[ it's the sensible, necessary, albeit painstakingly difficult thing to draw himself away and come outside of childe. zhongli would be the one to adhere to it, the order against childe's recklessness, even in the throes of passion. he should be, but childe begs his name into his ear and robs him of his good sense—and all other senses with it.
childe, shining with sweat, bitten and bruised, orange hair pasted and curled to his forehead and cheeks, sucking him in, greedy and beautiful—zhongli can feel when his cock pushes against the right spot. childe's suddenly ruts against him, shuddering all through his body, and his rattling outcry rings in zhongli's ears. he registers the come that paints his stomach chest fingers. almost without thinking, his fist tightens and quickens its pace.
he soaks in every moment of childe's delirious pleasure. his hips roll upward, resisting his own orgasm as he pushes forcefully against his prostate. mine, his want says again, reaching for childe, childe, childe. his cock swells again, searingly hot, hard enough that it hurts. no matter where he may go or who he may find, he is my soulmate. i love him, and he is only mine.
childe traps him between his shaking thighs. as if answering him, he wordlessly demands as he'd done so many times through the evening: I won't let you hold back and I'll never forgive you and I want everything, anything and Together. zhongli is enraptured, hearing every word through his aching want. he has no other thought but to concede.
his grip locks tightly over childe's hip, and the harsh, burning glow of his soulmark bleeds into the golden yellow of his fingertip. instinctively, irresistibly, he forces childe down onto his cock as his hips strike upward, heels pushed again into the bed for leverage, burying deeply inside of him.
that swirling, silken heat tightens around him. he groans and tightly shuts his eyes, all other senses lost. the knot of pleasure between his legs finally comes undone and rips through him. his release pours out of him in ropes, viscous and hot, gathering at the head of his cock and filling between walls of spasming muscle. ]
[It's a lucky thing that Zhongli follows him so closely. It's been a long time since he's felt so over-sensitive; not since those first days as a Harbinger, when he'd fought to tame the electric power he now calls his own. Zhongli's power threads through him in the same way, electric-hot and nigh overwhelming. If not for Childe's sheer resilience, it would be, ironically, too much. But it's exactly what Childe wants--for his own orgasm to crash against Zhongli's the way ocean waves meet sandy beaches, beautifully inseparable.
Zhongli's grip on him is iron-tight; Childe twists and jerks above him to no avail, and really, that shouldn't be as arousing as it is. But he can't help it. Zhongli's effortless strength is one of his most attractive qualities--here, with both of them overcome by pleasure, Childe is powerless against the way it makes him feel.
For as loud as he'd been earlier, he's quiet as he catches his breath, sweat-soaked and trembling with aftershocks where he's perched atop Zhongli. He's somehow ended up with one hand planted back on Zhongli's chest for balance--it's the only thing stopping him from slumping forward onto Zhongli, and he keeps himself upright through sheer force of will.
So soft, Scaramouche had said about him once, disgusted to see him sharing an affectionate parting kiss with an old fling. He'd gotten in trouble because of her, years after they'd moved on from each other. Deserters were not to be shown mercy, and he'd been assigned executions for a month after he'd tried to spare her children the death of their mother.
(She'd died anyway, he'd learned later. For those who've only ever known the Fatui, exile is not truly a kindness.)
Ah, but... this is different, isn't it?These aren't the icy halls of Zapolyarny Palace. He isn't here as Tartaglia anymore--never really was, even when he'd come for this flimsy excuse of a mission.
No, this is Liyue. Warm, loving, enduring Liyue. And Zhongli... Zhongli wants Ajax just as much as he wants Tartaglia and Childe. He'd said so both with and without words; the proof of Zhongli's desire is all over him, inside of him. The more Childe settles back into his own skin, the more apparent it becomes.
This is more than love; this is knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this is where the other half of his soul has been all along.
So, slowly, he lets his arm bend--lets his hand slide forward, so that he can lower himself down and rest on Zhongli's chest. His mind is still pleasantly foggy, and a wonderful sort of exhaustion spreads through him as soon as he allows himself to truly relax. It's going to get uncomfortable if he stays like this for too long, but right now, Zhongli is still pleasantly warm beneath and inside him.]
