Chapter Text
“I dedicate this dance to our god…the Dance of Sabzeruz!”
The elation in Nilou’s voice as she beamed at the crowd seemed amplified tenfold in comparison to the times she’d held this dance behind closed doors.
The Akademiya’s entrance had been embellished to a tee. Clusters of padisarahs lay among potted hedges, their violet hues brilliant as they danced in the breeze.
A replica of the Zubayr Theater’s pride had been prepared at the school’s ingress—the stage in all its glory stood illuminated by numerous lotus-like lamps that only emphasized its resplendence.
Almost all of Sumeru had gathered by the sidelines. A path had been paved for the imminent arrival of the birthday girl herself, marked by rows upon rows of padisarah flowers bearing semblance to a tailored red carpet.
This was the Sabzeruz Festival at its peak.
While Treasures Street had all but been vacated, there stood two particular individuals among those who remained who’d seized a faraway view of their friend’s concert.
(As accommodating as Alhaitham had been agreeing to attend what was left of the festival, he was absolutely beyond spending two seconds in a place with more than four people.)
Nilou’s every step and sway was the epitome of elegance. Her fingers moved with the utmost grace, comparable to a golden koi carried by the ocean blue. Each step expressive, synchronizing in rhythm—she was mesmerizing.
It wasn’t hard to see why Nilou shouldered the esteemed reputation of the Zubayr Theater’s brightest star. Both for her talent, and her charisma.
As denoted by the way sapphire eyes subtly scanned the crowd before her, drinking in the smiles of her audience.
To witness this dance with Alhaitham by his side…what more could he ask for?
“I hope you’re not getting bo…”
…oh.
Oh dear.
The man in question had really never looked more ethereal.
In the radiant lighting, Kaveh could truly admire his roommate’s features. The luminescence of the stage’s adornments kissed his skin, its lustre reflected in half-lidded eyes.
Silver hair wafted in the gentle gale with the dignified grace of a swan. He’d removed his soundproof headphones, heed rapt on Nilou’s performance.
Alhaitham was simply…gorgeous. No amount of flowery language would be nearly sufficient to depict his beauty.
Just how long am I going to keep it from him?…
“Keep what from me?”
Shit, did I say that out loud?
“Uh…it’s— nothing,” Kaveh forced a far-too-tense chuckle. “Just thinking to myself…must’ve slipped out.”
“Kaveh,”
The blond couldn’t help a flinch at that.
“I tread dangerous waters with my line of work,” Alhaitham all but whispered, attention torn from the performance. “I could die tomorrow.”
“I—“
“From the way you phrased that…it sounded like you were planning to tell me someday, anyhow. It’s only a matter of time.
“I’d rather not go without having heard whatever you wanted me to,”
Crimson optics found their way to anything but Alhaitham’s gaze.
“No, you don’t understand—I can’t just…”
…right here and right now?
I could die tomorrow.
I’d rather not go without having heard what you wanted me to.
…
“…fine,”
The fear of rejection was daunting indeed, yet to live out one’s days with suffocating sentiments caged in the veins of your heart…perhaps Kaveh may be a bit of a hopeless romantic, but he wasn’t that hopeless.
“Okay, okay…listen to me.”
Kaveh’s hand subconsciously inched towards Alhaitham’s on the concrete.
“Let me just get this out of the way. You are insufferable. An absolute pain in the ass, and my life would probably be better if you weren’t part of it. But...” Kaveh elaborated, rather brazenly.
“When I heard you were knocked into a coma, I got…scared. I thought I’d never hear your voice again. It was weirdly out of character, but…that just made me realize…that…”
…this is a bad idea.
“You’ve got my attention,” Alhaitham broke the silence. Only then did Kaveh come to perceive the piercing gaze the scribe donned.
Gods, screw it.
“Can I do something impulsive?”
“Well—“
And just like that, Kaveh connected their lips. He’d coiled a hand above Alhaitham’s nape, and simply pulled him close until their lips touched. Even if only for the briefest milisecond.
When he recoiled, Kaveh found that locking eyes with his roommate had never been more strenuous.
To top it all off, a hand found its way to Kaveh’s pocket, where it fished out a wilting flower of a sombre mauve.
