Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Stop smiling.”

“Aww! But I can’t help it. Not when there’s such a pretty sight in front of me— ouch! ” 

Xiao ignores the pout sent his way, too busy grabbing another eye shadow palette and organizing his brushes. Normally, there’d be an assistant to do those things; hand him the right brush at the right time, give Xiao the BB cream or the primer. It’d make things faster, especially when working on someone with as much fame and prominence (and as tight of a schedule) as Venti. But Xiao prefers working alone. It’s easier and more comfortable. 

He’s fairly certain Venti likes it that way too. 

“Stay still,” Xiao commands, tapping Venti’s chin to get him to tilt his head up. Venti, a pro by now, knows exactly how much to tilt, exactly what angle Xiao needs him to be at. 

“Honestly,” Venti mutters, as Xiao begins to apply concealer beneath his eyes. “My fans would rage if they saw the way you treat me. Ordering a sweet angel like me around! The audacity, Xiao!” 

“I think your fans would go crazy if they knew how much you like being ordered around,” Xiao rolls his eyes. 

“Mean,” Venti pouts, unable to deny Xiao’s statement. 

“Stop talking now, I need to finish,” Xiao chides. “Close your eyes.”

“Yes sir!” Venti sends Xiao a salute before complying. Xiao gets to work. 

They’re going for a lighter look, with a bit of sparkle. Xiao starts by using a creamy colour, spreading the powder across Venti’s prepped eyelids, before going in with a blush pink, adding depth along the creases of Venti’s eyelids, moving the soft brush back and forth along Venti’s eyelid. He adds more shades of light pink and some pale neutrals, some shimmering peach and some pastel apricot, along the corners and the edges, before adding some glitter, giving Venti’s upper and lower lash lines a soft sparkle. 

“Open,” Xiao says, grabbing the eyelash curler. 

“Aww,” Venti whines at the very sight of the curler. Venti hates this part, always having an irrational fear that the clamp mechanism will painfully squeeze his eyelids. “Do we have to? Aren’t they pretty enough already?” Venti bats his eyelashes up at Xiao. 

“Yes,” Xiao answers honestly before he can think about it. Venti’s cheeks colour, soft pink dusting them. And yeah, Xiao can see why so many people are enthralled by him; those soft, round cheeks, large, sparkly eyes that admittedly do have long enough lashes already, pink lips, and a small, gently curved nose. He's like a fairy or a cherub; something out of those fairytale books Xiao’s only ever seen in Mondstadt or Fontaine. Enchanting, magically charming. 

“Fine,” Xiao grumbles, fumbling slightly as he puts the eyelash curler away. “We can skip it. This time.” 

When he spares a glance back at Venti, he’s looking at Xiao with this incredibly fond look that’s making Xiao’s inside do funny things. Funny, embarrassing things and Xiao wishes he could devour the butterflies in his stomach. They don’t seem to want to be devoured, not when he’s around Venti, building themselves their own little butterfly sanctuary right in his gut. 

“Lips,” Xiao blurts after a moment, his mind too frazzled to fire any neurons that would help him form a normal, complete sentence.  

“Huh?” Venti tilts his head.

“I, uh. I need to do your lips,” Xiao mutters, turning away and fiddling with the supplies on the little cart next to him. 

“Go right ahead,” Venti says, smiling as he sits more upright. And then, in a hushed, playful tone, “I never mind it when my Xiao touches my lips.” Punctuated with a flirty wink and everything. It’s a miracle Xiao doesn’t snap the gloss applicator stick in half. 

“Shut up,” Xiao grumbles, grabbing Venti’s jaw with probably more force than needed. Venti’s not entirely wrong about his fans blowing a gasket if they saw him with Xiao like this. 

This being: Xiao, leaning over Venti, his knee slotted between Venti’s thighs, once hand gripping him by the jaw, the other delicately sweeping over Venti’s soft lips, painting them a glossy baby pink, their faces so close, way too close to simply apply some lip gloss and tint, but Xiao can’t help himself. He does, however, resist the urge to run a thumb over Venti’s lips and smear the pink gloss all over. Xiao is a professional at the end of the day.

