Flowers apart

t h e (bonus chapter [2])

Xiao was nervous.

Now that's a new feeling.

Being a 2000 year old adeptus, barely nothing makes him nervous anymore. He has gotten into enough life and death situations, talked to enough people in his life to be nervous to open up to others- (ok, that was a lie. He's still pretty introverted at this point)

But still, it has been so long ever since his nerves acted up and he thought it wouldn't anymore.

That is, until today.

He didn't remember that feeling nervous would feel this horrible. His heart was racing and he couldn't really focus as the staff ran around the backstage trying to do the final checks.

"Xiao~" A voice finally dragged him back to reality in a beat, and Xiao blinked as Venti skipped over to him with a blinding smile on his face.

Xiao felt his breath hitch for a moment there, taking in the breathtaking sight of his grin and bright green eyes, his stage clothes of blue and green complimenting the beautiful shades of colour in his hair.

He felt his heart slow at the sight of him, calming down instantly, but then the pace of his heart shot back up when he remembered that Venti was the reason he was so nervous in the first place.

"You look nervous, are you ok?" Venti asked, ruffling his hair slightly in a teasing manner.

"I'm...fine..." Xiao got out.

Venti giggled. "You don't look fine. I never seen you acting this way, not even the first time you got on stage." The way that Venti beamed scared Xiao, as he looked as if he knew something was up.

He looked too happy today than normal, and Xiao was afraid that he somehow found out about it and that he would completely spoil it for Xiao.

"Venti!" Jean's voice called from afar. "We need you here!"

"Coming!" Venti shouted back. Then he turned back to the boy. "See you on stage then," he gave him a quick, excited peck on his lips and ran off.

Xiao quickly drew out his phone and briefly scrolled through twitter, looking signs that his plan got out onto social media, but no, there was nothing. He huffed out a breath of relief, and slid his phone back into his pocket, feeling it hit a hard box.

He was tempted to get the small tiny box out and check its contents one last time, before showtime, but he didn't want to do it here in case Venti comes back.

"Hey man," Kaeya came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder, which made Xiao almost jump in surprise.

"Kaeya, is everything place?" Xiao asked. He never really talked to Kaeya back in the man's past life, and he still didn't really know the man well in the present, but at least he was bearable. Just a bit.

...although it did take a few bucks for him to agree to this. The rest of his team were nice enough not to ask anything out of him except for the invitation cards to their big day (if Venti accepted). Xiao of course agreed.

"We got you, buddy. Go get him!" The assistant stage manager grinned at him, tapping his shoulder firmly as he left.

Xiao released another huff of breath again as he watched the man walk back to his place.

"Alright, let's go!" Someone shouted from the back, and Venti, who was already standing on the rising platform - when had he gotten there? - rose up to the stage to face the crowd. His boyfriend looked at him, flashed a smile and a wink, then completely disappeared from Xiao's sight.

Ah, the concert is starting.

The soft notes of "To the world beyond" floated down from above, and Xiao softly hummed to it, feeling Venti's voice calming down his nerves, setting his jittery mind back into his thoughts.