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There is a soft knock at Xiao’s door.
“Come in.”
A tall man enters, a man dressed impeccably, a man as well-known to the people of Liyue as Xiao himself.
It is the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour consultant, Zhongli.
“Re—” Xiao cuts himself off when Zhongli’s previously passive expression turns pointed. Right. “Zhongli. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Zhongli takes a step closer to Xiao, towering over him. Despite this, Xiao is not intimidated. For some reason, the way Zhongli looks at him makes him feel like he’s the one in control.
Even if he feels completely out of his depth right now.
“I would like to thank you for assisting me the other day, Adeptus Xiao.” Xiao tries not to react to the honorific, particularly coming from this man’s mouth. It would defeat the whole point of this exercise, after all. “To think that a mere mortal like me has been able to make your acquaintance… I can only apologise that it was not under better circumstances, I am certain I made a fool of myself.”
Xiao does not understand how Zhongli, how Rex Lapis—because Xiao is allowed to refer to him as such in the safety of his own mind—can lie so brazenly. He wants to scream that Zhongli is the furthest from a ‘mere mortal’, and that he needs to understand Xiao will never not hold him in the highest regard. He wants to beg Zhongli to stop this foolishness, to let him apologise for even going along with the idea.
However, this was Zhongli’s one condition. If they were to be together as Xiao the adeptus and Zhongli the human, then Xiao had to understand the hierarchy. Xiao holds the higher position and Zhongli defers to him, not the other way around. Unless, of course, Xiao wanted to assume a human identity as well, in which case they would be equal.
It was an impossible suggestion and Zhongli knew it—Xiao could never live as a human, the Lantern Rite banquet and this is evidence enough. He can’t simply disregard people’s past identities and the relationships he had with them. He doesn’t want to.
But for Zhongli… He will try.
“It is no matter.” Xiao decides to keep his utterances short. He cannot mess anything up if he just doesn’t speak. And then remembering Zhongli had tried to insult himself, Xiao hastens to add, “I assure you I do not think any less of you than I did before.”
Zhongli narrows his eyes. Xiao thought what he said was fine, but Zhongli continues to give him a look. It would seem he is not giving Xiao any wriggle room at all. Xiao huffs out a breath. “Your reputation precedes you, Zhongli. I often hear about your infinite knowledge and wisdom. One simple mishap would not be enough to change my opinion.”
“Adeptus Xiao flatters me. I too have heard many great stories about you. Liyue is lucky to have you as her protector. As am I.”
Xiao blushes, but doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t know what to say. Luckily, Zhongli isn’t finished.
“I would still like to make it up to you. Please, let me service you.”
“‘Service’?” Xiao’s question is genuine. Another thing he struggles with is the ever-evolving language of the land he resides in. At the moment he can still understand most people fine, but when it comes to slang he is completely clueless.
When Zhongli carefully drops to his knees, Xiao thinks he gets an idea of what it means, but refuses to let himself believe it. His body doesn’t listen, however, already becoming excited at the prospect, one part in particular stirring with much interest.
“It is true what they say,” Zhongli begins, bringing his hands up to the waistband of Xiao’s pants, but not moving them any further. “I am skilled in a number of things. That includes using my mouth, and not just for talking, if you know what I mean.”
He winks at Xiao then, and Xiao wants to die. His cock is properly erect now, straining embarrassingly against the purple fabric. Zhongli notices it too and Xiao waits in agony for his reaction. When he licks his lips, Xiao feels himself leak.
“To put it more plainly…” Zhongli’s voice is lower than before, even lower than normal, and it drives Xiao insane. He doesn’t know for whose sake Zhongli is explaining, but Xiao won’t complain about the extra time to get a hold of himself so he doesn’t come the moment Zhongli sets his mouth on him. “I would like to suck your cock, Adeptus Xiao.”
Obscene, obscene! Yet it only makes Xiao grow harder.
Xiao crosses his arms and looks away, trying to appear indifferent. In reality, he just can’t look at Zhongli right now. No matter how many times he and Zhongli have done this, he will never get used to hearing him use such crude language.
“Do as you wish.”
Zhongli takes his time. Always does, with Xiao. He usually likes to tease, likes to wait until Xiao is a writhing mess, begging him for release. Xiao wonders how it will be today, considering they are not doing what they usually do.
When Zhongli pulls his pants down and frees his cock, Xiao tries not to react. He stays where he is, looking out of the window, ignoring every second his bare cock hangs out in the air. He’s just about to ask Zhongli to get on with it already, turning to face him, but the words get stuck in his throat.
Because Zhongli is just staring at his cock, a small thing flushed red at the tip. He hates the attention even if his cock doesn’t, except he doesn’t know how to tell Zhongli to stop. He doesn’t know if he actually wants Zhongli to stop.
“Have I ever told you how gorgeous I find you?” Zhongli asks, still mesmerised.
He has. Multiple times, in fact. Xiao tells him this, perhaps breaking their rule in the process, but it’s like Zhongli doesn’t even hear him.
