Work Text:
When Albedo awoke in his room feeling more tired than he had the night before with a dull ache behind his eyes and having to take quite a few breaths through his mouth his first reaction was annoyance, but he wasn't going to take the day off for some small cold. Especially when there was so much to do. He dragged himself out of bed,brewed himself a cup of coffee,took some cold medicine to keep whatever small bug he had caught away, decided against breakfast not feeling much of an appetite and got dressed. Admittedly he wasn't looking his best there were dark rings under his eyes, he looked much paler than normal and the usually neat braids he ties his hair back in were sloppy and had quite a few strands sticking out. He had already gone to the trouble of putting it up though and wasn't going to go through it again. He gathered his things and began to make his way out the door.
He made his way through the knights of favonius headquarters giving small hellos and good mornings to anyone he walked by. Right as he was about to exit out the door he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Albedo."
He turned around to see Jean, with a slightly concerned look on her face.
"Yes?" He cringed internally, not realizing till now how nasally his voice sounded and trying his best to ignore the tickle that rose up into his throat when he spoke.
"Are you alright? You don't look very good"
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Are you sure? You can always take the day off i-"
"I am fine Jean. Please do not worry about me" Albedo interrupted her.
Jean gave him an unsure, suspicious look. "Alright. If you say so, but please do not overwork yourself"
Albedo smiled and nodded, "Have a good day"
"You too."
Albedo made his way out the door and immediately winced when the bright sunlight hit his eyes, his headache throwing a hissy fit. Albedo took a moment for his headache to calm down again and began his walk to dragonspine.
It was quite cold that morning and it certainly did not aid his sinuses, if it was this cold before he even entered dragonspine then today was going to be a rough day.
By the time he got to his lab and began to work, the cold medicine he took earlier this morning had already worn off and he'd forgotten to take any with him. So now the headache was clear as day, it wasn't anything the alchemist couldn't handle, headaches certainly weren't any stranger to him and he had quite a high pain tolerance.
As the day went on he began to regret skipping out on breakfast as his stomach began growling and started aching like it was trying to eat itself from the inside out. It seemed that whatever bug he caught was only worsening as time went on.
His headache at this point was more akin to a severe migraine; he could barely look at the fire because the moment the light from it entered his eyes it felt like someone jamming an ice pick right through his skull. He decided he should at least try to shuffle around for any pain medication. When he found some he downed it in an instant and decided he should try to at least make himself some food so he at least has something on his stomach even if he didn't have much of an appetite.
He made himself a slice of toast, just enough to have something on his stomach but he could only bring himself to eat half of it as nausea washed over him.
He decided to just get back to his work and found himself drifting in and out of consciousness, nodding off over the notes he was currently writing. He tried his best to fight off the sleep but eventually ended up with his face resting on his notes.
When the alchemist awoke he wasn't quite sure what time it was, but his head ached like someone had impaled his skull, his vision kept blurring and refocusing after a few moments and just sitting in his chair leaning over his desk he could feel nausea crashing over him in waves,he was so dizzy it felt like he was spinning, his throat stung like he had swallowed a cheese grater, his stomach felt like it was cringing in on itself, he felt so hot he was cold and so cold he was hot, his legs felt like jelly and he kept shaking.
He took a deep breath in some attempt to try and stop his body from shaking but the moment he did a wet cough forced its way out of his lungs and he descended into a coughing fit,despite his lack of need for air his body tried and failed to gasp between coughs and the force of it caused his eyes to water. The cough made his already stinging throat feel like someone just poured cleaning chemicals in an open wound. When the coughing fit was finally over he leaned further down over his desk staring at the notes beneath him as the words jumbled and blurred while his body panted for air desperately trying to regain the lost oxygen.
Something In the back of his mind through the thick fog of heat clouding any logical well constructed thought knew there was no way he could work like this. He could barely think and his body and brain felt out of sync. The world moving much too slowly but all too fast at the same time. There was no way he would be able to walk halfway across the lab let alone conduct any experiments.
Some stupid thought though, made it through the haze and said that he needed to keep working.
He stood up from his chair and his vision blurred into a mess of colors; it felt like the world skipped forward like a scratched record. It was all too fast. His stomach churned and felt like it had jumped up into his throat black and white spots filled his blurred vision, nausea crashed over him and he would have gagged if his vision didn't go black and his legs didn't buckle underneath him.
