[ His hesitance isn't lost. Venti doesn't have an answer, but he's pouty that Zhongli didn't either. Hypocrisy, thy name is Barbatos. The bard turns until he's seated on Zhongli's lower stomach, hands resting on his chest and eyes as honest as the day they were when he first arrived back in Liyue... ]

Whatever it is... do you like it? [ Want more? The words fail to leave his lips. They were more bare in front of each other than they ever had been, vulnerable to its core. ] I have to apologize before another word is said, for my eyes failing to pry themselves away from you in my bed.

[ Idiot! Rhymes are not coping mechanisms! ]