Almost immediately after his and Sucrose's phone call, Albedo found himself swiping onto his and Kaeya's message thread; instead of messaging, his finger hovered over the call button as he hesitantly pressed it.
Just like a few days ago, the phone rang the same amount of times before being answered.
'Bedo, hey!' Kaeya's cheerful voice boomed through the speakers, Albedo couldn't help but smile.
"Kaeya, hi. Could I see you today?"
'I'm mostly busy today...' Kaeya spoke, Albedo's smile faintly dropping, 'But if it's for you, I can surely make time. Why so desperate to see me today?'
It only just now clicked with Albedo's mind that he was actually doing this, he was actually about to confess his feelings after years, "...I just need to talk to you about something. When are you free? Can we meet at the local?"
'Yeah. If you can, we could meet in about five minutes? I have to help Diluc build some furniture when he gets home from Ajax's place, he keeps insisting that Ajax has to start dedicating more time to studying,' Kaeya giggled, 'Sound good?'
"Yep. I'll start walking now," Albedo abruptly ended the call after that, his heartbeat beginning to get too loud in his ears as it overrode Kaeya's voice. He decided to shoot a quick text to Sucrose, informing her that he was possibly minutes away from confessing his feelings, she replied rather quickly and expressed her excitement and nervousness, which Albedo shared.
He quickly threw on a collared shirt with some trousers, as he strode towards his front door, Alice stopped him, "Where are you going?"
Albedo turned towards her, his hand on the doorknob dropped. "To see Kaeya, I'll be back soon."
Alice hummed, "Didn't you see him last weekend too? Also Tuesday afternoon? I'm so happy you're making new friends, try to be friends with his friends too. You'd be so much happier with a friend group." She gave him a fond expression, she had been looking a lot healthier and less tired recently, and the stress of her job had finally lifted.
Her feeling better meant more sly comments, Albedo pouted his lips and narrowed his eyes, "Are you implying that I'm a loner?"
"Not exactly... Have fun!" Alice slipped through the door to the living room, successfully escaping Albedo's judging gaze. He sighed and left the house.
The walk there seemed long, even if it was about three minutes long. Albedo was just imagining all of the scenarios in his head, what if Diluc lied for some fun?
That idea was quickly dismissed, Albedo didn't want to practically insult Diluc, although he didn't seem the type for fun - how he hung out with a burst of sunshine like Ajax and had Kaeya as a brother was beyond Albedo's imagination.
Albedo felt a sudden burst of joy at the fact he could possibly be walking out of this with a date, he wasn't even sure if he was actually mentally ready, although he still desperately wanted to do this. The years of pining had finally crept up to him as desperation flooded him.
The door made a jingle sound as he opened it and entered, Kaeya was already sitting there, did this man just teleport everywhere? Albedo scurried over, "Am I late?"
"Not at all, I just drove here. You're a minute early." Kaeya smiled, watching as Albedo joined the table opposite him, "I like your shirt." Albedo could feel as Kaeya did a once over of him.
"Thank you, I like your earring, is that new?" Albedo's eyes focused on the new silver earring dangling from Kaeya's right ear, he hadn't seen that one before.
"I've had it for a while, I've never worn it until today, though."
A waiter behind the counter began gathering menus, ready to make his move toward the table to take their orders. Albedo already knew he was getting the same thing, so did Kaeya.
"Why not?"
"I don't know..." Kaeya's hand slowly slid towards Albedo, signaling him to reunite their hands, "Should I wear it more?"
Albedo put his hand onto Kaeya's and intertwined their fingers, granting his silent request, "You should,"
The waiter walked over, Albedo was expecting Kaeya to drop his hand but he didn't, Kaeya said both of their orders off by heart before either of them could be handed a menu; they were left in their peace again with both of their orders placed.
Albedo decided on confessing after they had received their drinks, he didn't want to be awkwardly interrupted by a waiter that looked younger than them who just wanted to do his job. Albedo had peaked at the boy's nametag, just in case he knew him but couldn't recognize him off of looks. 'Chongyun' it read, it was a name he had heard, but not known.
"What did you want to talk to me about, by the way?" Kaeya asked, Albedo really hoped he wasn't going to bring that up yet.
"I'll tell you after we get our drinks." Albedo stalled.
Kaeya suddenly frowned, "...Is it bad? Is it something important?" Albedo squeezed his hand in a reassuring manner that spoke for itself.
"I don't think it's bad... Kind of important." He was trying to not give away what he was going to say, and he seemed to be doing a good job, did Kaeya seriously not pick up on it yet? Or did he know however didn't think that Albedo would actually have the guts to do it?
"I'm already about to die of curiosity, can these drinks hurry?" Kaeya groaned, looking around frantically as if time would magically speed up. Albedo stayed quiet, hoping that time would go slower than ever, his brain was practically scrambled by now.
Albedo wanted to jump out the window the second he saw the waiter already returning with their drinks, "That was fast..." He commented.
"Oh, yeah. The equipment here was all renewed so we don't have to struggle with making the drinks anymore, that was probably why it took so long whenever you were last here," Chongyun stated, carefully placing the drinks on the table as he nodded a farewell to their thanks.
