Chapter Text
Venti had slipped out of the bathroom, giving Oliver some privacy to finish up his bath. With a quiet sigh, Oliver scrubbed the last remnants of soap from his skin and stepped out of the tub, the warm water cascading off him and spiraling down the drain. He felt fresher now.
But the moment the cooler air of the room hit his wet skin, the lingering warmth evaporated, and his mind began to cloud over once again—almost as if that heartfelt conversation with his boyfriend had never happened at all.
Oliver grabbed a towel, dried himself, and pulled on the fresh set of clothes the Traveler and Paimon had so kindly washed for him.
He stepped out of the bathroom, swinging the door open to find all three of them gathered in the room.
Venti's eyes lit up the moment he turned around. "Feeling better now?" the bard asked, a bright smile on his face. "Nothing like a nice warm bath after walking for hours!"
"Tell me about it," the Traveler chuckled in agreement.
Oliver couldn't help but smile back as he walked over to them. "Yeah, I feel totally better now."
"That's good," Venti murmured, leaning in to press a sweet kiss to Oliver's cheek.
Floating nearby, Paimon groaned and covered her face with her tiny hands. "Just because we know you're dating this guy doesn't mean you gotta kiss him in front of us!"
A soft blush crept up Oliver's neck at her outburst.
Venti just looked in her direction, completely unfazed. "Hey, it was just one kiss!"
"Which is one of many kisses we're going to have to see!" Paimon shot back.
"Sounds like the small floating bean is jelly~!" Venti teased, playfully nudging Oliver's side. "Come on, let's get out of here and see what fun we can find around town before nightfall."
Oliver nodded, his smile returning. "Okay."
"You pick what we do~," Venti hummed cheerfully.
~~~~~~
"I shouldn't have let you pick what we do," Venti grumbled a little while later, though a tiny, bubbly giggle betrayed his feigned annoyance.
Oliver hadn't known what to choose, so he had ultimately decided they should help the Knights of Favonius instea dof doing something 'fun'. Lisa had needed a hand tracking down some overdue books that had been left unreturned to the library.
"I swear, you're going to join the Knights one of these days, I'm telling you," Venti sighed playfully, shaking his head. "Diluc from back then wouldn't approve." The bard chuckled at the memory. "You're like him in a way. Though, he likes them now."
"Hey, I just wanted something to do, you know?"
Venti giggled, pulling Oliver flush against his side. "What we could do is cuddle and kiss all night," he grumbled through a yawn, planting another kiss on Oliver's cheek.
Oliver certainly wouldn't mind that one bit. But, ugh. The teasing bard was back in full force. Not that he ever really left. "You're being a tease again—"
"And you're being a dork again~"
Oliver blinked, deadpan. "Well, let me just tick this one on the list." He raised a hand and pretended to draw a tally mark in the empty air. "Tally two."
Venti tilted his head, feigning innocence. "What? Huh? What are you talking about?"
"You being a tease. I still gotta pay you back for what you said to me this morning before we left for Sumeru."
Venti blinked, a look of realization dawning on his face before he snorted. "Oh!" He giggled. "Oh, yeah, you did say that. When I said don't get a boner out in the heat—"
Oliver let out an embarrassed grunt and slapped his hand directly over Venti's mouth.
Venti gasped against his palm. "Hey!" he protested, his voice completely muffled. Laughing, he grabbed Oliver's wrist and pulled the hand away. "How do you even remember that, Mr. Memory Loss Boy~?"
Oliver slowly turned to look at Venti, his eyes narrowed playfully. "Okay," he said, drawing another invisible mark in the air. "Three strikes, you're out."
Venti just snorted again. "Oh, I'm so scared~," he teased.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The two boyfriends spent the next two hours helping Lisa round up the missing books. Before heading to Good Hunter for dinner, they retreated to a hammock to rest—a cozy little habit they had fallen into over the last couple of days.
