[UNEDITED]
before we start,
CW! MENTIONS OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION
"Get off of her, if not she's never going to concentrate." Albedo sighs, looking between you and the black-haired girl repeatedly. Yunjin, however, pays no attention to the blonde's statement -- instead, she hugs you even tighter, pushing out her tongue to make fun of him. You hear Albedo scoff, before giving her a glare.
"C'mon, let her off! I'm not even complaining anyways." You smile when she looks up at you with puppy eyes. Melting, you pat her head softly, earning a small hum from her. "And then you're going to complain about not being able to finish your work on time AND blaming it on me all over again." Albedo raises his eyebrow, leaning back onto the cafe chair.
Today was supposed to be one of your study dates with Albedo -- until you bumped into Yunjin in the school of Arts building; you found out that she was majoring in Fashion Design, which is extremely suitable for her. She ended up leeching onto you, insisting to follow the both of you to the cafe.
So that's how you ended up in this situation.
"You're so harsh, it's not like I'm not doing my work at all right? I manage my time really well, so you won't have to worry." You smile, typing into your computer. Albedo continues eyeing the girl warily, before continuing to do his own project.
Of course, time passes really quickly.
At this point, Yunjin has already passed out on the table and sleeping soundly, while the both of you are working hard. With the final click on the keyboard, you groan loudly before stretching your arms infront of you. Albedo finally packs his items, before slinging his backpack on his shoulder. "Hurry up. I'll walk you home." He pipes out, in which you reply to him with a sigh.
"But.. she's not awake.." You sling your totebag on your shoulder too, before reaching your hand out to tap the sleeping girl. However, Albedo stops you from doing so by grabbing your hand and pulling you out of the cafe.
"Wha- You're going to leave her sleeping there?! That's not right! I'm going back." You pull your hand out of his grip aggressively, before turning on your heels and walking back to the cafe. Rolling your eyes, you think about how 'un-gentalmanly' Albedo was for leaving the poor girl sleeping there. No guy should ever do that, especially when it's at night and dangers lurk.
"[Y/N]." Albedo trails behind you annoyingly.
"What."
"If you wake her up, she's going to cling onto you again."
"Hah," You scoff. "So that's the problem? Is that what you care about when there's a more serious problem here?" You turn to look at him with a surprised expression on your face. He isn't fazed though, he simply crosses his arms and catches up to you.
"Yes. I mean, she's been clinging onto you the entire day. Who the hell likes clingy people? At this point she might as well live in your house-"
"Albedo, do you know how dumb you sound right now? She's literally vulnerable in that cafe. Anybody can do anything to her. Can you use that chemistry brain of yours for once? Damn, big fucking forehead but no brain. Great. Go get your EQ up for once." You continue walking, fuming at this point.
"Are- Are you serious right now? Do you like her or something?"
"Yeah -- More than you at least. I don't care whether you like it or not, get your ass in that cafe and wake her up." You point to the entrance of the cafe, in which Albedo replies with a glare. Dragging his feet, he makes his way into the cafe.
He comes out with a slightly drowsy Yunjin, whose energy is all drained out. You could tell that she was extremely tired since she was not her usual bubbly self; so you call a cab to bring her home. Before she left, she placed a small peck on your cheek before waving goodbye.
That totally didn't trigger Albedo.
"Isn't that invading someone's personal space or something? I mean, you two just met each other less than a week ago and she's already so touchy with you."
"Why are you being so protective? If I'm okay with it, I genuinely don't see the problem."
"That's not the point. It's rude of someone to do that when they first meet each other."
"I still don't see the problem." You raise your eyebrow at him, earning a sigh. He doesn't speak a single word after that and the walk back home is silent -- almost deafening in fact. None of you dared to speak until you reached the front of the woman's dorm.
Bowing at him, you turn to make your way back to your dorm room.
"Wait." Albedo calls out, and in return, you turn to look at him in confusion. "Do you want to, perhaps, get a drink?" You tilt your head in amusement, before nodding your head. He simply walks in the opposite direction, leading you to the restaurant.
