HAPPY BIRTHDAY VENTI! :DD

Summary: In which Xiao tries to prepare a birthday present for Venti and recruits Aether to help him! (albeit against his will)

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, Mihoyo does :)

Enjoy reading!

Aether was confused. Massively confused. It was 4a.m. in the morning and here he was, standing in the middle of Wolvendom, his pants and boots soaked by rivulets of early morning dew, straining to keep his eyes on Xiao in the dim light of approaching dawn. The adeptus was crouched on the ground, reaching under a low-hanging branch of a bush to pick the small lamp grass beneath it. He must have travelled overnight, from Liyue to Mondstadt, and likely hadn't slept a wink, yet he didn't look tired in the least. Aether raised his arms in a stretch, yawning widely, rubbing his eyes to keep his drooping eyelids from sliding shut. He opened his mouth to speak, only for his sentence to be drowned by another huge yawn. He sighed. Not only was he massively confused, he was also extremely sleepy.

He had been woken by someone clambering into his room through the window. His sword had almost been out of its sheath when a pair of piercing gold eyes came into focus, the green highlights in his hair glowing under the faint moonlight. He blinked blearily and asked, his voice coming out as a dry croak, "...Xiao?"

Briefly, he wondered if he snored, and if that was why his throat was drier than the sands on Guyun Stone Forest - he would have to ask Paimon about that someday. Xiao said nothing, only cast a glance around the room and closed the window behind him, acting overly normal for someone who had just broken into another's room at 3a.m. in the morning. A room on the second floor of a house that was supposedly extremely secure and hidden in an alternate realm that only he had access to, for that matter. He wanted to ask Xiao how he had entered the realm, though he supposed it was just something he could do as an adeptus - the serenitea pot had been gifted to him by Madam Ping, after all. Instead, he asked, "Why are you here?"

"I..." Xiao hesitated, casting another glance around the room, as if looking for something - or someone - then said, "I need your help."

Aether's first response was to pinch himself on the leg, biting back a yelp of pain. Nope, he certainly wasn't dreaming. He was surprised, to say the least. Xiao wasn't one to easily ask others for help, certainly not in the wee hours of the morning. If that wasn't a definite sign of desperation, Aether would eat his toes.

"Help? With what?"

"I...I want to give someone a present." A present? This was certainly a night for surprises. Who could Xiao possibly be giving the present to? In the dim moonlight, he noticed a tinge of red creeping up Xiao's ears, painting them a dark shade of pink. Aether blinked and a ridiculous, almost ludicrous thought crossed his mind. Could it possibly be for a little lady from Liyue?

He wondered what kind of lady she must be, to have captured the attention of one like Xiao. Curiosity arose within him and the question fell from his lips before he could stop it, "A present? Who is it for?"

Again, Xiao chose not to reply, just as Aether had expected. Unbothered, he asked another question, "Is she from Liyue? Why are you buying her a gift?"

He turned to light the candles in his room while he waited for Xiao to answer, noticing how the adeptus shifted uneasily on his feet, scraping the sole of his boot against the wooden flooring in an attempt to fill the empty silence.

"He is from Mondstadt, it's his birthday," he replied, still looking down at his feet.

For the second time in ten minutes, Aether wanted to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Xiao had fallen for a boy? A boy in Mondstadt? He was under the impression that Xiao had never left Liyue, let alone had the opportunity to meet and fall in love with someone from Mondstadt. And a boy too, what would Zhongli think about all this?

Still, Aether made no comment on his use of pronouns. He shrugged "Well, there are a lot of things you could give him. You could give him a bouquet of Mondstadt specialties, for one. I'm sure anyone from Mondstadt would love some cecilia and dandelions."

And so, that was how he had ended up in Wolvendom at such an ungodly hour, trying to stay awake while Xiao darted through the woods picking lamp grass, looking awfully like a particular nocturnal feline creature. Aether tried to ignore the ache that crept across his heart as Xiao hunted for every last small lamp grass; he had been intending to pick them the next day, they were ascension materials for Diluc!

He said nothing, too, when Xiao took all the windwheel aster at Windrise, which he needed for Bennett. Neither did he protest when Xiao took all the calla lily, which he needed for Diona, nor when he picked every last cecilia on Starsnatch Cliff and every last dandelion outside Mondstadt city. It was nearing sunrise by the time they came to a halt, standing on the bridge outside Mondstadt, watching the pigeons gather around Timmie (Aether tried very hard to stop himself from slaughtering them), Xiao clutching a huge bouquet of flowers wrapped in a sheet of sky blue paper they had gotten from Flora.

