that's the worse option of the two -- that he's clear-headed for the moment where his fingers draw down through childe's hair, thumb rubbing along the roots, guiding his head to just the right angle to fuck into his throat.
a sound hitches in his teeth -- a name, a curse. but he moves through the moment, pulse after roughening pulse, and whatever slight resistance'd flickered in his veins melts away.
it'd be the prudent choice to start slowly -- but sensation's blotting out every thought in his head. there's childe's fingers branding-hot on his hip; breaths quaking in his ribs like fever, the buzz of his heartbeat racing beneath the skin as his hips jut forward, cock sinking once and again into the soft and unrelenting pressure. his grip's tightening -- but that's an abstract regret. it's all he can do to keep himself this slow -- fucking childe's mouth in drawn-out strokes, tugging at his hair just to feel if he can coax out a sound. ]
I should have put you on your knees -- weeks ago. It is a pity to have wasted your skill all this time.
[ his voice's nearly even -- the same forged-steady tone that he's used to discuss calligraphy, lacquerware, the pearl-round petals in the terrace exhibition that liuli pavilion held in spring. a tone for admiring every lovely thing in the world -- and now childe, too: on his knees with his clothes rucked open, his hand between his legs, lips parted, filthy red, to sheath zhongli's cock. ]
Tilt your head up -- [ ah. a murmur, appreciative, on the brink of shuddering. ] A little more. You're doing so well.
[ every breath's steady -- but the words are stretched taut over tongue and teeth, each syllable pinned into place by his blade-sharp control. he'd meant to last longer -- but it's impossible to tear his gaze from childe: light glittering hot at the corners of his lidded eyes, half-lost, greedy, and not nearly ruined enough.
heat's coiling in the pit of his stomach; he shifts on his heels, and keeps the pace steady. just a little more -- just a little closer. ]
( on his knees, with his mouth and throat full of cock, childe's thoughts turn electric-hot, buzzing into white static.
his mouth is an extended weapon, as practiced on his knees as he is behind a shimmering blade. but this is different, hotter, personal for reasons he doesn't want to consider while zhongli fucks his throat and tells him, courteously, how good he is, like he wouldn't cut his gnosis from his chest in a single heartbeat if he still had it, duty before honor. zhongli talks filth the same way he'd taught him how to use chopsticks, measured and endlessly patient, and every word hits its fatal mark. childe grinds his palm into his cock before he clenches tight again, a prickling throb to ground him.
he watches zhongli until he's a shifting watercolor spilled in gold and obsidian black, the finer points of his wretchedly lovely face obscured by childe's tears: his fluttery lashes, the high curve of his nose, his teeth-raw cupid's bow, all begging to be kissed. his lungs burn, and he's stupid with want. he can't imagine not having this. it'll kill him.
it's that thought โ and zhongli's hand mercilessly twisting his hair, pulling him where he wants him โ that locks his throat in a throttling whine. zhongli razes his last stubborn hold-out to ash, and it's beyond unfair that he stays so steady as childe flits through feelings and desperately mortal wants as volatile as the sea, all needy and cock-hungry and uselessly swallowing spit. it's not enough. it'll never be enough when he wants zhongli inside him in every way, fucked on marble or silk jacquard or over a table during tea like the most mindless of whores. he squirms, inhaling on a jittery hitch that shakes his chest and vibrates supple muscle around zhongli's cock, and slides his knees into a wider, more bracing spread.
he touches zhongli where he can, deft but trembly fingers gliding through his crease to rub down his hole and lightly feather his perineum. then it's back up again in a reaching stretch as he lays his palm flat on his abdomen, where every forward thrust into childe's mouth pushes working muscle into an exquisite flex. his fingers line his hip, bruising, keeping zhongli from pulling back.
his head tilts, relaxing his throat for what comes next. come on, coaxed with a firm, permissive squeeze on his hip and childe's watery eyes fixing on zhongli's face. )
[ it doesn't take much longer. no man could last under a siege like this one: the way that childe looks, stark-eyed and wholly pliant, more patient with this than he's ever been with any other thing; the ragged stutter of drunken, wanting sound vibrating around his cock; every touch that seems to race through his veins like a prayer, like childe's asking, pleading to be used -- as if he could take this, and more -
he has grace enough, at least, to ease his grip. his palm curves against childe's nape, a brace more than a shackle, even as his hips cant up, sinking down to the hilt -- and even now there's a faint shock to how much childe can take, the kind of revelation that lashes through his veins like hunger. he comes with barely a gasp, cock working in rough, striping shots, hips rolling until the last bolt of adrenaline unravels into empty static, until even the hot, seething pulse of childe's mouth around him's yielded and gone still.
even in the aftermath, his heartbeat's a tectonic roar in his ears.
his cock's softening; he can feel the reflexive flicker of childe's tongue against skin, an ache on the brink of crystallising. it prickles at the back of his mind like something abstract. his weight barely shifts; his thumb sweeps the blade of childe's unresisting jaw as zhongli considers him, tears studding his lashes and colour scalded across his cheek, savouring the sight before he pulls out at last.
what a gorgeous mess. ]
Well, then.
[ his voice's rust in his teeth. dusk's sifting through the high windows in rays of ash and gold. he's more than a bit dishevelled himself -- hair tumbling loose, shirt trailing open around his chest. his veins thrum with the languor of a good fuck -- and a little more: all the points where they aren't touching, everything he hasn't done drifting in his veins like premonition.
it's barely evening, and he's hardly touched childe yet. ]
( it's over far too quickly, unrolling in hazy flashes like lightning through smoke: zhongli pumping deep, and the velvet-soft yield of childe's throat around his cock, swallowing what he's given. he's too eager, choking as his throat reflexively squeezes around the hot inrush of cock and cum, and pulls back only to spit what he can't take on zhongli's cock, near the cup of his palm where he grips him again, stripped down over him in rough, twisting strokes.
obscene and crude, a messy act meant for a back alley fuck and not here, of all places, a palace lovingly crafted in gold and marble. childe mourns the loss of zhongli's cock as he pulls back, soft and wet from his warm mouth, devastatingly undone. in the following silence, every small sound echoes: childe's choppy breaths, reverberating through the golden house like an exposed pulse.
he eases his knuckled grip between his thighs and lifts his chin to stare up at zhongli. vertigo and a sudden shuddering influx of oxygen cuts him into a wobbly, backwards arch, and he braces a steadying hand on the floor, thighs spread into a sprawling v. )
Not nearly. ( each syllable catches on a throaty rasp, frayed and fucked-out.
instinct kicks in before the rest of his brain, indexing every sensation and visual detail and physical vulnerability with razor-sharp efficiency. his jaw clicks as he closes his mouth, pleasantly sore. the twin crescents bit into zhongli's collar, flushed red, and the silky spill of his gorgeous hair over his shoulders. he can still taste zhongli on his tongue and the back of his throat.
and he's still hard. painfully, miserably hard.
he rolls his weight from his knees to his toes, unwinding toward zhongli as he stands and presses him flush against the pillar. he knots a fistful of his hair, pulling his head back for his mouth and probing tongue, kissing him deep and brief. )
I want you to fuck me. ( hot and wound-up as he is, his demand is more pleading than challenging, breathily sighed over zhongli's mouth. he fits his cock against his hip and ruts once, again, needy. ) Somewhere. Anywhere. I don't care.