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CW!!! ALCOHOL
"One more bottle of soju please!" Albedo raises his hand, earning a yell of approval from the restaurant owner. He pours himself another cup of the liquor and downs it, before humming happily. "Didn't know you were such an alcoholic." You mutter out, staring at him as he finishes another shot again. You haven't touched your cup since you arrived, despite agreeing to drink with him.
"I'm not. It's just a coping mechanism."
"For Sucrose?"
"Bingo."
"And what has that got to do with me? Why did you bring me here with you?" You raise your eyebrow, letting your chin rest on your palm. You watch the blonde hang his head down low, his bangs are slightly oily now from staying out the whole day, however, that doesn't make him less attractive at all. He looks up to make eye contact with you, an unknown emotion behind his glasses.
"I'm tired of drinking alone." He confesses, and you hum in amusement. "You're not going to drink?" Albedo points at the full shot glass.
"Nope." You reply back, popping the p at the end. Albedo frowns at that, before pulling out his wallet and slamming it onto the table. You look at him in confusion -- inwhich he replies to you with a mischievous smile.
"Let's bet. You're not drinking because you can't hold your alcohol." Albedo chuckles, and you could tell that he was slightly drunk now due to the slurring of his words. However, this is not the time to care whether he's drunk or not.
It's time for showtime baby.
You take his wallet in hand, before downing the soju in the shot glass. A taste of bitterness covers your tongue -- and to be honest, you almost puked at that. Drinking down a cup of water, you could feel the bitterness slowly disappear completely. You sigh in relief, before turning your attention back to the blonde.
Albedo smirks in return, before urging you to down more shots.
This competitive showdown went on for at least half an hour before you two ended up extremely drunk, to the point that Albedo can no longer lift your head up from the table. On the other hand, you're slightly more sober than he is -- staring at him with wide eyes.
END
Mentions of being drunk up next; proceed with caution
"You're an idiot." You mutter, and the blonde groans, looking up at you with half-lidded eyes. He stands up, waddling his way to the space beside you and sitting down with a 'plop'. You flinch at that, your vision slightly blurry at this point.
"You're right! I am an idiot." Albedo slurs his words, and you can't help but laugh alittle at that. Pulling your phone out and going to the 'voice recorder' app, you press record -- keeping this as blackmail material for future purposes. Kidding.
"I'm too much of an idiot to fall in love with that girl Sucrose even after knowing she'll never like me back." Albedo sighs out, letting the back of his head rest on the restaurant wall. You turn to look at him, frowning. His chin is slightly tilted up as he takes shallow breaths -- his eyes are shut completely and his hand is wrapped around his phone softly.
He's sleeping..?
You lean over to him, checking whether he's asleep, but he simply opens his eyes and stares aimlessly on the ceiling. You don't start the conversation until he does. "Say, [Y/N]." Albedo begins, glancing over to you from beneath his round glasses. You raise your eyebrow at him, urging him to continue, inwhich he does.
"Do you think I should give up? Is there a point to continue liking her anymore?" Albedo breathes out, and you see his lips downturned into a frown. You sigh, going into the same position as he is, before replying. "There's no point. But feelings don't go away that easily, Albedo. That's not how it works." You cross your arms, before turning to look at him.
You notice that he's been looking at you since you began speaking.
"Right." He pauses for a second, before continuing. "Should I really spend an entire year being upset over not having her? That's the question. I'm scared of moving on. Considering how I've spent the last few years of my life liking her, it feels like it went to nothing." Albedo laughs dryly, and in return, you pour him a glass of water, urging him to drink it.
"It's not a bad thing," You grin softly. "I'm sure that liking her, changing for her made you into the person you are today, right? You need to stop looking into the negative side of things. You loved her and you still do. She changed you and you're still changing. There's nothing bad about that. Don't say it went to nothing; it feels like you're saying that you regret liking her. I'm sure Sucrose will be really upset if she heard that."
