Chapter Text
What a difference it was to walk through Liyue Harbor not as a Fatui Harbinger, but as Rex Lapis’ own sworn sword. Merchants greeted Childe with respect and true friendliness, and offered him actual deals rather than trying to fleece the rich foreigner.
Liyue celebrated for days at the news that their deity still lived, and Childe had watched fondly as his siblings joined the fun, tentative at first and then bolder when they were warmly received. Today Teucer and Anton were running around the harbor with the other kids, their laughter echoing amidst the ancient stones. His parents were out too, shopping and keeping an eye on the two scoundrels. Childe had meant to accompany them, but had decided to slip away to get a little time alone, while the house was quiet.
When he reached the home, he hung up his coat, then walked through the spacious living room into the cozy kitchen, where he froze, an utterly horrified sound emerging from his throat.
La Signora was sitting in one of the pine dining chairs, the sun lighting bright trails in her hair, but that wasn’t the issue. Signora was staying in Liyue for the next few weeks, setting things in order and trying to smooth over diplomatic issues, so her presence wasn’t all that alarming.
No, the problem was Tonia, straddling Signora’s lap with the front of her nightgown unlaced and a very noticeable hickey on her neck.
“Oh Archons,” Childe said, clamping his hand over his eyes. “I can never unsee this now. Signora, what have you done ?”
Signora giggled. It was a disconcertingly innocent sound. Childe kept his eyes shut.
“Go get dressed, pet,” Signora said softly. “I’ll take care of your nosy brother.”
“ Pet ?” Childe gasped. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. And I’m not nosy, you guys are in the fucking kitchen.”
“It’s okay, Big Brother,” Tonia said, her bare feet tapping on the tile floor. “It’s nothing she hasn’t done before.”
Childe groaned in despair, opening his eyes so he could sink despondently into a chair as Tonia disappeared down the hallway.
“This better not be revenge,” he said, glancing at Signora.
“Don’t be petty.” She tugged the straps of her dress back onto her shoulders. “Tonia deserves the world. I intend to give it to her. You are not even an afterthought.”
“You could think about me a little,” Childe said. “Specifically when you’re deciding where to make out.”
“Why are you even here?”
Childe scowled at her. “I live here, of course.”
She raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “You don’t live with Rex Lapis?”
Childe huffed. Crossed his arms. Looked away. “None of your Archons-damned business.”
“Oh my. It seems I’ve hit a sore spot.” She smirked, holding out her hand. “Do tell me all about it, my soon-to-be brother-in-law.”
Brother-in-law? Ugh. He wasn’t even going to address that remark.
“We’ve both been busy,” Childe said defensively.
Since their ship had docked in Liyue, they had spent every waking moment working on returning Rex Lapis to public life and getting Childe’s family comfortably situated. There had been no time to discuss anything, but Childe knew that Rex Lapis had made an incredible sacrifice to save his life. He could feel the power the gnosis had bestowed upon him, strength he had stolen from Rex Lapis with his reckless plan.
He just didn’t want to push his luck. He’d already been given so much. It would be selfish to ask for more.
“You’re busy.” Signora looked wildly unimpressed with the half-truth. “You betrayed our Tsaritsa for him and now you’re too busy?”
Childe hunched his shoulders, looking away. He did feel guilty about turning his back on the god who had been there for the whole of his life until just a few weeks ago.
“Did you hear what happened in the throne room?” he asked Signora. “How he healed me?”
“Of course I did.” Signora looked unimpressed. “Nothing happens in Zapolyarny Palace that Her Majesty doesn’t know about.”
“I took his source of strength,” Childe said miserably. “I stole half of his power. How can he even look at me after that?”
Signora rolled her eyes. “You’re so incredibly thick.”
Childe bristled, crossing his arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
With a long sigh, she drummed her nails on the table. “I owe Rex Lapis a spot of revenge. I think an immortal lifetime with you is an adequate punishment, so I will say this once. Listen very carefully, Tartaglia.”
Childe raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“You need to get on your knees.”
