XiaoVen || I'm Still Into You

Venti The Bard

He sighed as he walked into Wangshu Inn. I mean, he knew himself that going out to look for an adeptus in Liyue would involve going around Liyue, but he never expected all the back and forth between places.

"Ah, Barbatos, you're here."
"Zhongli what did I tell you about calling me that in front of people. Pleasee my identity needs to be hiddennn"
Zhongli stifled a laugh.
"Okay then, Venti. Anyway, Xiao, can you give us some time alone? I need to talk to Venti about something."

Venti stopped with his whining and looked at Morax intently, and then glanced back at Xiao, who was already gone.

He didn't want to say anything, but he did want to show something to Xiao. Venti is Barbatos, so is it possible that he unintentionally saved a yaksha? If he had known about them at that time, could he have saved the others?

In the middle of Zhongli's talk, Venti finally spoke up to ask a question.

"Morax?"
"Hm?"
"Does...Does Xiao like music?"

. . . 

After Zhongli's mostly one-sided chat with Venti, he immediately got up to go find Xiao. 

"Xiao! Xiao where are you?" He called out.

In the far distance on a mountain, Xiao looked down at the windborne bard. 
"What does he want from me?.." He questioned himself. The yaksha let out a deep sigh and went down to a tree, peaking out to Venti. As he looked at the bard, he noticed something. His heart was...it was fluttering; his cheeks were getting red and his body warm. What was this feeling? This feeling - it was so foreign. 
After a few moments gazing at Venti, lingering in this feeling, he finally pushed his feelings aside and called out to Venti, still keeping his body hidden.

"Venti...What do you want from me?"
"I just..." Venti gulped intensely and pulled out his lyre.
Xiao looked at the beautifully designed lyre. Flowers all over its base, the lovely, blue, purified strings, and the brown frame. It looked so majestic.
Venti explained how he just wanted to play a little song for him. A work in progress, the same one he was playing earlier. 

"I don't mind if you don't wanna show yourself, I just really hope that you'll like this piece."

Xiao smiled and rested his back against the tree. "Go ahead." You could hear the smile in his voice, and even though no one was watching him, he didn't want to smile as much as he did. Smiling, and even emotions in general, were percieved as weak. 

Venti sighed and started playing his tune, his fingers delicately and passionately plucking the strings. It was music to Xiao's ears. He felt caught up in this...daze. 
It was difficult to explain. Xiao peeked over at Venti and observed how his fingers moved; passionate, emotional, warm, and he was enthusiastic although his face was almost straight. 

He was enjoying it, being able to linger in a feeling of comfort, and just being able to relax.
His muscles were relaxing and he felt his eyes slowly closing - his body was getting tingly and he loved it. 

Although, relaxation was short-lived. Screams were heard in a far distance, and Xiao knew he couldn't leave them.
"Venti- I have to go now. I'm sorry."
"Wait! Let me come with you."
Xiao looked over at Venti and sighed before quickly sprinting away. 

"Xiao..." The bard whimpered, tears forming at his tearducts. He quickly wiped off his tears and started heading back to Mondstadt.

By the time he arrived at his statue, located in the middle of Mondstadt, it was dark out. He sat on the hands of the statue, looking out at the moon without realizing a tear forming in his eye again. He was thinking about him. About Xiao.
Those piercing eyes, the soft blue hair, his clear skin, those luscious lips. They looked so...kissable.
No. No what was he thinking? Xiao probably doesn't even care about him. He put his head into his knees and his lyre by his side.

"Why can't I stop thinking about him?" He sniffed. He didn't like this feeling. It was fuzzy in his chest, yet it was causing him so much pain. He was familiar to the feeling of love; he's written about it, seen it, and many people have described it to him, yet he himself has never experienced it. 

He didn't know what exactly to think about it. Not about the feeling, just all of this in general.
He didn't like Xiao. I mean, he did, but he didn't like his personality that much. He could be more passionate, more pious, apathetic, there's so much things he could critique about the yaksha. Yet, despite all of this, he still wanted to spend time with him. He sighed and layed on the hands of his statue and got himself comfortable with a sigh. 

His hand reached out to the moon and the stars. They were the only ones there for him when times got tough.

"Goodnight Mondstadt, may the winds be in your favour."