Tags and trigger warnings: Emetophilia, vomiting, whump, sickfic, domestic fluff, Hurt/comfort and Fluff, Caretaking, Fainting, Older brother Albedo, Klee and Albedo are siblings.

Summary: In which Albedo gets very sick following one of his experiments

Posted to Ao3: December 24th 2021

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It is around eight or so in the morning when Klee wakes up, she sits up yawning and blinking slowly as she sits there for a few moments trying to rid the sleep from her eyes.

"Big brother Albedo," she mumbled, climbing out of bed, her stuffed animal and best friend Dodoco in one hand.

She wanders into the kitchen barefoot, frowning when she doesn't see Albedo there as he usually would be, often being the person who would make Klee breakfast and help her get ready in the morning now that Alice and her husband had left on a trip.

Feeling uneasy by the eerie silence in the house, Klee clutches Dodoco to her chest. "Albedo," she called out as she turned and wandered down the nearby hall to his room.

Albedo's room had originally been closer to Klee's but when Alice had left, he'd insisted on moving into the room closer to the front door. And although Klee didn't know this the reason was so that if anything dangerous happened to come into the house via that door, it would need to get through Albedo first.

Klee pauses scowling as she looks up at the closed door, before standing on her tips toes slightly and grabbing the doorknob and turning it, stepping back to allow the door to swing open.

Hesitantly stepping forward Klee pokes her head into the room, peeking around the door. The first thing she notices is a weird smell in the room, one that has her wrinkling her nose slightly. It doesn't smell gross, just strange.

"Big brother," she called out as she slowly entered the room, her eyes looking around at the familiar scenery. Her eyes rove over the bookshelves lined with big books with words she can't really understand lining their spines, she looks at the large chair that Albedo often sat in when reading her a story before stopping at the lump laying in the bed.

From where Klee is standing she can make out those familiar blonde strands of hair belonging to Albedo. Smiling and giggling she quickly makes her way over to the bed.

"Big brother! It's time to get up," she called as she stopped at his bedside.

Albedo groans softly but doesn't move nor does he acknowledge her, still laying on his right side in bed facing away from Klee.

Pouting slightly at being ignored, Klee stands on her tiptoes to try to look at him. "Albedo!"

No response this time, not even a groan, and something inside of Klee feels uneasy. Something seemed wrong or off but she doesn't know what.

Giving a soft huff she tucks Dodoco under one arm before reaching out to grab the blankets covering Albedo. Despite being only a child, Klee is also a member of the Knights of Favious, their demolitions expert to be exact. So despite her age and small stature she's experienced and rather knowledgeable about certain things, from the time she's spent outside Mondstadt in the field she also knows how to climb just about anything with ease.

Klee gives another soft huff as she pulls herself up onto Albedo's bed, using her bare feet to grab the cloth of the blanket and find enough purchase to pull herself up and over the edge.

Sighing, Klee crawls forward until she's almost sitting on Albedo's chest. "Big brother," Klee whispered, then she paused, because Albedo looked a bit strange.

His face is slightly red, and he almost looks like he's in pain, rapid hushed breaths leaving his mouth.

For a moment Klee sits there, staring at him with a frown. Then she's reaching out, grabbing his shoulder intending to shake him but pauses when she feels how hot his skin is, the heat drifting off of him and through his clothes reminding Klee of her pyro vision.

"Albedo," she whispered, shaking him slightly. No response and that sense of unease Klee had been feeling growing strong, gradually blossoming into panic.

She shakes him again, more frantically calling out to him but again no response, not even a groan. Fear begins to mingle with her panic and she sniffles as her eyes begin burning with tears. Not only because of her fear, and worry for Albedo but also frustration that she doesn't know what's wrong so she can't help him.

Klee had been taught quite a few things but the other Knights of Favonius, the appropriate way to bandage wounds, how to escape enemies, how to find food in a pinch, not to mention the survival handbook which Kaeya had given her and many more but from what Klee could see Albedo didn't have any of the telltale signs of being wounded.

Klee clutches Dodoco to her chest, crying silently as she tries desperately to rack her brain for some kind of answer or solution, some way she can help Albedo. And then she remembers it, something Albedo had told her a while back. That if she were ever scared and she couldn't find him or something had happened to him to go to Kaeya.

Doing her best to wipe her tears from her eyes, Klee takes a deep breath as she looks down at Albedo. "Don't worry, Klee will get help," she told him softly before climbing down off of the bed.

