Wallowing | Albedo's Descent Book 2

Chapter 12: Bestie No...

Albedo was right. Rosaria was upset.
It had been about five days since Albedo had been revived when he was let out. He insisted on helping repair the city and Jean was okay with it.
Rosaria, on the other hand, was not. She kept glaring at him as she was administrating. In fact, almost everyone was glaring at Albedo the whole time.
He did his best to ignore them but it wasn't always easy.
Kaeya didn't exactly have it easy, either. Rosaria even confronted him about it.
"I told you he was bad news," she folded her arms.
Kaeya held his mouth shut. He was afraid of this.
"Nothing to say?" Rosaria asked. "You can't tell me he isn't dangerous."
"It wasn't him," Kaeya said quietly, "Lisa said it wasn't him."
Rosaria raised her brows, "I told you that I would not tolerate anyone who was a threat to my home. And Albedo has been added to the list."
Kaeya sighed, "Rosaria..."
"I can't trust him," she said through her teeth. "As your best friend I'm advising you to stay away."
Kaeya looked away, "I..."
"How are you so in love with him?! I bet he doesn't feel the same anyways! He isn't human!"
Kaeya winced at her words.
"Why won't you say anything?!"
"... becuase I know you won't believe me, no matter what I say..."
Rosaria huffed, her hand on her hips, "he's dangerous, Kaeya."
"But he isn't..." Kaeya didn't know what to do.
Rosaria narrowed her eyes, "just wait until he kills someone." She marched off, apparently done with him.
Kaeya felt this was very wrong. Albedo wasn't going to hurt anyone... But there was no way to convince Rosaria...
Later, when Lisa asked what was wrong Kaeya ended up crying. He didn't want to loose his bestie!
"Well, I'm sure she'll come around over time..."
"But she won't! That's just who she is! She'll never trust Albedo again!"
Lisa sighed, "but she's your bestie. She trusts you, doesn't she?"
Kaeya blinked, "what?"
"But she trusts you, Kaeya." Lisa began to smile, "she can't go on forever without you. Have you seen how many friends she has?"
Kaeya paused, "oh."
Lisa chuckled, "so stop crying and go get your bestie back."

