#lee venti

Aether hummed, his feet moving to the pace of the city. Friday nights in Mondstadt were especially busy, and even though it was half past 11, various lights and lanterns kept the village lit as people made their way around the place for personal needs and what not. His floating travel companion had tapped out this time, claiming she was too tired to go out on any favours.

The honorary knight walked down the paths near Flora's flower store set up, eventually reaching the lower levels of Mondstadt near the tavern. Glancing at the barrels in front, he quickly decided that going in for a few hello’s wouldn’t be too bad. With a quiet bell chime, the Angels Share noise set into his ears. With tables full and bard playing a lyre at the back. It set a nice ambiance, as he walked up to the ba-

“Traveller! Wha- *hic* Are you doing here?”

recognising the high pitched voice. He turned to meet the eyes of Mondstadt’s famous bard. Venti quickly spinned the chair around and stumbled off. Though, immediately falling into his dear friend wasn't quite what he was trying to do. But it didn't matter, he wrapped his arms around the knight tightly as Aether tried to pull him up to prevent him from falling.

“Ehe~! Aether..*hic* where.. Where have you beenn~? I haven- *hic* seen you in Mon- Monstadt for like.. ever. ehe..” he slightly rambled, huffing as the traveller finally stabilised his stance. “Venti.. who let you get this drunk?”

“I’m not drrun- drunk! jus- *hic* just happyyy~ ehehe.. Aether i'm all spinny.. you- can you pass my me-.. wait.. me my drink? yeah..” He giggled out, whining as aether threw their hand over his shoulder and led his arm around to their’s. “Come on, let's get you home okay?”

Venti gasped loudly, though not to be looked at twice with all the commotion in the tavern. “Whaaat? no!- nonono.. I still.. need to drink the rest..! Ae- tther.. pleasee? ill tell you a secret if you do!” he insisted, leaning over to the others ear and cupping his hands around his mouth as he spoke-

“I’m.. actually Barbatos. shhh.. you can't tell aannybody okay? its a secre- a secret.” He took his hands away and looked into his eyes waiting for a reaction. Aether couldn’t help but laugh a bit, faking a surprised expression. “Wow, really?” he gasped, his voice dripping in sarcasm. He reached into his back pocket and slipped a couple mora bills under the half filled glass. But knowing Venti, that wouldn’t be nearly enough to cover his tab. Poor master Diluc...

“ye- *hic* yeah! I'm like.. alot old. what's the word.. chemistry?” he mumbled, in deep thought. Which is probably why he didn't notice when Aether slowly led him out the tavern and got his own teapot out, because archons know where Venti spends his nights.

“Cen.. centuries! Yeah.. yeah that- that's the word. it means like.. centurie- oh! that was fast.. you're a fast walker..” he slurred his words, leaning his head on Aether’s shoulder.. “I’ll take you to bed, come on.” he insisted softly, leading him up the stairs and into his bedroom. Within seconds of noticing the bed, he tilted his head up all the way and reached out to it only for his arm to slump back down lazily.

Aether complied, sitting him up on the bed and reaching over to the side table to get a bottle of water. “..you- you're not gonna make me drink that. right?”

….

“..right?”

with a loud groan Venti flopped onto his back and turned away. “Nooo- sont- dont make *hic* -make me..”

“Come on, if you don’t drink this now you're gonna feel especially sick in the morning. Trust me, it's not fun..” he shuttered slightly, remembering the feeling of a particularly bad hangover.

“I don’t care! you- you're bad! you're a bad bad man Aether- you're the worst! i'm not- *hic!* touching your weird, clear, tasteless drink!!”

Aether sighed, setting the bottle back. “..You're drinking it, whether you like it or not. And if it means I have to take some drastic measures, so be it." He said, a serious facade on his face.

The drunkard bard seemingly taking it seriously had wide eyes and a small smile as he spoke;“Huh?! dr- *hic!* drastic! what are you gon- AH! Aethther! dohont- dohohnt yohou dahahare!”

In a swift motion, Aether hand gently moved his hands to scribble across Venti’s upper ribs, giggling softly along with him.

