Work Text:
Sir Huffman was not a subtle person.
For better or for worse, the knight wore his heart on his sleeve. His manner of speech was forward and the motives behind his actions were clear as day. He was as transparent as glass in his daily conduct, and there wasn’t a soul in Mondstadt that didn’t admire his devotion to honesty.
However, Sir Huffman’s transparency was admirable to a fault. It made him a terrible liar, and subtly was not his forte. He meant well and carried out his knightly duties incredibly well, his loyalty to the cause shining brightly with every smile he shared, but not one of his superiors trusted him with confidential information out of fear that he would be guilt tripped into spilling all their secrets.
While he didn’t have many of his own secrets, for the ones he did have, he did a poor job keeping them. The most obvious of his secrets, unfortunately, was the not-so-small crush he was harbouring for one of his superior officers. That is, he had caught feelings for the knights’ chief alchemist. He didn’t know when the feelings had developed, but if he had to hazard a guess, he’d probably narrow it down to the weekly sketching sessions Albedo had asked him to participate in. The alchemist had said he needed a model for his work, and Huffman had been more than happy to help a fellow knight.
This crush proved to be quite troublesome when he unknowingly found himself vying for the blonde’s affections with none other than the order’s own smooth-talking, devilishly handsome cavalry captain, Sir Kaeya Alberich himself.
Sir Huffman would bring the shorter man dandelions he picked on the way to work that morning only to find that Albedo would already have a fresh bouquet of cecilias and calla lilies standing prettily in an ornate vase on his desk. He would invite Albedo to eat lunch together but would be turned down upon the alchemist informing him that Sir Kaeya had already asked him to accompany him to Good Hunter for a meal. On one occasion in particular, Huffman offered to keep Albedo company when he noticed the alchemist was still holed away inside his lab long after most other knights had packed up and gone home for the night. Albedo reassured him he would be fine and that it would be unprofessional to keep him from carrying out his duties, so Huffman returned to guarding his post. It wasn’t until much later when he was returning to the lab to bid the alchemist a goodnight and retire for the night that he overheard voices coming from the lab. One of them, obviously, was Sir Albedo. The other voice was light and feathery, soft in a way hardly anyone had heard before. It was vulnerable, but there was still an edge to it, as though the person speaking wasn’t ready to give themselves up in their entirety. Despite the drastic change, Huffman recognized it to be Sir Kaeya’s voice. He knocked gently and went inside when Albedo gave permission to enter.
“Sir Huffman,” Albedo’s eyes went wide with surprise for a fraction of a second. “It’s late.”
“I am aware,” Huffman responded. “I’m finally off duty, so I came to say goodnight.”
He glanced at Kaeya and half-heartedly saluted. Kaeya nodded in response, a full glass of wine in his hand. Seeing the glass brought Huffman’s attention back to Albedo, and only then did he notice the alchemist cradling his own glass of wine, his cheeks rosy. He was angelic.
“Goodnight, Sir Huffman,” Albedo politely waved him off.
“Goodnight, Sir Albedo,” Huffman breathed out, enamoured by the sight. He snapped out of it to wish the other knight a goodnight as well. “Goodnight Captain.”
“Night Huffman,” Kaeya hummed, eyes focused on his glass of wine as he brought it up to his lips and took a swig.
Huffman exited the lab feeling an odd warmth in his chest that night. While he found a strange sense of comfort and joy in seeing Albedo more relaxed, his heart hurt knowing that it wasn’t because of anything he’d done. He swallowed back whatever he’d been feeling and retired, believing his emotions to be the result of a late night shift and need for sleep.
It seemed that the only person who didn’t know about Huffman’s lack of subtlety was himself.
“He’s in love with you,” Kaeya muttered after Huffman walked out of the room, his footsteps echoing down the hallway.
“Yes,” Albedo whispered. “It would appear so.”
Kaeya snorted softly and took another sip of his drink. The alcohol burned, but the sweet taste was enough to forgive it of this transgression. Albedo pushed his glass back on his desk and sighed.
“As are you.”
