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Venti had already had a pretty terrible day. He’d woken up with a severe headache, unable to recall much of the previous night, a few stressful calls from his manager, and a pretty rough few interactions with one too many customers… What else was there? Oh yeah, Xiao was no longer responding to his texts. And now? Now he found himself face to face with a cat. Venti could already feel his nose stuffing up, his eyes beginning to water.
The cat sat right in front of Venti’s door, its unwavering gaze piercing Venti’s soul. This was it, this was how he died. Right in front of his apartment, at half past the rush hour, killed by a cat. Venti stood up a little bit taller, slowly walking towards the cat. He stuck his foot out and attempted to shove it out of the way. “Move,” He ushered the cat.
When his foot hit the cat, it took its paws and wrapped them around his leg. Venti gaped, the cat was hugging his leg. He jumped back away from the cat, hitting the other wall of the apartment hallway. Said cat easily released its grip, still placed directly in front of the door. “Can you please move?” Venti tried to ask the cat. As if that made sense, maybe it did. The bastards had always had a tendency to know when Venti needed his day ruined. “I’ll feed you if you move out of the way?”
The cat tilted its head, laying down on the floor instead of moving. “Damnit,” Venti grumbled and fumbled for his phone. He hurried to his conversations, opening the most recent one, and going for the call button. The phone rang once, twice, three times… “Come on Xiao,” Venti pleaded to any deity that may be listening, disregarding the cat's curiosity at the name. A beep notified Venti, and the call went to voicemail.
Sighing, Venti succumbed to his fate, staring at the demon in front of him, questioning what his next move should be. He sat on the floor and stared at the cat. Now that he noticed it, it was a fairly fluffy, dark coated cat, with a white star on its forehead, and very yellow eyes. There were tufts of fur that displayed a deep shade of green. How odd… Venti thought to himself. He guessed the cat had an owner somewhere, or maybe someone had just decided to dye a random cat's fur.
At some point, Venti checked the time and noted the half hour that had passed. He thought about it for a moment… “How about this,” Venti lifted his hand to propose the deal. “If I let you into my apartment, you let me into the apartment?”
The cat finally stood up, and looked at the handle of the door. Venti got up as well, and pulled out his keys to open the door. He peered down at the cat, sniffling as he pried open the door. Shoving his foot in the door, Venti attempted to block the entrance for the cat and threw himself at the door opening. The cat looked up at Venti, and jumped onto his shoulder into the apartment. Venti spun around as the door closed, watching as the cat let itself up on the counter. Venti ran over and screeched. “Get off!” He stressed, swatting at the cat.
It avoided his swatting, seeming to glare at Venti. He sneezed, retreating from attempting to get the cat off of his appliances. He tried to call Xiao once more, this time taking note of how the cat looked at him. “What?” Venti frowned.
Again, the call went to voicemail. Xiao wasn’t picking up still, and he was left alone with… With a cat. An oddly intrusive cat. Venti dialed another number, this time getting a response fairly quickly.
“Hello?” The deeper voice asked.
“Zhongli! I need immediate help.”
The line paused before he got an answer. “Venti… What do you need?”
Venti sneezed again and could feel the water begin to build up in his eyes. “There is” another sneeze, “A cat in my apartment and Xiao wasn’t picking up.”
“Xiao didn’t pick up?” Zhongli asked, as if that was the most important part of the conversation.
“No,” Venti sniffed. “And this cat let itself into my apartment and it wont leave.”
Another pause on the line. “I can come by a few days from now, how does Saturday sound?”
“Do you really think I’m going to be stuck with a cat for that long?” Venti complained. “I will be dead by morning!”
Zhongli audibly sighed, and the cat looked as if it was snickering. Like a being thrust upon Venti to be his very downfall for that one time he accidentally double parked. It was one time, and he’d never done it again. “I can send Childe by tomorrow, he’s free and can help you-”
“Yes please,” Venti quickly agreed. However skeptical he was of the ginger, the cat didn’t seem to be leaving any time soon, and Venti had to work tomorrow. He couldn’t show up still recovering from severe cat allergies.
