Pushover | Aether x Reader

Nine

( TW : slight mention of suicidal tendencies a few paragraphs below)

Aether let out a huge yawn as he made his way across the pedestrian lane. He hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before, but that was because he had important things to tend to.

'If I told Lumine all about what I did, either she'd whoop my ass or congratulate me for being "a gigachad".' He thought to himself. 'I still wonder what gigachad means.'

His golden eyes stayed focused in front of him, letting the rule of "stop, look, and listen" slip past him. He figured that even if he died from getting run over by a car, he wouldn't even know because how his brain refused to process the happenings.

'If I die on this road, at least it's not Lumine who has a bright future ahead of her,'  he thought depressingly. 'Better me than her.'

He debated stopping in the middle of the pedestrian but he didn't. He wasn't that hopeless yet.

Perhaps it was the tiredness and the stress of school combined. Nevertheless, Aether was feeling very indifferent to life lately.

He felt so lonely despite being surrounded by many people. He felt so angry on behalf of (Y/n). He felt so pressured to do well in his last year, and he felt tired of everything to the point that nothing he did felt as rewarding to him anymore.

"Lumineeee, why did you have to go..." he sniffed, wiping a teardrop that slipped down his cheek. "Ugh, I'm like a kid crying out to his mommy... Why am I like this?!"

A cough came from behind him, causing the blond to snap out of his depressing train of thought. He immediately switches back to his sunshine demeanor, feeling a little awful from having to switch so quickly.

He turned around to greet the person behind him and was very much perplexed at the sight of a disheveled-looking (Y/n).

"(Y/n)," he muttered softly. "Are you okay?"

"Nope." The girl didn't even hesitate. Her eye bags were heavy, her hair was placed into a lazy bun, her uniform's collar was a mess, and her eyes were all bloodshot. "Are you?"

"A-Ah... Yeah, I am." He smiled reassuringly. He was taken aback by the fact she even acknowledged his state despite hers being evidently worse. "D-Did something happen?"

"Yeah." (Y/n) shrugged. "The justice system is shit. After everything I've done for everyone, it all just goes poof!" She moves her hands to show the disappearance of her reputation. "They all come running when bad things are said about you. I'm just... Done."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Aether smiled sadly. "Must be tough for you lately." He looked away, eyes fixated on his feet. "Do you think... Kunikuzushi did this?"

"I know he did," (Y/n) replied without hesitation. "He doesn't like not being able to step on everybody else. He's a big baby, I kid you not."

"Y-yeah." Aether nodded.

(Y/n) looked at him and sighs, "Look. If you're struggling, just say so. You don't have to act okay all the time. No one cares about people having a perfect facade."

"Really? But I would have no friends if then."

"Those types of friendships are shallow." (Y/n) rolled her eyes. "Just be real. That's when you'll know your real friends."

"Like Hu?"

"Yeah. She's amazing."

Aether nodded and lifted his head up. No further conversation occurred after her response. They simply walked together to school in peace.

Of course, it had slipped their minds that the reason they went to school without first cleaning up their acts was that they were late, so they both had to enter class looking like a hot mess. Even so, Aether couldn't help the smile that made its way onto his face for something rare had just occurred.

(Y/n) was honest with him, and it felt rewarding. He felt as if she trusted him enough to tell him those things. He hoped they'd run into each other on the way to school more often.

__________

"Ugh, why can't Miss Jean just make Kunikuzushi the class president? Because of the delay, we won't have as much time to prepare for the festival as other classes!"

"It's because (Y/n) and Kunikuzushi had a scandal, duh."

"So? Kunikuzushi is so obviously the victim. (Y/n)'s lighter was found at the scene of the crime!"

"I don't know. Something about innocent until proven guilty—"

The beige-haired boy snapped his charcoal pen into two, an irritated glare fixated on the two gossiping girls. "Ladies, do you both simply have no decency?"

Both girls froze in place, slowly turning into the class' cold prince.

"Sorry Albedo... We didn't mean to offend you..."

"You didn't offend me. I simply believe you're both being very improper." Albedo shook his head disappointedly. "Study hall is meant to help us improve our grades, but instead you are here trying to bring down people who are clearly doing better than you. Jealousy is not a good color on anyone, ladies." 

"Wh-what— who said we were jealous?!"

"Only jealous people choose to occupy their precious time by trying to ruin other people's lives." Albedo sighed. "(Y/n) is innocent. You can take my word for it. Be thankful it isn't Hu that heard you speak of such nonsense."

Albedo promptly stood up, cleaned up the mess he had made, and exited the room. This, of course, only created more gossip between the two girls.

"He defended her!"

__________

"Goodness! This school does everything but study!" Mona clicked her tongue in annoyance, arms crossed as she walked alongside her two closest female friends. "Lumine left at a good time, honestly."

"The princezzin could not agree more!" Fischl said. "The princezzin's intuition had always told her that common folks as such would find great distress in rotting their silly little minds away on ancient manuscripts of what the institution calls education! this was bound to happen eventually!"

"Fischl, I did not give you permission to try and blame the school for this." Mona facepalmed.

"But it's true though," Amber said thoughtfully. "I think the process the school administration went through was very unprofessional. (Y/n) is a minor yet they treat her like a criminal without a proper court trial."

"Right?!" Fischl beamed before realizing her mistake. "I—uh, ahem. Why yes! The institution has also failed to take note of the most important! Kunikuzushi is all but a good person! If anything, thy exploding of his locker is thy minimum deserved! He shouldn't be spared of the wrath of fate itself."

"Fischl," Mona groaned. "You know what? Fine. If you don't learn to hold your tongue, you'll really get into deep trouble one of these days!"

Fischl prepared to offer another lengthy rebuttal when Amber, walking ahead of them, skidded to a stop.

"Hey..." Amber trails off, her eyes looking into the art room's door that was held ajar a few feet away from them. "Is that Albedo? He seems to be yelling at someone."