Genshin Impact oneshots

🟡 [zhongven] should you be trapped in a windless land

The winds in Mondstadt have stopped blowing, and Zhongli fears he knows why.

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Character(s): Zhongli | Morax, Venti | Barbatos, nameless bard

Relationship(s): Zhongli/Venti, Zhongli & Venti, Venti & nameless bard

Tags & warnings: implied/referenced self-harm & alcoholism, hurt/comfort, eventual fluff, skinship, crying, can be read as romantic or queerplatonic

Word count: 1006

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The winds in Mondstadt have stopped blowing.

Zhongli's lips draw into a thin line as he looks around the city. The trees are still green, buildings still stand firm, and above them, the sky still blazes blue. But birds are nowhere to be seen, windmill blades have frozen, and all around the city's gate, dandelions are drooping toward certain death without any help from the breeze. Even as a foreigner to Mondstadt, this absence unnerves him to no end.

Where is Venti? In all the millennia the Geo Archon has known him, he has never been one to abandon his people. And judging from the existence of the Knights and Church of Favonius, not to mention the gigantic statue erected in the middle of the city plaza, their adoration for him knows few bounds. The world would have to turn upside down before Barbatos ever gives up on his children. Then....

Zhongli closes his eyes, feeling the atmosphere around him change in an instant. The unmistakable fragrance of cecilias drift by his nose; wild, soft grass bends under each step he takes. Venti glances up with dull surprise when he comes over. "Oh — you're here."

"Yes." Zhongli joins him on the edge of the cliff. There isn't a whiff of alcohol in the air, but somehow that bothers him even more than if it were saturated with it. Venti has rid himself of his cape and hat, and his shirt cuffs have been unbuttoned; they flap around comically when he stretches, then throws himself down sideways onto Zhongli's lap. "Looking for something?" he asks, a smile on his face — but his eyes are much too lifeless for it to be believable.

"Just you," Zhongli replies. He can feel Venti's doubt raining down like showers of arrows, but the other man only hums before turning away.

Clouds hover beneath a stark blue sky. Waves break soundlessly upon a distant coast. The horizon stretches far, wide, and desolate.

"I couldn't do it," Venti breaks the silence. His tone is almost wistful. "I couldn't hurt his body, after all."

A relieved sadness washes over Zhongli's heart. Venti has his face turned toward the sea, away from his view. "I thought, maybe being drunk would help. But the more I drank the more I just felt... complacent. Like I could live, if just to taste next season's harvest or something." A slight shudder runs through his body. His voice begins to crack. "So then I thought, y'know, maybe being sober would help. But now I can't even look at myself without recognizing him — and how could I ever hurt him? How could I even have these thoughts? He must be so disappointed in me, don't you think...?"

Zhongli reaches out to take Venti's hand. It jerks with each of the other man's sobs, trembles alongside his fragile frame when the Geo Archon bends down and envelops him in a hug. "You're not a disappointment. Not to your friend, not to your people, and certainly never to me. I'm glad that you're unhurt."

Venti weeps into his chest. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he chokes out in between hitching breaths, tears staining the taller man's coat. Zhongli only holds him closer. "There's no need to apologize. Things have been really hard for you lately, haven't they?"

There's no reply, and he doesn't expect there to be one. But all around them the grass has begun to stir. "I'm here for you. For as long as I shall exist. Remember that." The slight disturbance in the air grows into a breeze, and then, before Zhongli knows it, a thousand winds that cry and howl as they tear past, cutting into his skin and threatening to level the entire cliff to the ground. Any ordinary being would have been ripped away, torn to shreds; but he remains resolute with the smaller man in his embrace, a golden aura of Geo surrounding them both. The wind continues to blow, and he continues to hold on — until the dust has settled enough for him to open his eyes, and he feels the Anemo Archon's tears stop.

His shield disappears. Zhongli lays the other man down again, gaze meeting bloodshot, watery gaze. Venti smiles. "Sorry."

"I told you, there's no need to say that."

"No — about this, I mean." Cool fingertips run along his eyebrows, and only then does Zhongli become aware of the deep frown etched onto them. He must have made a funny expression easing up, for Venti's chuckles are bright and teasing again. "If only you could see your face!"

"Alright, alright," he rolls his eyes, but there is no storm he wouldn't brave to hear the other's laughter once more. He catches Venti's hand as it is tracing the line of his jaw, their fingers interlacing as naturally as key and lock; the wind picks up ever so slightly when Zhongli plants a kiss onto the back of the other man's hand. Venti is silent while he helps him button up his sleeves — but as soon as Zhongli is done, he feels two arms loop around his neck, and a cheeky grin sent his direction. "Let's go!"

"Aren't you a little too old for this already?" Zhongli sighs, but lifts Venti up bridal-style regardless, the latter swinging his legs happily. It goes without saying that he would carry the Anemo Archon to the ends of the earth, but Zhongli is certainly not beyond accepting the thank-you kiss Venti presses to his cheek. "So, where to?"

He turns toward Mondstadt City in the distance, but with a gentle grip on his chin Venti directs his gaze back to himself again. "I could use a change of scenery," he muses, resting a weary head on top of the taller man's shoulder. "Liyue Harbor, perhaps, where a certain gentleman might brew me some tea...."

"Gladly." Zhongli smiles, and with a sharp rumble of the earth they are gone. The clifftop cecilias bend and shake, but soon enough stand tall again, blooms swaying in the newfound breeze.

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this is based on a hc i have (on sadge days), that aside from alcoholism, Venti would probably also self-harm if it weren't for the fact that he's taken on the appearance of the nameless bard (ie, looks like one of his dearest friends) 💔