Kaeya made his way up the mountain to Albedos lab, bouquet of freshly picked Cecilia's in tow, they hadn't much time to talk to each other these past few days, and so, the cavalry captain supposed he could spend some time with the alchemist while he worked. It was a routine they followed quite often. Kaeya would sit in his lab somewhere and the two would fall into a comfortable silence, with the occasional short conversation. It was a routine they both enjoyed. It was late, the sun was starting to set but it wouldn't be the first time he stayed overnight in dragon spine with Albedo.He glided over the broken bridge and walked his way to the entrance of Albedo's lab.
"Hey Albe-"
The alchemist was laying passed out on the cold ground behind his desk and he looked like death . He was drenched in a cold sweat and his hair stuck to his face, he looked as pale as a ghost and his hair was a mess.
Kaeya dashed over to the man and sighed in relief when he felt a pulse confirming that the man was in fact not dead despite how he looked. He pressed his hand to the alchemist's head and hissed, pulling his hand back upon feeling the heat. He sat down and rested the alchemist's head in his lap and gently tried to wake him up.
"Albedo,"
"...be.."
"...wa…"
"al…… do…… wake… up"
The alchemist's eyes fluttered open at the noise, seeing a blurred image of someone above him.
As he tried and failed to make sense of his surroundings,his stomach suddenly churned and lurched into his throat.The world spun and went black for a moment and the next thing he knew he was on his hands and knees and was throwing up what little he ate today and bile. Acid burned his throat but he continued to gag, even after his stomach emptied all it's contents he continued to painfully dry heave. Somewhere in his delirium he could feel a gentle hand rubbing his back. After it seemed his stomach finally had enough he panted for air, his eyes watering and throat burning. His arms and knees once again buckled underneath him and he fell onto something or someone beside him.
Kaeyas heart ached as the alchemist fell back onto him and his glassy clouded eyes fluttered shut.
When he opened his eyes again he felt a cold cloth on his head and noticed somewhere through a hot and cold haze clouding his mind that he was in his bed in his lab. His head felt like someone was repetitively stabbing his skull, his throat burned and his stomach ached and growled. Suddenly his body lurched forward on its own and he started coughing his already burning throat stung as wet coughs wracked his body. Even with his eyes shut he could feel the world spinning around him. He felt a hand rubbing his back as he hacked and tried to gasp for air. Finally after what felt like ages the coughing ceased and he could breathe. He sat there with his eyes screwed shut as the world spun around him and he caught his breath as a hand gently rubbed his back.
He shivered and opened his eyes. The sudden light made him so dizzy again he nearly fell back but the hand on his back stopped him and instead gently let him lay back down. He groaned at the pain in his throat and shivered again. A blanket was lifted back onto him and he felt a cold cloth be returned to his forehead.
He decided to try and focus on whoever was with him blinking a couple times to get his vision to refocus.
"kaeya….?" He croaked, wincing at the pain from talking.
Kaeya smiled. "Hey there sleeping beauty, you're finally awake huh?"
"Why.. Are you..? Where..?"
"Ah. Well. I came up here to spend time with you but, when I got here you had passed out behind your desk and looked like death." He paused. "Which you still do by the way. No offense."
Albedo suppressed the urge to laugh, knowing that even a little laugh would hurt like hell. "None taken."
"You were burning up even more then you are now and when I managed to get you to wake up you threw up and then fell back onto me and passed out again and so I decided to bring you to your bed and try and get your fever down."
"Ah." Albedo felt a twinge of guilt. "Sorry"
Kaeya seemed completely taken aback and Albedo furrowed his brows in confusion at the man's expression.
"What- why are you sorry-?"
"Why wouldn't I be..? I caused you all this trouble. If I hadn't passed out you wouldn't have to be bothered like this." Albedo explained.
Kaeya seemed dumbfounded at the words coming out of Albedo's mouth and he wondered if he was still too delirious to make sense.
"I don't know what you're on about." Yep, still delirious . "for one, you haven't caused me any trouble. You can't control when you get sick and you can't control when you pass out. Second, do you really think that I wouldn't have noticed my boyfriend isn't feeling well even if you hadn't passed out?"
