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An Archon's wings need to be clean thoroughly.

Summary:

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S NO FANFICS OF READER PREENING VENTI'S WINGS?? I love preening fics so of course I had to take this issue into my own hands.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

No one had ever preened an Archon's wings before, not because the Archon's were too self-obsessed for it, but purely because there was only one Archon to ever have wings, Barbatos. The Anemo Archon (rightfully so) was the only Archon to ever have wings, and perhaps it was considered weird to confess, but many people had wondered how the God's wings felt, including you. But not you or anyone else would confess this without given a reason to, even if Barbatos was nowhere to be seen, people feared he'd take offense to such an invasive thought, if the winds dared to snitch on the people of his land. Regardless of peoples attempts to keep it hidden from the Archon, he knew, the bard knew lots of things people would never confess to him, had they known he was the God they worshipped so loyally. He didn't mind, this was the land of freedom after all, people could think freely of his wings just as much as they could choose their life's direction freely, but hearing their thoughts about them did remind him how badly they need to be cleaned and stretched out, it had been ages since he had taken on his Archon form, it was sure to hurt bad once he finally stretched his wings again.

And so, all that lead to now, Venti sat on the floor underneath the tree at Windrise, in his full Archon form as his wings rested beside him, he hadn't stretched them yet, afraid of the pain he was about to be in, but regardless, he knew he had to soon or he'd keep hesitating and end up not doing it at all. So, he sighed and slowly stretched his wings out, groaning softly at the ache that ran through his wings and straight through his back where wings and skin met, he remained stretched out, trying to make sure he was fully recovered before finally allowing himself to relax, sighing a little in relief as he was finally able to be rid of the ache, all that was left of it was the afterwards satisfaction of his wings finally feeling better. But of course, his groaning didn't go unnoticed; the wind liked to play some silly tricks on its God sometimes, so it had decided to carry his groans to your ears, perhaps it was on purpose, you personally chosen by the wind to hear the Archon in such a moment, or it was just because you were conveniently at the tree at the same time he was, but, whether it was fate or the winds idea of a silly joke, you followed the noise, quietly moving towards the back of the tree and peaking around. Upon seeing the Archon resting peacefully, your eyes widened, no one had seen the Archon in many years, and now you were the first to see him again, but before you could react or even make a sound, Venti's eyes snapped open as he looked over at you, his eyes wide and full of panic.

"Ah... you..." Venti started, unsure of what to say or do, but he quickly recovered, speaking quickly "Y-You can't tell anyone you saw me here!"

Venti suddenly stands, then stumbles a little, no longer use to the weight of his wings as he leans against the tree. He then looks up at you again, his eyes pleading "Uh... please?"

You slowly nodded, it wasn't your place to disobey an Archon, and you had no reason to anyone, exhaling a little in disbelief as you continued to stare at him in shock. Venti sighs in relief and smiles awkwardly before glancing back at his wings, suddenly noticing just how dirty and messy they had gotten over time. Venti grimaces slightly before suddenly getting an idea, as he slowly turned to face you again, he grinned awkwardly.

"... Ever wanted to touch an Archon's wings...?" He mutters softly, clearly embarrassed by his own idea, but he pushes on anyway "Well, you see, I have a problem, my wings haven't been able to stretch or be cleaned in a long time, and now I need them cleaned again so uh... I'd appreciate your help, if you don't mind..."

Venti spoke softly, his nervousness clear on his face and in his body language. It wasn't often someone saw an Archon so embarrassed, eventually, you gave in, sighing a little as you nod, after all, he wasn't the only embarrassed one. As you slowly walked over to him, he seemed to relax a little, glad you had agreed. You sat down behind him and stared his wings with wide eyes, you were in complete awe, he was beautiful, all of him, which wasn't exactly surprising since God's were often symbols of perfection. And in your opinion, he was the God that most resembled it, regardless of his flaws, but maybe that was because you had grown up in Mondstadt your whole life.

You were soon snapped out of your thoughts but Venti making an uncomfortable noise, the dirt and grime was probably starting to agitate his wings, so it would be best you began cleaning them now. As would anyone else, you had very little knowledge on how to preen wings, but you decided to try your best regardless. You gently began to run your fingers between his feathers, a soft moan escaping him, whether from pleasure or relief, you weren't entirely sure, regardless of the cause, you continued to clean out his feathers, eventually Venti spoke again.

"Ah... please take out any loose feathers if you can..." He spoke softly, clearly forcing himself to speak through his soft moans with much difficulty. You nod a little, continuing to comb out and remove the dirt and grime, now also removing his loose feathers gently. Venti leaned back against you, moaning softly and sighing in relief as your fingers very gently took care of his wings for him. Eventually you came to a stop, causing him to whine in protest, but instead of continuing, you gently ran your fingers over a wound on his actual wing, causing him to whimper and wince in pain.

"What... what was that?" He whined a little, his wing flinching back away from your hand as it brushed over again. You hummed a little before speaking.

"You have some kind of wound here..." You mutter softly, carefully inspecting the wound on his wings. The longer you inspected it, you were able to figure out it was a tear on his wing "Um... Barbatos? Your wing is a little torn..."

"Ah, that would be from me stretching them too fast... it can be treated like a normal wound." Venti muttered softly, watching as you nodded then began to very carefully tend to his wound. As you took care of it, you felt Venti lean back and nuzzle into your neck, unconsciously relaxing into your touch now as you used the water from the lake nearby to clean the blood off the tear. Venti seemed quite content where he was, almost falling asleep against you.

By the time you finished tending to his tear and cleaning out his wings, Venti had already fallen asleep against your chest, one hand holding onto your wrist as he slept. You hummed in thought before leaning back against the tree, holding Venti close to your chest as you slowly fell to sleep too, both of you now napping against the tree, making the forest seem the most peaceful it's ever been.

Notes:

This took way too long to write and was kinda rushed towards the end because it's schedule for deletion soon💔