As The Sun Gazes Upon The Moon [Zhongchili]

Chapter 9 - Friends of Old

Please Note: The following content warnings apply to this chapter:

Miscommunication during foreplay

Panic / Anxiety during foreplay

Self-Objectification

Past Negative Sexual Memories / Experiences

Dated views on t/b roles

Discussion of connection of power to t/b roles

Zhongli worrying if he's inadvertently taken advantage of Childe / associated guilt

Zhongli reminiscing on Azhdaha's erosion and his guilt/loss related to Azhdaha

Please note I've covered everything I can think of, but if you have any specific questions about similar topics that you think you might be sensitive to after reading the list above, swing me a message on Twitter or in a comment and I can clarify for you and add it to this list (or the main tags if it'll play a significant part in the story).

Now, on with the chapter!

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As promised, Childe is there the next morning at the courtyard to see Tonia off.

She sees him smiling, waving, standing (Childe says he doesn't want her to go home remembering him sitting like a cripple in a wheelchair), and Childe keeps the act up marvellously until the carriage carries her around the corner and out of sight.

Tonia doesn't see the way Zhongli has to all but drag Childe back up the stairs, his body declaring its duty done for the day, nor does she see how he passes out the moment his head touches the pillow. Nor does she see Zhongli pull the covers up around him, ensuring he's tucked in snugly to rest.

As the weeks go by, physically Childe recovers better than is to be expected, his cheeks filling with a healthy roundness and his stride becoming sounder with each passing day.

However, the same cannot be said for his mental condition.

If Zhongli attempts to broach the subject with Childe, Childe fires back that he should have long left Snezhnaya, and once Childe's strength returns enough that Zhongli can no longer justify his presence as "medically necessary observation", he is forced to return to sleeping in his own quarters.

The fitter Childe becomes physically, the more he takes to pacing the room as he did the day Zhongli found it so brutally upturned, although fortunately the furniture is spared the brunt of Childe's odd temperament. One day Zhongli finds him crouched on the open window sill, observing the area below, motionless and unblinking. Zhongli decides it is better not to startle him and leaves quietly.

The Tsaritsa arranges for bars to be installed on the outside of Childe's window after that. She asks Zhongli if he knows anything about Childe's strange behaviour, but he can tell her nothing; there is in implicit discretion entrusted to him in the things Childe has chosen to reveal to him, and Zhongli's word is his contract, as solid as the ore sitting deep in the Chasm's mines.

Childe continues to pace, to observe, to wake at odd hours to stand and watch phantom shadows, and all that is left for Zhongli to do is reflect upon the recent happenings, attempting to piece together the fragments of Childe's words and what he sees before him.

There is an unknown force haunting Childe, stalking him in shadows that only he can see. However, it remains unclear if this mysterious threat comes from outside or, as Zhongli begins to suspect, from within.

Perhaps the greatest mystery is their fickle relationship; it is only for Zhongli's presence that Childe offers signs of quiet appreciation, letting Zhongli sit and read beside him, occasionally offering an observation about a couple of agents he watched sparring, only to drive him from the room minutes later, beseeching him to leave Snezhnaya and to return to his life in Liyue.