Work Text:
Amber.
Childe watches Zhongli smile at a young man who’s currently thanking him for his advice, sharp eyes softening to form small crescents. The young man blushes, flustered at the beauty before him as Zhongli responds in his usual long exposition. A disapproving frown curves Childe’s lips down despite the good news Andrei is currently delivering him.
But not quite…
Atop the red bridge connecting the bank and another building, Childe doesn’t bother to hide his growing disdain before he leaves Andrei shouting after him when he jumps over the red railings. He lands like a cat on their paws, silent and graceful on the stone pavement. But seeing how it happened in the middle of the day where the streets are littered with just about anyone, the acrobatic display earns him a few claps and startled shouts.
He bows to the audience, flourishing a bright smile while his eyes are already locked with Zhongli’s bright ones. A welcome tension grows between the two men, unnoticed by the public with the exception of the young man beside Zhongli. The excitement eventually dies down, enabling Childe to stand straight and make his way towards Zhongli. The older man’s smile doesn’t falter even as he tilts his head to acknowledge Childe’s sudden presence.
“Xiansheng!” Childe greets loudly, purposefully settling himself between the young, flustered man and his precious Zhongli. He strikes a pose with his hand on his hip, knowing that it would widen the opening of his shirt. Both men before Childe have their eyes dart down towards the creamy triangle of his exposed stomach. He almost smirks at his success. “It’s so hot today, care to get some tea together?” He fans himself to support his claim, silently calling forth his vision to produce droplets of water over his skin.
It hasn’t been hot in Liyue for Childe after a month in his stay, easily acclimating to the temperate climate like he’s meant to be here. So much has changed since his stay here in the land of prosperity, but it doesn’t bother him at all. And honestly, all these changes had a rather handsome root cause.
But Childe just can’t stand it if Zhongli looks at anyone else.
Those eyes, perhaps closer to the color of cor lapis, should only be looking at him.
“Tea would certainly be nice,” Zhongli nods, a gloved hand on his chin as he continues, “There’s a refreshing blend of citron and honey I’ve always wanted to share with you, Childe. I hear that they have it as a cold drink which would be suitable to remedy your current…” Zhongli eyes the dripping water on Childe’s fair skin in a rather intense gaze, “predicament.”
Without preamble, Childe shamelessly hooks his arms around Zhongli’s toned one, “Then lead the way, Xiansheng.”
“Of course.”
Though ultimately a gentleman to everyone on most days, Zhongli somehow forgets the presence of the young man who was in the process of thanking him in favor of escorting Childe. And Childe clings to the older man like a leech, smirking at the young Liyuen like he’s won a battle.
His dead blue eyes speak enough of his thoughts, making the young man scramble away.
This man is mine.
The rite of descension is upon them.
Childe should be finalizing his plans if he ever wants to succeed in killing Rex Lapis. Or at the very least, draw the dragon out and take the gnosis. Yet here he is, sitting in his apartment while biting his lower lip in apprehension and excitement. His blood is buzzing as he delightedly watches Zhongli take sip after sip of tea laced with a sleeping drug—something he painstakingly asked Dottore in exchange for a pint of his own blood. Yes, he gave it willingly and, dare he say it, rather enthusiastically all while watching the doctor mix powders and strangely colored liquids to make the concoction.
The anticipation doubles when he sees Zhongli slump against the dark chair of the apartment. The older man’s eyes, golden like molten mora, go hazy before they close shut as his breathing goes even, signaling Childe’s success.
“Ahh,” Childe moans, wetting his lips which are undeniably upturned in a breathless smile. He crawls over the table, intentionally knocking over the expensive china while carefully inspecting Zhongli’s face for signs of wakefulness.
There is none.
After a few more crashes of teacups meeting the wooden floor, Childe grins. With hips swaying as he crawls, he takes hold of one magnificently muscled arm to land himself on top of Zhongli’s sculpted thighs.
“Oh, Xiansheng, you don’t know what you do to me.”
Childe bites the tip of his glove to remove it in one swift movement, revealing his scarred and calloused hand. He then dives straight to molesting the older man’s hard chest, hastily unbuttoning the intricate coat and undershirt with trembling hands. It takes a few testy tries. Childe almost resorted to simply tearing the clothes away until the buttons finally cooperated with him and rewards him a hot work of art.
Celestia, how can a funeral parlor consultant have such a sinful body? Do they dig enough graves for every person in Liyue or what?