“Very fucking funny, Signora.”
“I’m being serious.” She crossed her arms, giving him a measured glance. “Tonia would never fuck up quite the way that you tend to do on a regular basis. But if she did, all she would have to do is get on her knees and offer herself up, and all would be forgiven.”
“Please don’t talk about my sister that way.” Childe buried his burning face in his hands and resolved to have a long talk with Tonia about safe sex.
But Signora’s words wouldn’t leave him alone. Was it really that simple—would Zhongli forgive him if he just asked?
Finally, he realized he had to at least try it, because otherwise the guilt would eat away at him and he might lose Zhongli entirely.
He let himself into Zhongli’s house in Yujing Terrace in the late afternoon. Zhongli would be back from Wangsheng Funeral Parlor soon in just a few minutes, so he moved quickly. He needed to fix whatever was between them, because what he had now—Zhongli drifting further and further away—was unbearable.
It made sense that Zhongli would want some space. After all, Childe had pulled a reckless stunt and then stolen half of Rex Lapis’ strength for his own. It was unforgivable, but he hoped to be forgiven anyway.
He had nothing to offer but himself, so that was what he would offer.
He pulled off his shirt but left the leather collar around his neck. Tossing the discarded garment over a chair, he went to kneel beside Zhongli’s reading chair and wait, his heart in his throat and his chest aching with hope and longing.
He’d timed it well—Zhongli walked in not five minutes afterwards. He sighed heavily as the door shut behind him, hanging his coat on the rack and letting his shoulders slump as though they’d been bearing the weight of the world.
Then he turned and became still as stone when he saw Childe, his mouth half open in surprise.
“Childe,” he murmured, approaching slowly. “I didn’t expect…”
“Just—” Childe drew in a deep breath. “Just let me say what I came to say. Then you can do what you have to do.”
Zhongli stopped just a few feet away and nodded. His eyes lingered on Childe as though he couldn’t bear to look away.
“I know that you’re angry with me,” Childe began. “That’s okay. I know that you resent me. I understand. I took half your gnosis—half your strength. How could you not hate me at least a little?”
Zhongli’s brow furrowed, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Childe interrupted him before he could start.
“Just let me finish,” he said. “I came here tonight so you could punish me. Anything you want to do to me, you can. And maybe once you have, we can go back to the way things were.”
Zhongli was silent for what felt like a very long time. Childe’s heart beat like a hummingbird in his chest, as though it wanted to dart out his throat and fly away.
“You wish for me to...mete out the punishment I believe you deserve.” Zhongli said, slow and careful. “And if I do this, we can return to our earlier intimacy. Those are your terms?”
Childe nodded.
“Very well,” Zhongli said, at last. “I accept your contract.”
Childe blew out a sigh that was half relief and half trepidation.
“Come,” Zhongli said, turning on his heel and walking into the bedroom without looking back to see if Childe would follow.
Of course he would. He would follow Zhongli anywhere.
“Get in bed,” Zhongli said, rummaging for something in a dresser drawer. “On your back.”
Childe hurried to comply. There was nothing he wanted more than to be good for Zhongli tonight, to prove his worth and devotion the only way he knew how.
Zhongli returned to the bed with a long black scarf that twined soft as silk around Childe’s wrists and secured them easily to the large, ornate headboard.
“That will tear easily, given your strength,” Zhongli said, slowly unbuttoning his shirt. “Take care not to move your arms, or you may damage it.”
“Yes, Sir,” Childe said, his eyes on the sliver of skin exposed where Zhongli had finally begun shedding clothes. The scarf was more firmly binding than any rope or chain could have been, because he had to keep himself so still. Zhongli’s words were the true restraint, not the flimsy silk tying him down.
“You will address me as Rex Lapis, as that is my formal title,” Zhongli said, pushing the shirt off his shoulders to reveal skin like ore and glowing veins. He climbed onto the bed and leaned over Childe, brushing his fingers over Childe’s lower lip before slipping two of them into Childe’s mouth.
