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"Stop right there!" Albedo cries, racing along the rooftop of the building. He casts a sheet of bedrock down at the top and slides down the slope. He propels himself off and lands on the next rooftop, keeping in sight his target.
Cryoconite. Arch-nemesis, gifted with the power of Ice, intent on ruining the lovely city of Mondstadt. And Albedo's sleep schedule, it seemed, based on the hours he picked to deface the city.
Cryoconite runs ahead on the rooftops, leaping gracefully off the tips. Albedo has to give it to him, he knew how navigate Mondstadt nearly as well as Albedo did. Cryoconite pauses for a moment on the edge of the roof and turns, face covered with a black mask. Albedo sucks in a breath at the way the moonlight shimmered on the wisp of blue hair peeking out from underneath.
"Calx," Cryoconite says firmly. Albedo pauses for a moment at hearing his hero name. It was given by a citizen of Mondstadt, and Albedo found it rather stupid, when all he wanted was to focus on his research in peace. "Aren't you a little tired of this cat-and-mouse game?"
What? Albedo moves closer, stealthily, inching along the brick wall.
"You've been chasing me the entire night, aren't you tired?" Cryoconite moves closer, ice-blue eyes glittering from underneath his mask. Albedo takes a step backwards, grinding the sole of his foot into the roof.
"Not at all." Albedo launches himself forward, rolling to the ground and sending a stalactite towards Cryoconite. Surprisingly, the villain doesn't fight back, and instead lets himself be pinned to the ground by Albedo's knees. "Cease and desist, please."
"How polite."
"We're both tired, you know. I have a shift tomorrow."
"Klee?" Cryoconite asks, propping himself up on his elbows. Albedo stops his hand from creating another stalactite and draws back, keeping as much of himself as possible from touching the villain.
"Who else would it be?" Albedo responds, rolling his eyes.
"Alright." Cryoconite nods.
Albedo stands up and, slightly bitterly, lets Cryoconite go. There were more important things to attend to than catching the city's "biggest villain". Albedo scoffs as he watched Cryoconite land gracefully on the street.
Villain? More like nuisance.
---
"There's mac 'n cheese in the fridge, and Klee's toys are in that room over there," Jean rambles as she grabs her keys from beside the door. "Is there anything else you need?"
"I'll be fine, Auntie. Don't worry about me," Albedo says with a smile, one hand on the door.
"Great. Oh, one last thing that I forgot to mention." Jean says, propping the door open with her foot. "Kaeya's coming over halfway through the day to help. You know him, Kaeya. Kaeya Alberich."
"That won't be a problem."
Albedo's face flames as he shut the door. Stupid Kaeya Alberich. Kaeya, who occasionally babysat Klee alongside Albedo, Kaeya with his blue hair, and icy eyes, and the gift of Ice. Annoying personality, and a charming smile that never failed to make Albedo's traitorous stomach turn warm.
There was also the fact that Kaeya was Cryoconite.
Even during babysitting Klee, Albedo couldn't turn his thoughts away from Kaeya. The doorbell rang early in the morning and Albedo races to get it, thinking that it was Kaeya. It was actually the mailman.
Albedo was watching Klee color when Kaeya walks inside, his eyes snapping to Albedo's and hardening. Klee ran up to Kaeya, arms outstretched, and Albedo watches as he picks her up and swings her around. Well, it was nice to know that he wasn't completely cold-hearted.
"Sleep well last night, Albedo?" Kaeya asks, setting Klee down and shrugging off his coat.
"About as well as you did, I'll imagine." Albedo retorts, turning back to the coloring table. He set his hands on his lap and pressed them there, pretending that they weren't burning to hide his face.
"Clever. How is my Klee doing?" Kaeya askes, turning towards the little girl.
As Kaeya chats, Albedo pinches his fingers together. The sound of Kaeya's ringing laughter and Klee's giggles fills the room. He rarely hears Kaeya laugh like that.
"I need to talk to you. Klee, stay where you are." Albedo stands up and grabs Kaeya's wrist, pulling him into a cramped closet.
