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Sucrose tried to not look at her mentor's way, but it was deemed impossible.
After the defeat of Stormterror and the mayhem that the Cryo Regisvine caused in Dragonspine, Venti insisted on having a party in celebration of the Knights of Favonius' hard work.
Jean was okay with it only on one condition that booze would not be on the table, in consideration for the children that were going to be present. Which made Venti and Kaeya sulk, but they obeyed the Acting Grand Master's request anyway.
Sucrose wasn't into parties and she was sure that Albedo was the same. Neither of them was good at holding long conversations and both of them, for the most part, were very private people. It only took an overwhelming amount of pestering from Kaeya and Lisa to get them out of the lab. Even Timaeus was in on it.
Albedo wasn't very keen but after Sucrose decided to give in, he only sighed and accepted the invitation.
He was currently sitting on one of the tables, a drink of water in front with his clipboard out. At first, he was alone, but then two very interested women decided to sit along with him and make conversation.
Sucrose wanted to give her mentor the space when they arrived, so kept herself busy talking to the other girls in an attempt to break out of her shell for once.
Jealousy wasn't something she felt so often. She could hardly remember the last time she was.
It... It wasn't like she had a claim on Albedo or anything like that either! It would be so selfish to say that! He was just her teacher and friend. That was all.
...Still, she found it hard to get rid of that dreaded feeling in her stomach as she saw the scene unfolding in front of her.
Sucrose knew Albedo was just trying to be polite. He was Captain of the investigation team after all and he was admired by many. So it was no surprise that he unintentionally caught the eye of many women who desired to be in the same space as him.
It just... made her feel inferior for some reason. Sucrose was shy and reserved, never really spoke much and had a hard time talking to someone when the subject wasn't about her alchemy and experiments. She was working on it though, she tried to prioritise fixing her confidence so she could communicate better with other people.
She just wished she was better at communicating her feelings towards her mentor. Then perhaps she really wouldn't be in such a predicament right now.
"Earth to Sucrose."
Sucrose finally snapped out of it and focused her attention on the waving hand in front of her. "Oh!" Sucrose blushed and adjusted her glasses, "A-Apologies, Traveler! What were you saying?"
Lumine stared at her for a moment and then shook her head. "You are feeling okay, right? Didn't you catch a cold the other day as well? I hope it didn't come back again."
"It hasn't but thank you for worrying," Sucrose sent her a timid smile and downed the rest of her water, just before she managed to choke on it.
"Sucrose!" Lumine bolted out of her chair and patted a hand against her back, "Jeez, what's going on with you today?"
"N-Nothing!" She let out her last cough and swallowed, "I promise I'm okay!"
Her blonde-haired friend sighed and sat back down, crossed her arms on the table. "If you need to talk about it with someone, I'm here. I'm down for some girl talk."
"Yes, and so am I."
Kaeya slid over next to Sucrose, a sly smile on his face.
Lumine squinted at the knight, giving him a blunt, "No."
"Oh don't be so cold, Traveler," Kaeya laughed, flipping his coin, "It seems you're unaware of our little Harmless Sweetie's feelings for the Chief Alchemist."
Sucrose's face exploded into a bright red blush as she spluttered, "M-Master Kaeya, that's not-!"
"Wait," Lumine looked back at her, her eyes widening, "Really? You do?"
"N-No... I-"
"Of course she does," Kaeya relaxed into his seat, a hand patting Sucrose's head, "It's why she was staring so intently at those ladies sitting with him."
Sucrose never spoke with Kaeya that often, she would always get nervous around him. She was horrified that he was able to understand the situation so quickly, but at the same time, wasn't surprised. He had been known to stick his nose into things that didn't belong.
"My, now what's with the long face?" The Cavalry Captain said, "If you want, I can go over there and bat those ladies away so you can have him all to yourself."
"With all due respect, Captain Kaeya, I think you're the last person who should be doing that," Lumine cut in before sending a reassuring gaze towards Sucrose, "Definitely take it slow. Besides," She had a grin on her face, "When we were all up at Dragonspine, he wouldn't stop looking at you after the Cryo Regisvine stuff happened."
"Ho~?" Kaeya looked back at Sucrose, his chin resting on top of his palm in interest, "Is that so?"
Sucrose cowered from their gazes before taking a deep breath. "I-I didn't notice that. I must've been too occupied bringing Mister Pallad back down safely..." She shook her head, rubbing her arms in comfort, "I'm sure Mister Albedo was just worried, that's all."
Lumine hummed. "It was more of a different kind of worry if you ask me..."
Sucrose lowered her eyes, nervously clenching her hands against her lap. Was that so? If it was true, then she didn't want to get too excited. In her eyes, she hadn't seen her mentor be romantically interested in her, so she'd rather not ruin anything between them and remain strictly professional.
