Chapter Text
Kaeya panted, basking in all the waving blue glow sticks and phone flashlights in the crowd. He took a moment to take in the thundering applause. He just finished performing his encore, his most popular song. With millions of plays and millions of streams, it was the song that grew his audience and made him into somebody.
The crowd continued to cheer, assuming the concert was over. After all, the band had begun to pack up. Kaeya grinned, gesturing to the crowd to stop cheering while he spoke. "So... I actually have one last song for you guys–”
The noise from the crowd was deafening.
Despite not being able to hear himself, he continued, “It hasn’t been released yet, I wrote it myself for my next album. I really had to try to convince Jean to let me play this, so I hope you all enjoy it.”
There was more cheering as Kaeya crossed the stage to pick up a lone guitar off to the side. He returned to the centre, spotlight on him, and sat on the stool. Suddenly, he realized how much his feet ached.
One more song, you can do it.
Kaeya adjusted the mic stand, strumming the first chords. He wouldn’t lie, he was nervous– he was the entire time– but more so than usual.
He took in one last deep breath before beginning the song,
“Let’s fall in love for the night and forget in the morning…”
The whole concert hall was quiet, and Kaeya felt even more uncomfortable. But, for the sake of his paycheque, he continued.
“Play me a song that you like, you can bet I’ll know every line.”
Nervously, he looked off to the side, where his crew was beginning to pack things up. The only person who was watching was Albedo. When the blond noticed Kaeya was looking, he offered a thumbs up.
It was almost embarrassing– this song was for Albedo – even if he didn’t know it. But, Kaeya built up the confidence to continue.
“I’m the boy that your boy hoped that you would avoid.”
“Don’t waste your eyes on jealous guys, fuck that noise.”
“I know better than to call you mine.”
He was the one who wrote the song, but it still felt like the lyrics hit a little too close to home. Still, he continued, working through the chorus. Slowly getting more sure of himself, his airy tone grew into something stronger.
“I know better than to ever… call you mine.”
Kaeya played the last chords on his guitar, but could barely hear it over the crowd whooping and shouting.
“Goodnight Springvale!” He shouted at the crowd, disregarding the mic.
As the lights slowly began to dim, he waved and bowed overdramatically. The crowd continued to applaud, yelling things that all jumbled together.
“Thank you!” He shouted, waving a couple of times before the lights finally turned off. Kaeya said one last ‘I love you guys,’ into the mic before leaving the stage, gone right before the house lights turned back on.
Immediately, Kaeya’s crew greeted him, smiling and congratulating the singer. He looked around, but couldn’t find Albedo.
“First show down, eleven more to go!” Amber offered Kaeya a high five. He returned it, grinning weakly. He didn’t think he could do this– and all the interviews– eleven more times. And… Archons, he didn’t want to think about it.
Before he knew it, Jean was there, offering him water with a smile. “Drink, you’ll need it. You hardly drank anything on stage!”
“Sorry, Mom,” Kaeya groaned, but accepted the water bottle nonetheless, drinking it concerningly fast.
After a couple more congratulations, his crew finally dispersed. They were moving things from the concert hall to the bus while thanking the stage crew for their work.
Kaeya practically collapsed in his dressing room. He removed all the accessories he was wearing and put them onto the closest surface he could find.
“You should be more careful with those, you know. They were awfully expensive.” Albedo said from the doorframe, seemingly appearing from nowhere.
Kaeya jumped. Oh Archons, Albedo heard what he sang– it hit him harder when he was offstage. Albedo heard Kaeya sing the words he wrote about him. He heard it!
The singer coughed, schooling his expression into a tired smile. He drawled, “Are you here to boss me around too?”
Albedo walked into the room. “I’m here to grab my supplies, but bossing you around is part of the job.”
Kaeya chuckled. “Do you have any makeup wipes?”
Albedo wrinkled his nose. “Of course not. You don’t buy La Prairie cleanser just to use makeup wipes.” The blond zipped up the makeup bag, leaning closer to Kaeya to see how well his eyeliner held up. “Not bad, not bad.”
Kaeya, ever the charmer, was always nervous when Albedo was close to him like this. Which happened to be very often. Nearly every day for the next month– just his luck. He swallowed dryly and suddenly wished Jean would bring him more water.
Albedo stepped back before Kaeya could even say anything. Grabbing the jewelry Kaeya left on the dresser, he clicked his tongue. “Take a shower and wash your face. I’ll braid your hair for you after,” he promised before leaving the room.
Kaeya huffed. “I’m holding you to that,” he called after Albedo, turning around in the chair to see his reflection. He was a mess: his hair was askew and he was covered in sweat. He wrinkled his nose, immediately heading for the bathroom on the tour bus before anybody else could.
-
After a long shower (that he only got out of because Amber got mad he took so long), Kaeya washed up and felt a wave of exhaustion roll over him.
He wanted to collapse in the nearest bed but stopped himself. Albedo said he’d do his hair, and the feeling of slim fingers and long nails against his scalp was too good to pass up.
Luckily, it was easy to find the blond, given that there weren’t many places for him to be.
He was sitting on the leather couch by the large windows at the front and scrolling on his phone. Everybody else seemed to be already asleep, save for Lisa and Amber, who were sorting themselves out in the washroom.
Albedo looked up from his phone. “Hi, Kaeya.”
