Chapter Text
The day is warm and the breeze is cool as the pair walks through a scarcely shaded park. The trees, though small, add a nice decorative touch to the area that surrounds them. Multiple groups of people are laying about and enjoying a leisurely picnic in the sun. Xiao, too, wishes he could be one of them right now as opposed to dealing with his current situation. “Listen, I know people aren’t really your thing, but here me out,” Aether began, handing Xiao the milkshake he ordered. Xiao sighs, he knew the blonde was up to something because as of lately he’s been acting very suspicious. Whenever Xiao would glance over at Aether’s phone, he’d see multiple music shops open. This couldn’t mean anything good.
The dark haired boy turns on his heel away from the small food kiosk and begins strolling down the cement paths, his friend in tow. “Aether, I told you I’m done with music, I stopped that a long time ago. I have a job at the dojo now, so quit worrying about me so much,” he states firmly but gently. His companion gives him a pout, phone in one hand and milkshake of his own in the other.
Aether takes a long sip of his milkshake, wincing when he gets a small brain freeze before glancing back at his companion, “Please?” he pouts, golden eyes shimmering. The blonde knows Xiao is weak to him and his twin sister. After all, they are his best friends, so pulling a stunt like this is unfair and he knows it.
He sucks in a sharp breath glancing away from the blonde as they walk through the park. “Fine, I’ll hear you out but that doesn’t mean I’m accepting your proposal,” he speaks, looking back towards his friend to see a very bright, eye-blinding smile. Aether really is too bright.
The long haired boy moves closer to Xiao and shows him his phone screen, “Look, there’s this cute music shop right down the block from your house! You wouldn’t need to take the bus or train or even a taxi,” he smiles, showing the shorter boy the map on his phone. “ And they sell guitars there! Maybe you can find a new one to replace your old one. Or they can try to repair it.” In truth, Xiao already knows about this music shop and purposely failed to mention it to either of the twins in favor of avoiding this exact situation. They both have been breathing down his neck to get out of his house and do something other than work. What they don’t realize is just how difficult it is to muster up that much energy. Not only that, but he hates people.
This was already beginning to drain what little energy he has left to exert today. “Okay, that’s nice, Aether, but why are you showing me this? I told you multiple times I’m done with music,” Xiao grumbles, taking an annoyed sip of his shake. He doesn’t miss the pout that reappears on the blonde’s face as he chews on his straw. This is exactly why he tries to never mention anything music related to him or his sister ever again. They know he would never accept any of their suggestions, so it boggles him as to why they keep on trying.
“Can you at least come see the store? Y’know, check it out, maybe meet the staff and see if you’d enjoy it? You never know unless you try,” Aether says, nudging Xiao’s side as he slips his phone into his back pocket, eyes full of hope.
The shorter of the two sighs, breath cold against the summer heat, “fine, I’ll come check it out, but we’re not staying for long,” he says, knowing that if he did, he’d somehow get wrapped up in the blonde’s plot. At these words, Aether seems to brighten up, a smile reappearing on his face as he changes the direction of their feet.
“I knew you’d say yes! Lumine owes me ten dollars,” Xiao rolls his eyes as he finishes off the last of his milkshake and throws it away in a nearby trash can. Meanwhile, Aether’s was still half full, the condensation dripping down the sides. Today, the boy wore his hair up in a ponytail, his bangs falling loosely over his face. His attire was nothing short of slightly erotic seeing as his shirt was cropped, his pants loosely fitting over his slender legs. Xiao has to admit, both Aether and his twin sister, Lumine, are very beautiful people. He, himself, can never compare, for not even the bright light they shine upon him can cleanse him of the dark that surrounds him. He cringes at how edgy that sounds and instead refocuses his attention to the surrounding area. A certain annoying red head would definitely call him an edge lord for that one.
