Chapter Text
“Venti, please, for the love of… try to pay attention.”
“Sorry,” Venti says sheepishly, feeling the gaze of several students on him, some disapproving, some amused.
His teacher sighs. “Guys, I know it's the first day back and you're all probably tired, but I'm gonna need your attention for just five minutes. Just give me five minutes.” He turns back to the whiteboard, adding on, “If you're gonna zone out, at least pretend that you're listening.”
Venti offers another “sorry” before Mr. Selby starts talking again.
Amidst the sound of his teacher’s voice coupled with the occasional swipe of marker on whiteboard, it doesn't take long for Venti's mind to go elsewhere.
Over the course of spring break, he'd hardly seen his best friend Dvalin - hell, he hadn't shown up to school for around a month. The previous night, however, Dvalin had messaged the group chat, saying he'd be back at school the next day.
Venti isn't really sure how to feel about it. It'll be good to have Dvalin back after not seeing him for so long, but he's not sure how welcoming Kaeya and Aether will be. He shouldn't have to worry too much, but considering the quiet conversations they've had at lunch in Dvalin's absence… it's better to be safe than sorry, is all.
“Right, that's it. You guys can have the rest of the class to fill out those sheets, and if you finish early you can have free time. I'll introduce your projects tomorrow.”
Relative silence falls over the classroom as the students get out their pencil cases and hand out worksheets. Mr. Selby sighs from his seat at the front of the class.
“...You guys can talk, you know. Please talk. It's so quiet in here.”
Chatter starts up around the room.
“What's up with you?” Aether asks, sliding a worksheet over to Venti before passing along the stack. “You're more spacey than usual today.”
Venti offers a laugh, then a shrug. “I dunno. Just thinking. Dvalin's coming back today.”
The blonde frowns a little. “...Yeah. And you're worried about that?”
Venti spins his pencil around his fingers before fumbling it. He slams his hand down onto the desk immediately to stop it from rolling away with a dull thunk. Venti cringes slightly at the noise, shoulders tensing. He glances around, checking that the rest of the class is too engrossed in their own conversations to notice the sound. He sets down the pencil, face flushing a little, and drags his attention back to Aether. “... I dunno, more so about Kaeya. They were bickering a lot before spring break.”
Venti glances down to the other end of the long table to make sure no one in particular saw his little pencil accident.
The classroom is spacious and pretty long lengthwise, with the desks arranged in a U-shape facing the whiteboard. Venti's back is to the majority of the other students, but everyone he wants to talk to is within his line of sight, meaning he's in their line of sight, meaning they might have seen him fumble that pencil and look kind of lame. … Shit.
Venti inwardly curses his decision to sit on the inside of the U-shape, but then again, it makes it easier to talk to Aether… and it meant he didn't have to squeeze in on the outside with the rest of his classmates.
Aether catches Venti's gaze and smiles to himself before returning to the topic at hand. “It'll probably be fine. They've had weeks to cool off, and we've all kind of missed Dvalin. It'll be nice to have him back.”
“...I guess.” Venti feels a little doubt slip into his tone. Even though he does feel a little happy about the return of his best friend, he can't exactly say that he missed him.
“I mean, yeah, you're right! Anyway, give me your eraser, I wrote the date wrong.”
The rest of the morning unfolds rather typically. Worksheets in Socials and a rather relaxing English class brought Venti to lunch, where, contrary to his messages from the previous day, Dvalin did not show up.
Shortly after, Venti entered the pits of hell - his math class - only to discover that there was a sub. A very annoying one, in fact.
“And you, have you finished that problem yet?” The sub - Ms. Something-Or-Other - leans over and peers down at Aether's workbook. After a beat, she looks up at Venti with a slightly patronizing glance. “Um, you, can you help him, please?”
Aether grits his teeth, not looking up. “He's helping me understand this question. I don't need help with the others.”
