Chapter Text
“Are you sure you don’t need help?” A worried voice spoke from the phone squished between his shoulder and ear, arms occupied by an uncomfortable amount of boxes.
“Of course not! I, Venti the Bard, need no help! For I have big strong muscles like no oth-”
His sarcastic quip was cut short as he tripped over an unseen step. Oh, apparently the porch was closer than he thought!
His arms flew ahead of him as he fell belly-first into the steps, breaking his fall with his wrists.
Boxes fell around him, one breaking open, sending music scores falling and being blown around the sidewalk. His phone lay abandoned at his foot, a scolding yell could be heard from the speaker.
The door, just a few measly steps ahead of the collapsed Venti, flew open. A tall man stood in the frame, a phone held to his ear. He wore a white blouse with a brown vest which was tucked into dark brown dress pants.
He stared down at Venti, an unimpressed look in his eyes. Venti simply leaned his elbows against the step. Tucking his chin into his hands, he gave a cheeky smile.
“Funny seeing you here Zhongli~”
Zhongli sighed. He hung up the phone and dragged his hand across his face.
“After all this time, you haven’t changed at all.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment!” Venti kicked his foot up in a coy manner as he spoke.
Zhongli leaned over, letting his long orange-tipped rat tail fall over his shoulder. He reached a hand out to Venti, who dramatically accepted, gracefully laying his hand over Zhongli’s.
“Just stand up already, you’re losing your music.”
At those words, Venti looked behind him, seeing his music blow further down the street. He instantly threw himself up and started running after the papers, playful attitude abandoned.
“SHIT! Help me grab these!!”
Zhongli began collecting the folders, sheets, and books, that lay closer to the steps, while Venti ran down the street capturing the escaping loose paper. It was a scramble - stomping paper down to the sidewalk while simultaneously attempting to grab paper out of the air. Venti did manage to collect most of the music, but he was forced to watch helplessly as a few pages blew out of reach and off into the distance.
Zhongli walked up behind him, holding the cardboard box meant to hold the music.
“I hope nothing there was too important…” He gave Venti a light elbow. “Maybe take this as a lesson to be more thoughtful, and don’t carry more than you can handle.”
Venti sighed but kept on a cheery smile.
“It’s fine, this box is mostly old junk - music from years ago or random books I collected and never used!” He put the loose paper back into the box, closing the flaps to keep it safe from the wind. “I don’t even know what half of it is, I won’t miss whatever’s lost.”
Zhongli shrugged, “if you say so,” and walked back to the porch. He set the box just inside of the door. “I’ll go get Xiao and Albedo, they can help you carry the boxes in.”
Venti crossed his arms with a huff. “I can handle it!”
He simply got a raised eyebrow in return. The man closed the door and went to fetch the other two, ignoring Venti’s protests.
He grumbled, way for a first impressed! Well, not first, but first in a while.
Zhongli was an old friend, they had known eachother through middle school and high school but hadn’t been in contact through their early university years. But now Venti was finally starting university, a few years late due to some reasons he’d rather not think about, and he needed a place to stay near campus.
He had been flipping through his old contact book and stumbled across Zhongli’s name. Upon remembering the man, he searched for his socials, and discovered he went to the same university Venti was headed to!
It took some late-night pep talks in the mirror to convince Venti to reach out to him, but he eventually did, and Zhongli quickly offered up his and his roommate's spare room.
Venti was distracted from his reminiscing as he saw one last page blow around, it was fluttering close to his reach. He smiled, reaching his hands up and wiggling his fingers with an evil giggle. He watched as it floated right, left, right, left, slowly getting closer to the ground. Once it was close enough, he pounced, landing on top of the paper with his hands and feet as if a frog.
“AHA! Gotcha, you little rascal!”
He pushed the paper against the pavement with his hand as he brought his feet off it, and turned it around, curious about what the lone escapee was. He leaned on his knee with his left elbow as he held the paper in his right.