They lived in a not-too-big, not-too-small city. Trees line the sidewalks and multiple groups of university students can be seen out clubbing or just hanging out and grabbing a bite to eat. This particular part of town is a popular hangout spot, seeing as multiple chains of restaurants shroud the area as well as a bunch of fun activities. The fairgrounds aren’t too far off either with the Ferris wheel standing tall above the buildings and out amongst the boardwalk. Shouting can be heard from the open arcade doors and groups of dancers can be seen filming videos in the city center with the water fountain as their backdrop. Overall, the city is a pretty relaxing, yet fun place to be and, though, there are lots of people out and about, it doesn’t bother Xiao too much because he doesn’t go out much to begin with. He mainly spends his days at the dojo teaching classes on martial arts and then coming home to crash on his bed and repeat. Somewhere in there he also remembers to eat and drink water, but that’s a small detail.
It is then that they round the corner with the music shop now in sight. Aether’s milkshake is nowhere to be seen as the boy smiles at Xiao when he realizes he was looking at him. He gives a small— slightly embarrassed, smile back before turning to reface their destination. He’s beginning to grow nervous now, his hands slide in his pockets anxiously as he swallows hard. It has been almost two years since the last time he stepped into a music shop. After everything that happened, he vowed to himself that he would never make music again and he had stayed true to that, but honestly, it’s been really hard. Music is his escape and it turned into his tormentor. He believes there is no worse feeling than that.
The bells on the door above their heads chime as Aether made his way into the store first, followed by Xiao. The shop is small, with only two or three practice rooms and a room for storage at the end of the hall. The walls are lined with various tools for many different kinds of instruments. They range from cleaning items to replacement items; from brass instruments to woodwind instruments and so on. A small counter can be seen to their left as they enter where a bang can be heard followed by a small “ow” and out appears an angel. Wait that’s not an angel that’s—
“Ah, hello! Welcome to Four Winds Music Store, what would you need help with today?” The boy asks, a smile plastered across his face as he rubs the spot on the back of his head where it hit the counter. Xiao is awestruck, there is no way someone this beautiful can ever exist. The boy in front of them stands at about their height with twin braids lining his face and bangs laying across his forehead. His hair is very fluffy— in a sense, and can even be described as unkempt, but that doesn’t take away from the beauty of his emerald eyes. They shine a bright green, almost slightly blue color in the natural light from the store windows and his eyelashes are impossibly long.
It takes a moment for Xiao to snap back to reality, but by that time Aether is already talking, “hello! My name is Aether and this is my friend Xiao,” suddenly he feels hyper aware of his shaggy choice of clothing. He’s dressed in a thin sweatshirt and black sweats, whereas the boy in front of them is dressed in an assortment of rings and bracelets along with clips in his hair of clouds and rainbows. His nails are painted pastel orange, yellow, blue, and pink and his shirt is short sleeved a solid color of teal. The beautiful boy’s pants are jeans with rips on the thighs and knees, his shoes are just your typical sneakers. He gives off a sort of childish vibe to him, but Xiao has a sneaking suspicion that it isn’t his fault.
“Hi, nice to meet you, my name is Venti. Please excuse my appearance, a friend of a friend’s sister came over to play and she decorated me and threatened to eat my food if I took it all off,” he laughs, reaching out to shake their hands. His smile is radiant and his hand is soft as it is enveloped in Xiao’s. He hopes his hand isn’t sweaty. “So, what brings you in today? Looking for some repairs or to try out something new?”
“Oh, actually, we just came to look around. My friend isn’t actually all that into—“ Aether is cut off by Xiao’s quick input.
“—Guitar strings. Would you happen to have any?” he asks, surprising not only Aether, but himself as well. He watches as the boy, Venti, turns to give him a once over, Xiao’s posture straightening as a result before clicking his tongue and putting his hands on his hips.
“Y’know when you walked in here, I didn’t peg you to be the musical type. You look like you’d be more into skateboarding and stuff,” Venti laughs, smiling at Xiao’s stiff posture and dark clothing.
