Bennett was used to working alone. It was nice when someone would join him for commissions, but he never expected anyone to, in fact he usually warned them that it was safest to stay away. When others were around, his bad luck had a bad habit of affecting them as well and that was the last thing he ever wanted. He was always amazed when Lumine happily joined him when she was around, without batting an eye. There was also Razor, his best friend, he hadn't been scared off yet either. He was proud to have them on Benny's Adventure Team.

Today, however, he was alone in his goals. The commission called for crystal cores. He'd figured Windrise might be one of the safer spots to try and catch some crystalflies, so here he was, trying to sneak up on them before they flew away.

He'd already tripped twice and watched as the crystalflies would flutter away into the sky. If he went back and stood by the statue, they would drift back down, as if to taunt him. With his luck, they probably were. He crossed his arms and huffed, annoyed, but Bennett had never been one to give up.

Looking at the tree, he got an idea. Maybe if he could sneak up on it from the other direction it wouldn't have time to fly away. He thought about it for only a moment. What did he have to lose?

He slowly made his way to the left of the tree, careful to stay far enough away from the crystalfly to not scare it off. He made it over the first bit of root safely, then the second, a miracle for him. The third root was just a little taller, so he climbed onto it. His luck was gone.

As he stood on top of the root, he immediately slipped on a wet spot, and fell down the other side face first. While he laid there a moment to let his mind process what had just happened, the ground beneath him began to move.

Bennett jumped up and tried to ready himself for anything. He wasn't expecting that "anything" would be a green-clad bard. He watched as Venti slowly sat up, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Huh? Wha…?" Venti slurred groggily.

Bennett quickly knelt down and looked the bard over. "I-I'm sorry! I fell off the root, I didn't know you were down there."

Venti blinked at him with bright green eyes and smiled, "Hehe. It's fine, I was just taking a little nap and Windrise is the perfect place for just that!" His smile faltered when he noticed Bennett's guilt-ridden expression. "I'm not hurt or anything, it's really ok!"

Bennett nodded, but still wasn't convinced. He stood and helped Venti to his feet.

"What were you doing out here anyway?"

"Oh! I was supposed to get crystalflies for a commission," Bennett said as he watched the sun start to slip behind the mountains and sighed, "... But it doesn't look like I'll be able to finish this one."

"How many do you need?" Asked Venti, eyes already scanning the area.

"Well, I need two…" He trailed off as Venti walked away.

He watched as the bard quickly summoned a swirl of wind energy and gracefully flew into the air with it and snatched a crystalfly right out of the air. Before he landed he popped open his glider and flew towards another and snatched it before it flew away.

As he landed in front of the wide-eyed Bennett, he held out the cores for him. "Here you go!" He said cheerily.

"That was amazing!" Bennett exclaimed. "Thank you so much for helping me out!"

Venti laughed, "Oh, it was nothing."

Bennett thanked the bard again before taking off at a run towards Mondstadt, thinking along the way. He still felt bad for landing on Venti, but wondered if he could try to make it up to him.

Nodding to himself, Bennett had made up his mind. Tomorrow he'd find a way to apologize to Venti.

Things didn't go as planned. Over the next few days Bennett had tried to make it up to Venti several times, each one failing. He supposed he should have known better than to try, but he didn't like giving up.

On the first day he had seen Venti singing and playing his lyre at the Archon statue. Bennett tried to give him a drink, only to spill it all over the bard. He was so embarrassed, but Venti only laughed and told him thanks for the drink.

The next day Bennett had seen him outside of the city and asked him if he wanted to go for a walk. Venti had happily accepted, falling into step next to Bennett. It wasn't long before they ran into Klee. Bennett liked her, but he usually avoided her to extremes, he had to with his bad luck. This time she had run by them, bomb in hand and Kaeya yelling behind her to slow down. A little ways past them, she tripped and the bomb went flying, landing only a few feet away. If Venti hadn't quickly used his anemo to send the bomb flying, he, Kaeya and Bennett would have all been blown to bits.

Bennett went to bed that night feeling like he'd done more harm than good, but he still wasn't willing to give up just yet.

When Bennett stepped outside the next morning, he couldn't help but smile at the birds chirping and the bright sun already shining above the mountains. He'd had an idea, one last thing to try for Venti and today was the perfect day for it.

Grabbing a basket, he headed over to Good Hunter -only tripping twice on the way- and asked Sara to make a meal for two. He didn't want to risk his own cooking, it was likely to end up burnt, suspicious, or just plain inedible.

With the meal all packed up safe in the basket, he realized he had no idea where the bard might be. Did he have a home in the city, or did he sleep at Windrise a lot? He'd seen him there many times before, but him being in the city was just as likely. As he tried to come to a decision a voice beside him startled him out of his thoughts.

"Bennett, are you frozen?"

He looked up to see Captain Kaeya staring at him, mild concern etched on his face.

"I called you a few times, you didn't respond. Are you alright?" Kaeya asked.

Bennett smiled and rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Oh- uh, right, I'm fine! I was just trying to figure out where Venti might be. I… accidentally tripped over him and I was going to make it up to him with a picnic."

Bennett watched panic cross Kaeya's face and understood immediately. "I didn't make the food myself! I had Sara make it." He quickly added.

Letting out the slightest sigh of relief, the captain smiled. "Well, I haven't seen him in the city yet this morning. I think he usually sleeps at Windrise." He said.

"Thank you Captain Kaeya!" Bennett waved before taking off down the road.

He reached Windrise a little slower than he normally would have, but he was trying to make sure nothing happened to the food. It wouldn't do much good if it was spilled or squished.

He could already hear the sweet, calm melody of Venti's lyre as he apportioned the statue. He chose a daily flat spot just to the right of that and laid out everything, so happy that everything had made it the entire way.

Venti watched him curiously, until Bennett waved him over.

"Venti! I brought a picnic for us. I-I wanted to make up for landing on you yesterday…" He trailed off.

Venti tilted his head and laughed, "I truly appreciate the kindness, but you really didn't need to do that, Bennett." He said.

Bennett shook his head, "Well, if I tried to take it back to the city now, it'd never survive, so we might as well eat it." He tried.

"Alright then, thank you for this fine meal!" Venti exclaimed as he sat.

Smiling, Bennett sat across from him. The moment he was on the ground a loud crash of thunder sounded across the sky. Before either could even move to pick up the picnic the rain began to pour down in thick sheets, soaking the two of them and the food quickly.

"B-but it was just sunny!" Bennett yelled over the rain.

Venti shrugged, "A sudden spring storm?" He suggested. "Come on, let's get to Mondstadt." He said as he quickly gathered the soggy mess.

Bennett stared at Venti for a moment. He couldn't believe the bard was still smiling after all of this, after Bennett had brought his bad luck literally pouring down on him.

Venti picked up the stuffed basket and turned to Bennett and grabbed him by the wrist, "Come on, let's jump in puddles on the way! Hehe!"

Bennett could only smile and follow along.