wolvesbarkshamefully

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

OH CELESTIA! | three (part two)

fic m.list | previous chapter | next chapter

wc: 10841

cw(s)/tw(s): anal sex + blowjob + coarse/foul/strong language used + contains depictions/mentions of bdsm + crying/tears + degradation + dirty talk + drool + loud sex + nipple play + oral sex + overstimulation + praise + rough sex + smut (explicit) + use of ropes and sex toys (dildo) + use of the word g*n

By the time they entered the lift to the apartment building, a dangerous rhythm of built-up tension drummed loudly in both their ears. It strung and pulled tight between them, though the feeling was far from one of discomfort or awkwardness. The sudden enclosed proximity only served to further amplify the tantalising energy in the air, and neither dared to steal one last subtle look at the other as the floor number ticked upward.

With a ding, Zhongli left the lift first, and Ajax closely followed. As they strolled by Baizhu's apartment, Ajax could not help but peek at the closed door. Whatever laid beyond it had always been a mystery to him, but the intrigue of it grew as his mind wandered. He pictured the ghosts of two men who used to eat breakfast together in the kitchen, talk casually about their days in the living room, and spend loving nights under the covers in the bedroom. His train of thought was thrown into a flustered jumble after that, and Ajax shook his head. His feet soon came to a stop behind Zhongli, in front of their own home.

"Let me get the door," Zhongli leaned over slightly to pat his pockets for the keys. Just that little action was enough to cause a noticeable strain in his pants, and Ajax was faced with the unintentional show of Zhongli's full behind. The smooth shape of the fabric pulled taut against his ass salaciously enticed him, and the beating of his heart in his ears crescendoed. He could not believe this was what Zhongli wore to work every day.

The living room was barely visible when Zhongli opened the door, only lit up by the dull glow of the midnight moonlight falling in from the open window. The curtains floated as a faint breeze blew in, and Zhongli went over to close it.

"Good night," was all Ajax managed to mutter out before he rushed to his bedroom, the heat too much to bear any longer. Zhongli looked on at his disappearing figure before the door was pushed close, though not hard enough to hear a click of the knob. The puzzled expression on Zhongli's face quickly twisted into one of conflict, and he heavily trod back to his own room.

Once he had closed his bedroom door shut, Zhongli flopped down onto his bed, trying to collect his thoughts and fully process the events that occurred in the past few hours while shrouded in darkness. His head was spinning from both his thoughts and the lingering alcohol. Usually, he would close his eyes to still himself in the present moment, but whenever he did it now, the fresh memories of Childe dancing onstage and swinging sensually on the pole would haunt him as they replayed in his head. Those faint touches as his hands glided across Zhongli’s body, and those thighs that rested and rubbed on top of his own. The images of Childe were permanently burnt into his mind and only made his lust grow further and pool in his lower abdomen.

Accompanied by the ropes straining his movement, his hard-on only seemed to worsen and made his pants feel even tighter. Zhongli had half a mind to rid himself of his pants and free his cock from its confines, then fist it to get it done and over with. After all, he did miss his usual Friday appointment at the BDSM club. However, if he proved himself to be noisy, Ajax would probably be able to hear him from his bedroom. He did not want to risk distancing himself from Ajax out of shame again like he did after their Valentine's day movie night.

Before he could come up with a better solution to his growing problem, he heard a hard knock on his door. A couple of long seconds of silence followed before Ajax's voice could be heard speaking from the other side in a strange tone, "Can I come in?"

Zhongli sat up straight and loosened his tie to ground himself, "Sure."

The door was thrown open in a harsher manner than he expected. Framed by the bleak moonlight, Ajax stood in his doorway, blue eyes gleaming in a way that Zhongli could only describe as dangerous. He lingered there ominously, and Zhongli could barely hear him audibly breathe in and out before Ajax’s words broke the suffocating tension.

"Zhongli, let's fuck."

Zhongli nearly doubled over in shock, his eyes widening as he choked on air at Ajax's open candidness, "Pardon?"

Ajax frowned, "Don't act so surprised. The way you looked at me back there in the club told me everything."

Ajax walked into his bedroom, a serious look on his face. It was only then Zhongli realised that Ajax was still in his full stripper getup, his jeans and hoodie which was once tied around his waist gone. The gingerhead walked towards Zhongli and he sat up straighter, as though backed into an imaginary wall. Ajax stopped short directly in front of Zhongli, their legs mere centimetres away from touching, and his face completely unreadable. There was a heavy silence weighing the atmosphere down before Ajax parted his lips, and Zhongli feared the next few words that were about to leave his mouth.

"And I feel the same way too."

Zhongli remained very still in disbelief. The feeling is mutual? He gazed into Ajax's eyes. They were enticing and inviting, but most importantly, waiting for his response.

He realised a beat too late that he might have taken a bit too long to respond when a worried tint took over Ajax's gaze, his lips turning into a pout, resembling a kicked puppy, "Unless… you don't want to?"

Zhongli shook his head with a soft smile, endeared by his mannerisms, "That's not the case. I'm merely startled by your straightforwardness."

Ajax blinked owlishly with brightened eyes and an imaginary tail wagging in excitement behind him, "So… is that a yes?"

Zhongli's cheeks flushed pink as he gave a meek nod in approval. That was all Ajax needed to place his hands on Zhongli's chest and push him into the soft duvet covers. There was now a primal look of desire and hunger burning in his eyes, complemented by a wild grin on his lips. It would be an understatement to say that Zhongli was simply aroused. No, he wanted to be devoured by the beast that was presently looming over him.

In addition, now that he was this close to Ajax, he could view his costume in its full glory in the halo of the gentle moonlight: black straps criss-crossing over his chest with a sparkly black gossamer sheen over his chest, creating some sort of crop top. His navel was completely exposed, save for the straps running around it, hugging his torso and accentuating his small waist. 

As Zhongli's eyes travelled south to appraise the lower half of the costume, Ajax's voice caused his eyes to snap back up to meet his, "I wonder…"

Ajax's deft fingers flitted over from Zhongli's chest to his collar and undid the top two buttons, then pushed the fabric aside to reveal the bright scarlet ropes juxtaposed against his pale skin. The gingerhead's eyes glinted as he smirked, "So you are wearing your ropes today. No wonder I felt something when I was grinding down on you earlier."

Zhongli flushed and was about to say something before he was cut off by the sound of fabric rustling — Ajax was unbuttoning the buttons on his dress shirt as fast as he could, the excitement causing his fingers to tremble and slip up a few times, prompting the younger to curse under his breath.

With his dress shirt almost fully unbuttoned and his chest (and ropes) on display, the ropes somehow felt inexplicably tighter on Zhongli. Ajax shifted himself and bent down so that his face was right at Zhongli's chest, his orange hair brushing against Zhongli's skin lightly. He then pressed his lips against the exposed skin, leaving feather-light kisses across his chest. His kisses slowly morphed into nibbles, then gradually turned into bites as his mouth roamed over Zhongli's chest, leaving a trail of love bites in its wake.

The little noises the man below him would make for each mark that was left behind scathing on his skin gave Ajax a confidence boost each time. Zhongli did not seem to squirm one bit, letting Ajax fully ravage his body piece by piece while trying his best to hold back the gasps that followed one after another. Finishing off the last hickey with a smack of his lips, Ajax lifted himself up to take a good look. The bites that littered all over Zhongli's chest were bruised red, planted in between redder ropes that radiated hot against pale skin that was equally warm to the touch. Shifting his gaze upwards, his eyes locked back against Zhongli's, who had been wordlessly watching him the whole time between shallow breaths. There was a brief pause as they stared at each other. The single source of light trickling down from the window was just enough to softly illuminate their features, making the moment seem almost ethereal. The fact that they were actually doing it did not feel real to either of them, but it undeniably was.

The unbearable heat taking form in his crotch was what finally snapped Ajax out of his daze. He reminded himself that he came here to do one thing: to fuck Zhongli senseless.

He reached his hand over to push Zhongli's dress pants down his legs, followed by his underwear, letting the man's cock spring free from its confines. As his eyes trailed down the marks he had left on Zhongli's body, Ajax spied the little happy trail which started from slightly below his belly button, ending around his dick. His cockhead was a light shade of brown and his dick was on the thinner and slender side.

"Where's your lube and condoms?" Ajax’s pent-up emotions and lust turned the question into more of a demand. Zhongli had dealt with similar kinds of people before in his countless BDSM sessions, but the contrast of seeing his once charismatic and cute roommate transform into this controlling top made him giddy and hotter.

"I-In the bedside table," Zhongli spoke in a soft voice. Ajax wasted no time as he leaned over the bed and opened up the bottom drawer where he assumed the things were. Instead, he was met with a variety of dildos and buttplugs that filled the entire drawer.

Zhongli’s personal collection was endless. One or two looked like they were installed with vibrators. A bunch of others looked textured and came in many shapes and sizes. A particular gold one had a bulging knot at the base that looked painful to get in. An orange tentacle-shaped dildo was another that caught his eye with the way it seemed to curve in the right places. The wildest shape that Ajax could make out had two penises emerging from a single base, one slightly more hooked than the other. Seeing it the first time honestly made him do a double take.

"I never would have guessed Xiansheng was so needy," Ajax cooed, teasing him. It took Zhongli a second too late to realise that he had opened the wrong drawer.

"The top one," Zhongli clarified, throwing his arm over his face in a poor attempt to hide his embarrassed blush. Ajax laughed as he opened the correct drawer.

"I'll let you use your favourite one next time while I fuck into your mouth," Ajax whispered closer to the other's ear. Hearing those sweet words made Zhongli's mind race. Imagining that exact scenario was almost enough to make him moan at the mere thought. There was also the implied promise that hung in those words. There will be a next time.

As Ajax dug out a well-used bottle of lube and a condom in his size, he noticed another shibari rope in the drawer as well. Curious, he fished it out.

"Hey, Xiansheng. How about I tie your hands behind your back?" Ajax suggested with a smirk, only to be met with a concerned look from Zhongli.

"Do you know how to tie shibari?"

"Uh, no."

"Shibari is actually more dangerous than you think. If you're not careful, someone could get injured."

Ajax could already feel the sexual tension between them grinding to a halt if this continued any further, "I'll just tie your hands the good ol' fashioned way. I at least know how to do that."

"Alright," Zhongli could not help but smile at Ajax trying his best. Maybe he could teach him one day.

"Turn around," Ajax instructed, and Zhongli complied. The older man immediately knew what to do and held his wrists together behind his back, head facing down, waiting eagerly and patiently. Ajax had never gotten a good view of his back, and it looked equally as stunning as the front. The crimson ropes ran across his spine and down until they settled right above the delicious curve of his ass. The rope that wrapped so snugly around his hip made the round flesh pop out even more than Ajax thought was possible, and this was just with Zhongli lying flat down. The moment Zhongli would bend over and graciously arch his back as far as he can, Ajax might not be able to control himself any longer.

With the rope in hand, Ajax made use of one end and wound up Zhongli's wrists together into a relatively neat knot, making sure it was not too loose or too tight. There was still a lot of rope left untied on one side of the knot which he did not know what to do with, but it should be safe (he thought).

Digging his hands into Zhongli's slender hips, he roughly pulled the lower half of the older man beneath him up without warning, earning a shocked gasp. Zhongli instinctively curved his body outwards and behind, ending off with his ass perked up high in the air. He felt Ajax's hands leave his hips before they gently rested on the plump globes of his behind, supple flesh already bouncing from the subtle contact. The warmth from the touch spread throughout Zhongli's whole body, and his insides began to itch desperately.

Pushing his ass up higher, Zhongli slowly and sensually spread his legs apart like it was second nature, trying to put on a good show like what the stripper had done for him. However, as much as Ajax was in awe of just how slutty the man below him was, impatience got the better of him.

Zhongli moaned loudly when his legs were suddenly forced apart as far as they could by two strong hands on his thighs, almost tumbling over. The angle was so wide that he could feel his asscheeks separate obscenely, the cold air of the room caressing his puckered rim. The shibari ropes strained so tightly and satisfyingly against him, surely leaving deeper marks against his skin. Zhongli cried once more from the sensation, turning his head over to the side to inhale in sharp, uneven breaths.

"Moaning like a bitch already, huh?" Ajax snarked. He could not help but grab another handful of the ass that had been so exquisitely presented to him, eliciting a cute whine from Zhongli. The only thing that stopped him from going further was his painfully hard cock screaming at him to get it on already.

Ajax pushed his dick out from the corner of his stripper costume, too lazy to pull his outfit off completely. He groaned deeply as it sprung free from its confines, causing Zhongli's head to turn back in curiosity. His heart nearly stopped at the sight. It was bigger and thicker than he imagined, and his mind raced as he tried to process how such a tiny piece of lingerie was able to contain this beast. Precum was already seeping out from the swollen head, drops of white dribbling down the underside of his impressive length.

Ajax grinned as Zhongli eventually looked back down at the pillow beneath him, pretending he was not just busy ogling him moments ago.

He waited no time putting on the condom and lubing his dick up, hissing at the sudden sensation after not being touched for what felt like ages at this point. As he moved on to pouring the lube onto his fingers, Zhongli was already below trying to hurry him up as well, mumbling what sounded like his name like a prayer on his lips and shaking his ass up and down while keeping his legs fully spread apart. Desperate and horny, both burned hot with unfiltered passion and yearning for one another.

Finally, Zhongli's insides were filled when the first finger slipped in surprisingly smoothly, his rim giving way easily. Before Zhongli could even savour the feeling, a second and third digit had plunged alongside the first. Those fingers twisted, scissored and curled all ways inside him, leaving him a moaning mess as his walls continuously squeezed hard around the unrelenting digits. Meanwhile, Ajax observed how his fingers would pull out and get sucked right back in, amazed and amused.

"I can't wait for how good you'll make me feel when I put my dick inside you," Ajax praised, his other unused hand now moving to stroke himself languidly, not wanting to accidentally come too soon.

"Please, more," the first coherent words out of Zhongli's mouth in a while were begging. It was not long before those pleads devolved into a sultry wail when Ajax's fingers stroked across a delightful spot. Ajax quirked a brow up at this, a devilish glint in his eye. He picked up speed, fingers spreading open and close in a scissoring motion while going in and out of Zhongli so obscenely that the wet sounds of lube filled the air. Zhongli's moans grew louder and more frequent, pushing his ass closer to Ajax's hand to take more of him.

"What a greedy slut," Ajax laughed darkly as he promptly pulled his fingers out of Zhongli in one swift motion, his other hand landing a harsh smack over Zhongli's ass. The man cried out (in pleasure or pain, Ajax was not too sure) as the slightest bit of drool began to dribble out of his mouth. Feeling the lack of something inside him, his hole fluttered around nothing and he whined in disapproval, shaking his ass up and down, a sign for Ajax to shove something — anything — inside him.

Ajax adjusted himself and positioned the tip of his dick near Zhongli's gaping hole, with one hand holding onto Zhongli's waist. Grabbing the base of his cock, he prodded Zhongli's hole and teased it, moving around the rim and nudging it gently.

"Ajax," Zhongli whined, moving his hips backwards in an attempt to get Ajax's dick inside him already. His attempts proved to be futile as Ajax simply pushed the man's hips forward, his grip on his waist unrelenting.

Ajax leaned over, his mouth just beside Zhongli's ear as he whispered, "You might want to brace yourself. This is going to hurt."

Zhongli simply hummed in response. He could care less about whether it hurt or not; he just wanted Ajax in him right there and then.

Ajax pushed his dick in smoothly in one go easily, and the squelching sounds of the lube only seemed to egg Zhongli on. He groaned as his back arched and his bound hands clenched into fists. Ajax stood still for a moment and leaned over, opting to leave kisses down Zhongli's neck and shoulder blades as he got used to his size. Zhongli sighed in relief and Ajax knew that he was all ready before planting his arms beside Zhongli's waist to prop himself up.

"You know, I've always wondered what it felt like to do this," Ajax grunted as he gave a harsh tug at Zhongli's bound wrists, forcing him to arch his back as Ajax pounded into him. Zhongli let out a loud unabashed moan. The sounds that he made were driving Ajax crazy, and it was only a matter of time before his self-control snapped. He leaned in close, breathing hot air against Zhongli's ear.

"I'm not going to hold back. I'm going to be rough, is that okay?" he hissed. Zhongli whimpered and nodded in response, his legs trembling from the strain of propping himself up, his rim stretching impossibly thin to take all of Ajax.

"Please," Zhongli panted. Ajax smiled. 

"You're too good to me, Xiansheng," he slowly pulled out of Zhongli. Before Zhongli could utter a complaint, he gave a savage thrust, grabbing the nape of Zhongli's neck and pushing his cheek against the mattress whilst keeping his ass up in the air. 

He felt Zhongli tighten almost painfully around him and he grinded even deeper in response, drawing out a deliciously thin whine from Zhongli. He squeezed Zhongli's thighs and forced them even further apart, before moving his hands to his hips, digging his fingers into the dips in the front. Zhongli gasped as Ajax pressed into a sensitive spot. Sensing this, Ajax merely smirked and kept his hands in the same area, strengthening his grip as he positioned Zhongli's hips. 

"Don't blame me if you're sore tomorrow," Ajax huffed, snapping his hips against Zhongli's ass and grinding into him as deep as he could go before dragging himself against Zhongli's walls as he pistoned in and out of him. 

"Because you will be. I'm going to use you thoroughly." 

Ajax's voice dipped into a low and husky register which sent chills down Zhongli's spine.

"Then do it," he found the words spilling out of his lips as Ajax roughly grabbed his jaw and forced him to turn to him. 

"Pretty," Ajax said thickly as he ran a thumb down Zhongli's lips. Zhongli felt his heart squeeze. Oh, how he was hopelessly in love with this man.  

Before Zhongli could say anything else, Ajax reached his hand over to the back of Zhongli's neck, pressing him down onto the sheets harshly as he continued to slide in and out of him, his rhythm unrelentless like a machine gun. Moans trickled out of Zhongli's parted lips, alternating between "more", "harder", and other undecipherable words that were garbled up and muffled by the bedsheets. Ajax's other hand slid over to Zhongli's waist, fingers digging into the supple flesh as he fucked him hard and fast.

It was with one particularly rough thrust that Ajax hit his sweet spot and caused Zhongli to let out a deliciously pretty whine. That sinful sound which resembled an addictive melody to Ajax unlocked something primal within him and spurred him to move even faster than he did before. His tempo quickened and Zhongli's whines crescendoed to the point he was sure all that the neighbours could hear him moaning like a rabid bitch in heat.

"F-Fuck, Zhongli, I'm close," Ajax groaned, the sound of skin slapping against each other intermingling with the squelching sounds of the lube and Zhongli's fluids.

"Mm, me too," Zhongli managed to spit out between moans.

Ajax leaned over and continued leaving a couple more hickeys along Zhongli's neck and Zhongli keened at his touch. A few hard thrusts and one particularly harsh bite later, Zhongli's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his mouth gaped open in a soundless moan, his back arching as his dick twitched. Hot ropes of semen spurted out from his dick, dripping onto the clean sheets in thick globs. Ajax's hips gradually slowed down as he felt his own orgasm wash over him, moaning deeply as he came into the condom. He thrusted a few more times as both of them rode their highs out, sighs of contentment leaving Zhongli's mouth and soft groans escaping Ajax's lips.

As Zhongli collapsed onto the bed, trying to catch his breath, he felt Ajax's hands grip his waist and flip him over, allowing him to come face-to-face with Ajax. The hazy look in his eyes was ever-apparent, complemented with a dark gleam.

"Didn't I say that I'll be using you thoroughly tonight?" his hands moved to grip Zhongli's thighs as he smirked, "Prepare yourself, Zhongli. I'm just getting started."

Zhongli was still coming down from his high as Ajax grabbed him by his waist and propped him up on the side of the bed. 

"Get down on your knees," Ajax commanded. Zhongli blindly followed, standing up from the bed. He had not expected his legs to be trembling so hard from how well he was fucked, almost stumbling over as he settled down a few feet from the bed.

Ajax stood up from the bed with purpose, a sultry oomph to his movements. It was as if something had begun to stir in the air, a spark of sinful desire jumping between them like electricity. Ajax's footsteps were light as a feather as he inched closer towards Zhongli. Zhongli stared nervously at the towering figure before him, taking in the moonlit silhouette as it rested its hands on its hips.

Ajax leaned forward just enough for the older man's gaze to grace those piercing blue eyes, before he uttered two words.

"Watch me."

Zhongli did. Ajax's hands started to dance across the plains of his exposed tummy, deftly tracing each minute dip and curve of his abs out as they travelled up towards his chest. His black crop top was almost sheer, modestly showing off his well-defined chest, and the semi-translucent fabric folded elegantly under his fingertips. Ajax subconsciously found his own fingers slyly detouring towards the two lonely perks on his chest, aching for attention this entire time. Palms cradled under his rounded pecs, his thumbs lightly circled around his nipples. Even the slightest pressure was enough to harden the buds and turn them pink, and Ajax moaned lewdly as he barely grazed his fingernails over both nipples. He always knew how sensitive his chest was, so he could not resist playing with it. It certainly helped to add to the excitement of the show after all. Ajax smugly eyed the captivated expression on Zhongli's face, undoubtedly aroused.

Ajax glided his hands back down towards his abdomen, running his fingers through the loose silk ribbons that framed his belly button. He finally slipped his hands underneath his crop top, stretching his body out to emphasise the cute bob of his chest as he pulled the top of his outfit over his head and tossed it to the side. Next, he moved south, where his half-hard cock was still hanging outside of his black-laced lingerie. The garter belt on his left leg hugged tightly around his thigh, giving it an enticing bulge. He aptly removed it by unbuckling the strap and letting it drop resoundingly on the floor, a visible mark left behind on his otherwise unblemished skin. Ajax shot a teasing wink at Zhongli before twirling around on his toes, his back now facing him. With a perk and wiggle of his butt, he slowly peeled off the last piece of his costume. As he gradually pushed the dainty piece of underwear down to his ankles, he intentionally bent his flexible body all the way over so that the only assets Zhongli was able to see from where he sat were his toned legs and naked behind. The thin glossy layer of sweat on his skin made the pliant flesh seem all the more tempting, bouncing in a titillating fashion as Ajax stepped out of his underwear and garter belt. The rest of his outfit was discarded to the side.

When Ajax finally turned back around, he was directly met with an entranced gaze, accompanied by an even more enamoured smile on Zhongli's lips. Ajax's heart squeezed tightly in his chest.

"Gorgeous," it was Zhongli's turn to shower praise onto the other, and that singular word dripped with an indescribable amount of fondness that sent blood rushing to Ajax's cheeks. A shy cough and glance to the side were the only signs of softness he showed before his charm returned in full stride.

Ajax smirked nonchalantly, "I know."

Both fully undressed now, Ajax went over to the bedside table again and reached into the bottom drawer this time. He looked back at Zhongli.

"Tell me, Zhongli, what's your favourite toy?" 

Zhongli suddenly felt very exposed, clarity slowly returning to him. When Ajax said that they would do it next time, he did not think that next time meant right after.

"Uh," he shifted slightly. 

"Don't be shy now. Which is it?" 

Zhongli closed his eyes, not wanting to meet Ajax's searing gaze as he answered, "The orange one with ridges. It has a slight curve at the end and gold flakes in it." 

Ajax looked back at the drawer, slightly overwhelmed by the heaping pile of sex toys that filled it to the brim. It was hard to tell the colours apart in the dark. 

"This one?" He tentatively held out a dildo he saw earlier that held a vague curve and was pointed at the end. 

"No, that's a tentacle. It was a poor purchase in hindsight, the sharp end made me bleed. I couldn't sit normally for a week." 

"Oh. Um, you should be more careful with what you insert into your asshole, Xiansheng," Ajax hastily dropped it back into the drawer. A particularly sparkly one flashed at him and he picked it up. This must be the one. He looked over to the man kneeling before him, and the excited glint in Zhongli's glazed-over eyes all but confirmed it. He brought the dildo closer to examine its shape. It had bumps and ridges all over it, possibly to give it the extra texture and friction to bring its user to their high. It had a fat bulbous tip that Ajax was sure would make sticking it into someone's hole all the more easier. There was a subtle curve in the length closer towards the base so that the tip could reach even deeper inside. The silicone dildo was translucent and was dusted with gold flakes on the inside, the glittery pizzaz making it look fancier. 

Joining Zhongli on the floor, Ajax leaned forward and set the dildo in between them on the ground, slightly closer to Zhongli.

"Show me how you would pleasure yourself with it," Ajax sat back against the bed, eyes glued intently, "No lube this time."

Zhongli more than gladly obeyed. Getting up on his still-shaky knees, he shuffled his way towards the dildo that stood erect, its bulbous tip teasing. He instinctually wanted to use his hands to balance himself to obviously no avail, the knot around his wrists tugging insistently against his skin. The lack of mobility in his hands certainly proved to be challenging, but that made things all the more thrilling. Besides, Zhongli was more experienced with bondage than Ajax probably realised.

Zhongli drank in the sight of the orange and gold shaft. The number of nights this precious toy had pleasured him in all the right ways was too many to even recall, especially when his mind was always too fucked-out and preoccupied with thrusting his pliant hole against its length. Now that he thought about it, Zhongli had not fucked himself on his toys in such a long time, even before Ajax entered the picture. He would be lying if he credited it to better self-control. He was still regularly visiting Celestia every week to ride off the high of being tied up, manhandled and mistreated like a doll. Maybe it was also the growing pile of work that kept him up all night instead of sex. Still, even if he had continued with these activities, Ajax's newfound presence in his home would have definitely made him stop out of basic courtesy and consideration. No one would want to hear the muffled sounds of their housemate's moans echoing throughout the house.

However, that was an exception. Ajax did, in fact, yearn to listen to those beautiful noises that Zhongli produced from that pretty mouth of his. Pretty. That simple word of praise from Ajax dug itself deep into Zhongli's mind, replaying over and over until his heart thumped out of his chest. This is very bad.

His hips swayed a little as he moved across the floor, coming to a rest right where he knew his hole would be hovering directly above the silicone head without touching it. This was a familiar dance that he always did in private ever since his last breakup. Now, there was an audience of one watching. The two were closer than before yet too far apart for either of their liking, but the air between them was palpable and pulsing. Zhongli stared forward and made eye contact with Ajax. The latter gulped.

Thighs shamelessly parted wide for Ajax to get a perfect view of his crotch, Zhongli lowered himself, chest popped out a little to maintain balance. He could feel the head of the dildo grazing his sensitive entrance by a hair's breadth. His rim quivered uncontrollably, craving for even the slightest touch. Stilling himself, Zhongli pressed down, releasing a soft drawn-out moan as he felt his loose rim part invitingly around the intrusion. Oh, how he missed this feeling. The coolness of the silicone and the way just the cockhead fitted so snugly inside him always drove him mad. The moan dragging out from his lips grew louder and whinier. His walls were still so slick and well-stretched from Ajax's cock, they sloppily hugged around the length, the sensation of every little bump in that familiar shape intensified tenfold. It was as if his hole was enthusiastically welcoming it home.

Ajax's eyes instantly locked onto the main centerpiece. The top of the massive dildo had been swiftly and lovingly devoured by Zhongli's ass, and his cute rim was busy sucking itself up against its girth. As Zhongli continued to sink down inch by inch, the squelch from the penetration echoed loudly, and Ajax carefully studied every little detail of the scene before him. Zhongli's rim moulded itself absolutely perfectly around the protruding ridges, expanding and contracting in a mesmerising motion. Zhongli's weeping cock simultaneously bounced in tandem whenever the slide became a little easier. Combined with Zhongli's lengthy moan that had devolved into sounding even more needy and desperate, Ajax felt himself grow hard again.

When Ajax looked back up, he realised that Zhongli was still looking forward, tongue lolled out lazily against his parted lips as his half-lidded eyes stayed trained on the spot where his own eyes would have been. Those honey-dipped pupils were nearly rolled back in bliss, but he could tell that Zhongli was intently watching his reaction.

"You're taking it in so well," Ajax finally said dirtily, "Like you're enjoying it better than my cock."

Zhongli could not even bring himself to disagree. There was a good reason why this toy was his favourite after all. He moaned sweetly in response, clenching down harder.

The growing thickness of the dildo did not seem to have any effect on the controlled pace of Zhongli's descent, which unabashedly turned Ajax on a lot. At the point where the length started to curve, Zhongli's body deliciously curved along with it, skillfully accommodating the toy he swallowed in deep. Zhongli knew how far in it was without even having to look down. He could already feel the plump tip nearing the spot that made him see stars. 

The moment his body fully seized and sat down, Zhongli doubled over, his walls squeezing on for dear life. The moan that erupted was heavenly, becoming erratic as the dildo head tenderly kissed his prostate. Ajax was already ready to brace Zhongli if he ever toppled over, but Zhongli quickly recovered, soaking in the feeling of being filled up so well again. His sigh was content, shortly followed by yet another mewl as the toy inside him jostled at the slightest movement, the smallest extra pressure on that sensitive spot making his toes curl.

"So good," Zhongli managed to choke out, panting. Ajax could see the beading sweat on his forehead as Zhongli threw his head back. "It's been so long since I used this."

"Yet your hole ate it up like it was nothing," Ajax teased. Hearing such vulgar words about his greedy hole made Zhongli uncontrollably moan once more, head clouded with arousal. Ajax could still see the huge base of the dildo peeking out from between Zhongli's asscheeks, pink rim stretched impossibly wide to hold it in.

At this point, Ajax's cock was painfully erect and practically begging for release. The sight of Zhongli pleasuring himself with the dildo was irresistible, and his parted lips looked like a delicate rosebud. He wanted to ravish Zhongli, to ruin his beautiful lips and claim ownership of his body.

He gazed down his nose bridge at the man below, his eyes dark with lust.

"Would you let me?" he crooned, his slender fingers silkily caressing Zhongli's quivering jaw. 

Zhongli's half-lidded eyes slowly drew away from his gaze to contemplate Ajax's large member. It truly was a sight to behold, with just the right amount of girth and a gentle curve at the tip. A prominent vein trailed from the base and faded near the tip. 

Despite his experience, taking all of Ajax's cock might pose a challenge. However, it was a challenge he was ready to accept. He felt his pulse quicken with excitement as he imagined being thoroughly face fucked by this gorgeous man. 

"Of course," he could barely hear himself over the loud thrumming of his heartbeat in his ears. 

His asshole straining to contain the dildo, he inched forward on his knees, each small vibration causing the bulbous tip of the sex toy to rub delectably against his prostate, sending shocks of electricity up his lower abdomen and down his legs. He gasped as he lost balance, tipping forward. Ajax quickly shot a hand out to steady Zhongli and his firm grip remained on Zhongli's shoulders. Concern passed quickly over his features, replaced by a charming smile like an afterthought. 

"Well, someone's eager," he commented playfully.  

Zhongli recovered and smiled, kissing the blushing head of his cock. "Can you really blame me?" 

Ajax's self-assured aura flickered for a moment as his cheeks grew red. Zhongli swiped his tongue over his lips, hastily moistening them as he took advantage of Ajax's surprise to take him whole, earning a surprised hiss from the younger man. He slowly eased Ajax into his mouth, unhinging his jaw as far as he could go to accommodate his girth. Every breathy sigh he elicited from Ajax felt like a reward which further pushed Zhongli forward inch by inch.

