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“Morning, Ei!” Venti called as he swung the door open.
“Good morning,” Ei yawned.
“Good morning, Venti,” Nahida greeted.
“Aye, same to you!” Venti grinned.
“Morning,” Murata grinned back.
“Greetings, Barbatos,” Zhongli nodded.
“Waddup my dude,” Venti smiled to the other as he trotted into the building, heading towards the back.
In the back of the shop, Venti entered a small room covered in shelves. Glancing at the wide variety of packaged merchandise, he tossed his small backpack and his jacket onto the ground.
“Since when are you here this early?” Tsartisa asked moodily, adjusting her hair while taking count of the inventory.
“Because I wanted to fix my highlights,” Venti yawned, making sure his stuff wasn’t going to fall over into anything.
“Well, I guess coming in ten minutes early is better than arriving an hour late every day,” Tsaritsa muttered.
Venti huffed and stepped out of the small space, taking a breath. In front of him was the Seven’s hair salon: each member practiced perfection in a certain color of hair dye, as well as working with clients on many different things like trimmings, conditionings, curlings, bleachings, etc. Venti was the expert in all teal-colored dyes.
Most called him stupid because they already had green AND blue experts, AND a white/pale blue- but he insisted people loved teal enough that he should get his own speciality.
Venti sat himself down at his personal station, reaching down into the drawer in front of him and grabbing a certain teal hair dye. His own highlights had been fading out recently, so he started putting gloves on and undoing his braids, watching his own actions in the mirror.
“Hey Focalors!” Venti called, spinning in his chair.
The blue-specialist turned to look over from her own station two down from Venti, a questioning look on her face. Venti tapped his head and Focalors sighed, summoning the power of Hydro and soaking Venti’s hair from across the room, being sure to control the water so that it didn’t drip down his neck.
Venti grinned and thanked the other, rubbing conditioner and shampoo through his dark hair. After finishing cleaning, he dried it partially with his own powers. Finally, it was time to use the dye. He’d lightened the ends of his signature braids a while back, so they were still bright enough to not need a redo of bleaching.
After about five minutes, Venti’s hair was dyed. But he was disappointed.
“Morax, is it just me or is this dye darker than usual?” Venti questioned, spinning in his chair to face the opposite end of the room, where Zhongli worked.
“I can confirm this,” Zhongli nodded. “Did you grab the wrong dye?”
Venti turned to check, but he knew he wasn’t wrong. Something must have gone wrong with the shipment for some reason. Sighing, Venti took a Sharpie and wrote “40% off, defective disappointment dye” on the side of the bottle.
Venti used his Anemo powers to finish his hair drying process faster, and a moment later, Nahida turned the Open sign around. The New York City street outside was flooded with people and snow; it felt like this day would be promising.
Merely ten minutes later, a gush of freezing wind floods into the room as a group of teenagers giggled their way in. Murata, the charming front-desk manager as well as red-dye expert, sorted out their needs. Too bad nobody wanted Venti so he had nothing to do.
Half an hour later, a load of more guests arrived, and Venti is suddenly preoccupied with perfecting some blue-haired guy's hair. After adding fancy products, cleaning, and styling, he looked like a million dollars. Venti watched him leave, instantly feeling bored again.
Despite their place being really famous due to expensive, well-thought-out hair styles and high-quality lasting dye, not many people came for teal dye. Venti never really got to use his speciality. It was fine, though, business is business.
But today that would change.
“Xiao, over here,” Zhongli called.
Xiao frowned, walking slowly into the chemical-smelling store. There were about five clients there, all preoccupying different hair stylists. Xiao, however, was drawn to one of the workers who sat alone at his station, staring at his feet.
Xiao couldn’t help but be a bit intrigued. The other had cute little teal-dyed braids, which stood against his black hair. He was clicking his brown leather Rockport shoes together, staring at them boredly, and this action caused a loosely-placed bucket hat on his head to bounce around.
Watching Venti’s frog-shaped bucket hat bounce with his delicate fluffy hair, which by the way matched his green and white themed hoodie, Xiao walked over towards Zhongli, distracted enough to nearly crash into a random client.
“I doubted you would come,” Zhongli smiled as the other arrived.
“Yeah, well uh,” Xiao was wordless as Venti turned to look up at the other.
Xiao suddenly felt self conscious. The other was dressed with care and characteristic style; Xiao was dressed in a random navy hoodie with black sweatpants and flip-flops covered in snow, which was killing his poor toes, btw.
Nevertheless, Venti smiled brightly and waved to Xiao.
“Hi! You must be Xiao, right? Zhongli’s ALWAYS talking about you! How you’re a heartbroken emo who became his first friend in college-”
“Venti,” Zhongli warned.