[ everything's a rush in the moments after the fact. salt curls over his tongue, thick and clinging; childe's fist clenches in his hair, stinging, and he feels heat seething in his veins, a lash of impossible hunger. still he takes it, and more, fingers cradling childe's nape, breaths running lush and languid, coaxing childe into one shallow kiss after another, heady with relief and urgency, and building, building - ]
Impatient as always ...
[ but there's nothing in the words like a reprimand. his thoughts are slow to surface, adrift in the haze of coming -- so it's sheer base instinct that moves him, weight shifting, shoulders grinding against the wall as he manoeuvres childe against him, leaving just enough space between them to wrap a hand over his cock. ]
What would you have me do to you, I wonder.
[ his breathing's still rough, twisting on the edge of something like laughter, like shuddering. childe's eager, is the thing -- arching, needy, mouth gleaming swollen and fever-bright in the gauzy light. even moments after his own end, heartbeat thundering between his ribs, the effect is devastating. zhongli's grip tightens; he swallows and tastes the mazy leap of adrenaline hot in his throat. it's wanting more than thinking that drags his fist tight -- his palm grinding against the head of childe's cock, feeling the throb of it across his fingertips, slick and obscenely smearing.
but not nearly enough. ]
You can hardly leave in this state. Am I simply to turn you around and fuck you here?
[ his weight shifts against the pillar; his hand goes up, fingertips trailing over childe's lips, coaxing them apart to press two inside, rubbing over his tongue with his gaze all lingering, heavy-lidded gold.
there's no promise in it at all. ]
Bent over with your hands braced against the pillar?
( blistering, impossible heat slicks his shirt to his body as a second skin, but childe โ bowed taut into the firm crevices of zhongli's body, hips canting into his fist with all the clawing urgency of a drowning man โ can't think long enough to consider taking it off. his head tilts sideways then back, throat arched and flexing as he swallows around zhongli's fingers the same way he'd swallowed his cock. easily. ravenously.
zhongli is a scene of limitless serenity next to childe's writhing, twitching thrusts and choked-down moans. it's a needlepoint realization that forms mid-downstroke on his cock, prickling sharp and acrid in the back of his throat. he's baiting him. he's been baited. briefly, and deliriously, he almost hates him for it. )
Don't โ ( fuck with me, tease me, make me promises, wrung out around the fingers in his mouth. he'd let him fuck him here or anywhere, in front of the qixing or his beloved tsaritsa, with the kind of fleeting, graceless desperation that only a mortal mind and body can wield. weakness, he thinks, unpurged and thriving like a living thing inside him.
he drags his mouth off his fingers, teeth scraping his knuckles on release, and twists his hand in his hair, gripped tight at his nape. his other hand moves between them, snaking around zhongli's fingers and tightening his fist into an unrelenting vise for his cock to fuck, just on the edge of painful. )
Anywhere, xiansheng. ( he means it with all the disrespect in the world, but his accent, velvet-thick, hitches through each unfamiliar consonant as he unravels in zhongli's hands, and rips from his lungs in a whine, breathless and petulant. he anchors zhongli's head back for his mouth and teeth to seek his throat, tongue trailing his pulse, then stays there, bent into him, hips working in sharp, unrhythmic jolts. ) I said what I said.
( he smears his face, damp with tears and sweat, across his neck and collar, and fucks his fist until the rough, building pressure breaks his soft gasps into a hiccuping, watery oh fuck. his hips jerk into a shivering stutter as he comes, slick and molten hot between their entwined fingers, good enough that his hand wrenches zhongli's hair painfully before loosening all at once, falling limp over his shoulder.
his mind sinks down, to a blissful quiet. even when he's bonelessly sated and no longer quivering through halfhearted thrusts, he doesn't move, braced with all five fingertips on the pillar above zhongli's shoulder and his mouth latching loosely around his collar, like an afterthought. )
[ it's a mistake. he parses it in the moment that childe's breathing shatters, as his grip snaps tight in zhongli's hair, and the quaking urgency of it strips down through his core. he breathes in; his hand drags over a hip, flexing as childe rides out the last hot, wracking pulses -- and it isn't until later, when the hush's settled over the chamber like a canopy, that he feels the crescents where his nails had dug in hard.
his mouth's gone dry. zhongli swallows against it, tasting iron, throat working as childe shudders and settles. his fingers clench around childe's cock, slick and deliberate, working up through a last, slow drag, fist knotting tight as he pulls off to contain some part of the mess. it seems a futile effort. childe's still pressed up against him, reeking of salt and sex; every exhale drifts between them like nothing but heat. without regard for human limits, he might nearly be taken as a man merely waiting -- catching his breath before he yields to the press of zhongli's fingers trailing down his spine, sinking into him.
it's a nonsense vision -- less than hunger or fantasy. none of it stops the spark that twists hot between his ribs.
his gaze flicks down; he grits back a shiver. if nothing else, this incident alone should be proof enough: time alone's no cure for recklessness or greed.
a touch smoothes over childe's hip as he shifts in place -- less guidance or urgency than the dazed, quiet luxury of feeling him there. in the hush, every mark that he's taken seems to flare awake again -- bruises, bites, every twinge and ache where childe's pressed his feral, desperate mouth. it's another moment or three before his hand drifts up again, two fingers resting against childe's chest like an anchor, as his lips tilt against childe's ear. ]
( childe eases away from zhongli, flushed but far from sated, expression rippling like armored snakeskin to conceal his smoothest, softest edges, as if this is another friendly match lost and he hadn't just begged to be fucked raw and senseless. his invitation lances through him, warm and promising, and electrifies the blood still thumping in his veins. for a second, he hesitates, orbiting between zhongli's magnetic gravity and his still-wounded pride, red and seething. he should say no. he'd gotten carried away.
his lips sweep the sleek curve of zhongli's jaw as he turns his head. )
I was taught never to go home with strange men.
( but it's not a no.
he tucks a loose strand of zhongli's hair behind his ear, then trails his fingertips down his chest to the hem of his open shirt, tracing planes of clenching, touch-sensitive muscle along the way. his throat and collar are a scattered constellation of pink bruises, not yet mottled purple, and marks from childe's unforgiving teeth. childe touches each one with a deliberate brush of his knuckle as he buttons his shirt, pausing when he reaches a deep indent near his clavicle. )
What a mess I've made of you.
