Discovery | Albedo's Descent Book 1

Chapter 18: Oops.

Kaeya knocked hesitantly.
"Just a moment," a voice came from inside before the door opened.
Kaeya was surprised by what he saw. Albedo wore glasses?
Albedo looked up at him, "oh... hello..."
Kaeya smiled, "Lisa told me that I had to get medication from you so that my arms don't feel like they're going to fall off."
Albedo stepped aside and let him in, "does it hurt that badly?"
"No," Kaeya shook his head, "not at all. She said that it would in an hour or so. Something about a pink vial?"
Albedo nodded as he walked back over to one of the tables. He seemed to be flipping through three books while examining a plant.
Kaeya stood in front of the shelf of elixirs, wondering which one he was supposed to take.
"Don't worry," Albedo said over his shoulder, "nothing should hurt you too badly if you take the wrong one."
"Well, that's reassuring," Kaeya sighed. Thankfully everything was somewhat color coordinated. There were three or four bright pink liquids.
"If I'm thinking correctly, it should be in a rounded vial on the right side..." Albedo said, though he didn't sound sure.
Kaeya picked up the only one that fit the description, "how much should I take?"
"There's a small measuring glass on the shelf somewhere. About 10mL should do it."
Kaeya found it and quickly poured himself medication. He was certain Lisa wouldn't have lied about that. He sighed, surprised it didn't taste too bad.
"Oh, just make sure you check the label," Albedo added.
Kaeya froze, "uh, it's a bit late for that.."
Albedo heaved a sigh as he turned around. Then he furrowed his brows, "where did you find that?..."
Kaeya blinked, "on the right, like you said..."
Albedo pursed his lips, "Sucrose..." He shook his head, "at least that one won't hurt you..."
Albedo walked over to the shelf and tossed Kaeya and very similar looking vial, "take this one."
Kaeya stared at him as he uncapped it, "what does the one I just drank do?"
Albedo was silent, "in a few minutes you... you might fall deeply in love with me..." he said it all without turning to look at him.
Kaeya's eyes widened, "what?"
"Er... I'm the only one in the room so..." Albedo sighed, "Sucrose was supposed to keep that experiment away from where anyone could get to it."
Kaeya slowly poured himself the correct medicine, "... did you make it?"
Albedo shook his head, "no, Sucrose did... one of her hilichurl experiments no doubt."
Kaeya grew terrified of Sucrose as he downed the correct medicine.
Albedo set down what he was working on with a sigh.
Kaeya paused, "so... how does it work?..."
Albedo paused, "she said that it's supposed to make whoever drinks it fall in love with the first person they see... but it's still just a prototype, so I don't think it will do anything if the recipient already likes the person they see. I keep telling her not to toy with these sorts of things..."
Kaeya paused, so it wouldn't work on him? But if it didn't, then wouldn't Albedo find out he liked him?! Kaeya felt dread filling his stomach. What was he supposed to do?!
He could try to act?... Well, it wouldn't really be acting, since he did love Albedo... but he wasn't sure if he was brave enough to act like he was passionately in love with Albedo. Well, he was, but he always felt like touching Albedo would be wrong.
He felt like pulling his hair out! For the sake of wanting to tell Albedo himself, Kaeya steeled his nerves.
He placed the vials back on the shelf, seeing no labels on them. How was he to know they were different? He sighed to himself, worrying about everything.
Kaeya slowly walked over to where Albedo was studying an oddly shaped leaf, "what are you doing?"
Albedo jolted, almost jumping. He shook his head, "it can wait, it isn't time sensitive." He started moving away and towards the door, "I'll be leaving now-"
Kaeya caught his sleeve, "why?"
"Becuase..." Albedo looked at him carefully, "I don't think it would be good for me to stay..." Hs pulled his arm back and walked around the table.
Kaeya looked at him sincerely, "I won't interrupt,"
"That isn't... why...." Albedo said slowly, "if you..." he closed his eyes and tried to think of a nice way to say this. "If you're in love with me, then-"
Albedo shrieked a little bit as he scrambled backwards, running into one of the other tables and knocking its contents onto the floor. Thankfully, it was nothing important.
Kaeya had approached him quickly and so Albedo had responded in fear. He didn't like how close Kaeya was to him and how he had almost no way out. The door seemed like it was miles away.
"Are you afraid of me?" Kaeya asked, sounding sad.
Albedo spoke carefully, "not specifically..."
Kaeya sighed, taking Albedo's glasses off of his face and folding them carefully.
Albedo pulled himself up to sit on the table, waiting for an opening.
Kaeya leaned forward, getting extremely close to the alchemist as he placed his hands on the table on either side of him.
Albedo leaned backwards, "Kaeya, you-"
"Calm down, Albedo," Kaeya smiled, "I'm not going to hurt you." He lifted his hand and caressed his cheek. Now that he was actually close to Albedo and touching him, Kaeya realized that it really wasn't that hard at all. Plus, he had wanted to be this close to Albedo for a while...
Albedo faltered as Kaeya's hand met his skin.
Kaeya chuckled, "I could never hurt you. Besides, it's a love elixir, not a hate one. I think you're confused."
Albedo shook his head, "no, I..." He seemed embarrassed of his assumption, "I assumed you would... be much more violent in your... pursuit..."
Kaeya blinked, "as I said, I could never hurt you." He didn't particularly like that Albedo thought that way of him... Kaeya laid a small kiss on Albedo's cheek before taking his hand and pulling him off the table, "we have a library to be organizing, don't we?"
Albedo was at a loss for words. He thought that Kaeya was going to try to... he shook his head, he didn't want to think about it.
Kaeya pulled him downstairs and into the library where Lisa had already started.
"Oh, good evening!" Lisa smiled. Then she blinked, "uh... what happened to Kaeya? His face is all red and he's awfully close to you..."
Albedo sighed to himself, "he drank something Sucrose was working on... so now he's... deeply in love with me..."
Lisa burst out laughing, "what?! Seriously?! Oh, that's wonderful!!"
Albedo failed to see how this was wonderful. He sighed again.
Kaeya frowned as he squeezed Albedo's hand, "don't let her tease you too much."
Albedo shook his head, "I think she'll tease you more than me."
Lisa couldn't stop laughing as she clutched her stomach, "ahaha! Really?!"
Albedo nodded, "yes..." he pulled his hand away from Kaeya and started putting books away.
Kaeya quickly took Lisa aside and explained the situation.
Lisa smirked, "you're welcome."
"What?!"
"Fufu~ Sucrose didn't misplace that potion~"
"Why have you done this to me?!"
"I'm helping you get a move on, don't worry," she smiled, "you've got this!" She gave him two thumbs up of encouragement.
Kaeya sank to the floor, "how does that..."
"After this is all over you just have to say that the potion wasn't actually affecting you and that you just took the opportunity," she shrugged.
Kaeya sighed, "I hate..."
Lisa giggled, "come on, you've got romancing to do."