Chapter Text
Now, all of them were sitting on the cold metal floor, with coming to terms with their new face...
Or rather, their new, fictional face.
Oliver sat cross-legged in front of Venti, both of them looking like two kindergarteners at story time. August and Arnold had stretched out beside them, legs extended, leaning back on their hands.
Oliver looked over to Venti. "Babe, this is August."
August offered a friendly wave.
Oliver then looked at the younger boy hugging his knees. "And this is Ar—" He caught the sharp, uncomfortable look the kid gave him. "I-I mean, Richard."
Clearing his throat, Oliver looked to his right, gesturing toward the transfer chair resting near the doorway. "And in that chair—sadly, he can't talk right now—that's Jasper. Though, to be fair, I haven't officially met him yet. None of us have, actually."
Oliver let out a heavy sigh as he wrapped up his explanation to Venti. "So, basically, we're all victims of Doctor Barclay." He blinked up at the bard. "Most of us were supposedly kidnapped by him so he could pull off whatever experiments he wanted to do regarding dimensions beyond his own."
Venti gave Oliver and the other boys a soft, empathetic look, his bright eyes filled with profound sadness and worry for their situation.
August straightened his posture, leaning his weight back onto his hands. "What I wanna know, though—" He locked eyes with the bard. "Is how exactly you ended up in here."
Oliver blinked, instantly turning to look at his boyfriend.
Realizing all eyes were on him, Venti rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Oh! Well, uh... I actually stayed awake tonight," he began. "So, for the first time, I was able to see exactly what happens to Oliver when he goes back."
Oliver gasped. "Oh! I totally didn't even think about that!" It had never occurred to him that Venti would have to witness his avatar just going completely limp every single night.
"I always fell asleep before you did," Venti continued. "So I had never seen it happen until—"
"Wait," August said. "You two were sleeping together?"
Oliver narrowed his eyes at August. "We are supposed to be having a serious conversation right now, you know," he said in a deadpan voice.
Venti snorted, quickly bringing a hand up to cover his mouth. He let out a few muffled giggles before trying to force his expression back into something serious. "Anyways! Tonight I tried something different. I used my anemo energy on his lifeless avatar. I pushed... and I pushed, and... well, here I am!" Venti beamed brightly. "My word..." He shook his head in absolute wonder. "Who would have ever thought my powers would allow me to traverse universes?" He blinked down at the floor, still amazed by it all.
Oliver tapped his fingers nervously against his knee. "We can't keep Venti here, though."
August looked at him sharply. "Huh? Why not? What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? What do you mean, 'what's wrong'?!" Oliver snapped, his anxiety spiking. "Dude, as much as I desperately want my boyfriend here with me, what are we supposed to do with him if we ever actually leave this building?!" He threw his hands out toward the exit of the room. "I can't exactly parade around my hometown with a literal anime boy by my side!"
August glanced over at Oliver's abandoned transfer chair. "Maybe we can just hook Venti up to the chair and send him back?"
Oliver winced, staring at August as if the suggestion physically pained him. "Dude. No! Wouldn't that just create an avatar version of him in his world? Then the exact same nightmare that happened to me would happen to him! The whole cycle would just repeat itself!" Oliver shook his head vehemently. "I would never want Venti to go through that, and I highly doubt the residents of Teyvat would appreciate their bard's memory vanishing, either. It would make for a hell of a world quest though, but no!"
August nodded slowly in concession. "Good point, good point." He sucked on his teeth, deep in thought. "I guess we'll have to figure out a different way to handle this... but how?"
Oliver sighed, his gaze dropping to his lap. "I don't know. But we have to actually get out of here first."
"Maybe that boy could help."
Oliver squinted. "Boy?" He looked at August, thoroughly confused. "Uh, who?! Which boy? The Jasper dude?" He pointed toward the chair on the right side of the room. "Isn't he still trapped in his Fallout world?"
"No, not him," August said. "I didn't tell you yet, but a night or so ago, a random guy just showed up here. He looked pretty young, around your age, I think. He said he got a 'reading' on this place and came to check it out. When he saw me and the rest of you guys connected to the machines... he told me he'd be right back as soon as he finished something incredibly important."
"What...?" Oliver muttered. "A reading on the place?"
