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“Aaaand we have arrived! Welcome to Mondstadt, Xiao!”, Venti twirled and jumped around, clearly excited to be back in his hometown. “I haven’t been back ever since I transferred to Liyue for college. I wonder if anything changed ehe.”
Xiao follows Venti closely to avoid getting lost. He has never been outside of Liyue and so it was his first time visiting Mondstadt. He wasn’t sure if he liked or hated it. For one, it’s different. Xiao was used to the peace and quiet of his room at Wangshu Inn, where there was no one to disturb the peace. Well, except for a certain classmate once in a while.
“Xiaaaooooo, are you free tomorrow?” Venti barged into Xiao’s room as he always does. “I’m pretty sure you don’t have classes nor plans for tomorrow, am I right?” Venti said with a smug grin as he poked Xiao’s cheeks.
Xiao can tell that Venti won’t take no for an answer and he’ll keep pestering Xiao until he says yes. “Yes, Venti. I’m free tomorrow, what do you want,” he assumes Venti probably just wanted to visit a new cafe he found recently or he needed help with his music. He didn’t expect what Venti would say next.
“Ehe~ I knew it. Then come visit Mondstadt with me tomorrow. It’s a special day after all.” Venti flung his hands up as he said it. Special day?, Xiao thought. For the love of Celestia he can’t remember if there was anything special about tomorrow. Was it a holiday or festival of some sort?
“Venti, what day is it tomorrow? Why is it special?” Xiao really couldn’t remember. He assumed it could be a Mondstadt festival as Venti wanted to go there tomorrow.
“Sighs, I guess you don’t remember. But you’ll find out tomorrow ehe,” Venti turned around to leave Xiao around to leave Xiao’s room but before he did he added, “Tomorrow at the station at 8am, okay? I’ll be waiting.”
And that was how Xiao ended up with Venti in Mondstadt on a date. Hold up. Is this even a date? He’s just accompanying Venti since he asked. That’s all it is. There’s nothing more to this. Just two close friends hanging out. He might’ve had a crush on Venti ever since he first met him but there’s no way Venti would like him back, right? Right?
With these thoughts swirling through his mind, he didn’t notice that Venti had stopped in front of a bar. The sign next to him said Angel’s Share. But why did Venti bring him to a bar? His watch showed it was only slightly past noon. Surely they wouldn’t be open yet? He notices Venti knock on the door thrice and proceeds to open it.
“Surprise! Happy birthday Venti!” Among the six faces that appeared, Xiao could only recognise Aether and Lumine, who were exchange students last year at his and Venti’s college. All of a sudden, Xiao finally registered what he heard when he and Venti entered the bar.
It’s Venti’s birthday. How could he forget? He would give Venti a box of apples decorated with cecilias every year. He did so for the past two years. He must’ve forgotten because of all his assignments recently.
“Xiao, let me introduce you. These are my buddies in Mondstadt. We have Barbara, Jean, Diluc, Kaeya, and of course you already know Aether and Lumine.” Diluc and Kaeya both nodded at Xiao in acknowledgement, whereas Barbara gave a shy smile behind Jean as the latter gave a small wave.
“Now that introductions are done,” Aether interrupted with a clap, Lumine continued, “Let’s start the party! We made lots of apple dishes for you, Venti. Including apple cake and apple cider, non-alcoholic of course,”
Venti gave a small pout at the mention of no alcohol but went back to his cheery self in a split second. “Thank you guys, for the party. It means a lot to me,” Venti hopped towards Diluc and Kaeya and put his arms around them.
“It's nothing, you’ve helped us with lots of things before you left for Liyue,” Jean said as she handed a plate of apple pie to Venti. “Yeah, it’s the least we can do for you,” Barbara piped in.
Xiao felt like an outsider. Besides Venti, Aether, and Lumine, this is his first time meeting these people. He contemplated leaving while no one was looking but Venti came up to him with a spoonful of apple pie,“Try some Xiao, it’s delicious ehe,” Without waiting for an answer, Venti shoved the spoon into Xiao’s mouth.
“Mmph mmph, haah Venti don’t just shove food into my mouth,” Xiao scratched the back of his head and turned away, hoping to hide the redness of his ears. “But it really was delicious,” he mumbles.
“That’s great. Y’know I made that pie together with Diluc at home,” Xiao could hear a hint of pride in Kaeya’s voice. “Stop bluffing, all you did was sneak off bites of the apple filling,” Diluc said with a sigh.
“Pftt, you two are getting along well as always,” Venti snickered. “Never in my entire life,” “Absolutely not,” Both Diluc and Kaeya remarked at the same time. “All right, no more bantering, it’s Venti’s birthday and we’re gonna celebrate it like normal people,” Jean said as she put herself between the two.
“Alright alright, we’ll stop and celebrate like normal people,” Kaeya poured out a glass of apple cider and handed it to Xiao.”Don’t be shy with us, let’s enjoy the party,” Kaeya winked and proceeded to the bar to get himself a slice of apple pie.
Despite having only met Venti’s friends only a couple of hours ago, Xiao managed to get along with them quite well. As Xiao finished his third slice of apple pie, Venti came up and whispered, “There’s someplace I wanna go later, can you come with me?”
