Chapter Text
Alberu Crossman has a problem, you see.
It is a very big, very difficult problem, and it involves one red-haired student and the fact that his heart beats a tad bit too quickly when the man calls him hyung. Or when the man talks to him. Or when the man—
Whenever Cale was in a 10 meter radius, really.
See, this was an extremely large problem, because Cale, like the bastard he is, was becoming too much of a distraction for him.
How was he being a distraction, you ask?
Well, Alberu would be happy to (rant) tell you. Firstly, whenever his phone pings, Alberu instantly gets a distracted and just has to check whether or not it was from Cale, which was a far cry from before, back when he just turned on Do Not Disturb and let it be.
And another thing: Cale's hair was just too distinct. A flash of red could appear in the corner of Alberu's eyes, and he just can't help but glance at it to see if it was the man, and ignore the sag of his shoulders when he confirms it isn't. It isn't fair, really. Cale should change his hair colour. It doesn't do good things for his heart.
...
He lied. Cale shouldn't. Cale's hair was beautiful.
And there exactly lies the problem. Cale's hair was beautiful, Cale himself was beautiful, and Alberu had no choice but to confront a problem he wasn't ready for; to answer a question that he had absolutely none of the answers to.
Alberu blinked, going through his train of thought once more before he pursed his lips, feeling a sort of second-hand offense for what he had just thought. Cale wasn't just beautiful. Honestly, Alberu could look through a thesaurus and he still wouldn't be able to find a word good enough to describe Cale and how perfect he was.
Alberu sat at his desk and stared blankly.
Before he knew it, he held a thesaurus in his hands.
Then he slammed the book against his head without hesitation.
Oh my god, he was so screwed.
“No,” Alberu denied him firmly.
But then Cale Henituse smiled at him, a familiar scam of a smile that he's seen all too many times.
And who was Alberu to say no?
It was difficult to pinpoint exactly when Alberu had looked at Cale and thought, “This is who I want to spend my life with.”
Because you see, this wasn't just some shallow crush. No, it was way past the point of calling this... “liking” someone.
Alberu sighed, sending the answers for their math exam to Cale, before chucking his phone across the room, placing his face in his hands and groaning. Way past a crush indeed.
See? Here stands Alberu, the son of the principal, the school council president, and the very epitome of a good student and what they should look like. A walking advertisement, if you will, for all those anti-cheating and anti-bullying campaigns and the like, and he stands here, sending the cheats to Cale without any hesitation.
And why does he even have the cheats in the first place? Naturally, it's because Cale had asked him.
Albeit, Alberu wasn't too far gone that he'd give anything and everything to Cale. No, he did refuse him at first. But Cale was.. insistent.
(More like he just frowned and muttered something about never getting a proper break, and Alberu's heart just... yelled at him to do it. So.)
They first met on a rainy day.
Or maybe it was sunny.
Honestly, Alberu couldn't remember, because the first moment Alberu caught sight of him his heart went oh, and then suddenly he wasn't at Roan Academy anymore, he wasn't just standing in the hallways looking like an absolute fool, he was just.. there. It was just him, and that mystery of a beauty standing across the hall.
And then someone (namely, his third brother) roughly bumped into him and ruined the moment. He'll never forgive him for that.
He passed that day in a sort of reverie, mind always going back to the red-haired man before curiosity had gotten the better of him and led him to find out the other's name.
Cale Henituse. Well then.
Even if Alberu usually wasn't one to judge based on rumors, back then, he couldn't help but think, “What a waste of good looks.” He repeated it to himself like a mantra, hoping it would help brainwash his heart into slowing down just a bit.
Now, it wasn't as if he hadn't heard of Cale Henituse even before that Fateful Day (which honestly shouldn't even count as their first meeting, since Alberu didn't end up managing to scrap up the crumbs of courage he needed to talk to the student. But it was the first time Alberu had actually seen him in person, and he would mark it as a very important day, thank you very much).