They lay there just chilling as a cool Mondstadt breeze drifted over them. Breaking the comfortable silence, Oliver turned his head toward Venti. "Ready for your punishment~?"
"Still going on about that?" Venti rolled his eyes with a dramatic sigh. "What could you possibly do, huh~?"
Without warning, Oliver lunged, digging his fingers right into Venti's armpits.
"eEEK!?" Venti shrieked, instantly thrashing. "WHAHHAHEHEIIIT!!!" He yelled, desperately trying to shove Oliver's hands away, but his boyfriend was relentless, scattering his fingers all over Venti's upper body and up and down his sides.
"BAHAHAHAHAHAAHA! OLLIE NOOOOHOHOHOOO!!!" Venti howled, his loud giggles echoing around them. Sthahahaop itttt!!!" The bard shoved at Oliver's chest, but he couldn't dislodge him. Or, perhaps, he didn't really want to.
Oliver tried to shift his tactics, attempting to slip his fingers under Venti's corset to get at his stomach and belly button—Oliver's absolute favorite spots to tickle. But the corset seemed to be laced extra tight today, and he couldn't even get a finger under the stiff fabric.
Venti, still breathless and hiccuping residual giggles from the armpit attack, looked down to see his boyfriend essentially wrestling with his clothes. The bard snorted, breaking into a fresh fit of laughter. "Oh my, look at your face~," he teased. "You silly boy~."
"Ugh, help me out here," Oliver pouted, looking up at him with pleading eyes.
Venti giggled, leaning down to press a swift kiss to those pouty lips. "Really? I should help you~?" Venti grinned, pulling back slightly. "So, you attack me with tickles, and then beg me for help so you can continue the tickles, all because you can't get under my tight corset?"
Oliver's pout deepened. "But this is your punishment for being a tease!"
Venti couldn't contain it; he threw his head back and laughed loudly, a bright, musical sound. "Oh my word, I can't!" He gasped, taking a moment to catch his breath. "You're so funny!" He let out a few more stray chuckles before a mischievous spark lit up his teal eyes. "Tell you what. I won't take off my clothes for you~ I won't even use the wind to help this time. You will take it off~ In fact, all of it!"
Oliver's face burned bright red. "M-Me? Take off your clothes?"
He had never done that before. Whenever they did anything exceptionally lovey-dovey, Venti would always just remove his own clothes or playfully use his Anemo powers to whisk them away in a breeze. Oliver had never unraveled every complicated layer by hand.
He blinked, realization dawning on him. "Hey! Wait a minute, this is supposed to be your punishment!"
Venti snorted unapologetically. "Oops~."
"I-,"
Venti pressed his fingers gently against Oliver's lips to silence him. "Uh-uh-uh~ The Anemo Archon has spoken~."
Oliver just stared blankly at the bard, his lips still squished beneath Venti's fingers. "Bringing in your god title to be even more of a tease, I see," he muttered against Venti's fingertips, before gently kissing them.
Venti smirked, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "Only for you~"
Oliver rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh. "Fine," he declared, puffing out his chest. "This will be easy. A piece of cake!" His eyes drifted down to Venti's intricate, multi-layered outfit. He blinked. Fuck, this is gonna be hard.
"And remember," Venti giggled. "All my clothing."
"Geez, is the top part not enough?" Oliver grumbled. "Alright. Well, let's start with the easiest—" He reached up, plucked the beret from Venti's head, and set it carefully to the side. "There we are. That's that."
Venti snorted. "Still got a lot more to go, cutie~."
The bard wasn't kidding. Staring down at the corset, Oliver realized he had absolutely no idea how it functioned. "I— Do I—" He gently tried to roll Venti's torso to the side to check the back, while Venti just sat there, giggling as he watched his boyfriend try to solve the puzzle of his wardrobe.
"Oh—" Oliver had expected there to be laces to undo, but after he gently rolled Venti around to face him again, he finally noticed the three golden buttons on the front of the corset. "Ah!" He touched them, only to realize he had no idea how to unfasten them. "Uh—"
Venti let out another snort.
