Rewind | Genshin Impact

Chapter 25

The rest of the night went by rather smoothly. Just to be safe, Venti stuck by Kaeya's side throughout it all. The blue haired boy was visibly confused, but thankfully didn't say anything about it. 

Xiao switched between talking to Venti, Kaeya, some other guests here and there and just keeping to himself. Surprisingly, Xiao didn't talk to Scaramouche for the rest of the night, although it didn't seem that Scaramouche was that keen on giving Xiao the opportunity anyway. The mysterious boy spent most of the night sitting on a counter in the corner of the room scrolling on his phone. Every now and then, Venti would notice Kazuha going to exchange hushed whispers with his boyfriend, but nothing more.

When the night neared it's end, Kaeya leaned down to whisper in Venti's ear. "So, what about that surprise? Not to rush you but I am getting rather hungry."

Oh, right, the surprise.

"Uhh, ehe." Venti chuckled nervously, "well, I'll give it to you on the ride to your house. It's something I must, uh, give to you in private."

Kaeya smirked, "you're driving me home?" He questioned. A mischievous grin making it's way onto his face causing Venti to internally panic.

"Uhhh, yeah! Just so I can give you the, uh, surprise." Venti grinned sheepishly, hearing the faint chatter of people saying farewell in the background. "We should probably leave now, before it gets too late."

Venti watched as Kaeya also took in his surroundings, then nodded his head. "Alright Venti, lead the way, let me just say goodbye to some people first."

Venti nodded his head as he watched Kaeya walked over to where a crowd of people were, bidding his farewell. Then, the green haired boy gave the room a once over, relief washing over him as he saw Xiao in the corner, Venti wasted no time in skipping over.

"So, I'm going home with Kaeya." Venti hummed, and at Xiao's raised eyebrow he quickly backtracked. "No, uh, not like that! I mean just to make sure he gets home safe! I mean-" however his rambling was cut off as Xiao lifted up his hand.

"I didn't suspect any different then that." Xiao commented dully, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall.

"Ahh right." Venti chuckled nervously. He didn't know why it mattered so much to him that he confirmed to Xiao that him taking Kaeya home was purely just to make sure he was safe. Even though he doubted that anyone in their right mind would think it was for any other reason. An icky feeling came over Venti at this realisation, and he quickly blamed him being so bothered on the fact that Kaeya was dating Albedo.

"Will you be alright?" Xiao then asked, now avoiding eye contact as he looked to the side.

Venti felt his cheeks involuntarily go red, he chuckled nervously. "Uh, yeah! Thanks! So I should probably, uh, go and check on Kaeya, you know, make sure he hasn't been murdered or anything. Ehe." He said as he took a few steps back, nearly tripping over a table as he did so.

Seriously, what was going on with him?

Xiao eyed him suspiciously, before rolling his eyes. "Whatever." He mumbled, "I'll be in touch." Venti watched as the boy walked past him and towards the door, Xiao quickly turned around and with little to no effort waved at everyone before exiting. 

Venti only remembered what he was meant to be doing when Kaeya tapped him on the back. "Ready to go?" 

"Oh, ehe, uh, yeah." Venti stuttered out, walking forward and bidding farewell to everyone in the room with Kaeya trailing close behind.

Just as he exited the party, he realized he was so distracted that he forgot to ask Xiao about Scaramouche.