gender fluid | angst
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' i do not wish to lose
the people derest to
me, however, when
it is necessary, i am
willing to let go of it.
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♡
venti didn't really like spending his time anywhere else but the tavern, not only because he loved drinking, but also because he knew you were quite the drinker too. he always sat in the far end corner, observing you sing and dance with the other people of the bar. diluc usually encouraged you to speak to him, and when you said hello, you two instantly clicked and became the best pairs of friends.
you two would hold hands and he would take you up into the sky. he would let you fly with him, and he enjoyed the days he could spend with you. you and him were always mistaken as siblings, as you two looked somewhat similar with the same braids on the side and green clothes.
"hey venti?" you called one day, just as the sun was shining. "what do you see in me?"
he didn't say much, but he turned to face you. his beautiful tender eyes met with yours and he smiled his signature smile. he tilted his head. "i see home."
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venti stepped into the tavern again, and you followed behind him quietly. you both did the usual, by ordering drinks and pestering diluc. he had always called you both kids and never wanted to allow you both in, but kaeya was hesitant and wanted you to experience being... 'an adult' with venti, so he allowed it.
"they're both kids, kaeya," diluc had commented once, while you two sat far away, talking amongst yourselves.
kaeya chuckled, and took a look at you, who was smiling happily. he knew you, and he had always known you since you were younger. he folded his arms and nodded his head slightly. "let them have their fun."
venti and you exchanged laughs whenever he would say sometime funny. you pushed him, and he pushed you; you kicked him, and he had kicked you. it was the kind of relationship nobody else understood, not even you two. he never opened up to you, and he never spoke to you about his past or hint anything at you, but for some reason, you two knew everything about each other.
venti would always braid your side hair if they were messy, and in exchange, you would put fresh new flowers on his hat before sewing them in. the tavern was the place for you both to be in, as you both really loved drinking. reason? none. you both just really found the time at night to drink together. no, you two didn't even start talking about the past, nor did you two share anything personal, this was... such a weird friendship you both had.
"venti, if one day you woke up and couldn't find me, what would you do?" you asked, half laughing half sleepy. you were way overboard drunk after drinking at least sixty of the bottles of wine. venti however, even after a hundred, still looked and sounded perfect.
he gave you a warm smile, and all ounces of fun had somehow faded from his eyes. he was now slightly serious, but his smile remained and never left. "i would go to the ends of the world to find you."
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"hey, where's y/n today?" diluc asked, wiping away the wine glasses when he saw venti entering the tavern alone this time. the chandeliers in the tavern slightly dimmed, and the atmosphere felt colder slightly. venti still had a smile on his face, but you could tell that something had happened to him.
he sat down on the stool. "y/n and i had some fights, but thats alright, y/n'll come around i'm sure!" he said happily as kaeya pushed a wine glass his way, to which he chugged down quickly. diluc and kaeya were both so surprised as to how this bard suddenly drank so fast when he would usually take his time. they assumed it was probably because he wanted to drink away the fight he had with you.
"hm, well its good to be positive." diluc said, and kaeya nodded with him as venti continued to drown himself in the alcohol and wine that diluc had prepared for him. it was as if he was trying to drown himself, like, literally drown himself, as venti had been drinking more ounces than he could swallow, and that drove the two brothers worried.
but venti looked so happy and sincere that nobody questioned it.
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"i didn't betray you at all!" you yelled as venti turned away from you. he didn't really want to hear your excuses anymore, and for once, he couldn't smile at you anymore. he didn't know how to. he wish he could. "i was... i was just scared!"
he snapped his head around, and you could see the tears flowing from his eyes. "scared? so you weren't scared of hurting me in the long run but instead scared to tell me who you really were?" he didn't yell, but his words were like a steady blade straight into your heart. he wasn't the kind of person to say things like that, as you knew him for so long, he was always so soft.
your eyes fell and your heart tightened in its place. you could feel the heavy weight pressing on your chest, and the room felt smaller and smaller with every single passing second. "venti please i... i didn't know how to tell you-"
"for three years, you've kept me in the dark." he said, coldly.
you snapped back at him, at least trying to. "y-you never told me who you were either!"