“Sorry,” Venti put his hands in the air, spinning his chair playfully to face the other way.
Xiao almost wished the other hadn’t. He wanted to observe those brilliant green-blue eyes for longer.
“Anywho, Xiao, I promised a discounted friend price, but I was not confident you would actually arrive- so I did not calculate the amount you need to pay for streaks,” Zhongli apologized.
“Nah, it’s fine,” Xiao finally looked away from Venti. “I haven’t chosen a color yet, either.”
Xiao had been nagged by Zhongli for a while now about his Levi haircut being rather boring with just black. Finally, Xiao said he’d actually come and get something done about that, and Zhongli was overjoyed (well, as overjoyed as Zhongli could be, meaning he smiled a little).
“How about this?” Zhongli reached into his own drawers and pulled out a bottle labeled ‘Cor Lapis’.
“Huh,” Xiao muttered, observing it. “Too bright.”
Zhongli rummaged through his stuff again.
“How about ‘syrup’?” Zhongli displayed a darker, more rich brown-orange dye.
“Too brown,” Xiao sighed.
“Right, you want an artificial color,” Zhongli muttered, thinking way too hard as he stared at his collection.
Meanwhile, Xiao’s attention returned to Venti, who was idly spinning around in his chair (incredibly unprofessionally). Xiao watched closely and saw that Venti had some kind of hair dye on sale, which was sitting on his table half-open.
Xiao grew curious, so he approached the station, eyes focused on the dye. As he neared, he realized it was a dark teal, which was about the same shade of his vision, except mixed with black. It glimmered slightly, though, as if it wasn’t fully darkness. Huh.
Xiao shrugged, deciding that it might not be the right color for him. He then wandered over towards the entrance, where Murata was just finishing styling some white-haired girl’s long ass hair.
After the girl left, a boy walked over, also with white hair. Murata greeted him casually, sitting him down immediately, as if he was some kind of local who came often.
Xiao noticed an Anemo vision hanging from his belt as he nodded whenever Murata was talking to him. The red-professional grabbed a specific dye and touched up a streak in the client’s hair. This whole interaction made Xiao think a bit: this boy was going completely against his vision’s aesthetic. It annoyed Xiao. It was stupid.
Then he thought about that thought: yeah, maybe he should get something teal.
Walking over to Zhongli, he contemplated it over, and finally decided that it would be best.
“I think I found what I want,” Xiao announced.
“-and I believe this shade of orange would accent your eyes-” Zhongli had been rambling.
“You didn’t realize I’d left?” Xiao rolled his eyes. “I’m going over there.”
Xiao pointed at Venti. Zhongli just nodded, accepting that his selection of dyes was super uncool with the teenagers these days.
“Hey,” Xiao called, a bit more aggressive than intended, to the teal-specialist.
“Hello?” Venti asked.
“Can I have streaks of that?” Xiao points to the discounted dye.
“Oh- sure,” Venti shrugged, standing up.
Venti gestured for Xiao to sit, and he did so. Xiao adjusted so that he was comfortable, and then Venti draped a protective poncho thingy over his shoulders.
“Soooo Xiao, how’s life?” Venti asked as he grabbed a brush and started running it through the other’s hair.
“I wore flip-flops and now my toes are cold,” Xiao responded casually and quietly.
Venti paused for a moment before bursting into laughter. Xiao blushed, turning to look up at the other.
“What?” Xiao asked.
“It was just so random,” Venti laughed, slowly recovering. “Anyway, totally relatable, except I wore real shoes.”
“Flip-flops are real,” Xiao muttered.
For the rest of the session, Venti blabbered on about many topics such as favorite foods and how his roommate was totally on weed.
“Oh, by the way, what’s your type? Like everyone’s always ‘I’m only into tall buff guys or tall sexy girls’ or ‘I’m only into short cute girls’ but I was thinking about it and was wondering: what about short cute guys? Nobody likes them! Then I realized that I DO, but now I’m curious if you’re another person who likes them?” Venti chats on.
“What makes you think I’m gay?” Xiao asked.
Venti paused for a moment, examining Xiao’s reflection in the mirror, staring into his eyes.
“You’re gay,” Venti stated with a little giggle. “It’s obvious- you were staring at me earlier, too! But also the way you style your hair and take care of your nails, which is a typical gay stereotype I actually find true a lot of the time. Also for some exotic reason, all of Zhongli’s friends are gay, so you’re no exception.”
Xiao blushed and looked down.
“Oi, you’re messing me up!” Venti laughed, forcefully moving Xiao’s head up again, fingers resting on either side of his face.