“Done,” Xiao says, right on time too, seeing as Venti’s manager pokes her head inside. 

“Ready to go?” Jean asks. Asks Xiao, of course, since Venti would undoubtedly try and weasel in a few more minutes with Xiao. Another thought that sends the butterflies in his tummy fluttering about. 

Xiao nods his head in confirmation at Jean and begins to clean up his things separating brushes that need to be washed and products that need to be sanitized.

“Thank you~” Venti grabs his phone and follows Jean out of the room. And then he pops his head back in and blows Xiao a kiss before disappearing again.

Shameless, Xiao thinks gripping a blending brush so tightly he swears he hears it crack. 

xoxo

It’s simply in Venti’s nature to be so affable. He’s a social butterfly at heart. It’s what makes him so easily likable to many people. To 150k people, currently, it would seem. And Xiao is, admittedly, one of those 150k people. 

Xiao watches, eyes trained with laser focus on his phone screen, as Venti makes another hand heart, blowing a kiss along with it, at the behest of an excited commenter. 

Venti’s outgoing and spirited and has just the right amount of immodesty; mix all that with his honey-sweet voice and boyishly cute face and you’ve got a seriously lethal combo, if the screaming and crying chat is any sort of valid evidence. 

Benti0616: he’s so cute i’m gonna cry!!
AneMomo: venti i love you baby
FavoniusFan: it’s my birthday can u sing HBD to me please
WendyWind: so cute!!
Barbatoes: sending u luv from brazil!!
Windy: YOU’RE SO CUTE
Windemo: hand in marriage sir...pls

Xiao wonders if he left a comment of his own, would Venti see it? Or would it get lost in the whirlwind of I love you ’s and heart emojis? 

Xiao doesn’t comment, though. He never does. Simply watches the live stream until the end, until the app notifies him it’s over. He exits the application, squinting at the sudden bright light emitting from the screen. Xiao shuts his phone off, tossing it aside, before flopping back onto his bed. 

It vibrates a minute later, soft rumbles because Xiao always keeps his phone on vibrate, to avoid being disrupted by loud ringtones when he’s working or meditating. 

(Venti will complain about it if sometimes Xiao misses a call or text because the vibration wasn’t loud enough for Xiao to notice but it’s better than Zhongli who once turned his phone on silent like nine years ago and has never switched it back since.)

Xiao groans a little, blindly reaching an arm out to grab his phone, jabbing a thumb at it to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Baby~ Did you miss me?” ASMR never seems to do anything for Xiao, he wonders why the dummy even bothers with it each time. 

“What is it?” Xiao extends his leg out, pointing his toes to stretch it while in bed still. 

“Did I wake you?” Venti asks. There’s the sound of voices chattering and the echoing of footsteps in the background; he must be leaving his company building. 

“No,” Xiao replies.

“Ah. So you were watching?” Smug bastard. 

“I never said that,” Xiao mutters.

“Ahh, I was reading the comments so much, waiting for yours,” Venti sighs and Xiao can imagine the exaggerated (and cute) pout on his face so clearly.

“Go home and go to sleep,” Xiao grumbles. “You have work early tomorrow. Which means I have work early tomorrow.” 

“Five more minutes?” Venti wheedles. “I missed you.” 

“You’ll see me tomorrow.”

“But that’s work, ” Venti whines. “I wanna see you and be able to kiss you and hug you and everything with you freely!” 

“You— shut up,” Xiao mutters, his face heating up and even though Venti can’t see him the bastard probably knows which makes it worse. “Goodnight.”

“Eh! Already—”

“You have five seconds and then I’m hanging up.”

“Huh? Xiao!”

“Four…”

“I love you! I miss you! Goodnight! Sweet dreams! Mwah, mwah, mwah! ” 

Xiao hangs up, he said he would after all, but the sound of Venti’s voice lingers in his mind, even as he drifts off to sleep, making him feel all floaty, like he’s sleeping among the clouds. 

xoxo

Xiao wears a full-length sleeve when he’s working. Nothing too baggy because loose sleeves are a hazard when you’re painting on the most precise winged eyeliner possible in an environment full of busy and chronically stressed entertainment staff. But the sleeves cover his tattoos. Not that anyone at Venti’s company particularly cares, but sometimes they’re filming things while Venti’s getting his hair and makeup done and Xiao knows enough about Venti’s eagle-eyed fans to not want to even risk being recognized elsewhere. 

