Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Of course, Aether is being his hero again but in the most agonizing way for Kaveh possible.

There wasn’t much of a workload for him tonight because he dealt with most of it today after finishing the haiku. You know what that means? Sleep. Snork mimimimi.

When Kaveh woke up, it was already 8 AM. Wow, that’s a lot of sleep for someone like him! Time to check his messages.

Guess he’s gonna have to survive until 6 PM and then what happens after. Whatever, traveler’s saved his ass multiple times, he trusts him enough. Even if he puts him in the situations where he needs to be saved.

He got up from his bed and exited the room to the kitchen in order to make himself breakfast. Unfortunately, Alhaitham.

“Oh?” Kaveh flinched from the voice, slowly turning his head to see his worst enemy. “If it isn’t the master poet himself.”

“Shut up, will you,” Kaveh huffed, turning his head back to the counter to hide how flustered he was. “I was just bored. Don’t think much about it.”

“Bored enough to write a poem complimenting me?” Alhaitham raised an eyebrow, catching on to Kaveh.

The architect’s soldiers tensed and his grip on the knife he was using tightened. “Don’t get all condescending! Actually, it was originally made for… uhhh…”

“For who?”

“Tighnari!” Kaveh made up with the little time he had to find another person they both knew who could be related to the forest. If anything, the poem suited Tighnari more than Alhaitham. “Yeah, it was made for Tighnari, but it was too lackluster so I gave it to you instead!”

“Using me as your personal trash can again,” Alhaitham crossed his arms, having more to say but deciding to keep his mouth shut. “Poems aside, I’m going out today. Don’t get yourself scammed while I’m gone.”

“Good riddance,” Kaveh grunted at the reminder of his gullibility, letting go of the knife after Alhaitham exited the door. “Archons… that bastard made these potato slices incredibly ugly.”

The next few hours passed by in a daze, as usual for these days, holed up in his room editing his drafts. Nothing entertaining, normal architect business.

12 PM, got out and walked around a bit so his bones and spine didn’t expire 60 years early. 1 PM, he saw lord Kusanali in the forest not far but not near the city wanting to talk to him

Wait, run that back?

Lord Kusanali?!

“Hello, Kaveh,” the childlike archon smiled at him as if she didn’t just scare the living daylights out of him. “I’ve been waiting to have a chat with you for a while now.”

“I—uh—hello?” Kaveh panicked, sending a glance at Mehrak who seemed just as confused as he was. “Lord… Kusanali?”

“Please, just call me Nahida,” she replied kindly, extending her hand.

Kaveh, literally just Some Guy on a Walk™, bashfully reached down and shook it. “So… Nahida, do you need, like, a god home? A shrine design?”

“No, no, nothing like that, although if I ever do, I will keep your offer in mind,” Nahida gently shook her head. “I’m here to discuss your situation with Alhaitham.”

“Eh?” Kaveh’s heart sank and his mind immediately thought the worst. No way… is his own archon going to ridicule his living situation?

“Fear not, I have no criticism of your choice of home,” Nahida reassured. Wait, did she just read his mind? He definitely did not say that outloud, not even a mutter! That’s an archon for you. “It’s about your attraction to him.”

“My WHAT?” Kaveh choked on nothing at the line coming out of his own god’s mouth. Mehrak stared at him, vaguely concerned but also simultaneously amused. “Ahaha… surely you misunderstand!”

“I don’t believe so,” Nahida seemed unaffected and understanding of the shock, calmly responding. “Of all the recent events occurring in my nation, this happened to be the most intriguing one. After all, many of those close to me are related to it.”

“…No way,” Kaveh’s breath hitched, rethinking her words. “Wait, who’s the little birdie? Who told you about this? The traveler?!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Nahida dodged the question, moving the conversation along. “I simply wanted to tell you that you have my blessings.”

“You’re blessing me over… this?” Kaveh asked, perplexed. “N-not like I’m displeased! It’s just… wow.”

She laughed and turned around, looking back at him to say one final thing. “Good luck.”

With that, she walked away, leaving a very stunned Kaveh in the forest. “What the fuck just happened.”

He looked at his hand that he shook Nahida’s hand with. “Oh. Oh shit. I have the archon cheering me on. No way.”

Kaveh spent the next few minutes standing in the forest like some NPC, rethinking how his life had come to this.

“Mister Kaveh?” A young girl’s voice came from behind him, giving him the 3rd fright of this day. 4th, if you include his reaction to his daily quest. “You’ve been standing still here for around 3 minutes… are you okay?”

