Moonlight Breeze || Xiaoven 🍃

Chapter 4

1139 words! I wrote it in the car lol but enjoy!!

Xiao's POV

Xiao opened his eyes and felt something warm. He looked around, why was he in the living room? He saw Venti, still laying on top of him, and remembered everything that happened. He reached for the TV remote, which was on the coffee table, but with Venti laying on him he couldn't reach it. Gently, he tried to shake him awake.

"Morning, Xiao," his dad said, walking downstairs, "How'd you sleep??" "Well enough," Xiao replied neutrally. "I see you and your friend are getting along~" "I-it's not my fault he laid on top of me!" Xiao snapped. What the fuck- did I just stutter?

"Hmmm, whatever you say. Imma make breakfast. Pancakes?" "Uh sure," Xiao said as Venti woke up. "Oh, ehe," Venti said, rubbing his eyes, "Good morning, Xiao!" "..Morning, Venti." "I'm surprised I ended up staying this long," Venti admitted. "Same here, my dad is making pancakes, hopefully he doesn't burn them."

"Ha, yeah, wait.. do you guys have any apples? I could have that instead," Venti said. "Umm yeah but apples aren't very filling.." Xiao said, a little bit concerned. "Nono, it's fine. I swear," Venti said. "I guess you could have some apples... but really, I'm sure my father doesn't mind making more pancakes."

"Really I don't even need the apples if you guys want.. yeah, it's fine." "No, just eat something," Xiao said, honestly getting a little annoyed. It seemed like the more he tried to convince him that it was all okay and that's how they should treat him as a guest, the more he freaked out about it. "I... okay, if you say so.." Venti said.

Venti's POV

He felt a little bad or guilty or something, like a freeloader kind of. He also felt kind of embarrassed, especially now that Xiao knew how broke he was. What would he think if he told him that he was the anemo archon? Would he laugh? Would he think I'm weird? Does he know that Morax- well, 'Zhongli' was the geo archon?

His thoughts were soon interrupted by the smell of pancakes. "Cmon guys, hurry up," Xiao's father, Childe, said, "You guys still have school today. Doesn't matter whatever the heck you guys did all yesterday."

"EH?!!" Venti exclaimed, his mind going the wrong places, "WHA-" "OH ARCHONS NO- NOT THAT!" Childe exclaimed, "At least I certainly hope not. Kind of. Just- eat your guys' breakfast or you'll end up late."

"Y-yeah.." Venti said, still a little shaken. They sat down at the table and started to eat their food. "Where's dad?" Xiao asked. Venti tilted his head in confusion, before realizing he was talking to Childe. "Upstairs, he chose to sleep in, like a lazy old man."

Childe looked at Venti with suspicion, waiting for his reaction. Does he know that I know that Zhongli is the geo archon? Venti thought in a panic, keeping his face straight. "Heh, classic adult," he said, trying to act casual and clueless. Wait... does he somehow know I'm the anemo archon? It wouldn't be unlikely. Xiao's father is really keen, and very few people, mainly just the archons know the other archons..

"We should get going," Xiao said unexpectedly, having noticed Venti's struggling expression. He's gonna ask questions.. Venti thought, But at least it's better than this. "Yeah, we don't wanna be late," he agreed. "Right, have a good day!" Childe said, still a little suspicious of him. "Thank you for everything," Venti said with a respectful nod as they left. "No problem," Childe said, trying to seem normal.

"So," Xiao said as they started walking to the bus stop, "What was that all about??" "I'm not sure.. and don't take this with any offense or anything, but your dad is kinda scary," Venti said, trying to think of a reasonable coverup, "And he kept staring at me like he wished he could kill me with his eyes- did you see that?" "Yeah, he's a bit protective. Of me, his siblings, everyone he cares about.. and what else?"

"Huh?" "That's not the only reason you freaked out. And you also freaked out at the door when you saw my dad.. what are you not telling me?" "I don't know what you're talking abou-" Xiao grabbed Venti by the neck of his hoodie, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Stop- let go!" Venti said, trying to squirm out of his grip. "Not until you tell me what you're hiding from me," Xiao growled, angry that Venti tried to hide something from him, that he tried to trick him and thought he could get away with it.

"Well then you tell me what you're hiding!" Venti snapped, not really with anger, but more as a defense. Xiao let go and stepped back a little bit, caught off guard. "Fine," Xiao said, regaining his cool again, "Because unlike you I'm not a fucking pussy. My name is Adeptus Xiao. But my dad is making me go to school.." "I'm going to school to just check it out.. y'know what I mean?" Venti said, hoping he could change to topic. "Nice try, now tell me." "What if you think I'm weird.." Venti said. "Stop stalling and just say it." "I don't really know how," Venti told him honestly. "Just say it."

"Umm.. well, I'm.. I'm B-" the sound of the approaching school bus made them both stop. Both of them knew it would be a dumb idea to talk about anything on the bus. "I'll tell you after school, go to the cliff past the forest," Venti told Xiao, remembering he was planning to tell him sometime anyways. "..Fine," Xiao grumpily agreed after taking another look at the bus and all the faces of the annoying kids on it.

Xiao's POV (that afternoon/evening)

Xiao walked through the trees, hoping for two things. One, that Venti would actually show up. And two, that his parents wouldn't be mad at him for getting home late. At last he got to the cliff to find Venti sitting on the edge, playing a song on the flute. It sounded so familiar...

"Oh, you're here.." Venti said, turning around to look at him. "Yeah.. so are you gonna tell me?" "Well..." Venti started. "You said you would-" Xiao said, starting to get upset at him. "No no- I won't tell you.. would you mind if I just.. showed you?" Xiao stood there, "Sure I guess.."

"Heh, here we go then.."

Xiao watched as Venti closed his eyes and a glow started to surround him. A gentle breeze surrounded him, flecks of light that looked like glitter seemed to give him wings. His hair glowed a little more than usual, and the wings slowly solidified. Then, all the light gently faded away. Xiao stared at him in astonishment. "You're... you're Barbatos?"