Zhongli's mouth wrapped around his cock like a well-fitted glove, so hot that it was on the verge of searing him. He felt every groove on the upside of Zhongli's tongue run against his member, his teeth gently grazing him as Zhongli obediently took him in. 

"Fuck, that feels good," Ajax moaned, raking his fingers along Zhongli's scalp. However, he was going so agonisingly slow. 

Decidedly getting impatient with the purposeful and measured pace Zhongli was taking him in, he wrapped his hands squarely around Zhongli's jaw and forced his cock deeper into his slick and warm maw, earning a muffled cry of surprise. Zhongli was nearly at his limit and he frantically balled his hands into fists to suppress the urge to cough, tears pricking the sides of his eyes. Ajax's size was almost disorienting and his vision began to swim.

"Open wider for me, won't you Xiansheng?" he panted harshly, looking down at Zhongli who was already taking him so well. 

Zhongli could only give a muffled hum in response with his eyes glistening in the pale light. He slowly relaxed his jaw and flattened his tongue, pulling Ajax in further until he could feel the tip hit the back of his throat. 

Ajax let out a long groan as he slowly began to pull out and slide back in at a languid pace, each time going deeper than the last. Zhongli's cock throbbed and ached with the lack of attention, its head drooling precum over the floor, but his bound hands were unable to come to its aid. The dildo grazed his prostate, tantalisingly close but not firm enough. It was not enough. Zhongli moaned impatiently, vainly rutting his ass against the dildo to get some sort of friction. He strained against his wrist bindings. Ajax noticed this, chuckling softly mid-thrust. 

"You're impatient." 

Ajax grabbed Zhongli's shoulders and roughly spread his knees apart with his feet, pushing him closer to the ground. The dildo was forced further into him, chafing mercilessly against his sensitive bundle of nerves. A sudden wave of pleasure seized him, ripping a strangled cry from his throat as his eyes rolled into his skull. Ajax took it as an opportunity to thrust into his mouth, silencing him. 

"That's what I like to see," he grunted. 

Zhongli rolled his hips in tandem with Ajax's thrusts, moaning around his cock. The dildo kneaded and grinded incessantly against his prostate, pushing him closer and closer to the edge. He felt so full, his rim stretched thin as it strained and quivered to accommodate the toy, strings of drool dribbling down his chin. It was impossible to swallow with Ajax's large dick shoved in his mouth. 

"If only you could see yourself, Zhongli," Ajax's hand trailed over to cup Zhongli's chin, thumb softly sweeping across his hollowed cheek. That little gesture of gentleness was short-lived, as his fingers then suddenly pressed harder against Zhongli's throbbing face and a dark smirk spread across his lips, "You're such a fucking mess. I wonder what your associates would think if they found out their director likes getting his holes abused." 

The sentence was punctuated by a slam of Ajax's dick back into Zhongli's waiting mouth, punching out a choked groan that reverberated throughout the room. The sheer force of it nearly knocked Zhongli backwards. His back gracefully bent against the ropes that dug into his burning skin, and his ample asscheeks cushioned his body's weight against the floor. His pulsing prostrate screamed in ecstasy as the silicone cockhead buried deep inside him rubbed it raw over and over again, while his own pleasured cries were muffled by the other cockhead that buried itself deep in his throat.

Ajax's bruising grip tightened around his jaw as Zhongli could feel him reaching his climax, his thrusts becoming more desperate and erratic. Ajax lolled his head back and let a long moan of bliss roll from his lips as his cock slammed the back of Zhongli's throat again and again at an unrelenting pace. He was close, the accumulating heat in his gut on the brink of bursting. He looked down to see Zhongli's head slightly tilted at an angle to best take in as much of his cock as he could. His lips were rounded out nicely, rosy and glossy as they seductively massaged around his throbbing length.

"Will you swallow it?" Ajax managed huskily, just barely holding on to his self-restraint to release his hot seed down Zhongli's throat. Zhongli pressed his tongue against Ajax's cock in reassurance.

 With a final powerful thrust which almost threatened to dislocate Zhongli's jaw, Ajax groaned and his grip on Zhongli's head tightened. His dick twitched as warmth filled Zhongli's mouth, semen trickling out of Ajax's tip in heavy spurts. Zhongli lifted his eyes to meet Ajax's half-lidded ones, making meaningful eye contact as his tongue moved along the side of Ajax's cock, licking its entire length clean and swallowing Ajax's load in two big gulps. As Zhongli moved his hips along the length of the dildo slowly, Ajax continued to move his hips in tandem with Zhongli's, with his tip consistently hitting the back of Zhongli's throat. A drawn-out whine escaped Zhongli's lips, vibrating around Ajax's dick. Zhongli's eyes rolled back as he felt the familiar coil of pleasure in his belly snap, then sank himself down on the dildo fully as his own cock released his load, coming up in gentle spurts and leaving white trails across the wooden floor panels.

Slowly, Ajax pulled his cock out from Zhongli's mouth and watched as a thin string connecting his dick with Zhongli's tongue stretched before snapping. Zhongli let out a soft sigh in contentment and bliss, but he had spoken too soon. Ajax had not deemed the night to be over yet — the younger man lifted Zhongli up with relative ease, with one arm wrapped underneath his armpits and the other snaked around his waist. Without warning, he slammed Zhongli back down on the bed again, and Zhongli watched him with surprised and widened eyes.

"Ajax, what are you—"

Ajax's hands travelled to his waist as he flipped them around and Zhongli was pressed against his chest. The same hands moved up to his shoulders as Ajax gently pushed Zhongli up to sit straight, then reached a hand behind Zhongli's rear. His thumb and index finger reached over to the base of the toy, his fingertips grazing his hole ever so slightly as he pulled the toy out smoothly in one go. Without having anything stuffing him full, Zhongli groaned as his rim clenched around nothing.

"Ajax…" Zhongli whined, feeling his dick slowly spring back to life. His blood rushed through his body, straight to his spent cock which was still weeping from its reddened tip. While it felt good, there was a sharp burn to it as well, the effects of overstimulation coursing in his dick.

Ajax whistled, holding up the well-used dildo for both of them to see. The entirety of its shaft glistened under the moonlight, thoroughly drenched by Zhongli's wet hole. The sight of it made Zhongli's insides squeeze again in earnest, its unforgettable shape etched into his aching walls.

"You put on such a show earlier with this," Ajax grinned as he waved the dildo in front of the man's eyes before tossing it aside carelessly. A gentle thud could be heard, the toy rolling across the floor. There was a devilish glint in his eye as he cocked his head sideways, "Why don't you give me an encore performance?"

Zhongli's eyebrows furrowed as he shook his head dejectedly, "Ajax, I'm all fucked out—"

Ajax reached out to hold Zhongli's hips gently, rubbing his thumb across his hip bones, smiling softly as he said, "Let me prove you wrong."

Ajax moved one of his hands to grab a new condom, using his teeth to tear it open before rolling it over his dick. He then held his cock and positioned it right at Zhongli's hole. With Ajax's other hand resting on his hip and a reassuring smile from the younger man, Zhongli sucked in a shaky breath before lowering himself. Zhongli choked back on a soft gasp as he took Ajax's length in him slowly, still surprised by the burn of the stretch that he was feeling.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Ajax grinned toothily.

Zhongli could only muster a strained smile. Slowly, he lifted himself off Ajax's lap, then sunk back down agonisingly slow, as if he was taking his time to relish the sensation of Ajax's length pumping in and out of him. Tears pricked the corner of his eyes as his cheeks flushed pink, short gasps leaving his lips in puffs. Ajax could only watch on with loving eyes, hands reaching over to hold Zhongli's hips, subconsciously guiding his movements, like a seasoned dancer leading his partner through a waltz in a ballroom.

The erotic sight of Zhongli bouncing on his cock while soaking in the radiant moonlight was all too mesmerising for Ajax, "You look so pretty like this, Zhongli."

Zhongli held Ajax's gaze through half-lidded eyes as Ajax continued, "I could watch you perform like this all night."

Zhongli managed to chuckle, "Could you now?"

Ajax nodded, smirking,  "And I would pay extra for it, too."

Zhongli's flush only seemed to darken at this and Ajax took this as an opportunity to grip his waist, grinning playfully, "Do you need help?"

"Are you offering assistance of your own?" Zhongli managed between heaves and gasps. Truth to be told, there was a burning sensation of fatigue starting to build in his thighs. A little extra help would be good, he thought, the reason being it would help them reach their highs a little quicker.

"Yes, I am," Ajax said, "Does the great director Zhongli never accept help from others?"

"Well, if it's from you, I would," Zhongli replied, and despite the mischievous curl of his lips, Ajax could tell that he meant it.

"It would be my pleasure," was Ajax's only warning before he lifted Zhongli up slightly and slammed him back down again, a surprised gasp leaving Zhongli's lips. A crease appeared between Ajax's brows as he tightened his grip on Zhongli's waist, his hold almost bruising. With rather relative ease, he bobbed Zhongli up and down his length in precise, sharp movements and breakneck speed, damn near splitting Zhongli open, if that was even possible. It was as though it was backed by some sort of desperation, but through his haze-addled brain, Zhongli could not pinpoint the exact reason until Ajax opened his mouth to speak again.

"Are you close?" Zhongli cracked his eyes open and stared at Ajax through the tears that clouded his vision. Ajax was looking at him with such rounded eyes and fondness, waiting for his answer.

Zhongli let out a hum, his vocal cords too sore to make any other sounds, his mouth too tired to form a coherent sentence. Ajax's eyes brightened as he grinned, "Glad to know I'm doing such a good job at fucking you thoroughly."

Another shameless moan escaped Zhongli as Ajax continued to manhandle him and bounce him on his pelvis. Through the groans that left him, Zhongli managed to find his bearings and speak, "Ajax, let me."

Ajax raised his brows in confusion as he felt Zhongli move on his own accord, as if Ajax's actions and words had given his legs the strength to start moving again. Keeping Ajax's original tempo, Zhongli moved along Ajax on his own, head thrown back with his mouth parted in a silent gasp. Ajax's hands remained clasped around Zhongli's moving hips, grounding him down in that dream-like trance.

"You're too good for me," Ajax murmured, his mouth parted as he drank in the sight of Zhongli getting lost in the sensation of his cock, completely mesmerised by him.

With the combined orchestration of skin slapping against skin and heavy groans and pants in the air, the waltz seemed to be approaching its climax.

"Ajax," Zhongli craned his neck to look down at Ajax, perspiration beading on his forehead, "I… I think I'm—"

"Close?"

Zhongli nodded and Ajax spoke.

"Me too." There was another pause before he wheezed through gritted teeth, "Together?" 

Zhongli's heart squeezed in adoration. Ajax was simply too adorable for his own good.

The small but grounding smile on Zhongli's face said everything that Ajax wanted to know. The pair said nothing else but let the symphony of squelching and moans speak for themselves, the air thick with sex-laced tension. As the music sped on in a whirring frenzy, Zhongli repeated Ajax's name like a mantra. And as though the waltz reached its end, Zhongli arched his back in a graceful manner that resembled a ballerina, thin jets of cum spurting out seemingly in tandem with his body movements, landing on Ajax's bare torso in gentle drips. The sensation was overwhelming to Ajax — a little emotional, even — and it tipped him over the edge, his high following Zhongli's shortly after, emptying his load into a condom for the second time that night. 

The two shared a comfortable silence as they paused to catch their breaths. Ajax slowly lifted Zhongli off his lap. He reached a hand out to cup Zhongli's face, pushing a few sweaty strands of locks out of his eyes, then reached behind Zhongli to undo the knot of the rope that had been keeping his arms behind his back, then moved to untie the scarlet ropes that strung across his body like he was a wrapped-up gift. He struggled with it at first, his brows furrowed in concentration as he attempted to loosen the tight knots, but succeeded in doing so and letting the ropes fall off Zhongli's body.

"I can't believe you tie these every Friday," Ajax murmured as he laid Zhongli down beside him, tossing the ropes aside.

Zhongli smiled, "I believe I told you that it is an art form."

Ajax laughed, holding both palms up in surrender, "Got me."

He grabbed a tissue to wipe himself clean of Zhongli's cum from earlier, then climbed into the bed with Zhongli, opting to just lie side by side under the still moonlight. There was always something intimate about the darkness and sharing it with someone else. It was like the entire world fell quiet and each sound or word, like the faint rustling of the sheets or a soft sigh, was amplified tenfold. Zhongli remained silent, listening to the hush sounds of Ajax's breathing that reminded him of tranquil waves caressing a shoreline. As peaceful as it was, Zhongli could not shake off the feeling that he had done something wrong. 

"Zhongli," Ajax lay on his side, running a hand down Zhongli's back. 

"Yes?" 

The excitement from earlier was fading, and the haze that clouded his vision had finally lifted. Oh gods, what had he done? He had gotten so caught up in the rush of sex that he forgot something very important.

"I want to see your face," Ajax murmured softly, rubbing his thumb over the nape of Zhongli's neck. 

Zhongli slowly rolled over to face him. 

Troubled eyes met a soft, adoring gaze and his heart faltered. Several emotions crashed into him at once. At that very moment when he met Ajax's eyes he felt such a strong desire to lovingly cup his cheek and lull him into a kiss that he had to clench his jaw to ground himself. He knew that no one else would make him feel the same way. Not even Baizhu. This was more than just simple yearning; it was bordering on devotion. It would not have been a stretch to say that Ajax had slowly become the centre of his life, always occupying a space at the back of his mind. 

Surprise soon took over when he realised that the starry-eyed look on Ajax's face probably mirrored his own. They were two fools who were hopelessly in love with each other.

And then reality hit him like a freight train. It's going to hurt to let you go. He could not possibly have thought that he could actually maintain an actual relationship, did he? Those fortnightly encounters with his BDSM dom were merely transactional and a far cry from any normal loving kind. Zhongli knew full well that dating was not merely a semi-frequent meeting you can schedule like those in his corporate environment, but the hulking commitment of his work obstructed everything else in his life.That was the contract he signed when he began his life as a director. No space for romance, no space for anything besides work. Was that not what he was content with in the past? He was too far into his career to back out now.

Zhongli wanted to smack himself. He had literally just been dicked within an inch of his life by his housemate and instead of feeling any bit closer to Ajax, he only felt dread. This was the very situation he was trying hard to avoid. He should have rejected Ajax's advances. He should not have said "yes" when Ajax asked if he could enter his room. Heck, he should not have even agreed to go to Angel's Share. It was insane how just one night was enough to undo their carefully crafted relationship.

He felt himself wither under the weight of Ajax's hopeful round eyes. This was a mistake, Ajax. I can't give you what you want. The cryptic message the mysterious woman left him at the club suddenly made sense. I can't afford you.

And then Ajax opened his mouth and said the three words Zhongli dreaded most to hear, sealing their fate.

"I like you."

"Oh." That complicated things immensely. 

Ajax still had a guileless smile on his face, and before Zhongli could react, he leaned in and gave him a peck on the lips. Zhongli blinked in surprise, conflicted. The kiss was innocent and sweet, but branded its mark on Zhongli nonetheless.

"Ajax…" It felt like an invisible gag had been taped over his mouth. He could not bring himself to stop Ajax. A part of him did not want this illusion to end.

"Good night, Zhongli," Ajax yawned, before snuggling into the crook of Zhongli's neck. 

Zhongli sighed and looked over Ajax's head of hair. His hand hovered over Ajax's shoulder, wondering if he should bring him close, Don't do it, you've already done enough damage. 

Never mind that, he wrapped an arm around Ajax, earning a blissful sigh from the other. In the liminal space between morning and night, friends and a couple, Zhongli wanted to remain there just for a little while longer. He knew it was selfish, but the flesh was weak. He had yearned to hold Ajax like that for a long time. If this was going to be the last time he got to do this, he was going to sear every inch of it into his memory. The memory of this would be enough to tide him over for the rest of his life. When the morning came, this would be all but a distant dream. Zhongli would go back to his work and life would go on. The world would not stop for them, there would still be endless work to do.

Zhongli buried his nose into Ajax's hair, breathing in the familiar light scent of powder and fresh laundry, now with a tangy undercurrent of sweat from all the exertion earlier. He would steal one last luxury to hold Ajax for a while longer before the horrible sledgehammer of reality shattered this precious mirage.  

---

As dawn broke and the early morning sunlight streamed in through the window, Zhongli roused from his sleep, blinking blearily. He turned to his side and was met with the sleeping face of none other than his housemate: Ajax's face was at ease and the gentle glow of the sunlight framed his countenance in an innocuous way in a warm halo.

Zhongli's stomach twisted at the fact that this would be his first and last time being able to see Ajax bask in the daylight glow of the morning after. He would have to put some distance between them, persuade Ajax to look amongst the students at his university — he would definitely find himself a better and well-suited match. Zhongli was just a one-time fling that Ajax would have, a passing figure in his life. A bitter taste permeated Zhongli's mouth — Ajax had a few more years of wild youth to spend to find his happily ever after, and Zhongli was not his destined match.

Zhongli got out of bed slowly and the first thing that hit him was pain. An ache he could only describe as a specific pain solely caused by his muscles being completely destroyed paralysed him momentarily as he attempted to sit up. Damn, he cursed as he winced. Ajax really was not joking when he said he was going to be sore the next day. He may have regrettably underestimated the vigour of a university student. It had been a long time since he had such a wild night like that. 

Tenderly, he pushed himself up, each action agonisingly slow. He lowered one leg out of bed, then another and after some mental preparation, was able to bring himself to his feet. He stopped short in front of the full-length mirror propped up on the wall, amazed by Ajax's artwork of bites, hickeys, and scratches littered all over his body. He brought a hand to his cheek as he tentatively moved his lower jaw from side to side. Ouch. Ajax had left his mark on his face as well. Zhongli leaned in, fretting over his bruised lips and the obvious love bites on his neck. It was a good thing that not many colleagues were going into the office today, or he would have a lot of answering to do. He could already imagine Keqing's judgemental silence. 

Needless to say, Ajax really knew his way around the body. Well-loved, was how he would put it. 

And that made him feel so much worse. Zhongli gazed at the sleeping form of Ajax in the mirror. He sighed, running a hand through his dark hair as he shuffled out of the bedroom. He would have to break the news to Ajax somehow. On that sour note, he left to get dressed, the door closing shut behind him with a gentle click.

Ajax woke up a few hours later with a yawn, then reached over the bed, expecting to feel Zhongli's body lying next to him. However, what he grasped was not the soft skin of his housemate, but the made sheets of the bed. Ajax sat up and stared at the empty half of the bed, then clambered out of bed and walked around the house, his drowsy morning brain wondering where Zhongli had gone.

It's Saturday, where could Xiansheng be? He recalled Zhongli's regular Saturday routine, Right, he's out buying groceries. Then why didn't he wake me up? We could've gone together.

A single thought made his heart drop like a stone, Did he leave to avoid me? 

Was it just a one-night stand? Oh gods, I even confessed to him… Ajax ran a hand down his face, remembering how dopey he was the night before. He recalled faintly that Zhongli did not return the kiss but he wrote it off as him being caught by surprise. Hot, palpable shame swallowed him whole. He could not believe he threw himself at Zhongli like that, already imagining how awkward his housemate (his housemate) must have felt. He probably came in expecting a quick fuck and got much more than he bargained for. I must've looked like such an idiot and now he's uncomfortable.

Did he misread the signs? No, he asked Zhongli multiple times and he showed the green flag all the way. It was clear Zhongli liked him. Those yearning eyes he saw in Angel's Share held more than simple lust. So then why was Zhongli distancing himself now? 

Maybe he was overthinking things. Zhongli was a considerate man, he may not have wanted to wake Ajax. Ajax was a late riser, after all, and groceries had to be bought. Yeah, that had to be the only reason. The former was too painful to consider.

He retreated back into his room, a defeated look in his eyes. However, his brain pulled up the image of Zhongli looking at him with wide, round eyes that glimmered with ecstasy and fondness and that seemed to push aside the hurt he had felt a second ago. His heart fluttered and he felt like a high school girl from a shoujo manga who had just been confessed to by her long-time crush, Nah, Zhongli likes me. 

It was a beautiful morning. Ajax opened the window and leaned against the ledge, tilting his head back to fully bask in the warmth of the sun. His uncertainty quickly faded away into nothing more than a ridiculous thought. For once, he allowed himself to embrace his feelings towards Zhongli. Why did he freak out so much over his crush anyway? It was such a trivial thing to fret over in hindsight. Zhongli turned out to be just as freaky as him. Ajax laughed. Last night still felt so unreal, he easily could have mistaken it for a dream if not for the smell of Zhongli still on him. 

He sighed moonily as he looked out of the window at the street below, eagerly awaiting Zhongli's return. Little did he know, this feeling would only be as fleeting as the morning glow he had basked in while he was asleep that very dawn.

— BONUS: Venti's texts to Zhongli the morning after —

Venti I'm guessing you had a lot of fun last night 🤭

Venti A little birdie told me that you brought Childe back to your place

Venti Never expected an old man to have his rizz together lol

You What's 'rizz'?

You Also, Childe turned out to be my roommate, so we walked home together.

Venti OMG YOU'RE ROOMMATES???

#🐺🐺🐺.writing #writing #writeblr #tartali #tartali smut #tartali nsfw #tartaglia x zhongli #tartaglia x zhongli smut #tartaglia x zhongli nsfw #chilli #chilli smut #chilli nsfw #childe x zhongli #childe x zhongli smut #childe x zhongli nsfw #genshin impact #genshin impact smut #genshin impact nsfw

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

OH CELESTIA! | three (part one)

fic m.list | previous chapter | next chapter

wc: 10954

cw(s)/tw(s): coarse/foul/strong language used + contains depictions/mentions of alcohol usage + handjob + grinding + teasing

a/n: apologies for the long wait, we took like a week to finally complete this lmao, and we ended up with 21k words of content and decided to split this update up into two parts. also, this update concludes arc 1 so stay tuned for arc 2! as always, remember to say itadakimasu (let's eat) before reading and go chisou sama deshita (thank you for the meal) after reading!

As Ajax heard the door to Zhongli's room click shut, he let out a soft sigh before placing his palms on the sides of the sink, leaning forward and putting his body weight on his palms and hanging his head low as he replayed the events that transpired after the movie ended.

"If you would excuse me." Zhongli stood up from the couch and headed straight to the bathroom. Figures, he had finished showering and drank an entire cup of tea while watching a movie that was an hour and thirty minutes long without even visiting the bathroom once. Zhongli's bladder was definitely on the verge of bursting and the man needed to relieve himself, so that was totally understandable. Ajax headed to the kitchen with his mug and popcorn bowl (which Zhongli had left behind in a hurry before going to the bathroom) in hand, deciding to wash them.

As he approached the sink, he spotted Zhongli's empty mug sitting near it and was nowhere near close to the metal jug of hot water on the kitchen island.

So, he didn't refill his tea? Ajax stood still as his eyebrows furrowed, Is this tea brand not to Xiansheng's liking? He raised the soggy tea bags up with a pout and was about to toss them away when he heard strange sounds coming from the common bathroom.

Quietly, Ajax placed both mugs and the empty bowl into the sink and made his way to the bathroom.

Is he okay? he wondered as he approached the shut door. He raised his hand up to knock and ask if Zhongli was doing okay when he heard that sound again and froze mid-movement.

Only, it was not just any sound. It was a moan.

Ajax's eyes widened in realisation, Is he jerking off in the bathroom?

Soft gasps and groans left the bathroom, causing his cheeks to burn bright red. He had not expected to catch his roommate pleasuring himself in the bathroom. Zhongli was the epitome of poise and grace, there was no way this man would be reduced to a mere moaning mess in a bathroom. Then again, this was the same man who wore shibari ropes to work. Well, Zhongli was a rather wild card of his own.

Ajax opened his mouth to speak, "Hey Zhongli, you alright?"

There was a brief pause before Zhongli groaned, and all Ajax could do was take that as a 'yes'.

"Okay, I'll leave you to it. Just make sure not to make a mess!" Ajax wanted to slap himself. You idiot, what did you just say? You might as well have said, "Xiansheng, I heard you having a little fun in there all loud and clear!"

He hurried back to the kitchen and tugged the sleeves of his hoodie up, turning to the unwashed dishes to distract him. He turned the faucet on, letting the water run before picking a mug up to rinse it. He was halfway done with the dishes when he heard the bathroom door click open followed by the sound of footsteps, then the sound of Zhongli's bedroom door opening and closing shut.

Which now brought Ajax to the present as he stood over the sink, trying to collect his thoughts.

Was he masturbating to the horror movie? Ajax thought before shuddering, recalling a particularly disturbing jumpscare from the movie. He was not one to judge, but what was so sexy about an emaciated corpse-like ghoul that turned Zhongli on? If anything, it should make his hard-on go flaccid. The gingerhead shook his head, No, that's definitely not it.

His brain dug through the memory archives and went back to two days before, when he first met the innocent Qiqi and the very flashy (or fleshy, considering how he showed his navel off in that crop top) Baizhu.

"Being exes doesn't mean you have to automatically treat me like one of your co-workers."

The word 'exes' left a bitter taste in Ajax's mouth, and Zhongli's stone-cold face in his memories was not helping either.

Or was he jerking off to Baizhu? Ajax frowned as he picked the dishes up to leave them to dry on the overhead drying rack, Because he didn't move on from Baizhu? That very last thought deepened the frown on his face and heightened the pool of jealousy swirling in the pit of his stomach.

Ajax turned and made a beeline towards his room, closing the door shut behind him before falling face-first into his bed. With his face pressed against the covers, he let out a muffled groan.

So much for having a successful Valentine's date.

---

Despite the aftermath of their 'date', Ajax still attempted to keep things cool with Zhongli. Namely, to never ask what happened in the bathroom, or ask how badly he stank up the toilet that he had hoarded the toilet for some time. Nope, he needed to never breathe a word about his questions regarding the toilet incident. He made sure to keep their conversations natural, even when they did their usual routine of meeting under the dim glow of the streetlamp which stood just a few metres away from Angel's Share every Friday night.

On Zhongli's end, however, he could never view Ajax in the same way ever again. Truth to be told, everything had been snowballing ever since he dreamed of Ajax that one night, straddling him with a coy smile on his face. Every time he made eye contact with Ajax, he could only remember the alluring blue eyes that made him shiver in his dreams. Every time Ajax's fingers brushed against a sliver of his skin, he could wholly recall the ghost-like touch of the gingerhead's fingers rubbing his lips in his fantasies. Every time Ajax spoke, he could perfectly dream of him whispering his name so sweetly by his ear. And that would send Zhongli turning into a pink-cheeked mess. This would prompt Ajax to wiggle his eyebrows and tease the older, "Oho, am I really that charming, Xiansheng?" And to that, he would retort, "You simply enjoy making me feel embarrassed."

Watching Zhongli squirm while he was red-cheeked and flustered would send butterflies to Ajax's stomach. Would he react the same way if they were to date? A similar flush would appear on Ajax's own face as he turned away, his lips curling up into a giddy smile.

However, he would always remember that Zhongli's heart still held affection for his ex-lover and that even now, the memory of Baizhu was deeply-rooted in his heart. The butterflies would then promptly disintegrate into ashes and burn into nothingness, and his smile would melt into a frown afterwards.

Other than the (uncharacteristic but still cute) blushing, Zhongli had been acting rather skittish in Ajax's point of view: the man had been avoiding eye contact with him and giving minimal responses when talking to him. It was as if he was trying to put some physical and emotional distance between them.

Has he already found out that I like him? Ajax's brain went into overdrive as he recounted the events that transpired in the past few weeks. Everything had been going smoothly and not a peep regarding his feelings had ever been brought up. So why was Zhongli trying to distance himself from him?

Regardless of the reason, watching Zhongli react uncomfortably to him made his heart hurt and caused a dull ache in his chest. However, knowing Zhongli's standoff-ish character, Ajax chose to wait for Zhongli to be the one to tell him what was wrong rather than to go digging for answers himself and make things even more awkward between them. It would be a good way for them to mend their relationship.

If there was even anything to fix to begin with.

---

It was Friday, meaning it was the last weekday of the week and the day for Zhongli to relax and unwind at the usual BDSM place below the Third-Round Knockout. Ever since that fateful dinner with Ajax at the restaurant, he had been wondering if his roommate had any inkling of an idea as to what really laid behind the façade of the restaurant itself.

While Zhongli was reviewing some paperwork, his phone (which was placed face down on his desk) buzzed. He reached for it, thinking it was a text from his dom, only to see it was unfortunately not the case and frowned.

It was a text from Venti, an old friend from his college days. He was also the CEO of Barbatos' Finest, one of the biggest wine supply chains in the alcohol industry.

Venti Heya old man, wanna grab a drink with me and some company tonight?

You I have other prior engagements planned for tonight, so I'll have to decline.

Venti Oh come on! It's been a while since we had a drink together! How can you be so quick to say no? 😫

Zhongli nearly scoffed at the text. Back in the day, Venti was notorious for drinking. The man would go to parties every other night and go bar-hopping on every alternate day. It was not uncommon for him to get drunk on the night before final exams, and come staggering into the exam hall the next morning with a shameless smile while nursing a hangover. Zhongli remembered that he had been worried about his friend's liver and told him to cut back on the drinks, to which Venti had replied with a carefree grin, "You only live once! Live a little! And in my case, it's to drink the most I can!"

Well, seeing how he was still texting him (about drinking too, no less), it meant that Venti was still very much alive (and well and far from suffering from liver problems).

You I'd rather not get drunk on a Friday evening. I still have work to do on Saturday.

Venti Still a workaholic, huh?

The crease between Zhongli's eyebrows deepened. If someone were to call him a workaholic a couple of years ago, he would have simply brushed it off. Earning that title was inevitable for someone who was focused on their career (or maybe even too focused). However, after the sour end of his relationship with Baizhu, that same word had become taboo to him. It felt like a reminder of something he was lacking.

Venti Anyway, drink with me for old time's sake? 🥺

Zhongli sighed in reluctance. As much as he detested Venti's bad drinking habits, he was pretty decent company at the very least and even offered sound advice to Zhongli's problems at times. Begrudgingly, he typed a response to his friend.

You Tell me where you're planning to go and I'll make my decision.

Venti Angel's Share, of course! They have the best drinks and good shows, there's bound to be something that tickles your fancy!

Zhongli snorted and was about to type out a snarky response before his eyes zeroed in on the first two words.

Angel's Share.

Of course he knew that place: it was a club renowned for having a fantasy theme and required their VIPs to wear elaborate masks before entering. While it served good drinks on its menu, its main attraction was the cast of strippers who would dance on stage every night in equally fancy masks, skimpy attire, and heels with such height that Zhongli was certain they could potentially be used as daggers. Patrons would go there mainly for the strippers, and the alcohol was just a big plus (and for customers to gain the liquid courage they needed to stuff dollar bills past the straps of the strippers' costumes). The strippers were also open to having private sessions with patrons who paid enough, who would then be shown to a private room for such bookings.

