(I'm going to give you fair warning, I head-canon Albedo as being 400+, because of the way his event went. That is all. Have a good time reading~)
Mieko sat alone in her workshop, scribbling down plans for things and trying to organize her financial books. She had been a bit short on money for materials recently, which meant going outside of the city to gather on her own and leave the shop empty for longer. She sighed, shaking her head. "The longer I stay out, the worse my customer counts are… This is bad… I need to break this cycle." She told herself. She heard the door open, looking up to see Lisa walking in with someone alongside her. A seemingly young man with ashy-blonde hair and turquoise eyes. But something about him told Mieko he wasn't nearly so young. "Welcome to Echoes." She stood up to greet them. "Please, have a seat." She motioned to the chairs around the client area near the window. "I'll fetch some tea so we may discuss your request."
"Hehe, Mie, you're so good at that~ It's so well practiced~" Lisa cooed at her, taking a seat. "How do you know I'm not here just to see you, dearest Mie?"
"You always make me come to you." She replied simply. "And you brought a guest." She added. "So it must be something, no?"
"What insight~" Lisa giggled. "See, Albedo? I told you, Mie is very insightful~" she added, waiting for Mieko to bring the tea and snacks. "Ooh, what's this? Did you bake something today?" Lisa asked, eyeing the plate of sweet things.
"Yes, I was practicing for Jean's birthday." She stated. "Even though I know Pizza is her favorite, I wanted to try making something small, just to give her a boost." She smiled. "I hope you don't mind sweet things." She said as she turned to Albedo.
"No, I don't mind them at all." He replied. "Thank you for offering." he offered his hand. "Allow me to introduce myself, Miss Mieko. My name is Albedo."
"A pleasure to meet you, Mister Albedo. I am the owner of this shop." She stated, taking his hand and smiling at him. Lisa eyed their interaction, smiling to herself.
"You can just call me Albedo." he shook her hand.
"Then I will have to ask you to call me Mie or Mieko. Miss is too formal for me."
"Very well."
"You two get along so swimmingly~" Lisa chuckled, taking some sweets and a cup of tea. "Why don't you discuss your request with her, Albedo? Mie, dear, I'm going to look at your sketchbook~"
"Again, Lisa?" She sighed. "Very well." She said, letting Lisa get up and go to her workroom behind the screen door. "May I ask what you have come to have me fix for you, Albedo?" She smiled. "You're certainly not the type to need assistance on a regular basis. As Chief Alchemist of the Knights of Favonious, I'm sure you could make many things that would well outclass my meager skills."
"Thank you for the compliment, Mieko. However, this is something I do not wish to ruin with my lack of skills in this department." He smiled at her. He brought out a small paper-wrapped package, placing it down in front of her. "Lisa brought me here because she said you were well versed in repairs of clothing. This was something I received from my teacher. However I had to stop using it, as it is quite far gone." he stated. "I was hoping that you could save it."
"Ah, I see. A memento to be cherished." she nodded. She opened the package carefully, her eyes narrowing and a pout coming to her face. "Look at this, it's a mess. How did you let it get this bad?" she asked. Albedo was a bit surprised by her reaction, but he smiled. "I'll have to back it before I repair it and then seal the edges and back it again, are you sure I can't just make you a new one?"
"I would prefer to keep the original, if at all possible." Albedo said simply, not flinching at the first question or her scolding tone. Lisa was impressed, not expecting Mieko to ever snap at a client like that. But Albedo seemed quite amused. Lisa chuckled and came out of the other room.
"Mie, dear, I remembered that I had something to do~ I'll take my leave. Thank you for the tea and sweets."
"Very well. Go and do your work for once, Lisa." She replied, heading straight past the woman to her thread rack to search for an appropriate color to match the project. Lisa chuckled and pat Albedo's shoulder on her way out.
"Have fun you two~" She called before closing the door. Albedo wondered what that was for, dusting his shoulder off before watching Mieko mumbling to herself.
Albedo got up from where he had begun sketching Mieko, smiling a bit to himself. "Am I amusing?" She asked, glancing up at him from her work, then looking back down at it.
"I won't say I'm not amused by you." he chuckled. "But. I also don't want to sound rude. After all, you're fixing something precious to me. So I should thank you for that. How much will the repair cost?"
"... I'll let you know when I'm done." she replied. Albedo nodded, it was a fair response. After all, she was working quite hard on this. It had already been a few hours. Her stomach grumbled a little, but she just kept working. Albedo was intrigued, had she just not noticed? But by the 3rd one, he could tell she was ignoring it. She suddenly put the work down and went to the kitchen to retrieve a cup of juice and a thick slice of bread with cheese on it. She ate it quickly, downed the juice, and washed her hands before returning.
"You don't have to rush." he told her as she returned.
"I don't, but since you've decided to stay, I want to get it done quickly. It shows how much it means to you." she replied to him, sitting back down to work again.
"If you'd like, I can bring you back some actual food… I don't think bread and cheese is enough." he said, leaning his head on his hand, elbow on the arm of her couch.
