Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Cyno, my good friend! How have you been?” Kaveh called out while walking over.

Cyno had been doing fine, up until that point. This would be the third time just this week the guy’s sought him out after getting into a fight with his roommate. And Cyno was certain that was the reason, because despite being one of the rare few to appreciate his jokes on occasion, Kaveh wouldn’t put in this much effort to find him unless it was for a reason.

Usually, that reason was related to his housemate.

Cyno had hid well upon first sighting him in the distance, but if Kaveh is an expert at anything other than architecture, it’s finding those who don’t wanna be found. Especially when it involves annoying his roommate. Occasionally, Cyno felt bad for Alhaitham. Occasionally.

Beside him, hidden from Kaveh’s sight by a wall, Collei mouthed the words : “You’re on your own.” She then made a run for it.

Understandable, with the amount of complaining she might have had to endure otherwise. It’s just unfortunate it had lost him the most recent excuse he’d come up with to check on her. Anything more might cause more harm than good.

It couldn’t be avoided, so Cyno turned and greeted his good — and somewhat irritating — friend. “It’s a nice surprise to see you in the market! I thought you were already taken by that roommate of yours! I’m doing good, and you?”

“What? I’m not– Oh, I see. You were making a pun because we’re standing in the marketplace. Funny.”

“Than–” He didn’t even get the chance to reply before the ranting started. You could say it was a … tyrantical cut-off.

Get it? Rant? Tyrannical?

Cyno applauded himself for the pun. Pity he’d forget it before anyone got the chance to hear it.

“That’s completely wrong, though! Alhaitham has certainly not taken me off any markets. In fact, he keeps adding me INTO them. This morning, as I was minding my own buisness and doing nothing to provoke him–“

If that was really the case, Cyno would consider eating sand off the ground. Those two couldn’t go 5 minutes without arguing.

“He sent me outside to find Dori, which I did without complaint, as always. And guess what? When I got there, she told me my supposed roommate, the man I trust with half of my food, had sold me to her as a tutor for the local children to pay off my part of the rent for the month. Can you believe it? Needless to say, when I–“

Cyno really doubted he’d left without a complaint, but he wasn’t exactly living with the two of them, so who knows. At this point, Cyno moved to lean against the wall as he listened, making no further attempts to interject. Kaveh seemed perfectly comfortable standing there waving his hands around kind of angrily as he talked.

“–got back home I confronted him about it and he had the nerve to tell me I’d agreed to it already. Like I’d ever have agreed to that! But it turns out I did, because he showed me a contract — very unpleasant composition, it lacked color — I signed for it and–“

Cyno stopped listening after that, only tuning back in after hearing a sentence that sent a spike of dread right into his heart. Or maybe that was just a bone cracking from finally moving after what felt like hours of listening to this Sumpter Drivel. He wasn’t about to try and figure it out. Either way, he jumped up from his slouching abruptly.

“So I’ve decided to move out. Show him I can live perfectly fine on my o–“

“Wait, quick pause. You– You’re moving out?!” Cyno said, making sure to stop the monologue before it got worst. This would not turn out well, he could feel it. At most, Kaveh would crash at his house during his and his roommate’s divorce arcs, which almost always ended up with Alhaitham sending particularly threatening looks to Cyno for the next few days, but moving out?

Their petty fights didn’t usually get to this point. And certainly not 3 in a week. He should’ve seen the signs. Fear almost crept in at the thought of Alhaitham deciding he was to blame.

“Yes. He’s stubborn and unreasonable – and annoying. So I am moving out.” A passerby on the street saw Kaveh animatedly gesturing while talking and gave him a wide berth. Cyno felt that, on some level.

“So you wanna stay over at my place?”

“No. I plan to go live in the rainforest.”

“…”

“I just bought a new tent too. It’s all perfect.”

Bought a new tent? With what money? It couldn’t be good for roughing it outside… Had he even stepped foot in a rainforest before?!

Cyno sighed. “Is there anything I can do to convince you not to do that?”

“Nope.”

“…”

“I hope you don’t mind. I left a few of the things I couldn’t bring with me at Tighnari’s for you to pick up.” Kaveh vaguely pointed a thumb behind him, probably meant to point out the aforementioned house, which is a lot more to the left.

“…Can I keep them if you die doing this?”

“Sure, but pass them by Haitham first since half of it is his. Anyway, there’s no way I’ll die just living in the forest for a bit. I have a vision and all.”

So he was probably already planning to return to living with Alhaitham after only a bit of time spent on this venture, if he only thought it would be a few days. Good. Kaveh and nature aren’t a mix he’d like to document again.