She darts back to her room, quickly getting dressed, not bothering to even grab her hat or attempt to put her hair in its usual pigtails. She slips her vision into the pocket of her dress, remembering Albedo's words that she should never go anywhere without it. Klee brings Dodoco with her as she rushes out the front door, after all considering how scared she is she feels like she needs it now more than ever.

~~~

Humming to himself, Kaeya steps outside of his house, turning briefly to lock the door before slipping the key into his pocket. It's rather early for him to be going into work all things considered but he needs to complete his report for Jean and the quicker he gets it out of the way, the quicker he could relax with a nice drink at the bar.

"Mister Kaeya!"

Kaeya pauses his eye going wide as he sees Klee running towards him, her eyes glassy and filled with tears, her blonde hair loose, spilling over her shoulders and into her face slightly, her hat missing as well as her backpack, she's clutching her stuffed animal to her chest. All of Kaeya's senses are immediately on high alert.

"Why hello Klee, what's wrong," he asked crouching down in front of her as she practically skids to a stop in front of him. His tone is cheerful yet calm in an effort to put her at ease as well.

Now that he's crouched down in front of her his eye quickly roves over her checking for injuries. But he sees none thankfully, in fact, on closer inspection, it seems as if she's just come from her and Albedo's home at the same time however Kaeya knows that Albedo wouldn't let Klee leave the house in this state.

"It's okay Klee, tell me what's wrong," he told her softly, giving her a gentle pat on the head as she stood there sniffling tears in her eyes. Despite the concern, he's feeling he keeps that gentle, calm smile in place.

"S-something's wrong with Albedo," she told him in between her whimpering and sniffling. Her words have that concern Kaeya was feeling skyrocketing.

"Don't worry it'll be okay, let's go check on him," he reassured her, giving Klee another pat on the head as he stood up. He holds his hand out for her to take, giving it a reassuring squeeze when he feels it trembling.

The walk back to Klee's house feels almost agonizingly slow to Kaeya, and yet each step he takes has that sense of dread merely growing stronger.

"Stay behind me, okay Klee," Kaeya instructed her as they approached the front door. Still holding her hand he moves to stand in front of her.

He knows that Klee can handle herself, but he'd rather be safe than sorry, especially since Klee didn't specify what exactly was wrong with Albedo. While Kaeya knew better than anyone that Albedo would never hurt Klee, that was accounting for the fact that Albedo was still, well himself.

Taking a deep breath to prepare himself for whatever he may find, Kaeya slowly walks inside of the house making sure not to close the front door all the way just in case they need a quick escape.

The first thing he notices is that the house is silent, almost eerily so save for the soft ticking of the grandfather clock sitting in the hallway. The second thing he notices is that the house is in its usual tidy state, not a single item out of place.

This house is incredibly familiar to Kaeya not only because he's been here when looking after Klee but also because he's spent many nights here with Albedo.

"Klee, can you tell me what's wrong with Albedo," Kaeya asked as he slowly examined the familiar scenery.

"I don't know, I went to his room after I woke up. But he wouldn't wake up when I shook him," Klee told him softly.

At her words, Kaeya pauses for a moment, a scowl on his face now even more confused. While it was good that Albedo was still himself, from what Klee had just described it would seem like Albedo was sleeping just very deeply.

Still, Kaeya keeps Klee behind him as he makes his way to Albedo's room, the moment he enters the room he freezes the distinct scent of illness, such as that left behind when someone has a fever filling his nose.

Releasing Klee's hand Kaeya approaches Albedo's bed, his previous sense of dread and fear being replaced with an overwhelming amount of worry.

Albedo is laying in bed, his face nearly as pale as snow save for the feverish blush coating his cheeks, his breathing is incredibly labored, harsh, rasping, wheezing breaths leaving his mouth, and his face is slick with sweat.

Despite already knowing what was wrong Kaeya still reaches out, gently brushing Albedo's hair away from his face as he places a hand on his forehead. Kaeya grimaces at the sheer heat coming from Albedo's skin, scowling when Albedo gives a soft weak groan shifting slightly but doesn't open his eyes.

Albedo's expression is pinched in pain and Kaeya can't recall a time in recent memory he's ever seen Albedo look like that. Albedo was sick, very, very sick, and yet when Kaeya thinks back to when he, Klee, and Albedo had dinner together last night Albedo had looked perfectly fine. No sign of sicknesses insight.

Could Albedo have been hiding his condition at that time? While it was plausible that didn't seem right to Kaeya for some reason.

"Will big brother be okay?" Klee asked hesitantly, drawing Kaeya out of his thoughts.

Putting his calm smile back in place Kaeya turns to her, crouching down so that they were eye level. "Don't worry, Albedo will be fine. He's just sick," he reassured Klee, although he leaves out how sick Albedo seems to be.

"Sick," Klee echoes with a frown tilting her head to the side slightly. She looks back towards where Albedo is laying as if processing Kaeya's words.

Kaeya nodded, a warm smile on his face as the tension seemed to bleed from Klee's small form. "I'll tell you what, I'll help you get ready and then I'll wake Albedo up so we can have breakfast together. Sounds good?"

Klee nodded, giving Kaeya that familiar grin of hers.

