ᴄʜᴇᴍɪᴄᴀʟ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ - ᴀʟʙᴇᴅᴏ x ᴏᴄ

Chapter 26 - Four Stages

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Frozen Land - Paintamelody
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"Ah, I wouldn't recommend starting with the lighter colors if I were you."

Melanie turned her head to send Albedo a dirty look. He laughed it off with an innocent shrug of his shoulders, then returned to shading in the details of the drawing on his sketch paper.

They'd been up since before the sun rose over the snowy caps of the mountains, talking and doing several pieces of art. Albedo was the first to propose the idea the moment she woke up in his lap, and she went along without questioning a second of it. Arts and crafts were unfamiliar to her, but she'd try everything at least once.

Two wine glasses sat side-by-side on a crate seated by the art easel holding her canvas. Early morning drinking seemed to be her thing by now, but this time Albedo was the only one touching the green-tinted bottle. It stayed far, far away from her.

She dipped her detail brush in a dark shade of gray she recently finished mixing. "Yeah, yeah, I would have figured it out eventually!" With a few swipes, a streak of color followed each movement of the brush. The brush went back over to peck at the canvas to add a dry-brush effect to better blend with the next color.

With his glass to his lips, he sipped his wine loudly. "That sunset won't last forever, so either you need a photographic memory, or you need to pick up the pace." He set his drink down beside him, picking up his pencil instead.

His sketch was the landscape version of her painting. By now, he already had different shades for each color, and the mountains were drawn out with the details being added in slowly. The sound of his pencil grew rather annoying, but Melanie became good at drowning it out with her own brush strokes.

Melanie yawned, stretching her shoulders to pop them. "Oh hush, it's not like I paint often these days... wait, what time is it?" She swapped her brush for her wineglass, taking the time to turn around to sit beside him. He wrapped his arm around her, the pencil bumping into her jawline as he did so.

"Want to take a peek?" he asked, turning his sketchbook for her to see. "Just don't touch unless you want a smudge on your fingers."

She leaned into him to see his drawing better. Eyes widening in astonishment, Melanie carefully took the sketchbook from his hand to hold in her own. He leaned his head against her shoulder, a smile visible.

"This is amazing," she whispered to him. "What can't you do? Chief Alchemist, Captain of the Investigation Team, a well-known artist..."

Albedo chuckled softly, a faint blush creeping to his cheeks. "My research has aided me all these years, along with many long nights of careful experimentation. I'm nothing without my trials and errors."

Melanie pushed back his ash-blonde bangs to kiss his forehead gently. He let out a soft sigh, nuzzling her neck. She glanced down at him, smiling to herself as she cupped the side of his face with her free hand. "My paint is going to dry, silly."

Looking up at her with his clear teal eyes, he stuck out his bottom lip and held himself upright. "You're right, you're right," he replied, rolling his eyes dramatically. He took his sketchbook from her hand and picked his pencil back up to continue his shading.

The mountains were already painted onto the canvas, visibly dried from what she could see in the dancing light of the lanterns hanging from the shelves. She was yet to go back and add the white snowcaps over the rocky surfaces. Going from dark to light, she was almost finished with the entire scene.

She felt Albedo's eyes on her back, but she didn't look back at him. "You know, why don't you tell me about alchemy? My knowledge is lacking in several fields, and it might offend you if I say it's only about p-"