Work Text:
The smell of freshly roasted coffee and caramel syrup flooded the blond boy’s senses as he entered the small cafe. He’d lived in Mondstadt for 3 years but had never noticed the small cafe on the high street.
Spotting an empty booth in the corner of the cafe, he unloaded his bag and sat down. Unpacking his laptop, chemistry textbooks and notebooks; he couldn’t help but notice the boy behind the counter - a smile permanently plastered on his lips as he served customers, repeating orders to the red-haired barista with a matching frown.
Working on his dissertation, he couldn’t help but be distracted by the blue-haired man whom he could’ve sworn was looking his way every now and again.
Feeling his focus drifting, he made his way to the counter, waiting in the long queue of sleep-ridden university students and wide-eyed high schoolers.
“I was wondering when you would come up and order,” the blue-haired man smiled at him.
“Uh-“
“Ok, if I guess your order correctly, will you tell me your name?”
He stared at the cashier with a confused look in his eyes.
“Ok Mr Silent,” the blue-haired boy withdrew a little before bouncing right back. “So, let me guess. Iced vanilla latte?”
He stayed silent. “Not much of a talker-“
“Albedo.” The cashier looked at him confused. “My name. I’m Albedo Kreidprinz.”
“Ah, so I was right.” The man beamed at him. “Diluc, you heard the man.”
Albedo was starstruck at the interaction as he waited for his coffee.
“One latte and a blueberry muffin.”
“Erm, excuse me, I didn’t order the muffin-” Albedo tried to grab Diluc’s attention with no success.
“It’s on the house,” he flashed him another smile. How did he not get tired of smiling all the time?
Albedo took his takeaway coffee cup and muffin to his table before burying himself in his work to avoid the fact his cheeks felt hot every time the man at the counter looked his way or flashed one of those award-winning smiles.
***
Subconsciously, (while working) he'd tied his hair in his usual half up, half down hairstyle. And in order to avoid a migraine in the evening, he slipped on his rounded glasses.
"I cannot believe I didn't recognise you before." The (cute) blue-haired boy appeared at his booth with his beautiful smile.
His face was close, too close (but not close enough) to his. Albedo looked up, flustered. "What are you talking about?" He sighed and tried to continue his research.
"You know you're famous among us 2nd years right?" the boy grinned. "The infamous chalk prince."
Albedo rolled his eyes. "Where did you hear that name."
" All the older students call you that. Have you really never been called that outside of university?"
"Who are you, again?"
"That's for me to know, and you to question." Albedo kicked himself for finding this interaction fun. "Anyways, what brings you to our little cafe?"
"You know, for someone who should be working right now, you're doing a lot of talking and not much serving."
"That reminds me, Diluc says it's closing time. So, either my brother locks you in here so you end up sleeping over until he decides to open up tomorrow or I'd suggest packing up."
Albedo felt the embarrassment wash over him as he gathered his books and hurriedly stuffed them into his bag. He rushed out of the cafe as the other man waited at the door, tapping his foot impatiently whilst scrolling through his phone.
"Finally," the man sighed as he locked up the cafe. "Thought you were planning on living there." The blond boy smiled softly before bidding farewell and beginning to walk back to his flat.
"Kaeya." Albedo stopped.
"I'm sorry?" He turned back around, facing the blue-haired boy.
"Kaeya Alberich. My name." Kaeya smiled at him. Again with that smile.
As Albedo walked home, he couldn't get him out of his mind. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was…off about him. Deciding that there was no way that Kaeya was that open when he just met someone, he vowed to get to the bottom of it before he had to show his face at university.
He remained curious about Kaeya, even at night he dreamed of the quaint coffee shop and the blue-haired boy who was sitting with him the whole time. Three Kaeya-centric dreams later, Albedo sat huddled in his bed, scrolling social media. Desperately searching for any trace of him on the internet.
