Thread by @_Cavalierious_

[ Lips Like Starlight]
#GenshinImpact #ZhongChiLi threadfic
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Part of As Many Choices as The Stars (Formerly Switcheroo).

CW: Mildly NSFW, Kissing, Making Out, Boners
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When Zhongli kisses Childe, he expects him to bite back. Just a little nip and there, the worrying of his teeth against soft, pliant lips. How Childe might want to swallow down the sounds that Zhongli looses as he leans closer, leeching Childe’s warmth.

Childe, though, usually kisses him back sweetly. The soft press of their mouths, the gentle explorations of their tongues. It’s too much and not enough. Zhongli loves the soft-handedness but also craves more.

“I figured you’d be more—” he starts one night, but then stops, brow creasing as he thinks of how to continue.

Childe lays below him, pressed into the couch, Zhongli straddling his hips. “More what?” he asks, wide palms curled around Zhongli’s waist, warm enough to feel even through the linen of Zhongli’s shirt.

He doesn’t want to say aggressive. “Assertive,” he settles with, reaching down to thumb across Childe’s bottom lip. He considers him with a half-lidded gaze, somewhere caught between sultry and curiosity. “Considering your general need for control—”

Childe laughs at that, his head tipping back, baring his throat. Zhongli’s eyes drop to it and he swallows, pleasure building in his gut as his gaze sweeps over the long, sinuous line there.

Zhongli is not sure exactly what he wants, so he sits there, astride him, one hand pressed against Childe’s sternum.

Childe lets him think, still holding him by the waist with an anchoring touch. “Zhongli, I’m not used to…” He sighs softly, affectionately. “Usually, this sort of thing is a one-off, suck and fuck kind of deal."

It hits Zhongli, then. He realizes that while Childe isn’t new to sex, he’s new to intimacy—at this isn’t a secret, Childe has flaunted his conquests before they ever considered being together, stories that would make Zhongli’s stomach coil in jealousy.

The first mortal-like emotion that he’d become truly acquainted with, and he still dislikes the acrid tinge of it. The way that it settles in his bones, even now, pulling at those older, serpentine parts of him.

“I too, am new to this,” he says softly. A short pause as he chuckles softly. “Or rather, I am particularly out of practice. There haven’t been many I’ve shared such a part of myself with, and those I did have been gone nearly as long as time itself.”

Childe’s gaze softens. “Zhongli—”

Zhongli dips low, pressing his nose against Childe’s nape. He inhales deeply, sinking into that scent of pine and the ocean, and the bitter-sharp cut of lingering Abyss. “I cannot deny, though, that a more… thorough ravishing might be appreciated,” he says near Childe’s ear.

Childe shivers at the thought, at the warm breath against his skin, at the way that Zhongli’s tongue snakes out and licks a path over the shell of his ear. He moans softly when Zhongli rearranges himself, tips back his chin, and captures his lips with his own.

This kiss is full of surprising passion. Childe kisses him back with intent, tongue slipping out to taste his own. Zhongli opens up his mouth, opens up 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, and falls into Childe’s newfound confidence. He whimpers softly, and Childe swallows the sound eagerly.

There is the clashing of teeth, their breaths hitch, soft whines and moans as their spit-slick mouths slide against each other. The air in the room turns heady, filling with the scent of arousal. Zhongli leans into it, drowning in the heat, those old instincts of his rising.

Childe’s hands move, tugging Zhongli’s shirt from his trousers. His fingers are blisteringly hot against Zhongli’s skin as he grips at him tighter, pulls his hips closer, guides him to settle against—

𝘖𝘩. There is no denying that Childe is enjoying this. He kisses him with wild abandon, tongue exploring Zhongli’s mouth, swirling around teeth, and soft muscle, trying to commit it to memory. He’s hard, painfully so, his erection thick and straining underneath.

“Zhongli,” murmurs Childe, those devilish hands slipping around to grasp at his plush backside.

Zhongli stops—not in fear, but with stuttering breaths, and the wild beating of his heart. “Ajax,” he hisses, reaching up to curl his fingers into Childe’s unruly, auburn hair. He tugs, and Childe moans, head sinking against the couch as his eyes flutter closed.

Oh, how Zhongli wants this, to lose himself entirely to the slick friction of their skin, debauched in their touch as fingers slide over sweaty limbs, but—

“Not tonight,” he mutters softly into Childe’s ear. He nuzzles it, apologetically.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, he thinks. Take their time and truly map each other out. The longer the wait, the sweeter the end result. Tonight, he just wants to indulge lazily against the pillows, and lose himself to Childe’s wicked mouth.

Childe doesn’t hesitate. “Whatever you want,” he says. “We can just keep kissing—”

“Yes,” says Zhongli immediately. And then, politely, he finishes with, “Please.”

Childe regards him sweetly, that rapscallion mouth of his curving into a smile. Zhongli still leans close, hanging over him, and Childe watches him back with fathomless blue eyes that most would find dead. They aren’t, they twinkle with amusement. “Alright.”

This time when they kiss, it’s slower, but with no less passion. They just melt against each other, mouths and tongues exploring, and other sorts of lingering touches against heated skin that are only mildly debaucherous.

Zhongli no longer just thinks it might be love, he knows it is, which makes it something that should be treasured.

Childe seems keen to give him whatever he asks for.

[ The End ]