“Right!” Aether agrees, “my sister and I have been bothering him non-stop to get a hobby outside of his work but he refuses! He used to play guitar but stuff happened and he couldn’t anymore.” Xiao glares at his friend, crossing his arms as he shifts his weight to one foot. Aether just smiles, sticking out his tongue.
“Well, that’s unfortunate. I’m glad you came in, you said you were looking for guitar strings, yes? Follow me,” the boy with the braided hair says, motioning with his arm to follow him down one of the aisles. Did he mention that the boy’s braids are teal-tipped? After a couple steps and some humming from the store owner, he makes a wide gesture to the wall of guitars and shelves of guitar parts. “Here is where they’d be. Do you need any help picking them out?” He asks, tucking a loose strand of hair from his bangs behind his ear.
Xiao looks the shelves over before biting his lip, “I play electric and acoustic, but both of them don’t have any strings,” Xiao folds his arms over his chest and stares at the shelves. “Do you think you could give me some recommendations? My old ones were too thin and broke easily,” he lies. In reality Xiao’s guitar strings were cut— by himself. At his, Aether gives him a wide-eyed look of surprise as he glances between the two dark haired boys. Xiao just stares at him pointedly, daring him to say a word. Luckily, he gets the hint and keeps his mouth shut, but that doesn’t stop the smirk from growing on his face.
“I’ll wait outside on the bench, the air conditioning is too cold for me,” the blonde lies as well, winking at Xiao before finding his way out of the aisle and out of the store as a whole. By the time Xiao looks back at Venti, he is already holding two packages of strings, one acoustic and one electric.
“These are my best sellers, you can look at the reviews online, but just from what I’ve heard here in the store, they seem to work astonishingly well,” the owner smiles, placing them both into the awaiting boy’s hands. Xiao looks the packaging over, reading the labels and descriptions as well as looking at the strings themselves. “If you want, I can bring down an acoustic and an electric to play so you can get a feel for them,” he suggests, one hand clasped on his wrist behind his back, swaying back and forth on his feet gently.
Xiao’s eyes met his and he feels a blush try to creep its way up his neck and to his cheeks. “Uh, sure, if that wouldn’t be too much trouble,” he says as he shifts both packages to one hand to let his other hand fall to rest at his side. Venti only smiles brighter as he nods his head and shows Xiao to a practice room. There, he waits for the boy’s return as he sits on one of two chairs. The room is small, but not small enough to be claustrophobic, yet not big enough to fit more than five people. The room also appears to be soundproof with a small glass window on the door.
Before Xiao could get too lost in his thoughts, Venti returns with one guitar slung across his back and the other in his hands. He closes the door and sits down on the edge of the chair next to Xiao, scooting it over a bit so he can be more in front of him before handing the quieter boy the one in his hands. Venti then slings the other guitar over his shoulder and rests his fingers loosely over the strings.
“Sorry, I assumed you were right handed,” the boy with the braided hair laughs, as he crosses his ankles. He observes the way Xiao eyes the guitar, strumming gently with his finger tips before it clicks that he forgot to bring guitar picks. It was no problem, though, as he reaches over to the bowl in the corner of the room grabbing out two guitar picks, handing one to Xiao who thanks him.
“Thank you and it’s no problem. You assumed right,” Xiao says as he strums a chord on the acoustic guitar, switching every so often to make a rhythmic pattern. “Do you know how to play?” he asks, gesturing to the guitar in Venti’s hands before meeting his eyes. Once again a shy blush threatens to creep its way up his neck.
“Oh, yeah, I do,” Venti says, plugging the electric guitar into the amp and adjusting the sound. He uncrosses his ankles before positioning his hands correctly and sitting up straighter. Once he’s content with his position, he plays a little improvised tune, humming out a melody as he does so. To say Xiao is surprised is an understatement. To be honest, Venti doesn’t look like the type to actually know music. Xiao thought he just works here.
