ᴄʜᴇᴍɪᴄᴀʟ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ - ᴀʟʙᴇᴅᴏ x ᴏᴄ

Chapter 37 - Snowball Fight Without Snow

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Just the two of us - Khoi Dao
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Melanie slumped against the wall, rubbing her face wearily. "That went smoother than expected," she muttered to Albedo, who was standing awkwardly at the entrance to their camp.

He turned on his heels, his expression was unreadable. Albedo abandoned his position to approach her. Everything mellowed out when his hand touched her shoulder. Both of them smiled at one another.

"Friends with Lumine, hm?" he asked, teasing her lightly. "I must admit that I never saw that coming."

She rolled her eyes dramatically, saying, "don't tell me you weren't bonding with the Captain out there! That's the longest I've seen you... er, not... in a room with him?"

Albedo chuckled softly. He patted her shoulder and moved on over to his desk, pulling out the chair to take a seat. It was spun around for him to look at her with his arms resting on the backrest of the chair. A mocking smile rested on his casual face.

Suppressing her own desire to laugh, Melanie ran her fingers through her hair absently. "I didn't really know what to say. I'm exhausted, if that's not obvious already. Befriending her was the only thing my dumb brain could come up with."

He shook his head dismissively, the smile never fading. His bright mood was a relief to be around as it lit up the air with its positivity and bliss. To add to it, every word he spoke calmed her heart whenever it beat too quickly... or maybe that was merely his fault, too.

"Dumb brain," he echoed, tilting his head cutely. "If your brain is dumb, then I'm afraid I'm a complete idiot."

Melanie scoffed, her humored shock evident in her widened mouth and bulging eyes. "Are you kidding me?! Everyone knows you're far from it, silly." She tossed a crumpled piece of paper at his head. It bounced off of his forehead harmlessly, returning to its place on the ground until it is was blown into the fire by accident.

Except it would never make it to the fire, or at least, just not yet. Albedo picked it back up off of the ground to throw back at her with a quick swing of his right arm. The paper flew at her like a torpedo, expected to at least inflict a paper cut if she hadn't moved away with an alarmed squeak before it could make contact.

"Hey!" she protested, hiding behind his alchemy table.

Another paper ball was thrown in her direction, landing on top of the decorative surface. Melanie peeked over the edge, scouting for signs of danger. Her heart dropped into her stomach at the sight of Albedo wadding up more paper to throw. He was armed and ready to go.

"Spare me!" Melanie pleaded, trying not to giggle at the irony of the situation. She reached for a few random necessities, mainly clothing, to throw back at him. There was a chance it would all land in the fire, but her arms were stronger than most, with her being a bow user.

Albedo slid off of his chair to take cover the moment he saw a shirt being squished into a tight ball. The way his eyes widened made her laugh maniacally from her hiding place. She leaped up from behind the table to throw a well-aimed shot at his head the moment he looked up.

An 'umph!' confirmed her target was hit. She burst out laughing, falling onto her back with her legs flailing in the air wildly. Several times she had to stop to catch her breath through her wheezing lungs, only to return to her previous state every time Albedo tried to throw something at her.

Eventually, he managed to hit her with another paper ball square in the thigh. She went silent, looked up at him, and went back to laughing. "Archons, I'm fucking tired!" she exclaimed, grabbing a random pair of pants through her tear-filled eyes. Her sides ached horribly, but she couldn't stop.