“Sure,” Xiao nodded. Though he wondered why him? Why not go with everyone? But Xiao felt it wasn’t his place to pry. Especially since it was Venti’s birthday. He supposes he could go along.
“Alright then let’s go,” Venti linked his arm with Xiao’s and before Xiao knew what was happening, Venti had dragged him out of the bar and onto the evening streets of Mondstadt. The cold outdoors was a huge contrast to the warm indoors of Angel’s Share, giving Xiao shivers.
“Shouldn’t we at least tell everyone else we’re leaving first?” Xiao was worried the rest might panic when they noticed both Xiao and Venti had disappeared. He didn’t want the police putting up missing posters and offering bounties for their return.
Venti stopped in his tracks and winked at Xiao, “It’ll be fineee. I used to disappear like this all the time whenever I wanted,”. Xiao chuckled. Like always, Venti is as free as the wind. Doing whatever he wants, whenever he wants. “Then let’s go,” and with that Venti whisked Xiao away, through the streets of Mondstadt, and arriving in front of a shop with a large window.
A young woman with short blonde hair in front of the shop noticed the pair and greeted them, “Hello Venti. I didn’t know you were back in Mondstadt,” “Yeah! But only for today ehe. Anyways, do you still have the lyre i left here? I wanna have it back, if you don’t mind,” Venti gave his best puppy eyes as he said it.
“Give me a minute,” Majorie gave Venti a smile and went inside the shop. She came back out a few minutes later and brought out an old looking lyre and handed it to him. Venti thanked Marjorie and Xiao was once again, being dragged away by Venti. This time it’s out the gates of Mondstadt and towards the green outdoors.
“Didn’t you just want to get back your lyre? Or is there somewhere else you wanna go,” Xiao pants, almost out of breath trying to keep up with Venti’s pace. Xiao doesn’t know where he is. All he sees are trees and grass. Where is it that Venti is bringing him to? There didn’t seem to be anything nearby.
“Ehehe, we’re almost there, just a little bit more,” Xiao was about to ask if Venti needed a break as he could hear a hint of exhaustion in his voice. But before he had a chance to ask, Xiao saw a large tree coming into view.
As soon as they arrived at the tree, Venti plopped himself on the grass at the base of the tree and patted the space next to him, signaling for Xiao to have a seat. The moment Xiao sat down, Venti started playing a tune, one Xiao had never heard before.
“Y’know,” Venti started as he finished his song, “this lyre belonged to someone important to me, but he’s gone now. That’s why I left it with Marjorie, I couldn’t bear to even look at it,” Xiao could see the fondness in Venti’s eyes and wondered, would Venti ever look at him with the same fondness in his eyes?
“Then why today, on your birthday? Why did you take it back?” Xiao knew it wasn’t his place to ask but he couldn’t help himself from asking. Venti was silent. Xiao started panicking. Did he cross a line he shouldn’t have crossed? He was about to apologise until Venti spoke up.
“Because I knew he wouldn’t want me to be sad over his death. He would want me to be my usual cheerful self, singing the songs he used to sing for people around the world,” Venti turned to look at him and gave Xiao the brightest smile he had ever seen. “And also because I found someone who’s very important to me now. Someone who has always been by my side,”
The evening glow that surrounded them highlighted Venti’s features, making him look ethereal. As if he’s a god, Xiao thought whilst staring at Venti, as if trapped in a daze. The sun had finally set after what felt like ages, turning the sky dark, and snapped Xiao back to reality.
He wanted to ask Venti, “who is it?”, but hesitated, too afraid of the answer. He was afraid of losing Venti to someone else. Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t even notice that Venti had climbed onto the large tree behind him.
“Xiao look look! It’s a shooting star!” Xiao looked up at Venti and saw Venti’s extended hand. He took it and joined Venti on the branches of the tree. And like Venti said, there really were shooting stars. Dozens of them, illuminating the night sky.
“Let’s make a wish,” both Xiao and Venti turned to each other and said it at the same time. Xiao blushed and looked the other way, not wanting Venti to see how red his face was. He didn’t expect their faces to be this close to each other. A second later he could hear Venti’s signature laugh, “Ehehe, I’ve made my wish, how ‘bout you?”
It was easy. Thinking of what he wanted to wish for. After all, Xiao only had one wish ever since meeting Venti. I want you to be happy. He almost said it out loud but managed to stop himself in time. He didn’t want to scare Venti away, nor make him uncomfortable.
“It’s your birthday isn’t it, my wish doesn’t matter as much as yours. And tell you what, I’ll try my best to grant your wish, to make up for forgetting your birthday,” Xiao lowered his voice at the end as he didn’t want Venti to hear it.
“But if I tell you my wish then it won't come true!” Venti pouted but soon softened his expression and whispered, “Besides, you already made my wish come true,” Xiao is confused. What wish would Venti make that he has already granted? But since Venti wouldn’t tell him, he won’t ask. As long as you’re happy, I am too.
But what was Venti’s wish? It was simple. All he wanted was to spend his birthday with Xiao.