Rumors
Venti finds Albedo exactly where they had first met.
Albedo sits with his back against a tree, legs as close to his chest as they can be while he draws in his sketchbook. He's coloring with a light gray pencil, pressing down ever so slightly.
As Venti walks closer, he wonders how Albedo can make it look like the water in the fountain is moving.
"Good afternoon, Venti." Albedo doesn't look up from his drawing, but he does tilt it a bit for Venti to see.
"That's really cool, Albedo." Albedo smiles at the compliment, moving to look up at Venti.
"Thank you, but I assume you aren't here to look at my art?" Venti nods, his eyes moving from the picture to Albedo's face.
Venti nods, sitting next to Albedo on the grass. "I think I figured out my shit a bit. Although I think I need help understanding the rest of it."
A smile tugs at Albedo's lips as he puts the sketchbook away. "How can I be of service?"
"You're from Mondstadt, right?" Albedo's smile falls as he nods, not liking where this is going. Venti hesitates, but he forces through his nerves, speaking anyway. "What do you know about Diluc and Kaeya?"
Sighing, Albedo looks at Venti's face. "That's not a can of worms you want to open Venti."
"Why not?" There's a defiance in Venti's voice, Albedo can hear it. "You know more than you've let on, Albedo. Why?"
"Because Venti, those brothers, especially Diluc, are not people you fuck around with until you get bored." Albedo sounds almost angry and defensive.
"I'm not going to fuck around until I get bored. That was the whole point of figuring my shit out." Venti sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I just..."
"You just what, Venti?" Albedo looks away, turning back to the fountain.
"I just want to know if I'm overreacting." This catches Albedo's attention. Venti's looking at his hands in his lap, not noticing that Albedo has started looking at him again.
"Why would you be overreacting?"
"I'm starting to think that I don't care about my soulmate anymore." Venti sighs, refusing to look Albedo in the eyes.
"What does that mean? You've been obsessed with finding your soulmate for as long as I've known you." Venti nods, looking up to the sky. It's Golden Hour, and Venti thinks this is the best time to have this conversation. In the glow of the sun.
"I know, I know. And it's not even that I don't care, I just...find myself wishing he was my soulmate." Albedo looks at Venti, shocked, but he lets Venti continue anyway. "In small moments of quiet, I wonder what he smells like. I imagine him letting me borrow his clothes, or sometimes, I think about giving him flowers."
"So you're smitten." Albedo sighs. "How do I know you're not just trying to fuck him?" Venti scoffs, offended.
"I'm a lot of things, but I don't lie. Not about things this important anyway." Venti thinks about getting up, and walking away. But he knows that Albedo will find a way to make sure Diluc won't accept Venti's confession, given that Venti gets the courage to tell him.
"What about your meds? Are you taking those? And remember, you just said you don't lie." Albedo sounds angry, which is pissing Venti off.
What right does Albedo have to agree that when Venti figures his shit out to tell their crushes together, only to shut Venti down when he's got it figured out?
"Yes, I am, not that it's any of your business." Venti's eyebrows furrow, his face giving his emotions away.
"Is Kazuha watching you take them?" Albedo has stopped watching Venti, knowing that he's striking every nerve that Venti has. Pushing. Every. Single. Button.
"So what if he is? He's being a good friend." Venti's tone is rough, it almost cracks under the weight of his emotions.
"That's my point, Venti." Albedo sighs, thinking back to everything he's seen and heard about the Ragnvindr/Alberich brothers. "If you can't take care of yourself, if you can't regulate your emotions or behavior, how can you be a good partner, how can you be a good friend?"
This baffles Venti. Albedo has a point. And it makes Venti sick.
Sighing, Albedo stands, he doesn't offer to help Venti up. "Look, Diluc's been through a lot. More than either of us can imagine. Leave him be."
"Does that mean you're not telling Kaeya?" Albedo had turned to walk away, but Venti's tone and words stop him in his tracks.
"I never mentioned Kaeya?" Albedo phrases it as a question, but they both know it's not. Venti's comment was a jab, an accusation.
"No, but you said enough for an idiot to figure it out." The anger in Venti's tone is mated by the anger on Albedo's face. This is escalating quickly and Albedo knows something Venti doesn't.
"I mean it Venti, as your friend. Stay away from them." To Venti, this sounds like a threat, and everyone knows better than to threaten Venti.
Not everyone knew it, but Venti was, no is, scarier than his siblings. He might not have the strength of Ei, or the knowledge of Nahida, or the memory of Zhongli, but Venti has something else. A mix of all three.
"Or what? What will happen if I decide that I want Diluc?" Venti asks, challenging Albedo. This would be worse than For The Honor Of The Archons, because Venti played nice when it was for the honor of his last name. He couldn't be a bad sport. But right now? Albedo was crossing a line.
The worst part is that they both know that the other is too prideful, too self-righteous, to back down.
"I'm trying to be kind, Venti."
"How so? Cuz right now it just seems like you're being an asshole." Venti and Albedo's hands clench, both of them reaching their limit with this conversation.
"You don't know the things that have been said about Diluc and Kaeya, I'm trying to protect your name." This only sets Venti off more.