So, he wears long sleeves. It’s whatever most of the time. Except when they’re in some shitty dressing room for some shitty music show in some shitty building with the world’s shittiest A/C system. 

It’s hot. Xiao hates being hot. He can handle the cold just fine but getting all sweaty and warm, that feeling when your skin is all tingly and hot, makes Xiao want to move to freaking Snezhnaya sometimes.

Normally, Xiao would suck it up. Power through and finish his job before chugging down some ice-cold water. 

But today, it’s hot. And cramped in the shitty dressing room. And they’re behind schedule, because of a timing mix-up on the show staff’s part. Jean is off somewhere in the background shouting on the phone at someone. There’s been an accident on the freeway, half the staff won’t be here on time so the people who are here have been given even larger workloads. 

For Xiao, this means he’s doing Barbara’s makeup along with Venti’s, the two of them being the MCs of today’s program. He doesn’t particularly mind, the blonde girl is polite and sweet and it doesn’t take Xiao much time at all to figure what kind of look to give her. 

What he does mind is that the freaking A/C still isn’t working. Not only does this make his job of applying makeup that much harder, but Xiao’s getting overheated and cranky too. Barbaras’ assistant, Noelle, is doing her best to keep the idols cool; waving around those little hand fans and providing the coldest water she can get her hands on, which unfortunately isn’t that cold at all. 

Still, they all seem to be faring better than Ganyu; the hairstylist needing to stop every few minutes to wipe away the sweat on her brow, despite her thick hair being pulled up into a high bun, not a strand out of place. Xiao sighs. The faster he finishes with the makeup, the faster Ganyu can touch up Venti and Barbara’s hair, and then they can both go take a break.  

Xiao huffs, moving his bangs out of the way yet again. He cracks his neck, losing some of the tension that’s built up. He decides to take a page out of Ganyu’s book and grabs some hairpins, expertly pushing them into his hair to keep it out of the way, tying it up into a bun at the base of his neck. He pushes the sleeves of his sweatshirt up, past his forearms, and gets back to work, finishing up with Barbara’s shimmery eyeshadow and coral lips. 

Barbara, oddly, seems to be having a hard time keeping a straight face, mouth and eyes twitching every so often. 

Xiao pauses, taking a step back. “Is something wrong?” 

Barbara shakes her head, biting back a smile. Discreetly, she points over to her right, cupping her hand to cover the way her index finger is pointing. Xiao follows her gaze, over to where Venti sits in his chair, his phone aimed right at Xiao. 

“...What are you doing?” Xiao stares. He’s being filmed or photographed, no doubt. But why…?

“...nothing,” Venti lies sweetly, phone still up and aimed at Xiao. Xiao stares at him, with a flat and unimpressed look. “What? You look hot. ”

He can hear Barbara and Ganyu’s light giggles; Noelle, at least, has the decency to hide her smile behind her hand. Xiao rolls his eyes and resumes glaring at Venti, with more intensity this time.  

“Why?” Venti asks, a cheery tilt to his voice. “Does it bother you?”

Ah. So that’s what it is. 

Venti, for some unfathomable reason, seems to like to try and get Xiao annoyed or angry. To be fair, Venti likes to annoy a lot of people; Jean, Diluc, Zhongli, for example. But it’s different with Xiao. 

It’s hornier, Xiao will admit with disgust. 

Xiao’s been told he has a resting bitch face more than enough times but anyone who actually knows him can attest to the fact that he does not anger easily, despite what his outward appearance may suggest to some people. Xiao’s not the best at expressing positive emotions but he’s pretty good at keeping the negative ones on lock. Xiao, in general, does not act on his emotions. He has a fairly level temperament. Still, Venti loves to try and get a rise out of him. 

