Chapter Text
~ Four Days Later ~
The past few days had drifted by at a slow pace. Though, in the short amount of days, Venti and Oliver's affection for one another had only blossomed more. They felt undeniably closer, their bond strengthening with every passing sunset.
Venti was still determined to help Oliver recover his memories and uncover the truth about whatever realm he had come from. But despite their best efforts, they both had found no success.
Currently, Venti was lounging on the soft grass just outside the canopy of the great tree, with Oliver resting right by his side.
"Okay—" Venti turned to Oliver, his eyes bright. "Someone from another nation is coming over to Mondstadt. Something about a trade thingy. He already visited once, but the Knights of Favonius are supposed to head over there to finalize the paperwork or whatever. Boring stuff, honestly, but I decided to secretly help them out!" Venti beamed. "Yes! The drunken bard is finally being of use for once! Not that I'm never of use," he quickly cleared his throat. "Besides, it'll be nice to show you the other nations."
Oliver, laying in the grass beside him, tilted his head in confusion. "But I thought you were certain I'm from another world? What's the point of me seeing the other nations here?"
Venti nodded. "Yeah, I know, Ollie. But I'm sure you don't want to be cooped up in Mondstadt forever," he reasoned. "Also, even though I am certain you're from another world based on what you've told me—"
"It feels so weird to hear that I said something without actually remembering it," Oliver muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
"—though I am certain you are from another world," Venti continued seamlessly, "you weirdly remember places here. Like how you mentioned Mondstadt looking familiar. Then you said the exact same thing about Fontaine." The bard shook his head. "It's really bizarre, and I still don't understand how that's possible."
Oliver sighed. "I don't either." He turned his gaze toward the distant city of Mondstadt. "There is definitely something about this town, but I just can't lay my finger on it."
"Okay, wait here," Venti said, suddenly standing up and turning around. The bard was finally using his brain for once. "I don't know how long we'll be staying in the nation we're heading to, so I'm going to go stock up on some food for us." He began to walk away. "Just stay right there, I'll be back in a flash."
As soon as Venti trotted off, Oliver looked down at the ground. Maybe I should just lay back down on the grass until he gets back, he thought.
He was just about to sit drop back down, when something nearby caught his eye. "Huh? What's that?"
It was some sort of blue, gelatinous blob hopping through the grass. It had large, expressive eyes at the front and looked almost like it was made of pure water. "Aww? What are you? You look kinda cute." Oliver got back up, then wandered over toward it. "Is it some type of animal?" He inched closer, captivated by the strange creature.
"Hello there," Oliver smiled, kneeling down to get a better look at the blue blob. "I wonder if I can pet it—"
Suddenly, the creature sprang into the air and slammed directly into his face, drenching him in a splash of cold water.
"AHHH?!" Oliver yelped in sheer surprise, thrashing his arms wildly to get it off. "AH GET OFFA' ME!!!"
He didn't know how, but in his frantic panic, a sword materialized directly into his hands. "HUH?!"
Without even thinking, Olvier threw the blob off of his face, then he swung the blade into the blue blob a couple of times until, with a wet pop, it completely vanished.
Oliver stood there panting, but this wasn't over.
Five more blobs were suddenly bouncing his way. They all hopped toward him, blinking those deceptively adorable eyes.
"Oh, fuck—"
"Holy shit, those things are the cuteness of death!" Oliver raised the sword instinctively. In a flash, a blast of intense fire erupted from the tip of the blade, incinerating one of the slimes on the spot. Oliver blinked, stunned. "What? How did I—" He blinked again, staring at his hands. "Wait a minute, when did I even get a sword in the first place?!"
The remaining blobs kept coming. "Oh god, why are they multiplying like Minecraft slimes?!"
Oliver slashed his sword in a wide arc. A powerful gale of wind shot out from the steel, launching all the slime blobs into the air where they became trapped in a spinning whirlwind.
He stared at his weapon in utter disbelief. "Did... did I do that?"
