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Chapter Text

Zhongli often found himself surrounded by luxury. He was usually referred to as a man with refined tastes unlike any other, for he found it difficult to be impressed by things that others would consider luxury yet were ordinary for him.

He had a keen eye for the truly priceless things in life, which is why he found himself at a party like this one—not because he wanted to be there or anything, but because less superior others found themselves compelled to invite a man like him. Zhongli had stopped being impressed by new curiosities a long time ago. The glass of whiskey he sipped from was a fine example of that.

Just a glass likely cost more than most people’s monthly salaries, and yet all he really did was eye the liquid swirling in the glass with an expression of distaste. It tasted like any other drink—bitter and unremarkable, just like many of the people who mulled about around him.

These gatherings that made use of polished smiles and under-the-table dealings were a boring but necessary evil in Zhongli’s line of work.

The opulence, the empty conversations, and the subtle power complexes that were visible in every interaction were tedious to him. He hadn’t built his empire in quite so boring a fashion, but he wasn’t just your average businessman.

He was a dominant alpha who held the entire city of Liyue Harbor in his palm.

Zhongli had his hands in every venture in Liyue, holding the most powerful hand in the game of cards which was the economy. If there was Mora to be made, then Zhongli would ensure it fell right into his palms. He had deep ties in every aspect of Liyue’s economy—from the government to the enterprises to the underground. He had the mind of a true business tycoon, and yet, he was more than that—he was cruel, calculating, and calm, with enough prowess to hold even the mafia under his empire. He didn’t chase power—he commanded it.

But it was boring, being the most powerful man in Liyue.

He had never been one to chase instant gratification, harboring too realistic a mind to act on such primitive impulses that could not be capitalized upon. He both prided himself on this but loathed it for how dull it made life.

Being at the top was a lonely thing. The hall was full of influential people, though most were already in Zhongli’s pockets. Attending these events was necessary so that those around him never forgot who held the reins over their lives.

This was supposed to be a brief appearance to maintain visibility and ensure the appropriate handling of a few delicate matters that needed his attention. Even in the room full of Liyue’s most powerful, Zhongli stood apart—untouchable, unmoving. He was relieved that no one was approaching him—he just wanted to leave, looking for any excuse.

He was contemplating a quiet exit, when someone caught his attention.

He saw someone looking at him, but when he caught their eye, they looked away as if abashed. He found himself staring, for they were truly peculiar, standing out in the crowd, not quite in the same way as Zhongli, but because they were beautiful.

The man had fluffy-looking ginger hair, a color Zhongli had never seen before—so unnaturally natural. His skin was pale, causing his blue eyes to stand out even from the distance between him and Zhongli. Zhongli had never found reason to do a double-take at omegas like that man for he was so used to meeting truly extraordinary people to the point where even they stopped looking so interesting. And yet, he found himself intrigued. He was the only foreigner in a room full of Liyueans, making him stand out amongst all the dark-haired and dark-eyed people around them.

Zhongli shook himself from the thought, wondering why his mind had grasped onto that man like that.

But as he looked at Zhongli again, Zhongli didn’t look away. He really was pretty. His eyes narrowed a little as the man began making his way towards him rather than shying away like he had the first time Zhongli had caught him looking.

Zhongli would’ve sighed disdainfully had it been anyone else approaching him, but instead, he found himself curious about the young man. Zhongli couldn’t understand why he couldn’t seem to look away from his approaching form. He couldn’t be any older than twenty-one. He wasn’t the type Zhongli usually went for. And yet, something about him captivated him. Perhaps it was the way he moved—graceful and purposeful, his body muscular and lean as if he was used to moving like water.

Zhongli couldn’t deny it. He was remarkable, even by his standards.

And yet, there was something about the man that didn’t quite fit. He had looked away when their eyes first met as if afraid, but now, he approached him—resolved and determined. But determined for what?

What business did an unnamed and unknown omega have approaching him?

He stopped just short of invading Zhongli’s personal space, standing close enough for Zhongli to make out every bit of his pretty features.

He was even more striking up close. A sharp jawline, pretty hands, and high cheekbones. But what caught Zhongli’s eye the most was how cold everything about him was. His eyes were sharp like daggers, devoid of any emotion, empty with no sparkle. His smile was polished and charming, but it had no warmth to it. “Forgive me if I’m being too forward,” the man said in a soft, charming voice, bowing his head to Zhongli respectfully, imitating the Liyueans around them. “But I couldn’t help noticing you from across the room. You caught my eye because you look like you’d rather be anywhere else.”

Zhongli raised an eyebrow, his expression calm though a hint of amusement danced in his eyes. The man’s voice had a slight accent, alluring and distinctive, confirming that he was foreign.

“How observant of you,” Zhongli said in his measured voice, like a man playing chess with just his words. “Then you must also have observed that I was this close to leaving, but you’re holding me up without consideration despite that.”

The man smiled his cold smile, masking what he was feeling effortlessly. “That’s exactly why I approached you,” he said simply. “So that you wouldn’t leave so soon.”

Zhongli tilted his head slightly at him, mystified. “Who are you?”

The man extended a hand for Zhongli to take, his calm eyes looking straight into his. “Childe,” he said. “I’m not from around here, as you can tell. I find it difficult to make acquaintances with Liyueans as the customs here are so different from back home in Snezhnaya. I’m just passing through, attending events like these for networking purposes… though, like you, I find these gatherings tedious to attend.”

Zhongli didn’t take his offered hand immediately. He gazed down at it, admiring its daintiness as he picked apart each of Childe’s words. He noticed that he wore gloves over his fingers, and his fingers appeared to be trembling slightly.

He was silent for a moment, his intense amber eyes studying Childe intensely. He couldn’t get a read on a man quite so enigmatic as him.

He carried himself with confidence and smiled easily, yet his hands appeared to be trembling. As Zhongli took his outstretched hand, he understood why. Childe’s fingers were icy cold, just like the rest of him. Zhongli paused ever so slightly, though his expression betrayed nothing.

Something tugged at his insides. It took him a moment to decipher what it was. Attraction. Desire. An intense urge to pull Childe forward until he landed in his arms.

He could tell Childe felt it too, for his breath hitched just slightly as if he could smell Zhongli's intense scent, like rain-washed stones.

And yet, that pause was the extent of what they let the other see. “Zhongli,” he introduced himself smoothly, searching for a hint of recognition in Childe’s eyes. He found none.

“Zhongli,” Childe whispered, repeating the name as if savoring it. Zhongli liked the way it rolled off his tongue in that accent, not quite pronouncing his name right, but he felt no need to correct him. He liked the way he said it. “I’ve heard a lot about you. People speak highly of your… influence.”

Zhongli’s eyes narrowed. He could tell Childe was lying about knowing him. He didn’t understand why. Why would he lie about something like that?

“I see. And what is your impression of me?”

Childe chuckled, the sound light and easy. Why was he so captivating? He wasn’t even a dominant omega—only recessive. And yet, Zhongli couldn’t look away from him for fear of missing each mercurial shift in his expression. “It’s hard not to notice someone like you even in a room full of so many important someones. Composed, calculating… someone who doesn’t like wasting time with small talk, I imagine.”

“And yet, here you are, making small talk with me,” Zhongli said, though he seemed amused.

Childe smiled a little, and for a second, Zhongli saw something in his eyes. Something darker lay beneath the polished surface Childe presented to him—desperation. It disoriented Zhongli for a second.

“Maybe I’m just here to test my luck,” he said, his voice falling into a whisper as he leaned in just slightly. “I’m always looking for someone who stands out—someone who can give me something I can’t get from just anybody.”

Zhongli’s gazed down at him as if magnetized. He wasn’t used to being flirted with so openly. It was clear that Childe had motives that were beyond Zhongli’s understanding. He should’ve turned away from him. He should’ve curled his lips into a sneer at such a flamboyant attempt at seduction as he usually would—after all, he wasn't that easy. But he didn’t. He couldn’t help wanting to know what those motives were. That earlier sense of desire hadn’t faded. It only intensified, for he could smell just a hint of the omega’s scent. Like mint.

“And what is it, exactly, you want that only I can give you?”

Childe was silent for a beat, looking up into Zhongli’s eyes with that same desperate look in his eyes. And then, it was gone, replaced by his calm smile as he turned to an approaching waiter, taking two glasses off the tray he carried as if this was pre-planned. He offered one to Zhongli. “Just have a drink with me. All I want is a few moments from your time so I can know what it’s like to stand next to someone so distinctive, while we drink something lighter than the junk they gave you.”

Zhongli stared at him, befuddled. For a second, he couldn't process Childe's simple request. Then, he began to laugh softly. It was a rich sound and a rare one. Childe found himself staring, admiring how beautiful Zhongli looked even as he laughed so humorlessly, as if he couldn’t believe Childe’s audacity.

Zhongli couldn’t understand how someone could lie so easily, how they could think he was stupid enough to believe them. He was part of the mafia. He knew better than to drink from the glass. But he couldn’t help taking it, for he hoped it would help him understand Childe’s motives.

Zhongli was a man who had a keen eye for the most exceptional things. He could tell Childe was truly something to behold.

Perhaps that was why he chose to drink from the glass Childe gave him—so he could follow this new curiosity after so long of boredom. The wine Childe had given him was sweet, the first sip refreshing. The drink was light, more homey than the whiskey. It wasn’t poisoned, nor did it have anything else in it. It was a rarity that Zhongli had only had the pleasure of drinking once. His eyes swirled with a mixture of curiosity towards Childe, feeling his guard slowly lowering as if Childe had passed this test. He must’ve been quite a man to have procured a wine so rare.

It appeared to be just what Zhongli needed to ease into a conversation with Childe. They talked about everything and nothing at the same time—the event, the surrounding people, and each other.

Zhongli noticed how their drink together appeared to soften Childe’s gaze a little as well, how that cold look in his eye seemed to thaw as if getting lost in their conversation. He also observed how Childe never seemed to talk too much about himself. He didn’t seem to really learn anything about him at all, despite talking to him for what felt like an hour.

They were similar in many regards, for they kept feeling that same allure towards each other. And yet, they were experts at hiding it, though it showed very subtly in the way they both seemed to knit the distance between them, with Childe often touching Zhongli’s arm or shoulder lightly.

Zhongli couldn’t quite figure it out. How did this omega, who was recessive and barely had a scent with which to seduce, manage to do just that?

Why did he find himself enjoying their brief time together so much that he didn’t want it to end just yet? Was he getting old—too lonely, perhaps? He always stood apart from the crowd, where most people hesitated to approach him, and yet, it was this omega that made him feel seen for the first time despite showing so little of himself in return.

“This party bores me,” Zhongli said quietly. He couldn’t bring himself to say the next words. But you don’t. Instead, he could only try to prolong their time together without making himself too obvious. “Why don’t you walk with me?”

Childe gave him that smile that made his heart skip a beat, though it seemed warmer than before. They walked out of the party together until they ended up outside on the bustling street beyond the event hall. Childe looked up at him, his eyes slightly dazed. He appeared to be in deep thought, though those thoughts didn’t seem positive. His lips started to tremble. He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to hurt Zhongli, who seemed kind despite all his initial hostility.

There was no other way. Childe didn’t have a choice. Now was the time to do it, when Zhongli’s guard was down.

Childe steeled his nerves, and Zhongli caught on to it immediately, the way that coldness seemed to return as naturally as if it had never left. Childe lowered his head, subtly placing something on his tongue. “Is something the matter, Childe?” he asked.

Childe couldn’t bring himself to answer. He just smiled at Zhongli with no warmth. “No. I just…” He had to do it. He had to make this a success. He would only have one chance. “I... I’m sorry.” He stood on his tiptoes and kissed Zhongli without warning. He could feel Zhongli freeze for a second as if shocked. He hesitated, knowing he should pull away. He shouldn’t be bewitched by this man so easily. But it was like all the thoughts had fled his mind, finding himself melting into it instead, because all he had been thinking about until then was doing this—acting on this desire.

It was a kiss unlike any other. It was a kiss that brought back all of Zhongli’s forgotten feelings of excitement and satisfaction. He only had a moment to appreciate it.

And then, Childe did it.

Zhongli was brought back to earth sharply. The moment ended too soon as he stumbled back, his eyes wide as he gulped. “What did you give me?” he whispered, touching his lips, for Childe had shoved something into his mouth, sending it back to his throat. He looked at Childe, realization dawning on him.

But then, Zhongli felt a warmth wash through him. It wasn’t the warmth of alcohol—it was something deeper and heavier, making Zhongli’s limbs weak.

