the air was frigid and the winter breeze came rushing unto zhongli's face like a sharp paper cut, leaving cold brutal slashes on his cheeks which soon had cherry hues exploding all over them. the azure canvas hanging above the meandering businessmen and women who had just gotten off work with haggard faces turned a shade of pale grey and chalk white.
and just as zhongli had predicted, petite snowflakes began cascading down the sky minutes later, accompanied by the dampness infused with people's unsung melancholies in the form of a downpour. being the conscientious man he is, zhongli pulled out the umbrella he kept away in his working briefcase, completely unfazed at the weather conditions that only seemed to be growing more and more merciless with every passing second.
the walk back to his apartment was long but that's what zhongli liked about life which he could enjoy. his colleagues deemed him weird for going the extra mile (quite literally) just so he could listen to his own footsteps while walking down the concrete pavement that leads to his neighborhood or just so he could feed the stray cats that were abandoned just a few alleyways before his apartment their favorite mackerel when he could've boarded the bus to and from work.
however, that's just how zhongli is. people know him for having a square personality, for his slightly condescending attempts to lecture someone when they say something impractical or out of this world but what people didn't know about him was the contracts he signed with himself; emotional links that he had bounded himself to as long as he's still alive and breathing.
perhaps those contracts he made with the little zhongli that lives in his head was all but to serve one purpose. it's a shame that nobody has ever dug, or at least attempted to dig as deep as to discover the epiphany hidden behind those strings that threads his enclosed heart.
breathing out air at dew point as his firm body shuddered ever so slightly at the harsh weather, zhongli halted in front of a convenient store he frequents to get the usual can of mackerel for the cats. although he had only encountered the cats a week ago, he'd already given them names; yuki and aki respectively. you could say those names just occurred to him due to the color of their fur and don't actually hold any specific meaning to him.
zhongli trudged into the store and went straight to the food aisle he's ever so familiar with. just as he was about to walk towards the counter to check-out the item he's bought, an unfamiliar voice perked up behind him, calling him by his name.
"zhongli?"
a hair of messy orange tresses, dull blue eyes that seemed to be void of any lingering emotions and the beaded earring that had a crimson quartz dangling from his left ear — all those features were a stranger to the brown-haired male. the male dressed in a black hoodie and denim ripped jeans however, had a look of bewilderment splattered across his pale countenance, as if he had just encountered a ghost.
"zhongli." he called out then proceeded to repeat zhongli's name over and over again like a broken record moments later.
"please stop calling my name like that when we've only just met." zhongli, with pursed lips and steely marigold eyes meeting the stranger's oceanic blue orbs spoke in a calm manner.
"what do you mean by we've only just met?" disbelief and a subtle hint of betrayal were swimming in the blues of his sullen eyes and his expression was equivalent to someone who had just received a piece of devastating news. "i'm tartaglia and we've known each other for as long as a couple lifetimes!"
tartaglia, a foreign name and has a nice ring to it but it doesn't strike a chord in zhongli's system. to him, tartaglia was so much so like the splitting image of a child, frantic and taken aback in face of zhongli's denial regarding their acquaintanceship.
"i'm sorry but i think you've got the wrong person." zhongli stated before walking towards the counter but tartaglia was persistent, taking big strides behind the consultant to catch up with him so that they could be side by side each other which made zhongli feel a little uneasy.
and he continued to walk beside zhongli after that even after they've exited the store. the fact that zhongli had to acknowledge the uninvited silhouette next to his own lonesome one was really throwing him off the edge. normally, he'd just dial up the police and report it as harassment but tartaglia hasn't spoken a word as he just quietly follows.
"i'm going to call the police if you follow me any further than this." zhongli said.
his statement was quickly swallowed up by the cold winter night and turned into nothingness but it didn't bother him as he continued walking since he was nearing the alleyway where the cats would normally linger around.
"the stars are really pretty tonight. look, it's the ursa major right there."
tartaglia sighed.
"are you really planning to call the police on your own soulmate?"
( not proofread )
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a/n: yay they met c: also, this story is going to be so cliche i'm actually cringing ;-;