~~~

Hot, it was unbearably hot. That is the first thing Albedo registers as if he were standing in a field of flames.

The heat licks at his skin, enveloping his entire body as if trying to seep into his very bones.

His consciousness is incredibly hazy, straddling the line of just barely awake and asleep, any thoughts he even attempted to form about what was happening to him and what was going on around him slipping through his fingers before they can even form.

Despite that he is aware of one thing, the reason he ended up like this. One of his own experiments, the elixir itself had been a failure and as such, he'd taken the antidote he'd prepared just in case. While he'd escaped some of the more unsavory side effects, he'd obviously been unable to escape them all which he'd anticipated happening.

Albedo's body feels incredibly heavy, to the point where even trying to move slightly was a monumental task, one he just didn't have the energy for.

His chest is aching and it feels as if his lungs are being constricted as his body struggles to draw in air leaving him feeling as though he were breathing through a straw. He feels nauseous as well as if his stomach was being violently shaken like a water balloon.

Faintly he hears a soft yet light thumping noise. Footsteps perhaps? The sound is muffled as if coming to him from underwater, but Albedo can't help but think the footsteps sound familiar. They're light and careful, only making as much noise as they needed to.

The footsteps suddenly stop close to Albedo. Albedo tries to force his eyes open even slightly but it's an impossible task. Albedo feels something gently touching his face.

Familiar, slender, calloused fingers brushing along his cheek so gently that it almost seemed as if the owner of them were afraid of hurting him. Albedo feels the fingers trace down to his throat, briefly pausing over his pulse before moving on, only to stop at the birthmark on his throat.

The fingers gently stroke the area with practiced ease, eliciting a soft moan from Albedo as he shifts slightly. The feeling is soothing and incredibly comforting, strangely enough.

Albedo thinks he hears someone say something but with his hazy consciousness he isn't sure. Albedo doesn't know what to expect next but it definitely isn't the sudden sharp chill that flashes across his skin, jolting him violently into awareness.

Albedo's eyes fly open and his back arches slightly, as he sharply inhales only to start coughing, the action leaves his chest burning and aching.

A raspy groan leaves his lips as he blinks in an attempt to clear his hazy vision.

"Kae...ya," Albedo rasped as he scowled up at the man in confusion. He had no clue as to why he was here, he remembered having dinner with Kaeya and Klee, then Kaeya went home instead of choosing to spend the night as he occasionally did.

Kaeya was leaning over him, a deep frown on his face although his usual smile takes its place when he sees that Albedo is awake, but Albedo can't help but think that it seems slightly strained.

"Well, well it would seem you're finally awake. I had a feeling that would do the trick," Kaeya chuckled.

Confused, Albedo reaches up to where Kaeya's fingers had been on his throat, his eyes widening slightly when he finds a very thin layer of quickly melting ice there.

"You froze my sweat," Albedo said slowly, his mind still hazy and struggling to catch up. He's exhausted and wants nothing more than to drift back off to sleep, he feels as if he's boiling in his skin, the nausea and dizziness melding together with the feverish haze leaving him light-headed and only slightly aware.

Kaeya chuckles softly as he sits down on the edge of the bed. "Neither shaking you nor calling your name seemed to work. I figured you wouldn't appreciate having a bucket of ice water poured over you so that was the next best option."

Albedo nodded slowly as he ran a hand over his face, more and more of his awareness gradually coming back to him. "Why are you here," Albedo asked softly as he glanced over toward the window, only to quickly glance away, blinking to clear his vision a few times when the sunlight feels as if it's piercing his eyes.

Kaeya smiles slightly as he takes Albedo's free hand in his own. "What? I can't come visit you because I missed you?"

"Kaeya..." Albedo groans softly not having the energy for Kaeya's usual teasing, hell even just staying awake is tiring at the moment and he squeezes his eyes shut when a wave of dizziness washes over him.

Kaeya is quiet for a moment before he sighed, his smile falling away from his face as his expression turned serious. "Klee came and got me, she was terrified telling me that something was wrong with you. She had tears in her eyes and I was convinced that the worst had happened," Kaeya murmured. Then he sighed as he looked down at Albedo. "What in the world were you thinking?"

At Kaeya's words, Albedo opens his eyes slightly before closing them as the gravity of the situation seems to hit him. He'd anticipated getting sick from his experiment, yes, but not this sick, and scaring Klee had never been his intention. It wouldn't have been the first time Albedo had miscalculated but at the moment this was one of the worst in his opinion.

"Fuck," Albedo whispered, it's barely audible but Kaeya does give a soft snort at the noise.

This was probably only the second time in all the years Kaeya has known him that he has heard Albedo curse, a testament to both how levelheaded Albedo was when approaching situations as well as his realization about how much he'd screwed up this time.