Half an hour in, Albedo was beginning to give up until he came across the Angel’s Share’s instagram - the two men in every single post.
>>> [PHOTO]
( a blue-haired and red-haired man standing in front of the Angel’s Share with a large GRAND OPENING banner above the sign )
tagged: @dilucragvindr , @notkaeya
♡ 127 Likes
@angelssharecafe: opening day!! come to our little cafe for our grand opening!
In his search, he realised he accidentally liked a post…which coincidentally was one of only Kaeya.
>>> [PHOTO]
( kaeya behind the counter, with a peace sign and his tongue out )
tagged: @notkaeya
♡ 870 Likes
@angelssharecafe: diluc has relinquished control of this account to me because quite frankly, he is useless at this.
***
@notkaeya
i see you found our little account.
i mustve caught your eye mr chalk prince ;P
Shit.
Albedo had no idea how to respond. He thought he had at least a few hours to prepare some excuse until Kaeya realised the extent of his stalking. He knew there was no way he’d be able to handle the teasing from the bluehead if he knew that Albedo was actually interested in him.
@kreid.printz
no, i was more curious about your brother.
@notkaeya
how you wound me.
come on, weren’t you at least a little bit curious
seen 11:07pm
There was no way Albedo was living this down.
***
No matter how much Albedo wanted to see Kaeya’s face, he refused to go to that cafe again. Not after the whole leaving him on read fiasco. Yet, he found himself subconsciously on the route to the Angel’s Share, having to divert himself to his usual cafe.
Upon entering the cafe, he felt a weird sense of guilt. You owe him nothing - he probably hates you now. Shaking the feeling off, he ordered his usual iced latte (with vanilla of course) and made his way to his usual table - the one right at the back (not too close to the toilets because ew) and unpacked his bags. In the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a blue-haired person at another table.
Who was he kidding? It's not his blue-haired person.
Diving into his work, Albedo tried his very best to distract himself from the thoughts of Kaeya swimming in his mind. They entered every crevice of his brain - causing him to connect every small part of his research to the blue-haired man. So when he saw the exact man he'd been day dreaming about in his favourite coffee shop, he laughed it off as him being delusional.
The man was hunched over a laptop, his hood covering most of his hair except a small peak of his rat-tail (which looked astoundingly similar to Kaeya's). When Albedo ventured to the barista to order more coffee, he caught brief glimpses of the work the man was doing - university homework.
He sat back down and, once again, attempted to puzzle his way through his research until a stranger sat opposite him.
Albedo was worried to look up - making wild guesses (Kaeya) in his heart (Kaeya.) - hoping it wasn't the person he thought it was (please let it be him).
The man sat with a brown paper bag - containing something Albedo couldn't quite make out.
"Kaeya," Albedo cursed to himself (he was relieved). "What are you doing here?"
"You don't really think you're the only university student to study in a cafe?" Kaeya chucked.
"That's not what I meant."
"So then what did you mean?"
"I-"
"Here's a blueberry muffin for yourself and a slice of red velvet cake for Klee."
Albedo coughed at the mention of Klee. "H-how do you know about Klee?"
"There's alot of things that I'm amazing at." Kaeya smirked. "One of those is stalking someone online - unlike you might I add."
Albedo felt himself go red from embarrassment. "Because how does someone manage to like a 3 year old photo and cover for himself very poorly."
"Excuse me, it was one photo."
"Anyways I'd best be going. Got a long rest of the week," Kaeya stood up, leaving the brown bag with Albedo who sat there in awe - debating whether he should just run after him.
His body moved on its own as he watched the bluehead walking out of the shop (and to Albedo, his life).
"Kaeya!" The bluehead spun around quickly, as if he'd been waiting for this.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry, can we start over?" Albedo stretched out his hand. "I'm Albedo."
"Albedo Kreidprinz."
Kaeya's usual beaming sunshine was replaced by a more authentic, timid smile.
"Kaeya."
"Kaeya Alberich."