It did leave a tug against her chest though.
No! Don't think like that, Sucrose!
"Why does Sucrose look sad?"
Sucrose looked up to see that Klee had squeezed herself between her and Lumine. The younger girl sat on the stool, a worried expression on her face as she looked at the alchemist.
"Klee!" Sucrose quickly shook her head again, waving her hands down to gently reassure her, "N-No, no. I'm not sad."
"Klee can see that you are though! When you're sad, your ears go down like this-" Klee pushed her own ears down to copy Sucrose's.
Sucrose squeaked and covered her ears on instinct. "Th-That's not..."
"Quite the eye you have there, Klee," Kaeya stated with an amused chuckle.
"Big Brother Albedo always taught me to be observant!" Klee stated with a proud smile but it dropped quickly when she paid her attention back to Sucrose again, "Klee saw you look at Albedo and you were sad. Did he make you sad, Sucrose?"
"N-No!" Sucrose yelped, gently placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, "He didn't."
"Sucrose isn't feeling too well today, Klee," Lumine tried to say to help her friend, "She just needs some sleep, that's all."
However, Klee didn't look all too convinced. In fact, she looked even more worried than before. "Klee doesn't like it when Sucrose is sad. It hurts Klee's chest a lot."
Oh, Barbatos. Klee was a destructive child indeed, but she never failed to warm Sucrose's heart whenever she said something like that.
"I-I'm sorry for making you worry, Klee," Sucrose apologised, holding out her arms to the little girl with a smile. Klee excitedly jumped onto her lap as the alchemist wrapped her arms around her. "I promise I'm not sad."
"She's not sad. She's just jealous."
Sucrose sent a frantic look to Kaeya. "W-What?!"
"Captain Kaeya..." Lumine warned with a glare, knowing exactly what he was trying to do.
"Sucrose is jealous?" Klee made a face as if she had heard something preposterous.
Sucrose wanted to hide. How did the conversation spiral down so quickly?
"That's right!" Kaeya boasted without a care in the world as he pointed, "You see those women?" Klee followed his finger and nodded, "Sucrose is jealous of those women next to your brother because she wishes that it was her."
"C-Captain-!" Sucrose tried to intercept but her plead fell upon deaf ears.
"Is that true, Sucrose?" Klee asked, completely and so innocently oblivious.
The bio-alchemist vigorously shook her head. "It's not, Klee. M-Master Kaeya's just teasing me!"
"She's definitely jealous," Kaeya kept barreling on, undeterred, "That's why she keeps looking at him. I would hurry, Sucrose. Albedo is a popular man as you know. Someone's going to take him away from you sooner or later."
"Are you kidding me..." Lumine muttered, slapping her hand against her face.
Klee whirled back to the Cavalry Captain, horrified at what she was hearing. "Someone is going to take Albedo away from Sucrose?"
"N-No, no..."
But Klee didn't hear Sucrose, too absorbed by the information Kaeya was feeding her.
"Yep, assuming that Sucrose doesn't hurry and make a move."
"Why would anyone want to take Albedo away from Sucrose?" Klee asked, her voice growing wary. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"Well, let's say that a lot of women are warm for Albedo's form."
"M-Master Kaeya!"
"You idiot!" Lumine slammed a hand down on the table, "You don't say that sort of stuff in front of a child!"
Kaeya just shrugged. "She's going to learn eventually."
"You snuck a drink in here, didn't you?" Lumine groaned and spotted the bottle hidden behind the leg of his chair before she snatched it away, "That's it, no more for you!"
"A little too late for that, Traveler," he snickered.
The heat that bloomed against Sucrose's cheeks was unbearable. She wished she could swirl her way out of here so she wouldn't have to deal with Kaeya's obvious meddling and teasing. She was already dreading the fact that she needed to come up with a meaning of the Cavalry Captain's words to Klee later, which she knew was going to take some time and a lot of patience.
Sucrose was prone to hearing things being said about her. She wasn't naive about that aspect in the slightest. She was known to be harmless and shy, which contrasted drastically with the ever-so-aloof and straight-to-the-point Chief Alchemist.
People would talk but she tried her best to pay no mind. None of it was true anyway and she learned to not care like her mentor.
So she cleared her throat, deciding that it would be best to drop the subject so she wouldn't be mortified any longer.
It was when she did notice that Klee wasn't sitting on her lap anymore that she suddenly went into a full-blown panic.
"K-Klee?!" Sucrose scrambled up from her seat, frantically searching for the girl with her eyes.
Her search stopped when she found Klee marching towards Albedo and the two women at the table.