His cheeky smile dropped, the fisted hand against his cheek falling slack.
He forgot he had this still.
He clutched the paper tighter as he felt his heart-rate rise. That was too fucking close. In his hands was a song his friend had written. Not Zhongli, another old friend, who he had lost just a few years ago.
They had planned to be musicians together, wrote songs together, traveled together, sang and dreamed together. This song was an unfinished ballad written by this friend, he had died before he got the chance to complete it. Venti held onto it all these years, it was too special to throw away, and it was too heart-breaking to try and finish it; so it had simply sat in this old box of music long enough to be forgotten.
The door opened. Venti heard quiet chatter between Zhongli and the two roommates, causing him to perk up quickly. He plastered a smile back onto his face and folded the paper gently, hiding the contents from the possibly nosey people. He stood up, leaning on his knees to aid the process. He gave a little hop as he got back to standing fully, which helped him fall back into his usual character.
Zhongli stared him down, a knowing look in his eyes. He broke away from the strong gaze and focused on the two strangers instead.
One had shoulder-length blonde hair, the top half tied back in a ponytail. He had a calm expression, much like Zhongli’s, but perhaps softer. He wore knee-length brown baggy shorts, with a light brown collared shirt tucked into them. A light blue cardigan draped over his shoulders and arms, and thin-framed glasses sat delicately over his nose.
Beside him was a more stern-looking man, although his expression matched the other two, stoic and flat. Venti was stuck rooming with a bunch of loners! His hair was quite similar to Venti’s, but more fluffed up and the longer front was less exaggerated. His hair also hung loose, different from Venti’s hair which was braided and half hidden under a green beret-like hat. He wore a black hoodie with teal accents, black baggy pants with lots of pockets, and a chain hanging off the belt.
Venti gave a cheery wave at the group. “Hello~! My name is Venti, and I’m an aspiring musician. I’m sure Zhongli has shared good thoughts of me?”
He glanced up at Zhongli, who seemed even taller as he stood beside the other 2 short men.
It was the blonde who answered, a short huff acting as a gentle laugh. “We’ve certainly heard some… stories.” Venti gave an exaggerated face of offense at the implications, crossing his arms and pouting toward Zhongli.
“Don’t worry, if they were that bad you wouldn’t be moving in.” He put his hand out, inviting a shake. “I’m Albedo. I study physics, and I’m a 3rd-year student. It’s nice to meet you.”
His smile was gentle and welcoming, Venti accepted the shake with gratitude while holding tight to his paper with his left hand.
The colder-looking man nodded toward Venti. “I’m Xiao. I’m in my 4th year, computer science.”
“Nice to meet you both! And I thank you for allowing me to stay in your home.” He replied, giving a small bow with his head.
“Alright, introductions aside, we need to get your stuff inside before anything else gets sent to the neighbors.” Zhongli broke into the conversations, his words making Albedo crook his head in confusion. Venti brushed off the blonde's concern with a wave of his hand.
“Well, if you insist on helping…”
“It’s no problem.” Xiao spoke quickly, already lifting boxes into his arms with ease and bringing them inside the home. Venti raised his eyebrows.
“That’s one strong computer nerd!”
“I think you’re just weak, Venti.” Zhongli quipped as he took a few boxes into his arms. Venti gasped, putting his hand to his heart.
He tucked his friend's unfinished song into his pocket and picked up a couple of the fallen boxes, taking them inside and stacking them at the door with the others. With the four of them working together, everything was inside quickly.
He smiled contently, clapping his hands together as he looked at the stack of boxes. “Good work, team!”
Zhongli shook his head fondly. “I’ll show you around the house, then you can get settled into your room.”
Venti gave a thumbs up. “Sounds good to me!”
As if these words were a dismissal, Xiao walked off and up a staircase to what Venti assumed would be his room.
“Not even a goodbye, was my first impression that bad?” Venti whined, crossing his arms.
