Work Text:
Diluc is a good friend of Venti's. Too good, in fact.
Each time Diluc rolled his eyes when Venti arrives at his bar near closing hours, more often than not he still lets Venti in for a drink or two. And when Venti is a few penny short for buying his own lunch, Diluc would ridicule the poor man before thumbing through his wallet. And the rare times when Venti is troubled by his future and senseless anxieties, Diluc sits by to lend an ear. Even rarer, lends his shoulder for Venti to rest his pounding head.
Yeah, Diluc is a really good friend, and Venti never felt more alone.
Knock knock. Diluc stands upright as he looks in the direction of the front door, noticing the short navy-blue hair friend of his waving through the pane glass. Shaking his head in dismay, he still trudges his legs around the counter to open the door.
"Are you faring well?" Diluc quirks his eyebrow upwards, looking at the dishevelled friend of his as he enters the bar.
Venti hitches his breath, messing with his braided hair before chuckling, "Just as great as the weather," he smiles, pulling a bar stool for him to climb on.
"It's been raining," Diluc grunts, following Venti back to the counter as he cleans one of the many shot glasses left by the previous patrons.
Venti smirks, "I know,"
The redhead paused for a moment, realizing the implications of the drunkard's words as he motionlessly sets the shot glass down. "Would you like a dandelion wine to make up for the weather?" he asks, his eyes were reminiscent of hawks, but soften ever so slightly when he needs to.
Venti rolls his head to the side as he lets out an unimpressed sigh, "Kind of out of my price range at the moment,"
"It's on the house," the bartender offers, gesturing his hand to the many beverages and liquor behind him.
"Woah there," Venti waves his hands with a fretted look, his face breaking into an apprehensive smirk, "you keep that up I might end up falling in love with you," he jests, but Diluc pays no mind to such joke as he continues to pour a glass for his friend.
"For every time I hear you say that," Diluc seems disgruntled, but Venti can see his lighthearted smile, "my fortune would be doubled, not that I need it either," he rubs the side of his neck, leaning against the bar countertop as the building comprised of only him and Venti.
"Then you would help your good ol' friend Venti out, wouldn't you?" Teal eyes glanced at the drink before him before taking it up without much respite.
Diluc exhales a small laugh as he watches, "You know I would,"
"D'aww, I really might fall in love with you," Venti smirks as he wolfs down the wine.
Thorns were tightening around Venti's chest, and not just the metaphorical sense.
As he woke up with a slight hangover, he trudges to the bathroom with a large grin on his face, only to be met by his doppelganger through the mirror. The shirts that he's been wearing were starting to tear apart and there's only one culprit: a branch-like stem coils itself around his chest and torso with sharp thorns jutting every which way.
It was growing worse, but Venti refused to acknowledge the obvious issue as he practices his smile, "Ehe," he starts off to ease his despair.
His eyes dart when he notices a bud attach to the spiralling stem, panic hijacking his brain as he stumbles to tug the mirror to reveal a cabinet box, his shaky hands slapping about to feel for the shape of the dull metal blades and handle, once his fingertips found the scissors he snatches it out as he glances at his reflection with the scissors ready to snip the bud.
"One, two..." Venti takes a deep albeit constricted breath, "three!" snip, "EUGH," he drops the scissor as it clatters against the porcelain sink as he holds his mouth from vomiting last nights drinks. The bud fell, but in its place was a bloody mess as it seeps from the stem.
Yeah, the thorns are a part of him in a physical sense.
He picks up the bud with a weak smile, "It would've been tougher if you bloomed," he chuckles, trudging himself to throw it into a wastebasket where all the bloodstained buds began to pile up, Venti continuing to not see a problem with it once again.
Diluc isn't the most physically affectionate person, but it works out for Venti. The last thing he would want is to crave Diluc's touch, especially in the state that his body is in.
"Going somewhere, Venti?" Diluc spots his friend without hesitation, even among the crowd of people.
Venti notices that there aren't any seats available in the bus, trying to reach for the grab handle to keep himself steady, "Yep, I'm going to go to Good Hunter's," he smiles, though even as he tiptoes he could barely grab hold of the handle, "Sara promised me that she'd discount her new promotional meal--" the bus went to motion causing Venti to falter, falling into Diluc as he does, "ah, damn," he mutters to himself.
Diluc grabs Venti by the shoulder to set him upright, before shaking his head and holding his arm out, "Here, grab onto me until we make it to your stop," he offers, but with his stern gaze, it was a near order.