Klee stopped in front of them, her hands balled into tiny fists as a pout formed on her lips.
"Well, would you look at that," Kaeya laughed again, dodging Lumine's fist, "Looks like our little Klee is going to take matters into her own hands."
Lumine snapped her head around to the scene, eyes widening before she panned back to Sucrose. "This isn't going to end well..."
No, it definitely wasn't going to.
Sucrose hurriedly excused herself from the table and gingerly made her way towards them.
"Grab your drinks, everyone, this is going to be a good one!"
"You be quiet!" Lumine snapped at Kaeya.
Albedo had noticed Klee right away and his entire demeanor changed. From the polite expression, he had on earlier to concern when he leaned down at Klee's level, eyebrows furrowing. He looked attentive, aware and caring, being ready to understand whatever was making his little sister upset.
For Sucrose, it was heartwarming to see. It was rarely ever a sight he displayed in front of anyone.
"Is something the matter, Klee?" Albedo asked gently, taking her into his arms as he rested her on his lap.
"Big Brother Albedo, you're making Sucrose sad," Klee said, "Klee doesn't like it when Sucrose is sad and Klee also doesn't like it when Albedo is the cause of it."
Albedo looked startled and surprised... and visibly confused. In another panic, Sucrose could tell he had been completely unaware of what was going on. She could also tell that he was trying to remember if he had said or done anything to his assistant that may have caused her to be upset, which hadn't been the case at all.
"I'm... not sure what you're talking about, Klee," Albedo said, his voice a little wary, "Did Sucrose tell you why she was upset?"
Sucrose hastily walked over to them, opening her mouth to protest-
"Kaeya said that Sucrose is jealous," Klee said before she could interrupt.
Nobody else was paying attention to the situation. The talking among groups never stopped, nobody else was turning their heads, and nobody else was eyeing her. What Klee had said seemed like normal chatter, just words that nobody paid mind to.
However, it didn't stop Sucrose from burning up in complete embarrassment. Her stomach was doing backflips before she felt it sinking lower and lower to the pit.
She felt like she was going to be sick.
She wanted to run and hide, never to come out. But unfortunately, her feet stayed pinned to the floor.
"Sucrose... is jealous?" Albedo lifted his head up, his teal eyes locking onto her gold. It was as if he was directly speaking to her.
It took a huge amount for Sucrose not to collapse on the spot. The constant snickering that she could hear from Kaeya certainly didn't help at all and she felt stuck. Very stuck.
Klee nodded and pointed at the two women sitting across from them, their faces looking displeased by the interruption. "You two can't have Albedo!"
"K-Klee!" Sucrose gasped.
Klee looked back at her before vigorously shaking her head, and putting on a brave face. "Albedo will never ever belong to you two! He has Sucrose!"
"Am I not understanding something here?" Albedo asked, shooting a puzzled glance at his assistant.
"Big Brother Albedo!" Klee chastised him, her eyes furrowed in thought as she barked out, "They're warm for your form!"
Sucrose choked.
This was how she was going to die. Yes. Out of sheer and complete embarrassment.
Albedo had a flat face, blinking once and then twice before finally processing his sister's words. "I'm sorry...?"
The burst of laughter from Kaeya caught their attention as the alchemists turned to see that he had spat out his drink.
Sucrose looked at her mentor, a horrendous blush rushing up to her face as she nodded in confirmation, mouthing, "Kaeya."
Albedo exhaled slowly.
"Klee recognises you both," Klee's crossed her arms, attempting to glare at the two women, "And Klee doesn't appreciate you talking behind Sucrose's back! It's not nice and if Klee sees it again, I will throw my Jumpy-"
"I-I think that's enough!" Sucrose finally chimed in and gently picked Klee up into her arms, "Klee, do you want to go eat something? Y-You must be hungry!"
Please, please, please... let this end.
"Oooh!" Klee excitedly clapped her hands, instantly forgetting about the whole ordeal, "Can Klee get some cheesecake that Noelle made?"
"Of course," Sucrose nodded and sent an apologetic gaze towards her mentor.
Albedo only dismissed her worry with an understanding smile, but she didn't miss the lingering questioning in his eyes.
She took a deep breath. This was going to be a long night.
When the celebration party finished, Sucrose was exhausted and for the very first time, the desire to sleep came very early as she wanted nothing more but to go back to her room.
Lumine made Kaeya apologise to her for causing such a ruckus but the bio alchemist insisted that it was okay, knowing that the Calvary Captain really meant no harm.
Klee still had her questions because of the matter, but Sucrose tried her best to refrain from answering them as she didn't want to worry the younger knight. It was easy to distract Klee with other subjects as Sucrose brought in a few colouring pencils so that they could draw together.
