Chapter Text
As the chief alchemist of the knights, Albedo had a lot on his plate. He had a research report due by the end of the week, a project on the mutations of sweet flowers that was far from finished, and most important of all was Klee. The red-clad girl had a special place in his heart. They lived together and he often supervised her during fish blasting endeavors. But recently Albedo had run into a problem. After coming home late one night, and finding Klee wide awake and hungry in the kitchen, Albedo realized that he simply did not have enough time to properly care for his younger sister.
So he started to look for a daytime nanny for Klee, and after a few days scanning the ad section of the daily paper, he found what seemed like a good match. So after Kaeya picked up Klee that day, Albedo set out for Good Hunter to meet with the applicant. As he sat by a table waiting, he notices his palms becoming sweaty. He was nervous. Nervous about meeting a stranger and nervous about them being as good as the reviews had said. Albedo was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice the chair opposite him being pulled out.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by movement and a tiny "Ahem". Without him noticing, the woman from the ad had taken a seat by his table. His teal eyes met hers, and she smiled.
"Sorry to disturb you! You seemed to be so deep in thought." She said, placing her bag in her lap.
"Ah... Don't worry about it. You must be Y/N, correct?" Albedo straightens up in his chair, wiping his now sweaty hands on his pants.
She nods. "Yes! So you must be the one that answered my ad in the paper! Albedo, right?" She asks with a small tilt of her head.
"Indeed. I'm looking for someone to take care of my younger sister since work has become too demanding as of late." He explains, looking at anything but her. He's usually never nervous like this.
"Oh right! You're talking about the Spark Knight Klee, right?" She leans forward, resting her elbows on the table. If she notices his flattering gaze, she doesn't mention it.
"Yes. I hope that doesn't change your decision about this job." The youngest knight of favonious has quite the reputation of being rowdy and hard to control, and Albedo knew that this would be a dealbreaker for many.
Y/N immediately shakes her head at his words. "Oh no! She seems lovely from what I've heard. A little 'explosive' if anything."
Albedo lets out a sigh of relief. This could potentially save him time in the long run.
"She can be energetic at times, yes, but she has a good heart." Y/N laughs at the comment, and Albedo finds himself enjoying the sound of it. It sounds like the chiming of a well-tuned lyre that bard is often seen playing.
"Anyways, before I start working full-time with someone new I like to meet the kid so that I can get to know them and to make sure that it won't be too big of a change. Does tomorrow morning work for you?" The wind makes her hair flutter lightly and Albedo wishes he had his sketchpad with him. She looks ethereal. The color of her hair looks beautiful against her complexion and the way the light hits her eyes makes them glow. Albedo can't figure out why his heartbeat has elevated.
Albedo has returned to the Favonious headquarters after the meeting with Y/N. He rounds a corner and opens the door to Kaeyas' office. The first thing he sees is Kaeya, who's sitting behind his desk with his feet up. The second thing he sees is Klee. She lying on her stomach on the floor, drawing on a piece of paper and coloring to her heart's content. She looks up when she hears the door open, and her face lights up when she sees Albedo.
"Brother Albedo! Look, I drew Dodoco again!" She scrambles up from the floor, paper in hand, and runs up to him. Upon reaching him she hands him the drawing. It's a child rendition of the Dodoco plush she owns. The rest of the paper is littered with grass, clouds, and rainbows.
"That's a very nice drawing Klee." Albedo looks over to the Caverly captain "Thanks again for watching her Kaeya."
"Don't worry about it, Blondie. You know I don't mind watching her." Kaeya swings his long legs off the desk and leans forward, a smile etched onto his lips.
"It's because Uncle Kaeya doesn't want to do paperwork." Klee says as she puts on her backpack "He told me"
Kaeya laughs heartily "You're not wrong, kid!" He leans back into his chair again.
As Klee finishes putting on her backpack, Albedo turns to the man by the desk. "See you around, Kaeya." He says as he opens the door for Klee.
"Bye Uncle Kaeya!" She waves at Kaeya before marching out of the room.
Back at home, the two of them start getting ready for bed. Albedo thinks of ways to bring up the situation with Miss Y/N. After making sure Klee brushes her teeth, brushing her hair, and changing into her PJs, he decides to bring it up as she's getting in her bed.
"Klee?" He says as he sits down on the edge of the bed.
Klee hums an answer while carefully tucking Dodoco in beside her pillow.
"You remember how I told you about getting a caretaker for you while I work?"
She finishes with Dodoco and turns to face him. "Yeah, like a nanny, right?" She sticks her feet under the covers.
"Yes. Tomorrow we're gonna meet your new nanny so you can get to know her a bit. Does that sound okay?" Albedo helps her lay down and pull the red covers up to her chin.
"I guess... Is she nice?" She snuggles into her pillow, her hair feathering out over it.
"She seemed really nice when I met her today." Albedo smooths out some invisible wrinkles in the covers as he talks.
"What if she isn't nice?" He looks back to Klee to find her eyes big and glassy with worry.
"Then we find someone else" Albedo leans forward to press a kiss to her forehead "Goodnight, little spark"
"Night night" She responds as she turns over in her bed, trying to find a comfortable position.
He switches off the ceiling lamp, leaving the room to be illuminated by a red nightlight shaped like a four-leaf clover. After pulling the door closed he walks over to his own bedroom. Despite his body aching from tiredness, he finds himself awake hours into the night. It seems like his mind keeps wandering over to the memory of Y/N in the sunlight, glowing like a goddess.
The next morning, as Albedo has just finished making breakfast for Klee, the doorbell rings. As Albedo goes to open it, his palms start to get clammy again. He really should research the matter more later on. The door opens and there Y/N is standing. She smiles brightly as he steps aside to let her in.
"Good morning, Mister Albedo!" She says while taking off her coat.
"Just Albedo, please" Albedo feels his cheeks heating up "Klee's in the kitchen right now."
"Lead the way" She motions for him to walk past her, so he forces his legs to move, leading her into the kitchen.
"Klee?"
She turns around from her plate of fisherman toast.
"Hm?" She recoils a bit, seeing a stranger beside her brother.
"This is-" Albedo starts, but Y/N cuts him off.
"Allow me?" She takes a small step forward and leans down to Klee's level. "Hello there! My name is Y/N. What's yours?"
"Klee..." Klee says quietly, still a bit taken aback. Y/N seems to have noticed, as she switches the attention off Klee.
"What a cute name! Does your stuffed animal have a name too?" She points to Dodoco that's sitting beside her plate
"His name is Dodoco" Klee explains, this time a bit more confident.
"Well then, hello to you too Dodoco. I'm Y/N, it's nice to meet the both of you!" Y/N lightly laughs as she shakes Dodocos paw.
Klee giggles slightly at the action, taking Dodoco into her arms.
"Dodoco thinks you're pretty." She says as she takes another bite of toast.
"Aw thank you Dodoco! I can say the same to you!" Y/N smiles again, handing Klee a napkin to wipe her mouth on.
Albedo is watching the exchange, a smile creeping onto his face. It warms his heart to see them interact with each other. Klee suddenly grabs Y/Ns' hand. Tugging on it slightly, she leads Y/N over to her bedroom, presumably to show off her toys. Y/N happily walks along. Albedo hangs back, moving Klees' plate to the sink. As he washes the dishes he can hear Klee laugh from inside her room, and he smiles to himself.
"Maybe," He thinks to himself "Maybe this will work out better than I expected."