❦𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓐𝓻𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓷𝓼 𝓢𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓮 ❦

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 5 - 𝓜𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓭𝓽: 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤!

We had been in the air for about 15 minutes now because some bard decided that "gliding would be faster."

A big gust of wind came in our direction, and my hands trembled violently as I held on to Venti for dear life.

I shot a glare at him, knowing very well that he could control the wind. Although, whether or not he was doing this on purpose was still a mystery to me.

Not wanting to raise suspicion about how I already knew he was an archon, I immediately lowered my gaze to the ground.

"Let me down! I'm going to fall, you stupid green bard." 

I once again protested this situation, but Venti, with his stupid smile, shut me down with, "Don't worry, I won't let you fall under any circumstances."

Sure, that was reassuring, but with the constant harsh winds that came our way, it got increasingly harder not to be frightened.

My eyes filled with tears. I had never liked being up high. But whenever I thought about conquering this fear, my body tensed up, refusing to even listen to the idea.

My expression didn't seem to go unnoticed by Venti because his eyes soon softened, and he cupped my face gently between his hands.

While wiping the tears that fell from my eyes, Venti's expression looked akin to that of an attentive lover. I had never seen such an expression on his face, so I couldn't help the bewilderment that flashed across my face.

Despite his attempts at soothing me, my emotions got the better of me. In fear, my hands wrapped around his waist as I began to let out harsh sobs against his chest. Apologies left my mouth as I felt guilty for showing such vulnerability, but Venti seemed unaffected as he embraced me delicately.

"It's alright. We're almost there, my dove. Look over there. That's where we'll be landing." He whispered against my ear as he pointed in a specific direction.

As I turned my head in the direction he was pointing, I completely forgot about my fear as I looked in awe at the landscape before me.

An enormous tree came into view; its imposing size made one wonder how it grew to be this huge. The stream behind it was quiet and slow-moving while little to no fish passed through it. It was nothing like those rapid waters I had seen when traveling around Mondstadt. The breeze here was gentle as it caressed the branches, causing some leaves to fall to the ground.

Seeing this place in person brought peace to my heart. I now understood why Venti had spoken about it so dearly.

Soon after, Venti set me down on one of the branches of the tree. After he sat down right next to me, I was going to voice my worries again, but before I could even blurt out a word, Venti pulled me to his side.

"I won't let you fall." He affirmed.

As if to calm my nerves, he pulled out his lyre and started to play a song. It was strange... I happened to recognize this song. However, I had thought that Venti could only play songs from past, present, and future from his own world. The fact he also knew songs from other worlds came as a revelation to me.

Even though I was shocked, the excitement that started to build up inside me was more intense than any of my other emotions.

I had spent the next few minutes excitedly requesting him to play different songs. Due to my exuberance, I hadn't noticed how close our faces had gotten to each other. By the time I did, our lips were nearly inches away from touching.

Startled by our close proximity, my grip on the tree branch loosened significantly, causing me to lose my balance and fall backward.

Venti immediately reached out a hand towards me, but it was already too late.

He and I went tumbling off the branch, quickly approaching the ground.

He shoved me against his chest and gripped me tightly to take the brunt of the fall.

Once reaching the ground, I shut my eyes tightly and awaited some sort of impact.

When no pain spread across my body, I laughed victoriously.

"I'm alive!"

My laughter was cut short when I heard the sound of a man groaning under me. My smile dropped, and I couldn't help but be ashamed of how I acted just now.

"I'm really sorry." I apologized profusely as a blush spread across my face from embarrassment.

"You're not forgiven," Venti said rather quickly.

"Why not!"

I couldn't tell whether he was serious or trying to play with me. I could never know with him. He could say something completely serious with a smile on his face and vice versa.

My attention shifted when I heard voices coming this way. Recognizing the voices to be Aether and Paimon, a broad smile appeared on my face.

"Aether, Paimon, come here quick!"

The sound of footsteps got closer and closer until my little friend group came into view. However, when Aether's gaze landed on me, shock and mild disgust appeared on his face. He quickly put a hand over Paimon's eyes. I was utterly lost on why he was looking at me like that.

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean what's wrong? Have you seen the position you're in?!" Aether scolded me as he jabbed a finger at me...and Venti.

I glanced down, and realization dawned on me. I hadn't thought about it before, but when I sat up to call out for Aether and Paimon, I had been straddling Venti's hips, and my hands were placed on his chest to support my still
trembling legs.

Anyone who passed by would get the wrong idea...

Also, Venti had a deep shade of red across his entire face, which was rather unusual for him.

"Aether, I know this looks bad, but it's not what you think!"

"Save the excuses for later."

"Please just listen—"

Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It took me quite awhile to write it because I got writers block again.

I'm not sure when I'll release the next chapter. I hope it will be soon though.

I had a fun time writing this chapter. Especially the ending part which I contemplated whether or not to cut. I was going to add more to this chapter, but if I did it would go way past the word count I wanted.

Anyway, have a great morning/afternoon/night!