“Hey,” Kaeya said, sounding more exhausted than he thought.
“I think I’ll braid your hair tonight, that way you don’t have to untangle it in the morning.” Albedo grabbed a brush from the table to the side, patting the leather beside him.
The singer immediately sat, feeling completely boneless. Albedo’s fingers in his hair only amplified that, and he swore he was going to fall asleep right there. He tried his best to stay upright, leaning his left side against the back of the couch. “Thanks, ‘Bedo.”
Albedo hummed. Slowly, the blond began running the comb through his dark blue hair, water dripping from the ends onto the couch.
“How are you so bad at drying your hair?” Albedo asks, trying to wring some water out of it.
“Heat is bad for your hair, you know.”
“I’m surprised your hair is still healthy. It’s been bleached and dyed to high hell.”
Blonds, ugh. So pretentious. Kaeya was ashamed he was into them.
The singer huffed, “Coconut oil. It’s magic, I swear.”
Albedo parted his hair into three sections and brushed through them with his fingers until there were no strands in between. He started braiding slowly, taking his time with each section. Kaeya knew he could braid much faster, he’d seen Albedo rushing to get ready, but he appreciated him taking his time.
The singer grabbed his phone and opened Twitter, curious to see what people were saying.
There were lots of fancams, and people calling him pretty. Along with some other… unique praises. People were arguing, of course, and people were yelling at their friends in the replies.
It wasn’t long before he stumbled upon a video of the chorus of his unreleased song. He was a little upset it had been filmed, but he knew it was inevitable. He clicked on the tweet and turned down the volume before scrolling to the replies. The first thing he saw was speculation on who it was about.
‘he’s so into the song it HAS to be about somebody, right?’
‘this song is totally about jean’
Ew.
It seemed the replies to that thought so too.
Despite that, he continued scrolling.
‘this is the love song of all time.’
‘i’m gonna cry wtf kaeya’
‘i bet it’s about albedo’
Huh? 2000 likes? He knew there were speculations– there were always speculations– but most were between him and Lisa, given their close friendship. Albedo was another popular one, though… Kaebedo they called it. Kaeya assumed it was because they were both boys, pretty ones at that. Though, they had their fair share of photos together, and there was the given intimacy between a makeup artist and his muse. But still, it didn’t seem right that two thousand people agreed that his song was written for Albedo. Two thousand were right and they didn’t even know it.
Immediately, Kaeya went to check the quote tweets, but was stopped by a gentle hand on his. Peering over his shoulder was Albedo, sighing. “Get off Twitter. Don’t listen to what they’re saying.” The blond nudged Kaeya’s phone from his hand, turning it off in the process. “Your braid is done.”
Kaeya rolled his eyes to remove the flush from his face. “What would I do without you, ‘Bedo?”
Albedo got up from the couch and Kaeya immediately missed his warmth. “You’d probably do your own makeup, unfortunately,” Albedo teased.
“Hey! I can do my makeup perfectly fine!”
Albedo laughed. “Sure you can.” He spun on his heel. “I’m going to sleep now. You should get some rest, too. You’re gonna need it.”
“Yeah, I’ll head to bed soon.”
“I’m holding you to that. Goodnight, Kaeya.”
“Sweet dreams, Albedo.”
With that, Albedo closed the curtain that separated the sleeping section from the living section of the tour bus.
Kaeya sighed, leaning back against the couch.
Two thousand, huh? Was it really that obvious?
He reached to grab his phone again but stopped. Albedo was right, social media was bad. The blond had been there to witness Kaeya’s anxious breakdowns over various comments, he really shouldn’t but—
Kaeya sighed, giving in to the evil bird, and picked up where he left off.
‘THINK ABOUT IT ‘i love it when you talk that nerdy shit’ ???? WHO DOES HE CALL A NERD ALL THE TIME? ALBEDO FUCKING KREIDEPRINZ?’
‘holy shit you’re so right’
‘omg… ur onto something.’
Okay, they got him there. He’d been in multiple interviews with his crew, and he always found a way to call out Albedo for being a nerd. Always. But still—
“You seem awfully troubled.”
“Hm?” Kaeya looked up, now seeing Lisa standing at the little kitchenette, brewing herself a cup of tea. When did she get here?
“Something’s on your mind, right?”
“No? What makes you say that?” Kaeya looked off to the side.
“I know you’re lying. What’s wrong, cutie?” Lisa frowned minutely, stirring her tea with a spoon.
Kaeya sighed. There was no getting out of this, was there? “It’s just… Twitter. The shippers are quite… pleased with the new song. I guess. They’re already making their speculations. And they’re right.”
Lisa had gotten Kaeya’s crush on Albedo out of him a year ago. (She was way too smart to be a stylist, he swore). The singer was sure she told Jean, even though Lisa vehemently denied it.
“Well, if it means anything, Amber couldn’t tell who it was about. Neither could Eula. But she didn’t know Amber liked her for years,” Lisa muttered the last part.
Kaeya chuckled, but his heart wasn’t in it. “I’m just worried Albedo will figure out it’s about him before I get to tell him myself.”
Lisa leaned on the counter, waiting for her tea to cool. “It’ll be fine. Come get some beauty sleep, okay? You’ll need it for tomorrow.”
“You’re right. Goodnight Lisa.” Kaeya went in for a quick hug, which the brunette returned easily.
“Goodnight, Kaeya.”