Chapter Text
“Remember, you need to be at Angel’s Share tonight! I’ll come pick you up from your laboratory when it’s time to go!” Klee reminds Albedo before he leaves the house. Knowing him, he might have gotten distracted by a new project, and Klee will later find him deep in his research! Better remind him now just in case!
“Of course. Have a good day, Klee.” Albedo nods, and sets off towards whatever he’s going to do. Klee doesn’t really know, it’s all super smart alchemy stuff!
Klee has a different mission. She needs to brief Kaeya on the details of the plan, and hand over all her equipment! There’s a pretty bouquet of flowers he needs to give, and he needs to know what to say! There’s so much work that still needs to be done.
Klee wastes no time in climbing up Mondstadt’s countless staircases to the Knights of Favonius headquarters. Luckily, when she bursts through the doors, Kaeya is standing there, reading through a thick file of reports. Good! She doesn’t have to run around searching for him.
Kaeya seems kind of busy right now… but it’s okay! Nothing could possibly be more important than Albedo! Kaeya’s reports will have to wait.
“Kaeya! I’ve come up with a plan to help you confess to Albedo!” Klee yells. Kaeya startles, nearly dropping his file. That’s when Klee notices that they’re not the only ones in the headquarters.
Kaeya flushes, glancing around the heavily populated entrance hall. All the other knights quickly avoid eye contact, noisily clearing their throats or humming loudly as they pointedly do not look at Kaeya or Klee and hastily evacuate the premises.
When the area is empty, Kaeya snaps his file shut and watches Klee skip towards him with a strained smile.
“Klee, was there a need to announce that in front of… well… everybody?” Kaeya is still smiling, but his entire body yells that he really wants to fling himself off Mondstadt’s walls and into Cider Lake right about now. Klee has no time for Kaeya to be embarrassed! It’s not like no one knew that Kaeya likes Albedo anyway.
“Don’t worry about that, Kaeya! I have more important things to say.” Klee dismisses, waving her hand. Kaeya takes a deep breath and stares at the ceiling, muttering things like ‘archons give me patience’ and ‘I’ve been a terrible influence’. That last one is definitely not true! Kaeya has taught Klee so many amazing things, and is partially the reason why Klee could put her plan into action in the first place!
Klee hands over the bouquet of flowers, practically shoving the flowers into Kaeya’s hands and stealing the file from him while he’s distracted. Klee places the file on the floor. That’s not important right now! When she turns back, Kaeya is studying the flowers intently.
“Is… Master Diluc part of this plan?” Kaeya asks softly, looking at the flowers. When Klee nods, Kaeya chuckles, turning the bouquet over in his hands so he can see it from all angles. “I thought so. No one makes bouquets the way he does. It’s pretty. I like it a lot, Klee.”
“It’s for you to give to Albedo when you confess! Flowers are romantic.” Klee explains. Kaeya breaks out of the little trance he was in and makes a sound of understanding. Great! Equipment delivered!
“Have you thought about what you’re going to say when you confess?” Klee demands. Kaeya looks thoroughly floored. Klee might not have the height advantage here, but she’s very good at getting Kaeya to agree to things, so she has a natural advantage!
“Klee, are you sure you want me to confess to Albedo? Maybe you can find someone better, like another alchemist, or someone from Mondstadt.” Kaeya sighs, sitting on the floor so that he’s eye level with Klee.
Klee frowns.
“It has to be you! You are a part of Mondstadt, in fact, you’re a Cavalry Captain! And I’ve seen you reading books on alchemy in the library so you can understand what Albedo is saying when you go visit him. You know a lot about alchemy.” Klee says. Kaeya doesn’t seem to agree with her, by the way he huffs and turns away. Klee grabs his face with her hands and turns it back towards her.
“Kaeya! You really like Albedo. Albedo really likes you. You can take care of him. You make him happy! There can’t possibly be anyone that I’d rather have as a big brother-in-law, because you’re the best! Isn’t that enough?” Done with her impromptu speech, Klee surges forward and wraps Kaeya in a hug. It seems like he needs it!
Kaeya squeezes her tightly in the hug, and they stay like that for a few more seconds as Kaeya pretends he’s not trying not to cry. When Kaeya lets go, Klee averts her eyes so Kaeya can quickly wipe at his eyes and make himself presentable again.
“Alright, walk me through the plan, Klee. Let’s get myself a boyfriend!” Kaeya cheers. Alright! Klee has been waiting for this! She immediately pulls a carefully folded sheet of paper out from her bag and spreads it on the floor.
The two of them sit on the floor for a while, going over confession plans and the details. Kaeya laughs for a long time when Klee describes how she got Mister Diluc to agree to lend them his tavern, and pats her head saying that he taught her well.
