I know I usually update this every week, but this update is double the size, being 2350 words or so, so this one is for both this week and next, as school has been a bit difficult. Have a great day/week.
Xiao felt as if he was going to explode. Venti had moved during the night, and was now draped over him like a blanket. His shoulder ached a bit, but much less than it had the other day, as he had spent the entire night focusing on healing himself. His neck did hurt, but that was probably simply because he'd had an entire man laying on him all night on a couch. Before he could even go to speak to Venti, the ex-Archon's eyes were fluttering open and a wide smile formed on his lips.
"Alatus, you look tired." Xiao tch-ed, turning his head away to pull himself out from under Venti.
"No, no, no, I mean it's kinda cute!" Venti managed to get more words out between his pouting and pulling at Xiao's ear affectionately. Xiao managed to look what he hoped was appropriately irked, hiding the tips of his blushing ears with his hair. Venti smiled a bit, not his usual crowd pleaser wide smile, just a small pleased one. Xiao looked nice like that, flustered.
At that point Xiao noticed a certain missing person in their secluded bliss. Aether hadn't yet come down from his room apparently, and they hadn't even heard him moving around up there yet. Xiao made his way up to his room, knocking twice before opening the door to see in. The futon on the floor was unkempt, and there were little mementos on shelves and in cases all over, but no Aether. He jumped from the balcony and made his way to where Venti was looking in the kitchen for their friend. He shook his head, knowing now that he had likely left the teapot to meet with another of his friends for commissions.
They left the mansion together, Venti clearly more used to being in the teapot as he immediately knew where the spirit was. He asked where Aether had gone, getting by way of answer some wordsy thing that the bard interpreted as Inazuma.
Venti informed the spirit that they were leaving as well, but to Mondstadt, and grabbed Xiao's arm to pull him into a wind current. He stumbled hard, bumping into the Anemo Archon's back and nearly falling with the momentum. But Venti's grip on his arm was tight, and no matter how his feet stumbled or the winds tore at his clothing, he did not yield. Xiao could have swore he heard different screaming in the wind, similar to the screaming he was plagued with almost daily, but he'd never heard those voices before. Before he could really listen to what they were saying, they were whisked from the wind, and stood in Mondstadt.
Venti dropped his arm, and he looked a bit dazed, as if he hadn't enough power to even do that much. Which considering that he no longer had his gnosis, was probably the cause. Xiao was at his side in a moment, hands hovering so as to help if it was necessary, but if it wasn't then he wouldn't be overstepping. Thankfully Venti straightened up after but a moment, flashing a quick grin towards Xiao as if to assure him that the ex-Archon was alright.
Xiao felt bad, he wished that the man before him, the God of Freedom could feel the freedom that he had given to Xiao in the past, even before he was truly free. Only while Xiao had been literally indebted, his freedom far out of reach; Venti was only holding himself back, holding his own freedom too far away for him to touch. But Xiao did not know how to go about doing that besides simply being with him. His limited social lessons were causing him more problems than he had thought they would in the past, and he only laid a tentative hand on Venti's shoulder before thinking better of it and drawing it away.
Venti meandered through the hills of Mondstadt, leading Xiao towards the city itself whilst pointing out landmarks he might need to know if he ever planned on showing up there of his own accord. He probably wouldn't come back all alone anyway, so the lesson was unnecessary, but Venti sounded happy to be telling him all this. It was better than how quiet he had been the night before, and how he had brushed off his concerns earlier. His grin came easier when Xiao asked him why the dandelions only grew in the windy areas, though he knew the answer anyways.
Xiao had to admit, he seemed at home here, similar to how his lord looked in the cliffs of Liyue. The slight furrow to his brows was absent, his jaw was relaxed, and his hands weren't in fists at his side as they tended to be these days. It was really nice actually. But still, there was a thing that had been bothering him regarding the Archon.
In Inazuma, he'd tried to kiss him. Granted he probably had a concussion and wasn't in his right mind, but it still made Xiao think. If the man before him had actually meant to kiss him, why? Was it only a desperate call for help as he'd made in the past, or did he genuinely want something to come of it. Xiao was not going to ask, but the question still weighed on his mind while they walked into Mondstadt's gates. He hadn't given himself a chance in the past few weeks to even think over his friend's actions, much less anything besides finding Bosacius.
Now, he wasn't sure were to even begin. Venti was, well, he was kind and over the centuries had been the one thing holding Xiao above the tide of evil he fought against. But he had never thought about what he mean to him. Perhaps he was idolized in Xiao's mind for a while, but he was a God, so that wasn't so unusual. Over the last few months however, he'd been more concerned then he'd have been if he had only known about his godhood. But he was a being in and of himself. He felt afraid and anxious just like the rest of them.
So maybe Xiao was feeling simply worried. But if it was only worry, maybe he could have brushed it off when Aether told him of Signora's death.
There was no real danger anymore.
He was still concerned for his friend.
The problem was that he was unsure if his concern was coming from the same place in his heart as his admiration and concern for Aether was. Was it instead the same affections he'd felt for the other Yaksha and his lord? That was much closer to human familial affections than what he knew he felt for the golden haired traveler. Even now, standing beside the man, he was unsure of what his feelings were.
Venti was speaking to him again, waving his hand before his face as he grinned.
