Chapter Text
In Xiao’s apartment, there was probably not a time where music couldn't be heard. Whether it was from Spotify, an instrument or a voice, there was never a quiet moment in his home. Xiao wasn’t much of a music person. He’ll listen to music while he does his homework or he is working out. He also doesn’t know how to play any instrument nor does he know how to sing. His roommate on the other hand, is the culprit of the constant music playing in his apartment.
About six months ago Xiao was looking for a roommate to help pay the rent and as much as he hates to admit it, his current roommate essentially charmed his way into the spot. Xiao didn’t know that he was into music. They didn’t mention it all. But when they moved in, Xiao could only realize at that moment that his once quiet apartment was going to be nothing like when he first moved in.
His roommate, Venti, was a 26 year old wannabe singer. Apparently he had graduated a couple years ago from an unknown college for music and now he’s trying to make music his career. Xiao thinks his voice is really pretty and although he isn't a singer himself, he can tell that Venti sings with great tones and has a wide range. However, as much as Xiao is rooting for him (he really is), at times it gets really annoying when it’s 3 AM and Xiao is trying to get some sleep before his morning lecture but he can’t because his roommate decides that 3 AM would be a wonderful time to start recording the vocals or instrumentals for a new song he’s producing. Has Xiao ever requested that in the early mornings of a school day that if Venti really wanted to be working on his songs, he should write lyrics instead of recording? Yes, he has. Multiple times too in fact. Though it all falls upon Venti’s deaf ears as he ends up recording anyway. At this point Xiao has learned to plug his ears and just deal with it.
Venti thinks Xiao is amusing. He would have never thought that this 23 year old fifth year college student would be so fun to be around. When Venti first met him, he was sure Xiao had the attitude of a cranky 80 year old grandpa whose only pastime was standing by the front door yelling at random people for doing the bare minimum to inconvenience him. Though to his complete delight, Xiao was far from that! He’s only outwardly cold and is actually very sweet! Overall Venti likes Xiao. After all, it’s always Xiao who ends up picking Venti up from a gig no matter the time after he drank too much to even see straight. Venti’s old roommate kicked him out after getting tired of having to deal with Venti’s constant drinking habits when he’s out there performing which is why he was apartment hunting in the first place.
“Xiao!” Venti calls out, barging into Xiao’s room without so much as knocking. The college student's room was about as plain as one could get. A desk, a bed and a nightstand was pretty much all he had in his room. Venti had tried to convince Xiao to let him "spice" up his room to which Xiao declined rather coldly. Though Venti didn't take offense to it. Xiao has quite the cold attitude when speaking but his intentions are always well-intended. Xiao has a steady and consistent routine that through time, Venti ended up knowing the times that he can bother Xiao and the times he probably should not. Today, Xiao was sitting at his desk doing some sort of assignment as per usual. Always busy with homework like the studious college student he was. Venti couldn’t remember what major Xiao was studying for. Was it history? Or something else… Venti cannot remember the life of him but if anything he knows Xiao is doing quite well in school. Much better than Venti himself who barely managed to graduate because the boring routine of lectures and homework were too confining for his free-spirit.
“How many times do I have to tell you to knock before walking into my room?” Xiao sighed as he continued typing on his computer, not so much as sparing a glance over at Venti who was walking towards him with a gleeful grin plastered across his face. Currently Xiao was racing against time, trying to edit his paper before that dreaded 11:59PM due date tonight. So far, Xiao hasn't even edited a page out of his fifteen paged paper. On top of that he needed to spend the past couple of nights picking Venti up from bars and being a teacher’s assistant with Professor Zhongli in the history department took up quite a few hours of his time. Was Xiao stressed? Very much so.
“Well I know you’re probably just doing homework so I figured that you weren’t that busy. Anyways! I made a new song, give it a listen,” Venti says, bobbing his head from side to side as he waits for Xiao to say something. Xiao unfortunately doesn’t respond. He not doesn't have enough effort to actually say anything back to the singer as he tries to proofread his writing. Venti pouts, thinking Xiao had just completely ignored him. Sighing, Venti pulls out his phone from the back pocket of his jeans. If Xiao wasn't going to respond then Venti will just decide for him. And what Venti decided to do was to play it as Xiao continues to do his work. Taking a seat on Xiao’s bed, Venti plays his latest unreleased single.
