The blisteringly cold, night winds of Dragonspine plastered against Felix's light face, chilling him to his core. The only source of heat was the warmly lit cave upon the region's mountain. Small fires and lanterns helped illuminate the small, open space, heating the area just enough for the cold to stay away. The chill of Dragonspine was a danger to all adventurers and all who dared to explore its icy peak, able to cause any unexperienced wanderer to freeze in minutes. Felix wasn't so ordinary as an explorer, being the honorary knight of Favonius and formally recognised as the protector of Mondstadt, though the mountain was still highly dangerous to him.
Felix was kneeling besides a cooking pot and its fire beneath it for heat, cooking up various delicious foods for himself, roasting them well to try warm his body and soul up. He wasn't alone for too long though, as the cave had been taken over by a peculiar Mondstadt alchemist by the name of Albedo, who was returning to the cave after an expedition to gather some fruits for his current projects. Albedo was an extraordinary alchemist, known all throughout Teyvat for his natural talent and experience. He was also known to be quite unusual among those who had met him. He spoke with a very soft tone, as if he were examining the world around him with every word, his eyes looking ever so slightly out of focus whenever he looked at you. He was rather reckless, too. Although not obvious in personality, he often tried his new potions and tested them on himself to learn their effects. Recently, however, he did occasionally try some of his more confident potions on Felix himself, but with all the preparations fulfilled in case anything were to go wrong. Outside of being an alchemist, Albedo was also gifted in artistic talent too, able to paint landscapes and the surroundings in extreme detail, often using them to help with his studies. He really brought life into the world with both his alchemy and his art.
"Oh? Hello, Felix." Albedo spoke with his normal soft, hushed tone, unaware he had come over. "You look awfully cold, is something the matter?" The alchemist wandered over to a desk with all his equipment laid out, taking a knife and chopping the fruit on the wooden table.
"I'm fine, thanks. I had trouble finding fire on my way here…" Felix had overtime gotten used to Albedo's quirks, the two visiting each other frequently. Most of the time Felix came over to the mountain, as Albedo wasn't one to take his focus from his studies and work, as if they were the foundations of his life; he'd be lost without the work he did. Secretly, Felix wished Albedo would relax more often.
Albedo carefully put the chopped fruit down, placing the knife back on the table. "I'll be right over, give me just one moment to prepare." Felix looked over to the alchemist, putting a fresh hot bowl of soup up to his lips as he watched Albedo rummage around in one of the desk's compartments. Quickly, Felix recoiled, he had definitely cooked the soup for way too long, ending up burning his tongue. He let out a quick pained yelp, which got the attention of the alchemist once more, who hurried whatever he was doing up for Felix's sake.
In moments, the pained boy felt the grasp of a glove on his shoulder, as Albedo kneeled down, clutching a simple frostshield potion in his other hand, shaking it to mix up the ingredients some more. "Here, be more careful next time. You needn't trouble yourself with such a thing. This will certainly be helpful to me, too." Albedo said with his regular expression, which was fairly unreadable at most times, but moments like this made Felix feel like there was a certain and genuine worry behind those eyes.
Felix took the potion without much suspicion, he was used to this kind of treatment, and gave him a smile and a nod as he took the potion from the alchemist's hand, popping off the top and drinking it down. Frostshield potions give a chilled feeling as they're drank, but soon help the drinker withstand the harsh, cold climate of the mountain. There was an unusual tingly sensation as it crossed over the burn, but shortly thereafter, he could feel his body temperature increase from the potion's effects. Although, along with his temperature rising, the burn on his tongue felt suddenly painful, as he let out a troubled exhale through his teeth. In a matter of seconds, his burn had completely subsided, and was healed too. The pain wore off, and everything felt normal once more, as Felix felt the energy of warmth flow through him.
With his focus finally shifted away from the drink, he found himself staring into the face of a very focused Albedo at his side, watching him intently. He knew what this expression meant, but it was still a surprise to him whenever Albedo did anything like this. "W-Was I helpful?"