Venti suppresses his annoyance and tries hard not to glare at the teacher, putting on a cheerful voice. “Yeah, he's doing fine.”
Kaeya, whose face is buried in his own workbook, looks up and behind him at Venti and Aether, both of whom barely suppress sounds of annoyance as the substitute walks away after one more skeptical glance.
The sub badly explained the assigned questions in the book, then circled the room like a hawk pestering various students who were trying to understand the answers. Venti would do anything to get his old teacher back - she had a much better method of teaching. Assign the pages, teach the parts students struggled with, then leave them to do their work for the rest of class.
To have Ms. Chen back, Venti would probably kill someone at this point. Well, not really, but he couldn't stand the sub for one more minute.
“I can't believe we're stuck with her for the next two days. Where the hell is Ms. Chen?” Venti groans, slouching onto his desk.
“I know, I kind of want to slap her.” Aether mutters, dusting off eraser shavings from his book. “Won't shut up when I'm just trying to work.”
Kaeya turns his chair around so he can drop his workbook on top of Venti's. “So… I know it might be a bad time, but guys, this question is killing me.”
Venti just sighs and picks up his pencil.
* * *
“Venti, my love!” Someone cries out dramatically as Venti crosses the threshold to his film class. Venti responds with equal enthusiasm, dumping his bag on a desk. “Lyney, sweetheart, I've missed you so! Oui oui, wherefore art thou and shit.”
Venti and Lyney had an ongoing bit of constantly showering each other in affection, be it with cheesy words or with sitting in each other’s laps all the time. His friends - except Scaramouche - got over it pretty easily, and now no one bats an eye when the two are overly mushy.
Lyney lets out a laugh and sits down next to the disgruntled purple-haired boy. “Can you guys shut the fuck up? It's been a long day and I'm tired. I'd go home right now if Miller wouldn't beat my ass,” he grumbles.
It took Venti a hot minute to figure out where to sit - the seating arrangements had changed, again, so instead of the usual big curve of desks facing the whiteboard, there were a few clumps of four to five tables around the room. He sits at a group of five desks, across from Scaramouche and Lyney.
“Hey, Scarapookie, I just had the worst math class of my life, and you don't see me treating everyone like garbage,” Venti responds, feigning hurt and placing a hand on his chest. Scaramouche levels a glare at Venti, who laughs, palms up.
Scaramouche's sour mood has always been kind of an enigma to Venti. He'd sort of befriended the guy through bad jokes and banter, and some days Scaramouche just came in and barely said a word to anyone for the first half of class. Earlier in the year, before Scaramouche and his boyfriend made it official, it was highly likely that his bad mood was because he got jealous over Kazuha talking about some other guy during lunch.
Venti sits down, glancing at the entrance to the room. “Are Xiao and Hu Tao not here yet?” The two of them had a habit of coming in barely before the bell rang, mostly due to the fact that Hu Tao takes a while to pack her things - especially when she's talking to someone, which is all the time. Venti found it strange, considering how much of a go-getter she was, but he'd gotten used to it quickly.
Scaramouche sighs, while Lyney offers a shrug. “Knowing those two, they'll probably be late,” Lyney says lightly.
Even though he’d anticipated this already, Venti's mood dips a little. Despite Xiao's indifferent demeanor, Venti knew he didn't like being late. More specifically, he didn't like the feeling of being in trouble - which Venti could definitely relate to. Aside from that, he just really wanted to chat with Xiao. And Hu Tao, too. He did have Socials with the two, but Venti rarely ever got to talk to them in that class.
Almost as if the conversation summoned them, Hu Tao comes flying into the room and dumps her stuff on the other desk adjacent to Scaramouche, who grumbles and pushes her stray lunch bag out of his space. Following her is Xiao, walking at a more sensible pace. Venti feels his smile become a bit easier.
“Chat, did you miss us? Woah, someone's grumpy today. What's up, Lyney, Venti?” Hu Tao asks, grinning.