His mind instantly snapped back to that one night he woke up back here and encountered the dark creature. The monster had said something eerily similar. A reading... The creature had gotten a tip-off about Doctor Barclay's dimensional experiments and came to investigate. Still, Oliver was completely lost as to what the dark creature's actual goals were.
"W-Was it another monster you saw? Like... the dark thing?" Oliver asked, his heart rate picking up.
"No." August shook his head firmly. "He was a human. Well, at least, I'm pretty sure he was a human. He showed up before I managed to disconnect Arnold from his chair, so it was just me who saw him."
Oliver arched an eyebrow. A human? "So... then how the hell did he get in here? Through the front door?"
"No, no, he literally teleported in," August explained, gesturing with his hands. "Like, a massive golden portal just ripped open right in here—just over there." He pointed to the back wall. "And he just waltzed right out of it."
Oliver blinked in utter disbelief. What?! "Huh!? Who was it?" Now his head was really spinning. Was this a human from his real world who somehow had magic, or did a being from one of the fictional universes manage to break out?
"Like I said, I don't know," August shrugged. "But this dude did give me a name. He said his name was Mark. He couldn't open the exit door either. He said he tried using his weapon—which he claimed could 'open any lock'—but since our door doesn't technically have a physical lock, he gave up. I... didn't even get a good look at what the weapon was."
Oliver froze. "Open any lock? ...Why does that sound exactly like... a Keyblade?"
"What?" August asked, looking totally lost.
"A Keyblade," Oliver said. "Kingdom Hearts? Please tell me you know what Kingdom Hearts is,"
August just shrugged blankly. "I have absolutely no idea what that is."
Oliver gasped, looking deeply offended. "How do you not know what Kingdom Hearts is?! Have you been living under a rock your whole life?!"
"Woah, woah! Calm down!" August laughed, throwing his hands up in a defensive surrender, a nervous smile on his face.
"How do you not know it?!"
Venti, who had been listening silently, finally chimed in. "Well, I don't know what it is either," he offered with a soft, helpful giggle.
Oliver shot his boyfriend an exasperated look. "You're literally not from this world, babe, you get a free pass." He whipped his head back to August. "But you are!"
The ridiculousness of the argument made Arnold, still curled up beside them, let out a soft, genuine giggle.
August blinked, looked down at the timid boy, and couldn't help but chuckle himself. "Well, at least we're entertaining him."
Oliver let out a soft huff of laughter, his tension breaking slightly. He looked back at the wall where the portal had supposedly opened. This situation was getting more bizarre by the minute. "So where did this Mark guy go, then? He just decided to give up and bounce? He didn't stick around to help?"
"He said he had something urgent to take care of," August explained. "Something massive. Apparently, he can travel between worlds on a whim. Like I said, he was in and out of here incredibly fast. He mentioned something crazy happening in another world... something about..." August trailed off, shrugging. "A dark thing..." He glanced back at Oliver, catching his eye. August smiled a grim, knowing smile, realizing they were on the exact same page.
"Oh, no." Oliver looked from Venti to August, dread pooling in his stomach. "Why is everything suddenly circling back to this dark creature?! What even is it?!"
"I don't know," August admitted. "But judging by how frantic Mark was to get back, it must be bad. Very, very urgent."
August let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head. First, they had Doctor Barclay to deal with—and they still had zero solid information on the shady scientist. Now, they apparently had some cosmic demon tearing through the multiverse.
"This entire situation is giving me a major migraine," August groaned, staring blankly at the cold metal floor.
"He was in a rush, but he tried his best to explain what was going on before he dipped. He said something about a 'Holder' going absolutely berserk to destroy the dark creature. Apparently, this Holder started chasing the thing across the entire multiverse," August recalled.
A spark of realization hit Oliver. "Holder?" He shot a quick glance at Venti, who mirrored his surprised expression. Oliver looked back at August. "I know... well, I don't know much, really. But apparently..." He looked fondly at the bard. "Venti is a Holder. I think that's how I was finally able to leave his world. I needed a Holder's help, and he was one. He had to use his power to turn something off inside the game's node."
August nodded thoughtfully. "Right. The Holder. I know a little bit about them from the research files I managed to read. Remember the note I gave you? A Holder is essentially a being that keeps a specific universe anchored and together. But that whole talk about a Holder 'going full Holder' and attacking... I didn't understand that part."
