#genshin #zhongven #zhongli #venti rat venti au

"under the starry sky of glamorous paris, zhongli's bad day turned to worse as not only was he expelled from the best culinary school in this city, he also ran over a tiny rodent who's now on death's door. because of him."

today was, and he was not exaggerating, a terrible, no good, god-awful day.

see, zhongli would like to think that he was quite an optimist. he tends to see the best in people and situations, a glass half full kinda guy.

if you tell him that he won’t be able to fulfill his mother’s dying wish for him to finish culinary school and become a chef, he’d be a tiny bit offended but he’d think you were having a bad day and taking out your frustrations or something.

he’d give you the benefit of the doubt, as it wasn’t something worth getting negative over.

but really, and excuse his language. what the fuck.

the sound of arguing still echoed in his head as he opened the door and left the building, apron clutched in his hand.

zhongli did not wake up this morning thinking that today was gonna be it, the day where his entire career would be going down the drain for something as stupid as not being able to turn in his spaghetti in time.

he does not use such negative words freely, but when something is utterly idiotic he’s not hesitant to point it out.

and okay, he was mature enough to admit that maybe having his sixteenth late assignment probably contributed to the fact that he got kicked out.

but perfection requires time, and he would never settle for anything less than the perfect carbonara sauce. why should he? he was raised with standards after all.

sighing, zhongli ran a hand through his hair.

there was no use dwelling on the matter now, and the instinct to look for a solution was already kicking in. even if the most prestigious culinary school in paris won’t take him, he’s sure that some other place would. he’d just have to…settle, that’s all.

as if mocking him, heavy rain started pouring down outside the patio just as twilight slowly wrapped the glamorous city in its embrace. muttering a mild curse to himself, he pulled the bike from its rack, biting the insides of his cheek as the handles shook a little.

he needed to replace them soon.

biking in this weather wasn’t the safest, but it’s not like he had any other option. sighing again, zhongli pulled the cheap plastic raincoat on himself, making sure to cover his bag carefully just in case any water could get on his precious book.

it’s times like these that he missed the comfort of a car, with its soft leather and heated seats and tinted windows that bathed the streets of paris in shades of dark pastels.

not like he had any regrets. it was just…convenient. and comforting, to reminisce.

the bike ride back to his little shitty apartment was already long, made worse by the almost blinding rain. it was getting colder, the autumn air settling into the city as the leaves started changing colors.

he blew out a breath and wiped the hair from his eyes at a stoplight, thankful that at least he had the foresight to remove his glasses.

whatever optimism he had completely went out the window when he had to stop in front of a construction site that was his only path home.

“sorry, buddy,” the woman holding flashing lights sighed, looking just as miserable as he felt, “road’s closed.”

“i don’t know any other alternatives,” he confessed.

yes, not remembering the streets of paris even though he’s been living here for a year was a massive oversight and extremely unlike him, but in his defense, the rides home were usually spent in contemplation about what recipe he should attempt for his next dish.

she shot him a sympathetic look and a smile. “where are you trying to get to?”

“paris 13.”

the woman blinked. “kid,” she said, “that’s all the way across town.”

“i know.”

“don’t you want to wait the rain out, at least?”

he looked away, suddenly feeling self conscious.

“i can’t. really gotta get home.”

understanding softened her eyes, and she bit her lip. “not really supposed to tell you this, but maybe you should try the shortcuts,” she pointed her lights towards a shadowy corner -

- where if he squinted he could barely make out the beginning of some very well hidden alleyways.

he raised his brow. “how’d you know this?”

the woman laughed and winked at him then. “insider info, kid. now you should go, don’t stay out in this rain too long, okay?”

zhongli felt his lips curl up before he could think about it. “thank you,” he said, heartfelt, and she waved at him goodbye as he pushed on the pedals and headed towards the shortcut she showed him.

the first thing he noticed was that it was terribly dark in here.

there were no street lamps, and the only source of illumination was the faint flickering of his bike’s safety headlight. the road was bumpy and filled with hidden pitfalls, and he was really starting to think that this wasn’t worth it -

- and he should’ve just taken the nice lady’s advice to wait it out.

his thoughts were interrupted by a startled, terrified squeak, the sickening sensation of the wheels on his bike running over something, and then nothing but deafening, terrifying silence.

it took zhongli exactly two seconds to freak out.

frantically, he squeezed the breaks, swinging his leg over the seat and abandoning his bike to check on what the hell he had just ran over.

he tried to discern what the tiny, black lump on the ground was, and the faint sight of blood leaking out on the cobblestone alley street made his stomach churn.

no longer caring about the rain, zhongli squatted down, hesitantly poking at what seemed to be…a rat?

a rodent of some sorts. its fur was dark and silky, beady eyes closed, its form rising and falling like a desperate gasping for breath.

oh shit, that’s right. the rat *was* dying.

today just couldn’t get worse, could it?