[ zhongli sinks back into the mattress as the force of his orgasm finally melts away. the air is hot and damp around them, sticking in every crease of their skin. his hands loosen and rest lightly over the knobs of childe's hips. the glowing yellow of his fingertips have faded, a dim light in a dense fog. the air is full of their rasping, uneven breaths. zhongli registers the (light but solid) weight of childe around his hips and pressed to the center of his heaving chest.
when he raises his eyes to childe again, he watches him with the gaze of the man he met, measured and calm, ringed in gold and vermillion. they're not glowing, but his gaze is still steeped in his adoration. when childe lowers against him, zhongli accepts it like he'd been waiting to hold him—and he was. his arm folds around his waist, and his other hand—the clean one—closes over the hand at his chest. his thumb gently strokes along the joint of childe's finger with gentle affection, over and over.
he's still warm inside of childe, but he makes no move to pull away even as he slowly softens. there's come flattened between their bodies, blood dried and flecked and beading in several places. their skin is slippery, running with sweat. they're perfect this way, two halves made whole. their soulmarks hum where their skin meets, as if finally content. ajax is perfect beyond measure.
he tilts his head and brushes his lips past the curls of childe's hair to kiss beneath his hairline. ]
I'm beginning to see the merit in your argument.
[ he murmurs, his lips curling in a smile. ]
Perhaps we should wait here until the ship's passengers clear out into the Harbor.
[What tension the orgasm didn't clear from him is soothed away by Zhongli's touch. Not just the gentle motion of his thumb; as much as he enjoys that and keeps his hand still for it, it's the sort of fragile tenderness he doesn't yet know how to handle. The affection it rouses in his heart is skittish, still. No--it's the way Zhongli's arm rests solidly around him, the way their skin sticks in some places and slides in others, the scent of sex and earth and divine humanity that Childe picks up on when he lays his head on Zhongli's shoulder. These, more than anything else, are the elements that ease the last of his lingering reservations--the ones he is barely even consciously aware of.
He could fall asleep like this. It's the height of folly, to be so trusting.
Oh well. There are worse ways to die.
Zhongli's words startle a laugh out of him; he wants to lift his head and catch Zhongli's eye, but he's too comfortable to move, so he just presses his smile to the crook of Zhongli's neck instead.]
I do have a Hydro vision, you know. [He can make them... well. Maybe not decent, but halfway there. He can't do anything about all the hickeys and bruises and scratches, but that was kind of the point.
The kiss makes the back of his neck tingle; if his skin weren't already flushed, he suspects he'd be blushing, even though that makes no sense at all. Wow. That's embarrassing.] But hey, who am I to argue with the wisdom of a god?
Normally you'd be quick to challenge one of my kind.
[ he could tease a little, say that he must have exhausted the indomitable eleventh harbinger, but he knows what would happen if he said that. he won't ruin this moment—the first of its kind, sweet and serene, meant only for him and his other half. there's no need for zhongli to sleep, but he can choose to. even with a harbinger's smile drawn up against his pulse, he could choose to do it here and have no regrets.
this isn't a harbinger. this is tartaglia, childe, and now only his ajax.
he speaks softly against his forehead, eyes still drawn closed. ]
I'll admit that this has less to do with wisdom or reason. I would simply like to be here with you for as long as time allows.
[Zhongli's not wrong... Childe muffles a laugh and mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like "extenuating circumstances." Apparently not even banging a god twice in one evening can make him less annoying, incredible. In his defense, he did warn Zhongli.
That gentle sincerity quiets him, though. His grin doesn't fade, but it softens; he's glad, now, that he didn't lift his head to look at Zhongli's face. He feels too wrung out to handle the open devotion he would surely see in those Cor Lapis eyes.]
Mm. [A soft agreement; regardless of how out of his depth he is in all of this, he doesn't want to lose the moment either. It doesn't matter that they'll (probably, he assumes, he hopes) go home together once they return to land, that this won't end beyond the walls of this tiny room; right now, there is nowhere else he'd rather be.
It was never a question of whether or not he wants to be be with Zhongli. He isn't afraid to acknowledge that.
He's quiet for a little while--not sleeping, just... resting. Basking. But eventually--]
If you'd known we were--y'know. [Ah. The word "soulmate" still sticks in his mouth. He'll have to get used to it in his head first, it seems.] Would you still have come out tonight?
[This, fortunately, lacks the same weight as would you have trusted me with your plan?--a question he will never ask. This question, though, has no stakes attached. Childe already knows that he would never have sent that invitation if he'd known what they truly were to each other; it's a safely impossible hypothetical, so he's free to be curious.]
