The very next day, at school, Kaeya seemed to have definitely heard what Albedo had said the previous day; he tapped Albedo on the shoulder playfully, "Morning, Bedo." Kaeya said with a grin before moving past him to enter the classroom.
Albedo had simply just smiled back, his brain hadn't registered anything as it was practically the crack of dawn during school mornings, and his terrible social skills only kicked in after he was spoken to. After that brief interaction, Albedo turned back to Sucrose, who gave him a look.
"You're friends with Kaeya?" She asked.
Albedo nodded, "Yeah. I saw him a lot over the weekend, that's why I didn't plan anything with you." He felt bad, but he had the next weekend and the time after school to hangout with Sucrose, she actually looked quite happy to learn that Albedo had made a new friend.
Sucrose was quiet like Albedo too, although a lot more people found her endearing and found her shyness cute, so she had other friends such as Amber and Noelle - however she seemed to be closer with Albedo even if she saw the other girls more often.
The bell hadn't gone yet, meaning they still had a few minutes to talk, so Sucrose took this opportunity to grasp up a chance with someone. She took a quick look around, making sure no one could hear her as the classroom was already fairly noisy, "Could you put in a few words about me for Kaeya?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Well... I trust you with this," Sucrose shuffled a little closer to hush her voice slightly, "I like him, romantically... However, ever since he started noticing your existence, he hasn't really been treating me the same as before."
Albedo froze for a few seconds, did Kaeya actually drop his flirting act? Why? Albedo didn't want to get ahead of himself, but what if it was because of him? The silence gave Sucrose a gap to keep talking, "He used to kind of flirt with me? I think... I don't know if he was leading me on or something, he asked for your number in a quite intimidating manner."
Sucrose suddenly frowned, "Not really intimidating. I'm not good with words. Kaeya approached me all flirty at first, asking for your number. When I said no, his stare suddenly turned extremely blank, it was like the entire room dramatically changed temperatures, it got so cold I was shivering."
So it's an act. Albedo thought, to hide his insecurities, "So you gave him my number because he scared you?"
Sucrose awkwardly nodded, "Yeah. I'm sorry about that. I just want him to start hitting on me again, I felt as if we had something."
"I don't think he's actually flirty."
"What do you mean? He's like this with everyone." She defended.
"His flirty lines are usually backhanded, just disguised in a tone that makes it seem all romantic. I'll put in a word for you, just don't be fooled."
The bell rang at that moment, forcing them to part as Sucrose left to follow her own schedule, Albedo slipped into his classroom. He looked around finding somewhere to sit, his usual spot was taken by Ajax.
Albedo thought that was weird, Ajax didn't usually like sitting by the front, he would usually prefer chilling in the back to be loud with his friends. Albedo's eyes frantically looked around before anyone could spot his panic until he found himself caught like a deer in headlights by the subject of his previous conversation.
Kaeya.
Kaeya waved to him, signaling Albedo should take the empty desk next to him. Albedo sighed and followed through, muttering a "Thank you," as he sat down, dropping his notebooks onto the surface.
The teacher hadn't arrived yet, the blond was already being forced to be sociable again because of this. "You okay?" Kaeya must've noticed his expression, which was blank with the tiniest tint of sourness.
"Yeah, I'm just tired. It's early." Albedo replied, he decided he'd tell Kaeya about Sucrose when it was just the two of them, which gave him an idea. "When are you next free?"
"Tomorrow afternoon and all of the weekend, but we can hang out at lunch if you'd like."
That would be perfect.
"Yeah, sounds good."
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Albedo was happy to finally leave that class, he didn't really like that teacher. She hadn't done anything, it was just a suspicious feeling Albedo made up that eventually got to his stomach. He walked into his next class and took a seat next to a red-haired boy, the desks here were shared, each being able to take two people.
Albedo didn't realize who exactly he had sat next to until it was too late.
Diluc.
Was Kaeya haunting the blond in every shape and form possible? From his binned sketches of him turning up suddenly, his friend liking him, and now running into his brother that he didn't even know was in this class?
Albedo glanced at him in confusion, his mouth moving before his brain could register his words, "Why are you in this class?"
"What?" Diluc looked up from his notes, raising an eyebrow as Albedo felt like taking a brick to the face at his stupidity.
Luckily, he could correct himself swiftly, "Aren't you german? This is german class, I thought you were taking a different language subect."
Diluc sighed, "Yeah, I took Arabic with Kaeya at first since it's his mother tongue because I thought it would be fun to challenge myself, but I realized that the only reason why Kaeya is even taking his own language as a subject is for quick good grades. So I'm following his idea."
Albedo had never spoken to Diluc privately before, but he already liked his way of speaking, Albedo preferred to listen to people ramble instead of speaking himself. "I see."
"Aren't you Albedo?"
"Oh, yeah."
"Kaeya mentioned you, just about your weekend together." The teacher entered the room, although didn't hush the classroom. "In fact, I have something to tell you. I'd consider it my personal revenge."
"Revenge?" Albedo repeated in a confused tone.