Zhongli hung up the phone, leaving Venti alone again with the cat. “Xiao would’ve gotten you out of here by now,” Venti glared at the cat.
Hearing the name, the cat again perked up. “Don’t go thinking you can take him away from me,” Venti argued, turning to the cabinet to reach for a bottle of wine. “Don’t let him know I told you this, but he’s a real softy ya know?” He opened the bottle, a fond smile spreading across his face. “I bet, given the chance, he would’ve taken you right into his house and never would have let you leave.”
Venti began to pour his wine, which the cat apparently took as an invite to rub against him. He sneezed violently, his hand convulsing and spilling the wine. Glaring at the cat, Venti went for the paper towels. “Look at what you’ve done! Such a plight is no fun,” He rhymed, attempting to sooth the irritation at the small creature. “Begone feral beast, lest I turn you into a monster's feast.”
It was a habit he’d picked up many years ago, to rhyme when he intended to irritate people, or when he himself was irritated. The cat didn’t seem to appreciate Venti’s words, but he couldn’t really tell. After finishing cleaning up the wine, Venti went to pour another glass. He moved away from the cat and to the other side of the kitchen. The first sip of wine was the best part of his day, even if he did have to share it with a cat. Speaking of- “Perhaps you need a name? Something for me to call you by…” Venti lifted a hand to his chin. He took a swig of his wine, and snapped his fingers as it came to him. “I’ve got it! I’ll call you Nuisance! Nui as the shorter term.”
The cat hissed at Venti, narrowing its yellow eyes and shaking its head. “Fine, fine. We’ll come up with something different. You got any ideas?”
Looking at Venti, the cat jumped from the center counter to the one against the wall, finding itself next to a polaroid Venti had fondly stuck to his wall. It was one of him and Xiao at a museum. Neither of them were particularly fond of museums, but Zhongli had two tickets and couldn’t find the time to use them before they expired. Venti recalled it being a fairly enjoyable experience, especially after he had been able to use his newly bought polaroid.
“What, you want me to call you Xiao? That’s kinda weird…” Venti protested, rubbing at his eyes.
He watched the cat paw at the polaroid, meowing as it did so. “How about Alatus? It’s not exactly the name you wanted but I think it’s still a lovely name,” The cat didn’t need to know Xiao had once gone by that name… He honestly wasn’t sure whether or not Xiao would take his head for even uttering that name, seeing as it was shared with Venti in a moment of confidence. Eh, it was a cat, and cats get what cats want, and said cat, looked at least fairly appeased at the name. Grinning, Venti took a sip of his wine and sneezed again.
The rest of the night was fairly uneventful, Venti tried to shove Alatus out of a window after he’d gone through an entire roll of toilet paper to blow his nose. Alatus would not leave Venti alone. The cat seemed like there was something else that Venti wasn’t getting. Like Venti was the stupid one for not understanding a cat.
Eventually Venti had to turn in so he could at least be semi-functional to work in the morning. He was working part time at a local coffee shop while he worked through different songs to submit to his agent… Not that she’d been very happy with anything he’d given recently. It didn’t matter, he’d call Xiao again tomorrow, and maybe he’d invite him out again. Xiao never really picked up on anything Venti hinted at, but that never stopped Venti from trying anyways.
Sleep had been so close to reaching Venti, and then he heard the noise. A scratching at his door. Groaning, Venti got up and opened his door. Alatus sat at the foot of the door, pretending to be as innocent as ever. “You can’t come in,” Venti tiredly explained. “I’m not going to be able to sleep with you in here.”
Alatus meowed again, this time louder. “What?” Venit asked. “Do you need to go to the bathroom?” The cat shook its head. “Food?” Another head shake. “Ugh, what do you want from me?” Venti cried quietly, he didn’t need another noise complaint.
Another meow and Venti was at his wits end. He could already feel his eyes watering and he’d probably be sneezing all night long… Damnit. He picked Alatus up and threw him on the bed. “There you go,” Venti sighed, laying himself down on the ground to try and sleep.
Minutes passed and the meowing picked back up again. Venti opened one of his eyes and saw Alatus on the side of the bed peering down on him. “I can throw you out of the apartment,” He threatened the cat.