The rest of the knights mill around them, going about their duties while pretending that they can’t see their Cavalry Captain sitting on the floor with their Spark Knight. At one point, Lisa and Jean come back and give thumbs ups to Kaeya, who responds with a pointed look and a sign that Klee isn’t allowed to see before the two disappear into Jean’s office.
Around late afternoon, Kaeya finally stands up and stretches, helping Klee off the ground as well.
“I’ll be heading to Angel’s Share now, Klee. I’ll trust you to get Albedo to come on time.” Kaeya smiles. Klee nods hastily and gives him one last quick hug, for luck! Kaeya grabs the bouquet of flowers, mysteriously uncrushed from all the hugging, and walks out the door.
This is so exciting! All Klee needs to do now is get Albedo to go to Angel’s Share with her, and Kaeya’s confession should handle the rest. Klee can’t wait!
When she reaches Albedo’s laboratory, he’s surprisingly not in the middle of some complicated experiment, and is just waiting for her on his couch.
“Hello, Klee. I didn’t forget your important event. Shall we go?” Albedo says, standing up and holding out his hand when he sees Klee. This is why Albedo is the absolute best! He never forgets anything when Klee says it’s important, even though he doesn’t understand it. Klee happily holds his hand and lets Albedo lead her to Angel’s Share, stopping him before he can open the doors.
“Wait! Let me go in first, just to make sure!” Klee insists. Albedo nods seriously and stands off to the side, making himself busy with reading the notice board that states that the tavern was closed tonight for ‘undisclosed reasons’. The rest of the notice board is solely dedicated to missing person posters. What’s up with that, anyway?
When Klee carefully slips into the tavern, she’s immediately impressed. Wow! Mister Diluc really went all out! The second floor banisters are covered in flower garlands and streamers, and all the tables and chairs on the first floor have been pushed to the side to make space for a circle of flowers. There’s even fairy lights hanging from the ceiling and the bar! Mister Diluc is amazing!
“Oh, Klee, it’s just you.” Kaeya sighs, the hand not holding the bouquet pressed over his heart. He seems really nervous!
“Don’t worry, Kaeya! If Albedo doesn’t accept your confession — which definitely won’t happen! — I’ll fight him for you!” Klee cheers, making a fist pumping motion. Kaeya laughs, his nervous expression clearing for a second to make way for a mischievous smile.
“Please tell Lisa that I can see Diluc’s hair from down here. She should really stop dragging everyone into my business.” Kaeya whispers loudly. Klee can hear Miss Lisa gasp theatrically from somewhere above her, followed by Mister Diluc’s grunt of pain. She can also hear Master Jean scolding them both. Just how many people are up there?
When Klee climbs the steps to the second floor, she finds it isn’t only the three people that she just heard. Basically the entire Mondstadt is here!
There’s Bennett with Razor and Miss Fischl, the three of them huddled together in a corner discussing something, probably their next exploration location. Amber is practically shaking with excitement, Miss Noelle watching her worriedly in case she falls off her seat. Miss Barbara is chatting with Master Jean, who’s given up on scolding Miss Lisa and Mister Diluc sitting beside her, while Diona shoots Mister Diluc a dirty look every three seconds. Miss Mona and Miss Sucrose are debating some alchemy topic, while Venti strums a tune on his lyre. Even Sister Rosaria is sitting in a dark corner, nursing a bottle of wine.
“We’re all here to support you, Kaeya! Go for it!” Amber yells, leaning over the banister to wave enthusiastically. Kaeya sends her a wink, which looks really weird because he only has one eye exposed to begin with. Or maybe it’s a blink? Either way, someone should probably pull Amber back before she falls over to the first floor.
Klee hurriedly takes a seat beside Master Jean and cups her hands around her mouth to yell loud enough for Albedo to hear from outside the tavern.
“You can come in now, Albedo!”
The door creaks open, and silence immediately falls over the second floor, everyone tensed in anticipation.
“Klee? What’s happening— oh.” Albedo’s normally soothing voice hitches as he enters the tavern and takes in the sight. The fancy decorations, the ring of flowers, the badly hidden people watching them from the second floor with zero regard to their privacy — everything.
And Kaeya, standing in the middle, holding a bouquet of flowers.
“Come on, let’s give them a show.” Kaeya smiles, and gently pulls a shell-shocked Albedo into the ring of flowers.
“Captain Kaeya?” Albedo asks.
“Just Kaeya is fine.” Kaeya says. He presses the bouquet of flowers into Albedo’s hand, who takes them in mild confusion.