“Yes! Yes, I’m perfectly fine, thank you,” Kaveh snapped out of his daze, meeting Collei’s eyes. “Just… thinking about some things!”

“Ah, I see,” Collei said, a hint of suspicion still laced in her tone. “I trust you can make it back yourself, but if you need any assistance, you can call for me.”

“Thanks, kid,” Kaveh smiled as she began to leave before impulsively calling for her. “Wait!”

“Hm?”

“I kinda have, uh, a question for you,” Kaveh started, clearing his throat. “Have you… talked with any… godly beings lately?”

“Uhhh… no?” Collei responded awkwardly, confused. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s nothing!” Kaveh answered, shaking his head. “You should get going now, I bet you’re busy with forest ranger duties and all.”

She narrowed her eyes but didn’t question the incredibly strange question. “Alright, have a good day, Mister Kaveh.”

“You too!” Kaveh waved, beginning to walk back to his house. Too much has already happened and it’s not even 6 PM…

When he got home after around an hour of slowly walking and making some small talk with people on the streets of the city, he sat down in his room. He proceeded to stare at a line he misdrew hours ago while continuing his thoughts before Collei found him. “Huh. Wild day.”

In the next few hours, he did get some work done, but less than in the morning because now he had multiple things to think of. Lord Kusanali’s blessing, his clients wishes, 6 PM, Alhaitham, Alhaitham’s voice, Alhaitham’s suspicion, Alhaitham’s behavio—

Okay, shutting up!

“5:40 PM,” Kaveh sighed, checking the time and getting up. He made a sandwich and grabbed his keys before exiting the house, meal in mouth. Time to get to the meeting location.

He took his sweet time to get there. When he did, not only were Alhaitham, Aether and Paimon there, but also… Cyno?

“More people, less suspicious,” Aether whispered to him when Alhaitham wasn’t paying attention.

“Did you invite us here solely to watch the sunset?” Alhaitham asked the traveler, who shrugged.

Paimon answered for Aether, as she basically said everything Aether was too afraid to say himself. “What’s wrong with hanging out just for the sake of hanging out, loner?”

“I don’t need friends, they disappoint me,” the scribe retorted, earning a chortle from Cyno, who was here in his free time for the traveler’s plan.

“How dark and brooding you are,” Kaveh scoffed as he arrived. “What’s it like having no social life?”

“Funny coming from you, room dweller,” Alhaitham jabbed, earning an offended, overdramatic gasp from Kaveh.

“How dare you, where else should I do my work, huh?!”

“Ahem!” Paimon interrupted their bickering before it went any further, pointing to the sun that was now beginning to set. “No arguing! Look at the pretty view!”

“Hm. You’re right,” Cyno stared at the view before turning to Aether and Paimon. “Traveler. I have something to discuss with you, would you mind coming with me?”

“Of course, lead the way,” Aether nodded to Kaveh’s terror, following Cyno and leaving the roommates together. Where the hell do they think they’re going?!

“They’ve left us,” Alhaitham stated.

Kaveh grunted, annoyed. “Wow, I would’ve never guessed.”

“With your wits, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Seriously?!”

Alhaitham turned away from him and looked at the beautiful gradient in the sky. “As Paimon said, stop yelling and admire the view, would you?”

“So now you listen to what others say?!” Kaveh complained, but still did exactly what he said. “At least the sun is prettier than you’ll ever be.”

“That’s not what you said in the haiku,” Alhaitham teased, causing Kaveh to start sputtering, face flushed. It wasn’t noticeable, though, as his face already had a warm tone on it due to the sun peaking out of the horizon.

“We already talked about this!” Kaveh protested, shushing him so others wouldn’t hear. “That was made for Tighnari!”

“Whatever you say, literary genius,” he remarked sarcastically

They gazed at the sun’s last moments of today in silence, for they both rarely had time to share such a moment with one another. Kaveh took a single second to glance at Alhaitham, but immediately looked back to not dwell over how stunning the other man looked.

Subtlety is key, Kaveh. Subtlety is key…

“Wow, look at you two lovebi— roommates,” Paimon said, ruining the moment before anything interesting could happen. Not like it was going to go anywhere, honestly. Also almost slipping up and ruining Kaveh’s entire day, but she decided not to. “Watching the sunset together like best friends should!”

“Do we look like best friends?” Alhaitham asked, crossing his arms.

“Does she have to say it again?” Cyno said, joining in. “You’re watching the sunset together, how sweet.”

“…” Alhaitham bore an unreadable expression towards him.