"I need money before we go to Angel's Share, so you can stay and listen to me play, or you could play...or you could wander around Mondstadt." He'd changed his vision into his lyre as he spoke, walking backwards around children and such to the foot of his statue. Xiao was still in awe of how different his 'Venti' persona was from how the man was actually. Sure he was just as intolerable, but in a quieter, more unnerving way than his irritating manner as 'Venti.'
Normally Xiao might think he was cute, but he'd seen the man shivering in fear and terror whilst safe in his arms, so the smile was unconvincing. He started to play, long fingers dancing over the strings skillfully, his eyes half-moons in concentration.
He was beautiful. That was undeniable. The wind swirled softly around him, causing the hair that he'd left out of it's usual braids to wave gently around his face. His eyes were virtually glowing as he began his ballad. As he sang of old gods and molding Teyvet, Xiao simply watched him. He seemed so in his element here, in his country, playing songs about long ago when he was young. Xiao felt as if he was in a trance as he slowly removed his flute from where he kept it in the adeptal space that existed around him.
He could have sworn he'd never heard the song that Venti was playing before, he didn't hear much music at all in the cliffsides, but when his flute reached his lips it was if they'd been playing together for their entire lives. The sounds flowed smoothly together, Xiao's fingers moving as if possessed over the instrument. Venti looked up for but a moment, the look on his face one of joy and maybe a little shock. He rose from where he'd been sat on the stone bordering the statue, making his way over to Xiao to stand before him, his eyes lighting in challenge.
Before Xiao could fully comprehend what was happening, the ex-Archon had sped up the pace of the song a bit, playing faster as Xiao kept up with him. His voice flowed smoothly as the crowd around them grew, the money pile on the ground growing as people came and went. Xiao was beginning to genuinely have fun now, and he let the wind pick up a bit more around them to draw the flowery scent of Mondstadt further into the pavilion. The song ended with a long note, and the flower from Venti's hat flew into the air.
Xiao grabbed it before the Archon had a chance to notice it'd even fluttered away, placing it gently in his hands. The people around them applauded before dispersing at the request of a couple of frazzled looking sisters. Xiao went to follow Venti down the stairs, but stopped at the feeling of tugging at his sleeve. When he turned a little girl was standing there, looking up at him with stars in her eyes.
"You played really pretty with Mr. Venti." She looked down at her hand for a second, then pulled the other from behind her back with a flower clutched in a death grip.
"I picked this for you." She thrust the crumpled little flower into Xiao's hands, then ran away and hid behind one of the pillars.
Xiao felt a rush of something. Though he wasn't sure what the feeling was exactly, he knew that it made his heart squeeze in the best way, and a giddy smile made its way onto his face.
When he'd caught up to Venti, the other man had a knowing grin that he immediately covered with a fist. Xiao couldn't stop smiling down at the first innocent gift he'd gotten from a mortal in a while, innocent in that the kid clearly hadn't expected anything from him in return. He stopped walking for just a second to carefully pull a thick, meaningless book from his space. It was filled with different flowers from different moments that he never wanted to forget, so finding an empty space was a little difficult, but he managed.
The little sprig of wildflowers seemed only a little out of place in the huge book, so he set a mental reminder to get another, more special book. Once the book was bound and safely back in his little pocket realm, he caught up with Venti. The other man still had a gentle smile on his face, and his head tilted carefully to the side.
Xiao couldn't help but half-smile in his direction, genuine joy from the child's gift bubbling up inside him. Venti bounced beside him, his hair going over his eyes before he pulled it back into a small ponytail. He linked his arm with Xiao's, pulling him at a pace he wasn't really used to walking.
"Alatus goes so soft when given gifts by children." He teased, his fingers going down to tap against Xiao's palm. Xiao was quick to try and defend himself, only a not-as-harsh-as-he-would-like no leaving his lips.
"You're so cute like this, A'Xiao," The Liyuen honorific nearly made Xiao blush, he could feel his ears burning and he almost jerked away from the man at his arm. "You seem happier when you're with other people, taking a break from the duties you needn't still do."
Xiao wanted to protest, to answer that it was really just them, just Venti and Aether who made him feel like this. He felt so much freer around them, which was a bit ironic given that they weren't free at all separately. They were each tied to a chain of duty, Venti to his Godhood, no matter how he denied it; and Aether to his search for his sister. His duty still called to him, even this far away from his country.
But perhaps as with him, the burden lessened when they were together. He was mulling over that thought when Venti jumped at him with a screech. A cat was walking towards them on the narrow staircase leading into the shops section of the town. Xiao just continued walking past the cat as Venti clung to his back, keeping his eyes on the offending creature. His eyes were wide, and ironically enough the only comparison appropriate would be to a cat. He circled Xiao, keeping his body between him and the cat the whole time.
When they'd made it down the stairs without the cat attacking them, Venti seemed to relax. His arms dropped to his sides, one coming up to rub at his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, allergic." He had the dumb 'Venti' grin on his lips again.
"I don't like when you do that." The words left his mouth without his permission, turning the god's eyebrows up. "Put on 'Venti' with me, I mean. It makes the both of us uncomfortable, so why not just stop?"
The look on Venti's face showed that this was a conversation Xiao would probably have avoided had he known the outcome.