Wherever The Wind Blows - Aether x Venti

Chapter 5: Oh Barbatos

Venti POV:

It was sad to see Dvalin disappear again. I watched him fly away and felt a strange pain in my chest, even though I knew that I was going to see him again, sooner or later. Aether suddenly hugged me tightly.

"We did it, Venti!"

I froze as my heart skipped a beat. It felt like I had swallowed a swarm of butterflies and they were flying around in my stomach. I snapped out of it and hugged Aether back.

"Yep! Dvalin is finally free again!" I said happily while trying to ignore the feeling in my stomach.

Aether laughed. That laugh... The sound of his laughter made me zone out. I felt dizzy and everything around me was blurred, except him. His smile as he listened to what someone else said, his golden eyes that shone with excitement-

"-one thing left for us to do now." Diluc said and brought me back to reality.

"What?" I stupidly said, but no one seemed to notice.

"Return to Mondstadt."

The others chatted some more before we headed back to Mondstadt.

What is happening to me? I shook my head in confusion.

"Venti, you okay?" Aether asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." I said nervously as the butterflies in my stomach fluttered even more intensely than before.

"I just wanted to check up on you, you seemed like you were thinking about something that concerned you." Aether said.

He's so considerate... wait, what!? I shook my head violently, trying to get the thought out of my head. Aether looked confused at me.

"Are you sure you're okay, Venti?"

I nodded. I felt my cheeks burn, this was embarrassing.

"Venti? Your ears are red, did you catch a cold?" Jean asked me.

"No, Jean, it's something else..." I said.

"Just tell me if you need anything, okay?" Aether said and patted my shoulder before smiling at me.

I tried to smile back, but it turned into a grimace instead. Aether laughed and then continued his conversion with Jean. I walked right behind the two, Diluc was walking in front of them. I nervously played with my braids. Something like this happened at Starsnatch Cliff too. He wrapped his arm around me and I-

"Is something wrong, Tone-Deaf Bard?" a smirking Paimon asked me.

I forgot about her. 

"Nothing, dear Paimon! I'm just... thinking, that's all."

"Hmm..... If Paimon didn't know any better, Paimon'd think that you had a crush on Aether."

I looked at her, confused.

"Crush?"

"Yeah, you know, that you like him?"

Like him...? Is that what's happening to me?

"I can assure you, Paimon, that you'd be completely wrong to think that."

A necessary lie. 

"And why should Paimon believe you?" Paimon said.

I shrugged. Paimon sighed in defeat and floated over to Aether and Jean. I stopped to look at the setting sun coloring the sky in pink and orange. I sighed. Do I really like him? Even if I only just got to know him about four days ago? Well, I guess only time will tell.