( soft but unapologetic, his eyes dewy-wet and shuttered low. there's a name for the feeling that seizes his insides in an icy clench, hard iron twining his ribs and lungs like thorny vines from an untended garden. not regret, or boyish guilt riding the coattails of a thoughtless fuck because childe means everything he says and does, including this. not fear, either. he carved his nightmares out of the rotten marrow of a dark abyss and gave them a new home inside him. he's not afraid of anything anymore.
this is worse.
his next touch is a greedy indulgence, open mouth over his clavicle, tongue curling up the slope of his throat and adam's apple. he ends on his mouth, in a lazy, stroking kiss, and his hand cupping his skull above his nape. )
[ a laugh simmers in his teeth, nothing but intent and heat. in the aftermath, the world seems to turn on an axis of instinct. he takes the kiss, languid and open, sucking at the bruisy, pretty flush of childe's lip, tongue rolling against tongue, chasing every murmur of breath with the kind of slow hunger that allows for nothing but drowning. the taste curls on his tongue, iron and bitter salt -- but the prize's more than worth its price: the spread of childe's body against him, bowed to a single unyielding purpose, the burn of exhausted adrenaline sparking to new life in his veins.
(how long has it been, that a single touch can make him this greedy? but time seems suspended under the curve of childe's hand -- nothing to measure but the mazy scattering of marks across his skin, the wardrum of childe's pulse between his ribs, sharp enough to call any god to war.)
somewhere in the haze, order's restored. a handkerchief's produced out of some pocket or another; his coat's smudged dry, his fingers polished to passable cleanliness. only his gaze holds, eyes lidded, all unyielding golden attention; his palm's curving beneath childe's jacket, bracketing the arch of a hipbone, thumb tracing slow spirals over bare skin, thoroughly possessive and thoroughly possessed. ]
You are capable of worse.
[ it's barely a murmur, smearing hot between their mouths. it doesn't take a glance to pull childe's clothes together -- fingers snagging in his waistband to haul him close, nearly flush, buttoning him up even as his teeth scrape over childe's lip, an easy goad. ]
( it's a deliberate challenge where anyone else would politely recoil and deescalate so as not to feed the flickering spark that spreads to everything like dry rot. but zhongli is a god made mostly human, not bound by pitiful mortal fears, and childe is a rogue wave licking up the shores of a boy, blue-eyed and freckled, all summertime sweetness under an umbrella of black thundercloud. he yields to the solid press of zhongli's body, his hands heavy where they touch him, like it's an inevitability, and chases his own airy laugh into zhongli's soft mouth with a stroke of his tongue.
he could stay here longer, leeching off zhongli's heat. kissing him, slow and exploratory. touching him more, until he's gorged on his skin and tongue and body, until he can taste him in his sleep. )
I'll give you worse when you stop holding back.
( childe steps away, a receding tide of tightly coiled energy. he gives a dismissive twirl of two fingers, and a small wave arcs from the floor, foamy water rolling around the blockade of zhongli's boots, over the edges of the pillar, washing everything left behind away. the polearm still struck in the ground is hauled loose in a single gripping tug, then flipped down, spearpoint gleaming against zhongli's throat.
after a second, he retracts the blade and lifts it again, extended toward zhongli in silent offering. )
Shall we leave before the Millelith come knocking?
[ it's an unexpected grace note -- and if the effect's a little lost in translation with the way his gaze lingers on the wet gleam of childe's mouth, well. he can hardly be blamed for that.
but the polearm was forged of the same substance as all of his weapons: stone, steel, and delicate metallic scrollwork. he reaches out; his thumb trails down the blade of it, as if testing its jaded edge. at once the polearm collapses into a little storm of geo particles, sifting through childe's hands like dust.
by ancient habit, he smoothes back his hair, touches each of his cuffs, then turns to fasten his coat. the long sweep of it disguises any lingering stains. with the last of the clasps fastened into place, he looks nearly intact, polished, as though nothing in the world had ever touched him. ]
Have you had any difficulty with the Millelith recently?
[ his tone's courteous, sedate, as if they'd been discussing the topic all along over dinner in some discreet, gold-lit teahouse. there's no faltering about his steps as he heads towards the latticed doors, drawing them open for his guest. ]
I understand that the Qixing are in the process of evaluating their next steps with regard to the Fatui. The guard should not be acting outside the parameters of their command, except in cases of emergency.
[ such as, for instance, any suspicious activity on the part of their last ranking harbinger stationed in the port.
it's been made transparent that the tsaritsa's left no further decrees to carry out in liyue -- but that doesn't mean that childe wouldn't be inclined to make trouble on his own whim and time. ]
( zhongli erases all the hard work childe spent undoing him in less than a few moments, and the urge to run his fingers through his hair and rumple his clothes beyond repair carves a momentary snag in his long stride before he steps through the door. dusk blossoms on the horizon; shades of gold and red twinkle into a pool of inky darkness, daylight's last dwindling breath. how long had they been in there? he'd lost track of time entirely. )
No more than usual. ( maybe a little more than usual. his unfettered, fresh-faced charisma is understandably far less effective following his stunt with osial, and security has been significantly tightened in places he would've otherwise been mostly welcome. ) While I can't guarantee that they're not spitting at my turned back, they've been cordial enough considering the circumstances.
( if he's using cordial in the loosest definition possible.
he'd half expected to be thrown into the ocean, or barred entry from liyue. that he wasn't was an enormously generous courtesy, more to the tsaritsa than himself, and while his extended stay in liyue hasn't been pleasant since the incident, he'd rather gut himself at the feet of the qixing than admit to any quote-unquote difficulty aloud. in due time, he'll be called back to snezhnaya on orders from the tsaritsa, cut down into little more than a scathing sentence in liyue's future history books. the northern foreigner who fancied himself a god-killer and then failed to kill a god, end of chapter.
childe maintains his pace side-by-side with zhongli, down the many steps past the millelith dutifully holding guard, and tips two fingers to his temple in salute. neither of them look at him, though one of them blinks a little harder than necessary. )
How are you settling into your new role? Or โ ( he hums, thoughtful. ) I suppose it's more of a return to an old normal than anything new, isn't it?
[ into the city they go, winding through streets resounding with footsteps and lamps glowing like match-lights. the city murmurs around them -- dusty, chattering, citizens drifting through their ordinary routines, faraway stallkeepers bawling out their mottos like seabirds.
it is, for the moment, the only sound worth hearing. ]
It is as you might expect. The funeral parlour is as selective in its rituals as ever. [ reading between the lines: hu tao's still stewing over her next marketing scheme. ] But there is more than enough to occupy me, even so. The city is remaking itself. You will likely see menus from the teahouses to the taverns shift to more traditional dishes over the next few months. There may even be a queue for loans at Northland Bank -- despite the circumstances.
