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"Look! I caught a frog, Albedo!"
"Wow. Good job, Klee."
Durin lifted his head from staring at his reflection in the water. His gaze turned to his left, flickering over the scene.
Klee was proudly holding out a frog up toward Albedo. Albedo offered her a soft smile and patted her head.
Why did his heart ache seeing that?
Durin quickly looked back at the water. He tried not to think about the scowl that he caught on his reflection before smoothing it out.
It had been like this all day. Albedo had invited Klee out with them for a day. Durin had been excited at first, wanting to learn more about Klee and interact with a human. But then a weird feeling had started tugging at him as Albedo's attention was taken by Klee.
Durin tried to push the thoughts and feelings away. Klee was Albedo's little sister. Just like he was his little brother. Of course Albedo would spend time with her and do all the same things he did with Durin.
So why couldn't he get this ache out of his chest? Why did just looking at Albedo interacting with Klee make him feel angry?
He liked Klee. That was the thing. Klee was fun to be around... even if she got him in trouble sometimes. So, Durin really didn't understand why suddenly he felt so negatively toward her just because she was with Albedo.
"Durin! You wanna see my frog?!"
Durin startled as suddenly a frog was shoved in his face. He fell backward, letting out a small noise.
"Klee. I've told you before. You can't be so hyper with Durin. He's still adjusting to things." Albedo gently scolded Klee's behavior as he walked over, offering a hand to Durin.
Durin moved to take his hand for a moment, but then instead pushed himself back up into a sitting position, dusting off the grass and leaves that had clung to his clothing. He caught Albedo frown at his refusal for help. After all, Durin was still quite clingy to him as he learned how to function in his new body. To suddenly not jump at the opportunity for contact... he wondered what Albedo was thinking.
"Sorry, Albedo. And sorry, Durin." Klee apologized, the frog slipping from her grasp. She yelled at the frog and darted off after it without another word, leaving Albedo and Durin alone.
Albedo looked at if he was going to follow Klee, but then decided otherwise. He turned his gaze back to Durin.
"You alright? Klee is... always quite hyper." Albedo sat down next to Durin. "I was quite hesitant when we first met, but over time she's grown on me."
"I wish she hadn't." Durin grumbled.
There was a long awkward silence after his words, clearly indicating Albedo had heard his mumbling complaint. Durin pulled his knees to his chest and rested his chin on top of them.
"What's wrong?" Albedo finally said, "You're quite grumpy today."
"You're spending all your time with Klee. Not me." Durin huffed.
Albedo fell silent again. He let out a sigh. "I guess the only good thing about you still learning conversation skills is you don't bite your tongue. So, you're mad at me for paying attention to Klee?"
"I feel... angry. Bitter. I don't like it." Durin mumbled. "I... it makes my heart hurt watching you ignore me."
"Perhaps I've been... too permissive to your every want." Albedo rubbed his chin. "Or perhaps I should've introduced you to people sooner and let you bond with more than just me for a week. Well, either way, too late to go back. I'll have to think of a better way to go about slowly weaning you from me."
Durin shot his head up, panic in his every movement. "You... no! You're not gonna... leave me... You can't!"
Durin crashed into Albedo hard as he grabbed onto him desperately, knocking him over. Albedo was caught off guard by the intense reaction, not able to catch himself in time before having his back slammed into the ground and arms wrap tightly around him.
"D-Durin, hey." Albedo said, his voice wavering for a moment from his surprise. "That's not what I meant. I'm not leaving you. I just think you need to be a bit less dependent on me. I'm not going to dump you somewhere and never come back."
It took a few minutes before Durin's grip lightened up at his words. He slowly lifted his head, meeting Albedo's gaze.
"You... you promise you aren't going to leave me?" Durin asked, fear present in his voice.
"I promise. I'm not going anywhere." Albedo replied. "But part of growing up in this world is learning to be independent. Eventually you will need to let go of me and do things on your own."
"I... I just..." Durin shook his head, tears forming in the corners of his eyes before he shoved his face into Albedo's shirt. "I don't wanna be alone again like when mom died..."
Albedo's arms wrapped around Durin almost immediately at those words. "You're not alone. Even if... something were to take me away from you, you have a lot of friends now."
"It doesn't matter. If you go away... I can't... go through losing family again..."
"You won't lose me. That hypothetical is just that. I don't plan on going anywhere."
They fell into silence. The only sound was Durin sniffling as he tried to stop crying. Albedo held him close, unsure what else to do.
He hadn't realized just how traumatized Durin was... Losing his mom. Being treated as a monster. Of course now that he had someone he considered family, he'd be terrified of all of that repeating once more. He was desperate to keep the bonds he was making.
Albedo managed to push the two of them up into a sitting position, still holding Durin in a hug. Durin was starting to calm down. He didn't let go of Albedo though. His grip was still tight.
"It's going to be okay. I promise. Whatever happens, we're in it together." Albedo said quietly, rubbing Durin's back briefly. "Just because I care about other people doesn't mean I care any less about you."
Durin lifted his head, wiping away at his tear-stained eyes. "I'm sorry... I... I know it's not right to try and keep you to myself but..."
"It's okay." Albedo patted his head. "I understand. You don't need to apologize."
"Group hug?!" Suddenly a small pair of arms wrapped around the two of them with force.
"Hello, Klee. Did you catch your escaped frog?" Albedo smiled at Klee.
"No. He got away." Klee pouted. Her eyes widened as she looked at Durin. "Was big brother Durin crying?"
"We were just talking about some emotional things. He's okay." Albedo answered. "Why don't you go find some something to cheer him up? I'm sure he'd like that."
"Klee is on it!" Klee darted off just as quickly as she had come.
Albedo looked back at Durin. "We can talk about your feelings later when we're alone. Okay? We'll figure this out."
Durin nodded. "Okay..."
"It's getting to be time for lunch as it is. We'll be heading back into Mondstadt shortly."
"I'm back!" Klee returned with a big smile on her face. "I brought you a flower!"
She held it out to Durin. Durin gave a hesitant smile as he accepted it.
"Thank you." Durin said, his voice quiet to try and hide the roughness in it from all the crying. "I feel better now."
"That's good!" Klee continued to smile proudly.
"It's about time for lunch." Albedo got to his feet, offering a hand to Durin. "We should head back. Don't want to keep the others waiting on us."
This time, Durin took his hand and let Albedo pull him to his feet. Albedo gave him a reassuring smile.
"Let's go! I'll lead the way!" Klee rushed in front, glancing back to make sure she was being followed.
"Lead the way, Klee." Albedo nodded to her.
Klee lead the way back to the town, Albedo and Durin trailing not far behind. Durin didn't let go of Albedo's hand since grabbing it. Albedo didn't say anything about it, just letting it be.
Looks like there was still a lot of work to do to get Durin situated in Teyvat.