Oliver's mind was racing. A Holder had gone completely berserk to hunt down the dark creature. It was traveling through different worlds just to kill it. Oliver's thoughts immediately snapped to the crystalline creature that had intervened back in Teyvat.
His eyes widened as he remembered the dark monster's terrified words.
"No..." It had panicked, thrashing wildly.
"How did you find this dimension?!" It had tried to flee, "Get away from me!"
Oliver grabbed Venti's arm. "Venti! The crystal creature!" He whipped his head back to August. "That was it! It has to be, right?! That crystal guy was another Holder! A Holder from an entirely different realm!" Oliver looked down, his brow furrowing. "But... which world?"
Venti let out a small, apologetic laugh. "Honey, remember I don't have any knowledge of that creature you and the other two Archons saw. I was knocked out cold, remember?"
"Right," Oliver nodded, rubbing his temples. "I know, I know..."
"So, you actually came face-to-face with this mysterious Holder Mark was talking about?" August asked, leaning in.
"Yeah! But we didn't trust it at first. At that point, we were all totally on edge because of the dark creature. I mean, we couldn't even put a dent in that shadowy thing, and then suddenly some glowing guy covered in blue shards crashes the party? You can't just trust that!" Oliver laughed nervously. "But I guess now we know he was one of the good guys!"
"Well, let's not jump to conclusions," August warned. "We still don't know what it is, or what its actual endgame is. Just because it was trying to kill the dark creature doesn't automatically make it a good person. They could just be competing for power, for all we know."
Oliver blinked, his hope faltering. "But... if it's a Holder?"
August shook his head grimly. "According to Barclay's notes, a Holder doesn't inherently have to be a savior. Some of them can be incredibly dangerous."
Oliver deflated, his shoulders slumping. "Oh... well, that's not good." He let out a long, exhausted sigh. There were just way too many moving parts. Too many threats. "Did Mark explicitly say he would return?"
"Yes," August confirmed. "He promised he'd come back. What exactly he's going to do to help us, though, I have no idea."
A dark, terrifying possibility suddenly crept into Oliver's mind. "Why are we just sitting here, then?" he whispered. "What if Doctor Barclay comes back? Or his assistant, Clair?"
August narrowed his eyes at the name. "Huh... Clair," he chuckled softly. "I haven't thought about her in a minute. She's my dad's assistant. She was nice."
"I know that she was his helper," Oliver said urgently. "But what if they both walk through those doors right now? During the brief times I woke up in the past, they came in here to check on us."
August met Oliver's worried gaze. "I've been unhooked and awake for a few days now, and... I haven't seen a single trace of them. I'm not saying it's impossible, and you're right, we definitely should be on high alert." August let out a heavy breath. "But right now, Mark is our only beacon of hope. If he comes back, and we manage to free Jasper... we might actually have a fighting chance of getting out of this place."
~~~~~~~
A million different anxieties were still buzzing around in Oliver's head, but the most prominent one was sitting right beside him: Venti was here. In the real world.
Oliver was internally panicking about the logistics of their eventual escape. He absolutely had to take Venti with him. Leaving him behind in this sterile lab was completely out of the question, and hooking him up to a transfer chair was a horrific non-starter.
His mind raced through a dozen different scenarios. Maybe I can ask Venti to strip out of his bard clothes and change into some normal clothes from my world so he blends in. But then he reconsidered. Or maybe he could just keep the outfit... people might just think he's doing a really dedicated Venti cosplay!
But reality quickly crashed down on that idea. Venti didn't look like a human cosplaying a character. Venti was the character. He had massive, glowing, literal anime eyes. Up against the dull realism of the real world, he looked incredibly uncanny. Anyone who looked closely would instantly see through the illusion and realize the Fictional Universe was bleeding into reality.
Sunglasses! Oliver thought triumphantly. That could work. He just had to somehow find a pair with the darkest, most opaque lenses possible.
"You okay, babe?"
The four of them had relocated to the lab's break room, desperate to escape the blinding, headache-inducing fluorescent lights of the extraction lab.
At one of the plastic tables, August had kicked his feet up, leaning his chair back against the wall, fast asleep. Arnold was curled up against his side, also completely knocked out.
