Tugging at my Heart Strings || Venti x Reader ||

The Ballad Beginning

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One foot at a time (Y/N) quickly made their way out of the building and looked around the area. Where was the bard agh... Had he already left? Or gone somewhere to sit down since they took a little too long?
They let out a sigh and quickly made their way down the steps, soon finding the Fountain further down along with the Bard whom was strumming his Lyre.

"Hey! I'm sorry, I hope I didn't make you wait too long..." (Y/N) called out to Venti, a worried expression plastered on their face.

He turned to see the Apprentice and waved with an almost disappointed expression. "You took about an hour, lonngg wait for this Bard.." he muttered, shaking his head.

The Apprentice simply paled. "A-an hour..!? I'm so sorry, I had no idea I made you wait so long! I'll have to make it up to you..." (Y/N) grumbled and hung their head in shame, only to be responded to with a chuckle with made them look up in confusion and scepticism.

"Relax, I'm just kiddin'. Sorry." Venti grinned cheekily and stood on up, starting to walk. The Apprentice trailed along behind. "So, I hope you're ready to get going! Because I sure am."
(Y/N) let out a sigh, this bard was a lot more teasing than they imagined. Well, they didn't imagine he'd be like that at all, but it was interesting. They were learning about their favourite bard.

And they didn't mind one bit, it was kinda nice...

Past the gates of Mondstadt's city, down the pathway, the two began their journey to Liyue. The Bard strumming his Lyre on queue. It made (Y/N) smile softly, filling with slight joy. The tunes of their favourite bard filled their ears from only a foot or two away...

How much luckier could they get?

"So, Apprentice. Tell me, what brings you to such joy at this moment?" Venti questioned them, making the Apprentice almost stumble, face burning up. He noticed? (Y/N) was sure he wasn't even looking at them.

"O-oh.. Well, I get to visit an old friend, you know? A pretty close one." Was all they responded with, not hinting at the other reason of being able to travel with their most favoured bard.

Venti simply nodded with a smile. "I see, I'll keep that in mind." He mumbled as he continued to strum. "And now answer me this, you know nothing of the bard, so what brings you to want to journey with them like this? What if they're not what you expected? And you live to regret?"

(Y/N) parted their lips to answer, but stopped and thought. It was a good point...Perhaps it was just blind trust? They followed their heart, gut? Hm...

The Bard smirked a little, noticing her little delay. "You've yet to think of why?" He questioned the other, making them blush.

"Oh- well um... Yeah I suppose so, I guess it was... Blind trust? I wanted to believe in you, so I did. I want to believe you're a good person, so that is what you are to me. I'm merely in love with what you do, not who you are, in reality I'm not actually interested, nor do I care for what you're like. You're voice, stories and music tell me all I need to know." (Y/N) managed to respond with, looking down at the path as they walked.

"Living to regret... We all have done that have we not? I don't take many opportunities, so I will refuse to live to regret any of this journey. Because with everything negative, there's positive aspects too."

The apprentice let out a sigh and turned to look at the bard who was letting out an exaggerated yawn. "Are you even listening..!? Was my answer to long?" (Y/N) panicked, in disbelief.

Venti could only laugh at the panicked response.

"Of course! You're answer was nice, I've decided I'll let you stay on this trip" Venti announced with a cheerful grin.

"So you were planning to just ditch me on the way or something if I didn't give you a satisfactory answer!? You're too unbelievable..." (Y/N) whined. Maybe they'd majorly regret this after all...

"I'm just messing with you again, don't worry yourself Apprentice!" Venti stated, making the other groan and shake their head.

"I do have a name, which you know..." (Y/N) muttered. "A bit easier to call me that than 'Apprentice'"

"Hm, nope, I think I'll stick to that title for now, maybe another time if you get lucky~" The Bard sung and walked on ahead, leaving the Apprentice deadpanned.

Regret regret regret...
They should turn back now.
Unless they wanted to deal with this for the rest of the journey...

Aghh..No! (Y/n) had to be strong, they brought them self into this disaster, it was all their idea! So they'd deal with the consequences and power through it!

"I'll make sure you're repeating it in your sleep by the time I'm through with you bard!" (Y/N) exclaimed and rushed after him.

Venti was happy to know they were motivated.