"Where is she," Albedo asked softly after a moment. He begins attempting to sit up, his arms trembling violently beneath him and he pauses, squeezing his eyes shut as a wave of nausea and dizziness washes over him, his chest burns as he tries to catch his breath, exhaustion hitting him hard.

"Careful," Kaeya murmured, placing a hand on Albedo's back when he began coughing, the noise sounding as if it's rattling in his chest. "You need something to get that fever down."

Albedo merely nodded, massaging his chest with one hand. "There's a small brown bottle in the bathroom cabinet, next to the sink," he rasped.

As Kaeya leaves the room to retrieve the bottle of medicine Albedo told him about, Albedo takes the chance to take stock of his current condition. He's weak and exhausted but all of his limbs seemed functional and intact, he's not hungry but he chalks that up to the nausea swirling in his gut and the dizziness washing over him that leaves him feeling light-headed.

His chest crackles slightly and aches a bit with each breath, but from the feeling of it and considering his dry cough there doesn't seem to be anything like mucus in his lungs so it's more than likely slight irritation or inflammation. More than likely in his bronchial tubes if Albedo had to truly guess.

His skin is slick with sweat no doubt from the fever that was raging through his body and his hand goes to his neck where Kaeya had caused ice to form, wiping away the slight amount of water there. From what he can see he's in one piece and everything is working as intended including his immune system apparently.

His mind goes to what Kaeya had said about Klee being the one to come get him. Albedo vaguely remembers someone touching him earlier, but beyond that, he can't recall anything else until the moment Kaeya had woken him up.

"This won't make things worse will it?" Kaeya asked as he returned with the small vial of medicine in hand. "I truly have no idea how any of those elixirs and potions you create work."

Albedo shook his head as he took the vial from Kaeya with trembling hands. "No, the experiment I conducted last night was a failure. The moment I drank the solution an adverse reaction began to occur, so I took the antidote I had created ahead of time. Due to taking the antidote in time, I escaped many of the more unsavory side effects," he explained as he clutched the vial so tightly his knuckles turned white in an effort to stop his hand from trembling.

"More unsavory side effects," Kaeya echoed as he stared at Albedo, his eye widened with surprise. "It fully incapacitated you, what was the worst side effect?"

Albedo gives a soft hum as he brings the vial to his lips. "Rapid cell death and necrosis of the limbs," he murmured as if he were talking about the weather. "It would make a rather effective torture method in small amounts," he added afterward almost thoughtfully.

Kaeya is silent for a moment then he sighed loudly running a hand over his face. He was used to Albedo's experiments, he was used to Albedo often being so hyper-fixated on his research that he'd sometimes collapse in his lab, often resulting in Kaeya carrying him to bed and cuddling up beside him.

But despite that Kaeya didn't think he'd ever get used to Albedo using himself as a test subject. "Archons Albedo," Kaeya sighed, shaking his head. "I swear if this continues I'll have a head full of gray hair before I'm thirty...huh, so this is what Diluc meant."

Albedo merely gives a soft snort at the fact that Kaeya sounds almost as if he's had some sort of epiphany. Then he takes the medicine quickly draining the entire vial and shuddering slightly when the sharp bitter taste of it coats his mouth.

He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, swallowing thickly when the medicine seems to sit in his stomach like a rock, causing his nausea to grow slightly which is not helped by the disgusting taste of it coating his mouth.

"Mister Kaeya! I'm back!"

Albedo frowns looking up at Kaeya when he hears the front door open and the sound of Klee's familiar footsteps running through the house in the direction of the kitchen.

"I had her go to Goodhunter and get some ingredients for breakfast, I promised her that we would have breakfast together. Plus I figured it would help calm her down a bit and keep her mind off things," Kaeya explained with a small smile as he looked towards the bedroom door.

Albedo nodded, thankful for Kaeya's usual quick thinking. "Thank you."

Kaeya shrugged. "Do you think you can walk? I'll try to cook something light so that it won't be too rough on you."

Albedo closes his eyes for a moment taking a deep breath, his limbs still feel heavy and the exhaustion is still there, nausea is churning almost violently in his stomach and the idea of putting anything in it right now only makes it feel worse. Just getting up let alone walking seems like a monumental task, hard but definitely not impossible.

