Chapter Text
I stopped at the bookstore, to buy a cookbook. I stopped at the grocery store, to buy the ingredients. Then, I arrived at home. He still hadn’t left my mind, ugh. I gathered my stuff, organized Klee’s room better than I had the day before, now that I had more time. I mopped the floor and dusted the shelves. I gathered my drawings for the novel and double checked them with a mirror to make sure it was good and no details were missing. I put them in an envelope and made a quick trip to the mail to send them to Liyue.
Then I came back home and started making the meal: “a roasted carrot and apple soup with toasted seeds”. I rolled up my sleeves and washed my hands, chopped the onion, the carrots, the apples…
After about an hour or two, I was finished. Even though the recipe said it would take thirty-five minutes. It was on me though, but I had already calculated that time difference. The soup was ready and the kitchen was clean, I had thirty minutes before having to pick up Klee from school. There was a small park in front of the school building where I could sit and wait, so I decided to go there early. I grabbed the sketchbook.
When I arrived at the place, what I saw told me that my plans of quietly seating in a bench and sketching the buildings was ruined: fire. There had been an explosion, kids were running away, people were panicking. It wasn’t anything too big, nothing that could really harm a person or destroy the building, yet. I knew how unpredictable and consuming fire could be. I rushed towards the place to help.
The kids were being gathered outside, somewhere safe. The staff was trying to save the documents and supplies, taking them somewhere else but still inside the building. I scanned the group of children that was just in front of the school’s gate, no sign of Klee.
When I was close enough, I asked the first adult I saw: “Have you seen Klee? Can I do something to help?”
The brunette smiled. “Hello! This is routine, so please don’t worry. Klee is probably with Kaeya, you can help me stop the fire, here’s a bucket, the water source is over there, just help me fill the buckets and I’ll do the rest. Kaeya will show up eventually, please don’t worry, I’m Amber, by the way.” The words were spoken very fast, to not waste time, but to clarify everything that I needed to know.
I nodded, grabbed the buckets and started working. I didn’t say anything, didn’t know what to say, what to do. Should I panic? The only thing I could do was what that girl told me to. I wasn’t very calm, couldn’t possibly be, but tried my best to seem like I was, and be useful.
Where is this Kaeya guy? Why isn’t she with the others? I hope she is okay. I didn’t mess up, I didn’t mess up, I didn’t mess up.
A hand griped my shoulder, firmly but gently. I bolted in surprise. My thoughts had consumed me but at least I was still working well, before the hand. The hand belonged to that man, the one with an eyepatch. My whole body stilled.
“Albedo, right?” He seemed a bit hesitant, shy even (maybe not), concerned. “I didn’t have the chance to introduce myself, I’m Kaeya, Klee told me many things about you.” His tone was softer now, warmer, flirtier. He was hot, I didn’t care.
“Where is she?”, I dropped the half filled bucket on the floor, that was all I needed to know. I needed to see her, make sure she was alright.
“Am I in trouble?” her voice (oh thank the archons) resonated from behind Kaeya, she was tearing a little bit.
“Klee!” I ran towards her and got on my knees to be on the same level as her, inspecting her with my eyes, turning her around, checking for bruises, cuts, anything. “What happened?” I picked her up and stood up, staring at her face to face, waiting for an answer, inspecting her, looking for injuries, signs of illness. I was relieved: she was well. But now that her well-being was no longer something for me to worry about, I needed an answer to the next big question: had she caused the explosion?
“I’m so sorry! I promise I did put the bombs in a safe place like you told me to… but I had forgotten some inside my backpack…”
“Hey, sorry to interrupt you guys” Kaeya interrupted “Before you decide on anything, just thought you should know: she wasn’t really the one that activated the bombs, and she tried very hard to stop the fire, that’s why it took me a while to get her out of the building” Klee nodded to every single word, confirming the story.
Maybe it was my fault for not checking her backpack before she left.
I put her on the ground and sighed, resting my head on my hand. I truly don’t know what I’m doing.
Suddenly, there it was, the hand was on my shoulder again. He didn’t speak this time. I let him touch me, let myself take in the reassurance — or at least try to — but only for a little while. I let that hand ground me, it’s weight being my anchor and igniting something in me at the very same time. After that, I carefully untangled myself from his touch and grabbed Klee’s hand, gently, starting to lead her back home after thanking him for taking care of her.
“Can Kaeya eat with us, big brother Albedo?” he could still hear us, we had barely walked seven steps.
“I’m sure he has other plans, let’s just go, we don’t want to bother him.”
“But he always comes eat with me, Jean and Lisa, so can he? Pleaseeee.”
With that, I turned around looking at him in the eye, asking him with mine if he wanted to. This man knew Klee and she liked him, Jean apparently trusted him, why not?
“Well, do you want to? I made enough soup for four people.”
“I would love to.”
With that, I waited until he was lined with us (and until my heartbeat had become normal again), and resumed walking. The three of us heading towards my apartment. Me, my genius and reckless little sister, and her annoyingly pretty teacher who apparently had nothing else to do.
I hated the way I kept looking at him, for just a second, over and over. The way he grabbed Klee’s hand and the sweet laughter she let out, hopping along the way. The shirt fit him well, his chest was unnervingly muscular and his skin seemed divine. Silly me and my silly little gay thoughts.
Then I thought of the wink, the smirk. He smirked like he knew exactly what he was doing, like he couldn’t help it, like it was just a habit, like I was just one of the many people he laid his eyes on. Did Jean truly trust him? Maybe I should text her. I had little to no doubt I could trust him with Klee, I knew he cared and took good care of her, I could already tell. But I didn’t think I could trust him with me.
It wasn’t long until we reached the door and my not-as-messy-as-always-apartment. I was suddenly struck with the notion that I was bringing a stranger into my home, something I had never done before. What if he didn’t like it? What if he touched my stuff? I was never taught how to host properly and entertain guests, nor was I used to eating with other people other than Sucrose and myself.
“You guys can sit on the couch while I set the table” I gave them a quick smile and locked the door, everything felt so awkward and I was so suddenly nervous because I didn’t really know what to do. I could make a mistake and I didn’t like making mistakes. Guess you can’t avoid social interactions forever.
I was getting the plates when his presence appeared behind me. It startled me before his voice could: “do you want any help?”, “no thanks”, and he took them out of my hands anyways, with a smug smile in his face.
I got the other stuff and followed him.
“I said ‘no thanks’”
“And I’m glad to help”
I let a small sigh come out of my body as I followed him to the table.
It was nice though, having someone help me with my daily tasks. It was also new. The only thing close to it that I had experienced before was probably Sucrose helping me in the laboratory, but not the simple daily things like setting the table.
“Thanks”
“My pleasure, Albedo”
I was expecting a silly flirtatious nickname, but the way he said my name hit way harder than any nickname. How is he better than the guys from the dating sims?!
After that, we helped Klee wash her hands and get on the table. The meal was nice, and I was very glad that it was hot soup, because I had a reasonable excuse for the permanent blush on my face.