Falling for You

Chapter 65 - Our Melody

 Xiao's POV

 It's warm.

 I felt a hand brush through my hair.

 It felt nice. It felt safe.

 The smell of cecilias slowly filled my nose, pulling me out of my sleep.

 "Venti..." I muttered, still half asleep.

 I didn't expect a reply to come from above.

 "Good morning, Xiao Xiao."

 A familiar voice, a familiar nickname.

 I opened my eyes and tried to find the origin of that voice only to find that I couldn't move again my body.

 "I can't move." I muttered in frustration, earning a laugh.

 "I didn't do anything. this one is on you, you know. Who told you to teleport back to Liyue in one go from all the way in Snazhnaya."

 Instead of my whole body, I tried moving only my head. That worked, and now I was looking into a familiar pair of bright eyes.

 "You're awake." You're okay.

 "Of course I'm awake. Did you think I would leave you alone for a few hundred years?" He chuckled.

 "How long was I out for?" I couldn't help but ask hearing his words.

 "Not for long, just a few hours."

 "Then you..." Are you a dream, or an illusion?

 "I'm as real as I can get! Well, at least as real as a puppet can get."

 "A puppet?"

 "I had Albedo make on for me. It's different from the body I used before or my real body. This one doesn't need any power to maintain it, only a soul."

 "So that time on Dragonspine..."

 "Yeah, I went there because of this."

 Venti...

 "Stupid old archon!"

 "Hey! What was that for?"

 "You made me worry, you stupid idiot!"

 Couldn't you have just told me about this sooner? I thought I missed the chance to...

 "I told you back in Snezhnaya though." He looked at me confused.

 "You didn't."

 "I definitely did! I told you 'Wait for me till I get my body from Albedo.'. I definitely said that!" He confirmed.

 Now that I think about it, he did say something like that, but...

 "It cut off halfway."

 "What?" I saw his smile crack.

 "Your sentence cut off after the 'I'." I repeated.

 "Is that so... Hahaha..." He turned away, looking everywhere but me.

 This guy...

 "Stupid archon."

 "I'm not stupid!" He snapped back at me.

 "You're finally looking at me now?"

 "Hmph!" He pouted.

 This expression of his... It's really adorable.

 "You hade me worried to death you know. How could you do something so reckless?!"

 "I wasn't being reckless! I had it planned for years, there's no way anything could have gone wrong!" He retorted.