Falling for You

Chapter 25 - Just a toy

3rd person POV

 "So, what do you think about the pancakes?"

 "They were... great," Xiao said, his face the same color as the apples on the table.

 "I'm glad that I found something you like aside from almond tofu." A smile spread across Venti's face. Though, looking innocent, inside he full well knew what he had done during breakfast.

 "Venti, I-"

 Bang! Boom! Crash!

 "What the hell?!" Xiao jumped up, his spear already in his hand at the sound of explosions.

 They both slowly walked out, searching for the origin of the sound, only to find...

 "Albedo?"

 The alchemist was outside the knight's headquarters, dragging two people inside by their collars.

 "Hello, Venti. Is this one yours by any chance?" He asked, throwing one of the people in front of him.

 "Ouch!" The person groaned.

 "Childe?" This time it was Xiao who looked surprised at the one lying on the floor in front of him.

 "How nice to see you again, Xiao."

 "Can't say I feel the same." The adeptus groaned in annoyance.

 "Oh come on, humor me."

 "..."

 "What do you want in Mondstadt, little fatui?" Venti spoke instead.

 "Not you too. What did I do to you?"

 "You have horrible colleagues." He answered coldly.

 "She's dead you know." Childe tried to defend himself.

 "And yet, the fatui are still in Mondstadt."

 "..." The young harbinger finally shut his mouth.

 "I suppose he's not your friend then," Albedo spoke again.

 "Why did you even assume that he was? And what's with him?" Venti asked, pointing at the person Albedo was still holding.

 "I assumed he was your friend because he said he's looking for you, and this one... He was fighting with your not-so-friend over there." The alchemist threw the other one next to Childe.

 "Hello there, my friends." Kaeya waved from the ground, his other hand massaging his butt.

 "Aren't you supposed to be training with Jean?" The bard asked doubtfully.

 "Ah, that, ahahaha, I slipped away." He admitted.

 "Don't tell me you slipped away to drink?"

 "I don't think you are in any position to judge my drinking habits, my dear bard."

 "I don't drink when I'm working." Venti retorted.

 "No, you drink all the time outside that, and on the note, do you even work?"

 "I, in fact, do work. And I haven't had a single sip of alcohol in the past three months!"

 "Like I'll believe an alcoholic like you would just suddenly stop drinking." Kaeya scoffed.

 Before Venti could retort, Albedo, who had had enough of their useless bickering, interrupted.

 "He really hasn't had a single drop of alcohol for the last three months. If you don't believe me, you can just look at my research papers. If he drank any alcohol whatsoever, it would show in his blood test and weekly checkups."

 "Show me then. I don't believe the guy who could outdrink all of Mondstadt stopped drinking!"

 Saying this, he jumped up and pulled the surprised Albedo out the door. The alchemist was so surprised by the cavalry captain's sudden actions that he just let him pull him along.

 "Those two left pretty fast!" Venti chuckled.

 Xiao on the other hand caught something from the alchemist's words.

 "Venti, are you not feeling well?" He asked worriedly.

 "Huh? No? Where did that come from?"Venti was left confused.

 "He said you did some blood tests and weekly checkups."

 "Ah! Nothing like that! I just asked him to make me something and that required me not to drink and let him examine me once in a while." He explained.

 "Make you something?" What would require him to stop drinking?

 "It's a surprise. You'll know when the time comes." Venti said mysteriously.

 "Cough!" A couch stopped Xiao from responding.

 "I hate to interrupt your little flirting session, but I didn't come all the way to Mondstadt for nothing," Childe said standing up.

 At the words 'flirting session' Xiao blushed once again, while Venti just clicked his tongue and glared at the harbinger.

 "What do you want?" He sounded irritated.

 "Zhongli told me to give you this. He also said you might want to listen to it someplace without people." He gave Venti a small amber crystal.

 "Sound recording? What's this about?" He injected a small amount of anemo energy into the crystal, completely ignoring the words 'someplace without people', and the next second Zhongli's angry voice sounded through the hall.

 "Bar-ba-tos! What kind of thing did you give Cloud Retainer?! Get over to Mt. Aocang right this instant if you don't want me to drag you over myself!" The recording cut off, the crystal turning into dust, leaving behind three completely baffled people.

 "What the?"

 "Venti, what did you give Cloud Retainer?" Xiao asked, his voice slightly shaking.

 "I'm curious too." Childe joined in.

 Venti just stared at the amber dust in his palm, before slowly opening his mouth to speak.

 "Just a toy from Inazuma." He muttered.

 The story surpassed 1k reads!! It's almost at 1.5k actually!

 I'm so happy right now. It's the first time I was so invested in a story and it just feels great to know that people actually read and like it.

 I was extremely surprised when I opened Wattpad yesterday. It was just minutes after I finished my history exam and I needed something relaxing. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the story had reached 1k reads and that in just one day, almost reached 1.5k.

 Aside from that, this story reached #1 in xiaoven, which for me, is another big milestone.

Thank you all for reading and voting on this story. It really pushed me to continue writing till I reached a point I never imagined I would reach.