Fools curiosity.

Chapter one

I first saw him while running errands and grocery shopping. His footsteps made no sound except for a small pitter patter on the cobblestone. I watched him sway from side to side when still and take in the world from every angle imaginable when he walked. It was like he wasn’t even from here.

But here he was. Chief Alchemist, Albedo. A know all scientist, artist, you name it. It would be like looking into a kaleidoscope, imagining how he takes in the world. It's like he could look at you and, in his eyes, a menu would pop up detailing all of your features. Shit’s terrifying. 

I see him often. Well, often enough. I travel to the camp at the base of Dragonspine to bring supplies to the fools that decide to live there. When he's not hiding out in his super top secret lab up there he comes down and paints. Paints or reads. He has never actually glanced at me with any interest. I find there's a clear difference between the way he looks at humans and the way he looks at books. 
So here we are. I’m serving soup to all of the people in camp and this time he’s one of them. I can feel the sweat in my palms. I come up to his table and ask if he’d like a bowl.

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
He said to me, quietly. His voice felt like smooth cream. Jesus.  I would have preferred a shit eating grin rather than the polite and fake one he gave. I muster up a smile and set the bowl on the table with a small thud.

Man I wonder what’s in those books. He's wrapped up in them all the damn time.. So, as one's thought process goes, I came up with the plan to read them while he sleeps. Simple as that. 
I woke up to the moon smack in the middle of the sky and the forest being strangely quiet. Strange but normal for this place so it didn’t matter. I shuffled out of my makeshift sleeping arrangements and tiptoed to his desk.

He lay face down on that fucking desk. It was so funny. I scrambled back to grab a warm quilt and wrap it around the poor man. 
But as soon as I did I realized; he had no body heat. Yet he was breathing just fine. Jesus he must be cold. I carefully wrapped his pitiful postured body in the blanket and went to stare at him again.

His face was clear of imperfections. I had hoped he would’ve been drooling at least, but not even a little. I will call it habit as an excuse to never explain why I did it but I brushed a strand of hair out of his face. God his hair is soft. I don’t know if my obvious infatuation with him was due to the fact he was him or that I wished I was him.

But back to what I came here for. To look in his books. I had quietly pulled a chair over to sit across from him and took the book that looked the coolest. I know, shallow, but seeing the way he looked at them made it clear that all of them were somewhat interesting at least. 
I had picked a moss green book, with golden designs, leaves and such painted on all sides. I flipped through offwhite stained pages and landed on one with a fold in the top corner. Finally, an imperfection. Couldn't he just use a leaf as a bookmark? It’d fit the theme. Poor book.

This page was about a tree. Fucking boring. But when taking a closer look the picture showed this tree was made of several smaller ones. The trunk was a spiral of the smaller trees. From the trunk sprouted a magnificent cloud of detailed branches and leaves. Fruit I had never seen before grew on the twigs and rotted on the ground alongside the roots. All the more, it was hand drawn. By him, I assumed. "It was magnificent." I cursed under my breath. I heard him mumble in his sleep. Air escaped through my nose as I tried not to laugh. 

As I stared at the page my eyes grew heavy. The late night caught up to me. For some reason this hard, wooden chair seemed super comfy, and my weary eyes took the desk to be the perfect pillow. I was totally going to regret this. 

I woke up to clutter being moved around the table. What a horrid thing, sleep is. I exhaled harshly and slowly lifted my head from the table. Am I going to get arrested? All for a picture of a damn tree? I opened my eyes and he was close. On eye level with me, but looking down. He closed the book I had stared at not 3 hours ago. We were the only ones awake at an early hour like this. As soon as it was tucked away into his bag he looked at me. I realized our eyes were a lot alike. Both blue, but his eyes were a beautiful and vibrant blue, and mine were just blue. A dull, boring greyish blue at that.

“Good morning. Thank you for the blanket.” He said. Remember how I talked about preferring a shit eating grin? Not anymore. This was close enough but it hurt even more. It screamed "I know you looked through my books, you must be obsessed with me."
   Of course that might’ve just been me freaking out. I met his smile with another and a fraction of a laugh.
“Yeah, no problem. Thanks for not arresting me.” I said without thinking. I wish I could learn to shut the fuck up once in awhile.

“Don’t worry,” he chuckled, “I don’t arrest people that take interest in my books. I supposed I’m one of those very people.” He let out an exhale through his nose as his smile widened. He continued to pack up his various belongings. Man he was handsome. He smelled like dust and rain. Or the smell of the first snow of the year. 

When his leather bags were packed he looked at me as he stood. “I wouldn’t mind letting you have a look at my books again if you’re interested.” He said with a kind tone. “If you find me again don’t hesitate to ask. But right now I must take my leave and head back up the mountain.”
I smiled. “Stay safe.” He nodded, turned, and left. I caught it though. For a split second he looked at me, not with the uninterested eyes he usually does. But with a glimmer. I guess he found me mildly interesting. What a boost to my ego.

I care not for divine timing, but one day I hope to be able to see that glimmer again. Maybe I’ll pray to Barbatos. Maybe I can look up the mountain and hope he can glance down and feel my gaze rest upon him in curiosity. 

This was chapter one. I hope you enjoyed, this is the first story I've posted. I can't tie this down to a y/n fanfiction because there will be details that are specific to the character and maybe not the person reading. So I hope you enjoy this just as a story :)