Ballads of Love

I

You had just gotten back to Mondstadt after completing your bounties for the week. You talked to Hertha and collected your reward. You were close to receiving the special Mondstadt wind glider! You had a wind glider of your own as Amber had given you one when you first arrived at Mondstadt, but it had gone through a lot and it was a bit beat up so a new wind glider would be pretty nice.

Your shoes clacked on the stone ground as you walked up the steps towards Angels Share, the tavern owned by Diluc, who you had met a while back. You were walking towards the bar because you had heard a bit of commotion whilst talking with Hertha.

You walked towards the tavern but before you could reach the door, it slammed open. You weren't really given much time to even react or ask any questions because quickly after, you saw a short man being thrown out, along with a lyre, being tossed out as well. You had seen a flash of green and some petals following the boy as he stumbled backwards, then away from the tavern, so you had a suspicion it was a certain bard you knew.

Because of your kind hearted nature you couldn't just leave someone who was vulnerable outside like that, especially due to their obvious recent exposure to alcohol. You sighed to yourself as you walked towards the stumbling drunk, it was dark out but the subtle light of the streets lamps lit your way well enough. As you walked closer your suspicion was correct and it was in fact the particular bard named Venti, he had picked up his lyre and drunkenly played some notes. Truthfully it didn't sound all that wonderful but you kept that to yourself.

He noticed you once you got closer and his eyes squinted, you just guessed that it was because the area near Angels Share wasn't lit up all that well. You took a deep breath before speaking to him, "What are you doing out here in the dark? It's quite late you know,"
"Wellll.." The bard hiccuped before continuing his sentence, "I was rudely thrown—thrown out by..by that meannnn bartender!" His words occasionally slurred as he spoke. You knew it would be difficult holding a conversation with him so you just decided the best thing would be to take him on a walk and get him some water to help him sober up.
"Right..well listen Venti, why don't we get you some water,"
"Where would—would weeee get the water from..hmmm?" He was obviously out of it so you helped him sit down on one of the chairs outside of the Tavern.
"How about you stay the night at my house, alright?" You looked into your backpack and grabbed your Serenitea pot by the handle. You set it on the table and it hovered a bit, Venti stared at it with confusion and irritation.
"Why—" he hiccuped "why is that—that teapot floating." He stared at narrowing his eyes like it was a threat. You sighed softly and looked up at him, you briefly explained it to him even though he didn't seem to understand anything you were saying.
"With that aside.." you huffed, "let's go, hold onto my hand." He reached across the table and grabbed your hand. His hands were warm and surprisingly soft, you expected calluses due to him playing the lyre quite a lot but it didn't seem so.

Once you both arrived inside of your teapot you started walking towards the big house in the center of the floating ground. Venti took a step before stumbling and almost falling onto his face, you put his arm over your shoulder and held onto his waist and helped him walk towards your house. He smelled of dandelion wine, you knew it was his favorite as he's talked about it before—quite a lot. Grass covered the soft dirt underneath your feet as you continued walking. You had quite a lot to carry as Venti put a lot of his weight on you and you had also collected quite a lot of materials earlier that day so your bag was quite heavy.

The material under you feet changed as you started heading up the steps that led to the front doors of your home. As the both of you got to the top of the steps you saw his head drooping down, almost instantly after that his hat dropped to the ground. A couple petals fell off his head that were seemingly inside the hat. You guessed he had picked some Cecelia's earlier that day and just put them inside his hat for safe keeping.

You heard him hiccup and you looked up at the door and opened it slowly due to the rest of you being busy making sure he was alright and making sure you wouldn't wake up Paimon. You had made her a room on the first floor so you had to be quiet and make sure the door didn't make any loud creeks. Paimon of course wasn't a light sleeper but it was still common curtesy—and well if she did wake up..you wouldn't hear the end of her complaining unless you bribe her with a trip to the Good Hunter.

You slowly stepped onto the hardwood floor and you heard a small creak from the floorboards, you cursed under your breath before fully walking into the house. You guided Venti through the door and his arm that was just hanging there brushed on the wall, you were just glad he hadn't hit his head.

You held your breath for a second as you closed the door quickly.
"Alright well, we're here now..let's get you a chair.." you muttered to yourself, he looked up at you with his eyes squinted. The light were off so it was understandable to squint as you yourself had trouble seeing.
"Are we—we in a caveee?" He hiccuped and quietly spoke as his words slightly slurred. You had been guiding him towards the kitchen as you pulled out a chair and let him sit down.
"No..no Venti this is my house, now I'm gonna get you some water, alright?"
"Mm...alrightt..it's—super dark in here yknoww..do you live in a caveeee?" He started laughing and slammed his fists onto the table, your head shot over towards his direction. You looked over to the door towards Paimon's room her door was still shut, which meant luckily she hadn't heard the loud bang of his fists hitting the table.
"Here's your water, and I'll turn on a light.." you sighed putting the glass of water down on the table, you walked over and flipped the light switch. You headed back towards the door to pick up his hat which had fallen off his head as you carried him to the door. You opened the front door slightly hearing it creak loudly. Your body tensed up from the loud sound and quickly leaned down to grab his hat ignoring the petals scattered across the threshold.