Albedo's eyes soften at your statement. "You rarely talk about Kaeya. Do you secretly not have feelings for him or something?" He chuckles softly, and you smile at that. "Stop making shit up. I like him! More than you think I do. It's just.. hard to talk about feelings. I don't know how to express them -- heck, I don't even know whether its real. But, I just know that he makes my heart go crazy and my stomach churn; I like him."
"Is that so?" Albedo hums, and you nod your head. "Do I make your heart go crazy and your stomach churn?" He asks, and you immediately wrinkle your forehead in disgust. "You make me want to rip my heart and stomach out. That was so cringey, god. Do you want me to puke? Because I'll do it honorably." You joke, but hear no laughter from the blonde.
"[Y/N]." Albedo calls for you, making you turn your head towards him. He's looking at you intensely -- his mouth is slightly ajar, his eyes are half lidded, which means that he's still extremely drunk. You notice that his glasses are no longer sitting on his face, instead, it's sitting on the table.
"Albedo?" You croak out, blinking in confusion. Albedo places his hand beside yours, before leaning in towards you. "Albedo, you're drunk. I'm not Sucrose." You laugh nervously, placing your right hand on his shoulder and pushing him away. He isn't fazed by that though, he leans in until you can feel each other's breath on your faces. Shutting your eyes, you accept your fate -- a light blush plastering itself on your cheeks.
However, you feel nothing touch your lips; instead, you feel a weight fall onto your lap. Opening your eyes, you find Albedo sound asleep.
Sighing in relief, your heart, however, does not stop beating mercilessly against your chest. You were surprised, afraid, confused -- all these new emotions are not helping you at all right now. You're slightly drunk, have a man baby sleeping on your lap, and it's exactly 3am. Thank god you don't have class the next day.
Groaning, you sling Albedo's arm over your shoulder, propping him up so that you can drag him out of the restaurant. The blonde doesn't wake up at all during the process; he's out COLD. There's no way you could drag this dude back home. Like, what the hell has he been eating? Rocks? Damn, he's solid as hell. Even his arms refuses to bend when you try sling it over your shoulder to make him stand up properly. He's like a whole statue.
Reaching your hand out when you see a cab, you push him into the cab, inwhich he groans annoyingly. You slap your hand onto his mouth, before getting into the cab as well. You prop him up so that he's sitting up straight, hoping that he won't puke out of nowhere. You tell the cab driver your dorm address, and off you go.
You could see Albedo's head hitting the car door repeatedly, and you try your best not to laugh of that. Resisting all the urge to take out your phone and just record him, you stiffle in your laughter, before shifting him so that his head is on your shoulder. He's probably going to wake up with bruises on his head tomorrow.
Upon reaching your dorm, you pay the cab driver, before pulling the blonde along with you. You really have no choice but to let the poor boy sleep in your dorm room. He's probably going to wake up tomorrow confused and wondering why his wallet is empty.
You finally reach your dorm room, pulling him inside before letting him rest gently on your sofa. Sucrose is clearly asleep, due to the lack of lighting in the apartment. Letting yourself sit on the couch, you end up too, drifting off to sleep along with the soft snores from Albedo.
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short authors note
yall okay?? i finally gave yall some food after 11 chapters of having absolutely nothing
this chapter was a particularly long one as a thank you for 3k reads!! we're almost at 4k already omg it feels so unreal ive gotten so much love and it makes me so happy
this is the first time ive gotten this much reads, votes, comments, interactions and followers from just a book -- i hope you guys will continue supporting me in my future books to come! <3
also, for those who are awaiting my kazuha book, heres some sneakpeaks on the story plot!
before i share it, let me repeat myself, !DO NOT STEAL MY IDEA. IT IS UPSETTING TO WRITERS WHEN PEOPLE TAKE AN IDEA THEY HAVE SPENT ALOT OF TIME THINKING ABOUT!
ok here it is <3
a second away will be coming soon~
in the meantime, you can read this book while waiting for it!
once again, thank you SOSO much for 3-4k reads and 200 votes <3 im so thankful for the support ive been given from this book and ill continue to write better chapters!
happy reading!
-bel