Now that Zhongli thought about it, it was also the very establishment which he had seen Ajax walking out of about a month ago and would be hanging around every Friday night. He remembered that after that encounter, he had wondered what someone like Ajax was doing in the red-light district. Of course, he had nothing against Ajax sowing his wild oats and going out to party late at night in such a place nonetheless (as someone who frequented a BDSM club every week, who was he to judge?), but he had not pegged Ajax as the type to go clubbing in… very interesting attire, to say the very least.

Well, going to Angel's Share with Venti would satiate his curiosity and give an answer to his doubts as to Ajax's business in Celestia on Friday nights, to say the very least.

You Sure, let's drink for old time's sake.

---

Darkness had fallen and Celestia slowly came to life. Lurid neon lights in their jarring colours blinked on while clubs and bars opened their doors, bouncers and prostitutes emerging from the gloom to position themselves outside. The usual patrons began to fill the streets, drifting from one establishment to the next. 

Zhongli took the familiar path past Third-Round Knockout, down the main street, and crossed over a bridge that spanned the main canal that cut through the area before he finally reached the Angel's Share. Or rather, the throng of people crowded around the club. 

"Queue behind the railings, people! No entry if you're not in the queue," a grizzled bouncer who could pass off as a weightlifter was corralling the masses at the entrance, gesturing at the velvet rope queue barriers. 

Having only visited this place near closing hours, Zhongli was taken aback by the crowd. Was it usually this crowded on Fridays? He opted to hang behind, standing underneath the usual streetlamp where he and Ajax would meet. 

It felt a little odd to now be standing under the same streetlamp under different circumstances. He had never realised this before, but those streetlamp meetups were something personal between him and Ajax. Seeing someone else in his stead felt… wrong. 

Yet, Venti was nowhere to be seen. 

"Why am I surprised?" Zhongli murmured with a faint exasperated smile, recalling how Venti was never punctual even during their college days. 

The two bouncers managing the crowd moved within earshot and Zhongli could now hear the conversation they were having clearly.

"Who knew that newbie would bring in such a crowd? Fridays are always our busiest days now," the built bouncer muttered to his younger-looking counterpart. 

"Honestly, it makes sense. Childe has a way of attracting your gaze when he dances." 

"Is that why you're always distracted?" 

The younger-looking bouncer clicked his tongue, "I'm still doing my job, aren't I? Anyway, it doesn't hurt to appreciate the performers' skill once in a while." 

"He definitely has the skills, but I know that's not what you're appreciating," the older worker snorted, "Come on, I see the people in the front causing trouble." He gestured to his partner and they walked off. 

Perhaps Ajax was also another unwitting victim of Childe's charisma, drawn in by his siren call to visit Angel's Share on his performing nights. While Zhongli could not picture the seemingly innocent puppy-eyed Ajax falling on such vices, Ajax was a college student after all. People would do reckless things after having their first taste of freedom, and Zhongli was no exception: he went into everything head-first, thirsting for new experiences and thrills. 

However, Zhongli's feelings towards Ajax's fixation on this bar dancer were slightly more complicated than that. He could not deny it any longer. He had developed feelings for his roommate, solidified by his shameless jerkoff session after that movie night. He still cringed about it as he lay awake in bed on some nights. Ajax was probably none the wiser about this, but it was difficult to look your roommate in the eye with full knowledge that you ejaculated to him in a… compromising position.

He knew nothing would come out of this, and these feelings for Ajax were probably born out of the relief of finally having someone around to distract him from his existential fear of dying alone. He had been alone for some time after his separation from Baizhu, and while he was content by himself on most days, it was in the quiet moments when loneliness would rear its ugly head. While he thought he got all the satisfaction he needed from his work, there were some things that even corporate life could not satisfy. He had long grown used to the sterile impersonal relationships he had with his colleagues, but Ajax's sudden appearance in his life interrupted the cogs of his daily routine. How long had it been since he actually had a nice dinner with someone outside of work, and not having to mention anything about his projects? When was the last time he actually sat down to watch a movie? Since when did he enjoy long strolls and conversations seemingly talking about everything and nothing at once? In those few months, Ajax had simply reminded him what it was like to live a little outside work, and in return, Zhongli was prepared to give his… heart. Zhongli did not quite understand how or why he fell for Ajax. There were some things that eluded logic, and the emotional workings of the soul were one of them. 

He could not decipher if Ajax returned his feelings, but unrequited feelings aside, he had to remind himself that he was a working adult, and Ajax was still a college student. The age gap may not be drastic, but as the older adult of the two, Zhongli ought to know better. And so he was determined that nothing would come out of it. Besides, he reminded himself, my job leaves little time for anything or anyone else. 

"Oh, you're already here!" a chirpy voice dragged Zhongli out of his depressing whirlpool of thoughts. Zhongli snapped his gaze towards the origin of the voice and found himself looking at a surprisingly well-dressed Venti now bounding towards him, an arm outstretched in mid-wave. 

Zhongli blinked in surprise, taking in Venti's new appearance. Back when they were students, formal attire and Venti never went hand-in-hand. However, his cropped jacket, skate shorts, and sneakers had now been swapped out for a dark green suit and high-heeled shoes. He had his suit jacket draped carelessly over his shoulders, fastened together by a chain across his chest. The braided plaits that framed his face were now tied up into a ponytail with a ribbon, lending Venti a certain air of maturity despite his small stature. 

The arm sleeves flapped behind him like a pair of wings as he jogged over, his heels clicking resoundingly against the pavement.

"I see you haven't grown any taller—" Zhongli's playful remark was cut short as Venti tunnelled into Zhongli and enveloped him in a crushing hug.

"Long time no see, Zhongli!" Venti said with a bright grin, pressing his cheek against Zhongli's chest.

"Venti, I can't breathe," Zhongli wheezed under Venti's vice grip as his torso was being squeezed like a ketchup bottle.

"Oh, whoops, sorry, hehe," Venti slowly drew back, then eyed Zhongli with some caution, "What were you thinking about? You looked depressed." 

He was still as observant as ever. 

"It's—" — about jacking off to my roommate because I'm lonely — "…nothing," Zhongli finally settled with that. He would tell Venti when he was ready. Venti eyed him thoughtfully for a moment before deciding to drop it.

"Alright, let's make sure you forget all your troubles tonight. Angel's Share always lifts my spirits after a crappy day." 

"Sure, but the queue is impossible…" Zhongli's voice trailed off as he looked at the ever-growing line of people in dismay, already dreading how long they would have to stand outside to wait.

"Did you forget something?" Venti winked.

"Hm?" 

"You're talking to a sponsor of Angel's Share. Come on," Venti hooked his arm around Zhongli's and was practically already dragging him towards the front of the line. 

"Venti from Barbatos' Finest? Good to see you again. One of our bar girls will attend to you," the muscular bouncer nodded as he stepped aside. 

"How often do you come here, exactly?" Zhongli asked, bewildered. Venti laughed as they passed through the threshold of the club doors.

"Best you not know." 

Zhongli opened his mouth to respond, but his words died in his throat. The first thing that hit him was the cold blast of air and the heady haze of leather and woody perfume. The interior of Angel's Share was far richer and opulent than Zhongli expected of a regular strip club, making the reason why it was the most successful establishment in Celestia known. The floor beneath them was made of marble, with repeated patterns of dark diamonds against white. High-vaulted ceilings soared overhead and chandeliers of crystal glass glittered under the sultry red glow of the stage lights. Velvet tasselled sconces lined the walls leading up to an impressive theatre stage with a catwalk at the centre. Plush-cushioned chairs lay around the sides of the club, leaving a large empty area near the catwalk where presumably most of the action would happen. 

Just a little ways off from the stage was a bar, reminiscent of a speakeasy with dark heavy wooden shelves, the many bottles of liquid vice glowing under the warm light like magic potion vials. There was a red-haired bartender milling about behind the bar, washing and polishing glasses. He glanced up from the glass in his hand to take a look at the incoming customers and paused, his deadpan eyes darkening as he frowned. Zhongli subconsciously followed the bartender's glare to find him scowling at Venti.

"Why's he glaring at you?" Zhongli leaned down to whisper into Venti's ear. 

"It's nothing. We're practically friends at this point." 

"Doesn't look like it."

The two walked towards the bartender with their arms still interlinked and Venti only let go as he climbed onto a chair. Zhongli could only assume Venti was going to have a 'chat' with the bartender, only to piss him off.

"Brought a friend with you today?" The bartender finally spoke. 

"Yep, this guy here had a rough day," Venti slapped Zhongli's arm.

The bartender looked unimpressed. He turned his wine-red eyes towards Zhongli and said, "Manage your friend for me, will you? Make sure he goes home this time." 

"Hah! Don't you have bartender-y duties to do?" 

The bartender simply rolled his eyes and bent down behind the counter, seemingly to fetch something. 

A pleasant-looking bar girl with an impressive number of ear studs stepped forward to greet them and ushered them to a small alcove that provided a clear view of the stage. 

"Please, take these masks. It's customary for VIP patrons to wear them," she handed two half masks over. One of them had a jester-like charm while the other had dark latticework with gold accents. 

"Thank you very much. Go on, put it on," Venti urged Zhongli as he was already putting on the jester mask.  

Zhongli hesitantly followed suit. 

"Why do we need to wear them?" he asked, feeling a little stupid. He was too old to be playing pretend. 

"Well, you don't have to, but the dancers might give you preferential treatment if you're wearing it," Venti wriggled his eyebrows.

Zhongli pursed his lips in exasperation, feeling a little embarrassed by Venti's shamelessness.  

"Press the buzzer if you need assistance," the bargirl excused herself and left.

Zhongli removed his overcoat and draped it across the arm of the chair he was sitting on. Well, since he was going to be here for a while, he might as well make himself comfortable, right?

"Hello hello hello, good evening everyone. How's everybody feeling tonight? Whatever the case is, we've got some fine entertainment lined up for you that will guarantee a good time. Introducing our first lady of the night — this isn't her first rodeo, and she sure knows how to ride the pole. Everybody give a hand for Porsche—" 

The DJ's voice boomed over the speakers as he revved the music up to an eardrum-blasting volume. The beat pulsed through the floor and reverberated in Zhongli's chest. This was a far cry from the peace and quiet he preferred to unwind with. He sipped on his wine, feeling very out of his depth as he watched Venti guzzle down his third shot of whiskey neat. 

Venti turned to him and seemed to say something but his voice was drowned out by the electric sound. 

"You're going to have to speak up," Zhongli raised his voice. 

"Huh?" 

"Speak louder," Zhongli shouted. 

"Oh! Why do you look so surprised? This shouldn't be your first time at the Angel's Share," Venti leaned in, almost yelling into his ear.

"It is, actually." 

"Huh? But I always see you outside—" 

"—And now presenting our next dancer. He definitely needs no introduction, damn the whole of Celestia knows his name. The jewel of Angel's Share, Childe!"

Venti snapped his head towards the stage. 

"Ooh, he's good. You'll want to see this." Zhongli could feel Venti bouncing in his seat. 

"Really now," Zhongli murmured to himself. So this was who Ajax was seeing every Friday night. He felt a little silly when he found himself beginning to size up to this performer who was probably just doing his job as an entertainer, and a good job at that. The small prick of jealousy quickly dissipated as he saw the curtains part ever so slightly to reveal a pale, toned leg with a lace garter belt around its mid-thigh. The leg made a pawing motion at the ground, flexing and pointing. This was enough to send the crowd crazy: a chorus of hoots and whistles filled the air, and the atmosphere suddenly turned electric with excitement. 

An exposed hip followed, the contours of its delicate hip bone flashing under the stage lights. Zhongli found it impossible to tear his eyes away. Then an arm reached out from between the curtains, and it made a graceful turn of its wrist, its fingers twirling from an outstretched motion into a closed fist like an inviting gesture. At last, a face emerged. He wore a bejewelled mask that was as red as sin, his auburn curls against his pale skin looking strangely innocent in contrast to his revealing outfit. 

Zhongli stared. Childe sauntered down the catwalk towards the pole at the end, his hips swaying hypnotically. Maybe it was the alcohol, but Zhongli's brain began to superimpose Ajax's face on the dancer's. He could not help but draw parallels between the two. Perhaps it was his lovesick thoughts that were only being exacerbated by the drink. He should really stop drinking since he had a low tolerance to alcohol. 

The bouncer he overheard earlier was right. Childe was the centre of attention, and Zhongli's gaze was captivated by him like some sort of spell. There was something so familiar about the way Childe moved… he could not place a finger on it. It was definitely because of the alcohol. Zhongli shook his head, blinking hard as he hoped to clear his thoughts. 

Venti smirked. They were not long-time friends for nothing. Zhongli had a habit of holding back, and he knew when to egg him on. He had not seen Zhongli look that enraptured in a while. He nudged Zhongli playfully.

"Why don't you stick a few dollar bills in his lingerie?" 

Zhongli flinched, looking at him like he just told him to go onstage and start performing himself. 

"What? No, that would be improper—" 

Venti let out a hearty laugh, slamming his fifth shot glass on the table which caused whiskey to splash onto them both. 

"'Improper'? We're in Celestia, in a freaking strip club, for Celestia's sake. You need to loosen up, my friend. That's just what people do here," he paused, sensing Zhongli's hesitance, "You can slip him a hundred dollar bill, he'll probably appreciate it." 

He smiled at Zhongli's indecisiveness. He could see his friend still looking wistfully at Childe. He just needed that final push. 

"Go on, it's your first time here. Why not make it memorable, eh? When will you ever come back to this place again? Live a little before you go." 

Zhongli swallowed and found himself already standing up. What was he doing? It was the alcohol, he told himself. He slowly made his way to the catwalk, focusing harder than he would like to admit on placing one foot in front of the other. 

At that moment, he bumped into a tall woman dressed in a black low-cut bodycon and black strappy heels. She had cool-toned skin that seemed almost ghostly in the pulsing club lights. Pale magenta eyes peering out from behind a choppy wine-red fringe regarded him calmly, as though she could read Zhongli like an open book. Her hair was short and cut close to her nape with her side locks coming to shoulder level. The dark streak of cherry red in her front lock of hair was almost like a warning sign. The woman eyed him, then placed a manicured hand on his chest as a silent invitation. Zhongli gently nudged her hand away and shook his head, declining her politely and wordlessly. Zhongi returned his gaze to the stage, where Childe was still performing on the pole. The woman followed his gaze, tracing its target to Childe, then gave a knowing smile.

She leaned into his neck, bringing her lips close to his ear as she murmured, "Careful, he's expensive. Can you afford him?”

She pulled away and Zhongli turned his head to lock eyes with her. Her lips quirked upwards ever so slightly when she saw the visible confusion written over his face. Zhongli could tell that was a hidden intent behind her words. However, he was slightly too stoned to be able to fully decipher their meaning. As quickly as she appeared, the stripper stalked off, disappearing into the body of the large boozed-up crowd.

The crowd around Childe was the thickest, and Zhongli chose to hang back. He looked down at the bill he was clutching in his hand, then the straps wrapped around Childe's body. Maybe he should turn back. The excitement of clubs was never his thing. There was no way he was going to be able to be suave or brave enough to slip it into one of the straps on his costume.

Childe hooked a leg around the pole, arching his back as he slid down in a sensual manner. This riled up the crowd and people surged forward, pushing Zhongli towards the stage. He staggered forwards and found himself pushed to the very front of the stage. 

Now that he was closer to Childe, he could take in his features better under the flashing disco lights. Childe leaned back as he slid down the pole, his masked face illuminated under the blinding lights, bringing small details like the slight curve of his nose and his delicate cupid's bow into full clarity. Childe's eyes caught the light of a glancing spotlight: they were an unmistakable shade of blue. Those were the same eyes that haunted Zhongli ever since that dream, he recognised them anywhere. A final piece of the puzzle clicked into place in Zhongli's head. 

"Ajax?"

That distinctive smooth timbre sliced through the deafening club music like a sharp sword, pulling Ajax out of his routine. Zhongli? Am I hearing things? With one hand firmly grasped on the pole, he swung around to face the audience as his eyes scanned the sea of faces. Standing just mere centimetres from his heels, his roommate was staring at him in wide-eyed shock. Ajax's hold on the pole faltered and he almost face-planted onto the ground below (which would have been disastrous and probably have left a wake of patrons falling over like a row of dominoes).

A glaring white spotlight shone on Zhongli, casting an almost otherworldly halo around his face. He had donned a mask of gold detailing and black latticework that blended in seamlessly with his head of dark hair and auburn highlights. His hair was slightly mussed from all the excitement, a front lock of hair hung out of place, partially obscuring one eye. His usual overcoat was done away with, his top button popped open. Despite this supposedly casual appearance, Zhongli's rigid posture and frazzled expression was enough to tell Ajax that this was a man who was not in his element.  

However, the more important question was, what was he doing here? 

At the start of his routine, Ajax had spotted a familiar silhouette in one of the VIP booths but he wrote it off as a mere coincidence. He saw Zhongli in almost everything nowadays, hearing his voice in snatches of conversations when he was not around and seeing him in his peripheral vision. 

However, now that the figure was standing right before him, the person's identity was unmistakable now.

Oh, fuck. It's actually Xiansheng.

Everything around them seemed to fade into white noise, the music and the cheering becoming muted in this transient vacuum. At that moment, it was just the two of them in this little bubble frozen in time. Zhongli's unwavering gaze and his own, locked in an eternal stalemate, both unwilling to look away as the same realisation had come to both of them simultaneously. However, time was a rushing stream and it dissolved back into liquid, carrying away this moment with it. The loud roar of cheers punctured the vacuum space and Ajax was pulled back into the present.

It was then he remembered that he was still in Angel's Share, and not back at their shared apartment. He was a performer, and Zhongli was his audience. It was his job to entertain and he knew he could do it well. In this hypothetical scenario, Childe was flirting with a VIP client who paid good money for what he got. There were no strings attached, no background; just two strangers meeting in a club with their anonymity preserved behind masks. Finding newfound confidence in their current situation, he grinned and slid down the pole slowly, You know what? Screw it. I'll give you a show you'll never forget, Xiansheng.

He slinked off the pole, spreading his thighs as he went down which earned him a few more cheers from the crowd. As his feet touched the ground, he took a moment to take a breath before crawling over to the edge of the stage where Zhongli stood, transfixed. 

Maintain eye contact with your target, they'll be like a deer caught in the headlights. What you want is to draw them in. All your movements should be purposeful, slow, and deadly, Rosaria's advice whispered at the back of his head.

He held Zhongli's gaze as he approached, then eyed the hundred dollar bill the man held tightly between his slender fingers. He slid off the stage gracefully to get even closer to Zhongli, stalking him in an almost predatory manner. The crowd parted like the red sea as Childe glided through as if he was a god walking among mortals. And the said god's unreadable gaze was staring intently at Zhongli. In spite of himself, Zhongli stumbled backwards a few steps. He nervously glanced down as he felt his shoe hit something behind and found that he had backpedalled into a couch.

The sharp corners of Childe's red lips turned upwards in a suggestion of a smile. He unnervingly remained silent as he slowly encroached on Zhongli's space. 

"Ah," Zhongli managed as Childe gently eased him into the couch. 

Zhongli's eyes remained wide open (in sheer shock or excitement, Childe could not really tell) as his jaw slackened slightly. His posture remained stiff as Childe slowly nudged the man's legs apart and positioned one foot between them. Childe smiled softly at Zhongli's honest body language, Does he even know what he looks like right now? It was funny to see how a man who was usually so mindful of his countenance could be betrayed by his own mannerisms. 

Childe reached a hand out to cup Zhongli's face, his hands brushing against his cheeks only to feel the slight warmth on his fingertips. He leaned forward, his lips inches away from grazing Zhongli's ear.

"That's a big tip you got there," he teased. He could feel Zhongli flush under him as he shifted his legs, almost like he was trying to hide the growing bulge in his pants. 

With a deliberate and measured movement, Childe slid his hand down south. His hand traced the curve of his housemate's neck, shoulder, bicep, forearm, and finally, Zhongli's hand that was still holding onto the dollar bill. Zhongli's eyes fluttered closed, and Childe smirked at the sight of his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. 

He took Zhongli's hand and guided his trembling digits over his thighs to his waist. Boldly, he eased Zhongli's fingers under a strap just beneath his pec, securing the cash snugly to his bare skin. Childe stifled a hiss of delight as Zhongli's index finger lightly grazed the somewhat sheer fabric over his nipples, now swollen and straining under his costume. 

Zhongli tightened his jaw, willing away the immediate rush of downright inappropriate images from that dream that resurfaced in his mind. The electricity that sparked between his hands and Childe's body was so overwhelming that he had to pull his hands away, afraid that he might not be able to control himself. He did not want to make Ajax feel uncomfortable in any way. After all, meeting your housemate while doing your job as a stripper must have felt really awkward on Ajax's part. This situation felt too surreal to him. 

"Why so shy? I don't bite," Childe cooed and slowly lowered himself so that he was straddling Zhongli's lap. He placed his hands on Zhongli's shoulders and he moved his lower half sensually to the music, dragging his crotch lightly over Zhongli's own while his hands moved from the man's shoulders down his chest. His cloying smile only widened when he heard the usually composed man inhale sharply. Zhongli was enjoying this. 

Childe's brow quirked upwards upon feeling some unnatural bumps under Zhongli's dress shirt. Upon squinting and closer inspection (the lighting of the club was far too dark for Childe to be able to tell what the bumps were), Childe could make out something resembling a thin snake wrapping around Zhongli's body. Are those his… shibari ropes?

Meanwhile, Zhongli's hands hovered awkwardly just a few inches away from grazing Childe's bare skin. The warmth radiating from his hands was almost scalding to Childe, and his waist tingled from the ghost of his touch. With a patient grip, Childe placed his hands over Zhongli's and guided him to slowly run his hands over his thighs. Childe stifled a sigh of pleasure as he felt the faint callouses of Zhongli's palms graze his skin. 

He stood up and turned around, grinding Zhongli with his back facing him just to give Zhongli a good view of his ass. To be honest, this was Childe's first lap dance and he was playing it entirely by ear. He had observed other dancers offer up lap dances during the breaks between their performances for extra cash but Rosaria had yet to teach him how to do it. Childe rolled his hips in an undulating motion, arching and flexing his back like how he remembered seeing Rosaria do it. He must be doing a good job so far because the crowd went wild, wolf whistles screeching in the air along with loud cheers. Childe bounced on Zhongli's lap a few more times for good measure, enjoying the gasps he got from the man. He ended the routine with a smirk, easing his fingers off Zhongli's body slowly as he stood back straight carefully, then walked back onstage.

Zhongli was left flushed, dumbfounded, and dazed, staring at Childe like a teenage boy finding his sexual awakening for the first time. Did that really just happen? He quickly closed his mouth shut, swallowing saliva in an attempt to moisten his dry throat. How long had he had his mouth open? 

With shaky legs, Zhongli made his way back to his seat next to Venti. From a distance, he could see Venti pumping a fist in the air, half standing to greet his friend. His enthusiasm was infectious, and Zhongli chuckled as he eased into the seat next to Venti. Venti was practically shaking him down for details the moment he was within earshot.

"I can't believe you got a lap dance for free!" Venti exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear while shaking Zhongli's arm excitedly, then repeated at a louder volume so he could get his point across clearly as he punctuated certain words for dramatic effect, "For free! Childe never gives anyone a lap dance!" 

"Yeah, well," Zhongli could only laugh incredulously as he slowly processed what just happened to him, partially hiding his mouth behind the hand which held his now-refilled wine glass. His fingers still trembled as he tilted his head to throw back his drink, downing the entire glass. His brain was buzzing from the feeling of Ajax's hips rutting against his own, his Cheshire-like grin etched into his memory like he had placed a spell on him. Ajax's sensual dance had thrown his thoughts into a frenzy, That was Ajax dancing on stage, right? Ajax was seducing me?

His eyes flitted back to the ginger-headed stripper dancing onstage. Underneath the strobe lights, his body language emanated dazzling confidence and held an unexplainable charm. As if the stripper had sensed Zhongli's gaze on him, he turned his head to make direct eye contact with him and gave a grin, confirming all of Zhongli's suspicions that he had earlier.

"Childe of Angel's Share, everyone! They don't call him the scarlet rose for nothing! Get too close and you just might get pricked. But isn't that what you sadists are here for? Once again, a round of applause for Childe!" the DJ screamed over the speakers. 

That's Ajax all right, he shook his head as he bit back a smile, then pressed the buzzer located at the side of the table. The same bar girl from earlier approached and he spoke, "I would like another serving of wine, please. With a shot of vodka."

---

Zhongli checked his watch again. It was approaching the golden hour when he and Ajax would always wordlessly meet under that same streetlamp every Friday night, though it seemed that tonight’s meetup had already been pushed forward without warning.

It was clear that Ajax — or should he say, Childe — had been trying his best to hide this side of him from his roommate. Zhongli had always assumed that his housemate was a loyal patron who enjoyed watching these lavish performances every week. It had not even come across his mind that he was the one who did the performing. The glimpse of what he caught Ajax wearing during their first encounter should have been a dead giveaway, but as someone who often partook in games of dress-up during his weekly BDSM sessions, that familiarity ended up blindsiding him.

Ajax and Childe had always been two completely separate, unrelated individuals to Zhongli, so the whiplash he received when he joined them together still shook him to his core. It was not that he was appalled at the revelation of Ajax's sluttier alter ego. Far from it, actually. Zhongli was glad that Ajax found a place to truly express himself, and the results of that passion and his labour were breathtaking indeed. The meticulous way Childe's hips gyrated divinely to the music, his slender yet powerful legs that wrapped themselves around the stripper pole like a grapevine. And the rehearsed expressions of coyness and eventual hunger that stole people's hearts even with the mask on. It was all exhilarating to watch unfold.

Yet, the onstage performance did not hold a candle to the personal lap dance that he received. As much as he would like to relive the high of emotions that rushed through his brain during that moment, Zhongli forced himself not to dwell on it for too long. He already had to pardon himself to the restroom shortly after the end of Childe's performance, and Venti did not even try to hide his knowing smirk as he wished him off with a word of good luck. At least this time, he somehow managed to get his dick to calm down to a point where it did not form a visible tent in his pants.

Judging from the startled look that Childe gave him before the following incident unfolded, Ajax definitely knew it was Zhongli who was under that sorry excuse of a mask, especially after getting so up close and personal with him.

So why did Ajax give him that lap dance anyway? Not that Zhongli minded at all, but was it to tease him? Maybe to get some money out of him because he knew Zhongli was well-off? Or was it a subtle suggestion of something that didn't leave much to the imagination?

Childe never gives anyone a lap dance!

Venti's surprised cheer resurfaced in his mind. That's certainly odd, Zhongli pondered. Seeing how avid of a Childe fan he was, his friend was likely around for almost every single one of his shows. Though Zhongli was admittedly not well-versed in the stripper club scene, he would assume that lap dances were quite common as an easy tactic to earn some extra cash. He did recall the performer after Childe pulling off a similar lap dance on another unsuspecting victim as well.

Maybe Venti was sorely mistaken, and on those nights Childe gave someone else a lap dance he had conveniently passed out by then. However, the possibility of the last unsaid explanation being true continued to float around in his vacant head, and Zhongli felt himself blush hard.

His tired eyes fell down to his hands which laid palms facing out on his lap. Those fingers that had inserted the dollar bill into Childe's costume straps still tingled, numb at the tips from the fleeting touch of bare, slick skin. Zhongli genuinely wondered how much money got thrown Childe's way every Friday as the university student flaunted his body to the world. A prick of jealousy pierced through his heart, but he pushed the feeling down.

Zhongli lifted his head back up to look hesitantly at the main entrance of the club for the dozenth time. He could not even be sure that Ajax would show up at all after his cover got blown. That likely possibility made his heart sink, and he sighed heavily. Waiting around for a sliver of a chance to see him again was probably pointless.

A few more long minutes of deliberation passed by before he took one last slow swig of his wine. On a positive note, if there was one thing Zhongli would come back here for, it would definitely be the exquisite drinks.

"It's getting late. I should get going," Zhongli reached over to grab his long-forgotten overcoat from his chair. There was not really much reason to linger around here, and he highly doubted that his friend had plans to leave any time soon. Venti was still laughing his heart out, his fancy martini glass already emptied out together with the numerous shot glasses on the table. It was unclear what exactly he was finding so hilarious.

As Zhongli stood up to adjust the overcoat on his shoulders, Venti sluggishly slung his head back to face him, complexion completely red and intoxicated. His short ponytail had somehow gone undone during the commotion of the performances, and the long locks of two-toned braided hair swung in sync with his body.

"Aww, so soon?" Venti pouted, disappointed. His friend's eyes peered up at him like a lost beaten puppy, clearly trying to win him over with pity. It did not have the same effect when Zhongli had seen this trick countless times, and he never fell for it once.

When Zhongli only returned a blank stare, Venti simply resigned and giggled, shifting the mood on a dime as he sang drunkenly instead, “Friday night is the best time to drink all your sorrows away~ Without having to worry about work the next day~!”

"You say that as if you ever worked on a weekend," Zhongli retorted half-heartedly. In the daze of alcohol, he had nearly forgotten that he had work tomorrow. A hangover would not be ideal.

"I'm merely someone who values my work-life balance," Venti huffed before cracking up again, "Well, can't keep the old man from getting his good night's sleep."

"It was nice catching up with you," Zhongli smiled at his friend, who now had his head plopped down on the table from exhaustion, "You should sober up soon if you want to get home before morning."

"Don't worry about me! I can just sleep over here like I always do," Venti waved it off, still lying on the table. In the distance, Zhongli could sense the distant aura of a certain red-headed bartender shooting over a disapproving glare. He sincerely hoped that whoever owned the place was compensated fairly for having to deal with this drunkard.

With a final wave from Venti, who inexplicably already had a new sparkling glass in his hand, Zhongli left Angel's Share. On his way out, he once again spotted that same mysterious lady from earlier hanging near the entrance smoking a cigarette. Almost immediately, her cold eyes looked up to stare back at him. Her demeanour now seemed a little different, more nonchalant. Those eyes seemed to glance towards the main entrance for a second too long before they returned downcast, obscured by a puff of smoke.

The chilly fresh air outside provided Zhongli a long-needed respite from the muskiness of the club, and he let out a sigh that he did not know he had been holding. Even though such rowdy establishments had never been his sort of scene, it was still fun to indulge once in a while. Some remnants of alcohol lingered on his breath, but he should not have much trouble walking home.

Zhongli only took a few long strides before he came to a stop. He was standing right at the edge of the fabled streetlamp, the tips of his leather shoes barely kissing the faded circumference of the circle of light on the pavement. And there, in the corner of his eye, a head of vibrant orange emerged from the back alley next to the club, that lovely shade of orange that Zhongli longed to run his fingers through.

Instead of his usual covered getup, Ajax had resorted to wearing his hoodie around his waist paired with skinny jeans, and high heels swapped out for his regular sneakers, leaving the top of his stripper costume exposed to the public eye with no attempts to hide it anymore. His face was without the mask and scrubbed clean of makeup, his natural freckles in place of the glitter that once sparkled across his cheeks. His eyes squinted against the light from his phone, fixated and aimlessly scrolling through messages that were all left on read. It was only until Ajax sensed someone's presence beside him that he finally looked up, and his unsuspecting eyes squarely locked onto Zhongli's.

"Oh."