At a different table near the back of the room, right next to the shattered vending machine, sat the bard and his human boyfriend.
Oliver snapped out of his thoughts and glanced down at Venti. He had his arm securely wrapped around the archon, pulling him close to his side. "Yeah? Yeah. I'm okay, yeah," he lied smoothly, though his rambling cadence completely gave him away.
"Are you sure? You look incredibly stressed."
"Really, I'm fine," Oliver insisted softly. "You're the one who should be stressed out. You just dropped into an entirely new dimension... even if the only part of it you've seen so far is this... incredibly shitty break room."
Venti giggled softly. "I see," he hummed. He pointed a delicate finger at the smashed appliance. "I am curious about what that thing is, though. I assume it's... broken? The glass on the front is completely shattered."
"Yeah," Oliver nodded. "It's called a vending machine. You're supposed to slide money into it to buy snacks and drinks." He sighed. "It's shattered because August smashed it open earlier. Obviously, none of us have any cash on us right now, so... he had to... uh, commit a crime." Oliver rubbed his face guiltily. "We basically just stole a bunch of food."
Venti let out a mischievous giggle, affectionately rubbing his cheek against Oliver's shoulder. "Hehe! I think a little thievery is totally called for in this situation! Besides, like you said, this is Doctor Barclay's lab. The evil man who locked my boyfriend in a chair. So, I say, rob him blind!"
Oliver completely lost his composure, bursting into laughter before frantically slapping both hands over his mouth to avoid waking the others. "B-bahaha, babe!" he wheezed.
Venti smiled proudly. "Well, am I wrong?"
Oliver couldn't help but smile back. He cast another glance at the shattered vending machine. Thankfully, it had been fully stocked, leaving them with plenty of snacks to survive on. They had also discovered a stash of instant ramen noodles at the very bottom. August had instituted strict rationing, saving the ramen for actual meals since it was the only substantial food they had.
Oliver's eyes scanned the colorful wrappers still hanging from the coils—Reese's, Snickers, Kit Kats, and various bags of chips. All stocked. He gently untangled himself from Venti's side and stood up.
"We've been trying to be careful with the stash," Oliver whispered, stepping over to the machine. "These are candies from my world." He reached in and grabbed a chocolate bar, holding it out to Venti. "Do you wanna try one? It..." He hesitated. "Well, it'll definitely taste different than the sweets you're used to in Mondstadt. These are absolutely packed with a shit ton of terrible preservatives."
Venti blinked blankly, having absolutely no concept of what a preservative was. "Uh... well, if you need to save the food for the rest of you, I really shouldn't. Besides, remember that I am an Archon! A divine being like me doesn't need to eat nearly as much as a mortal, so I will happily pass on taking your limited stash."
Oliver waved him off dismissively. "Nah, that's fine," he reassured him, keeping his voice to a low murmur. "We're mostly hoarding the ramen at the bottom. There's a literal mountain of junk food in here; we're definitely not going to run out of candy anytime soon."
"Hmm," Venti hummed intriguingly. He gracefully slipped out of his plastic chair and padded over to Oliver, peering into the depths of the broken machine. "Do any of these happen to carry wine?"
Oliver snorted, immediately clamping a hand over his mouth again. "V-Venti..." he wheezed quietly. "N-No, vending machines don't sell wine... well..." He paused, correcting himself. "Maybe one of the crazy, high-tech ones you'd find in Japan might. But—" He patted the side of the generic machine. "—This one? Pumping out stale Snickers? Definitely not."
Venti pouted slightly, but reached out and took the Snickers bar from Oliver's hand anyway. "I'll take this, then," he declared. He examined the wrapper. "Chocolate? With... oooh, peanuts!" He paused, tilting his head. "What in the world is a peanut? Is it a type of nut?" Venti repeated the word to himself, a slow grin spreading across his face. "The hell is a 'pee nut'? That sounds... so weird."
Oliver clamped a hand over his face, shaking his head as he fought back giggles.
"And... Nougat? What in the world is that?"
Curiosity getting the better of him, Venti tore open the plastic wrapper and slid the block of chocolate out. The bard blinked, holding the lumpy, brown rectangle up to the fluorescent light and narrowing his eyes at it critically.