"So what is it?" Kaeya sprung.
Albedo wanted to ask if he could leave it for a few minutes, although Kaeya seemed super worried as if Albedo was about to leave him, so he went through with his plan. After a brave inhale and exhale, he tried to wash his worries away.
How would he even start this? His brain selected through all of his options, Albedo began to speak, "So, um. Kaeya, you've probably figured this out already, but I like you. I have for years, I was so surprised when you started actually talking to me. These past two weeks have been amazing with you." Albedo paused, glancing up to meet Kaeya's absolutely shocked expression.
Albedo decided to stop talking for a bit, a feeling in his stomach, a dreadful feeling, crawled up his arms like a snake as he tried pulling his arm back, just to not move an inch as Kaeya's grip got suddenly tighter. He finally spoke up after about a solid thirty seconds, which felt like an hour to a nervous Albedo, "You're not joking or anything, right?"
"I'm serious. Didn't I make it obvious that I like you?"
"...I thought you hated me and were just embarrassed by me," Kaeya said, this had to be the first time Albedo had seen Kaeya go genuinely red, "I like you too. I have done for years, I was always just scared to talk to you..."
His story was aligning with what Diluc told Albedo, "I always tell my brother about you, the fact he's never told me to shut up is quite shocking." Kaeya nearly choked on his laugh, "I've always admired you from afar, when I started talking to you I fell ten times harder, I remember two years ago I think I asked you what day it was, and finally having your eyes on me was the best feeling ever. I've said too much, haven't I?"
Albedo sat there stunned as Kaeya continued, "I've always wanted you to constantly look at me." Their eyes had a firm meeting.
"I do constantly look at you. How do you think I remember your face so well when I sketch you?" Albedo felt himself being drawn closer.
"...But I've never seen you looking at me?"
"Because I didn't want to be caught."
Kaeya gasped with almost no breath left in his lungs, "...Can I kiss you?"
"Yeah." Albedo breathed out as he leaned slightly more over the table, making the move of pushing their lips into a soft kiss, the action was so swift it made Kaeya hum in surprise.
That kiss was years worth of tension shoved into passionate kisses, their lips meeting multiple times for long and short kisses before settling into a slow and steady pace; it hadn't even registered that they were doing this in a nearly empty cafe, they were lucky they were only in the view of the horrified waiter.
Kaeya's spare hand was in Albedo's hair, steadying themselves as best as they could so they didn't fall onto their forgotten drinks. They split for a second before going in for one last bruising peck, Albedo finally fell back into their seat as their hands parted.
Albedo panted, kissing really wasn't hard when it was with Kaeya, he definitely knew what he was doing. Kaeya was actually out of breath too, his years-long crush actually just kissed him. They stared at each other in disbelief and at their reddened lips, Albedo quickly fixed his hair and began sipping his drink to try and distract himself from Kaeya's wide pupils and similar state.
"Wow." Kaeya said after about five minutes, giggling as Albedo smiled.
"I'm so happy you like me back, can I tell you something?" Albedo felt bad that he was about to sell Diluc out, although he couldn't keep it to himself anymore. Kaeya nodded, Albedo began, "I've known you liked me since Monday, your brother told me."
"Oh my god. Was he trying to get back at me for telling his old crush how he felt?"
"Yep," Albedo didn't expect Kaeya to have a fresh memory of that, "He called it his own personal revenge."
Kaeya rested back in his seat, "I expected he'd get back at me eventually for that."
"Was it really that big of a deal? Didn't it get him his crush?" Albedo just assumed Diluc had a happy ending, even if he was currently single.
"The girl he liked was a lesbian, I didn't know and neither did he."
Albedo held back a laugh, "Yikes, good for her though."
Kaeya nodded, leaning forward again, "Also, what are we now?"
Albedo didn't even think about that. He wanted to be boyfriends but thought it could be too early, or Kaeya perhaps didn't want that, "I don't know, what do you want to be?"
"It might be a bit fast but do you want to properly date? Like, be my boyfriend? I can take you out properly next weekend or one of these following afternoons." Albedo happily nodded, Kaeya grinning, "I'm so happy, thank you."
"You're thanking me for being your boyfriend?"
They both blushed at the term being used, neither of them could believe they were actually dating now. Albedo was shocked that it only took two weeks of active talking, Kaeya snickered, "Yeah, I am. I'm genuinely so grateful."
The rest of their little date went well, Kaeya offered to drive Albedo home as he had to go soon, however, Albedo really didn't want him to leave just yet, so Kaeya agreed they could talk by the front door for a bit before he headed off as he knew Diluc would be back soon.
Albedo knew Alice was home and Kaeya had to leave soon, so he gave Kaeya a quick kiss goodbye, which was quickly returned despite the length of it being about one second. Albedo waved him off before opening his front door and entering, greeting Alice who was watching television before he hurried upstairs to tell Sucrose everything.
His window had a good view of the street in front, he looked out curiously just to see Kaeya staring back as he closed his car door, he sent a wink Albedo's way as the blond almost crumbled on the spot. He hadn't even noticed that Kaeya wasn't wearing his eyepatch.
Kaeya Alberich was his boyfriend.