Suddenly, the air beside him grew stiflingly hot. He whipped his head to the left and saw a new wave of blobs hopping toward him—but these ones were on fire.
"Oh, fuck! They're flaming now?!"
Oliver swung wildly at them, and to his shock, his sword instantly frosted over, turning to pure ice. He just went with it, slashing defensively, but the overwhelming, radiating heat from the fiery blobs was beginning to get to him.
Then, something violently zapped within his mind.
"AHHH!" Oliver dropped the sword. The fire blobs were inching ever closer, but his eyes snapped wide open. "...Why do I remember again?" He blinked, the fog in his brain suddenly parting. "I remember... I... Wait, where did Venti go?! I need to tell him! VENTI!"
Oliver took off sprinting. His discarded sword lingered on the grass for a second before fading into thin air.
"Venti! VENTI, WHERE ARE YOU?!"
But the moment Oliver fled from the oppressive heat of the fire slimes, the sudden clarity in his mind abruptly evaporated. He slowed his frantic sprint to a jog, and then to a confused halt.
"Uhhh..." He looked around, completely bewildered. "Why was I running? What just happened?" He glanced over his shoulder and saw the flaming blobs still steadily hopping in his direction—about seven of them now. "OH, THAT'S WHY!"
Oliver geared up to bolt again—
"Ollie? What's going—"
Not looking where he was going, Oliver slammed right into Venti. "AHH!" They both yelped, tumbling into a tangled heap on the grass.
Oliver shot up into a sitting position. "VENTI, VENTI! OH GOD BRUH THEY COMING!"
Venti gracefully hopped to his feet, dusting himself off. "Oh! Those are just Pyro Slimes!" With a flick of his wrist, an ornate bow materialized in his hands, and he dropped into a battle stance.
Oliver froze, staring at him. "Uh—? Excuse me?" He blinked repeatedly.
Before he could process it, Venti vaulted high into the air. Oliver could barely track his movements as a volley of glowing arrows rained down from the sky.
"VENTI, WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" Oliver shouted over the noise.
Venti landed back on the grass in a dramatic pose: one leg extended, his fist brushing the ground, his other hand gripping the bow tightly. In the background, every single flaming blob dissipated into a cloud of harmless ash.
Oliver stared in absolute awe. "V-Venti?"
The bard stood up straight and glanced over his shoulder, a smug little grin plastered across his face. "I looked so cool just then, didn't I?"
"Cool? That was freaking amazing! I... did you just summon a bow?!"
Venti giggled, then stood back up, and the bow vanished. "Yep! But seriously, stick close to me out here! Sorry I left you unattended for a minute!" Venti laughed, scratching the back of his neck. "Those were some of the monsters I warned you about. They're called Slimes. There are a few different elemental types; those ones were Pyro Slimes." He reached out and gently took Oliver's hands. "I got our supplies! Are you ready for the teleport?"
Oliver took a deep, steadying breath. "I suppose I am."
Venti nodded. He leaned in, pressing a quick, sweet kiss to Oliver's lips, tightened his grip on his hands, and then—with a sudden, rushing breath of wind—
Oliver stumbled slightly as they reappeared, but quickly caught his balance. As his vision adjusted, he realized they were standing on a wooden dock. Bobbing gently on the water in front of them was a compact, enclosed wooden boat.
"W-Whoa? Where are we?" he asked, looking around. "Is this the other nation?"
"Nah, we aren't there yet," Venti said, strolling down the dock toward the vessel. "The nation we're heading to is called Inazuma. It's an archipelago broken up into many different islands. I would have just teleported us all the way there, but I forgot exactly which island that general is stationed on, and I didn't want to subject you to like five rapid-fire teleports in a row."
Venti stepped lightly onto the boat and held his hand out. Oliver eyed the vessel hesitantly, then looked back at Venti. It had a solid roof and a sleek design; it definitely wasn't a simple rowboat. It looked mechanically powered.
"Uh... how does this even work?" Oliver asked, taking Venti's hand and letting the bard guide him aboard.