Venti went back to ranting about his own life, leaving Xiao some time to contemplate.
Meanwhile, Venti was laughing inside and admiring how cute Xiao was. Honestly, he was trying not to full-face blush as well, but he was used to hot boys flirting with him or vice versa so he’d developed a bit of a tolerance.
Venti then was brought back to rational thinking when he noticed that something was off. He’d begun dying Xiao’s hair a good ten minutes ago, but he just noticed that the same teal he’d used on himself this morning was already running out. How did he not notice how low he’d been?
Excusing himself for a minute he walked to the back area and shuffled through the stock until he found the same dye. Quickly, he snatched it and ran back out to Xiao. With that, he finished off the final bits of streaks while still ranting about random crap.
“Anyway, so I mentioned being into shorter guys,” Venti chatted as he took off his gloves and finished up. “But it’s been hard finding anyone shorter than me SO I was wondering if we could compare height?”
“I bet we’re the same,” Xiao sighed, uninterested.
Honestly, he didn’t want to spend more time with Venti. It was weird that he found someone attractive and he wanted to quickly get out of there before anything else developed.
“No no no,” Venti insisted. “C’mon!”
Xiao grumbled as Venti hoisted him up and brought him to a clean wall, grabbing a tape measure. Zhongli senses the sudden movement and looks over just in time to see Venti giggling as he adjusts Xiao’s body so that he’s lined up with the wall correctly.
Zhongli stares for a bit as Venti pulls out the tape measure, watching his friend’s reaction.
“I bet you’re shorter than me, somebody HAS to be,” Venti muttered to himself.
Zhongli sighed. Xiao didn’t look comfortable. Venti must be overdoing it again, damn it, that annoying Anemo boy! Zhongli stood up and walked over before Venti could actually measure the other’s height.
“Alright, Venti, the show’s over,” Zhongli gently interceded. “I’m sure Xiao is shorter, it does not matter. Xiao has college classes starting soon and I’m his taxi, so we’ve better get going.”
Xiao gratefully moved to stand next to Zhongli- but immediately felt guilty afterward. Venti looked disappointed, and he’d been so nice to him the whole time. But that’s not the main topic- Zhongli just said he was short. He SPECIFICALLY labeled that as a forbidden topic! Whatever, at least it was a way to get out of here.
With that, Zhongli escorted Xiao to the exit.
Venti huffed. What a party-pooper. Zhongli always ruined his fun. And he’d finally met an actually interesting person, too! Not to mention adorable. His emo attitude only contributed to how cute it was when he got flustered- Venti mentally squealed and kicked his feet. He wanted to make Xiao his friend. What a cool person to hang out with!
Venti quickly pulled out his phone to text Zhongli about Xiao.
NYCSevenGCbroskis
InTheVentsSussy: Hey Zhong Zhong? When’s the little dude coming again?
RocksUpHisAss: He expressed to me that he wishes not to return, but he must because he just realized some of his streaks are lighter than the others.
InTheVentsSussy: ehe, ya that’s because I ran out and the next bottle was actually the right color- whoops
Law&OrderMyShit: Well done, Venti
InTheVentsSussy: shut up Lors
Smokin’HotPringles: Get back to work!
InTheVentsSussy: o7
Zamboni: STOP MESSING AROUND WE HAVE A REAL BUSINESS TO RUN
InTheVentsSussy: (੭ˊ◕<◕ˋ)੭†
InTheVentsSussy: Tsaritsa is so scary ;-;
My💩IsPlantBased: It’s in her nature.
Venti looked up over his phone to see Tsaritsa glaring the shit out of him, so he quickly put his phone away. Sighing, he turned to face the entrance, and then realized that there was a guest left unattended at the door. Quickly, he stood and decided to actually do his job.
—
Xiao was conflicted about returning to the hair salon. Venti was nice, cute, and energetic- and admittedly incredibly annoying. But still, for some reason, he couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought of the boy. Shaking his head, he made himself realize that he’s supposed to be emo and went back to brooding.
“Why must you always look so empty inside?” Zhongli sighed as he walked beside the other.
“Because I am,” Xiao muttered, glancing at the sidewalk.
Soon, the salon came into view. Xiao started feeling anxiety build up in his chest- wait, what? No, there must be something else. To calm himself, Xiao bent down and grabbed a handful of snow, eating it as he walked.
“You eat snow too?!” A sudden voice interrupted the silence.
Xiao promptly spit out the snow and threw the rest onto the street, wiping his hands on his pants.
“No,” Xiao replied to Venti.
