Chapter Text
It is not, by any means, abnormal for Kaeya to spend his morning entirely drained of his energy.
On the contrary, it absolutely is the norm for him and his far too excitable kindergartener, Klee.
As precious as she is, there are some things that simply burn out an adult’s will to stay awake. And those things are fickle, even without the help of a little girl who thinks the world is one big, inflatable bouncy ball.
It is nine in the morning and Kaeya wants to lie down already.
“Klee, darling, please,” Kaeya says, sighing, “we’re having a guest over soon. Clean up your toys! What if someone steps on your Dodoco?”
“Dodoco is fine!” replies Klee, holding up her Dodoco plush to prove her point. “Dodoco is with me!”
“Yes, but—”
Kaeya curses under his breath. He had nearly spilled his fresh-brewed coffee while pouring the drink into his thermos. No mess is made — he reacts swiftly with a kitchen towel, thank goodness — but it does almost stain his dress shirt. For a moment, he shuts his eyes and rubs his temples to ease himself. He had just washed and ironed practically his and Klee’s entire closets last weekend; there’s no telling how many seconds it would’ve taken Kaeya to collapse on the couch if he managed to stain his work clothes on a Tuesday morning.
Kaeya exhales. Leaning over the counter, he observes his little girl making Dodoco fly above the couch. At least she’s dressed, he defeatedly thinks, crossing his arms. Once he clears his throat, Klee pauses and blinks her curious eyes at him.
“You need to clean up your things, baby. We want to keep the house neat and pretty for our guests, remember? Can you do that for me?”
“Yeah,” Klee says, surprisingly, except a wide, cheerful smile bursts on her face. Of course it’s not that easy. “After Dodoco and I explore some more!”
Kaeya lifts his hand in protest. “K- Klee, there’s no time, the guest is coming over soon—”
The girl doesn’t listen, as usual. She runs off down the hallway before Kaeya has the chance to be a bit more firm with her — something he admittedly has to work on (if only Klee wasn’t so goddamn adorable and impossible to stay mad at).
Kaeya checks his wristwatch, squints at the display, and sighs for the umpteenth time.
9:13. His first meeting of the day is in half an hour. That would be fine since he finished brewing his coffee, but he has a pile of documents to sort in preparation. Courtesy of his boss and his godforsaken 2AM emails. Even still, that’s doable. He is Kaeya Alberich. He didn’t get to his current position without powering through these types of mornings. All he needs is to brush his hair to be as presentable as possible and smile at his laptop’s camera.
That would be fine, but today is different. He has more packed into his schedule, and it involves Klee — Klee and her new tutor, that is.
9:20 is the time Kaeya and the tutor arranged Klee’s very first session for. Kaeya had kept great expectations for the tutor after reading his resume — many thanks to Lisa for recommending and sending him the PDF — but at the same time, he remains anxious. He is more than eager for him to come and meet Klee, and that is also the reason why he can’t seem to sit still.
Klee is a good child. There is no doubt about that. Klee is very compassionate and holds an abundance of love for her peers, her papa. She is a cheerful, optimistic girl, and yet. And yet.
She simply never listens.
Surely it isn’t Klee’s fault. Kaeya would never blame her for it. She’s not doing it on purpose to be a naughty child or anything, and Kaeya is well aware of this. But when she starts her adventures with Dodoco or is presented with a paper and palette of crayons, it’s like an entirely different world absorbs her and her attention whole.
It’s a wonderful thing, to be truthful. The span of Klee’s imagination is a fascinating thing, and Kaeya is personally rather proud of it. He suspects she’ll grow up to be an illustrator, someone who works with her creative strengths (though she could really become anything she wants and Kaeya would be proud of her nonetheless).
However.
Eleven tutors.
Klee has gone through eleven separate people, all who were supposed to be well-trained in handling troublesome children, that quit within a week of tutoring Klee. Eleven times so far, Kaeya has upped the hourly payment offer and warned each tutor of Klee’s behavior. Despite his efforts — and Klee’s own enthusiasm when it comes to the subject they’re here to teach, which is elementary science — every single tutor has lamented that Klee is ‘too much.’
And that’s only counting the number of people Kaeya had hired this year alone.
There’s a muted knock on the door that has Kaeya on edge. He hurries to shove the rest of Klee’s toys into a box and smooths out wrinkles in his shirt. Ideally, Klee would be here greeting the tutor — those are important manners, after all — but there’s not much he can do about that now.
Kaeya takes a deep breath, recomposes himself, and opens the door with a cordial smile.
Oh, wow.
“Good morning, Mr. Alberich.”
Though the gentle autumn breeze is a fresh breath of air, there is nothing more refreshing than the person that awaits him in a polite stance.