"Babe..." Venti deadpanned, glancing sideways at Oliver. "I'm not gonna lie to you. This looks exactly like a turd."
"BAHAHA!" Oliver absolutely lost it, letting out a loud bark of laughter before slapping both hands over his mouth in a panic.
Venti giggled gleefully. "PifffFtt! I'm sorry! But... it really does!"
"Venti, Venti!" Oliver hissed through his fingers, tears of mirth in his eyes. "Shhh! Those two are sleeping, remember?!"
"Oh, right! Sorry!" Venti whispered back, looking at the chocolate bar again. Steeling his resolve, he brought it up to his lips. "Alright... down the hatch the turd goes—"
Oliver gently pushed his boyfriend's arm. "Ugh, Venti, stop being gross!"
Laughing against Oliver's hand, Venti finally took a bite. The caramel stretched in a long, sticky string between the bar and his mouth. Venti blinked, freezing in place as he chewed slowly, looking up at Oliver.
"My word... this taste..." Venti swallowed hard, staring down at the half-eaten candy with sheer disgust. "...is really, really bad."
Oliver snorted into his hand. "I... I honestly don't blame you for thinking that. Everything you eat in Teyvat is made from natural ingredients. This is just heavily processed, artificial chocolate."
Venti chewed the remnants in his mouth a few more times before forcing it down with a grimace. "Sorry," he giggled apologetically, shaking his head. "Here, you take the rest," he offered, shoving the candy back into Oliver's hands.
Oliver smiled fondly, accepting the rejected snack. "I swear they pump these full of addictive chemicals just to get people hooked. It's probably for the best that you didn't like it; we definitely don't need this becoming a bad habit like your wine."
Venti sighed dramatically. "I would do unspeakable things for a fresh bottle of Dawn Winery's finest Dandelion Wine right about now."
Oliver's smile softened into something warm and promising. "Well, I am legally over 21. The second this 'Mark' guy comes back and gets us out of here, I'll take you straight to a wine store and buy you a bottle of whatever wine you want."
"A wine store?" Venti echoed, confused. "You don't have taverns?"
Oliver blinked. Right. His realm doesn't even call them taverns anymore. They called them bars. If someone would call their store that, it was just the owner trying to be different and fancy.
"I mean, we have bars, yeah. But most people here just buy their drinks at a liquor store and take them home."
"How entirely unromantic," Venti noted.
Oliver made a mental note that if he did take Venti to a bar, he'd have to disguise the bard from head to toe so no one would see his glowing braids or massive eyes.
With a heavy sigh, Oliver sank back into his plastic chair. Venti immediately followed, pulling his chair close so their knees bumped.
"I just don't know how long we're going to be trapped in here," Oliver murmured, staring at the floor. "I mean, at least we have some decent rations and a restroom down the hall..."
Suddenly, an idea struck him. He sat up straighter. Venti had teleportation abilities, didn't he? "Hey, Venti? Can't you just... teleport us out of this building?"
Venti's bright expression dimmed slightly. "Uh... I don't think I can, Ollie." He looked down at his hands. "I felt it the exact second I crossed over into your realm. A massive chunk of my godly power was just... stripped away. I can still sense that I can summon my bow, but the vast majority of my Anemo power... I can't access it anymore."
Oliver felt his heart sink like a stone. "Venti... that's... that's really not good. That's terrible—"
Venti quickly waved his hands, forcing a bright, reassuring smile onto his face. "It's okay, really! It makes perfect sense! This is an entirely new dimension, so obviously, my connection to Celestia is completely severed here. Strangely enough, I can still feel a little bit of Anemo humming inside me, just... not enough for the massive, miraculous things I used to do."
Oliver bit his lip, looking around the bleak room, clearly spiraling into stress on his boyfriend's behalf.
Seeing the panic setting in, Venti leaned in and planted a firm, sweet kiss directly on Oliver's lips.
"It is okay, Ollie," Venti whispered against his mouth. "I'll be perfectly fine, I promise. To be completely honest, it actually feels a little freeing to take a vacation from all those heavy godly responsibilities. So please, don't worry your pretty head over little old me, alright~?"
Oliver's dark cheeks flushed a deep, beautiful red at the kiss and the sweet reassurance. Once they finally pulled away, he gave a slow, relieved nod.