Venti gulps as he takes upon it, wrapping his hands around Diluc's arm, "Just to let you know, I can usually grab the handles just fine," he looks up to the redhead with a confident look, but Diluc just rolled his eyes and stifle a laugh.
"Maybe you shouldn't be wearing sweaters," he points out, eyeing Venti's attire, "it's humid these days and it's going to weigh you down."
Venti looks away, trying to find an excuse before giving a wry grin, "Eh, the laundry I go to has been closed these few days," he coughs, averting eye contact, "maybe I'll look for another laundromat," it's not like he's lying, his clothes have been getting dirty, but in the sense that they are shredded up and blotted with black-crimson.
Diluc frowned hearing this, "You know, if you need help you can ask me," he mumbles, "even if it's just laundry, I'd rather you wear comfortable clothes than to pass out from heat exhaustion,"
"It's fine, don't worry about me-" Venti shrugs as he loosens his hold around Diluc's arm, but instead Diluc moves his arm to wrap around Venti, pressing the shorter to his side as he holds firmly. Diluc watched as an elderly woman make her way towards the exit whilst Venti was in the way, but his grip on Venti only caused his spine to shiver. Venti wanted to get away from the touch, from the fact that his skin is breaking, but the warmth that Diluc exhibited from just holding onto the small man override his sense of urgency. Diluc continued to hold onto Venti until the bus returned to motion. The smell of grapes clung onto Diluc's skin and outfit, it was sweet and relaxing compared to the malt and buzzing aroma that fills his workplace, allowing Venti to grow intoxicated by the smell and warmth.
"Alright, there's a seat available if you want to sit-" Diluc sighs as he loosens his hold around the shorter before his nose picks up the scent of something peculiar. Floral, earthy, and... iron rust. He moves his hand to notice small imprints of red on his palm, "Wait- Venti, stand still," Diluc's voice rasped in worry.
"Huh?" Venti perks up, snapped back from his daydream as Diluc grabs his shoulder to spun him around. Without realizing it, the blood began to seep through his sweater, and it doesn't make for a pretty sight.
"Venti, are you alright!?" Diluc began to panic as he retracts his hand, causing Venti to jump back and steady himself from the moving bus.
"I," he stumbles before realizing how dire the situation has become, no amount of 'I'm fine' could wash down Diluc's distressed look. With a gulp, Venti cracks a smile and points out the door of the moving scenery, "I think I need to get off the next stop,"
"What? No, you need immediate attention!" Diluc is dumbfounded of Venti's lack of self-awareness, but it's not like he didn't know that part of him either.
"Ehe, I think I spilt tomato sauce on my sweater last night-"
"On your back?"
"It's me we're talking about," Venti waves his hand to die down the tense atmosphere as he slowly makes his way towards the door, the bus slowing down to make his escape, "really, don't worry! I'll take you up on the laundry offer some other time," he tries to wave as the door open, but instead Diluc took a step forward to follow Venti out.
"If you're short on money then I should help pay for your lunch," no matter what Venti does this man is going to keep worrying and caring for him in the most outlandish ways, which only troubled his little heart.
"No, no, I said Sara is going to discount today's meal so I will be fine," Venti's smile was beginning to waver as Diluc tried to step out of the bus with him, panic inciting his brain as he pushes Diluc back into the bus. He had little strength to actually hurt Diluc, but the surprise of it is what caused Diluc to falter back as he watched Venti's weak shoulder begin to tremble, "ah, sorry, next time I'll invite you to lunch and it'll be on me," he mumbles as the door began to close on the redhead.
The way Diluc's face turned to that of genuine fear and frozen in place nearly alleviated Venti's stress away as the bus towed away. He doesn't want his dear friend to see the sorry state he is in, and hopefully he doesn't misunderstand that.
Of course he wouldn't, Diluc is a great person after all.
Venti laid on the floor, staring at the ceiling fan as it spun 'round and around. His body was completely sore, the thorns branching out to wrap his shoulder and hip, making it harder to move without breaking his skin into the floral needle.
A flower bloomed where his heart is, and he closed his eyes as he quietly wept. It was a beautiful flower with petals as white and innocent as a dove. So beautiful, that it wretch Venti's core.
As he forces his arm to grapple the flower and yank it off from his chest, droplets of blood dared to spit out from the branch. The broken petals clung onto his wet hand as the white stained itself in red, making Venti feel even more disgusted with the first thing that came to mind.
Beautiful red hair, fiery bright eyes to rival the disappearing sun, and crimson brows that looked extraordinary when his face was twisted into distress for no one but Venti.