The heat must really be getting to Xiao and leave it to Venti to pick up on any micro-level signs of irritation Xiao might have shown. 

“Be good,” Xiao warns. The last thing any of them need right now is for Venti to get into an even more mischievous mood. If that were to happen, Jean might just pull out her hair. Or maybe Venti’s. 

“Ugh. Fine, ” Venti pouts, putting away his phone. Venti may be a menace but he’s not a total asshole , so he allows Xiao to finish working on Barbara and doesn’t cause any headaches for any other staff members either. 

Ten minutes later, the building’s A/C system finally seems to be fixed, distant whirring sounds as cool air begins to circulate. Xiao’s done with Barbara’s makeup and she’s been handed over to Ganyu for some final adjustments to her hair. 

Xiao grabs his other set of brushes and goes to check on Venti. 

Ganyu’s done his hair differently today, because of the intense heat, likely. Instead of his boyish bangs and neat braids, Venti’s hair has been pushed back, the longer sections held in place with some pearl hairpins, his forehead totally exposed. 

Xiao’s heart skips a beat. He ignores it, moving on to do some final touch-ups on Venti’s makeup. 

“Xiao,” Venti whispers softly.

“Mm?” Xiao hums,  steadily dabbing some more powder onto his cheeks and forehead. 

Venti’s fingers tentatively wrap around Xiao’s hand. Despite being similar heights, Venti’s hands seem so much smaller than Xiao’s, his fingers seeming so much more delicate and soft than Xiao’s long fingers. 

“What?” Xiao asks, pausing his touch-up. Venti says nothing, fingers slowly crawling up Xiao’s arm, tracing over the patterns on his tattoos. Xiao stills, watching Venti in silence. Venti’s eyes flicker up towards Xiao, peeking up at Xiao through his long, fluttery lashes. He slowly retracts his hands, until they’re wrapped around Xiao’s fingers, and then presses a quick kiss to Xiao’s knuckles before pulling his hands back and acting as if nothing ever happened.

Xiao’s face heats up and warmth blossoms in his chest. If anyone asks, he’s still feeling the effects of the heat. 

“Stupid,” Xiao mumbles, “Now I have to redo your lip tint.”

The small, pleased smile Venti sends him tells Xiao that Venti doesn’t seem to mind that at all.

xoxo

Xiao got off work a couple of hours ago and now sits in the peace and tranquillity of his quiet apartment. Despite it being nearly 11 PM, Xiao still has the curtains pulled back, the window cracked open slightly, allowing the cool night air to blow past him. The sound of the heavy rainfall accompanies him as Xiao sits in front of his large windows and does some light stretches. 

He planned on stretching, winding down a little, then heading to bed. What Xiao did not plan was his doorbell ringing at 10:57 PM. 

Xiao pauses in his chakrasana pose, squinting at the door, debating whether he should simply ignore it or not. The door rings again. Twice in a row.

Xiao sighs, hoisting himself upright, and heads towards the door.

“Hu Tao, if you’re here to borrow sugar for midnight baking again— ” 

It’s not Hu Tao, which is a bit of a relief at least. 

“Venti…” Xiao stares, dumbfounded at the shivering Venti standing in his doorway. He’s soaking wet, not enough to be dripping that much water, but enough to soak his clothes, completely drenching the flimsy windbreaker he has on. 

“Missed you,” Venti says with a wry shrug. Xiao blinks, opening the door wider to let him in. The last thing he needs is for Hu Tao to really come out and see Idol Sensation Venti standing outside Xiao’s apartment, dripping wet and shivering. 

Xiao closes the door after Venti slips by him, and procures a pair of guest slippers for him, setting them down in the entryway. Venti toes off his ridiculously expensive and ugly sneakers, the all-white material looking a little muddy and grody from the rainfall. He stumbles a little and Xiao’s hands shoot out at lightning speed to steady him. Venti blinks, looking up at Xiao. His eyes are a little glassy, cheeks flushed, and oh. Xiao really should have seen this coming.

“You’re drunk,” Xiao deduces.

“Noooo,” Venti shakes his head, lips forming a big pout. “Just a little tipsy.” He raises his thumb and index finger up, a smidgen of space between them.