Venti moved along the deck and popped open the cabin door, gesturing inside. "You control it from in there."
Oliver peeked into the interior. "Huh..." he muttered, taking in the sight. There was a primary control seat and a rows of bench seats stringed along the side. Almost like the Aqua bus. "Y-You're going to drive it, right? Because I don't think I'd be able to figure this out."
Venti nodded reassuringly. "Of course! Why would I make you do something hard like this?" Once they were both inside, Venti pulled the door shut and hopped into the captain's chair.
"Let's go!" The moment Venti settled in, he shoved a heavy lever forward, and the boat smoothly launched away from the dock.
Oliver gasped, grabbing the edges of his bench seat. "Woah— Uh? There was no start-up sequence at all," he marveled.
Venti just chuckled, keeping a light grip on the controls. "The water should be pretty calm today. It's going to take a couple of hours to get there, though. So feel free to take a nap, or just relax. Or... you could keep me company and talk to me, if you want~."
The interior of the Waverider had small bench seats lined up along the sides. Oliver was settled onto the right-side bench and scooted a little closer to Venti. "Dang," Oliver remarked. "A couple of hours? I'm surprised you didn't just teleport us directly."
Venti shrugged casually. "Remember I just said I forgot where the General is. But I kind of just wanted an excuse to chat with you on the way. Plus—not that I really care—but Amber would be super suspicious about how quickly we returned. She doesn't know that I'm Barbatos. Jean does, but not Amber."
Oliver looked at the back of Venti's head. "How many people actually know you're Barbatos?"
Without taking his eyes off the water, Venti shrugged again. "I dunno. I've kinda lost track by now. But I usually only let the people I trust the most know. People who I know won't go babbling about it to the rest of the world, you know?"
Oliver nodded softly. "Okay." He leaned back on the bench, his shoulders hitting the wooden wall behind him. Letting out a calm, contented sigh, he rested his hands on his stomach.
"Hey—" Venti turned his head slightly to look at him. "You should try something. To help with your memory."
Oliver looked up. "What is it?" he asked.
Venti turned his eyes back to the horizon. "You should hum."
Oliver blinked, raising an eyebrow. "Hum?"
"Yeah!" Venti giggled. "Remember when I told you how memory wipes rarely erase the deepest layers of your subconscious? If you love music—assuming your homeworld actually had music—those songs will still be buried somewhere in your mind!" Venti tapped his fingers against the boat's controls, a fond smile on his face. "So, just hum a tune. It doesn't even have to make sense! Just hum whatever comes to you naturally, and maybe, just maybe, a song from your world will come rushing back!"
Oliver thought about it for a moment. It actually didn't sound like a bad idea. "Huh," he murmured. "Venti, that's actually a really great idea."
"Hmm!" Venti hummed proudly, closing his eyes with a smile.
Oliver took a deep breath, shook out his shoulders to loosen up, and relaxed back against the wall of the Waverider. He began to hum softly to himself. "Hmmm-mmmm-mmmm—"
He caught Venti sneaking a fond glance at him from the corner of his eye. Their eyes met, and Oliver broke into a giggle, stopping his tune. "Venti, stop~ you're distracting me."
Venti snorted. "Gee, am I not even allowed to look at you~? Fine, fine~." He fixed his gaze firmly out the front window.
Oliver smiled warmly, closing his eyes to focus. He picked the melody back up. "Hmmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-rmmmm..."
He stayed like that for quite a while. The boat swayed rhythmically as it cut across the waves, the gentle rocking motion lulling him into a deep state of relaxation. His fingers tapped lightly against his exposed midriff in time with his humming. "Hmmm-mmm..."
His mind was totally clear. He wasn't forcing anything, just letting the vibrations soothe him. Even if no memories surfaced, he was happy just to feel this calm.
"Hmm-mrrrrmmm-mmm..."
But then, after a while, Oliver found himself looping a very specific pattern. "Hmm-mmm-mmmm..." His brow furrowed slightly, his eyes still closed. "Hmm-mmm-mmmmm..."
