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Xiao pinched the bridge of his nose while frowning. He sighed and walked in the building nonetheless.
~
“Hello there. Are you here to visit?”
The receptionist flashed a smile of professionalism, she asked Xiao in a respectful tone. Xiao nodded, “Do I need to write my name?” He pointed at the reception book placed beside the receptionist.
“No, operator Xiao. Dr. Lumine said that our business partners do not need to do such cumbersome steps while visiting.”
Xiao hummed in response, he looked into the endless corridor of wards, “Which one is operator Venti’s ward?”
The receptionist didn’t seem surprised. She still held her respectful expression, “From here, down the hall, on your left hand side, the 16th ward.”
“Alright, thank you.”
Xiao followed the instruction of the receptionist and walked down the seemingly endless corridor. When he arrived at the doorstep of his destination, he heard some rustling and whispering efferenting from the ward.
He slided the door open in a rather gentle way. Inside the ward, a blonde with pigtails was adjusting the IV tube connected to the wrist of another young lad with a small smile.
“Ah, Venti. It seems that you have a visitor,” the girl noticed Xiao’s presence. She said to the lad on his sickbed.
Venti’s eyes blatantly lightened up at the sight of Xiao, he cracked a grin, “Yup, he’s here to visit me.”
“Well then, I’ll leave you and your guest alone. Don’t pull your tubes out again, re-infusion is very troublesome.”
“Yes, yes, Barbara. Rest assured, I won’t.”
Before leaving the ward, Barbara stole a glance at her patient’s visitor. He had a ruthless and cold demeanor. To be honest, she would rather have Ganyu to deliver her package next time. She has heard of this operator from her colleagues from the medic department.
They said that operator Xiao has an innate talent when it comes to spear wielding, some of them even said that he used to be apart of a Celestian mafia that was once all the rage, but unfortunately, Celestia is now completely wiped from the Teyvat map, no one knows what happened then.
Speaking of Celestia, isn’t Venti from Celestia as well? Perhaps they knew each other back then. But who is Barbara to pry into the other people’s business? She was just a mere medic working in a mere pharmaceutical company which coincidentally also does mercenaries.
~
They remained silent for a long while.
Venti sighed frustratingly. He remembered the look on Barbara’s face when she saw Xiao, he also knew rumors about the man before him spreaded across Rhodes Island virally.
Xiao was important to him, but Venti thinks it takes more than that to convince him and change his already decided decision.
“Let me guess, you’re here to convince me to accept the offer because you already knew my situation went out of control on the battlefield?” Venti raised his eyebrow and looked at Xiao, he didn't look like he was expecting something from him, instead, he was purely stating the obvious. This is the little boyfriend he took care of since their young age, he knows him like the back of his hand.
“Yes.”
“You should know that I won’t change my mind no matter what. Xiao, you aren’t an Infected, you don’t understand how I feel. So I hope you could go see the world on my behalf, when I’m no longer alive. I know damn well how long I will last,” Venti had that bittersweet look on his face.
“I do. I understand,” yet Xiao remained as stubborn as he originally was.
Venti looked at Xiao’s expression that remained unshaken, somehow, he felt his blood boil, “No, you don’t! You don’t understand my desire for power, because in your life, power is just a mere thing that you could easily have! Unlike me! You have no idea how those punks on the street oppressed me, only because I’m weak! I have no parents whatsoever, and I’m powerless!”
Venti snapped. His breath became messy and rough, his train of thoughts were all tangled up, he had no control over his emotion anymore. Which is a part of the reasons why he didn’t catch the subtle changes of looks in Xiao’s eyes.
“I desire power, I love trampling those who think they’re so mighty and strong! Power is everything in this world, especially when you’re an Infected! Without power, I’m nothing! I’m nothing but a piece of crap that’s sick and discriminated against by the government!”
Venti took a deep breath and buried his face in his hands, as if trying to regain his composure. After a while, he lifted his head, “I don’t want to accept the treatment, if I did, then I could possibly spend the rest of my miserable life on a hospital bed, even if I’m cured, I would lose the power I’m having now. I don’t want to be like that.”
Xiao remained silent, with an unreadable emotion filling up his aureate eyes.
Venti looked at the man with dote and infatuation. He smiled, “You should leave. I don’t want to spread the Oripathy to you.”
Xiao lowered his head and stood up from the chair. What happens next, is beyond Venti’s comprehension:
Xiao pulled him into a hug and had his hand in his, tightly.
“W-wha- You’ll get infected if you get too close!” Venti attempted to pull away from the hug, but it was either that he was weak in his state or that Xiao’s grip was too strong, he couldn’t.
“Listen, now. Don’t drag me into your babbling nonsense. Don’t tell me to see the world on your behalf, see it yourself. Powerful or powerless, you are still the Venti I know, the Venti I love. I don’t see the difference,” he whispered into Venti’s ear in a deep yet softly spoken tone.
Venti was stunned. Xiao was never a talkative person, or a physically affectionate person either. He felt tears welling up in his eyes again, for that mere millisecond, he had the urge to drag Xiao close, asking him if they could stay like this for a few minutes more.
Xiao was the first to pull away. He turned his heels so swiftly that Venti couldn’t even catch a glimpse of his face, “I’ll take my leave now. I’m not forcing you or anything, I’m just sharing a piece of my mind with you.”
He cleared his throat in a rather awkward way, “Me and Ganyu are assigned to a job at Fontaine, and we’ll stay there for a few days. Live these days to your fullest.”
He then sped out the ward.
~
Barbara could’ve sworn that she saw Xiao rushing out the ward with a bright red face. Again, she sighed, who is she to criticize the other people, she should do her job properly.
