Chapter Text
Albedo sat in front of his easel, desperately trying to mix the right shade of pink for a commission’s eyes, until he felt a presence in the doorway. He turned his head to see Rosaria standing ominously in his doorway. Probably waiting for him to acknowledge her so as to not scare him. Once he finally nodded his head she said,
“My friend is here to pick me up to go out. I’ll stay at his dorm so as to not wake you.” Albedo nods his head and wishes her goodbye. He goes back to mixing until he suddenly hears yelling coming from the doorway.
“Hot roommate come here!” That is most definitely not Rosaria’s voice. Albedo is almost curious enough to get up. He hears large footsteps make their way around the house, as if searching for him.
“Stop harassing my roommate, you horny bastard.” Albedo lets out a chuckle. Apparently, Rosaria caught him. He hears pleads and yelps of ‘ow,ow, ow’ but the door opens and shuts within a few seconds.
With a smile on his face, Albedo returns to sketching.
Back to peace and quiet.
A few hours later, Albedo gets a call from Rosaria. Even though it's nearly 2 am, he answers.
“The dumbass lost his keys and now we’re stuck here, can you come pick us up?” He hears faint whispers of ‘let me talk to him’ and other such pleads. After a minute of suspense Albedo mumbles in agreement and goes to pick them up, at 2 am, in his Iron-man pajamas and mess of hair.
Really, the epitome of beauty and grace.
Rosaria- and her friend, are at a small bar off of a main street. ‘Cat’s Tail’ the sign reads. Albedo pulls up to the front of the bar and immediately spots Rosaria. Albedo is speechless for a moment.
Rosaria’s friend is... gorgeous. Beautiful long hair, a sparkling eye, an interesting eye patch- he would be perfect for sketching!
Rosaria hauls the drunk over to the car, dropping him in the backseat and then joining him. Albedo suddenly wonders if he was the cheaper alternative to an uber. Rosaria is very quiet, only thanking Albedo and asking him to drive them to the dorm. Her handsome friend, unfortunately, isn’t.
“So you’re Rosie’s roommate!!” He asks through hiccups. Rosaria attempts to glare at him, but Kaeya isn’t paying any attention to her.
“That would be correct.”
“You’re very handsome!!” Albedo nods at the compliment. He was too tired to mask anyways. Kaeya bursts into giggles. “You have such cute reactions!” Albedo does smile a little at that- the idiocracy at least.
“That’s quite enough, Kaeya.” Rosaria says, looking out the window.
“Am I overstepping a line, cutie?” He asks, completely ignoring Rosaria.
“Not particularly, you’re just very drunk.” Albedo responds, finally starting to back out of the parking space.
“Don’t encourage him.” Rosaria says, exasperated.
“So what’ll happen when I’m sober?” Kaeya asks, with a smug expression on his face. Albedo can’t see it, cause he’s driving, but he just knows.
“Introductions, preferably.” He responds. Kaeya finally lays off the talking and goes quiet in the back seat.
When the three finally walk into the living room, Kaeya immediately collapses on their clean couch. Rosaria cradles her head into her hands and sighs. Albedo is right about to walk by the both of them when he hears his name.
“Rosaria’s hot roommate please come back!” Albedo turns around to see Rosaria openly glaring at Kaeya.
“Stop harassing my roommate.” She says. Kaeya simply shrugs and looks at Albedo with a gaze that feels… unlike usual.
“Come sit with me!” He says, once again ignoring Rosaria. Albedo weighs his options. Sit with a handsome stranger and miss out on sleep, or sleep and miss out on a handsome stranger. He decides that Kaeya can wait, of course.
“Go to sleep, Kaeya. If you’re good I’ll let you take me to lunch.” To say that Kaeya immediately became docile would be an understatement.
Rosaria sighs and apologies to Albedo for the trouble, while he just nods and walks back to his room.
The bar is never fun for Albedo, but maybe bar folk are.
