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The first time Venti felt something was amiss, was when his stomach did a weird somersault when the golden haired boy looked at him with shining eyes and simply beamed at him, seemingly happy to see the green-clad bard. It hit him differently than when people under the statue greeted him: the (three times appraised) best bard in Mondstadt, eager for his voice, music and stories. Why? Venti did not know.
It just did.
Aether expected nothing from him. He rarely asked for Venti to sing, which stung the bard's pride a little bit. If he only were a little bolder, he could ask Aether why, but the words always got stuck in his throat.
That was the second time it hit him. He was bold enough to get drunk at the tavern, to pilfer food right under Diluc's nose (if he pretended not to notice, Venti didn't know), to cast a playful breeze across Mondstadt, to sing about his own mischievous doings against the other Archons while ignoring the elder's narrowed eyes and hushed whispers of "blasphemy", and yet…
It was just a stupid, simple question. Venti was sure he'd accidentally summon a tornado right on them if he kept mulling it over, so he tried his best to ignore his internal dilemma. So what if Aether didn't care for his singing? Plenty of people did! Why was he so bothered by one person?
Gods damn it.
The third time was when they had finished making camp on their way to Liyue. Venti was laying atop of the grass right outside his tent, staring at the purple hues dancing across the sky, hands tucked under his head and breeze playing with his hair, threatening to take his hat away.
Then an apple had appeared out of nowhere, hitting him right on the nose.
Aether immediately came into view, upside down and golden hair filled with leaves, apologizing in a rush, saying he'd only wanted to hand it over but it slipped his hand. Venti just laughed it off. He truly didn't mind it, more touched than anything else about Aether going out of his way to get him his favourite food.
When Aether passed him the fruit, their fingers touched briefly, and the electric spark Venti felt lingered on his hand for a while, tingling and accusing.
The wind God had thought it was just a remnant of battle, some loose spark of Electro energy that stuck to them like the leaves on Aether's hair. What he couldn't tell, though, was where the urge to brush those leaves away came from, and in the end just let Paimon pluck them off without so much as saying a peep, quieting the whining voice inside his mind that longed about doing it himself. It made no sense, shut up.
If Aether had noticed something was off with Venti, he'd said nothing. He was not sulking over something as simple as that, thank you very much.
When Venti finally realized, they were all panicking, struggling to keep their balance over shaking ground, fire, smoke and debris surrounding the party in some godsforsaken ruins.
Venti had seen Aether fight plenty of times before: he'd seen the brave young man face Dvalin with the goal of saving him, not destroying him, determination guiding every swing of his sword at Venti's side. He'd seen him raid Hilichurl and Treasure Hoarder camps without any hint of fear, clearing the roads for innocent travelers to pass by without any trouble, fighting to keep people safe. It was admirable, a hero worthy of a thousand songs in Venti's book.
He'd seen Aether fight with all his might to save him from La Signora, fear showing open and raw in his face and breaking something inside the God.
Please, don't make that face.
I'll be fine.
You're my friend, I won't let her lay a hand on you.
"Venti!"
Yet even then, even when Venti's desperation to keep his friend safe from that woman took hold of his very soul wasn't enough, he'd run to the tree as soon as he woke, leaving an unconscious Aether under Barbara's care.
Coward, he'd chastised himself. Now he had no Gnosis, and barely any strength left. What good was he, a God that had left? A God that couldn't protect his people?
Aether's scream played again in his head.
But Aether isn't one of your people, is he.
Venti had fallen to his knees, buried his face in his hands and begged his mind to shut. up.
Even then, Aether had come to him and asked him to go with him to Liyue.
Venti had realized then he could have been the most powerful of all seven Archons and still be powerless to those brilliant, pleading golden eyes.
Now, he realized, was feeling the same desperation as when La Signora had laid eyes on Aether, except everything now had happened so fast none had enough time to react.
Aether laid on the ground, motionless and limbs sprawled in a way that didn't look good as Fischl and Amber ran after the retreating Ruin Guards screaming bloody murder, keeping them at bay.
Paimon's shrill yelling hurt Venti's head, still pounding from a previous hit, and he felt dizzy enough to not be able to understand a single word she was screaming. His braids were loose, his cloak ragged and muddy from being tossed around, there was a wound somewhere in his stomach and one shoe was probably lost to the fire, but all that was going through his head was doing all he could so Aether would open his eyes .
He wasn't breathing.
He gripped Aether's shoulders until his knuckles went white and let all his power flow into the boy.
It was tugging, demanding: the boy's body greedily taking in his magic to heal all the broken bones, close all open tissue and stop all the blood, and Venti let him take it. He let him take it all.