What was that melody? It felt... so profoundly familiar. But he couldn't quite grasp its meaning. He kept at it, tracing the musical loop, until his voice shifted from a closed-mouth hum to an open tune.
"Oooo..."
Oliver's eyes snapped open. He shot a glance at Venti, who was still casually steering the Waverider, before his gaze darted down to the floorboards.
"Ooo..." Oliver blinked, the notes tumbling out of him automatically. "Oooo-eee-oooo..."
He kept going, driven by an invisible force. "Ooo...eee...ooo..."
"Dooo-do-doo... Doooo-do-do..." Oliver squinted hard. A sudden, vivid image flashed into his mind's eye, but it vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.
"Man, you're really humming up a storm over there, haha~" Venti giggled softly. "Did something come to mind, love?"
Oliver opened his mouth to reply, but a massive blush flooded his cheeks instead. "L-Love?"
Venti laughed, a bright, airy sound. "I mean, you are mine now. So, I get to call you all sorts of cute nicknames~."
Oliver had half a mind to throw his arms around the bard and squeeze him tight, but he knew better than to tackle the person actively piloting their boat.
"Uh, yeah... something did pop into my mind just then," Oliver admitted.
"Oooh~ Do tell!" Venti beamed.
"Well, it's not much, if you're expecting some grand revelation. Just... a blue blur. That's literally all that popped in there. A blue blur falling down some type of tunnel. That was it." Oliver groaned, sounding more than a little defeated.
Venti just giggled, then reassured Oliver. "That's okay! It's still a start! Looks like my genius plan was a success after all!" He smiled proudly.
Oliver couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah," he smiled softly to himself. "I still don't completely understand why you're dragging me all over Teyvat if you know I'm not from here."
Venti let out an exaggerated sigh. "Ollie~ how many times do I have to tell you? Even if you are from another world—which we're pretty sure you are—there's still something weird going on. Remember, Mondstadt looked familiar to you. So did Fontaine as I have been saying. Unless your home world somehow has two exact replicas of our cities, it's a mystery worth looking into."
Oliver nodded slowly. "You're right. It... it is rather weird how I find comfort and familiarity in these places."
He pushed himself up from the bench and moved over to the captain's chair. Stepping behind Venti, he wrapped his arms securely around the bard's shoulders, leaning his weight forward into the embrace.
Venti gasped softly. "Hehe! Ollie, I'm trying to sail here~" he teased, leaning back into the touch. "You're going to distract me... Oops, it's happening~!"
Oliver pouted playfully, withdrawing his arms and shuffling back to his seat.
Venti let out another bright laugh. "So needy," he teased. "We can cuddle all you want when we're done with this commission and back at the tree."
Oliver slumped against the wall with an exaggerated, theatrical pout, playing along with the joke that he might bee needy for Venti.
Venti snorted. "You absolute dork!" He laughed warmly. "Don't give me those puppy eyes, you cutie~."
Smiling, Oliver decided to shift the conversation. "Hey, I remember you mentioning once that you... have a realm you can sleep in?"
Venti blinked in surprise, then nodded. "Oh, yeah! I did tell you about that. Man, I really just spilled all my deepest secrets to you right off the bat, didn't I? Well, most of them~," he winked playfully before turning his attention back to the ocean. "But yeah, I have a realm for myself."
"You said something about not being able to take me there, though."
"Well, it's not that I'm completely unable to take you, but bringing you through regular teleportation was a risk I took. I really don't want to gamble with bringing you into my personal realm. I've never, ever brought a mortal human in there with me before. Or, well, at least I don't remember ever doing so," Venti explained, his voice softening. "I love you so much now, Ollie. I want to protect you in every single way a god-bard can."
Oliver felt his heart do a massive leap in his chest. Love...
Venti loved him. He desperately wanted to say it back, to shout it from the rooftops, but something heavy and invisible was anchoring his tongue. It wasn't a lack of feeling; he adored the bard. But some deep, buried instinct in his mind was clawing at him, violently preventing the words from slipping past his lips.