Upon registering Xiao’s shocked appearance which just consisted of raised eyebrows and slightly widened eyes, Venti laughs, wiping a tear from his eye as he laid his hand over the strings to stop the vibrations. “What do you look so shocked for? Didn’t think I could actually play?” He smirks, a hint of a playful challenge in his tone. Xiao swallows, looking away from him as he clears his throat.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but I didn’t think you’d be the type to actually know music.”
“I guess that makes two of us, huh? Guess we both gotta stop judging people based on first impressions,” he giggles, nudging Xiao’s side with his elbow. At that, Xiao seems to relax a bit, smiling slightly as he looks back down at the guitar in his hands. He too, strums out a fine, gentle, tune that Venti— once again— hums a melody for.
They continue like that for a little while, going back and forth creating baselines and melodies and the like. Each time Venti doesn’t hesitate to add his humming to each new sound they come up with and Xiao likes to believe he is enjoying his time here. Wait. What?! He swore he’d never engage in anything music related again, but here he is sitting in a small practice room in a tiny music shop a block or so down from his house! He swallows hard, slowing the music to a stop. This causes Venti’s humming to come to an end and his eyes to open, sliding over to Xiao in question.
“So, what’d ‘ya think? Pretty neat, huh? No wonder they get so many good reviews,” and just like that Xiao’s downward spiral is put to a halt as he watches Venti’s unthreatening frame. His elbows lay rest atop his electric guitar as his face is cupped by the base of his closed fists, a soft smile plastered there.
“You were good— I mean— they, they were good. They sound good, I mean,” Xiao rushes out, an unstoppable embarrassed blush coating his cheeks as he averts his gaze from the gorgeous boy in front of him. Venti only giggles.
“Why, thank you,” he teases, “you weren’t half bad yourself. Got anything else you can play?” Xiao shakes his head, the blush long gone having been shoved down under his control. Venti hums.
“Is there anything else you can play?” Xiao asks. Venti’s grin grows mischievous.
“Why don’t you guess what instruments I can play?” he suggests, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms across his chest. His eyes shine with mischief and his smile only furthers that aura of mischievousness. Xiao doesn’t know if he likes that or not.
“You look like the kinda guy to play the trumpet,” Xiao says, removing the guitar from his lap and setting it gently on the guitar stand. When he looks back at Venti, he has done the same, favoring a new position where his legs are crossed on his chair. His right elbow resting on his right knee, his chin in his hand as he looks at Xiao from his spot. Xiao meets his eyes briefly before laying an ankle across his own knee and crossing his arms.
“Funny you say that because I do,” Venti replies, smirk ever present.
“Okay.. what about percussion?” He asks. Venti gives him a thumbs up. “The Cello?”
“Yup.”
“Harp?”
“You betcha!”
“Saxophone?”
“Yes I do.”
“Bass Clarinet?”
“I’m kinda small, but I make it work.”
“Viola?”
“I prefer the violin, but yes!”
“Flute?”
Venti smiles, “That’s one of my favorites.”
“This was a trick question wasn’t it?” Xiao asks, giving him a deadpan look.
“Hey, look, you finally caught on,” Venti teases, resulting in his chair getting shoved by Xiao’s foot. The boy with the braided hair only giggles. “I can play every instrument, at least every instrument I can get my hands on, but I prefer the Flute and Lyre.”
“The lyre? That’s a very old instrument,” Xiao comments, looking thoroughly impressed. He has never met someone before who plays such ancient sounds. Maybe he really shouldn’t have judged this book by his cover. Painted nails and hair clips included.
“Mmhm! Indeed it is, but it takes just the same amount of time and dedication to learn as any other instrument,” Venti says, smiling as Xiao’s eyes rake over his relaxed form.
“And as for the flute?” Xiao asks, eyebrows raised and head slightly tilted.