Venti had just stepped out of his baby blue Volkswagen Beetle, a drawstring backpack hanging loosely around one arm. He was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and a green T-shirt on top with the Anemo symbol printed on the front. His fake vision was casually hung by a black leather belt.
Xiao only felt as embarrassed as he did on the first day: wearing just a hoodie and jeans.
“Well, I see you’ve returned, couldn’t get enough of me, eh?” Venti giggled.
“Venti,” Zhongli warned.
“Actually you messed up my hair and I need it fixed,” Xiao grumbled.
“Ehe- sorry! I realized that after you left,” Venti chuckled. “Come on in then! We don’t open for ten minutes but I can help you early!”
“Venti, we opened three minutes ago,” Zhongli sighed. “You’re always late.”
“Says you,” Venti glared at Zhongli.
“This is the first time I’ve been late in three years: and it was because Xiao took too long in the shower,” Zhongli retorted.
“A long shower person, eh?” Venti turned his attention to Xiao. “Hot or cold?”
“I switch it between boiling and literal ice every two seconds,” Xiao replied sarcastically. “It’s what puts me in such a lovable happy mood all the time.”
Venti started laughing, leaning on the still-open door of his car.
“Your sarcasm rivals Tighnari,” Venti wiped an amused tear from his eye. “Anyway, to the salon!”
The three walked half a block before heading inside the Seven hair salon.
Venti escorted Xiao over to his station, tossing his bag carelessly under his desk. Immediately, he gathered the materials.
“Sorry for the dye being weird: it was a bit darker than usual, that’s why it was discounted. The second bottle of the same dye was the right color so it looked lighter and threw everything off,” Venti explained, gently draping a plastic poncho over Xiao’s shoulders.
“I don’t need your excuses,” Xiao scoffed.
Venti hummed in response.
“Anyway, I thought I could make a dye the same as what the defective bottle was,” Venti continued. “So I spent all night mixing teals until I found the perfect one that matched it! Then I named it after you!”
Venti proudly displayed a bottle of dark teal dye; written in surprisingly perfect cursive was the name of the color: “Xiao”. Xiao rolled his eyes, looking into the mirror at himself and Venti behind him.
“Just fix it,” Xiao insisted.
And thus, Venti began fixing the light streaks of hair at the back of Xiao’s head, happy he actually got to see the other again. During his work, he blabbered on about random shit, but eventually ran out of things to say and began singing a song.
Xiao felt strangely comforted by said song. He’d never heard of it before, but it sounded comically the opposite of Venti’s personality: sad, quiet, and distant, but the chorus had an uplifting feeling of hope. There were no lyrics, which made it only better.
“What’s that song called?” Xiao asked abruptly.
“Eh? Oh- yeah. I have no idea. Made it myself,” Venti shrugged.
“You wrote it?” Xiao was surprised.
“Yeah! I play the harp and lyre; also some piano! Zhongli’s teaching me. Murata was showing me the guitar but I preferred bass so I started learning that too! It’s like the harp; but almost easier in a way, so it isn’t that hard,” Venti ranted. “Oh! And a while back I learned the flute and have been teaching Nahida how to play as well!”
“Impressive,” Xiao admitted.
Venti giggled, smiling widely: Xiao actually complimented him?!
“Maybe I could name the song Xiao, because you like it so much,” Venti joked.
“Stop naming things after me,” Xiao muttered.
“But everything deserves to be named after you! You better name your son Xiao Jr. or I’m suing you,” Venti laughed. “Oh! Maybe I’ll name the song Xiao: Snow Eater.”
“I don’t eat snow,” Xiao insisted.
“I think it’s cute,” Venti said.
“...Then maybe I do eat snow-” Xiao admitted.
Venti started laughing a sweet genuinely happy laugh, and Xiao blushed to himself. Why had Xiao said that? I mean, it was true, but Xiao was usually not so open or talkative. It had just slipped out. He forgot to think before speaking.
“Anyways, I’ll just dry your hair out and you’ll be ready to go. Now, I need to tell you a few things before you leave,” Venti stepped out from behind Xiao and leaned on the counter, facing him. “One: dye like this in your hair fades quite quickly. Until your hair can get used to it and fully accept the lighter color, you may need to keep coming back to fix it.
“Two: shower every other day or every three days: DON’T shower every day. It’s unhealthy and could cause fading faster. Three: the streaks look totally adorable on you, nice choice in color!” Venti grinned. “Of course, half of it is thanks to moi.”
Xiao rolled his eyes, taking note of this information as Venti sent a small gust of wind secluded to Xiao’s hair, drying it in an instant.
“Your freedom at last,” Venti bowed towards the entry.