Zhongli stared at Childe, a look of betrayal on his face. For some reason, he found himself chuckling as if amused by the absurdity of it all. He should’ve known. He was a mafioso, and yet, he had fallen for it. He had fallen for it all because of that pull that kept his eyes connected with Childe’s. His thoughts were rapidly deteriorating, getting messier, until only one word remained. Why. Why. Why.

The coolness Childe had recovered was still there, but there was nothing masking the fear and desperation anymore.

“It’s okay,” Childe whispered in a soothing voice, though there was a tremble in his voice. “You won’t remember a thing. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I have to do this.” He stepped forward as Zhongli slumped against him, not quite unconscious, but his eyes were unfocused. People were starting to look. It was now or never. Childe was quick to bring him to a hotel nearby, knowing that the longer he put it off, the more his conscience would weigh down on him. He put Zhongli on a bed he’d reserved, his eyes still cold as if he’d trained himself to feel nothing as he did this.

Zhongli gazed up at him as Childe climbed over him, holding him down. There it was. That peculiar scent, like mint, trickled down on top of him. He inhaled deeply, feeling his mind spin even more out of control. Why? Why had that scent been enough to lure him in?

Why did Zhongli feel so much fury but not hate towards Childe? Why did he feel so disappointed?

He couldn’t string two thoughts together, but he could feel everything from the cold of Childe’s touch as he undressed him to the weight of him sitting on his waist.

“I’m sorry,” Childe whispered, his fingers trembling.

“No, you’re not,” Zhongli whispered, his voice slurred as he lifted his gaze to Childe’s. “I can see it in your eyes. Fear, yes—but remorse? No. Lying comes so easily to you. I should’ve known. I should’ve known something so remarkable as you was too good to be true.”

Childe bit his lip, feeling tears well in his eyes. The drugs he’d given him should’ve been enough to knock out any alpha, even a dominant one. And yet, Zhongli could still speak. That wasn’t what Childe had been ready for. He could feel his resolve already waning from just looking into Zhongli’s knowing eyes as if seeing Childe for who he was. "I want you to run. Run as far away as you can so I don't find you. Because if I do... I will tear you apart," he whispered. Childe felt his breath hitch at the threat. He knew Zhongli was fully capable of carrying it out. He couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t handle the disappointment in Zhongli’s gaze. He didn’t want to listen to his chastizing. He feared he could crumble if Zhongli said any more of his biting words.

Childe bit back a sob as he took Zhongli’s tie and placed it over his lips, quieting him. But his calm eyes, however dazed, never tore off of Childe. Not once.

***

The next morning, Zhongli woke up cold. His body was weighed down by an unnatural heaviness. He sat up before he even opened his eyes, feeling his mind swirl at the action.

His mind was lagging, processing everything too slowly than he was used to. He blinked open his eyes and found himself in an unfamiliar room. The fog cleared, and he remembered. Everything was coming back to him in sharp fragments as if piercing his skin.

He smiled sleepily to himself. “You said I wouldn’t remember anything,” he whispered.

He looked around, though he already knew he was alone in that room. His eyes cooled instantly. Childe was long gone. Of course he was. He was wise to take Zhongli's advice.

Zhongli released a soft breath, turning his gaze to the bedside table, where a single glass of water sat—a small mercy left behind by his assailant. He could almost feel the sweet taste of the wine Childe had given him, the pill he shoved down his throat, and the feeling of his body betraying him. He’d never experienced anything like it. He got up on his shaky legs, his bare body pristine as if it had been wiped down, his clothes neatly folded on the chair—they were the only indication that anything had happened at all.

Every detail had been carefully orchestrated and manipulated by Childe. No trace of him, save for the phantom sensation of his cold hands on Zhongli’s body and his faint scent in the air.

A coil of anger bubbled inside him—not because of what Childe had done to him, but because Zhongli had been stupid enough to fall for it. He found himself disturbed by how pliantly he had let Childe trap him. Why? Why was he so bewitched by Childe that he hadn’t seen it coming?

And worse yet, Zhongli was no closer to uncovering his motive. He had assaulted Zhongli in his moment of weakness. It wasn’t so simple as doing it out of pure desire. No. Childe was too enigmatic a man to do something so vile just because of desire. There was no lust in his eyes, no enjoyment. Only desperation.

Zhongli wanted to rip the room apart. He was so angry, he couldn’t breathe. Not because Childe had assaulted him. No.

It was because if Childe hadn’t drugged him, he would’ve wanted him. If Childe hadn’t manipulated the circumstances, Zhongli would’ve enjoyed it. He had been so close. So close to finding that one remarkable thing. His greed had blinded him. He had been willing to give Childe the world for that one sweet, blissful moment where they had kissed. It wasn’t just the kiss. It was everything about him, down to the coldness of his hands and the veil he kept over Zhongli’s eyes about his identity. It had been so long since something so dormant as attraction and excitement was stirred inside Zhongli, and Childe had done it so effortlessly.

Why? Why had he done it? What was he after? Zhongli wanted to know that more than anything. He wanted that even more than he wanted revenge.

Zhongli would find him. He didn’t care how long it took—he would eventually, for he had the omega’s scent all over him, and he would never forget it for as long as he lived, nor would the ghost of his touch disappear from his body. Be it days, months, or years, he would ensure Childe played right into his hands, and this time, Zhongli would make sure he got his answers. He would make sure he found out why his heart had been so weak for him in that one moment.

***

It was four years later when Zhongli found himself standing in the biting cold of Snezhnaya, wearing a long coat and a scarf, dressed as anyone would in a place so cold. He stood outside a house as it snowed, aloof, uncaring of the snowflakes falling on his face because nothing could quite match the chill that had been following Zhongli all these years since that night.

Four long years had passed, but the cold of Childe’s touch still lingered in his memory. Most men would’ve forgotten, let the memory fade into obscurity to curb the dissonance it created. But Zhongli wasn’t most men.

In the months following that night, he had used every resource at his disposal to hunt down that elusive omega. He had torn through every record he could get his hands on, but he couldn’t find anything. Childe had just vanished like a ghost after taking what he wanted. It was as though he’d never existed save for in Zhongli’s memories. It was maddening at first. No one from that party remembered him save for just a glance, for he hadn’t spoken to anyone except Zhongli. He had disappeared so cleanly, as if it was all meticulously plotted.

But Zhongli never forgot. He refused to let the truth slip away quite as easily as Childe had.

Perhaps he targeted Zhongli specifically. But that didn’t seem possible. He remembered the look in Childe’s eyes—the empty vagueness he used to describe Zhongli, based only on a surface-level impression of him. He didn’t know Zhongli when he had approached him.

But then how? How could he have made so clean an escape?

It frustrated Zhongli to no end to have so many questions yet so few answers. The hunt had consumed him for a time, his thoughts always swirling back to that man who haunted him even when he lay awake at night. He would replay that night in his mind’s eye over and over, his perfect memory painting every detail as clearly as though he was reliving it.

He remembered that look of desperation he’d seen in Childe’s eye, desperate to stop Zhongli from leaving. He remembered his trembling as he apologized over and over. He remembered the way he had moaned as he sat on his cock, the way he had looked down at Zhongli with that look like this was everything he had wanted, and yet, it was a look so devoid of lust. Zhongli could tell he had tried his best to remain detached throughout, as if he didn’t want to enjoy it, but he had watched Childe fall apart just as he bounced on top of him, his meek whimpers falling from his lips each time he brought his hips down.

Recalling those memories should’ve pained Zhongli. But they didn’t. They only fueled his desire to find Childe.

Had the circumstances been any different, Zhongli wouldn’t have hated him so much. He would’ve looked back on that drink with Childe as a good memory, he would’ve fucked Childe that night all of his volition if given the chance, just so he could hear those weak whimpers with a clear mind. He would’ve loved indulging in the adventure of getting to know someone so remarkable. He was still an enigma to Zhongli even now, and that only fueled his anger.

No one had ever succeeded in infiltrating Zhongli’s mind for so long. Not an enemy, nor a lover. Only Childe.

It only fueled his desperation to find him, but he never did.

Zhongli’s reach expanded all the way here to Snezhnaya, where he had found more leads on Childe, but they had all come up empty. Slowly, despite his desperation for closure, he was forced to let go of that night. He had more things to deal with—things that were much closer to his grasp than a ghost like Childe. For the first time in his many visits to Snezhnaya, he wasn’t here to search for Childe. He stood in front of that house, feeling the freezing wind whip through his hair, masking the sound of screams coming from inside. Zhongli stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the steam curl from his mouth as he waited.

Then, he saw one of his most trusted subordinates coming out, Xiao.

“It’s done,” he said, holding his arm up against the wind as he approached Zhongli. “He’s dead. We’ve got his bank account in our grasp too according to Yelan.”

“Good,” Zhongli said. “The cleanup?”

“A work in progress. I think I went too far,” Xiao answered, wiping a bit of blood from his face. Zhongli laughed a little. He patted Xiao’s head affectionately, ruffling his hair. “That’s why you’re my right-hand man.”

A politician from Liyue had swindled an absurd amount of drugs from Zhongli’s mafia without paying. Like a fool, he decided to make a run for it. Zhongli’s men had been hunting him for the last few months until they landed here in this tiny Snezhnayan town with an aging population. Zhongli usually left these matters to his subordinates, but he never passed an opportunity to go to Snezhnaya, given that he still thought he would find the one man so elusive that even a man with a reach so broad as Zhongli hadn’t been able to find him.

As much as Zhongli wanted to say he had moved on, forgotten the omega who had disappeared into thin air after taking what he wanted, he hadn’t. There was an unresolved tension that followed him everywhere he went. He was still just as obsessed—just as enamored.

Everything about him still haunted Zhongli. The coldness of Childe’s hands, his scent, the desperate look in his eyes, the way his body trembled not just with fear but with need.

It was as if Zhongli had been more than just a target to him—something about it felt so… personal.

But he didn’t think he would get answers so soon. He let it take a backseat so he could maintain the stability of his empire. And that was what he did now, waiting in the cold with Xiao by his side for all his other personnel to be done with the cleanup. It was almost peaceful out there, with snow falling on his face and steam puffing up where he breathed, even if the house they stood in front of had just become a site of violence. He looked around at the quaint little village, thinking how boring it must be to live here in a place so serene.

No one was outside, given his men had cleared the area before diving into work. Except…

Zhongli heard a soft sound behind him, cutting clearly through the whistle of the wind—a child’s laugh, high-pitched and joyful. It pulled him from his thoughts.

His head turned towards the direction of the sound, more instinctive than anything, his sharp eyes scanning the empty whiteness for the sound’s source. And then, a small figure dashed from around the corner. She was too quick, her little feet sliding on the icy street in her excitement. Before Zhongli could even react, she ran full force into his legs. Zhongli’s eyebrows raised into his bangs, shocked for a second. The impact had been minuscule, the child small enough that she had barely moved him, but now, she sat sprawled on the ground in front of him, a hood covering her head.

He readied his ears for her crying, but to her credit, she didn’t. She just hopped to her feet and rubbed her head. “S-Sorry, mister,” she said, craning her neck to look up at him with concern in her eyes as if worried she hurt him.

Zhongli froze.

He stared down at the little girl, who should’ve been unexceptional as most children were to him. She was bundled into a thick coat with a fur-lined hood, her chubby cheeks flushed from the cold. But it wasn’t the way she looked at him in awe or the innocence of her apology that caused the sudden tightening of Zhongli’s chest.

It was her eyes.

Amber eyes with golden pupils stared back up at him—so familiar, so much like his own. Zhongli’s lips were parted, wondering if he was seeing things. He thought his eyes were deceiving him, but Xiao was standing by his side, looking at her with shock that reflected Zhongli’s. The girl’s long, black hair, the shape of her nose, and the curve of her little face were differentiated only by her innocence. It was unmistakable. She looked like him.

Zhongli’s mind refused to accept what his eyes were telling him. The girl looked up at him with her round eyes, no more than three years old, yet even she appeared to notice how much he looked like her.

Her hands fidgeted with the ends of her coat as if unsure, before she smiled uncertainly at him, the same smile he saw so rarely in his own mirror. This was not just a resemblance. He saw himself reflected in the eyes of this small girl, himself and his mother before him. This was his blood.

He, who had never even pictured being a father, was staring into the eyes of his daughter.

“Jia!” a voice called out through the wind, sharp and panicked. The moment the name hit the air, Zhongli felt his body tense.

He knew that voice.

Zhongli’s eyes broke from the girl, falling on the figure that broke through the swirling snow. Childe. Zhongli’s composure broke completely, his eyes going wide as everything started coming together in his mind. There he was. The man Zhongli had spent four years looking for was standing there, with his same scruffy ginger hair, the same muscular stature, and the same blue eyes staring into Zhongli’s with a look that could only be described as horror. His face was pale as he stood frozen in place, his eyes locked onto Zhongli's.

