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Furina has never been fond of the rain.
She has never taken a liking to it. Not once. There’s always this rush of anxiety whenever even the slightest of rain drop would touch her bare skin, making her go pale. She hated it. She'd be so much better off at home, wrapped up in all her nice warm blankets and sitting next to her big, soft pillows, reading one of her favorite books. Yes, it's definitely a better option. There won't be any rain in the house after all.
It had always been like this ever since she was little. And as for the reason… she doesn’t want to remember.
Furina hates those days.
And this, is one of those days.
She watches in bitter resentment as the droplets of rains roll down the classroom window. She had no umbrella, so she’s stuck in this hell of a classroom until the rain stops. Most students were able to go home before the rain started. Meanwhile she had to stay because of some matters that her teacher tasked her with. When she finished her things, the rain was already raining hard outside. So there she is, forced to find an entertainment while she (im)patiently waits for the downpour to stop.
She then hears the classroom door open.
“Look who’s here, just who I wanted to see.” a mocking voice said. Furina’s eye twitches upon hearing it, already knowing who it belonged to.
Furina is already annoyed enough, that voice surely helps not that case. She turns her head towards the source of it, not making any effort in hiding her annoyance.
“What do you want?”
She is already having a tough day, no need for one person to make it any tougher.
“So cold,” Venti sighs dramatically as he shuts the door behind him. “I just got done with my club activities and I forgot something in the classroom. Didn’t expect you here, though.”
Furina gives Venti a side eye, not in any mood for any of his shenanigans. She simply wants to make a return to her room, but first she needs to wait for this miserable rainy weather to die down.
“I’m waiting for the rain to stop,” she said, her voice almost monotone.
“It’s just a light drizzle. Surely, you can walk through it.” Venti raises a brow, “Afraid to get wet, aren’t we?”
“Piss off.” she sneered. Why the hell does he care? It’s a valid concern! “I have no damn umbrella. Get off my case.”
She didn’t want to walk in the rain, even if it is just a drizzle.
“Oh?” Venti looks amused by this. “Well, if you’re so worried about it, I can escort you to your dorm.”
“I can take care of myself just fine, thank you.” Furina says, sounding a bit irritated. Venti actually being nice to her? Yeah, right. There has to be some catch. And she’d rather swallow a whole slug than form any physical contact with him.
But as soon as she said that, what used to be just a light downpour became a sudden heavy rain shower.
“You have got to be shitting me,” Furina mumbles.
Lady luck really isn’t on her side today, huh?
“Fine.” Furina stands up from her seat, fixing her bag. “But you better not do anything funny, I’ll punch you.”
“Yes, yes, princess. Whatever you say.” Venti says, tone dripping with full sarcasm.
With that, the two made their way to the main entrance. Venti opened his umbrella, and both of them started walking out of the school building. Furina just holds his bag tight as the two of them walked, not even thinking of striking up a conversation with this jerk.
As they slowly walked together, Furina found herself looking out to the street and at the many puddles of water. She was still very much annoyed by this situation, just wanting to end this quickly, but that tiny part of her deep inside... felt just the slightest bit of comfort being beside Venti. She’s not sure why, but maybe it’s because she’s never had any companions this close to her. It was always her alone. She didn’t have that many friends either. And while she didn’t expect to be close to Venti like this of all people, she’ll take it.
Wait. No, no, no. She can’t think of that. Venti is her rival. She hates him. The whole situation feels pretty hostile!
As they walked, the rain becomes slightly heavier. Damn it, really?
“I don’t think we can reach the dorms in this heavy rain just yet.” Venti says, then he looks over to nearby café. “Let’s wait over there.”
She doesn’t care. As long as she doesn’t get soaked. God knows Furina would go mad if she stays another second outside in the pouring rain.
When they enter the café, Furina immediately notice that there were very few people inside. It was rather strange, considering that it’s a weekday, and people tend to go in and out of these types of places after work. But it was probably because of the rain that they just went straight home.
Furina sits down at a nearby seat, just setting her bag beside her.
“Do you want anything?” Venti asks, gesturing over at the menu.
“Who’s paying?” Furina asks cautiously.
“Depends.” Venti smiles. Furina glares at him, and Venti relented with a sigh. “Alright, alright. It’s me.”
Good.
Furina hums in satisfaction as she looks over through the menu.