Ocean eyes shine as they run over those massive pectorals before dipping down towards the six-pack abs that shine under the warm light of the room. And he couldn’t help himself, lowering his face to lick at the exposed skin.
“Oh fuck.” Childe moans loudly.
One mound at a time, he licks at the skin like one would a lovely dessert. His ungloved hands, on the other hand, teasingly move down where a bulge starts to strain against the dark and perfectly tailored pants the older man always dons.
Lovely.
With a resounding ‘click’ the belt is unbuckled, the zipper immediately following down to reveal a wet patch forming on Zhongli’s underwear. What Childe sees when he pulls the last piece of cloth under makes his eyes bulge and his mouth water.
Massive. Celestia, blessed Celestia, Xiansheng is huge.
Zhongli’s cock proudly stands between his thick thighs, long and so fucking thick. The head is already leaking, red like the tanghulu he just ate yesterday, albeit this one look like it has too much melted sugar dripping from the tip. Childe’s trembling hands reach for the ridged shaft, the member throbbingly hot in his hands. He never thought of himself as someone with small hands, but in comparison to Zhongli’s cock, they look so child-like.
But of course, none of that matters as Childe starts off by lowering his face towards the imposing cockhead, tongue darting out to give a small, self-conscious lick.
“Mmmmhnn.”
A disbelieving moan comes out of his mouth as he savors the earthy taste in his mouth. Tea, this is definitely like the tea that Xiansheng favors. Childe throws all reservations he previously had and dives to take the head in his mouth.
He can take it.
“Ghhk!” Childe chokes, trying to adjust to the stretch on his mouth despite opening it as wide as he could already. Instinctively swallowing earns him a low grunt that makes him freeze and stop breathing. He directs his wet eyes upwards and thankfully; Zhongli’s eyes are still closed despite the flushed skin and expression.
He can still take it. Or at least, as much as he can. He’d probably have to dig a hole through his throat to take all of it.
Childe concentrates on breathing through his nose for a few seconds, trying to familiarize himself with the feeling but never letting himself pop away from the tantalizing cock. It’s a challenge that isn’t quite so, but Celestia, Childe wants so much.
He wants those piercing eyes on him as he tries to suck the life out of Zhongli through his cock, mouth already too full despite not getting even half of it inside. He wants to be used and abused all while being watched intensely like the older man does when they’re together.
Golden. Sunset-like.
There’s too many yet also too little words to describe the color of the eyes Childe desperately wants to only look at him. All of colors Childe knows fit in one aspect yet never enough to perfectly describe the mesmerizing orbs as a whole. And he moans at the thought of having them open to see him bob his head like a common whore pleasuring their client, choking and groaning at the delectable taste of the cock in his mouth.
Slowing down for a bit, Childe removes his own pants with much difficulty. He tries to substitute the pleasure of bobbing his head up and down the cock with sucking and swallowing all while he almost tears off his grey pants and underwear with one shove.
Just a little bit more.
He manages to lower the constricting clothing down to his knees where they’re conveniently settled on the nearby table. Despite his cock achingly hard, Childe’s spit and slick-covered hand slithers lower towards his entrance. A finger circles teasingly over the tight furl before it pushes inside. And it burns, pleasantly so that it makes Childe sharply suck on the cock in his mouth.
He moves faster, fondling the heavy balls below before going back up to the veiny and large shaft to pump whatever his tiny hand can hold. It twitches a few more times, pulsing until a large amount of seed is unloaded inside Childe’s abused throat.
“Mmff!” His heartrate picks up as he dangerously drowns in the cum that floods his mouth and throat like an endless river. That sign of danger makes Childe rise up to the challenge as he swallows what he can despite the initial surprise, some already leaking out of the corners of his sore mouth. And as if underwater, he stops and controls his breathing to do so, all while his finger courageously pumps in and out of his own hole. He even doubles the number as he feels himself go over the precipice with a mind-numbing climax.
Knock, knock.
Childe breathes, swallowing the last of the cum Zhongli’s cock has to offer. But he also freezes, his arousal fluctuating between getting all the more excited with an unknowing audience and flagging down with what the knock could signify—work, so much of it that he should be cutting his time together with Zhongli for a few days to settle what he’s supposed to be doing in the first place.
“Master Childe.” Ekaterina’s voice rings out, all businesslike like the woman truly is, “We would like to have you oversee the last of the preparations made before the rite.”
Right. Fucking perfect.
The least Childe could give himself is a nice climax before work, right?
He removes his mouth from the curiously still-hard cock and licks away the traces of cum on his lips. Not exactly the taste of heaven, but somehow, it’s addicting.
