BeeTober 2023 Day 7 - Interview
Albedo has barely settled into his newly assigned laboratory when the door is being flung open with no regards for propriety. Albedo is upset over the entrance but by no means surprised.
He was only waiting for the other Captain to corner him ever since he saw the star-shaped pupil.
“So,” the Captain drawls out as he closes the door behind him and Albedo guesses the motion is supposed to be intimidating.
The effect is missed on him though, since it’s not as if anyone in Mondstadt could really hurt him. Besides, so far everyone has been really nice and accommodating to him and Albedo is willing to take his chances, even with the barely concealed fury in the other’s eye.
“Hello,” Albedo gives back as politely as he can, turning towards the other man to give him his full attention. “What can I help you with?”
“Cut the crap,” is the hissed answer he gets. “What are you doing here? What’s your objective?”
Albedo tilts his head at that.
“Is this an interrogation?” he asks, because he just talked to Jean the other day and she asked him all kinds of questions too. He thought he got that out of the way.
“Think of it more as an interview of sorts,” the man answers, his voice not at all friendly and Albedo sighs.
“Well, Jean started the interview with an introduction.”
It’s not a subtle dig at his manners and it seems it takes the other Captain off guard because he blinks at him for a moment.
“Unbelievable,” the man mutters as he rolls his eye. “Kaeya. Cavalry Captain.”
“Nice to make your acquaintance, Captain Kaeya,” Albedo gives back, pleasant as everything, and he has to admit it’s kind of enjoyable to see how he gets under Kaeya’s skin. “My name is Albedo.”
“No last name?” Kaeya sneers out and Albedo frowns.
“I guess the Acting Grand Master put Kreideprinz down but that’s more of an informal title than anything else.”
Since it’s already put down in official documents Albedo doesn’t see a problem with sharing that with Kaeya, though he still dislikes the fact that Kaeya doesn’t provide his own last name.
“What are you here for, Albedo Kreideprinz? What’s your mission?” Kaeya asks, discarding every last shred of politeness and Albedo narrows his eyes when the temperature in the room drops slightly.
“I could ask you the same, Kaeya,” Albedo gives back, not willing to discuss anything with him.
“I’m not the one running around with proof of my allegiance out in plain sight,” Kaeya hisses, his gaze dropping to the star on Albedo’s neck.
“No, you just show it to everyone who bothers to lock gazes with you,” Albedo shots back and sees how Kaeya flinches back. “Besides, it’s hardly a proof of allegiance if it’s a birth mark imprinted on me by my mother.”
He’s not about to go into the fact that he’s not entirely human, but this Kaeya could mean trouble for him if he goes around telling everyone that he’s from Khaenri’ah. He would probably have to explain why he knows it, which he seems unwilling to do, but Albedo is not going to take that chance.
“Right. Who is your mother?” Kaeya asks him next and Albedo knows that the lack of a proper surname must bother him; Khaenri’ah only has a few stablished families and it would be easier for Kaeya to figure out what Albedo is up to if he had one, that is for sure.
But the same can be said for Albedo.
“What’s your last name?” Albedo asks instead of answering him and he sees how Kaeya works his jaw in anger.
“What does it matter to you?”
“What does it matter to you who my mother is?”
“You could be a danger to this city!”
“As could you. Where’s the difference?”
“I’ve lived here for years, you hardly have a connection to this town, so what would you care?”
“People here were nice to me,” Albedo says, in a tone that makes it clear he’s excluding Kaeya. “Sometimes that’s all it takes, isn’t it?”
It seems he has hit a nerve with that, because Kaeya falls quiet, clearly contemplating if revealing his last name is worth it.
Albedo doesn’t mention it, but he can probably just look it up in the official register.
“Alberich,” Kaeya finally gets out and now his reluctance makes a whole lot more sense.
Rhinedottir has kept Albedo out of court, hasn’t formally introduced him to anyone before they left but of course Albedo knows that the Alberich clan is the current ruling family.
Albedo’s gaze is drawn to Kaeya’s eyepatch and while before it didn’t make sense why he would hide one when the star and therefore proof of his ancestry is so visible in the other it comes together now. In every ruling family, there’s one born with the sun in his gaze, destined for more.