Tears welled in Childe’s eyes, reflecting his fear. He looked haunted, as if he hadn’t rested easy in all the years between them and their last meeting. There was no coolness in his eyes. Only fear as he looked at the little girl standing between them.

“Jia Li,” Childe called again, his voice cracking slightly as he forced himself to step towards his daughter. “C-Come here, love.”

The girl didn’t need telling twice, looking between her father and the man who looked so much like her, almost able to sense the fear rippling through Childe as she made her way back into his arms.

“Please…” Childe whispered, taking a few steps back with Jia Li in his arms, staring at Zhongli with his blue eyes stricken with fear. “I didn’t think… I didn’t want to believe you could…” He couldn’t string a sentence. There he stood—the man he had hurt. He no longer had that look of betrayal in his eyes. He was staring at Childe with an iciness not different from the one Childe had shown him when they first met, but there was something else too. Hunger. Yearning.

Zhongli’s expression hardened. His entire body felt hot with fury, not just because of that night but because the girl Childe held in his arms was… his daughter.

“You should’ve done a better job hiding,” Zhongli whispered, though his words carried clearly to Childe’s ears. Childe’s lips trembled, his breath coming out in shallow gasps. The weight of what he’d done pressed down on him, remembering the hurt in Zhongli’s eyes when he had duped him.

There was fear in Childe’s eyes, but there was also something else. Guilt. Regret. And something Zhongli couldn’t understand. Longing.

He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t face Zhongli. He couldn’t face all that he had done. He turned and bolted down the road, his daughter grasped tightly in his arms. Zhongli didn’t move to chase him. His eyes were full of cold fury as he watched Childe’s figure disappear into the snow, having expected nothing less from him. But he twitched as if afraid, afraid that Childe would escape him again. Then he grounded himself. He wouldn’t lose Childe again. Not this time. Calmly, he lifted his hand and signaled to Xiao, who had been a bystander throughout.

“Go after him,” he said quietly. “Find out where he’s staying, and if he tries to clear out, break his legs. Don’t hurt the girl.”

Xiao didn’t need telling twice. He disappeared into the steadily building storm, hot on Childe’s trail. Zhongli stood alone in the empty street, realizing he’d been holding his breath. He realized his hands were trembling, not because of the cold but that same feeling he had felt only briefly the night he met Childe. A grim satisfaction. A grim excitement.

He stared at the ground with wide eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. Finally.

In this town, chasing someone that wasn’t Childe, he had found him just as he had known in his heart that he would. But not only him. He… had a daughter.

Jia Li. He could still see her standing in front of him in his mind’s eye. Her innocent face remained etched in his memory, the way she had smiled at him as if even she could recognize who her father was. That small, delicate girl. She had no idea the weight of her existence, no idea of the dark web that tangled her with the same ilk as Zhongli. A strange feeling curled inside him, realizing the reality of the situation. Jia Li wasn’t just any child. She was his. She was what he needed to keep Childe from slipping through his fingers again.

***

A day passed, and Zhongli sat at the back of his car, driven by a chauffeur.

He had his arms crossed, his composure fixed firmly back in place. He had spent all night gathering his thoughts, pacing the room he had booked at the local inn, unable to sleep for Childe kept infiltrating his mind each time he closed his eyes.

Zhongli’s focus, which had gotten him to the top of the Liyuean empire, was back in its place. He knew what to do now.

He watched the tiny cottages they passed through the window, each roof covered in a blanket of snow. The storm had stopped as if inspired by the calmness Zhongli now felt. They stopped in front of a small house, a modest, snow-dusted cabin tucked away at the outskirts of the village, bordered by the woods. Zhongli opened the door and stepped outside in the crisp morning air, looking at the house. He wasn’t startled as Xiao suddenly appeared by his side like a shadow, having trusted that he would do just that. “He’s in there?” he asked, his face expressionless.

Xiao nodded. “He didn’t try to run. He knows I’ve been following him.”

“Anyone else in the cottage?” Zhongli asked, his voice eerily calm.

“A woman,” Xiao said, causing Zhongli to look at him in alarm. For a second, he imagined that Childe was raising his daughter with someone else, another alpha, and it caused his jaw to tighten disdainfully. But then, Xiao clarified. “She’s an omega. Appears only to be a nanny.” Zhongli’s shoulders relaxed. He breathed out in relief. “Good work. You can go rest now, warm up.”

Xiao looked edgy at this. “And leave you here alone? No way.”

Zhongli smiled, though his heart didn’t appear to be in it. “No man can win against me twice.”

Xiao was silent for a moment, then sighed in agreement. He knew an omega could not stand against an alpha like Zhongli, not without underhanded tricks like the one Childe had used on their first meeting. Zhongli began to walk up the driveway, his boots crunching against the snow under his feet. Then, Xiao called, “Zhongli. The child, is she really…?”

Zhongli turned to look at him, his face void of emotion once more. “Yes.”

He let the wind carry away his voice as he continued up the path, his eyes on the windows as if he could tell someone was watching him approach.

He stepped onto the porch, something unfamiliar flickering through him. Was it anticipation? Anticipation to meet his daughter, to finally learn the answers he had wanted to know the night she had been conceived? Or was it that same aching feeling he could feel each time he thought of Childe? The yearning he thought was purely retributional? He didn’t quite know.

He calmly knocked on the door, knowing in his heart that Childe wouldn’t refuse to open the door. He must’ve known now that this was a done deal. He had successfully run from Zhongli one time, but there was no running from him twice. There was no way to avoid the confrontation that awaited them. It was quiet for a beat, no sounds of shuffling coming from behind the door. And yet, it slowly swung inwards anyway, telling Zhongli that Childe had already been waiting behind it, bracing himself for what would happen to him.

Childe stood there in the doorway, looking up at Zhongli with those blue eyes that had haunted him for so long.

He was just as beautiful as Zhongli remembered. Seeing his pale skin, his clenched jaw, and the fear in his eyes, Zhongli felt that bittersweet satisfaction again. It was so different from how he had been when they first met. He leaned in, wanting to make sure this was the same person who had so coldly taken advantage of him. He could feel Childe’s breath hitch as he took in the faint scent coming from him. It was just as riveting as it had been that night. So it hadn’t been a trick of the night—that feeling was still there. Zhongli met his eyes again. It angered him just to see Childe standing there so fearfully rigid, as if he was the one who had been assaulted and not the assailant.

“Where is she?” Zhongli asked calmly, knowing he needed to get the most important thing out of the way first.

Childe had a look of resignation on his pretty face, no longer able to meet his eyes. He couldn’t find the words to speak, so he just moved out of the doorway, allowing Zhongli to enter the threshold.

The living room was quaint and small, not as luxurious as Zhongli thought Childe would’ve been inclined towards. But he understood why. A place like this would be enough to raise a child without fearing for one’s safety. There was a fireplace to one side of the room, flanked by sofas and carpet spreading out in front of it, keeping the place warm and cozy.

Sitting on the living room floor, Jia Li was playing with some dolls. A nanny hovered nearby, looking at Zhongli with a stricken look.

The resemblance was truly startling. Zhongli's mother had taken only a few pictures of his childhood, but Jia Li encapsulated each one. Sensing a new presence, she looked up. Her eyes lit up at the sight of Zhongli.

“It’s you again, mister!” she said happily.

Zhongli came closer, his eyes becoming gentler as he internalized that this little girl was his child. “You remember me?” he asked, crouching down before her on one knee.

She nodded. “Mhm. You look just like me,” she said pragmatically, seeming more comfortable in her home. “And your legs hurt me right here.” She pointed to her forehead. Zhongli chuckled softly, reaching out and touching her gently on the forehead.

“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again,” he murmured. “Do you know who I am, Jia Li?”

She was staring at him as if her little mind was trying to connect the dots. She looked past him at Childe, who still hovered by the door, looking shaken. Childe had told her about her parentage before. “Are you… my other papa?” she asked, too shrewd to make nothing of the similarities between herself and Zhongli.

Zhongli smiled warmly and nodded. “It’s good to finally meet you. I wish… I wish I had been there for your first few years of life,” he whispered, looking at Childe as well, resentment reflecting in his gaze, causing Childe to look away in pain. Then, Zhongli fixed Jia Li with his smile. “But don’t worry. We’ll be in each other’s lives from now on. If you’ll have me, I would love to be your father.” Jia Li beamed at that. This man smelled like her, and there were traces of his scent on her Papa too, making him seem familiar. It was comforting. Everything was new to the little girl, but she seemed happy to meet him. Then, she looked at Childe, and her smile faltered.

“Papa, why do you look so sad?” she asked, too perceptive of his feelings.

Childe was trembling a little. He seemed close to his breaking point. He couldn’t take this—all the feelings swirling inside him. He was looking at Zhongli, wondering what he would do to him.

He put up a brave smile. “I’m not, baby. I just…” Childe said, trying to hide his trembling. “I want to speak to your father for a bit. Nadia,” he turned to the nanny, who stood idly, twiddling her thumbs. “Can you take Jia to her room for a bit? Wh-While I discuss things with Mr. Zhongli?”

Zhongli twitched a little. It had been so long since he’d heard his own name being spoken in Childe’s voice, still with that slight mispronunciation Zhongli had once reveled in. It was jarring.

“Oh, of course!” the nanny said. “Come along, Jia Li.”

Jia Li seemed reluctant, wanting to comfort her papa, but she knew better than to disobey, smart enough to recognize when things were out of place. She followed the nanny out of the room, leaving Zhongli and Childe alone.

Zhongli stood up to his full height, looking at Childe with an expressionless face. When he was searching for Childe in those initial few months, he had what he would say all planned out. He had wanted to toy with Childe as he had been toyed with, to make him pay for what he had done. That’s what he had always intended, but now, the circumstances were much different than anticipated. Zhongli walked over to a small, two-person dining table and pulled a chair for himself, sitting down. He gestured his chin to the opposite seat. “Sit.”

Childe stood there for a second, fiddling with the hem of his shirt just as Zhongli had observed Jia Li doing, starting to see the resemblance. Then, he obeyed.

They were quiet for a moment, neither knowing where to begin. “I’m disappointed,” Zhongli said quietly. “When you first escaped me, I vowed to myself that you would writhe in pain and agony, that you would feel every bit the pain I felt that night when I was betrayed by the one man who had made me feel again. Now I’m disappointed that I’ll have to break that promise.”

Childe had his gaze on the table, where he placed his hands and began picking at his own skin, his fingertips still trembling. He didn’t appear as fazed as Zhongli thought he would be, as if that was something he had already come to terms with, as if that wasn’t the worst thing Zhongli could do to him.

“Why? Why can’t you keep that promise like you intended to?”

“You had my child,” Zhongli said simply. “She stands to be the only thing between you and my wrath. But I can’t help but be impressed that you raised my daughter for four years without me catching wind of it. Carried her for nine months, gave birth in a dingy place like this with only elders to look after her, with no one her age to grow up with—no father to protect her. I’m not sure if you did a good job raising her up until now, but alas, you did so either way.”

“She had me,” Childe said, defensiveness lacing his voice. “She doesn’t need anyone else.”

Zhongli raised his eyebrows at him, a hint of amusement in his eyes that this was the thing that managed to get under Childe’s skin. “You’re an omega. All alone in this world—no alpha and no family by the looks of it. Not only that—you’re no more than a rapist. How can I trust you to have the morals to raise a child?”

Childe was starting to tremble again. He couldn’t meet Zhongli’s eyes.

“You drugged me,” Zhongli continued, his words sharp like daggers, aimed with the intent to hurt. “You took what you wanted and disappeared. Did you think I’d let that go?”

Childe’s breath caught in his throat, his shoulders slumping. “I was desperate,” he whispered, though he knew there was no excuse for what he’d done. “You don’t understand. I—” Childe’s voice broke, tears brimming at the corners of his eyes. “I lost everything. I was insane—I wasn’t thinking clearly wh-when I did that you. I... I’m sorry. I don’t know what I can do to reverse what I did.”

“Explain. Explain to me every single thing that went through your mind that night and what made you do that when things were going so well. You didn’t know me—otherwise, you wouldn’t have done what you did. It was completely random, and yet, you were so desperate to do it. Why?”

Childe released a shaking breath, tears welling in his eyes. He didn’t know where to start. He dared to look up at Zhongli and found the cold anger he was holding back, reserving his judgement for when Childe gave him the answers he wanted. Childe knew there was no running from it. There was no way to make up for the things he did, and sharing what his thought process had been would only make things worse. But he knew Zhongli wouldn’t let this go.