"thats a different thing, i am an archon, i am not something bad."
you fell silent for a while. so he thinks you're bad...? is that what he thought of you? you had no idea what to think, your mind was blank, and your mouth felt as dry as sumeru's land of sand. "i-i'm a bad thing...?"
venti must have realised what he said was too harsh, so he discontinued his speech and changed it. "its alright, just, give me a minute..." he turned away from you and leaned against the wall, sobbing to himself quietly. how could you have allowed this to happen to him? after all he had done for you, to make you feel welcomed.
"venti-"
he held his arm up to stop you in case you had any plans on coming closer to him. "no. don't.. just... just don't."
you stood there, hand outstretched, but unable to do anything. other than venti's incoherent sobs, and your heavy breathing, the room was as silent as a mouse. the flowers in the vase started to wither and wilt, and the window panes fogged up and started to freeze as the tears fell from your eyes.
the room was getting colder, and nothing thawed it.
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protecting mondstadt from harm wasn't the hardest part of the day for him, it was dealing with the fatuis. venti and a few others had to work hand in hand to cast them all away, as they had decided to stroll in. it was a normal day when it happened too, so nobody expected it when the skies turned dark and hail started to pour.
venti met eyes with you underneath all the snow that reigned down. your braids were cut off now, and your eyes seemed deathly cold. he didn't smile, nor did he speak to you. he just drew his bow and aimed his arrow towards you, but he couldn't let go of the drawstring. the hail picked up, and you knew you were going to be buried in the snow if you refused to move.
he was a few meters in front of you, just the two of you; with his arrow aiming straight for your heart. your hair flew in the violent cold wind, and you pulled up your hands and clasped them together. you smiled, and sighed. "hello again, venti."
venti's eyes started to water, but he showed no sighs of even moving or lowering his weapon. he couldn't pull it, but he knew if he didn't, you would be the one doing it to him. you pulled out your sword, and stabbed it into the snow which was up to your knees now. you smiled at him again as his eyes softened. "its either me, or you. someone has to die today."
"but why..."
"if you kill me, it would mean safety upon teyvat; if i kill you, i help my harbingers." you said.
venti lowered his bow, finally, unable to do it anymore. he couldn't. his eyes flashed back to the times where he would braid your side hair, the ones you cut. he saw your smile, and he held your hand back then under the sun; but he couldn't even reach you anymore. it was either you or him, and he knew you had a job to do.
you were a harbinger after all, and if you didn't do your job, the other harbingers would have you killed. he couldn't live with that.
he took small steps towards you, each step, his tears fell. you gripped your sword and slowly pulled it up, and you allowed your tears to fall when he slowly came to you, wrapped his shaking arms around you, and leaned his head against your shoulder. you sighed shakily, mist escaping from your lips as you slowly wrapped the other arm around his waist.
he slowly hugged you closer, he saw his old friend in you, and once again, he was going to lose you; but, in a different way. he choked on his tears, but managed to smile.
"i'll always remember us this way," he whispered as he felt the cold blade pierce into his back. he sighed a little and stiffened, his tears falling. once you had the blade in his body, you wanted to pierce it through even more, to kill yourself along with him, but that wouldn't happen.
his body was yanked away from you, and you screamed. signora stood a few feet behind when you turned your head around, she had venti in the air with the power in her hand, and under the tears of your sorrowful eyes, she flicked her finger, which sent venti flying into the wall, stabbing the blade further into him.
"NO-" you screamed and fell into the snow, crying to yourself in heavy despair. signora folded her arms, and sighed as she turned to look at venti, who was stiff and motionless on the bloody thick snow.
"mondstadt calls that... a god? pft, how pathetic."