Chapter Text
In Zhongli’s long life as Rex Lapis, there are not a lot of people he knew who were quite like Childe.
Of Snezhnayan descent, he has pale skin and slightly broader frame than Zhongli’s human guise. His coppery red hair is roughly cut and almost disheveled as it falls all over his forehead and frames his face. His eyes are wide and blue, deep yet somewhat lifeless unless he is in battle.
The iconic red mask of his delusion is perched on the side of his head, a symbol of the Tsaritsa’s favor to her harbinger.
He is charming and brilliant, though his wide grins have a shadow of lurking danger and seductiveness. He is fierce and relentless in battle, but his love for his family is vast and steady.
But most prominent of the few things Zhongli knows about him is his love and lust for battle with a strong opponent.
So, he really should not be surprised when the first thing he hears from Childe on the first day they see each other after the whole… debacle with his fellow harbinger was, “I want to fight someone.”
He doesn’t wait for Zhongli to respond as he begins to pace in front of his desk restlessly, a rare light in his eyes.
Zhongli carefully rolls the scroll he was perusing and sets it aside to give him his full attention. He waits patiently. He honestly does not know what the appropriate response should be to that announcement. He just hopes that it isn’t him. He doesn’t want to cause any irreparable damage to this man he once – and still – thought of as his friend.
“I want to fight someone I saw in Guili Plains and I’m pretty sure he’s an Adeptus,” Childe says before he turns those blue battle-bright eyes to Zhongli. “I want to fight him.”
Oh. Oh, dear.