Ajax's body automatically stiffened as he accidentally let out a surprised gasp. He had stopped in his tracks right below the glaring streetlamp, which now shone down on him like a spotlight. The faintest of blushes dusted his cheeks as those pronounced amber eyes stayed focused on his sapphire ones, unyielding. The intense gaze made Ajax feel like he was being dissected and stripped layer by layer until all that remained was his beating heart, laid bare and vulnerable. It tightened in his chest.

The stripper stubbornly returned the attentive gaze onto him, trying to seek out any signs of revealing emotions that hid behind the molten gold. It was times like these when Ajax was constantly reminded of just how beautiful Zhongli's eyes were, an outstanding part of a larger, prettier picture. The expression that Zhongli wore was complicated. Feelings of both awe and uneasiness would come and go, accompanied with an undercurrent of fondness that Zhongli did not know what to do with. What was the most apparent, however, was the immense relief of being able to see Ajax again.

The two of them had once again fallen deep and were trapped in their own little world with only them in it, while everything else had fogged over and vanished. The streetlamp remained standing tall and indifferent at the side, like a lighthouse that guided the lost souls of Celestia to each other.

Zhongli broke first. His unsure gaze wandered up towards the top of the streetlamp. The bulb that hung above them buzzed lowly with white noise, calming his nerves down. He thought long and hard about how he should open, pursing his lips. He could not afford to mess this up.

"Lovely evening, huh," Zhongli finally greeted, a smile already playing on his lips as he brought his gaze back down to the person in front of him, "Childe."

That name reverberated in the heavy distinct tone of Zhongli's voice. The sound of it on his lips stirred a feeling within Ajax that he had been trying to shove down in the dressing room before he left the club. Before his heart could pop out of his chest, Ajax took in a deep breath and let out a sigh of defeat.

"I'm sorry, Zhongli. I should have been honest with you from the start," Ajax shoved his hands in between the tied-up hoodie and his body like they were pockets, not knowing what to do with them. He felt absolutely pathetic. This was the complete opposite of how he acted in the club just hours ago when confronting Zhongli, but that was Childe. He was Ajax now.

"It's alright," Zhongli replied more calmly than he expected, "In fact, I should be the one apologising if I had come off as someone who would have judged you for what you did."

"No! No, don't say that," Ajax’s eyes widened in panic. Zhongli had done nothing wrong at all, and seeing his roommate's confused expression pushed Ajax to try to clear this up as fast as possible. "I didn't think about telling you because—"

Because I like you too much and I don't want to make things between us more awkward than it already is.

Ajax of course did not say what immediately came to his mind, but he did not feel like lying either. Not anymore. Zhongli continued to look on expectantly as Ajax scrambled to find some other roundabout way to explain his predicament.

"Because… it's because, well, I guess your opinion matters a lot to me. More than you think." Ajax shyly looked over to Zhongli. Zhongli raised his eyebrows slightly before smiling softly. 

"And I the same." 

Such a simple sentence uttered with poise and fondness was enough to set a kaleidoscope of butterflies aflutter in Ajax's heart. It was moments like these that made it easy to fall for Zhongli. His gentle way of handling conversations, although meant to make the other feel at ease, always made Ajax a blushing mess.

"That's a relief," Ajax laughed off his initial embarrassment. Zhongli probably was not even aware of the weight of his response.

Almost instantly, something inside Zhongli lifted. A light gust of wind wisped and howled by, tickling the back of his neck and playing with the loose strands of his hair.

A comfortable lapse of silence passed before Zhongli nervously took a step closer to Ajax, joining him under the spotlight. The proximity made him dizzy, yet Zhongli spoke with newfound clarity, "Since you told me the truth, I shall return the favour."

Ajax's eyes widened once more, intrigued. He had a good guess as to what Zhongli was about to say, but confirmation from the man himself would at least remove another weight that had been pressing down on him for a while now.

“I frequent Celestia because I regularly participate in many BDSM activities underground," Zhongli said slowly, each word hanging heavy in the air. He mentally braced himself as he watched the gears start to turn in Ajax's head. It did not take long before Ajax's eyes lit up.

“Oh, do you mean the Third-Round Knockout?” Ajax innocently guessed.

Zhongli nodded with a smile. "So you knew."

"Actually, I didn't," Ajax quickly corrected with a laugh and wave of his hand, causing Zhongli to quirk an eyebrow.

"I only found out about the BDSM club thing the same day I brought you there for dinner," Ajax continued, his hand then reaching to scratch the back of his neck. "I mean, you didn't really do that good of a job of hiding it either."

Those red ropes he saw tightly wrapped around Zhongli's chest that fateful day flashed in Ajax's mind, the memory vivid like it was just yesterday. His eyes curiously drifted off towards that same chest in front of him now. Zhongli's dress shirt was neat and well-fitted, except for the open collar that hung crooked, revealing a sliver of his collarbone. The fabric strained a little as Zhongli's posture shifted under his gaze, and there emerged the slightest of wrinkles that creased the wrong way, the twist of a button that barely held in place. Zhongli stayed silent throughout, though his body grew hot under the obvious scrutiny.

"When did this whole thing start?" Ajax finally asked, looking back up at Zhongli's face.

Zhongli pondered for a moment, as if recalling an old dream that he had locked away in a corner of his mind. Seeing how he did not respond immediately, Ajax was about to say that it was okay if Zhongli did not wish to tell him. After all, it was something personal, and Ajax was not sure if he would even share such intimate details if he were in Zhongli's position.

"It started around three to four years ago."

Zhongli hesitated, wondering whether or not to reveal the whole story to Ajax. However, seeing how Ajax was looking at him earnestly, he decided that delving into it would be alright.

"Do you remember Baizhu?"

Ajax's brows rose, "Wait, did he know about this?"

"Quite the contrary. He was the one who convinced me to try it with him."

Ajax's eyes expanded to the size of dinner plates and he tilted his head to the side as if he could not believe his ears.

"Him? I never thought… well, I guess it makes sense," he fumbled over his words as his brain scrambled to rationalise this new truth. 

"Well, you've met him before. You probably would have had a good guess of his character." 

"Yeah, flamboyant and… eccentric," Ajax recalled that Saturday morning, and the uncomfortable feeling of being openly scrutinised and toyed with by Baizhu. He had a feeling Baizhu saw him as a clueless little puppy, harmless and endearing, which Ajax tried not to feel insulted by.

"And that's only what you see on the surface,” Zhongli continued.

Just like that, months of pent-up questions sloughed off Ajax's shoulders. It felt like Zhongli finally stepped out from behind a frosted glass panel and Ajax could get a clear view of him, minute details suddenly resolving themselves. The game of cat and mouse had come to an end. They no longer had to tiptoe around the topic, speaking through double entendres and secretive smiles. It felt so freeing that he felt relief bubble up within him, erupting out of his mouth in peals of gleeful laughter.

Zhongli grinned at Ajax's giggling, chuckling as Ajax careened into him and bumped into his shoulder. Ajax's laughter gradually subsided and he looked up at Zhongli to find him softly gazing back at him. Tonight was frigid, but the warmth in Zhongli's eyes was more than enough to keep the chills at bay. His cheeks and nose glowed slightly pinkish and his smirk was almost roguish, more pliant from the alcohol. A stray lock of hair was plastered to his cheekbone, and Ajax had half the mind to reach up and tuck it behind his ear. He realised he liked this side of Zhongli too, a more relaxed and unkempt version that few people were privy to seeing. 

Ajax held Zhongli's gaze for a beat too long before he realised he was outrightly admiring his roommate. He cleared his throat, breaking eye contact.

"We should start heading back home," Ajax skipped forward a few steps towards the direction that they always walked down. Standing outside of the brightness of the streetlamp, the performer playfully turned on his heel, the hoodie around his hips twirling in the wind like a skirt. Even in the dark of night, the adorable grin on his lips was radiant and contagious, and Zhongli let himself be infected by his joy.

The streetlamp faded into a dot in the background as they headed home together, just like they had done every week before. They had not walked for long before another conversation was struck up.

"I had heard of many raving reviews about Childe's performances at the Angel's Share," Zhongli mused as he fell into step with his roommate.

"And I must say, it was wonderful. An absolute marvel to behold."

Ajax laughed, a blush high on his face. He glanced at Zhongli, contemplating if he should throw in a flirtatious remark. Alcohol had loosened up the atmosphere and the mood felt right. Heck, he practically grinded on this man back there. He took a leap of faith.

"Don't flatter me, Xiansheng. I was just doing my job. But there's more where that came from," Ajax leaned in and winked. 

Hey, Zhongli was not the only one who could fluster others. He could be charming when he wanted to be and after having Zhongli witness his performance and receive high praise for it, his confidence was at an all-time high.

Zhongli looked away, bringing a hand up to his face, although in what little light the distant streetlamps offered, Ajax spied the hint of a blush appearing on the man's ears. 

"I assume you started this job after you moved in?" Zhongli inquired innocently after swiftly regaining his composure. 

Ajax snickered. It was obvious Zhongli was dying to change the subject. Ajax clasped his hands behind his head, contemplating the moon in the starless sky.

He thought back to the restrictive environment he grew up in, always having to bend over backwards to please his parents. Nothing was ever good enough, and they seldom approved of any choices he made. Moving away to a better university was one of the rare things they pushed for, and in his haste to get out of there, Ajax had failed to secure a place to stay. In hindsight, maybe that was a blessing in disguise. His choices had allowed him to meet Zhongli, after all. A hopeless romantic would even call it fate.

No doubt his mother would baulk if she found out what her darling elder son was up to in the city. But that was in the distant future that Ajax could not be bothered to fret over. 

Ajax shrugged. 

"Yeah, just wanted to do something fun, you know? But I really didn't expect it to go this well." Ajax meant that in earnest. He always had a passion for dancing. However, the young version of him who spent his afternoons twirling clumsily around in his room wearing pendulous necklaces of colourful beads would never have imagined becoming Childe, a renowned stripper in Celestia who was admired and lusted for by many, flashing pretty moves on a large stage and adorned in elaborate get-ups of feathers and sequins. 

"I can see why. You're clearly a natural," Zhongli mused, the invisible imprint of Ajax's hands on his chest still lingering on his skin. 

Ajax bounded a few steps in front of his roommate, spinning around with his arms outstretched to expose his outfit. 

"You like what you see?"

Zhongli entertained him, bringing a hand to his chin as he pretended to examine Ajax's attire. His sharp whiskey-toned eyes roved across Ajax's body before rising back to settle on his face. 

"You look stunning in that outfit, Childe," Zhongli admitted finally, "Even more so if you were still wearing your makeup."

Ajax would have perked up upon receiving his praise if not for that name yet again ringing loud in Ajax's head. For some reason, hearing Zhongli say his stripper name instead of his actual one this time made his stomach twist in a way that he could only describe as uncomfortable and in a disagreeable manner. He would much rather hear him say his name instead. Saying his stripper name seemingly put some sort of barrier between them, and Ajax did not like that one bit.

"Then that makes all the time I spent getting ready worth it," Ajax responded as he wrestled down that unpleasant emotion clawing its way out of his subconscious. Tonight was going so well, he refused to let a petty matter rain on his parade. 

The walk back home continued to be sprinkled with banter, with playful jests and borderline flirtatious remarks being thrown back and forth. Shoulders lightly brushed each other more times than they should, and brief glances were passed back and forth, hints of unexpressed longing glinting behind their eyes.

#🐺🐺🐺.writing #writing #writeblr #tartali #tartali smut #tartali nsfw #tartaglia x zhongli #tartaglia x zhongli smut #tartaglia x zhongli nsfw #chilli #chilli smut #chilli nsfw #childe x zhongli #childe x zhongli smut #childe x zhongli nsfw #genshin impact #genshin impact smut #genshin impact nsfw

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

PLS WHEN IS OH CELESTIA BEING UPDATED THIS PLOT HAS KEPT ME ON MY TOES SINCE 2022 PLEASE 😭😭

hellur :D to answer your question, all three of us have been preoccupied with school and have only recently finished finals like 2 weeks ago (i was the last one to finish :") ) so we've been busy and couldn't find a good time to write. n e ways, we're working on the new update which would come around sometime this week (probably?) (if not, the next week)!

as always, tq for your support hehe we really appreciate it <33

— admin alpha

#🐺🐺🐺.inbox #🐺🐺🐺.fanmail #it's in progress dw #the horny trinity is assembling once again

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

PLEASE tell me you're going to continue oh celestia 😭 i just read the whole thing and i need more

admin alpha answering the ask here on behalf of all three of us! we're glad to hear that you enjoy Oh Celestia!. as for the updates, we have varying schedules and it's a collab, so it's kinda slow rn. we're planning the next update atm (just that we're not 100% certain when its release date will be), and you can be certain that it's not ending any time soon since there's still lots of plot ahead ;)

once again, we'd like to thank our readers for reading our (very much horny-fueled) works :>>

— admin alpha

#🐺🐺🐺.inbox #🐺🐺🐺.fanmail #admin alpha having fun with the tags here ehe #and as admin beta once said #SEX RLY SELLS #also our hits for etiquette of mortals is rly smth else...

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

OH CELESTIA! | two (part four)

fic m.list | previous chapter | next chapter

wc: 7281

cw(s)/tw(s): coarse/foul/strong language used + depictions/mentions of bdsm + handjob

14 February, Monday

Zhongli was in a dark room, wrists bound by soft cloth and tied to the headboard of a bed. He could not see much, save for the pale light slanting in from an unknown source. The air was thick with a musky intoxicating blend of incense and sandalwood that made Zhongli feel a little woozy. 

"I was waiting for you to wake up," a familiar refined voice drifted from the doorway, as languid and dangerous as a snake slithering in the underbrush. 

A man, elegant and slender, appeared out of the gloom, fully clothed in black. He wore a bejeweled masquerade mask over his eyes, as red as sin. Zhongli had a feeling that he had seen that mask before, but his thoughts were a smear of colours and words. Long mint locks of hair that were coiled tightly into a whip-like tail ran down his back and swayed hypnotizingly as he approached.

Zhongli strained his neck to get a good look at the other man, pulse thrumming in his wrist against his bonds. "What are you doing, Baizhu?" 

Baizhu merely smiled devilishly, tapping a leather flail against the palm of his left hand as he sauntered closer to stand at the edge of the bed. He used the end of the flail to slowly lift Zhongli's chin as he unmasked himself with his other hand. The face underneath the mask had striking round blue eyes, a faint splash of freckles across his cheeks and a slightly upturned nose. Zhongli froze, although with a muted realisation, he noticed he was not put off either. 

"Ajax?" 

"Just tell me what you want, Xiansheng, and I'll give it to you." Ajax straddled Zhongli's stomach, planting each knee firmly on either side. He rubbed a thumb chastely over Zhongli's lower lip as he looked down at him with half lidded eyes. 

Zhongli said nothing and simply stared into the ginger's ocean eyes, dark and dangerous like the twilight zone. Ajax chuckled at his silence and leaned over him, caging him in, so close that he could feel the heat radiating off Ajax's forearms and all he could smell was his scent. Slowly, Zhongli lowered his head back onto the bed and closed his eyes, feeling Ajax get closer and closer until he was just a hair's breadth—

Zhongli's eyes snapped open and he shot up in a flurry of blankets and pillows. What on earth was that all about? It was still dark outside, a velvet blanket of silence hung over the city in stark contrast to his racing heart and shaky hands. He squinted his eyes at the piercing glare from his alarm clock, deciphering that it was 4am. After that dream, going back to sleep was out of the question. He could still smell Ajax's scent... Zhongli ran a hand through his tousled hair, fingers catching at tangles. He should not — no, could not — entertain such ideas about his roommate. There was no place for romance in his hectic life, although he had long grown accustomed to the stress — even in chaos there was order. All he knew was his clockwork routine: wake up at six to prepare a simple breakfast before going on his morning commute to the office, listen to an endless stream of presentations and vetting reports before convening with the CEO, and then returning haggard to his homely apartment when the moon was high in the sky. He made sure to sleep no later than eleven, and meal preparations for the next day were always done before he finally closed the day with some reading. That was his usual routine... for most days. Fridays had a slightly different schedule, entailing a trip to a certain restaurant's basement and meeting up with Ajax at their usual spot.

A brief memory emerged from Zhongli's thoughts of Ajax bounding towards him in a tightly zipped jacket, apple-cheeked with hair shimmering like stars in the night sky. He smiled softly. Ajax's energy was infectious and even in the early morning, just thinking about him spurred Zhongli with energy. But he could not entertain that thought. Zhongli slid out of bed and flapped out his blanket before tucking it tightly under the four corners of the mattress. There was no space for romance. 

---

After that awkward run-in with their neighbour (Zhongli's ex), Ajax had grown more distant towards Zhongli. He had a thousand and one questions to fire at him, but some were slightly too personal for a mere roommate to ask. If Zhongli found out about his crush, what then? That did not mean he was not close to asking him at some points though. However, if Zhongli noticed a shift in Ajax, he did not bring it up. 

Unlike what his course mates believed, Ajax was not very experienced in the romance department. Sure, he had his fair share of early springtime love when his interest in the opposite gender was just blooming, which was typical for most people his age. He had always been a playful character who teased those around him endlessly, but he had never expected his fleeting interests to be reciprocated. His first was an equally energetic and hyper classmate, a girl with bouncy braids who was in the same club as him. Their relationship was brief, sparked by her abrupt outburst of a confession at the start of summer but dampened and fizzled out by winter when she was gently let down by Ajax when he realised that he had never harboured the same feelings as she did towards him. His second came a few years later when he was firmly in the midst of teenagehood, a guy with a reserved disposition but a teasing smile, laughter as bright as the sun. Ajax was enthralled by his attention, and he wanted that smile all to himself. This time, it was Ajax who had chased him, but his positive response took Ajax by surprise nonetheless. They lasted longer than his first relationship, but eventually ended due to a blur of reasons and situations that Ajax could not remember, something about commitments. Ajax took it with a smile, saying it was for the best, but he was wrong to assume that they had ended on good terms as he only found out later that the guy had severed all connections with him. This left Ajax confused, but after countless unanswered messages and phone calls to dead lines, he finally got the memo. There was no one after that. 

However, that was years ago and it seemed almost like a dream to him now. Ajax was going to begin his university life in Liyue on a clean slate. Right now, he had more things to think about than reminisce over his past relationships. 

He leaned heavily on one leg, an arm loosely holding a dangling handle as the bus trundled away from the university campus. Unfortunately, the bus he boarded was packed and Ajax was lucky enough to find an empty handle for him to hold on to. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a handful of passengers carrying rose bouquets and teddy bears. Just seated in front of him was a couple who was lucky enough to find a seat, Ajax was pressed so near to them that he could smell the suffocating cologne from the smarter dressed of the two. Their heads leaned against each other in lover's bliss, as if the cramped and stuffy bus did not affect them. Next to him was a group of highschoolers, presumably on a group date and unfortunately Ajax was near enough to overhear the flirtatious banter shared among the two couples. One of the girls' shrill giggles sliced through the listless atmosphere, sounding like nails on a chalkboard to his ears. Maybe it was because he was coming back from a long day of classes and his head felt like it was going to burst, or it was because of the special occasion today that reminded him of how pathetic his current situation was with his roommate that Ajax felt an uncharacteristic rush of annoyance. He sighed and looked out of the window. 

Banner after banner of Valentine's Day promotions flashed past the bus in a smear of red and pink. Again, against his will (as it always was), Zhongli's presence slowly crept into the periphery of his thoughts. Urgh, just thinking about that man made him remember that meeting with Baizhu. Ajax raised both hands to his face to smack his cheeks, as if hitting himself would shake his roommate out of his mind. A few passengers glanced at him in curiosity.  

Valentine's Day never bothered him as much as it did right now. 

Ajax knew he was not a passive person. If there was something he wanted to do, he would get it done. So where was that resolute character now? All sense and charm he had seemed to melt away like snow on a warm spring day whenever Zhongli locked eyes with him. I can't be this confused over a person, I swear this guy's making me stupid... He shook his head. Whatever, he was going to shoot his shot, he would worry about whether it lands or completely flies over the hoop later.

He pulled out his phone and tapped on Zhongli's contact. It opened to a blank chat log and it suddenly dawned on Ajax that they had never messaged each other before. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea... Next to him, a student leaned in to peck a shy kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. Ajax tightened his lips into a determined line and punched out a message. 

You

heya xiansheng, it

'Heya'? Was that too casual? It felt forced. 

You

Hey Xiansheng, it's Ajax. Wanna rent a movie tonight or somthing?

Ajax paused. Asking this was a little out of the blue, maybe slightly overeager even.  

You 

It's cool if u dont wanr to

Send. Ajax's eyes were glued to the screen, proofreading all his messages. Then he noticed a spelling error, two spelling errors. Should he delete it? However, Zhongli would see the deleted receipt and get suspicious. Ajax squeezed the phone until his fingertips went white as he stared expectantly at the 'offline' beneath Zhongli's name, as if it would change in a split second. 

However, just as Ajax was about to recall the message, Zhongli came online. Somewhere in this city, Zhongli had taken time off his work and was on his phone, reading his clumsily crafted messages right now. 

Zhongli (roommate) 

typing...

Zhongli (roommate) 

Sure, that's a wonderful idea. 

You

Great! see u then :) 

Ajax exhaled a breath and assumed his response signalled the end of the conversation. However, Zhongli was still typing on his end. 

Zhongli (roommate) 

Are you on the way home? 

You

Yep 

Zhongli (roommate) 

Alright. See you soon. 

And with that, Zhongli went offline. Ajax's face broke into a large grin and he punched his fist in the air, letting out a loud whoop as he was overcome with ecstacy. He turned his head and accidentally made eye contact with a kind old lady, who glanced at him, and saluted her as he alighted at his stop. Never mind the cramped bus, the obnoxious laughter of highschool students, or the nose-numbing cologne. He bounced along the pavement, humming a tuneless melody.

All was right with the world. 

---

Zhongli was pleasantly surprised by Ajax's message, although it was quite random. He was not sure why he so readily agreed — usually he would check his schedule first.

"People like you are married to your work. It's just how it is," that disembodied voice whispered next to his ear, as clear as the day he heard it. Why would he suddenly recall that? Zhongli pushed that memory aside. Well, there were no immediate deadlines that he could think of, they were far away over the horizon. In fact, now as he thought about it closely, work had been smooth sailing these past few months. Hu Tao must have decided to give her directors a break. The coast was clear for now so he supposed he could afford to indulge in a movie with his roommate today without his projects looming over his head. 

The lift chimed, and its doors slid open to give way to his colleague, Keqing. Her attire was as smart as ever — high waisted tapered dress pants and a crisp white blouse with a purple ribbon tie, alert amethyst eyes crackling with intensity behind round rimmed specs. Her lilac tresses were tied up in their usual ponytails by simple black bows, delicate curls spilling down her back.

Although her height only came to Zhongli's chest, Keqing's mere presence commanded as much authority as he did. She reminded him of a flashing blade, precise and quick-witted. Younger colleagues were intimidated by her sharp tongue and direct nature, but those who got to know her knew that she only had the best intentions. Work was nothing personal, after all.   

"Well, you seem chipper," she eyed him as she joined him in the lift. 

"Is that so unusual? I think I'm a naturally cheerful person." Zhongli did, however, feel lighter on his feet after that short exchange with his roommate. Keqing nodded in response, noticing him attempting to slip his phone into his back pocket discreetly. After years of working together, she had grown wise to Zhongli's patterns and she met his playfulness with her usual cynicism.

"Uh huh. And who were you texting?" 

"My roommate. Anyway, I won't be joining the rest for dinner tonight." Zhongli only realised a little too late what implications that entailed. His coworker swiftly turned to face him, her long tails whipping the front of his suit, suspicion written all over her face. 

"You're actually leaving office early, for the first time since forever?"  

"It's not early, Keqing. We've simply grown so accustomed to working overtime that leaving at the normal time feels like a luxury."  

"Huh," Keqing shifted her gaze away from Zhongli and back to their reflections on the mirror panels on the lift doors. 

The seemingly strangely mentioned 'roommate' floated in the space between them, and Zhongli waited for her to mention it. Keqing resisted for a few seconds before she finally spoke up again. 

"I guess it's kind of sweet you're spending it with your 'roommate', although I never saw you as the dating type." 

"'It'?" Was there something he missed? He was undoubtedly more distracted lately, finding himself coming back to the conversation he stumbled upon between Baizhu and Ajax on Saturday. For some inexplicable reason, he felt the need to clarify things with Ajax. Although there was no need for him to know the specifics of their relationship, it bothered him that he didn't.  

Keqing saw a clueless face staring back at her and she snorted in disbelief, "It's Valentine's day today. You didn't know?" 

Realisation shone on him like a piercing ray of clarity. Oh. So that was why Ajax texted him.

"No, it must've completely slipped my mind." Ajax's odd request suddenly became clear to him. Being single on Valentine's day while seeing all his other friends spend it with their significant others must have been excruciating for him. He probably wanted some companionship on this lonely day. Of course, there was the possibility that Ajax was initiating a date — no, that was improbable. Save for the odd moments of awkwardness, they were firmly planted in the domain of roommates. Besides, Ajax had a vivacious personality and charming looks; he would probably be able to find more desirable partners in university who were closer to his age. Although an age gap of five years would be considered average, Zhongli assumed it was only logical that a partner of similar age would be more suitable considering Ajax was still in the formative years of his early adulthood. Besides, it was like what Baizhu said; He wasn't the loving type, he prioritized work over everything else. It wouldn't be fair to Ajax if he strung him along just to relieve himself momentarily from his solitude. 

At least, that was the same way he reasoned over that dinner with Ajax at the Three-Round Knockout. He had intended to hold Ajax at an arm's length, but that night… he let his mischievousness get the better of him. He would practice more restraint in the future. As if she had heard his thoughts, Keqing huffed. 

"Oh boy. Guess they've got their work cut out for them." 

"It's just a movie night," Zhongli replied coolly. Why did it feel like he was convincing himself? He was just helping to cheer his roommate up, nothing more. 

"Yeah, and I don't want to hear more details," Keqing wrinkled her nose. Zhongli chuckled.  

Just then, the lift chimed their arrival to the second floor and Keqing stepped out, spinning around to face him at the threshold, head tilted upwards to meet his eyes. 

"I'll let them know. Although, I have no control over the rumours after." 

"Thank you, Keqing."   

"Hope you enjoy the movie, but I doubt you both will be paying much attention to it," she said drily. Was she making a joke? He really could not tell when it came to Keqing. Zhongli huffed. 

"Don't be ridiculous." 

The lift doors slid close before Zhongli could finish his sentence, and he found himself talking to his reflection instead. Right. 

"Don't be ridiculous," he repeated. The Zhongli in the mirror blinked back at him, a blank expression, although his eyes seemed to say otherwise. No promises.

---

Since Xiansheng will be home late, I'll prepare the popcorn and drinks, Ajax thought as he headed straight towards the convenience store with an obvious spring in his step. While he was indeed nervous, he also felt a sense of excitement that accompanied it. To be honest, he was surprised Zhongli took him up on the offer and he was still buzzing from the high their conversation gave him. Of course, he did not intend to make it a movie date (sure, Ajax). Zhongli agreeing to hang out with him was good enough. 

The convenience store was just across the road from their apartment. Once he entered the store, Ajax made a beeline towards the huge bottled drinks, eyeing the selection of fizzy drinks available. His mind wandered to a few nights ago, whereby Zhongli had brought homemade tea to his room.

Yeah no, I think he would rather have tea than fizzy drinks, he thought as he placed the drinks back onto the shelves and decided to buy teabags instead to brew tea. He might not have the skills to brew tea on his own, but making tea by using store-bought teabags would work as well, right? He would gauge the answer based on Zhongli's reaction to his tea.

With his purchased boxes of teabags and popcorn kernels in hand, Ajax made the journey back to the apartment. Upon reaching the apartment, he dropped his bag down onto the couch and placed the groceries on the countertop, then walked straight to his room to retrieve clothes to change into after he had showered.

After he had showered and changed, he walked to the kitchen to start preparing the popcorn: he washed the wok and then covered its surface with a light layer of butter before pouring the kernels in and covering the wok, letting the popcorn pop over the stove. He then moved on to preparing the teabags, rinsing their mugs before placing the teabags in, then poured hot water into the mugs. The water turned into a warm and darker shade of orange and he stirred the tea gently using the teabags. He carried both mugs towards the living room, setting them down onto the small table which was in front of their comfy, slightly small couch before heading back into the kitchen to check on the popcorn. He hovered by the wok while fiddling with his phone in his hands, the rattling of popcorn popping and hitting the metal cover accompanied by the delectable aroma of buttered popcorn filling the air. Once the clattering of popcorn ceased, Ajax turned the stove off and picked the metal wok cover up slowly, then peeked into the wok. Inhaling the direct scent of the buttered popcorn made his stomach grumble a little. He pulled out a large bowl from the overhead cupboard and placed it on the marble counter before he picked the wok up by its handles and tipped it over, pouring the popcorn into the bowl. He then carried the wok over to the sink and washed it before returning it to its rightful place on the stove. Carefully, he picked the large bowl of fresh, buttered popcorn and walked over to the living room and set it down on the table.

He stood back up and clapped his hands together and admired the set up for a few quiet moments, hoping that Zhongli would appreciate it as well. 

Right, I have to get the movie ready, Ajax reached for his bag and pulled out the movie he had chosen to rent for the night: a historical film written by Zhenyu, a rising Liyuen screenwriter whom Zhongli had taken a liking to. Ajax had learnt this fact one day when they were discussing what films they enjoyed watching, to which Zhongli had responded, "I quite enjoy watching historical-based films, especially those written by Zhenyu. Have you heard of him, Ajax?" Ajax, of course, was not that interested in film writers and the like, but went to search up Zhenyu after that conversation. However, this film that Ajax picked was a horror historical film – Ajax was a fan of thriller, mystery, and all things scary, despite getting spooked whenever there were jumpscare scenes, which Zhongli was aware of (he had brought up to his roommate that he enjoyed watching such movies during their little movie conversation).

And as such, Ajax popped the movie into the CD player but did not start the movie, opting to sit on the couch and pick his phone up to scroll through his social media feed to quell the rising anxious butterflies that were threatening to flutter their delicate wings up his throat and escape his lips, spilling his innermost feelings out to taunt him.

After a few minutes of mindless scrolling, Ajax heard the door unlock and immediately dropped his phone onto his lap. He took deep breaths, Calm down, Ajax. You're just going to watch a movie with him.

He looked over the head of the couch as Zhongli walked into view, "Hey there, Xiansheng. Welcome home."

"My apologies for keeping you waiting, I tried to leave work as quickly as I could," Zhongli said as he reached for the dark tie wrapped around his neck. Ajax watched as his roommate loosened it briefly, gulping down his nervousness as the ravenette spoke, "Allow me to wash up and I will join you shortly."

"Sure!" Ajax said all too brightly as he tore his gaze away from Zhongli's hand which grasped his tie, then cleared his throat and continued, "Take your time, I'm ready whenever you are."

Zhongli nodded and disappeared down the hallway, leaving Ajax alone in the living room with thoughts swarming his head. Zhongli's pale hands had a light network of veins wrapping the back of them and his fingers were long and slender, tapered elegantly at the fingertips. Ajax wondered how it would feel to hold his hand, to rub his thumb over those knuckles and enjoy the warmth of those palms, those fingers clasped around his bare waist—

The ginger's eyes widened as he shook his head as if to rid his head of his inappropriate thoughts, Stop it, stop thinking of weird things! Pull your mind out of the gutter, man.