Although the door was wide open, she still knocked on the door, “Venti, I’m here with your medicines. Do yo-”
What happened before her eyes was beyond her comprehension. Venti, the greatly feared Venti, one of the golden operators in Rhodes Island, was having tears streaming down his face.
At the sight of Barbara entering the ward, Venti sniffled and then started to cry out loud, his hands rubbing his bloodshot eyes. Barbara panicked, she didn’t know what to do. She started to connect the dots, Venti’s indulgent crying, Xiao’s flustered expression…
Eh, she couldn’t connect the dots.
“Venti?...Your medicines...” She couldn't figure out the reason why he abruptly burst into tears, but she still had to fulfill her responsibility.
“Barbara...”
“Hm?”
“I...I want to accept the treatment o-offer...”
~
10 days later.
“Is this all?” Xiao looked at Ganyu who was standing miles away from him while leaning by the wall.
“No. Only a few more to go.”
“Then don’t waste your energy, take a rest. I’ll deal with the rest,” Xiao moved over, he placed his hand on Ganyu’s bow and held it down, the other free hand reached to his own back and drew out his spear.
Ganyu exhaled in relief and put her bow aside, “Thank you, I’ll go start the car’s engine and we can return.”
Xiao nodded at his partner and jumped over the wall, quickly dealing with those minions who were still after them even if their client was escorted to the destination in a not so gentle way. The screams of agony said so.
To ensure that Ganyu gets enough rest, Xiao volunteered to drive a 7 hour trip back to Liyue without needing to change shifts with her.
Dropping off Ganyu, he didn’t go back to his own apartment. Instead, he turned the steering wheel and drove in the direction to Rhodes Island.
“Oh, operator Xiao. Here for operator Venti again?” The receptionist tilted her head slightly and questioned.
Xiao nodded. The receptionist then informed him, “Operator Venti has moved to another ward. Down the corridor on the right hand side, the 26th ward.”
Xiao nodded again.
~
He slided open the door of the ward and found Venti sleeping, peacefully. He sighed and dragged over a chair, sitting down beside the bed. He unconsciously started to observe Venti’s sleeping face.
The tip of his hair tinted with some natural green, he was born with them. His surprisingly long lashes were somewhat fluttering softly. Xiao inattentively curled a strand of Venti’s hair around his finger, weirdly enough, his hair was soft and smooth. Xiao was sure he didn’t care much about his hair since he was frequently dispatched on missions.
When Venti woke up, the person that had been in the back of his mind was now miles away from him. He blinked his eyes, double-confirming if this was a fever dream.
No, it isn’t! This is reality! A surreal reality!
And so, he started staring at Xiao’s face for the rest of the time being, carefully observing all of his facial features. And he’ll admit that he could stay like this forever.
Unfortunately, good things don’t last long, Xiao woke up. He leaned back to the chair and buried his face in his hands, as if trying to sober up.
“Oh, you’re up.”
“Yes, I’m up,” Venti cracked a grin. He should be the one saying that, but he couldn’t care less anymore, Xiao who barely woke up was absolutely adorable.
“Why...did they change your ward?” Xiao rubbed his eyes. His face is all scrunched up, but Venti thinks it’s cute.
Venti couldn’t hold in his laughter, “You don’t know?”
A shake of the head was the response to his question. Venti grabbed his hair ties from the bedside table, while braiding his hair into his usual hairstyle, he said, “The wards on the left hand side are for operators that were injured during their operations, while the ones on the right hand side are for those who accepted the Oripathy treatment offer.”
“So...you accepted the offer?” The still dazed Xiao gaped and asked.
Venti chuckled as a sign of “yes”.
“...Why?”
Venti had finished braiding his hair. His emerald eyes locked onto the other’s aureate eyes. He still had that mischievous but gentle smile on his face, “Well...probably because I was already considering the offer, but I still can’t make up my mind. What you said just happens to give me the push I needed into agreeing. I have no regrets even so.”
“I see.”
“I’m sorry for waking you up. You seem tired judging by your horrible eye bags,” Venti said apologetically, but his face still had that doting smile.
Xiao ruffled his own hair while yawning, “No, it’s fine.”
Venti looked at the once emaciated boy that had grown to become a dependable and stoic man nostalgically, he stretched out his hand at Xiao.
“What?”
“Come give me a hug!”
After seconds of hesitation, Xiao scooted over to Venti. The latter grabbed the other’s jacket and pulled him into his arms. Venti took a deep inhale, Xiao’s hair smells like that one Liyue native flower, Qingxin, he thinks that’s the name of it.
Xiao buried his face deep into Venti’s shirt, “You look like a pervert sniffing my hair like that.”
“Who cares? You smell good!”
They stayed like that for a while. Venti treasured each second that has passed by. How long has it been since he held him like this after he got infected by the terminal illness? How long has it been since he felt peace without needing to worry the ache given by those godforsaken stones?
They pulled away eventually.
"I have a question for you, Xiao."
"What is it?"
Venti was humming a small tune, "When you were telling me what you think, you said no matter what, I am still the same Venti, the same Venti that you love."
"..Yeah? What about it?" Xiao looked at him weirdly.
Venti's grin only grew wider since the other still doesn't seem to realize the point of his question, "Should I consider it as a confession?" The moment he finished, Xiao felt his face burning and he struggled to give an answer.
What should he do...He only said that out of impulsion, that just- naturally came out of his mouth!
Xiao spluttered with a bright red face, “I-I'm heading back, idiot. G-get well soon.”
Venti giggled. He waved Xiao goodbye, while the latter didn't even bother responding as he sped out the ward. Just like last time.
It was a wonderful day, to Venti. Not sure 'bout XIao though.
~
Venti lied.
Xiao’s words weren’t the push he needed in agreeing to the offer, instead, it is what made him agree impulsively.
Because he decided that, he not only wants to see the world himself, he wants to see the world personally with Xiao.