“Well, good luck then… You’re walking the wrong way.” Cyno pointed to the right of where Kaveh had already started walking. A bit more worry for his occasional TGC buddy rose up.

“I knew that! I’m just getting more supplies first!” Kaveh seemed to realize something. “I left my bag at home!”

“Live long and well, Mr. Kaveh.” Rest in peace if not.

“…?”

He left and, soon after, Cyno did too. He felt a bit like laughing. He’d have to ask Tighnari to watch over Kaveh. Or, maybe just watch over the forest. One of the two was in danger and it was hard to tell which. Bets could be placed… Might be fun.

…

Luckily, Kaveh didn’t encounter Al-Haitham while picking up his bag. It was a quiet trek where he had time to think over his course of action a bit more.

Despite what it might seem like, he wasn’t doing this because of some petty conflict with his roommate. While, yes, he wouldn’t be above it, and felt some measure of annoyance at Haitham from his trick that morning, he had a clearer goal today.

He would absolutely catch that spy!

He just hadn’t been able to stop himself from complaining. It cemented his act better, though, so all the better.

He’d heard from Dori that some people were using him to track Al-Haitham’s movements. She’d heard from a customer or two, and looked into it. No conclusive evidence as of now. Alhaitham is a pretty secretive and somewhat mysterious person. Many people feel they’d glean important information from watching him. And with his less overtly intimidating public presence, Kaveh’s the most logical way to pry into his life.

Roommate privileges. He’d flaunt it to the wannabe stalkers if he could.

Naturally, they didn’t discuss serious matters on the daily, but it wasn’t uncommon, and any attempts to dissuade Haitham from revealing important matters to him might alert the culprit. So, they’d made the right call by keeping tabs on Kaveh. They were just unfortunate he had Dori on his side. Kaveh had alerted Dori he’d be gone for a while, then set off to enact a plan he made up as he went. He figured they’d reveal themselves sooner or later in an attempt to send him back to living with his roommate. He seemed to be their planned way in, after all.

His words to Cyno had been both to inform him of his departure, and set a prerogative for the wannabe stalkers to feel they could feasibly convince him to go back. It helped that Cyno had seen him try and eat a poisonous leaf once and lost the ability to trust him with living in nature. Anybody else might not have made such a convincing look of pre-mourning.

Kaveh had it all figured out. He’d let go of his grievances with some well-deserved alone time for both him and Al-Haitham, and he’d capture a spy while he was at it to show he was a superior roommate to the other.

What could go wrong? Al-Haitham hadn’t seemed too worried when he left. Although, he wasn’t exactly one to show how he feels too much for these matters.

Maybe he’d bring him back a cool rock or something, as the amazing roommate he is.

…

As it watched the man it had been following for an hour or so stop by the side of the road to look through pebbles, the green-tipped grey eagle perched on a nearby tree felt some of it’s feathers fall off from stress.

These next few days would be tiring.

Chapter Text

Kaveh did not notice anyone following him during the walk towards the rainforest. Other than some creepy bird which seemed oddly familiar.

It wasn't the worst trip he'd endeavoured, that's for sure. He'd made it to his destination without too much trouble too – he'd only gotten lost 8 times and hadn't even ended up in the desert by accident like last time.

The aforementioned bird might’ve been the main reason he wasn't horribly lost, though.

Every time it would see him veer off path, the eagle would plunge at him and aim to injure. At first, he ignored it and kept walking, not even retaliating, as he wasn't about to start fighting with a bird. Eventually, though, he'd realized it was guiding him and started to follow its directions – in no way because he was bleeding and annoyed.

He'd decided to name it Alhaitham The Second, because it was close to being as stubborn and unreasonable as him. It even had feathers of a similar color to his underclassman's hair. It was enough to make his blood boil.

Luckily for the bird, it was too cute for him to feel anything past mild annoyance towards it. It even got close to ripping some of his precious hair out! On multiple occasions. If that wasn't adorable, then not even his prized Palace of Alcazarzaray could be considered so.

Alhaitham The Second had left him alone once he'd reached the rainforest. It now watched him silently from a distance, switching trees only when he was out of sight.

It was like a cutesy stalker with violent tendancies. One which would cause him a lot of physical harm if it heard that thought, most likely.

It wasn’t too far into their stalker-stalkee thing before they found a suitable stretch of somewhat flat ground to set up camp on. Kaveh made quick — and meticulous— work of setting up camp, with the entire thing looking more put together than his life had ever managed to be. He wasn't a renowned architect for nothing, after all.