…never mind. he shouldn’t tempt fate.

“hey,” he said, and then promptly felt like an idiot for trying to talk to a rat, of all things, “um. are you alive?”

the rat responded with a very angry squeak, its fury marred by the fact that it was still bleeding out in the rain.

cursing under his breath, and reminding himself to stuff a couple bills into the swear jar once he got home, zhongli gingerly picked up the little creature. it didn’t protest, perhaps too weak to do so, or maybe it was just a very friendly rat.

upon closer inspection, the wound on its back wasn’t necessarily life threatening, but he had to stop the bleeding somehow.

the sensation of water beating down his back abruptly pulled him back to that day, decades ago.

flashing lights, red and blue. the sound of a blaring siren, deafening, frantic. shouting in the distance. the sight of dented metal, falling apart, and *blood—*

he shook his head to get rid of the memory, turning his eyes back to the pitiful creature in his palms.

focus.

there was nothing else around to tie up the wound. the handkerchief was precious to him, but he knew his mother would not hesitate for even half a second if it meant he could save a life.

pulling out the silk cloth, zhongli tried to remember the first aid classes he was forced to take as a child. he wasn’t sure the same procedures would apply to a rat, but the principle is the same, right?

his fingers were nimble, gentle but with just enough force.

the thing squeaked again, but he shushed it with soothing noises, like talking to a baby. before long, he’s got the rat bandaged the best he could, letting out another deep sigh when it hissed and tried to bite him.

it was getting so dark now that he could barely tell the time, and staying out in the rain for longer was bound to make him sick.

“hush now,” he told the rat, as if it could understand him, “don’t be afraid. i will get you somewhere warmer, yes?”

it stopped fussing then, looking up at him with wide, beady eyes. that was good enough permission for him.

muttering a small apology, he stuffed the rat into his coat pocket, trying not to grimace at the feeling of a wet rodent pressed up against his dress shirt -

- soaking through it with blood and rainwater. definitely laundry day tomorrow. the rat squirmed for a bit in protest before relaxing, leaning into his body warmth almost begrudgingly.

it was shivering violently, and remembering the feisty pets his brother used to keep, he absentmindedly patted the little lump in his pocket with gentle motions until it calmed down.

walking back to his bike, zhongli slowly made his miserable way back home -

- on the other side of the river seine, all the while wondering why the hell he was bringing a rat back to his apartment.

***

the rain finally ceased as he shucked off his raincoat in the patio of his apartment building, fumbling with the keys, cursing when he dropped them. the lump in his pocket finally stirred, wiggling around, and zhongli instinctively put a hand over his chest to keep it in place.

“why do you look like a wet rat?”

he whipped his head back to see his—quite frankly, obnoxious—neighbor standing there, in her red pajamas and a teasing little smirk.

“got caught in the rain,” he mumbled.

he knew it was an expression, but her choice of words was a little too specific for his liking.

hu tao grinned at him, even brighter, “didn’t you have a raincoat?”

“don’t you have anything better to do?”

she shrugged. “annoying you is fun. hey, your bag’s wet by the way.”

“*what?*” he exclaimed, unlocking his apartment in such a hurry that it made her laugh out loud. he threw a glare that lacked any real heat over his shoulder, before shutting the door in her face with a flat look.

“nice talking, a-li!” she yelled through the cheap wooden barrier, before silence descended once more. in the safety of his solitude, zhongli gingerly swung the strap of his bag off his shoulder, opening it and sighing in relief when he realized that his precious book was safe.

a squeak, weak and almost imperceptible, broke him out of his trance.

“ah, sorry,” he mumbled, picking up the tiny rat with the tips of his fingers. it sat there with unfocused eyes, staring at him. the handkerchief he used to bandage it was soaked through with blood.