The moment the door swung shut, Albedo realizes he's pressed up against Kaeya's chest, hands dangling awkwardly at his side, and his breath on Kaeya's collarbone. Golden heat radiates outwards from Kaeya, making his face warm. He really had not thought this through.
"You know, if you wanted to be so close to me, you could have just asked." Kaeya teases as Albedo pushes him against the closet door.
"Stop it." Albedo lowers his head, taking deep breaths. "Remember our promise?"
"How could I not? Don't expose the other's identity in front of Klee, keep Klee and Jean safe, blah blah blah." Kaeya waves a hand.
"So why did you agree to babysit Klee at the same time that I was going to?"
"Jean didn't really give me much of a choice," Kaeya insists. "She thinks we're secretly dating."
Albedo draws back. How could that be possible?
"I think it's because she always sees us asking about last night, or last week. We're referencing all the times you tried to stab me in the gut, and she thinks we're referencing all the passionate nights we spent together." Kaeya smirks, tilting his head.
Albedo groans. This whole business was so complicated. He misses the time when he didn't know who Cryoconite was, and thought of Kaeya as just another babysitter. It was truly, only out of concern for Klee and Jean that he hadn't leaked Kaeya's identity to the press yet.
"We'll just go through with what Jean wants. It won't be a problem," Albedo says, more to himself than Kaeya. It was a quiet reassurance that his life was, in fact, not irrevocably fucked up.
"As you wish, Calx,"
Albedo shushes him and opens the closet door, poking his head outside. Just as Albedo had deemed it safe and Kaeya exited behind him, the door swings open and Jean's face appears, looking happy.
"Archons!" She cries. Her eyes immediately shoot to where Kaeya was grasping Albedo's arm. Albedo pretended he hadn't been acutely aware of the soft brush for the past 5 minutes. "It seems like you two are getting along quite well, then."
"Oh, yes. Albedo here is nearly smitten with me, although he would never admit it." Kaeya says as he left the closet room. Jean's eyes were hyperfixated on how close Kaeya was to Albedo, and his heart beat faster as Kaeya brushes up behind him.
"Why are you home early?" Albedo askes, intent on changing the subject. He sits back down at Klee's kiddie table, patting her head gently.
"My meeting got canceled, so I thought it would be nice to come back and cook you guys dinner! What do you say?"
Albedo looks at Kaeya, heart thumping faster in annoyance at the prospect of being stuck in the same room as him for an entire dinner.
"I should be goi—"
"Albedo and I will stay for dinner, thanks," Kaeya butts in, sending another sharp smile at Albedo. He frowns.
"Albedo?" Jean turns to him, eyes kind. Albedo sighs. There wasn't a good option to get out of this, so he might as well.
"I'll stay. Thanks for making us dinner, Auntie," Albedo says. "Need any help?"
---
"That was spectacular," Kaeya says with a smile, picking up his plate. "Your cooking never fails to amaze me."
"It's a shame you don't have the skills to make this at home, Kaeya." Albedo shoots back.
"Maybe you can make it for me."
Jean's eyes shoot back and forth between them, and a slow smile grows on her face.
"I, uh, need to go put Klee to bed. Stay right here!" She stands up and shoots out of the room, and down the hallway.
Albedo turns, meaning to keep his eyes fixed on Kaeya, but he's met with a small smile and a contented sigh. The lamplight shimmers on Kaeya's hair, forming an impromptu halo for the most demon-like of creatures.. Albedo remembers, briefly, the way Kaeya's hair had looked on the rooftop, soft enough that he wanted reach out and touch it.
Before Albedo could fuck up and say something like your hair looks beautiful or spend more time on the streets so I have an excuse to talk to you or, more truthfully, I wish we weren't enemies, Jean darts back into the room.
"I have a surprise for you two!" Jean said, clapping her hands together. She reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out two pieces of paper, the words GRAND GALA printed neatly on them. "A coworker gave these to me today, and said that she and her wife were originally going to go, but had something else come up."