Xiao sighs. How this wine-loving moron managed to get drunk and slip past Diluc, he has no clue. All Xiao knows is that the idiot’s bodyguard will be out for blood tomorrow morning and Xiao sure as hell is in no mood to be fostering a wanted criminal. 

But that’ll be in the morning. For now…

“Go take a warm bath, or you’ll get sick.” Xiao unzips Venti’s windbreaker and helps Venti take it off. He leaves the damp jacket on an empty hook to dry and ushers Venti to the bathroom. He catches Venti from stumbling once more as the singer tries to shuck his slippers off before entering the bathroom. 

“Join me~” Venti winks at Xiao, sending him an inviting smile, like he isn’t drunk in someone else’s bathroom. 

“No.” 

“Mean!”

Xiao ignores Venti’s wheedling and whining, setting up the bath for him, even putting out the body wash that smells like sweet apples. 

“Bathe,” Xiao tells Venti, “ Alone. ”

“Help me undress at least,” Venti demands, hopping up onto the sink counter. “My arms and legs hurt,” Venti pouts, kicking his legs back and forth. “I had dance practice for so long today, everything’s sore~” 

Xiao sighs again but gives in to Venti’s request. He helps Venti peel off his shirt first, exposing smooth and pale skin underneath. Xiao tosses the cotton tee to the side, he’ll wash and dry Venti’s clothes later. Next, he bends down to remove Venti’s socks, Venti’s cold toes brushing against Xiao’s arms. 

He stands up. All that’s left now is…

Venti smirks at him, spreading his legs out wide. Xiao scowls but moves to remove Venti’s pants too. In for a penny, he guesses.

With steady fingers, Xiao unbuttons Venti’s jeans, training not to stare at Venti’s exposed hips, ignoring how his knuckles brush against the soft skin of Venti’s stomach. He unzips Venti’s jeans, quickly, not allowing his hands to linger and stray. 

“Stand up,” Xiao commands, a little surprised at how calmly the words come out. Venti does so, dropping down from the counter, and allows his jeans to drop to his ankles, blindly kicking them away. Xiao’s breath hitches when he sees what’s left. 

Lace. White, delicate lace. It wraps around both of Venti’s thighs, thin straps leading up to what has to be the shortest pair of boy shorts ever, the lacey fabric hugging Venti’s narrow waist in a v-shape. 

Venti leans back against the counter, pushing his hips forward slightly, one hand trailing down his chest, fingers skimming over the waistband of his underwear. 

“Xiao~” he sings out, his melodious voice echoing off the tiled bathroom walls. “Aren’t you going to help me?” 

Annoying. Venti’s so annoying. 

Xiao repeats that mantra as he steps forward, trapping Venti in between himself and the counter. He looks at Venti, his golden eyes meeting those entrancing sea green ones. Without looking away, Xiao hooks a finger under Venti’s waistband; the material feels silkier than he expected. With his other hand, he finds the garter hooks, unclasping them smoothly. He pulls, Venti’s underwear falls to the floor with a light swish, leaving him in nothing but two lacey thigh garters. Xiao moves his hands to Venti’s waist, pulling him so he sits on the counter again, a victorious feeling emerging when Venti gasps at the movement.

Xiao bends down, dropping to one knee. He looks up at Venti again; Venti’s cheeks flush, pupil’s dilating, as he stares down at Xiao, body trembling with anticipation. Xiao looks away, devoting his attention to Venti’s legs. 

Xiao runs his fingers up Venti’s calf, to his thigh, skimming over the lace garter. He slides it down, carefully, slowly. He rubs a thumb over the red indent left behind on the inside of Venti’s thigh, eliciting a whimpering sound from Venti. Xiao ignores him though, moving on to the other leg, doing the same to the garter, tossing it onto the messy pile of Venti’s clothes. 