Lyney and Hu Tao chatter away in the background, while Xiao takes the seat to Venti's left with a sigh. “Long day?” Venti asks sympathetically, watching as Xiao runs a hand through his hair. His yellow eyes glance up at Venti. “Mmh. Sort of. I'm just tired.”
“I feel that,” Venti says, stretching a little. “I had an annoying sub today who wouldn't shut up and kept nagging everyone. Like, how dense do you have to be? I'm trying to solve a question, but I can't do it properly if you're sticking your ass in my business!” Venti's earlier annoyance had dissipated slightly upon seeing Xiao and the others, but it's not hard to remember the suffering he went through last class. He wasn't as mad, though - his indignation came more from a need to entertain Xiao.
Xiao has just enough time to let out a soft snort of laughter before Mr. Miller, the teacher, walks into the room and sits at the front of the class.
Venti internally laments at his conversation being cut short and turns to listen as the rest of the class quiets down.
* * *
“Guys! Wait up!”
Venti turns around in surprise, hearing the brash voice of his best friend. Kaeya and Aether stop walking as well, and all three of them watch as Dvalin runs across the street to catch up to them.
“Hey, Dvalin,” Aether says as he reaches them. “We thought you weren't coming to school today.”
“Oh, yeah. Nah, I slept in, so I just came in for afternoon classes.” Dvalin shrugs and Venti suppresses a pang of irritation at the slight smugness in his tone. “Anyway, you guys wanna go to Shimura’s?”
Shimura's was a convenience store a couple blocks away from Venti's house, and throughout high school, the four of them had made a habit of hanging out there after school.
Venti glances at Aether and Kaeya briefly before replying. “Yeah, sure, I’m down.”
The walk to Shimura's isn't long, but Venti was out of step. It felt stilted and awkward, like seeing a distant cousin for the first time in a year in the midst of a random family gathering that neither of you actually wanted to attend. It takes a few minutes for everyone to warm up, but soon enough it's as if Dvalin never left. Venti's earlier annoyance is forgotten, and for the afternoon… he's just happy to have his best friend back.
* * *
“I'm home!” Venti calls, shutting the door behind him and stepping out of his shoes, not bothering to untie the laces. “Anyone here?”
The foyer of Venti’s house got cleaned recently - over the weekend, Venti’s mom had gone out to IKEA and went scouring for furniture. Venti was still getting used to the feeling of putting his shoes on a rack instead of just lining them up against the wall. It did make him feel a lot neater, though - and it made it easier to sweep the area when he did chores.
“Hi, Venti!” His mother's voice calls faintly from the back of the house, where her desk was. “Dad's not home yet, but he should be back around dinner.”
While she spoke, Venti made his way into the kitchen and set down his lunch bag on the counter. “You have practice tonight, right, mom?”
Venti's mother sang barbershop and acapella often as a hobby - it's clear where he got his fondness for music from.
“Yes, it's with the chorus for church.” She responds, walking over and pressing a kiss to Venti's forehead. “I'll leave around 6:00 or 6:30.”
“Mmkay. I'll just be in my room.” Venti heads upstairs, turning to the first door on the left. It had paper letters taped to it, spelling out his name. He walks inside and closes the door behind him.
He sets his bag down next to his desk, throwing his socks in the hamper. Venti’s room had also been cleaned - it used to be insanely messy, with random knicknacks and remains of art projects cluttering the floor. He had to be careful about where he stepped, especially at night, otherwise he’d likely get stabbed by a stray piece of cardboard or something similar.
Over spring break, his Aunt Alice - a friend of his mother’s, but close enough that he called her Auntie often - came over to visit. Once she saw the state of his room, she immediately enlisted her son and Venti’s schoolmate, Albedo, to help him clean it. Venti gave some of his old toys to Alice in hopes that her daughter, Klee, would like them.