Aether was exhausted. He had hardly slept the previous night and had just spent the past three hours running across Mondstadt, from this end to the other, collecting specialties with Xiao, who frequently chose to forget Aether could only travel via teleport waypoints and had a tendency to just disappear. The rising sun was blinding, painting the sky in glorious shades of gold and red and purple while giving him a massive headache. He would give anything for his world to be black right now, for it to be completely dark, with no one else there and certainly no adepti, so he could actually shut his eyes, curl up and rest. The sun, very obviously, chose to ignore his wish and continued to be painfully bright.

He turned to Xiao. "Is this present good enough?"

Xiao looked down at the bouquet within his arms, then turned to look at the rising sun, appearing to be deep in thought.

Aether sighed. "Well, if he likes to drink, you could always buy him some dandelion wine from Angel's Share," he said, gesturing in the direction of the well-known tavern. Xiao nodded eagerly, his eyes lighting up at the suggestion.

It took quite some time to get Charles to sell them the wine, to convince him that yes, Xiao was old enough to drink, and no, Aether was not going to drink it, that the wine was for another person and that he was old enough to drink - not that Aether had any clue who he was, that is. Eventually, they managed to purchase two cups of wine and Xiao seemed satisfied, the corners of his mouth turning up by a minute angle, showcasing his pleasant mood.

"Thank you for your help," he said, his voice sounding less cold, if only slightly, hugging the wine and bouquet closer to himself. "Would you…would you like to come with me and give him the gifts?"

Aether was sleepy. He was weary and wanted to sleep till the end of time. But he was also curious. He wanted to know who the recipient of Xiao's present was, what sort of interesting, attractive person he must be, and his curiosity grew with each step as they approached what appeared to be Windrise.

He craned his neck, hoping to catch a glimpse of the person - whoever he was - who would be receiving Xiao's gift, only to see nothing. Someone was singing though, accompanied by a tune on the lyre, a familiar voice, though Aether couldn't quite place his finger on it. It sang of freedom, of soaring birds and gentle breezes, of soothing rains and warm summer nights. The pair came to a gradual halt beneath the massive oak tree, caught in the mesmerising moment.

The birds, the squirrels, and even the wind rustling the leaves seemed to join in the chorus, a cacophony of voices that blended smoothly into the colourful harmony of shifting melodies and tones. Aether raised his eyes to look into the crown of the tree, only to spot a familiar figure. A figure dressed in a bright green cape, a hat with a cecilia flower placed upon it.

Venti.

Wait-

Venti?

Aether looked at Xiao, who only stood silently beneath the tree, still holding the presents, making no move to inform Venti of their arrival, his gaze fixed on the figure perched on a branch. Aether turned to look at Venti, then at Xiao, then back at Venti.

Someone seemed to have reached into his mind and pulled a plug he hadn't known existed, emptying it of all its contents as he started dumbly at the two, his paralysed mind failing to process anything.

Xiao's present was for...Venti?

What? How? When?

Since when did they even know each other, and how had they become a couple?!

The song ended, Venti stopped singing with a gentle sigh, putting away his lyre and grinning widely upon seeing Xiao. Xiao blinked up at him. in his eyes was a softness that wasn't there previously, that Aether had never seen before.

"What are those?" Venti asked, gesturing towards the presents.

"An offering for Lord Barbatos," Xiao replied, holding them up to him.

"...an offering?"

"And a gift for Venti." Xiao bent down to place the gifts on the floor. The moment his arms were empty, Venti slid off the branch and fell into Xiao's arms with a peal of laughter that rang through the air, seeming to enjoy his warm embrace.

Venti appeared to have completely ignored Aether's existence, or perhaps he hadn't noticed, and Aether was rather keen on keeping it this way. He suddenly felt very unnecessary. Leaving sounded like a good idea.

Xiao's smile grew wider by another minuscule degree, his gaze gentle as he said, in a voice louder than anything Aether had ever heard him say, "Happy birthday Venti!"

Sorry 'bout that, Aether ._.

Anyway, hope you liked it! :D

(Discord ID: Meepy#8110)