Feathery ash locks that are both messy yet proper with the lace braid. A fair expression that lacks any hint of morning fatigue. The very aura that surrounds him is so pleasant that Kaeya is starting to forget that he hasn’t had a sip of his coffee yet — it feels unnecessary now since he’s definitely awake at this point. Even his voice is such a lovely thing to hear first thing in the morning, especially after experiencing Klee’s hyperenergetic singing and the coffee grinder…
“Ah. Just Kaeya is alright.” Holding out his hand, Kaeya laughs sheepishly. He wasn’t staring for too long, was he? “Professor Albedo, yes?”
Albedo laughs too, and Kaeya blushes.
“Please, call me Albedo. No need for formalities,” says Albedo, shaking Kaeya’s hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Kaeya.”
Kaeya nods. “Likewise.” He frowns when he remembers Klee’s absence, and Albedo tilts his head at him. “I’m sorry, I thought I told Klee to come say hello when you arrive…”
“Oh?” Albedo makes a curious face. “Isn’t she standing behind you?”
Kaeya raises his brows. “She is—?”
Just as Kaeya turns his body halfway, he sees a pair of blonde pigtails flopping in his periphery. Klee almost shoves her father out of the way as she emerges from behind his legs, standing right before Albedo boldly. As Kaeya watches on, perplexed at her behavior, he realizes Klee’s expression is of pure wonder.
Dodoco in hand, Klee gawks at Albedo, her lips rounded in thought. Smiling fondly, Albedo crouches down to match her height, cupping his hands over his knees.
“Why, hello there. You are Klee, I presume?”
Klee blinks her enlarged eyes. “Yeah! What about you, mister?”
“Well, my name is Albedo,” he says. “I’m here to teach you things about science.”
While one part of Kaeya wants to scold Klee — she hasn’t even said good morning to Albedo yet — the rest of him is in shock. Klee has never had such a… simply well-mannered conversation with one of her tutors before. She seems deeply interested in Albedo, perhaps even… willing to listen to him?
Though Kaeya doesn’t want to get his hopes up too soon, Albedo and Klee have a handshake and exchange smiles. Kaeya feels a giddiness in his heart — could Albedo be the one that he and Klee have been looking for?
Klee starts hopping in place. Kaeya could recognize that anywhere: the girl is ecstatic. She grips Albedo’s hand, pointing inside their home with her Dodoco plush.
“Come see my room, Albedo!”
Albedo doesn’t have the opportunity to respond to the offer — Klee starts dashing inside, tugging on his arm. While Albedo chuckles as he stands back up, Kaeya tries stopping Klee.
“Klee, that’s not very polite!” Kaeya chides, crossing his arms. “And you should at least call him ‘Mr. Albedo’ since he’s your teacher from now on.”
A hand on Kaeya’s arm startles him — Albedo’s hand, in fact, and it is a gentle touch. Almost as gentle as Albedo’s grin. Klee even waits, albeit amidst impatient hops, as she and Albedo hold hands.
They’re… holding hands already?
“I don’t mind, Kaeya,” Albedo says. “I actually prefer to not have any honorifics. There’s no harm in it, is there?”
Even with Klee stepping side to side, making Albedo’s arm sway because she simply can’t wait to lead him inside, Albedo is perfectly unfazed. He is calm and collected as ever. He might even be far better than Kaeya at handling Klee, which is, without exaggeration, a miracle.
Are you an angel? Kaeya nearly blurts.
Suddenly flustered, Kaeya clears his throat, nodding. “I understand. Considering how attached Klee is to you already, trusting you is probably a good idea.” He can’t help but fondly grin when he glances at Klee and her impatient pout. “You have my respect, Albedo. I don’t know how you do it.”
Albedo chuckles. “She’s a delight,” he says, in a voice warm enough to make Kaeya melt on the spot.
Klee tugs on Albedo’s arm again. He turns towards her. After a wordless exchange between the two, Albedo smiles at Kaeya again. Kaeya closes the door behind them. Although he leans down to reach the shoe cabinet, Klee beats him to it — she takes out the pair of guest slippers, handing them to a grateful Albedo.
Kaeya only exhales in awe at the sight.
Is this really the same Klee?
Telling Klee a warm ‘thank you’ and smiling at Klee’s proud look, Albedo puts on the indoor slippers. As Klee drags him down the hall, footsteps echoing in the house, Albedo peers over his shoulder. He flashes an encouraging grin at Kaeya and eventually is guided into Klee’s room.
Kaeya doesn’t even move from his spot. He’s beyond relieved that Klee finally has a tutor that can keep up with her behavior, of course, but it’s not just that — Albedo is so… admirable.
And Kaeya, seeing how Albedo has proved to be so promising just on the first day, is left with no choice but to find him so incredibly, unfairly attractive.
A sigh slips out, mixed with all sorts of emotions. He idly checks his watch, only then realizing the time. Shit. The meeting.
Thermos in hand, Kaeya rushes over to his work room. Even as he thinks about work and his stupid boss, the soft, elated smile still lingers on his lips.