Venti crushed the flower and tossed it, his throat drumming into a wail as spit and tears pour out along with his fragmented heart.
Venti wanted to apologise.
With the bus incident, constantly lying to him, always using Diluc without ever repaying, falling in love with him, everything. All Venti wants is to set the record straight and to move on.
As he takes every step closer to the bar, absolutely certain that he will not back out, he hears voices that momentarily sidetracks him.
"Dear Diluc, why have you closed the bar on me at this time?" it was a voice that Venti knows to belong to the one-eyed Favonius cop, though he sounded amused, "I was hoping to get a light beer before heading off," he sighs, almost in dismay.
"Stop jabbing at him, Kaeya," a feminine voice this time, this one Venti couldn't think a face of at the moment, "either spit it out or I'm heading home."
Venti has been passing in and out of sleep, the days blurring into whether he has eaten, drank, or even washed at all. The house was cluttered, but nothing was worth Venti's attention at the moment.
A month has passed, and Venti couldn't have felt any better.
He smiled as the cool night air kissed his azure hair, his ear perking up as he cranes his neck to see Diluc walk up to him, his hand wrapped around a bottle as Diluc gives a hasty smile.
"Thank you, Mister hothead," Venti laughed as he reaches his hand out to take the bottle, "is it my favourite?" he smirks as the glass container is handed to him.
"Dandelion wine," Diluc sighs, "how could I forget," he sits beside Venti as he combs through his red hair to look at the full moon and the freshwater before the two, a scenic view that could make a cynic person grow soft.
"You know me too well," Venti happily pops the screw off, drowning himself in the bottle as it dribbles off his lips and onto his body, not that he cared anymore. Diluc eyes the shorter, whose face is half-obscured by flowers and stems, and any parts that showed that he was a person underneath the floral became less by the day.
"Not well enough," Diluc gulped, clasping his hands together weakly, "if I've known sooner you were like this I would have helped sooner-"
"Hey, hey, it's fine," Venti flails his arms out with a drunken grin as his one eye held content, "it's not your fault that you don't love me back," he lays down on the ground, staring at the abyss that is the night sky.
"Y-Yes, that's true," Diluc watches Venti grow comfortable on the ground, "but it's taking a toll on you-"
"Eh, I've gotten used to it," Venti shrugs, "Plus, it's been a good month. You did your best taking care of me, and that's the least you could do," his voice lilt almost singsong, bittersweet like the wine that stains his lips.
"I'm sorry," Diluc stammers.
"Mhm," Venti closes his eyes to ignore the apology, the air began to be still as the sound of crickets and the trees rustled, the wind always a familiar friend to Venti.
"... What now?" The redhead stares into the vast lake, hesitant of what comes next.
Venti sighs as he sits up, "You're impatient, aren't you?" he reaches his hand out, the petals and branch wrapping around his fingers caressing Diluc's stoic features that allowed Venti to soften, "Don't you see, Diluc? There's nothing left to do anymore,"
Diluc stoned himself by the words, stammering as he tries to find his voice, "Wait, Venti," he grabbed the other's wrist, making sure it doesn't leave him, "can't there be another way? I can't lose someone again-" all Venti could do is break into sad laughter, causing Diluc to swallow as the harsh realization hit him, "... won't you be alone?"
"Mayhaps," Venti half shrugs, "but I know you'll be fine, so I guess I won't be too sad,"
Diluc's eyes burned, the rare tears spilling from his eyes, "I... I love you," he manages to stammer out.
Venti's eye widened, before softening as he nods, "Don't force yourself, it will hurt me more if you're lying," he removes his hand off Diluc's face as the other releases his wrist.
"I-I'm not-" Diluc trembled, but was quickly silenced as Venti leaned in to kiss Diluc, completely rotten by the smell of fresh floral, wine, and the tiniest bit of hope.
Venti leaned back with a content look, "Either way, it's a bit late for that," Diluc covered his mouth in shock as Venti stood up, looking at the lake in the eyes, "ehe, but I love you too," his voice was distant, but it was the last of his rational feelings.
"Where are you going," Diluc reached out to grab for Venti's hand, and yet the wind grew harsh as Venti was being blown away causing Diluc to lurch forward to grab for him, but it was all in vain as he scrambled.
All that was left were Cecilia flowers strewn about, floating across the lake as it the pale petals illuminated from the moonlight.
With a heavy heart, Venti was gone. Diluc struggled to accept this, picking up a Cecilia as he puts it up to his face, trying to remember the warmth of his dear friend's hand.