Chapter Text
Venti was almost surprised at how shockingly different his high school looked if you got there early. It was eerily quiet. Normally he arrived at his classroom precisely one minute after his home room teacher – today he had more than thirty minutes to kill.
As for the reason he was early… today was a special day. It’s not that he woke up any earlier but rather that he couldn’t sleep at all because of the nervous excitement.
Oddly, his publicist hadn’t updated him on the numbers yet. No news meant good news, right? She was just busy. Yes, that was it.
Instead of pacing and refreshing Twitter constantly at home, he decided to do something he never did and go to school early. In truth, all he managed to accomplish was change his location. He still wanted to check the tags to see what the critics were saying about his album. As he shoved his phone into the deepest corner of his messenger bag so that he could resist the urge to open Twitter, his deskmate Barbara skipped in, smiling from ear to ear.
The moment Barbara sat down, she shoved something toward him, brimming with excitement. “Venti, look what I got!”
Venti looked down at the object she had passed to him, and his smile froze in place. A masked singer with neon highlighted braids stared back at him. It was signed ‘Barbatos’ with a flourish in the right corner.
Surely, his innocent classmate hadn’t figured it out so soon? Well, it was fine. If she put two and two together, he would deny everything.
“What am I looking at?” He asked innocently.
“It’s exclusive merch from the Barbatos album that was released today! Only available to fans who buy the album on the first day.” Barbara fidgeted in her seat excitedly. “I was too slow during the last release – it got sold out before I even got to the store. So, I lined up at 5am this time because I wasn’t taking any chances!”
Wow. He knew she was a fan because he’d caught her humming his songs from time to time, but he didn’t know she was this devoted.
He peered at her closely, noting the dark circles under her eyes. “You must be tired if you got up that early. Are you going to be okay?”
“Oh, it’s fine!” the blonde waved him off. She retrieved the booklet from him and hugged it to her chest lovingly. “It’s all worth it since I was able to get this. It’s actually signed by Barbatos too – I can hardly believe it.” Would she be this excited if she knew that the hand that crafted the signature was a few feet away from her in class every day?
Maybe not, but nonetheless, Venti was deeply enjoying this. He loved to secretly eavesdrop on people talking about him, but this was the first time someone had gushed about him without realizing his identity.
“…You like him that much, huh?” he asked slyly.
Barbara blushed, self-consciously touching her right pigtail. “A-ah, I’m sorry. I’m boring you, aren’t I? I’ve been blabbing about Barbatos but you probably don’t even know who he is…”
“Oh, it’s totally fine.” Venti gave her his most sincere smile. “Don’t worry about it at all. Please talk to me about him whenever you want. In fact, I insist that you tell me all about him.”
She was momentarily taken aback, but within a few seconds, was giggly again. “Well then, would you like to listen to one of his new songs together? We have some time before class starts.” When Venti stared at the airpod he was just handed, Barbara reassured him, “I clean them every night and I haven’t used them yet today if you’re worried about hygiene.”
It wasn’t that. He was concerned about whether he was turning into a narcissist by agreeing to listen to his own songs with a classmate. Meanwhile, Barbara was already riffling through song lyrics from the promotional booklet.
“I want to pick a happy song. Barbatos’ music always makes me cry but I don’t want to start bawling in class.” she explained. “Oooh, Let the Wind Tell You sounds nice. Let’s do that one.”
Indeed, that was one of the few upbeat songs in the whole album, other than some of the cover songs.
Watching Barbara be completely engrossed in his music, Venti was reminded of why he wanted to become an artist in the first place. He liked reaching people’s hearts with his music and bringing a smile to their face.
Maybe if she ever figured out his identity, he would thank her for her support. But for now, it was far more entertaining to tease her for her little celebrity crush.