He sucked in a breath and went back to scrolling on his social media feed, watching reels of cute, fluffy dogs, as if they would cleanse him of his needy thoughts. Yes, because watching videos of fluffy little animals tripping over air was definitely much better than wondering what good your roommate's hands would do on your body. He cried internally; he knew he was simply trying to delude himself into thinking otherwise.

After his twentieth reel or so, the bathroom doors slid open and out walked Zhongli with his hair slightly damp and a towel in his pretty hands to dry his hair with. Ajax placed his phone on the table, trying to ignore the bubbling feeling rising in his chest as Zhongli sat down beside him on the couch nonchalantly. As the couch was on the smaller side, it was big enough to seat two people with their bodies touching each other snugly. So at present, Zhongli's arm and hip was pressed against Ajax's, and the latter could feel his roommate's body heat seep from his hips to his own body, seemingly encasing him in a warm hug that Ajax never wanted to break out of.

"Apologies, the couch is unfortunately quite small. Are you uncomfortable?" Zhongli's voice plucked Ajax out of his thoughts, and Ajax had realised that he had shifted his own body a little such that he was practically leaning into Zhongli, as if he was chasing after his warmth.

"Uh, no, it's fine," Ajax's voice had a high-pitched ring to it, and he adjusted his body again so that he was not curled up against the man, then pointed at the mugs of tea on the table, "I made tea for us." He then nodded his head towards the kitchen, "There's more tea in the jug on the counter in the kitchen, if you want to refill your mug."

Zhongli's heart warmed at this little gesture and he smiled, "Thank you, Ajax."

" 's no problem." Ajax picked the popcorn bowl and the remote up, placing the popcorn bowl on his lap and clicking the button to let the movie play. He tentatively leaned back on the couch, and eventually willed himself to forget that his crush was sitting mere millimeters away from him.

The two watched the movie in silence, and the other sounds other than those coming from the television were the sounds of their hands reaching into the popcorn bowl, the crunching of popcorn, and the sipping of their drinks. 

The movie's introduction was a little slow for Zhongli's taste, but the plot was compelling so far: it followed the life of a child who was shunned by his family and later enlisted into the army to regain their favour. Donning armour too big for his adolescent body and with bright and eager eyes, he followed his regiment into army territory. Alas, along the way, they were caught in a terrible snow storm which forced them to seek shelter in a dilapidated temple. The temple was a mere echo of the bustling and shining place it used to be, and curiosity piqued by its melancholy, the main protagonist decided to explore. 

There was the long corridor scene — a classic scene in many horror films — a long narrow hall lined with lighted candles and eerie Liyuen dolls that the protagonist foolishly walked through. The angle tightened to only show the protagonist's back view, and Zhongli steeled himself for a jumpscare. The music rose to a harrowing long screech as long straight locks of black hair fell onto the protagonist like a veil. It abruptly cuts to the front view to reveal the temple spirit, a gaunt face with large cavernous holes for eyes, hanging upside down behind the clueless protagonist. 

Ajax let out a small yelp, which caused the bowl to jump in his lap, sending a spray of popcorn skywards as he instinctively latched onto Zhongli. Zhongli froze as he saw Ajax lunge at him from his peripheral vision, like a wolf falling on its prey. He crashed into Zhongli at full force, causing him to tip slightly sideways at the impact. Zhongli felt heat radiating from Ajax's body as he collided into his arm, felt a strong arm loop around his own, sending his entire side alight with jolts of electricity. Zhongli's eyes widened. Despite his practiced self restraint, his body was responding to Ajax's touch against his own will, just the slightest touch was enough to paralyze him. This is dangerous, he thought, but he did not push him off. He couldn't bring himself to. However, Ajax immediately jerked away as if touching Zhongli had scalded him, his large round eyes mirroring Zhongli's own surprise. Zhongli could not be sure, but his face looked a little pink under the dim glow from the television.

"Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to. Sorry. Here, lemme, uh, get that…" he leaned over to pick the loose popcorn off Zhongli's pants. Zhongli cleared his throat, his mind lagging just slightly behind as he got over his initial surprise. 

"No, no, it's alright. It can't be helped anyway. Feel free to hold me if you'd like," Zhongli joked, offering a small laugh as he scooped the popcorn off himself and tossed one into his mouth. He cringed inwardly as he heard how strained he sounded. Well, despite the lighthearted tone, he meant what he said. Ajax held his gaze for a beat too long before he returned his smile and looked away. There was an emotion in those eyes that Zhongli could not decipher. 

He smoothened the front of his shirt and readjusted himself in the small, small couch shared by them both. He tried his best to forget about it, but his skin tingled with the memory of Ajax's touch. If only he knew that that was just the start. 

Not long after, it happened again. This time, Ajax's right hand gripped his bicep firmly, his other hand grasping at Zhongli's shoulder as he partially buried his face behind Zhongli's back.

"Sorry..." 

"It's alright." 

Ajax drew his hand away, but it had already seared an imprint onto Zhongli's skin and he realised how cold he felt in the absence of Ajax's touch. No, don't entertain that thought. Zhongli tightened his grip on the armrest, pointedly studying every pore of the protagonist's face in the closeup shot. 

It happened again. It kept happening. And Ajax latched on this time. It was a particularly frightening scene and the anxiety was drawn out. Ajax was not aware of this, but the movie he had chosen was renowned as one of the scariest movies in Liyuen cinematography. Zhongli recognised the title immediately but said nothing, since he was a little curious about it as well. He supposed that had its consequences. As the scene progressed, Ajax pressed himself closer and closer to Zhongli's side, unknowingly resting a hand on his chest as he leaned in close, his mouth just inches from Zhongli's neck. Ajax's hot breath rolled down his back, sending tingles coursing under his skin and leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. Focusing on the movie was near impossible for Zhongli now. And then he caught a faint whiff of Ajax's shampoo, an alluring sweet fragrance with just the slightest undertones of Ajax's scent... He suddenly remembered the phantom weight of Ajax on his stomach, the image of Ajax curled over him, eyelashes fanned out prettily over his cheeks as he looked down at Zhongli's lips. "Just tell me what you want, Xiansheng, and I'll give it to you." 

That was the last straw. A web of thin fractures were spreading in Zhongli's dam of self control, and he was not sure what would come pouring out. For both their sakes, he had to put a stop to it. Quickly.

Zhongli's hand shot up to grab Ajax's wrist as he looked sharply down at Ajax, and the university student snapped his head towards him in confusion. Their noses were nearly brushing. 

Zhongli searched Ajax's face, looking for any ulterior motives behind those sapphire doe eyes but he was only met with stunned surprise. 

"...Xiansheng?" 

He felt Ajax's breath ghost over his face... if he just leaned in— What was he doing? Zhongli immediately let go of his roommate's wrist.

"Apologies. I don't know what came over me," Zhongli suddenly registered how suspiciously tight his crotch area felt, and he stood up abruptly. 

"I'll... go refill my mug."

Bending down to pick up his mug that had been emptied long ago, Zhongli excused himself to the kitchen, escaping from the tense atmosphere that seemed to shift to something more personal. Escaping from Ajax's gaze on his back, those eyes reflecting emotions that Zhongli couldn’t decipher.

Every step he made shifted the heavy cloth of his sweatpants, sending shivers that threatened to buckle his knees. Once he set the mug down, his hands went to grip the edge of the counter until his knuckles turned white. Taking in a shaky breath, he finally tilted his head down to confront the cruel reality he was currently stuck in.

Zhongli's dick stood hard, his pants straining against the tent forming at his crotch. He could feel the sensation of precum leaking from the sensitive tip, which was further heightened by the rough fabric of his boxers pressing against it.

His lips parted into a sigh as a hand moved down to palm at his erection in a futile attempt to reposition it. The relief of contact was too addicting, sending his blood pumping as his palm continued to insistently knead at his dick. Fortunately, a trace of common sense soon swooped in to snap Zhongli out of his daze, and he stopped himself from going any further.

His mind was racing. The easiest way out of this was to get the deed done here and now in the kitchen, but he did not want to go back to his sad excuse of a couch and watch the rest of the movie with a filthy, sticky mess in his pants. Waiting it out was not an option either, and his touching only made his erection painfully harder.

The living room was almost completely dark, Zhongli reasoned, so it was unlikely for Ajax to notice the bulge unless he looked really hard. Though, he could not rule out the possibility of his roommate's hand flying near his crotch area at a jumpscare. In that case, he could just put the popcorn bowl over his lap to act as a shield. They were probably somewhere at the movie's climax, so it should be around half an hour more before the credits rolled.

Another half an hour more of this torture.

The over-the-top screams from the living room television filtered into the kitchen like white noise as Zhongli stilled his mind, one deep breath at a time.

If he could handle working overtime back-to-back for the past few weeks, he should have no issue getting blue balled for a few more minutes.

When Zhongli awkwardly returned into the living room, he found Ajax's body tense yet hunched over, eyes transfixed on the screen. The scene playing out was splattered in red, as the protagonist was surrounded by a snowy wasteland bathed in blood and soldiers' lifeless bodies. No details were spared, showing close-ups of decapitated heads and mangled limbs. Such a sight would urk the average viewer, but Ajax was captivated, almost giddy even.

Ajax's focus was solely on the movie — he did not even sense his roommate's presence until he suddenly felt the couch give way. His body subconsciously jumped a little against his wishes, which Zhongli could not help but think was cute.

Zhongli tried his best to position the empty popcorn bowl back onto his lap in a way that did not jostle against his hard-on. He dared not say anything to Ajax in fear of drawing unwanted attention to himself, so he simply sat in silence, brewing in the uneasy atmosphere that still lingered from moments ago.

Ajax was the one who ended up breaking the chilling tension, raising an eyebrow as he pointed to a spot on the table where Zhongli's mug would have been.

"Where's your tea?" Ajax asked, his tone nonchalant as if nothing had transpired. This was his first proper Valentine’s Day "date" in a while after all. He was not willing to let it simmer out on a bitter note.

Zhongli could not admit that he was too preoccupied with his dick to remember his excuse to refill his mug, so he settled on a lie instead, "It's best if I don't drink too much caffeine before I sleep."

The movie night went on as usual, apart from the fact that Ajax had suddenly stopped clinging onto him. Whenever something scary happened, Zhongli would mentally brace himself for those hands that would grip onto his body for dear life, but nothing came. Zhongli would have assumed that Ajax had gotten used to the scares if not for the noticeable jolt that he still sensed from the person sitting shoulder-to-shoulder beside him.

Zhongli couldn't figure out if he felt more relieved or not.

Luckily for him, the story concluded earlier than he anticipated. The protagonist had suffered a brutal defeat and thus met his end, the typical triumphant fanfare of a hero's journey unfulfilled. As soon as the credits rolled, all tension wound up in Ajax's nerves finally released as his body slacked against the couch.

"Man, what a bummer," Ajax lamented, dissatisfaction written on his face. His head was tilted back against the back of the couch, eyes staring up at the ceiling as his brain scrambled to put together a coherent thought.

"The main guy — whatever his name was, I forgot — he should have just used the broken blade to fight, but instead he ran away like a coward. He deserved to die."

"Quite a poetic ending, no?" Zhongli briefly commented. He would have elaborated further and continued discussion of the film if not for the throbbing heat below his navel that refused to subside. With the movie and his main distraction gone, his mind was overwhelmed, drowned out. As if caught in the midst of a seastorm, holding onto air and any semblance of rational thought, while threatened to be overtaken by the dangerous currents beneath.

"If you would excuse me," Zhongli's legs were stiff as he stood up from the couch at an inconspicuous angle that best hid his crotch area. Making his way to the bathroom as casually as he could, he missed the mildly confused look that Ajax shot him before entering.

His back collided against the bathroom door, closing it shut while providing much needed support as Zhongli wasted no time pulling his pants and boxers down in one swift motion. His erection sprung free, aching against the chilling air. A muffled curse fell from his lips when his hand went to grip the base of his cock, eyes fluttering shut. In the darkness, he imagined orange crowned on top of sapphire eyes. Sapphire that had lost its shine long ago, now a dull yet equally mesmerising hue.

Ajax.

His other hand braced against the door as the hand on his dick began to move. Up and down, up and down, dragging out moan after moan that died out in Zhongli's throat in an attempt to keep quiet. He hated this. He needed to get this done as soon as possible, but the need for mind-numbing pleasure was begging and trembling in his body.

His index finger extended from the grip to stroke the underside in tandem, making his cock throb almost tortuously. Pre-cum dribbled down the shaft, coating his fingers like a glaze and easing the slide. The all-too-familiar sensation of burning lust pooling in his core sent Zhongli shivering and tumbling over to the toilet bowl. The last thing he wanted was to make an embarrassing sticky mess in the bathroom that he had to clean up.

The slicked hand came to a stop right below the weeping cockhead, crying from the lack of stimulation. An actual cry erupted from Zhongli's lips when his finger moved up to tease and dig into the slit at the tip, senses overwhelmed. His other hand flew to his open, quivering mouth to stifle the remnants of obscene moans that continued to slip in between shallow breaths. His knees threatened to buckle.

Zhongli was balancing at the edge of a precipice. One more push and he would tip over.

A voice suddenly spoke from the other side of the door.

"Hey Zhongli, you alright?"

His name, in that damn voice. The hint of concern and endearment in his tone, underlaid with that distinct, irresistible charm. Zhongli bit down on his bottom lip as the pressure burst instantly, his cock emptying hot cum into the toilet bowl. A low groan still managed to escape despite his efforts, deft fingers desperately stroking himself to completion.

Zhongli’s brain was mush at this point. He didn’t even process the actual question and think of an appropriate answer before Ajax spoke again.

"Okay, I'll leave you to it. Just make sure not to make a mess!"

Zhongli felt dizzy.

Flushing away his shame, he sat down on the toilet. His head fell into his hands as the post-nut clarity hit Zhongli like a crashing meteor. He listlessly stared at the limp dick that hung between his thighs in a moment of contemplation, before pulling his pants back on. He didn't think he's ever felt like such a dumb, hormonal teenager in his adult life until this very moment.

It's been a while since he got turned on this quickly. Zhongli thought he was able to pride himself on his self-control thanks to extensive experience and practice. Was he wrong? Or was there something different about his roommate?

Ajax looked like your conventionally attractive young male, both in terms of physical appearance and personality, but he was adorable in a puppy kind of way, especially with the way that he sometimes pouted when he's sad about something. His happiness was infectious too. Everytime he smiled or laughed, Zhongli couldn't help but return it wholeheartedly.

He liked to wear his heart on his sleeve, which Zhongli greatly appreciated. His boldness was very attractive as well, evident from tonight's impromptu Valentine's Day arrangement. He convinced himself that it wasn't as deep as he initially thought, but he also didn't want to admit how flattered he was by the gesture, his heart doing little flutters when he saw the message of invitation. And not to mention the fact that Zhongli was pretty certain that Ajax's late-night job was something akin to a stripper, leaving his mind wandering to how the outfit he accidentally caught a glimpse of would stretch and mould against his body as he performed……

Fuck, he's actually attracted to Ajax.

Zhongli sighed heavily, fingers sweeping through his bangs. Many years have passed since his last romantic relationship, so he was very much rusty. He truly believed that all his old feelings had faded away, and the wounds had healed, but the scars didn't disappear. Even if he could somehow juggle romance and work, there was still that lingering insecurity and fear holding him back.

He splashed his face with cold water in hopes to temporarily wash his thoughts away.

The distant tune of humming drifted from the kitchen as he left the bathroom, accompanied by running water pouring against the kitchen sink. Ajax seemed to be in his own little world as he washed the dishes, none the wiser. His hoodie sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, exposing defined muscles underneath. The image in front of Zhongli felt all too domestic, too intimate.

Too familiar.

Dejected, he retired to his bedroom for the night.

#🐺🐺🐺.writing #writing #writeblr #tartali #tartali smut #tartali nsfw #childe x zhongli #childe x zhongli smut #childe x zhongli nsfw #tartaglia x zhongli #targalia x zhongli smut #tartaglia x zhongli smut #zhongchi #zhongchi smut #zhongchi nsfw #zhongli x childe #zhongli x childe smut #zhongli x childe nsfw #zhongli x tartaglia #zhongli x tartaglia smut #zhongli x tartaglia nsfw #genshin impact #genshin impact smut #genshin impact nsfw

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

OH CELESTIA! | two (part three)

fic m.list | previous chapter | next chapter

wc: 3530

cw(s)/tw(s): coarse/foul/strong language used

12 February, Saturday

Saturday mornings were always the worst for Ajax. Everytime he woke up, he would be eagerly greeted by pain, fatigue, and the occasional headache thanks to the crazy night before. This morning in particular felt exceptionally shitty, and it took a good minute of Ajax lying on his bed like a corpse, staring blank at the ceiling to remember exactly why.

He had been running on a whopping two hours of sleep for the whole of yesterday because of a school group presentation that he stayed up all night to prepare for. By the time all his classes were over and he arrived at Angel's Share, he made the unwise choice of downing a couple shots of vodka to get his blood pumping before his scheduled performance (Ajax also recalled the judgmental look on Rosaria's face while she slowly sipped her own glass of wine).

Keeping his eyes shut tight to chase the last remnants of sleep, Ajax instinctively reached out to the side and lazily slapped his hand all over the bedside table until he felt his phone under his palm. He opened up the lock screen and looked at the time.

10:39 am.

He should not be up this early.

Ajax's eyes squinted at the bright display as his finger briefly swiped through his notifications to check if he missed something important. Hundreds of texts from his siblings' group chat, some random Valentine's Day promotion for makeup oddly enough, and sitting at the top was a text from Zhongli informing him that he went out to buy some groceries. Ajax had no clue how that man found the energy to even get out of bed, considering they both went to sleep at the same time when night and dawn were mere minutes apart. Just thinking about the whole situation with Zhongli made Ajax physically groan into his pillow. A few weeks had already passed since that first chance encounter in Celestia, but the memory was still fresh in his mind like it was yesterday. All of it felt so pointless, both of them continuing to 'bump' into each other on the same street and initiating this silly game of cat and mouse where neither of them were winning or losing, only occupied with the idea of toying with the other long enough in hopes that eventually, one of them completely forgot about the inciting incident.

Ajax was keenly aware that that was impossible, and with the way Zhongli's eyes always ended up wandering to his zipped-up hoodie whenever he thought Ajax was not looking, his roommate probably knew that too.

Ajax's mind was already running a million miles and it had not even been 5 minutes since he woke up.

Fuck this, I'm going back to sleep.

That thought was accompanied by a loud yawn, and Ajax's face immediately soured from the foul taste lingering in his mouth. Did he seriously forget to brush his teeth last night again? He was definitely not returning to his peaceful slumber like this. It took all of Ajax's willpower to finally pull his sorry ass out of bed, and he sluggishly made his way to the bathroom to get rid of his morning breath.

As he finished brushing his teeth, Ajax swore he heard some faint knocking from somewhere in the house. It was probably just his half-awake mind playing tricks on him. The knocks almost sounded like the tiny pitter patter of the last few water droplets that trickled from the shut tap. He was about to drag his feet back to his bedroom to resume his beauty sleep when he heard it again. Knock, knock, knock, coming from the main door.

Making sure he looked at least somewhat presentable for someone who just woke up, Ajax went over and opened the door to reveal... no one. He rubbed his weary eyes and glanced from left to right. Still zero signs of human life. He was definitely imagining things.

"Mister, down here."

The small voice of a child caused Ajax to snap his neck downwards as he was told. He was met with the curious stare of a little girl. Her head came up around his abdomen, her hair tied into a tight braid that was slung over her shoulder. She looked to be wearing pajamas consisting of a graphic T-shirt of a finch and shorts and, concerningly, she was barefoot.

Ajax guessed that the girl was probably one of his neighbours, but that still did not answer the question of what she was doing there. She remained silent as she seemed to be looking around for something, tilting her head to peek past Ajax's body and into the apartment.

"Hey kid, you need help with someth—"

"Is Zhongli-xiansheng home?"

Her tone was uncharacteristically deadpan for someone of her age. The difference between her and Ajax's younger siblings was night and day.

The more worrying matter at hand however was why she was looking for Zhongli.

"Zhongli isn't home right now. Sorry," Ajax tried to give the most apologetic smile he could muster at ten in the morning. The girl's expression stilled for a moment, as if it was taking some time for her brain to process his statement. She then slowly blinked.

"Do... you have cocogoat milk? I would like some cocogoat milk... please."

It's way too early for this, that same sentiment echoed through Ajax's head once again, but he was not enough of a heartless monster to slam the door in her face.

"Cocogoat? What's that?" Ajax entertained her and mustered up enough energy to form a weak but warm smile.

The girl proceeded to spread her arms out in an attempt to convey the size of whatever a 'cocogoat' was. "The cocogoat is a magic adepti-beast that makes the most tasty milk. I like it a lot."

"Oh! I think I've heard of it somewhere before. Never actually seen one in real life, though." In reality, half of what she said flew right over Ajax's head, and he was not even going to try to understand any of it. He was more than equipped to handle this kind of 'kid-speak', having grown up listening to it on a daily basis, especially from his little brother Teucer. 

Another stretch of silence passed by as the kid's gaze fully fixed on Ajax's face, her lost eyes languidly fluttering open and close. It took a while before he finally saw the gears turning in her head.

"Wait... who are you?" she asked, dumbfounded. The genuine confusion plastered on her chubby face, the way her body had shifted into that thinking pose with one hand rested on her chin. Ajax felt his heart squeeze from how adorable she looked.

Darn it, if only children were not one of his biggest weaknesses.

"You can call me Ajax and, uh..." he scratched the back of his neck, "I don't think we have any cocogoat milk?"

Ajax could practically read the disappointment on the kid's face by the way her listless expression wavered ever so slightly. He felt a little bad that he could not help her out, but he literally had no idea what she was talking about.

The girl seemed to hesitate for a bit, not knowing what to do next, before she muttered. "Oh, okay... goodbye."

Ajax sent the girl off with a little wave, but instead of returning to his beloved bed, he felt his brotherly instincts kick in and decided to remain in the doorway to keep an eye on the girl, just in case something happened. He tried to make his body lean as casually as it could against the doorframe to not seem like some sort of stalker, even though he was pretty sure no one else was around to see him.

He watched as the kid scurried down the hallway, before coming to a stop in front of the apartment next door. That apartment's entrance door was left slightly ajar, allowing her to nudge it open and go inside. But before the door could shut close, the distant voice of another person could be heard inside the apartment, although too muffled for Ajax to discern anything. The girl, still standing at the door, said something in reply, and most of her words were able to carry over to where he was within earshot.

"...Wasn't home, but this other man answered the door. His name... I forgot. His head looks like an orange."

The orange man (Ajax took that as a compliment) was reaching over to close his own door when a new figure suddenly emerged alongside the girl. A lean man, presumably her guardian.

The first thing Ajax noticed was a headful of verdant green that flowed down to the waist, which was where his eyes were met with the second most attention-grabbing thing. The man was rocking a crop top, of all things. Accompanied with oval-shaped glasses and snake-like pupils, the eccentric vibe that this stranger radiated single-handedly outmatched Zhongli's, and this was only his first impression.

The last thing Ajax noticed was the fact that said stranger was approaching him, followed closely behind by the little girl. He gulped nervously as they stood a respectful distance away from him.

"Hello, I believe we haven't met before," the man spoke with an amused glint in his eyes. Adding onto the list of quirks, his voice was what Ajax kind of expected yet didn't at the same time. There was a certain flamboyant flair to it that was cranked up to eleven.

The neighbour courteously stuck out his hand towards Ajax, "I'm Baizhu, and this is Qiqi. You are?"

"Ajax. I just moved in here recently," the university student took his hand awkwardly and gave it a firm shake. It never occurred to Ajax that he had not properly introduced himself to the neighbours yet. Then again, most of them probably at least knew his face from when he had desperately scouted their whole apartment block for an impromptu roommate.

Ajax could sense Baizhu mentally giving him a once-over before he spoke, "Well, it's a pleasure meeting you. So, you're the one who was looking for someone to stay with, yes?"

Ajax nodded in response.

"Apologies if no one answered the door. We both weren't home at the time," his neighbour explained, though now looking at the little girl, it was obvious that Ajax would have been rejected either way. Baizhu then continued, his lips curling into a telling smile, "But it seems you have struck the jackpot."

Jackpot? Ajax did not know what he meant by that, until his mind pieced it together a few seconds too late: The location of Zhongli's apartment was conveniently the closest to the stairs, and the abundance of interior decor was arranged in an endearing way that made it feel very homely, but he knew that was not what, or more accurately who, Baizhu was referring to.

"Y-Yeah, I guess you could say that," Ajax stuttered out the vaguest answer he could as his full concentration was dead set on driving his blood away from his reddening face. He tried to switch his focus away from Baizhu's growing smirk which was not helping at all. His eyes landed on Qiqi, who was idly playing with the ends of Baizhu's long hair by weaving mini-braids with her fingers. She was in her own little world, such adult concepts foreign to her adolescent mind. Ignorance was truly bliss.

Ajax heard Baizhu begin to talk again, so he forced his gaze back onto the man to not pass off as rude.

"Agreeing to let a complete stranger live in the same house as him... a risk that probably wasn't thought through very well, if you ask me, though I can't say I'm surprised. That Zhongli has always been an interesting one, don't you think?" Baizhu snickered, speaking as if he and Zhongli were old pals. Judging from how often his talkative roommate chatted about everything from his co-workers to the cat he always saw on his way to work (and Ajax would do the same in return), yet had never once mentioned his neighbours to him at all, Ajax was pretty sure they were not that close.

"I don't know what I would have done without him. And he's a genuinely great guy! Looks great, cooks great, smells great. Everything is great!" Something inside Ajax just shut down after he carelessly vomited out those words. Oh, how he wished he could wilt away on the spot and decompose into the earth so that he could be reborn anew into someone who was not a total dumbass. So much for not coming off as a creep.

However, the reaction on Baizhu's face was one of piqued intrigue rather than judgmental disgust, like an expression a gossiping wine aunt would make whilst listening in on a scandal. He pressed on, "Any other things you've found out about him that you like?"

This guy was absolutely teasing him, Ajax bemoaned. He was supposed to be fast asleep on his bed right now, but here he was at the door to his apartment, body throbbing all over with sores from last night. He racked his brain for a way to slip out of this situation when he suddenly felt someone's presence emerging from behind. The familiar scent of cedarwood along with the rustling of plastic bags was all the signs Ajax needed to know who it was without looking.

"Oh, Ajax. You're up earlier than usual," Zhongli commented, before turning to the other man and acknowledging his presence, "Greetings, Baizhu. I see that you are doing well."

Baizhu shot him a disappointed look in return, "No need to be so formal, Zhongli. Being exes doesn't mean you have to automatically treat me like one of your co-workers."

Ajax physically coughed, hard.

Never in his life had he thought that one sentence could flip his entire worldview upside down so easily, but it happened. Zhongli and Baizhu. Exes? Ajax did not know what to make of it. Was this man an ideal representation of what Zhongli sought out in a romantic partner? Well, that could not fully be the case since they had broken up who knows how long ago, which he knew he should not pry into, but Baizhu was the one who dug this bombshell up in the first place. Ajax's mind was spinning and on the verge of collapse. However, somewhere in the back of it was a sliver of sanity that rationally asked himself: Why was he reacting so intensely to such a revelation?

Ajax whipped his head to face Zhongli, waiting for any sign of acknowledgement that what Baizhu just revealed was in fact real and not part of his twisted masochistic imagination.

"Don't you also work for Morax Holdings?" Zhongli replied without even batting an eye, while Ajax felt like he needed some time to go and sit down. He could not tell if Zhongli glossing over that very outstanding detail was a curse or a blessing in disguise.

"You know that's just a side job,” Baizhu waved it off with a laugh.

Just as Zhongli was about to say something, Ajax suddenly interjected.

"So does that mean you're not dating anyone right now?" The words slipped out of Ajax's tongue without an ounce of hesitation or careful consideration. He would have slapped his hand over his mouth from sheer shock at his audacity if it were not for how ridiculous that would look. Goodness knew what compelled him to say that. Ajax's eyes darted back and forth between Baizhu and Zhongli, trying to read their faces and assess how much damage control he needed to do.

Baizhu just looked even more tickled, his eyes flashing a knowing look with a hand on his hip. Zhongli, on the other hand, had a mildly stunned expression on his face and something else in his eyes that Ajax did not quite recognise, before he sighed.

"You could say that," was what Zhongli quickly settled with. An unexplainable weight was lifted off Ajax's shoulders upon hearing that answer.

"Zhongli-xiansheng, may I have some cocogoat milk?" Ajax almost forgot about the girl — Qiqi — who had been quietly hiding behind Baizhu the entire time. She was now in front of his roommate, making cute grabby motions with her outstretched hands. The subtle smile that Zhongli gave her was one of such immense adoration that Ajax wished he was on the receiving end, or at least took a picture of it for him to cherish. 

"Of course, Qiqi. It just so happens that I bought some from the grocery store," Zhongli gingerly placed the bags on the ground and rummaged through one of them. He then fished out a small carton of coconut milk, still cold with condensation clinging to the packaging.

Securing the carton with her two tiny hands, Qiqi took the straw out of its wrapping and poked it through the foil. As she took her first sip, her tense shoulders slumped down and her eyes shut in satisfaction, savouring the sweet taste. Baizhu watched her as his eyes also crinkled up in delight.

"What do you say to Zhongli-xiansheng?" Baizhu prompted, gently patting the girl's shoulder which got her to stop drinking. Qiqi's head turned towards her guardian, confused, and a few seconds passed before she got the message.

She straightened her posture and did a tiny bow towards Zhongli, "Thank... you."

A light chuckle escaped Zhongli's lips. Qiqi was always so polite when expressing her gratitude, and it never failed to charm him. Zhongli did a small bow in return.

Pleased, Baizhu nudged the child back towards his apartment door, "Come along now. We don't want to disturb the neighbours any longer."

Qiqi's voice saying "Bye Zhongli-xiansheng and orange man..." could be faintly heard before the door clicked shut.

Ajax let out a sigh he did not know he was even holding in.

"I'm glad that you and Baizhu are getting along well. It was a bit rude of me to forget to introduce you to your neighbours," Zhongli admitted, still glancing in the direction of their neighbours' apartment.

"Seems like they know you pretty well," Ajax said as his subconscious added on, A little too well. Who in their right mind would choose to continue living next door to their ex? Someone who had yet to get over the relationship, most likely. That train of thought left an unpleasant taste in Ajax's mouth that could not be washed away easily with toothpaste. He knew it was not any of his business, but he felt sick to the stomach for some reason.

"Don't tell me you've got the hots for him." Rosaria’s remark from weeks ago echoed the loudest in the storm that was his frenzied thoughts. Ajax desperately wanted to pin the blame on her for planting that dangerous idea in his head, but his heart knew that there was some underlying truth to it.

Ajax would have been completely swept up in the storm if not for the calming voice of the person at the eye of it.

"Could you help me with the groceries?" Zhongli asked, snapping Ajax from his daze.