Eventually, Albedo opens his eyes, nodding slowly. "Yes, I can."

~~~

The walk to the kitchen is slow, with Kaeya holding his hand and walking closely beside him just in case Albedo were to fall and considering his trembling limbs he just might.

Albedo is silent as he grits his teeth putting all his focus into just putting one foot in front of the other. He had expected this task to be difficult but that didn't make it any less frustrating.

Once in the dining room, Albedo all but collapsed into one of the wooden chairs at the dining table, resting his head in his hands as he pants. He feels utterly exhausted, his body trembling from the exertion that simple walk feeling like it took what little energy he had, not to mention his nausea and dizziness feels worse and he closes his eyes doing his best to take slow, careful breaths when it feels like the world is swaying around him.

He feels Kaeya place a gentle hand on his back when he hiccups, grimacing when he tastes the sharp bitter taste of the medicine faintly at the back of his throat.

"Still okay," Kaeya asked softly leaning forward a bit to try to peer into Albedo's face, which is a bit difficult considering his long hair is obscuring his face not to mention he has his face in his hands.

Albedo is quiet for a moment before taking a deep breath and raising his head, merely nodding. Kaeya sees him take a few more deep breaths, his body relaxing as he slowly sits up, doing his best to regain his usual composure.

This is good because seconds later Klee comes running into the room. She all but stumbles to a stop as she catches sight of Albedo, and then she grins before running over to him.

"Albedo," she calls out practically latches onto him in a hug, her arms wrapping tightly around his waist. Kaeya sees the briefest hint of a grimace flash across his face before he smiles slightly, his expression warm as he looks down at Klee.

"Good morning to you as well Klee," Albedo told her returning her hug, as he does he notices that her hair is done in its usual pigtails something that while he has been teaching Klee how to do she hasn't perfected yet. Glancing towards Kaeya he smiles, mouthing the word thank you to which Kaeya merely shrugs, after all, he'd have done it even if Albedo wasn't sick.

"I'm going to go fix us all breakfast," Kaeya chuckled. "Do you want anything special Klee?"

At his question, Klee looks up, her eyes practically sparkling. "Strawberries," she practically exclaimed. "And Dodoco pancakes."

Kaeya chuckles again a smile on his face as he nods, knowing exactly what Klee was referring to. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind while cooking. Try to go easy on Albedo alright, he's still a bit sick."

A bit sick is putting it lightly, considering Albedo is pale as snow and his entire body tense as if trying to keep it from trembling, not to mention the sweat lining his skin, the glazed glassy look to his eyes, and his soft yet ragged breathing. But if Klee notices any of that she doesn't point it out merely nodding as Kaeya walks into the kitchen.

"Do you feel better," Klee asked as she climbed into her chair beside Albedo, looking up at him with wide hopeful eyes.

Albedo smiled at her and nodded. "Yes I feel a lot better Klee, I'm sorry for scaring you," Albedo told her as he gently patted her head. It's a lie, of course, Albedo feels like absolute shit but if it kept Klee from panicking and being scared then it was a necessary evil in his eyes.

Klee looks at him for a moment with a slight scowl, worry clear in her eyes as she absentmindedly swung her feet. "I was scared but I just remember what you told me to do, and everything was okay," she giggled eventually.

"That's very good Klee," Albedo told her his smile warm, although he can't help but feel guilty for causing this situation in the first place. He knows that if Kaeya had been out for some reason that Klee knows to go to Jean or Lisa, but he still can't help but think what might've happened if Klee had been too scared.

If her fear had caused her to freeze up, to in her panic forget what she'd been taught. Which in turn leads to him wondering what would happen if such an event would occur while she was outside of Mondstadts walls, fighting and he quickly shakes his head doing his best to rid himself of that thought, although he does make a note to perhaps help Klee make more powerful bombs when he has time, just as a precaution.

~~~

Humming to himself Kaeya returns to the dining room balancing his and Klee's plate of food, as well as Albedo's bowl of food in his arms.

Albedo is sitting in the same spot he had been when Kaeya left him, looking absolutely awful and exhausted despite the slight smile on his face. Klee is currently sitting beside him, on the edge of her seat, taking the rare chance to play with Albedo's hair since it was out of its usual braid and ponytail, from the looks of it she was attempting to braid his hair but seemed to be having a bit of trouble.

The silky strands slipping through her fingers with each attempt resulting in her pouting slightly. "Albedo, your hair doesn't work like mine," she huffed, clearly frustrated as she looked up at him.

Albedo gives a soft snort at her words, his smile growing. "Admittedly my hair is slightly different from yours, it may help if you were to grip the strands a bit more tightly." As Albedo speaks he takes one of Klee's hands in his own, hoping that she doesn't notice how his hands are trembling slightly, guiding her hand upward a bit he allows her to grab a few strands of his hair before curling her hand tightly around it.

As he released her hand Klee gasped slightly, her eyes widening in awe when the strands of hair didn't slip from her grip.

"I see that you two are having fun," Kaeya chuckled as he approached the table food in hand.

As he begins setting it down, Klee gives a squeal of delight when she sees the Dodoco shaped pancakes with strawberries as the eyes and nose. "Thank you Kaeya!"

Albedo quickly glances away from Klee's food taking a deep shuddering breath, normally he'd be fine but the scent of sugar was overwhelming to him at the moment, almost sickly sweet which only made his nausea grow stronger and he quickly muffles a hiccup into his hand as his stomach seems to flip inside of him.

