Chapter Text
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Kaeya is going to blame his hair and eyepatch for covering his peripheral vision. If it weren’t covered, he would’ve been able to step out of the way before having to pick up papers scattered across the floor. Kaeya’s crouched down, picking up the reports he was going to deliver to Jean, when he hears muttered apologies and papers being rapidly picked up.
Right when Kaeya was reaching for another paper, a hand grazes his before quickly pulling away.
This makes Kaeya blink before looking up, making him finally notice who he had bumped into. Though, he first looked at bright teal eyes staring back at him. This person, this guy that he had bumped into, has really pretty eyes. They stood out against the strands of pale blonde hair and white lab coat. The eye contact ended as the blonde stood up.
Kaeya looked back down, picking up the remaining papers before standing up as well. He sees how the shorter man in front of him is looking around, everywhere but him.
“It’s alright, it wasn’t your fault that I bumped into you. I should’ve been paying attention,” Kaeya apologizes.
This gets the blonde’s attention. “I guess you’re right, but I was rushing before turning the corner. So in a way, it’s also my fault.” Kaeya takes note of how soft-spoken the blonde is. “And here, the papers you dropped.”
“Why thank you.” Grabbing the remaining stack of papers, Kaeya let out a sigh, seeing how all the reports are now disorganized. He looked back at the blonde, “I don’t think I’ve seen you around Mondstadt.”
“Well, I arrived at Mondstadt yesterday and I’ve just been appointed chief alchemist for the knights.”
Kaeya shifted the papers in his hand before bringing his free hand out, “I’m Kaeya, the calvary captain. This makes us colleagues, right?”
“Albedo, and indeed, we would be working in the near future,” Albedo shook the outstretched hand.
Kaeya smiled, “I’ll see you then Albedo, have to give these reports to the acting grand master.”
“Oh, okay, goodbye,” Albedo raised his hand to give an awkward wave.
Kaeya waved back and then went on to walk to Jean’s office.
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Just as Albedo said, the two ended up working together.
Kaeya had finished apprehending a shady trader, whose merchandise was potions promising strength, immortality, and whatnot. It’s obvious it was a scam, but Kaeya couldn’t help but wonder what the potions actually did. Going towards the library to ask Lisa, once he opened the door, he could tell she would not be able to help him. There was no sign of her at her desk and a look down at the bookcases below showed no one.
Sighing, he was about to return to his office when he remembered a certain alchemist. He smiled and went downstairs to head to the labs. He thinks back to how stressed Jean was about renovating the downstairs. It used to be for storage, but after getting a letter recommending Albedo as chief alchemist, Jean decided to add and destroy rooms for labs and offices.
Looking at all the doors made Kaeya realize he doesn’t exactly know where Albedo’s lab is. He eventually knocks on every door until he hears the familiar voice again.
After knocking on the farthest door to the stairs, he hears a faint, “Come in.” Kaeya opens the door with a slight creak and takes in the sight of Albedo’s workspace. It’s cluttered with jars and papers, the walls had detailed diagrams hung up, and a couch was in the corner with a blanket draped over it. Next to the couch was a bookcase, though it was filled, a stack of books were next to it. “Sir Kaeya?”
Said man brought his attention back to Albedo, which the blonde had a clipboard and pen in hand, lab coat looking worse for wear. “Ah, yes, Albedo! I know this is sudden but,” Kaeya brought out three bottles, “Is there a way for you to identify these and what they can do? I got them from a scammer. You see according to him, if someone were to take these they could be immortal with immense strength.”
“Immortality?” Albedo walked towards him grabbing one bottle, “Why buy them if you know it’s a scam?”
“Oh, I didn’t buy them. I had to arrest the scammer and now his merchandise is in the knights' possession.” Kaeya clarified.
Albedo hummed in response, swirling the liquid in the bottle. “I believe this is just a heatshield potion.”
“And these two?”
Albedo gave a quick look to the remaining bottles, “The light blue one is a frostshield potion, and the yellow is a dustproof potion.”
Kaeya watched as Albedo opened the bottle and sniffed the contents inside. The blonde furrowed his eyebrows and started going to his desk. “Something the matter?”
“It’s strange, this seems to have more pyro resistance.” Albedo grabbed a sheet of paper and started writing something down, “A regular heatshield potion has less pyro resistance than this. These types of potions need elemental energy for their intended purposes to work. The more energy, the more effective it is. But being exposed to too much elemental energy can overwhelm a person.”
“These weren’t the only bottles. We were able to get almost two crates full of them. I can go get them if you want.” Kaeya went to place down the two potions he had. “If you don’t mind of course, since you seemed to have been working on something when I walked in.”
Albedo looked up at him with a glint in his eyes, “No, please. That earlier experiment can wait. This is far more interesting.”
Kaeya nodded and turned towards the door. “If you say so.”
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Holding two heavy crates that are tall enough to block your vision is not ideal when going down a trek of stairs. But Kaeya persisted and prayed to Barbatos that nothing would go wrong. Reaching the doors to Albedo’s lab, he pushed them open by leaning against it on his back. “I got the rest of them, though a helping hand would be nice.”
