#zhongchi omegaverse mpreg angssst being the middle child among seven siblings childe grew up using hand-me-downs and having to give way to his much younger siblings' needs. as a result he often ignored his own needs which had gotten worse when he got pregnant.

he didn't want to be a burden, he thought. his parents appreciated him better when he was independent and showed them he could take care of himself and his siblings esp when he presented as an omega, so it must be the same for zhongli, right?

he was already 12 weeks along when he found out he was expecting because he ignored the symptoms until he passed out at the bank. he continued working at a place where people with varying scents come and go and all he wanted to do was throw up.

zhongli would've remained ignorant of his lover's condition had he not caught childe sucking in his bulging tummy. by then childe was in his 20th week and he really had no plans of telling the father about it until he gave birth. or ran away.

because he didn't want zhongli to carry the burden when it was his fault for seducing the alpha into spending a heat together which then got him pregnant. he was proven correct when zhongli started to adjust his schedule to match his, even moving into his apartment.

an inconvenience, that's what he thought he was to the alpha, who began taking on all the household chores and wouldn't let childe do a thing, wouldn't let childe go out alone. so even when he woke up at midnight for craving something, he just sucked it up.

however one night after peeing for the 1000th time that day childe was restless. his whole body ached, the baby kept kicking, and he badly craved for dumplings with honey but they had no stock at home. he just broke down on the floor and zhongli had to find him like that.

zhongli held him close and released comforting pheromones until he felt childe's breathing evening out. he didn't ask anything; just waited patiently until the omega finally said, "i wanted dumplings but i didn't want to wake you up..."

"oh sweet ajax, you can wake me up any time and i'd even go to inazuma just to get you your dumplings." zhongli's heart broke thinking abt childe holding in his pain. "i didn't want to bother you." childe finally let out the words he'd kept all these years.

zhongli's eyes softened as he cupped childe's tear-stricken cheeks. "my treasure, my world, i would do anything for you, i'd give up my life for you. and you're saying i'd be bothered to buy you dumplings in the middle of the night? you can never be a bother to me."

more tears broke from childe, but they felt like happy, relieved ones this time. all his life he served other people, adjusted to their needs. never he had heard the reassuring words that came from zhongli that he'd be taken cared of. no one else had offered him such devotion.

oh, how he loved zhongli. more than anyone else in the world. the only right among his many wrongs. the only hand that holds his fragile, damaged heart. the only person he felt safe with. what ever did he do to deserve this man?

"zhongli," he weakly called, not noticing it was the first time he called the alpha without the honorific he was so fond of. "yes, dearest?" "i want dumplings with honey..." if zhongli had to wake xiangling up at 3am, so be it. "anything for you, my love." //end