[ there's nothing familiar about this -- but he knows it all the same. childe presses in, and he sinks back against the pillar, drawing him into shadow with his fingers splaying in a possessive star over the dip of childe's spine. there's a kind of appetite that turns everything it touches into a memory. he feels the burn of it in the snap of childe's breath, the purposeful weight of his hand just at the base of zhongli's throat.

it's been some time since he'd even considered it. the effect's almost dizzying.

his head tips towards childe's; a laugh glints between their mouths like gold. heat's kindling in the pit of his stomach as his hand skims beneath the open cut of childe's jacket where the jut of his hip gleams like an invitation. ]

Rumour has little bearing on my judgment.

[ - which explains the fact that his fingertips are, in fact, fastening the latches of childe's jacket with unseeing rigour, straightening the corner where the cloth hangs crooked, sealing away every centimeter of skin with their bodies suspended mere heartbeats apart and his lips all curving warmth. ]

I believe you can bear to wait a little longer. We are no more than a few minutes away from our destination.

[ as his hand slides down childe's chest, pressing them apart again. ]