gender fluid | fluff
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' i- i thought i
was merely
just allergic
to cats but...
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recently, venti had developed a new sickness lately. you noticed this the moment he was holding hands with you, he would just start sneezing uncontrollably. you wondered if maybe you had touched margaret's cat earlier, and maybe you forgot to wash your hands and that when he held it, the fur from the cat must have been passed over to him. you told him that you'd wash your hands, but even after you did, he just kept sneezing.
at the end, you told him to just return back home to rest.
"venti has been weird lately," barbara pointed out once she made her way towards you. you had been helping sara out with her food deliveries, and you had delivered all of them today so you were sitting alone at the dining table in sara's restaurant. barbara sat down beside you as she smiled. "he hasn't really been feeling well i believe... it sure is worrying..."
you nodded. you took a bite of the sandwich that sara had made for you as thanks. "usually whenever he is around me he just starts sneezing.. maybe i have been around cats a lot."
barbara nodded at your theory. "well you have been playing around diona a lot.. so maybe..."
"diona... is a human though?"
barbara shook her head. "eh... not quite? she is a cat but also a human! just like how qiqi is a zombie."
you blinked. maybe barbara was onto something, after all, whenever you played with diona, some of her fur would stick to your clothes. you assumed it was because her tail was just full of fur, and so were her ears. but then again, if being near venti would mean he would be sick, didn't that mean you just had to stay away from him far enough? perhaps a few meters away from him would do.
"i wonder if its just the cat things," you said worriedly. barbara looked at you in confusion which prompted you to speak again. "i mean, i saw him cough out flower petals yesterday when he was around me."
barbara blinked. "he- what?"
you giggled a little. "i know it sounds really unbelievable but... he really just started coughing up flower petals, and i really don't know whats wrong."
"thats... unique? have you told jean?"
you shook your head. after he started coughing out those white petals, you just asked him to go home while you went over to buy ingredients for soup for him. when you entered his house, it was covered floor to wall with different kinds of flower petals, and when you entered his room, he was just sneezing and coughing out all different kinds of flower petals.
you were really worried but at the same time it was slightly beautiful to see. you knew you shouldn't be taking something like this light heartedly, but at least he wasn't coughing out blood. you gave him his soup and told him to rest, but he couldn't even speak due to the petals coming out of his mouth. in the end, you had to do some cleaning to sweep away all the petals.
you left his house in the morning after making sure he slept peacefully.
"maybe albedo can help! i'll ask him to do some research, how about you go check on venti first?" she suggested. "maybe he's awake."
you nodded and finished the rest of your sandwich. "alright, i'll see you and venti at his house later when albedo finds out whats wrong."
barbara nodded as you stood up and went over to sara, asking for a couple of food you could bring over to venti. you weren't sure how he was, but you just hoped that he hasn't grown an entire tree inside his house yet. after all, he did really have a spacious house for his wind training and such. having a tree in his house would act as a blockage.
then again, you'd just have to see what was happening.
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you knocked on venti's door. there was no answer, you assumed he was sleeping. you had a basket of flowers (ironic) and a few apples and tarts as well as fresh jam and bread for him. you knew venti liked the jam bread you prepared, and some sweet smelling honey with cream. you knew he really liked those things, and you wanted him to feel better no matter what, so you wished to bring emerging for him.
you knocked a few more times but eventually gave up when he didn't answer. you bent over to pick up the spare key he had hidden inside his flower pot outside and unlocked the door. you turned the knob and immediately, a big fresh mountain of flowers and flower petals emerged from the door, knocking you off to your feet and drowning you in the sweet-smelling flowers.
you shrieked when the flowers all swallowed you. you swam to the top and blinked in confusion; had venti been coughing up this much flowers? since his house was nearby a secluded area, nobody was walking around to get engulfed by the flowers. you picked up the basket and placed the jam and honey and bread back in before you struggled to make your way into his house.
the flower petals were so thick and much that it felt like you were walking in snow. you were worried for venti now, where could he be.
"ventiiii!" you called out his name, but all you got for a response was the sound of wind. you entered the living room and found everything buried under the flowers and flower petals. you hurriedly placed the basket on the dining table before you practically had to swim your way through. "venti? venti! venti are you okay?"
"y/nnnnn....." you heard a muffled whining coming from the kitchen as you perked your ears. you quickly changed your direction and rushed over to the kitchen. well, you tried to. the entire house was basically half immersed in flowers.
you finally made it into the kitchen as you saw venti practically crying his eyes out with his hands covering his mouth. he looked utterly miserable as he sat on the table, shaking in fear of even coughing out another flower. you had to admit he did look pretty cute being shaken up by flowers, but you knew this wasn't the time.
"venti... are you okay-?" you asked, coming a little closer to him as he widened his eyes and shot one of his hand out in front of him and shook his head, telling you not to come closer.
he removed the hand over his mouth. "no no don't come near me!" he yelled, and quickly clasped his hand over his mouth again in case he started to cough and vomit out more flowers. you stood still in your place and blinked in pure confusion.
he rocked back and fourth on the table crying and drowning in despair as he just kept trying to hold in his cough. you felt horrible, that you couldn't even tell what was wrong or remotely even go near him. but why? "w-why can't i come to you? let me help you.."
venti shook his head. he removed his hands and a cough came, which brought a small pile of white petals to emerge from his mouth. with that, he started coughing a bit more until he took a breath to stop it for a while. he then looked at you with tears in his eyes. "when you come closer, it gets worse..."