"Auntie, don't you have anyone else to go with?" Albedo could already see where this was going. He would absolutely not entertain the thought of Kaeya dressed in a finely tailored suit, holding Albedo in his arms and dancing the night away. That was something out of Klee's fairy tales, something that would never come true.
"Well, not exactly. I thought they would be a nice surprise, since you two are always working so hard to take care of Klee when I'm not around." The uncertainty painted on Jean's face made Albedo's gut clench.
"Thank you so much, Albedo and I will have a great time at the ball together," Kaeya turns and winks, making Albedo's blood boil and his mind go blank.
"Have fun! I'll be taking care of Klee that night, so there's no need to worry about anything. Get home safely, you two." Jean kisses both their cheeks and ushers them out the door, leaving Kaeya and Albedo standing on the doorstep awkwardly, crickets chirping in the night air.
"Why would you do that?" Albedo turns to Kaeya, carefully concealing his anger. Kaeya's half-smile only serves to heighten it, and Albedo's hands curl into balls to stop himself from reaching out and touching Kaeya's face. To slap it, of course.
"Won't it be fun?" Kaeya twirls the tickets in his hand, beginning to walk down the stairs of the apartment building. "You and I, mortal enemies, dancing together for one beautiful night."
Albedo's cheeks heat at the thought, and he's momentarily angry with himself for being unable to suppress the thought of what it would be like to dance with Kaeya.
"No." Albedo says firmly, grabbing Kaeya's arm and spinning him around so they were face-to-face. It was at moments like these that Albedo desperately hated the extra 9 inches of height Kaeya had on him, letting Kaeya tower over Albedo with a calm authority that sent swarms of butterflies through his stomach.
"Why not?"
"It's not— you're not— I can't, okay?" Albedo sucks in a breath and this time, he's the one to turn around to hide his embarrassingly red cheeks. "You're Cryoconite and you do terrible things to the city and I'm Calx, the one who's meant to stop you whenever you get up to something, so if we were to go to a gala together, it would be terribly, awfully inappropriate, even if no one knows who we are."
Albedo realizes how stupid he sounds right as Kaeya laughs and walks past him, continuing down the stairs. He chases after him, determined to get a proper answer.
Kaeya's waiting at the bottom of the stairs like he knew that Albedo would run after him, hands tucked in his pockets and staring expectantly at Albedo, ice-blue eyes glittering with something Albedo can't quite place.
He slows down as he nears Kaeya, stopping just short of bumping into him. Kaeya leans even closer, and Albedo's heart is racing for the finish line.
"Just take the tickets, all right?" Kaeya brings one hand closer, and for one glorious, dreamy moment, Albedo think Kaeya's reaching out to touch his face or hair. He closes his eyes in anticipation, bracing for it.
Nothing comes.
Albedo pops one eye open and Kaeya is walking away, shadowed and shaded by the moonlight, whistling a bar song to himself. He looks down and sees one white ticket tucked into his pants pocket, the edge blowing in the wind.
---
In the end, Albedo decides to go. It's a good chance to scout out the enemy, he tells himself as he brushes his hair and pins it up with some of his signature chains. I'll ignore Kaeya and talk to other people the whole night, Albedo says as he puts on a white suit he had made just for this gala. Before I know it, the night will be over and I won't even have talked to Kaeya once, he reminds himself as he gives himself a once-over in the mirror before leaving.
The gala is brimming with people with too much money and too much time. Jewels drip off of every surface Albedo sees, and each table is covered in a white silk tablecloth and a gold-embossed place card. His eyes refuse to scan the crowd, searching for a tell-tale blue head of hair.
Albedo successfully avoids Kaeya most of the night, not even sure if he's here or not, but in the end, he's cornered as Kaeya ambushes him.
"Hiding from me isn't a good idea," Kaeya says, and then leans in, horribly, horribly close. "Calx."
"Kaeya," Albedo briefly acknowledges him, and pretends to be searching the crowd for a dance partner.
