The Boy Who Cried Fox

Kiss?

He went to his locker to put his books away and get ready for the next period. As he was walking to his locker there was a piece of paper sticking out. He recognized the handwriting all too well.

"Faggot..." He muttered under his breath. It was too overused in his book. Taking the paper down and ripping it to shreds, he unlocked my locker and was about to head to the canteen when someone pushed him violently against the hard cold metal. Looking back, he saw Pantalone, pinning both of his hands against the locker. The same Pantalone that blackmailed him and still leaked the information after he did what he was asked to do. They have had some history you could say.

"Did you miss me, Zhongli?" Gripping his hands tighter and leaning closer to his ear, he knew this situation all too well. "Don't you like getting pinned down by a big strong man? I remember very well you had half of the men in our middle school at your whim yet you had the audacity to not use it."

His hand twitched. No, he must not let my reflexes kick in or not he was going to get into big trouble. Shifting his eyes to the rest of the people there, just by their looks, he knew that he was either going to have to comply with whatever they wanted or he was going to get expelled.

"Our dear friend Pantalone said you were a stripper, right?" Cocking her head, the same pale green haired and gray eyes spoke in a mocking tone.

"Now, now Sandrome. That is a bit too straight forward. " A deeper voice entered this mental torment. The person had a hood on and a mask so his face wasn't visible but it was rather clear he was a male. When will this be over? He thought. Unconsciously, he rolled his eyes as he thought this and that didn't go unnoticed.

"What are you rolling your eyes for, huh?" The tallest and, what he guessed as the oldest, switched places with Pantalone and gripped his neck tight, still pressing him up against the locker. Still refusing to answer and seeing his patience run out, he blacked out.

When he was brought back to Teyvat, his body was crumpled against a wall. Then he felt another blow to his face. Still trying to orientate what was happening, he felt something warm and wet drip from my nose. Shit! Raising both of his hands to cover his broken nose, he hoped that no one saw the blood. Just as he was ready for another hit, Childe pushed through and shielded me from them.

"Tartaglia?" Sandrom tilted her head in confusion. What on earth was he doing?

"I'm disappointed in all of you. Sure you guys are bullies but this is too far! I ignored this for way too long!" Childe cradled him in his arms. Hee felt...safe. Like as long as he was here, they couldn't hurt me. Then they heard Venti and Ei run in their direction. Venti crouched next to him and Ei stood in front of all 3 of us.

"Barbatos, get him to the infirmary." Ei glanced at them before getting ready to fight. Nodding intensely, Venti helped him off the ground and ran to the infirmary, Childe running behind them.

"Uh, can you wait out here?" Venti asked Childe once we were inside.

"Fine." Sulking, Childe leaned on the doorway as Venti led him inside. Removing both of his hands from his face, he passed me a tissue and held it up to stop the bleeding. Even though he isn't a medical major, Venti still learned first aid due to the amount of times he was bullied in middle school and the amount of injuries he had received. He sat down on the floor and waited for Venti to return.

Venti returned with a bunch of bandaids and whatever was in the first aid kit he carried around. There was a long silence before Venti took out a pill bottle and handed Zhongli one.

"I didn't want to give you this but it seems that you need it." Venti sat down next to Zhongli and the 2 waited for Ei to return. The door finally opened and a pink haired woman had Ei leaning on her for support.

"Hey Yae. Just leave her here." Venti waited for the woman to leave before helping Ei patch up. Nothing serious, just some scratches and bruises. The 3 of them all huddled close together. It was middle school all over again for them, with Zhongli getting bullied, Venti being the healer and Ei protecting both of them. The 3 of them would spend hours sitting in the infirmary just to hide from the bullies. A knock was heard on the door, followed by a gentle 'can I come in'? Childe opened the door and sat across from them.

"I'm so sorry about that." Guilt was thick in his voice and those dead ocean blue eyes were heavy with regret.

"Don't be. You couldn't have controlled the situation no matter what you did." Zhongli knew this situation all too well. It reminded him of his siblings. Cupping the ginger's cheeks just like he did with his siblings, he placed a soft kiss on his forehead. Venti and Ei just gaped at the situation. Childe, on the other hand, started stuttering uncontrollably before quickly saying thank you and goodbye. The door closed with a slam as Zhongli just sat there confused.

"Morax...you can't just...do that..." Venti was on the floor, wheezing like he just smoked a whole pack of Naku weed.

"Whatever do you mean??" Zhongli looked at them, clearly not understanding why they were acting like this.

"Morax...I know you have siblings but people will interpret it differently here..." Ei was also trying to control her laughter. Soon as Venti finally calmed down, the 3 of them stood up and left the infirmary, Zhongli still very confused.

Meanwhile, Childe was trying to tell his friends what Zhongli did but all that came out were the words cheeks, forehead, Zhongli and kiss. Lisa confirmed her suspicions about Childe's crush on the new student and smiled in triumph at his reaction to this seemingly simple move.

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