"what? why me?"
"euggh... just... yesterday when you were around it just got even worse..." he said groggily as he tried to hold in his cough. "i just started getting worse whenever i thought of y- aaahh.. ahh. ahh-choo!" he started sneezing, which prompted him to cough out more flower petals. he then coughed a bit more before he stopped himself but hitting his chest a little. he inhaled sharply and looked at you. "it only happens and gets worse when i remotely think about you, and seeing you here right now is... already making me feel worse."
you blinked. "so... you're sick... because of me?"
he shook his head and sniffled a little. he wanted to say something, but he paused for a second. he started to blush a little, but then he knew that he had to tell you before he just started coughing out flowers again and again. he sighed and looked at you with the tears falling from his eyes. "y/n... i- I'M SICK BECAUSE YOU DON'T LOVE ME..."
"... a h ? :D " you blinked. your face was completely blank at that point. what was this boy uttering about. just a few days ago he was talking about how much he valued you and you did too, and weren't you there for him yesterday and the days he was coughing up flowers and petals? did that... not mean that you loved him to him? what was he talking about.
venti just turned completely red at that point and resumed coughing out his petals. you were still dumbfounded, and he noticed it. he tried to stop coughing so he could speak. "i know it doesn't make sense... b-but i just think its a rare disease... because y-you just... i just start getting worse whenever i think of you..."
"what does this have to do with me not loving you-?" you asked, even more confused.
venti coughed out a few more petals. "b-because..." he turned away for a while. "becausewheneverithinkofkissingyouorhuggingyouigetthethoughtthatyoudontwanttokissmebackromanticallyandijuststartcoughingevenmore."
venti spoke so fast that you couldn't really get what he was saying. you weren't sure what was wrong, but venti did. venti knew. he often spoke to zhongli, who was very familiar with illnesses from faraway lands, and venti remembered one illness of love which zhongli had warned him about.
he didn't quite remember, but he knew that this disease had to do with someone not returning the feelings he had to him. in his case, he just assumed that you didn't love him the romantic way that he did, and this just made him cough out petals. the second he got that you didn't love him into his mind, that was when his sickness started. it started off with a harmless sneezing when he was holding your hands; but then it blossomed into a full-on coughing fest whenever he thought of you.
it was getting worse day by day.
he wanted it to stop.
he just needed you to either return his feelings, or he would probably need to live like this forever. which in his heart, was what he believed.
"venti... i can't understand whats wrong if you don't properly explain it..." you were really worried, and you couldn't figure out that was wrong because you've really never stumbled upon this kind of sickness of love before. venti sighed and blushed bright red when he looked at you.
"i... I LOVE YOU Y/N..."
there was a pause.
"i... love you too..?"
venti coughed out the petals again, and it made him wonder if you actually loved him or not. but he wasn't going to give up, he wanted to know what your answer was. "n-no... y/n i'm being serious..." he inhaled a little to stop himself from coughing. "i... really.. really love you y/n."
you blushed bright red. you noticed that his coughing had stopped a little as he wasn't coughing every ten seconds anymore, and figured that something must have been slowly curing him. an idea went off in your head, and even though you weren't sure if you were right, you decided to go along with it.
you braced yourself and ran towards him, pushing through the flowers and flower petals. you made it to him, grabbed his face and pressed your lips onto his roughly. he widened his eyes as you kissed him, and all he could do was sit there in complete shock.
you were blushing and the tips of your ears were hot, but after a while, venti wrapped his arms around you as he kissed you back. it felt weird since you were much smaller than him, and he was actually pretty short compared to other boys, but since you were much smaller than him, it was as if he was hugging you like a blanket over your cold body.
you deepened the kiss as you pressed your face closer as he did. when you were finally done, you pulled away slowly as did he, as you two stared into each others eyes, you found him blushing as hard as you were, but something else caught your eyes.
the flowers and flower petals around and throughout the house had started to rise and dissolve into the air. you and venti exchanged a look before you both quickly got out of the kitchen and ran outside the house to see the flowers and petals dissolving into the air around, turning into mists and glitter of many different colours.
the sky was filled with beautiful colours as the people all came out of their house to take a look. everyone stared in awe as you and venti made your ways into the town square to watch the colours and glitters dissolve into the air.
"looks like you cured him," a voice came from behind. you and venti spun around to see barbara and albedo standing together. albedo had a smile on his face. "you're impressive, y/n, even without my help, you cured him."
venti smiled at you while you stared at albedo with a red face. "what do you mean? i am.. still so confused."
barbara then chimed in happily. "hehe~ albedo found out that this sickness is simply called the hanahaki virus, and the only cure to this virus is if the person that holds the virus gets their feelings returned to by the one they love," barbara then smiled and looked over at venti. "in venti's case, his feelings must have been returned by you."
albedo nodded. "hm, well done y/n, i must say."
you averted your eyes from them both and stared at the floor, blushing hard. venti then jumped over to hug you tightly, cuddling you close. "ehe~ thank you so much my dearest! you've cured me from a horrible sickness! all with the help of your love~ how about you give me a kiss~"
"v-venti?!"
barbara and albedo laughed as they watched venti tease you. as the skies filled with colours and glitter, the people of mondstadt all enjoyed the rest of their day, watching the sky change colours as they went on their merry way. venti and you finally managed to hold hands properly this time, and even jean, who had heard of the commotion, congratulated you two.
well, who knew a virus like this could be so... cute?
well, definitely not venti, thats for sure~
♡