It almost seemed like the medicine he'd taken was refusing to settle in his stomach, the slightest movements making it slosh sickeningly inside of him. It hasn't begun working just yet either if the heat still raging through Albedo's body and the sweat he could feel coating his body were anything to go by. If he remembered right, and hopefully he did despite the haze blanketing his sluggish mind, it would take thirty minutes to about an hour to begin working.

So judging by the fact that it had been about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes or so since he'd taken it, Albedo still had quite a bit of time to wait, unfortunately. He's drawn out of his thoughts when Kaeya places his bowl of food down in front of him, its vegetable soup from the looks of it and from what Albedo can smell, seems fine. No strong seasoning that'll turn his stomach at least, although he does glance away when the soup sloshes slightly in the bowl and it feels as if his stomach is doing the same.

"Thank you," Albedo said softly as he took the spoon Kaeya offered him.

"Make sure to be careful," Kaeya told him before taking his own seat on Albedo's other side.

As Kaeya begins eating he can't help but glance over Albedo occasionally watching when Albedo hesitantly takes his first bite of the soup.

The soup is good, which Albedo knew because Kaeya is admittedly a good cook when he wants to be but it isn't doing his stomach any favors at the moment, his nausea growing stronger and he has to close his eyes forcing himself to swallow the mouthful of food.

Albedo can't even really taste the soup as he eats, the slimy almost sludgy taste of grease coating his mouth, the normally crisp yet refreshing taste of the vegetables doing barely anything to help. Closing his eyes briefly Albedo stops eating for a moment, sitting perfectly still as he swallows rapidly trying to clear the saliva suddenly building up in his mouth.

His stomach is churning violently the food settling inside of it rather heavily, leaving him feeling as if his stomach was being shaken like a water balloon and he just barely forces back a hiccup, scowling when he can faintly taste the bitter medicine now mixed with the salt and grease at the back of his tongue. The dizziness isn't helping either, leaving Albedo feeling as if the world was swaying around him despite the fact that he was currently sitting almost perfectly still.

Albedo opens his eyes slightly when he feels Kaeya lay a gentle hand on his arm, and he shakes his head slightly.

Although he opens his eyes forcing his expression to become neutral once more when Klee speaks.

"Albedo, can I go play with Razor after eating," Klee asked her gaze hopeful.

Albedo smiles slightly hoping it doesn't look too forced. "As long as you're careful and make sure to be home at sunset," he told her, ignoring the soft gurgling noise his stomach makes.

"Yay! I promise," Klee exclaimed before she returned to eating albeit a bit quicker. Clearly eager to go out and play.

Albedo takes a deep, shaky breath as he looks back towards his own food. He could do this, there isn't that much more left in the bowl and Klee would be done with her food soon as well. Once she was gone Albedo could go collapse in bed like he desperately wanted and just be the embodiment of misery he felt like without terrifying Klee.

Albedo brings another bite of soup to his lips, gritting his teeth as he forces back another hiccup, his stomach making a low gurgling noise as if growling at him. A warning. And from the worried look Kaeya gives him Albedo has no doubt that he heard it.

Albedo closes his eyes and quickly places the bite of food in his mouth, it takes everything in him to swallow and before he even does his stomach is hitching slightly, soup feeling far too heavy on his tongue as the saliva filling his mouth takes on a metallic taste.

Kaeya practically sees what little color is left in Albedo's face drain from it as he forces himself to swallow, the noise audible as he does. Albedo makes a soft choked noise that sounds like something like a hiccup and a gasp as his body tenses up, his eyes going wide.

Before Kaeya can say anything Albedo suddenly stands up, his chair nearly falling down and Klee jumps looking up at him with wide eyes. "Albedo," she said clearly startled.

Albedo shakes his head, swallowing rapidly doing his best to force back the warm bile bubbling at the back of his throat, a small yet stilted and shaky smile appearing on his face. "I'm...I'm fine, I need to check something in my lab," Albedo said quickly, the words wavering as he forced them out.

Before Klee could say anything else Albedo is walking away, his steps rather rushed.

"Stay right here Klee, I'll be right back," Kaeya told her before getting up and following after Albedo.

The moment Albedo turns the corner down the hall, his stomach lurches and he clamps a hand over his mouth a splash of bitter, salty bile coating his tongue, his pace quickening as he half runs, half staggers to the bathroom.

He can clearly hear footsteps behind him, definitely Kaeya's but he can't exactly stop to allow him to catch up especially not when his stomach lurches again, a choked hiccup escaping Albedo's mouth.

The moment he makes it to the bathroom his stomach heaves and Albedo lurches forward slightly unprepared when the contents of his stomach suddenly fill his mouth resulting in some of it leaking through the cracks in his fingers before he clamps his mouth shut.