Shaking his head, Childe takes a deep breath. He then clears his throat and whispers to himself to test how his voice sounds.
“Wo-work.” He shakes his head again at the cracking sound all while maneuvering himself around with his ass high up towards Zhongli’s sleeping face. He grasps what leverage he can get on the table that’s now in front of him as he whispers again. “Work. Ehem, work. Okay, this is fine.”
“Master Childe, are you there?”
He’s clearly here with the lamps lighting up the room which can be seen through the yellow glow of the parchment window. But, yes, perhaps a little busy as he pants heavily, each puff of breath hopefully indiscernible from outside.
“I’m here,” Childe says after he gathers his wits and voice, “I’ll be there in a few. Don’t wait for me and go.”
That sounded convincing. Or at least, Childe thinks so as he resumes fingering himself, three slender fingers pumping in and out with a squelch. Celestia, is three even enough for Zhongli’s massive cock? It probably isn’t but, just the head. Just the head would be enough for now.
“Will do, Sir.” Footsteps echo until they fade away to give way to the loud crickets of the night.
Childe grins to himself as he steadies himself, one hand already on the base of Zhongli’s cock. With one last pump, he removes his fingers and lowers his ass with shaking thighs, down and down towards the awaiting cock.
“A-ah!” He pops the head inside himself with a keen. “Hnngh!” His hole burns—stretched taut with little preparation for the massive cockhead that embarrassingly is enough to make him climax, his cock spurting ropes of white over the messy table.
“Fuck. Xiansheng, as much as I’d love to bury you inside me tonight,” His chest rises up and down with each pant, legs still straining to keep himself up on the older man’s cockhead. He just might tear if he goes further. As enticing as sex and blood is to him, he can’t afford to limp for the next few days. “I need to get to hah-work. Maybe…hah, when all of this is done and over, you’ll fuck me. If not, I’ll just fuck myself on your massive hah-c-cock, willing or not, Mr. Zhongli. That’s a promise.”
Childe slowly pulls away, wincing at the soreness he will surely feel until tomorrow. He turns around to face the sleeping older man and kiss his eyelids lovingly.
“Won’t you please look at me? Only me?”
Hesitantly, he slides away from Zhongli’s prone form, cleaning up what he could to make the man look presentable again. He dresses himself in new clothes, leaving the room in a passable state of organization, a note folded neatly on the table.
So.
He didn’t get the gnosis. He didn’t even get to lure the old dragon out. Nothing in his plans, even his contingencies worked. And he knows Her Majesty’s cold nature would only accept such failures with death. Yet, despite being depressed over it, he limps back to Liyue feeling as free as a bird.
Nothing’s holding him back anymore.
If he could just get his one last desire in his own hands, there’s nothing stopping Childe from running away to the ends of Teyvat. Hell, he’s willing to go back to the abyss if that’s the only place he can stay alive with his treasure.
He rushes, in the hide of the darkness, towards the funeral parlor and opens what he knows is Zhongli’s office window. The window slides easily, opening up to an organized room smelling of earthly and flowery fragrances. However, the room remains devoid of the consultant he’s been looking for.
“Where are you?” He whispers to himself before going back outside with a flip. “He must’ve just gone home. Yes, probably on his way still.”
And he dashes silently from one bush to another, hiding from the vigilant Milileth and frantic crowd as the waters slowly ebbed away from their city. Osial, you useless fuck.
Childe is about to turn around a corner when he feels it. The intense gaze that wracks his body with goosebumps and tiny shivers. Only one man can induce such of him, and with a turn of his head towards the right, golden eyes glow as they watch him slink through the backside of Liyue’s port city.
Instead of feeling like a caught rat, Childe grins and charges to hug Zhongli with a loud ‘oof’ as his tender chest meets a stone-hard one.
“Xiansheng! I’ve been looking for you!”
Zhongli’s breath is hot on Childe’s neck as he speaks, voice low and dangerous, “Did you, now?”
Childe giggles, sounding a little bit as unhinged as his thoughts. He buries his face on the older man’s chest while the other’s warm hands encircle his waist.
How does one go about inviting someone to go back to their apartment without being suspicious? The city just got attacked, and most of the citizens evacuated on higher ground. Meanwhile, his apartment is near the supposedly dangerous sea. Should he invite Zhongli for tea again? He might have some side dishes stocked as well.
“Tell me,” Zhongli interrupts his thoughts with a question whispered in his ear, “Why were you looking for me, Childe?”