[ he glances over, sidelong. the lightness of his voice is a habit by now -- learned and kept against his better judgment. he's gathered more than a few such quirks over the months: leaving the parlour at that golden hour of the evening just after the banks close; reserving pieces at mingxing jewellery that might suit a pair of sharp blue eyes; turning back in a crowd at the sound of an unfamiliar accent. in a handful of seasons, childe's worn into him like rain drawing patterns into stone.
perhaps it's better, after all, that he's leaving soon.
they cross the bridge, matched in stride, steering out of the commercial district and into the quiet, lacquered gardens that wreath the residential areas. the sudden hush draws at him; his smile crooks a little, unstintingly thoughtful. ]
But I suppose that I should clarify. Are you curious about my health, or whether I have retained my old strength?
( it isn't exactly a non-answer, but it is a sidestep to a branching direction, deliberately misleading. one of zhongli's many habits, painstakingly learned through walks along the harbor docks or evening dinners on teahouse balconies: he interprets questions how he likes.
childe doesn't call him on it, courteously quiet and attentive as he listens to zhongli speak. )
You felt robust enough to me.
( he slants a short, flickering glance at zhongli's profile, rays of honey-gold light dappling his hair like a burnished crown. childe is an unkempt, partially unbuttoned mess next to zhongli's polished exterior; they make a strange shoulder-to-shoulder pair as they walk the streets of liyue, from the bustling noise of the harbor into a lingering, intimate quiet that's both familiar and unknown.
they move in unison over a footbridge overarching a shallow pond, slats of sealed redwood groaning underfoot, and follow a stonework pathway that winds through a pavilion twined in blooming flowers. childe stops under the shade of the pavilion, snagging zhongli by the wrist. )
I'm poorly versed on the nature of the adepti, admittedly, but I've heard faraway tales of an adeptus' strength. ( mostly in passing, or in dusty books he pored over within his first few days in liyue. he turns into him, pulling his arm diagonal across his chest to force him a step closer. ) Your strength, especially. Are you afraid you'll hurt me?
[ childe's grip startles him -- but quite enough. he turns a little, and leans in a little more, head tilted, eyes bright -- stops with just enough space between them to taste the static of every breath. ]
Contrary to what my recent behaviour might suggest, I do have some self-restraint.
[ the remark's barely touched with rue. live long enough, and anyone learns the practice of selective memory: to keep those experiences that brought something of value, to leave everything else in the dust. but it's difficult to bury the fact that every instinct seems to reorient him, compass-like, in childe's direction -- that he breathes, and feels every mark of their hasty tryst in the golden house stark across his skin, teeth and salt and the ghost of heat where childe's palm had folded against his hip, urging him down his throat.
his fingers tug at childe's collar, drawing it straight to no real effect. it isn't particularly meant to restore any form of order. he knows better than to imagine that it might. at best, it might be a kind of proof: that he's still capable of these ordinary gestures, chaste and unhurried. ]
You, on the other hand, [ light and low, an invitation to a shared joke of sorts - ] seem to have few limits in your appetites. Should I be concerned on your behalf?
( even the pavilion's stretching shade isn't enough to diminish the intensity of zhongli's gaze, as heavy and bright as gold brick. no mortal man or woman could withstand a single look from him without splintering under the weight of it, but childe lifts his chin and holds his stare, steady. )
You wouldn't be the first to be concerned.
( or the last, most likely.
his hand slips down his wrist, skittering across his elbow and bicep until he's shifting into zhongli's space and loosely hooking his arm over his shoulder. it feels as natural as breathing, or wielding a blade with practiced finesse, the rising tide of zhongli's warm body drawing him close. he knows this part, has bruises on his knees now as evidence. it's everything else, all the things deeper than physical, that he can't touch or dissect into bite-sized pieces able to digested and understood as intimately as he understood his cock in his mouth. )
Surely you've heard the rumors by now, xiansheng. ( the honorific rolls off his tongue like he's been saying it all his life, dense like water-logged silk. it's easier to control every unruly syllable when he's not falling apart in zhongli's clenched, slick fist. he tucks his fingers beneath his collar, down the knot of his tie that he tightens snug against his throat, returning the gesture. ) It's why I'm the Tsaritsa's favorite. I'm insatiable.
[ 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. ]
( he stitches his jacket back together with crisp, elegant tugs and silver buttons, walling perilous temptation away, and it's such a surprise that childe moves easily when he's guided back, booted steps scuffling over stone. )
Of course.
( somehow, fully buttoned in his jacket, he feels more exposed than when he's outright naked, like ajax the schoolboy writing mantras on a chalkboard for naughty behavior or tartaglia the eleventh knelt in front of the tsaritsa's crystal throne awaiting orders, head bowed in reverence. it's paralyzing. he pops the bottom button on his jacket one-handed, more reflex than a pouty rebuff of zhongli's focused attention, then turns to graciously sweep his arm toward the path ahead. )
Far be it from me to lead you astray a second time.
( his tone is pleasant, paired with a dimpled smile crinkling across the bridge of his nose. it's one of many sincere smiles he's given zhongli in their time together, over a teahouse table or while bartering a merchant for a fairer price on whatever priceless trinket's caught his eye. strange how effortlessly zhongli finesses his possesions from him, time and time again. strange how much he'll miss it, this, him.
they exit the shelter of the pavilion, back on the stone pathway that circles through the entire city. childe pops another button on his jacket as they walk, his vision glowing vividly in the setting sun. )
[ true to his word, the trip doesn't take much longer. the gardens curl to an end; they pass between a pair of star magnolia trees, two shadows adrift in the dusk, and then they're through.
zhongli lives, apparently, at the end of an older block, where the balconies are flush with faded scrollwork and the stairs curve with the studied red gleam of retouched paint. his door opens to a perfectly ordinary set of sprawling, modern quarters: a parlour; a distant study bricked with silk-bound books; two doors standing half-open, inviting. it's the kind of layout that any merchant might rent for a week or two in the city. but in the parlour, there rests more than a few trinkets that childe might recognise from the last few seasons of rampant spending: lacquerware boxes on the mantel, a bamboo palm in a jade-rimmed pot, a glossy black cabinet with designs drawn in gold foil, filigree-winged cranes peering up through a cloud of greenery.
not that childe's getting much of an opportunity to admire the decor. the door clicks shut, and zhongli stops in the narrow foyer, half-turned, mouth curving with a thought that needs no translation. ]
You have my thanks for permitting me to take you so far out of your way.
[ one step, another. he closes the little distance without hurry, pressing childe back against the door. ]
Now - [ with the gentle, bright-eyed irony of a man indulging in a comfortable cliche. ] Where were we?
