Bounded || (Albedo x Reader)

|| 40 ||

Art- @YuyouxingX on Twitter

"Would you like warm milk or some hot tea?" Tonia asked gently to Y/n. She was slightly concerned if Y/n would bite her head off, but she was much more calmer than she'd had thought to be.

"Warm milk is fine." She replied, and looked as Albedo had the same thing. Y/n felt herself awkwardly shifting in her seat, moving her eyes around.

Albedo had been sitting pretty 'closely' to Y/n as a way to try and converse with her more often if they sat together. Which did work.

"Are you cold?" Albedo's voice sounded like the comfort of the warm milk after such cold weather. Perhaps she had subconsciously adjusted to the warmth in Mondstadt, and her immunity for cold had started to diminish.

"Not too much... if you've lived here long enough you'd be used to it." She mumbled back, while the other two guys were talking to the kids.

Kaeya seemed overjoyed to be sharing Mondstadt experiences a little more for them. And even as to arranging some kind of invite for them too.

"So Tonia wants to stay in a house with a flower balcony. Little Anthon wants to stay in a house with a basement full of metal scraps to build a machine. And little Teucer wants an entire box full of Mister Cyclops figurines made of real cyclops material..." Kaeya listed off the desired wishes of the kids.

"Seems plausible." Diluc commented from beside him, as he sipped on his tea.

"Aren't we cutting it quite close for you two?" Tonia asked, concerned that they were asking for too much.

To that, Kaeya responded with a lighthearted chuckle. "Not at all. You see, Diluc here happens to have a 'large pocket,' neither is he unreliable to gather materials such as this." He explained for his dear, dear brother.

"Who said I was doing all of the work?" Diluc glanced dangerously towards Kaeya who seemed utterly confused and dumbfounded.

"Oh... you wanted me to help you?" His lips however contradicted his confusion-sounding voice as he displayed a playful and charming look of mischief hidden beneath his fake façade. And so did Diluc notice that.

"I'm not the only one thinking up this plan on bringing three guests to Mondstadt. So you might as well contribute equivalent to mine so as to prove that you're not just some useless informant." He finished, quite satisfied.

Kaeya stared at Diluc, then at the kids. "Do you see how he treats me?" Crocodile tears spilling out of his one relevantly showing eye, pointing towards the culprit of his habitual blood and tears. And past scars don't go unnoticed.

"Misters should try to get a long more." Teucer said from beside Anthon who were sharing a blanket. "My big brother always tries his best to keep up a good relationship with his family."

"But I guess that just shows there's all different kinds of brotherly love." Anthon replied next. Quit understandably, actually.

It was hard for them to try and cover up the past scars, than try to heal them. They could've done it anytime they wanted. Though covering it up, just made things worse, much less than better.

If they tried, they might've. Only that they were able to find another excuse to postpone their forgiveness. And they should give up their ego and actually maybe talk it out.

Contribution.

That was a big one for the both of them.

They could learn from one another, or from a stranger. And no matter.

"Teucer, Anthon!" Tonia whisper shouted in worry that her younger brothers might have given unnecessary advice. She was concerned again that they told them some kind of rash opinionated reasons.

Though for sure, that had thrown water onto the fire. And the atmosphere simmered down a bit. Their little argument were quite funny and amusing to listen to, and though it was rather harsh, you could tell they were still close.

True, they had their own kind of brotherly love.

Y/n felt warmer the more she stared at Albedo. And no matter how long she knew him for, she started to fall deep into the abyss of his features. They were true to beauty, and he was a true piece of art.

No matter how light and blue like the top of the water his eyes looked like, she could see more and more depth in them, as if staring deep into the dark blue ocean.

And sure, it seemed quite far fetched, and exaggeratedly poetic, it was just her honest opinion she never thought about until now.

Albedo's light chuckles threw her off, as she blinked a few times to rid of her fantasies. And drowning in her own thoughts. "What is it?"

He tried to disregard her worry, though felt the need to poke around at her a little. "Am I that entrancing to look at?"

Y/n's realizations and obliviousness of her staring caught her off guard. "Don't- flatter yourself..." her voice grew lower in volume, as she started to realize he had every reason in the world to be flattering himself and his looks.

Maybe he knew that exactly, and still decided to say all of that. And there was no worry of being heard by the others because of the slight far distance between their loud talking, and distance.

"Trust me, I'm not." He reassured, however she wasn't buying a single thing he mentioned.

"Right, and Barbatos isn't a drunkard." She replied coyly, whilst at the same time she finished, she managed to finish the warm milk.

Y/n felt drawn in to move in a little closer towards Albedo. And she even took the initiative to bump her shoulder against his. He took note of that, and smiled; enamored by the small act of closeness she showed for him.

"You know, I'm not quite the one to keep close contact, and long lasting relations with people. But you're an exception." He tilted his head a little to the side, to try and get a look at her.

Seeing as the way she looked back at him a little curiously, he was induced into telling her more. And the way she was moving closer by him, made him think it was with coquetry.

His expression was turned to firmness, with the change of topics. "I don't feel induced about lying to you." He started, as he made eye contact with Y/n. His eyes: genuine.

"I have time." She said, "I don't mind."