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Wanderer would never admit it (lest he inflate Mona's already huge ego) but he was... somewhat concerned. It had been a few days since he last saw Mona and Albedo and nobody seemed to know where they were. Of course, he didn't actually care to know if they were alright but it would be a shame if they disappeared without figuring out the truth of the world. He didn't enjoy their company, he didn't.
Just to sate his curiosity, he had first checked Mona's house only to find a note explaining she was off to experiment with the Chief Alchemist. So, he set off to the alchemist's laboratory in Dragonspine. The snowstorm was at its heaviest during this time of year and it was seriously slowing him down. How bothersome. Good thing he wasn't too affected by the cold. This mechanical body had its uses. Still, he had to make routine stops to make sure the cold air hadn't frozen any of his limbs.
Fortunately, he arrived at Albedo's lab without any broken parts. He walked to the door that was installed after many complaints by Mona that it was too cold to be working in an open space. They (mostly him, Albedo had been busy babysitting Klee and Mona was useless at jobs like this) had installed a fireplace and brought in a few furnishings. Mona had commented that the outpost finally looked like a proper home and he couldn't help but agree. He just hoped Klee wouldn't accidentally blow it up. Again.
He tried pushing the door open but it seemed to be frozen over. He frowned. If they were here, how long had they been inside that the door was stuck? Using anemo to blow away the ice on the hinges, he finally opened the door. When he entered, it was warm inside. Not nearly as warm as it usually was but at least it was a sign they hadn't frozen to death. He closed the door behind him and walked into the kitchen. Dirty dishes were piled up in the sink. Usually Albedo would have cleaned up as soon as they ate. He sighed, they were probably too caught up in an experiment again. How irresponsible.
Scowling, he marched towards Albedo's office. He pulled on the door handle angrily and almost slammed the door open, only to stop in his tracks. There they were, fast asleep on the floor. Albedo was leaning against the table with Mona's head in his lap. The paper in his hand had slumped to the side and his other hand was tangled in Mona's hair. Mona herself was covered with Albedo's coat, snoring. Her legs were curled to the side, crumpling some star charts and her usual outfit was nowhere to be seen. He was pretty sure she had stolen the clothes that he left in the outpost. This girl.
All around them were hundreds of pages of research papers and stacks of books. He could recognize a few of them but most of them were new sights. The fire had gone out already, leaving only ashes behind. He sighed, meaning to sound annoyed but it came out mostly fond. Of course they had worked themselves to exhaustion. How did they survive without him, honestly? Idiots.
He first left the room to grab new wood for the fireplace, taking some matches on the way. Carefully navigating around the papers strewn around the room, he lit the fire. Annoyed, he then picked up the papers and books from the floor, organising them by topic. He set the papers on Albedo's desk and grabbed the two blankets that him and Klee had bought as a gift for Albedo from under the couch. Klee had thought Albedo needed blankets for the cold nights (which were most nights in Dragonspine) and Wanderer had definitely not put that idea in her mind. He removed Albedo's coat from Mona's back who shivered at the cold air. He quickly placed the baby blue blanket over her. It was the softer of the two (he knew if she woke up with the other one over her, he wouldn't hear the end of it). He then carefully raised Albedo's head, placing the beige blanket over his shoulders. Unable to hold himself back, he tucked a strand of hair behind the man's ear then cursed himself as he stirred. Thankfully he didn't awaken.
Wanderer stood up carefully and quietly left the room. He closed the door softly behind him and set off to the kitchen. The cupboards seemed a lot more colourful than when he had last been in there. Klee had probably taken artistic liberties with them, considering the many crude and bright drawings. Though there were a few of Albedo's and Mona's in there. He had no doubt Klee would also rope him into creating a drawing to fill the empty spot above the sink. The thought didn't feel him with dread as he thought it would. He looked away. He had things to do. Folding his sleeves, he walked to the sink.
After washing all of the dirty dishes (which took longer than he'd like to admit), he started preparing a soup using a recipe that Mona had shown him (apparently a favourite of Klee and Albedo's), making sure to cook extra for her to take home later (because she would definitely blow all of her mora on some unnecessary astrology device and not have any money left for food, she wouldn't be useful if she starved, he wasn't worried about her wellbeing, of course not). Then he placed the soup on the fire to boil and grabbed a book from one of the nearby bookshelves. It was a book about Liyuean history and seemed well researched. Why was a (now that he looked closer, there were several) history book on Albedo's bookshelf? He knew Albedo didn't read much history (he preferred light novels, for some reason). Maybe he had taken a new interest. Shrugging, he grabbed the book, sat on one of the kitchen stools and started reading.
A creak from the office door took his attention away from the book. Albedo was standing in the doorway, looking tired despite just waking up. He startled when he noticed Wanderer in the kitchen. It was unusual of him to be this distracted. He must have been exhausted.
