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The night is humid and warm; the air in Xiao’s room- stifling, stale and suffocating. Xiao twists in his bed, the sheets tangled around his bare legs, clinging to his sweat-slick skin. He would have already tossed the offending blankets off if the weight of them were not serving as an anchor in the angry sea of thoughts that were circling throughout his head, threatening to pull him under. He’d have thought he would be used to the endless noise by now, but nights like this always wipe out any defenses he has managed to build over the years, his carefully crafted walls crumble under the weight of the sinister voices that whispered terrible things in his ears. Dark nights like this where even the moon is absent from the inky black sky, where the sounds of insects are quiet and the hum of distant traffic is muffled by the black vacuum encompassing his room.
The compressive silence somehow seems to be even louder than the bustling noise that regularly came from the everyday operation of Wangshu Inn. As much as Xiao complains and claims to hate the hustle and bustle of the Inn, the constant hum of life serves as a buffer to many of the voices that echo through the labyrinth of his mind.
He hates the off seasons at the Inn for this very reason; hates it more than he does the busy seasons, where the sounds of feet stomping along the corridors and muffled voices shouting and squawking could be heard well into the night. At least then his thoughts weren’t as loud. At least then he could drown out the angry voices with sounds of life.
The sound of a phone ringing cuts through Xiao's spiraling thoughts. His phone vibrates where it sits on the nightstand. The light from the screen is almost blinding in the dark of his room.
There is only one person that would dare to call him at this time of night and Xiao snatches his phone up in anticipation of hearing that beautiful voice that he knows will greet him from the other side of the line.
The phone connects with a click and buzzing silence rings out for a few excruciatingly long seconds before a slightly garbled voice calls out from the other end.
"Xiaooo" the voice slurred. Xiao breathes out a sigh of relief. Already he could feel his mind clearing with only one word from his boyfriend.
"Do you know what time it is?" Xiao scolds- not unkindly.
“Nope,” Venti responds he could faintly hear things being knocked over and the thump of something being dropped onto a hard surface.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. Everything is very very fine” Venti mumbles. His voice going muffled before clearing up. “I called you because I miss you”
Somewhere on the other side of the phone, a door is slammed, and then a loud crashing sound echos through the speaker, loud enough to make Xiao pull the phone away from his ears with a wince.
“Oops,” Venti giggles.
Xiao squeezes his phone as the sound of venti’s laughter washes over him, muffled and slightly staticky, but sweet nonetheless; a breath of fresh air in his suffocating room.
“Where are you?” Xiao asks taking a moment to look at the time on his phone-3 am.
“I’m home now.” Venti speaks into the phone, his words broken up by slurred giggles “Don’t worry. Kaeya challenged me to a drinking competition" there is another pause as muffled sounds come from the other side of the line "I won obviously." He finishes, sighing into the phone as the sound of something heavy falling onto a bed rings out in the background.
Xiao hums out a response letting the lull in conversation replace the constricting quiet of the room with comfortable silence.
“I miss you, Xiao,” Venti says after a while.
Xiao can almost hear the smile on his face. He can picture him now, the soft curve of his plush lips, his beautiful green eyes crinkling at the sides. “You already said that.”
“Well, I wanted to say it again, because it’s true.” Venti pouts. Xiao can faintly hear him shifting on the bed. “Do you miss me?” Venti asks, his voice slightly muffled, probably from pressing his face into one of his many pillows.
“I just saw you today.”
“Doesn’t matter, not what I asked. Do you miss me?”
“Yea…” Xiao whispers after a beat. “all the time.”
Venti hums out a sweet sound, a soft giggle proceeding his response “I miss you all the time too.” he whispered, matching Xiao’s tone.
They lapsed into silence again. Xiao shuts his eyes and exhales a soft sound. He can hear Venti’s soft breaths through the phone. The room is quiet now, comfortably so. The sound of venti’s breathing fills the space and replaces the suffocating silence that had been there before he had called.
Enough time passes that Xiao assumes Venti has fallen asleep until the quiet of the room is broken once again by the sweet sound of his voice.
“I heard a song tonight. I think it’s new because this was the first I’ve heard. I can’t remember what is called, but I remember some lyrics.” Some of his words are garbled but Xiao is used to decoding the intoxicated speech of his boyfriend.
“Sing it for me,” Xiao says. He loves Venti’s voice; nothing in the world can calm him the way Venti’s music does. Though at first, he had complained, albeit shallowly, about the man’s constant singing, it has become his favorite sound in the world.
Venti begins to hum the song and Xiao sinks deeper into his bed, the last voices in his head quiet as his boyfriend sings. The song goes on for several minutes, with Venti looping back at several parts, trying to remember the right tune and lyrics. Xiao’s breathing deepens as the song goes on, he can feel himself beginning to succumb to sleep.
“Xiao.” Venti’s voice pulls him out of the light sleep that he’d fallen into. “I miss you,” he says once again his voice urging this time.
Though he doesn't say it Xiao knows what his boyfriend wants. With a grunt, he lifts himself from his bed reaching for his keys on the bedside table. “I miss you too” he responds as he reaches down to put on his pants. “I’m on my way.”
Venti’s apartment is 20 minutes away, but he’d drive farther if he had to; after all, there is no one he would rather be with on nights like this.