Xiao nodded, getting up to leave.
“WAIT I FORGOT!” Venti exclaimed. “You still need to pay!”
“Zhongli’s boyfriend will write you a check later,” Xiao shrugged and kept walking.
“Mmmmk,” Venti replied skeptically. “See you in two weeks for a redo!”
—
Instead of showing up in two weeks, Venti greeted Xiao outside on the sidewalk that weekend. He had come near the end of hours, claiming to be waiting for Zhongli’s shift to end. Venti had been doing a run for supplies.
“Now that you’re here, can you help me? Please?” Venti asked.
“With what?” Xiao questioned, already a bit annoyed by standing out in the NYC winter.
“I have tons of boxes of conditioner and shampoo in the trunk, but I packed it so tight that it might all fall on my face when it opens,” Venti grinned sheepishly.
Xiao sighed and walked over to Venti, who smiled gratefully and began slowly opening his trunk. The small car was absolutely packed to the brim with deformed boxes that had obviously been slammed in there aggressively.
As Venti opened it, a few boxes and loose bottles of shampoo started falling, and Xiao crouched down to catch them. Setting them on the sidewalk, Venti was able to open the trunk without too much damage.
“Thanks!” Venti exclaimed. “Last time, it was a loose bag of glass soap containers and vases: I cut my pinkie toe, as well as lost tons of expensive shit. I went to the ER.”
Xiao smiled slightly despite himself: Venti was just so energetic and random, it caught him off guard. It was different and refreshing, and actually kind of innocently sweet.
Xiao decided to help carry the boxes into the store, Venti blabbering on beside him. They hung out for about an hour: Venti did most of the talking, and Xiao found himself satisfied with listening. Venti had to leave when Ei yelled at him to get back to work, but Xiao stayed and waited for Zhongli’s shift to end.
From then on, he came nearly every other day, claiming to be waiting for Zhongli. During Venti’s breaks, he’d join Xiao on the bench right inside the store, or walk with him on the sidewalk outside.
“You know, your actual appointment is this weekend,” Venti mentioned.
“Yeah,” Xiao nodded, having forgotten about it.
The two sat outside, Xiao wearing a jacket and Venti braving the cold wind in a hoodie. Xiao bent down and grabbed a handful of fresh snow off of the sidewalk, chewing on it lightly. Venti smiled and did the same.
“So, you know everything about me from the names of my fingernails to my favorite apple juice brand,” Venti began. “What’s with you? What’s your job?”
“Well- I studied two grades below Zhongli in college… and once he graduated, I still lived with him. I wasn’t studying for a particular job, just figuring myself out. In the end, I decided to use my knowledge of international relations and public safety to become a diplomat of sorts… it didn’t work out, though, so now I’m just a security guard,” Xiao info dumped. “I was a park ranger at Central Park for a while and then got promoted to their manager; I might join NYPD’s top members someday.”
“Didn’t peg you as a police guy,” Venti playfully bumped his shoulder against the other’s.
“I personally don’t like the police… I’m mostly there because hours are kind of flexible and I get to ride a horse, in addition to protecting people all the time, I guess,” Xiao shrugged, taking another bite.
“Never thought I’d have a friend who enforces law, seeing as I avoid it all the time,” Venti joked.
“Law outside of Central Park is none of my business,” Xiao replied. “So go ahead, drive 100 mph in your Beetle.”
Venti’s laugh cut through the air, warming Xiao up for a minute. Venti proceeded to dissolve into giggles for a few seconds before recovering.
“Even if you say something super unfunny, the fact that you, Mr.EmoNoAmusementXiao, makes jokes anyway, is so adorably hilarious,” Venti laughed.
Xiao blushed and ate his snow aggressively.
“Xiao, my shift is over,” Zhongli called from the entry.
Xiao stood and walked over to the taller one, and they started walking away.
“Bye!” Venti shouted.
The shorter one turned around and waved, but didn’t say anything back. It was enough, however, to make Venti feel buzzing in his stomach.
—
Xiao sat down in the large chair, the signature black plastic wrapping hanging over his shoulders. Venti was playing around with his hair: taking out the Xiao dye and perfecting Xiao’s slightly fading highlights.
They talked for the entire time. Xiao did a lot more socializing than he normally did, and Venti took a break to actually listen to Xiao’s point of view and troubles with work. Xiao never spoke so much.
“-and then Kujou Sara walked over and yelled at Chongyun for nearly blowing the whole chase,” Xiao was finishing. “My subordinates are annoying.”
Venti chuckled, slowly peeling his gloves off. He’d been done dying the other’s hair for a few minutes now, and had just been listening.