"Oh, right! Sorry," Ajax immediately scrambled to pick up all of the grocery bags from the floor. He also took this as his cue to swallow down any questions he had regarding the off-handed comment from Baizhu.

Zhongli had wanted to carry some of the bags himself, but he appreciated Ajax's gesture regardless. "What were the both of you talking about?"

"Oh, you know, the usual neighbour stuff," Ajax shrugged as he entered the living room. "The girl came over to ask for what she calls 'cocogoat' milk."

"Qiqi has a simple yet imaginative mind. It's hard not to indulge in her innocence," Zhongli wore that same smile he did when he handed her the coconut milk. Seeing it made Ajax's heart soar once again, even though it was not meant for him. It was apparent that Zhongli really doted on the girl, and now he had figured out what the random boxes of coconut milk in the fridge were for.

The whole... thing between Zhongli and Baizhu was still an enigma that was probably best not to dwell on for too long. Unfortunately, Ajax's mind had already wandered back into the storm as he was helping Zhongli stock up the kitchen cabinets.

Was what they had a one-time fling? Did they first meet here or did they move in here together? Wait, what if they used to be married to each other and Qiqi was their adopted child? Ajax decided that he did not want to think about anything for a while.

"I think I'm gonna catch up on my sleep."

"Go ahead. I'll wake you up once breakfast is ready."

Ajax let his brain switch to autopilot and his legs moved on their own, finally bringing him towards his room while Zhongli started busying himself with the stove. Flopping face first into his mattress, he groaned into his pillow from a mixture of exhaustion and embarrassment.

Saturday mornings were the fucking worst.

#🐺🐺🐺.writing #writing #writeblr #tartali #tartali smut #tartali nsfw #childe x zhongli #childe x zhongli smut #childe x zhongli nsfw #tartaglia x zhongli #tartaglia x zhongli smut #tartaglia x zhongli nsfw #zhongchi #zhongchi smut #zhongchi nsfw #zhongli x childe #zhongli x childe smut #zhongli x childe nsfw #zhongli x tartaglia #zhongli x tartaglia smut #zhongli x tartaglia nsfw #genshin impact #genshin impat smut #genshin impact nsfw

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

OH CELESTIA! | two (part two)

fic m.list | previous chapter | next chapter

wc: 3466

cw(s)/tw(s): mentions of bdsm

21 January, Friday

Ajax breathed out a long sigh of relief as the last of the customers trickled out of the club. It had been a particularly exhausting night: A drunk patron had tried to climb onto the stage during his performance, which somehow escalated into an all out brawl on the club floor before multiple patrons were thrown out of the joint. However, despite that, Ajax probably saw the largest amount of tips he ever received since he started this job and he was not complaining. He spent some time picking out crumpled wads of dollar notes that were plastered against the sweaty skin on his chest in between the lace ribbon criss crossing down his very exposed front. Some of the notes had even found their way into the back of his booty shorts and honestly he would not even be surprised if more slipped out of his asscrack when he was showering later. After he had fished out all the notes he could find on his body, he went into the back rooms to snatch up his haversack and hoodie. He shrugged on the hoodie, not even bothering to zip up the front. It was Celestia after all, no one would even bat an eye at his bold outfit. 

"Great work out there. You alright?" Ajax's mentor squeezed his shoulder as they passed each other at the entrance of the club. 

Despite his limbs feeling like deadweight and his mind too exhausted to even string a single intelligible sentence together, Ajax managed a tired smile, "Yeah, thanks Rosaria." 

"That's good. We have to remain professional even during skirmishes like that. You'll get used to it. Anyway, rest up, you've earned it."

Ajax nodded and plodded out of the club. The sudden blast of cold early morning air hitting his skin shocked him awake, causing goosebumps to rise across his chest and stomach. He stood there for a while, savouring the refreshing chilliness that was a stark contrast to the muggy air in the club. A small part of him wondered what his roommate was up to in these wee hours. The BDSM website surfaced in his mind and Ajax raised his brows. He quickly stopped the flood of images before they could start. Could it be that he was 'busy' on Fridays too? That meant he would probably be around this part of town too. Well, he definitely was not going to stick around to find out. Nope. He had to get home before Zhongli if that was the case. The Third-Round Knockout (or, as Ajax has dubbed, the BDSM sex dungeon) was on the outskirts of Celestia so Ajax could take a longer route around that area if necessary. 

The sound of footfalls coming to a halt beside him pulled Ajax out of his thoughts. He absentmindedly looked to his side. 

"Ajax?" 

Standing under the streetlamp was an all too familiar silhouette. Ajax's blood ran cold.

Oh my god, Ajax zipped his hoodie up as fast as lightning, but he knew it was already too late. Zhongli's stunned gaze traced his movements, his posture frozen stiff. Zhongli was clad in a trench coat and turtleneck, hair slightly more mussed up than usual — a dead giveaway. Ajax knew for a fact that just minutes ago, Zhongli was tied up in those same ropes he saw that morning, cheeks flushed and panting harshly. Ajax gulped.

For a moment, both of them stood and stared at each other, too shocked to say anything. Under the next streetlamp over, there was a stripper girl flirting with her patron. She took him by the arm and sashayed past Zhongli and Ajax, her giggles and the patron's idle chatter fading into the distance.  

Spurred by the need to break the silence, Ajax mentally kicked himself into action. 

"Xiansheng, I can explain—"

"...Lovely evening huh, Ajax." 

Both parties looked at each other again in surprise as they spoke at the same time. After another beat of awkward hesitation, Zhongli led the second attempt. 

"Didn't expect to see you out so late." 

"Me neither," Ajax conceded. 

"...I happen to be on my way back, would you like to join me?" 

No, but actually yes. Although Ajax was tired as hell, he knew he would not be able to look Zhongli in the eye during the entire walk home. Not after knowing where Zhongli had been, knowing Zhongli knew what he had been doing. He needed a reason to lag behind for a little bit. 

"Sure — wait. Actually, I need to pop by the convenience store for a bit." The perfect excuse. Ajax was already walking backwards as he spoke. 

"That's alright. I'll go with you," Zhongli blurted out, surprising himself as well.

"Aha... uhm, okay." Damn it. 

A heavy atmosphere hung over them like a sopping wet towel after that.

They stopped by a nearby convenience store just off the corner of the street that was frequented by many patrons and workers of Celestia. Upon opening the fridge door, Ajax caught a glimpse of his full face of bedazzled makeup along with the glitter in his hair in his reflection, and a small part of him died a little. He threw a discreet glance at Zhongli who had picked up a cup noodle and frowned in distaste as he turned it around to look at its ingredients. He was thankful that Zhongli kept mercifully quiet about his makeup, but it definitely changed the director's impression of him. After what seemed like a breakthrough in their relationship at the Three Round Knockout, he hoped this would not scare Zhongli away. They were merely just starting to get closer as well... 

Ajax sighed and bought an onigiri on the pretext that he was hungry (although he never liked onigiri) as Zhongli browsed the magazine section. 

Their trip back was uneventful. Both parties tried to maintain light banter but weak attempts at jokes would come out strained and laughter often receded into tense silence which made Ajax wish he was anywhere but here. As he tried hard to push along their conversation (it was like beating a dead horse at this point) the same thoughts whirled around in his head: Why didn't he zip up his jacket? How could he be so cocky? Why was he like this? 

Ajax sneaked a glance at Zhongli's face but his expression was as placid and neutral as always. He was suddenly a mischievous fifteen year old again, taking a trip with his form teacher to the staff room to receive another earful. "You're such a kind and bright kid, Ajax. Why aren't you like this in class?" Ajax wasn't a problem child, he was just too playful for his own good. The teacher would accept his somber apology and then send him on his way.  

If only things were that simple now. 

There was an impenetrable force field around Zhongli, no room for Ajax to even explain himself, no room for understanding. He nearly tripped over himself several times just trying to catch Zhongli's eye as Zhongli deliberately looked away each time.

After what seemed like ten years, they finally reached the apartment. Zhongli wordlessly pushed open the door to let Ajax enter first before stepping in after him. The door shut slowly behind them, and Ajax numbly watched light pooling in from the corridor slowly shrink to a mere sliver of light before disappearing completely. They both stood in darkness for a moment, silence so loud that it rang in their ears. Ajax waited with bated breath, dreading what Zhongli was about to say next. He rapidly ran through his list of excuses but they were evasive or weak at best. He could not imagine returning to the life they had before, not after this. Maybe Zhongli would chase him out, tell him he was not comfortable with him being around anymore. Then where would he go? There were no other places to rent, he could not simply pack up and go back to Snezhnaya — he had only started lessons a few weeks ago... 

Zhongli sighed as he slowly bent down to remove his shoes. Ajax froze, waiting for the bomb to fall. Then, he spoke.

"Could you get the light?" 

"Ah. Uh, yeah." 

The studio lights came on after some fumbling around on Ajax's end. For some reason, Zhongli had turned towards him. If he stayed still enough, Zhongli might forget his existence and ignore him for the rest of tonight.

Well, if Zhongli could even ignore the eye-catching makeup lining his eyelids and glitter in his hair that were shimmering brightly under the lights.

"Sorry, I need to hang up my coat," he gestured towards the coat rack just behind him. Ajax jumped. 

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I'll, uh..." he scampered further into the living room, feeling a little stupid as he watched Zhongli hang up his coat, not knowing what to do with himself. Zhongli was definitely trying to ignore the white elephant in the room, although it loomed noiselessly over them both. Ajax forced himself to say something. 

"About just now, that outfit was..." Ajax faltered as Zhongli turned his attention to him, eyebrows furrowed with attentiveness. Performing in front of an audience was easier than this — standing under Zhongli's spotlight made his confidence disperse like dandelions in the wind. He subconsciously looked away.

"Nothing." 

Zhongli nodded and turned back to readjusting his coat on the rack. He was being unusually particular about the coat placement, smoothing out small folds and fussing over nothing. 

"You should opt to wear something warmer next time." 

"I — what?" 

"It's still quite chilly in Liyue this time of year, and it's especially frigid at night. We wouldn't want you to catch a cold." 

"Uh, yeah, I mean, I don't usually wear it outside. It's just that I was tired so…" Ajax's brain was melting into a soup. This entire conversation felt surreal.

"Really? I notice that you wear it all the time, though." 

"Huh?" Don't tell me he actually knew all along — Ajax needed to move out. Immediately, before the embarrassment killed him first.

"Your hoodie. Particularly the one you're wearing right now." 

Right. He was talking about the hoodie. Somehow that made Ajax feel worse. 

"Y-Yeah, you're right," Ajax managed a weak laugh, shrugging ineffectually. He needed to remove himself from this situation, fast. He faked a yawn. "Man, I'm pooped. Goodnight, Xiansheng." 

"Ah, goodnight Ajax—"

Ajax had already moved near the door of his room, striding with stiff and hurried steps. He promptly shut the door behind him and held his breath until he heard the faint thud of Zhongli's room door closing. 

He wanted to hole himself up in his room and never come out. It was one thing that he knew about Zhongli's secret sexcapades but this was another. He did not even want to think about how he was going to explain himself to Zhongli tomorrow. Ajax collapsed face first onto his bed, stuffed his face into his pillow and screamed until he was breathless. 

He woke up the next morning dreading the conversation over breakfast, but Zhongli sat beside him at the countertop and everything was back to normal. The night was never brought up. 

The following Friday came around, and the moment the club's doors were closed for the night, Ajax grabbed his makeup bag and darted into the dressing room. He stripped off his mask and grimaced as he realised how much sweat had built up underneath it. He cursed as he began to squirm out of his sequined corset, straining his aching arms to get a grip of the lace strings on his back. One of the most prestigious clubs in Celestia, Angel's Share was known for its glamorous strippers who adorned masquerade masks and over-the-top attires aligned to the dungeon-and-dragons fantasy theme. Such attires meant hours getting ready and a rather inconvenient time getting out of them. Unfortunately, Ajax's body was worn ragged after a night of performing and his shaky fingers refused to cooperate with him. After several weak tugs at the strings, Ajax gave up removing his costume entirely and moved on to the more pressing matter at hand. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, exhausted at the prospect of scrubbing off the layers of caked-on makeup. He looked dismally at his bottle of makeup remover and swished the little liquid left in it. That probably was not going to be enough to get rid of everything. 

Rosaria walked in on Ajax aggressively scrubbing his face with a soapy rag. She looked down at him disapprovingly through the mirror as she approached. 

"You're going to scrub all your skin off if you keep that up, buddy." 

Ajax sighed and looked up at her. His face had become a smeared palette of red and mauve with rhinestones askew. Tiredly, he responded, "I ran out of makeup remover." 

Rosaria rolled her eyes, reached into her clutch bag and pulled out her own makeup kit. With a surprisingly gentle but firm grip, she took Ajax by the jaw to turn his face towards her and proceeded to dab a cotton pad soaked in makeup remover over his cheeks. 

"You could've asked, silly. Anyway," his mentor pulled back and raised a brow, "Since when did you bother with cleaning up after shift?" 

Ajax cringed as he recalled last week's run-in with Zhongli, "My roommate saw me and it got kinda awkward."  

"Don't they know that you're in this line of work?" 

"No, I haven't gotten around to telling him yet I guess." 

Usually, Ajax hardly cared about gossip against him, but when it came to Zhongli, he noticed that he was extra careful about his behaviour as if he was afraid of slipping up. It was not the case that Zhongli had a particularly critical character like Rosaria… and that was what made him confused. Zhongli was a man of patience and kindness, and although his formalities made him slightly distant, his smiles were the rare kind that drew people in by how utterly genuine they were. It was the same for conversations with him. Some of his words were so embarrassingly honest that it was as if for that short instance, Ajax would get a glimpse behind the curtains of his polished facade, but as quickly as they lifted, the curtains would fall back in place again, leaving Ajax dazzled by the memory of it before he could even respond. 

Moments from their dinner at the Third-Round Knockout would resurface in his mind from time to time and Ajax tried hard not to feed into any romantic fantasies, but in his determined ignorance, those small embers of possible attraction kindled a flame that had steadily grown into a hearty fire and before he knew it, he found himself thinking about Zhongli more than he would admit. Sometimes, he wondered if Zhongli would reciprocate if he, hypothetically, asked him out on a second date. 

Rosaria leaned back momentarily, amusement twinkling in her eyes, "Hoho, that's interesting. What's with that expression?" 

"What expression?" Ajax asked, feeling incredibly tense as if Rosaria's piercing gaze had seen right through him. He cleared his throat and tried to play it off cool.

Using her foot, Rosaria hooked a small bin from the corner of the dressing room and threw away a soiled cotton pad before fishing out a new one to continue working on Ajax's face.

"Don't tell me you've got the hots for him." 

She said this with such a nonchalant attitude that Ajax's mind went blank for a moment. His gaze snapped up to see Rosaria's small frown of concentration as she scrubbed a particularly stubborn mark above his brow bone. 

"Where did that come from?" Ajax shot back, blood pumping loudly in his ears.

"C'mon, would you really be here ripping your face to shreds if you didn't care about what he thought about you?" 

Ajax jerked his head back, a grin coming over his face in reflex, "Honestly, I think you're doing more damage to my face right now. I'll be bleeding by the time you're done." 

Rosaria raised her brows, unimpressed, "It hurts because you already rubbed your skin raw when I walked in. Can you imagine if I hadn't caught you in the midst of your stupidity?" 

Her red manicured nails pressed against his cheeks as she pulled him in again. "Anyway, hold still. If you're willing to go to such lengths for your friend then you can afford to agonise for a bit longer." 

"W-Well, maybe I just want to keep my image as a normal college student 'cause he's a nice roommate and I don't want to make things weird." Even to Ajax, it sounded like he was an idiot in denial. He knew it was a flimsy excuse that he wholeheartedly tried to believe; he was not ready to pick apart what he felt about his roommate just yet. Their relationship had become increasingly more complicated ever since he set foot into Zhongli's room that one fateful morning. 

"I also saw you two at the convenience store last week. You kept giving him weird glances with that pining look."

"What pining look? Also, you're a creep for stalking me."

After a short pause of Rosaria rubbing the last bit of the makeup off Ajax's face and the occasional 'ow' from her victim, she threw the final cotton puff into the bin.

"Hey now, that's egocentric of you to think I went there just to spy on my junior. I've got more important things to worry about," she gave him a pat on the cheek to signal that she was done. Rosaria flicked her hand through Ajax's curls as she continued, "Anyway, that glitter isn't going to come off that easily. I'm sure he'd be pretty chill if he knew you were a stripper anyway." 

"He doesn't know that yet. I mean, I haven't told him. Also how do you know he'll be fine with it?" Ajax was honestly doubtful that his mentor could get a good read of Zhongli's character from just a few minutes of seeing him. 

Rosaria blew a lock of hair out of her eyes, "Trust me, I'm good at reading people." 

He was not sure whether or not he could trust her so-called skills in reading people right off the bat with utmost confidence. 

"Uh, okay, yeah. Thanks for the help," Ajax picked up his haversack and got up to leave, but as he was about to walk through the door, he spun around and pointed an accusatory finger at Rosaria as he added pointedly, "And for the record, I don't like him." 

"Sure, sure, see ya later lover boy," Rosaria smirked like a cat that got the cream. 

"Don't like him!" Ajax yelled as he walked down the corridor towards the back door.

"Yeah, totally!" he heard Rosaria's distant and muffled laughter. 

Ajax shook his head and stepped out into the small back alley. This time, he remembered to zip up his hoodie before he left.

That Friday, he had planned to leave earlier so that the same incident would not repeat again but because he took so long removing makeup, it was all for naught. Instead, as he emerged from the dark alley into the warmly lit pavement of the main street, he found Zhongli standing under the same streetlamp. They locked eyes and Zhongli looked away, pretending to look at something across the road. Had he been waiting for him? For someone so suave with his words, he was surprisingly skittish. Fondness swelled in his heart as embarrassment flushed across on his cheeks. Ajax could not resist smiling as he walked over. 

"Heya, Xiansheng, what a coincidence bumping into you again huh?" 

Zhongli returned his grin with a warm smile, "Indeed. Shall we walk home?" 

"Yeah." 

They walked side by side, enjoying each other's company. Conversation flowed easier this time and gradually, as one topic rolled over into another, the tension between the two melted away. 

It quickly became a routine for them; finding each other under the orange glow of the streetlamp bearing shy smiles and secrets. Over time, a silent agreement was formed that they would 'coincidentally' bump into each other on the street under the same streetlight every Friday night and walk home together. If one of them was late, the other would just happen to rack up an excuse for loitering around and no one would question it. Not once did any of them offer any reasons why they were in this seedy part of town. They were sure the other party knew already... probably, but if no one brought it up, there was no reason to talk about it. Neither of them were prepared to have that conversation anyway.

#🐺🐺🐺.writing #writing #writeblr #tartali #tartali smut #tartali nsfw #childe x zhongli #childe x zhongli smut #childe x zhongli nsfw #tartaglia x zhongli #tartaglia x zhongli smut #tartaglia x zhongli nsfw #zhongchi #zhongchi smut #zhongchi nsfw #zhongli x childe #zhongli x childe smut #zhongli x childe nsfw #zhongli x tartaglia #zhongli x tartaglia smut #zhongli x tartaglia nsfw #genshin impact #genshin impact smut #genshin impact nsfw

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

OH CELESTIA! | two (part one)

fic m.list | previous chapter | next chapter

wc: 4749

cw/tw(s): depictions/mentions of bdsm

a/n: Sorry for the long wait. admin omega got themselves into a cult, admin beta got mauled by a bear (again), and admin alpha was MIA for a while, but all is good now! /j On a serious note, we may have gone overboard and written 18k words for this chapter, so we decided to split it up into four separate parts for easier reading! Enjoy the food, and remember to say itadakimasu (let's eat) before reading and go chisou sama deshita (thank you for the meal) after reading!

It was only when he felt the bright glow of sunlight falling on his eyelids that Ajax realised he had dozed off. He opened his eyes slowly, faintly remembering he had collapsed onto the bed immediately after he got back from pole dancing training. Every single muscle in his aching body screamed as he slowly lowered his legs one at a time over the side of the bed. Although he was only half awake, he still had the sense to pull up the front of the hoodie to hide his costume that was peeping a little above the collar before he made his way to the bathroom to get cleaned up. 

As he walked into the living room, he was greeted by the sweet and inviting scent of vanilla pancakes and the sound of oil hissing gently in a pan. 

"Smells delicious," Ajax commented as he settled onto a chair next to the kitchen island.

"Fun night out last night?" Zhongli's back was facing him as he worked on breakfast. Ajax's eyes snapped wide open as the morning fog that clouded them dissipated immediately. Did he find out that I was secretly taking up a stripper job? He shook his head. No, he couldn't have. Ajax was not ready for Zhongli to discover his secret life, even though he already knew too much about Zhongli's. 

"Oh, uh, yeah. Hope I didn't wake you up when I got back," Ajax laughed with a little too much energy for the morning. 

Zhongli hummed, indicating that he did not mind. He slid the pancakes onto two plates and pushed one of them towards Ajax before settling into the chair next to him with his own share. Now that Zhongli was in such close proximity with him, Ajax was keenly aware of the older man's figure. The gingerhead could not help but let his mind wander back to a few nights ago, when he had caught a full view of Zhongli in those red shibari ropes (even if it was for a few seconds). He gave his roommate a subtle side glance, scanning his body up and down for any signs of those ropes underneath his current homewear, to which he found none. Either he was not wearing them right then, or his clothes were so thick that they were hiding their delineation. Something reddish-brown by Zhongli's slightly exposed wrists from the long-sleeved sweater he was wearing caught Ajax's attention, causing him to shift his attention over to the exposed skin. His eyes widened when his gaze settled on the man's wrists: there was no mistaking the bruises on his pale skin.

Those were never there before, Ajax noted, a slight crease forming between his brows as he tried to pinpoint their origin. His thoughts stilled on one possibility, Are they from his… ropes? Sultry images of Zhongli and his wrists tied up in those red ropes flooded his imagination, causing his cheeks to flush bright red.

"I happen to come back quite late on Fridays myself as well. I used to engage in many social gatherings back in the day," Zhongli's voice plucked the younger male out of his thoughts and the latter quickly focused on the appetising stack of pancakes sitting before him, purposefully tilting his head lower to hide his cherry-red cheeks.

"You? Parties? No offense, by the way," Ajax stuffed a thick chunk of pancake into his mouth. Zhongli smiled. 

"I wouldn't call them parties, per se." Ajax watched as Zhongli absentmindedly ran a thumb across his collarbones, where Ajax remembered vivid red strings strung across milky unblemished skin, Zhongli's piercing ember gaze rising to meet his own in the mirror — Ajax choked on his food. 

"Are you alright?" Zhongli hurriedly passed him a glass of water as Ajax coughed up his mouthful of pancake. He waved his hand dismissively to show that he was alright but his wheezing coughs didn't help his case.  

After that strange encounter with Zhongli, Ajax felt the dynamics in their relationship shift slightly although it could also be all in his head. They held polite banter as per normal, but their gazes would always hold for a beat too long as if Zhongli was waiting for him to bring it up. The awkward tension was worsened with the knowledge of Zhongli's secret 'attire' hidden under his clothes that Ajax was almost certain he wore at all times. However, not wanting to embarrass Zhongli, Ajax decided not to bring it up. And so just like that, time passed but the matter was not forgotten. They continued to maintain their images as a perky university student and a sophisticated director but several instances have made it harder and harder to ignore the tension each time.

---

16 January, Sunday

It had been a few weeks since Ajax had started performing regularly at the strip club. He was not one to toot his own horn, but he had made a couple of extra appearances on the main pole and was regarded as a "favourite newbie" among the cast of performers. Thanks to the increased flow of customers he brought in, coupled with the extra cash patrons had slid into his lacy lingerie, Ajax had enough money to splurge on two at a fancy place.

I should treat Zhongli, considering all the home-cooked meals he's made for me so far, Ajax thought as he sauntered back home that day.

Just as he stepped into the apartment, he heard the click of a door. Out emerged Zhongli, hair wet which he was trying to dry with a soft towel. It was one of the few instances he wasn't wearing a dress shirt and Ajax was quietly surprised by how good he looked in casual wear. Catching himself before he stared too long at his roommate, Ajax grinned and approached Zhongli, "Perfect timing, Xiansheng! I wanted to tell you something."

Zhongli quirked an eyebrow at the younger male, curious about what he was going to say next, "What is it?"

Ajax's smile seemed to stretch even wider (in pride regarding what he was going to say, maybe), "Dinner tonight is on me! I've got a big paycheck this month and I'd like to thank you for all you've done for me. So, I'm treating you to dinner!"

A soft smile spread across Zhongli's lips, "There's no need for such formalities between us, Ajax. I only did what a good roommate should do."

"And now let me do just that," Ajax said, "I found a posh place that serves Liyuen food that I think you might enjoy."

A couple of hours later, Zhongli found himself standing in front of Third-Round Knockout, a popular restaurant that was snazzy in nature and had a wide but pricey selection of award-worthy food. It seemed a little strange for the location of such a classy restaurant to be near the outskirts of a shady place, but Ajax decided to play it up as an innocent kid and pretend he did not know how 'dirty' an area Celestia really was.

"Ta-dah! Here we are," Ajax waved his arms at the entrance of the restaurant as if he had just performed a magic trick. 

Zhongli quietly stepped out of the cab and stared at the establishment; which was not quite the reaction Ajax had hoped to receive. He thought Zhongli would compliment the swanky look of the place or thank him again for bringing him here. Instead, the man just stood there, frozen like a statue. 

"Uh... Xiansheng?" Ajax waved his hand lightly in front of Zhongli's face, "You look traumatised or something."

That snapped Zhongli out of his trance and he shook his head, smoothening down the front of his dress shirt although it was crease-free. 

"Oh, I'm alright. But Ajax..." Zhongli panned his gaze over to Ajax slowly with a hesitant expression on his face, "May I ask who recommended this establishment to you?"

"Oh, from my co-workers," Ajax replied breezily, like there was no problem at all. He definitely could not tell his roommate that he spotted it while he was on the way to his workplace. He paused, noting Zhongli's exquisite taste and how he might not be familiar with such a remote restaurant, as well as the seemingly agonised look on the man's face, "I promise this restaurant isn't all that bad. No one had anything bad to say about the food." He then stared at Zhongli pointedly, "And don't worry about the bill. Like I said, I'll pay for dinner."

Before Zhongli could even say anything else, Ajax walked straight to the door, where a server was standing and waiting for them. Zhongli sighed but still followed Ajax's lead, allowing both of them to be guided towards an empty table. After both males had settled down, the server handed them a menu each, "Here's the menu. Once you're ready to place your orders, just press the buzzer right here." He gestured towards the little buzzer by the side of the table, then left.

"Ooh, there's quite a few options here! Let's see..." Ajax skimmed his eyes over the menu, genuinely excited to try the spicy options available.

Usually, Zhongli would not have found himself at this section of the establishment, but he decided to go along with it and follow through Ajax's dinner plans and opened the menu in his hands carefully. He looked over at the menu and then looked at Ajax cautiously, trying to sieve for any possible, telling clues that pointed to Ajax knowing what else this establishment was also known for.

"Are you ready to order?" Ajax flicked his eyes up from the menu in his hands to meet Zhongli's, excitement evident in his cerulean eyes. If Ajax were a puppy, Zhongli was sure his tail would have been wagging furiously in sheer enthusiasm.

It seems he really has no clue about it at all, a gentle smile spread across his lips as a soft chuckle left his lips, officially marking his roommate out of the clear. He nodded, and Ajax reached over to press the buzzer to call for a waiter. Once the waiter arrived, the pair recited their orders and the waiter told them that their food would be prepared shortly.

"Excuse me, Ajax, I need to use the restroom," Zhongli said and rose from his seat.

"Sure! No worries," Ajax grinned and watched Zhongli head towards the bathroom before looking around.

To tell the truth, Ajax had already gotten a hunch about this place the moment he learnt about it (there was no way such a restaurant would exist in a red-light district, for goodness' sake), but he had no clue as to what dirty secret it was hiding. In addition, Zhongli being cooped in the bathroom presented an opportunity for Ajax to go snooping around. He knew such a chance for him to even step foot into this restaurant would be hard to come by, so he had to nab every chance bestowed upon him. Carefully, he got out of his seat and strolled around casually, looking at the interior of the restaurant as if he were appraising highly sought-after artworks. Just then, he spotted a door which was ornamented a little differently that was close to the bathroom doors (An oddly strategic placement, he thought), and he spared no time in reaching for the knob and twisting it. Slowly, he pushed it open and peered behind the door: There was a dimly-lit staircase that led to some sort of basement.

I hope nothing shady like drug trafficking goes on here, Ajax thought as he started walking down the staircase, allowing the door to close shut behind him with a low thud. As he approached the base of the stairs, he was greeted by a burly bouncer who was glaring at him through shades with crossed arms and a pronounced frown on his lips. Now, that was a person Ajax would not dare to mess with.

"You're here for the services?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"I — yes?" Ajax was caught off-guard, but he tried to maintain a I-know-what-I-am-doing look on his face. Services? What services? He was panicking internally as all the suspense- and thriller-based television shows he had watched flooded his brain, Murder services? Body disposal services? Like those mafia movies I've seen on TV? Despite the millions of ideas swimming in his mind that made him want to just do a U-turn and leave that basement, he stood straighter and held his chin up higher to add on that aura of confidence that he hoped and prayed the bouncer would buy and tell him explain what those "services" were.

The bouncer seemed to have noted his slight confusion mixed in his confident demeanor, so he simply reached into his pocket and pulled a card out, then handed it to Ajax and said, "If you're interested, just head on to the website here to register." The card was made of manila high quality paper, empty except for a single string of black cursive font in the centre that was the website link. The bouncer jabbed a finger at the website link which was hardly readable in the dim lighting.

"Awesome, thanks!" Ajax pocketed the card into his sweater pocket, then gave the bouncer a friendly grin before turning around and making his way up the stairs, clutching onto the card tightly in his pocket.

Once he had exited the basement and was back in the restaurant premises, he let out an exhale of relief before regaining his composure and walking towards the table he was seated at, only to find that Zhongli had returned from his toilet break. As he approached the table, Zhongli lifted his head and nodded, acknowledging his arrival, "Come, sit. The food arrived just a while ago."

Ajax sucked in a breath, Forget all that you saw down there. You're having dinner with Xiansheng right now. Act natural. He smiled and lowered his gaze onto the platter of food that was on the table, now all-too-interested on the appetising spread of noodles, meats, and vegetables, "Wow! The food looks really good! Dig in, Xiansheng!"

Zhongli grinned at Ajax's use of the former's mother tongue as he picked up his pair of chopsticks, "Your Liyuen is improving."

"'s all thanks to your guidance," Ajax said as he speared a piece of tofu with his fork.

It was only when they were working through the shared steamboat that it struck Ajax; he had naively invited Zhongli to what felt like a dinner date.

