Mortal Chains (Albedo x Aether)

Ch. 5 Sweet tooth

They had made their way from Dragonspine to Mondstadt, Aether, and Albedo. The hefty breeze blew Albedo's unkempt hair around, so much so, that at one point his entire face with covered with ash-colored hair. Aether noticed Albedo's struggle and quietly giggled from behind a hand. The two made their way to Sara's shop, Albedo offered to order first.

"Hello miss, I would like a stack of sweet pancakes please." Albedo requested, to which she replied- 

"Of course, and for you?" Her gaze traveled from Albedo to rest on Aether while she asked the question. Aether hummed as he thought, he wasn't super hungry, having eaten earlier that day, but he also wanted something just to munch on. Finally, he figured out what he wanted. 

"One mint jelly please!" He ordered with a  kind smile towards the cook. The girl nodded and began making their food while Albedo and Aether simply stood there awkwardly, waiting.

Once their food was ready, they grabbed them, paid, and sat down at a table across from each other.

"Dig in," Albedo told him with a teasing smile. Aether had never had mint jelly before, but he was told it was very good. He held a spoonful to his mouth and popped in it, dragging the jelly over his tongue with a thoughtful hum. It was decent, the flavor was simple but not too bland, the texture, however, wasn't very good. It was much harder than the jelly he might prefer. Despite this, Aether ate the entire thing and sat back, happy and satisfied. Albedo hadn't yet finished his pancakes, so while the traveler waited for him to finish he looked over some of the other shops Mondstadt held.

"It's nice out isn't it?" Aether mentioned, leaning back in his chair as the breeze ruffled his blond, braided hair. Albedo simply nodded, responding in just two words. 

"It is."

After Albedo finished his pancakes, they sat there in silence. Until Aether couldn't handle the silence anymore and spoke up. "So Albedo, what did you find out in your experiments? The ones I interrupted?" Aether asked with genuine curiosity.

Albedo perked up at that question. "I didn't find out much actually, but if you pair Dendro with Pyro the burning sensation lasts just a bit longer. The only other thing I learned was what you saw, frozen vines which wrap around whatever is near." He explained in an excited tone, Aether could tell he loved talking about his research and experiments, so he often asked about them. While he talked, reminiscing about old experiments gone wrong, Aether realized the alchemist had a bit of pancake left on his cheek from his meal. He leaned over silently, brushing the sticky food off Albedo's mouth with a thumb.

I'm so close to him, he's very pretty, his eyes... I could get lost in those. Aether could feel his face getting warm, heating to an uncomfortable degree. He cleared his throat and leaned back, immediately looking away from Albedo. Albedo simply seemed confused by the gesture.

"Is something wrong Aether?" Albedo asked in a calm but concerned voice, his brows furrowed with worry.

"No, everything's alright," Aether muttered sheepishly and stood up from the chair. Albedo did the same, but he leaned towards Aether, wondering if the other man was still sick from before. He looked the traveler up and down, assessing the way his friend's face looked quite flushed, did he have a fever? Aether simply felt himself blush even more. His heart felt like it was going to explode with how hard it was pounding against his ribs. His stomach felt like it was turning in on himself and his entire body felt jittery. Albedo still hadn't moved away, they stood very close.

AN: Hi so yeah I guess these aren't going to come out very often. Oh well lol.