What goes down in the science lab

Chapter 5 ~ The question

"Oh hey guys!" Aether waved at them. "This is my sister Lumine! She's new here and we were just about to show her the school. Wanna join?"

"Why not?" Gorou and Zhongli said at the same time. They all looked at the blonde girl, who nervously waved at them. Albedo just stared at them, shocked. He then turned to Kaeya, who just smirked at him. As they all walked down, Noelle and Albedo were the only ones not involved in conversation. Everyone else was involved in some form of interaction. Childe, Kaeya and Lumine were being noisy, Diluc and Zhongli were calmly talking to each other and Aether and Gorou were trying to explain to Itto some math problems.

"Hey Bedo?" Noelle broke his thoughts.

"Hm?" Albedo turned to look at her.

"Please tell me if that flirty son of a bitch playboy tries anything." She said that with a smile. Albedo, very unsettled by this, just nodded.

"You were talking about me?" Kaeya leaned into their conversation. He towered over the 2.

"Yes and I don't fucking care about your opinion." Albedo sped up and Noelle followed him. Kaeya scoffed at them before rejoining the rest of the group. They split up once they got to the campus and Albedo went to talk with Sucrose. She said she needed help on her alchemy and Albedo graciously offered to provide the help. Kaeya went to Rosaria as he had nothing else to do.

"Hey." Rosaria didn't look up from the book she was reading.

"Last minute studying?" Kaeya recognized the book as one of their textbooks.

"Yes. I hate this class so much!" Rosaria rolled her eyes as she continued reading. "Venti's hosting a party next week."

"Same place?" Kaeya asked. Venti, a dark blue haired boy with teal tipped braids, was notorious for having parties in his dorm room. Whether alcohol was involved or if it was the day after he announced it, Venti's parties were well known around campus and Kaeya and Rosaria were frequent visitors.

"No. It's his birthday. His house. Gonna take everyone he invites there." Rosaria finally turned to look at him. She put the book away before walking off. "Ask him for more details."

"Alright." Kaeya watched her retreat and once she was gone, he went to his next class.

K: History's a nightmare! I don't understand how Zhongli can like it!

"Hey idiot."

Kaeya felt a light tap on his shoulder. Well, it was more of a whack on the back. He spun around and came face to face with Albedo.

"Oh hey blondie~ How do you do today~" Kaeya bent down to tease him.

"Better if you were dead. I just need to ask something."

"Ask away, darling~"

"Oh shut up. Why do you always pick on me? You have many other students to do so and yet I seem to be your frequent victim. Care to explain?"

K: Oh shit he caught on!

"Well, it's just...so fun to see...uh, the...the science nerd be...uh, angry." Kaeya was caught off guard by this question. But why was it that when he asked Kaeya this question, part of him told him that he should answer 'because your reactions are cute'. Snapping back to the present, he noticed that Albedo didn't seem satisfied by this answer but stopped pursuing it. Instead, he was asking Kaeya about the project.

"I'm not free today but tomorrow I may be."

"Alright! See you blondie!" Kaeya ruffled his hair, receiving a small scowl from him. Kaeya then went to meet up with Childe.

"Blueberry! We were just talking about my birthday!" A short boy, a head shorter than him, with blue green eyes twinkling with excitement. A big grin was plastered on his face and he could not stop fiddling with his braids.

"Hey Venti. So, any more details?" Kaeya got closer to the group.

"Not really. Rosaria told me that she told you what I told her to tell you, which is that it would be at my house, it's next week and there will be alcohol but not much so that we don't get detected for drinking." Venti blurted out everything. This boy really can talk if given the chance. "Oh yeah! And because I want to, make sure you dress fancy or hot or something like that."

"K thanks. We should probably head over to the cafeteria before it gets too crowded." Kaeya walked off.

"Oh yeah. Aeth's sitting with the people from this morning today. He told me earlier." Lumine seemed to only be half listening to their conversation. Kaeya noticed that her eyes were on Childe the entire time.

"Aw...I wanted to talk to him. Well, there's always next time! In fact, I'm going to go!" Venti ran off to an occupied table. Kaeya followed the rest to their usual spot, mind still occupied by the blonde and his own thoughts about Albedo being cute. He hated him and Albedo hated him. That was that. They were rivals and nothing more. There was no need to overcomplicate the complicated situation/mess he was in with feelings of romance.
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