“Absolutely beautiful,” he says, before finally taking Xiao’s cock in his mouth.
A moan leaves Xiao of its own accord. He can’t help it. The first time he and Zhongli slept together, they had been absolutely mortified and delighted respectively to find out how vocal Xiao was in bed. It was as if he’d saved all the words he never spoke for these moments, that he was quiet to the world but loud for just Zhongli.
Zhongli laps at his cock, sucks at it, takes it easily all into his mouth. He is every bit as skilled as he said he was, and Xiao feels like he is going to ascend. His knees buckle but Zhongli wraps an arm around him and holds him upright. He desperately needs to hold onto something, but doesn’t know if he’s allowed to touch Zhongli.
As if sensing his hesitation, Zhongli pulls off Xiao’s cock to say, “You can put your hands on me, Adeptus Xiao. In fact, I would like it.”
He puts his mouth back on Xiao’s cock right after, and Xiao doubles over with a groan. He places one hand on the man’s shoulder and buries his face in the other. A moment later, remembering what Zhongli said, he puts that hand on top of Zhongli’s head and threads his fingers through his hair. Xiao feels Zhongli’s resulting hum on his cock.
“Zhongli…” Xiao pants, already close. He can never seem to last long, instead making up for it with his short refractory period. Zhongli, on the other hand, has godly stamina, and always manages to get a couple of orgasms out of Xiao before he even has his first.
They’re a pretty good match, Xiao supposes.
“Adeptus Xiao, are you close?”
Xiao nods, remembers Zhongli can’t see it, then stammers through a yes.
Zhongli licks the tip of Xiao’s cock. “You taste so good, Adeptus Xiao.” Xiao whines against Zhongli. He wants to come. “You’re so— perfect. Your cock fits in my mouth like it was made for it.”
“Please.” Hierarchy be damned, Adeptus Xiao is not above begging.
“What is it?”
“I want—”
“Tell me, what is it you want? What do you command?”
“Let me—” In the haziness of his mind, Xiao manages to come up with, “Make me come.”
Xiao can hear the smirk in Zhongli’s voice when he responds, “It would be my honour, Adeptus Xiao.”
The moment Zhongli’s mouth touches Xiao’s cock again he comes, spilling down his throat. Zhongli continues to suck him after, pleasuring him until it’s absolutely too much and Xiao has to push him away.
He stumbles back until he hits the bed, chest heaving as he catches his breath.
Zhongli remains kneeling on the floor. He pulls out a handkerchief and wipes his mouth with it, as refined as ever. It draws attention to the sizable bulge in his pants, a sight that makes Xiao’s spent cock twitch.
“How was that, my love?”
My love. Much more preferable to ‘Adeptus Xiao’. Xiao doesn’t know why Zhongli can’t always use it.
Xiao pulls his pants back up, though he’s certain they will be taken off him again soon. “Horrible. You know I am a terrible actor.”
Zhongli stands up and draws Xiao in, swaying them gently, smiling down at him. “You did better than last time.”
Xiao scoffs. Last time, Zhongli had the brilliant idea to give himself a fake name—to make the situation a bit more realistic, he said. Only, Xiao could not remember that name for the life of him, and ended up using ‘Zhongli’ anyway, later defaulting to ‘Rex Lapis’ out of pure frustration. It wasn’t very successful in the end, but Zhongli wasn’t disheartened.
“I just want you to let me love you as you deserve,” Zhongli tells him with a sigh.
“And why can’t Rex Lapis love me like I deserve?” Xiao’s tone comes out harsher than he intends, and he winces. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that. I know this is important to you.”
Zhongli leans down and presses a kiss to Xiao’s forehead. Xiao closes his eyes and leans against his chest. “It is, but I don’t want you to hate it.”
Xiao doesn’t reply right away. When he thinks about it, he doesn’t hate it, not really. He’s just not the best with change. He opens his eyes again, glancing up at Zhongli, who’s watching him carefully. He admits, “No, I don’t hate it. It’s just different, Mere Mortal Zhongli. Before you were still Rex Lapis’ Latest Identity Zhongli to me.”
Zhongli gives him a small smile. “And to me, you have always been Adeptus Xiao.”
Xiao blushes. He supposes that is true. Regardless of his identity, Xiao has always been Adeptus Xiao to Zhongli. Perhaps he enjoys being able to see him in a different light. Perhaps Zhongli can love Xiao better than Rex Lapis.
“You’re still hard,” Xiao says suddenly. He hadn’t realised until he glanced down.
“It is no matter.” Zhongli echoes Xiao’s words from earlier.
But to Xiao, it does matter. And maybe, if he’s the one with seniority here, he gets a say. He steps out of Zhongli’s embrace and shoves him lightly until he falls back onto the bed, climbing in after him and straddling his hips.
Zhongli looks up at Xiao with surprise, but he clearly doesn’t hate it, so Xiao takes it as a sign to continue. When he tries to put his hands on Xiao’s waist, Xiao swats them away.
“Adeptus Xiao will show this little human how it is done.”