It was then when he connected all the dots.
Ah, Venti thought as he saw a glimpse of Aether's golden eyes even through all the smoke. The screaming had stopped–or was it muffled? Venti couldn't tell, but the voices were sounding farther and farther away, so it didn't matter to him anymore.
It seems I care a lot more than I thought…
Venti's eyelids grew heavy; he couldn't feel his arms or legs anymore, but all that mattered was that Aether was awake.
Everything will be fine now.
"Ae… ther…"
Then the darkness swallowed him whole before he could reach for his friend.
The first thing Venti noticed as he woke was that it was hard to breathe, the second was a warm and heavy weight on his bandaged abdomen, the third was a golden mop of hair right at his side and the fourth was that he was in his tent.
Aether was there, laying down next to him with an arm around his stomach.
At least he still had his shirt on over the bandages, albeit unbuttoned.
"He hasn't left your side since he carried you back, you know."
Venti looked up at Paimon, startled. Aether's arm around him tightened a bit, making Venti wince. Paimon looked exasperated as she floated over and gently tried to pry Aether's arm away in vain. Venti raised a brow in amusement as she groaned. He didn't mind it much, truly, but he wasn't about to tell her that.
"Paimon has tried her best to stop him from squishing you as you healed, but it's no easy task. He just won't budge and the others are still resting too. I thought it would be easier with you awake, tone-deaf bard, but..." she gestured with her tiny hands at the sleeping Aether, who let out a heavy breath. "I give up. You're stuck with him."
"Thanks?" Holding back a laugh, Venti reached for Aether's hair and ran his fingers through the messy, golden mop. It felt natural, and he didn't give it much thought. He didn't want to think about it, anymore. "What happened?"
"You collapsed right after doing… something, to him," Paimon whispered with a frown, floating down to pat Aether's hair as well. "Whatever it was, it was powerful enough that it almost brought the ruins down to dust and scared Paimon to death, but when Paimon looked again, Aether was fine and you fainted right on him."
"Ah." Venti said very eloquently, because all he could do was gape like a black bass out of water. He shook his head and immediately regretted it, wincing as the pounding grew stronger. He did remember clinging to Aether and pulling every drop of his power left in him to heal him. Paimon gave him a worried look, but Venti shook it off. "Apologies. It seems I got carried away. I thought he… I thought he was badly hurt, so I–"
"He was. You saved him, tone-deaf bard."
Oh.
"Aether was really worried, he stuck to you like a Hilichurl to a Pyro slime the entire time, he didn't budge even when Amber tried to give him some bandages. In the end Paimon said you'd get angry if you saw him open the wounds you worked so hard to close and it worked to let himself get patched up."
Well, the little thing could be considerate when it came to Aether, of that Venti could be sure. He did his best to hold back a snort when he saw the proud expression in Paimon's round face at the statement. At least everything had worked out fine...
Venti looked down at Aether, suddenly feeling a hint of guilt gnawing at him. If he'd been a little stronger, maybe…
Maybe he'd have been able to prevent Dvalin's pain. Maybe he'd been able to keep his city safe and Venessa wouldn't have been a slave forced to fight for her people's freedom in a city that was supposed to represent freedom itself.
Maybe he'd have been able to keep himself and Aether safe.
"Tone-deaf bard?"
Venti shook his head, showing his best smile at Paimon and waving his hand in a dismissive way. Luckily for him, she seemed to buy it. "Don't worry, I'm okay. Just a little dizzy, but a lot better."
"Paimon should let you rest, then. Ah!" She suddenly jumped, then covered her mouth as she shot a stirring Aether an apologetic glance. "Paimon forgot, here!" She rummaged through a bag placed nearby and pulled out an apple. "Have this, just don't wake Aether. You two need rest."
Venti gratefully took the apple with a grin and gave it a bite. It tasted heavenly and even got him back in a mood to throw a little tease. "Thanks. I'm not the one who almost woke him, though."
Paimon's jaw fell, forming a perfect "o" and puffed her cheeks before stomping on air and indignantly flying away, flapping the tent's entrance as she left. Venti almost choked on the apple trying to hold back his laughter, and continued to eat the delicious fruit in silence, fingers still running distractedly through Aether's hair.
The boy stirred once again and tightened his grip once more. That one did hurt, and Venti couldn't help but choke on a bite this time, starting a coughing fit he couldn't stop.
In less than a second the weight was off him and instead he had Aether shaking and patting his back. Well. Way to ruin the moment.
"You good?"
He nodded at Aether with a grateful look. "Thanks. I was sure I'd die this time."
