#promiscuity

“Always so rude to me,” Kaeya drawls out and then slumps over the table in a way that makes Albedo want to scold him, if he wasn’t so very clearly deliberately making sure not to actually touch anything.

Kaeya is strangely considerate like that and Albedo frowns at the warmth pooling in his gut when he notices it.

“I’m busy,” Albedo gives back, pouring the almost glowing liquid into another bottle.

“I can see that,” Kaeya says and lightly taps his finger against Albedo’s forehead. “Though it’s not this experiment that’s keeping you occupied. What’s going on?”

There it is again, that by now almost familiar electric shock, running down Albedo’s back and almost making him spill the liquid.

He gives Kaeya a glare for his troubles.

“Sorry?” Kaeya says, clearly unsure of what just happened but he keeps his hands to himself until Albedo is done with the transfer and that’s really all Albedo can ask for. “You okay?” he then asks and Albedo sighs.

He’s not going to find an answer to this puzzling question himself and asking other people has yielded no insight, either—maybe it is time for Albedo to bring this up with Kaeya directly.

“Not many people touch me,” he starts with, much to Kaeya’s apparent confusion.

“Klee does,” he immediately gives back and Albedo nods.

“And you.”

Kaeya opens his mouth as if he wants to say something—apologize, maybe?—before he closes it again without actually saying anything at first.

“Is that a problem?” Kaeya finally gets out and Albedo shrugs.

“I’m not sure. Your touch is strange.”

“Strange,” Kaeya repeats, clearly lost and Albedo sighs.

“There’s this—it’s tingling. In a pleasant way, I think.”

“You think,” Kaeya whispers and Albedo can see the gears turning in his head. “So, if I do this—” he doesn’t finish his sentence but instead reaches out and puts his fingertips to Albedo’s forearm.

“It tingles,” Albedo confirms. “All the way down my back.”

He sees it, the exact moment Kaeya comes to a realisation because there’s this shift in his whole demeanour and so Albedo isn’t quite surprised when Kaeya leans forward, his intention clear.

Kissing him would probably clear some things up, Albedo understands with a sudden start, but he can’t allow this.

“No,” he says and puts his hand to Kaeya’s shoulder, stopping him in his movement.

The shift in his expression was subtle, but Albedo has seen that look before. It’s the one Kaeya gets when he figures out what someone wants, what he has to give to make someone happy—oftentimes regardless of his own feelings—and Albedo is not going to allow this.

He is not going to let Kaeya kiss him just because Kaeya thinks it will make him happy, not when he doesn’t know if it’s something that would make Kaeya happy as well.

“No?” Kaeya repeats and a frown settles on his face when Albedo takes a step away from him. “This is what you want, isn’t it?” he then asks, and Albedo can tell that he’s getting worked up.

“And what do you want?” Albedo asks in return and sees how Kaeya flinches away from him.

His eyes are wide and panicked and Albedo doesn’t quite understand what’s going on anymore.

It only takes Kaeya a second to compose himself again and Albedo is also familiar with the sneer on his face.

Though it’s usually not directed at him.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Kaeya almost spits out. “Don’t think you’re anything special. It’s actually kind of pathetic to fall for the first guy who shows you some decency, don’t you think? Makes you an easy target for everyone, just so you know. Now, if you’d excuse me, I have better places to be.”

Before Albedo can find his words Kaeya has already turned around on his heels and stormed off, leaving a bewildered Albedo behind.

He understands that he somehow hurt Kaeya, enough for him to lash out like that, but Albedo can’t quite understand just what he did wrong.

And it doesn’t change the fact that Kaeya’s words leave a nagging feeling behind in his head.

It was said in an attempt to hurt Albedo and to hide Kaeya’s own hurt but Albedo can’t deny that maybe Kaeya might be right. Maybe he does only have feelings for him because Kaeya was nice to him.

That Albedo does have feelings for Kaeya can be affirmed without a doubt now—that split second where he thought, hoped really, that Kaeya would kiss him enough to confirm it—but maybe it’s for shallow reasons.

Maybe Kaeya’s touch isn’t all that special after all; how would Albedo know without knowing any other touch?

It’s enough to get him thinking for the rest of the day, and by the time the sun rises next, Albedo is gone from Mondstadt.

It’s time he does some experimenting.

~*~*~

His plan is to travel to Liyue first, maybe head to Sumeru next depending on how long it takes him, and his first stop is Wangshu Inn. He has a very interesting run-in with the local Yaksha there, and that night he takes the time to get thoroughly acquainted with his own touch.

It doesn’t do much for him, beyond the physical pleasure one would expect and Albedo thinks that maybe a second person might be required after all.

He makes it to Liyue Harbor a day later and spends some very enjoyable days there. He meets Zhongli and knows him for who he really is though he tries to stick to cryo and electro wielders (he did not expect Lady Ninguang and Beidou to be so welcoming), that shudder down his back still so very prevalent in his mind but then he remembers the warmth that usually also curls in his gut when Kaeya is there, when Kaeya touches him, and he resolves to find at least one pyro user willing to tumble with him for a night.

That doesn’t happen until he makes his way to Sumeru though—and only then because Thoma is there with Ayato on official business—and there he also meets his most promising bed partner yet. Albedo sees the way Hermanubis curls around Cyno like a second skin and thinks that if anyone can make him shudder from pure touch alone it might be him.

