The Boy Who Cried Fox

First date (1)

"Well, everyone has dirt on someone. Anyway, Ayaka's always clingy to me and I feel she's a bit too pampered." Lumine leaned back into the chair she was sitting in. Childe stopped listening after that. Lumine left after a while.

"Oh! Zhongli! Yeah he's in there." She talked to someone before walking off. The person turned out to be Zhongli. He had more soup with him. Childe remembered that he wanted to take him out a while ago. He sat there thinking as Zhongli settled himself. Then, as if a lightbulb went off, Childe had the perfect idea.

"Hey princess. You said you wanted to learn more about Snezhnaya, right?" Childe leaned on his palm as he looked at Zhongli.

"Oh have you found a way?" Zhongli suddenly got very interested in whatever Childe was saying, not like he wasn't before but this in particular caught his interest.

"Well, a favorite Snezhnayan past time is ice skating! There is a nearby rink and I was wondering if you wanted to go?" Childe smiled as he waited for Zhongli's answer.

"Why not?" He stood up and walked closer to Childe. At first all he wanted to do was make sure he was better. But the ginger mistook this and instead pulled him in for a kiss. Zhongli didn't care though. But wasn't it unhygenic to kiss a sick person?

"Childe? Is this sanitary?" Zhongli was now worriedly sitting in Childe's lap.

"Huh? Oh of course it is! I'm clean!" Childe beamed at his friend's statement. But Zhongli immediately went paler as he tasted something followed by the half eaten seafood on the table.

"Baby? What's wrong?" Childe was comforting a Zhongli buried deep into his neck.

"Seafood...don't like..." These were the only words Zhongli could say. The rest was all incomprehensible mumbling. Childe just chuckled as he comforted the brunette. They decided that the next day would be the best time to go. So they got into bed and cuddled for the rest of the night.

"Ready?"

Childe was out in his regular short - sleeved narwhal hoodie and blue jeans. Just in case, he brought along a jacket and a hat for Zhongli. He was just talking with Zhongli on the phone and was now waiting for him in front of the school. Just as he began to think Zhongli ditched him, he appeared. And the sight that greeted him made his jaw drop.

"Sorry I'm late! I was busy getting ready!" Zhongli came running out. He was wearing a sleeveless black turtleneck with a white jacket zipped on the lower half with the top exposed and the collar started at mid upper arm and ended at his wrist. His lower half had a simple black belt and 2 chains supporting a pendant dangling on his thigh and simple black leggings with his ever present black sneakers.

"I-I...wow..." Childe was able to only say these 2 words as he stared at Zhongli. "L-Let's go, shall we? It should be less crowded by now, sadly."

"Sadly? Whatever do you mean?" Trying to understand the ginger's disappointment, Zhongli leaned forward, attempting to read his mind.

"There's no one to fight! What a bummer." Childe exclaimed, showing as much frustration as possible.

"Ah. Then, shall we get going? Lest we may miss someone for you to fight. You do wish to engage in combat, no?" Zhongli waited for Childe to take the lead.

"Yeah. Let's go! I'm in the mood for battle!" Childe speed walked, grabbing ZHongli's hand in the process. The 2 walked in silence, both in thought. Childe trying not to think about the stupid bet and focus on Zhongli, who was freaking out internally.

"Hey! Stop pushing!"

"There's enough space here!"

"Shush guys! Or we're gonna get caught!" Lisa had her phone out and was filming the two. Kaeya, Ningguang, Yae Miko, Beidou, Venti, Aether and Ei were secretly following the two. Lumine chose to sit out on this one. Aether obviously knew why but spared his dear sister the embarrassment. Zhongli and Childe were completely ignorant to what was happening behind their backs but they managed to strike up a conversation about...ice skating.

"Have you ever done ice skating before?" Childe noticed he knew nothing about whether or not his friend had ever done it before and how hard it was going to be.

"Once before. It was a few days before my date of birth. Must've been 4 years ago." Zhongli tucked one of his bangs behind his ear. Childe couldn't help but admire him as he did so.

"So you already tried the ice, heh." Childe teased the older, who just chuckled back.

"I guess you could say that." Zhongli went back to looking straight ahead.

"I've done it in Snezhnaya a few times. I pushed a few kids into the ice. Might do that again." Childe rubbed both of his hands together, showing clearly how he had no good intent.

"No. Speaking of Snezhnaya, do you have any other tales to tell?" Zhongli sighed in disappointment at his friend's lust for battle.

"Well, Tonia has done it in the past few years when I've been back. Teucer tried it last year and Anthon doesn't really like it. He says it's too cold and I guess he's afraid that the ice would break under him and he falls through. It's understandable. Tonia teases him about it and they usually end up fist fighting to which I would love to join them, if I wasn't the responsible brother I am. Speaking of ice skating, who did you go with last time?" Besides battle, Childe's family was his favorite thing to talk about.

"Just a few companions here and there. The ones who shared the memory. Barbatos was being a nuisance as always, half drunk by the time we got there. Beelzebul was quite reluctant as was I but a female friend of mine dragged me there. We no longer engage in contact of any kind, but our... 'friendship' was nice while it lasted. It was quite enjoyable as a whole, not of course with Barbatos spilling wine all over the ice. Beelzebul took that bard aside to sober up but when he got back, he was just as drunk as he was with wine, in fact worse, if I do say so." Zhongli frowned each time he mentioned Venti. Guess they have a frenemies kind of relationship.

"So did you fall? I mean, falling is pretty common for newcomers. Not for me, though. Especially with my battle experience sparring with you. You are quite a formidable opponent. Not to mention my good looks. I bet even the ice would melt from my hotness. How about you, xiansheng? Would you fall for me like the ice will? With that cold look of yours, I would assume so." Childe attempted to flirt with Zhongli.

"I thank you for your praise, Childe. Not I, but Barbatos, most certainly. That female 'friend' did lose her balance once or twice. But most of the time, she was rather graceful. Beelzebul did have some struggles but was overall splendid." Zhongli ignored Childe's previous statements.

"Geez. You sure have a lot of dirt about them. But did you hear my second question? I'm hot right? All the girlies and the lads say I'm pretty fly for a white guy. The ice definitely melted once or twice when I skated." Childe tried once again.

"Is the destination nearing?" Zhongli continued walking forward, Childe's statement going unnoticed.

"Xiansheng please... am I fly for a white guy or nah?" Childe pouted and shook Zhongli to try and get him to answer him.

"It has been a while since we started this journey." Zhongli didn't give Childe the answer he wanted, so Childe gave up knowing he's fighting a losing battle.

"Geez, Xiansheng. You really are cruel, huh? We should reach it in about 15 minutes." Childe ugly cried to try and get Zhongli's attention but that didn't work either.

"That's good to hear." Zhongli ended the conversation at that as they strolled the rest of the way in silence.

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