[ zhongli was duly warned, and he still doesn't see childe as annoying at all, unfortunately. when childe laughs softly against his neck, he only smiles back, flashing his teeth. he revels in that laughter more deeply than he ever has before. it's cute. and it tickles.
zhongli basks in this too, deciding that silence is golden. there's a quiet language in lying with one another like this—something he'd never guessed they would share. at some point, his eyes draw closed. childe's heart beats against his chest, past the roughness of his scars.
the question is a little surprise. he opens his eyes again, considering the ceiling as he answers. ]
Given that you'd referred to this night as a 'date,' I may have assumed that you knew as well. That aside... I don't see why I wouldn't.
[ he says it inquisitively, waiting to see if childe believed otherwise. ]
[Zhongli stop being charmed by your menace of a boyfriend]
I say a lot of things you shouldn't take at face value, xiansheng. [The nickname is back... but Childe can't help it, honestly. He's the nicknaming type; even if the term isn't special in Liyuese, it's something Childe only associates with Zhongli. And with Zhongli comes warmth, familiarity, and affection.] Thought you'd figured that out by now.
[He's just teasing, though, even if his normal playful lilt is obscured by his content, sleepy tone. (Even if it's not necessarily untrue, though Childe always has, and always will, favor honesty and straightforwardness. It'll probably be his downfall.)]
But have some faith in me, hm? I wouldn't torture you like that.
[ maybe said menace of a boyfriend should stop being charming!!! ever think about that
childe reminds him of their conversations regarding that night. childe has said his first name before, always followed by his new moniker. he remembers the small flutter in his chest when childe said his name alone for the first time—and the searing heat when he heard it sighed in the middle of their sex. he decides that he loves his name in childe's mouth no matter what shape it takes. ]
It would be difficult not to draw that conclusion. I would have to confirm it, of course.
[ another au where zhongli would make childe lift his shirt. can't ever have too many of those!
zhongli can hear that sleepiness. he noses again into childe's hair and presses his lips to his head. he breathes in—soap, salt, smoke—and lazily smooths his fingers up and down a small length of childe's back. ]
Even if you hadn't known, I would have come. ...It would have been interesting to see your reaction if your mark suddenly appeared.
[Oh, that's dangerous. The mild discomfort of sticky, cooling skin pales in comparison to the soothing motions of Zhongli's fingers.]
Confirm it, huh... [He's very clearly drowsy, but he's fighting the urge to doze off. Whether it's a force of habit or just stubbornness because he wants to keep talking is anybody's guess.] And how would you have pulled that off?
[ zhongli has heard childe's lazy, sleepy voice before: at midnight hours on a drunken evening, or when childe is spread over his couch during a quiet and golden afternoon. it's sweeter now, knowing that zhongli had been the cause of it. ]
By searching for evidence, if I'm given the opportunity to do so.
[ he flirts back, good idea or not.
unfortunately, they can't stay this way while childe is sleeping. both of his hands smooth down and grip firmly on childe's hips. he draws out of childe with a soft exhale, shocked lightly with cold and sticking with come.
after that, his hand smooths up his back again, returning to its rhythm. ]
[Whatever else he would've said is lost to a hiss of complaint as Zhongli slides out of him. Now he's all gross and uncomfortable... why is he the only one who has to pay the price for this, huh? What's fair about that? Nevermind that he's the one who demanded Zhongli come inside him. Listen. IT JUST AIN'T FAIR.
But with some insincere grumbling, he shifts around slightly, until he settles at Zhongli's side with one leg thrown over Zhongli's. His hand finds its place back on Zhongli's chest, a wordless request for Zhongli to resume his gentle touches.
Someday, he'll be able to ask for such things directly. For now, though, he hums noncommittally, even as he closes his eyes.]
Don't want to. [Well, at least he's not claiming he's not tired.] Wanna keep talking to you.
[ you're the one with the hydro vision childe!!! your quick fix is right there
childe settles at his side and zhongli keeps an arm slung comfortably around his shoulders. he settles his hand again over the one at his chest, understanding even wordlessly that this is childe's invitation. he's been around humans long enough to make educated guesses about their body language.
he raises childe's hand and presses those fingers to his smiling mouth—one kiss over the nails, another at the underside of his fingers. after that, he settles his hand back against his chest.
he remembers that spark in childe's fingers only moments before. this time, he presses childe's palm where his old heart drums steadily against it.
earlier, childe had the inclination to sink his hand inside and take it for himself. zhongli holds his hand against his beating heart as if to show him: this is yours. this is where i keep it safe for you. ]
We'll speak as much as much as you'd like when you wake. I will be here.