Childe sucked at them eagerly, running his tongue over long elegant fingers. His anxiety about the punishment aside, he was already pretty turned on from the hope that he’d get to have sex with Zhongli after. It had been a couple of weeks since they’d had time for much of anything at all.
“Already so well behaved,” Zhongli said, with an approving smile that sent a pulse of arousal and contentment through Childe. “Now, my love, I need you to listen very carefully.”
His mouth full of Zhongli’s fingers, Childe could do nothing but nod.
“How can you say I’ve given up half my strength when I have gained so much more than that?” Zhongli asked. “I have my warrior Tartaglia by my side now, and with your might, we will never be defeated.”
He pulled his fingers from Childe’s lips and ran his spit-slick fingertips down Childe’s chest, watching Childe solemnly.
“Or are you saying that your strength is not mine to command?” he asked, very gently.
Childe shook his head. “My strength is yours, Rex Lapis,” he promised.
“Good.” Zhongli smiled, leaning down to press his lips to Childe’s chest, just above his heart. To the skin that somehow bore no scar from the frantic incision Zhongli had made with his own claws to remove the crystal of ice and save Childe’s life.
“Now, as promised,” he continued, moving to the waistband of Childe’s pants, “I will give you what you deserve.”
Childe swallowed, fear fluttering in his chest. He had been in this position before, vulnerable and exposed before someone who was going to hurt him. But a tug of his wrist against the silk scarf brought him back to the present. To the restraints he could break through in a heartbeat if he wanted to escape. To Zhongli, who was looking at him with tenderness and awe, like Childe was the most wondrous thing he’d seen in six millennia.
“You have been nothing but good for me,” Zhongli said, tugging Childe’s pants down his legs and tossing the garment aside. “My cunning warrior. You have saved me from my own foolishness, and by willingly accepting my gnosis, you have freed me from that which I feared most.”
Childe flushed with pleasure at the praise, his cock stiffening. “What did you fear?”
“That I would lose you. That you would grow old, as mortals do, and eventually leave me to linger eternally on without you.”
Childe bit back an incredulous laugh. “All this time… I thought you must be so angry at me.”
Zhongli shook his head, spreading Childe’s legs with a gentle nudge of his fingertips.
“You are so beautiful,” he said, leaning in to kiss a line down the inside of Childe’s thigh. “I am nothing but pleased with you. Tell me, do you think you can be good for me tonight? Can you take what I give you?”
“Yes,” Childe breathed. “Anything, Rex Lapis. Anything you want.”
Zhongli licked a long line up the underside of Childe’s cock, then lavished kisses across his length while Chile gasped and clutched at the silk restraints, trying to hold himself still.
Then he pulled away, pausing to slick his hand with what seemed like an excessive amount of oil. He traced the contours of Childe’s entrance with his fingertip, hesitating. Deliberating.
“C’mon,” Childe panted. “I’m so ready for you.”
Zhongli’s smile was satisfied, like that was what he had been waiting to hear. Slowly, one slick finger pushed its way inside, stretching Childe. But it wasn’t nearly enough.
“I won’t break,” Childe reminded him. “You don’t have to go so slow.”
Zhongli gave him a stern look. “I will not be rushed.” But a second finger began nudging at Childe’s entrance all the same.
That was better, stretching him a little wider, in shallow, cautious thrusts that gradually became deeper and more thorough. By now Zhongli knew his body well enough to know just how to curl his fingers to make pleasure flash through Childe on each stroke.
Finally, a third finger pressed into him, and Childe sighed with relief, relaxing his body to accept the intrusion.
“Will you fuck me now?” Childe asked, on the edge of begging.
Zhongli shook his head. “I want to see how much you can take. Do you think you can take four?”
He held up his left hand to demonstrate how thick four of his fingers were, pressed together. Childe drew in a sharp breath at the thought of all that, inside him.
“Yeah,” he said, with a cocky grin. “I can take it.”
“I know you can.” Zhongli sounded pleased, and the sound of his approval made Childe’s face flush.