He meowed louder yet, patting his paws on the bed. Venti stood up quickly, picking the cat up and carrying him out of the bedroom. “I,” Venti walked to the kitchen. “Need,” He opened the apartment door to the left of the kitchen. “Sleep,” Venti threw Alatus out of the apartment. Shutting the door Venti sighed. He tiredly made his way back to the bed and threw himself on it.
Venti woke up sneezing. It wasn’t a favorable way to wake up, and there was an unnatural weight upon his chest. He turned over onto his side and heard a soft mewl from what he now realized to be Alatus. “What in the-” Venti was cut off by Alatus rubbing his face up against Venti’s.
He shot up in the bed, an attack of sneezes and watering eyes followed. “When did you get back in?” Venti questioned the cat.
Alatus just glared at him. Venti got out of the bed, throwing the covers, and with them Alatus, to the side. Checking his phone, Venti was pleased to find that he had a good hour and a half before he needed to be at work. He opened his phone to his contacts and tried to call Xiao again. He tried a few more times before giving up. “Can’t believe Xiao isn’t picking up,” Venti told Alatus. “I hope he’s okay, you know? But he does tend to go silent sometimes. I just wish he’d-” Venti halted himself there. He didn’t need to unload all of his non-existent love life issues onto a cat.
He turned to see Alatus looking fairly interested in Venti's problems. “You wanna hear me talk about Xiao?” Venti giggled. Alatus shook like a dog and kept looking at Venti. “Really? Zhongli never wants to hear about my… He said he didn’t want to hear about my ‘useless pining,’ as he so kindly put it. Not my fault his boyfriend had the balls to ask him out.”
This seemed to confuse the cat, a string of meows assaulting Venti’s ears. “Are you serious?” Venti complained. “I get it my love life is sad but you don’t have to be so mean about it.”
Another meow. Venti ignored Alatus and threw on a set of decent clothes. “I have to go to work, so you better be good. And do not shed too much while I’m gone… Please?” Venti rubbed his nose.
The cat shoved its head against Venti’s palm, rubbing against it fondly. However cute the action was, Venti knew he’d have to get the cat to someone who wasn’t as allergic as he was. He rubbed the cat's head and went to braid his hair. While still being good on time, Venti at least wanted a little while for the swelling of his eyes to go down.
He said goodbye to Alatus and left the apartment, making it to the small coffee shop at an astoundingly normal time, rather than the usual late that he tended to be. He entered the small shop and noted the customers already there. All regulars that had a routine of coming in to beat the morning rush. “Hu Tao?” He called once he reached the back of the store.
“Venti?” She gaped, rushing out of the small office.
“Ehe,” Venti giggled, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Wow, you look terrible, ” She stressed.
Venti knew this wasn’t Hu Tao’s normal teasing, because he did look absolutely dreadful. His nose and eyes were still very much so red and he probably looked incredibly tired from the less than great sleep he’d gotten. “You too,” He smiled back at Hu Tao.
Tilting her head, she asked. “Did you and Xiao break up?”
“No,” Venti was used to her teasing him about his lack of a relationship status. “There’s a cat in my apartment and it wont leave.”
“Just throw it out,” Hu Tao stated simply.
“I’ve tried that! I woke up with it on my chest! I need to go buy more allergy meds,” Venti dragged his hands along his face.
Hu Tao laughed at his suffering, pointing a finger at him. “Ohhh man, and no one has been able to come save our local damsel from the oh so evil cat?” She dramatically swayed.
Venti shrugged, walking back out to the front of the shop and Hu Tao followed. “Xiao hasn’t picked up his phone so Childe is coming over to take it.”
“Xiao isn’t picking up? That doesn’t sound like him, especially when it comes to you,” Hu Tao frowned.
Shrugging again, Venti leaned against the counter as he rang up a customer. An order and a coffee later, Hu Tao was back to prying Venti for information. “Did you and Xiao fight? He might’ve left that cat at your apartment if you did something to really anger him.”
“I wish I knew, but my information is a skew. Awaking with such pain, I’d wished I was dead. But this is the price of fame,” He bemoaned poetically.