Childe’s reply is intentionally muffled by the older man’s coat, hoping that he can get away with his lame excuses. Well, he really has no excuses left.
“What was that?”
He repeats his gibberish mumbling before an idea rings brightly inside his mind. With a grunt, Childe melts down towards the floor all while holding his stomach in pain. An exaggeration of the dull throbbing he feels on the spot the traveler luckily managed to hit. Nothing dangerous but, it should be a good enough of an excuse.
Hopefully.
“Childe?” Zhongli calls out as he immediately steadies Childe’s limp and weak form. “What happened?”
Childe coughs to add to the act, still clutching his stomach with a trembling hand. He continues resting his head on the older man’s lovely chest. “I-I just want to rest. Can you help me back to my apartment, Xiansheng?”
“Of course.” Unexpectedly, Zhongli bends to reach under Childe’s knees and back to carry him like a bride. It makes Childe yelp in surprise. “Let us not waste time.”
The trip is slow despite Zhongli’s words. And Childe revels in the serenity of their surroundings where there’s nobody but them walking in the streets. He sighs contentedly, burrowing himself further in the warmth of the older man.
He wants to laugh and hug Zhongli as tight as he could, giddiness simmering in his blood at everything. It’s like he’s getting a reward despite his utter failure. Who knows, he might as well worship Rex Lapis at this rate with how he blessed Liyue with the presence of one Zhongli.
Oh, benevolent Rex Lapis, I take back all the things I’ve said about you. You’re the best archon there is, but if you will grant me this one wish, I will forever be your servant.
The silence goes on. But all Childe can hear is the steady thump of the older man’s heart in line with each step Zhongli takes. It makes Childe want to claim the heart itself, watching it thump frantically in his hands before it ultimately stays still. Childe gets to keep it inside a jar for keepsakes.
Another day.
Finally, the door swings open with Zhongli’s soft push as they arrive at the said apartment. Did Childe forget to lock it? Well, it had been a stressful day for him anyway. Too much to plan yet all of them all of naught.
Not exactly, Childe hides his grin by burying his face into the older man’s chest.
But as soon as Zhongli settles Childe on the bed, the action starts.
Childe’s been part of assassination and espionage missions for as long as he can remember. It’s easy enough to knock Zhongli out when he turns around to get Childe a glass of water. A single blow to the neck. Well, it actually took all of Childe’s might, but that doesn’t quite matter now as Zhongli crumples to the floor, helpless and just how Childe wants him.
Giddily, Childe throws the blanket the older man tucked him in and maneuvers the heavy, limp body on the bed. Celestia, is the man made out of pure muscle or what, because the whole thing just made Childe pant in exertion. Sweat drips down his forehead and down his chin where it plops down Zhongli’s eyelid.
“Hmm…Hmm,” Childe makes quick work of their clothes, tossing his own in a pile of mess while keeping Zhongli’s neat and folded. The coat is easily removed along with the whole ensemble of clothes the man has, showing sun-kissed skin. Perfect and so juicy looking with each sculpted bump of muscle, down towards the treat of a cock the man has. Imposing as he remembers despite not being hard just yet.
“Let’s get it on, now, shall we?” Childe bites his lower lip as he climbs over Zhongli’s prone figure. He moves to get everything ready before the climax he desperately can’t wait for, a bottle of oil popped open and lubricating everywhere he can get his hands onto.
Sitting on top of the older man’s muscled stomach, he moves rubs his hands together before caressing Zhongli’s cheeks down to the man’s neck and massive pectorals. And all while relishing in the way each muscle Childe’s sitting on top of bump against his entrance every time Zhongli unconsciously shivers.
“Yesss…” Childe hisses as he turns around to accommodate the neglected cock that’s already stirring to life with just a few touches. Oh, what he’d give to have Zhongli lick his winking hole at the same time Childe sucks the older man’s cock. Instead, Childe settles for feeling Zhongli’s hot breath on his ass while he chokes on the massive cock yet again.
Choking on it makes it all the more enticing.
Yet this time, Childe rushes. He lathers what he couldn’t get inside his mouth with oil, encouraging the cock to full erection. He swallows and bobs his head as fast as he could that he’s unable to prevent himself for tearing up at the rough pace. The dull throb of his injury makes itself known as Childe exerts himself, moving on to finger himself like he did a few nights ago.
He’s a lot looser. It’s definitely because he continued to finger himself on each night after having the damn thick cockhead inside him like an obsession he can’t forget. The feeling of being stretched wide open, speared with just the tip as he toppled over his own climax was special.
