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Albedo was a very, for lack of a better word, lonely person. Not particular to people or large groups. He simply didn’t like people. Certain captains with silky blue hair and eyepatches and voices that made that bard’s singing sound like a kindergarten choir did not interest him in the slightest. Not one bit. He felt absolutely nothing towards that special captain, but alas, when one is invited to drink with a cavalry captain, it would be rude to deny them, no?
It had been like a flash, Kaeya leaning over his desk and pushing aside the notes and asking him to come.
“Please Albedo? It’ll be fun, I swear!”
Thats why Albedo was sitting in the corner of Kaeya’s sister’s bar watching him sing karaoke with that one nun and that one bard and that one librarian that Albedo was rather fond of. As far as anyone else in the bar knew, Albedo was just that one blonde out of place. Thinking back on all the people he’d met, he didn’t really dislike any of them. Sucrose was pleasant company during an experiment, Jean was lovely to converse with when she wasn’t busy, and Diluc was a kind-of occasional conversational partner when she wasn’t upset over Kaeya’s latest annoyance. Albedo wouldn’t say he was anti-social, no, he just found most of the citizens of Mond uninteresting.
Other than those few, there was one he found more interesting. There was just about nothing more he wanted than to study that captain. His studies were usually kept to glances across the table to meet a single lapis-colored eye, with the other shrouded in a black cloth of mystery. Albedo wondered if he was hiding some scar, or perhaps a secret. That white streak, was it natural or caused by excessive stress on the job? What was the reason he got his vision? Albedo had heard rumors that he received it in a fight with his sister. What had fractured their bond so deeply that a sister and brother would clash weapons? There was no light in his eyes, was it caused by pain, or was he of land more familiar to Albedo? The one he spent his early years as a toddler stumbling around, a place with no sky and no stars, just the vast expanse of black void that swallowed those inside the land of time, trapping them in an abyss. A loud noise startled Albedo back to reality, causing him to spill a bit of the drink he was holding.
“Hey beautiful.. you come here often?” The cavalry captain sat staring into his eyes from across the table. Albedo looked around before answering.
“Kaeya, I believe you meant to speak to that nun, Rosaria, yes?” The captain shook his head aggressively. He gestured to somewhere across the room where she was still singing with the bard. The captain leaned in towards him, as he had earlier when he invited Albedo to drink with him. The bar felt cramped suddenly as Kaeya leaned in closer, looking deeply, eye contact made between gold and blue, clashing like the ocean crashes onto the sand heavily, making the grains ripple.
“Bedo, can I kiss you?” The words hung heavily in the air as Albedo took a deep breath.
“Kaeya, you’re drunk. Don’t ask for things you’ll regret.”
“I won’t regret anything. In fact, I think I’d be happy if I kissed you.” Albedo’s face flushed a bit with the pale blood only chalk could have.
“If you ask me when you’re sober, I won’t deny you, but I refuse to kiss you while you aren’t thinking. I want you to remember.”
Kaeya was not an ordinary man. He was a man who enjoyed the simple things in life, such as pretty alchemists who made his heart flutter. He enjoyed the taste of good wine and the quick glance of sandy gold eyes in board meetings. He longed as well.
Longed for an alchemist to come to him with a promise of a kiss. Longed for an alchemist to want him the way he wanted them. Longed for an alchemist’s embrace at the end of a long day, to sit together on a couch and relax, maybe watching over said alchemist’s little sister as she ran around the room excited to see her big brothers. He longed for Albedo. He craved his touch and everything about him. Oh, how he wanted to see Albedo smile.
When Albedo had promised him a kiss with the requirement of remembering to ask, Kaeya had just about short-circuited. The one he longed for showed some interest in him. He wanted so badly to taste the cherry chapstick he knew the alchemist always wore. He wrote KISS ALBEDO in ink on an area of his arm not visible through his sleeves, in preparation for what was to come the next day.
Albedo, as you may suspect, did not think the captain would have the feelings for him required to ask him for a kiss while sober. Albedo, rather unusually, was wrong. Approximately at 8:14 Mondstadt Central Time, Kaeya had entered his lab nonchalantly and walked up to him. Albedo took a sip of his tea and turned to greet Kaeya.
“Ah, Sir Kaeya. How can I help you?”
“So, Albedo. You promised me a kiss, hm? Would you mind making good on that statement?” Albedo choked on his tea and turned, flushed.
“You remembered. I must say, I’m rather astonished, cavalry captain.” Albedo looked into the other’s eyes deeper, hoping to see some semblance of love.
“Would you mind? I’d appreciate my- mmh?” Albedo cut off his words with a simple kiss, leaning up to provide nothing more than a press of two pairs of lips together. Nothing more than a peck, as one would kiss a family member. Kaeya reached to deepen the kiss, looping his arms around Albedo’s neck.
They parted after a few moments, breathing heavily as Kaeya inhaled to speak.
“Does this.. you know.. mean something?” Kaeya spoke with uncharacteristic shyness, red filling his cheeks.
“I would have written you something a bit more sappy if I had intended to confess… but I suppose this works as well?” Albedo smiled gleefully at their… boyfriend?
Who knew wine could have such effects on relationships? Perhaps Albedo would have to study the drink.