( it's the kind of quiet elegance that childe has come to expect from zhongli, refined and luxurious without being ostentatious. he feels wrong even setting foot past the door, like he's crossed a threshold to a private world he was never supposed to witness. part of him would have sooner been sloppily fucked over the marble floor in the golden house; he's as out of place in zhongli's airy foyer as he is anywhere else in liyue, a bizarre stranger who doesn't belong.
but then zhongli fills his empty spaces with his warmth, and any sense of lingering strangeness disappears, gone with the ghost of his breath across his mouth. )
You should never interrupt a man when he's deep in study. How am I supposed to remember where I left off?
( his voice curls like smoke between them, past a flicker of his tongue over zhongli's jaw. he unfolds into him, knees bumping knees and arms circling his shoulders, and sets his heel against the door, pushing their linked bodies several steps forward. lesson one, drilled into him at a tenderly impressionable age: never let yourself be cornered, even when you want it. maybe especially when you want it, and he wants it now more than anything.
he loosens zhongli's tie with a squeeze of his fist near his throat, licking down the juncture where his jaw meets his ear. his body hovers close, pressed flush, rippling muscle held back in knots, barely restrained. he bites zhongli's pulse, swallowing around salt and skin and the hot, prickling desire to take his cock into his mouth for a second time. )
I believe I was asking you politely to fuck me, please. Pretty please.
[ it isn't messy, but it's close -- more reckless than he ought to be when it's childe, who knows no limits and no law but his own appetite. the trouble's that the thought comes after -- after they've gone stumbling down the hall, childe's body stretched hot against his, fingers raking through the last few buttons of his jacket as childe's teeth scathe over skin, shuddering all over with laughter and inexorable wanting. ]
Ah -- thank you for your reminder.
[ the interim between the foyer and the bedroom's a jumble of greed and heat. the world flashes by in sensation and ghostly impressions -- the slow charring friction of body against body, the obscene salt curve of childe's mouth under his, kissing him in slow, relentless pulses as they cross the floor in strides. he's half-undone by the time they're at the threshold of his room -- shoes kicked off, jacket rumpled, the tie trailing loose around his throat.
the rest takes no thought at all.
he turns on the carpet and sinks back onto the bed, drawing childe down with him. daylight's fading across the walls, red and gold; in the evening flush of the room, childe looks nothing less than ornamental -- sunlight dazzling through his bright hair, the foxish set of his jaw burning like ivory. like something to be caught, kept, thoroughly possessed.
he sinks back a little, one hand bracing against the bed, thighs tilting apart; his gaze sweeps over childe's face for a moment's consideration before his fingertips snag in the loop of childe's belt, tugging him forward into his lap. reckless, careless -- but none of that feels like a reason to stop now. ]
Would you undress yourself for me?
[ notably, he's got other priorities -- chief among them, sucking a kiss into the soft stretch just beneath childe's jaw. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
just wait, it's gonna happen to me in like 5 tags.
that's the worse option of the two -- that he's clear-headed for the moment where his fingers draw down through childe's hair, thumb rubbing along the roots, guiding his head to just the right angle to fuck into his throat.
a sound hitches in his teeth -- a name, a curse. but he moves through the moment, pulse after roughening pulse, and whatever slight resistance'd flickered in his veins melts away.
it'd be the prudent choice to start slowly -- but sensation's blotting out every thought in his head. there's childe's fingers branding-hot on his hip; breaths quaking in his ribs like fever, the buzz of his heartbeat racing beneath the skin as his hips jut forward, cock sinking once and again into the soft and unrelenting pressure. his grip's tightening -- but that's an abstract regret. it's all he can do to keep himself this slow -- fucking childe's mouth in drawn-out strokes, tugging at his hair just to feel if he can coax out a sound. ]
I should have put you on your knees -- weeks ago. It is a pity to have wasted your skill all this time.
[ his voice's nearly even -- the same forged-steady tone that he's used to discuss calligraphy, lacquerware, the pearl-round petals in the terrace exhibition that liuli pavilion held in spring. a tone for admiring every lovely thing in the world -- and now childe, too: on his knees with his clothes rucked open, his hand between his legs, lips parted, filthy red, to sheath zhongli's cock. ]
Tilt your head up -- [ ah. a murmur, appreciative, on the brink of shuddering. ] A little more. You're doing so well.
[ every breath's steady -- but the words are stretched taut over tongue and teeth, each syllable pinned into place by his blade-sharp control. he'd meant to last longer -- but it's impossible to tear his gaze from childe: light glittering hot at the corners of his lidded eyes, half-lost, greedy, and not nearly ruined enough.
heat's coiling in the pit of his stomach; he shifts on his heels, and keeps the pace steady. just a little more -- just a little closer. ]
Bear with me for - [ ah. ] a little longer.
the curse of chronic previewers
his mouth is an extended weapon, as practiced on his knees as he is behind a shimmering blade. but this is different, hotter, personal for reasons he doesn't want to consider while zhongli fucks his throat and tells him, courteously, how good he is, like he wouldn't cut his gnosis from his chest in a single heartbeat if he still had it, duty before honor. zhongli talks filth the same way he'd taught him how to use chopsticks, measured and endlessly patient, and every word hits its fatal mark. childe grinds his palm into his cock before he clenches tight again, a prickling throb to ground him.
he watches zhongli until he's a shifting watercolor spilled in gold and obsidian black, the finer points of his wretchedly lovely face obscured by childe's tears: his fluttery lashes, the high curve of his nose, his teeth-raw cupid's bow, all begging to be kissed. his lungs burn, and he's stupid with want. he can't imagine not having this. it'll kill him.
it's that thought โ and zhongli's hand mercilessly twisting his hair, pulling him where he wants him โ that locks his throat in a throttling whine. zhongli razes his last stubborn hold-out to ash, and it's beyond unfair that he stays so steady as childe flits through feelings and desperately mortal wants as volatile as the sea, all needy and cock-hungry and uselessly swallowing spit. it's not enough. it'll never be enough when he wants zhongli inside him in every way, fucked on marble or silk jacquard or over a table during tea like the most mindless of whores. he squirms, inhaling on a jittery hitch that shakes his chest and vibrates supple muscle around zhongli's cock, and slides his knees into a wider, more bracing spread.
he touches zhongli where he can, deft but trembly fingers gliding through his crease to rub down his hole and lightly feather his perineum. then it's back up again in a reaching stretch as he lays his palm flat on his abdomen, where every forward thrust into childe's mouth pushes working muscle into an exquisite flex. his fingers line his hip, bruising, keeping zhongli from pulling back.
his head tilts, relaxing his throat for what comes next. come on, coaxed with a firm, permissive squeeze on his hip and childe's watery eyes fixing on zhongli's face. )
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he has grace enough, at least, to ease his grip. his palm curves against childe's nape, a brace more than a shackle, even as his hips cant up, sinking down to the hilt -- and even now there's a faint shock to how much childe can take, the kind of revelation that lashes through his veins like hunger. he comes with barely a gasp, cock working in rough, striping shots, hips rolling until the last bolt of adrenaline unravels into empty static, until even the hot, seething pulse of childe's mouth around him's yielded and gone still.
even in the aftermath, his heartbeat's a tectonic roar in his ears.
his cock's softening; he can feel the reflexive flicker of childe's tongue against skin, an ache on the brink of crystallising. it prickles at the back of his mind like something abstract. his weight barely shifts; his thumb sweeps the blade of childe's unresisting jaw as zhongli considers him, tears studding his lashes and colour scalded across his cheek, savouring the sight before he pulls out at last.
what a gorgeous mess. ]
Well, then.