Seeing that the effects were over, Albedo gave him a nod with closed eyes and taking out a pen and small note from his pocket. His pen quickly scribbled along the paper, noting down things that couldn't be seen from Felix's perspective. "Of course. I was watching the impact of the potion on physical burns. If the potion changes a person's physical body temperature, it was intriguing to know if it could do anything else. This was very helpful. Thank you, Felix." He almost turned to leave but caught himself quickly. "Oh, and I deeply apologise for studying you without permission. I originally intended on handing you the potion regardless, but the opportunity presented itself and I simply couldn't resist the chance. I'm happy you're okay. Please report to me any kind of new or unusual feelings in your mouth or in general. I can treat any adverse side-effects and note them down. The medical field in alchemy is an ever-expanding one." He lifted the pen from the note, and neatly folded the paper, pushing it into his pocket as he grasped Felix's hand and helped bring him to his feet, picking up the bowl safely with his gloves and placing it in a cold pile of snow by the cave's entrance to cool it down.
Felix smiled at Albedo. While the alchemist's methods of showing it were unusual, he knew that his care was genuine. He was fine with being used for experiments, as long as they weren't too dangerous. "I don't mind it, but please be gentle with me." Felix replied back, walking over to one of the fires in the middle of the cave.
"Speaking of which, Felix, can you wait there a moment?" Albedo asked, finishing his fruit chopping from earlier and placing the pieces all in an oval-shaped glass bottle. Felix watched him pour a multitude of liquids and substances into the bottle, a gentle steam rising from the top as Albedo mixed everything together. "I have a new potion to try out. This one has been in the making for quite a long period of time, but I think I've made it safe enough for the intended effects to set in." The usage of "safe enough" was slightly worrying, but Felix chose to trust the alchemist. "It's main effects only work if the mind detects it's in the presence of one other person, but if not, it simply heats the user up over a slow period of time. Of course, the desired effects I could not test with my assistants. Unfortunately, they were not… who I was hoping for results with. I'll have you test this one for me." Albedo paused for a moment, then reassured Felix. "Don't worry, I only need to watch the effects it causes. You don't need to do any tedious work with this one."
Felix stood by the heat of the fire as the alchemist came close, almost detecting a subtle smile under those closed off emotions as he looked down at his potion. He presented the potion to Felix, it was the same soft ice blue as a frostshield potion, but with a few small pieces of fruit inside and the light steam emanating from the top. Reluctantly, Felix took the bottle from Albedo's grasp, looking at the contents. He'd gone this far, why not? He drank down the potion, getting to half the bottle before he felt Albedo's warm hand grab his arm and pull the potion away.
"How does it feel? Is there anything strange?" Albedo asked, holding the now half-full bottle's neck in both hands. To Felix, nothing came on besides what Albedo mentioned before, as he felt his chest and face areas slowly start to heat up.
"Just… hot, and nothing else. Almost like a burn." Felix answered. The feeling was the exact opposite to drinking a frostshield potion, he felt himself heat up slowly inside.
Albedo nodded, putting his hand against his lips as if he were thinking. "Excellent. That's exactly what it should do. Please, if you have time, I'd like for you to stay a while longer. It would be nice to have company around as I did my work, and I do need to watch the effects of the potion kick in, if my theories were correct about you."
Felix tilted his head, unsure. "What kind of theories? My elemental powers?"
The alchemist showed a subtle smile past his hand. "No, no. This is different. I'll let you know in due time." He looked back up to Felix, regaining his composure. "For the time being, would you like to help me with my work? Nothing too strenuous. I'd like to teach you past the basics of alchemy."
Felix felt obvious ulterior motives behind his voice but pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. He'd rather focus on Albedo and his alchemy. As time went on, Albedo showed the knight new and easier ways of brewing his own potions, and simpler techniques on how to control the effects. The two stood beside each other by Albedo's desk and worked together to make simple potions for Felix to take on his journeys. Though, very slowly, something new was developing within Felix. Too slow to feel at first, but as Albedo taught him through his work, he took more notice to the smaller details. The soft, calming voice of his tutor. The way his hands gently moved in the air. The warmth of his shoulder and arm against his own. New feelings began to arise.
He finally noticed when Albedo took hold of his wrist, standing behind the knight to help guide his hand through the making processes. The warmth of Albedo's hand felt so nice against his arm. As he pushed close, he could feel the warmth and gentle heartbeat from Albedo's chest against his back. He could feel great power within the alchemist, but that only helped to calm him. He felt like he was in safe hands. Protected from all danger.