The music begins and he lets the song play. Venti had based this song off of his frustration trying to make it in the music industry. How he doesn’t want to play his songs for drunkards in a bar, how he doesn’t want to be told to give up on his dreams because he’s not being recognized. As for the song itself, it was written in a minor key to give it a sadder tone. It also had a more harmonization and belting than usual as Venti was trying to make his frustrations sound and feel more emotional. It’s different from his other songs which sound more soft, airy and melodic.
Venti watches Xiao continue to type on his laptop but hopes that he’s still listening to the song that Venti is playing from his phone. He watches the latter intently, trying to see any body movement that would indicate that he likes it. The entire song was only about two and a half minutes, definitely on the shorter end of most songs nowadays. But Venti is hoping that Xiao likes this one, some parts of it were inspired by some songs Venti managed to catch Xiao listening to. He didn't know when but lately Venti has been very dependent on Xiao's opinion of his songs. So much so that what Venti ends up doing with the song ends up catering to what Xiao thinks of it. Xiao's opinion is the one he values the most outside of his own.
By the time the song ends, Venti waits eagerly for Xiao’s thoughts. Does he like it? Does he think that this song is the one that would really kick off his career? It's silent for a while and Venti can feel his nervousness shoot through the roof. It feels worse than his first time performing live for an audience outside his seventh grade talent show. “It’s good but how is it any different from your other songs. It sounds like a remix but with different lyrics. I like the gist of it but if you were to play this song along with some other song you've made I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. If you want to make it somewhere you’re going to have to do better than this. No one remembers the artist of a one hit wonder,” Xiao says, not bothering to even face Venti.
Xiao’s comment hurt, it really hurt. It was like a slap in the face of how unapproachable his dream was if this was the type of stuff he was making. He really thought that this song may be the one that will get him recognized by the bigger record labels or make him go viral. That this song was going to be the reason he finally stepped closer to his dreams and not just perform at shady bars where the drinks taste like water and the crowds are so drugged they don’t even know what’s happening. Venti doesn’t want to work so hard for nothing in the end. What good is it if he can’t even get by anymore? He’s already short on money having to buy good quality equipment but if he can’t sell his singles and no one wants him to perform for them anymore then what’s the point? It’s embarrassing, so embarrassing. Venti’s better off just leaving Xiao alone to do his stupid homework. He paid for his tuition anyways, who was Venti going to be if the reason Xiao failed was because he kept bothering him with his lame songs.
Xiao didn’t think his words were actually that harsh but when Venti slammed his door on his way out, Xiao began to second guess his choice of words. It wasn’t that Xiao wanted Venti to fail, he wanted to see Venti achieve his goals. He has so much hidden potential and definitely has a lot of talent which Venti is very aware of. Sure a lot of his songs were very similar in retrospect but there’s always room for improvement right? Though Xiao was still surprised that Venti took his comment so harshly. Alright, maybe it was also because Xiao was only half listening to the song while he tried to continue editing his paper and he wasn't exactly known for saying things in the nicest way possible. Either way, he shouldn't have said it like that and it's his fault. Once he’s done, he’ll give the song a proper listen and apologize to Venti tomorrow morning.
Time passes and the sun has long set. The streetlights were the only thing illuminating the outside world a part from the passing cars. Xiao has opted to skip his dinner in order to give himself as much time as possible before he has to hand in his paper. A part of him wants to just give up on the paper and hand in it as is but the other part of him won’t let him do that because he wants the highest possible mark he can get from this. Taking a big stretch after going through the paper the third time that night, Xiao glances over in the general direction of Venti’s room wondering if Venti was alright.
For the first time since Venti has moved in, the entire apartment was quiet. It has been quiet since Venti came and left Xiao’s room. It was eerily quiet and Xiao wasn’t sure that he liked it too much. He wasn't sure that he would ever think this but he's beginning to feel unease in the quietness of his own home. The silence used to be comforting to Xiao but after Venti moved it, the silence couldn't be louder. Believing he can sacrifice a small chunk of time to go check up on Venti, Xiao leaves his room and walks over to Venti’s room that was across the hall of his own.