Aether looked serious. Too serious. Wrong thing to say, Venti realized a little too late as he looked down at the half-eaten apple on his lap. When a few seconds passed in total silence, Venti risked a look at his friend and found him staring with a blank expression.
"W-what is it?"
That broke Aether from whatever trance he was having, although Venti could see a hint of redness on his face. "Nothing, it's just–I've never seen you with your hair down. It looks good on you."
Oh.
Again, Venti turned into a fish out of water and immediately went to take an aggressive bite out of the apple to hide his own embarrassment. However it ended up being too big and he was sure he now resembled a chipmunk. Great.
"Shanks," he said with his mouth full, because he was not letting this get to him. Absolutely not. When he risked another glance at Aether his friend had a quirked brow and a small smirk gracing his lips. Damn him. He should spit a seed at him to teach him a lesson.
Just as he was contemplating how many apple seeds he could throw in one go or if he should go for a watermelon, Aether's face turned serious again and made everything else leave Venti's mind.
"When you fainted on me you weren't responding and you were still bleeding and barely breathing at all… It scared me to death. Don't pull that on me ever again, Venti."
Oh, crap, his heart was not ready for this. Now even his name coming from Aether made him feel weird.
He swallowed. "Sorry. I just… I saw you lying there and thought I had to do something, you know?" He was trying his best to make it sound as casual as possible and not like he'd been about to completely lose it thinking Aether could be gone. The mere thought of it sent shivers down his spine and Venti absentmindedly tugged on a strand of his own hair, the shining tip being a perfect focus spot instead of Aether's face. Anywhere else was right now, truly. "I couldn't leave my friend in mortal peril without at least trying to help him."
"Venti..."
"And my powers are way weakened now that my Gnosis was taken from me, so I really couldn't measure it."
"Venti."
"But I don't regret it if it only caused me to faint. I mean, I was already wounded and almost knocked out anyway!"
"Barbatos."
Oh, okay, that was new. Venti couldn't help but look up and snap his jaw shut so hard he heard it click. Aether's golden gaze was steely, staring at him as if trying to read every thought through his mind, but he didn't look as angry as he'd sounded, just…
Worried. Very much so.
It reminded Venti of that time with La Signora.
Aether let out a sigh, running his hand through his hair and brushing his bangs out of his face. "Please, don't put yourself in danger because of me, okay? I can't handle the worry." When Venti opened his mouth to speak, Aether shoved the apple right into it to shut him up with a mischievous glint in his eyes despite his serious topic of conversation. Venti narrowed his eyes at him, but decided to let it go this once.
"It felt… It felt like a thousand winds were holding me, pulling me back to breathe," Aether mumbled, and Venti couldn't help the smile at the reminder of when he'd held Aether up in his winds, back when Dvalin had attacked Mondstadt. A power of thousand winds, eh?
"Using a thousand winds is my speciality," Venti shrugged, munching on his last bite while blowing his glowing hair out of his face. He really needed to get his braids done again. Aether shook his head from the corner of his vision and scooted behind Venti, who shot him a questioning look over his shoulder.
"Here, let me."
And Venti did, against his better judgement and feeling the warmth creeping up his neck, trying his best to act as natural as possible as Aether ran his fingers through his hair. The discomfort soon dissipated, leaving Venti with his stomach doing those weird damn jumps again as Aether braided his hair, but…
He wasn't doing his usual twin braids.
He finished quickly, brushing a single braid over Venti's shoulder as he moved back to the bard's side, throwing the remains of the apple away for him. "Done," Venti stared at it and noticed a cecilia decorating his hair near the tied end and gently brushed the petals with his fingers. "Now we match and you look less like your own statues."
That made Venti laugh despite the inner conflict slowly growing in him, one that reached ages past, back when Stormterror's lair was the foundation of Mondstadt… but Aether saw through him right away.
"I know you want your friend to be remembered as he was… But I also want you to be you, Venti."
Venti frowned, pursing his lips. How did Aether always know what to say, Venti didn't know.
How strange, that a God would feel safe by the mere words of a mortal. Venti couldn't stop himself when it came to Aether.
"Even if then I'm nothing but a tiny wisp of wind? Even if I lose my powers and disappear into the currents?"
Aether frowned at him and Venti realized his lower lip was trembling. Well, shit. "Even then, yes, but that qualifies as 'scaring the crap' out of me and I believe you just stated not to do that again."
"Only if you don't, either!" Venti retorted, then realizing he'd actually never agreed to that until just now. Aether raised his hands at him in mock surrender.
"I'll do my best, you have my word, but if you're going to turn into a gust of wind please warn me first?"
Venti huffed. "Even if I did it'd be hard for you to chase me anyways..."