"Good." Venti smiled warmly, scooting his chair even closer. "Now then," he purred. The bard casually unclipped his glowing Anemo Vision from his hip and tossed it onto the table with a loud clack. "We can just disregard that, seeing as it's practically a paperweight at the moment~."
Not stopping there, Venti unbuttoned the front of the corset, expertly loosening them before pulling the garment off entirely and tossing it next to the Vision.
Oliver's face flushed even hotter. He had a very good feeling about exactly what Venti was doing.
"I wanted to ask you something," Venti whispered, his tone shifting into something soft and genuine. "You really do like... my belly button, right? Even now that we're in your real world?"
Oliver swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah," he admitted softly.
Venti's smile was radiant. He leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to Oliver's warm cheek. "I wanted to ask... why?" he asked, his voice full of innocent curiosity. "I never got the chance to ask you properly when you were using the tub back in Mondstadt."
There was absolutely no judgment in the Archon's voice. It was clear he just genuinely wanted to understand every little piece of the boy he loved.
Oliver hesitated, looking deeply into Venti's bright, accepting eyes. "Ven... I don't honestly know why," Oliver confessed, his voice barely a whisper. "It... it was just always something that was a part of me, you know? Something about the shape of them... how completely unique and different they are on every single person. I... I just don't know."
Venti smiled, his eyes crinkling. "I think your little fetish is beautiful."
Oliver offered a shy, vulnerable smile.
"I really, really do," Venti affirmed warmly.
Oliver took a shaky breath, suddenly fighting back a wave of tears. "A few of my past partners... they thought it was way too weird," he admitted, his voice cracking as he sniffled. Two different people he had dated in the past had been completely repulsed by what he liked, turning a harmless quirk into a massive source of shame. He tried so hard never to think about those painful memories.
Yet here was Venti. His literal fictional crush—the ethereal being he had sworn he would never, ever have a chance to be with—sitting in a dingy lab break room, accepting him completely and unconditionally.
"Well, mean people like that simply don't deserve to have someone as amazing as you in their lives," Venti declared fiercely. The bard shifted his body, turning fully in his chair to face Oliver head-on.
Oliver turned to meet his unyielding gaze.
Slowly, the bard leaned forward, rising slightly from his seat to press his forehead gently against Oliver's. Closing his eyes, Venti's voice dropped into a soothing, melodic rhythm.
"The wind collects their mocking cries,Then scatters them across the skies.Why fret o'er whispers, sharp and small?They've never known your heart at all...So come, let's laugh, let's dance, let's roam—Wherever you're with me is home."
Oliver felt his heart physically stutter in his chest. Venti had just done the most Venti thing possible.
He had composed a beautiful, rhyming poem on the spot. A poem specifically meant to comfort him, to validate him, and to chase away his darkest insecurities. It was peak Venti the Bard.
"V-Venti... I- I don't..." Oliver stammered, completely overwhelmed by the love radiating from the boy in front of him.
Venti just smiled softly, pulling back just enough to press a lingering kiss to the center of Oliver's forehead.
Oliver beamed, wiping a stray tear from his eye. "You know... this is actually the very first time I've ever heard you do that in person."
Venti giggled lightly, settling back down into his plastic chair. "Hey, just because I am a world-renowned bard doesn't mean I have to speak in riddles and poems every other sentence," he teased playfully. "Besides, if I did, some people might not be able to keep up with my sheer brilliance! Also, maybe someone from above wouldn't be able to keep up with me either!"
Oliver tilted his head, a fond, confused smile on his lips. "Huh?"
Instead of explaining, Venti suddenly grabbed the hem of his frilly white shirt and pulled it up to his chest, exposing his smooth, pale stomach. "Here. Knock yourself out with my tummy~."
Oliver blinked. He cast a quick, panicked glance over his shoulder at August and Arnold, who were still completely dead to the world at the other table. He looked back at Venti, who was sitting there with a cheeky, expectant smirk, holding his shirt up out of the way.
Oliver let out a long, deeply contented sigh. He stared at his beautiful, perfect bard with an expression of pure, unadulterated adoration.
Sitting in the middle of a nightmare, trapped in a cold, sterile lab, Oliver had never felt like the luckiest fictiosexual in the entire world until right this very moment.