Cleaning his room had been therapeutic for Venti, and once he was finally able to see the carpeted floor again, he felt a lot better. It felt like he was someone who was put together, and took care of themselves, just from having a clean living space. Recently, his desk had become cluttered again, but it’s fine, he’d deal with it before it got too bad.
Venti flops onto his bed, reaching down to a mess of cables to plug in his phone.
“Here's some things I wish people told me when I was losing wei-”
“Am I the asshole for-”
“Genshin Impact's new character-”
For around 10 minutes, Venti just lies half off his bed, scrolling on YouTube. The rest of the evening he spends lazing around with no work to attend to. He eats dinner with his dad, making small talk about this and that. It's a calm, nice evening… but as he gets into bed, he doesn't feel at all relaxed or content.
He just feels… numb.
There's no viable explanation for it, but he feels off, weighed down by nothing in particular. This isn't an uncommon occurrence, either - it's been happening a lot lately. Lying in the darkness feeling a weight in his chest on a day where nothing should have caused it.
In the dark of Venti's room, a white-blue light turns on and Venti just lies there on his phone, surfing the internet and writing various things to get his mind off the emptiness that crept up on him.
The phone only turns off when he can hardly keep his eyes open.
* * *
When Venti wakes up, the irrational numbness from the night before lingers. But he forces himself up and out of bed with the sound of his alarm, going through the motions until he feels almost like a functioning human being again. Brushing his teeth, getting dressed, idly braiding his hair in the mirror.
The walk to school is a peaceful one, only interrupted by the sounds of cars honking when Venti goes by a busy street. Once he gets to school, he heads to his first class and paces up and down the hallway until the teacher lets him inside. Aether, Xiao, and Hu Tao all arrive in the minutes before class starts.
“I need you guys, in groups of two to four, to make a short video on the French Revolution.” Mr. Selby says, writing on the whiteboard. “Ooh, that's a nice marker. Ahem. It doesn't need to be too long, maybe five minutes maximum. I've posted the rubric on Teams, and we'll be watching them in class on Monday.”
Venti's eyes slide automatically over to Aether, and they nod at each other, a silent agreement to work together. Venti glances down the table at Xiao, wondering if he'd want to work with them as well, but… nope. He's already talking quietly to Hu Tao.
“You know, you could just… ask them to work with us,” Aether says, not missing Venti’s gaze. “Selby did say groups of four are fine.”
“No, it’s fine,” Venti says, tearing his eyes away and looking at Aether, smiling a little. “It’ll probably be easier with just us, so we can film it after school or something.”
“... I mean, if you’re sure, then okay.”
The rest of Socials isn’t very eventful - Venti and Aether just agree on how they’ll split their research, then start working. They get distracted talking to each other and the others at their table, and soon enough Venti is seated in his English class.
“In groups, you will be creating a puppet show. Chat GPT will create a script for you with your prompts, and it's your job to film and act it out in any form you like - paper, animation, anything. It must be three acts with one scene each, and you must star in your show.” Mr. Reeves says, pacing at the front of the class. The front row of desks was empty except for the one Venti and his friends occupied, so Mr. Reeves often sat on the desks or propped up a foot on the chairs while he talked. “By the end of today, you should have a group and a script ready to show me and I'll give you the go-ahead to start working.”
He claps his hands together. “Let me know if I can help. Get busy!”
Venti glances at his two seatmates, Lumine and Kazuha. “We're definitely working together on this and I don't care what you two say,” Venti says brightly.
Kazuha laughs softly and Lumine rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Guys, let's do a stop-motion! Tone-deaf has a shit ton of clay at home, and Kazuha builds miniature stuff all the time, right?”
Kazuha shrugs, ignoring Venti's sound of protest at the nickname that was most likely fed to her by Paimon, her younger cousin. “I mostly paint models, but I could probably throw together a set with your help, Lumine.”
“Okay, fine, I'll handle the actual puppets,” Venti says lightly. It shouldn't be too hard - just something simple that can be moved around. Bowling pin people should be enough.