“Oh, I do dare. You know how to make it stop Venti~” The traveller smiled softly, his hands skilfully scratching in between the little bones all the way down to his waist. Venti dug his head into the mattress, kicking his feet out behind him as he squirmed. “ahahE!- noho! Ihi dohon’t wahahant to! goHo awahay!” His hands pressed into the mattress with all the strength he could muster up while like this (Which in all honesty wasnt alot, especially for an archon..) , his wide smile on display.

“Awh, Venti.. Has anyone ever told you that you have a very pretty smile?” He said softly, his fingers massaging into the other’s waist over the lazily tied corset. Venti let out a loud hiccup in between his giggling, shaking his head left to right. “eheno! stohhop teheasing meheee!”

Aether chuckled with a gentle tone in his voice, blunt nails dragging down to where his hips met his thighs, digging in between. “Oh, but I would never tease you, wouldn't even dream of it, Venti.”

Okay, now he was definitely teasing..

Venti’s legs continued kicking, his hands shot up at Aether’s shoulders with a tight grip. “What, you don't like it here? Right here?” The blonde spoke, scribbling his fingers along his lower hips.

“Aehetherrrr~! ihi am- I aham a archon!”

“Yeah, a very giggly one in your case.”

“Aham nohot!” He argued back even through the said giggles, denying any sort of claims. “A drunk one?” Aether counter-offered, his hands travelling down to squish at the sides of his thighs.

“Nohot druhunk! juhust hahappy! I alreheady said that, I thi- wahait wait!” He repeated his phrase from earlier before jolting, his knees trying to curl up to his chest. “What, hm? You're gonna drink some water now?” He asked, fingertips momentarily stilling but continuing to rest on the spot.

“Waihit- juhust wahait..” He insisted, letting out soft breathy giggles as he caught his breath. “Thahats- thats not fair.”

“Ihits not fair?” The traveller repeated, a slight laugh of his own leaving his lips. “And why is that?”

“Because- behecause I have my things on! And thats- its soho bad, so you can’t.” He explained drunkenly, a hand pulling at his own tights to give further example.

“Oh I can’t?” He pressed his finger pads into the small diamonds on the patterned tights, enlightening a giggly gasp from the other. “Are you sure I can’t?”

“..No.” Venti mumbled, a soft squeal escaping his throat when he felt the hands suddenly attach themselves onto his knees and squeeze.

“You're so stubborn, just give upp~ I need to get you to bed, yknow.” Aether shrugged, talking like he was completely oblivious to what he was doing.

Venti didn’t reply, maybe a few babbles about how ‘he wasn’t a baby’, which the blonde simply countered with the reminder that he had his head thrown back because he was just that childishly ticklish. He honestly had never seen him shut up so quickly.. he's definitely gonna use this for blackmail.

“Okahay okay!” He exclaimed dramatically inbetween his squeals, “Stohop, ihim gohonna die!”

“Dramatic, but okay.” He chuckled, rubbing the left over tingles away. “You're done with your little tantrum? You’ll drink it?”

“..I want apple juice.”

“How many times have I told you not to let me catch you stealing my drinks!?”

Oops. Diluc looked livid. Venti smiled sheepishly even as he saluted and tried to bolt with the drink in hand. 

“Sorry, Pyro but I swear, I’ll pay you back when I perform tomorrow! Later!”

He didn’t get far; Diluc was faster than he thought and he went down rather hard on the wood as the barkeep tackled him and straddled his waist from behind, keeping him firmly pinned.

“Did Kaeya put you up to this? I swear I’m gonna-”

Diluc paused as Venti let out an odd sound as he put pressure on his side. His eyes narrowed and Venti panicked. 

“You can have your drink back! I’m sorry okay? Please just don’t-shihihihit!”

He squealed as Diluc abruptly dug into his ribs, taking the wine bottle and placing it safely away before shooting a smirk at the Anemo God. 

“Oh I’m taking my wine back regardless given it’s not yours. Honestly. Well, if you want to be childish so bad I suppose I’ll teach you in a way appropriate for your level. You. Shouldn’t. Steal. Things. That. Don’t. Belong. To. You!" 

Each emphasized word was a ticklish poke that made Venti squeal and writhe but he didn’t struggle too hard or push the man off him with wind like he could have and that fact was anything but lost on Diluc. 