He all but stumbles to the sink, his hands trembling as he practically grips the porcelain in a death grip, his legs shaking beneath him, his exhausted body threatening to collapse like a house of cards as it struggles to support him.

And the first time he retches he nearly does collapse, his legs feeling as if they suddenly just vanished beneath him as a small stream of watery, yellowish-orange vomit surges up his throat, splattering the floor at his feet as well as his pants and Albedo can't really do anything but cough wetly, almost violently threads of drool and bile dripping from his mouth as he tries to catch his breath.

"Here, here, hold on," he hears Kaeya say a slightly frantic edge to his voice. Then he feels Kaeya's hands on his waist, carefully helping him up supporting him.

Sighing Kaeya keeps one arm wrapped firmly around his waist as he quickly turns on the water for the sink, he's trying his best not to put pressure on Albedo's already upset stomach but that's kind of hard considering Kaeya pretty much has to hold him up.

Kaeya grimaces when one of Albedo's wet coughs ends in a rather, harsh almost violent sounding gag that has a near torrent of murky drool pouring from his lips, and with the water turned on in the sink Kaeya quickly reaches out gathering Albedo's hair away from his face.

He can feel Albedo's entire body trembling in his grip, heat practically rolling off of his skin. He didn't know what experiment Albedo had been conducting exactly but he makes a note to try his damnedest to talk him out of doing it again, or at least to not use himself as a guinea pig.

"That's it, get it up. Just let it out and then you can rest," Kaeya encouraged him softly. He feels Albedo's stomach heave practically convulsing beneath his hand, as Albedo gives a gurgling retch, tears gathering in his eyes from the exertion as another surge of watery vomit gurgles up his throat leaving Albedo sounding almost as if he was choking on the liquid.

Albedo groans softly, his head pounding in time with his heartbeat as his stomach swirls, the floor feeling as if it were writhing beneath his feet like a living thing. An absolutely vile taste coats his mouth sharply bitter-tasting like poison and dead leave, but also slimy and overwhelmingly salty as the medicine, bile, and soup meld together to form one of the worst tastes Albedo has ever tasted in his life.

Albedo hiccups wetly, the noise becoming a loud, rumbling, gurgling burp on the tail end of it as a very, very large thick surge of watery vomit pours from his lips steadily for a few seconds, albeit slightly thicker this time, bordering on an almost sludge-like consistency which probably meant that he was bringing up the medicine he'd taken.

"Albedo," Kaeya said when his vomiting tapered off and he went limp in Kaeya's grip, merely groaning and coughing softly as the occasional hiccup left his mouth.

Releasing Albedo's hair Kaeya reaches around cupping his face and tilting it slightly to make Albedo look up at him. Albedo's eyes were glassy and he seemed heavily dazed, albeit conscious thankfully. He was panting heavily, seemingly not caring about the drool and bile dripping from his lips or the tears still rolling down his face. His head lolling as Kaeya adjusts his grip on him.

Sighing Kaeya carefully lowers Albedo to the floor, on his back although he quickly rolls him on his side, brushing his hair away from his face when one of his harsh coughs triggers his still sensitive gag reflex, resulting in him choking up a small amount of bile and saliva.

Kaeya runs his fingers through Albedo's hair, listening to his harsh ragged breathing as he forces down his worry and concern to run a mental checklist of what he needs to do and what Albedo needed at the moment.

First, a bath since Albedo had ended up throwing up on his clothes, not to mention they were soaked through with sweat as well. Then he could clean up the house and try giving Albedo more medicine, possibly go to Sucrose if needed, after that he could put Albedo in bed to rest and go inform Jean of what was going on so he could spend the rest of the day not only looking after Albedo but also taking care of Klee.

"Kae...ya," Albedo rasped his words slurring slightly. He's mostly aware but also seems a bit out of it.