“This,” Furina points to a flavored cake, “And this,” she then points to another flavored cake. “Some cookies also… oh, a cheesecake. Some macarons, too.” Furina says, then adds one last thing, “And a giant hot cocoa.”
Venti’s jaw almost drops. “...all of that?”
“Yes.” Furina smiles, that devious smile of hers. “Any problem?”
She’s either going big or she’s going home, there’s no in between. Plus, can’t say no to free food, and it tastes ten times better, especially when you just abused the hell out of your rival’s wallet.
“Anything else?” Venti asks flatly.
“Actually… add one large order of fries and a big cheeseburger with that.”
Let’s say Venti’s wallet will be hurting in a few minutes.
“Alright.” Venti forces a stiff smile before going to the counter.
Furina smirks, getting comfortable on her seat. It’s not often that her rival, if not enemy, is actually at her mercy. She’ll make the most of it. No, she has to make the most of it. Furina just waits in her seat, twiddling her thumbs while tapping her feet. She can already imagine him with a big frown on his face when he hears how much all of this costs.
After a few minutes, Venti got back to their table carrying a tray full of the things they ordered and sets them all down. Furina can barely contain the smug grin in her face as she sees Venti’s expression after paying for all of it.
“Thanks for the treat,” Furina hums happily as she starts digging in.
Venti watches her chow the cheeseburger and the fries, then moving on with the sweet desserts. Furina eats like she hasn’t eaten for days while Venti watches her with nothing but a flabbergasted expression.
“What? Too much for you to handle?” Furina teases, smiling widely at him. She looks at Venti’s face, then starts laughing when she sees the look of disgust and shock on his face.
Heh. The sweet taste of victory.
She grabs some fries and takes a bite out of one, savoring every bit of it.
“Should’ve just emptied my whole credit card.” Venti mumbles sarcastically as he takes a bite of his apple pie.
“Poor baby,” Furina cooes. Venti makes another disgusted face which makes her quietly giggle.
She likes it when Venti’s able to express himself and not put up the nice guy act too much. There’s no need to put up a façade with your rival anyway. It’d be useless. Also, Furina doesn’t even feel all that bad for Venti paying all these for her. It’s free food, she loves free stuff.
After finishing up all their food, the two makes their way out of the café. It was luckily not raining that much anymore.
“Should we just wait for the rain to completely stop?” Venti asks as he holding out his hand to the pouring rain.
“It’s whatever.” Furina crosses her arms, “As long as I don’t get wet.”
“You really don’t like getting wet, don’t you?” Venti asks, amused.
“And why do you care so much?” Furina huffs in annoyance, not bothering to meet Venti’s eyes this time. “It feels disgusting, having all those water drops just clinging to your skin. Ugh.”
“Is that really all?” Venti doesn’t seem convinced.
No, it’s not. She has every reason to hate the rain. The water. All of it. But she won’t admit anything, not to him.
“Would you like getting wet? Imagine all your clothes clinging onto your body and becoming soggy and heavy. That’s not something I want to think about, thank you very much.” she glares at him, “Besides, you don’t understand a girl’s worries.”
“I hang around girls all the time, I don’t think I’ve encountered anyone who doesn’t like water, though. Except you anyway.” Venti shrugs.
“The hell do you know?” Furina grumbles.
A beat of silence passes.
Then, Venti speaks.
“...are you afraid?” he questions out of the sudden.
Furina stiffens.
“Afraid of what?” Furina snorts, trying to keep her cool. “I’m not afraid of anything, “You should know better than anyone else that I’m not afraid of anything. Especially not some measly rain.”
Venti just looks at her. He’s not looking like he’s about to tease her. Or to pick a fight with her. He doesn’t even look like he’s going to open his mouth to say some half-ass insult or anything. Just that somber look. Like he’s expecting her to say something more. Something else.
She’s not expecting that reaction from him. Usually, he’d be throwing back sass at her right about now, but he’s not. It makes her feel uneasy.
Furina looks back, not knowing if she should say anything. After a few seconds of silence, she decides to break it and say whatever just came to mind, “I’m not afraid of some water. It just irritates me, that’s all.”
“Oh, is that so?” Venti finally speaks, but there’s something different in his tone right now. “Then I’m sure you’d be fine walking right to your dorm through this rain. It’s barely going to get you wet, right?”