He's heard all too much about the notorious eldest son of Henituse Inc. After all, with his father as the principal of the prestigious Roan Academy, it was simply part of his responsibilities as his father's successor to make sure he knew each student's background information and anything that could hurt their academy.
And although he did remember going through Cale Henituse's file, looking back on it now, it was definitely outdated.
Firstly, the picture didn't even look recent (Cale's hair had been shorter back then. Now it's just long enough to reach past his shoulders, and although lots of students think he should cut it, in Alberu's humble opinion, it looks perfect.) It looked as if it was taken way too long ago for it to be valid, and the description was obviously off.
“The eldest son of Deruth Henituse. Infamous for be coming extremely violent and aggressive under the influence of alcohol. Subpar grades in elementary and middle school; but by his birthright, he's been accepted into the school nonetheless.”
Alberu wanted to fire whoever wrote the file.
... And there he goes again, feeling second-hand offense. Alberu's life became rather difficult ever since Cale had wormed his way into his heart.
Perhaps he's under the influence of a love potion. Or a spell. Who knows? Cale seemed so capable of so many outrageous things, always giving him completely inconceivable solutions as if he simply snapped his fingers and they appeared.
He's personally experienced it several times after all. The first time Cale Henituse had absolutely shocked him was when their rival school, adorning their black uniform as they showed off their school logo (which were only bunch of red stars, really. Alberu finds it rather distasteful), crashed their school assembly and planned to set off fireworks in the auditorium.
Now, while Roan Academy was prestigious enough to have a large auditorium, auditoriums were never constructed with the thought of being able to endure against the might of ten fireworks.
At least, it would've been ten, if not for Cale Henituse and his friends working behind the scenes to help (and what was absolutely appalling was that Alberu only found out that there were more than the three that had been set off long after the incident passed).
And while the whole school was going crazy over the fireworks, Cale, the supposed “trash”, stepped up and threw... something at it. It curled around the firework like a shield, exploded along with the firework itself, but protected everyone nonetheless.
Till this day, Cale still wouldn't explain to him what the shield was. Alberu just sighs whenever he brushes his questions away.
Cale Henituse was a mystery. A strange, yet intriguing mystery.
It's become a habit to listen to Cale rant about the children; about On, Hong, Raon, and all the other children (he claims he's just “close” with all of them, but everyone knows he's all but adopted them at this point).
It's become a habit to smile a small, soft smile, whenever Alberu listened along to Cale. To stare at Cale across from him in all his glory, eyes shining with the depth and beauty of a thousand universes.
It's become a habit to love him like this, as easy and pure as can ever be.
You see, being around Cale was... liberating.
Around Cale, he didn't have to hide behind his mask. There was no need to carefully plan each word to uphold his image and to follow his plans, because around Cale, he didn't need to have any plans, any ulterior motives.
Around Cale, he could forget the weight of his responsibilities crushing him. He could stretch his back and slouch with an imperfect posture for once instead of a flawless one.
Around Cale, he wasn't the Son of the Principal Alberu Crossman, but just.. Alberu.
Around Cale, he could be himself.
And being around Cale was enough for him, sometimes.
Alberu has a problem. It is a big, difficult problem, and the very cause of it lies on an infirmary bed unconscious.
He takes it all back. Cale wasn't perfect. Cale was... an annoying, stoic bastard who smiled only around the children, and apparently, right before he knows he was going to faint.
Cale Henituse was driving him nuts.
And there exactly lies the problem. Cale drove him absolutely crazy, because Alberu was certain that the annoying bastard lying unconscious in the infirmary had fainted without any thought of how concerned his friends, and Alberu, would be.
Alberu blinked, going through his train of thought once more before he pursed his lips, feeling something off with what he had thought. Cale wasn't just an annoying bastard. Honestly, Alberu could look through a thesaurus and he still wouldn't be able to find a word that perfectly encapsulated Cale's.. unpleasantness.
Alberu glared at the unconscious patient in the infirmary.
Before he knew it, he held a thesaurus in his hands.
He resisted the urge to throw it at Cale.
Oh my god, you're driving me nuts.