At this, Kaeya choked slightly, pulling his glass away and forcing himself to calm down lest he die an embarrassing death. He managed to get the wine down without killing himself in the process, regaining his air of composure. He cleared his throat and side-eyed the alchemist.
It had not been but a mere three months since they’d began courting each other in secret. Kaeya, of course, had initiated it, but Albedo, eager to entertain and learn more about relationships, reciprocated as much as he could to continue it. Throughout these three months, they’d learned plenty about each other, and the revelations of their origins solidified their bond. It would be foolish of them to abandon each other after such things came to light. After all, as far as they knew, the two continued to be some of the last Khaenrians in existence. Who did they have if not each other? Who else could understand them if not each other? And who else would not blame them for their pasts if not each other?
Much to their surprise, however, they had managed to keep the relationship fairly low-key despite how openly affectionate Kaeya tended to be. Even their regular lunch dates had somehow gone right over Huffman’s head. And the gifts. And the late night conversation he just walked in on, although they were both fairly sure the man would finally catch on after tonight’s intrusion.
These three months proved to be invaluable for the couple, and especially so for Albedo. Until then, all he knew about Kaeya was what the knight wanted him to know. He’d always kept his distance even while flirting and trying to capture the alchemist’s affections. To finally be able to comfort him or hold him or even speak to him without any walls between them or cleverly crafted personas was a breath of fresh air. And yet…
“I wouldn’t exactly say that I am in love with you,” the cavalry captain clarified. “I’m simply enchanted by you is all.”
Albedo said nothing as he got up from his desk and stretched his arms. He then walked over to the phonograph near his bookshelves and perused the records he had, his back to the other man.
“Any recommendations?” He asked.
Kaeya approached him, gently placing his left hand on Albedo’s lower back and reaching for a record with his other hand.
“I find this artist to be quite exquisite.”
Albedo accepted the record and placed it delicately on the phonograph. It took a few seconds before a calming melody began to fill the air. When he turned back around, he was practically face to face (never mind the height difference) with Kaeya, their bodies mere inches apart. Kaeya offered his hand.
“Care to dance?”
Albedo took his hand and let him lead. He’d never been good at dancing, but he tried regardless of past experiences. The slow pacing of the song set a decent pace for the two captains as they drifted from side to side, watching out for furniture and other objects scattered around the room. There was nothing overly complicated about the dance, seemingly as though Kaeya knew about Albedo’s inability to do anything more complex than simple side steps. It wouldn’t surprise Albedo if Kaeya did know that, seeing as the navy haired man knew so much about him already. It was obvious that he paid close attention to the alchemist, doting on him and teasing him as though he were the only other person that mattered in the world. Kaeya knew his tastes, ordering him a plate of sunshine sprat for lunch or a slice of strawberry shortcake for dessert whenever they went out for meals together. Kaeya knew his favourite flowers were cecelias despite never bringing it up in conversation. Kaeya offered him his assistance in experiments whenever he was available, accompanied him to Dragonspine, and ran errands for him on and off the mountain whenever he was free. To others, this was the work of a charming madman who only lived to please others, but Albedo knew better.
“You’re not in love with me,” Albedo said in a hushed tone, barely audible over the music.
“I’m afraid not,” Kaeya responded, equally as quiet, as though worried about letting the other man down.
“But could you be?” Albedo held his breath, looking up at the surprised expression on Kaeya’s face. The expression mellowed out, and before long, a pleasant, genuine smile was gracing the captain’s face again.
“Maybe one day I will be,” Kaeya laughed. “If you keep being this adorable around me.”
“I think I’d like that,” Albedo returned the smile, relieved by the response. He rested his head against Kaeya’s chest and sighed.
“As would I,” Kaeya planted a kiss on the crown of Albedo’s head. The music slowly faded out as they stood there in each other’s embrace, content with finding a bit of solace in the company of the other.
Sir Huffman was not a subtle person, but, even so, his obvious romantic advances came up short. He who wore his own heart on his sleeve could not tell that the heart of the man he longed for already belonged to somebody else.