"None for me, thanks. But you're welcome to get something to eat for yourself." she replied. "It should take me another hour or two at the most." she added, hands still working on the repair. Albedo didn't move from his seat, watching her still. The room was cozy, and the soft noises of her handling the material and repairing the piece he'd given her were strangely soothing. Or maybe it was Mieko herself? She didn't say anything much unless prompted, or whispered to herself about the repair. Albedo appreciated the quiet, and he found her muttering and musing quite amusing. He looked up when he heard her scissors on the table, having been a bit lost in thought. Mieko walked over and placed the piece in his hand, Albedo's eyes wide. It was almost as good as new, and had been reinforced so it felt much sturdier now.
"Amazing." he said softly, inspecting the work while Mieko sat down to drink some tea. Albedo inspected the work for a bit longer before falling quiet. When Mieko looked up from her tea, he had fallen asleep. She just smiled, getting up and draping a light blanket over him as he clutched the little writing implement holding pouch in his hand and mumbled to himself in his sleep.
"Goodnight, Albedo." She said softly before going to make more tea. She didn't feel tired at all. No, she actually felt giddy. She had to stop herself, taking a deep breath. "No, Mie. Don't risk it. Happiness is dangerous." She whispered to herself. She went about making herself something small to eat before returning to her work table, careful to not wake Albedo.
When the Sun came up, she heard him stir and went to get a start on breakfast without a word. When she was done, he was just sitting up. "Good morning."
"Mieko… Forgive me, I fell asleep."
"Nothing to forgive." She smiled as she placed a small tray in front of him. "I hope you like Inazuman food." she smiled. A little bowl of rice, some fish cooked in an Inazuman Miso sauce, and a few other small side dishes accompanied the main dish. "I can always make something else if you prefer." she added.
"Oh. Thank you… I don't mind Inazuman at all." he looked up at her, noting that she had just a cup of tea and a rice bowl, her fish mixed into the rice. "Oh? Is that how you prefer to eat?"
"Ah, I just do this automatically…" She smiled a bit. "It's a habit from childhood."
"Oh… I see." Albedo took some of the fish and mixed it into his rice. Mieko was surprised by the action. He took a bite and smiled. "Mm. That's quite good. And it's more efficient."
"Yes it is." Mieko smiled more. "My grandmother used to make onigiri this way, when I was young."
"Oh, I see. That would be a heartier meal than just the rice alone." Albedo nodded. They chatted a bit over their food, Albedo helping with the dishes before he headed to the door, Mieko walking with him. "Thank you again for the meal. And for the repair. Are you certain I don't need to pay you?"
"Yes, I'm certain. It's been a while since someone has been so enjoyable to have for company." She nodded. "I will take your friendship as payment."
"Very well." Albedo smiled. Once he'd left the area, though, he chuckled. "She's so interesting… I wonder how I was able to fall asleep with her in the room?"
That afternoon, Mieko got dressed in some slightly nicer clothes than what she usually wore around the workshop, and headed to meet Lisa and Jean for tea. Their conversation was mostly centered around Jean at first, since she was the Acting Grand Master. "You have more responsibility than I do to stay healthy, Jean." Mieko told her. "If my shop doesn't do well, I have other methods of making ends meet."
"Speaking of." Lisa piped in with a smile. "I saw Albedo leaving your place this morning~ So he spent the night with you?" She teased.
"Oh, did Albedo have a project for you, Mie?" Jean asked. Mieko explained, Lisa giggling a bit. "How unusual… It must have been important for him to have stayed over."
"I think it was something other than the project." Lisa smiled. "They must have done something, for him to have stayed the night." Mieko just sipped her tea and looked at her with a side eye.
"Lisa, you're always jumping to conclusions about things like this." she sighed. "I let him stay the night because I was working on his piece until early this morning." she stated. "I told him to rest, and he eventually ended up falling asleep while inspecting my work."
"Oh, is that all? Goodness, Albedo fell asleep inspecting your work?" Lisa teased. "He must have found it fascinating." she added, grinning as Mieko shook her head. "Do you like him, Mie, dear?"
"He is a kind soul, and he allowed me to speak casually to him despite his status as Chief Alchemist, Lisa. What is there not to like?"
"Aww, is that all?" Lisa smiled. "Very well." She said, turning the attention back on Jean, the blonde woman's cheeks reddening. Mieko headed back to her workshop after they were done, sighing.
"Damn it Lisa… Now what will I do?" She asked herself. "He's too perfect for you anyway, Mieko…" She added, unlocking her door and walking inside. As she prepared herself some dinner, she felt the ever-present loneliness creeping up on her. Only then did she realize that with Albedo around, it had lessened to such a degree. She let out a sigh, shaking her head. "Don't feel, Mieko. Don't let it happen. He's just a good soul. A kindred spirit. That's all he can ever be, is a friend." She insisted to herself over and over again. She went about her evening before preparing herself for bed. But again, she didn't feel tired. She simply returned to the workshop downstairs, working on things until her energy began to fade.
((Hello again friends~ Welcome to Echoes and Experiments!
It's been a long time since I started a new story, but here we are! I hope you're all excited to read more. I'll be updating this slowly, but if you want to go through and read everything without my silly notes in the way, you can find me on Ao3, Wattpad, or Tumblr! I've put my linktree in my profile so you can check those out! My instagram is there too, which is where I seem to be the most active recently.
Anyway, happy reading, and thank you for your support!
-Winter Cheshire))