It had been four years, and yet, he had found him. There was no telling what Zhongli would do to him if Childe didn’t at least explain himself.

“I..." he steeled his nerves. "I'm from the Tartaglia family—my name is Childe Tartaglia, and... my parents own the Tartaglia Corp.,” he said quietly. Zhongli blinked, for he knew the corporation—it was vast and even had dealings with him. “Six years ago, my father married me to a dominant alpha from Liyue against my will to do my duty as an omega. My husband was cruel to me—it was clear he saw me as lesser because I was an omega. He put a lot of pressure on me to conceive, and—and… he had his way with me until I got pregnant. But… it wasn’t as hopeless as I thought. I started appreciating the idea of having a baby—a little bundle of joy to call my own. Someone... who could finally love me without conditions. But…” Childe felt tears stinging the corners of his eyes, “my husband only got worse.”

Tears dripped down his cheeks as he found himself reliving all his worst moments. He couldn’t bring himself to look Zhongli in the eye, knowing he had done the same thing to Zhongli as his husband had done to him. He rubbed his hands repeatedly, trying to warm his aching fingers.

“I slipped into a state of insanity. I didn’t want my child growing up with him as a father. After a year of enduring his torment, I… I didn’t know what else to do so... I killed him,” he whispered.

Zhongli's expression didn’t change. He didn’t seem surprised—it explained the coldness behind his ruthless actions that night. He’d already had practice doing worse to someone else—someone who deserved it more than Zhongli did.

“My family covered it up in just a nick of time, but they disowned me for that. I was alone, but… I was comforted by the thought that I at least still had a baby to look forward to. But I don’t think the gods ever forgave me for what I did… when I had my child, he was a stillborn,” Zhongli’s jaw tightened, watching Childe cry. He was starting to understand why Childe was the way he was. He had been all alone with not a soul on his side, no one to live for. “All that I had hoped for—the happy life I pictured where I would raise someone as my own, being loved genuinely by someone—it was all gone. I slipped deeper into my madness. I wanted a child,” Childe’s voice cracked, a sob erupting from his throat. “I wanted someone to love me. But it’s not so easy conceiving a child as a recessive omega.”

“So you needed another dominant alpha to make sure you would get pregnant,” Zhongli murmured. “And all the dominant alphas in Liyue were high-society and gathered at that event.”

It was all starting to come together in his mind. His expression was stone-like, staring at Childe with conflicting emotions of apathy and pity churning inside him. He understood how being mistreated and abandoned by the people who should’ve loved him could push Childe off the edge, but the fact was—Childe was no better than the people who hurt him.

He had committed murder, and then went on to hurt Zhongli because all he saw him as was a means to an end. Zhongli gritted his teeth. It was a bitter reminder of how different things could’ve been if Childe hadn’t…

“A normal person would have asked, Childe,” he whispered.

Childe sobbed quietly. “No one in that room would want a recessive omega. No one would ever help willingly with something like this. Not after everything I’ve done.”

Zhongli’s jaw tightened. I would’ve done it, his mind whispered. I would’ve given you the world if I could just have explored what only you could make me feel. He couldn’t bring himself to say it. He didn’t want Childe to know the effect he had on him.

“So you chose to force me,” Zhongli said, his eyes growing colder.

“I’m sorry,” Childe whispered, crying into his hands. “I didn’t know wh-who you were. I thought you were just… just another rich alpha who wouldn’t glance twice at me. I didn’t know you were… Zhongli. I didn’t know what I was getting into.”

It was pitiful, seeing Childe cry like that. There was none of that coldness he had on their first meeting. It wasn’t easy, seeing that image of him break. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. In all the times he’d imagined meeting Childe again, he had thought he would revel in seeing him cry. But he didn’t. It brought up so many unnamed and unfamiliar feelings inside Zhongli that he didn’t want to unpack. It angered him that the sliver of hesitation he felt for even a second was there at all, how his mind tried to downplay the weight of Childe’s actions just because he was showing him his most vulnerable state.

“Stop crying,” Zhongli hissed, feeling his temper rising. “You’re not the victim here.”

Childe tried to oblige, wiping away his tears and trying to hold back the sobs and hiccups that were spilling out like a broken dam.

“Did you ever plan on telling me about my daughter?” Zhongli whispered, his voice soft and dangerous. Childe’s face fell, his guilt glinting in his eyes. The answer was written on his face. “I wanted to,” he said in a small voice. “But after I found out who you were… what kind of world you were from—I was scared. I knew you would kill me if I ever willingly showed up in front of you.”

“There you go again,” Zhongli said, his voice strained with the effort of holding back his fury. “All you’ve done is make assumptions and make shitty decisions over them. You hid my daughter from me!” Zhongli felt himself losing his composure as he slammed his fist into the table, causing Childe to whimper in fear, quickly rising to his feet and backing away in fear. "I missed three years of her life—three years I could’ve been there for her, so she wouldn’t have to grow up in a place like this... but you don’t think of anyone but yourself, do you?!”

Childe was shaking, standing there with his head hanging in shame. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, tears still dripping down his cheeks. “Please, Zhongli… I’ve regretted it every day. Every day, I look at her, and I see you in her, and I remember what I did. I know I can’t take back what I did, but please… she’s all I have left.”

Zhongli turned his gaze to the hallway, where Jia Li had gone. He clenched and unclenched his fist, then took a breath to cool himself, knowing he couldn’t fly off the handle like this.

The crackling fire did nothing to warm the air between them as Zhongli stood up, turning his stone-cold eyes towards Childe once more. When he spoke, his voice was much calmer. “Jia Li is my daughter,” Zhongli said slowly, each word spoken carefully. “My only child. Which means she is my heir—and I intend to legitimize her as such so she inherits everything I have. It's lucky I found her while she’s still young. I can train her appropriately.”

Childe’s breath caught in his throat. The color was draining rapidly from his face. “Your… heir?”

Zhongli’s expression was unreadable as he nodded. “I built my empire with my own two hands,” he said quietly. “No one else had a hand in it. I stand alone at the pinnacle of Liyue, guiding the empire, stretching it until it spanned across the entirety of Liyue and beyond. Corporations, real estate, and…” Zhongli fixed Childe with his unwavering gaze. “...the mafia. It was lonely up there, I’ll admit it. But now, I have a daughter, someone with whom I can share that top spot. Jia Li will inherit all of it. She will become an alpha, just as all others in my line have been. She will carry my name and take her rightful place when the time comes.”

“You—You can’t be serious,” Childe said, taking a shaky step back as fear fired up his veins again. “She’s just a child—you can’t involve her in that world…!”

“She’s my daughter,” Zhongli said calmly. “I am part of her, and that world will become a part of her too. If you didn’t want her to be involved, you should’ve done your research before choosing a sire at random. This is on you.”

Childe fell into a suffocating silence. This was exactly what he feared. This was exactly why he never told Zhongli about her. Because he knew. He knew this was the fate that awaited her, and he knew he was the one who’d condemned her to it. His mind spun in all directions, trying to find a way out. But there was none. Not this time.

This was his payment for taking advantage of Zhongli. It was all his fault.

“I spent the night giving it a great deal of thought,” Zhongli said, taking a step forward then another, causing Childe to move back, but this time, his back hit the wall. Zhongli stopped in front of him, looking down his nose at him. His amber eyes bore into Childe in a way that made him feel small. “She is more than fit to inherit everything I’ve built. But I don’t plan on ripping her from you.”

A small flicker of hope broke through Childe’s fear, but Zhongli’s next words only dashed it. “But there will be conditions."

"...What conditions?"

"The only way to legitimize her in the eyes of the world as well as allow you to continue being in her life is for me to marry you. My daughter will bear my name, and to do that, you will too,” Zhongli said with an air of simplicity.

Childe’s eyes widened. “M-Marry?”

The word hung in the air like a cloud, and it was clear to Childe that Zhongli didn’t like it one bit either. Childe began shaking his head rapidly, looking horrified. He couldn’t. He couldn’t marry Zhongli—he couldn’t look into his hate-filled eyes for the rest of his life. He wouldn’t be able to live with it, not with all these feelings churning inside him. He had spent nine months lying curled up, arms over his stomach, crying out for the man that was the father of his child for only he could ease all the pain inside him. He hated himself for daring to long for Zhongli.

For four long years, he had struggled with what he did, knowing he had hurt a good man—a cruel man, a bad person maybe, but he was better to Childe than he deserved.

He spent so many nights holding a baby Jia Li to his chest, looking at her striking resemblance to the man he'd duped and crying to himself, whispering apologies that he had stripped her of a family that could have been.

“I-I can’t… I can’t go from one painful marriage to another… please—please don’t do this, Zhongli,” Childe pleaded, tears shining in his eyes again. He looked so fragile, as if one word would be enough to break him. He was in stark contrast with the man Zhongli had first met all those years ago, cold, calm, and pragmatic. Now, he was just a pitiful mess, begging Zhongli for mercy.

Zhongli’s eyes softened just slightly. Again, that feeling he couldn’t ignore.

There was that ache in his chest as if he couldn’t handle Childe’s crying, as if he wanted nothing more than to give Childe the world. He was weak to his tears, and it diffused his anger for reasons he couldn’t explain.

“This is the only way for us both to get what we want,” he said quietly. “I want Jia Li as my heir, and you want to continue being part of her life. There’s no other option.”

“I… I can’t marry you—and you, why would you want to marry someone like me?”

Zhongli fell silent for a moment. He didn’t want to marry Childe either—that was the logical response. But from the first second his eyes locked onto Childe’s four years ago, there had always been something different about him. Had the circumstances been any different, their night together may have taken a different turn because of the sheer attraction Zhongli had felt towards him. Why? That was the only question left in his mind now. Why didn’t he abhor the idea of marrying the man who took advantage of him?

That was one answer Childe couldn’t give him.

“It’s not about you or me,” Zhongli murmured. “This is about Jia Li. You made a choice four years ago when you took what you wanted from me. Now I’m doing the same. I am taking what I want from you.”

Childe’s knees finally buckled. He slid down the wall, curling into his knees as he started crying. Another marriage full of unhappiness. He would have no out. There would be no way to escape a man like Zhongli, even in death.

Zhongli stared down at him, unable to hide his pity this time.

"This isn’t a negotiation,” he whispered. “You marry me, or you never see her again. It’s as simple as that. I’m offering you mercy, Childe. It’s more than you deserve.”

Childe cried quietly, feeling Zhongli’s cold words rip through the last shreds of his resistance. Zhongli was giving him no real choice. Either he could marry him to raise Jia together or he’d never see her again. The room was closing in around Childe. The silence that expanded between them was stifling. But Childe knew his answer.

“Okay. I’ll do it. I’ll marry you.”

***

And just like that, life sent the two of them down another orbit.

The next few months were a blur of overwhelming change for Zhongli, Childe, and their daughter. Zhongli wasted no time in bringing Childe and Jia Li back to Liyue, where they would be staying as a family at one of his estates.

Jia Li had been scared at first. For the first time in her three years of life, she got to see the world beyond her tiny village. The elders were sad to see them go when Childe asked Zhongli to meet with them one last time, but they appeared happy that Jia’s father, whom they had assumed had left them, had come back to take them to see a new beginning. They hadn’t seen Childe’s expression when they made such baseless speculations, otherwise, they’d know leaving brought him no happiness.

Jia Li rode a plane for the first time, spending the entire flight with her nose pressed into the glass, admiring the terrain changing below from the ice she had always known to green and yellow landscapes. When they reached Liyue Harbor, she was amazed by all the tall buildings, the vibrant city lights, and the friendly-looking people that seemed to coo at her as she explored excitedly with her parents.

When they reached the house, Jia Li seemed confused by how big it was. “Wow… all this is yours?” she asked Zhongli.

Zhongli smiled at her innocence. This estate was one of his smaller ones, considering he didn’t want her to grow up in a cold and empty house. He wanted her to grow up in a loving neighborhood, where he had some friends who could look after her as well. But even this must’ve seemed like a mansion in comparison to the small place she’d grown up in. He crouched by her side and placed his hands on her shoulders, paternal affection beginning to bud inside him as he realized that he really was a father now. He was no longer going to be lonely. He would make a family out of what he could salvage from this union.

“No, love. All this is ours, all this and more. I’ll make sure you grow up wanting for nothing,” he promised.

Jia beamed at him, then turned to Childe, who stood further back, his face expressionless as he stared emptily at the house. He had slowly regained his coolness since meeting Zhongli again, causing bitter feelings to swirl inside Zhongli, hating seeing that characteristically cold look in Childe's eyes again.

“Papa, isn’t this amazing? It’s so much bigger than our old house,” Jia Li said, running over to hug his legs.