“I can play every flute there is, but my favorite is the Dizi. I find its sound to bring the most serenity and peace to my mind and body. I used to play it a lot when I was stressed.” Now that piques his interest. Xiao doesn’t express his culture too much outside of his home, mainly because of what he experienced with his adopted family. It pushed him away from his culture, though, a certain man with strong morals and strong sense for equality and balance showed him the good in the culture he seemed to be falling away from. One of the ‘goods’ he was shown was music and within that music was the very same Dizi Flute the boy in front of him is talking about.
“Can you play it right now?” Xiao asks without thinking. Venti’s eyebrows raise as he blinks.
“Sure I can!” the boy with the braided hair exclaimes excitedly. He uncrosses his legs and gets up to open the door, “I’ll be right back, the flute is in my room upstairs, so give me a sec,” he concludes before shutting the door behind him.
Upstairs? My room? Huh. That must mean that the floor above this place is an apartment. Now that he thinks about it, Xiao hasn’t seen any other employees. Does that mean he is the only one?
His phone buzzes. Aether. Xiao panics, having forgotten all about his friend outside.
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[Sunrise] hey you were taking forever so i went to get food and go home
[Sunrise] dont stay out too long and remember to eat
[Me] Sorry, we got into talking about guitars and stuff
[Me] I’ll treat you to something to make up for it
[Sunrise] sweet, that means me you and lumine are going to go get bbq!!
[Sunrise] lmk when you get home, cya later!
Seen 16:37
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After a bit of waiting, Venti returns to the room, flute in hand. Said flute is a warm brown color with a tassel attached to it. Above the tassel, hangs a jade ring and overall, it is beautiful. Xiao stares at it openly and Venti lets him before holding the flute out for the boy to take.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? I got it from a market outside of Liyue and fell in love instantly,” Venti admires his Dizi in Xiao’s hands as he turns it over to see every polished part of it. He cradles the jade ring and tassel in his hands, flipping it over to see both sides. It is as he had said; beautiful.
Xiao hands the flute back to Venti and leans back in his chair, arms folded again. “Play me your favorite song,” he speaks, locking eyes with Venti. They hold the eye contact for a bit before Venti blinks down at his flute and smiles.
Without any further statements, the boy with the colorfully painted nails and strange assortment of hair clips, closes his eyes and begins playing his favorite tune. At first, Xiao doesn’t know what to think or how to describe what he is feeling. The feeling is too surreal to describe. It feels like a weight Xiao refuses to acknowledge is being lifted off his shoulders and vaporized in the space above them. It feels like all the pain he is going through is battling the music that is flooding his ears— battling.. and losing. Xiao can’t remember the last time he felt so at peace in his life and in himself. Is this what it felt like to be free?
He watches the boy’s fingers dance on his flute, creating new sounds the more fingers he places or removes. Xiao tries to count how many different notes he’s played so far but he’s long since lost count. Too lost in the music and the way Venti’s face relaxes or contorts depending on the part he plays. Suddenly the music isn’t the only thing he found ethereal.
Soon the chorus hits followed by the bridge and then the song is coming to a close. Venti doesn’t immediately move the flute away, nor does he immediately open his eyes. Together, they sit in a few moments of silence before Venti’s eyes flutter open and he smiles down at the flute. “It’s been a long while since the last time I played this,” he states quietly.
“Regardless, that was absolutely amazing,” Xiao replies, still looking at Venti in awe. The standing boy smiles in reply, pulling out another Dizi seemingly out of nowhere and placing it in his companion’s unexpecting hands. Xiao shot the smiling boy a questioning look.
“You seemed to like it a lot, so why don’t I try teaching you?” he asks sitting back down in his chair. He crosses one leg over the other, his flute resting safely in his lap, chin in his hand.
“For free?” the guitar player asks, eyeing the boy suspiciously.