Hu Tao did not seem to share the same enthusiasm for his rhymes. “How you became a musician amazes me,” She replied. “But that doesn’t explain why Xiao won't talk to you!”
“Oh, I don’t remember.” Venti flashed a smile at Hu Tao.
“Venti!” She yelled at him, a few customers turning their heads to her outburst.
She went quiet after that for a few moments, Venti hoped that would be the end of it. Alas, she continued to ask throughout the day. For the most part, Venti was able to get away with fairly generic answers. Until she began asking about the cat again.
“Do you think Xiao left the cat as a form of hate mail?” Hu Tao questioned.
“Doubtful,” Venti replied. He didn’t think he’d done anything too terrible to Xiao in the past week…
“And this cat just rubs up on you? Cats usually hate you,” She noted, her mind was likely coming up with something no one would benefit from. “Have you tried kissing the cat?”
Venti began coughing into his sleeve, looking at Hu Tao incredulously. “Huh?”
“You know, like in the Princess and the Frog!” She grinned triumphantly.
“That’s not how that works! Besides, wouldn’t there need to be a reason for Xiao to… To turn into a cat?”
“Well, he obviously needs his prince charming to break the curse!”
Debating if that would kill him or not, Venti weighed the options. “That might kill me,” He relayed to Hu Tao after a minute or so.
“If it kills you, let me host your funeral, okay?” She told him seriously.
Sighing, Venti nodded. His phone began ringing and he picked it up, much to Hu Tao’s displeasure. “Hello?” He asked sweetly.
“Heya comrade,” Oh. It was Childe. “What time you want me by?”
“I get off in ten.”
“See you then.”
Venti pocketed his phone again, looking at Hu Tao glaring at him. “You’re not supposed to be on your phone at work.”
“Never stopped me before,” Venti reminded her. “Besides, you're closing for the day in a few minutes anyways,” He gestured to the empty shop behind him.
Hu Tao pouted childishly. “Just go early and deal with your cat problem.”
He thanked Hu Tao and rushed out of the shop.
Venti found Childe at his apartment standing in front of the door. “You could’ve just walked in,” Venti said as soon as he was at the door. He knew both Childe and Zhongli had keys to his apartment. Xiao too but that's besides the point.
“Ah, that would have been rude,” Childe replied as if breaking and entering was more criminal than most of Childes daily endeavors.
Venti just opened the door and looked around for the cat. “Alatus?” He called out, hoping for the cat to come by name.
Surprisingly, Alatus showed up not even a minute later, strutting into the main room of the apartment. Upon seeing Childe, Alatus immediately began hissing, fur prickling in an aggressive manner. Panicking, Venti went to pick up the cat, hoping to calm it down. “Wow, your cat really doesn’t like me,” Childe chuckled.
Sneezing, Venti looked down at Alatus. “I don’t know why, he was fine being all lovey dovey last night.”
That caused Childe to pause and come closer to the cat. “Say, doesn’t he look an awful lot like Xiao? I know you said he hadn’t been picking up as well-”
“I really hope this cat isn’t Xiao,” Venti sighed, thinking back to his conversation with Hu Tao. It was odd though, the green tufts of fur, an unusual hatred for what Venti assumed was only Childe.
“Maybe you should kiss it,” Childe suggested. “I watched this one movie with my little siblings and-”
“No thank you,” Venti cut him off again. This time there was a pleading tone in his voice. “I don’t think kissing the cat is a good idea, and what if it is Xiao? He’d hate me forever.”
The ginger frowned and attempted to pet the cat, receiving an aggressive swat. “I don’t think Xiao could ever hate you more than this cat hates me,” Child complained.
“Untrue, but thank you for the sentiment.”
“Yup! Guess I’ll leave you to it! Let me know when you’ve kissed the cat,” Childe saluted him and headed for the door.
“Wh-Childe! You’re leaving m- Achoo! ” He didn’t get an answer before Childe was out the door.
Venti sat there with a cat in his arms for a few moments more, lazily stroking his hand through the thick fur and sniffling. A sudden rumble directed his attention back to the cat. “Aw, are you purring?” Venti laughed, lifting the cat up above his head. Alatus looked back down on him, head tilted to the side in the same way Xiao would always do.