“So, Klee helped me prepare this speech. Well, she helped prepare everything you’re seeing right now, really.” Kaeya chuckles, gesturing to the backdrop. Albedo takes a look around the tavern again and smiles.
“So this is what she’s been doing the entirety of yesterday?” Albedo murmurs in wonder. Kaeya smirks, and takes Albedo’s waiting hands into his, which elicits a tiny squeal from the more excitable members of the viewing party.
“Well, I think it’s pretty obvious what I’m trying to do here.” Kaeya chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. The heart-shaped balloons might have been too much after all, then. But it was romantic!
“I want to hear you say it anyway.” Albedo insists. Kaeya laughs, bowing grandly and mimicking a ‘as you wish’ gesture.
“Albedo, I really like you.” Kaeya confesses, and Klee delights in the way she can see Albedo’s cheeks turn red and his eyes widen. Probably no one else could see the way Albedo’s breathing speeds up by just a tiny bit, or the way his mouth parts in shock. By Kaeya’s amused smile, Klee knows that he noticed.
“Albedo, I like you so much that even your little sister could tell, and spent an entire day setting up this event just so I could finally confess. I like you so much that all the vision wielders in Mondstadt are camping upstairs tonight, because they’re had enough of my pining and want to watch the confession finally happen.”
“I like you so much that I scare myself sometimes.” Kaeya murmurs so quietly that Klee has to strain her ears to hear it, his hand reaching up to tuck Albedo’s hair behind his ears. Kaeya’s eyes soften. “Well. Not to go around spilling secrets in polite company, but you would understand, don’t you?”
“I do.” Albedo whispers. There’s a history behind that question that Klee doesn’t understand, but from the way Mister Diluc frowns and Sister Rosaria turns away, Klee knows it is important. But it doesn’t matter. Because right now, Klee doesn’t doubt that the two of them have forgotten that they have an audience.
Kaeya’s eyes light up, and his cocky facade falls away, exposing his real smile.
“Then, would you grant me the honor of being able to kiss the prettiest person in the entire Teyvat?” Kaeya smiles, cupping Albedo’s face in his hands.
“If anything, you should be the one giving me that honor.” Albedo huffs, but the way his cheeks flare red and his hands fist themselves in Kaeya’s jacket front are much more telling of his true feelings.
“I’m not watching this.” Mister Diluc sniffs, hastily turning away so everyone can avert their eyes and pretend he wasn’t tearing up at the sight. He gets up from his seat, opening the door to the balcony on the second floor to usher everyone out to give the couple some semblance of privacy.
“My my, not into voyeurism, Diluc?” Lisa chuckles quietly, ignoring Mister Diluc’s watery glare to help to shepherd everyone out the door and down the stepladder someone had the foresight to put there beforehand. It must have been quite the sight, seeing nearly all the vision wielders of Mondstadt climbing out of the second floor balcony of Angel’s Share, including respected Acting Grandmaster Jean and the Uncrowned King of Mondstadt Master Diluc.
Klee is the last one out the door, and she turns around just in time to catch a glimpse of Kaeya bending down to meet Albedo’s lips in a kiss.
Later, when night has fallen, Kaeya and Albedo finally exit Angel’s Share hand in hand, prompting a round of whoops and cheers from everyone waiting outside. Albedo flushes heavily although his face remains stoic, and Kaeya smirks, lifting Albedo’s hand up to his lips to press a kiss to his palm.
“Congratulations! Would you be able to stop breaking into my office during work hours to rant about Albedo now, Kaeya?” Master Jean teases with a warm smile. Albedo lifts an eyebrow in amusement as Kaeya groans loudly and playfully shoves Master Jean in the side. Kaeya is so brave to disturb Master Jean while she is working! Maybe it counts as a break of sorts, to prevent Master Jean from working too hard, and to let her listen to some gossip.
“Please continue coming in, during office hours especially. I would love to hear all about the new couple. Most importantly, how is the… ah… physical relationship?” Miss Lisa winks. Master Jean turns bright red and slaps a hand over Miss Lisa’s mouth to prevent her from speaking more. Klee doesn’t really understand the question…
“Maybe you’ll stop being so insufferable in the tavern after hours.” Mister Diluc huffs. Kaeya grins widely, and spreads his arms for a hug, much to the chagrin of the much shorter Albedo as Kaeya nearly smacks him in the face.
“Aw! I knew you cared about me! So touching, Master Diluc.” Kaeya pretends to cry, the grumpy storm cloud Klee always envisions around Mister Diluc’s head growing darker as Kaeya throws himself around Mister Diluc. Strangely, Mister Diluc doesn’t push Kaeya away, until Kaeya detaches naturally to go terrorise someone else. Mister Diluc can be pretty cute sometimes! Klee will have to add him to her list of people she needs to hug.