Kaeya wakes up with a major hangover and 9 barrels of regret. The bits and pieces he can actually remember from last night were shameful, to say the least. Maybe having a shot before picking up Rosaria was a bad idea.
Kaeya sits up on the couch and grips his head, not even bothering to open his eyes yet.
“Are you alright?” A voice off to the right asks. It doesn’t sound like Rosaria, so it must be…
“Albedo.”
“That would be my name. Are you alright?” Kaeya finally opens his eyes and finds Albedo’s face much closer than he thought. Albedo stares down at him, and for what feels like hours all Kaeya can do is stare back.
“Kaeya?” Albedo asks, but that doesn’t help Kaeya at all. Who even is Kaeya? Kaeya doesn’t matter. Albedo matters. Albedo is... Suddenly he stands up straight and walks away, leaving Kaeya dazed.
“Rosaria is still asleep, so I’d rather not wake her. It’s 10am right now, so if you’d like to leave I can let her know.” Albedo says, while brewing coffee.
“I definitely can’t drive yet, are you alright with me staying here?” Albedo shrugs.
“I suppose. Would you like coffee or orange juice?”
“Orange juice.” Kaeya responds, and Albedo comes over with a mug of orange juice and one of coffee. Kaeya takes one look at Albedo’s cup and winces. It looks like a dark abyss of coffee. No creamer in sight. No sugar. He can’t even begin to imagine how it must taste.
He’ll definitely stick to his orange juice.
Albedo signals for Kaeya to move over and then sits with his knees to his chest on one side of the couch. Kaeya couldn’t help but think he looked cute.
They sit in comfortable silence, occasionally glancing at each other, until,
“I went to sleep last night.” Kaeya says. He doesn’t know what he’s saying, honestly. Words. And while Kaeya’s face must be giving up his true motives, Albedo’s face says nothing.
“Well, most people sleep at night, Kaeya.” Albedo says, staring into his coffee cup.
“I went to sleep when you told me to, therefore I get to take you to lunch.” Albedo chuckles.
“Is that so? You were obedient?” Kaeya’s jaw drops. He instantly closes it, but now his face is hot and his heart is beating fast and maybe his hands are sweaty and- wow that was so much Albedo is so much. His mind is malfunctioning for what feels like minutes.
All while Albedo sits with his ridiculous smug smile.
“Yeah, I was. So about lunch?” Kaeya attempts to play it off but it's clear that Albedo's words had gotten to him. Albedo finally looks up from his coffee cup, his eyes finding somewhere near Kaeya’s eye.
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me that you may not be happy to find out.” Albedo whispers.
“As long as you’re not a murderer, why should it matter?” Kaeya responds, and finds himself whispering for no reason.
“Not everyone is in the market for an autistic boyfriend.” Kaeya processes this news quickly. Albedo is autistic. He doesn’t know much about autism- but Albedo is Albedo, right? And so far, he’s attracted to Albedo.
“What if I’m in the market?” Albedo suddenly moves his eyes back to his coffee. Kaeya swears he can see a small smile on his lips.
“Take me to lunch then.” Albedo says.
“What about a farmer’s market? Maybe you'll be on sale.” Albedo lightly kicks Kaeya with his foot, while laughing.
“Don’t be silly, Alberich.”
“Why not? I think that's half my appeal!” Kaeya responds, still laughing.
“Oh really? What do you think the other half is?” Albedo asks. Kaeya pretends to think for a second before exclaiming,
“My di-”
“Consider your next words carefully.” Albedo interrupts, his face a blank state.
“Decision making skills!”
“Smart move. A good show of your decision making skills, actually.” Kaeya and Albedo can’t stop laughing, small giggles erupting even at the stupidest joke. Eventually Albedo has to start shushing Kaeya because they’ll end up waking Rosaria, but even that they laugh at.
Briefly, Kaeya wonders if this is what everyday would be like with Albedo in his life.
This lunch has to be perfect.