"I-"
"I'm not done. If anything is annoying me it's that you decided to trek all the way to Dragonspine and work while your feeling like this. I doubt it came on so suddenly that you were already working when you felt like this. So that means you woke up feeling shitty, walked all the way to your lab, and worked yourself until you fucking passed out. Your smart as hell and I love you but fucking hell you can be dense and reckless as hell when it comes to your health. What if I hadn't come here!? What if you were stuck there sick as a dog lying with a fever on the ground and the wind inevitably blows the fire out and when you finally woke up if you ever woke up you're too weak to get yourself help and end up dying?"
"..." The alchemist didn't really have an argument to that. Kaeyas words were harsh but they were true, and had no ill intent behind them.As much as Albedo hated to admit it he was right. "You're right and hate it"
"Of course I am I'm always right" he joked
.
.
.
.
"I made you tea" Albedo hadn't realized that he had gotten lost in his thoughts and began zoning out until Kaeya broke the silence, dragging him back to reality.
Albedo smiled. "Thanks."
He slowly sat up in the bed, pausing for a moment to let his vision stop spinning.
Kaeya handed him the mug and sat down above the covers on the other side of the bed next to him.
He took a small sip of the mug and cringed when nausea bubbled up in the back of his throat. He waited for it to fade and forced himself to swallow. The nice feeling from the tea soothing his throat was short lived because he gagged and waves of nausea crashed over him. Kaeya rubbed the alchemist's back while he waited for the nausea to go away. When the nausea was finally gone and his body didn't completely reject the tea all together he attempted to take another sip and sighed in relief when it went down easier this time.
"Thank you" he said
"Of course. I don't really know how to cook well but I found some soup broth mix in the cupboard along with some vegetables so if you can keep that tea down long enough I can try and make that"
Albedo cringed at the thought of food right now.
"Yeah.. I'm going to have to pass on that"
"Understandable, that you wouldn't want to but you probably should eat at least something."
"I hate it when you're right," he sighed.
"So you hate it all the time"
Albedo flicked his forehead.
Kaeya laughed "Yea I deserved that"
"...ah I still am going to have to finish that experiment" Albedo rubbed between his eyes, annoyed that he had let his focus be drawn away for this long.
"Albedo Chief Alchemist of The Knights of Favonius. I swear to Barbatos don't you dare even think about trying to work right now"
"But it's not like it's anything that bad. It's just notes and you're here now to make sure I don't overwork myself and you can help me if you wan-"
"Not a chance in hell. You are going to rest. Barbatos help me, I will tie you down to this bed if I have to."
Playfulness sparked into Albedo's currently tired eyes. "Kinky."
"Annnd that's where I go start making this soup"
Albedo laughed and winced when the laugh turned into a short coughing fit. "ow" he reached for the tea that had been set on a box by his bed and took another drink of it.
It wouldn't hurt to at least leave the small room and go sit where Kaeya was. He shifted his way out from underneath the covers grabbing the top blanket when he started shivering. He slowly pushed himself out of the bed and the world spun, the pain from his head made him see white for a moment and his stomach churned the moment his feet hit the ground. He felt his balance start shifting and went to lean himself against the wall but he must have misjudged how far away it was because next thing he knew he was on the ground.
He moved to get up fighting through the dizziness and nausea but found his limbs still felt like jelly and when he pushed himself back to his feet his knees just buckled underneath him again and he hit the ground with another thud
"Well shit."
Was he really going to have to do this? This was going to be embarrassing. He sighed.
"Kaeyaaaaaaaa"
"Already coming!"
Oh so he heard the thud.
Albedo laughed awkwardly out of embarrassment when Kaeya came into the room and saw him on the ground.
"You kind of look like a turtle"
"One, how. Two, shut up and help me"
Kaeya laughed and walked over to Albedo."Because you're lying on your back and cant get up"
"Is that the only similarity?"
"Turtles are cute."
"I- screw you"
Kaeya laughed and pulled Albedos arm around his shoulder helping him back to his feet and back into the bed.
"Now do you get why I didn't want you getting up"
"Yea,yea"
"Sooooo, the soup is pretty much done. Do you want to eat it now or wait a little longer?"
"Wait"
"Alright but you are going to eat it eventually"
"Mhm"
Albedo suddenly realized how tired he was and turned onto his side struggling to keep his eyes open, he felt the weight in the bed shift and an arm wrap around his side to hug him, he normally wasn't very touchy feely but he really was too tired to care right now and leaned into Kaeya, allowing his eyes to drift closed and fell asleep finally getting some well needed rest.