She sighed. She was just glad today was over.
"Sucrose?"
Or not.
Sucrose let out a shriek as she quickly whirled around. She froze when she saw her mentor standing there, as he also jolted from her reaction.
"M-Mister Albedo!" Sucrose rested a hand against her chest.
"A-Ah, my apologies. I hadn't meant to startle you," Albedo said, scratching the back of his head before he cleared his throat, "Would it be all right if we talked?"
"Y-Yes of course, Sir!" She nodded and followed him to sit down on one of the benches near the fountain. Since it was late into the evening, everyone had already gone into their rooms, leaving just the two of them outside the headquarters.
There was a pleasant breeze that blew in their direction. Sucrose stared down at her shoes before rubbing her arm in comfort as she glanced back at Albedo.
"Sucrose, did you know those women back at the party?" He asked, not beating around the bush as she expected.
However, the question still made her nervous, her mind going back to the catastrophic experience that happened. "I-I don't know them on a personal basis, Mister Albedo. B-But I've seen them around, yes."
"Ah," Albedo let out and then looked at her, his face turning serious, "You must be aware that I do not take it lightly when someone speaks badly of you, Sucrose. Even when it's just pretentious gossip."
"I-I..." Sucrose stopped herself short, momentarily speechless by her teacher's words, "I'm... I'm aware of that, y-yes!"
He went silent and stared at her for a second before saying, "You didn't see, but they left immediately after I told them that I didn't appreciate my assistant being the subject of their jealousy and inappropriate behaviour."
She couldn't help but blink at him in surprise. "You did?"
"Of course," Albedo said, nodding. However, his face fell ever so slightly. "Did you think I wouldn't defend you?"
Sucrose jumped, scrambling for an answer. "N-No! I wasn't thinking of that, Mister Albedo! I-I just-" She paused and collapsed her hands together, squeezing them in comfort as she said, "Thank you, Mister Albedo, but I'm sorry that I caused you the trouble again..."
"Nonsense, none of this was your fault. If anything, I should be apologising for not paying attention to it so it would've stopped sooner."
She blushed and adjusted her glasses. "R-Really, Mister Albedo... It never bothered me that much in the first place. Most of the time I was too busy with my research to even notice."
"But Klee ended up noticing, didn't she?"
Sucrose closed her eyes and buried her face into her hands, again remembering the chaos that happened at the party. Making spaces between her fingers, she looked at him with an embarrassing blush cascading over her cheeks. "Y-Yes, she did..."
Albedo seemed to have realised as to why she was flustered and averted his gaze down onto the floor in thought, a hand over his mouth. However, Sucrose could note the tint shade of pink decorating his ears. "Klee has been spending far too much time with Kaeya..."
Sucrose only nodded, pulling her hands away from her face. "I'm sorry, Sir..."
"Sucrose," he sighed, shaking his head before he threw her a smile, "Stop being so stubborn, you owe no apology."
"But I-!"
"Sucrose."
She anxiously gnawed against the corner of her lip and then finally relaxed herself. "A-All right."
He smiled at her once more before standing up, lending out his hand to her. She took it and distractedly flattened down the creases of her clothing.
"Here."
Sucrose looked up to see that he was holding a single Windwheel Aster in front of her, confusing her greatly. "Mister Albedo?"
"The Windblume Festival isn't so far off and I was wondering if you'd like to come with me?" Albedo asked, his smile never leaving his lips. However, he then leaned in closer to her, his ever-so handsome smile turning quite... smug as he lifted up his index finger, "But only on one condition."
Sucrose felt her legs gradually weakening at their close proximity and had to swallow down the squeak that threatened to erupt from her mouth. "W-What's the condition?"
His eyes glazed over. "That you call me Albedo."
She flinched, already waving her hands down in protest. "But I couldn't possibly-!"
"Because that would definitely make my form go warm."
Sucrose felt her soul leave her body.
Did he just-?
"M-Mister Albedo!" Sucrose cried.
Albedo stifled out a laugh, and it made her ears twitch adorably. "My apologies," he said before shaking his head, his chuckles dying down as he nodded to her, "But will you?"
She stared at him, his teasing but genuine gaze gently looming over her. She averted her eyes down at the flower and gingerly took it, grasping it in her hands as she fumbled her with words. "Yes... I-I'll go with you, Albedo."
Albedo smiled, intertwining their hands together as he began walking them back. "There's not much on the agenda. Let's say we take the day off tomorrow?"
Sucrose gazed down at their hands as they walked, blushing again when she felt him squeeze them together. When she looked up at him, his back facing her, she let her own lips curl into a shy smile.
"I would like that."