Alhaitham closed an eye where Kaveh slid the padisarah behind his ear.
“…sorry, sorry, I’m sorry…maybe I’m being a little selfish, but I...”
Even if Kaveh hadn’t lifted his head, the proceeding silence said enough of Alhaitham’s response.
“What I’m trying to say is…I don’t hate you, okay? In…fact, I really like you. I really fucking love you. Like none other.”
At last, a scarlet gaze met eyes winsome with turquoise and vermillion.
As expected, the scribe appeared to be at a loss for words. He simply stared with those unfairly beautiful eyes of his.
Yet the tension Kaveh hadn’t been aware of housing was released when Alhaitham laughed.
He laughed.
Not a mere smirk that presented itself whenever he was up to no good. Not a simple scoff of evident mockery. No, a full-blown ebullient laugh, and Kaveh wishes Alhaitham hadn’t concealed his grin with a hand.
“Ah, Kaveh…”
The scribe lowered his hand, and— gods, his smile was radiant, lighting up his entire face with a brilliant warmth that seemed to outshine the nighttime moon.
“I’m glad,”
Alhaitham’s response came in the form of capturing Kaveh’s hand from across the balustrade, leaving him speechless verbatim as he sealed their lips once more.
Though this time, it felt none of the spontaneous kind.
Perhaps it was a foreign taste. An instant of awe that silenced the world. So much so, the blaring festival was reduced to white noise.
It was intoxicating—in the still of the night, that cocktail of respite, bliss and gratification all at once.
Alas, Alhaitham pulled away far too soon.
“How nice,” he said, lean fingers cupping Kaveh’s jawline. “We finally agree on something.”
Damn that stupid smile of his. “So you mean…?”
A half-smile, half-smirk on a tilted head served as his reply. Not remotely an Alhaitham-like response, yet so idiosyncratic to him at the same time.
They hadn’t even a moment to spare as the creak of brass against quartz blared through the night.
The doors to the Sanctuary of Surasthana were drawn open, the lustre that came with it as blinding as it was divine.
Once brass doors met the walls, the star of the show wasted no time emerging from the palace.
A grandiose carriage tinted a pearly white and sheen gold galloped down the Razan Garden. Nilou, from her perch on the stage, watched in awestruck silence as the carriage drifted down the padisarah-paved path at the stage’s forepart.
Even from afar, Kaveh spotted the beaming smile of its passenger as her people bid dynamic waves as she departed, leaving luscious petals of a mauve purple in her wake.
Then, further down, the carriage went—descending into Treasures Street.
Time seemed to slow down as Kusanali glanced out the vehicle. Emerald eyes widened as they settled upon the scribe’s unmistakable silhouette, yet her smile continued to shine the longer she stared. Even more so when her gaze met the flower at his ear.
Her infectious jubilation took its flourish in Kaveh’s heart, and he raised his hand in greeting.
As the carriage departed, the petals that trailed its path were joined by a jovial Kusanali, who hung her head out the casement and returned a wave of a matching exuberance.
Alhaitham spoke up once Kaveh lowered his hand, the smile not quite dissipating as he watched the Lesser Lord’s carriage soar off into the distance.
“So, I’m not so bad after all? I swept you right off your feet without even knowing.”
“Really now? I think you tripped me off my feet if anything.”
“Haha…you know you love me.”
…
Kaveh made no response. He simply smiled his signature smirk of triumph, the same one that’d presented itself when he’d concluded his magnum opus or turned the tides in a game of Genius Invokation TCG. Until…
Lesser Lord Kusanali’s flower carriage came to a standstill at the Sanctuary of Surasthana. The moment its wheels halted their whirring, the distant echo of fireworks being launched into the air resounded.
In no time did the sky ignite with dazzling sparks of a vibrant varicoloured, drawing the curtains on the chapter of a Sabzeruz Festival.
Seizing the opportunity, Kaveh took his lover’s hand by the fingers, admiring the way their digits seemed to simply align, like a lock to a key.
With that sweet motion, Kaveh brought Alhaitham’s knuckles to his lips.
“I do.”
What a way to end things—with a bang.