Just the Two of Us | Albedo X Reader

Just the Two of Us

You sighed and stared at the sight from the corner of the ballroom. Originally, you had agreed to join your friend, Kaeya, to come to the dull Mondstadt Ball held by the royal Gunnhildr family every year. While slightly expected, it was a little shocking to see Kaeya drink himself silly after an hour into the ball. At least the two of you had gotten a few snickers out of attending. You had laughed over how some people seemed uncomfortable with their suits, a noblewoman accidentally pouring chocolate onto her dress, and a little boy who nearly fainted from the taste of the exotic Jueyun chillies.

You shift a little uncomfortably on your feet, praying that Kaeya would notice you soon and stop his drinking session with a few of the nobles. Instead, he continued to pour wine and laugh along with them. You sigh again and lift up your long dress, ready to ditch him to get back to your cosy little house. If he gets a terrible hangover the next day, it was all on him.

Just as you were about to leave, another person who was making their way over to the exit caught your eye. He was wearing a light beige suit with a brown jewel embedded into a necklace. His hair was a light, ashy blonde and was tied in a ponytail. He noticed your presence and the two of you locked eyes, holding gazes for the next few moments.

"Ah, am I blocking the way?" The man asked, his teal eyes seemed to shine brighter from the reflection by the chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling.

"No, not at all," you quickly replied. "You leaving too?"

"Not exactly," the man said. "I'm not allowed to leave the ball till the Gunnhildrs announce the end to it. So I plan to take a short stroll. Personally, I don't really enjoy partaking in these kinds of events."

"Same here." You sigh, as your gaze slowly shifts to the ground. "I had to come here since a friend of mine's a noble himself, even if he's adopted. He wanted someone familiar to join him since he doesn't like these kinds of events much. Now he's off drinking with five other people without me."

"That's rather rude if you ask me," the man said.

"Eh." You shrug your shoulders. "He likes drinking at this time. Kinda expected if you ask me."

"But still," the man continued. "As you are his guest, he should be making sure that you're fine, no? Even if he wanted to go off to drink, he should have told you about drinking with strangers, and asked if you were fine, before going off."

"Well, some of them are his sort-of-friends. They go hunting together, and do hang out kind of fine I guess. I'm the only exception since I just work at a bakery all day," you laugh to yourself. "I'm still not sure how we even became friends. One day many years ago he just showed up saying that he was lost and wanted some bread, so I gave him one while we waited for his folks to pick him up. Didn't know he was a noble till the carriage arrived, and the people who came out of it had a bunch of jewelry and stuff. After that he would swing by to talk, and we would even try to fish together. He always gets lesser fish than me."

The man chuckles quietly, the noise sounding light in your ears. "Sounds rather interesting, the story to your friendship."

"Yeah, it really is. Usually these things happen in books, guess I got lucky then," you laughed again. "He is a good man though, he just needs to reel back on the alcohol a bit."

"Perhaps he does," the man said.

The two of you stayed silent after that, not sure of how to continue the conversation. As sudden as a bird diving into a lake to snatch its prey, the man jumped a little bit out of his trance.

"Well," he started. "Mind accompanying me then? Usually I'd just walk around the gardens until I get the message that the ball is about to end soon. It can be quite boring, however."