Two hearts reunited

Determination

Childe, despite being so busy, had never stopped thinking about Zhongli. And now he might be standing at his door. He remembered how he had met him in the Northland Bank back then, and could imagine him possibly asking for him. He hoped so much... What was he going to say to him when he met him again right away? He was so excited that it took a familiar voice to jolt him out of his thoughts. Unfortunately not Zhonglis.

"Well, Ajax... how's it going?" asked Pulcinella, sitting down across from him. He honestly never expected to see him in Liyue. The fact that he always addressed him by his real name now, felt also strange.

"Hey. Things are going great. I've got enough to do," Childe replied flippantly. He was feeling pretty screwed.

"Yeah...that's what I thought. I guess there's been a lot left undone. I thought I'd check on things," the Harbinger replied, adjusting his feather collar. Childe narrowed his eyes.

"Why are you really here? You think I'm not doing my job properly?" asked Childe defiantly. Quite a while ago, he would have liked Pulcinella to visit him here. So why was it just happening now? That he had concrete ulterior motives, he did not rule out.

"I noticed that you might be too busy. Since I could divide the work at headquarters differently, I thought I could support you here. That should give you more time for.... other things," Pulcinella said seriously.

"What things?" asked Childe discontentedly. The fact that Pulcinella wanted to work with him here now, too, only made things more difficult than already.

"You're in love, aren't you?" his counterpart said with an amused grin on his face as he shrugged his shoulders. Childes' facial features derailed.

"How do you know that!!!?" he asked, stunned. He turned pale. He was so horribly embarrassed. But apparently Pulcinella had also known that he once had a crush on him. Only ... how was he supposed to know about Zhongli? Or did he still think...?

"That's what the birds sang to me," he joked, smiling mysteriously, "Cute. My little Ajax has finally found his true love. I hope you guys made up, huh?"

"No, we haven't. And I'm not in love either. Stop calling me "Ajax!" And beyond that, it's none of your business!!!" agitated Childe, and by now he had stood up. He would have loved to grab the other Harbinger by the feather collar and throw him out of the office. Only, unfortunately, he still had too much respect for his former mentor and - sadly - crush.

"Now, now... what a temper!" said Pulcinella with a laugh. With an annoyed sigh, Childe sat back down and stared at him darkly without saying anything.

"Well, I admit it... it wasn't quite right of me to read your letter," Pulcinella finally said after a moment of awkward silence. Childe looked at him in wonder until he remembered. The letter he had actually wanted to write to Zhongli, which he had carelessly thrown into the snow.

"So that's why you sent me back," it suddenly came to Childe. It all made sense now. Still, he hadn't thought he would help him in this matter.

"Sure. What are we supposed to do with a broken Harbinger? I did everything I could to make something out of you. And now it's all going down the drain. Of course I care," Pulcinella said seriously.

"I knew it... so it's all about you!" hissed Childe, "so you'll look good with the others... you do realize that you're the one who broke me in the first place!!!?"

"Oh please, Childe... please don't say things like that. I only ever wanted the best for you," Pulcinella said soothingly, touching his shoulder. Childe slapped his hand away.

"You just wanted to get rid of me!" he hissed. He had always wanted to tell him that. And all his frustration that had been building up for a long time now caught Pulcinella head-on.

"I just want you to be happy. You won't be happy with me. You won't be happy in Snezhnaya. Why are you such a coward to take the chance I gave you, huh?" the latter replied calmly, however.

"You don't know what happened," Childe muttered after a moment.

"If you want to tell me, I'm here. Otherwise... I'll get back to work now," Pulcinella replied, grabbing a load of documents from Childe's table. Then he disappeared again. A bit overwhelmed, Childe looked after him. He didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

#

When he finally got off work after an agonizingly long couple of hours, Childe clearly decided against talking to Pulcinella. He could already imagine how that would go. Why was he even getting involved? He was sure that the other Harbinger just wanted to have a clear conscience after all this, or was just too curious to stay out of it. That he could give him any good dating advice, however, he highly doubted. He was still embarrassed that he knew he was currently in love and regretted throwing the letter away. He would rather had send it to Zhongli...

...and probably not received an answer. The young Harbinger sighed heavily. For a moment he imagined Pulcinella talking to Scaramouche. In his mind it looked like this:

- "You wouldn't believe how entertaining this is. He's head over heels in love, but doesn't dare do anything. I didn't think my little Childe was such a wimp when it comes to matters of the heart..."

- "You know, unlike you, I knew from the start that he was a complete failure, in whatever area. But I really feel sorry for his crush.... Having Childe on your back forever is like a bad fate."

- "Oh yeah, you said something. I was so glad that we had successfully transferred him to Liyue, that he had now met someone there and was no longer a pain in the ass for me.... It's just too bad he can't get anything done, huh?"

- "Pfff... you brought this on yourself..."

Childe pushed the unpleasant thought away as fast as he could and clenched his hands into fists. "You asshole, just you wait... I'll show you," he thought to himself and stood up determinedly. Briskly, he cleared his things aside and packed up his belongings. Without thinking about his doubts, he walked out of the building with his head held high and headed for Zhongli's apartment. Let's see who couldn't get anything done there.