Childe appeared to come out of his daze. He smiled down at her, the ice melting off his face, causing Zhongli to stare at how warm his expression suddenly became at the sight of his daughter. “Of course it is, baby. We’ll explore it all after you get some rest,” he said, his voice gentle, hiding all his inner turmoil.

Zhongli’s eyes never tore from his face for as long as he smiled at Jia Li, because Childe had never made that expression in front of him before. He had never smiled at him like that even on the day they met… and after this, he likely would never. Jia Li was happy to meet all the smiling faces of the few trusted servants Zhongli had called here, who seemed ready to serve her every whim. She got her own room, where she quickly collapsed on her bed for how exhausted she was after a day of taking in all these new things. Even a child was bound to get overwhelmed eventually.

“Good night, love,” Zhongli said, smiling. “I’ll take you anywhere you want to go tomorrow.”

Jia Li smiled back, curling into her blankets, whispering a quiet good night to him too. Zhongli stood up from her bedside, walking towards the door and passing Childe. “The servants will show you to our room after you’re done saying good night,” he told him quietly, his voice toneless.

Childe stiffened, his eyes on the ground. ‘Our’ room. He didn’t know if he could handle it—sleeping in the same bed as a man with whom he had such a turbulent past. He sat by Jia's side and sang her to sleep that night but couldn’t bring himself to leave her room.

But of course, life wouldn’t wait for anyone.

He had to adjust to life with Zhongli quickly, knowing his patience wasn’t limitless. They eventually got around to sleeping at opposite ends of the same bed as the days ticked by. They got married on paper, but there were no prospects for a wedding. Most of the important people in both their lives had already been informed, so it wasn’t needed.

Childe’s estranged parents, greedy leeches that they were, had been more than happy to learn that he had married a man so illustrious as Zhongli, whose influence reached even them. They didn’t question the circumstances of their marriage when Zhongli wrote to them, because they didn’t care so long as they could tell everyone that they were now ‘family’ with the great Zhongli. They didn’t even care to hear about their daughter, for all she and Childe were in their eyes were instruments to get what they wanted—power.

Reading their congratulatory card had only tightened the knot in Childe’s chest.

It was yet another reminder of how trapped he was and how impossible it would be to escape this new reality. Not even his family would be able to save him this time—not that they wanted to.

But there was a silver lining. Jia Li seemed to fit in perfectly. She really seemed to connect with Zhongli, the father she never knew. Childe had been all she had known, aside from her old nanny—she loved her Papa, and Childe was enough for her if she had to choose. But she could sense that this new man coming into her life was more like her—an alpha. She seemed drawn to the quiet strength her father exuded, making her want to learn more about him so she could one day be as strong as him. The two of them had the same confidence and wit, and Jia Li loved hearing about Zhongli’s stories for each one told her more about him.

She even started calling him ‘father’ without any prompting, picking up the word more easily than ‘dad.’ Zhongli knew from that that she would grow into his shoes just fine.

Childe watched it all happen with a mixture of bittersweet feelings. Jia Li had cuddled up to him the night she first called Zhongli ‘father’, beckoning Childe closer so she could whisper in his ear, “Don’t be sad, Papa. You’re still my favorite.” Childe’s heart could’ve burst. He couldn’t help showering her with kisses. She was all he had ever wanted and more—someone who loved him from her heart and wouldn’t replace or forget about him.

He was glad Zhongli was good to her, but it also pained him that he was alone in his aversion to Zhongli. He was not so easily swayed.

Zhongli was warm and loving to Jia Li, but each time he turned his gaze to Childe, the corners of his lips would go slack and his eyes would harden, as if tearing into him with invisible knives, telling him, This is what you deprived me of for three years.

Childe couldn’t handle all the reminders of his past wrongdoings. The weight of their marriage and the coldness of their agreement pressed down on him at every waking moment. He feared Zhongli and what he was capable of. Each time he saw Zhongli, he would freeze up, unable to feel an ounce of ease each time they went to sleep in the same bed as if afraid Zhongli might hurt him, though he would make sure his expression betrayed nothing, always keeping his determinedly cold face. He didn't want Zhongli to see him fall apart again. Not twice.

It didn’t go unnoticed.

Zhongli was there to observe it all—the way Childe regressed into a shell of the charismatic young man he was when they first met. He looked away each time their eyes met, and his body would curl in on itself as if to make himself a smaller target each time they were alone in the same room. It was in stark contrast to how he was with Jia Li. Whenever Childe was with her, he was alight with life and warmth. The cold, haunted look from his eyes would fade each time he looked at his daughter with such reverence as if she was the rope keeping him from falling over the edge completely. He was tender with Jia, his love for her clear in every word, in every embrace.

Zhongli couldn’t help feeling bitter each time he observed this.

He felt like he was no longer any better than Childe, the man he had hated for so long. Childe had taken him against his will, and Zhongli had married him against his will. He supposed that made them even. He supposed the pain of knowing Childe was in another loveless marriage was punishment enough for him. But it still made him sad.

He knew the answer why—he just didn’t want to admit it. It made him sad, knowing this was a punishment for Childe—living with him, being near him, breathing the same air as him.

Why did this marriage pain Childe more than Zhongli? Why did he want Childe to smile at him the same way despite all that had gone on between them?

He didn’t know that the only thing keeping Childe from accepting him was fear. After all, he was all Childe dreamed of in the nine months he carried Jia—both good dreams and bad. Dreams full of yearning, dreams where he imagined laying in Zhongli’s arms, cradling their baby together. He fell in love with that image. He wanted it to become reality more than anything. But that image had been marred by the coldness of Zhongli’s gaze the day he found him again—that look of betrayal, resentment, and anger. He would never forget it.

He blamed himself for making that dream impossible to achieve. There was nothing more painful than being husbands with Zhongli with no love between them.

They were so close. So close to the family they both had once yearned for. And yet, they were still at odds with one another. They would still fall quiet in each other’s presence and eat in silence at the dinner table.

Childe's expression still remained cool and passive despite his inner turmoil, and Zhongli would still become tight-lipped, not knowing what to say. Neither of them knew how to make it better. Childe didn’t know how to stop fearing Zhongli long enough to unpack all the swirling feelings inside him, and Zhongli didn’t know how to comfort Childe in a marriage that was the last thing he wanted.

But it seemed Zhongli wasn’t the only one who noticed Childe’s treatment of him.

He was spending time with Jia Li on one of his off days, teaching her how to read. She was a smart child, picking up on things as easily as Zhongli did, making him feel proud. But perhaps it wasn’t too good a thing to have a daughter so perceptive as himself.

“Father,” she said suddenly, fixing him with her piercing amber eyes. “Why is Papa scared of you?”

Zhongli’s chest tightened at the question, knowing how difficult the answer would be. His expression remained calm, trying not to show his discomfort. “What do you mean, love?”

She tilted her head a little, her tiny fingers fidgeting with the hem of her dress. “When you come into a room, Papa looks scared and closed-off. Like this,” she demonstrated an expression Childe often made, causing Zhongli to see her resemblance to him for the first time. “But when you look at him, you look like this,” Jia Li imitated one of Zhongli’s looks of envy and longing as well, causing his cheeks to redden, wondering if he was that obvious. “But you’re married, right? Papa taught me marriage happens between two people who love each other very much. But… why doesn’t Papa smile at you like he smiles at me? Why do you…” she looked for the right words, “want him when you already have him?”

Her questions were asked in a voice full of innocence, but each one pierced Zhongli like a dagger to the chest. He didn’t know what to say to her.

How could he explain something so complicated to a child so pure? How could he tell her that their marriage had no love in it? How could he tell her that fear was as much a building block in their relationship as the coolness of the distance between them? He didn’t have Childe. Not one bit. Otherwise, he would long for nothing like he was longing to see his warm smile meant for him.

“When two people live together, they don’t always get along all the time,” Zhongli said softly. “My relationship with your Papa is complex, which is why I wasn’t there for you when you were a baby. But don’t worry, Jia Li. We are a family now. Nothing will change that.”

He pat her gently on the head, trying for a reassuring smile. Jia Li’s eyes brightened a little. She smiled, seemingly satisfied with his answer. She leaned into his side, sighing as she wasn’t used to the warmth Zhongli produced.

“You should make Papa smile more,” she said earnestly as if it was the simplest thing in the world. “Papa’s always cold, even in a hot place like here. You should give him a hug and show your love more, like you do with me. Because when people are married, they’re supposed to be happy, right?” Zhongli stared down at her, wondering if his daughter was really as little as he saw her. He smiled a little, hearing the wisdom in her words spoken so pragmatically that they broke through even Zhongli’s complex feelings about Childe. He didn’t feel the need to tarnish her picture-perfect image of love. He was painfully aware that the relationship he had with Childe was not a good example to set for marriage.

Perhaps she was right. It was time to change that, for her sake if not their own. "You're right, love," he said, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Zhongli never wanted Jia Li to think the fear and coolness in Childe’s eyes were normal to expect from any future lover she had. She was a child who deserved to believe in the good things. It was time to move on from their past, painful as it was, and look towards the future with their daughter.

And so, from that day on, Zhongli decided he would take any opportunity he got to improve things between himself and Childe, if even a little.

It wasn’t too long before he got that opportunity.

One night, they were in bed on the opposite ends as usual, though the seasons were changing and it was getting colder.

Childe had difficulty regulating his body temperature when he wasn’t moving. Lying there, he found himself curled into a ball, shivering uncontrollably as he tried to retain the warmth his body generated. There were no fireplaces in Liyue, no provisions for cold save for these feeble blankets that did nothing to capture the little warmth Childe’s body produced.

He was resigning himself to facing a sleepless night shaking all over, when he felt a movement on the other side of the bed.

He opened his eyes, thinking Zhongli was moving in his sleep, which was rare. He looked at Zhongli in the darkness, seeing the broad outline of his figure in the darkness, unable to tell if he was asleep or awake. Then, his eyes followed the path of Zhongli’s shoulders until he was looking at one of his arms extended towards him, fingers inches away from Childe. Childe’s eyes lingered, a hint of yearning glinting in them. The sharp ninety-degree curve between Zhongli’s arm and his body looked inviting in the cold Childe felt.

Childe shook his head, calling himself crazy for even thinking about it. He tried to close his eyes to sleep, but the shivering wouldn’t stop. He curled his fingers under his chin, trying to warm his hand against the veins of his own neck, his eyes opening again.

He wanted warmth desperately at that moment.

He knew the man lying next to him had blood that ran warm. He remembered the warmth of his lips even now, four years later. He heard Jia talk about it often—the contrast between Childe’s coolness and Zhongli’s warmth. Childe knew he would warm up in an instant if he just closed that arm’s length of space between them. But no. He couldn’t.

To inch closer to Zhongli, to be vulnerable in his embrace—it was terrifying. What if it repulsed Zhongli to find Childe curled in his arms?

Zhongli was in a world of his own, even now. He radiated warmth Childe needed desperately. But it scared him too much—that fear of rejection, that fear of seeing disgust reflected in Zhongli’s expression rather than the warmth he craved so deeply.

Minutes passed, and the chill of his bones grew worse and worse. The icy walls around Childe’s mind that kept him from rash action were starting to melt—after all, all that Childe had ever wanted in life lay before him. The warmth of an affectionate embrace. But there would be no affection on Zhongli’s part. Still, he needed to try if he was going to get through the night. He stretched out his fingers hesitantly and placed them on Zhongli’s wrist, testing him for any sign of wakefulness, but Zhongli remained determinedly still, unstirring.

A shiver washed through Childe’s body like a wave at the contrast of how warm Zhongli’s skin was against his hand.

It thawed whatever resolve he had left.

This was a terrible idea, wasn’t it? Yet, his body instinctively inched forward, shifting closer with painstaking care as he rested his head against Zhongli’s forearm. The warmth radiating from Zhongli was palpable, already starting to warm Childe from the outside. If only he could just get a little closer—to that angle between Zhongli’s arm and body. He would be able to combat the chill that was bone-deep in him.

He moved just a little forward, until his head rested on Zhongli’s bicep, looking at his face with bated breath, waiting for him to wake up.

And then—it happened. Zhongli moved suddenly with a purpose as if losing patience, his arm curling under Childe, dragging him closer, closing every inch of space between them until Childe was wrapped snugly in his arms.

Childe’s breath hitched, his face suddenly buried in Zhongli’s chest, full of fear and apprehension. And then, the warmth hit him squarely like a gravitational pull, filling every bit of him from roots of his scalp to the tips of his toes. It seeped into him like the first rays of sunlight breaking through an endless winter, filling the parts of him that had forgotten what comfort felt like. Zhongli’s warmth closed around him, both his arms wrapped around Childe’s body, holding him with a firm gentleness that stole Childe’s breath. Zhongli’s scent, like rocks pelted with rain, was suddenly all around him, infiltrating his every inhale.