“I’m really happy for you, Mister Albedo!” Miss Sucrose exclaims shyly. She then proceeds to seem surprised by her own outburst and desperately tries to dodge Albedo giving her a pat on the head. Miss Sucrose really is the best! It’s so nice of her to stop her experiments for a while to come support Albedo!
“It’s super cool that you guys are dating now! I’m definitely going to tell my dads all about this!” Bennett cheers enthusiastically, grabbing Miss Fischl's and Razor’s hands to pump them in the air together. Razor just looks mildly confused while Miss Fischl turns bright red and flips her hair over her face immediately. The three of them are so cute! Klee wants to join them for an adventure someday!
“Kaeya! That confession was so sweet! I can totally feel the blood pumping in my veins!” Amber yells, dragging a confused Miss Noelle and Miss Barbara with her towards Kaeya.
“Are you sure that isn’t just your near death experience from almost falling off the second floor?” Kaeya asks, amused, as Amber flushes and stomps her feet.
“You saw that? I’m fine! Noelle is really strong.” Amber squeaks, shoving Miss Noelle forward. Miss Noelle curtsies — Klee should learn how to do that! It would be so pretty! — and pulls Miss Barbara forward to engage Kaeya in pleasant small talk, the way one does after it was just revealed that they were spying on someone’s confession.
“...Good for you.” Sister Rosaria says solemnly, breaking the intense staring contest she and Albedo were having. Sister Rosaria is so serious around Albedo! It’s probably because she and Kaeya are best friends, and she’s worried Albedo would hurt Kaeya. She doesn’t have to be so worried, though! Albedo would never hurt anyone in Mondstadt!
“Surely this occasion calls for a round of drinks, doesn’t it, Master Diluc?” Venti calls excitedly, already holding a bottle of wine. Miss Mona was hurriedly stuffing her face with the small side dishes Mister Diluc had set out for the viewing party beside him, but hastily hid the dish behind her when Venti drew attention to their corner, as if no one could see the crumbs left around her mouth.
“...I suppose I could come up with a limited edition cocktail for the occasion.” Mister Diluc sighs, as Venti whoops and pops the bottle of wine open to celebrate. “I’m adding that to your tab, by the way.”
Klee ignores the sounds of Diona clawing Venti for the bottle of wine and Venti’s sudden burst of sneezes in favour of going up to Kaeya and Albedo, who’ve somehow managed to extract themselves from the crowd.
“Klee! There you are.” Albedo says warmly, scooping Klee up into his arms to carry her. Kaeya leans over and ruffles her hair affectionately.
“Did you like it, Albedo? I worked really hard to plan this for you!” Klee asks, throwing her arms around Albedo’s neck to stable herself as they start to walk back towards their house. The group behind them doesn’t notice, too busy perestering Mister Diluc into giving everyone a round of free non-alcoholic drinks, courtesy of the more responsible members of the group.
“Let’s put our little Spark Knight to bed, and then maybe we can partake in some night time activities of our own, hm?” Kaeya suggests, leading them down the route towards Klee and Albedo’s house, even though Klee doesn’t remember telling him how to get there. Kaeya really does just know everything!
“If by ‘night time activities’ you mean ‘going to bed so that I can wake up early tomorrow for my next experiment’, then yes. I’m glad we are on the same page.” Albedo snipes back, quickening his pace.
“Albedo, so mean!” Kaeya pouts, lengthening his stride as well. Kaeya’s legs are way too long! Just a few steps and he’s already side by side with Albedo, who can only huff in exasperation before grudgingly slowing down to his normal walking pace again.
“You can sleep with Albedo!” Klee exclaims. It’s a great idea! Clearly Kaeya wants to spend more time with Albedo, like a good boyfriend, but Albedo needs to go to sleep for an early day tomorrow. Then, they can sleep together!
Albedo turns red and coughs quietly into his shoulder, while Kaeya actually blushes, shielding his face from view. Was it something that Klee said?
“...I wouldn’t be opposed. To literally sleeping together.” Albedo clarifies hastily when he sees Kaeya immediately turns towards him, eyes huge. Kaeya grins and throws an arm around Albedo’s waist, pulling him and Klee closer to himself.
“Then I’ll go ahead and consider myself part of the family.” Kaeya declares. He presses a kiss to Klee’s forehead, and then another one straight into Albedo’s lips. Albedo hums noncommittally, but Klee can see the corners of his mouth turn up the tiniest bit.
The mission was a huge success! It would seem that Klee has a new big brother.