[ his voice's rust in his teeth. dusk's sifting through the high windows in rays of ash and gold. he's more than a bit dishevelled himself -- hair tumbling loose, shirt trailing open around his chest. his veins thrum with the languor of a good fuck -- and a little more: all the points where they aren't touching, everything he hasn't done drifting in his veins like premonition.
it's barely evening, and he's hardly touched childe yet. ]
Was that sacrilege enough?
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obscene and crude, a messy act meant for a back alley fuck and not here, of all places, a palace lovingly crafted in gold and marble. childe mourns the loss of zhongli's cock as he pulls back, soft and wet from his warm mouth, devastatingly undone. in the following silence, every small sound echoes: childe's choppy breaths, reverberating through the golden house like an exposed pulse.
he eases his knuckled grip between his thighs and lifts his chin to stare up at zhongli. vertigo and a sudden shuddering influx of oxygen cuts him into a wobbly, backwards arch, and he braces a steadying hand on the floor, thighs spread into a sprawling v. )
Not nearly. ( each syllable catches on a throaty rasp, frayed and fucked-out.
instinct kicks in before the rest of his brain, indexing every sensation and visual detail and physical vulnerability with razor-sharp efficiency. his jaw clicks as he closes his mouth, pleasantly sore. the twin crescents bit into zhongli's collar, flushed red, and the silky spill of his gorgeous hair over his shoulders. he can still taste zhongli on his tongue and the back of his throat.
and he's still hard. painfully, miserably hard.
he rolls his weight from his knees to his toes, unwinding toward zhongli as he stands and presses him flush against the pillar. he knots a fistful of his hair, pulling his head back for his mouth and probing tongue, kissing him deep and brief. )
I want you to fuck me. ( hot and wound-up as he is, his demand is more pleading than challenging, breathily sighed over zhongli's mouth. he fits his cock against his hip and ruts once, again, needy. ) Somewhere. Anywhere. I don't care.
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Impatient as always ...
[ but there's nothing in the words like a reprimand. his thoughts are slow to surface, adrift in the haze of coming -- so it's sheer base instinct that moves him, weight shifting, shoulders grinding against the wall as he manoeuvres childe against him, leaving just enough space between them to wrap a hand over his cock. ]
What would you have me do to you, I wonder.
[ his breathing's still rough, twisting on the edge of something like laughter, like shuddering. childe's eager, is the thing -- arching, needy, mouth gleaming swollen and fever-bright in the gauzy light. even moments after his own end, heartbeat thundering between his ribs, the effect is devastating. zhongli's grip tightens; he swallows and tastes the mazy leap of adrenaline hot in his throat. it's wanting more than thinking that drags his fist tight -- his palm grinding against the head of childe's cock, feeling the throb of it across his fingertips, slick and obscenely smearing.
but not nearly enough. ]
You can hardly leave in this state. Am I simply to turn you around and fuck you here?
[ his weight shifts against the pillar; his hand goes up, fingertips trailing over childe's lips, coaxing them apart to press two inside, rubbing over his tongue with his gaze all lingering, heavy-lidded gold.
there's no promise in it at all. ]
Bent over with your hands braced against the pillar?
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zhongli is a scene of limitless serenity next to childe's writhing, twitching thrusts and choked-down moans. it's a needlepoint realization that forms mid-downstroke on his cock, prickling sharp and acrid in the back of his throat. he's baiting him. he's been baited. briefly, and deliriously, he almost hates him for it. )
Don't โ ( fuck with me, tease me, make me promises, wrung out around the fingers in his mouth. he'd let him fuck him here or anywhere, in front of the qixing or his beloved tsaritsa, with the kind of fleeting, graceless desperation that only a mortal mind and body can wield. weakness, he thinks, unpurged and thriving like a living thing inside him.
he drags his mouth off his fingers, teeth scraping his knuckles on release, and twists his hand in his hair, gripped tight at his nape. his other hand moves between them, snaking around zhongli's fingers and tightening his fist into an unrelenting vise for his cock to fuck, just on the edge of painful. )
Anywhere, xiansheng. ( he means it with all the disrespect in the world, but his accent, velvet-thick, hitches through each unfamiliar consonant as he unravels in zhongli's hands, and rips from his lungs in a whine, breathless and petulant. he anchors zhongli's head back for his mouth and teeth to seek his throat, tongue trailing his pulse, then stays there, bent into him, hips working in sharp, unrhythmic jolts. ) I said what I said.
( he smears his face, damp with tears and sweat, across his neck and collar, and fucks his fist until the rough, building pressure breaks his soft gasps into a hiccuping, watery oh fuck. his hips jerk into a shivering stutter as he comes, slick and molten hot between their entwined fingers, good enough that his hand wrenches zhongli's hair painfully before loosening all at once, falling limp over his shoulder.
his mind sinks down, to a blissful quiet. even when he's bonelessly sated and no longer quivering through halfhearted thrusts, he doesn't move, braced with all five fingertips on the pillar above zhongli's shoulder and his mouth latching loosely around his collar, like an afterthought. )
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his mouth's gone dry. zhongli swallows against it, tasting iron, throat working as childe shudders and settles. his fingers clench around childe's cock, slick and deliberate, working up through a last, slow drag, fist knotting tight as he pulls off to contain some part of the mess. it seems a futile effort. childe's still pressed up against him, reeking of salt and sex; every exhale drifts between them like nothing but heat. without regard for human limits, he might nearly be taken as a man merely waiting -- catching his breath before he yields to the press of zhongli's fingers trailing down his spine, sinking into him.
it's a nonsense vision -- less than hunger or fantasy. none of it stops the spark that twists hot between his ribs.
his gaze flicks down; he grits back a shiver. if nothing else, this incident alone should be proof enough: time alone's no cure for recklessness or greed.
a touch smoothes over childe's hip as he shifts in place -- less guidance or urgency than the dazed, quiet luxury of feeling him there. in the hush, every mark that he's taken seems to flare awake again -- bruises, bites, every twinge and ache where childe's pressed his feral, desperate mouth. it's another moment or three before his hand drifts up again, two fingers resting against childe's chest like an anchor, as his lips tilt against childe's ear. ]
Come back with me.