But neither of them moved, with Childe being stiff as a board and Zhongli lying relaxed, his entire body cocooning Childe’s. For a second, he wondered. Was Zhongli awake?

But the longer they stayed like that, he realized it was impossible. Zhongli couldn’t be. He would never do this of his own volition—he must’ve just had a habit of hugging things that came within his reach. Childe’s shivering stopped. Never had he felt so warm. It melted the chill from his bones and softened the tension he’d been holding for so long. Zhongli’s scent was so addictive and comforting, making him breathe in deeply, slowly relaxing in his arms. He never understood why he had this effect on him, but at that moment, he couldn’t care less.

He felt tears stinging his eyes, feeling so happy.

It wasn’t just the heat of Zhongli’s body, but the feeling that… for once, he wasn’t alone. He had someone to cling to when he felt cold. Being wrapped in Zhongli’s arms, basking in his warmth, he could almost convince himself that the dream of feeling the warmth of an affectionate embrace was real, even if he knew it wasn’t. For tonight, he’d let himself forget.

Above his head, beyond Childe’s line of sight, Zhongli’s eyes opened just a crack, a gleam of satisfaction in them. Unbeknownst to Childe, he had been awake this whole time, having felt Childe’s trembling and contemplating pulling him into his arms. He had hesitated only because he didn’t want to scare Childe, but he left that arm outstretched between them as a lure, watching Childe’s progress through the blur of his eyelashes. Now, he had his face buried in Childe’s hair, breathing in his minty scent mixed with the sweet-smelling perfume of his shampoo.

He felt the ghost of a smile touch his lips, hugging Childe tighter to his body. It felt nice, holding him. He felt a surge of protectiveness over Childe, feeling happy that he had sought him in his vulnerability. It showed that… however little, there was room for change.

He didn’t know the solace Childe had sought, crawling slowly into his arms, but he knew this was what he—Zhongli—wanted, even if he had trouble admitting it. He closed his eyes, feeling peaceful, thanking Jia Li for giving him the push he needed.

***

The morning after, Childe had been afraid when he woke up alone in bed, still feeling the warm aftereffects of Zhongli's warm embrace. He wondered if Zhongli had noticed or would say anything about it to him when he went down for breakfast, but to his surprise, nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Zhongli was still his aloof self, though his gaze appeared gentler from then on, not that Childe allowed himself to think too deeply on it.

But from that day on, that became their sleeping ritual as the nights got colder, where Zhongli would pretend to sleep with his arm out while Childe would slowly squeeze himself into his embrace for warmth.

Still, that tension between them still lingered, following them in their day-to-day lives. Each morning, they had breakfast together with Jia Li before Zhongli left for work, then, when Zhongli came home in the evening, he spent some time with Jia before they all had dinner together and put Jia to bed, leaving no room for interaction between Zhongli and Childe. Zhongli didn’t know what to say to him, what to talk to him about, especially since their last real conversation had been so full of hostility. Childe, of course, would never initiate—after all, how could he when he was the one to blame for the coolness between them?

They didn’t speak more than a few words to each other if it was absolutely necessary, such as with matters concerning their daughter, like her enrollment in school as it was nearing Jia Li’s fourth birthday and even then, Childe wouldn't look at him and answered him in his most monotonous tone.

When Zhongli was away tending to his busy empire, Childe sometimes took Jia out exploring in the city. He knew he was being tailed each time he did so—mostly for Jia Li’s protection if not to keep Childe in check, but it wasn’t so bad. They made friends with a couple of the neighbors who had kids Jia Li’s age, hosting playdates with them.

Zhongli and Childe never went out together as neither of them knew how to play the part of a couple in the eyes of the public, especially when thousands of eyes were always on Zhongli's every move—things like dates were out of the question when even conversations were difficult to initiate.

They didn't know what else to do to thaw the silence between them.

One night, after a lot of pleading, Jia Li went over to sleep at one of their neighbor’s houses. Childe had been concerned, considering it would be the first time Jia Li would be spending time away from him. However, he eventually agreed, considering these neighbors were kind to both of them and were also Zhongli’s friends. Their names were Beidou and Ningguang and they had their own daughter Jia Li’s age. This left Zhongli and Childe alone in the house together as the servants usually never lingered unless they were needed.

They were in the dining room alone, both finishing up dinner in silence.

Zhongli kept shooting glances at Childe as if contemplating speaking as moments alone were so difficult to come by, considering Childe actively avoided them. Jia Li’s words were still heavy in his mind. Sleeping curled up together hadn’t done much to ease the nerves between them either.

It was difficult for him to come up with something to say. After all, what could he say to a man he had forcibly married? Would he ask about the weather? His estranged family? Or his even more painful previous marriage? There was nothing he could say to Childe without feeling out of place.

He could know everything there was to know about Childe without even asking him if he really wanted to. And he did want to… but not with underhanded tricks.

He wanted to ask what kind of things Childe liked, what hobbies he enjoyed in his youth, and whether he had anything he’d like to do in the city. Most importantly, he wanted to ask the circumstances that had led to Childe forming this icy barrier—why his body never seemed to produce warmth. Even now, each time he picked up his spoon, it would be trembling as if his fingers had little feeling in them. There were so many curiosities about his husband, but he didn’t know how to indulge in them.

Time ran out for him, causing him to sigh as he watched Childe get up in silence, knowing that was another day wasted with no progress made with his husband. He stared absentmindedly as Childe reached to pick up his plate, his hands trembling like normal. And then, he broke out of his daze as something happened. Childe’s fingers slipped, and the plate fell from his grip, shattering against the floor. The sound was piercing, startling Zhongli, confusing him for a second as if worried they were in danger, though he calmed himself quickly as he processed what had happened. He was about to wave Childe away, when he realized Childe was frozen in place, looking at the shattered plate with his eyes full of fear.

Then, without even thinking, as if he was on autopilot, Childe dropped to the ground on his knees, reaching for the shards of broken glass.

“I’m sorry…” he whispered hurriedly in a daze, not daring to look Zhongli in the eyes as if afraid he’d see anger in them. “I’m so sorry—I’ll clean it up... i-it won't happen again.”

Zhongli stared at him, dumbfounded, wondering why Childe was apologizing so frantically. And then, it hit him. His old abusive marriage. Zhongli’s insides went cold, his heart twisting in pain all of a sudden as he realized he was seeing a trauma response.

Zhongli was on his feet in a second, approaching Childe with calm, measured steps. “Childe.”

Childe didn’t seem to hear him. He was rigid with fear, his hands shaking uncontrollably, their coldness unmistakable. He opened his mouth to apologize again, but Zhongli knelt down beside him, his eyes gentle as they were when dealing with Jia Li. He was starting to see the situation for what it was. An opportunity. An opportunity to set this marriage apart from Childe's previous one once and for all.

“Your hands,” Zhongli said, his voice soft. “They’re cold, aren’t they?”

Childe hesitated, his confusion flickering on his face. He stared at Zhongli in silence, wondering why he wasn’t raising a hand to him.

Zhongli’s gaze remained calm, there was no hostility exuding from him. He knew what to do, what to say. “Your hands. Give them to me,” he said quietly, extending his hands for Childe to place his own in. His tone wasn’t that of a command, but an offer. He was trying to reassure Childe that it was okay, that he was here to help, not to harm him. For a moment, Childe didn’t move, his eyes darted between Zhongli’s hands and his own, lost at what to do. He looked afraid, not just of Zhongli hurting him but of trusting him, afraid of what he might do.

He didn’t trust Zhongli not to be angry. He was afraid this was a trick—that Zhongli was just hiding his anger. He knew he was good at that.

But Zhongli never withdrew his hands, nor did that gentle look in his eyes fade away. Childe thought of the nights they spent together, sleeping in each other’s arms. Zhongli hadn't been unkind to him since they married. He had been trying, just covertly.

For a second, he hesitated. He didn’t know why, but something compelled him to obey. It wasn’t the fear. It was desperation.

It was the same desperation Zhongli had seen on their first meeting. A desperation to feel safe. It was the knowledge that this man in front of him was a source of warmth.

Slowly, he extended his shaking hands for Zhongli to hold. Zhongli took them in his larger hands, enveloping his freezing fingers in his warm palms. He cupped his hands completely, hiding them from view. He brought them closer to his lips and breathed into their hands, his breath warming Childe's fingers.

Childe stared at him with a dazed look in his eyes, unsure if he should believe what he saw and felt.

Zhongli was being so gentle, warming his hands, kneading them to help the blood flow to his fingers. Childe didn’t know what to think. He couldn’t understand the genuine concern in his eyes. He couldn’t comprehend that… Zhongli was doing this of his own volition. He was unsure of what to do except to sit there, allowing Zhongli to breathe warmth and feeling back into his hands. The cold ebbed away, though not just from Childe’s fingers.

He was suddenly feeling warm all over, his cheeks turning pink the longer they sat there, staring at where their hands joined.

Zhongli gently nudged his chin up to have Childe look up at him. “Come to me whenever your hands get cold,” Zhongli told him, squeezing his hands that were warm for the first time in a long time. “It’s not safe for you to lose feeling in them like this. You could get hurt.”

Childe stared at him, wondering where all this was coming from—this warmth that Zhongli showed him that wasn’t just physical. He hadn’t expected kindness from a man he had hurt so deeply.

But there it was. Quiet and gentle, without the usual sharpness.

“I’m a cruel man. I’ve done many cruel things in my life for the sake of my empire,” Zhongli admitted. “I do bad things because that is what my empire demands. You, too, have done bad things because that’s what your circumstances demanded. We’re even now. You can let go of it. I want to move forward without holding our past as a beacon to define our future—you don’t have to fear me as you did your last husband. I won’t hurt you. Not twice.”

Childe’s mind felt numb as he processed Zhongli’s words. He felt a lump form in his throat, the emotions he had been pushing down for months coming to the surface. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know whether to believe Zhongli. He didn’t know whether he could let go of their past even if Zhongli was permitting him.

He couldn’t help but start crying, unsure of what else to do to unleash all the feelings building up inside him.

Zhongli felt something twitch inside him, seeing him cry like that. Instead of getting angry as he did the first time, he embraced the pain Childe’s tears brought him. He tugged him forward and wrapped him in his embrace, allowing him to cry into his shoulders. That minty scent caused Zhongli’s shoulders to relax, breathing in the scent as if allowing himself to admit for the first time that he was attracted to this scent, this man. For a moment, he felt like something had unleashed inside him too. He knew now that he had finally let go of the resentment he had once felt towards Childe. But now that that hate and anger was gone—what was left? He didn’t know what it was that churned inside him. Never before had an omega made him feel this way.

“You’re okay,” Zhongli said, his voice still gentle, rubbing Childe’s back soothingly as he cried into his shoulder. He knew these vulnerabilities must not come easily to an omega so guarded, just as they hadn’t the night they first started cuddling in their sleep. He gathered Childe in his arms and stood up, causing him to gasp and wrap his arms back around Zhongli, holding on to him as if afraid he’d fall.

Zhongli liked the feeling of Childe clinging to him as he carried him up to their bedroom. He set him down on their bed, causing Childe to pull away.

Zhongli never got the chance to look at him properly since he found him again. This was the first time he was looking at Childe without that sliver of resentment that constantly haunted his mind.

Childe really was pretty. He was beautiful even in tears, looking into Zhongli’s eyes without that cold glint that had always followed the blue of his eyes.

They were close. Close enough for each other’s breaths to fan their faces.

Zhongli was feeling a pull in his chest. That same attraction that budded inside him all those years ago when he first found himself enamored by a man so remarkable as Childe was coming back. No. It had never disappeared—it was only suppressed.

There was something between them, something neither of them could explain. The anger that had once clouded Zhongli’s judgement was no longer there, and he felt like he had been transported four years back to when he knew one thing: he wanted Childe. If circumstances hadn’t torn them apart, they would’ve been here—wrapped in each other’s arms, looking into one another’s eyes with that look of longing they had both once shared.

Childe’s breath was shaky, looking into Zhongli’s eyes with that dazed look. He didn’t know what to do. There was nothing he could dare to do, even if his heart knew what it wanted, but he made no moves to pull away. That was one thing he couldn't do, the one thing he selfishly didn't want to do.

Zhongli’s searched his eyes, looking for rejection that wasn’t there. He didn’t want to make the same mistakes as Childe. He didn’t want to rush headfirst into all these feelings swirling inside him. But he also knew one thing. He wanted this. He had wanted it from the moment their eyes first met.