Knocking on the door, Xiao awaits Venti’s reply to let him in but only silence greets him. Knocking on his door once more, Xiao doesn’t hear anything from Venti so he opens his door to see if Venti was even in there. Turning the squeaky doorknob of Venti’s room, Xiao enters the unlit chamber of the singer. Flicking on the light, Xiao already knew that Vent’s room wasn’t the cleanest nor the most organized room out there but the state of his room was still a sight to behold. A keyboard, guitar, mic stand with it’s microphone and a whole bunch of other music stuff were tossed haphazardly around one side of the room with Xiao even spotting a small collection of kazoos by the foot of his bed. His computer that he primarily used to edit and mix his songs were off and the desk it sat on had a bunch of wrappers and beer cans on it. Should Xiao even be in his room?
Stepping over the random piles of clothing on the floor, Xiao walks around, taking a more thorough look at the room. Xiao prided himself as someone who wasn’t very nosy but there were times he was curious about his roommate. He was secretive of his past and other than the fact that he liked to sing and create songs that’s all Xiao knew of him. Well, to be fair that much was the same for Xiao as well as he doesn’t like to tell people about himself either.
There were posters of a bunch of bands Xiao has never heard of plastered on all of the walls except for one which had an impressive display of vinyl records. Xiao doesn’t even think they had a record player. Maybe it was for an aesthetic, Venti often buys things on a whim if he thinks they’re pretty. Try as he might but Xiao for the life of him cannot get him to break that habit. Walking towards his little “music corner” as Venti called it, Xiao noticed that Venti had a lot of notebooks lying around. He wasn’t sure Venti would be the type to write anything down by hand so it was unexpected for Xiao to see them. However Xiao makes a guess that maybe these were what Venti used to write his lyrics in. Otherwise what other use would he use these notebooks for? He doesn't seem like a journaling type of guy.
Xiao has probably spent around fifteen minutes in Venti’s room, looking around and noticing small things that Venti liked or disliked just by what was in his room. Xiao liked to think of it as a kind of time capsule for a person. If this was how much he could learn about Venti by just looking at his room, then what would Venti learn about Xiao by his room? By the time he remembered why he was here in the first place, he walked out quickly as if Venti had just caught him nosing around his room. Though the fact of the matter was that the reason the whole apartment was pretty quiet was due to the fact that the singer wasn’t even here. If he wasn’t in his room then he would be in the kitchen but it was easy for Xiao to see that no one was there. Venti probably headed out to do something, maybe a last minute gig or something. Either way Xiao doesn’t have time to just sit around and worry about where Venti has gone right now. If he's not in the apartment then he's out doing god knows what. His paper was due in a couple of hours and if he wants to pass with honours he needs to finish it by the deadline.
To those who don’t know Venti well, many would think that he would spend all his free time at a bar scamming bartenders to give him free drinks or out on the streets performing trying to get himself recognized. But when Venti wanted time to calm down or to focus on making songs outside of his own home, he would venture out to a coffee shop or a library where things were quiet or had some idle chatter that served as white noise for Venti to focus. About a week ago Venti found a hidden gem in a neighbouring area where this coffee shop served probably one of the best drinks that Venti has ever tasted and he’ll definitely have to drag Xiao out of his room to come here.
Ah right Xiao, what was he going to do about what he said about his song? When Venti left his room, the first thing he wanted to do was get as far away from Xiao as possible. He probably didn't even know the weight of his words when he said it. The pain and anger of Venti's raw emotions did subside a bit on his train ride to the coffee shop. Just sitting alone in the empty train, looking aimlessly out the window as he tries to recollect his thoughts. Letting a couple of tears fall might have done the trick too. However if Venti has learned anything in his time writing music, it was that writing songs in the apex of one's emotions creates the best type of music. So Venti took all his anger and frustrations at Xiao and transferred to lyrics and melodies. A song technically created as a "fuck you" to Xiao. The coffee shop Venti was in right now had a piano to which people can come and perform on. If no one has booked it, the staff usually gives Venti permission to use it to help him write songs if he's here.
“How are the songs going Mr. Venti,” a barista asks as she brings Venti his third coffee along with a piece of cake that was on the house. Venti stops staring at his tablet that was laid in front of him and turns to the barista. Whenever Venti was out and about, he likes to bring a tablet with him in case he wanted to work on writing some music. It beats having to bring five hundred paged notebook around with him. And besides, Venti is less inclined to lose his tablet as he did spent many months trying to save it so trying not to lose it is always at the forefront of his mind. With a smile, Venti tells her that he has calmed down and is feeling much better than before. To the barista’s delight, she was much happier seeing him finally shaking off that gloomy atmosphere he originally came in with.
