Rewind | Genshin Impact

Chapter 24

Venti wasted no time in quickly leaving Xiao and making his way towards the line, pushing past a few very annoyed people in order to reach Kaeya quickly. Sure, they probably didn't appreciate him sliding past them in the queue but if they knew the situation, they would understand.

Finally, Venti arrived behind the blue haired boy, he went up on his tiptoes to tap Kaeya on the shoulder, gaining his attention. "Oh, Venti, are you lining up for the food too?" Kaeya asked curiously, then he pointed to the corner of the room, "and weren't you just over there?" Venti looked over to where Kaeya was motioning, and saw Xiao leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, staring back at him with a very unimpressed look.

"Oh, ehe, yeah." Venti chuckled nervously, turning to face Kaeya again. "I was, but not anymore." he laughed awkwardly, gaining a suspicious look from Kaeya. "Anyway, I just came over here to tell you to not eat the food." He blurted out, mentally slapping himself due to his choice of words.

"What? Why? Does this have something to do with your 'horror stories about takeout?'" He questioned, using air quotation marks to further prove his point.

"Uh..." Venti began, frantically searching his brain for something he could possibly say which would make even the tiniest amount of sense. A lot of the time, Venti was rather impulsive, which really didn't work out in his favour in the long run and he was really regretting it now. "I mean, yeah?" He said slowly, however his delivery made it sound more like a question. 

"Uh... Okay... Well thanks Venti for your concern but I think I'm going to take my chances." Kaeya replied, his tone was a mixture of sounding cautious, as if he was walking on eggshells, and  confusion. Venti sighed, hating how he got distracted with Kazuha earlier on now more then ever. He could see from around Kaeya that the line was getting smaller, and they were getting closer and closer to the food. He had to make up some really good bullshit to somehow pull this off.

That's when an idea dawned upon Venti.

He forced himself to sigh for show, looking down at the floor before looking up at Kaeya again. "I really didn't want to have to tell you this, but it seems I don't have a choice." He began, really hoping his non-existent acting skills would kick in.

"What do you mean?" Kaeya inquired. 

"Well, since you just got back I, and, uh, Xiao, planned something special for you to e- uh- consume- later on. Therefore it would be, unfortunate, for you to eat anything now because then you'll be too full. It was meant to be a surprise." He said, giving his best attempt of sounding sad.

"You planned something special for me? Even though you knew Xingqiu spent ages planning a dish for me as well?" He questioned, his voice beginning to sound like he was accusing Venti for something.

Damn it, he needed to fix this, now.

"Well uh, ehe, yes." He quickly said, "but it's okay because what Xingqiu made wasn't too filling, but this is." He quickly finished it off with, trying his best to sound convincing. "Please, just, for now don't eat anything. I promise you won't be disappointed." He begged, really trying to get through to Kaeya.

Kaeya hesitated, the blue haired boy turning to look behind him then back at Venti. He sighed, "fine, thank you for planning a surprise for me Venti and I'm sorry you had to spoil it." He said, stepping out of the line and to the wall.

"Oh, ehe, don't worry about it." Venti scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I will give you your surprise later. Thank you for being so understanding, just, for now, don't eat or drink anything. I promise it'll be worth it."

"Okay then, I'll take your word for it." Kaeya said after a moment of hesitation.

Venti felt relief wash over him. He turned back to look at Xiao again, for some reason desperately seeking the other boys approval. Xiao met his eye, Venti nodded subtly at him with a small smile on his face and Xiao gave him a thumbs up in return.