The Bet (Kaebedo)

Chapter One

Kaeya was bored. It happened to him a lot, but today he was even more bored than all the days before.

He had his head in his arms, half-listening to the boring history class of Mr Zhongli.

His friend Childe though, sitting next to him, didn't miss a single word from the teacher, devouring him with his eyes.

Kaeya lightly hit his elbow, to tell him that even if Mr Zhongli was probably only like 5 to 10 years older, the red-headed was way too obvious by the way he looked at their teacher, and their (probably never existing) relationship couldn't be really legal.

But Childe didn't listen to him even the slightest, still focused on the handsome professor.

When the end of the class was announced, Childe immediately came to the front of the classroom to talk with Mr Zhongli, telling Kaeya to wait for him at the cafeteria.

The blue-haired young man sighed, but got up from his seat to leave the classroom anyways. But as he walked through the room, he accidentally bumped into a shorter person.

"- Oh- ! Sorry haha, i didn't see you !", he said taking a few steps back.

"- Oh, no, don't worry it's me..."

Kaeya looked closer at the person he just bumped into to recognize Albedo, a boy in his class who always knew all the answers to the questions, but never talked to anyone except the teachers.

He was shorter than him, and looked even smaller because he always had his head down, never looking at people in the eyes. He sometimes wore glasses, but probably only to hide himself from people even more, because he seemed to be able to see perfectly without them.

Despite all of his efforts to be invisible, he still fascinated Kaeya and made him wanting to be closer to him. His fluffy ash-blonde hair and his sea-colored eyes made him look very pretty to the taller's eyes, even if he still didn't assume it.

"- Hum... Did I do something wrong ?" asked a little voice in front of Kaeya.

These words made the young man realise he had been silently staring at Albedo for a couple of minutes, and he suddenly moved farther from the young blonde, a very slight blush on his cheeks.

"- Oh ! I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare at you like that !"

And then Kaeya realized the blonde made him lose his mind. He had a teasing and flirting reputation all around the school, and he had lost his role for some time. He came back into it.

"- I mean, it is only normal to stare at such a pretty face, don't you think Blondie ?", he said, leaning a little to look at the blonde in the eyes.

The compliment and the nickname made Albedo's face cover with a deep red, before he turned his back to Kaeya to hide it.

"- Hum, i- if you don't have anything else to tell me, I t- think I'll go, bye !"

And he walked away, trying not to run, more flustered than he had ever been in his life.

Kaeya chuckled a little, trying to ignore his own face slightly warming up, and finally left the classroom, suddenly in a good mood.

°°°

Later, in the cafeteria

"- I'm telling you, Mr Zhongli smiled to me when I said he was really good-looking ! That's a sign !

- Or not", replied Itto, "anyone would have that reaction if you told them that...

- Shut up, would you ! You've been single all you life, what do you know about love, huh ?

- Shut up you too, Childe. Always too noisy." said an angry Diluc.

"- Ah, young love... It makes you a complete mess, am I right Thoma ?" sighed Ayato.

Thoma nodded at his boyfriend, smiling a little.

At the center of this animated conversation, Kaeya looked at his friends. Childe, always ranting about his teacher. Diluc, his brother, always annoyed with everything and looking like he would die if he smiled. Itto, more dumb than you could ever meet, but still a good guy. And finally Thoma and Ayato, probably together since they were born, and dating since middle school, they were the only ones who were dating someone in their friends group.

His friends could be very annoying, but he still liked them a lot. The most annoying one today, though, was definitely Childe. Bored, Kaeya decided to light up the mood a little.

"- Huh ! You have literally zero chance to be able to date your little teacher, Childe, N-E-V-E-R !"

As he expected, Childe's face turned from fascination to anger, and he gave a pissed look at Kaeya.

"- Oh yeah ? Well, you'll see ! In some time, you will kneel in front of me, recognizing my awesome talent in flirting !

- Hey ! I am the king of flirting here, okay ? Don't try to win against me !

- Are you sure you want to challenge me like that ?"

Their friend's heads went from one angry guy to another, not knowing if they should interfere or not. The two boys often argued like that, but it was never serious, so they weren't worried.

Kaeya ended up finding an argument.

"- Alright, you wanna know ? I bet I can make this little Blondie fall in love with me faster than you can do the same with Mr Zhongli !" he shouted, pointing at the poor Albedo, who fortunately didn't notice it.

"- Alright, I accept ! The one who loses has to confess to his crush in front of everyone !

- Very good, i won't lose anyways ! Prepare for your whole life's biggest embarrassment !

- I could say the same to you !"

And they suddenly left in opposite directions, leaving their other friends totally confused, still wondering if their little quarrel was serious or not.

While leaving, Kaeya made sure no one was looking at him before letting a giant grin come to his face. He knew what he had just done was really dumb, but he had never felt so excited in a long time.

Before getting through the cafeteria door, he turned back and looked at Albedo, winking at him before he walked away, leaving the short blonde completely flustered once again.

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Publishing date : May 5th 2022
Word count : 1032