The music starts up, and so do the couples, twirling like muted candy-confections.
"May I have this dance?" Kaeya asks, and Albedo turns to him reluctantly, ignoring the way his heart is pounding harder and harder the longer he stares.
Wordlessly, Albedo extends his hand and Kaeya sweeps him onto the floor, taking his heart with him. Albedo keeps himself as far away from Kaeya as possible, the only part of them touching is their hands. But with every step that they take as one, Albedo can feel his resolve weakening.
Albedo told himself before that it would just be another night, but something about this one is different. It feels like those fairy tales that he reads to Klee, and Albedo knows that he was so, so wrong about this being different.
"You're so stiff, are you sure you know how to dance?" Kaeya asks, looking down with an amused smile on his face. He leads them into a spin, and Albedo is glad for the distance between them so that Kaeya can't feel Albedo's heart stampeding out of his chest.
"I know how to dance," Albedo says, annoyed.
"Are you sure? I might need a proper demonstration," Kaeya says in that voice that makes his blood heat and his face go red.
Albedo leans closer to get comfortable and really start dancing, and now it's Kaeya's turn to get flustered, cheeks turning pink. His chest rises and falls in time with the music, and Albedo briefly wishes that this moment would last until the end of time, with the music swelling in his ears, diamond lights glowing bright enough to hide their dark history, in Kaeya's arms with their identities a lost thought.
"You know, I—" Kaeya starts, but the music ends abruptly, jolting Albedo back into the present. He blinks twice, looking up at Kaeya, and the thought occurs to him that he is desperately stupid to think that this could ever last beyond one night.
"I'm sorry," Albedo pushes him away, fingers scrunched against the fabric of his suit. "I got carried away, I'm terribly sorry."
"Don't be, Albedo." Kaeya reaches for him again, hurt evident in his eyes, hand outstretched. "Stay with me, please."
Maybe it's the champagne Albedo had earlier, fizzing through his veins, or the golden glow of the night that surrounds Kaeya, but he feels his resolve break and crumble to ashes with the way Kaeya looks at him, like Albedo is the only person left in the world.
"Just for one night," Albedo concedes, looking tentatively up at Kaeya.
"That's all I ever need."
---
Somehow, they manage to make it back to Kaeya's apartment, hands and arms and fingers tangled up in the heat of each other.
Albedo thinks that there's no possibility this is real, but everytime Kaeya presses another kiss to his mouth, he's reminded that the entire night is like a dream. At least, that's how it feels when Kaeya touches him. Albedo wants to evaporate and press his hands against Kaeya's shoulders and wants Kaeya to continue kissing him, wants him to never stop.
Kaeya shuts the door behind them and picks Albedo up, leveraging their height difference and pressing him against the door. Albedo brings his arms around Kaeya's neck, pressing their bodies together. He thinks they should be closer. He thinks they should take some clothes off.
Kaeya seems to be following a similar train of thought, and his fingers circle up to Albedo's throat to work the buttons, grunting in frustration when he fumbles. Albedo laughs into Kaeya's mouth and his hands come up to undo the buttons.
Since Kaeya's hands are no longer under Albedo's legs, he drops him, standing in front of Albedo with his chest heaving and his lips kissed into the most beautiful shade of red Albedo's ever seen.
"I love your laugh," Kaeya says, drawing Albedo back into his arms. "I could never tell you, but I love it."
Albedo blushes involuntarily, burying his face into Kaeya's neck, breath heating up his collarbone.
Kaeya leans down and presses a kiss to Albedo's forehead, one to his nose, one on his cheekbone, mouth, jawline, painting a line of kisses down his neck. Albedo leans the back of his head against the door and searches desperately for a single breath.
"You're so beautiful," Kaeya murmurs on his skin. "So, so beautiful."
Albedo wishes he could find the courage to tell Kaeya that he feels the exact same way, wrapped up in the dark of Kaeya's apartment, but his throat feels like it's going to die if he doesn't kiss Kaeya again, and so he does.