"You know nothing about my name, Albedo. And so what? You're going to ignore how you feel about Kaeya because of some rumors?" Venti stands, though he doesn't move closer to Albedo. He doesn't need to, Albedo had already started to walk away. But now he faces Venti, his hand holding onto the strap of his messenger bag.
"You don't know what was said, or how much of it was true." Albedo sighs, his anger slowly starting to fall away. "I meant it, Venti. I'm trying to help."
Venti feels like screaming, but he doesn't, he keeps his voice even, but he still feels like it.
"If you mean it, if you're trying to be a good friend, then tell me what was said." Albedo sighs, looking to the ground for a moment. Venti can tell Albedo feels embarrassed.
"I'm not sure how much if it is true." Albedo starts, but Venti interrupts.
"You're punishing not only them but also me, for rumors that you don't even know are true?" Venti seethes. He doesn't move closer to Albedo, but the sentiment is there.
"You don't understand, Venti."
"Then make me understand!" Venti does his best not to yell, not wanting to cause a scene, even if they're alone. "Stop stalling."
"Their soulmarks match up, and people were gross about it, okay!? Kids in Mond will bully and harass anything different." Albedo sighs again, looking up from the ground. "So when Kaeya came out as a gay demi-boy, or when people found out Mona didn't have a soulmark, or when Diluc started having his panic attacks, people were cruel."
The words fall out of Albedo's mouth as quickly as he can think of them, and he doesn't give Venti a chance to speak. Not that he would, Venti was waiting patiently for Albedo to be finished. "I heard that they would cuddle in the old field house. So like I said, Kaeya is busy 'taking care' of his family."
Venti takes a big breath, counting 1-2-3 in, holding 1-2-3, out 1-2-3, hold again 1-2-3. "You must be out of your fucking mind."
In 1-2-3, hold 1-2-3, out 1-2-3, hold 1-2-3.
"Are seriously going to stand there and tell me that you like Kaeya, romantically, but still look down on him? But even if that wasn't the case, you still might be fucking stupid." Venti moves to walk away, no longer wanting to give Albedo the time of day, but something stops him.
He can hear Albedo sniffle, a clear sign that he's crying. How did Venti not notice while they were facing each other?
"You don't get it, Venti. Kaeya and Diluc...they,"
"'They' absolutely nothing. Do not stand there and talk about them like they're below you. If you could think for even a second you would know that Diluc clings to Kaeya all the time, and neither of their soulmarks are watercolor." Pausing Venti takes a good look at Albedo, his anger slowly fading away.
"Venti, I know I'm being a dick, but trust me when I say that you can't handle that level of baggage." Albedo sniffles again, tears threatening to fall. "I mean- Fuck - I can't handle that level of baggage."
It makes Venti hesitate, Albedo's crying. He's never seen so much emotion from the artist. "What level baggage are we talking?" Venti sighs, willing to give Albedo another chance.
"A lot," Albedo sits down again, putting his hands in his lap. "You know they say he did it on purpose? I wasn't even in Mond when it happened, but Sucrose called me, frantic. Even the staff at the school are saying that Diluc set it all up somehow."
Terror runs its way through Venti's body. "Set what up?"
"The crash-" Venti doesn't even let Albedo finish. He takes an experimental step forward, but Albedo doesn't even look up.
"Ya'know, I was just told to start throwing punches the second that hot take comes up." Albedo looks up at this, fear clear on his face. He doesn't want to get into a fight with Venti.
"You'll get kicked out of the Akademiya." Venti takes another step forward, but Albedo doesn't move. His fear is evident, but he's still not willing to move.
"Somehow, The Sustainers of Heavenly Principles don't care." Venti shudders a bit, the cold wind washing through his shorts. He really needs to invest in some pants.
"You'll lose a friend." This does stop Venti. A thousand thoughts swirl in his head, jumbling up and then smoothing out, but somehow he's still unable to speak for a moment.
Did Venti really want to lose a friend over this? Was it worth it? Were some rumors that he didn't even believe worth losing a friend?
Venti takes a second, and thinks back. Actually, really, thinks back.
Diluc panic attacks, the way he held onto Mona and Kaeya, how he genuinely said that sex freaked him out.
Venti thinks back to smoking with Diluc and how he said that he didn't write music anymore because he was busy, everyone knew it was a lie, but they didn't push it.
Venti thinks back to all of the small moments that he's thought of Diluc. Things that he shouldn't have let himself think but thought anyway.
Venti wanted that red hoodie that Diluc always seemed to wear when he was upset. He wanted to see if those strong arms could lift him as easily as they could lift a claymore, even if Venti had never seen Diluc use a claymore. He wanted to crochet a bouquet of Wind Wheel Aster's and Small Lamp Grass to give to Diluc, even if they would look ugly. (Venti had overheard Kaeya talking about Small Lamp Grass and Calla Lillies.)
"I think this is worth losing a friend."
Albedo nods, acceptance clear on his face. "But first," Venti finishes walking towards Albedo, before kneeling next to him. "I want you to tell me every rumor. The ones that are true and the ones that aren't."