#refuse to overtag this drabble

[little-piece-of-tamlin]

the title of this word doc is "i will write kaebedo even if it kills me". this is a win. enjoy 942 words of my stubbornness and kaeya being a lab rat and catching feelings

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“Can you create them in a specific size?”

“Depends. How complicated do you want it?”

“Just give me a cube. Two inch by two inch by two inch.”

Kaeya focuses on his vision, and cold travels up his veins as a two cubic inch icecube forms in his hand. It’s not a rapid summon, but it doesn’t have to be. It takes maybe five seconds.

He knows Albedo times it. Knows he writes down if its an even formation, or if it starts quick and slows down. He knows he will take the cube and measure it to see if it’s really two inches, to see how smooth it is, to see if the angles are right.

Cool, dry fingers brush against his palm as Albedo picks the cube up, holds it to a tape measure, and then one of those angular rulers, all the while scratching away in his notebook. Kaeya keeps the icicle from melting in his touch.

“Okay. Can you make me a sphere?”

“Of course.  Any requests on size?”

“Two inch diameter.”

“Coming right up.”

What Albedo asks of him is simple. To use his vision, to be precise, to be controlled. Small things, easy things. He tells him to keep the ice from melting as he places it in a flask above a burner. He tells him to shape it after it’s been summoned. He makes Kaeya use techniques he’s used for years, techniques that are like muscle memory to him.

What Albedo asks of him is so, so very difficult. He dissects Kaeya’s power with painless precision. There is a voice in Kaeya’s head, the one that has always sounded the most like himself, that is warning him of all the ways he is letting his walls down. Albedo learns the melting point of his ice, the force needed for it to shatter, its shapes and how quickly he summons it, and Kaeya imagines him thrusting his sword though his wall of ice with just the right amount of force and at just the right angle, sheating his blade in his heart. Night after night, he sits in the alchemist’s laboratory, creating ice until his fingers go red and start aching.

His chest feels blood-warm as Albedo stops and brings out a little flat pouch made of thin leather, and he places it in his hands and bends his fingers over it and tells him, press here. And there is something in it that feels like a coin, a thin circle of bent metal and as Kaeya presses onto it the bend snaps to the other side, and suddenly the pouch is warm.

“It’s a sodium acetate solution. Salt and vinegar.” Albedo keeps his fingers folded over his. “It’s so saturated that after it cools down, the smallest amount of energy will start the crystallizatin process. As it turns from liquid to solid form, it releases heat, serving as an effective and reusable warming pouch. I’ve been thinking about giving some to the adventurers at Dragonspine, but it’s not as good as warming bottles.

His voice is even, but the quick rhythm of his words betray his enthusiasm. Kaeya’s chest is warm like a bed filled by two people, and he finds himself smiling at the man.

“Seems like even geniuses run out of big ideas once in a while. Don’t worry, I won’t tell on you.”

Albedo blinks up at him. “Just because a discovery isn’t universally useful doesn’t mean it is a lesser discovery. The principal of science is that no knowledge is wasted. Every experiment that might seem useless at first could be the final piece of a grand puzzle.” He steps away, but Kaeya catches his fingers in his before he could go far.

There is a question in the subtle arch of Albedo’s eyebrow, but Kaeya finds no words to answer it with. He asks his own question instead. “Which ones do you like more? The big discoveries or the small ones?”

The man ducks his head, gaze growing unfocused as he considers it. Kaeya wants to reach out and move those messy blonde bangs away from Albedo’s eyes, but that would mean letting go of his hand. He thinks about getting him some hairpins, but then remembers the dozen Albedo keeps in a drawer and never uses.

The alchemist turns their hands over. Now Kaeya’s is covering his. “Neither, I suppose. I like it best when a lot of small results end up making a bigger picture.  It’s... satisfying, to be able to piece it together.”

It’s a Thursday night, a date that’s been cemented into their schedules lately alongside the breakfast on Monday, the afternoon coffe on Wednesdays, and every second day of Albedo’s return from his mountain laboratory when they take Klee out on a hike. Kaeya will spend the evening on Friday at Angel’s Share, getting patrons drunk and making them spill their secrets, but he won’t stay too long so that he can pick up a fresh blackberry tart in the morning on Saturday to bring Albedo for their next experiment appointment.

He’s... not had this varied of a schedule for years. He is busier than ever, but finds that he doesn’t really mind.

“I suppose it is.” He looks up at Albedo, taking the opportunity while he has it, before they both end up standing and Albedo will reach up to his shoulder again. Those teal eyes find his, soft in a way so uncharacteristic of him, so unlike his regular cool detachment.

His chest is warm like his hand clasped in Albedo's. “So, my dear alchemist, what do you need me to do next?”