"Don't laugh!" Oliver grumbled, his brow furrowing in concentration. "I got this!" He ran his fingers along the edge of the corset, finally finding a hidden crease. "Oh! I see, so I just pull it off from this end!" He gave it a tug, but something caught it tight. Oliver blinked, tracing the fabric until he found the culprit: A belt? The strap holding Venti's glowing Vision was completely blocking the corset from opening.
"Damn it," Oliver muttered.
Venti wheezed, clapping a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter.
Defeated but determined, Oliver shifted his focus to the Vision belt.
"Don't put that too far now," Venti warned between giggles. "I mean, remember I said I use it to store some of my powers. I need it close by so I don't lose everything."
"Well, that'll be helpful to know once I figure out how to get it off at all!" Oliver grunted in frustration.
Venti was a total giggling mess by now. This was hilarious to him—the sight of Oliver struggling this hard over his everyday clothes.
Finally, Oliver discovered the trick. It detached from the back. He unclasped the belt-like accessory and carefully set it down nearby in the hammock, ensuring it wasn't too far, just as Venti had instructed.
With the obstacle cleared, Oliver returned to the corset, popping the buttons free and pulling the stiff fabric around Venti's waist to remove it completely.
But looking back at venti, Oliver realized his job was far from over. Venti still had the frilly white blouse, the teal cape, and his elaborate bow.
Oliver shook his head in disbelief. "I can completely see why you use the wind to dress yourself." He reached over, grabbing one of the tails of the bow and tugging until it unraveled. He pulled it free and tossed it onto the discarded corset.
He moved his hands toward the white blouse, but stopped short, realizing the cape was still pinned in place.
"Okay, if I was really horny and we needed to have sex, the mood would have been gone a long time ago," Oliver laughed gently, shaking his head.
Venti giggled along with him, leaning comfortably back into the hammock netting. "I told you, that's why I use my wind! Haha!"
Oliver leaned in close, his face hovering right above Venti's as he tried to examine the clasps holding the cape.
"Hmm~ hey there~," Venti hummed, never missing a chance to tease. When Oliver's eyes flicked up to meet his, the bard leaned the rest of the way in, planting a sweet, lingering kiss on his lips. "I think you're getting it~ you got the cape loose."
Oliver giggled into the kiss. This boyfriend of his was way too much. He gently slid the dark fabric off Venti's shoulders and pulled it away.
"Yay!" Venti cheered softly. "He took off the cape. Or, shall I say, the 'Bat man' cape," he giggled. "I'm still wondering why you called me that. Ugh, I should have asked while you were in the tub."
Oliver blinked, a little confused by the memory gap, but shrugged it off. He had tunnel vision now; his focus was entirely on the white frilly blouse. "Wait, how do I—" He paused.
Venti bit his lip, eyes sparkling. "Having trouble there~?"
Oliver looked down and realized the shirt was securely tucked into Venti's poofy shorts. "Oh. Okay." He reached down to Venti's waist and began to gently tug the hem of the shirt out, half-worried he was going to tear the delicate fabric. But it held together perfectly.
Once it was untucked, he grasped the bottom and pulled it upwards. Venti smiled, happily raising his arms so Oliver could slip the blouse smoothly over his head.
Oliver tossed the shirt onto the growing pile of clothes beside them in the hammock.
Venti giggled and clapped his hands together. "Yay, he did it!"
Oliver rolled his eyes playfully. Then, without a single second of warning, he lunged forward, tackling Venti and immediately ruthlessly tickling the breath right out of him.
"BAHAHAHA! Hey, a little warning at least!!!" Venti shrieked between breathless giggles.
"Punishment time~!" Oliver cheered, his fingers immediately going to his favorite body part, digging ruthlessly into Venti's exposed belly button.
"EEEHEHEHEHEEEEKK~!!!!" Venti wailed, his arms and legs flailing wildly against the hammock as Oliver finally went to town on his navel.