He heard footsteps approach him. The weight of the crates got lighter and the top crate was lifted away from him, revealing Albedo scanning the potions with the same glint in his eyes. The blonde then turned to look inside the crate Kaeya was holding. “Resistance potions like before, but some essential oils are in the mix.”
The two men placed the crates near the same desk Albedo had the heatshield potion. While Kaeya was gone, the alchemist had written observations he had, though they were mostly questions.
Speaking of, the blonde is sitting crossed-legged on the floor sorting the bottles of potions and oils. Kaeya tilted his head at this display but decided to join him. “Need help?”
“Oh, sure,” Albedo scooted over on the floor for Kaeya to sit. “I’m currently sorting them by element, which is just sorting them by color. We’ll then separate the essential oils from the resistance potions by putting them in one of the crates.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Kaeya said.
Albedo got a sheet of paper and another pen for Kaeya, telling the taller man to put a tally mark down for every bottle sorted in the element and what it was intended for. The two got into the rhythm of sorting, with the sound of glass bottles clanging against each other and the pens scratching the paper. Their hands would occasionally touch, and each time, Albedo would flinch. This would cause Kaeya to look in the other’s way with a quirked eyebrow.
“May I ask you a question?” Kaeya asked.
Still grabbing bottles, Albedo responded, “Sure, go ahead.”
“Why are you so interested in this?”
“Simple. I enjoy discovering things about this world. Today, these potions and oils are my new discovery.”
Kaeya hummed, “But from earlier, it seemed to be you already knew what they could do.”
“You’re quite right about that,” Albedo put his pen down, as he had finished sorting, “But they’re different from usual, and I want to know why.”
Kaeya watched as Albedo stood up and grabbed jars from shelves and small slips of paper from an opened drawer. “What are you doing now?”
“I need to test how much elemental energy there is, as I’m pretty sure that’s the main difference. But I’ll also have to make each potion and oil like regularly to compare them.”
Kaeya peered down at the crates, “Doesn’t that mean you have to make ten-”
“Twelve.”
Kaeya looked up at Albedo, “...Twelve of these.”
Albedo sighed, “Yes, but that’s no problem, as I can make them fast.”
Kaeya stood up. “Am I allowed to stay and watch you?”
The alchemist didn’t respond for a while, making the calvary captain take it as a no. But before he could apologize for interfering, Albedo answered, “You can stay,” Kaeya beamed at that, “After all, you were the one who found them.”
The captain went and got situated on the couch. From where he sat, he watched Albedo dip the slips of paper into different mixtures. Once he finished, the blonde moved on to create the potions and oils. At one point Albedo opened a jar of frogs, which got Kaeya wondering out loud, “Frogs?”
The alchemist spared him a glance. “Frogs are the base of most essential oils that increase elemental damage. Butterfly wings are the base for potions that increase elemental resistance. But when it comes to cryo and anemo, the base will change. Lizard tail for damage, crystal core for resistance.” Albedo grabbed bottles to contain the mixtures he created. “Honestly, materials for these types of things are simple, it’s normally two components. For example, a lizard tail and dandelion seeds create anemo damage.”
“Creating them sounds so simple, yet I feel like there’s more to it.” Kaeya guessed.
Albedo nodded, “You’re correct. You have to put in the right amounts of each material or it won’t give significant results. Not enough would give poor results. Too much can cause harm.”
“Harm?”
“Yes, when taking one of them, the elemental energy spreads throughout the user’s body. Our bodies aren’t used to being exposed to elemental energy, leading people to feel overwhelmed with sickness such as nausea. But I guess that would be a unique case with vision users, as we’re exposed to its elemental energy daily. So potentially, they could take a more powerful dose. Though, I want to test that hypothesis one day.” Albedo trailed off, going silent after his last sentence. He spoke up again but quieter, “I was rambling, sorry about that.”
Kaeya frowned at that. “You shouldn’t apologize. What you said was rather quite fascinating. You know, I can just listen to you talk, on and on, even into the night. So don’t think you’re boring or annoying me.”
Albedo looked to the side and coughed. Kaeya could see the alchemist’s ears going red. “Thank you. I normally don’t have someone to talk to.”
Kaeya rolled his eyes. “Well, you have me now. I’m sticking with you whether you like it or not.” The calvary captain shifted on his spot on the couch. “So tell me, Albedo, just what makes these potions so different that it’s the only thing your attention is on?”
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“Sir Kaeya, I got it!” The alchemist went towards the couch. “The reason why it was so powerful was because it utilized a different component for the element. In the frostsheild potion, they used a hoarfrost core instead of a mist flower corolla. The maker had to go fight multiple hypostasis and regisvines for the materials. Going through all that trouble for a powerful…”
Albedo's excitement died down. He stared at the blue-haired captain before moving to a cabinet to grab pillows. As gently as possible, the blonde repositioned the taller man to lie down from sitting. He grabbed the blanket that was draped over the couch and put it over Kaeya.
Backing away slowly, not taking his eyes off of him. Then turning his gaze to the window that showed the stars and moon. Albedo continued to work on his experiments, deciding that he’ll stop if Kaeya or the sun were to rise from their slumber.
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