“Venti, you confuse me,” Xiao suddenly mentioned.
“How so?” Venti asked, curiously tilting his head.
“You’re the only person who has managed to get me to rant,” Xiao muttered. “And… I actually don’t mind your company.”
Venti grinned, although a bit more nervous than usual. Heat rose in both their cheeks, and they just kind of looked at each other for a moment. Venti seemed unusually quiet: it was a side of Venti that Xiao couldn’t help but find interesting. Plus seeing him blush was everything.
“A-anyway, Zhongli’s shift ends in a few minutes,” Venti smiled, breaking the moment. “Let’s go sit down at the bench near the door, eh?”
Xiao nodded and took off the protective poncho, walking with Venti over to the door. They sat together at the waiting bench inside of the building, and Venti started humming his song. Xiao glanced over, watching as Venti stared at his feet, clicking his Dr.Martens together, and finding peace in the sound.
Suddenly, though, Venti turned and looked at Xiao, and smiled as he ceased to sing. He reached over and ruffled Xiao’s hair, and Xiao, by reflex, flinched away. Venti just chuckled, and incredibly quickly snatched Xiao’s phone from his hoodie pocket.
“Hey!” Xiao barked.
“If you want your phone back, take me out to Kaffee café after my shift’s over,” Venti stood and held the phone high above his head.
Xiao would’ve been easily able to jump up and snatch it, seeing as they were basically the same height, but something inside of him wanted to play along.
“Sure,” Xiao shrugged. “Now give it back.”
Venti grinned brightly and gently held out the phone to Xiao.
“Xiao, let’s go,” Zhongli called. “And Venti, get back to work, you only have a few hours left, no slacking.”
“Man, I feel like everyone here is my mom or something,” Venti grumbled, standing up. “See you at eight thirty-ish? Pick me up here?”
“How about we meet at the café?” Xiao suggested.
“Yeah, that makes more sense, then I can still have my car in the morning,” Venti nodded. “Welp, see you then!”
“VENTI GET YOUR ASS TO YOUR CUSTOMER!” Tsartisa screeched.
Venti muttered something incoherent and walked away, but not before shooting Xiao a small, genuine smile. Xiao smiled back, albeit much more subtle, before walking out with Zhongli.
—
Xiao was sitting alone at a cute table near the window (the owners knew Venti, and when he said he was there with him, they got him the best table) waiting for Venti. He drummed his fingers over the thick mahogany wood, resting his chin in his palm and staring at the entrance.
“See, that’s the face of a lovesick kid waiting for their date,” he heard a voice. “Observe that face. That’s what you look like all the time!”
“NO I DON’T!” Another masculine voice argued back.
“Aww, I think it’s cute, though!” the original one teased.
Xiao blocked out their voices, flushed. They were clearly referring to him, as the only person alone in the café that wasn’t on a laptop and twelve cups deep into coffee (Cough Ganqing in the corner cough). Was he really that obvious?
“Xiaoooo!” Venti’s voice suddenly rang out.
Xiao lifted his head from his hands to get a better look at Venti as he cheerfully sat down across from him.
“Sorry I’m late, ehe,” Venti smiled as he sat.
Xiao shrugged, having expected the other to be late anyway, seeing his history.
Thus, the two started talking. They’d learned a lot about each other through their long talks at the salon, yet somehow they managed to create new topics, even after basically every detail of each other’s lives had been retold twice.
“Thoma, another boba, please!” Venti called as he saw the waiter pass by.
Thoma glanced at the pile of four completely empty (Yes, Venti even ate the ice) boba containers and the five empty mugs of coffee.
“Venti…” Thoma warned. “That much sugar intake is incredibly dangerous.”
“My friend Nahida takes her tea with 98% sugar and she’s relatively okay,” Venti smiled.
Thoma just sighed.
“Anyway, that’s not the main point: the café closed three minutes ago, you can’t keep ordering anymore,” Thoma reasoned.
“Closed? Already?” Venti was surprised. “But we only got here like an hour ago.”
“You’ve been here since 20:40, and it’s 23:32,” Thoma explained.
Venti glanced at Xiao, who shrugged. He hadn’t realized either.
“Well, I guess we’ll get going then,” Venti grinned, standing.
“Thanks,” Thoma nodded politely.
“But only because I know you and Ayato like your time after the shop closes,” Venti winked.
Thoma just turned and left, not dignifying Venti with a response of any kind. Venti in turn faced Xiao and offered him his hand. Xiao stood up on his own, walking past the other towards the entrance.
“So cold,” Venti laughed.
“Keep up!” Xiao called over his shoulder.
“And demanding,” Venti muttered.
