Chapter Text
Venti shot through the gates of Mondstadt like a crossbow bolt, dragging Oliver along behind him. The two guards on either side were very confused where Venti was off too in such a hurry, dragging a random boy behind him. They exchanged a glance, then he shrugged. Honestly, at this point, nothing the bard did surprised them anymore.
"Venti— hey— would you slow down!" Oliver had lost count of how many times he'd said that today. Since the moment they met, Venti had been hauling him from one place to the next with zero warning and even less explanation.
"Almost there! See that big tree over there? I sleep in it sometimes!"
Oliver stumbled to keep up. "You— sleep in a tree?"
"Sure! I sleep all kinds of places. The tree, the bar— well, until Diluc throws me out, anyway. Heh!"
Venti screeched to a stop at the base of the tree. Oliver, with no time to react, pitched forward and hit the grass face-first with a thud.
"Oof—" came the muffled response from Oliver.
"Oh! Whoops, sorry!" Venti hauled him back up by the arm.
Oliver spat a blade of grass out of his mouth. "You seriously have to stop doing that." He straightened up and tilted his head back to look at the tree. "Okay... that's... really tall."
"Isn't it great?" Venti beamed. "I sleep up there in the branches sometimes! Figured you can come up there with me!"
Oliver stared at the tree. Then at Venti. Then back at the tree.
"...You mean climb it?"
"Oh... are you bad at climbing things?" Venti asked. "Most of everyone I know is an excellent climber."
"I'm... pretty sure I'm terrible at it."
"That's fine!" Venti said cheerfully—and then simply lifted off the ground, hovering there like it was the most natural thing in the world. Well, Natrual for him. Not so much for Oliver.
Oliver stumbled back a step. "What—"
Venti pressed his lips together, clearly trying not to laugh.
"I—" Oliver shook his head. "Okay. You said you were a god. I guess that tracks."
Venti swooped down to Oliver, and without asking, or waiting for his permission, Venti put his arms around him. "Uh- what are you-," Then Venti hoisted Oliver up, and took off into the air with him.
"AH?!" Oliver grabbed onto Venti with both hands, every muscle in his body going rigid.
Venti snorted. "Oh hush down, I'm not going to drop you," he giggled.
Oliver's grip did not loosen even slightly.
Venti carried him up through the branches, weaving between the thick arms of the tree until the ground disappeared entirely beneath a canopy of green. Then he slowed, dipped, and set Oliver down into something that gave gently beneath his weight.
A hammock. Strung between two of the biggest branches, hidden up here like a secret.
Venti drifted back a little, smiling. "I sometimes sleep in this! No one else in Mondstadt knows about this spot. It's mine. My little hideaway in the human world."
Oliver sat up and looked around properly. Just below them, a wide branch served as a kind of shelf— covered in stacked books, random odds and ends, and more than a few empty wine bottles. He opened his mouth to comment on that, but before he could, Venti dropped down and settled into the hammock right next to him.
Oliver went very still.
"...What are you doing?"
"What? I'm sleeping here next to you," Venti said.
Oliver's face turned red so fast it was almost impressive. "Here? Next to me?"
Venti giggled. "What? It is my hammock you know." He said. "I could go back to my realm for the night, or crash at the bar with Diluc. But I don't really want to leave you up here unattended."
"I'm an adult you know," Oliver said, his voice coming out a little strangled. "I can handle myself. You don't gotta watch over me..."
Venti snorted with a small burst of giggles. "That's not what I mean. At night, monsters wander around out here. I want to make sure you're safe. And the bar gets rowdy— last thing you need is some drunk guy stumbling into you." He paused. "Up here, though? You're fine. The monsters almost never climb. If they do, I can defend them off for ya!"
Oliver froze momentarily. Lewd thoughts of... sleeping in the same hammock with the bard vanished out of his mind momentarily. "M-Monsters?"
"Yeah! But they rarely climb as I said. So you should be fine up here!"
Oliver nodded. "O-Okay..."
Venti watched him for a second, then grinned. "Or maybe you're just flustered about sharing a hammock with me~"
The red came rushing back.
Oliver cleared his throat loudly.
Venti giggled. "Well be a little less raunchy~," he teased. "We're just two guys, in the same hammock about to get some sleep until morning! Nothing else~,"
Oliver covered his face with both hands.
Venti was already laughing as he turned over, pulling a folded blanket from somewhere and tossing it over Oliver without looking. "Goodnight!"
Oliver peered over at him. Venti had his back turned, perfectly still— except for the quiet giggling that kept slipping out no matter how hard he seemed to be trying to stop it.
Biggest tease in all of Mondstadt. Possibly the world, Oliver thought.
Oliver exhaled and sank back into the hammock. Grudgingly, he had to admit: it was incredibly comfortable. And roomy. It was big enough to hold two people. He sighed. He might as well get some sleep. It was a long day.
Still no memories. But who knows? He might get his memories tomorrow. He looked up as he could see the remaining of the branches of the tree they were in, swerving left and right. He could see the few stars he could glance up at through the branches. It was peaceful. He felt like he never did something like this before. Sleeping In a hammock, gazing at the stars above him... with a cute boy sleeping next to him.
Or maybe he had. It was hard to tell when your memories are gone from your mind.
He took a sigh. He was just grateful to go to sleep on a full belly, and is able to actually get some sleep in a very comfortable setting. He smiled softly as he closed his eyes, snuggling into the blanket.
~~~~~
Begin send back.
System reboot commencing.
Body transfer in 3... 2... 1...
~~~~~~
Oliver's eyes snapped open.
Dark. The tree was gone. The stars were gone. Venti was gone.
He was staring at the low ceiling of a dimly lit room, his body completely locked in place. He tried to move his arms— nothing. His legs— nothing. Only his head was free.
"What—" He looked down. Clamps on the armrests. Wires running up and down his arms. "What is this? Why am I strapped down—"
And then it hit him, all at once, flooding back.
"The experiment." He exhaled sharply. "Right. The experiment."
But something was wrong. He looked around. This wasn't the right room. The walls were different. The layout was different. There were other chairs lined along the edges of the space, half-swallowed by shadow— he couldn't tell if they were empty or not. "I wasn't strapped down before.."
"Dr. Barclay?" His voice came out louder than he meant it to. No answer. "Dr. Barclay!"
Silence.
"Why didn't I remember any of this while I was in there?" He strained against the clamps again, uselessly. "He never said I'd forget— and he never said anything about being restrained—" He panted from his excessive struggles to move. At the far end of the room, something that might be a door. A thin strip of light through a small window. "Am I even still in his lab?"
Error — Dimensional transfer
Oliver went still. He craned his neck upward with effort, twisting to see the screen mounted above him.
Vitals of subject: Fine
Dimension Gateway: Closed
Media: Genshin Impact — Media Type: Game — Fictional Universe Code: Sub-3921 — Missing Elements: Missing some lore points, other subs have more; different locations — Stable for transfers.
He stared at it. He'd seen that before. He remembered seeing it. So why had it thrown an error?
"Dr. Barclay, something's wrong with the machine—"
Beginning transfer
Oliver gasped. "Wait— I need to talk to Doctor Bar—!"
Suddenly there was a zap that went through Oliver, and his eyes shot open with a force. "Ah!" He gasped, and looked around. He saw tree branches above him, and the night sky. He rubbed his eyes. He turned to look at Venti next to him. "Why did I wake up with such force?" He rubbed his eyes again. "That was weird..." he muttered to himself. "it's like I had a nightmare, but I do not remember it."
He snuggled into the covers again. "Maybe tomorrow I'll get my memories back, I hope."