If he used his vision to decimate half the bug population surrounding his tent, then that was nobody's buisness but his — and the bird's.

Rifling through the supplies he'd brought with him, Kaveh thanked his past self for thinking to take food from Al-Haitham's part of the pantry. Maybe his roommate would even be forced to go out to buy more. A nice thought.

"I won't be running out of anything with all this around." He smiled a bit, in a way that emulated no mirth whatsoever. Definitely not. He wasn't petty for doing this, either. He'd just really needed the supplies. How could anyone expect him to find his way to a shop from here! And with a spy on his tail!

Completely justified.

Very neutrally, Alhaitham The Second dropped a surprisingly heavy mushroom on his head. The wise, righteous and kind architect nearly threw it back at it. He contained his anger, however.

"It's a harmless eagle, throwing that at it would not be acceptable. Then again, I hear people hunt eagles... And it's not very harmless..." He muttered to himself.

In the end, he just let it go. Bird meat wasn’t so tempting he'd give up his current, very aggressive, companion.

Seeing as the sun’s position indicated another hour of light at the least, Kaveh decided to get some work done. He sat on a large tree root and sketched out some plans he'd been working on.

They’d been discussing an extension of Alcazarzaray these past few days. Dori wanted an indoor pool so she could "swim in mora". It would likely amount to nothing, but he might as well get to churning some ideas out.

The wine in the bag at his feet’s allure got to him before he’d even really started on his work. What he ended up taking was not enough to get drunk, but he’d figured he might as well start enjoying his large food supply, curtesy of his potentially unknowing housemate. He'd know soon enough if he hadn’t found out yet. He’d usually get home by this time.

Another painfully solid mushroom landed on his head. This time, he didn't even look up.

The wine as a steady motivator, his sketch took better shape than it previously had while subjected to his half-hearted attempts.

With most of Kaveh’s attention focused of his work and his drink, Alhaitham The Second took the chance to fly around and assess the surroundings.

...

Alhaitham had reasoned that a break from his duty to follow his roommate was the best course of action. Kaveh had been acting suspicious during their latest fight… He’d barely seemed frustrated. More akin to arguing for the sake of arguing — or as a way to work towards some goal he'd yet to discern.

It wouldn't usually be a great concern, as they would often argue without any particularly strong animosity, but Kaveh's decision to move out had been an irregular one, and something had felt amiss for the past few days.

He'd have had no problem with the other leaving if it weren't for that. Good riddance, really.

Unfortunately, he had to investigate. For the sake of thwarting whatever tricks Kaveh might have up his sleeve.

His suspicions, completely unrelated to any worry — why would he worry for his roommate who could take care of himself perfectly fine? — mounted with each action the other had taken afterwards. Those that he'd been able to see, at the least.

In the end, it led him here. To using his eagle form to keep an eye on Kaveh. To swatting away bugs trying to approach him every few minutes. It was high-time for him to reconsider his priorities.

Alhaitham's ability to shift forms was a secret he'd kept from the other on account of a childhood mistake he'd sooner have buried with himself than revealed. He was still in the process of thinking up explanations that would help him avoid the memory being connected to his current appearance.

In the case his roommate were to figure out that the eagle is him, he would defer to those or leave promptly.

Alhaitham could not return yet, as he'd already gone to The Akademiya to clear up his after noon and the entirety of the next day to investigate this, all during the time when the other had gone to see the General Mahamatra. He also doubted Kaveh's ability to stay out of trouble in the forest.

A dead roommate could easily lead to some trouble, especially since he himself would be a prime suspect.

Taking this form was also necessary, so he wouldn't consider it a loss. Even the harsh manner of guiding Kaveh — resulting in some injuries for the other — had been unavoidable. If he'd gotten lost how could the matter still be investigated? A few small scratches wouldn't kill him.

Avidya Forest was likely an integral part to solving the case of his roommate's puzzling behaviour.

Not too far from the branch Alhaitham had picked for himself upon returning from his scouting, Kaveh got up and stretched his legs.

It was getting dark, and a greater amount of nocturnal rodents and insects were starting to make themselves heard. Despite how alert he remained, Alhaitham felt no particular worry in this relaxed atmosphere. He'd have to rectify that and make sure no suspicious mushrooms surrounded them.

How else could he be this calm? He should be wary of everything as long as he wasn’t within the walls of his own house.