Setting the cat down on his couch, Venti sat down and observed the cat. There was no way this was Xiao… Surely something like this wasn’t even possible, but what did he know. As far as Venti knew, this would also explain why Xiao hadn’t even sent Venti a text recently. “Okay Alatus,” He began. The cat looked up at him intently. “Let’s say you are Xiao, and I’ve already shared how hopeless I am for that fool, if I turn you back, you can’t hate me for it,” He sneezed again.
Alatus blinked up at him, putting two paws on Venti’s leg. Venti fought with himself for a moment, before attempting to lean down the cat. Before he could kiss the cat’s forehead, he pulled back. “I really shouldn’t do that. Even if you are Xiao, that wouldn’t be good to him, and what if it doesn’t work? I’ll need an EpiPen.”
While Venti was stressing his problems to the cat, Alatus pushed up on Venti’s leg and pressed a wet nose to Venti’s cheek, and licked him with a rough tongue. “Alatus!”
A cloud of pastel green filled the room, obscuring Venti’s vision. After a few moments, Venti felt two hands cupping his face and he was face to face with… Well, Xiao. An equally bewildered expression plastered across his face. “Oh,” Venti breathed.
“Uhm,” Xiao muttered intelligently. “Venti.”
“Yup, that’s me,” Venti replied. It felt like his brain was short circuiting.
An awkward silence followed as the two sat on the couch. Venti was the first to collect his thoughts. “Ah, uh, you should put on some clothes,” Venti pointed out.
Xiao’s face went bright red, and nodded. He threw himself off of Venti’s couch and rushed to Venti’s room. Venti had a few sets of Xiao’s clothes on hand for… Reasons. Totally platonic and not at all in a ‘I want to spend my life living with you,’ type way.
It only took a few moments for Xiao to return to the couch, facing Venti as he sat down. “So,” Xiao started calmly. “I turned into a cat.”
Venti nodded, that much was true. The true weight of what Venti had disclosed to apparently Xiao over the day hadn’t quite hit. “How much do you remember?”
“Well, you got drunk and kissed me, and then I turned into a cat… I guess I do recall most of what you spoke to me about during that time,” Xiao was staring at the ceiling, depicting all of the conversations Venti had thought he had been one-sidedly having with a cat.
Wait a minute.
“I kissed you!” Venti screeched loudly, grabbing Xiao by the shoulders. “When did this happen?”
That caused Xiao to pause, looking at Venti as if he was the crazy one. That had become a common theme recently. “The night before last? Do you not remember?”
“No!” Venti cried. “I’m soooooo sorry! I didn’t mean to do that! You didn’t even want that-”
Xiao cut him off by returning to cupping Venti’s face. “Did you want it?” Xiao asked him, his eyes boring into Venti.
“I-I uh…”
“Venti.”
“Yes,” Venti quickly caved. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you since we first met.”
“Oh,” That seemed like news to Xiao. Ever oblivious, Venti thought fondly. “I wanted it too…” Xiao muttered under his breath.
Venti wasn’t sure if he heard that right. He… He wanted it too? “Are you sure?” Venti laughed nervously.
“Venti,” Xiao said again. “You kept me around even after I turned into a cat, of course I want you.”
Ah. Ahhhhhh. Xiao wanted him. Xiao wanted him. “Aww!” Venti pulled him into a hug. “I’ll always want you too, ya big softy,” He laughed.
Venti began to run his hands through Xiao’s hair appreciating the softness of it while it didn’t send him into a fit of sneezing. Xiao leaned against Venti, resting his chin upon Venti’s shoulder. A soft rumble Venti had recently become acquainted with broke the silence. “Oh my gods,” Venti laughed quietly, continuing to run his hand through Xiao’s hair. “Did you just purr?”
“No,” Xiao immediately denied, burying his face deeper into Venti’s shoulder.
“You did!” Venti laughed loud and joyously. “Xiao! That's so cute!”
“Shut up,” Xiao demanded.
“Make me,” He quickly quipped back.
Xiao fulfilled that request quickly.