"Okay I’m shahahahary!! I won’t do it again!”

“If you like this…it isn’t a very effective punishment I’m afraid.”

Venti went from pink to red and shook his head in mortification before hiding his face in his arms on the floor. 

“I-you don’t-that’s not-”

“…So I’m right? Hm. Cute.”

It was all the warning Venti got before rough tickles assaulted his hips and made him buck and burst out laughing. 

“Whahahahahay!?”

Venti and Xiao had seen earlier in the day that Aether had been running from one side of Liyue to the other just to finish some commissions. He looked incredibly tired, and Venti offered them both to do his last one so he wouldn't have to return back to Dihua Marsh and could rest instead.

“Really?” Aether had said, practically beaming. “That would be a great help! Thanks guys!”

Truthfully, Venti hadn’t asked Xiao if he was down to help, and at first it didn’t seem like he was. After seeing Aether’s face though, Xiao let a small fond smile slip onto his face and nodded his agreement. “Please, allow us.”

The commission was to defeat a ruin guard. Simple enough, except killing the one ended up angering a few more in the area without either of the vision holders noticing. Just as they were about to finish the commission, Venti was nearly hit by a homing missile.

“Barbados!” Xiao had yelled, appearing by his side just in time to pull him out of the way.

Venti had smiled up at Xiao. “My hero.”

“Shut up.” So quick to blush…

The ensuing fight led them both to this point. The worst of the injuries were a few soon-to-be bruises on Xiao’s arm and Venti’s wrist scratch, but Xiao was determined to make sure Venti wasn’t hurt beyond that.

“Is this necessary?” Venti asks, raising an eyebrow at the yaksha, who has removed Venti’s cap in favor of checking his head for any lumps or bumps. “Yes.” He says, seriously. It makes Venti giggle.

Xiao continues checking everywhere, eventually making his way to Venti’s waist. “Alright, if you really are fi-”

“Ah!”

They both freeze. Venti steps away, rubbing his side and huffing out a nervous laugh. “Sorry, that-”

“You’re injured.”

“Huh?” Venti tilts his head. “Oh! No! I’m really not Xiao, I-”

“Let me see.” Xiao says sternly, walking towards Venti as the other backs away slowly. “Venti, if you are injured I have to see.”

“But I’m not!” Venti whines, covering his sides. He’s clearly not convincing enough, because Xiao reaches out to hold him by the hips and inspect his sides. To Venti's credit, he does try to stay relatively quiet, the key word being ‘try’. He positively shrieks trying to jump back but not getting very far with Xiao’s vice-like grip on him. “X-xiao! I’m fi- AH!”

“Clearly you are not- can you stay still?” Xiao sounds a bit annoyed, reaching to pull the tie on his corset off. “I need to see the injury.”

“It’s not an injury!” 

Xiao glares a bit and Venti has to slap his hand over his own mouth to keep from helping again when Xiao gives his side, no longer adorned with his corset, a particularly firm squeeze. 

Venti, once again, shrieks. “OKAY! Okay, lehehets be done now ohokay?” He tries to squirm, but Xiao stops him.

“Why?”

“...huh?”

Xiao blinks. “Why should I stop?”

Venti feels his face start to heat up. “Well, because…just because.”

“It tickles?” Xiao asks, blatantly. Venti chokes, eyes widening, and Xiao just stares. “Right? That’s why you are yelling?”

“I wasn't yelling.”

“Yes you were.” To prove his point, Xiao wiggles his fingers against Venti’s sides, and the bard yelps, grabbing the other’s wrists. “See? Yelling. People are supposed to laugh when they’re tickled.”

Venti scoffs. “Yeah, well. Maybe if you were actually tickling me properly, I’d laugh.” A pause. “No. Xiao-”

“Hm?”

“That is not an invitation.”

“Hm.”

“Xiao, please. Listen to me. What’re you- ah! Nohoho!” Xiao’s fingers start scribbling over Venti’s sides. Not only does it send him into hysterics, but Venti slowly falls to the ground trying to cover his sides. Xiao simply sits next to him, wrapping an arm around his back and pulling him close. 

