Chapter Text
Venti didn’t usually go out with his whole group of friends- usually, it was just him and Xiao. Xiao was his closest friend, after all. And if Venti wished that they were something more than just ‘very close friends’, then he didn’t say anything about it. Xiao struggled with feelings and emotions- he didn’t want to complicate things between them.
However, today seemed to be an exception. It was Venti’s birthday- so they had decided to go out to a theme park that was hours away by car. Diluc had offered to drive both Venti and Xiao to the park and back, insisting that Venti shouldn’t have to drive for ages on his birthday. Jean and Scaramouche tagged in on the car ride, too- something to do with ‘it’s better for the planet to have more people in the car’.
The theme park was nice- it was fun, and there were lots of different rides. In addition, there were many food stalls where they sold lots of delicious things for Venti to try. Occasionally, Xiao would also try something from one of these stalls. However, he often complained about them being ‘too sweet’ or ‘too salty’. And Venti would usually just giggle in response to that, trying to ignore the way his heart hurt.
They all left the theme park at its closing time- 6pm. And considering the fact that it was ages away from home, there was now a four hour drive back home- and that’s just if they got lucky with the traffic.
Xiao had opted to sit in the middle seat in the back of the car. He was the smallest, both in height and physical build. Venti was next to him on one side of the car, with Scaramouche on the other- sitting as close to the car door as he possibly could to avoid touching Xiao. Xiao didn’t really like physical touch. Not unless it was from Venti.
And so they started their four hour journey back home, which slowly turned into six hours as they hit traffic jam after traffic jam. The roads shouldn’t be this busy at this time, and yet they were a nightmare to navigate. Venti couldn’t even count the amount of times Diluc swore out of anger.
About five hours in, they were finally approaching home. Venti looked over at the person next to him, checking if he was okay. However, Xiao appeared to be fighting sleep at the moment- letting his eyelids slowly close every so often, just to then jump straight back up and open them again.
That wasn’t something you’d usually see from Xiao. He suffered a lot from insomnia, and would only ever let himself go to sleep when he was either alone or around people he trusted. Venti considered himself to be one of those people- but he wasn’t so sure about the other three in the car.
“Xiao?” Venti spoke up,
“Mmm?” Xiao turned his gaze towards him, his eyes still half- shut and his voice somewhat groggy.
“Are you- oh!” Venti exclaimed, Xiao suddenly falling straight to sleep out of nowhere, his head falling right onto Venti’s shoulder. He must have been exhausted.
“Is everything alright?” Diluc called from the driver's seat, peering over to see what had happened.
“Yeah. Xiao just fell asleep- that’s all.” Venti stated, a soft smile creeping its way onto his face. He put a hand up, and ran his fingers through Xiao’s hair- which was incredibly soft, by the way.
Jean chuckled a little, also turning around to look into the back seat. “That’s unusual for him.”
“Mhm.. I don’t think he slept much last night, poor guy.”
“When does he ever sleep much?” Scaramouche scoffed, turning away from the two of them.
“Be nice, Scara.” Venti groaned.
“I’ll be nice when you two stop acting like a gross couple.” Scara retorted, glaring at Venti for a few seconds before backing away.
“We aren’t even dating..”
“But you wish you were, don’t you?”
Venti stopped for a few seconds, thinking to himself.
He does indeed wish they were dating. He wishes that he could do all the ‘gross couple’ stuff that he couldn’t do with Xiao while they were just friends- like kissing, and cuddling. And all of that sort of stuff. But Xiao would never agree to that. It’s just not in his nature. And Venti wished that stopped him from yearning, but it didn’t.
He wanted Xiao- wanted to protect him, wanted to love him. He wanted to wake up next to him every morning, the sun shining down on his gorgeous face. Venti wanted to take him on dates, to travel the world with him. He wanted to listen to Xiao talk about the things he loved, wanted to cook him breakfast everyday and give him a kiss on the cheek.
But unfortunately, none of that really seemed realistic. Not when Xiao was so closed off about his feelings. So, for now, Venti would just have to watch his chest rise and fall as he slept on his shoulder. This was enough for now.
“Maybe I do.” He sighed, taking his hand away from Xiao’s hair.
“It’s obvious. Just confess to him, already.”
“You know why that wouldn’t work.”
“No I don’t?”
“Yes you do. It would scare him off.”
Scara tutted in response to that, turning to stare out of the window. “You haven’t heard the things he tells me about you.”
“Hmm?”
“Just confess. It’ll go well, I promise you.”
“What does that mean, Scara?”
“It means that hopefully I won’t have to watch the two of you being hopelessly in love with each other, while simultaneously doing an awful job at hiding it.” Scara once again glared at Venti for a few seconds, before turning straight back away.
“Oh.”
Venti wasn’t stupid. He knew what that meant- he just. Didn’t know whether or not he could trust that Scara wasn’t lying to him.
Maybe he would confess.
Another day, though.
Or maybe even another week.