Kaeya picks Albedo up again, arms circled comfortingly around him, pressing the softest kisses imaginable to his lips, and Albedo buries his hands in Kaeya's hair and tries to remember to keep breathing, but his mind is telling him that he won't be able to survive if Kaeya stops touching him, and that idea sounds more reasonable.
They end up on Kaeya's bed, Kaeya settling down on top of Albedo, and his hands reach out to touch Kaeya. His suit jacket is lying on the floor by the bed, Albedo's blouse is halfway unbuttoned, and both of them are complete messes made by the other. Albedo runs his hand through Kaeya's hair and brings him down with force, lips connecting and filling his body with a feeling that replaces the blood in his body with electricity.
The night winds itself away, compressed with kisses, and Albedo and Kaeya's clothes disappear into the dark. Electricity crackles between them, and when they get close enough that electricity can't find its way between their intertwined bodies, it finds ways to fill their minds and hearts.
---
Albedo wakes in the morning, warm and covered in Kaeya's blanket.
Kaeya's blanket. Fuck.
Albedo sits up straight and realizes that he isn't wearing any clothes, and that his skin, warm to the touch from Kaeya's body heat, is now being hit by oncoming cold air. He looks over the bed and sees Kaeya, innocent and beautiful in sleep, facing Albedo.
Archons. Albedo presses his fingers against his lips and a hand to his forehead. How could he have been so stupid? He had probably put everything in jeopardy by— by sleeping with Kaeya.
He looks over again at Kaeya, and something long dead in his heart sparks at the way Kaeya looks in his sleep, pillow marks on his cheek and hair falling over one eye.
Albedo has to leave before this gets any worse. He hastily puts on his clothes, suppressing the memory of someone else unbuttoning the same blouse he puts on, and runs out the door.
---
Albedo makes an art of avoiding Kaeya for the next few weeks.
When he hears Cryoconite causing trouble in a nearby park, he lets the Knights of Favonius stop him, even though Albedo knows they're slower. He talks to Jean and asks her when Kaeya comes to babysit Klee, and avoids every single day that she mentions. Albedo avoids going to the same grocery stores, libraries, parks that Kaeya does, and then hates himself for knowing, and remembering, which ones.
Sometimes, Albedo lies in his bed and remembers when he first met Cryoconite and when he first met Kaeya. A few years ago, Albedo had been a grad student struggling to find an institute that would take his research, and when he heard of someone the press was calling a "villain" repeatedly causing car crashes outside his window, Albedo had gotten fed up and donned a simple mask, chasing after the person disrupting his research. He had been so lonely, holed up in his apartment, surrounded by coffee cups, that the thrill of the chase excited Albedo as much as seeing Cryoconite did.
Albedo wondered if sometimes he let Cryoconite get away on purpose.
Later, when Albedo discovered that his aunt Jean was also living in Mondstadt, he had gone to meet her and was pleasantly surprised with a blonde little tyrant, Klee. He had been babysitting her for awhile when Kaeya Alberich, Jean's other babysitter that came in when Albedo was unavailable, walked in. The second Albedo saw him he had been filled with suspicion and attraction all at once.
Albedo rolls over onto his side and tries his hardest to fall asleep.
Eventually, he becomes tired of being stuck in his apartment working all day long, and goes along the rooftops at night, his mask donned and black attire on.
Stars twinkle up at him from above, as if saying you know you fucked up. Albedo sits down and presses his head against his knees, laughing at himself. Klee's fairy tales are getting to him.
"I thought I saw you walking on the rooftops," a familiar voice says from the darkness, and Albedo's head shoots up.
Albedo stays, just to see, and sure enough, Kaeya emerges from the darkness. He has his charming smile on, but his eyes are unsure. Albedo can tell, even in the weak moonlight struggling to illuminate the streets of Mondstadt.
Albedo doesn't know what to do with himself, so he turns and leaves. Nothing good can come of this, he's sure.
Kaeya's hand is on his shoulder, turning him back around. Albedo stands still, shocked at the contact and embarrassed at the way his face heats up, even after so long apart.
