Always and Forever / ZhongChi

Chapter 43 - Stubbornness isn't Always a Good Thing

A/N omggg guess whos back⁉️⁉️⁉️ IM SO SORRY I DIDNT MEAN TO TAKE SUCH A LONG BREAK GUYS😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏🙏 I HAD TONS OF STUFF TO DO I WAS SO BUSY...... i have to take a science state test this week and im in my schools rock band so i have to perform w them in yhe concert this week and then i have state testing next week and then the last two weeks of school so HOPEFULLY i can get back to posting normally (ITS MY BIRTHDAY SOON‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🎉🎉🎉) atp im just yapping - your favorite unintellectual pansexual <3333
It'd been a couple weeks, and nothing had changed. Zhongli was still banging me every chance he got, and I hadn't slept properly in weeks, and although I did love him and the sex was amazing, I still found it pretty disgraceful that I, a former fatui harbinger, was being overpowered time and time again by an archon who would barely be able to defeat one of his own adeptus if he really tried. I was laying in bed, and it seemed like I was finally getting a peaceful night where I got proper sleep, but Zhongli got into bed and wrapped his arms around me, kissing me repeatedly. As much as I loved Zhongli, and as much as I loved sex with him, I just wanted to sleep more than anything right now. I pushed Zhongli off of me and shook my head,
"I want to sleep. I love you, and I love sex with you, but I need sleep more than anything right now." He looked upset by this, but he didn't chase after me when I got out of bed and walked out of our room, he didn't come out to the living room where I'd laid myself on the couch with a blanket, and he woke up earlier than me and Mei and had gone to work before we woke up the next morning. I wasn't quite sure what this meant, were me and Zhongli splitting up again? I hadn't intended to make Zhongli want to split up, I was just exhausted and needed some sleep, but if it cost me my marriage, was it really worth it? I said goodbye to Mei as she walked to the door, and decided that the best way to figure out what was going on was to talk with Zhongli over lunch, when the time came. So as soon as it was nearing Zhongli's lunch break, I was putting my shoes on and heading out the door towards wangsheng funeral parlor, and when I arrived, Zhongli did not look happy. I walked over to him,
"We should talk." He shook his head and scowled at me,
"There's nothing to talk about." I really didn't want my marriage to end this way, but I wasn't happy with the way it had been going either,
"I didn't mean for this to happen, I was just tired, Zhongli. I haven't slept in weeks." Zhongli sighed,
"You should have thought about that before you pushed me away, you did this to yourself." I frowned at him,
"No, Zhongli. I pushed you away because I was tired and I wasn't in the mood." Zhongli grabbed my hand and we walked out of the funeral parlor, and after we got fairly far away from the bustling streets of Liyue Harbor, we stopped. Zhongli turned to face me,
"You could have explained to me that you were tired and didn't want to have sex, you didn't have to sleep on the fucking couch!" I sighed and shook my head, it was a little surprising that Zhongli was the one screaming at me,
"You wouldn't have listened! And to top it off, I used to be a fatui harbinger! It's honestly kind of embarrassing that I'm overpowered time and time again by you! You're not an archon anymore, and you could be easily beaten by many of the adeptus!" Zhongli was definitely pissed off by this statement, although he knew it was true, it was more embarrassing for him that he went from being the most powerful archon to being easily beaten by many of the adeptus in a matter of days. He shook his head and frowned at me,
"Ajax, I love you! Of course I would've listened! If you don't want to have sex all the time you could've told me instead of going along with it!" I shook my head and turned away from him,
"We should revisit this topic another time. I'm sorry that I can't live up to your expectations, but I'm not a sex doll. I love you, but I feel like I'm being used." I walked back home without looking back, because I didn't want to see whatever expression my words had left on his face.

After days of me sleeping on the couch and Zhongli and I not speaking to each other, I was pretty sure Mei was starting to catch on, and I was starting to think she might ask us about it, and sure enough, the question came. Mei looked up from her breakfast at me,
"Papa, why haven't you and dad been talking?" I glanced at her, looked back to the dish I was cleaning, then looked at her again,
"Huh? We've been talking, I dunno what you're talking about." Mei frowned at me,
"I've seen you sleeping on the couch, papa...Are you and dad gonna break up?" I shook my head and chuckled nervously,
"No, we just had a little...disagreement is all, you don't have to worry about it, Mei." Mei looked back down at her breakfast and frowned again, but didn't say anything else. I went and saw Zhongli that day, and sure enough, he was still pissed at me, but this time I didn't want to talk, I just wanted to be with him, hold his hand, rest my head on his shoulder, I just wanted it to be like how it was before, before I was revived as a zombie. But no such wishes came true. We went out to lunch, but it was just awkward and there was tension. We ended up barely saying anything to each other. I missed Zhongli, and decided I would sleep in our bed with him tonight, because sleeping on the couch was killing my back faster than being Zhongli's sex toy had been.

Dinner was about as silent as lunch had been, with Mei breaking the silence every now and then. I changed and got into bed, and Zhongli looked at me blankly as he came out of the bathroom, his hair wet from the bath he'd taken. He frowned and walked over to me,
"Are you just deciding that we're getting back together or are you saying that I'm sleeping on the couch? Because I'm not." I looked up at him,
"I wouldn't mind getting back together. I'm here because it's uncomfortable to sleep on the couch. You can sleep on the couch if you really want to, but it would really be better if we just got back together or something." Zhongli frowned at me and went to the other side of our bed, not saying another word to me.

My eyes opened slowly, and the first thing I noticed was that I was laying on someone. I looked to see their face, and it was Zhongli. He had his arm around my waist and had that perfect, peaceful expression on his face, so perfectly in between a straight face and a smile, so I leaned my head back on his chest and went back to sleep, because I wasn't sure how long this moment would last.