Work Text:
Kaeya was his beacon of light, so when the realization came it was like the Electro Archon herself had personally plunged a bolt of lightning into his artificial heart.
The day had started like almost any other day on Dragonspine had. Although maybe it was a little warmer than normally, this suited Albedo just fine though, as his partner, Kaeya, had promised to come up the mountain to visit him. The less Kaeya had to suffer in the bitter cold of Dragonspine the happier he was.
Albedo still had time before Kaeya was bound to arrive though and so he decided to work a little bit more. He had wanted to finish a painting that he had started the week beforehand but did not have the time to actually finish it.
He stood up from his resting spot to actually work on the painting, when he noticed the bouquet of Cecilias and Calla Lillies that Kaeya had given him a while ago. The bouquet was still beautiful, even though they would have wilted and died under normal circumstances he had enhanced their lifespan with his alchemy. He took note of it and resolved to renew their longevity, after all it has been a while since he had done it.
Kaeya had given Albedo the bouquet on one of his trips to Mondstadt. At the time they had not put a label on their relationship yet, but this gesture from the Cavalry Captain had been what cemented their relationship as romantic in nature.
Before the bouquet Albedo had already acknowledged that his feelings for Kaeya went a bit further than just plain platonic feelings. When his master had given him his current assignment he had felt rather hopeless about it, but being an Kaeyas presence put him at ease about his task. It was like Kaeya was a sun that melted away the threatening ice of his own doubts.
When he received the Bouquet he could finally put a name on these feelings he was experiencing. It was in that exact moment that they had shared their first kiss.
Albedo could still remember how it had felt. The way that Kaeya had first frozen in surprise but then leaned down to give him easier access, the way that Kaeyas lips had felt against his own, the way they were as soft as Kaeya made him feel, the way that Kaeyas hands held him at the waist and pulled him closer, the way he melted against Kaeya.
He felt a small smile creep up his face, while he was setting up his easel and brushes for his painting. Thinking about his partner never failed to put a smile on his face.
*****
A few hours later Albedo was getting a little antsy. Kaeya was late. While it was not unusual for Kaeya to be fashionably late, this was a concerning delay even for him. Should he go looking for him? But what if Kaeya arrives, while he was away? What if Kaeya got hurt? What if something happened? He had noticed that it was a little warmer than usual, the ice and snow could be melting, what if Kaeya had slipped somewhere? What if something even worse had happened?
His eyes once again fell on the bouquet. The Calla Lillies were hanging lower than they were before, was it a sign? He could not think about it further when he heard someone shouting.
It was a Knight of Favonius, that he did not recognize, but that was not important in the moment as the panicked words that this man was uttering registered in his brain. There was an avalanche that buried a patrol of the Knights of Favonius, with Kaeya among them, as he had decided to walk with them on his way to Albedos Lab.
Albedo couldn’t breathe. Kaeya could be hurt. Kaeya could be dying right at this time. Kaeya could be leaving him the same as his Master, but with Kaeya there would never be a chance for him to return. He had not thought about the fragility of human life in his relationship with Kaeya. Of course he had always known that he would live longer, but now that he was directly confronted with the possibility of death he couldn’t handle it. His World had been bleak when his Master left him, with Klee sometimes bringing in some color, but it was Kaeya, who came like a fire into his life and dyed it with all the colors of the rainbow.
When Albedo arrived at the site of the Avalanche they were still on the search for the people that were buried. A few had been found but his partner was not among those that had been found. He quickly hurried to help with the recovery of the victims, using his vision to quickly move the snow and ice. His heart was pounding in his chest, he could barely here the words of thanks that got said to him or the shouts the names of the people that were saved. His Mind was only on Kaeya, his partner, his light, his sun.
In the end Kaeya was one of the last people that was found, but he was also one of the ones that got hurt the worst. It was him that found Kaeya. Kaeya was unconscious with a wall of ice surrounding him. The man had tried to protect the patrol by creating a wall of ice, but it had exhausted him too much and in the end the snow of the avalanche had still encased him in its cold embrace.
When Albedo touched him he was too cold to the touch and his breath was too shallow. His pulse was also so weak that Albedo had first thought that he truly had lost his partner. He immediately began screaming for help and Barbara, the deaconess of the Church of Favonius, appeared by his side with a few other people to help him truly get Kaeya out of the ice and snow.
During that whole time he barely heard the soothing words that Barbara told him to calm him down, he only had eyes for his partner. When they finally got Kaeya out it was Albedo that brought him to the first aid tent.
The next few hours were a blur to Albedo, he held Kaeyas hand the whole time. Felt it become a little warmer with every passing hour, saw his breath become more stabilized. Still he could not stop his thoughts from racing, now that his mind had made room for thoughts on Kaeyas potential death he could not stop himself from images of what could possibly happen even in the future. It was unpleasant to think this way, but Kaeyas hand kept him grounded enough, that he did not drown in these thoughts.
In the evening he got ushered away by the nurses and he had to return to his laboratory. There he just sat down and stared at the painting that he had continued in the morning, next to it the bouquet. The bouquet of still perfect Cecilias and now suddenly wilting Calla Lillies. He wanted to throw them down the mountain at the unnecessary reminder of his current situation, but he stopped himself. Instead he chose to put his hands to use to renew the alchemical formula he had used on these flowers and adjust it so that the Calla Lillies would not wilt as quick as they had.
Days later Kaeya had still not woken up and Albedo still had not found the best way to adjust his formula. Every day he would visit Kaeyas sickbed and every evening the nurses would shoo him away so that they had proper space. He would hold his partners hand and explain to him what he tried with the alchemical formula and what his thoughts were.
It was while Albedo explained what he would try next that he suddenly had an epiphany about what he had done wrong with the formula, it was also this exact moment that Kaeya had opened his eyes. Albedos breath caught in his throat when he saw the blue of Kaeyas eyes for the first time in what felt like an eternity to him. Albedo didn’t know what to do and so he just froze, when suddenly he felt Kaeyas lips on his own. He melted into the man and he could feel tears sting at his eyes. His lips weren’t as soft as they normally were, because Kaeya had slept for days, but they still warmed him from the inside out.
Seeing Kaeya alive and well made him forget just how scared he had truly been for him, but later when he realized, he concluded that he didn’t mind that Kaeya is not immortal, not as much as when he had that first realization anyway. For him the present was much more important. In the future, if Kaeya agreed, he might look into elongating his partners life, but as of now he was happy to just be with him.
In the end when Kaeya did finally visit him in Dragonspine, it would be to a finished painting and a beautiful bouquet of never wilting Cecilias and Calla Lillies