It's tempting to hold onto his stubbornness. He could do it, he knows; it would take nothing at all to tap into his energy reserves, to shed this drowsiness and do whatever he pleased instead. Zhongli would probably be exasperated with him, but that's nothing new. And Childe--well. There's no shortage of things Childe would love to do with Zhongli, ranging from embarrassingly domestic to obscenely filthy. They probably have a little longer before the ship makes it back to the Harbor. Even longer if they dawdle.
But... he likes this. The soft, simple comfort of resting at his lover's side, paired, for once in his life, with the utter certainty of safety.
Thrills and danger run in Childe's blood. Safety is a remnant of his old life, something he's grown to associate with monotony and discomfort. It's meant for other people, and he's long since stopped wanting it. But the part of him that hasn't let its guard down since the Abyss, braced for threats at any moment--the part of him that remembers each bloodied step he'd taken on the path to Harbinger--that part of him can't resist the promise that comes with Zhongli's embrace.
Zhongli's heart beats steadily beneath his palm. Childe thinks of pawns and soulmates, ice and stone.
Finally, he repeats the same words he'd said earlier, back when Zhongli had guided them here.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
childe, shining with sweat, bitten and bruised, orange hair pasted and curled to his forehead and cheeks, sucking him in, greedy and beautiful—zhongli can feel when his cock pushes against the right spot. childe's suddenly ruts against him, shuddering all through his body, and his rattling outcry rings in zhongli's ears. he registers the come that paints his stomach chest fingers. almost without thinking, his fist tightens and quickens its pace.
he soaks in every moment of childe's delirious pleasure. his hips roll upward, resisting his own orgasm as he pushes forcefully against his prostate. mine, his want says again, reaching for childe, childe, childe. his cock swells again, searingly hot, hard enough that it hurts. no matter where he may go or who he may find, he is my soulmate. i love him, and he is only mine.
childe traps him between his shaking thighs. as if answering him, he wordlessly demands as he'd done so many times through the evening: I won't let you hold back and I'll never forgive you and I want everything, anything and Together. zhongli is enraptured, hearing every word through his aching want. he has no other thought but to concede.
his grip locks tightly over childe's hip, and the harsh, burning glow of his soulmark bleeds into the golden yellow of his fingertip. instinctively, irresistibly, he forces childe down onto his cock as his hips strike upward, heels pushed again into the bed for leverage, burying deeply inside of him.
that swirling, silken heat tightens around him. he groans and tightly shuts his eyes, all other senses lost. the knot of pleasure between his legs finally comes undone and rips through him. his release pours out of him in ropes, viscous and hot, gathering at the head of his cock and filling between walls of spasming muscle. ]
no subject
Zhongli's grip on him is iron-tight; Childe twists and jerks above him to no avail, and really, that shouldn't be as arousing as it is. But he can't help it. Zhongli's effortless strength is one of his most attractive qualities--here, with both of them overcome by pleasure, Childe is powerless against the way it makes him feel.
For as loud as he'd been earlier, he's quiet as he catches his breath, sweat-soaked and trembling with aftershocks where he's perched atop Zhongli. He's somehow ended up with one hand planted back on Zhongli's chest for balance--it's the only thing stopping him from slumping forward onto Zhongli, and he keeps himself upright through sheer force of will.
So soft, Scaramouche had said about him once, disgusted to see him sharing an affectionate parting kiss with an old fling. He'd gotten in trouble because of her, years after they'd moved on from each other. Deserters were not to be shown mercy, and he'd been assigned executions for a month after he'd tried to spare her children the death of their mother.
(She'd died anyway, he'd learned later. For those who've only ever known the Fatui, exile is not truly a kindness.)
Ah, but... this is different, isn't it?These aren't the icy halls of Zapolyarny Palace. He isn't here as Tartaglia anymore--never really was, even when he'd come for this flimsy excuse of a mission.
No, this is Liyue. Warm, loving, enduring Liyue. And Zhongli... Zhongli wants Ajax just as much as he wants Tartaglia and Childe. He'd said so both with and without words; the proof of Zhongli's desire is all over him, inside of him. The more Childe settles back into his own skin, the more apparent it becomes.