His fork hovered over the steaming surface of the soup as he sobered up from the thought. Nervously, he looked up at Zhongli who had deftly picked out a piece of meat and carefully held his bowl underneath as he lifted the meat into his mouth, after which he used the corner of a handkerchief to dab his chin. Even at mealtimes, he observed proper etiquette, Ajax noted as he sheepishly reflected on his manners during the dinner so far. He ate like a typical college student — that is, like a starving dog who treated every meal like his last. Before the thought of this outing being a date had dawned on him, Ajax had been shoving dish after dish into his bottomless stomach faster than a hotdog eating champion while Zhongli was kind enough to tolerate it. And that was not even the main issue here. 

Ajax took in his surroundings for the second time and noticed that they were surrounded by young couples. If Zhongli was aware of what a romantic place this was and had agreed to come, did that mean he was expecting to pursue something more with Ajax than just being roommates? 

He looked at his roommate from across the table. It was not his first time admiring how striking and put together this man was, but every once in a while, the same awestruck emotions Ajax felt when he first met Zhongli would hit him like a dawning realisation. Right there and then was one of those occasions. Zhongli was wearing a black dress shirt tonight, unbuttoned at the collar and without the usual necktie he wore when he went out. (Ajax discretely noted that there was not any noticeable outline of shibari ropes underneath the shirt.) Zhongli possessed the characteristically fine features of Liyuens: His chin came to a sharp point and his low set brows hung over angular eyes. Upon their first introduction, the first thing that enraptured Ajax was Zhongli's gaze. Under the warm glow of the restaurant lights, his eyes were the colour of aged whisky, so alluring and intoxicating that Ajax found it hard to maintain eye contact. No doubt Zhongli was breathtakingly handsome; Ajax would not be surprised if he had a secret office fanclub — but as a partner? He would be a perfect textbook boyfriend. He was considerate, kind, cooked well, refined... anyone would be lucky to have him. Compared to him, Ajax was... well, ordinary? 

He wondered if Zhongli thought at length about him as well, and what he saw in Ajax that made him interesting enough to accept his dinner date. 

"What's wrong, Ajax? You've hardly touched the steamboat." Zhongli finally spoke, noticing his roommate being uncharacteristically silent. 

"Ah," Ajax immediately delved into the hot pot and loaded his bowl with food before setting it down again. "Uh, it's nothing. How do you find the restaurant?" 

Zhongli studied Ajax for a moment over the lip of his cup of tea as he took a sip. It had only been a little over a month since he moved in, but it was not hard to read Ajax. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, and tried as he might to mask them, certain nervous habits would give him away. In a way, his honesty was endearing and although Zhongli usually carried a placid expression, Ajax would always manage to draw out a smile or two. Currently, Ajax's expectant blue eyes were following his movements closely. What was he anxious about? His opinion of the restaurant? 

"It's lovely. A well chosen place, honestly. I've forgotten how delightful it was to share a dinner with someone. It's a pleasant change of pace from my usual routine. Thanks for bringing me out." 

"To be honest, I wasn't sure if you'd agree to come." Ajax's food remained untouched and Zhongli could feel the tablecloth shift slightly from Ajax subconsciously shaking his leg under the table. 

"Why wouldn't I? I enjoy your company. My life has been more interesting since you moved in." 

"Oh? What kind of interesting?" In spite of his nervousness, a coy smile spread across Ajax's lips as he propped one elbow up on the table. 

Long untouched emotions stirred in Zhongli. Flirtatious or not, Ajax's mannerisms were so enticing that it would be a shame not to play along with him. Against his better judgement, Zhongli took the opening and pounced. 

"Interesting in the sense that there is a familiar face to look forward to whenever I come home."  

Being a naturally witty person, it was not easy to make Ajax speechless, but Zhongli's comment was so out of left field that he was blindsided. Ajax's brain worked overtime scrambling to find a comeback but ultimately failed, causing all his neurons to fire at once before fizzling out altogether. Ajax raised his brows, stuttering sounds as he found it incredibly difficult to find the right words to say under Zhongli's intense gaze. Instead, a sheepish laugh of disbelief escaped his lips and he quickly covered it up with bravado. Underneath the table, his leg-shaking slowed, stilled, and then revved back up again with a higher intensity than it did before. 

"You can't just say things like that and expect me not to feel something, Xiansheng," Ajax smiled, shaking his head, acting as nonchalant as he could despite his rocketing heart beat. He felt a faint prick of panic. He had never seen his roommate in that light before and he was not prepared to right now. To what degree was Zhongli attracted to him, anyway? They only knew each other for a few weeks, and although Ajax had dated others within a similar timeframe, Zhongli did not seem like the type to rush into relationships. However, then again, he did not seem like the type to wear shibari ropes either. Zhongli was a wild card, and it hurt Ajax's brain just trying to figure him out. 

"What are you feeling, Ajax?" Zhongli smothered a smile under a face of pure innocence and furrowed his brows in pretend confusion, which only seemed to further fluster the opposite party. Ajax looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights. 

This was too much fun. Zhongli watched Ajax's expression change at just his slightest bit of teasing.

Ajax's nervous smile quickly faded as realisation crept up on him. What was he feeling? A blush began to bloom on Ajax's face, slowly budding at his ears before blossoming in earnest across his cheeks and fading over the bridge of his freckled nose. Zhongli's piercing eyes caused Ajax's world to tilt ever so slightly and Ajax looked away, afraid that they would make him stumble. Maybe it was the knowledge that they were on a date or the fact that there was a slim chance that Zhongli harboured romantic feelings for him that strengthened the impact of Zhongli's words. Or maybe this could all be in his head and Ajax was overthinking things as always.

"Embarrassed? Shy? I don't know, you caught me off guard." His usual defense mechanism to personal questions like that was to sidestep with a joke or a teasing remark directed at the other party, but he was still reeling from that blow. Ajax felt a little vulnerable and he decidedly did not like that feeling. 

"Oh, I'm sorry if I put you on the spot. I meant it as a compliment." 

"No no no, that was actually kind of touching. I just wasn't expecting you to say that out of the blue, that's all." Ajax remembered that his food was still untouched and he jabbed it with his fork, anything to distract him from his hot cheeks and whirling thoughts. His hands were shaking from the adrenaline that this emotional rollercoaster of a conversation had forced upon him so far. 

"I mean it, though," Zhongli asserted as if he meant it with every fibre of his being. He had the sort of gaze that could hypnotize anyone into agreeing with him. Ajax wondered if Zhongli was aware of that.

"Oh man," Ajax's muffled voice wavered as he took a gulp of tea and willed himself to get a grip before he continued and casually as he could, "Well, just know the feeling's mutual. I enjoy your company too." 

Zhongli smiled softly, causing Ajax's stomach to do a flip against his own accord, "I know." 

Ajax never saw him as a potential partner, but when he lingered on the idea, it slowly dawned on him that he was not against it either. 

Their conversation gradually drifted away from that topic and Ajax regained his bearings and appetite, although the potential for romance between them took up a larger portion of his thoughts than he wanted to admit. As Ajax continued to smile and converse with Zhongli, the seemingly heavy card sitting in his pocket was weighing at the back of his mind as well, nagging him to remember to check out that website printed on it once they got back to the apartment.

---

After dinner was concluded and the lofty bill was paid (Zhongli had attempted to step in to help pay for it instead, but Ajax flat-out refused and pretty much shoved his credit card at the employee manning the cashier to stop Zhongli), the pair returned back to the apartment full-bellied. Zhongli had retired to his room, leaving the coast clear for Ajax to browse the website on that card he had received earlier that night.

Secretly, Ajax grabbed his laptop bag and darted into the safe confines of his room. He quietly closed the door behind him, sitting with his laptop screen shielded from the room entrance as if he was afraid Zhongli would bust in at any moment. He pulled out the now slightly crumpled card from the back pocket of his jeans and keyed the website into the search bar, uncertain about what he was expecting to see. Could it be a website full of viruses? Maybe. He was too curious to care. 

The website that popped up, along with the images shown, caused his eyes to widen and him to scroll down the website slowly and carefully, taking everything in.

The link Ajax copied from the card directed him to a club's website, and it was not just any ordinary website: it was that of a BDSM club's. Images of people's upper bodies (with their faces blurred and censored out) in various kinky outfits and lingerie while in interesting positions were displayed on the website.

Ajax's jaw dropped open slightly when his eyes stilled on some pictures involving shibari ropes, and his brain immediately thought of his rope-loving roommate, This is totally up Xiansheng's alley...

Once he scrolled to the bottom of the website, there, in black and red letters, read "Interested? Sign up now." with a link attached to it, presumably linked to some sort of sign-up sheet for intrigued individuals.

Would Xiansheng frequent this club? Ajax thought as he explored the other pages attached to the website, spending more time reading the bios of some of the employees of the club. These employees were doms and were the ones providing the services, which was what the sign-up sheet called for. There was a separate link for people who wanted to partake in the services, who were usually and typically the subs. There was a long list of "can do"s and "do not"s in the terms and conditions, which Ajax was in the midst of reading when there was a knock on his door.

"Ajax? Are you awake?" Zhongli's voice caused him to frantically close that tab and open up a completely brand new tab. There was no way he was going to be caught dead browsing that website, especially by his suspicious roommate.

"I-I'm awake!" he choked out, and the door swung open. Ajax tried to look as natural as possible, opening up his email and pretending to look through his unopened emails (although there were none).

"I made some tea," Zhongli's voice was tender and kind, which gave Ajax a harsh guilt-stab for having potentially dug into his roommate's private life more than he should have.

I should go to hell, he cried internally as Zhongli walked in with a mug of warm tea, the light steam rolling off its dark orange surface, and placed it onto his table carefully.

"It's osmanthus tea," Zhongli said, "Drink it while it's hot." There was a slight pause before Zhongli added, "And also, thank you again for tonight's dinner."

"No problem, it was my pleasure," Ajax slapped on a grin on his face before picking the mug of tea up between his fingers, blowing against the water surface lightly to cool it down (it would not do much, actually, but it was still better than just letting it cool on its own), "Thanks for the tea. Did you brew this by yourself?"

"Yes, I did," Zhongli watched Ajax stare at the tea in the mug, "I have a teapot set that I bought from my hometown. I can teach you how to use it."

"That would be nice," Ajax said, bringing the mug up to his lips and taking a light sip. He smacked his lips lightly, "The taste is delicious!"

"I'm glad it is to your liking," Zhongli smiled, "Have a good night, Ajax."

"You too," Ajax grinned, "Goodnight, Xiansheng."

Zhongli turned around and exited the younger's bedroom, the door closing shut behind him with a gentle click. Ajax let out a muffled sigh, placing his mug back on the table and turning back to his laptop, Let's not think too much about this, Ajax. He's just your regular roommate... whose life you're greatly overthinking.

He groaned, then closed his laptop shut, Maybe all I need is sleep, and I'll forget all about this tomorrow, like it's a fever dream of some sort.

Spoiler alert: he remembered that fever dream all too well.

#🐺🐺🐺.writing #writing #writeblr #tartali #tartali smut #tartali nsfw #childe x zhongli #childe x zhongli smut #childe x zhongli nsfw #tartaglia x zhongli #tartaglia x zhongli smut #targalia x zhongli nsfw #zhongchi #zhongchi smut #zhongchi nsfw #zhongli x childe #zhongli x childe smut #zhongli x childe nsfw #zhongli x tartaglia #zhongli x tartaglia smut #zhongli x tartaglia nsfw #genshin impact #genshin impact smut #genshin impact nsfw

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

OH CELESTIA! | one

fic m.list | next chapter

wc: 5451

a/n: hellur, admin alpha here, the pack is back with a fic that stemmed from a horny oneshot that will be published in the third arc. enjoy the food, and remember to say itadakimasu (let's eat) before reading and go chisou sama deshita (thank you for the meal) after reading ;D

Ajax walked down the sidewalk with his luggage in tow, eyes scanning each building he passed by. He stopped at a block of apartments that was situated between a food joint and a laundromat and fished out his phone from his hoodie pocket. He sighed as he swiped past the ten missed calls he had received from his mother and checked the location of the apartment for rent.

He would send a message to his mother later. For now, he was scouting for a place to stay where he could peacefully spend his years in the university without the controlling presence of his parents breathing down his neck. He was fortunate enough that the university that his parents wanted him to go to was situated in the city that he was able to request to move somewhere closer. 

Unfortunately, finding a place to stay proved to be a harder task than Ajax expected, as if the universe was working in his parents' favour to keep him confined under their watchful gaze. The university dormitory was entirely filled by the time he was able to apply for it, and he only noticed how infuriating it was to have enrolled in a well sought-after university when he learned that almost all the nearby rental apartments had been snapped up. However, after hours of scouring the internet, he came across one available apartment for rent. It was located in a district known for being popular among the people of Liyue descent, which naturally piqued his interest. He could use a much-needed change in the cultural environment after being holed up in the Snezhnayan countryside for his whole life. Ajax was going to have to pray on his lucky stars to secure a place there, not that he had much luck in the first place. He felt his phone vibrate again and he saw a message from his mother. Feeling a twinge of guilt from ignoring her earlier, Ajax opened it. 

Mom

Focus on your studies. Don't get distracted. 

His mother was still typing on the other end and he waited, expecting another bout of commands and nagging although he hoped for something warmer. However, as if she had changed her mind, the follow-up message did not come. 

You

Ok

Ajax rolled his eyes and tried not to feel a little hurt as he shut his phone off, stuffing it back into his pocket forcefully as he stepped into the building. The landlord was already standing there on the ground floor, waiting for him. Ajax walked up to him, plastering an amicable smile on his face.

"Hi, I'm the one who called about the apartment open for rental the other day—"

The landlord cringed, "About that…" 

Ajax felt his heart drop into his stomach, "What's wrong?" 

"This morning when I went to spruce up the apartment I noticed the roof was leaking and discovered that the pipes in your unit were faulty," the landlord explained, "And there isn't any other unit available in this entire apartment complex. I'm very sorry, I wish I could've told you sooner, son." 

"Is there any other unit available?" Ajax chewed on his bottom lip, hoping for a positive response from the landlord.

"I'm sorry, all the units are full," the landlord shook his head, "You're from that university downtown, correct?"

Ajax nodded.

The landlord sighed, "Lots of students from that school have been looking for apartments. I'm afraid they took the remaining units and those from the nearby apartments as well."

Desperation seeped into Ajax's veins as his brain tried to think of other possible ideas. A frantic frown appeared on his face as he clapped his hands up together and said, "Mister, isn't there any other way? I really, really need to live in an apartment nearby here."

The landlord frowned, and Ajax could see the cogs in his brain slowly whirring. The landlord finally spoke, "Well, I suppose you could ask the other tenants if they're willing to let you live with them. As far as I can recall, some of them have spare bedrooms. If they're willing, I see no problem with you living with them in this apartment. I own two blocks, this block's for the rentals and the other's for the permanent. You could go ask around in both, although I'm not sure how far you're gonna get with that."

The crease between Ajax's brows disappeared, There's hope for me. He grinned and said, "Sure, I'll start asking around and I'll get back to you by today!"

"Today? Young lad, are you in some sort of rush—"

Before the landowner could even finish his sentence, Ajax took off, on his mission to search for someone who was willing to let him stay with them.

It turned out to be a lot more difficult than he had expected. Some turned him down (some were rude, some were polite about it), some gave him strange looks, and some did not even answer their doors.

Presently, Ajax was standing in front of yet another unit. This was the last unit in the 'permanents' apartment block. He did not want to admit it, but after being rejected by one tenant after another, his optimism was waning. He stood at the staircase landing facing the apartment door, took in a deep breath and knocked. 

A tall elegant figure of a man opened the door, clad in long pants and a fitting white dress shirt. His dark hair had faded tips of gold and was tied up into a low ponytail, fringe falling nicely into place to frame his face. He seemed to be around the same height as Ajax, maybe a few centimetres shorter. There was no denying that this man was conventionally handsome and he possessed the sharp ember gaze of a man who quietly observed more than he let on. The same gaze was currently focused on Ajax, probably assessing him in the same way.

"Can I help you?" Ajax noticed that the man had a markedly sophisticated accent. 

"Uh, hi," Ajax suddenly felt self-conscious and took extra care in his speech (probably because this elegant man had some sort of sophisticated aura that commanded absolute precision and a refined manner of speech), "I was moving into a unit in the rentals block next door, but the landlord only found out today that there was a problem with the pipes. There's no other units available but I desperately need a place to stay that's near my school and my term is starting in a week so the landlord advised me to find someone who was willing to share a unit with them." He took a breath and continued, "So, are you alright with sharing your apartment with me? I promise won't give you any extra trouble!"

A long silence followed his question. Ajax gulped as he watched the man lift a hand up to his chin, his brows furrowing together.

Please say yes, please say yes, Ajax chanted in his head, I literally have nowhere else to go. Please take pity on me and say—

"I don't see why not," Ajax's eyes widened at the man's agreement, "Why don't you come inside and we can have a little chat regarding your proposal?"

"I — thank you, kind sir!" Ajax beamed and he was practically bouncing on his feet in sheer joy. He would even pull this man into a hug if he felt more comfortable with him.

A couple of texts to the landlord and an agreement with the elegant man later, Ajax was finally moving into the man's apartment.

"My name is Zhongli," the man spoke after they had closed their discussion, "I thought you should know this since we are going to be housemates after all."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ajax," Ajax introduced himself with a grin.

"Would you like a tour of the place?" Zhongli asked, "After all, you are going to live here eventually."

"Sure," Ajax said, standing up along with Zhongli.

As Zhongli guided him around the apartment, Ajax could not help but notice the very random but seemingly ancient objects decorating the house. For instance, Zhongli had placed a couple of rocks on the shelf just above the television set, and there was an old desktop stationed by the window in the living room. Judging from those little antique trinkets Zhongli had collected, Ajax assumed that his new housemate was a much older man than he was, probably in his thirties or so.

"And this is the kitchen," Zhongli said, gesturing to the area behind the small kitchen island. The kitchen had an open plan and anyone could see the chef cook. Zhongli turned around and pointed up at the cupboards above the stove and spoke, but Ajax was not really listening. Instead, his focus was zeroed on Zhongli's rear, which was nicely accentuated by the tight, formal office pants he was wearing.

He really has some nice assets— Ajax blinked and nearly slapped himself for even looking at someone else, let alone his new housemate, in such a debauched manner, Stop it, stop behaving like some sort of perverted uncle! He's probably in his thirties, and you're twenty!

"Well? Is there anything you are quite not satisfied with?" Zhongli's silky voice plucked Ajax out of his self-reproach, causing both of them to stare at each other in awkward silence for a couple of seconds.

Quickly, Ajax smiled as if nothing was wrong (haha, yeah right), "Everything looks good to me!"

As if he had even been paying attention to even half of what Zhongli was saying. Who were you trying to fool, Ajax?

"If that's the case, then that's alright," Zhongli said, straightening the tie which was hung around his neck, "I look forward to being your housemate."

"Believe me, the pleasure is mine," Ajax's smile strained just slightly but he covered it up with a lighthearted chuckle.

—

The moving in process was not anything remarkable. The apartment was already fully furnished, and Ajax did not have many sentimental knick-knacks to bring along with him: Just a few picture frames containing the precious photographs of his younger siblings. All he packed was two suitcases stuffed full of clothes and one cardboard box of miscellaneous items, which surprised his new housemate as he helped to carry his things into his new room.

"Is this all you have?" Zhongli carefully set the box down onto the freshly-washed sheets of the bed. Ajax takes a moment to look around the guest room that had been converted into his living quarters. Orange hues of sunset filtered through the blinds of the window that faced toward another apartment building. It was not the best view by far, but at least it was not a noisy highway. The room was also a little smaller than his old room back home, but it would have to do.

"Yep, thanks for letting me stay on such short notice. It means a lot," Ajax offered an earnest smile. 

"It's no trouble, although it's a little unconventional to have a stranger knock on your door out of the blue to ask if there's space for a roommate." There was a hint of humour in Zhongli's voice.

"Well, I have to admit I got a lil' desperate. The landlord was initially going to turn me away but in the end, he turned around and said that if I was able to persuade anyone to take me in then I would be able to stay," Ajax hung up the last of his clothes in the cupboard and closed it, "So I'm glad I met you for things to turn out so ideally."

"Why don't you unpack your belongings first?" Zhongli said, "Then come on out to the living room after you're done. I’ll get you something to drink."

"Sure," Ajax said, "Thanks for the help. Again."

"I'm always happy to help," Zhongli replied, then exited his bedroom, closing the door behind him shut with a gentle click.

Since Ajax did not bring much with him, it did not take long for him to finish unpacking. He opened the door and carried the box out with him, placing them by the door and leaving a mental note for himself to throw the box out when he leaves the house the next time.

As he was entering the living room, a new scent lingered in the air: It was a familiar aroma from the countless colds he had back in his snowy hometown, blowing on piping hot soup and drinking it to ease his shivers. It was a homely and comforting aroma, one that brought a smile onto his face without him even realising it. He then noticed Zhongli in front of the stove, ladle in hand as he stirred something in a pot. Ajax admittedly never got a good look at the kitchen from a few moments ago (he was looking at something else, something so jarring that snatched his attention away from some mere kitchen cupboards), so he thanked the Archons that there was actual cooking equipment other than a microwave. He walked over until he was standing right behind his housemate, head leaning over his shoulder to take a peek. The only thing he could discern in the pot was thick slices of pork belly in some clear broth, the rest of the ingredients he did not recognise.

Sensing his presence, Zhongli turned his head to give Ajax the subtlest of smiles, "Oh right, I was about to tell you. I'm heating up some bamboo shoot soup I made for us to eat for dinner. Think of it as your welcome gift."

Such a simple yet thoughtful gesture, and it was only his first day here. Ajax could not help but return a smile back as warmth filled his heart.

"Damn, I didn't take you for a chef. It looks like the real deal you would find in restaurants!" Ajax joked, "Granted, I don't think I've ever tried this dish before."

"Chef?" Zhongli’s eyes widened slightly, dumbfounded, "You must be mistaken. I work as a director for Morax Holdings. My culinary skills are merely just a hobby."

Ajax felt himself almost pass out, "Wait, Morax Holdings?! Isn't that like, one of the biggest mega corporations in Teyvat?"

More importantly, Ajax thought, Why would a director of such high standing be cooped up in this unremarkable, ordinary apartment? And that's not even considering how easily he agreed to let this random lowly university student stay with him.

Was this some kind of trap? It still wasn't too late for Ajax to pack everything up again and make a run for it while Zhongli is fast asleep.

Zhongli chuckled, "You're probably wondering why a high flyer like me is cooped up in this humble apartment." 

"Was it that obvious?" 

Zhongli chuckled and motioned Ajax to sit at the kitchen counter as he ladled the soup out into two bowls. He pushed the portion with more ingredients over to Ajax before returning to the kitchen sink to fetch soup spoons and two more bowls containing warm rice.

"That's what most people ask when they hear my story," Zhongli let out a huff that was almost akin to an exasperated sigh.

He handed one soup spoon to Ajax and joined him at the same side of the counter. 

"A home to me is nothing more than a place where I can come back to rest, so having a place that fulfils my daily needs is more than enough to make me content. I don't believe in living lavishly. Besides, being a bachelor, having a big house with no one else to occupy besides myself…" Zhongli trailed off as if stopping himself. 

Under the warm glow of the studio lights above the counter, Zhongli's neutral expression looked almost wistful. Ajax found himself drawn to the way his dark eyelashes reflected the ember light. He quickly caught himself and looked away, resting a nonchalant elbow on the kitchen counter. 

"Well, that makes the two of us. Cheers to being single and maidenless, I guess. Who needs a partner when you've got a successful career?" Ajax joked, hoping to lighten the mood. Zhongli offered a small smile and gestured to the bowl of soup before Ajax. 

"Please, help yourself. I want to know what you think." 

Ajax eyed the bowl of soup curiously, especially on what he assumed were bamboo shoots chopped up into bite-sized pieces. The only kind of bamboo he had eaten was the tiny rectangular ones that always came with Inazuman noodles, while the ones in the soup were chunks that had deep ridges running along the sides.

He could feel Zhongli's expectant stare on him as he dipped his spoon into the soup bowl. Taking in the aroma of the soup once more, Ajax took a long sip. Instantly, he could feel his fatigue from a long, tiring day get washed away by the herbs and spices that flooded his taste buds. He could not help the satisfied sigh that escaped from him after swallowing the soup.

"Holy shit Zhongli, this tastes amazing!" Ajax exclaimed. The foreign name of his housemate still came a bit unnaturally from his tongue, but he would get used to it eventually. He dipped his spoon in again and fished out a bamboo chunk to give a try. The fragrant pork broth had seeped into the fibres of the bamboo shoot, but it still managed to retain its signature crunch. If all Liyuen cuisine was like this, he had been seriously missing out.

"That's good to hear Ajax," Zhongli responded in kind as his eyes crinkled in amusement, "A lot of patience is needed to make the Liyuen-style salted ham from scratch. It definitely would have been much more convenient to buy it from the market, but it's an old practice that I've been keen on trying for a while."

Now that he had mentioned it, Ajax began to notice the difference in taste and mouthfeel of the salted and unsalted pork. He ate a spoonful of rice alongside the meat, and it all blended harmoniously in his mouth.

For a while, both of them savoured their food in comfortable silence. The steam that caressed Ajax's face as he downed the soup added to the warm feeling still lingering in his chest. He already felt like he was right at home.

"I've been meaning to ask," Ajax was still focused on his meal when Zhongli popped the question, "You mentioned that you are going to a school nearby. May I ask which one?"

"Oh yeah, I'm going to NUT," The moment those words left his lips, it immediately occurred to Ajax how wrong that might have sounded. He gulped down his food and nervously glanced to the side to sneak a peek at Zhongli's expression. Luckily, judging from the man's placid smile, it flew over his head.

"NUT... you mean the National University of Teyvat? I must say, that's quite an impressive feat," Zhongli praised.

"Uh — right. Yes, it is. Although, being a director of such a renowned company couldn't have been easy as well," Ajax was still reeling from the fact that he was seated next to a big player in the trading industry. He didn't really care much about the corporate world but the idea that such an accomplished man was willing to share his apartment with him was grounding. 

"Yes, such a prestigious title comes with its fair load of stress and work. I wouldn't really wish it on anyone else." Despite the resigned tone of his words, Ajax could tell that Zhongli was not one to give up so easily, judging from the resolute expression he wore. "Do you have any plans to work as well?"

"Yeah, I've been thinking of picking up a part-time job while I'm studying. Feels nice to be independent, not needing your parents for pocket money, y'know? That way I can pay my share of the bills as well." 

"That's a good idea. What sort of job are you considering?" 

"Somewhere around this area. I haven't really decided yet."

That was a lie. Ajax was going in for a walk-in interview just that night. 

—

Just a few blocks down from their apartment complex, a few streets that branched off the main road had gained a certain reputation over the years. Regular patrons call it The Celestia, others call it The Abyss. It really depended on your outlook, honestly. The famous Third-Round Knockout that stood at the fringes of the district acted as a lamppost to regular patrons of the area. It was rumoured that the restaurant itself also held a secret of containing a rather exclusive club in its basement. Ajax wandered past that particular restaurant and turned around the bend, just as the directions instructed. He found himself in a completely different world. Although he had known about the city's thriving nightlife, the atmosphere was so aggressively uncensored that it threw Ajax off-kilter. For how indiscreetly displayed these shops were, he was surprised that they were sequestered in only a small portion of the city, although he did see certain characters loitering around the fringes of it which led him to the heart of the district. 

Garish bright faux-neon lights flashed above him, casting otherworldly halos above the heads of the slow-moving crowd. The pavement was slick with rain, grit and other unidentifiable substances, the air thick with the smell of alcohol and cheap perfume. Men and women in skimpy outfits tittered and sang their siren songs, luring patrons into their respective bars, brothels and strip clubs. Ajax could feel vibrations from the low pulsing beat of rave music blasting in the basement outlets through the soles of his sneakers. The main customers milling about were office workers still dressed in their stiff smart casual wear, although there were the occasional university students and couples. 

"Hey handsome, you look lost. Why don't you come in and I'll show you a good time?" a lilting saccharine voice caught his attention. Assuming that it was directed at him, Ajax turned his head to the source. A young lady giggled and wriggled her fingers at him. She could not have been older than her early twenties.  

"Uh, sorry, I'm here for work actually," Ajax was already walking away, using all his willpower not to look at the skintight dress she wore that barely covered any skin. 

"Aw, that's too bad honey—" her voice was drowned out by the din as he slipped away, narrowly avoiding a lumbering drunkard who careened past him and collapsed onto the pavement. He felt helplessly overwhelmed and was almost tempted to bail on the walk-in interview but then remembered why he came here in the first place. 

"You're the eldest son, so it's your responsibility to care for the family as well. For every decision you make, you must have your family in mind." 

Ajax tightened his hoodie strings. What about what he wanted? He had heard stories of people who lived their wildest years in university and he did not want to live with the regret of not having lived a little. Living away from his parents was a golden opportunity for him to indulge himself for the first and last time before he resumed bearing the yoke of family responsibilities that he had abandoned. There was no better time like the present, he thought as he stopped in front of the stripper club.

Live a little before you go.

—

A week had flown by since Ajax abruptly moved into the apartment of this eccentric yet kind man. Since then, he received a phone call from the club he did the interview at, offering him a place much to his delight. From what he had heard and researched, Angel's Share was a nightclub that boasted of its delectable alcohol and incredible service. The pay they proposed was generous, and the tavern theming of the building he saw during his visit gave off a mystical vibe that instantly pulled him in. He still needed some training to get familiar enough with the pole before he could officially debut as the newest member in their lineup, plus the costumes that were currently being made according to his measurements.

Ajax would be lying if he said that he was not looking forward to it. In fact, he could already feel the excitement and anticipation buzzing at the tips of his fingers. This was his moment to finally break out of his shell and smash said shell into dust without a care in the world.

There was still a predicament hanging over Ajax's head though, of whether he should tell Zhongli about his stripper job. It was best if as few people knew about it as possible, but with Zhongli as his beloved housemate, it just seemed like an inevitable fate. A semi self-indulgent thought had also been brewing in the back of his mind.

Maybe, if Zhongli were to find out, he would be a supportive friend and come to see one of my shows… and if everything went a little too well, I could help solve his growing problem down there— Ajax internally slapped himself hard (he seemed to be doing that a lot as of late) as he splashed cool water onto his face to chase those silly daydreams away. He had really needed to get his raging hormones in control, for the sake of both his housemate and himself.

Just as Ajax reached over for a towel to wipe his face, he noticed something odd on the marble counter. A simple brown leather wallet with the slightest sights of wear and tear that clearly belonged to Zhongli. Did this guy seriously just leave his wallet in the bathroom?

Ajax sighed. He had better return this to Zhongli quickly before he goes off to work. His mind still a little groggy from waking up, Ajax did not think twice as he emerged from the bathroom to knock on the door to Zhongli's room, wallet in hand. When he heard no response from the other side, he took it as his cue to enter.

"Hey Zhongli, you forgot your wallet in the bathroom—"

Nothing could have prepared Ajax for the scene that unfolded in the room.

Zhongli was sitting on the bed before a full-length mirror with his back facing the door, in the midst of buttoning up his grey dress shirt. The revealing, accentuated collarbones of the man in front of him would have stolen all of Ajax's attention, if not for the ropes right underneath them. The crimson red colour popped against the pale unblemished skin, and that same colour was rushing towards Ajax's face as he was frozen still at the door frame.