“XIAHAHO PLEHEHEASE!” Venti shrieks, pushing as hard as he can against Xiao’s hands on his sides to no avail. Xiao had always been stronger than him, even more so when Venti is…incapacited such as this. “STOHOHOP IHIHIT!”

“Hm.” Xiao hummed, slowing down his fingers and tilting his head to make eye contact with the bard. “You’ll attract enemies if you continue to scream.”

Venti’s loud screeching had died down to more normal levels of laughter, allowing him to take a few breaths. “Nohohot my fahahault!” He whines, still pushing at Xiao’s hands. “Stohohop it- it tihihickles!”

“Clearly.” Xiao sounds deadpan, but Venti can see the small fond smile forming on his lips. It makes everything all the more flustering, and makes Venti’s heart skip a little beat. In a sudden burst of energy, he surges forward to place a chaste kiss on the yaksha’s lips.

Xiao stills, his hands go from scratching lightly at Venti’s sides to holding his hips firmly to kiss him again before he can pull away. Venti smiles against the kiss, throwing his own arms around Xiao’s shoulders and climbing into his lap fully. He loves moments like this, soft moments full of laughter and smiles and warm feelings, and he knows Xiao does too. 

Xiao is, of course, still a menace, and he kneads a little into Venti’s hips causing him to squeak and pull back. Xiao places light kisses on Venti’s face as the bard puts very little energy into pushing at his chest to get away. “Ohohkay thats enohohough…” Venti says, finally wrapping his hands around the other’s wrists and gently pulling them away. “We should get back and turn this commission in for Aether.”

“You seem to like it here.” Venti commenting as Xiao whipped his head behind him, startled. The God of Death just laughed. “Scared you?”

Xiao looked down, saying nothing. After a moment though, “I love it here.” He turned back to look at Venti, who only had a fond smile on his face that made Xiao’s face warm.

Not much was said after that. Xiao continued taking care of his plants, as Venti looked around, making his own comments about each of the flowers.

“Xiao~” Venti singsonged, putting his hands on Xiao’s shoulders to catch his attention. “What flowers are those?” Venti pointed to some white flowers.

“Those are cecilias. A nation’s speciality from Mondstadt.” Xiao told him, matter-of-factly. Venti dragged him over there, though Xiao would be lying if he said he minded.

“They’re so pretty!” Venti exclaimed, crouching on his knees to get a closer look. Xiao didn’t look at the flowers, although he thought the very same exact thing about them. But he was looking at Venti, who seemed more at peace than he had seen in a while. He looked.. to say the least, gorgeous. So gorgeous that Xiao found it hard to look away. He hadn’t even realized until he was snapped out of his daze by a giggle from the very boy he was looking at so intently.

“What are you thinking about that’s making those flowers on your shoulder bloom so much?” Venti teased, putting his hand to his mouth. Xiao’s eyes widened, his face going aflame at being caught staring and the way he couldn’t even control his emotions so much to cause flowers to grow on him. He had never been good at hiding his emotions.

“Nothing..” He muttered, crossing his arms. There was no way he would ever admit that he was just staring at his husband so blatantly. How embarrassing…

“Is that so? I won’t mock you, you know?” Venti laughed, and Xiao just glared, face flushed, because he so would.

“I.. just felt like it, okay?” Xiao pitifully lied, though both of them knew it wasn’t fooling anyone. Then all of a sudden, he feels one of the flower petals lightly grazing his ear and before he can stop it…

“Hah!” He gasps, bringing a hand to his ear to keep the flower away. He says nothing, hoping that Venti hadn’t noticed what happened but, it was Venti. Under some sort of miracle would Venti have not seen it all.

“Xiao…” He raised a brow as his confusion faded into amusement and understanding, after putting the pieces together.

“No.” Xiao mumbled, blushing wildly and turning away. Venti seemed to perk up at his response, and Xiao groaned because he just set himself up. His reactions were only fueling the god’s curiosity.

“Are you ticklish-“ Venti asked, innocently but Xiao could see the mischievous glint in his eyes.

“I’m not!” Xiao denied quickly, too quickly. He clamped his mouth shut, opting to turn his whole body away from Venti to hide his face. Bad idea.

