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Several months ago Venti had enthusiastically asked if he would like to come by Mondstadt to see the Windblume Festival; Zhongli had agreed, as he was very interested in the customs of the other nations of Teyvat, and regretted that his duties as Geo Archon had often gotten in the way of being able to commit to such events. Today was the day, so he had embarked early so as not to be late for their arranged meeting.
They had agreed to meet at the Windrise statue, their usual spot. It was close to Mondstadt, and yet the chances of running into large groups of people was almost nothing. All in all, the perfect spot for just about any occasion.
As he made his way towards Windrise he could make out Venti sitting amongst the roots of the tree as he played a small song on his lyre. It was a soft melody whose calming nature seemed to seep into his very being.
The bard was too absorbed in his playing and watching the leaves of the tree above him sway in the breeze to notice Zhongli approach. He tried to move as quietly as he could, so as not to disturb his friend, before settling down in the grass next to him.
Venti finished his song and only then seemed to notice the arrival of his friend.
"You made it!"
Words suddenly seemed to stick in his throat, but he managed to force them out regardless, "Yes. I'm sorry for keeping you waiting."
His brief struggle did not go unnoticed by the Anemo Archon, his eyes filling with concern as he looked Zhongli up and down, as if trying to assess him, before scooting over to sit closer to him.
"You don't seem well, are you alright?" The bard's demeanour had completely shifted once he thought something was wrong, the excitement and joy in every move and expression giving way to a much more serious look.
"I'm... alright, I think. I'm just..." Just what? He didn't feel *bad*, but he certainly felt off. It was as if what once was crystal-clear had fogged over, as if an unchanging boulder had eroded with time, leaving a small pebble.
Oh, that's what it was then. While he usually didn't harbour any negative feelings towards his regression, he couldn't deny that this interfered with his plans for the day, "I am very sorry, I believe I might be regressing."
Venti's face immediately lit up with relief, "Oh! Don't say sorry for that, I'm just glad there's nothing seriously wrong. There isn't anything wrong, right?"
"Nothing in particular, however, we were meant to go to the festival today. I didn't mean to ruin our plans, I'm sorry,"
"No, it's okay. You haven't ruined anything, you just needed some tiny time- there's nothing wrong with that!" He wrapped his arms around Zhongli and, despite Zhongli being much taller, ended up with him almost folded into Venti's lap.
Venti began to brush his fingers through Zhongi's hair, causing Zhongli to go quiet almost immediately. As he did this, he began humming a song that Zhongli recognised as one that throughout the centuries had often been sung by mothers in Liyue to their young children.
The song had an instant effect, as the last traces of Zhongli's adult mindset fizzled away.
They sat like that for some time, and Venti noticed that somewhere along the way his song had gotten a backup singer, in the form of a low rumbling noise coming from Zhongli. Was it unusual for him to begin purring? No, especially when he's small, but that didn't stop Venti from finding it adorable every time.
With Zhongli well and truly settled, Venti began to think. Their plans for the day could be forgotten, blown away on the wind, or; this could be the next big step for Zhongli. He had been reluctant to go to anywhere with large groups of people while he was small, but maybe this was when he learned that it wasn't as scary as he thought. Mondstadt's regressors went into the town while small, even if most of them weren't the most obvious; Venti knew though, what kind of archon would he be if he didn't look out for them?
He was sure Zhongli could manage it, that it would be a great time and open the door to all kinds of exciting new things he could introduce his little jewel to: he just had to convince Zhongli.
Now that he had calmed down, Venti supposed this would be the time to broach the topic.
He gently tapped Zhongli's shoulder to make sure he was listening, "We could still go to the festival, if you want?"
Zhongli curled even further into Venti and let out a small whine.
"I know you're scared but I promise it'll be okay, I'll look after you, alright?" He hugged Zhongli tighter as he spoke as soft as his voice would allow, "It's up to you, you don't need to do anything you don't want to."
After taking a moment to think it over, Zhongli spoke up, "Okay, I'll try, bá ba."
Once they had reached the bridge leading to the city, the noise of people within the city's walls almost made Zhongli take back his decision to try, but the reassuring squeeze Venti gave his hand helped him go on; if he was doing it for bá ba he could do it.
As they stepped through the gate Zhongli couldn't help but light up at the sight of all the decorations. It was all so pretty! He bounced on his heels as he tried to take it all in.
"There's a lot of stalls with games to play, do you want to check it out?" The games were always popular, it was a good place to start.
Zhongli gave a very enthusiastic nod, so Venti began leading him to an area just outside of the walls where all of the games had been set up.
As Venti pointed out each game explaining the rules and the prizes that could be earned he could see Zhongli just barely holding himself back from running off to whichever game had caught his attention, "I can see you've already set your eyes on something, lead the way!"
That was all the encouragement he needed to drag Venti to a game that had players shooting down balloons that had been set out over the water with a bow and arrow.
After talking to the woman running the stall he handed the bow to Zhongli who immediately ran forward to begin taking shots; but before he could, Venti caught up and guided him on how to correctly hold the bow.
"Hold your arms like this, and keep your back straight," Once he was satisfied that his little jewel had the best chance possible of winning, he ruffled Zhongli's hair before taking a step back, "Okay, you're ready, go get them!"
Zhongli did surprisingly well for his first time using a bow and arrow, especially since he was regressed. He managed to hit eleven out the fifteen balloons; enough to win a plushie resembling a slime that was about the size of his head. Naturally he chose a geo slime, something that Venti was amused by but didn't find surprising.
One by one, the two of them tackled each game, gathering quite the collection of toys and trinkets that were all safely kept in a bag Venti had won that was patterned with all the flowers of Mondstadt.
Eventually, while they were taking a walk around the city Venti noticed how Zhongli had begun stumbling more often, and kept trying to hide the fact that he was yawning, so he gently redirected their walk to return to Windrise, so that his little jewel could relax and maybe take a nap.
As soon as they sat down near the roots of the tree, Zhongli practically collapsed onto Venti, his arms wrapping around as tight as he could manage.
"It was a lot of excitement for such a little dragon, right?"
Zhongli responded with a sleepy mumble that seemed to be more babbles than words, and when Venti handed him his new geo slime plushie to cuddle with he could only manage a contented hum.
This was good, Zhongli decided, if going out meant that he got to get new toys and then nap with Venti afterwards, he would have to go out a lot more.
Venti began humming another lullaby, and just like that he drifted off to a peaceful sleep.