His, perhaps now, ex-roommate threw him a glance as he started sorting away his things to prepare for sleep. "Want me to set you up a spot in the tent? It'll be less trouble spying on me like that. I'd feel bad leaving my generous little guide outside to freeze all by itself on such—"

Since he'd taken his eagle form, he'd expected to either take to the trees for the night or return home for a few hours and sleep. Returning was no longer an option, as he'd rethought it a bit since, so he might as well take the third option and join the other. Nothing unusual.

To clarify, he wouldn't be returning because he might miss important clues if something were to happen overnight — it had nothing to do with the hilichurl camp he'd spotted nearby nor was he anxious for his housemate's safety. He'd come to this conclusion through logical deduction.

As for the other considering his actions to be spying… He had known Kaveh was going to the rainforest because the other had told him during their argument. His actions would be hard to explain as a human. As an eagle, however, he wasn't expected to answer in any way. It was convenient. He might seem like a spy, but there was no way to confirm it unless he spoke.

Alhaitham put a stop to the other's pestering by gliding over to him and gripping onto his left shoulder. He made sure it hurt.

Kaveh didn't even flinch. He just chuckled lightly. It gave the younger a strange feeling. "I'll take that as a yes. You really are similar to him. I named you right."

Alhaitham felt some manner of concern over the strange wording. What name had he been given?

"...Do you mind maybe easing up on the grip a bit? My shoulder is gonna end up in terrible condition." Kaveh's hand twitched at his side. No doubt, he wanted to dislodge the other's claws but refrained to avoid scaring away what he believed to be a regular — suspiciously knowledgeable — eagle.

Alhaitham may have been too used to having his roommate express his grievances to him outright, because seeing his cautious demeanor around his eagle form, a stark contrast to his usual "yell first, think later" attitude, felt strange.

Maybe, in the time he spent as his roommate, he gained more of his trust than he'd thought. It made him question how much trust he had demonstrated towards his housemate in the past. It was definitely more than for most others.

Something deep down urged him to try and get some of that trust back in this form, but he quickly dismissed it. It wouldn't serve any greater goal, as he'd avoid taking his eagle form near Kaveh — or any others — after he was done with this.

Al-Haitham eased his grip a bit. It would be beneficial to maintain decent terms so he could accomplish his goal… Of figuring out what his roommate is doing, not bonding. Definitely not bonding.

Logically, there’s no need.

His upperclassman thanked him somewhat sarcastically for the mercy he’d generously granted the other’s shoulders. Ungrateful as always.

Before Alhaitham could think to rescind his kindness and let him suffer more, the other was already moving. Shortly after, Kaveh entered the tent with an eagle on his shoulder. It was an awkward endeavour, but it went as smoothly as it could have.

…Meaning, the unfortunate architect got a few more scratches and the eagle landed safely on the ground, unscathed.

Alhaitham did not think it was a regrettable outcome. He wasn't the one hurt, and humbling his housemate could always benefit him.

Unfortunately, Kaveh was not humbled in the least. He organized a pile of blankets — who knew how he'd managed to drag all of this stuff here with him during the long trek — into a makeshift nest and patted it invitingly while looking at his incognito roommate. "This is for you. Luckily, you're pretty small for an eagle."

He was of average build for those of his kind. To say he was small was either backed by the intention to tease, or an attempt to figure out more about him by provoking his ire. Such petty tricks would not work on him. Not anymore.

"..."

Once this was all over, he'd offer up Kaveh to Dori as a tutor for a few more days. Might as well use his deductive reasoning to figure out why Razi was having trouble with math.

Alhaitham felt somewhat strange resting on such a shoddy attempt at a bird nest, but his best course of action would be to accept the other's act of generosity and quiet down so Kaveh might forget he was there and let something slip.

The sooner he could be done with this needless guesswork the better.

Soon, they were both laying on their respective sides of the tent. The humidity and the rainforest’s gaze weighed down on them, but, for some reason, the atmosphere felt light that night.

Only the crickets’ steady melody and the occasional crinkling sound could be heard as Kaveh took his time making himself comfortable.

Neither of them felt this situation was strange or uncomfortable, perhaps because subconsciously they considered it the same as their usual, despite being in closer quarters. Or maybe it just wasn’t particularly strange to offer a spot in your tent to a bird that tried attacking you earlier that day. Maybe it’s standard protocole to stalk your ex-roommate in eagle form because he wasn’t angry enough at you when he moved out.

Who knows?

Not much more was heard after that. They both slept. Vigilantly and with one eye open, in Alhaitham's case.

He worried for the dangers and unexpected developments that might spring upon them if they allowed themselves a moment of vulnerability such as sleeping. This worry was mostly for himself, naturally.

A radish featured in both of their dreams, soon to be forgotten upon their first few minutes of awakeness.