as more tears of anger escape from his eyes, “You killed my family! You buried my country under the snowy mountains!”
“Liyue is your country.” Zhongli insists as he stares down coldly at Ajax. “That woman broke her contract. Her land was merely…collateral damage.”
“Collateral damage?” Ajax incredulously echoes, his tone a pitch higher in disbelief. “Are you saying that every person in Snezhnaya, including my family, was collateral fucking damage? Are you even hearing yourself now, Zho—Morax?!”
“Love—“
Ajax interjects as he looks away, a trembling hand nursing his bruised cheek. “Don’t call me that!”
A hand grabs his chin to make him look back at the archon’s face, cold and so unlike the man Ajax was sure he married just a few months ago. Ajax trembles under the presence of a god that now resembles a tyrant.
They stare at each other for a hot minute, silent.
The ugly facade of a tyrant, however, fades and Ajax catches a glimpse of his kind and loving husband coming back to him as the archon sighs. His brows are scrunched up as if he’s the one in pain. A frown mars his face as he speaks, his voice strained like he’s about to cry, “Is our love that shallow for you, Ajax?”
The statement makes Ajax confused, but it doesn’t stop his heart from stopping momentarily. “What are you even— “
“Was it not you who didn’t visit your family for years and simply came back for them like an afterthought?” Zhongli points out, his voice soft and slow as if he’s speaking to a child. His hands move to cup Ajax’s bruised cheek tenderly, apologetic. “Was it not you who said you wouldn’t leave Liyue unless it was with me? That you didn’t need to go back to the Fatui which also indirectly applies to the Cryo Archon? I thought it was a promise, Ajax. A promise…”
A golden tear falls from his husband’s eye, rendering Ajax speechless from the beauty on top of him. Unconsciously, Ajax’s hand moves to wipe away the tear that smears the gold onto Zhongli’s cheek like stars.
“You vowed to the heavens that you will forever love me and yet you easily cast me away, rejecting my love for you even though it hasn’t even been a year since our wedding.” Zhongli catches Ajax’s hand as it starts to fall, looking at ocean eyes as he vulnerably asks, “Did you ever even love me, Ajax?”
Ajax gasps and rushes to embrace Zhongli, his arms looping around his husband’s neck as tears unwittingly fall down his cheeks. His heart constricts in his chest because his husband shouldn’t ever so sound sorrowful. And it’s all because of him.
“No, please. Don’t say that.”
Ajax doesn’t understand, but his heart aches at Zhongli’s words. They’re true. It’s his fault, but he starts cursing his husband like the years together doesn’t mean a single thing. Didn’t Zhongli say it was because the Tsarista broke a contract? Ajax can’t fault the archon when his title itself is to honor contracts lest they suffer the wrath of the rock.
His family, though. But…did he really love them in the first place? Is he even angry because of their death when he all but forgot about them for years? They threw him away; tossing him to the Fatui as soon as they realized he’s beyond redemption. And yet Zhongli, his wonderful and patient husband, took care of him for years and loved him more than Ajax could ever love himself.
“I love you.” Ajax sniffles, because it’s true and he feels so awful from how he reacted to a family he barely even thought of as the years pass by. “I’m so sorry, Zhongli. I didn’t mean it to be this way…”
Arms encircle his trembling form, returning the embrace in as tightly that it’s a wonder how they didn’t merge right then and there into one entity.
“But I’m scared that one day you’ll really resent and leave me like you almost did, love.” Zhongli exhales shakily, his breath warm against Ajax's exposed neck. “It looked like it was too easy for you to do so…”
Ajax sobs, his chest feeling as painful as the words his husband tells him.
It makes him feel so vile.
“Tell me, what can I do to make you think otherwise?” Ajax pleads, “I love you so much, Zhongli. I- I promise not to leave you ever again.”
Hands softly push him down onto the bed as Zhongli tenderly wipes away Ajax’s tears with a smile that carries undertones of something.