It was the very first time they connected their bodies.
Of course, Childe has to prepare for the bigger shaft. And it was a right choice seeing how impatient he’s become, popping himself away from the cock to turn once again. As he straddles Zhongli’s strong hips while pumping four fingers inside himself, Childe licks the man’s slightly open lips. Even when knocked out, the stimulation is enough to make the older man grunt sexily. Childe must be doing something right, then. But he wonders when the older man will gain consciousness.
Will it be when Childe lowers himself down to the hilt in one go?
Or perhaps, Childe thinks as he thumbs across Zhongli’s soft eyelids, will it be when he gets his prize?
With a loud squelching sound, Childe removes his fingers from his gaping entrance with a whimper. Empty. And he needs, like a thirsty man would reach for water.
“Aaaah!” Childe screams, eyes clenched shut at the pain and pleasure mixed like an addicting cocktail. Tears fall down his cheeks as he clamps down on the cock he just speared himself into, thighs shaking in the unexplainable feelings in brewing inside his chest.
His mouth is open in an unhinged grin that, after a few calming breaths, turn into a breathless laugh. “Xiansheng, Xiansheng! I took you on! Archons, you’re so big I thought died for a second there!”
Experimentally, Childe swirls his hips as he moves closer to Zhongli, cupping the older man’s cheeks. He leans over to kiss Zhongli just as he’s rewarded with a moan, swallowing the sound and hopefully having it stay inside.
This man is mine.
And Childe moves. Up and down, starting out slow yet not too slow to feel comfortable. He needs the burning sensation from the sudden penetration—oh sweet, sweet pain. Pleasure as Zhongli’s massive cock hits just about every right place inside Childe.
Mine.
The speed gradually accelerates in time with the increase in pitch of Childe’s moans, mouth open towards the ceiling as he bounces himself on top of Zhongli’s cock. And he can feel himself getting there, almost forgetting himself in the process.
Thankfully, Zhongli’s broken grunt makes Childe gain his senses, enough to make him look down on the older man’s flushed, sleeping face. He doesn’t stop moving his hips.
One last thing.
“Are you…” Childe pants, caressing the older man’s perfectly handsome face, “dreaming right now, Xiansheng?”
Childe slicks Zhongli’s hair back as he slows the pace. With one hand on the man’s shoulder and the other moving on to settle on top of one soft eyelid, Childe presses his sharp nails down. Blood immediately drips over the area as Childe waits with bated breath for Zhongli to wake up.
The man doesn’t even jerk any part of his body up.
Emboldened, he presses further, feeling the curve of the eyeball guiding his fingers to not destroy the precious organ. Childe enjoyingly dips his fingers in the sea of blood, feeling the flesh that make up the man’s head.
Zhongli groans, but he still doesn’t wake.
A sickening grin graces Childe’s mouth as blood spurts from the wound. A little more. He can almost feel the eye detach itself from the connecting nerves. Slowly, slowly. Sweat drips down from his forehead, more due to fear of making a mistake than anything else. The eye must be perfectly preserved.
A morbid squelch echoes in Childe’s ears.
“I got it!” With tears in his eyes, he cheers. He didn’t expect himself to stop moving but he certainly did, cradling the eyeball and torn lid in his hands like one would a precious living being. Slowly and carefully, Childe removes the skin and tosses it away with a flick of his hand.
Beautiful.
He almost came from the beauty before him. So golden and pure, like the combination of Liyue’s beautiful sunsets and best cor lapis, the eye is all that Childe needs in his life. Looking at him. Always watching. Forever on his figure and never at anyone else’s. Still speechless, he carefully places it on the bedside table, eye directed on his debauched figure.
Mine!
“Xiansheng…” Childe pants, tongue out to lick the blood on his fingers. How in the world Zhongli didn’t wake up is beyond him, but, gods, Childe needs one more. “Give me the other one as well.”
He paws at the older man’s bloody face, red hands scrambling to reach the other filled socket. And his eager hand almost got to the other lid when he’s suddenly met with a golden orb instead of skin. The gaze as intense as ever. Now, just more eerie with how there’s only one left while the other is but a gaping hole of blood and darkness.
“Baobei, you’re too greedy.”
A strong hand grasps Childe’s wrist.
Everything’s but blur of colors that decorate Childe’s vision until he’s the one lying on the bed. Zhongli, in his grotesque glory, somehow manages to flip their positions in one swift movement, hard cock still sheathed inside Childe.