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his lips sweep the sleek curve of zhongli's jaw as he turns his head. )
I was taught never to go home with strange men.
( but it's not a no.
he tucks a loose strand of zhongli's hair behind his ear, then trails his fingertips down his chest to the hem of his open shirt, tracing planes of clenching, touch-sensitive muscle along the way. his throat and collar are a scattered constellation of pink bruises, not yet mottled purple, and marks from childe's unforgiving teeth. childe touches each one with a deliberate brush of his knuckle as he buttons his shirt, pausing when he reaches a deep indent near his clavicle. )
What a mess I've made of you.
( soft but unapologetic, his eyes dewy-wet and shuttered low. there's a name for the feeling that seizes his insides in an icy clench, hard iron twining his ribs and lungs like thorny vines from an untended garden. not regret, or boyish guilt riding the coattails of a thoughtless fuck because childe means everything he says and does, including this. not fear, either. he carved his nightmares out of the rotten marrow of a dark abyss and gave them a new home inside him. he's not afraid of anything anymore.
this is worse.
his next touch is a greedy indulgence, open mouth over his clavicle, tongue curling up the slope of his throat and adam's apple. he ends on his mouth, in a lazy, stroking kiss, and his hand cupping his skull above his nape. )
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(how long has it been, that a single touch can make him this greedy? but time seems suspended under the curve of childe's hand -- nothing to measure but the mazy scattering of marks across his skin, the wardrum of childe's pulse between his ribs, sharp enough to call any god to war.)
somewhere in the haze, order's restored. a handkerchief's produced out of some pocket or another; his coat's smudged dry, his fingers polished to passable cleanliness. only his gaze holds, eyes lidded, all unyielding golden attention; his palm's curving beneath childe's jacket, bracketing the arch of a hipbone, thumb tracing slow spirals over bare skin, thoroughly possessive and thoroughly possessed. ]
You are capable of worse.
[ it's barely a murmur, smearing hot between their mouths. it doesn't take a glance to pull childe's clothes together -- fingers snagging in his waistband to haul him close, nearly flush, buttoning him up even as his teeth scrape over childe's lip, an easy goad. ]
And I confess -- I am curious to see you try.
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he could stay here longer, leeching off zhongli's heat. kissing him, slow and exploratory. touching him more, until he's gorged on his skin and tongue and body, until he can taste him in his sleep. )
I'll give you worse when you stop holding back.
( childe steps away, a receding tide of tightly coiled energy. he gives a dismissive twirl of two fingers, and a small wave arcs from the floor, foamy water rolling around the blockade of zhongli's boots, over the edges of the pillar, washing everything left behind away. the polearm still struck in the ground is hauled loose in a single gripping tug, then flipped down, spearpoint gleaming against zhongli's throat.
after a second, he retracts the blade and lifts it again, extended toward zhongli in silent offering. )
Shall we leave before the Millelith come knocking?
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but the polearm was forged of the same substance as all of his weapons: stone, steel, and delicate metallic scrollwork. he reaches out; his thumb trails down the blade of it, as if testing its jaded edge. at once the polearm collapses into a little storm of geo particles, sifting through childe's hands like dust.
by ancient habit, he smoothes back his hair, touches each of his cuffs, then turns to fasten his coat. the long sweep of it disguises any lingering stains. with the last of the clasps fastened into place, he looks nearly intact, polished, as though nothing in the world had ever touched him. ]
Have you had any difficulty with the Millelith recently?
[ his tone's courteous, sedate, as if they'd been discussing the topic all along over dinner in some discreet, gold-lit teahouse. there's no faltering about his steps as he heads towards the latticed doors, drawing them open for his guest. ]
I understand that the Qixing are in the process of evaluating their next steps with regard to the Fatui. The guard should not be acting outside the parameters of their command, except in cases of emergency.
[ such as, for instance, any suspicious activity on the part of their last ranking harbinger stationed in the port.
it's been made transparent that the tsaritsa's left no further decrees to carry out in liyue -- but that doesn't mean that childe wouldn't be inclined to make trouble on his own whim and time. ]
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No more than usual. ( maybe a little more than usual. his unfettered, fresh-faced charisma is understandably far less effective following his stunt with osial, and security has been significantly tightened in places he would've otherwise been mostly welcome. ) While I can't guarantee that they're not spitting at my turned back, they've been cordial enough considering the circumstances.
( if he's using cordial in the loosest definition possible.
he'd half expected to be thrown into the ocean, or barred entry from liyue. that he wasn't was an enormously generous courtesy, more to the tsaritsa than himself, and while his extended stay in liyue hasn't been pleasant since the incident, he'd rather gut himself at the feet of the qixing than admit to any quote-unquote difficulty aloud. in due time, he'll be called back to snezhnaya on orders from the tsaritsa, cut down into little more than a scathing sentence in liyue's future history books. the northern foreigner who fancied himself a god-killer and then failed to kill a god, end of chapter.
childe maintains his pace side-by-side with zhongli, down the many steps past the millelith dutifully holding guard, and tips two fingers to his temple in salute. neither of them look at him, though one of them blinks a little harder than necessary. )
How are you settling into your new role? Or โ ( he hums, thoughtful. ) I suppose it's more of a return to an old normal than anything new, isn't it?
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it is, for the moment, the only sound worth hearing. ]
It is as you might expect. The funeral parlour is as selective in its rituals as ever. [ reading between the lines: hu tao's still stewing over her next marketing scheme. ] But there is more than enough to occupy me, even so. The city is remaking itself. You will likely see menus from the teahouses to the taverns shift to more traditional dishes over the next few months. There may even be a queue for loans at Northland Bank -- despite the circumstances.
[ he glances over, sidelong. the lightness of his voice is a habit by now -- learned and kept against his better judgment. he's gathered more than a few such quirks over the months: leaving the parlour at that golden hour of the evening just after the banks close; reserving pieces at mingxing jewellery that might suit a pair of sharp blue eyes; turning back in a crowd at the sound of an unfamiliar accent. in a handful of seasons, childe's worn into him like rain drawing patterns into stone.
perhaps it's better, after all, that he's leaving soon.
they cross the bridge, matched in stride, steering out of the commercial district and into the quiet, lacquered gardens that wreath the residential areas. the sudden hush draws at him; his smile crooks a little, unstintingly thoughtful. ]
But I suppose that I should clarify. Are you curious about my health, or whether I have retained my old strength?
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childe doesn't call him on it, courteously quiet and attentive as he listens to zhongli speak. )
You felt robust enough to me.