Furina’s expression falters.
Of course. Of course, Venti would test her with something like this.
“You’re ridiculous. I’m not falling for your bullshit.” Furina hisses.
“Then tell me the truth.” Venti says, “Are you afraid or not?”
Furina clenches her fist.
“Fine. Fine!” she explodes, “I’m afraid of it! I’m afraid of this stupid rain because people close to me when I was a kid drowned right in front of me! Are you happy now?! Go ahead and make fun of me, you jerk!”
Everything turns into silence.
Furina looks away, feeling pretty upset now. All the memories made their way back intio her mind. She feels her throat tighten, tears welling up in her eyes as so many terrible things come flooding back to her, just washing over her in a wave of sadness. She’s suddenly reminded of how vulnerable she was, of how terrified she felt. How alone she was during that time.
She was not wanting this moment with Venti to happen. No, she was not expecting it at all. Never, in her life, did she expect to throw all her trauma right at him. Why did she open up to him of all people? He’s definitely going to take advantage of this information.
“...I’m sorry.” Venti mutters.
“Just shut up,” Furina’s voice was barely audible as she tries to wipe away her tears, her broken sobs filling the air. “It’s all in the past now. It doesn’t matter that much.”
“It does.”
It does. But she can’t bring herself to talk about it. Not right now. Not ever.
“You know,” Venti starts, looking up at the drops of rain. “I like the rain.”
“Fits you well. You’d like anything that’s a nuisance.” Furina mumbles bitterly.
“No.” Venti smiles a bit, “I like it because it reminds me of you.”
The rain reminds him of her? What the hell is that supposed to mean?
“I reminded you of something that I hate? What kind of bullshit is that?” Furina sounded a bit offended. “So I’m that much of a pain in the ass to you?”
“Though you are, that’s not what I meant.” Venti chuckles. “I meant that the rain reminds me of how beautiful you look.”
Furina blinks once.
Twice.
Thrice.
The words then hit her like a cannonball, and she looks away quickly to avoid Venti’s gaze. She suddenly finds herself flushing, her face heating up. That’s the last thing she ever expected him to say.
This stupid… flirty jerk…!
Control yourself, Furina. Don’t fall for it. You’re better than this!
“Whatever it is you’re smoking, I want it.” Furina rolls her eyes, even though she’s practically screaming inside- no. No! She’s not screaming inside. Her heart isn’t skipping beats, this is… just plain stupid!
“Heh. You’re cute when you’re flustered.” Venti says with a hint of teasing.
“Oh, screw you.” she mumbles, her face still burning hot with embarrassment. She's not sure what to do with all these emotions she's feeling right now and is just trying to keep a neutral, pissed off face.
Venti laughs again at her discomposure.
“Say, Furina, could you humor me for just a little bit?” the boy asks with a small smile.
“What do you want?” Furina grumbles.
“Take my hand.” Venti holds out his hand for her to take.
She stares at his hand for some good few seconds before hesitantly grabbing it.
What is he up to this time-?
“Let’s dance, hm?”
Before she could ask what he meant by that, Venti suddenly pulls her along with him to the pouring rain.
Furina yelps as the droplets of water hits her skin. She tries to yank her hand free on instict, but Venti holds her hand even tighter and holds her close to him. She suddenly finds herself in the position of being the one being held in his arms, which she absolutely, positively hates.
“Trust me.” Venti whispers in her ear.
The moment he whispers in her ear, Furina freezes. She can feel his warm breath caress her skin, which makes her blush like a tomato and forces her heart into overdrive. This is just way too intimate for her liking. What’s with him and these soft words since earlier? She’s not used to this!
The more the rain water touches her skin, Furina just instinctively presses herself against Venti, trembling. Venti soothes her back with a comforting hand, but she’s scared still.
“It’s not gonna harm you. I promise.” Venti says softly.
But it did. It harmed the people that were the closest to her heart.
“How do you know that?” Furina’s voice was shaky.
“It won’t hurt you, as long as you hold onto me.” Venti gazes into her eyes. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Furina clutches onto Venti’s shirt. “Will you really…?”
“Yes.”
“Then… just don’t let go.”
“Do you trust me?”
“…yes. Yes, I do.”
“Then, leave everything to me.”
