gender fluid | modern au | fluff
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' how's the research going?
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♡
"we're not going to get this done if you don't work with me, y/n." albedo said as he looked towards you, pushing up his glasses. you had already slumped over the science table as you started crying mentally at the fact that you had been making the same mistakes twice in a row now.
albedo and you were science partners, and for your final grades, you both needed to create an experiment that would be deemed worthy during the science fair tomorrow. it had been a week, and while you were busy researching, albedo had been gathering materials and supplies.
however, no matter how many times you two tried to do the researches you has done, you always came up either exploding the thing, or creating a short circuit which nearly set the whole science lab on fire. you were beginning to suspect that albedo was getting tired of you, yet his face showed no change of expression.
you and him had been in here from the morning, and it was already nearing 10pm, and you two had nothing to show for tomorrow. the only thing that was remotely close to something presentable was a small gem that emitted dirt and rocks by using solar panels and electricity as well as a tube that collected some rock.
but then again, what was the point of this experiment if you two didn't even have a use for it?
"i can't do this anymore albedo, i just can't," you started to give up. it had been too long, and your brain was tired. "can't we just fail this?"
"no."
"but whats the point?" you raised your head and looked towards him. you stared at him, but he wasn't looking at you, he was just staring at his clipboard, writing down a few things inside. "are you listening to me...?"
"no."
"albedo come on, i'm being serious..."
"so am i."
you kept quiet. you knew albedo, he was the smartest boy in school, and on top of that, he was very popular, particularly amongst the girls. the only reason the teacher had assigned you two together was because everyone else already had a partner, or they were being too annoying, begging to be with albedo.
in the end, albedo had told the teacher he wanted to be paired up with someone quiet, and someone who actually wanted to do the homework instead of flirting with him.
and that was you.
"albedo..." your voice was softer this time, and that prompted albedo to look up from his clipboard. he blinked when he saw the tears in your eyes. you felt so humiliated that he wasn't paying you any attention, and was just dismissing you just like how everyone else in school had done.
"hey," he called, his voice was soft and tender too. he walked over to you and placed the clipboard down before he wrapped his arm around your neck, leaning close to you as you covered your face to cry into your hands. "im sorry if i offended you, i was just busy coming up with what we could do with that gem over there."
you nodded your head, indicating that you were going to be alright. you just really didn't like to fail, even though you wanted to. albedo sensed that you were still feeling terrible, so he pulled you closer by hugging you. your head was pressed against his chest as you listened to his fastened heartbeat. you could tell he was nervous, but he didn't seem to show it.
again, you two were wasting time being like this.
"albedo," you said, looking up and wiping away your tears. "come on, we need to get back to w-"
"no."
"albedo w-"
"i said no."
you kept silent again, and all of a sudden he's being affectionate. that wasn't the case, he just wanted you to feel better first before you went back to work. he couldn't just let you get back to work with a heavy heart like that. he waited a moment, sitting in silence, then he spoke. "whats bothering you, y/n?"
without thinking too much, you replied. "life."
"why is that?"
"everyone hates me, that's the issue. haven't you seen the commotion yesterday? you were there, signora humiliated me in front of everyone." you said. you didn't know why you were starting to rant, but you just needed to. your heart was sour, and you couldn't take the emotional burden any longer. "im so slow at learning.. im just- i can't get anything right... i just- i feel like such a failure these days im- nothing is going right for me. nothing is right, nobody seems to want me around, my group of friends don't seem to like me, my parents don't care... albedo i- what's wrong with me..."
albedo watched you as you started crying again. sure you were embarrassed to cry in front of the most popular boy in school, but it didn't matter if he would tell his friends the next day about how pathetic you were. was that wrong? you were pathetic. why else would people hate you...
"y-you're gonna tell everyone aren't you..." you cried. he hugged you closer and pressed his chin on your head and stroked your back as he hushed you down.
"mmh, yeah," he said softly. "i'll tell them how much of a wonderful person you are."
"what..?"