“Hope you two enjoyed the view,” Aether smiled innocently as if he didn’t leave Kaveh to die. “Sorry for leaving you two together.”

“It was no issue,” Alhaitham said, thankfully not bashing Kaveh for once. Until he did. “He kept his mouth shut for the majority of the time, so my patience didn’t explode.”

Kaveh frowned at the other man’s innate need to find a way to insult him no matter what.

“I’m going home now, please entertain Kaveh so I don’t have to deal with him,” Alhaitham requested the other 3 while he began walking away, to Kaveh’s disdain.

“That—!” Kaveh groaned, hand on his forehead. “Seriously, that guy has a problem…”

“And yet you’re in love with him,” Paimon sassed the second Alhaitham was out of earshot.

He quickly shut her up, scared of the man himself hearing, with a blush on his face. “Oh, be quiet now!”

“I have business to attend to now, so I will be taking my leave,” Cyno said as the others bid their goodbyes to him.

After the general had left, Kaveh immediately glared at Aether and Paimon. “What was that stunt about?”

“We’re just trying to get you two to do something about each other already!” Paimon cried, shaking her arms impatiently. “What was that about?! You could’ve held his hand or something!”

“What?!” Kaveh coughed, covering his red face. “This isn’t a cheesy romcom, it’s not that easy!”

“It could be if you stopped being a lovesick coward!”

“Wait, hey, were you watching us?” Kaveh asked, realizing Paimon must’ve been paying attention to them.

Paimon found amusement in his expression, mischievous as ever. “You really think we were talking to Cyno about business? We were whisper-yelling at you to do something!”

“Should’ve expected that,” Kaveh let out a sigh. He’s done way too many of those this week. “That aside, shouldn’t you be going now? You always have something on your plate.”

“You’re right,” Aether said. “C’mon, Paimon, commission time. Bye, Kaveh.”

“Okie dokie! Cya, Kaveh!” she waved as she floated away behind Aether.

The walk back home wasn’t long, and he was greeted by Alhaitham. “What a shame. I was assuming you would pester the traveler for longer.”

“He had work to do, genius,” Kaveh rolled his eyes.

Alhaitham didn’t reply and simply got up from the couch and entered his own room.

“Tch,” the architect went to his own room after Alhaitham left, starting his work again. This day wasn’t as chaotic as some in the past, but it sure made his heart churn. Paimon, unfortunately for him, was right. He probably should do something already, but what?!

Love is confusing. Can someone kill it for him?

Kaveh groaned at the thoughts in his mind, not allowing him to focus on his work, and decided to take a walk to clear his mind. Hopefully he doesn’t run into any gods again, his heart physically cannot take it anymore.

Good news, no god.

Bad news, Cyno.

Now, you might be thinking. What’s so bad about Cyno? Nothing, actually. Besides the jokes, but in this case, it’s his judgemental look.

“You don’t seem the brightest about romance,” Cyno commented bluntly as he approached Kaveh.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” his eye twitched. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

“I finished the business already.”

“As efficient as ever,” Kaveh chortled at the shorter male. “I’m just on a walk to clear my mind. Not much of value to talk of, but feel free to join me.”

“I also need to get rid of some thoughts,” Cyno claimed, getting a raised eyebrow from the nosy architect.

“Oh? Is our favorite general facing his own love troubles?” Kaveh teased.

“I’m not in a predicament similar to yours,” Cyno denied stiffly, hiding his face from Kaveh as he answered.

The walk went by fairly calmly and was full of mostly random topics, and somehow Kaveh ended up being the victim of one of Cyno’s jokes.

“Actually, the other day, I was reading a book about antigravity,” Cyno began, not having stated that he was leading up to a dad joke.

“Mhm?”

“But I couldn’t seem to put it down.”

“…Why?” Kaveh was confused, not having gotten the joke, triggering Cyno’s joke explainer mode.

“You see, the joke is,” Kaveh’s face dropped as he started the explanation, realizing he had fallen right into the general’s trap. “I cannot put the book down as it is about antigravity, and gravity would be the reason why I could put it down, but—“

“Nevermind, I get it!” Kaveh interrupted, immediately regretting asking. “Anyways, what’s your favorite TCG card?”

The conversation then devolved into TCG, Cyno using terms Kaveh didn’t understand but pretended to. Anything to avoid the Cyno dad jokes.

After some time, they parted ways and Kaveh returned home once more, the time now 8 PM. While his mind was still running with thoughts, the walk certainly helped quell them to some decree.