No One but You
Summary: A glimpse through the eyes of the Chief Alchemist. Those little moments filled with domestic bliss that he wouldn’t trade for the world.
Contains: Albedo x gn!Reader, fluff, domestic fluff, established (implied) relationship
He can feel it.
In the fluttering of your pulse beneath the pads of his fingertips and the unhurried thrum of your very essence rushing within your veins. Ever so steady. With closed eyes, Albedo lets himself get lost in the rhythm.
Ba-bump. Ba-bump.
Beneath him, you shift and he feels the slight pressure of your hand against his back. Your touch and heartbeat keep him grounded, stops him from floating away with every little thought that floods his mind. When so easily, he is swept away by what if’s and how’s, you are there to remind him of his own needs, his own limits.
No matter what, he is only human.
So Albedo takes in a deep breath and nuzzles further into your neck.
The warmth that you provide is one he favors over the calm crackle of the fireplace (though that too, warms the room), kept in with the cover of a thick blanket draped over you both.
As he drifts off into a comfortable sleep, he only barely registers the way that your thumb gently rubs over his shoulder.
In the evenings, all is silent. He sits at the dining table, its surface littered with reports, a pen perched atop his ear and glasses slipping down his nose. A smudge of ink stains his cheek and thumb—a souvenir.
With every edit, it seems he only finds more that needs to be done.
So when the numbers seem to merge together and the crisp contrast of ink against paper is no longer stark, he settles back in his seat with a stretch and sigh. Carefully, he removes the spectacles from his nose and sets them down on the table.
As usual, you’re sitting huddled on the couch across the room with a book on top of your knees.
Even the grainy drag of a dog-eared page dragging against the next does little to disturb the peace that surrounds you. Your eyes drift along each line and he can see the way your fingers twitch in anticipation of what’s to come. He entertains a simple thought. Just a momentary passing of one single idea.
The pink tip of your tongue sticks out from the corner of your lip, drawing a chuckle from his. Unfortunately, the breathy sound draws your attention and the previous moment (of which he’s taken care to memorize) is lost.
When you ask him, an amused little lit to your voice, he shakes his head and waves you back to your book.
The answer is always the same, after all.
Only you can bring him these little moments—ones he finds he treasures more than the long hours spent deep in study, more than the blissful relief of discovery.
It takes a single instant longer before he’s shuffling his way over to you, reports laying forgotten and ink smudged on the corner of one of the pages to best clean his thumb. He wouldn’t want you worrying about him dirtying the couch with ink again, after all.
Arms wrapping around you, he lays back against the soft give of the cushions, chin resting on your shoulder to read along.
When you don’t turn the page and instead turn to look at him with your eyes shining with the gold light of the lamp, he presses a kiss to your temple and holds you tighter.
“We should go to the market tomorrow.”
Although the streets of Mond are busy, the city isn’t so populated that it’s impossible to navigate through to your favorite stalls.
‘You have a favorite stall?’ Albedo asked one day, when you insisted that the one just a bit further down had ingredients of better quality.
‘Of course! I buy from them often so they tend to save some things for me as well.’
This time, he is the one to lead the way.
Tucked just off to the side, a little stand sells a variety of ingredients uncommonly found in the region of Mondstadt. Dried ganoderma, chips of incredibly high quality Noctilucous Jade (he had tested this on a few occasions), chilled meat—
“Weren’t you just on Dragonspine?”
Albedo’s cheeks color, and he reaches to rub at his neck. It had slipped his mind, gathering more of the ingredient, so the convenience of hisstall of choice having it in stock was certainly something he’d rather not pass on.
The two of you return home with quite a few parcels of goods, some being set off to the side for that night’s dinner.
Within the space of the kitchen, the air is filled with a deliciously rich, savory smell.
Albedo can’t help but notice the way that you fiddle with the spices, sprinkling a bit more or adding in a chopping board full of carrots into the pot. He doesn’t have the heart to tell you that it’s seasoned enough when you pause and glance at the spice rack for the third time.
When you sit to eat, he has to stifle a laugh when you’re hit with the unforgettable taste of pepper.
Only after you make a face does he offer to fix it for you.
A dash of lemon and a little pinch of sugar help balance out the over-seasoned dish. You can’t help but commend his quick thinking, but he waves it off with a smile. He just applied what he knew about the dishes’ contents. To neutralize the taste of pepper, all that’s needed is a dash of acid and a sprinkle of sugar to help mellow the taste.
Though you got carried away, he thinks the added addition of those few extra spices might be just what the dish needed.
Instead of saying this, he teases you, asking if you’d like your dessert with pepper.
The day ends the same way it began, though this time he lays on his back with an arm wrapped loose over your shoulders while you rest against his chest.
In his free hand, he holds a few stray sheets of papers detailing his most recent expedition and skims over the lines of text over the rim of his glasses as a final check. Everything seems in order to be submitted in the morning.
Careful not to wake you, he can just barely reach far enough to set them somewhere they won’t get crushed or wrinkled. The moment they flutter from his fingers to rest on the surface of the nightstand, he relaxes.
Albedo closes his eyes, the room light dimming down until it finally clicks off and leaves the two of you blanketed in the comfortable silence of the night.
His own heartbeat sounds out steadily and he only can hope that it brings you the same comfort.