Slowly, Zhongli closed the space between their lips, tenderly pressing them against Childe’s.

Childe's eyes widened a fraction, the breath leaving his lungs. He melted into it almost immediately, unable to help himself, unable to fathom that they were taking steps in the right direction. He couldn’t believe what was happening—how real Zhongli was, his touch, his kiss, his gentle scent. He could feel the difference. Zhongli didn’t hate him anymore. He was kissing Childe of his own volition this time, cradling him in his arms. It opened up new possibilities he had never dared to even dream of. They could try again. They could replace that night, make it no more than a nightmare. Slowly, Childe allowed himself to fall back, Zhongli on top of him.

They parted, staring into each other’s eyes. “Do you want this?” Zhongli asked.

Childe bit his lip, a look of yearning in his eyes. He didn’t know if he was allowed to say yes. It was difficult for him to grasp that Zhongli had forgiven him—that Zhongli wanted this as much as he did. Was it okay for him to be selfish again?

“Yes,” he whispered, unable to help it.

That was all Zhongli needed to hear. His lips connected with Childe’s neck, leaving kisses over it, inhaling deeply the scent he liked so much.

He allowed his hands to wander, one hand tangling itself with Childe’s to make sure it stayed warm and the other moving down his body tentatively as if careful not to startle Childe. He ensured Childe felt every bit of his touch, that there was only transparency between them so that their first time together would fade from their memories. He wanted Childe to feel the consent in his actions, what their first night could've been like if they let the night take its own direction.

This was their real first time, where Zhongli allowed himself to enjoy holding a man so enigmatic and mercurial as Childe in his arms.

“You feel it too, don’t you?” he whispered, sitting up between Childe’s legs and looking down at him, feeling his stomach tingle at how beautiful Childe looked. “This attraction. This magnetism between us that makes it difficult for me to let you go.”

Childe breathed out, his gaze lidded halfway as if in a daze. He took in Zhongli’s scent as it washed over him in waves, making his whole body feel faint as if on clouds. “Yes,” he breathed. All his life, he’d always been viewed as a commodity.

His parents had been keen to be rid of him, marrying him off to the first rich alpha who needed a kid.

His first husband had only seen him as a hole to be used, a vessel to produce an heir. He always complained about how few pheromones Childe emitted, how he didn’t seem to get wet enough for him. He was unwanted in that marriage, always carrying the knowledge that his husband went elsewhere for things like love and affection, not wanting to waste them on Childe.

But now, it was different. With Zhongli, it was different.

Being kissed like this by Zhongli, as if he was something to be desired, he felt wanted for the first time, a feeling he thought he would never get as a recessive omega.

The day they met, he had shown genuine interest in Childe, aloof and flippant in his own right yet he had had this gleam in his eye as if admiring things about Childe that Childe himself couldn’t see.

An ache went through him, wondering what would’ve happened that night had he not done what he did. They would've gotten where they were now four years sooner. It was just… so difficult for him to believe anyone could want him when he had been shunted around all his life. He had given up on love a long time ago, having only believed it was a fairy tale for the longest time since no one had ever cast him a look like that. The only way he could think of finding love was to have a baby who would attach itself to him.

Now, lying under Zhongli, being kissed and touched like this, he could almost start believing in that fairy tale again.

His shirt was pulled up, revealing his lean body to Zhongli. He watched his expression for any sign of disgust, waiting for that look of desire to fade, but it didn’t. Zhongli seemed to admire him even more, every tiny scar on his body, every birthmark, every freckle.

He connected his lips with Childe’s chest, pressing the flat of his tongue against Childe's nipple before wrapping his mouth around it.

Childe clasped a hand to his mouth, muffling a whimper into it, his other hand tightening its grip on Zhongli. He seemed afraid to make noise, to take up more space than needed, not wanting anything to bring Zhongli to reality from whatever daze made him do these things to Childe. But then, Zhongli’s other hand captured the one covering his mouth, pinning it down as well. “Your voice,” he said quietly. “Let me hear it. I don’t want you covering your mouth or holding back just because you think you’re not supposed to be enjoying this.”

Childe bit his lip, wondering how Zhongli could be so perceptive.

He didn't know what to do or how to react. He didn’t know how to internalize that Zhongli only ever said the things he meant.

He couldn’t help obliging—not like Zhongli gave him a choice. The feeling of his nipples being sucked on made him horny, feeling all his nerves active as if standing on end, causing his cock to grow in his pants. His weak moans and whimpers spilled out of him as he clutched Zhongli’s hands, feeling his self-control waning bit by bit. No one had ever focused on his pleasure like this before. He didn't know he was capable of making such lewd noises or enjoying having his chest sucked on.

What other things would Zhongli do that Childe liked? Just the thought made him tremble with anticipation.

When Zhongli pulled back, a string of his saliva connected his lips to Childe’s chest, his usually sharp eyes dazed as if full of enjoyment, watching a bruise rapidly form around Childe’s swelling nipple.

“Pretty,” he whispered. “Your skin is pretty.”

Childe looked up at him, a look of doubt in his eyes. “Are you lying to appease me?” he asked, not believing him.

Zhongli released a puff of laughter as he straightened up. “And why would I go to such lengths to appease you? I don’t need to convince you of what’s going through my mind—you can believe whatever you like. I am many things, but a liar isn’t one of them,” he said, taking off his shirt. “I’m not as good at it as you are.”

Childe’s lips tightened into a line, a look of remorse in his eyes as he realized he was in no position to call Zhongli's honesty into question. Here he was, full of doubts about Zhongli’s intentions when it should’ve been the other way around. At every turn, he seemed to be on his toes, watching for any sign that things weren’t going his way just as he had the night they met. But Zhongli? He was the same as before. He lived each moment as if savoring it, like a man who wasn’t used to feeling this desire and anticipation. He knew what was going through his head, but unlike Childe, he expressed himself comfortably and never lied while doing so.

He curled his fingers in the waistband of Childe’s pants, pulling it down. He licked his lips, taking in the sight of Childe’s body as he hadn’t been allowed to do so the first time.

Every bit of Childe was pretty, making him wonder how men weren’t lining up for this sight. When Childe had told him about how no man would’ve wanted to have him, he remembered being so confused, because he would’ve jumped at the chance.

“That night,” he whispered, a faraway look in his eyes as he caressed his fingers gently over Childe’s skin. “If you had asked me… I would have agreed to do this with you in a heartbeat if only to see this sight,” he smiled wryly, realizing that even their circumstances hadn’t managed to completely bury that desire. “It seems… I haven’t changed.”

Childe felt his throat tighten. Zhongli’s words were painful to hear. They contrasted everything he had thought that night.

Zhongli was right. He had always made assumptions and made stupid decisions over them. His regrets from that night were a never-ending pile. If only he had been wiser.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice hardly audible, sitting up so he was facing Zhongli directly. His eyes flickered up to meet his gaze, a vulnerable sincerity in them that he rarely showed, feeling like he was going to cry again. “I’m sorry for taking that choice away from you. I just… I just didn’t think you would choose me if I gave you one.”

Zhongli looked into his eyes, and for a second, he didn’t say anything as if to soak in the words he had been wanting to hear for the last four years. He felt the knot in his chest unfurl as if that was all he had been waiting for.

He exhaled, a hint of relief slipping through his breath. He was finally free of that pain. He was free to have Childe now as much as he wanted to.

Zhongli’s finger brushed gently against Childe’s cheek, warm against his skin, and Childe didn’t flinch anymore as he cupped his face. “I forgive you,” he murmured, wiping the wisps of tears that budded at the corner of Childe’s eyes. “I struggled with it for a long time, I won’t deny that. But I want you to stop assuming the worst about me—about what I’d choose. You don't need to play guessing games anymore. Ask me. Let me show you. I won’t lie to you,” he said, his voice steady and calm.

Childe’s breath shook as a small sob escaped him, letting those words settle inside him, creating a relief that made gathering himself difficult. For once, he let himself imagine that a world existed outside his skewed worldview, tainted by years of hurt and failure. He let it sink in—a new beginning was possible if he just chose to trust Zhongli.

He pressed his hand over Zhongli’s, pressing his cheek into his palm as he nodded. “I will,” he whispered. He sealed his promise, vowing to believe in Zhongli as much as he could and take it one day at a time.

Their lips met again, and they could feel the difference. There was no hesitation this time as Zhongli pulled Childe into his lap, kissing him as if it was their last night together. They felt the same sparks, the same comfort of each other’s pheromones, the same budding affection as that night.

Zhongli pinned Childe back on the bed, wanting to see him fall apart under his fingers. He reached between Childe’s legs and was surprised to feel how wet Childe was.

He could feel Childe’s breath hitch, his face reddening as if only now realizing how turned on he was.

Again, he was reminded of the stark difference between this and all the times he had had sex before. It had always been dry and painful, never enjoyable. But just lying under Zhongli, being caressed and teased for only minutes, had made him like this.

“I didn’t know even recessive omegas could get so wet,” Zhongli murmured, pressing into Childe’s hole, his finger slipping easily inside. Childe whimpered a little, his back arching at the feeling. He looked bashful, but he didn’t try to hide this time. “Do you… do you like it?” he asked. Zhongli smiled, glad that Childe was already making good on his promise.

“More than anything,” he whispered, pressing another finger inside, his eyes gleaming with enjoyment as Childe clung to him, gasping for air.

He fingered him, trying to loosen him up for him, all the while taking in each of Childe’s moans and movements, the kind of expressions he made, the way his scent grew stronger the deeper he fell into his lust—all the things he didn’t get to admire that night. He focused on all the places that Childe reacted to more, kneading his fingers into a knot of nerves that had Childe gasping and crying out. Zhongli's enjoyment was written all over his face, enjoying the lack of coolness between them, enjoying every detail of Childe's expressions as he left bite marks on his thighs. When he was satisfied with Childe’s looseness, he pulled his fingers out, smirking at the way Childe whined as if he didn’t want him to. Zhongli tugged down his sweats and boxers, causing his cock to spring out.

Childe bit his lip with want at the sight of it. He couldn’t help remembering that night, how much difficulty he had putting it inside him, how much it had hurt the first time. Now, his entire body quaked with the after-effects of Zhongli's fingers, knowing instinctively that his cock would bring that feeling back tenfold. Again, he realized he was slipping back into his selfishness, causing him to feel self-conscious.

His eyes flickered to Zhongli's expression, jolting a little as he saw the look on his face.

Zhongli was looking at him as if assessing all the parts of Childe that he wanted to devour first. He seemed about ready to shove himself inside Childe, to make a mess of him until he was crying for him, calling his name. His desires were written all over his usually passive face, and rather than scaring Childe, they made him happy. He couldn’t help the contentment swelling in his chest, realizing how different this night was from their previous one. Neither of them had wanted it—neither of them had any lust for each other.

All Childe had wanted from Zhongli was a baby. But this time... it was Zhongli he wanted. And he could tell that Zhongli wanted this just as much as he did.

It made it possible to finally say goodbye to that low point in his life that had been haunting him for so many years, making him do such terrible things. He held on to Zhongli, a breath leaving him as he pressed his cock inside.

Their eyes connected and then their lips, both getting lost in each other, unable to explain the euphoria they felt being one with each other.

Each move Zhongli made inside Childe had them both gasping with pleasure and each orgasm that came after numbed all the thoughts in their minds. Both of them could get used to this. They were ready to open a new chapter in their life, one where they could even be the family they had once wanted so badly.

***

Months passed, and life finally started to look up for Zhongli and Childe.

Something had softened between them since that night—perhaps it was the ice that had been thawing slowly for the last few months since their marriage began. A warmth began to bud in their home that hadn’t been there before.

The lingering tension that always followed the pair was finally dissolving, giving way to the formation of something new.

Their mornings felt lighter, the air between them clearing as Childe began smiling and laughing more often, even around Zhongli. That night was something they had needed. A trust was developing, one that allowed them to explore that attraction that had been there from their first meeting. They were starting to get to know each other, observe each other’s habits, breathe around one another, and… even love each other.

Childe enjoyed no longer having to hide whenever Zhongli was around, instead coming out of his shell and approaching him first.

Zhongli was as interesting and enigmatic a man as he had been the night they met—haughty at times, but warm, expressive, and affectionate. He only got the best of the best for their family, be it food, jewelry, or clothes.

He decided that now that they were moving towards a brighter future, a date was in order.

He bought a few (dozen) fancy clothes for Childe to wear on their date, presenting them to him one by one to see which outfit Childe liked best. He couldn't help feeling mesmerized at the way Childe's eyes crinkled with happiness, the way he smiled so warmly (one meant for Zhongli), not particularly because of the clothes but because he was excited about their date. It felt better than Zhongli could ever have imagined to be smiled at that way by Childe.