"Stop doing that," Albedo says weakly. He can't seem to summon the energy to look Kaeya in the eye right now.
"Stop avoiding me!" Kaeya throws his arms out, hurt in his face.
"I gave you one night, no more, no less. If you can't handle that then leave, please." Always courteous, even when faced with the most beautiful his arch-nemesis.
"That's the point!" Kaeya's annoyed now, and he steps closer. Albedo wants to move backwards, but his feet feel stuck to the ground. He tells himself it's because there might not be anything behind him to step onto, but his eyes are fixated on Kaeya's as they inch closer. "You gave me one night, and I can't stop thinking about you."
Hearing the words from Kaeya's mouth makes Albedo feel like he's drowning. How did he manage to fuck things up this much?
Whirring noises from above. It's a press helicopter, and Albedo can see the camera lens pointed at them.
Kaeya's not wearing a mask.
Albedo lunges forward and pins Kaeya to the ground, shielding his face with his body. His arms come down around Kaeya's face as he looks back up at the helicopter.
Kaeya struggles against Albedo, trying to rise up on his arms. Angry, and frustrated, and feeling alive all at once by the way Kaeya's body fits under his, Albedo whips out his pocket knife and presses it against Kaeya's throat. He stops struggling, and inhales sharply.
The press helicopter moves away, and Albedo watches it leave, the thin column of his throat bared to the unfeeling night sky. His hand, the one holding the knife, trembles slightly, and Albedo feels like he's going to die, on this random rooftop, with no one left to watch except the cold stars and the most beautiful person in the world underneath him.
It's a swallowing sort of feeling, and Albedo breathes in to match it, looking up to force his tears back into his eyes. He looks back down, for assurance, maybe, or just for the knowledge that someone else is here with him.
"You are so beautiful," Kaeya says again, and he swallows, trying not to cut himself on the knife held to his throat.
Silver tears match the silver stars in the sky. The knife drops to the side, and Kaeya is sitting up, kissing each tear away and holding Albedo's face between his hands as if he can't fathom an existence without him. Albedo can only grasp Kaeya's shoulders and hair and return his kisses, wet with tears and starlight.
---
Albedo returns home, exhausted to his core, but with a light spring in his step. He can't stop thinking about Kaeya, and his mind has each kiss given on a constant replay.
Kaeya distracts Albedo so much that he doesn't even notice when a Fatui sneaks out from the kitchen, holding a dart gun.
Zip.
Albedo falls backwards onto the floor, and his last image is a Fatui showing a barren smile as he leans over Albedo.
---
When Albedo comes to, his mind feels stuffed with cotton, and his mouth is papery. He licks his lips and finds that they're cracked and bleeding just a little bit. The taste of blood is bitter on his tongue, and he blinks his eyes.
"Finally awake, pretty boy?" A Fatui asks mockingly, bending over to check if Albedo is awake or not. Albedo eyes the gun at his side.
The Fatui member leaves to go do something else, and Albedo spends the time racking his slow mind for any bit of information on the Fatui. As far as he can recall, they're a secret mafia operating out of Snezhnaya, another city in the north. And based on the amount of weaponry they have in just one room alone, Albedo can tell that they're being serious about it too.
As Albedo shifts, he slowly realizes that he's strapped to a chair, duct-taped and bound.
His mind races. What do the Fatui want with a lonely scientist living alone in Mondstadt? Are Klee and Jean safe? Is Kaeya safe? Did Kaeya follow him home last night to make sure he was safe? Is this a targeted attack?
Albedo's worries are quieted when the Fatui returns with a tray of bread and cheese, slapping the tray down in front of him. Albedo's stomach grumbles, and it feels hollow. He must have been knocked out for days. Jean would be worried, Kaeya would be worried. He hoped.
"How long was I knocked out?" Albedo asks. His hands are still bound, and he twists urgently.