"W-We... we really got incredibly close in just a few days," Oliver managed to stammer out.
"That we did, haha!" Venti agreed brightly. "I mean, I've had boyfriends and girlfriends throughout my long life, but... there is just something so incredibly special about you, Oliver. I can't quite put it into words." Venti turned his head to look at him, his eyes filled with absolute sincerity. "You're super funny. You make me laugh so hard. My friends would probably joke that it's just the dandelion wine talking, but nah, it's all you~."
Venti's smile grew impossibly soft. "You're also incredibly cute. Like, so cute. I don't think I've ever seen someone quite as cute as you. And you know the thing I love most? You respect my boundaries. I know I've told you that already, but I really, truly appreciate it. I've never even been the type to be super big on sex—" Venti paused, looking back out at the rolling waves. "But I actually look forward to it with you. I dunno what kind of spell you've cast on me," Venti sighed, a happy, contented sound. "You just know exactly how to melt an old bard's heart~."
Oliver's face had been burning a vibrant, scarlet red for the entire speech. Utterly overwhelmed by affection, embarrassment, and sheer happiness, he let out a muffled groan, slid off the bench, and collapsed onto the wooden floorboards, burying his face in his hands.
Venti caught the dramatic display from his peripheral vision and burst into a fit of laughter. "Bahahaha! What was that?!" he wheezed. "Did I mention how much I love that you're a massive dork? You're too cute!"
Oliver lay flat on his back, staring hopelessly up at the wooden ceiling. Gods, this bard made his heart race. He loved him... so why couldn't he just say it? Oliver sighed heavily. Maybe deep down in my subconscious... there's something wrong with me. Maybe that's what's holding me back...
Slowly, Oliver realized the cabin was getting incredibly stuffy. It was uncomfortably warm. He tugged loosely at the collar of his shirt. And no, it wasn't because Venti made him blush to 100% maximum.
"Whoo—" Venti exhaled loudly, using a hand to fan his flushed face. "It is getting seriously hot in here." He glanced down at Oliver. "Hey, Ollie?"
Oliver looked up from the floor. He already knew what Venti was going to ask. They needed to open a window, or maybe the door. Oliver could feel a bead of sweat rolling down his neck. "Yeah, it's getting hot. Want me to—"
Suddenly, a violent zap flared in Oliver's mind.
"Yeah—" Venti gestured toward the cabin door. "Pop that open so we can get some fresh air in here."
Oliver froze on the floor. His head throbbed intensely for a split second, his eyes widening in shock as he stared at the bard.
The memory. It was flooding back. The clarity returned with brutal force. Oliver opened his mouth, desperate to get the words out. "V-Venti—?!"
But Venti just waved his hand toward the door again. "Ollie, the door? You wouldn't want your poor Bard to melt into a puddle of pyro sludge, would you~?"
Oliver's mind was racing. He had to tell Venti what was going on. He had to finish explaining to Venti what was going on. But he quickly listened to him, and went to open the door.
He really shouldn't have done that, and speak to Venti first.
Because the exact moment the wooden door swung open, allowing the crisp, cool ocean wind to blast into the stuffy cabin, the clarity in Oliver's mind vanished without a trace.
"Whoo!" Venti sighed in absolute relief, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. "Ah, that is much better. Even the Bard of the Winds needs a good breeze to cool off every now and then." He smiled warmly, glancing over his shoulder at his companion.
Oliver stood by the open door, his expression completely blank. For a agonizingly quiet second, there was nothing but static behind his eyes.
And then, just like that, the fog settled, and he was back to normal.
"Yeah, it was getting seriously hot in here," Oliver chuckled, leaning against the open door frame.
"Just make sure to close it soon," Venti warned gently, his hands steady on the wheel. "We wouldn't want the ocean spray splashing in here and making a mess. Don't worry, just a little while longer until we reach the islands!"