Discovery | Albedo's Descent Book 1

Chapter 6: End of The Night

Albedo sat down. Finally they were making some progress. They had made it to the "L" pile without too much trouble. Only the occasional break for tea, the bathroom, or a short rest.
He sighed as he started sorting.
They had all silently agreed on who was in charge of what sub-categories of alphabetizing. If anyone was unsure of something, they'd as Lisa what she preferred. Occasionally, she would stump herself and ask the boys their opinion. She mostly wanted Albedo's feedback but didn't want to be rude. Plus, it was amusing to refer to them as a couple that way.
Albedo rolled his neck, it ached from looking down for hours. He loosed a quiet sigh as he massaged himself. They were almost halfway through the alphabet and honestly he just wanted to be done. He wanted to be back in his room and sleeping. His eyes wanted to close and never open again.
He was completely awake, but sleep was such a lovely temptation...
Lisa stifled a yawn from where she sat. She blinked repeatedly, trying to keep her eyes open.
Albedo looked over to Kaeya, who was not where he should be. He was leaning against the stairs, his one visible eye closed and his legs crossed.
Lisa started nodding off, staring at the book in her hands with a dead gaze.
Albedo krept over to where Kaeya sat. He looked at him for a minute before making a decision. This was probably his only chance anyways.
The Alchemist scooted as close as he could without touching the Captain. He reached out slowly with a steady hand. His hand hovered over Kaeya's eyepatch for a moment. He, very carefully, brushed Kaeya's hair out of the way. Then, he hooked his thumbnail under the leather, slowly pulling up.
The sliver of what he saw seemed no different. Only slightly less tan skin. Albedo thought that maybe Kaeya really wasn't hiding something. Perhaps he only had an eyepatch to impersonate a pirate and wore it for show only. But still, he had seemed so defensive earlier.
Albedo pulled the eyepatch farther away from Kaeya's face, peeking under it. It seemed that Kaeya did have something to hide. Was that-
Kaeya's hand clamped around Albedo's wrist tightly, his eye opened wide. Becuase of this the eyepatch had fallen black into place.
Albedo's breath caught in his throat. He felt his heart beating faster than it should have been. He hadn't expected Kaeya to be woken up so easily.
The Cavalry Captain relaxed and let go of Albedo's arm. He looked like he didn't know what to say.
"I apologize," Albedo said frankly, "I hadn't asked your permission..."
Kaeya's usual air and playful demeanor returned to him, "oh, no need to apologize. But if you wish to remove an item of my clothing, then my eyepatch would be the most boring." He leaned foreword, a smirk painting itself across his face, "don't you think?"
Albedo could tell that Kaeya was only trying to distract himself from Albedo's nosy-ness. Albedo did feel bad, he really hadn't been thinking about it. He only wanted to know what the rest of his face looked like...
"Hm?" Kaeya taunted him to respond.
Albedo chose to humor him, "from your perspective, perhaps it would be more interesting if you weren't wearing clothes at all. Though, I would advice against that. I'm sure Miss Lisa wouldn't want to see that."
Kaeya tried very hard to hide his embarrassment, but his cheeks grew rosy. He chuckled, "then, what about you, Albedo?"
"What about me?" He asked back.
"You said Lisa wouldn't want to see that, but what about you?"
Albedo blinked, "... I don't make it a habit to draw people nude (why the heck did I try to spell it "newd" -1:53 AM 18th sept)."
Kaeya laughed, "you are so innocent~" he poked Albedo's nose gently.
Albedo furrowed his brows, "I-"
"If you're going to protest, then at least try to lie convincingly," he was smiling rather widely.
"But I'm not-"
Kaeya pressed his finger to Albedo's lips, "shh, don't sound so upset~ Use that soothing voice of yours for something better."
Albedo was, at first, taken aback by such a strange compliment/not-compliment. Then, he frowned a little bit, "like what?"
"Oh, I don't know," Kaeya looked around, "like saying something nice or reading."
"'Something nice' is a rather vague explanation," Albedo folded his arms.
Kaeya chuckled, "that was on purpose."
"... are you trying to get me to compliment you again?"
Lisa yawned loudly, catching their attention. She stood up slowly, "I say we call it a night and resume later... I'm falling asleep and there is no way I can focus..."
Albedo stood, "I agree."
Kaeya yawned as he stood as well, "gladly."