“wait here. i’ll grab my first aid kit.”

really, it felt kind of stupid to try patching up a rat with human medicine. but he didn’t have any other option, aside from calling a vet, which he might have to do anyway.

taking care of anything alive was never his strong suit. all his plants died within two weeks when he was a kid, so much so that his brother, clueless and innocent back then, asked him if it was normal for plants to wilt that quickly. hell, he could barely take care of himself.

zhongli wasn’t sure why exactly he had decided to take a rat home. his mind reminded him of all the diseases that a rodent like that would carry, but a part of him felt responsible to at least nurse it back to health. after all, he almost killed the poor thing.

zhongli returned to the sight of the rat curling up in one of his oversized hoodies and barely managed to stop himself from cooing at the cuteness. under the admittedly not so good lights of his apartment, he could see the little creature clearer now.

its fur was a dark blue that faded into pastel near its pink feet, shimmering with droplets of water still sticking to it. zhongli wasn’t sure he could or should call a rat pretty, but that really was the truth.

he grabbed the fluffiest towel he owned and approached, slowing down when he felt it tense up. “don’t worry,” he said, trying to make his voice low and soothing, “i’m just drying you off.”

against all odds, the rat seemed to understand him -

- because it sagged back down obediently and only squeaked in protest when he grazed its wound. “calm down,” he chided, slowly unraveling the handkerchief to take a closer look at the damage, mindful of the dried blood matted to its fur.

“i just gotta patch you up. i won’t hurt you. well, not intentionally, at least.”

it shot him a look that could almost be seen as suspicion, and he couldn’t help but let out a nervous chuckle. were rats normally so good at emoting?

a couple of minutes and a few times getting bit later, he finally got the rat bandaged enough that the bleeding had completely stopped. zhongli sighed in relief, taking in the sight of it lounging on his hoodie, staring up at him not in distrust this time, but curiosity.

why would a rat look at him like that?

“ah,” he muttered, suddenly remembering the basic needs of an animal, “you must be hungry, right? i don’t have much, but i can get you some fruit and water…archons, what do rats even eat?”

it continued to watch him in interest. those beady eyes trailed after him even as he shoved his way into the tiny kitchenette of his studio apartment to open the fridge, pulling out a couple strawberries.

he washed them and put enough water in a shallow dish, setting them down on the table.

the rat blinked at him in surprise, as if nobody had ever offered it food before. considering how it was an animal, furthermore a pest, he supposed no human had.

“it’s alright,” he told it, “it’s safe. go ahead.”

gingerly, hesitantly, it ducked its entire head into the dish and grunting in frustration (can rats grunt?) before it realized that it could just lap up the water like any normal rat would.

strange. but it wasn’t like he had any peace of mind to pay attention to that.

leaving the rat to do its own thing, zhongli gently returned his mother’s recipe book to the shelf, stacked with all manners of texts.

most of them were poetry collections from his younger days, and a couple even had his name on them. what few textbooks he had for his now-former-academy rested on the couch, or the kitchen counter.

now that the sheer adrenaline of the events that unfolded in the past two hours had subsided, his brain helpfully supplied the fact that one, he was no longer in school, and two, that meant his employment on campus had been terminated.

out of an education, out of a job. today fucking sucked.

…right. he was gonna put money in the swear jar.

zhongli spent the rest of the night watching the rat snore away softly within his softest hoodie—really, that thing had taste—

- and looking up the most affordable veterinarians around him. some options came up, all a bit too expensive for what he should reasonably be spending on a rat he ran over on the streets and brought home, until his eyes drifted to a name listed next to a ridiculously low price.

“no way,” he mumbled, clicking on the link to a simple but elegant website, “this has got to be a scam.”

it read, *albedo kreideprinz, phd. three years of practice as a certified veterinarian. provides treatment to every manner of pets, from dogs and cats to more exotic types.*

well. with that price, it was worth a try.

he noted down the address before locking his phone, mind made up. he’ll get the rat some help, nurse it back to health, then release it in the same unfortunate place he had ran it over.

that night, for some reason, he drifted asleep to the flickering images of teal eyes and a warm, friendly smile.

[tbc]

now available on ao3 for convenience! i will continue to update this thread first though haha https://archiveofourown.org/works/30581984