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Warming bottles really weren’t that complicated to make. Albedo was no blacksmith, but he knew enough about forging to get by. A crate of empty vials sat by his feet, the identical crate next to it slowly being filled with the gadgets that would provide his team protection from Dragonspine’s hostile environment. The heat radiating from them kept his feet warm as he worked.
Two starsilver, which he had an abundance of from his last expedition, and two flaming flower stamens, the container of which was supplied by none other than Kaeya.
And speaking of—
“Ah, my dearest alchemist, what project are you working on today?”
There he was.
“Preparation for the expedition. I leave the day after tomorrow, remember?” Albedo replied, keeping his focus on the task at hand.
“Oh, that’s right. Glad to see all my hard work is being put to good use,” Kaeya leaned over and plucked a stamen from the box, twirling it between his fingers. “It took a long time to collect this many.”
“I imagine it did. I appreciate it.”
Albedo couldn’t see Kaeya’s expression, but he could picture the soft smile with perfect clarity. He placed the starsilver on the table and began to chip fragments off of it. Each strike of the chisel caused the material to give off a brief flash of light.
“Need an extra pair of hands?”
“Thanks for the offer, but no. There isn’t enough room for the both of us, and this won’t take me long,” Albedo filled a ceramic bowl with the fragments, then placed it directly into the fire with a pair of heavy tongs.
“Then do you mind if I stick around for a bit?”
“Go ahead.”
Kaeya’s footsteps retreated off to the bookshelves in the corner. The couch creaked slightly as the knight settled upon it. Albedo checked the starsilver, finding it to be completely melted down and pulled the bowl out before pouring the contents into a circular mold.
Before it could cool too much, he took the stamens and crushed them between his hands, rubbing them together and letting the pieces fall into the molten metal. The plant matter sizzled and the unusual mixture flashed a brilliant orange, then white. The metal formed itself into a sphere and Albedo grabbed an empty vial, popping the cork lid off. The sphere disappeared, leaving a little warming seelie lookalike in its place. Albedo captured it in the bottle and sealed it shut, placing it gently with the rest.
“I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen how those were made. Interesting.”
Albedo jolted at the unexpected comment, almost dropping his hammer and chisel as he worked on the next piece of starsilver. Kaeya was standing over his shoulder, grinning at the startled alchemist.
“They’re only really necessary on Dragonspine,” he said, gripping the hammer a bit tighter. “And no one explored it much until recently.”
“True, it was mostly off limits until you convinced the Grandmaster to let you go up there,” Kaeya mused.
Albedo let the conversation die off, trying to focus, but he could feel Kaeya watching him. The silence only lasted a few moments.
“Speaking of, I heard a rumor that treasure hoarders have begun exploring the mountain lately. And then yesterday, when I made my usual stop at Angel’s Share—“
Albedo hummed noncommittally. He wasn’t really trying to dismiss Kaeya, but he needed to focus. The other knight was not dissuaded by the lack of attention, however, and continued.
“–I spotted one of my usual contacts. He’s a bit shifty, but his information is good. So I bought him a drink, as per usual—“
The alchemist scooped up the starsilver fragments, placing them into the ceramic bowl. He reached out for some flaming flower stamens, nearly adding them to the unmelted metal before realizing what he was doing. Shaking his head to clear it, he placed the starsilver into the heat.
“Apparently the treasure hoarders have taken an interest in your mountain. Some new camps have been set up along its border closest to Springvale—“
Albedo removed the starsilver from the heat, briefly checking it over to ensure it had melted entirely. It hadn’t, and yet he once again nearly added the stamens early. He placed the ceramic back into the furnace.
“So far we aren’t sure what they are looking for, my contact didn’t have much more to say beyond ‘we’re exploring the mountain’.”
This time it was fully melted. Albedo added a handful of starsilver fragments to the ceramic before realizing his mistake. He took a long, deep breath and placed it into the furnace. Again.
“Then again, he is quite the lightweight. Next time I’ll have to be more careful in monitoring his drinking…”
Albedo was determined to get it right this time. The starsilver had fully melted and he held the stamens between his fingers. He double checked that he was, in fact, holding the correct material. He crushed the plant matter between his palms and let it fall into the hot metal.
“Anyway, all that is to say that I was thinking of joining you on the trip to the mountain! What do you think?”
Albedo fumbled with the empty glass bottle, his attempts to pry open the cork lid proving fruitless. The artificial warming seelie appeared with a flash of light and fizzled out just as he managed to pull off the cork with a ‘pop’.
“Ah, it disappeared…”
He stared at the space where the little seelie had been floating, the open bottle held uselessly in his hand. Albedo registered that Kaeya was still talking to him, something about the benefits of his company? The alchemist had no doubts that the cavalry captain’s presence would be a welcome one, but at the moment he really just wanted him to stop talking.
Kiss him, it’ll shut him up.
Albedo almost startled at the very notion, despite the thought originating from his own mind. His ears burned and he silently cursed fair complexion. Was this the after effect of reading those mature romance books Lisa lent him? To have wayward thoughts like that pop up?
Despite the conflict that churned within him, Albedo had to admit that the idea held promise.
Just think of it as an experiment. Is it truly possible for a gesture as simple as a kiss to render someone silent?
He had been sitting there unresponsive for long enough to worry Kaeya. His fellow captain had repeated his name twice now, his voice laced with a mixture of amusement and concern. Kaeya’s presence drew closer, nearly touching.
Albedo stood abruptly, the wooden chair skittering backwards with a screech. Kaeya jolted, confused, his arm frozen outstretched towards the alchemist. Albedo turned toward him, expression unreadable. He stepped up to Kaeya, chest to chest, before hooking a finger through the metal loop decorating the cavalry captain’s neck and pulling him down to eye level. Kaeya blinked at him in confusion. Albedo gave him a few seconds to back away.
When he didn’t move, the alchemist leaned in and kissed him.
It was short and sweet. Albedo couldn’t help but smile at Kaeya’s starstruck countenance, his visible eye wide open and his lips slightly parted. The alchemist let him go, but he didn’t move an inch. Albedo gently caressed his cheek.
“I would love to have you along for the expedition, but right now I need to make these warming bottles so we don’t freeze to death.”
Kaeya registered his words with only a faint nod. Albedo returned to his work, no longer distracted. Not a single slip up followed from that point and the room was blessedly quiet.
Perhaps a bit too quiet.
Albedo wasn’t sure how much time had passed. By that point, the box of warming bottles was nearly half way full. He turned around to see what his partner had gotten up to, only to find that Kaeya still hadn’t moved.
He watched quietly from behind, adorably confused, with a hand to his cheek. Albedo laughed so hard that he forgot to put the lid on the warming bottle in his hands and the false seelie escaped.
The first time was an experiment. The second, third, and following times were entirely calculated. Albedo didn’t exploit this power of his too often, but he certainly made good use of it. And he always made sure to give Kaeya a chance to back away if he didn’t verbally check in.
Albedo would come to find that kisses were just one of many ways to quiet the cavalry captain. Slipping their hands together under the table during meetings to calm Kaeya’s restlessness, gently pressing their bodies together while sitting side by side, and even just smiling at him would have similar effects. In short, a small amount of affection went a long way.
However, there was something that the alchemist missed. Always so quick to return to whatever task he had been distracted from, he failed to notice it.
The moment he would turn away from Kaeya, the starstruck and supposedly helpless captain would allow the smallest of smirks to turn his lip.