Albedo stared at his reflection. This reminded him of the Infection... which was very worrying.
But it was different. This was purple and there weren't actually any cracks in his skin. They were just... markings...
He carefully lifted his hand and touched one of the small tendrils that was barely snaking out of the symbol on his throat.
Albedo seethed as he pulled his hand away. This hurt. A lot. He needed to-
The door opened and Albedo looked over his shoulder, "who is it?"
Klee scampered in, giggling, "hehehe! Klee thinks Kaeya's gonna marry you~"
Albedo blinked, "what makes you think that?..." he wasn't sure how to hide his newfound issue. Hopefully Klee wouldn't be so observant.
"Hehe! Klee heard Kaeya talking to himself about you earlier!"
Albedo tilted his head, "and that means he is going to marry me?..."
She nodded, "Miss Lisa told me that's what it means when people are whispering nervously to themselves!"
Albedo sighed, "Klee... he was probably just worried about Rosaria..."
Klee narrowed her eyes, "is Albedo saying he doesn't want to marry Kaeya?!"
Albedo paused, "no... I'm only pointing out that-"
Klee gasped, "why not?! Don't you love Kaeya?!"
Albedo didn't know how to tell her anything. It seemed she didn't want to listen. "Didn't Lisa ask for your help earlier?"
"Klee already finished!" She stamped her foot.
"Okay..." he held his hand out, "just calm down..."
Klee folded her arms, "Dodoco thinks Albedo is stalling."
Albedo sighed as he sat down on the floor, "Klee... I really don't think Kaeya wants to-"
"No! Kaeya doesn't want to, Kaeya's going to!"
Albedo felt a little stressed by this conversation, "ah, okay... I still don't think-"
"Why not?!" Klee put her hands on her hips, "you guys have kissed!"
"That doesn't..."
"Miss Lisa said that when you love someone you have to marry them."
Albedo didn't know how to deal with this, "Klee, can we talk about this later?..."
The door opened again as Klee responded, "Nope!"
"And what's going on in here?" Kaeya asked, a smile on his face. He seemed to be in a much better mood than he had been earlier.
Albedo swallowed hard. Kaeya would surely notice whatever was wrong with him now.
Klee whipped around, "you're going to marry Albedo, right?!"
Kaeya chuckled, "I hope to eventually."
Klee clapped her hands, "see!!!"
Albedo sighed quietly, his face growing warm.
"Albedo doesn't want you to marry him!" Klee said it like she was telling on him.
"Ah! I did not say that-"
Kaeya gasped dramatically, "Klee! How could he?!"
"Exactly!" Klee waved her hands around, "tell him he doesn't have a choice!"
Kaeya stood in front of Albedo, his one visible eyes shining, "you don't get a choice."
Albedo was honestly a little intimidated by that, "I didn't..."
Kaeya took Albedo's upper arms and pulled him up to stand, "I know you probably wouldn't have said no anyways."
"Probably?" Klee asked.
"Probably," Kaeya smiled nervously, "sometimes it's hard to tell what Albedo wants." Then he put an arm around Albedo's waist and - a little violently - dipped him as if they were waltzing.
The swift movement caused Albedo to grab onto Kaeya's shoulder as his other hand was clasped by Kaeya's. Albedo stared up at him in surprise. He thought for a moment that Kaeya was going to let him fall.
Kaeya chuckled, squeezing his hand and waist, "but if it really came down to it, I might not give you a choice."
Albedo held his breath. He was so worried that Kaeya would notice now that they were so close. It was inevitable.
Klee was biting her lip, waiting with excitement for something to happen.
"Hm? No words left for me? Or did I take them all?" Kaeya teased as he stood back upright, leaving his arm around Albedo's waist.
Albedo really didn't seem to have any words. He didn't know what to say. He'd never really considered the idea of getting married...
"Well?!?! What's the right answer Albedo?!"
Albedo blinked, "ah, uhm... yes?..."
"Good! Now you can't get out of it!" Klee giggled madly as she dashed out the door.
Kaeya sighed as he took a step back from Albedo and let him go, "so, when we're you going to tell me?"
Albedo looked away, "I knew you would notice..."
Kaeya took Albedo's face, "why do you never tell me when something is wrong?..."
Albedo couldn't look at him, "I... didn't know until this morning... it didn't even look wrong, I thought I was just sore from talking..."
Kaeya sighed heavily, "I cant believe you sometimes... Let me look at it."
Albedo tilted his head back, "I don't even know what it is. I was going to go get Lisa, but then Klee came in..."
"How did you guys even get on the topic of marriage?" Kaeya asked as he took his eyepatch off. He blinked a few times to get used to the light. Though it wouldn't help much, two eyes were better than one.
"Klee came in and said that you were talking to yourself and how Lisa said that meant someone wanted to get married."
Kaeya got a worried look, "... I think Klee should spend less time with Lisa... it's becoming a problem..."
Albedo sighed.
Kaeya gently placed his hand on the side of Albedo's neck, "does it hurt?"
"Only when I touch it and when I talk too loud or harshly."
Kaeya was actually about to touch it. He stopped, "at least you were going to get help instead of suffering like last time."
"It's... probably just a side effect... We just have to take out whatever's left of that smoke. Though... I'm surprised there is any left..."
As Kaeya looked at it, he remembered what Albedo had looked like when he was destroying everything. He had those purple veins all over him, pulsing with their light. It made him look like he might explode or something...
Kaeya backed away, rubbing his arm, "and you've never seen anything like this on you before?"
"No, why?" Albedo looked back forward.
"Just asking..." Kaeya opened the door, "let's go find Lisa." Apparently the other being hadn't manifested slowly last time... Maybe it was now because it was weaker. Hopefully that meant it would be easier to stop.