This is more than love; this is knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this is where the other half of his soul has been all along.
So, slowly, he lets his arm bend--lets his hand slide forward, so that he can lower himself down and rest on Zhongli's chest. His mind is still pleasantly foggy, and a wonderful sort of exhaustion spreads through him as soon as he allows himself to truly relax. It's going to get uncomfortable if he stays like this for too long, but right now, Zhongli is still pleasantly warm beneath and inside him.]
no subject
when he raises his eyes to childe again, he watches him with the gaze of the man he met, measured and calm, ringed in gold and vermillion. they're not glowing, but his gaze is still steeped in his adoration. when childe lowers against him, zhongli accepts it like he'd been waiting to hold him—and he was. his arm folds around his waist, and his other hand—the clean one—closes over the hand at his chest. his thumb gently strokes along the joint of childe's finger with gentle affection, over and over.
he's still warm inside of childe, but he makes no move to pull away even as he slowly softens. there's come flattened between their bodies, blood dried and flecked and beading in several places. their skin is slippery, running with sweat. they're perfect this way, two halves made whole. their soulmarks hum where their skin meets, as if finally content. ajax is perfect beyond measure.
he tilts his head and brushes his lips past the curls of childe's hair to kiss beneath his hairline. ]
I'm beginning to see the merit in your argument.
[ he murmurs, his lips curling in a smile. ]
Perhaps we should wait here until the ship's passengers clear out into the Harbor.
[ he's joking but he's also not joking. ]
no subject
He could fall asleep like this. It's the height of folly, to be so trusting.
Oh well. There are worse ways to die.
Zhongli's words startle a laugh out of him; he wants to lift his head and catch Zhongli's eye, but he's too comfortable to move, so he just presses his smile to the crook of Zhongli's neck instead.]
I do have a Hydro vision, you know. [He can make them... well. Maybe not decent, but halfway there. He can't do anything about all the hickeys and bruises and scratches, but that was kind of the point.
The kiss makes the back of his neck tingle; if his skin weren't already flushed, he suspects he'd be blushing, even though that makes no sense at all. Wow. That's embarrassing.] But hey, who am I to argue with the wisdom of a god?
[Childe.]
no subject
Normally you'd be quick to challenge one of my kind.
[ he could tease a little, say that he must have exhausted the indomitable eleventh harbinger, but he knows what would happen if he said that. he won't ruin this moment—the first of its kind, sweet and serene, meant only for him and his other half. there's no need for zhongli to sleep, but he can choose to. even with a harbinger's smile drawn up against his pulse, he could choose to do it here and have no regrets.
this isn't a harbinger. this is tartaglia, childe, and now only his ajax.
he speaks softly against his forehead, eyes still drawn closed. ]
I'll admit that this has less to do with wisdom or reason. I would simply like to be here with you for as long as time allows.
no subject
That gentle sincerity quiets him, though. His grin doesn't fade, but it softens; he's glad, now, that he didn't lift his head to look at Zhongli's face. He feels too wrung out to handle the open devotion he would surely see in those Cor Lapis eyes.]
Mm. [A soft agreement; regardless of how out of his depth he is in all of this, he doesn't want to lose the moment either. It doesn't matter that they'll (probably, he assumes, he hopes) go home together once they return to land, that this won't end beyond the walls of this tiny room; right now, there is nowhere else he'd rather be.
It was never a question of whether or not he wants to be be with Zhongli. He isn't afraid to acknowledge that.
He's quiet for a little while--not sleeping, just... resting. Basking. But eventually--]
If you'd known we were--y'know. [Ah. The word "soulmate" still sticks in his mouth. He'll have to get used to it in his head first, it seems.] Would you still have come out tonight?
[This, fortunately, lacks the same weight as would you have trusted me with your plan?--a question he will never ask. This question, though, has no stakes attached. Childe already knows that he would never have sent that invitation if he'd known what they truly were to each other; it's a safely impossible hypothetical, so he's free to be curious.]
no subject
zhongli basks in this too, deciding that silence is golden. there's a quiet language in lying with one another like this—something he'd never guessed they would share. at some point, his eyes draw closed. childe's heart beats against his chest, past the roughness of his scars.
the question is a little surprise. he opens his eyes again, considering the ceiling as he answers. ]
Given that you'd referred to this night as a 'date,' I may have assumed that you knew as well. That aside... I don't see why I wouldn't.