The two left Kaffee and started walking down the rather quiet NYC street, standing awfully close to each other. Parking was really bad in the busy city, so Venti had to park in the parking lot of some random apartment building, while Xiao had been dropped off by Zhongli.
Xiao insisted on walking with Venti for safety reasons until they reached the parking area, which was about four blocks away. Venti accepted his company gratefully.
“XIAO LOOK!” Venti gasped suddenly.
Grabbing Xiao’s upper arm, Venti steered him into a store he didn’t catch the name of. Inside, the whole place smelled like old paper, ink, and plants. Surprised a bookstore would be open so late, Xiao just let Venti pull him towards the inside of the street-facing display window.
Clambering into the large window, Venti picked up a book, his eyes basically shining.
“This is Zhenyu’s limited edition book he published just a few days ago!” Venti exclaimed, hopping back onto the floor.
“‘Ocean rocks and sky-shaped ponds?’” Xiao asked, actually a bit excited for the other.
Xiao knew exactly what this book was: on their first day together, Venti had ranted about the newest upcoming book from the famous Chinese author Zhenyu, and how much he wanted a copy.
“AND IT’S LIMITED!” Venti jumped up and down, hugging the book. “I borrowed a copy from Yae but I never actually owned it!”
Xiao nodded, understanding. It was strange how he knew Venti’s coworker’s soon-to-be wife’s name, but Venti had ranted about the most random of topics, that he knew a lot about stranger’s personal lives.
“C’mon, then,” Xiao smiled a small smile, nodding his head at the front desk.
Venti followed him as he walked over to the cashier.
“How much for this book?” Xiao asked, pulling out his wallet.
“Wha- I can pay, idiot!” Venti chuckled, digging in his winter jacket’s pockets.
“That’d be 30,000 mora,” the cashier responded.
Venti audibly gasped.
“Alright,” Xiao dug through his wallet and pulled basically everything in there out, setting it on the table.
“Xiao- what-” Venti was speechless.
The cashier smiled, accepting the money. They scanned the book and then handed it back, along with a receipt. Xiao nodded a thank you, grabbed the book in one hand and Venti in the other, and together they walked outside. Venti was still speechless.
Once outside, Xiao let himself smile, which turned into a chuckle (probably the most laughing he’d ever done), at Venti’s flustered and confused expression.
“Worth it,” Xiao smiled, handing the book to the taller one.
Venti accepted the book in his hand that was interlaced with Xiao’s, but didn’t look at it, instead focused on Xiao. Then he finally started smiling and laughing along with the other. The two stood there, oblivious to the strangers staring their way and the sounds of cars zipping past in the dead of night: just laughing and smiling. Together.
Xiao recovered very quickly, seeing as he barely laughed or smiled anyway, but Venti was still way too happy to think properly.
“Thankyouthankyouthankyou,” Venti said, leaning against Xiao’s side, squeezing his hand.
As someone who was paid 40,000 mora every week, he knew how expensive that book was, which is why he had gasped at the price. If Venti had bought it himself, he probably would have needed to limit food consumption and become officially poor.
After a while, the two continued their original walk towards the apartment parking lot. Along the way, Venti started ranting about the storyline of the series, which Xiao already knew well from previous conversations.
“And then they kiss in the end! And what’s funny is how realistic it is to the actual author. Did you know Zhenyu is a pen name? I figured it out at a festival; he’s actually named Xingqiu. Didn’t you mention knowing him?” Venti asked.
“Yeah, he’s Chongyun’s annoying friend who shows up to pester Chongyun on the job,” Xiao complained.
“Yeah, that one! I find it cute how the relationship of the characters are just like Xingqiu and Chongyun’s,” Venti sighed wistfully. “I wish I could be like that with someone. To romantically love and be loved back the same way, you know?”
“You are loved like that,” Xiao said to himself, for whatever reason, outloud (albeit quiet).
“What’d you say?” Venti asked.
Xiao refused to answer, still wondering why he’d said that. It was true that Venti was loved that way: Xiao had come to admit that to himself. He wouldn’t mind being the Chongyun to Venti’s Xingqiu, but he didn’t admit that outloud.
Venti looked away, watching his feet, giggling slightly to himself while blushing. Oh, he definitely heard what Xiao had muttered. It was probably the most amazing sentence he’d ever heard in all of his life.
The two continued to walk in silence, still holding hands, and standing closer than they ever had. Venti clutched the book close to his chest, just like the Statue of Liberty, which was visible through a few skyscrapers and roads.
“So, where is this apartment building, anyway?” Xiao asked.
Venti paused.
“Uhhh,” he turned in a full 360. “I got turned around at the bookstore.”