There was no mistaking it. Zhongli was wearing shibari ropes to work.

(Out of the corner of his eye, Ajax also spotted an embroidery of the words 'Live, Laugh, Love' in calligraphy font hanging on the wall. He did not know whether he should actually laugh or cry.)

The only sounds that accompanied the now sudden silence were the creek of the door that was at the mercy of Ajax's unstable grip and the crinkling of fabric as Zhongli finished off the final button below his collar, effectively sealing away the secret beneath. Ajax's mouth tried to form words, but his brain could not come up with anything substantial. He could only stare in disbelief until Zhongli finally looked up to meet his gaze in the mirror, those amber eyes almost piercing into his soul and making him jump in his skin.

"Oh, I didn't see you there, Ajax. Thank you for finding it."

The smile that Zhongli gave was one of sincere gratitude and nothing else. No awkwardness in his tone of voice, no body language that showed any signs of having been caught in the act. Just the usual, overly formal manner that Zhongli always carried himself with. Did he not realise that his housemate just saw him tied up in those scandalous ropes, wrapping and squeezing around areas that Ajax could not even see underneath the clothes? 

Zhongli finally turned around to take the wallet, his warm fingertips brushing over his colder ones. Ajax immediately withdrew his hand like his touch had scalded him and his eyes jerked up and away from their hands. He could still see a faint outline of the shibari through Zhongli's office shirt.

Oh man. Ajax's eyes darted back to the 'Live, Laugh, Love' embroidery on the wall, grateful for such a turn-off to distract him from the thick sexual tension in the room. He cleared his throat and walked closer to the embroidery, accidentally coming too close to the wall and knocking his knee against it. Ignoring the loud noise it made, he pretended to admire the detailed workmanship of the cloth. No doubt it was beautiful but he was too focused on hiding the blush blooming on his face. 

"Hm, nice piece of work. Did you make it?" 

Zhongli's eyes brightened with curiosity as he clasped his hands in his lap and adjusted his sitting position to face Ajax's direction. "No, my colleague made it for me a while back. It's a lovely piece of art, isn't it?" 

Ajax squeezed a strangled sound out of his throat. Zhongli seemed to have taken this as an affirmation as he pushed further. 

"Do you like embroidery?" 

"N-Not particularly. But it's well made and I can appreciate that," Ajax responded, his mind honing in on Zhongli's gaze that was no doubt on his back. He was not even sure if he was talking about the embroidery or the shibari ropes. If only he could take a second look… erotic images of Zhongli in those lurid red ropes flooded into his head with such intensity that they made Ajax cringe.

Come on, Ajax, he's just a housemate, and who knows how much older he is than him. He is a prim and proper businessman… who wears shibari ropes. Ajax was not sure what to make of this guy anymore, having his impression of Zhongli being entirely subverted just by seeing that brief glimpse of his private life. If this was merely scratching the surface of Zhongli, Ajax wondered how much more there was to this man. A suave and mysterious man on the streets, a kinky freak in the sheets—

"Exactly right. The way the strings are so nicely woven to create such intricate patterns shows the patience and dedication of the creator to bring her art to life. While the similarities between the art form I practise and hers stop at ropes and strings, I can admire her embroidery nonetheless." Ajax heard a shff of silk against cloth. Zhongli must be putting on his tie. 

The art form I practise— was he talking about those ropes or something else? Did he want to find out? No. However, he would not be able to sleep soundly not knowing. 

"W-What sort of art do you do?" Ajax found himself asking before he could stop himself. 

"Surely you're aware of it by now." 

"Uh—"

"You gave me much pleasure knowing that you enjoyed my bamboo stew. Cooking is an art form that I indulge in rather often and roasting meats is my speciality. As you know, such a cooking method involves stringing up the meat. I've been experimenting to discover new patterns of tying." 

Of course. Tying meat. That was his art form. Ajax tried to find a link between shibari and tying meat in the kitchen and he was not too comfortable with the images he conjured up in his mind. He cleared his throat.  

"Anyway, I'd better go. Class starting soon," Ajax laughed nervously and tried to dart out of the room but slammed his shoulder into the doorframe. He barely felt the pain with the adrenaline that was rushing through his veins.

"Are you alright? Also, have you eaten breakfast yet? If not, there's some toast you can heat up—" 

"No, I'm fine. Thanks," Ajax shuddered, slightly unnerved by Zhongli's usually courteous behaviour. He was still too acutely aware of the harness he wore underneath that shirt. 

"I'll see you around. Nice shiba— I mean shirt, by the way," Ajax ducked out of the room. 

"Take care, Ajax!" came Zhongli's muffled voice as Ajax was putting on his sneakers with shaky hands in the foyer.

"Y-Yeah, you too!" Whatever it is you're up to. He snatched up his haversack and shut the door, pulling on his hoodie strings as he tried to suppress those thoughts. It was going to be hard to focus during lectures today. He just knew it. 

#🐺🐺🐺.writing #writing #writeblr #tartali #tartali smut #childe x zhongli #childe x zhongli smut #tartaglia x zhongli #tartaglia x zhongli smut #zhongchi #zhongchi smut #zhongli x childe #zhongli x childe smut #zhongli x tartaglia #zhongli x tartaglia smut #genshin impact #genshin impact smut

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

OH CELESTIA!

SYNOPSIS: Ajax, a fresh university student ready to take on the world and prove something to himself. Zhongli, a director of one of the biggest mega-coporations in the continent of Teyvat. What will happen when they both decide to live under the same roof? Probably not much, except for the fact that they both hide dirty secrets. And that they're two idiots in love, if you consider that as another caveat.

PAIRING(S): tartali/zhongchi (no fixed position for them)

RATING: 18+ (chapters with explicit/sexual content will be highlighted in red in this masterlist and will have a cw/tw in the chapter itself)

WC: 46.2k and counting...

NOTE(S): director au + housemates au + modern au + stripper au + university au + angst (with a happy ending) + canon divergence + coarse/foul/strong language used + contains depictions/mentions of bdsm + family drama + fluff + pining (mutual) + porn with plot (trust us just keep reading) + sensual/sexual themes used + slowburn + smut (explicit) + use of childe’s real name

— INDEX —

ARC ONE: one + two (part one) + two (part two) + two (part three) + two (part four) + three (part one) + three (part two)

ARC TWO: to be released

ARC THREE: to be released

#🐺🐺🐺.masterlist #tartali #tartali smut #childe x zhongli #childe x zhongli smut #tartaglia x zhongli #tartaglia x zhongli smut #zhongchi #zhongchi smut #zhongli x childe #zhongli x childe smut #zhongli x tartaglia #zhongli x tartaglia smut #genshin impact #genshin impact smut

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

#zhongli #zhongli nsfw #genshin impact #illustration #drawing #digital art #digital illustration #nsfw #it’s tartali but it honestly can be any ship #rex lapis #morax #🐺🐺🐺.art

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

ETIQUETTE OF MORTALS

pairing: childe x zhongli

word count: 4557

synopsis: zhongli is a god who has high levels of monk decency. enter childe, a mortal with insane levels of sex drive. put them together, and you will get a whole lot of sinful corruption.

notes (+ tws): alternate universe + anal gaping + anal sex + bottom zhongli + childe "breeder balls" ajax tartaglia + coarse/foul/strong language used + corruption + dubcon/noncon + fingering + fluff + lots of cum + oral (male receiving) + overstimulation + porn with plot(???) + rough sex + shy ass zhongli + size kink + smut (explicit)

"It's a good day to offer incense."

Zhongli sat by the calm lake, holding a cup of jasmine tea in his hands. It had become a routine of his to sit by the peaceful, clear water and enjoy a cup of freshly-brewed tea. In his entire six thousand years of life, nothing felt quite as peaceful as this and there was nothing else he would rather wish for to make his current virgin life.

Yes, virgin. Because in his entire six thousand years of living, Zhongli was a god who practised abstinence. There was no better way to prevent STDs than to not partake in the act itself, that was his motto. No one else knew about this, because everyone simply assumed that an attractive man like him must have definitely had hooked up at least once, if not a few times. Zhongli planned to let that secret stay that way, a trait that nobody else knew but him.

"Teatime again?" A very familiar voice pulled Zhongli out of his reverie, and the ravenette turned around to meet the speaker in the eye. It was Childe, a regular human he had stumbled across by chance one day and had suddenly started a friendship with. Though "regular" may not be the most appropriate term, considering he was sporting a Hydro vision blessed by the gods on his belt. Ever since then, it had become a routine for the gingerhead to visit Zhongli at his temple, as well as to offer incense.

"I'm sure you are aware that I drink tea at this particular time on a daily basis," Zhongli said, setting his cup down on the small table and standing up, brushing off the dirt on his pants.

"You don't have to be mean like that," Childe said with a grin as he walked alongside Zhongli towards the temple, "I came to offer incense."

Zhongli led Childe towards the main prayer hall, where he as well as guests could offer incense and pray. Childe picked up a joss-stick and lit the tip up by holding it over a fire on a lighter, then placed it on the incense urn. He clapped his hands together and closed his eyes, uttering a prayer, then opened his eyes. He turned to Zhongli and pursed his lips together ever so slightly before asking, "Say, Zhongli… I hope you don't take offence to this question, but I’m genuinely curious. Have you ever had sex before?"

Zhongli choked on air, "I beg your pardon?"

"Have you," Childe repeated his question a lot slower this time, enunciating every syllable clearly, "Ever had sex before?"

Zhongli had no idea why Childe had such a question in mind, nor did he have a clue as to how he had even come up with such a question. His cheeks flushed red and he looked away, flustered. He let out a cough and muttered, "No."

"What? Could you repeat that?" Childe said, bringing a hand up to cup his ear, "I could've sworn you said—"

"I said no, you rascal," Zhongli said, louder now, his face turning redder with each passing second.

"Six thousand years of no sex?" Childe snorted in disbelief. Who knew that such a fine specimen of a being would have remained a virgin? This was clearly a first.

"Yes, I've abstained for six thousand years," Zhongli answered, not wanting to look at the gingerhead in the eye. How embarrassing; now someone knew his guilty secret. How would he be able to walk around unashamed in public ever again?

The room fell into complete silence. No one dared to say a single word. A few more awkward moments passed before Zhongli coughed, "You've offered your incense, right? We can leave the prayer hall now."

As Zhongli turned around to leave, he heard quick footsteps behind him. At first, he thought it was Childe following him out of the hall, but the sudden grip on his wrist caused him to look up. Childe was looking at him straight in the eyes, his face equally as straight as he said lowly, "Well, I could change that."

"What?" Confusion swam in Zhongli's head, Is this young'un being serious right now? What is he even saying?

Before he could say anything else, Childe took the lead and pulled Zhongli out of the room, walking down the hallway in wide strides. Zhongli was forced to follow as Childe's grip around his wrist did not loosen. The younger man pulled him into a smaller room which Zhongli recognised as his meditation room, with his meditation mat still laid out on the wooden floorboards. Without warning, Childe backed Zhongli up against the door and slammed it shut, then placed both arms at the god's sides, effectively trapping him between himself and the door. There was no way he could escape now. Their faces were close, too close for Zhongli's liking, and he had to turn his head to the side to avert his gaze and not meet Childe's predatory one.

Zhongli had no words to describe his current situation. Inappropriate? Awkward? Ungodly, even? Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and he gulped, biting his lower lip as Childe leaned even closer, their foreheads mere centimetres apart.

Childe smirked, deciding to take his chances. Never had he dreamed of the day that he would have the all-mighty god of contracts trapped in between his arms, shaking like a prepubescent boy learning about vaginas. He ground his crotch against Zhongli and the latter choked on his own breath, gasping as Childe smirked, "Not so much of a god now, are we, Zhongli?"

Zhongli was too overwhelmed to think straight. He wanted to escape the boy's grasp fast, lest he did something that would be deemed as out-of-character for him. He glared at Childe and hissed with as much authority in his voice as he could possibly muster, "S-Stop this right now, it's indecent."

"Weak words," Childe tilted his head to the side, very much enjoying this side of Zhongli that he has never seen before, "And you look like you don't mean it either."

His eyes travelled south and he noticed quite the obvious bulge beginning to form in Zhongli's pants. He smirked, his fingers gliding down the archon's pants, touching him lightly and Childe whispered while smirking, "You seem to have a problem down there. I can fix it for you."

Zhongli stared at Childe with wide eyes as Childe slowly got down on his knees before him. Every move Childe made was self-assured, predatory. He chastely rubbed his thumb over the tent in Zhongli's pants, eliciting a sharp inhale from the god which caused Childe to smile wolfishly. Zhongli growled and shook his head. He needed to get a grip of himself. To think his six thousand years of chastity was in danger of being tainted by a mortal. How unbecoming of me, he thought. Childe's alluring gaze did nothing to quell the heat that was pooling in his lower gut so Zhongli closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall, hoping to find peace in the depths of his mind while his physical body responded to Childe's touch against his will. 

"Childe… stand up," he managed evenly. The slight waver in his voice gave him away and Childe pounced on the opportunity. 

"You've been going on and on about how I ought to treat archons with some degree of reverence," Childe said plainly, although his voice dripped with dark intentions. Zhongli frowned as he felt the adept fingers playing with the zipper of his pants. Every small vibration created by the jangling of the zipper sent electric shockwaves to his dick which only made it harder for Zhongli to ignore what was imminently coming. He swallowed thick saliva. 

"...So I'm going to worship you. By my own interpretation, of course," Childe purred as he continued to languidly rub his thumb back and forth over Zhongli's dick which only fed his growing erection. Soon, his dick throbbed and strained painfully against his pants, an all too familiar feeling that he had learned to quell by bathing in cold springs. Arousal was an unpleasant experience that did not agree with Zhongli's saint-like lifestyle and was one that he wished he could do without. However, with Childe's merciless teasing, the wall of self-discipline that Zhongli had so carefully cultivated over the centuries was slowly breaking down, brick by brick. 

"Would you be offering a prayer of forgiveness, by any chance?" Zhongli joked dryly, attempting to sound glib although it came out in a desperate whisper. Childe laughed menacingly. Abruptly, he bit the pant zipper with his canines and yanked it down, before doing the same with Zhongli's underwear. 

Zhongli gasped and opened his eyes when he felt a sudden rush of cold air meet his dick. He couldn't help himself and jerked his gaze down just in time to see Childe smiling innocently back at him. He had his arms behind his back, and thighs caging in Zhongli's feet, trapped. 

"Good, I want you to watch." 

Zhongli watched, transfixed, as Childe parted his pink lips, exuding the same energy as a snake poised to strike. Zhongli stared dumbly like he was a deer caught in the headlights, too terrified to move, thoughts too heavy with lust to think straight. If he was so against mortal desire, why was he succumbing so easily to it? 

Before he could reflect on this, Childe went down on his length and Zhongli's breath caught in his throat. Childe slid the base of his tongue on the underside of his dick as he took Zhongli in all the way until he hit the base. The slick warm sensation of Childe's maw almost made Zhongli's knees buckle as his eyes rolled up into his head. He inadvertently let a moan escape his lips, a small part of him embarrassed at how loud he sounded in the chamber. He felt Childe smile around him which sparked a small flame of irritation within him and pulled him back to his senses. Was this man mocking him? The audacity—

Childe began to swallow. Hard. Zhongli grunted and braced himself against the wall, no longer trusting his legs to hold his body up. 

"Ah, Childe—!" Zhongli gasped and clawed uselessly at Childe's shoulders. His fingers suddenly felt so clumsy and thick, he did not know where or what to hold. The floor was the ceiling, his skin was burning up but yet he felt cold all over. His hands moved up Childe's neck and gained purchase in his hair. He pulled fistfuls of ginger locks, causing Childe to make a muffled sound of surprise. The vibration of his throat sent sparks of stimulation racing up his cock to his brain, or what was left of it. Pathetic, truly pathetic, the sane part of his brain hissed as he heard himself begging. What was he begging for? 

"Childe, stop, I can't take this," Zhongli panted as he looked down at the human. Childe slowly released his dick and Zhongli instantly regretted it as he felt the warmth around his length disappear. Childe feigned a look of concern and placed two placating hands around Zhongli's trembling calves to stabilise him. 

"I'm sorry, was that too much?" He asked, voice cruelly kind. If Zhongli still had his wits about him, he would have banished Childe from the temple immediately. Alas, he was not in the right frame of mind. All he could think about was getting Childe's mouth back around his dick. He didn't even know why he told Childe to stop. 

Childe laughed softly at Zhongli's silence and kissed the tip of the head. 

"Well, it's not like you have a choice anyway," he whispered before taking in Zhongli's length again, rougher this time. Zhongli could only manage a strangled cry as Childe hollowed out his cheeks and began sucking mercilessly. Childe bobbed his head up and down, pulling out just to swirl his tongue around the tip of the head before going back in again. It took everything out of Zhongli not to buck his hips against Childe's face: It was not to protect Childe's nose, but his pride as a god, that he could delude himself into thinking that he still had some sense of control over the situation. As if he had read his thoughts, Childe hummed a low monotone note and constricted his throat around Zhongli's length. Zhongli sighed and threw his head back, causing his head to bump lightly against the wall. Warmth was beginning to pool at his lower gut and he heard his heartbeat throb loudly in his ears. Through a lust-addled haze, he realised with dread that he was slowly coming undone. 

"I can't… can't," Zhongli babbled, breath laboured and thick. His back was sliding down the wall but he was caught by two firm hands clamping down around his thighs. Childe merely hummed in reply and pushed his thighs further apart so that he could go in deeper. 

"Faster — ah, please—" Zhongli heard himself keening. Childe laughed around his cock but complied and sucked in earnest as his thumbs rubbed gentle circles on Zhongli's spasming thighs. A final swipe of Childe's tongue up the stripe of Zhongli's dick was enough to send him over the edge. 

"Unh — Childe!" Zhongli cried, seeing stars fizz in his vision. Childe swallowed the warm flow of slick until he was milked dry and sensitive, all the while massaging his thighs. Exhausted, Zhongli slumped over Childe, hands falling to Childe's neck. He whimpered as Childe continued sucking and gingerly pushed him away. 

"E-Enough," Zhongli whispered hoarsely. Childe slowly let his cock slide out of his mouth, letting his tongue rest on his lips. A single milky thread from Zhongli's dick trailed a crooked line down Childe's chin as Childe drew away. 

"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it? How did it feel, your first orgasm in six thousand years?" Childe teased although his voice was a little hoarse. He slid his hands up Zhongli's thighs and gave his ample behind a good squeeze. Zhongli let him, dazed and still reeling from that euphoric high. 

"Hm, less talkative now that you've been pleased, huh? Well now that I've done you a solid, it's only fair that I receive some form of compensation," Childe smirked as he used his thumb to wipe the string of saliva-cum off his face. 

"What do you mean?" Zhongli sighed as he found his voice again. 

"Relax, you won't have to do a thing. Just be good for me." 

 ---

"Don't worry, this won't hurt too much," the familiar buzz of a vision activating snapped Zhongli out of his lustful daze, if only for a brief moment. Hydro energy pulsed around Childe's fingers as it thickened into a slime-like consistency. The texture of it, dripping down his slender fingers bit by bit, was a repulsive sight that brought back unpleasant memories, and Zhongli's instincts screamed at him to run away. However, his meagre struggle was met with yet a greater force that locked his wrists above his head. Just then, he felt the faintest of breaths gracing over his ear, and it's almost as if he could hear the sly smirk on Childe's lips.

"Stay still."

That whisper was the only warning he received before a cold finger pressed against his tight entrance. It was such an odd feeling, so invasive, but Zhongli could not squirm even if he wanted to with those glassy blue eyes watching his every movement.

"You're so fucking tight," Childe grunted, his finger rubbing tiny circles around the rim, "Open that pretty little hole for me now, won't you?"

As if physically unable to resist his command, Zhongli's entrance finally seized open and that slick finger sunk in at an achingly slow pace. The noises that spilled out of the god's mouth were ones of discomfort rather than pleasure as that finger twisted and turned inside.

"I can't fathom how humans could ever find this process enjoyable," Zhongli managed to spit out, just as the knuckle of that finger rested against his puckered rim.

"Shh, don't you gods ever learn about patience?" the man on top of him cooed. Zhongli could then feel the finger lodged in his ass start to nudge about, poking around at his silky walls. He was about to respond with another retort when that finger bent upwards and struck gold. The moan that ripped out from his lips was unabashed, that wonderful sensation shaking him to his very core. The lopsided smile on Childe's face morphed into a grin and he relentlessly rubbed and pressed against Zhongli’s prostate, coaxing out every sound imaginable from deep within the god’s throat. Tears gathered at Zhongli's eyes as another long finger plunged straight inside him. Instead of resisting, his walls sucked them in desperately, hungry for more. Hiding his flushed face against his arm in a futile attempt to save his face, muffled moans were accompanied by the slick sound of Childe's fingers carefully scissoring him open. The god had never felt like this before, so vulnerable and open, to a human nonetheless. Before he could even realise it, a third finger had already joined in with the others as they drove in and out of him. Every plunge mercilessly attacked that sensitive bundle of nerves head-on, and it was not long until the droplets that gathered at Zhongli's eyelashes began to spill over. The tight grip that enclosed Zhongli's wrists were gone, moving down to that gorgeous face as Childe's thumb ran over the vermillion streaks that rolled down his cheek.

"You doing okay?" For a moment, a hint of concern lingered on Childe's words, which Zhongli responded to with a weak nod. He was doing more than fine. Well, as fine as one can be with three fingers stuck up their ass. All sense of decency had been thrown out the window long ago, and there was no turning back at this point.

"Well, I think I did a pretty good job," the playfulness in Childe's voice returned as he pulled out his fingers and leaned back to admire his handiwork. The once prim and proper god was now utterly defiled on the meditation mat that was equally ruined as well. His hole hung wide and loose between those beautiful thighs, its stretched rim clenching down around nothing. What a poor sight.

"Childe, please… I…" Zhongli did not dare to finish his sentence, not wanting to voice out the reality of having broken that six thousand year-long period of abstinence. However, his greedy hole was begging for more.

And Childe was ready to serve.

"Time for the main course," Zhongli could hear the clinking of a belt unbuckling a little too hurriedly, followed by clothes dropping onto the floor. The sound of hydro emerged once again before deep-throated pants and groans began to echo against the chamber's walls. Morbidly curious, the god propped himself up on his elbows, still sore from being held high above his head, only to come face to face with Childe's cock. It stood tall and hard, larger than anything he had seen before (well, granted, he had not seen that many dicks in his long lifetime), and the balls that hung below it were not anything to scoff at either. The sheer girth of it made his mind run wild, and his needy hole clenched in anticipation. The cock shone with lubricant as Childe kneeled back down, gently brushing away the stray hair that stuck to Zhongli's forehead.

"I—I don't think I can take all of… that," Zhongli’s lips quivered, his legs nudging closer together just a little. As if to ease his worries, Childe planted a chaste kiss above his nose, before reaching behind to tug at his gold-tipped ponytail and guiding him towards the floor.

"Yes. Yes, you can." Childe bit the shell of Zhongli's earlobe and the latter's mouth parted, an audible gasp leaving his lips. Wordlessly, Childe positioned his dick in front of Zhongli's gaping hole before pushing it all the way in, stretching his walls as Zhongli clamped down on his thick length deliciously. Zhongli let out a muffled cry and dug his nails into Childe's back, gripping for a bit of sanity and what was left of his godly decency.

Childe watched Zhongli's lips quiver and hips stutter against him and smiled, "You're being so good for me, Rex Lapis. It's strange though, didn't you just say that you didn't want to do this? What happened to that saintly god I saw minutes ago?"

Zhongli grimaced and willed his hips to still although every fibre of his being screamed at him to do the complete opposite. He didn't even know why he was still trying to maintain his godly composure when Childe had already seen how thoroughly fucked he was. He glared back at him with teary eyes. "I still... don— ah!" His sentence was cut off by a moan as Childe plunged himself deeper into the god, stretching him even more to the point Zhongli was not sure if he could even take in any more of his dick.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. Forgive me, comrade," Childe said with a teasing lilt. Zhongli fought to bite back a moan as Childe's cock sank in all the way and he could feel Childe's balls brushing his entrance.  What is this... is this what mortals really get off on? Zhongli strained, hating the spasmodic trembling of his thighs that he could not control. It's disgusting.

"Spread your legs open for me," Childe commanded, pressing his hand into Zhongli's thigh and spreading them open with relative ease. Zhongli whimpered and did as he was told, causing Childe to smile and lean down, then pressing a kiss onto Zhongli's flushed cheek, "Just like that. You're doing so well."

Zhongli hissed and looked away, training his eyes on the paper lantern hanging above their heads in the dimly lit room. "I don't need encouragement from a huma— " his retort was cut off as Childe's cock began to slide in and out of him, the foreign sensation causing him to screw his eyes shut and cling onto the mortal for dear life. This foreign sensation overwhelmed the ravenette, such an ungodly pleasure that he had denied himself for centuries. How unbecoming of a god, he thought, to be unravelled so easily under the hands of a mere mortal boy. 

Childe did a particularly punishing thrust that connected with Zhongli's prostate. Zhongli opened his mouth and sighed a wordless prayer. Oh gods, why did he choose celibacy in the first place? He moaned and locked his legs around Childe's waist, pulling Childe into an embrace as Childe slowly pumped in and out of him. He was going to be in this for the long ride and enjoy every minute of it, sworn celibacy be damned. 

---

"S-Stop, it's t-too much!" Zhongli cried. Both their shirts were long ago discarded and Childe had been going at it for about two hours now, railing him hard and fast that the god had experienced multiple mind-numbing orgasms. It's too much, even for anyone's first time, he thought as Childe continued moving his dick in and out of him at a quick, unrelenting tempo. If he was a mortal, he was not sure if he could have stayed conscious this long. 

"I'm helping you make up for those six thousand years of celibacy," Childe grunted huskily, smiling as Zhongli subconsciously rutted his hips against Childe's to chase his own pleasure. 

Eventually, the chamber was only filled with the ragged and laboured breathing of the two men and the slick slapping of flesh against flesh. Zhongli barely registered the feeling of his shoulder blades burning from the friction against the mat as Childe rutted unceasingly into him. Every place that Childe's fingers slid over tingled with electricity. He was past the point of overstimulation — he could not even think straight anymore, all his thoughts were on the girthy length inside him. 

Childe's hips never stopped moving, not even once. He kept the momentum going and the tempo steady with hard, precise, and swift thrusts that left Zhongli wanting for more. How strange, he had already cum multiple times and the remnants of his cum stained his bare torso and his meditation mat, yet it still was not enough. How much more of this would he need to finally satiate his lust?

How can a mere mortal fuck a god so well? were the last of Zhongli's comprehensible thoughts as Childe pistoned his dick in and out of Zhongli, amongst other brain-dead thoughts that he had screamed out in ecstasy. Childe was really going for it now, he was going to fuck him till he was seemingly brain dead and the only words that would leave those pretty pink lips of his were his name.

"More — ah, yes! Don't stop!" Zhongli dug his nails deeper into Childe's skin as his mouth gaped open, drool dribbling out of his mouth as Childe fucked him dumb. Childe could have laughed at him, but the tight hold Zhongli's walls had on his dick stopped him from doing so. With Zhongli clenching down on him in a vice grip, Childe felt that it would be a sin for him to stop since Zhongli was reacting so well.

"Fuck, that feels good," Childe grunted, gripping onto Zhongli's thighs tightly. He brought Zhongli's legs up and threw them over his shoulders, folding him into a mating press, each thrust getting deeper with the next. He clenched his jaw and hissed, "I — fuck, I'm going to cum, take all of it, okay?"

Zhongli said nothing, but simply let out a drawn-out whine, as if it was his way of giving Childe the green light. Childe's thrusting became more and more erratic and with one guttural yell, he came inside Zhongli and the latter followed shortly after, hot spurts of white released from his tip. Zhongli sighed wearily as he felt Childe's length slide out of him, feeling the warm cum within him drip down his thighs and the crack of his ass. Despite the sticky mess that they were in, Childe sat back and laughed. He smacked Zhongli's ass, "Good show, comrade!"

"But let's see if you can do better next time," Childe winked, squeezing the supple flesh beneath his palm that caused more of his seed to leak out, eliciting a yelp out of the ravenette.

Childe sighed contentedly and collapsed beside Zhongli on the now ruined meditation mat. After a few quiet minutes for each to catch their breaths (and for Zhongli to silently lament about the only contract he had ever broken), he saw Childe prop himself up in his peripheral vision. 

"So," Zhongli could literally hear Childe smiling all over, "Mortal sex wasn't that bad huh?" 

Despite what they had experienced, Zhongli's ears turned red. He turned on his side to face Childe. 

"I guess," he responded slowly, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Childe hummed contentedly and pulled Zhongli close. 

The meditation room was a mess but that could always be settled later. For now, Zhongli would enjoy sleeping in Childe's embrace. Zhongli brought his ear close to Childe's chest and closed his eyes, lulled to sleep by the sound of his mortal heartbeat.  

#🐺🐺🐺.writing #tartali smut #tartali #childe x zhongli smut #childe x zhongli #zhongli x childe smut #zhongli x childe #childe smut #childe #zhongli smut #zhongli #genshin impact

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

MEET THE PACK !

— ADMIN 1: ALPHA

i'm actually more of a shoujo (and comedy) queen, but i read sufficient smut to contribute to this tumblr. i also simp over pretty 2d men to an unhealthy degree, and to the point i have a harem of fictional husbands. if you want to see more of my shenanigans, my addy is @calqlate :>>

— ADMIN 2: BETA

lowkey never owned a tumblr account before and a virgin to writing smut, which was why i joined a dirty tumblr account dedicated to writing lemons for fun. Honestly i just like to hang out with alpha and omega and enjoy the writing process. I post interesting art occasionally on instagram (@wolfbarkswoof)

— ADMIN 3: OMEGA

i haven't written anything in like 3 years, haven't been on tumblr in like a year, and i read too much smut. i'm a zhongli simp and i'm glad to be here (i go by @yuusuno on most socmed).

#🐺🐺🐺.about

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

GENSHIN IMPACT !

— ONESHOTS

ETIQUETTE OF MORTALS | tartali

SYNOPSIS: zhongli is a god who has high levels of monk decency. enter childe, a mortal with insane levels of sex drive. put them together, and you will get a whole lot of sinful corruption.

— FICS

OH CELESTIA! | tartali/zhongchi

SYNOPSIS: Ajax, a fresh university student ready to take on the world and prove something to himself. Zhongli, a director of one of the biggest mega-coporations in the continent of Teyvat. What will happen when they both decide to live under the same roof? Probably not much, except for the fact that they both hide dirty secrets. And that they're two idiots in love, if you consider that as another caveat.

#🐺🐺🐺.masterlist #genshin impact masterlist #genshin impact #genshin masterlist #genshin

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

DICKTIONARY !

— GENSHIN IMPACT

— and more to come ;)

#🐺🐺🐺.masterlist

[wolvesbarkshamefully]

NAVIGATION !

WARNING: mdni. 18+ content ahead.

awoo awoo | about the admins

dicktionary | grand masterlist

shoot your load | receiving asks with open legs

psst psst, you can also find us on ao3 ;)

#🐺🐺🐺.navi