Venti and Aether Get Stuck on the Coordinate Plane

Sleeping Mishaps

How long has it been since the pair ended up on the coordinate plane? Aether didn't have the answer, nor did Venti. The concept of time was fully lost here. There was no bright light provided by day, no beautiful mix of blue, red, and pink skies provided by sundown, and no darkness with little splashes of light from stars given by night. There was just white for miles and miles on the coordinate plane. The only other splash of color provided in the space was the black from coordinate plane they were on. The ground on it was as hard as concrete and the area was cold enough to be considered uncomfortable. Due to this, the duo often found themselves snuggled together for warmth. It was good enough for them both, but Aether found it a bit scary how Venti hung onto him like a koala to a tree when he slept. Venti also had his nitpicks with sleeping so close to the traveler, that being, he tends to murmur. They did their best to make it work, though.

Venti slowly opened his eyes. For a change, he was up earlier than the traveler. The bard only saw the traveler doing active stuff, such as fighting a dragon, helping the people of the city, or just walking around. Seeing him in such a tranquil state was rather strange. He didn't mind the new side he saw of the traveler, though. The rhythmic breaths he took while he was sleeping were rather calming.  Venti suddenly went stiff as his mouth went to a perfectly straight line. It just dawned on him that he was watching the traveler sleep, which was a bit creepy, to say the least. To try and make himself feel better, Venti reminded himself that he really couldn't move due to the position he was in. One little shuffle would probably wake the sleeping traveler up. With his new logic he didn't just make up as coping material to justify him watching Aether sleep, he continued to watch the boy sleep.

A while later, Aether woke. When he opened his eyes, he was expecting to be greeted by the pure white ceiling of the room he was in, but he was instead met with something else. Venti was just casually watching him, which was not creepy at all. Once the bard realized Aether's eyes were now staring into his, he embarassedly looked away. His cheeks had a barely visible redness to them.

"Ehehe, sorry traveler, erhm..." The bard awkwardly started. He slowly scratched the back of his neck.

"I-I was just waiting for you to get up, I promise I wasn't doing anything weird.." Venti uncomfortably said. He had also gained the confidence back to look face to face with the traveler. He wore an uneven smile with cheeks that only got redder by the second.

Aether stayed silent for a while longer as he watched the bard's face get redder and his sentences turn into stammering nonsense. He soon couldn't contain himself and broke out into a giggling fit. Venti's fifteenth incoherent apology paused instantly. It was like everything in his body froze. His mouth stayed slightly gaped, and one of his hands stayed on his neck, but no longer scratched it. Venti could do nothing more than watch in utter silence until Aether finished laughing. With a few intakes of air and a quick wipe of the eye, Aether started on his sentence.

"It's fine, Venti, it's fine." Aether let out another chuckle after he told Venti it was fine.

Venti sighed in relief after hearing this. He expected things to go slightly worse when he got caught staring at the sleeping traveler. It would be deserving if Aether was angry at him for it, or even found Venti creepy for it because to be fair, it is creepy. Venti quickly backed away from Aether, bumping his head on the y-axis. Aether stared at him rather confused.

"Just to make sure, you didn't say it was fine just because we're stuck here together, right?" Venti anxiously asked the traveler. In truth, he didn't want to know the answer.

"I'm telling you, it truly is fine." Aether calmly said to the bard. He had a soft smile on his face.

"You were really just waiting for me to wake up because you didn't want to move, right?" Aether curiously asked.

"I guess so.." Venti answered, twiddling his fingers.

"I've done the same for you Venti, so don't worry about it one bit!" Aether reassuringly said, with a bigger smile on his face.

Venti's body jerked up slightly when he heard this. He somehow didn't expect it, yet at the same time, also did. Sometimes when he woke up he saw Aether quickly whip his head the other way. He always concluded just his waking brain was just being a bit strange, though. Perhaps, that was just the conclusion he forced himself to believe so he didn't make things awkward between each other, though.

"I guess there's nothing weird about it then?" Venti asked.

"Well, if you don't see anything wrong with it, neither do I!" Aether beamed at the bard.

"Some people may think differently, though, so maybe unless you are close to them, don't watch them sleep..?" Aether added.

"Guess you're right on that, hehe.." Venti said with his usual jumpy tone.

Venti sprang up while Aether took his time getting up. It was strange that in this place you couldn't experience hunger or thirst. That was probably a good thing, considering that if they got hungry or thirsty here, they'd be dead a long time ago. 

"Alright, traveler! Now that we are accustomed to how this place works, shouldn't we find clues on how to get out of this place?" Venti asked.

"I suppose you are right, Venti. It does concern me if we will come across many clues, though." Aether sighed.

"Only getting our hopes down will lower our chances of getting out of here, traveler!" Venti beamed, trying to cheer up Aether.

Aether slightly smiled. "I guess you do have a point there. Paimon and I have gotten ourselves into some sticky situations, but we've always managed to find a way out of them." 

"This will be no different." Aether confidently said.

"That's the spirit, traveler!" Venti exclaimed.

"Well, traveler, shall I take the left side of the coordinate plane to search while you take the right?" Venti proposed.

"Yeah, that'll be good Venti," Aether said.

The bard nodded his head and turned around. He started his climb up the y-axis to get onto the opposite side of the wall. Aether watched him for a few seconds before getting started on his work. He walked away from the y-axis and began intently looking around on the positive x-axis.