He felt two small hands reach for his sides and his heart drops, panicked. Before he can move out of the way, Venti’s nimble fingers are on him and squeezing with terrifying speed that has his squirming and gasping.

“V-vehehenti! Plehehease!” He can’t help himself but giggle, trying to look at the god.

“Please what? Please keep going? Okay, if that’s what you want!” Venti snickered, skittering his fingers across Xiao’s midriff with surprising ease, despite the god of Flora’s squirming.

“Nohohoho, thahat’s nahahat w-whahahat I was sahahaying!” Xiao stuttered, his hands pushing against Venti’s though with little effort.

“Oh? It seems I misunderstood a lot! Well, what is it? Please do let me know!” Venti rhymed, and how he could rhyme at a time like this, Xiao didn’t know. He was sure that enough flowers had bloomed on him to start another garden. To his disdain, petals were still lightly swishing back and forth on his ears making his nerves flare. And with Venti tickling him, it made his sensitivity all the more worse.

“W-wahahait! Stahahap!” Xiao giggled, shaking his head, embarrassed at how much he was laughing. Now, another thing for Venti to tease him with..

“Hm? Do you really want me to? But your laughter sounded so true!” Venti asked, though even through his laughter, he could tell it was a genuine question. And when he thought about it, did he really want Venti to stop. Venti was obviously enjoying himself. Was he? One glance at Venti’s amused and adoring expression told him all he needed to know.

He stayed silent. Well, his giggles were still as apparent and clear as day but protests no longer poured from his mouth.

“You’re so easy to read. Ehe~” Venti quipped, his fingers trailing up to Xiao’s ribs. Within an instant, his legs gave out and without stopping, the god of Death gently brought him to the soft grass.

“Ahahaha! Ihihit tihIHIckles!” Xiao squealed, throwing his head back. Venti hummed innocently, counting the number of ribs, oh so slowly. As his fingers started making their way to the upper ribs, Xiao’s giggles embarrassingly rose an octave.

“W-wahahait! Not thehehere!” Xiao shrieked, twisting and squeezing his eyes shut.

“Aw, but why not? Your laughter is like music to my ears!” Xiao flushed, pretending he didn’t hear that. Venti smiled, knowingly. “I ought to write a ballad about your laughter. It plays just like a melody~”

“Bahahaharbados!” Xiao slipped out, not even meaning to say Venti’s ‘god name’. Venti clicked the inside of his mouth.

“Using my official name, now? I’ll get you for that!” Venti paused for a moment, as if contemplating. “Alatus.” Xiao pouted, or at least tried to pout through his laughter. He had always preferred Venti to call him his real name.

Either way, he had no time to comment on it because he was too busy screaming his head off. Venti moved his tickly hands over to Xiao’s tummy, which Xiao was hoping would not happen because it may or may not be his worst spot (kudos to Zhongli for being the one to help him learn this fact).

“Ah, what a reaction I love to see. And the cause of this reaction is because of me!” Venti giggled along with Xiao as he bucked his hips. Xiao felt tears build up in his eyes, as he was slowly reaching his limit.

“PLEHEHEASE! STAHAHAP!” He shouted, a wide smile on his face. He could never handle being tickled there for too long. He flailed his head around, whipping it back and forth and gasping wildly.

The tickling on his sensitive tummy started to slow down, until it finally ceased, leaving Xiao disheveled and panting for breath on the ground. His head rested on Venti’s lap, too exhausted to move.

“How are you feeling, my love?” Venti asked, gently caressing Xiao’s cheek. All the cheekiness in his voice from earlier, gone.

Xiao didn’t say anything, instead lifting his head to look at the god above him. He smiled, letting Venti know that he was feeling fine, happy even. Venti smiled, a similar one to the one that got Xiao into the entire mess in the first place. He blushed, hiding his head away in his shoulder.

The god of death giggled, planting a sloppy yet loving kiss on Xiao’s lips. Xiao melted into it, closing his eyes, feeling himself relax. Venti placed his hand on Xiao’s shoulder, using a finger to gently rub it. Xiao found himself leaning to the touch, smiling against the kiss.