Falling for You

Side Story 13 - Clingy

By request of abcdefhi76

This was extremely late! I'm sorry!

 Venti's POV

 Is Xiao having a bad day today?

 "Xiao Xiao..."

 "Just a few more minutes."

 Usually, he was the first one to get out of bed every morning, but today...

 No matter how hard I tried I couldn't seem to escape his hold.

 "Xiao, I have some work to do today."

 "Do it tomorrow." He muttered, his face still buried in my shoulder.

 Xiao of all people said something like that?

 His hug was an iron grip, not allowing me to move away, let alone leave the bed.

 Sigh.

 Well, I don't really mind it.

 It was very, and I mean extremely rare for Xiao to act like this. He tends to keep to himself even if he's in a bad mood.

 But it does make me wonder what caused it.

 "Xiao, I can stay at home if you want but I should tell Jean not to expect-"

 My sentence cut off as my world spun around. Next thing I knew, Xiao was towering over me, amber brown eyes looking straight into mine.

 "No." That was the only thing he said before collapsing on top of me.

 Had it not been for his regular breathing and heartbeat, I might have suspected he passed out mid-sentence.

 No matter how I look at it, this is very strange.

 The only out-of-the-ordinary thing that happened was his meeting with Childe yesterday.

 Did that fatui brat say something to him?

 "Xiao, did Childe say something to you?"

 I felt him flinch.

 "No."

 Well, that's a lie and he wasn't even trying to cover it.

 "What did he say."

 "Nothing."

 "Xiao..."

 "He didn't say anything."

 How long are you going to keep that up?

 "If you are going to keep lying, I'll just go and do what I was supposed to in the first place."

 A short silence followed my words.

 "He said that one day you would end up with so much work that I wouldn't even be able to see you." He muttered.

 What?

 "So you decided to stop me from finishing my work?"

 It was only now that he seemed to process his own actions.

 "Oh."

 Oh, indeed.

 "Pfft! Hahahaha!"

 "Don't laugh."

 I could see the red tips of his ears as he buried his head further in my chest.

 Hahahaha.

 "Xiao, my lovely Xiao. Look at me, my dear."

 He finally looked up at me, his face as red as an apple.

 "No matter how busy I am, you will always be more important than anything else. If you wish for it, I'll just throw everything aside and spend every hour, every minute, and every second I have with you."

 Suddenly, his eyes filled with tears.

 "Xiao, why are you crying?"

 What did I do?!

 "Stupid archon..."

 "Hey, Xiao-"

 "Idiot."

 Why am I being insulted right now?

 "Xiao-"

 "Just shut up and stay like this for a while." He said, burying his face in my chest once again.

 What...?

 Someone, please explain!

 After a few more hours, Venti actually succeeded in going to work, though, it was with Xiao in tow.

 The two walked into the city hand in hand.

 This sight was nothing new to the residents of Mondstadt. After such a long time, they had long gotten used to the couple's interactions.

 Xiao too had slowly gotten used to the people of Mondstadt and was now able to hold a conversation of some sort with most of them.

 The shy yaksha was more than welcome in the city, especially among the elderly, who treated him as their own, sometimes scolding Venti for Xiao being too thin and the like.

 Xiao didn't let go of Venti's hand all day, not even for a moment.

 Be it during their talk with Jean or even Kaeya later, he braced himself and pushed down his embarrassment as he kept holding Venti's hand.

 Surprisingly enough, no one pointed this out, not even the always teasing Cavalry Captain.

 Though there was one moment much later that day when Xiao was forced to let go.

 "Pfft! Hahahahahaha! To think Liyue's great and mighty yaksha would be so childish." Childe burst out laughing as he was confronted by the two.

 Behind him, Zhongli could merely sigh, walking over to stand behind Xiao.

 "Xiao Xiao, would you mind letting go for a moment?" VEnti smiled.

 Oh...

 Xiao knew that smile.

 That's why he let go in an instant.

 Childe continue to laugh even as death approached him. Zhongli on the other hand didn't do anything to warn him or stop his fellow archon.

 He simply covered Xiao's eyes.

 "You really don't want to see him right now." He said seriously.

 And Xiao knew he was right.