Venti only smiles, “Tell ‘ya what, this time can be my treat, but play time after will cost ‘ya.” He winks at Xiao, giggling at the way the other boy’s face scrunches up. “Deal?”
Xiao nods, “Deal.”
Venti then scooches in front of Xiao, showing him how to hold the flute with his own. After a few adjustments to the angle at which he is holding the Dizi, the guitar player is able to get a nice, full, sound. The store owner smiles brightly, throwing his hand up for a high five and after a moment’s hesitation, Xiao raises his own to meet his in the middle. Now that he has that down, they are able to move on to the finger placements. Venti decides to teach Xiao a simple song, a nursery rhyme: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
“See, you’ve got it! You’re basically a natural,” the shop owner states encouragingly. He watches and listens as Xiao’s fingers shakily runs through the few notes that he knows. The flute sometimes does dull, making it hard to hear the note, but that’s nothing a little adjusting to the angle can’t fix. And soon enough Xiao has all the notes down, with the rhythm following suit. Albeit, slowly, but surely, Xiao is able to play through the whole song with minimal mistakes in only about an hour or so.
Venti laughs as Xiao slouches in his seat, exhausted from his unyielding effort to play this damned instrument. “That was harder than I thought it would be,” Xiao sighs out, causing the store owner to giggle even more.
“Oh, c’mon, it wasn’t too bad; you did great!” He smiles at Xiao’s idle form, chewing his bottom lip hopefully. “Sooo..,” he pauses, “will you be coming back for more lessons?” Venti’s eyes glitter with hope from his spot in front of Xiao. His ankles are crossed and he’s leaning forward expectantly.
How can Xiao possibly say no to that? He’s weak to cute things.
He looks Venti over, sighing heavily as he lets his head fall over the back of the chair, arm over his eyes. At this, the boy with teal tipped braids knows he’s won, pulling a fist down towards his chest with a cheerful: “yes!” Xiao just huffs out a laugh shaking his head.
“You’re gonna love it here, I’m super fun and I’m basically a master at this thing,” Venti says, standing up and then stretching. He glances at the digital clock on the small table: 18:02. It’s past closing time. “Oh, hey. I’ve gotta close up shop, but I’ve got time on Tuesday and Thursday at 17:00 to 18:00. Does that work for you?”
Xiao doesn’t even have to think about it because he knows he has nothing better to do and he gets off work just an hour before then. “Yes, it does. I’ll see you then?” he asks.
“Sure, thing! And you can just leave these here, I’ll clean it up later. As for the flute; consider it compensation for such a fun jam session,” the shop owner smiles. Xiao masks his shock very poorly. He’s allowed to keep the flute purely because the other boy had fun? With him?? Before he could think too much about it, Venti was opening the door for him and ushering him out into the main part of the store.
“I’ll see you, then, and thank you for this,” the guitarist holds up the flute and nods only to quickly catch the case of said flute being tossed at him.
“Can’t forget the essentials!” Venti smiles as he walks with Xiao to the door, “See you!” Xiao nods in acknowledgment as he turns and exits the store, hearing the same chime of bells he had heard earlier. The sky was beginning to darken, the clouds becoming a beautiful array of oranges, yellows, and reds.
He gently stores away the flute, grabbing out his phone to text Aether that he was headed home.
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[Me] I just left the Music Store
[Me] Headed home now
[Sunrise] finally! you were in there for hours so much for ‘not staying long’
[Sunrise] what were you doing??
Seen 18:06
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Xiao glances behind him, surprised to see Venti there– at the door– locking up the shop. He waves at Xiao through said glass door and he waves back, huffing out a soft laugh as Venti drops the blinds obscuring Xiao’s view of him.
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[Me] Getting a flute
Seen 18:07
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After he sends that text, he promptly shuts off his phone and slips it into his pocket, smirking at the way it buzzes every two seconds with notifications from Aether. The blonde should consider this payback for getting him into this mess in the first place.