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Albedo ran after Klee who was blasting fish by the water. Usually it would be to watch her, take notes, maybe even join in or write a letter to Alice about how lively she was being, but today he had a different mission. He usually had no trouble keeping up, but she'd been getting more restless by the day, even ignoring orders to go to solitary confinement. In the worst case, he could just knock her out with a well placed attack, but he'd rather let her redesign all the terrain in Mondstadt than do something like that to his sister. Even worse, his own cognitive abilities seemed to be deteriorating. Some research had told him the symptoms could only be tied to either withdrawals from addictive substances which he didn't use or diseases and cancers which he couldn't get. For once, he felt completely unprepared. "Klee, you need to come back!" He shouted helplessly.
And was met with no response.
Albedo sighed, watching Klee throw bombs all around her. He really shouldn't have helped her make so many, though it wasn't like she even needed his help to make enough explosives to blow up Dragonspine if she wished. She probably couldn't even hear him over the explosions.
Finally deciding that playing nice would be futile and with a heavy heart, Albedo ran faster towards her to use his last resort.
"Kaeya, Kaeya!"
The Cavalry Captain was stopped on his walk home by the little elf he had come to love crashing into his legs. "Why, hello, Klee. Someone's excited."
"Kaeya! Albedo is really hurt, we need to help him!" She waved her arms urgently.
"Now what happened? Can't you get someone from the church?"
Klee tugged on his hand until he began to follow her. "When it was story time and Albedo was telling me a story, he said if he ever got hurt I should find you instead and have you give him a kiss!"
Kaeya's heart skipped a beat. "Did he, now?" Well, it was probably just because Albedo didn't want the public finding out his secret and Kaeya was always the best when it came to keeping them.
"That's not important! He got hurt and you need to help him."
"Right then, lead the way and tell me what happened."
Klee started off running, giving Kaeya very little time to catch up. "So Klee was going fish blasting and blowing things up, but Albedo got in the way and Klee wasn't looking and–" Klee's voice broke down and she kept running wordlessly.
Kaeya's brain jumped to the possibilities of Albedo dying from injuries or getting found by monsters or treasure hoarders, before he ever even got the chance to–
"Right here!" Klee sniffled, collapsing onto Albedo's body which was luckily still breathing.
After a moment of hesitation, Kaeya knelt down and gently kissed his cheek.
Albedo's eyes slowly started to open, shooting the rest of the way seeing who had woken him up. "Kaeya! You… You're back!"
Kaeya smirked, grabbing Albedo's hand by instinct. "That's what you're worried about?"
"I'll explain later. First, can you please help me get Klee to take a nap?"
Kaeya chuckled. "To think one of the greatest minds in Teyvat would be bested by an energetic child. I'll help you, but there's one thing I want to do first." Albedo nodded and Kaeya turned to Klee. "I'm going to let you see a very special moment for me and Albedo, but you have to agree to listen to whatever Albedo tells you and do what he requests. Got it?"
Klee thought for a moment, clearly weighing her options. "What is it?"
"It's a surprise. Either you agree and I show you, or you'll never get to know what it is."
Klee gasped. "Show me!"
"Very well." Kaeya dramatically knelt in front of Albedo, holding out an open box with something inside catching the light. "Albedo, will you marry me?"
Klee gasped and shook Albedo. "You have to say yes! You have to!"
Kaeya turned his gaze to Klee. "You agreed to do what Albedo told you, not the other way around. Let him make his own choices."
"But don't you want him to marry you?"
The back and forth was interrupted by Albedo, as if neither had been talking, saying, "Yes."
Klee cheered and Kaeya opened his mouth as if he didn't believe this was actually happening. "Alright Klee, go take a nap and apologize to Jean."
"But you just got back! Can't we go fish blasting?"
Kaeya shook his head sadly. "Right now, you need to–"
Klee stuck out her tongue. "I said I would do what Albedo said, not you!"
Albedo gently set a hand on Klee's shoulder. "Klee, if you keep ignoring orders you'll lose your title of spark knight."
"No! Klee doesn't want that…"
"Then go talk to… Lisa. If you tell her what's happening, she'll help you get a shorter sentence."
"Okay…" Klee slowly walked towards the city, her head hanging low.
After watching Klee go, Kaeya slipped the ring he had been holding onto Albedo's hand and gave it a kiss for good measure. "So now, do you want to explain what happened?"
"Klee didn't take your absence well and I'll admit, we struggled to contain her. I needed to pretend I got hurt in order to stop her from destroying everything around her."
"Ah, I didn't realize… I'm sorry for–"
"You did nothing wrong. Everyone has things they need to do, but let this show you just how important you are to the people of Mondstadt."
"Did anything else happen that I should know about?"
"Well, I felt a growing sense of emptiness and… agitation that I'm not quite used to, but it seems to have gone away on its own. I'm still curious what it was caused by. Do homunculi too suffer disease?"
"Or maybe you just really missed me."
Albedo leaned into Kaeya's waiting embrace. "Well now that you're here, do you want to remedy that? I'll accept a date anywhere that sells sweets as compensation for the ailment you've graciously taken responsibility for."
"I love you too. And…" Kaeya retrieved a box with a clear window, "why wait to find somewhere that sells them?"
"I take it those are from Fontaine?"
"They are. The ring, though, I commissioned in Liyue on the way there and picked up on the way back."
"So that's why you took so long."
"Hey– I had some very important business."
"I thought so. Even an item of such craftsmanship could be made in a quarter of the time."
Kaeya shoved Albedo playfully. "Who taught you to act so spoiled?"
"The very person who just proposed to me."
"How interesting, I bet he'd make a very good fiance."
"Hmm, passable."
"And that's a lot by your standards."
"It is."
"So what do you plan to do with the sweets I got you?"
"I'll let you choose somewhere for me to enjoy them and… actually, while you were away I received a letter from the Fontaine Research Institute offering compensation for some little discoveries I let them publish. Maybe if I like the sweets I could ask them to send over some more so you can take me on another date free of food related costs."
"I actually got a variety pack. There's a little card that tells you which ones are which."
"Thank you, I will keep track of the ones I enjoy."
Bonus: When the library door loudly crashed open, Lisa began to prepare an electro attack before seeing the girl in red who emerged. "Hi Lisa! Klee might've stayed out of solitary confinement– but it was because I was waiting for Kaeya and wanted to be there to greet him! Now that he's back, I'm ready to let Jean catch me can you please make sure she lets me out before Mommy gets back?"
"What nice manners! I'm sure she'll be understanding. If not, well… I'll make sure she is, don't worry Cutie. Here, come with me."
Lisa walked out the door with Klee bouncing eagerly behind her. A moment later after a quick greeting was exchanged, Albedo walked in with the same enthusiasm as his sister.
"Mona!" He whisper-shouted, "Look what I've got!"
Mona turned to him, raising an eyebrow at the man in his arms. "The stars told me that you would both find love. Will you make him a ring so that all know he's taken?"
Albedo set Kaeya down with a kiss. "I think it will be very hard to be mistaken if he's as excited as I am, but it would be a good idea regardless. Will you be providing your assistance?"
"Hmm, maybe, but my–"
"There will be free food at our wedding."
"Do you want to create the ring in accordance with your constellation, or his?"
Though not talking, Kaeya watched the exchange, noticing now that it really felt like he was back home.