He felt the press of Zhongli’s fingers against his hole, bigger than anything he’d ever taken before. He breathed out, forcing his body to relax, to get used to the stretch. Zhongli moved his hand with agonizing slowness and tender care, but did not relent in pushing deeper into Childe’s body.
His cor lapis eyes were dark with lust as he watched the place where his fingers disappeared inside Childe.
“You are a vision ,” he murmured. “If only you could see yourself…”
Childe panted, his cock so hard it ached. “I can take more.”
“I thought you might say that,” Zhongli said, curling his fingers in such a way as to send a mind numbing shock of pleasure through Childe. “I cannot deny you anything.”
The press of Zhongli’s entire hand, stretching his rim beyond anything he’d ever taken, made him cry out with the ache and burn of it. But his body was no longer mortal, and was not so easily damaged. Zhongli did not stop, but continued the slow slide of his entire fucking hand into Childe’s tight hole.
“Fuck,” Childe breathed. “I’m not gonna be able to walk tomorrow.”
“Good,” Zhongli said. “You can think of me every time you try to move.”
Childe groaned, clenching around Zhongli’s fist. He’d never felt so full, so utterly wrecked. Zhongli pressed his hand forward and Childe cried out again, pleasure washing over him in great, trembling waves. He hadn’t realized how close he was to the edge until he reached it, and the sweet sensation lasted and lasted until he was utterly spent.
When he opened his eyes, Zhongli—his whole right hand still buried inside Childe—was jerking his own cock with fast, rough strokes of his left, his eyes on Childe’s face. He groaned, low and deep, and came with a shudder all over the place where their bodies were joined.
Childe let himself drift while Zhongli slowly eased his hand out, taking great care.
“You’re so good to me,” Childe murmured, blinking sleepily at him.
“I did make a contract to give you what you deserve,” Zhongli murmured, leaning over to kiss his forehead.
“Sneaky…” Childe yawned. “So that was your big plan all along.”
After cleaning them both up, Zhongli climbed into the bed beside him, curling his body around Childe and pressing a kiss to the back of his neck. Childe leaned into his warmth, feeling the tension seep from his body.
“You deserve to be worshipped,” Zhongli said. “And now you will be. Not just by me, but by all of Liyue.”
Childe laughed, a little awkwardly. “I don’t need all that. I just need you. Like this.”
“You have me,” Zhongli promised. “You always will.”
It was a wonder how quickly Liyue had gone from a foreign land to a place that felt like home. Or maybe it was just Zhongli’s arms, the press of his lips against the crown of Childe’s head, that made him feel like after his long, difficult journey, he had finally reached a familiar shore.
A thousand years later, two young men sit together in a restaurant in Liyue Harbor. The restaurant has changed names and hands countless times over the millennia, the building remodeled to suit each new owner. But the foundation it sits upon is solid as stone and has endured for 4,700 years without faltering.
As the storyteller begins to weave the tale of Tartaglia, Rex Lapis’ most beloved and powerful servant, the man with amber eyes turns to his companion, his gaze soft with fondness.
At first blush, it’s easy to mistake them for newlyweds, with the besotted glances that pass between them, the secret smiles they share. In the marketplace, they each seek out gifts the other might appreciate—a rare and radiant shard of cor lapis, fashioned into the shape of the Geo sigil, or a kite emblazoned with the animal most associated with Tartaglia, the narwhal.
A keen observer might notice them in a secluded corner of Yujing Terrace, where the foreigner with the Hydro sigil on his hip impudently steals a kiss. They might consider him to be particularly blessed by Tartaglia, patron of foreigners who seek to make Liyue their home.
They say Tartaglia died for Rex Lapis, and the Geo Archon in all his benevolence cried golden tears that brought Tartaglia back to life, stronger than before. Rex Lapis’ devotion bestowed godhood on the deserving warrior, who became his champion and his eternal companion. Over the years this story has been told a thousand different ways, but two things remain true to this day.
No matter the telling, the story has always been about love, and it has yet to have an ending.