“Venti,” Xiao facepalmed.
“I’ll just call Zhongli,” Venti smiled, detaching his hand from Xiao to grab his phone.
“No!” Xiao insisted, stopping Venti’s hand.
“Why not?” Venti asked, furrowing a brow.
“He can’t know I’m doing this with you, that’d be weird, you’re his coworker,” Xiao reasoned.
“Wait- what does ‘doing this’ mean exactly?” Venti questioned teasingly.
Xiao blushed and looked ahead.
“I don’t know, hanging out?” Xiao muttered.
“We’re not doing more than hanging out? I must’ve gotten a different impression,” Venti tapped his chin playfully.
Xiao glanced at the other, who was smiling right back at him.
“You- you want to do more?” Xiao asked. “I thought you were oblivious or something and would expect us to be going out as friends.”
Venti laughed, a blush spreading through his cheeks.
“Of course I want to do more than ‘just hang out’, Xiao! That’s why I stole your phone and bribed you in the first place,” Venti smiled.
Xiao looked away, focusing on a blade of dead grass peeking through the snow. Venti waited for a reply, but never got one.
“What’s wrong?” Venti asked.
“I just,” Xiao sighed, looking at his feet. “Wouldn’t think anyone wanted to be anything more than an acquaintance with me…”
“You’re literally the coolest, sexiest, funniest, interestingest person I’ve ever met,” Venti scoffed, smiling.
“Interestingest isn’t a word,” Xiao said as he faced Venti again.
“Does that mean you like me back?” Venti tilted his head.
“Venti,” Xiao lifted a hand to Venti’s chin, causing the other to blush. “I’ve never loved anyone more than you. I thought you’d never want to be with me more than a friend, I tried to hide it-”
Xiao stopped himself from ranting, leaning closer to Venti. Venti had lost his teasing demeanor, becoming unusually serious for a moment, his eyes locked with the other. Venti closed his eyes, and Xiao took this as a hint to continue. Leaning closer, he kissed Venti.
Xiao was rather hesitant. He’d never kissed, never expected to kiss, let alone ever find someone willing to kiss him- but Venti didn’t seem to mind. He adjusted to what Xiao wanted and followed his lead (almost as if to be sure Xiao wouldn’t run away).
After a while, they parted for air, and Venti smiled warmly. Xiao felt his heartbeat quicken just at the sight of Venti so close and smiling for him and him alone.
“Would you like to start ‘doing this’ with me more often?” Xiao asked quietly.
To which Venti chuckled, nodding and smiling. Xiao nodded in return.
“Does this mean we’re boyfriends?” Venti asked.
“Definitely,” Xiao said. “Boyfriends.”
It felt weird on his tongue.
Venti giggled and pressed a kiss on Xiao’s cheek, just before Xiao got a call on his cellphone. Xiao took his phone out of his pocket and responded to the call, hoping it wasn’t important.
“Who are you and what do you want?” Xiao asked as he pressed the green button.
“It’s Zhongli, and I believe I was supposed to pick you up? It is midnight already, how are you faring?” Zhongli answered.
“I’m fine,” Xiao muttered.
“More than fine~” Venti whispered close to the phone so that Zhongli could hear.
Xiao swatted him away, making Venti laugh.
“Who was that? Are you out with a girl? I thought you had a meeting with a work associate,” Zhongli was puzzled.
“Uh- yeah, just a random annoying girl,” Xiao glanced at Venti, who huffed, offended. “I’m not with hi- her. Anyway, I’m fine, bye.”
“...Bye?” Zhongli said.
Once the call was finished, Venti started laughing again, and Xiao couldn’t help but smile the slightest bit.
“Is that how you always are with Zhongli?” Venti asked, giggling. “With me, he’s all ‘GET BACK TO WORK’ and ‘oh, you poor delinquent, we all know that the only acceptable wine is OsMAnTHUs WiNE’.”
“Yeah, he’s more of an older brother type of person around me,” Xiao shrugged.
“Huh. Anyway, need a ride home? Think you could squish into my Beetle?” Venti asked. “Wait, nevermind, you’re shorter than me, you’ll be fine!”
“One, rude. Two, we are still lost,” Xiao shook his head disappointedly. Why did he love this guy again?
“Riiiight. Well, I propose we find a 24/7 bar around here and get some drinks, ehe,” Venti smiled playfully.
Venti then grabbed Xiao by the arm before he could respond and started leading him down the street, his free hand still clutching his Zhenyu book. A lot of shit happened that day that Xiao was not expecting- but he wasn’t complaining.
He thought that maybe he was on track to becoming a whole new person.