The Boy Who Cried Fox

Weekends (2)

"Big Brother!" A small red blur jumped onto the sleeping ginger, waking him with a start.

"Gah! Teucer! Come here you little rascal!" Childe grabbed the small child, who was a giggling mess.

"I want to help you unpack!" Teucer announced when the 2 calmed down.

"Alright! To the college we go!" Childe pulled Teucer onto his back, with Tonia and Anthon helping to drag the bags to school. It seems that Childe wasn't the only one who got the notice at the last minute. Even Xiao was seen with Ganyu and Hu Tao, discussing dorm arrangements. The only person who wasn't seen was Zhongli.

C: He must be in his dorm since he already unpacked a while ago.

Slightly disappointed as he wanted to show Zhongli his siblings, Childe made his way to the assigned dorm.

"Alright buddy, we have arrived!" Childe dropped Teucer off his back, who was beaming from all the attention they were getting. He turned the key and was greeted by Kaeya and Diluc bickering again. Nearby were 2 boys he didn't recognize that well but he knew they were from the Inazuma side of campus from the small purple accents they wore.

"Finally! Tarty, Diluc says that he should take the bed in that room which I obviously claimed first." Kaeya immediately walked over to Childe to explain the problem he always expected someone else to fix.

"What? Are there not enough rooms?" Childe was concerned that he was going to have to sleep on the couch. And with the amount of stuff he had, no way he was going to find places to put them all.

"No, no. There's enough, we saved one for you but one of us needs to sleep with someone." The blue haired male was sipping some lavender melon milk tea with boba inside. Somehow, just sensing his presence made Childe annoyed. "I'm Ayato. Kamisato Ayato. And this is Thoma. My friend and housekeeper."

"Hey Childe. Kaeya's told us a bit about you!" Thoma gave a friendly wave which annoyed Childe even more. Forcing a smile, Childe guessed the room they saved for him and began unpacking. Teucer and Anthon were already there, waiting for him. Half of his things were already out.

"Tonia's busy now. In the bathroom." Anthon pointed at the bathroom door. Sure enough, there was the voice of a 12 year old girl. 20 minutes later and they were done. Childe sat on the sofa next to Kaeya, who was currently texting someone. Then there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it? Oh, come in." Diluc answered the door and then let in a brunette.

"Hey Zhongli." Kaeya waved at him. Giving them all a shy smile, Zhongli sat on the counter, across from Ayato and Thoma. Childe felt a pang of jealousy at how well they hit off, with Ayato talking about his family lineage and Zhongli listening intently.

"And then we have my little sister Ayaka. I believe she is friends with Ei?" Ayato showed a picture of a girl with ice blue hair in a high ponytail and a kind smile.

"I have seen her with Ei, yes." Zhongli nodded. The 2 continued to talk until Childe's siblings decided to join them.

"Ooh! Big brother, who is this pretty woman?" Teucer pointed at Zhongli, who didn't seem bothered by the misgendering.

"Uh, Teucer, that's Zhongli. And he's a guy." Childe corrected his little brother.

"But she's so pretty!" Teucer continued to stare at Zhongli.

"Sorry about him." Childe gave Zhongli an apologetic look.

"Oh, don't worry. I honestly couldn't give 2 fucks about pronouns but I mostly go by he." Zhongli waved his hand to dismiss the statement. Childe nodded before going back to scrolling on Twitter. When it was lunch, Childe brought his siblings back home. Zhongli got dragged along because of how much Childe's siblings liked him.

"Alright, we'll see you next week Ajax." Tonia waved at her brother as they left for the nearest restaurant. They stopped at Wanmin restaurant for lunch.

"Childe! What do you want to order?" A girl with 2 braids tied back in the shape of a bow secured with an actual red bow strided up to the 2, a wide smile painted her face.

"Hey Xiangling. Zhongli, this is Xiangling. Chef Mao's daughter. She also goes to the same college as a culinary major." Childe did the introductions before ordering a simple meal of jade parcels.

"Childe?" Zhongli looked up from his lap to face the ginger

"Yes babe?" Childe answered. He finally realized what he said but instead of apologizing to the now very red Zhongli, he just decided to use this to tease him. "Do you like it when I call you babe?"

"Maybe..." Zhongli looked back at his lap, the redness spreading rapidly to his ears. This was definitely not the answer Childe was expecting.

"Well, princess, what did you need?" Childe was enjoying choosing all these nicknames for him and watching how the blush was spreading until it reached his neck.

"I...enjoy talking...to your siblings..." Zhongli answered, getting his embarrassment under control. Taking several deep breaths to calm himself down, Zhongli turned to look at those ocean blue eyes devoid of life.

"Maybe we can meet them each weekend. How's that sound?" Childe propped his head up against one hand. Getting an enthusiastic nod from the other, Childe gave Xiangling the money as someone had forgotten his wallet and they ate in filled silence. Soon Childe said goodbye to Zhongli, sulking as he walked back to his dorm. He then saw a message from Signora, one of his classmates and colleagues.

"Tartaglia, Pierro seemed quite infuriated and he kept muttering your name. Mind telling me? No. Fuck off moth bitch. Do you want to meet up? I see why not." Childe replied to the text before dropping off his things at his dorm and changing. With nothing to do as everyone else was busy, Childe decided to watch some videos. Taking his laptop out, he began to watch videos of random topics.

Words: 1016