He backtracks when he notices how the Acting Grand Sage looks at Cyno and he can’t quite hide his surprise when they come to find him that evening.

“He likes to fuck,” Alhaitham tells him in that horribly blunt way he has. “And I don’t, much.”

“We came to the agreement that I am allowed to indulge, sometimes,” Cyno adds with a sharp smile.

“As long as it is understood that it’s a one time thing,” Alhaitham almost boredly tells him but Albedo hears it for the threat it is.

Since that is not a problem for him he finds himself pinned under Cyno that night and while Hermanubis makes his nerves light up like nothing before, it’s still not the same as when Kaeya touches him.

Albedo makes his way back home a day later.

~*~*~

He doesn’t waste time to announce his return and instead makes his way straight to Kaeya’s apartment.

Kaeya doesn’t seem too pleased to see him when he opens the door.

“Can we talk?” Albedo still asks and he missed this, the comfortable warmth that curls in his gut just from being around Kaeya.

“I’m not the one who ran,” Kaeya derisively says but when he retreats into his apartment, he leaves the door open and Albedo takes it for the invitation it is.

“What do you want?” Kaeya asks once the door is closed behind Albedo and his entire posture screams at Albedo to get out.

He must really have struck a nerve back then.

“Kaeya, what is it that you want?” Albedo asks in return, and there it is again, that painfully surprised and confused look on Kaeya’s face as if he has never before been asked that.

“What does it matter?” Kaeya gives back. “Did you have a few good days?”

The way he asks it makes Albedo frown.

“What do you mean?”

“Thoma and I keep in touch,” is all Kaeya says to that and of course. Albedo should have known.

“I see.”

“I’m really that undesirable, huh? You’d rather make your way to Sumeru of all places than to look here.”

“That’s not what that was about,” Albedo immediately says. “I thought maybe you were right. Maybe it was just because yours was the only touch I’ve really known. I needed to verify.”

“Verify. As if all of that was nothing more than an experiment.”

“It wasn’t. Kaeya, I’m asking again: what is it that you want?”

Albedo knows what he wants; knows that it’s only Kaeya who makes him feel like that, who manages to light his nerves up like no one else can but he still remembers that look on Kaeya’s face.

He’s not going to take what he wants if Kaeya is only doing it because it would please Albedo.

“It clearly doesn’t matter,” Kaeya says, and he sounds resigned to it in a way that squeezes Albedo’s chest almost painfully.

“Tell me anyway,” Albedo says and then simply holds Kaeya’s gaze until he crumbles right in front of him.

“I want you to want me,” Kaeya almost yells out before he completely deflates. “I want you,” he adds, much more silent this time and Albedo doesn’t waste any more time. He steps forward and pulls Kaeya into a kiss, marvelling at the way even that contact makes him burn up like nothing else had.

“You have me,” Albedo says when they part and he was not quite prepared for the sad, almost resigned smile Kaeya gives him.

“Your exploits say otherwise.”

“I was trying to figure out what makes you so special,” Albedo explains and he isn’t quite sure how to make Kaeya understand.

“And?”

“And what makes you special is the fact that I love you,” Albedo easily gives back, not quite rising to the challenge in Kaeya’s voice.

“Come on, Albedo,” Kaeya says, clearly not satisfied with that answer. “You only feel that way because I’ve been nice to you. Because I touched you when no one else would.”

“I thought about that, too, when you said it the first time,” Albedo admits and only notices Kaeya flinch because he’s so close. “But I’ve had people touch me now; I’ve had people be nice to me. One even offered to court me properly.”

He still remembered his surprise when Kaveh had offered it in the morning. It didn’t even bear consideration, but it had been nice nonetheless.

“Good for you,” Kaeya mutters but Albedo shakes his head.

“It’s neither of those things that made me fall in love with you, though.” That too, is something Albedo has given quite some thought to during his travels. And he thinks that there are too many reasons for him to name them all speaks for itself. Still, he tries. For Kaeya. “I fell in love with you because you’re kind to Klee no matter what, patient in a way not many are. Because you were the same with me, without making it feel as if you’re looking down on me, like many others did. Because you’re considerate and respect my work place. Because you treated me like a human even though it was so painfully obvious I wasn’t one. Because you expected me to learn and adapt and didn’t coddle me.”

“And because I’m hot,” Kaeya quips and Albedo loves that he knows Kaeya well enough to know that he’s uncomfortable with Albedo’s praise and needs to derail him for a moment. Not that Albedo is going to let him.

“That, too,” he still easily admits. “Though I would still rank the smile you give Klee higher. That one is only rivalled by the one you give me, sometimes. You know, the one that makes your face go all soft.”

 “I don’t have a smile like that,” Kaeya says, almost on reflex Albedo suspects but Albedo doesn’t bother to argue because the smile is right there, on Kaeya’s face.

“Sure,” Albedo agrees anyway. “So, if you truly want me, then you have me.”

“It didn’t seem like that when you pushed me away,” Kaeya says and it’s clear that it’s still eating away at him.

“Because I didn’t know it then,” Albedo explains. “Because you have a habit of doing things for the people you like to keep them happy, no matter what. And I couldn’t—I didn’t want you to do this only for me.”

“This would be something very selfish as well,” Kaeya admits and reaches out for Albedo’s hand.

Albedo doesn’t hesitate to thread their fingers together.

“Then you shall have it,” Albedo whispers as he leans back in.