Jia Li was, of course, the most perceptive one to all these changes between them. When her parents informed her that they were going on a date over dinner one night, she squealed with joy for this was a step in the right direction—a step towards being a family. When Zhongli was putting her to bed, she had pulled out all her fairy tales and spread them in front of them on the bed like a tactician creating a battle plan, giving him detailed instructions on how to win Childe’s heart with all these cheesy gestures of affection she’d seen in the media, making Zhongli cringe.

But alas, what his daughter wants, she gets.

She helped Childe pick what to wear from the plethora of options Zhongli gave him, having never seen her Papa dress up before. She could tell Childe was happy to turn over a new leaf, which was enough to make her feel all warm and giddy inside. She was quick to push them out the door when they were leaving for their date, whisper-yelling at Zhongli to remember her tips to make this their most magical night together.

Childe learned many things about him over their first real dinner together, slowly falling into his old persona as a calm, intelligent, and charming man. He started by asking questions about Zhongli freely as he'd been encouraged to. Childe thought it might be difficult to learn more about Zhongli, but it wasn’t—Zhongli didn’t hide anything from him especially if Childe knew the right questions to ask, which was easy for how good a talker he could be at times. He learned about Zhongli’s family—his mother, a dominant alpha from a line that had almost died out, and how he had made something of his life with the little he had.

Zhongli's family had nothing when he was young, which refuted Childe's assumption that Zhongli must've grown up pampered and wanting for nothing. But it explained a lot—like Zhongli's desire for excitement, his expensive tastes, and even his loneliness.

When Zhongli grew up, he put all the intelligence and prowess of being a dominant alpha to good use and made a name for himself with blood, sweat, and tears. That’s why he took to only the fanciest and most eye-catching things, for he’d had so few of them growing up, having always focused on just fighting his way up to the top. It was eye-opening for Childe, who admired how Zhongli's expression didn't even change slightly when describing his turbulent childhood.

“I thought you might be more secretive about your past. You always seemed like the reserved type to me... I thought I might be prying too much,” Childe admitted, his eyes glittering with a curiosity that Zhongli enjoyed seeing. He was happy that Childe was taking an interest in him.

Zhongli took a bite of his food, an amused, easy smile on his face. “What do I have to gain by hiding things from my husband, hm?”

Childe’s cheeks dusted pink, a habit he’d picked up now that warmth was easier to attain with Zhongli by his side. He didn’t understand how Zhongli said those things so easily. And yet, he didn’t feel anything but joy hearing Zhongli say that, to be claimed as his husband so casually as if he was starting to warm up to that idea.

There was one more interesting thing Childe learned about his husband, not directly but indirectly—he was extremely careless with money. He happened to forget his wallet even though their bill must've amounted to hundreds of thousands of Mora. However, he had their meal comped shamelessly as if this was a regular occurrence, showing his influence. This both impressed and embarrassed Childe, who made a mental note to keep Mora with him the next time he went out with Zhongli. He couldn't help smiling ear to ear through their ride back, daydreaming of a 'next time' as they listened to old love songs playing on the radio.

That dream of being loved and wanted was finally starting to become real. That fairy tale he'd given up on was slowly becoming his new reality.

When they returned home to Jia Li with her babysitter, she bombarded them with hundreds of questions about their date to fulfill her fear of missing out. When Childe was about to head up to change, Zhongli received a sharp elbow to his knee as his daughter looked up expectantly at him, making her hands kiss to convey her message silently. Zhongli's cheeks went pink, sighing shamefully.

He followed Childe to the foot of the staircase, where he held him back by his arm, pulling him in to kiss him on the lips. He pulled away quickly to keep things PG, leaving Childe frozen in place. "I'm glad we did this, Childe," Zhongli said.

He supposed Jia Li was onto something, for the sight of his husband nearly erupting into flames, which was a testament to how much his kiss embarrassed and pleased him, was a beautiful one indeed.

He, too, was left red in the face as Childe pecked him on the cheek in return before running off upstairs like an embarrassed teen who had just had his first kiss on prom night.

Childe remained blissfully oblivious to the high-five Zhongli and Jia Li shared behind his back.

Over time, as they were warming up to being… well, lovers, things began to change even more drastically, for better or worse, neither of them knew until two months later. Zhongli woke up to find Childe not in his arms, which was rare considering he slept in. He got up sharply, unsure why he felt so uneasy waking up to Childe’s absence, looking around for him as if a sort of separation anxiety had come over him. He could smell Childe’s pheromones in the air, easily telling that something was wrong, causing him to rise to his feet in an instant.

He hurried to the bathroom, where he found Childe curled up next to the toilet, vomiting into it. Zhongli’s blood ran cold as he hurried to kneel beside Childe, wrapping his arms around his husband before rocking and soothing him as he retched.

He whispered soothing nothings into his ears, brushing damp hair from his forehead. A cold sweat covered Childe's face, his skin pale and eyes unfocused, and Zhongli felt a strange pang—almost a gnawing fear—at seeing him so vulnerable. His heart felt like it had dropped into the pits of his stomach from all the scenarios running through his mind, wondering what had caused this and how he could protect Childe from it.

When Childe was done, he curled in Zhongli’s arms, breathing heavily as he clutched his stomach.

His eyes were dazed but full of apprehension, for he already had an idea why this was happening. He had experienced this twice before. He looked up into Zhongli’s eyes, scared and confused beyond anything, wondering how it could be possible. He didn't know what to tell him as he asked him what was wrong, that worry in his eyes that made Childe feel warm.

“I… I think we should go to the hospital,” he murmured to Zhongli.

Zhongli didn’t hesitate. Within the hour, he had both Childe and Jia Li packed into the car, knowing he had a duty to protect and look after both of them.

Zhongli’s trusted doctor, an eccentric man named Baizhu, ran some tests on Childe while Jia Li frolicked with Baizhu’s helper, Qiqi, clearly unaware that anything was seriously wrong, which Zhongli was fine with. It allowed him to look after his sick husband, knowing that as his alpha, he needed to take care of him first and foremost when he needed him. "Are you feeling a little better?" he kept asking Childe, who seemed more clear-headed than him as they waited for the results to come back. Childe smiled weakly at him, though he still seemed dazed as if his mind was racing. For once, Zhongli was slow to connect the dots. He had never had to look after someone like this, making him inexperienced and confused about how he could make Childe feel better.

It was a long wait later when Baizhu called them back in, looking rather shocked but pleased nonetheless.

“Your health is perfectly in order, Mr. Childe,” he said, taking his seat behind the desk, a smile playing on his lips as he saw Zhongli’s confusion. “It's just that…" He tried to look for words on how to break the news to them. Having known Zhongli personally for a while... he knew this would be a shock. "You’re a bit more occupied than usual, that’s all.” He could tell from Childe's expression that he immediately knew what he meant. His expression went slack, and his arms immediately closed around his belly.

Zhongli, however, just looked annoyed and oblivious. “I hate when you speak in riddles,” he grumbled, glaring at Baizhu.

Baizhu’s smile just widened in response. “Your dear husband is pregnant.”

A beat of silence fell over the room. It was amusing to see all the emotions that played across Zhongli's face within five seconds. He looked as if he had been slapped across the face. His expression turned from shock to bewilderment to dawning realization as he shifted his gaze from Childe to his belly as if he could see anything there. He met Childe's eyes, seeing that the same questions were playing through both their minds. Zhongli released a shaky breath, for he never could've imagined hearing news like this, especially after Jia Li was already born.

He kept surveying Baizhu for any sign of a joke, but he knew Childe’s look of understanding had to mean something.

“But… how?” Childe asked, voicing the question that was in both their minds. “I’m a recessive omega,” he said quietly. “I struggled to conceive for so long in my first marriage… so how could I be…?”

Only a dominant alpha could get a recessive omega pregnant, but even then, their body may have trouble keeping the child or conceiving in the first place. Childe had experienced it firsthand in his first marriage, how difficult it had been for him to become pregnant at all, and even then… he still hadn’t recovered from the loss of his first. For him to even get pregnant by Zhongli on the first try, much less carry Jia Li to term, had been a stroke of luck for Childe, thinking that the gods had finally given him room to breathe by letting him have Jia.

But for that to happen twice? That wasn’t just luck—it could only be described as a miracle.

Baizhu blinked at him, his smile faltering a little as he mirrored the couple’s confusion. It was his turn to assess their expressions for any sign of a joke, but he found none. “Um... I don't know what to say,” he said as if that was a marvel. “The two of you don’t feel it?”

He could see Zhongli’s annoyance flare up again at another riddle-like question, but he waited for an answer. “Feel what?”

Baizhu looked at them as if questioning their senses. “The two of you are mates,” he said, an expectant tone in his voice as if trying to invoke an understanding that didn't come. The couple simply looked like the rug had been pulled out from under them, causing Baizhu to marvel at their ignorance.

“Pregnancy chances skyrocket for all omegas if the one they’re conceiving with is their mate. I’m sure the two of you must’ve felt something. Your scents should be stronger to each other than anyone else, even for a recessive omega. Perhaps you had a moment where your eyes connected but never seemed to part from each other—a pull, an affection, or even a sexual desire you couldn’t explain?” Baizhu said, watching their expressions closely. He could tell each word seemed to hit home.

He let his words stew, falling silent as he realized it really was their first time putting a name to what they had been feeling all these years.

Childe met Zhongli’s eyes, and between them, they shared all the moments where they had felt this connection but had never been able to explain it. The day they’d met, Childe had chosen Zhongli, not on what he thought was a whim, but because he knew in his heart that this man was the one he wanted—the man he wanted children with. For Zhongli, he hadn’t been able to tear his eyes off Childe from the moment their eyes met. From the first moment, he had known there was something different about him. He knew he had found something truly priceless.

That night, they had been the only ones to make each other feel again.

For Childe, Zhongli had been the first breath of fresh air after drowning in sorrow for years before meeting him. All those nights Childe had spent in longing, crying out for him while pregnant with Jia Li, wasn’t just because he was the father of his child. That hadn’t happened at all during his first pregnancy. It was because… Zhongli was his mate. It was because he wanted him by his side, helping him through his pregnancy, holding him through each twinge of pain, through each scare he got that he may lose Jia Li too.

Childe felt his eyes watering a little. It made so much sense.

If only he hadn’t ruined it. If only he had let the night take its course, they would’ve been living like a true fated pair—a true family—much sooner.

Zhongli appeared to be thinking the same thing, but more than that, he was just relieved. He was relieved they had ended up here in the end. For Zhongli, Childe was that one eccentric, remarkable thing that he had always been searching for while navigating luxuries. He had always wondered why he was so remarkable to him.

The answer to the burning question he’d struggled with for five years now was finally given to him. The ‘why’ would finally stop haunting him. Had he been permitted to explore those feelings, he may never have let Childe go. He may have uncovered this answer much sooner. But it was okay that that hadn't been how things had gone.

Sure, the journey had been a painful one... but he was no longer lonely, at least.

“I’ll leave you two for a moment so you can work out what you need to face,” Baizhu said wisely, not wanting to third-wheel a much-needed conversation. He left the room, leaving them with a silence neither knew how to fill. Childe was afraid Zhongli might feel angry and resentful again, for they now knew he was the reason they hadn’t fallen in love sooner. After all, even he was angry with himself for being so stupid—it was only natural that Zhongli would be too. But as he looked into Zhongli’s eyes, he only saw a warmth that made his heart spin in its ribcage. Relief washed over him, remembering he had been forgiven.

Childe hesitantly leaned his head against Zhongli’s shoulder, his lower lip trembling, still struggling with what he had done—still struggling to forgive himself.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I… I never should’ve…”

For a moment, Zhongli was quiet, though his arm wrapped around Childe’s shoulders, tugging him closer. “I don’t disagree with that,” he said, a tentative smile on his face. “But… even if we took a longer, more dangerous path, we ended up here at least—where we would’ve ended up if we let nature run its course.”

Childe smiled a little, happy that Zhongli was looking on the bright side. “At least it wasn’t boring,” he said, causing Zhongli to chuckle.

“You’re right. It’ll be a good story to tell our grandchildren.”

“Oh god, please don’t,” Childe said, pulling imploringly at Zhongli’s shirt, but he was glad that despite it being their worst moment, they could joke about it now. Zhongli smiled, placing his hand gently over Childe’s belly. “Alright, I’ll make you an offer,” he said. “If you let me raise this one from the get-go, I’ll keep your secrets.”

Childe smiled at him, hesitating for just a second before kissing him on the cheek. “That goes without saying.”