Albedo suspects it would draw attention, even up here.
He knows he should probably fall to a knee, or at least bow—Kaeya is a prince after all—but Albedo finds that he couldn’t care less. He didn’t care when he was still in Khaneri’ah and he definitely doesn’t care now.
Here, they are on equal footing.
But since Kaeya answered him, it’s only fair that he does the same.
“Gold. She’s my mother.”
Kaeya pales at that.
“You mean your creator,” he then whispers out and Albedo shouldn’t be surprised that he knows these things about Rhinedottir when she was working for the royal family most of Albedo’s life.
“Did she plant you here as some kind of bomb?” Kaeya demands to know and Albedo wonders the same, though of course he’s not going to mention that.
“She—” he hesitates because the assignment she gave him feels to personal to share but then again it’s just a general question. “She asked me to figure out the meaning of life,” Albedo admits with a shrug. “Whatever that entails.”
“Right,” Kaeya scoffs out, clearly not believing Albedo a single word he says. “Just remember this: if you hurt this city or anyone who lives in it, I’m going to make you pay.”
“That’s rich, coming from the hope of the Nation. What are you going to do if your family comes for you?” Albedo shoots back, because he will not be intimidated by a man who’s allegiance might be even more unclear than Albedo’s own.
“They won’t,” Kaeya says with more confidence than he clearly feels. “Anyway, don’t talk to me again,” Kaeya calls over his shoulder has he makes his way out of Albedo’s lab and Albedo is left staring after him.
“You came talking to me,” he then says into the now empty room, completely over this entire interaction and he vows to never talk to this irritating Captain ever again.
~*~*~
Albedo wakes with a smile and soft kisses being peppered over his face.
“What’s got you all smiling first thing in the morning?” Kaeya whispers, his every word accompanied by a kiss and Albedo laughs.
“What else am I going to do when you dote on me like that?” he gives back and pulls Kaeya in for a real kiss, morning breath be damned.
“You smiled even in your dream,” Kaeya says when they part and Albedo’s smile widens more, if that is even possible.
“I dreamed about our first meeting,” he cheekily says and watches how Kaeya’s eyes go wide.
Albedo loves the fact that Kaeya doesn’t feel the need to hide his eye around Albedo anymore and he breathes a kiss over the exposed eye.
“And that has you smiling? Our first meeting was so bad!”
“Because you were an unreasonable brat,” Albedo laughs out and pulls Kaeya into a hug. “An unreasonable brat who was scared,” he whispers into Kaeya’s hair and enjoys the way Kaeya hugs him close.
“I was shocked and panicking,” Kaeya admits. “And I apologized.”
“More than once,” Albedo agrees, kissing Kaeya’s hair. “And there was nothing to forgive.”
“But you did anyway, right?”
“But I did anyway, because you wouldn’t shut up about it,” Albedo says, slightly tugging on Kaeya’s hair. “But seriously, you were scared for the home you found for yourself. And you knew nothing of me. It was a reasonable course of action you took.”
“It was childish and immature,” Kaeya whines into Albedo’s neck. “Why did you have to dream about that? Couldn’t you dream about the time I confessed to you?”
“Because that was less childish and immature?” Albedo shoots back and laughs when Kaeya groans and tries to pull away.
Not that Albedo would let him.
“Shut up,” Kaeya grumbles. “You agreed to a date, so I must have done something right.”
“You did many things right before then, otherwise I wouldn’t have agreed,” Albedo tells him and tightens his arms around Kaeya. “I already loved you before that first date.”
Kaeya melts in his arms at that confession and when he peers up at Albedo he can’t help but to lean in for another kiss.
“Lucky me, I guess,” Kaeya mumbles when they part and Albedo smiles at him.
“Lucky us,” he corrects him and then pulls the blanket back over both of them.
There’s no need for them to get up yet and Albedo would rather spend some more time like this. And since there’s no harm in indulging that particular wish, he vows to keep them in bed for as long as he can today.
Everyone else can deal without them for a day.
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