“Z-Zho-Zhongli!” Childe exclaims, shocked and frozen under the smiling man. What a crazy man. “You…doesn’t it hurt?”
Zhongli chuckles, a rumble that vibrates into Childe through their connection below. “Kind of like a mosquito sting. But none of that…” Childe watches in both dread and fascination as Zhongli moves close enough for a kiss, blood dripping from his empty eye socket and all over them. “Have you ever heard of the saying…an eye for an eye?”
Childe blinks as he nods, somehow feeling like he has to with the commanding aura Zhongli exudes. Like a switch, everything is no longer in Childe’s frantic control. And yet, he somehow doesn’t mind relishing the reigns to the one-eyed man who widens his grin. Quite unlike the man Childe knows.
“Good.”
Zhongli rears his hips, the slide of his cock inside Childe making them both shudder before he snaps them back with a shattering smack!
“Aah-!” Childe moans, tasting the blood that continues to drip on him as he scrambling to loop his arms around Zhongli’s neck for leverage. Otherwise, he might just get blown away from the force of each push.
The older man continues the slow yet rough thrusts, each movement feeling like a spear drilling in and out of him. Each contact making a loud and sick squelching sound that resounds in the room. And it’s hot. It’s like his insides are being lit up, the bruises and marks feeling as if they’re on fire. Yet all Childe can do is take whatever is being given.
All at the mercy of the perhaps not-quite-human Zhongli, because whoever says having an eye gouged out stung like a mosquito bite?
“Aahhh-!” His eyes open themselves as a different kind of pain registers in his brain, just in time for Zhongli to continue extracting Childe’s left eye. “Wh-what..!”
It hurts!
“An eye for an eye, baobei.” Zhongli chuckles deeply, still thrusting his cock deeply but with an increased pace. It hit Childe’s prostate just right with a force that feels a bit too much that his vision whites out.
“Ack! Zh-!”
Archons, it hurts!
He can feel it. The digging fingers, going around tissues and nerves to extract his eye. Zhongli takes his time, caressing the backside of Childe’s still-attached eye, slender fingers exploring and touching everywhere. The scream that begs to get out of his throat gets shoved back, choked by the firm hand on his neck preventing him from jerking upright.
He can’t breathe.
It hurts! It hurts!
…but it’s also so, so pleasurable!
Finally, Zhongli pulls. Childe’s left eye is no longer his.
“Good boy.”
Childe cums, harder than he’s ever had in his adventurous life. His back arches, body struck in such a position with his mouth open wide in a silent scream. Tears of blood fall from his left eye socket, empty and void of anything like the abyss. All while Zhongli rocks in and out of his puffy and sensitive hole, chasing his own climax after settling Childe’s eye beside his own on the table.
A few more thrusts before Zhongli suddenly bites Childe neck, harsh enough to draw blood that a fair leg shoots out to kick in the air. Childe’s insides aren’t even given respite from the heat, a flood of cum painting his insides a deluge of white.
Oh fuck.
There is silence.
No movement except for the heaving of their chests. Like a statue in a grotesque and morbid coupling. Each of their eye watching the display with dead indifference, blood still dripping down from where the nerves are crudely cut.
Zhongli breaks whatever moment they had with a bloody, fanged smile, one eye shining brighter than Childe’s ever seen it, “So, baobei, what else did you want from me?”
Childe’s mouth only opens and closes like a fish out of water, his body still recovering from the assault he doesn’t quite know how to describe. The older man seems to take pity of Childe, a hand slicking back the bright hair poking on his remaining eye.
“Do you want my heart?” Zhongli runs his hand through Childe’s fair locks as if everything just fine and it’s a normal day. “I could give you mine, but I intend to take yours too if that’s the case. You won’t survive it, though. Hmm, what a predicament we have here.”
And you would survive without a heart, Xiansheng?
Just who on earth are you?
Childe remains silent but is curiously listening well, conveying such to Zhongli as they lock their remaining eyes together. Zhongli’s attention fully and only on Childe. Just the way he wants it to be.
“Ah, but tell me, is my eye what you really want?” Zhongli traces Childe’s empty socket with a teasing finger, “Or is it me?”
A grin appears on Childe’s red and abused lips, his voice cracking and whispery as he answers, “It’s always been you, Xiansheng.”
“Oh, what a lovely young man you are.” Zhongli praises with a deranged smile. He then presses a finger inside Childe’s mouth, the pad of his index finger pressing on the pinkened tongue. “Want a finger, instead?”
Childe gratefully chomps on it, teeth tearing through flesh and bone with a grin.