Kaeya chuckles as he gives Albedo a warm, reassuring smile. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'll take care of everything," he assures him.

~~~

Albedo's consciousness is hazy, the world a blur of colors around him. It is hot, way too hot, his head is killing him, his throat is raw, his stomach is sore and his limbs feel so heavy that he can't even lift them.

Albedo can just make out Kaeya hovering above him, just barely registering the familiar touch of slender fingers gently carding through his hair in an attempt to soothe him and provide him comfort.

Albedo closes his eyes, and he thinks he passes out, he's not sure but the next time he opens his eyes he's sitting in the bathtub, naked leaning against the wall of the bathtub. Kaeya is gripping him under one of his arms, holding him up so that he won't slip beneath the water. His sleeves are rolled up and he's dutifully focused on his task of cleaning Albedo up, his touches gentle and not lingering anywhere longer than they need to be.

"Sorry," Albedo whispered, scowling slightly when his voice comes out raspy, airy almost. His entire body feels almost floaty, it's strange but not exactly unpleasant. The warm water in the bathtub is soothing and relaxing.

Kaeya sighed, a frown on his face as he paused for a brief moment. "You can thank me by not using yourself as a test subject. At least not for something dangerous enough to rot limbs," he huffed before continuing his work.

Albedo gives a soft hum which turns into a yawn and he begins coughing slightly as that familiar irritating tickling itch flares to life at the back of his throat. Kaeya gently pats him on the back.

Clearing his throat Albedo takes a deep breath as he nods slowly. "I'll try to keep that in mind," he murmured.

Kaeya merely sighed, while it's not the answer he wanted he knows it's a lot better than nothing.

"Where's Klee," Albedo asked suddenly, his voice soft. He's struggling to keep his eyes open at this point as Kaeya washes his hair, just barely forcing his eyes open as they threaten to slip closed.

"I told her you were working on something urgent in your lab after you collapsed, she's out playing with Razor and Bennett at the moment. She should be back before sunset. I also told Jean what was happening and she said not to worry about coming into work while you're like this," Kaeya explained.

Albedo gives a soft barely audible hum as his eyes slip closed and his body goes limp in Kaeya's grip, relaxing.

While Kaeya should be angry at Albedo for doing this to himself and he kind of is considering what could've happened and what is happening to Albedo, the more he stares at Albedo's peaceful almost serene face as he sleeps most of that anger and irritation seems to melt away.

Chuckling softly, Kaeya cups Albedo's face with one hand gently stroking his cheek with his thumb. "We make quite the pair don't we."

~~~

It is nighttime when Albedo awakens again, slightly more aware and feeling a bit better than before although still incredibly tired.

As he shifts slowly blinking he realizes that he's laying in bed and that Klee is sound asleep beside him. Scowling he attempts to sit up but stops when Kaeya reaches out, reaching over Klee and placing a hand on Albedo's arm to stop him.

That is when Albedo realizes that Kaeya is laying in bed with him on Klee's other side. His eye patch is off, although the eye it usually covers is still closed and he's wearing sleeping clothes. Albedo recognizes them as one of the pairs he keeps in the house for when he stays the night.

"Don't get up, I just got Klee to go to sleep," Kaeya murmured as he propped himself up slightly on one of his arms to look at Albedo.

Glancing at Klee who was snuggled up in bed sleeping peacefully between them a warm smile crawls across Albedo's face.

"How do you feel," Kaeya asked, his eye roving over Albedo, there's more clarity in his eyes but he still doesn't like how pale Albedo is at the moment.

"Exhausted," Albedo muttered with a soft sigh, stretching slightly. "But I do feel much better than before."

Kaeya smiles slightly, not bothering to hide the relief on his face. "So either the medicine I gave you is working or whatever that potion you made was is starting to wear off."

Albedo nodded slightly, yawning.

"Good, that's great," Kaeya said as he laid back down, feeling as if a weight had been left from his shoulders.

For a few moments, it's silent, and at first, Kaeya thinks that Albedo has gone back to sleep and so he closes his eye intending to as well.

"Kaeya," Albedo said softly, his voice barely above a whisper.

Kaeya merely gives a soft hum, acknowledging that he heard him.

"Thank you...for everything. Not just taking care of me but Klee as well," Albedo told him nothing but warmth and sincerity in his voice.

Kaeya gives a soft snort, opening his eye as he looks at Albedo, a small albeit smile crawling across his face. "I would do it again, although I would rather not have to," he said to which Albedo merely nodded. Reaching out Kaeya cups Albedo's face with one hand, his thumb gently stroking his cheek. For a moment he's silent, seemingly searching for his words.

It is only after a few moments that Kaeya speaks, "I may say it so often that it may seem like a lie but I genuinely do love you Albedo. So I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't do something like this again."

Albedo is quiet at Kaeya's words but eventually, it does seemingly click for him, despite Kaeya's seemingly calm and unphased demeanor he'd been terrified and worried. Worried when Klee first came to him, that he would need to strike Albedo down before he went out of control, worried when he found Albedo sick not knowing the cause, all of it had, had an effect on Kaeya.

Closing his eyes, Albedo took a deep breath and nodded. "I will do my best to avoid using myself as a test subject for my experiments if I am able to," Albedo finally told him and he can see the look of relief on Kaeya's face.

"Good, now try to get some rest, we both have a long day tomorrow," Kaeya said as he drew back and closed his eyes. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Albedo whispered, for a few moments however he lays there until he thinks he hears Kaeya's breathing evening out signaling that he had fallen asleep.

"Kaeya," Albedo said, waiting, a moment to see if the man answered if he was still awake. When he gets no response Albedo speaks again. "I love you as well. Thank you for everything."

Whether he sees the faint ghost of a smile appear on Kaeya's face he doesn't say anything, instead, Albedo merely closes his eyes and does his best to get to sleep.