“Don’t worry, he’s always like that. Not a very social guy.” Spoke Albedo. “If Zhongli’s got the tour handled, I’m going to go get some last-minute prep work finished.” The blonde lifted a hand as a goodbye and walked off to another room, presumably his own.
“Welp, it looks like it’s just me and you again!” Venti’s smile returned quickly as he followed Zhongli down the hall.
“The kitchen and living room are here, as you can see.”
The living room had one long couch and two cozy-looking armchairs that surrounded a wooden coffee table. Sitting on a built-in shelf was a small TV, on both sides of the TV were more built-in shelves, these ones filled with books and trinkets.
Connected to the living room with a wide arch was the kitchen, a large floor with a small amount of counter space. The fridge had a few reminders and chore lists stuck to the front with beige circle magnets. There was a table in the middle of the wide floor space with 4 chairs around it. There were pre-set placemats in front of every chair, and a basket of fruit in the middle.
Venti also made note of the coffee maker sitting on the counter, a staple in any university home.
“Through that door is the downstairs bathroom, me and Albedo share that one for the most part.” Zhongli gestured towards a door closest to them.
“Down past the bathroom is mine and Albedo’s rooms, Albedo’s is the one furthest down. Up the stairs is 2 more bedrooms, one being Xiao’s and the other is yours. Yours is the one with the door open.” Venti nodded along as Zhongli gestured up the stairs in slightly different directions.
“There is also a bathroom up there which will be shared between you and Xiao. The final door upstairs leads to a large closet which we all use for storage, feel free to drop some junk in there.”
Zhongli pause, as if remembering who he was talking to. He furrowed his eyebrows.
“Not too much. Keep most of your junk in your own room”
“Got it!” Venti chirped as he turned to grab his most important boxes - clothes, music supplies, and electronics. Zhongli followed to help carry them up to his room.
Venti’s room was small, as he expected. It didn’t have a closet, but it did have a dresser and metal rod stuck to the wall for hangers. The dresser was right beside the door, and across from the dresser was a single-sized bed. Beside the bed was a basic wooden desk that sat under a window with a decently sized window sill, perfect for plants and trinkets. He smiled. The room was simple but the natural light and easy layout was comforting.
Once all his bedroom boxes were moved upstairs, Venti flopped down on the bed. He’d get sheets on it later, for now, he just needed a moment to lay down.
“Well, I’ll leave you to settle in.” Venti raised his arm up and gave a thumbs up, not wanting to lift his head off the soft pillow.
“Let me know if you need anything.” Zhongli’s voice was oddly sincere, his words were not intended as your usual farewell. Venti hid the grimace on his face. The man knew him well and definitely picked up that he wasn’t himself earlier. He brushed off his friend with a wave of his hand, “will do! Now let me sleep!”
Once he heard the bedroom door close he let his arm flop down beside him and pulled out the music again. He lifted it above his face, reading over the masterful lyrics and imagining the chords written out being played by a lyre or guitar. He let the internal music wrap around him, trying to remember his friend’s voice so he could be the one singing the words.
It had been years, and Venti could only curl his face in frustration as the voice meant to be his friend’s warped and changed into nothing special. Just the usual brain voice noise.
Eventually, he sighed and gave up, choosing to focus on the instrumental instead. He smiled softly, but it was pained. Not the cheery smile he so often carried with him.
How could he have forgotten he had this in his possession? How could he let it sit gathering dust for so long, when his friend's death haunted him so deeply? This music was trusted in his possession, and it almost blew away in the wind, never to be heard again.
The idea of his friend's music never being heard struck a chord in his heart.
Starting university was intended to be a sort of re-set in his life, maybe through his time here he could finally finish his friend's song before it was forgotten again. Someone had to carry on his legacy, as heavy as a weight that was to carry, Venti wouldn’t trust anybody else with the role.
He sighed and let the paper fall to his chest, clutching it close to his heart. He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep, allowing the distant memory of the song to be a lullaby.