"y/n being yourself doesn't require other people's liking. you have to learn to accept who you are, because other people's opinions do not matter. you bleed when you fall, you cry when you're sad. you breakdown. you get hurt. that's human nature, y/n," he pulled your face up to look at you. you blushed a little and tried to look away as you were crying very much, but he held you, and made you look at him. "no, don't. learn to be confident with yourself. it doesn't matter if you're a slow learner, it doesn't matter if people don't like you, it doesn't matter if your parents aren't good to you. why should that matter? what makes them important? as long as you're alive, that's the only thing you should be grateful of. signora made fun of you? well let her, remember, fame and popularity gets you nowhere after high school. being too smart but not having any skills gets you nowhere after high school."
you looked down. "and... what if i don't have any of that..."
he smiled and lifted your chin upwards and stared into your eyes. "you do have skill. you do have smarts. you do have beauty. you do have charm. believe in yourself, y/n, you are far from useless."
"but-"
"hush," he shushed you and pressed his lips onto yours as you widened your eyes. you gripped his uniform as he held your shoulders, kissing you deeply. he pulled away after a while and stared at you, smiling lightly. "if i say you're not useless, then you're not useless."
you flushed red as you tried to fan yourself down. you were burning red with an urge to scream, but you kept it in. "a-albedo i- i-"
"and if you start telling me that you don't deserve to be kissed by someone like me because for some reason you think you're ugly, then please, i will kiss you until you get that thought out of your head." he said sternly. you flushed red as you gripped your jacket.
"i- albedo..."
"i am not going to kiss you for the sake of letting you know you're amazing the way you are, but just to tell you," he kissed your cheek gently. "that i love you."
you started to cry again, not knowing how to respond to affection like this. sure school was hard but, he made it seem so much easier. you just felt so safe in his arms at that very moment that you didn't want to leave. you hugged him tightly, and he hugged you back as he stroked your back, humming against your ear. "please, y/n, do not doubt yourself. do not look down on yourself. all humans are the same, just, some were born into judgemental views, and that includes your parents. nobody was born stupid, or smart, or popular, or anything; we are but white pieces of paper, either to be drawn beautifully by our parents, or become a tainted piece of paper. it goes back to our parents, but you are not your mother, and you are not your father. you are far better than that, so please, be strong for the sake of saving yourself."
you hugged him tightly, crying into his shoulder as he said the words that nobody had ever told you. you couldn't breathe, your nose was clogged up terribly, but you just wanted to keep hugging him until the sun rose. "albedo... i love you... i love you i love you i love you..."
"i love you too, y/n," he patted your back. you pulled away and he kissed your tears away and wiped your face clean with a handkerchief he had in his pockets with a smile. "alright, now let's get this science project done."
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albedo found you standing on the school rooftop with your arms on the railings, leaning yourself against it and staring up into the bright sky. he chuckled as he shut the door. "you're not thinking of jumping are you?"
you turned your head around and laughed a little as he came up to you. "would you save me if i did?"
"of course." he kissed your lips. "so there would be no point in jumping."
you smiled.
"we won, why are you standing out here? everyone wants to have an interview with you you know?" he said, patting your shoulder. "you should see the look on signora's face."
you laughed, imagining the look of despair that she had lost to you. you looked at him. "is she angry?"
"yeah but why do you care, you won."
"no, we won."
he nodded. "true, but it was your idea."
"it was your handiwork."
"it was your effort."
"it was your smarts."
"it was your swiftness."
"it was your proficiency."
"are you two done?"
albedo and you turned around to see a girl in red in the doorway, arms crossed, looking rather annoyed. you two exchanged light giggles as you greeted her. "oh hey yumi whats up?"
"they're looking for you two,"she said. "wanted an interview."
you looked at albedo, and he looked at you. he smiled and ruffled your hair gently. "whats wrong?"
"i... i'm scared to speak..."
"don't worry, i'll always be right next to you," he said, pulling you close and kissing you on the lips once again. "you do not have to be afraid."
you smiled and hugged him close as he hugged you too. the girl rolled her eyes. "affection." you turned to leave. "just remember to come downstairs, i'll be leaving now."
you watched yumi leave, and then giggled as albedo patted your head. he held your small hand in his. "shall we?"
you gripped his fingers as you nodded. "mmh, we shall."
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author's note
im not sure who needed comfort,
but im just here to remind yall
that its alright to be yourself. it
doesn't matter if people do not
like you, as long as you respect you
for you, just like how albedo does.
:D don't hurt yourself, don't starve,
and most of all, never give up. ♡
and if you're wondering what you
and albedo did for the science thing,
please just imagine it whatever you
want because like the only reason i
didn't write what it was was because
i myself don't even know what to put
HAHAHAHAHA, im a little tired today.
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whatever, have a nice day, affection time
is over now go away. ಠಗಠ shoo. go.