The original heat from before had stopped once it hit its peak, leading Felix to slowly forget about it, but now there was a new, more natural heat within him. His chest felt heavy and heated, his face slowly bridged a new red across his face with a deep warmth growing inside. Felix had to take a moment to excuse himself, leaning against the desk, much to the worry of Albedo. However, even with the small break, he only found it to make these feelings stronger. When Albedo checked on him, he found himself staring into those deep, oceanic eyes of his, unable to focus on finishing a full sentence. All he could do was mumble something about needing to rest and walking over to sit with his legs crossed by the fire, holding his face in his hands.
Albedo came over, sitting beside the knight with one knee up, looking at him with a new care in his gentle expression. Maybe it wasn't different from normal, but Felix's own perspective of the alchemist had changed, and more genuine feelings started to appear. "Is everything alright, Felix? You look… brighter than usual." Albedo asked, referring to the blush on his face. All Felix could do was shake his head, then finally he remembered.
"A-Albedo… What was that potion for?" He asked, looking towards the fire.
The alchemist thought for a moment. "I called it the heartache potion. It shouldn't do anything too specific but has the potential to build on pre-existing wants or desires deep within the drinker. Do you believe this is part of the potion?"
Felix nodded, looking back over to Albedo. The feelings were so strong but didn't feel unpleasant. He found himself shuffling closer to Albedo, who had a much softer look on his face, seemingly having realised the situation. He almost reached for his pen, but decided not to, closing his pocket instead. "Admittedly, you drank more of the potion than I anticipated… All to the fault of mine, of course. I didn't specify how much you needed to drink." He showed a soft, genuine smile to the knight, who was now looking deeply into Albedo's eyes.
To Felix, those eyes didn't seem out of focus anymore, more like they were looking deep into his soul, revealing all his deepest feelings within. If that was the case, so be it, he thought. He didn't want to hide those feelings from the alchemist. It was very late at night, the cold was kept out, but Felix pushed closer regardless, feeling the gentle warmth of the body beside him mix with his. Albedo didn't move, accepting the close touch. "Hey, Felix?" Albedo started, speaking quietly and comfortably to the knight. "If it's not too much to ask… Please, spend the night with me. I know I must continue my work, but I'll make an exception tonight."
Felix nodded, wrapping his arms around Albedo's arm, clinging onto him as the warmth within him kept near, empowered by the touch of the alchemist. He accepted Albedo's offer, he wanted nothing more than to stay close to him.
Albedo's lips curved into a smile, with almost a blush behind it too. This was certainly an expression never seen by anyone but the knight. He helped Felix to his feet once more, letting him stay close. "I'll take you down the mountain. Let's go down to Mondstadt, my living quarters are there. It'll be much more comfortable."
Soon enough, the two were making their way down the mountain. The warmth within Felix was strong enough to keep him protected from the harsh winds, and Albedo had his own secrets for his protection to the cold. It took them quite a long time, walking through the fields, passing beside trees, along the way Albedo had to pick Felix up, carrying him in his arms as Felix held on tightly to the alchemist, feeling their hearts beat together. Eventually, they made it back to the city. It was a bizarre sight for the people who lived or worked there, seeing the most powerful and experienced alchemist who barely shows much emotion, simply carrying their blushing hero in his arms, a gentle smile on Albedo's face as he walked to the Alchemist's building. Fortunately for him, it was late at night and only guards or people doing their jobs were out at night so not many people saw them. Unfortunately, this was definitely a sight to behold, and it wouldn't be surprising if word got around quickly. To Albedo, that didn't matter too much. He didn't mind getting seen under these circumstances, and if it caused any fuss, he could just say he was bringing him to a place to rest late at night.
Albedo walked into the building, waving to a very confused Sucrose who was doing some work late at night. He made his way to the second floor of the building, a living area for the alchemist. He didn't use it all that often, spending most nights awake doing work or sleeping over at his camp. Laying Felix down in his bed and pulling the covers over the knight, he knelt down next to the bed, closing his eyes and leaning in to give the knight a very quick and very soft peck on the cheek. Joining the knight in bed, the two drifted off together, Felix holding a lot of new feelings within him that night, feelings he'd love to talk about with the alchemist who was currently holding him closely. Felix drifted off with him, laying as close to him as he could, hearing the gentle heartbeat of Albedo's chest in his ear, and feeling the loving warmth close to him. It felt like a lullaby. It was such a beautiful rhythm.