"Eat up," the Fatui says, snickering as they watch Albedo squirm. He finally understands that the Fatui isn't going to untie him, so he leans over and bites into the bread, not meeting the Fatui's eyes.
When Albedo finishes, the Fatui member duct-tapes Albedo's mouth shut, skin pulled tight. His eyes water, and he thinks about Kaeya, and thinks, and thinks.
Albedo waits there for days, as far as he can tell. There's no window in the hollow concrete basement the Fatui keep him in, so he has no way of telling the time. When he can, Albedo nods off, but doesn't know how long he sleeps. He learns that asking questions during mealtimes earns him a slap to the face, so he eats, and is gagged, and sits, and waits.
Just when Albedo feels like he's going to sleep forever, a bullet ricochets off the wall near his head, and his eyes shoot up.
Kaeya is standing there, gun concentrated on a Fatui member, eyes hard with determination. Albedo feels himself swell with hope, and continues to struggle against his bonds. Kaeya's eyes shoot to his, and Albedo sees the concern and worry in them, and tries to tell Kaeya to worry about him later.
Albedo watches, feeling helpless and useless, watches Kaeya deftly shoot down each Fatui guard that comes his way. Blood spatters against his cheek and soaks his eyelashes. Albedo wants to close his eyes but can't look away.
Silence rings through the air, and Kaeya throws down his gun and races for Albedo, fingers working to untie him. The moment he's free, Albedo stands up, reaching out to embrace Kaeya. One hand presses against his stomach, and when he draws it away, Albedo's hand is stamped with blood.
Albedo's vision spots black, and he collapses.
---
Albedo wakes up on Kaeya's couch, his shirt half unbuttoned, with a wet towel pressed against his forehead. Sunlight is forcing its way through the curtains, and Kaeya is in front of them, sliding the blinds shut.
"Kaeya?" Albedo asks. His tongue feels thick and he can't speak properly, his head is pounding.
Kaeya turns around quickly and the relief in his face when he sees that Albedo is alright is obvious. He rushes to Albedo's side and cups Albedo's face between his hands.
"You were hurt so badly I wasn't even sure how I could help you," Kaeya whispers, as he helps Albedo sit up. Albedo feels a sharp twinge on his side and looks down to find lines of bandages wrapping around his torso. Kaeya kneels between Albedo's legs and looks and looks and looks some more.
"What happened?"
"They cut you up," Kaeya says, gritting his teeth. Albedo looks down and sees his hands clenched in the sofa cushions, pale knuckles against honey-skin. "And you had the biggest gash right on your torso, and you were bleeding so much I didn't know what to do."
Albedo finds it hard to form words, and Kaeya watches him expectantly.
"Why were they after me?" Albedo struggles out, watching his long fingers intertwine with Kaeya's. It's like second nature to him, now, the urge to constantly be touching Kaeya.
"You're not the only one I have a complicated history with," Kaeya says. Albedo gets the impression that he'd wink if he weren't facing Albedo's mutilated torso. "Besides, the Fatui have always been after me. You know, that first night you went after me as Calx, and I as Cryoconite, I was actually escaping the Fatui."
Albedo blinks. Perhaps the Fatui were woven more deeply into his life than he could have wondered.
"And then when I saw you chasing me, with your teal eyes and Earth gift, I had absolutely fallen for you. I started trying to cause more problems just so you would come out and see me, and so that I could see you again." Kaeya takes a deep breath, cheeks red with embarrassment. "Never would I have imagined that you'd be my co-babysitter."
Albedo reaches down and strokes Kaeya's face, wondering how he could have ever convinced himself that he hated Kaeya Alberich. It was obvious to him now, the way Kaeya gazes up at Albedo, and the way Albedo's hand trembles over Kaeya's face.
"Can I kiss you?" Kaeya asks, his eyes roving tentatively over Albedo's face. "Please?"
It's that breathless plea that does it for Albedo, and he surges forward, closing the gap between their mouths.
As Albedo sinks into Kaeya's mouth, the sun rises behind the curtains, showering the room with red-gold rays of warmth.