Once Venti is totally naked, Xiao stands up, and Venti’s hand reaches out, fingers wrapping around Xiao’s wrist. Xiao steps closer, in between the gap of Venti’s outstretched legs. His free hand slides down Venti’s side, stopping at his waist. They’re so close to each other, yet touch each other lightly, like feathers ghosting over each other’s skin, Venti’s hand trailing up Xiao’s arm, Xiao’s fingers drumming over Venti’s bare thigh. Closer and closer, warm hands on cold skin, leaving trails of goosebumps on tingling skin.

Abruptly, a jarring shock bursting their little bubble, Venti turns his head to the side, sneezing into his shoulder. A shudder racks his body, leaving Venti shivering. Xiao steps back, despite Venti’s pleading eyes. 

“Get in the bath now. Before the water gets cold,” Xiao instructs, scooping down to pick up Venti’s discarded clothes. “I’ll bring you some pyjamas.”

“Xiao,” Venti pouts at him, arms stretched out like a little kitten begging to be picked up. 

“Make sure you put on some lotion and face cream afterwards.” It’s getting colder and Venti’s skin dries out unless properly moisturized. Venti makes more whining sounds, some groaning thrown in there too, but does as instructed. 

Xiao exits the bathroom, heading to his room to grab some clothes for Venti.

xoxo

Venti, freshly showered (and moisturized), flutters about Xiao’s bedroom in his borrowed sweatshirt and boxers, since he hates sleeping with pants on. Xiao doesn’t particularly mind that habit. 

“Xiao! Xiao! Do my hair,” Venti demands, kneeling on Xiao’s bed, small hair ties in his hand. Xiao stands behind Venti, grabbing a boar-bristle brush, and begins to gently comb through Venti’s hair, with careful movements. It’s soft, getting longer too, Xiao notes as he runs the damp strands through his fingers. He begins collecting Venti’s hair as he begins to braid his hair. Not the styled braids he has when performing, just two simple braids to keep Venti’s hair out of the way when he sleeps. Xiao starts on one side, slowly and neatly Dutch-braiding Venti’s hair, until the longer strands blend into the shorter ones, the braid wrapping around Venti’s head in a pseudo-milkmaid hairstyle. Xiao locks the braid away with a couple of bobby pins and repeats the process on the other side. 

“Are you hungry?” Xiao asks, pining away the other braid.

“Mmm...I brushed already,” Venti sighs. 

“Did you drink your water?”

“Mmhmm,” Venti nods his head.

“Are you cold still?” 

“No— yes. ”

Xiao raises an eyebrow, looking down at Venti. Venti tilts his head upwards to look back. 

“I’m cold still. You’ll have to sleep really close to keep me warm,” Venti informs.

Xiao rolls his eyes, a smile twitching at his lips and tucks away Venti’s bangs with a couple of pins as well. “You don’t need to pretend to be cold to get a hug, you know?” 

Venti laughs lightly, flopping onto Xiao’s bed and haphazardly kicking back Xiao’s sheets. “Bedtime! Come cuddle with me~” 

Xiao lifts up the blanket, straightening it a little, and crawls into bed. Venti immediately latches on to him, arms around Xiao’s neck and a leg thrown over Xiao’s hips. Xiao adjusts them into a more comfortable position, wrapping an arm around Venti as well. He feels much warmer than before so hopefully, Xiao can rest easy and sleep knowing the dummy won’t have a cold tomorrow morning. 

Venti hums to him, a sweet, honey-like sound, mixing with the pattering rainfall from outside. Did he close the window earlier? Ah, Xiao can’t remember. 

“Dreams,” he mumbles, burying his face into the crook of Venti’s neck. He can feel the vibrations of Venti's humming in his throat, and feels it when Venti pauses.

“Hmm?” Venti asks, running a hand through Xiao’s hair.

“Your voice sounds like a dream,” Xiao says, feeling drowsy with sleep already.

Venti laughs softly, hugging Xiao tighter. “Have the sweetest of dreams then. Good night Xiao,” he whispers before resuming his humming, the sweet sounds echoing in Xiao’s mind as he slumbers. The warmth of Venti’s body, the euphonious melody of Venti’s voice lulls Xiao into sleep, a pleasant cloudiness fogging his mind as he dreams of pretty meadows and a sweet angel laughing and dancing in the wind. 

xoxo