"I'd find you."
Maybe it was how fast he'd replied, or the tone of voice he'd used, but Venti locked eyes with Aether then and felt that he actually meant it.
"I'd follow the wind everywhere until I found you, Barbatos."
Venti blinked, letting out a shaky breath as his vision began to blurry. "Haha... and to think I once told you your lines didn't work on bards."
"It's not a 'line', it's a promise, you dumb bard."
Well, then.
"You're dumb and a horrible traveler, making an Archon cry."
Aether's eyes shot open in alarm and it was such a sight that Venti burst out laughing, sadness forgotten despite the wet trails running down his face. The weird moment was gone, even if he was still feeling like he had an Eye of the Storm within his chest. "Relax! It's not like I'm gonna smite you!"
"Well, no, but you can still make stuff fall on me!"
"I told you that was the cat, and you're the one that throws apples at me!"
The playful banter continued on for a while, and while Venti was glad to be in familiar territory, he and Aether, just talking about simple things and pranks to play on people, he felt there still were many things left unsaid.
But part of him was terrified as the thought came back to him, growing like roots in his mind and reaching deep into his heart: I care about you more than I thought.
Then what? Out of all people, Aether did not belong to this world. Once he found what he looked for, he'd probably leave to go back home, where he surely was missed.
Venti hadn't made a friend in centuries since Venessa, and before that, the boy with the lyre.
He'd never felt this way before with someone. Friendship, he could manage, but this? He could not.
Aether was going to ruin him.
Maybe it was better to ignore the storm rather than to face it, because Venti felt he'd get swept away in it the moment he'd even try it.
Wasn't it…?
"You should rest," he eventually said, gently shoving Aether towards the entrance of the tent, however he didn't budge from his spot, staring at Venti's face like he was studying him.
"So should you."
"You're the one that almost died," it sounded halfhearted as Venti didn't want to use the argument, but Aether didn't give in, shaking his head and laying down next to him, pulling Venti down with him with a squeak.
"You too, and I wouldn't be able to handle it if it happened and it was my fault."
It was like Aether was the damn wind god instead and kept provoking the storm within Venti.
"We're friends, Aether, but… in the end I'm still just a wisp of wind. If one Archon were to fall, another will take their place, like it's happened before."
"Then we won't let that happen, not me nor the rest of our friends. You're one of us, Venti, we all care for each other, so no takebacks."
Aether took a breath at the same time Venti tried to process Aether's words, feeling his tongue tied.
"Especially me. I refuse to lose you, Venti. I told you just now… I can't handle it if you get hurt."
Venti took a deep breath, mostly to calm himself again, because the storm kept growing stronger and stronger the more Aether spoke and now it felt it was completely out of Venti's hands.
So he just threw caution to the wind and said the first thing that came to mind.
"You… you really are a dumb traveler."
"Maybe, but then you're a dumb bard."
A pout. "So rude."
Oh, was Aether grinning? Venti found himself smiling back. "But you're my rude traveler, so you're forgiven."
Aether's eyes twinkled a that, with a smile so fond it made Venti's heart skip a beat. "I'm honored."
They fell into a comfortable silence as Aether played with Venti's braid between his fingers, drowsiness slowly taking over them both. It had been an intense day, with an emotionally bagging night and both were still wounded, so Venti watched as Aether's eyes slowly closed, braid still caught in his hand. The cecilia would probably get squished if they moved too much, but Venti realized he wouldn't mind asking Aether for another one the next day.
Just when Venti was about to close his eyes as well, Aether startled him with a whisper.
"There's something I have to tell you."
Heart hammering in his chest, Venti whispered back.
"What is it?"
Aether's breath slowed down and for a moment Venti thought he'd really fallen asleep, until Aether's hand left his braid and scooted closer to him, resting his chin atop of his head.
Oh good Gods.
"Once this is all over… I'll tell you."
Ah. So we're playing that game.
"I see…"
Aether let out a hum, though Venti could practically hear a smile in it, mirroring his own. It was enough to calm the storm within him and scatter all his previous worries into the wind like dandelion seeds.
"I also have something to tell you…"
And threw all caution to the wind, as well.
"I promise I'll tell you when this is all over, as well."
Aether pressed him even closer and buried his face in his hair, all while Venti held on to the other boy and rested his face on the crook of Aether's neck. Some loose strands of blond hair tickled his cheek, but he found that he didn't mind.
"I'll hold you to that, Barbatos…"
The wind whistled outside as Venti slowly fell asleep to Aether's soft breathing and slowing heartbeat. For once in a long time, all was right with the world for Venti.
After all, if there was someone who could handle his storm, that would be Aether, and none else.