Chapter Text
To keep an extremely long story short, Kaeya had had a terrible day. His Physics professor assigned a lab due by 8 A.M. the next day, he had to take two trains and a bus to make it back to his shabby apartment in the suburbs, and all he had to eat since he woke up was a stale week-old bagel. And to make matters worse, his nearly decade-old laptop decided to stop working properly just when he needed it most.
You see, Kaeya had at least three bills he needed to pay on time, and they were a mere fifteen minutes away from becoming overdue. Meanwhile, his Dell PC was stuck on the log-in page. The panic was beginning to set in and Kaeya felt the sweat drip down his neck.
“There is no way I’m paying another late fee on the fucking water bill.” He whipped out his phone and googled the number for tech support in Brooklyn.
Staring at the screen for a moment with hesitation, he decided to get over his embarrassment of needing help from a stupid tech company and dialed the number in front of him. After three rings, a real person answered. He was surprised he wasn’t immediately put on hold. Kaeya rested his head in his hands for a second and closed his eyes.
The voice on the other line spoke, jolting Kaeya awake.
“Good evening, this is Albedo from Tech Support. How may I assist you today?”
The tone of that voice, very monotone and seemingly forced out of its person, Kaeya felt did not match that of someone who was supposed to talk to people on a daily basis for a living. Despite its lack of inflection and interest, the voice appealed to Kaeya in its boyish huskiness, very easily allowing him to guess the age range of the person he was about to speak with. He must’ve been thinking about this for too long, for this Albedo person spoke up once more.
“Hello? Is anyone there? If this is another prank call, I’m going to have to track your number and report you to the police.” He was irritated, Kaeya could tell. Answering phone calls all day must not be his most favorite thing in the world.
“No! No, no, this isn’t a prank call. Sorry, I was occupied with something. I..uh...need help with my laptop.” Kaeya spoke all his words in a matter of a few seconds. God, why was he so nervous over some bills?
“Alright, what’s wrong with your laptop, sir?” Kaeya could have sworn he heard the man roll his eyes over the phone.
Kaeya explained the frozen log-in page of his PC, also giving Albedo the make and model of the laptop to more accurately find a solution to the problem. Then, he waited.
“Well, it seems to me that your laptop is too old.” Albedo had said this so matter-of-factly that Kaeya almost didn’t question his statement.
“But...nine years isn’t that old...” His voice became small, and he felt embarrassed again.
“Sir, if your laptop is older than my youngest nephew, it’s old. And because of that, its most basic functions have stopped working properly. There’s nothing I can do if you’ve already tried turning it on and off and resetting it, like you told me you have.” Albedo sounded defeated, and Kaeya couldn’t blame him. It was 11:50 P.M., and he himself was growing extremely exhausted. He couldn’t imagine what talking to strangers on the phone this late in the night would do to his sanity.
“I get it, thanks. I just got bills to pay and assignments due, so I was really hoping you could help me out. Sorry for the bother.” Kaeya sighed and closed his eyes once more, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“It’s my job, so no need to apologize. Have you tried paying the bills on your phone? Most banks have apps for that sort of thing, like Bank of America or Capital One.”
Kaeya’s eyes widened, and suddenly, he was very awake. How did he not think of that? Not once in his life as a fully-functioning adult did he ever think of downloading the apps he had to pay bills on. He had always gone on his laptop, waited the full thirty minutes for the page to load, and made his transactions on all the different websites. Somehow, he was a STEM major and physics came easy to him, yet he couldn’t figure out the faster way of doing things to make his life easier.
“Hello? You’re doing that thing again where you don’t speak and leave the other person on the line hanging in their question.” This man’s voice was laced with irritation, and quite frankly, Kaeya found it entertaining.
“Haha, sorry. No, I haven’t tried that. I’ll do it right now. You mind waiting for me, sir?” Now that he had a solution, Kaeya’s manner of speaking was much more himself, less worried, and more easygoing. His voice was light and enticing. A slight smirk on his face could be detected if you listened to his voice hard enough. And Albedo was listening.
“Um...alright. Go ahead.” Albedo shifted in his chair, and his headset must have picked it up, because Kaeya heard shuffling on the other end. He decided to make conversation with his new tech-savvy friend while waiting for the bank apps to download.
“So...how old are you? ‘Cuz I have a feeling you’re my age, but I can’t be sure. You could be older, or you could be younger. Are you twenty?” All of Kaeya’s friends (and Diluc, although that is much to his misfortune) know that when Kaeya’s mood is better, he is bound to talk more. This can sometimes irk the other party involved.
“I’m twenty-one.” Still no sign of enjoyment. Was Kaeya that boring?
“No way! Me too, haha. I’m actually still in school. Physics major and whatnot. What about you? I’m sure you go to school. You sound really smart.” Kaeya didn’t really know what ‘really smart’ is supposed to sound like, but he hoped the compliment didn’t fly over the other's head.
“Yeah...I study chemistry with a minor in art therapy.” Albedo had practically squeezed the answers out. He must not like talking about himself, Kaeya thought. Though, he wasn’t asking Kaeya any questions back either. Maybe, he wasn’t interested in general.
“Oh wow..chemistry. I have a few friends in that particular study. Maybe you even know them. Hey, where do you go to sch-” Kaeya was interrupted before he could even finish asking his question.
“Have you downloaded the apps yet? I’m afraid my shift’s almost over, and I wanna make sure you’re all settled before then.” Albedo rushed the last few words, Kaeya detected, a little apologetically. Kaeya checked his phone.
“Yeah, yeah, they’re downloaded. My bad, I forgot how late it was.” After that, an awkward silence dropped between them for a few minutes while Kaeya thumbed through the transactions, logging in and completing each one only a few minutes before the deadline at midnight. What felt like a thousand taps of his screen and a sigh of relief later, Kaeya spoke up.
“All done. Thanks again. You were a great help, Albedo.” It was the first time Kaeya had actually said the other man’s name aloud, and he liked the way it rolled off his tongue, like he was meant to say it and couldn’t even think of why he never had before.
“No problem at all. Like I said, it’s my job.” Another stiff response from Albedo, but Kaeya remained persistent.
“Whatever you say, man. I’m still gonna thank you. Goodnight, Albedo.” Kaeya smiled a little as he said his name and moved to end the call. He was shocked when he heard the voice on the other end speak up before he could do so.
“Wait.”
Kaeya waited, smile still lingering on his lips.
“Uh...what’s your name? You talked a lot but didn’t once give me your name.” Was he actually mad? Kaeya thought he sounded mad and took a mental note of that.
“Kaeya Alberich,” was all Kaeya said. He thought it was more than enough to answer Albedo’s question. After all, he did talk a lot tonight.
“Alright...Goodnight, Kaeya.” Albedo stumbled over his name a little, but it was music to Kaeya’s ears.
Kaeya's smile widened as he heard the line go dead. Leaning back in his desk chair, Kaeya replayed the man’s voice in his head until he fell asleep.
Goodnight, Albedo.