"Well, well. Look who we have here. Decided to come out of hibernation, Kreideprinz?" asked Wanderer.
"Mona insisted," groaned Albedo. Of course, both of them knew that Albedo was the one who had decided to keep going but it was easier to blame Mona (who was snoring, loudly). She had probably fallen asleep hours before the alchemist. "How long have you been here for?"
Wanderer considered embellishing his answer to be dramatic but Albedo looked a little worse for wear. It wouldn't have a point if he wasn’t going to get a good reaction. "A few hours. There's a storm out so you're stuck with me for now."
"Well, there are worse fates," sighed Albedo cheekily. He took a seat next to Wanderer.
Wanderer smirked. "Worse fates? I'm offended. I am the worst fate you could face," he said, moving towards the stove.
"I suppose you also don't want the soup I made," he ladled soup into Albedo's sun patterned bowl (Mona's had moon designs and his had stars, she had insisted they match, for some reason), "You don't deserve it."
"Ah, what a shame, then. You truly are a cruel man."
Wanderer then grabbed a spoon from a drawer. It was adorned with clovers. Clearly a gift from Alice. He placed it on the kitchen island.
Albedo raised an eyebrow as Wanderer set the steaming bowl in front of him. "I thought I didn't deserve soup?"
"It would be a waste if nobody ate it, there won't be a second time," answered Wanderer, like a liar. He moved to grab the history book again but they stilled at the sound of footsteps.
Soon, Mona entered with a blanket (the beige one) wrapped around her shoulders. "There's soup?" Like a shark to blood, huh.
"Had a good beauty sleep? Not that it would help much," snarked Wanderer.
Mona scowled. "Good to see you're as awful as ever."
"Oh yeah? You haven't seen awful yet, Megistus."
"Why you...!" Mona opened her mouth, probably to retort, but seemed to decide better of it. "Hmph. I'm too tired to deal with your rudeness today."
"Fine. Fill your bowl yourself, I'm going to heat some water."
Wanderer spared a glance at Albedo who seemed awfully amused by their argument. Of course he was. Frowning, he turned away and filled up a pot with water. A good bitter tea was what he needed right now. He knew Mona kept some in the cabinet below the kitchen island (she didn't even drink it, she liked sweeter, floral teas) along with her favourite blend and Albedo's coffees. He grabbed those as well as the tea since he had boiled more water than he needed. It would be a waste if he just poured it away. Three cups were placed on the counter next to him. It seemed Albedo had decided to finally stop sitting around and help. As Wanderer poured the teas and the coffee, Albedo pulled out some bread and began heating it over the fire. He watched the alchemist for a few seconds. Before the man could notice, he turned away to add some sugar in Albedo and Mona's cups. Two for Mona and three for Albedo. Ugh. How sweet. What was so good about sugar anyway? After stirring, he placed all of them next to Albedo's bowl.
With the drinks done, Wanderer turned to see Mona garnishing her bowl with chives while his own sat steaming next to it. (Maybe he would carve a wooden bowl for Klee, too. One with clovers on it. She had broken the porcelain one last week.)
"I don't need to eat."
Mona shrugged insufferably. "Well, too bad. I've already filled up your bowl and I definitely won't eat out of it. If you want it to go to waste, be my guest," she said, handing him the bowl.
Begrudgingly, he took the bowl offered to him and put it to the right of Albedo's. Mona placed hers on the left. They took their seats on the stools as Albedo placed the warmed bread on the island. Mona dug in the moment Albedo sat down. No manners at all. Albedo, in a more polite fashion, began with slow and small bites.
"Ah, this truly tastes great. Thank you Wanderer," said the alchemist. Mona seemed to forget her pride and nodded in agreement.
Wanderer scoffed. "Of course it does. I made it. Somebody needed to keep you fools from starving."
Albedo smiled knowingly. How annoying. Wanderer looked away and poked at his soup.
"Oh, Albedo! This reminds me..." began Mona.
He watched the two as they fell into conversation about whatever experiment they had been doing these past days. He wasn't interested in the contents, not really. But their voices brought a feeling of... tranquility. Maybe it was the way Albedo listened so intently as Mona rambled on. Or the way the two snuck glances at him when they thought he wasn't looking. Or maybe it was the way this kind of thing had become familiar. The way he had gotten used to sitting through dinners without the expectation of masks or drama. (Though maybe with a little more fear of destruction. Klee was a force of nature.) The way he didn't feel out of place even when the conversation didn't involve him. It was peaceful.
Of course, his revelation couldn't last long as Mona accidentaly slung a piece of carrot on his face while talking animatedly. His eye twitched while Mona apologized.
Yeah, maybe they'd be alright. (Someday.)