“Let me claim you.”
Ajax nuzzles into the hand that cups his cheek, “But I’m already yours?”
Zhongli’s left hand goes down until it slips down inside Ajax's robes to settle above a lean and flat stomach. Shivers run down Ajax’s spine as the man massages the skin underneath his silk robe like he’s about to do something. Anticipation clouds his mind, arousal just around the corner.
“Won’t you let me claim you as mine?” The man whispers, his sultry voice hot against Ajax’s ear that it sends pleasure running down his gut.
“…d-do what you want.” Ajax all but moans as intense pleasure runs straight through him the moment Zhongli pushes.
“Aah-!”
He doesn’t understand what the hell is happening, but he can feel his cock harden while his ass felt like it was getting wet. His hands flailed until he settled on clutching at the sheets at the assault.
He just feels.
“Zhongli-!”
“You say you lost your family.” The older man starts nipping at Ajax’s neck, harsher than it usually was as blood continued to drip from the increasing number of bites Zhongli left. Ajax whimpers, ultimately weak from the touch of his husband, any anger he felt moments ago dissipating like vapor.
Maybe it’s really pointless to be angry over such a thing, Ajax absentmindedly thinks as he feels slick running down his trembling thighs. He feels so empty that he cants his hips upwards as he opens up his legs to offer himself. They haven’t had sex until they got married, but the man always makes Ajax feel so complete. And Ajax needs that man’s cock inside him.
“I’ll gladly give you one in that case.”
“Please, please—just get inside-!” Ajax impatiently begs, spreading his legs as far as he can.
The older man gladly tears Ajax's silk robe like it doesn’t cost thousands of Mora and dives to lick the spasming hole in between his slick cheeks. Zhongli easily lifts Ajax's thighs over those broad shoulders to gain more access, amber eyes glowing predatorily. Ajax can’t help but moan brokenly as he’s almost folded in half, his eyes catching sight of glowing swirls that cross his stomach to go around his back and probably further.
A mark of a literal dragon on his skin, etched in golden markings as if staking their claim onto his very person.
But he doesn’t get to think about anything else as he’s being moved and the fat head of something large pressing into his slick ass. Ajax’s widened eyes catch Zhongli’s looming figure, larger than any human being with horns protruding on his head. They glow golden like the man’s eyes.
“Zhongli-! That’s-!” He panics because that definitely wouldn’t fit. He even wonder’s how Zhongli’s cock fits in him the first time, but this one is fucking huge, rivaling the size of Ajax’s muscled thigh.
Zhongli merely licks his lips in response as he pushes further into the tight heat of Ajax's ass, a broken groan coming out of his mouth. The thick head is barely in, but god Ajax feels full.
“Ah-!”
And suddenly, as slowly as the older man tried to enter, Zhongli pushes the rest inside in one strong thrust. Ajax can’t help but scream, tears falling down his cheeks because he feels too full. Too much. At the same etime, Zhongli moans breathlessly as he savors the feeling, his eyes going a little cloudy. They both still for a second that seems too short of a reprieve from the sudden penetration before Zhongli pulls out until only the head is left before he slams that thick and long cock of his back inside.
Fuck!
It’s a swirl of pleasure-pain-pleasure as Zhongli, in his half-dragon form, pounds into him for what feels like days, strong hips piston in a gradually accelerating pace. The lewd sound of their skin slapping against each other coupled with the surprising slick Ajax produced makes him whimper in both embarrassment and overstimulation. With his legs over the man’s broad shoulders, he feels like he’s about to get folded in half with the force of each thrust.
And yet the man’s cock seemed to get bigger to the point that it shouldn’t even be possible to have his ass stretched like it has been for hours. Ajax’s ocean eyes widen as he instinctively knew something.
He’s going to get pregnant.