( he slants a short, flickering glance at zhongli's profile, rays of honey-gold light dappling his hair like a burnished crown. childe is an unkempt, partially unbuttoned mess next to zhongli's polished exterior; they make a strange shoulder-to-shoulder pair as they walk the streets of liyue, from the bustling noise of the harbor into a lingering, intimate quiet that's both familiar and unknown.
they move in unison over a footbridge overarching a shallow pond, slats of sealed redwood groaning underfoot, and follow a stonework pathway that winds through a pavilion twined in blooming flowers. childe stops under the shade of the pavilion, snagging zhongli by the wrist. )
I'm poorly versed on the nature of the adepti, admittedly, but I've heard faraway tales of an adeptus' strength. ( mostly in passing, or in dusty books he pored over within his first few days in liyue. he turns into him, pulling his arm diagonal across his chest to force him a step closer. ) Your strength, especially. Are you afraid you'll hurt me?
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Contrary to what my recent behaviour might suggest, I do have some self-restraint.
[ the remark's barely touched with rue. live long enough, and anyone learns the practice of selective memory: to keep those experiences that brought something of value, to leave everything else in the dust. but it's difficult to bury the fact that every instinct seems to reorient him, compass-like, in childe's direction -- that he breathes, and feels every mark of their hasty tryst in the golden house stark across his skin, teeth and salt and the ghost of heat where childe's palm had folded against his hip, urging him down his throat.
his fingers tug at childe's collar, drawing it straight to no real effect. it isn't particularly meant to restore any form of order. he knows better than to imagine that it might. at best, it might be a kind of proof: that he's still capable of these ordinary gestures, chaste and unhurried. ]
You, on the other hand, [ light and low, an invitation to a shared joke of sorts - ] seem to have few limits in your appetites. Should I be concerned on your behalf?
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You wouldn't be the first to be concerned.
( or the last, most likely.
his hand slips down his wrist, skittering across his elbow and bicep until he's shifting into zhongli's space and loosely hooking his arm over his shoulder. it feels as natural as breathing, or wielding a blade with practiced finesse, the rising tide of zhongli's warm body drawing him close. he knows this part, has bruises on his knees now as evidence. it's everything else, all the things deeper than physical, that he can't touch or dissect into bite-sized pieces able to digested and understood as intimately as he understood his cock in his mouth. )
Surely you've heard the rumors by now, xiansheng. ( the honorific rolls off his tongue like he's been saying it all his life, dense like water-logged silk. it's easier to control every unruly syllable when he's not falling apart in zhongli's clenched, slick fist. he tucks his fingers beneath his collar, down the knot of his tie that he tightens snug against his throat, returning the gesture. ) It's why I'm the Tsaritsa's favorite. I'm insatiable.
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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. ]
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Of course.
( somehow, fully buttoned in his jacket, he feels more exposed than when he's outright naked, like ajax the schoolboy writing mantras on a chalkboard for naughty behavior or tartaglia the eleventh knelt in front of the tsaritsa's crystal throne awaiting orders, head bowed in reverence. it's paralyzing. he pops the bottom button on his jacket one-handed, more reflex than a pouty rebuff of zhongli's focused attention, then turns to graciously sweep his arm toward the path ahead. )
Far be it from me to lead you astray a second time.
( his tone is pleasant, paired with a dimpled smile crinkling across the bridge of his nose. it's one of many sincere smiles he's given zhongli in their time together, over a teahouse table or while bartering a merchant for a fairer price on whatever priceless trinket's caught his eye. strange how effortlessly zhongli finesses his possesions from him, time and time again. strange how much he'll miss it, this, him.
they exit the shelter of the pavilion, back on the stone pathway that circles through the entire city. childe pops another button on his jacket as they walk, his vision glowing vividly in the setting sun. )
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zhongli lives, apparently, at the end of an older block, where the balconies are flush with faded scrollwork and the stairs curve with the studied red gleam of retouched paint. his door opens to a perfectly ordinary set of sprawling, modern quarters: a parlour; a distant study bricked with silk-bound books; two doors standing half-open, inviting. it's the kind of layout that any merchant might rent for a week or two in the city. but in the parlour, there rests more than a few trinkets that childe might recognise from the last few seasons of rampant spending: lacquerware boxes on the mantel, a bamboo palm in a jade-rimmed pot, a glossy black cabinet with designs drawn in gold foil, filigree-winged cranes peering up through a cloud of greenery.
not that childe's getting much of an opportunity to admire the decor. the door clicks shut, and zhongli stops in the narrow foyer, half-turned, mouth curving with a thought that needs no translation. ]
You have my thanks for permitting me to take you so far out of your way.
[ one step, another. he closes the little distance without hurry, pressing childe back against the door. ]
Now - [ with the gentle, bright-eyed irony of a man indulging in a comfortable cliche. ] Where were we?
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but then zhongli fills his empty spaces with his warmth, and any sense of lingering strangeness disappears, gone with the ghost of his breath across his mouth. )
You should never interrupt a man when he's deep in study. How am I supposed to remember where I left off?
( his voice curls like smoke between them, past a flicker of his tongue over zhongli's jaw. he unfolds into him, knees bumping knees and arms circling his shoulders, and sets his heel against the door, pushing their linked bodies several steps forward. lesson one, drilled into him at a tenderly impressionable age: never let yourself be cornered, even when you want it. maybe especially when you want it, and he wants it now more than anything.
he loosens zhongli's tie with a squeeze of his fist near his throat, licking down the juncture where his jaw meets his ear. his body hovers close, pressed flush, rippling muscle held back in knots, barely restrained. he bites zhongli's pulse, swallowing around salt and skin and the hot, prickling desire to take his cock into his mouth for a second time. )
I believe I was asking you politely to fuck me, please. Pretty please.
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Ah -- thank you for your reminder.
[ the interim between the foyer and the bedroom's a jumble of greed and heat. the world flashes by in sensation and ghostly impressions -- the slow charring friction of body against body, the obscene salt curve of childe's mouth under his, kissing him in slow, relentless pulses as they cross the floor in strides. he's half-undone by the time they're at the threshold of his room -- shoes kicked off, jacket rumpled, the tie trailing loose around his throat.
the rest takes no thought at all.
he turns on the carpet and sinks back onto the bed, drawing childe down with him. daylight's fading across the walls, red and gold; in the evening flush of the room, childe looks nothing less than ornamental -- sunlight dazzling through his bright hair, the foxish set of his jaw burning like ivory. like something to be caught, kept, thoroughly possessed.
he sinks back a little, one hand bracing against the bed, thighs tilting apart; his gaze sweeps over childe's face for a moment's consideration before his fingertips snag in the loop of childe's belt, tugging him forward into his lap. reckless, careless -- but none of that feels like a reason to stop now. ]
Would you undress yourself for me?
[ notably, he's got other priorities -- chief among them, sucking a kiss into the soft stretch just beneath childe's jaw. ]