“Well let me play you a bit of it and tell me what you think about it,” Venti says, turning back to the piano and getting ready to play what he had written so far. He wonders if he should improvise a bit of it to see where he could take it. Nevertheless without a second thought he plays, letting himself relive the emotions to bring out the best of the song. The melodic tunes of the piano fill the relatively empty coffee shop as Venti's fingers skillfully play the keys of the piano. He first starts off with the basic chords in the left and just a simple melody in the right, opting to just improvise something more complicated if he thinks of it. Singing wise, he was just going to sing along to whatever melody he's playing as the lyrics are the only thing he has managed to figure out.
However, as the first official run through of the song Venti has done and he definitely feels like the song is empty even when he was just halfway through the song. He begins to add in some ad libs trying to liven up the song a little more and maybe make it more “original” as Xiao has harshly put it. But putting in ad libs doesn't make anything sound more original in actuality. When the song finished, the criticism Xiao has given him is still fresh in his mind. It makes him want to just scrap the entire song and start over again. Feeling disheartened once again, he still asks the barista for her thoughts. “Well that’s it… what do you think Ganyu?”
Ganyu ponders for a moment, collecting her thoughts. “I think it’s lovely. It sounds like you put in a lot of your feelings in this song. Is there someone this song is for?” Ganyu asks sweetly, putting down the coffee and cake on a nearby table for Venti. Ganyu was always very nice when it comes to giving advice. Maybe that should be another reason to why Venti should bring Xiao here.
“In a way yes,” Venti chuckles nervously. “But not in the way you think it is, it’s not a break up song.”
“Oh, well that’s good news. I was afraid you had a fight with your boyfriend and things went terribly between you two,” Ganyu says with a relieved expression. Venti was surprised at this, where did Ganyu get the idea that Venti was seeing anyone.
“I’m not dating anyone Ganyu,” Venti clarifies, reaching for his coffee and taking a sip out of it. As always the drink was exactly how he liked it.
“Really? We were all under the impression that you were dating the Xiao guy you keep mentioning every so often.” Turning around Venti was surprised to see the manager Keqing to be joining the conversation. Venti has never really had a proper conversation with Keqing. All that he has heard of her was that she was quite the diligent worker and one of the managers that the owner of the coffee shop, Ningguang, completely trusts.
“Ah Keqing, I’m sorry I must have taken too long I’ll get back to work,” Ganyu says quickly as she turns to head to the back but Keqing stands in her way.
“I didn’t come here to tell you to get back to work. In fact you’re doing more than you need to Ganyu. I’m just here for the conversation since the shop is pretty empty. Don’t worry, Ningguang won’t fire you, you’re one of our best,” Keqing reassures and Ganyu nods. The two of them take a seat at the nearest table to the piano which was where Venti was currently sitting.
The Qixing Cafe was and old coffee shop that has been passed down through generations. According to Ganyu, the coffee shop used to be very popular but now hardly anyone comes by, preferring to go to more mainstream places like Starbuck instead. Ningguang is currently the Qixing Cafe's owner and business seems to be much better than twenty years ago. Keqing says that Ningguang is very good business woman which is why there seems to be more customers as of late. Venti doesn't see Ningguang very often but he does see Ganyu around a lot and occasionally Keqing if she's on duty.
“Xiao’s not my boyfriend, he's just my roommate,” Venti clarifies once more and neither Ganyu or Keqing seemed to buy it. When and how they got this idea was beyond Venti.
“Yeah sure and the past couple of songs that you said were about discovering romantic feelings weren't directed to him but instead was just a generalization of discovery in general? I don’t buy it. What’s this song about? It sounds different from what you usually make,” Keqing says bluntly and Venti knows at once that his face is starting to flush.
“Uh… That’s going to have to be for another time ehe,” Venti says trying to dodge the topic. Was he going to humiliate himself by saying that yet another song was written about Xiao? No, of course not. There's no way he would say it now especially since they had just thought that Venti was dating Xiao. Well if Venti had to be completely honest, he does find Xiao pretty cute when he first met him. But he seriously can't imagine really dating anyone right now. He doesn't even have a crush on anyone at the moment. So what if Venti's last couple of songs were about Xiao, that doesn't necessarily meant that he saw him that way. At least, not that he thinks so...