Another strong thrust before a round object slowly got deposited inside him, Zhongli’s large cock pushing it deeper and deeper as the older man cums for the first time today. Ajax’s stomach starts distending from the flood of hot seed along with the egg that the sensation allows him to cum again despite having thought he couldn’t anymore after his fourth one.
But the feeling of being impregnated stirs something inside him. Ajax moans hoarsely, that was heavenly.
“More!” Ajax squeezes the still hard cock in his ass, rutting like an animal in heat, “Zhongli—I-ah-I need more!”
Zhongli grunts as he smiles wildly, hands tightening their grip on Ajax's hips.
“Gladly.”
Ajax watches the sea vanish into the horizon when the thought of visiting his family comes to him. He does need to tell them he just got married, he thinks as he takes a sip of his tea.
“Ugh.” He grimaces at the thought of being scolded after the long years of no contact, it’s a wonder if they even still remember him. Maybe they already thought he was dead considering how his last letter to Tonia wrote itself like a goodbye. Well, he thought he was about to fight the Geo Archon not whatever it was that happened where the only thing that broke was his own heart.
Well, he thinks, let what’s past stay in the past.
A few moments later, an opportunity presents itself in the presence of one traveler with a very convenient way of travelling by the use of waypoints that instantly teleports them and their companions to the desired location.
“Can you take me to Snezhnaya using waypoints?” Ajax asks as he pours some Genmaicha for the traveler. “It’d be super great if you have one near Morespok.”
“It’s probably the only waypoint I have in Snezhnaya, actually.” The traveler hesitantly says as they take a bite of the biscuits Ajax offered.
“Great!” He claps his hands in relief, silently noting how the traveler’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
But Ajax doesn’t quite understand why the traveler didn’t want to go to his home country until they got there and saw nothing but snow and earth mingling together in a big unlivable lump of land. The traveler says it’s been like that for years brought about by what the other countries called a large avalanche that buried and killed everyone, maybe even the Cryo Archon, herself too.
“Honestly, I don’t know if it’s Celestia’s work because of the rebellion that would surely come as gnoses are being collected one after another or the Abyss Order’s and their own reasons.” The traveler sighs as they eye the snow and desolation of what was once Ajax’s motherland.
Ajax feels a hollow sense of sadness, akin to what people feel when they hear bad news that doesn’t really concern them. It just feels right to be saddened, but not to the point that it breaks his heart.
Not one house stands, not even his family’s as they trek up the mounds to the actual mountainside that barely resembles what he last saw when he visited. The house, more like a small cottage is in shambles, barely anything left but a few pieces of wood, weathered to the point of separating the moment Ajax picks it up.
Nothing.
There’s nothing for him here in Snezhnaya and he didn’t know until today.
But there’s something familiar here and it’s not his home, nor the snow. He crouches on the ground to touch what little isn’t covered in snow. The patch of dry land is warm, not unlike the touch of Liyue’s soil created by the Lord of Geo, himself.
Then and there, the puzzling pieces connects in his mind. From the way his husband starts to have more Mora on him that what his boss surely pays him to buy Ajax the lavish gifts he wears. And to the missing contact with the other Harbingers and the chaos they bring about to other countries where the respective archons still have their gnoses.
Fuck.
But as soon as he curses inwardly, turning his head to say his thoughts on the matter to the traveler, a blonde head rolls to his feet, dead golden eyes stare at him blankly. Red blood spurts from the severed neck and paints Ajax in its gore even as he instinctively leaps away, dagger already in hand.
“Love.”
Ajax’s thoughts go haywire at the familiar voice, his blood turning cold at his husband’s call.
This is a nightmare…
“No, no, no-!” Ajax shakes his head as he blinked away the blood that got into his eyes, running away while he was at it because there was no way he can realistically defeat his husband. His head is pounding. His breaths are coming in short pants. It feels like he’s having a heart attack.
He can feel the dragon’s claws surrounding him, the long and hard body coiling like a snake and its prey.
“Wake up, love.”
He can’t breathe-!
“It’s just a nightmare.”