The blonde takes out her phone from her maroon backpack and starts up Chat GPT. “Do you guys have any ideas for a theme?”
Venti's eyes brighten. “How about…”
* * *
“We've been talking about this project for a while,” Mr. Miller says, leaning back in his chair, “and we're finally gonna do it. In groups of…” Mr. Miller pauses for a moment and quickly counts the people in the class. “Maybe four or five people. You'll be making a shot-by-shot recreation of a movie trailer of your choice.”
He sighs and sits up. “Now, obviously, you'll have to be smart about it and think about the amount of actors you have and how much editing you can do. And please, nothing with too much gore, I don't want to get in trouble with your parents. You guys can use the rest of class to figure out your groups and choose a trailer.”
Well, it's not exactly hard for Venti to figure out who he's working with. The rest of Film is spent goofing off with his friends, looking at trailers and joking around.
Aether and Lumine had to go somewhere - Venti doesn’t remember the exact location - after school, so Venti makes his way home with Kaeya and Dvalin. None of them speak much, all tired from the day.
Once home, Venti sits in his room, messing around on GarageBand while Dvalin lies on his bed playing video games.
Dvalin's family lives a ways away from their school, so his parents just pick him up from Venti's house. The arrangement had been in place since 8th grade, but sort of dissipated in the past few months - this is the first time in a while Dvalin's been over after school.
Venti completely tunes out Dvalin's loud exclamations and comments as he plays his game, closing GarageBand and instead choosing to focus on organizing things for all his projects.
Venti and Aether had agreed in class that they'd split the research and then film together over the weekend.
In English, it didn't take long for Lumine and Venti to come up with an unhinged prompt. After a few minutes, Chat GPT had taken their ideas and ended up with a story about breaking and entering Peppa Pig's house to steal an item called the “Single Part”. Venti, Kazuha, and Lumine are aided by Mickey Mouse, who then gets kidnapped by Peppa at the end of the story. It was Venti's job to handle the ‘puppets’ - clay models - for him, Kazuha, and Lumine.
In Film, Lyney had brightly offered the idea of doing a Despicable Me trailer, and Venti and Hu Tao had both excitedly hopped on board before Xiao and Scaramouche pointed out the fact that they couldn't recreate flying cars and the weapons they use. They had kept looking through trailers until Hu Tao suggested the Inside Out trailer, and they all agreed it was doable.
Thus, Venti was cast as Joy, Xiao as Sadness, Lyney as Fear, Hu Tao as Anger, and Scaramouche - very reluctantly - as Disgust.
Hu Tao also begged to take the role of Riley, forcing Lyney and Venti to play Riley's parents… and the three of them ganged up on Scaramouche to force him to play the helicopter pilot in the mom's daydream. Xiao would be handling most of the camera work, and they'd all split the editing.
Venti laughs softly to himself as he recalled the rather violent protests Scaramouche had made to his character assignments, cussing out Hu Tao - the most family-friendly of which had been “Who fucking died and made you casting director?!” Hu Tao had giggled and responded with “if a casting director did die around here, I’d be the first to know about it,” referencing her family’s funeral parlor business.
Venti was often curious about what sort of work running a funeral parlor entailed, especially because the closest he’d come to seeing Hu Tao working there was coffin designs on her desk. He’d asked her if she could set him up with a part-time job there, and she’d said maybe. Venti suspects she probably forgot about his request, busy with one of her recent hyperfixations - an indie video game she’d introduced to both him and Xiao.
Soon enough, Dvalin packs up his things and bids Venti goodbye, leaving him to his thoughts. He’s glad for the quiet.
Later that evening as Venti climbs into bed, he's nervous, all the things he needs to do running through his head. For the first time in a while, he’s excited to start working on his projects, hoping things in class go smoothly. He lies in bed, wide-eyed, and somehow his thoughts slow down enough to let him go to sleep.
The next morning, however, Venti wakes in the darkness with an itch at the back of his throat.