She really can’t tell if she’s just made a huge mistake or not.
“You better not mess this up.” Furina says in a low voice, pressing her body closer to Venti’s, feeling the texture of his clothing and the warmth he emits.
Venti starts to lead the dance, and Furina gradually follows.
As they slowly danced in the rain, Furina finds it a bit hard to breathe. Not because she’s sick or anything, but because they’re so close. She hates how comfortable she feels. She hates that she’s enjoying this. She needs to keep herself together.
But as Venti continued their dance, it’s like it didn’t even matter anymore.
She’d be damned if one of their classmates sees her with Venti like this. Imagine just going home, and then suddenly in the corner of your eyes, you see two idiots dancing in the rain. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the two rivals who were always at each other’s throats at school, holding each other close. Their images would probably be tarnished if that ever happens.
Furina finds it hilarious that she's actually following his lead. And that she even finds herself enjoying how much he holds her, how easily he's able to guide her in his movements. How easily he could manage to catch her off-guard, how easily… Furina can get lost in those eyes of his.
And as Venti spins her, a realization dawned over Furina.
She was enjoying this.
She was enjoying the rain. Being in Venti’s arms. Being this close to him. Dancing with him.
She’s enjoying something that she once despised, something that she thought she’d never actually like, something that she was pretty sure that she’d hate for the rest of her life.
She’s enjoying it with… Venti.
And slowly, but surely, without knowing it, she’s starting to like it.
The rain. The sound of it. The raindrops hitting their skin. The sound of their breathing. Venti’s gentle gaze. The smell of him and his cologne. The sensation of him holding her so close.
And, oh. Their faces were so close now. Close enough for her to feel Venti’s breath, see the little details on his face. She thinks she can even hear his heartbeat, but it’s probably just her imagination running wild.
She finds that she’s screwed now, but does she even care anymore?
For some reason, Furina’s usual stubbornness fades away.
Venti was starting to lean in, and Furina is too.
“Can I...?” Venti asks quietly. She wants to laugh at the fact that this guy actually has some decency to ask for permission first. Oh well, she likes that. She likes him, a lot.
“I’m going to punch you in the gut for making me wet just for you not to kiss me.” Furina threatens him, but they both know she doesn’t mean it.
Venti chuckles, before finally catching her lips in that sweet kiss… and damn, his lips felt so good.
The entirety of it felt like liquid fire, and she leans into it, craving every piece of Venti’s body. She grabs onto his shirt collar and pulls him into a deeper kiss, as if demanding more. The rain continues to pour, but all she cares about is the taste of Venti on her lips. She wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. She no longer feels the wetness against her skin anymore.
Everything about Venti suddenly feels like a thousand times more intoxicating, and she's not about to let him stop. She makes an audible noise of pleasure as they make out in this rain. The other passersby were probably staring at them with an incredulous look now, but Furina couldn’t care less. Hell, even if several of the students from their school saw them kissing passionately right here in the middle of the downpour, she thinks they should even be glad they saw that.
Furina slowly drags her tongue against Venti’s lips, eager to taste more of him.
But before she could slip in her tongue inside his mouth, Venti pulls away, earning him a small whine from Furina. Damn him. He always knows how to drive her absolutely insane
“Damn you.” her voice was breathy and soft, far different from her usual tone around him. “Stop teasing me…”
“Don’t get impatient, love.” Venti’s lips curl into a small smile. “Let’s get back to the dorm first. I don’t want you getting sick.”
She ignores the way her heart thumped at being called ‘love’ by Venti.
“Then you shouldn’t have pulled me to dance in the rain, you moron!” Furina sulks. It was getting so good, what the hell? “Fine. Get me back inside, but I expect you to finish what you started once we’re in there. You’re not leaving my room until I’m satisfied.”
Venti seems amused by this.
“I’ll see to it when we get there. So… let’s go. Before you actually get sick.”
“I’m already gonna be sick to begin with. Ugh.”
“Then let’s make sure that doesn’t actually happen.”
“Don’t be such a jerk next time and pull me into the rain like that on impulse. I’m going to strangle you.”
“Yes, yes, your highness.”
“Don’t call me that!”
With that, the two headed to the dorms, their fingers interlaced with each other.
When they arrive at her dorm, she suddenly remembers something.
Ah.
She forgot about Venti’s umbrella at the café.