"Yes. He told someone a few months ago that I had an interest in them, I did at the time, he swore it accidentally slipped out. He holds everyone's secrets apart from mine, supposedly." Diluc decided to get to the point, "Would you like a detailed statement reveal?"
Albedo nodded, and Diluc took a breath in.
"Kaeya started liking you around three years ago. You seem pretty observant, so I assume you've figured that Kaeya is actually a very shy person." He looked at Albedo, wondering if he did in fact know, and the second nod he received confirmed it, "He doesn't actually talk to his proper crushes, he's genuinely too shy, you're the first crush in ages that he's actually spoken to."
Albedo felt a sweat bead form at his hairline, he looked at the table in confusion instead of meeting Diluc's eyes. "...That makes no sense, doesn't he have a history of relations?" This was a lot to take in, he suddenly was very aware of the volume of the classroom, it was loud although his ears for some reason focused on Diluc's voice.
"He didn't actually like any of them. He just used them to get his mind off of you, Albedo." Diluc also spoke with his hands, Albedo noticed. "He realized that nothing would work, so he decided to just try and talk to you for once after years of admiring you."
Albedo coughed, "You barely know me, why are you telling me all of this?"
Diluc smiled, "Kaeya did the same to me, this is simply just to get back at him. If you two get together, it would perhaps make up for all the years he spent blabbering about you as if you were a fictional character," The teacher began sitting up and so Diluc cut the conversation short, "You don't have to tell me how you feel about him or anything, this is just me informing you. However, don't expect any more input from me, this is just retaliation not a genuine thing I'd do out of boredom."
Albedo hummed as the lesson began, he only just started to digest this information.
Kaeya liked him. Kaeya actually liked him. For years, as well.
Albedo began thinking, that this had to mean that they had been secretly pining over each other for years with a fear of even interacting. Why had that suddenly broken this year? Kaeya really couldn't find anyone else? What was so special about Albedo, anyway?
Lunch was after this, Albedo would most likely have to push his feelings aside this time. Sucrose was similar to him, just easier to approach, Kaeya could easily get over him because of her, Albedo was sure of it.
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Kaeya kept his offer, they met at lunch, Kaeya surprised Albedo in his classroom after the bell rang. Albedo didn't even want to know how Kaeya knew his schedule, it might've been through Diluc, so Albedo didn't try to pin it as anything special.
They sat together on a bench outside of an exit from the building, Albedo wasn't a early lunch person, so he just had a small box of fruits that his mother insisted she make every morning for him to take with. Kaeya got a cup of pasta from the cafeteria, trying to encourage Albedo to get something so he wouldn't be hungry, just to be turned down.
"How come you only have fruit for lunch?" Kaeya asked with slight concern.
"I don't eat lunch this early, I have dinner as my lunch, kinda."
"Okay... Do you want some of my food?"
"No, it's yours."
Albedo picked up a grape and plopped it into his mouth, he reached into his pocket to retrieve some forgotten homework he had to finish. The paper was awkwardly balanced on his lap as he lightly scribbled on it with a pen, trying his best to write neatly considering the surface and angle. "Are you sure?"
"Very."
Kaeya moved closer to look at Albedo's paper, "Is that homework? I can help."
Albedo shook his head, he didn't really like help, it was a problem he wanted to solve but not with Kaeya, "It's okay, I can do it."
Kaeya seemed to already be rushing to come up with something to ask Albedo, so Albedo himself took the chance to fulfill his friend's wish. "What do you think of my friend, Sucrose? I see you with her sometimes."
He had in fact not seen them together, he just needed a quick excuse as to why he was asking this. Albedo was surprised to see Kaeya just shrug his shoulders before he realized that Albedo wanted a verbal answer, "I don't have a massive opinion on her. She's nice, I suppose."
Albedo nodded, mentally writing that down to later inform Sucrose of Kaeya's basic opinion on her, he didn't know why he was expecting Kaeya to pour his heart out to Albedo, perhaps it was just what he wanted deep down. He didn't deserve Kaeya, he really felt like he didn't, Kaeya needed someone more collected than Albedo, hence why he was manifesting for Kaeya to confess his love for his friend.
Albedo didn't even know if they had actually properly spoken, Sucrose could've exaggerated? He wasn't sure, he didn't really expect that from Sucrose, so he dismissed the idea as soon as it appeared.
"Why are you asking me this?" Kaeya pried, narrowing his eyes as Albedo swallowed deeply, he couldn't let the boy know he was sent to ask that.
"I was just wondering, you seem close with her."
Kaeya shook his head, "No, not really."
"Could I invite her out with us tomorrow?" Albedo asked, he could maybe try and get them to interact more, and observe to see if Kaeya showed any interest in Sucrose.
"...Yeah, sure." He glanced to the side as Albedo stopped writing, folding the homework back up and sliding it into his pocket. "How about the place that's popular for milkshakes?"
"Sure."
Albedo wanted to be the one who invited Kaeya out as he wanted to finally pay, but perhaps if Kaeya paid, Sucrose would maybe see it as a date between her and Kaeya as Albedo would awkwardly third wheel.