[ he says it inquisitively, waiting to see if childe believed otherwise. ]
no subject
I say a lot of things you shouldn't take at face value, xiansheng. [The nickname is back... but Childe can't help it, honestly. He's the nicknaming type; even if the term isn't special in Liyuese, it's something Childe only associates with Zhongli. And with Zhongli comes warmth, familiarity, and affection.] Thought you'd figured that out by now.
[He's just teasing, though, even if his normal playful lilt is obscured by his content, sleepy tone. (Even if it's not necessarily untrue, though Childe always has, and always will, favor honesty and straightforwardness. It'll probably be his downfall.)]
But have some faith in me, hm? I wouldn't torture you like that.
no subject
childe reminds him of their conversations regarding that night. childe has said his first name before, always followed by his new moniker. he remembers the small flutter in his chest when childe said his name alone for the first time—and the searing heat when he heard it sighed in the middle of their sex. he decides that he loves his name in childe's mouth no matter what shape it takes. ]
It would be difficult not to draw that conclusion. I would have to confirm it, of course.
[ another au where zhongli would make childe lift his shirt. can't ever have too many of those!
zhongli can hear that sleepiness. he noses again into childe's hair and presses his lips to his head. he breathes in—soap, salt, smoke—and lazily smooths his fingers up and down a small length of childe's back. ]
Even if you hadn't known, I would have come. ...It would have been interesting to see your reaction if your mark suddenly appeared.
no subject
Confirm it, huh... [He's very clearly drowsy, but he's fighting the urge to doze off. Whether it's a force of habit or just stubbornness because he wants to keep talking is anybody's guess.] And how would you have pulled that off?
[Stop flirting and go to sleep, Childe.]
no subject
By searching for evidence, if I'm given the opportunity to do so.
[ he flirts back, good idea or not.
unfortunately, they can't stay this way while childe is sleeping. both of his hands smooth down and grip firmly on childe's hips. he draws out of childe with a soft exhale, shocked lightly with cold and sticking with come.
after that, his hand smooths up his back again, returning to its rhythm. ]
You should rest.
no subject
But with some insincere grumbling, he shifts around slightly, until he settles at Zhongli's side with one leg thrown over Zhongli's. His hand finds its place back on Zhongli's chest, a wordless request for Zhongli to resume his gentle touches.
Someday, he'll be able to ask for such things directly. For now, though, he hums noncommittally, even as he closes his eyes.]
Don't want to. [Well, at least he's not claiming he's not tired.] Wanna keep talking to you.
no subject
childe settles at his side and zhongli keeps an arm slung comfortably around his shoulders. he settles his hand again over the one at his chest, understanding even wordlessly that this is childe's invitation. he's been around humans long enough to make educated guesses about their body language.
he raises childe's hand and presses those fingers to his smiling mouth—one kiss over the nails, another at the underside of his fingers. after that, he settles his hand back against his chest.
he remembers that spark in childe's fingers only moments before. this time, he presses childe's palm where his old heart drums steadily against it.
earlier, childe had the inclination to sink his hand inside and take it for himself. zhongli holds his hand against his beating heart as if to show him: this is yours. this is where i keep it safe for you. ]
We'll speak as much as much as you'd like when you wake. I will be here.
no subject
It's tempting to hold onto his stubbornness. He could do it, he knows; it would take nothing at all to tap into his energy reserves, to shed this drowsiness and do whatever he pleased instead. Zhongli would probably be exasperated with him, but that's nothing new. And Childe--well. There's no shortage of things Childe would love to do with Zhongli, ranging from embarrassingly domestic to obscenely filthy. They probably have a little longer before the ship makes it back to the Harbor. Even longer if they dawdle.
But... he likes this. The soft, simple comfort of resting at his lover's side, paired, for once in his life, with the utter certainty of safety.
Thrills and danger run in Childe's blood. Safety is a remnant of his old life, something he's grown to associate with monotony and discomfort. It's meant for other people, and he's long since stopped wanting it. But the part of him that hasn't let its guard down since the Abyss, braced for threats at any moment--the part of him that remembers each bloodied step he'd taken on the path to Harbinger--that part of him can't resist the promise that comes with Zhongli's embrace.
Zhongli's heart beats steadily beneath his palm. Childe thinks of pawns and soulmates, ice and stone.
Finally, he repeats the same words he'd said earlier, back when Zhongli had guided them here.]
...Yeah. Okay.